title: Bakersfield, California

text: Air quality is generally at its worst in fall and winter, due to the California wildfire season and colder temperatures forming an inversion layer, respectively. It is common for an inversion layer to form in the valley in the winter, in which temperatures can be warmer in the foothills above the valley with the valley itself being cooler. This can trap air pollution in Bakersfield and the surrounding valley areas for days, or even weeks at a time. This can typically be mediated by rain or strong winds. Emissions from agriculture, industry, rail freight and road traffic together create significant concentrations of air pollution. The extraction of oil and gas, a historic industry in the area, contributes to the poor air quality. Returning flowing water to the Kern River and along with trees is promoted as a way to improve air quality and enhance recreation in the city.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In 2015, Bakersfield had 28 days of "Unhealthy" and 1 day of "Very Unhealthy" air quality according to the EPA. This ranked 6th in the United States.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In 2016, Bakersfield had 14 days with "Unhealthy" air quality according to the EPA. This ranked 9th in the United States.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In 2017, Bakersfield had 23 days with "Unhealthy" air quality according to the EPA. Fourteen of those days were caused by the Thomas Fire located in adjacent Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. During that fire, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties experienced "Very Unhealthy" and "Hazardous" air quality.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In 2018, Bakersfield had 27 days with "Unhealthy" air quality according to the EPA. Most of these days were due to the second deadliest and most destructive wildfire season on record in California, behind the 2020 fire season. This ranked 6th in the United States.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In 2019, Bakersfield had only 6 days with "Unhealthy" air quality and 2 days with "Very Unhealthy" according to the EPA.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In 2020, Bakersfield had 31 days with "Unhealthy" air quality and 2 days with "Very Unhealthy" according to the EPA. This was largely caused by the record-breaking 2020 fire season.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In 2021, Bakersfield has recorded 28 days with "Unhealthy" air quality and 1 day with "Very Unhealthy" according to the EPA.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The 2010 United States Census reported that Bakersfield had a population of 347,483. The population density was . The ethnic makeup of Bakersfield was 197,389 (56.8%) White, 28,238 (8.1%) African American, 5,102 (1.5%) Native American, 21,432 (6.2%) Asian (2.1% Indian, 2.0% Filipino, 0.5% Chinese, 0.4% Korean, 0.2% Japanese, 478 (0.1%) Pacific Islander), 77,686 (22.4%) from other races, and 17,068 (4.9%) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 158,205 persons (45.5%). Among the general population, 39.5% are Mexican, 1.3% Salvadoran, 0.5% Guatemalan, and 0.10% Colombian. Non-Hispanic Whites were 37.8% of the population in 2010, compared to 71% in 1980.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The census reported 344,088 people (99.0% of the population) lived in households, 2,094 (0.6%) lived in noninstitutionalized group quarters, and 1,301 (0.4%) were institutionalized.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Of the 111,132 households, 51,995 (46.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 57,276 (51.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 18,049 (16.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, and 7,829 (7.0%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 8,159 (7.3%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 845 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. About 21,800 households (19.6%) were made up of individuals, and 7,354 (6.6%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.10. There were 83,154 families (74.8% of all households); the average family size was 3.56.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The population was distributed as 109,479 people (31.5%) under the age of 18, 37,368 (10.8%) aged 18 to 24, 97,024 (27.9%) aged 25 to 44, 74,276 (21.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 29,336 (8.4%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.5 males.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The 120,725 housing units averaged 840.6 per square mile (324.6/km), of which 66,323 (59.7%) were owner-occupied, and 44,809 (40.3%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.2%; the rental vacancy rate was 9.0%. About 206,492 people (59.4% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units, and 137,596 people (39.6%) lived in rental housing units.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield has consistently ranked as one of the least educated metropolitan areas in the United States. A study by the Brookings Institution using 2008 data found that the proportion of Bakersfield metro adults age 25 and over with a bachelor's degree was the lowest (14.7%) of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States; that 100th-place finish was down from being ranked 95th in 1990.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: According to a Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, Bakersfield ranks as one of the ten most obese metro areas in America. Of its residents, 33.6% were found to be obese, compared to the national average of 26.5%. The same study found that 21.2% were smokers, 12.7% had diabetes, 27.9% had high blood pressure, 22.8% had high cholesterol, 3.3% have suffered a heart attack, 75.2% felt they had enough money to buy food and 75.5% had health insurance.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield saw its population grow from about 105,000 in 1980 to 347,000 in 2010. Although the city is still growing, its growth rate has slowed in recent years due to the economic recession and high home foreclosure rates. However, in October 2013, Bakersfield was found to be the number two city in the nation for the rental market. Apartment vacancies have become a large issue with only one percent of potential apartments being open to new renters as of April 2021. The average cost of rent and housing have dramatically increased in the last few years, with some apartments having their monthly rent nearly double in cost. Most new apartments being built are catering to commuting workers from Southern California and the Bay Area, with local residents being priced out.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The city of Shafter, a small farming town north of Bakersfield, previously filed a suit to attempt to limit the northern expansion of Bakersfield's city limits. Shafter has also annexed large pieces of farmland to its east and south to ensure that Bakersfield does not annex this area. Bakersfield, in addition, filed a lawsuit against Shafter in 2007 regarding water rights Shafter planned to use but Bakersfield stated it had purchased in 1976. As a result, the city of Bakersfield threatened to annex the city of Shafter.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The large bluff and plateau which lie east of Bakersfield—toward the Rio Bravo and Kern Canyon area—have been under development for the last 60 years. Because the steep, north-facing edge of the bluff provides a view of the foothills, mountains, oil fields, and Kern River, the city government has attempted to balance development and preservation in this area.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield's historic and primary industries have related to Kern County's two main industries, oil and agriculture. Kern County in 2013 was the most oil productive county in the US. Kern County is a part of the highly productive San Joaquin Valley, and ranks in the top five most productive agricultural counties in the nation. Major crops for Kern County include: grapes, citrus, almonds, carrots, alfalfa, cotton, and roses. The city serves as the home for both corporate and regional headquarters of companies engaged in these industries.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield has a growing manufacturing and distribution sector. Several companies have moved to Bakersfield because of its inexpensive land, as well as proximity to international ports in both Los Angeles and Oakland. Other companies have opened regional offices and non-oil/agricultural businesses because of Bakersfield's and Kern County's business friendly policies, such as having no local utility or inventory taxes. Products manufactured in the city include: ice cream (world's largest ice cream plant), central vacuums, highway paint, and stock racing cars.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is the largest city to have the lowest sales tax in California at the state minimum of 7.25%.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: According to the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, the top employers in the county based in Bakersfield are:


