Tony Maldonado

Writer and web/print designer for the Valley Voice, an online publication (previously a twice-monthly newspaper) in Tulare County, California.

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Valley Voice •

LGBT community and school employees show up, speak out at Visalia Unified board meeting

Visalia Unified School District board members faced a packed house on Tuesday, March 10, as multiple major issues drew in different segments of the community to discuss and debate the proposed layoffs of school employees and a photo featuring Redwood students spelling out a homophobic slur on campus.Before the meeting started, protesters from two groups camped outside the Visalia Unified headquarters: a group supporting the LGBTQ community in Visalia and another supporting the California School...
Valley Voice •

Letter: Porterville deserves leaders who listen - Valley Voice

In Porterville, we pride ourselves on being a community built on respect, accountability, and the belief that local government should reflect the will of the people it serves. Unfortunately, many residents have begun to feel that our mayor and vice mayor have lost sight of that responsibility.Over the past year, countless community members have shown up to council meetings, written emails, spoken at the podium, and participated in civic conversations with one simple request: listen to us. Whethe...
Valley Voice •

Tulare County Library’s Winter Reading Challenge 2025 -2026 - Valley Voice

Tulare County Library’s annual Winter Reading Challenge: Warm Up with a Good Book runs Tuesday, December 16, 2025 through Saturday, January 17, 2026. The challenge is available at all locations for all ages, languages, and reading levels, with participants challenged to read for a total of 12 days.Beginning Tuesday, December 16, 2025, register online, via the app, or at any Tulare County Library Branch. Track daily reading on a bookmark log, online with Beanstack at tularecountylibrary.beanstack...
Valley Voice •

Neighbors, city say Tulare group home is out of control - Valley Voice

A Tulare group home for girls and young women aged 11-21 has allegedly been a nexus for reports of fights, underage intoxication, vandalism, and sexual trafficking of minors by minors, according to the City of Tulare. City officials are now trying to shut it down, at least temporarily, after the home was the subject of 100 police calls for service in a four month period.The home is located in the Del Lago neighborhood of Tulare, nestled between family homes. Neighbors have told the Tulare City C...
Valley Voice •

Porterville council votes to move forward with new "individual liberty" ordinance - Valley Voice

The Porterville City Council is one step closer to funding lawsuits by residents against the State of California after voting to bring a new “Individual Liberty” ordinance back to a future meeting. While the ordinance lays out a number of hot-button social and political issues that council members want to take a stand on, it doesn’t focus on one issue in particular, and punts the parameters of the lawsuit funding program to a future meeting.The “Commitment to the Principles of Individual Liberty...
Valley Voice •

Porterville council will continue to pursue controversial ordinances, litigation funding - Valley Voice

The Porterville City Council will continue working on two ordinances that have sparked significant outcry: a new “Parental Rights in Education” ordinance, and a “Protect Women’s Safe Spaces” transgender bathroom ordinance previously discussed on March 4.Mayor Greg Meister directed city staff at the council’s March 18 meeting to craft both proposals into ordinances that would allow citizens to sue government agencies for violations with potential loans provided by the city for citizens’ legal cos...
Valley Voice •

Porterville council keeps spotlight on transgender issues with parental rights proposal - Valley Voice

Teachers and schools in Porterville may soon be required to inform parents if their children request to be referred to by alternative pronouns – including “a gender different from their biological sex” – or if they request “access to gender-specific facilities,” according to a draft ordinance being considered by the Porterville City Council.The proposed ordinance, entitled “Safeguarding Parental Rights in Education and Child Upbringing,” would give parents standing to sue schools, school distric...
Valley Voice •

Porterville council may consider funding private lawsuits in bathroom ordinance twist - Valley Voice

After protests and nearly two hours of public comment on March 4, the Porterville City Council is still working on an ordinance that would make it unlawful for someone to use a bathroom, locker room, or other “private facility” that does not match with their sex at birth.The city may soon also consider using public funds to support lawsuits launched against the state by women who end up sharing private spaces with transgender individuals.“We really have to look and be creative with this ordinanc...
Valley Voice •

Porterville council to discuss first draft of Women's Safe Spaces ordinance, includes fines up to $5k - Valley Voice

The Porterville City Council will discuss the first draft of a “Protect Women’s Safe Spaces” ordinance at its March 4 meeting. The ordinance would make it illegal for someone in Porterville to use a bathroom, locker room, or other “private facility” that does not match with their sex at birth.A public hearing at a future council meeting and a second reading of the ordinance would be required before the ordinance could be enacted.If it passes as written, transgender individuals would need to use...
Valley Voice •

Tug-of-war continues over Tulare family planning clinic - Valley Voice

Legal wrangling over the status of a family planning clinic that provides abortion pills in Tulare has continued into the new year.FPA Women’s Health opened last year in the Tulare Medical Center, a complex of offices near Adventist Health Tulare but unrelated to the hospital or the Tulare Local Healthcare District.The center’s property owners’ association sued the clinic and its landlords, Leopoldo and Jennifer Valdivia, in September, pointing to association restrictions that prohibit providing...
Valley Voice •

