The U.S. Department of Transportation chose Great Lakes Aviation to take over subsidized airline service in Visalia and Merced after Air Midwest said last year it wanted out of the two markets. Rising fuel and maintenance costs, Air Midwest officials said, meant they couldn't serve Visalia and Merced profitably, even with a federal subsidy of up to $1.6 million a year.

Air Midwest has been flying to Visalia since the fall of 2006 under the US Airways Express brand.

Airport officials in Visalia said they'd originally hoped for Great Lakes to begin flying earlier this year in a seamless transition between the two airlines. But Great Lakes reportedly had trouble lining up airplanes and pilots to extend its route system into California, causing delays.

Lately, the hangup has been reconciling computer reservation systems between Great Lakes and United, its prospective airline partner on the ground at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

Air Midwest's closure of its nationwide operations by June 30, and in Visalia and Merced at the end of this month, "kind of lights a fire under us now," said Monica Taylor, Great Lakes' director of sales and marketing.

"We really have to try to secure this service because now it's do or die," she said. "We've got to get something up and running as soon as possible."

If the obstacles with United cannot be covercome, she added, Great Lakes will search for opportunities with other airlines for ground operations at Las Vegas.

Taylor said Wednesday's shutdown announcement by Air Midwest's parent company, Mesa Air Group, took Great Lakes by surprise. "It was common knowledge they've been trying to get out of the Essential Air Service business and get rid of their Beech 1900s," she said. "That was going slowly before" as Mesa Air Group sought a buyer for Air Midwest."

"And now it's moving fast."

In the meantime, people who bought tickets in advance to fly on Air Midwest's US Airways Express flights on dates after May 31 want to know what they're going to do.

Air Midwest president Greg Stephens promised that US Airways will provide refunds to ticketholders; anyone who bought a ticket through a third-party online agent, such as priceline.com, would need to call that company directly, Stephens said.

"We’re going to make every effort to reaccomodate US Airways passengers scheduled to fly Air Midwest past the dates of cessation," Morgan Durrant, a US Airway spokesperson, wrote in an e-mail Thursday. "We don’t know at this point whether that will be on a new [subsidized] carrier or not in all cases, but we will be notifying customers in the days and weeks ahead."

And Bill Mosely, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation, said the agency expects airlines to provide refunds unless it's a bankruptcy case.

He added that custoemrs who used a credit card to buy their ticket can, under federal law, call the credit card company and have the charge stricken from their bill.

Mosely said that while in some cases other airlines may honor a defunct carrier's tickets, there is no federal requirement to do so.

First gas prices skyrocket. Then food. Now shoes.

A story in the Wall Street Journal creatively headlined “Pain at the Other Pump: Shoe Prices Rise,” tells us how Payless and other major footwear sellers are hiking up prices.

It stems from rising fuel prices and higher costs of manufacturing in China, where 85% of shoes are made.

That's a whopping 61.7% drop in only a year. The fallout is being felt in a higher unemployment rate (check Jeff St. John's story tomorrow) and higher office vacancy rates. People are even, gasp, drinking cheaper beer.

Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines of Clovis and Senate Repuiblican chief Dave Cogdill of Modesto are hosting the "Tour de Napa 2008" this weekend.

For just $10,000 you get "luxury transportation," a "gourmet luncheon" and private tastings at some of Napa's finest wineries. On Friday, top the night off with "port, cigars & live music under the oak trees," says the fundraising flier. An overnight trip will cost you $2,500 more.

Bedrock was formed to acquire lots in areas where builders could have "liquidity challenges", according to the documents. Among its first purchases: 167 lots in east Fresno for $3.7 million.

Builders also are downsizing their operations. The latest example is D.R. Horton, who, as I noted in a recent blog, moved some of its functions from Fresno to Southern California. Horton still has an office here, according to the building landlord, but has cut staff. The company did the same in Sacramento, where it moved some functions to the Bay area. Check out Jim Wasserman's blog item in the Sacramento Bee.

It's tough out there, but an increasing chorus of experts is proclaiming the bottom is near. We won't know that, of course, until we've been at the bottom for awhile or are starting to head back up.

Most of the candidates considered to be in the top or second tier have purchased television time, with ABC30 being the most popular choice, according to the candidates themselves. KMJ Radio and KMPH Channel 26 were also mentioned by several candidates.

Ashley Swearengin and Henry T. Perea, the top fundraisers in the campaign, both said they had bought airtime. Others, from Mike Dages and Jerry Duncan to Tom Boyajian and Doug Vagim, have aired commercials as well.

Tom Holyoke, an assistant professor of political science at California State University, Fresno, said candidates typically buy television ads to attack an opponent or make themselves better known to voters. In this case, he adds, "I'm guessing that a lot of them need more name recognition."

Beyond just getting their name out in front of the public, the candidates are trying "to define themselves as a certain type of candidate," Holyoke said. "The downtown candidate, or the fiscally conservative candidate. They are just trying to show voters who they are."

Is it working? What do you think?

Boswell, who has a Web page dedicated to his campaign, also has active pages on Myspace and meetup.com.

His latest effort is a series of videos posted on Youtube that deal with why he is running for mayor, how he believes the current City Council members wrecked the Running Horse deal and what the best plan is for downtown Fresno.

“I know, and you know, that these wealthy candidates have special interests behind them,” Boswell says in one of the videos. He goes on to say that the other candidates are hoping for a low turnout in the race. “My opponents are actually counting on you not voting because that helps them.”