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Many of Bakersfield's oldest and most historic restaurants are Basque, including Wool Growers, Noriega's, Pyrenees, Benji's, and Narducci's.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The Kern County Museum, located on Chester Avenue just north of downtown Bakersfield holds a collection of regional artifacts. Permanent exhibits include: "Black Gold: The Oil Experience", a hands-on modern approach at showing how oil is extracted; and "The Lori Brock Children's Discovery Museum", a hands-on children's museum and a display on the influential "Bakersfield Sound" style of country music. Bakersfield is also home to the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History, which has a collection of Miocene era marine fossils collected from the region as well as other displays.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The city gained fame in the late 1950s and early 1960s for the Bakersfield Sound, an electric guitar-driven subgenre of country music that commercially dominated the industry for more than a decade. Buck Owens, Dwight Yoakam, and Merle Haggard were its best-known stars.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Every spring, Bakersfield hosts one of California's Scottish Games and Clan Gatherings. In the late summer, St. George's Greek Orthodox Church hosts an annual Greek Festival.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Every year during the summer, Bakersfield hosts the Lowrider National at the Kern County Fairgrounds.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Memorial Day weekend features the Kern County Basque Festival, sponsored by the Kern County Basque Club. This three-day festival features food, music, dance, and handball games.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In March, Famoso Raceway holds the annual March Meet nostalgia drag racing event. The event dates back to the U.S. Fuel and Gas Finals held in March 1959.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Twice a year, the CSUB Indigenous Native American Club hosts a Native Gathering on the California State University Bakersfield campus at Runner Park.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In mid to late September, Bakersfield holds the annual Kern County Fair, which showcases the area's agricultural produce and animal husbandry, along with a rodeo, concerts, and a traditional carnival.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Previously every year and now every five years, Bakersfield hosts a political conference known as the Bakersfield Business Conference. Since 1985, this conference has grown in attendance and as of 2007, the attendance numbered over 9,000. The Conference has had several notable political speakers to include Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Neil Armstrong, Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell, Mike Wallace, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Paul Harvey.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Writers of Kern hosts their Spring Writers Conference in March or April each year. Edgar Award winner and internationally bestselling author, Anne Perry, was a notable speaker at one of these writer's conferences.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield has five movie multi-screen theaters: Edwards Bakersfield Stadium 14, Reading Cinemas Valley Plaza 16, Maya Cinemas Bakersfield 16, AMC Bakersfield 6, and a Studio Movie Grill. The historic downtown Fox Theater has been renovated and is now a venue for concerts, musicians, comedians, and movies. The Bakersfield Community Theatre is the oldest "live" community theater in California. There are others, including "The Empty Space" (which offers some free performances).


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Due to the Dust Bowl, Buck Owens and his family migrated west where they would travel from Phoenix to the San Joaquin Valley to pick crops, including cotton. At 16, Owens moved to Bakersfield in 1951 where he and other musicians began to create what is now known as the Bakersfield sound. In 1996, Buck Owens opened the Crystal Palace, a music hall, nightclub, bar, restaurant, and museum, in Bakersfield.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Musician Merle Haggard was born and raised in Oildale. In 1962, Haggard completed his first single, "Skid Row", on Bakersfield's Tally label. In 1965, he went on to sign with Capitol Records. Most of Haggard's early songs reflect his time spent in prison, farming, and working blue collar jobs in Southern California, including Bakersfield.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is often considered to be the birthplace of a unique strand of country music that has inspired many country artists, such as Dwight Yoakam and The Strangers. Yoakam, alongside Owens, paid tribute to Owens by covering his 1973 recording of "Streets of Bakersfield". The cover reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1988.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is known for the Bakersfield sound, "a twangy style of Fender Telecaster and pedal steel guitar music made popular by hometown country crooners Buck Owens and Merle Haggard" as well as The Strangers.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is also known for Doowop music dating back from the early-to-mid 1950s to the early-to-late 1960s, consisting of Doowop vocal groups such as The Paradons, The Colts, The Rev-Lons, and more.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In 1972, Bob Weir released the song "Mexicali Blues" on his first solo album, "Ace". Not only does the sound of the song pay tribute to the Bakersfield sound, but the name of the city is referenced in the lyrics.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In 1978, The Rolling Stones released the song "Far Away Eyes" on the album "Some Girls". Mick Jagger and Keith Richards collaborated on writing the song and it was recorded in late 1977. The Rolling Stones, longtime country music fans, incorporated many aspects of "Bakersfield sound" country music into this song. Bakersfield is mentioned in the song.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In the early 1990s, a group of friends from the lower and middle-class parts of Northeast and East Bakersfield formed the nu metal band Korn. The members of the band attended Highland High School (Jonathan Davis and Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu), East High School (James "Munky" Shaffer and lead guitarist Brian "Head" Welch) and South High School (David Silveria). Korn has sold over 34 million albums worldwide and were given the keys to the city. Bakersfield is also the home of fellow metal groups Cradle of Thorns (formed in 1988 by Ty Elam as Videodrone) and Adema (The band formed in 2000 with members vocalist Mark Chavez, guitarist Tim Fluckey, guitarist Mike Ransom, bassist Dave DeRoo, and drummer Kris Kohls). On February 24, 2006, Bakersfield mayor Harvey Hall declared February 24 "Korn Day". On the same day, the back road to the Rabobank Arena was named Korn Row.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is also the home of Deathrock group Burning Image, one of the original bands of the early 80's Californian Deathrock scene.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is not represented in any of the five major sports leagues: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, or MLS. The closest major sports teams are in Los Angeles and they have many fans in Bakersfield. The city is home to two minor league professional sports teams: the Bakersfield Condors (American Hockey League) and the Bakersfield Train Robbers baseball club (Pecos League). It was previously home to the California League's Bakersfield Blaze baseball team which ceased operations after the 2016 season. A third minor league team, the Bakersfield Jam of the D-League (basketball), was relocated to Prescott Valley, Arizona, in 2016. The Bakersfield Magic are an expansion team in The Basketball League that will begin play in 2022.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In addition, Bakersfield has two colleges with strong athletics programs. The Bakersfield Renegades represent Bakersfield College, a community college with 19 varsity sports, the most notable being football. It competes in the Western State Conference, which is a part of the California Community College Athletic Association. The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners represent California State University, Bakersfield and sponsor 15 varsity sports, the most notable being basketball. It competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the Big West Conference


