Today, finding out whether a convicted sex offender lives nearby takes just a few clicks — but decades ago, communities had no such warning system. Long before Megan’s Law made that information public, one small Kern County town was forced to c...

In the final summer of the Roaring Twenties, just weeks before the stock market crash would shatter the nation’s confidence, a quiet and disheveled stranger wandered into Bakersfield. Within hours, that man—49-year-old Augustus Mahillon—would b...

For decades, Sidney “Sid” Sheffield devoted his life to making Bakersfield a better place — as a teacher, administrator, and champion of local education and health care. His warmth drew people in, his optimism lifted spirits, and his...