Most of the 11 candidates for mayor come up on Youtube, though the majority of the videos are from fresnobee.com staff member Will Albritton, who videotaped an early candidate forum.

Others who have posted their own efforts include Ashley Swearengin and Jerry Duncan. Tom Boyajian comes up in two videos. One is the from the Bee. The second is an infomercial for a Fresno Real Estate finance firm.

The most interesting reaction comes from Joe Mathews, an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation. On the new Fox & Hounds blog, Mathews wonders if "California and its businesses [might] gain a unique advantage by being one of the few places that gays and lesbians could marry?"

"Would the state become a draw for gay couples?" he asks. "Would those couples bring more wealth to the state, start more businesses, add to the tax base? Or do they consume services that negate that effect?"

Gov. Schwarzenegger, who yesterday looked to the state lottery to solve the state's economic woes, says: “I respect the Court’s decision and as Governor, I will uphold its ruling. Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling.”

Other, more conservative Republicans, are blasting the ruling. Here's what Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines of Clovis says:

“Fortunately, more than 1 million Californians have signed ballot petitions to place a constitutional amendment before the voters this November that will write into the state Constitution that marriage should be between one man and one woman. I am confident that the people of California will again overwhelmingly vote to preserve and protect traditional marriage."

As evidence, it cites the fact that the year-over-year decline in new-home sales has shrunk for the third month in a row and that sales and prices increased in March in several metropolitan regions, including Fresno.

Still, foreclosures are occurring at an unprecedented rate and the supply of houses remains high, which hampers any recovery. And a market analyst quoted in the association's own news release says lingering problems in the overall economy will prevent an immediate rebound.

With the mercury expected to reach into the triple-digits, Visalia is opening up its Transit Center as a community "cooling center" for residents to dodge the heat starting on Friday and continuing through Sunday evening.

The opening was announced today by interim Fire Chief Charlie Norman and city spokeswoman Nancy Loliva.

The center, on Oak Avenue between Bridge and Santa Fe streets at the northeast edge of downtown Visalia, has plenty of seating, as well as vending machines and restrooms. All of the city's transit bus routes connect to the center.

The building will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day.

Crystal Pacheco, Amanda Smith and Kimberly Saesee won the junior group performance category for their project, "A Chain That Cannot Be Broken: The Ultimate Compromise of Anne Frank and her step-sister, Eva Geringer-Schloss."

Amanda Jost and Holly Wilson took top honors in the junior group exhibit category for "Exposing Manzanar Inside and Out: Ansel Adams and Toyo Miyatake."

The weeklong national competition begins June 15. The event will be held at the University of Maryland.

-- Susie Pakoua Vang

It will stock more than 40,000 products under one roof and be almost 150,000 square feet in size. In addition, it will employ 175 people and represent an investment of $18.5 million into the community.

Madera has been on a roll of sorts lately, with a proposed Indian casino moving forward, the move of Rain Creek Baking Co. from Fresno and other additions to the local economy.

The company has apparently shifted some functions from Fresno to Southern California. A sign on the office door at River Park says its temporarily closed. A call to corporate in Texas elicited an e-mail response. Here's a portion: "Our Fresno sales, construction and customer service will continue to be managed locally, while certain support functions will now be handled by our LA Ventura division office."

Horton's a fairly large player in the area, accounting for 7% of the market share, according to Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, which tracks new-home activity. Many home builders and related companies, such as title, finance and real estate firms, have cut back in this downturn. In addition, companies are putting excess land up for sale, providing buying opportunies for investment firms and other builders stockpiling for the future.

A few months ago, I sent a message to Ken Shockley, the Fresno Fire Department public information officer, asking if any firefighters would be interesting in honoring the memory of Chris Johnson by joining Team In Training for the summer season.

Full disclosure: I have been a Team In Training volunteer since 2006 and am a coach for the Central California cycling team.

Johnson, who was an engineer with Cal Fire, died in September of last year at the age of 32 after a year-long battle with leukemia. He worked at the firehouse at McCall and American Avenues and was much admired by fellow firefighters.

Jonathan Lusk, a Fresno fire captain, answered the call and will ride 100 miles around Lake Tahoe and Truckee as a member of the Central California TNT team. Riders from the team will raise about $150,000 for leukemia and lymphoma research and local patient services before they complete America's Most Beautiful Ride on June 1.

Lusk needs to raise $2,700 to qualify for the ride, but he wants to raise a total of $50,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as a way of honoring Johnson and his surviving family -- wife Rebecca and son C.J.

In addition to his cycling training, Lusk teamed with Fresno firefighter Fred Martinez and his son Max to produce an emotionally charged, six-minute video tribute to Johnson.

I challenge every firefighter in Central California to match my donation of $50 to Lusk's fund-raising efforts for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

You can see the video by clicking here.

You can donate in Johnson's memory by clicking here to reach Lusk's Web site.

The study in the latest issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry says these sensitive amphibians react like mammals. In humans, ozone oxidizes the skin, eyes and lungs. Scientists concluded that ozone might be a factor in amphibian declines.

Studies in the Sierra Nevada over the last decade have shown alarming drops in mountain yellow-legged frogs. The San Joaquin Valley's ozone is known to drift into the mountains. Last year Sequoia had more violations than any place in the Valley.

Biologists probably will continue intensely studying amphibians because they are viewed as indicators of environmental health.