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is home to Colby Lewis from the MLB team, the Texas Rangers, Stephen Neal from the Super Bowl Champions, New England Patriots. NFL players Joey Porter, David and Derek Carr also have called Bakersfield home, and still have some connection to Bakersfield.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is also located near a variety of motor racing venues. Current racing sports include: drag strip (at Famoso Raceway), dirt (at Bakersfield Speedway), road course (at Buttonwillow Raceway), and a paved 1/2 mile oval (at Kern County Raceway Park), which replaced Mesa Marin Raceway, a NASCAR associated oval track, that was demolished in 2004. A 1/3 mile dirt track has also opened on the Kern County Raceway Park property. The national jet boat association holds drag boat races at Lake Ming. Bakersfield is also the home town of four time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears, as well as the 2007 Daytona 500 winner, and 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield has many venues for a variety of different sports. One of the most notable and versatile is the Mechanics Bank Arena (formerly the Centennial Garden) which hosts concerts, shows, and sporting events. In addition, Bakersfield has facilities that can host tournament games. The Kern County Soccer Field has 24 full-size light soccer fields. Also, currently under construction is the Bakersfield Sports Village. When completed, it will have 16 baseball fields, 6 football fields, and 16 soccer fields.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield uses the Council-Manager form of government, in which the City Council is the primary governing authority. The City Council consists of seven members, elected from seven wards (or districts). The Mayor is elected at large, and is the presiding member of the City Council, although she does not cast a vote except in a few instances. The City Council appoints and confirms (which the mayor does cast a vote) both the City Attorney and the City Manager. The City Manager, in turn, appoints (does not require confirmation from the City Council) the Finance Director, City Clerk, and Deputy City Clerk. In addition to these positions, Bakersfield also has several departments, used to provide the services necessary to the city. They are: Department of Development Services, Department of Economic and Community Development, Fire Department, Police Department, Department of Public Works, Department of Recreation and Parks, and Department of Water Resources.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The framework for the city government is defined in the City Charter. As of 2011, it contained 11 articles and 4 addendums. The current version was adopted on January 23, 1915. Little information is known about the City Charter adopted in 1873, or in 1898, when the city was incorporated. The City Charter has been amended several times since it was adopted. One of the more definitive amendments was to change the Mayor from an appointed position (by the City Council) to an elected position in 1956, which was done as a result of the 1952 Kern County earthquake.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The City Manager of Bakersfield is the appointed head of the executive branch. The position was created after 1957, when the role of mayor (which was the previous head) was split into two new positions. Under the council-manager form of government, the City Manager is responsible for executing ordinances passed by the city council and running the departments that make up the city. His office is currently located in City Hall North.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The city manager is appointed by the city council. His service can end in one of two ways. Either he: resigns, or by a vote of removal by the city council. The vote to appoint and remove is one of the few votes the mayor can cast.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Federally, Bakersfield is split between California's 23rd congressional district, which is represented by Republican Kevin McCarthy and California's 21st congressional district, which is represented by Republican David Valadao.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: An August 2005 article in the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" listed Bakersfield as the eighth-most-conservative city in the United States and the most conservative city in California. In the 2008 Presidential election, Republican John McCain received 55.6% of the city's votes to Democrat Barack Obama's 42.9%. The same year, Bakersfield cast 75.2% of its votes in favor of Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump received 50.4% of the vote compared to Hillary Clinton's 44.0%. Large influxes of people moving to Bakersfield from Southern California and the Bay Area have been changing the political makeup of Bakersfield, while Kern County as a whole still remains strongly Republican.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Law enforcement within the city limits is provided by the Bakersfield Police Department. Fire protection within the city is provided jointly by the Bakersfield Fire Department and by the Kern County Fire Department, which protects the county as a whole.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is traditionally acknowledged as the frontier delineating Sureño and Norteño gang territories.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The Bakersfield Police Department (BPD) is the agency responsible for law enforcement. It has over 363 officers and 100 professional staff, covering an area of serving an urban population of more than 800,000. The current chief of the department is Greg Terry. The department protects the city, split between two areas: West area and East area, with police headquarters in the east and the west substation serving west Bakersfield. The department administration is made up of the chief of police, one assistant chief, four captains and eleven lieutenants.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The department headquarters are located at 1601 Truxtun Avenue. The West Substation is located at 1301 Buena Vista Road. Satellite offices are located on E. 11th Street and on E. White Lane. The department pistol range is located on Truxtun Avenue, with the K-9 training grounds next door to the range. The department training academy is located on Norris Road in conjunction with the Kern County Sheriff's Department.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The 2015 Mapping Police Violence study calculated that Bakersfield police killed civilians at the highest rate in the U.S., logging 13.6 killings per million people, compared to the U.S. average of 3.6. In all, 13 people were killed in 2015 by BPD Officers and 27 people were killed by law enforcement officers in Kern County, which has a population of approximately 900,000. The Guardian reported that law enforcement officers in Kern County, California, killed more people per capita than in any other American county in 2015.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The Bakersfield Fire Department's communications division, known as ECC (Emergency Communications Center), is located in the Whiting Communications Center in Northeast Bakersfield. ECC is a joint dispatch center for the Kern County, Bakersfield City, and California City Fire Departments. Built in 1988, ECC is responsible for dispatching resources over an area of approximately that includes 65 fire stations. ECC's approximate call volume is 82,000 calls a year and processes Emergency and Non-Emergency Fire and Medical 911 calls for the entire County of Kern.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The Kern County Fire Department (KCFD) is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the county of Kern, California, USA. With over 625 permanent employees and 100 extra help employees protecting an area which spans over . KCFD provides fire protection services for over 500,000 citizens living in the unincorporated areas of Kern County and the cities of Arvin, Delano, Maricopa, McFarland, Ridgecrest, Shafter, Taft, Tehachapi and Wasco. This agency is contracted to provide dispatch services for the California City Fire Department, Kern Ambulance based in Wasco, and Care Ambulance based in Lake Isabella. Over 546 uniformed firefighters are stationed in 46 fire stations throughout the county.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Due to a vast number of county islands and jagged city limit lines in the south part of Bakersfield, the closest fire station is dispatched to incidents. This often results in city resources being dispatched to county locations, and vice versa.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The number of violent crimes recorded by the Bakersfield Police Department in its 2008 Crime Reports was 5,961. 27 of those were murders and homicides. Data collected by Bakersfield Police Department, an anti-gang program under the city of Bakersfield, shows that the city of Bakersfield has experienced an increase in gang membership and gang activity since the early 2000s.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The Bakersfield Police Department has a holding area, but inmates are transported to the Kern County Central Receiving Facility in Bakersfield. Sentenced criminals are held at the Lerdo Detention Facility, just outside the city's limits. The Kern County Sheriff's Office, Detentions Bureau has an average daily inmate population of approximately 2,500 inmates.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The primary facility for receiving inmates arrested in the Bakersfield area is the Central Receiving Facility. In addition, there is the Lerdo Complex, which consists of three facilities:


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Two of the earliest schools founded in Kern County were Mrs. Thomas Baker's school, opened in 1863 at the Baker home (near present-day 19th and N streets); and a Catholic parochial school opened by Reverend Father Daniel Dade in 1865 in Havilah (then the county seat). In 1880, Norris School was established. The land for this school was donated by William Norris, a local farmer. Thirteen to twenty students were taught in its one classroom during the 1880s. Bakersfield City School District (BCSD) is the state's largest elementary school district. The first high school in Bakersfield, Kern County Union High School, opened in 1893. It was renamed Bakersfield High School after World War II.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The site at California Avenue and F Street is the location of the first campus of Bakersfield College, which was established in 1913 and relocated in 1956 to its current location overlooking the Panorama Bluffs in northeast Bakersfield. Bakersfield College has an enrollment of 16,000 students. To serve a growing baby-boomer population after World War II, the Kern High School District has steadily expanded to nineteen campuses and more than 35,000 students, making it the largest high school district in the state. In 1965, a university in the California State University system was founded in Bakersfield. California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) has approximately 10,000 students. It was an NCAA Division II sports powerhouse in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) with some sports, including wrestling (Pac-10), competing in Division I. CSUB has become a Division I athletic school and will join the Big West Conference in 2020. In 1982, the Bakersfield campus for Santa Barbara Business College was founded.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is part of the Kern High School District (KHSD), California's largest high school district, comprising 28 schools and educating about 35,000 students. There are 17 high schools within the KHSD in Bakersfield:


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Private high schools include Garces Memorial High School, Bakersfield Christian High School, and Bakersfield Adventist Academy.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: California State University, Bakersfield ("CSUB", "CSU Bakersfield", or "Cal State Bakersfield") is a public university founded in Bakersfield in 1965. CSUB opened in 1970 on a campus of , becoming the 19th school in the California State University system. The university offers 31 bachelor's and 22 master's degree programs. As of fall 2017, over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students attended CSUB, at either the main campus in Bakersfield or the satellite campus, Antelope Valley Center in Lancaster, California.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield College ("BC") is a public community college located in Bakersfield, California. Its main campus is on a campus in northeast Bakersfield, with two satellite campuses: the Weill Institute in downtown Bakersfield, and at the Delano Center in Delano, California, approximately north of Bakersfield. BC serves more than 18,000 students each semester and is part of the Kern Community College District. Currently, there are a total of 184 Associate's degree and certificate programs for students to choose from. BC is a part of the California Community Colleges system.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: National University and University of Phoenix maintains a campus in Bakersfield, while the University of LaVerne, Fresno Pacific University, and Point Loma Nazarene University all have branch campuses located in Bakersfield. San Joaquin Valley College and Santa Barbara Business College also have campuses in Bakersfield.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is served by several media outlets. The primary newspaper is "The Bakersfield Californian", which is a direct descendant of the first paper published in the region, "The Daily Courier" in 1866.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The city has a number of television stations and network affiliates, including KERO-TV (ABC), KBAK-TV (CBS), KGET-TV (NBC), KBFX-CD (Fox), KABE-CD (Univision), KKEY-LP (Telemundo), KNXT-LD (MyNetworkTV), KGET-DT2 (CW+) and is served by Fresno's PBS affiliate, KVPT. Bakersfield is also home to Spanish-language broadcaster Univision's only English-language station, KUVI-DT.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is serviced by an extensive highway network which includes three freeways. State Route 99 bisects Bakersfield from north to south, while State Route 58 exists as a freeway east of SR 99, servicing the southeast part of the city and extending over the Tehachapi mountains to Tehachapi, Mojave, and Barstow. State Route 178 consists of a short segment of freeway that runs from a point near downtown to the northeastern part of the city, although there is currently no direct freeway connection between SR 99 and SR 178. Interstate 5 bypasses the city several miles to the west.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is also served by a short, unsigned, four-lane freeway called Alfred Harrell Highway. It was constructed between 1956 and 1958 and extends from China Grade Loop to Hart Park (a large recreation park in northeast Bakersfield). There is also a two-lane expressway to the east of the park. This section was originally reserved to be converted to a four-lane freeway similar to the constructed western portion. If it were ever constructed, it would have two interchanges (at Morning Drive and Lake Ming Road) and would terminate at the SR 178 adopted alignment (not constructed).


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Both SR 58 and SR 178 have planned future extensions. The western extension of SR 58 is known as the Centennial Corridor, which will extend the freeway west to I-5. Included in the Centennial Corridor is the Westside Parkway (sometimes referred to by its formal name, the Kern River Freeway). This is a newer freeway which runs through western Bakersfield, on a route parallel to the Kern River and Stockdale Highway. The western extension of SR 178 is known as the Crosstown Freeway/SR 178 Connection, although it was formerly known as the Centennial Corridor before that name was moved to SR 58. It is planned to connect SR 178 to the Westside Parkway.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: In addition to these freeway extensions, there is also a proposed network of beltways. Currently, there are two beltways being considered in Bakersfield. The West Beltway would run north–south from Seventh Standard Road to Taft Highway. It will run parallel to Heath Road to the north and parallel to South Allen Road to the south. A future extension would connect the West Beltway to SR 99 and I-5, providing a bypass to Bakersfield. The South Beltway would run east–west from SR 58 to I-5. From SR 58, it would run south, parallel to Comanche Drive until Taft Highway. From there, the freeway would turn west, and run parallel to Taft Highway until terminating at I-5.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: A future extension would extend the freeway north to SR 178 and terminate at Alfred Harrell Highway. Bakersfield also envisioned Caltrans building a North Beltway as the western extension of SR 58, but this has been withdrawn in favor of the Centennial Corridor.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Most of Bakersfield's major streets are six-lane divided roads with bike lanes, with almost every street in the city having proper lane signage for bicycle traffic. Bikes are a popular method of transportation in Bakersfield, due to the city's relatively flat topography and grid-like street system. Newer neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, previously surrounded by two-lane farm roads, are prompting more large, divided roads to be built to help ease the increase in traffic that has resulted from an explosion in population. Many developers choose to widen the roads that connect these neighborhoods at their own discretion, which can cause a major road to widen and narrow repeatedly over a short distance (Allen Road and Panama Lane are prime examples of this). Since the Bakersfield city limit boundaries are not uniform and leap over different neighborhoods, this can cause Kern County "islands" to exist within Bakersfield. The county of Kern may choose not to upgrade a road while the city of Bakersfield does improve a road, which can cause traffic congestion to increase (Calloway Drive from the Westside Parkway north to Rosedale Highway best exemplifies this disparity).