Former HCCA CEO sentenced for crimes running Tulare and Inyo hospitals, avoids jail - Valley Voice

Former Tulare hospital executive Dr. Yorai “Benny” Benzeevi will avoid jail time and serve 463 days of probation in Los Angeles County after pleading no contest to six felonies and two misdemeanors.The charges stemmed from acts undertaken when he and his company, Healthcare Conglomerate Associates, managed Tulare Regional Medical Center and the Southern Inyo Hospital.A negotiated plea deal, which Judge Michael Sheltzer upheld, required Benzeevi to complete 420 hours of community service, 120 day...
Valley Voice •

Former key officials sue City of Lindsay, claiming corruption - Valley Voice

Former Lindsay Police Chief Richard Carrillo and former Lindsay Finance Director Salvador Guzman have separately sued the City of Lindsay. Both claim they were fired wrongly in retaliation for whistleblowing on alleged financial malfeasance by city staff.In his lawsuit, Carrillo says he reported what he found to the Tulare County District Attorney’s office, and that he and Guzman were interviewed by the DA’s Public Corruption Division. While the DA’s office would not confirm or deny the existenc...
Valley Voice •

Minor solicitation case against former Tulare BPU chair, council candidate dismissed - Valley Voice

Minor solicitation charges against Chris Harrell, a one-time chairman of Tulare’s Board of Public Utilities and former candidate for Tulare City Council, have been dismissed after almost four years of court proceedings.He was charged with one count of meeting a minor for lewd purposes and one count of contact with a minor for a sexual offense in a “To Catch a Predator”-style sting operation conducted by the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office in October 2020.Harrell was alleged in court documents to...
Valley Voice •

Former Tulare hospital attorney indicted by grand jury

A grand jury has indicted attorney Bruce Greene on multiple felony and misdemeanor counts related to actions he allegedly took while representing the Tulare Local Healthcare District and Healthcare Conglomerate Associates, the district’s former hospital management partner. The grand jury handed down its indictment with eleven felony counts and five misdemeanor counts on April 30. Greene was arraigned yesterday in the Tulare County Superior Court via Zoom, and pled not guilty to all of the alleg
Valley Voice •

Former Tulare hospital CEO pleads no contest to felonies, misdemeanors, will pay $2.4m and likely avoid jail

On Friday, the 61-year-old pleaded no contest to six felony and two misdemeanor charges stemming from crimes committed while acting as CEO of the Tulare Local Healthcare District from 2014 to 2017. Tulare County Superior Court Judge Michael Sheltzer accepted the plea agreement during a hearing on February 9. Benzeevi will be sentenced in Tulare County Superior Court on July 19. According to the conditions of the plea agreement, Benzeevi will not face jail time. He’ll be under house confinement
Valley Voice •

Hanford man leaves employees, vendors hungry for pay

Vendors, former employees, and tax authorities say they are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars from George Sousa after he started and shuttered multiple restaurants in Tulare and Kings counties. The Hanford restaranteur’s four locations – Junior’s Sports Bar and Parrilla and Adobowl in Visalia; Junior’s Express Grill and K&J FroYo and Kafe in the Hanford Mall – all opened and closed in 2022 and 2023. Employees from the first three restaurants have told the Valley Voice that they haven’t bee
Valley Voice •

Lindsay High basketball volunteer charged with sex offenses against student, parents sue district

A volunteer working with the Lindsay High School basketball program was arrested in May and charged with six felony counts of sexual penetration of a minor and a misdemeanor count of child molestation. Krizlynn Balboa allegedly engaged in a relationship with the minor – a student at Lindsay High – over a four month period, according to a probable cause document filed with the court by the Lindsay Police Department. She has pled not guilty to all charges. Separately, the student’s parents filed
Valley Voice •

Plea deal negotiations scheduled in Tulare hospital case, Benzeevi to appeal recusal decision

A plea deal could be on the table for three former Healthcare Conglomerate Associates (HCCA) executives, nearly three years after they were charged with alleged crimes during the time HCCA managed Tulare Regional Medical Center and the Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine. In a Friday hearing, Trevor Holly with the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office went so far as to tell Judge Michael Sheltzer “we were going to make an offer today,” speaking of a “package” that would focus on “seized fund
Valley Voice •

Judge rules Tulare County DA Tim Ward may stay on HCCA case

The Tulare County District Attorney’s office may continue to prosecute three former Healthcare Conglomerate Associates (HCCA) executives, a judge ruled earlier this month. Yorai ‘Benny’ Benzeevi, HCCA’s CEO; Alan Germany, HCCA’s former CFO; and Bruce Greene, an attorney with Baker Hostetler who served Benzeevi, HCCA and the Tulare Local Healthcare District, were charged in 2020 with a laundry list of crimes allegedly committed during the time that HCCA managed Tulare Regional Medical Center. T
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