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Operators at the Isabella dam can once again allow the lake to reach full capacity after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers updated the dam’s risk level from "highest urgency" to "low urgency" following the completion of dam safety improvements.

The Kern County Board of Supervisors has reached an agreement with the Kern Law Enforcement Association regarding changes to wages and hours, along with other concerns. This comes as the county aims to improve law enforcement recruitment and officer retention. 23ABC's Breanna Polk takes a deeper look at the agreement.

McFarland High School Football is looking to turn things around in the upcoming season, starting with a change at the top. McFarland hired Coach Norm Brown over the summer to be the new head coach for the Cougars. Brown won back-to-back Southeast Yosemite League titles with North High School 5 years ago. 23ABC's Adrian Luevano spoke with Coach Brown to learn more about this season's Cougars team.

The City of Bakersfield has been working with the Bakersfield Police Department on a gun violence reduction strategy. The strategy was implemented last year, but gun violence continues to be a concern in the community, impacting not just the victims, but their families and loved ones as well. 23ABC's Breanna Polk has the story.

There are new details into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The non-profit journalism outfit ProPublica alleges Thomas accepted more luxury vacations and gifts from wealthy individuals and didn't report receiving them.

Latest Kern County, California and US & world news from 23ABC in Bakersfield, Calif.

Restaurants in Downtown Bakersfield are cooking up their specialties hoping to win people over in the 9th Annual Taste of Downtown. 23ABC's Ava Kershner takes us just down the street from the 23ABC studio for an award-winning meal in this Doing Downtown.

The typical renter is changing. More baby boomers are now ditching their homes to rent instead.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has delivered a recommendation to the DEA on marijuana policy.

As e-bikes get more popular a new state bill is looking to change the rules, specifically for youth riders.

While Kern County is known for being home to the production of corn, almonds, and pistachios, this year local farmers saw a decline in the number of acres they were able to plant in cotton. Typically, Kern farmers grow roughly 120,000 acres of cotton, but due to the wet winter we started 2023 with, that number has dropped this year to about 80,000 acres. 23ABC's Breanna Polk spoke to a Kern County cotton farmer to learn more.

Join Kern Living host Ryan Nelson as he speaks with pastor and community advocate Traco Matthews about the Men's Monthly Breakfast.

After wildfires devastated families and homes in the Maui town of Lahaina, Bakersfield restaurant Maui Pho is doing what it can to help out by donating 100 percent of the day's profits to the fire victims. 23ABC's Ruby Rivera visited the restaurant to bring us more.

For days the death toll from the Maui fires has stood at 115 people, but last week the county released an FBI-verified list of 388 people still unaccounted for. It's the most recent estimate of the number of people who are still missing. Now, the FBI says it is searching a four-mile stretch of the coastline off Lahaina around 200 yards out for bodies.

Lauren Cella is a world history teacher at McFarland High School, and she says that during the pandemic when she was teaching remotely from home, her students encouraged her to get a TikTok account. Now she's going viral with her relatable history lessons on things like the Cold War and, most recently, Cinco de Mayo.

The Latina Maternal Heath Fair aims to relieve some of that stress by giving women options on what to do.

It's a chance for hundreds of thousands of graduates to have their student loans wiped out. A new website is now live where you can apply for the new income-based repayment plan.

The chances are very good that anyone living in the Central Valley knows someone who has been impacted by Valley Fever. The Centers for Disease Control estimates 20,000 new cases of Valley Fever are diagnosed each year, and as of now, there is no vaccine to help prevent it. However, there is hope that in the future, that could change. 23ABC's Ruby Rivera has more.

The Hawaii wildfires are officially the state's deadliest natural disaster. With locals still searching through wreckage and trying to locate loved ones, many are asking: how did the damage get so bad, and was there anything that could be done to stop it? Many aspects came together to make the perfect storm for the fire.

Latest Kern County, California and US & world news from 23ABC in Bakersfield, Calif.

In this A Veterans Voice, Mike Hart talked to one of the last members at the Wasco location who remembers the posts' glory days not that long ago.

All the victims were taken to hospitals, and the teenager died at a hospital, he said.

Our kids may seem just like little adults in many ways. But when it comes to keeping those little bodies safe from this big heat there are some key differences all parents need to know. One emergency room doctor breaks down the most common mistakes parents make.

Latest Kern County, California and US & world news from 23ABC in Bakersfield, Calif.

Hilary was a historic storm for Southern California. And while it did cause damage in some areas others may have felt like the storm didn't live up to the hype. So we asked a climate scientist to help break down how we can better interpret hurricane forecasts.