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is currently one of the largest cities in the U.S. that is not directly linked to an Interstate highway. However, SR 99 and SR 58 have been considered for conversion to Interstates. SR 99 would be a new Interstate signed either as Interstate 7 or Interstate 9, while SR 58 would be an extension of I-40 which currently terminates in Barstow. In 2005, SR 99 was added to the FHWA list of high priority corridors as "California farm to market route" and designated a Future Interstate.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Garces Memorial Traffic Circle, informally known as Garces Circle or just "the Circle", is a traffic circle in Bakersfield. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Chester Avenue, Golden State Avenue (State Route 204), and 30th Street. The Circle was built circa 1932 as a part of US 99. A large sculpture of Francisco Garces was erected inside the circle in 1939.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Bakersfield is served by Golden Empire Transit. Eighteen routes are operated, the majority of which serve the urbanized portion of the county which includes the city of Bakersfield. Bakersfield is also served by Kern Transit, which connects Bakersfield with other communities in Kern County. Intercity bus providers in Bakersfield include Amtrak Thruway, Greyhound, Flixbus, Orange Belt Stages, National Charter Bus, Intercalifornias, TUFESA, and Fronteras del Norte.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: The privately owned Airport Valet Express used to offer daily service between Bakersfield and LAX via a connection at the Van Nuys FlyAway bus station, however, they suspended service during the 2020 pandemic and have not yet announced a reopening date.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: For freight, Bakersfield is served directly by two class-1 railroads, Union Pacific, and BNSF. North of the city, each railroad uses its own rail lines; south of the city, they share a line owned by Union Pacific. The route travels over Tehachapi Pass (and through the Tehachapi Loop). There are several spur lines in and around Bakersfield. The majority are operated by the San Joaquin Valley Railroad, owned by Genesee & Wyoming.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Passenger service is provided by the San Joaquin Route, operated by Amtrak California. The Bakersfield Amtrak Station is located downtown, at the intersection of S Street and Truxtun Avenue. The city is the southern terminus of the route. There are five Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach routes, which connect passengers to destinations west, south, and east. Kern Transit also uses the station as one of its hubs, connecting passengers to regions throughout Kern County. A station for Bakersfield is planned as part of the California High-Speed Rail system, now under construction.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield was recently rebuilt and dedicated as the William M. Thomas Terminal.


title: Bakersfield, California

text: Also located at the Airport are the Hall Medivac Helicopter, International Flight Training Academy (a subsidiary of Japan's ANA Airlines), SRT Helicopter Flight School, and numerous other aviation mechanics and technicians. However, IFTA has suspended operations in March 2014.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( , ; 24 October 189130 May 1961), nicknamed "El Jefe" (, "The Chief" or "The Boss"), was a Dominican dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from February 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He served as president from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952, ruling for the rest of the time as an unelected military strongman under presidents. His rule of 31 years, known to Dominicans as the Trujillo Era ( or "La Era de Trujillo"), is considered one of the bloodiest and most corrupt regimes in the Western hemisphere, and centered around a personality cult of the ruling family. Trujillo's security forces, including the infamous SIM, were responsible for perhaps as many as 50,000 murders, including between 12,000 and 30,000 Haitians in the infamous Parsley massacre in 1937, which continues to affect Dominican-Haitian relations to this day.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: During his long rule, the Trujillo government's extensive use of state terrorism was prolific even beyond national borders, including the attempted assassination of Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt in 1960, the abduction and disappearance in New York City of the Basque-Dominican exile Jesús Galíndez in 1956, and the murder of Spanish writer José Almoina in Mexico, also in 1960. These acts, particularly the presumed murder of Galindez, a naturalized US citizen, and the murder of the Mirabal sisters in 1960, eroded relations between the Dominican Republic and the international community and ushered in OAS sanctions and economic and military assistance to Dominican opposition forces. After this momentous year large segments of the Dominican establishment, including the military, turned against him.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: By 1960, Trujillo had amassed a net worth of $800 million ($8.02 billion today). On 30 May 1961, he was assassinated by conspirators sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In the immediate aftermath, Trujillo's son Ramfis took temporary control of the country, exterminating most of the conspirators. By November 1961, the Trujillo family was pressured into exile by the titular president Balaguer, whole introduced reforms to open up the regime. The murder ushered in civil strife which concluded with the Dominican Civil War and a US intervention, eventually stabilised under a multi-party system in 1966.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: The Trujillo era unfolded in a Hispanic Caribbean environment particularly susceptible to dictators. In the countries of the Caribbean Basin alone, his dictatorship overlapped with those in Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Venezuela, and Haiti. In perspective, the Trujillo dictatorship has been judged more prominent and more brutal than its contemporaries. Trujillo remains a polarizing figure in the Dominican Republic, as the longevity and profound importance of his rule makes a detached evaluation difficult. While his supporters credit him for bringing long-term stability, economic growth and prosperity, doubling life expectancy of average Dominicans and multiplying the GDP, critics denounce the heavy-handed and violent rule of his 30 years in power, including the murder of tens of thousands, his extreme anti-Haitian sentiment, as well as the Trujillo family's nepotism and looting of the country's natural resources.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Rafael Leónidas Trujillo y Molina was born on 24 October 1891 in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic, into a lower-middle-class family. His father was José Trujillo Valdez, the son of Silveria Valdez Méndez of colonial Dominican origin and José Trujillo Monagas, a Spanish sergeant who arrived in Santo Domingo as a member of the Spanish reinforcement troops during the annexation era. Trujillo's mother was Altagracia Julia Molina Chevalier, later known as Mama Julia, the daughter of Pedro Molina Peña, also of colonial Dominican origin, and the teacher Luisa Erciná Chevalier, whose parents were part of the remaining French descendants in Haiti: Trujillo's maternal great-grandfather, Justin Víctor Turenne Carrié Blaise, was of French descent, while his maternal great-grandmother, Eleonore Juliette Chevallier Moreau, was part of Haiti's mulatto class. Trujillo was the third of eleven children; he also had an adopted brother, Luis Rafael "Nene" Trujillo (1935–2005), who was raised in the home of Trujillo Molina.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In 1897, at the age of six, Trujillo was registered in the school of Juan Hilario Meriño. One year later, he transferred to the school of Broughton, where he became a pupil of Eugenio María de Hostos and remained there for the rest of his primary schooling. As a child, he was obsessed with his appearance and would place bottle caps on his clothes that mimicked military decorations. At the age of 16, Trujillo got a job as a telegraph operator, which he held for about three years. Shortly after Trujillo turned to crime: cattle stealing, check counterfeiting, and postal robbery. He spent several months in prison, which did not deter him, as he later formed a violent gang of robbers called "the 42".


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In 1916, the United States began its occupation of the Dominican Republic following 28 revolutions in 50 years. At the time, Trujillo was twenty-five and worked as a "guardacampestre", controlling sugar cane workers at a plantation in Boca Chica. The occupying force soon established a Dominican army constabulary to impose order. Trujillo joined the National Guard in 1918 with the help of his employer along with US Major James J. MacLean, who was his maternal uncle Teódulo Pina Chevalier's friend, immediately receiving the rank of second lieutenant and training with the US Marines. Allegations of forgery were ignored when Trujillo applied and he was later acquitted by a panel of Marines following plausible accusations of rape and extortion. Colonel Richard Malcolm Cutts trained Trujillo further and many Marine leaders praised his abilities at the time, approving his rise among the ranks.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: President Horacio Vásquez named Trujillo the commander of the Dominican National Police in 1925, he was named brigadier general in 1927 and in 1928, Trujillo reconstituted the police into the army and created it as an independent armed body under his control. A rebellion or "coup d'état" against President Vásquez broke out in February 1930 in Santiago. Trujillo secretly cut a deal with the rebel leader Rafael Estrella Ureña. In return for Trujillo letting Estrella take power, Estrella would allow Trujillo to run for president in new elections. As the rebels marched toward Santo Domingo, Vásquez ordered Trujillo to suppress them. However, feigning "neutrality", Trujillo kept his men in barracks, allowing Estrella's rebels to take the capital virtually unopposed. On 3 March, Estrella was proclaimed acting president, with Trujillo confirmed as head of the police and of the army. As per their agreement, Trujillo became the presidential nominee of the Patriotic Coalition of Citizens (Spanish: "Coalición patriotica de los ciudadanos"), with Estrella as his running mate. The other candidates became targets of harassment by the army. When it became apparent that the army would allow only Trujillo to campaign unhindered, the other candidates pulled out. Ultimately, the Trujillo-Estrella ticket was proclaimed victorious with an implausible 99 percent of the vote. In a note to the State Department, American ambassador Charles Boyd Curtis wrote that Trujillo received far more votes than actual voters.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Three and a half weeks after Trujillo ascended to the presidency, the destructive Hurricane San Zenon hit Santo Domingo and left 2,000 dead. As a response to the disaster, Trujillo placed the Dominican Republic under martial law and began to rebuild the city. He renamed the rebuilt capital of the Dominican Republic Ciudad Trujillo ("Trujillo City") in his honor and had streets, monuments, and landmarks to honor him throughout the country.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: On 16 August 1931, the first anniversary of his inauguration, Trujillo made the Dominican Party the nation's sole legal political party. However, the country had effectively become a one-party state with Trujillo's inauguration. Government employees were required by law to "donate" 10 percent of their salaries to the national treasury, and there was strong pressure on adult citizens to join the party. Members had to carry a membership card, nicknamed the "palmita" since the cover had a palm tree on it, and a person could be arrested for vagrancy without one. Those who did not join or contribute to the party did so at their own risk. Opponents of the régime were mysteriously killed.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In 1934, Trujillo, who had promoted himself to generalissimo of the army, was up for re-election. By then, there was no organized opposition left in the country, and he was elected as the sole candidate on the ballot. In addition to the widely rigged (and regularly uncontested) elections, he instated "civic reviews", with large crowds shouting their loyalty to the government, which would in turn create more support for Trujillo.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In 1936, at the suggestion of Mario Fermín Cabral, the Congress of the Dominican Republic voted overwhelmingly to change the name of the capital from Santo Domingo to Ciudad Trujillo. The province of San Cristóbal was renamed to "Trujillo" and the nation's highest peak, Pico Duarte, to Pico Trujillo. Statues of "El Jefe" were mass-produced and erected across the Dominican Republic, and bridges and public buildings were named in his honor. The nation's newspapers had praise for Trujillo as part of the front page, and license plates included slogans such as "¡Viva Trujillo!" and "Año Del Benefactor De La Patria" (Year of the Benefactor of the Nation). An electric sign was erected in Ciudad Trujillo so that "Dios y Trujillo" could be seen at night as well as in the day. Eventually, even churches were required to post the slogan "Dios en cielo, Trujillo en tierra" (God in Heaven, Trujillo on Earth). As time went on, the order of the phrases was reversed (Trujillo on Earth, God in Heaven). Trujillo was recommended for the Nobel Peace Prize by his admirers, but the committee declined the suggestion.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo was eligible to run again in 1938, but, citing the United States example of two presidential terms, he stated, "I voluntarily, and against the wishes of my people, refuse re-election to the high office." In fact, a vigorous re-election campaign had been launched in the middle of 1937 but the international uproar that followed the Haitian massacre later that year forced Trujillo to announce his "return to private life." Consequently, the Dominican Party nominated Trujillo's handpicked successor, 61-year-old vice-president Jacinto Peynado, with Manuel de Jesús Troncoso his running mate. They appeared alone on the ballot in the 1938 election. Trujillo kept his positions as generalissimo of the army and leader of the Dominican Party. It was understood that Peynado was merely a puppet, and Trujillo still held all governing power in the nation. Peynado increased the size of the electric "Dios y Trujillo" sign and died on 7 March 1940, with Troncoso serving out the rest of the term. However, in 1942, with US President Franklin Roosevelt having run for a third term in the United States, Trujillo ran for president again and was elected unopposed. He served for two terms, which he lengthened to five years each. In 1952, under pressure from the Organization of American States, he ceded the presidency to his brother, Héctor. Despite being officially out of power, Rafael Trujillo organized a major national celebration to commemorate 25 years of his rule in 1955. Gold and silver commemorative coins were minted with his image.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Brutal oppression of actual or perceived members of the opposition was the key feature of Trujillo's rule from the very beginning in 1930 when his gang, "The 42", led by Miguel Angel Paulino, drove through the streets in their red Packard ""carro de la muerte"" ("car of death"). Trujillo also maintained an execution list of people throughout the world who he felt were his direct enemies or who he felt had wronged him. He even once allowed an opposition party to form and permitted it to operate legally and openly, mainly so that he could identify those who opposed him and arrest or kill them.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Imprisonments and killings were later handled by the SIM, the Servicio de Inteligencia Militar, efficiently organized by Johnny Abbes, who operated in Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, New York, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. Some cases reached international notoriety such as the disappearance of Jesús de Galíndez and the murder of the Mirabal sisters, which further eroded Trujillo's critical support by the US government. After Trujillo approved an assassination attempt on the Venezuelan President Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello, the Organization of American States and the United States blocked Trujillo's access to US sugar quota profits.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo was known for his open-door policy, accepting Jewish refugees from Europe, Japanese migration during the 1930s, and exiles from Spain following its civil war. At the 1938 Évian Conference the Dominican Republic was the only country willing to accept many Jews and offered to accept up to 100,000 refugees on generous terms. In 1940 an agreement was signed and Trujillo donated of his properties for settlements. The first settlers arrived in May 1940; eventually, some 800 settlers came to Sosúa and most moved later on to the United States.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Refugees from Europe broadened the Dominican Republic's tax base and added more whites to the predominantly mixed-race nation. Trujillo’s government favored white refugees over others while Dominican troops expelled illegal immigrants, resulting in the 1937 Parsley Massacre of Haitian migrants.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: The Trujillo regime greatly expanded the Vedado del Yaque, a nature reserve around the Yaque del Sur River. In 1934 he banned the slash-and-burn method of clearing land for agriculture, set up a forest warden agency to protect the park system, and banned the logging of pine trees without his permission. In the 1950s the Trujillo regime commissioned a study on the hydroelectric potential of damming the Dominican Republic's waterways. The commission concluded that only forested waterways could support hydroelectric dams, so Trujillo banned logging in potential river watersheds. After his assassination in 1961, logging resumed in the Dominican Republic. Squatters burned down the forests for agriculture, and logging companies clear-cut parks. In 1967, President Joaquín Balaguer launched military strikes against illegal logging.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo encouraged foreign investment in the Dominican Republic, particularly from Americans. He gave a concession with mineral rights in the Azua Basin to Clem S. Clarke, an oilman from Shreveport, Louisiana.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo tended toward peaceful coexistence with the United States government. During World War II, Trujillo symbolically sided with the Allies and declared war on Germany, Italy and Japan on 11 December 1941. While there was no military participation, the Dominican Republic thus became a founding member of the United Nations. Trujillo encouraged diplomatic and economic ties with the United States, but his policies often caused friction with other nations of Latin America, especially Costa Rica and Venezuela. He maintained friendly relations with Franco of Spain, Perón of Argentina, and Somoza of Nicaragua. Towards the end of his rule, his relationship with the United States deteriorated.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Early on, Trujillo determined that Dominican financial affairs had to be put in order, and that included ending the United States's role as collector of Dominican customs—a situation that had existed since 1907 and was confirmed in a 1924 convention signed at the end of the occupation.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Negotiations started in 1936 and lasted four years. On 24 September 1940, Trujillo and the American Secretary of State Cordell Hull signed the Hull–Trujillo Treaty, whereby the United States relinquished control over the collection and application of customs revenues, and the Dominican Republic committed to deposit consolidated government revenues in a special bank account to guarantee repayment of foreign debt. The government was free to set custom duties with no restrictions.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: This diplomatic success gave Trujillo the occasion to launch a massive propaganda campaign that presented him as the savior of the nation. A law proclaimed that the "Benefactor" was also now the "Restaurador de la independencia financiera de la Republica" (Restorer of the Republic's financial independence).


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Haiti had historically occupied what is now the Dominican Republic from 1822 to 1844. Encroachment by Haiti was an ongoing process, and when Trujillo took over, specifically the northwestern border region had become increasingly "Haitianized". The border was poorly defined. In 1933, and again in 1935, Trujillo met the Haitian President Sténio Vincent to settle the border issue. By 1936, they reached and signed a settlement. At the same time, Trujillo plotted against the Haitian government by linking up with General Calixte, Commander of the Garde d'Haiti, and Élie Lescot, at that time the Haitian ambassador in Ciudad Trujillo (Santo Domingo). After the settlement, when further border incursions occurred, Trujillo initiated the Parsley Massacre.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Known as "La Masacre del Perejil" in Spanish, the massacre was started by Trujillo in 1937. Claiming that Haiti was harboring his former Dominican opponents, he ordered an attack on the border that slaughtered tens of thousands of Haitians as they tried to escape. The number of dead is still unknown, but it is now calculated between 12,000 and 30,000. The Dominican military used machetes to murder and decapitate many of the victims; they also took people to the port of Montecristi, where many victims were thrown into the sea to drown with their hands and feet bound.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: The Haitian response was muted, but its government eventually called for an international investigation. Under pressure from Washington, Trujillo agreed to a reparation settlement in January 1938 of US$750,000. By the next year, the amount had been reduced to US$525,000 (US$ million in 2022); 30 dollars per victim, of which only two cents were given to survivors because of corruption in the Haitian bureaucracy.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In 1941, Lescot, who had received financial support from Trujillo, succeeded Vincent as President of Haiti. Trujillo expected that Lescot would be his puppet, but Lescot turned against him. Trujillo unsuccessfully tried to assassinate him in a 1944 plot and then published their correspondence to discredit him. Lescot fled into exile in 1946 after demonstrations against him.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In 1947, Dominican exiles, including Juan Bosch, had concentrated in Cuba. With the approval and support of Cuba's government, led by Ramón Grau, an expeditionary force was trained with the intention of invading the Dominican Republic and overthrowing Trujillo. However, international pressure, including from the United States, made the exiles abort the expedition. In turn, when Fulgencio Batista was in power, Trujillo initially supported anti-Batista supporters of Carlos Prío Socarrás in Oriente Province in 1955; however, weapons Trujillo sent were soon inherited by Fidel Castro's insurgents when Prío allied with Castro; Dominican-made Cristóbal carbines and hand grenades became the rebels' standard weapons.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: After 1956, when Trujillo saw that Castro was gaining ground, he started to support Batista with money, planes, equipment, and men. Trujillo, convinced that Batista would prevail, was very surprised when Batista showed up as a fugitive after he had been ousted. Trujillo kept Batista until August 1959 as a "virtual prisoner". Only after paying US$3–4 million could Batista leave for Portugal, which had granted him a visa.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Castro made threats to overthrow Trujillo, and Trujillo responded by increasing the budget for national defense. A foreign legion was formed to defend Haiti, as it was expected that Castro might invade the Haitian part of the island first and remove François Duvalier as well. A Cuban plane with 56 fighting men landed near Constanza, Dominican Republic, on Sunday, 14 June 1959, and six days later more invaders brought by two yachts landed at the north coast. However, the Dominican Army prevailed.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In turn, in August 1959, Johnny Abbes attempted to support an anti-Castro group led by Escambray near Trinidad, Cuba. The attempt, however, was thwarted when Cuban troops surprised a plane he had sent when it was unloading its cargo.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: By the late 1950s, opposition to Trujillo's regime was starting to build to a fever pitch, especially among a younger generation who had no memory of the poverty and instability that had preceded the dictatorship. Many clamored for democratization. The Trujillo regime responded with greater repression. The Military Intelligence Service (SIM) secret police, led by Johnny Abbes, remained as ubiquitous as before. Other nations ostracized the Dominican Republic, compounding the dictator's paranoia.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo began to interfere more and more in the domestic affairs of neighboring countries. He expressed great contempt for Venezuela's president Rómulo Betancourt; an established and outspoken opponent of Trujillo, Betancourt associated with Dominicans who had plotted against the dictator. Trujillo developed an obsessive personal hatred of Betancourt and supported numerous plots by Venezuelan exiles to overthrow him. This pattern of intervention led the Venezuelan government to take its case against Trujillo to the Organization of American States (OAS), a move that infuriated Trujillo, who ordered his agents to plant a bomb in Betancourt's car. The assassination attempt, carried out on Friday, 24 June 1960, injured but did not kill the Venezuelan president.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: The Betancourt incident inflamed world opinion against Trujillo. Outraged OAS members voted unanimously to sever diplomatic relations with his government and impose economic sanctions on the Dominican Republic. The brutal murder on Friday, 25 November 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, Patria, María Teresa and Minerva, who opposed Trujillo's dictatorship, further increased discontent with his repressive rule. The dictator had become an embarrassment to the United States, and relations became especially strained after the Betancourt incident.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo's "central arch" was his instinct for power. This was coupled with an intense desire for money, which he recognized as a source of and support for power. Up at four in the morning, he exercised, studied the newspaper, read many reports, and completed papers before breakfast. At the office by nine, he continued his work, and took lunch by noon. After a walk, he continued to work until 7:30 pm. After dinner, he attended functions, held discussions, or was driven around incognito in the city "observing and remembering." Until Santo Domingo's National Palace was built in 1947, he worked out of the Casas Reales, the colonial-era Viceregal center of administration. Today the building is a museum; on display are his desk and chair, along with a massive collection of arms and armor that he bought. He was methodical, punctual, secretive, and guarded; he had no true friends, only associates and acquaintances. For his associates, his actions towards them were unpredictable.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo and his family amassed enormous wealth. He acquired cattle lands on a grand scale, and went into meat and milk production, operations that soon evolved into monopolies. Salt, sugar, tobacco, lumber, and the lottery were other industries that he or his family members dominated. Family members also received positions within the government and the army, including one of Trujillo's sons who was made a colonel in the Dominican Army when he was only four years old. Two of Trujillo's brothers, Héctor and José Arismendy, also held positions in his government. José Arismendy Trujillo oversaw the creation of the main radio station, "La Voz Dominicana", and later the television station, the fourth in the Caribbean.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: By 1937 Trujillo's annual income was about $1.5 million ($ million in ); at the time of his death the state took over 111 Trujillo-owned companies. His love of fine and ostentatious clothing was displayed in elaborate uniforms and suits, of which he collected almost two thousand. Fond of neckties, he amassed a collection of over ten thousand. Trujillo doused himself with perfume and liked gossip.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo was married three times and kept other women as mistresses. On 13 August 1913, Trujillo married Aminta Ledesma Lachapelle, with whom he had 2 daughters, Julia, who died as an infant, and Flor de Oro, who died of lung cancer in 1978. On 30 March 1927, Trujillo married Bienvenida Ricardo Martínez, a girl from Monte Cristi and the daughter of Buenaventura Ricardo Heureaux. A year later he met María de los Angeles Martínez Alba (nicknamed ""la españolita"", or "the little Spanish girl"), and had an affair with her. He divorced Bienvenida in 1935 and married Martínez. A year later he had a daughter with Bienvenida, named Odette Trujillo Ricardo.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo's three children with María Martínez were Rafael Leónidas Ramfis, who was born on 5 June 1929, María de los Ángeles del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Angelita), born in Paris on 10 June 1939, and Leónidas Rhadamés, born on 1 December 1942. Ramfis and Rhadamés were named after characters in Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida".


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In 1937, Trujillo met Lina Lovatón Pittaluga, an upper-class debutante with whom he had two children, Yolanda in 1939, and Rafael, born on 20 June 1943.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In spite of Trujillo's indifference to the game of baseball, the dictator invited many black American players to the Dominican Republic, where they received good pay for playing on first-class, un-segregated teams. The great Negro league star Satchel Paige pitched for Los Dragones of Ciudad Trujillo, a team organized by Trujillo. Paige later claimed, jokingly, that his guards positioned themselves "like a firing squad" to encourage him to pitch well. Los Dragones won the 1937 Dominican championship at Estadio Trujillo in Ciudad Trujillo.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo was energetic and fit. He was generally quite healthy but suffered from chronic lower urinary infections and, later, prostate problems. In 1934, Dr. Georges Marion was called from Paris to perform three urologic procedures on Trujillo.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Over time Trujillo acquired numerous homes. His favorite was "Casa Caobas", on "Estancia Fundacion" near San Cristóbal. He also used "Estancia Ramfis" (which, after 1953, became the Foreign Office), "Estancia Rhadames", and a home at Playa de Najayo. Less frequently he stayed at places he owned in Santiago de los Caballeros, Constanza, La Cumbre, San José de las Matas, and elsewhere. He maintained a penthouse at the "Embajador Hotel" in the capital.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: While Trujillo was nominally a Roman Catholic, his devotion was limited to a perfunctory role in public affairs; he placed faith in local folk religion.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: He was popularly known as "El Jefe" ("The Chief") or "El Benefactor" ("The Benefactor") but was privately referred to as "Chapitas" ("Bottlecaps") because of his indiscriminate wearing of medals. Dominican children emulated Trujillo by constructing toy medals from bottle caps. He was also known as "El Chivo" ("The Goat").


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: On Tuesday, 30 May 1961, Trujillo was shot and killed when his blue 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air was ambushed on a road outside the Dominican capital. He was the victim of an ambush plotted by a number of men, such as General Juan Tomás Díaz, Pedro Livio Cedeño, Antonio de la Maza, Amado García Guerrero and General Antonio Imbert Barrera. The plotters, however, failed to take control as the later-executed General José René Román Fernandez ("Pupo Román") betrayed his co-conspirators by his inactivity, and contingency plans had not been made. On the other side, Johnny Abbes, Roberto Figueroa Carrión, and the Trujillo family put the SIM to work to hunt the members of the plot and brought back Ramfis Trujillo from Paris to step into his father's shoes. The response by the SIM was swift and brutal. Hundreds of suspects were detained, many tortured. On 18 November the last executions took place when six of the conspirators were executed in the "Hacienda María Massacre". Imbert was the only one of the seven assassins who survived the manhunt. A co-conspirator named Luis Amiama Tio also survived.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: US President John F. Kennedy learned of Trujillo's death during a diplomatic meeting with French President Charles de Gaulle.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Trujillo's funeral was that of a statesman with the long procession ending in his hometown of San Cristóbal, where his body was first buried. Dominican President Joaquín Balaguer gave the eulogy. The efforts of the Trujillo family to keep control of the country ultimately failed. The military uprising on 19 November of the Rebellion of the Pilots and the threat of US intervention set the final stage and ended the Trujillo regime. Ramfis tried to flee with his father's body upon his boat "Angelita", but was turned back. Balaguer allowed Ramfis to leave the country and to take his father's body to Paris. There, the remains were interred in the Cimetière du Père Lachaise on 14 August 1964, and six years later moved to Spain, to the Mingorrubio Cemetery in El Pardo on the north side of Madrid.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: The role of the CIA in the killing has been debated. Imbert insisted that the plotters acted on their own. However, Trujillo was certainly murdered with weapons supplied by the CIA.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In a 1975 report to the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, CIA officials described the agency as having "no active part" in the assassination and only a "faint connection" with the groups that planned the killing.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: US involvement appears to go deeper than supplying weapons. In the 1950s, the CIA gave José Figueres Ferrer money to publish a political journal, "Combate" and to found a left-wing school for Latin American opposition leaders. Funds passed from a shell foundation to the Jacob Merrill Kaplan Fund; then to the "Institute of International Labor Research" (IILR) headed by Norman Thomas, six-time US presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America; and finally to Figueres, Sacha Volman, and Juan Bosch. Sacha Volman, treasurer of the IILR, was a CIA agent.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Cord Meyer was a CIA official responsible for manipulating international groups. He used the contacts with Bosch, Volman, and Figueres for a new purpose, as the United States moved to rally the Western Hemisphere against Cuba's Fidel Castro, Trujillo had become expendable. Dissidents inside the Dominican Republic argued that assassination was the only certain way to remove Trujillo.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: According to Chester Bowles, the Undersecretary of State, internal Department of State discussions in 1961 on the topic were vigorous. Richard N. Goodwin, Assistant Special Counsel to the President, who had direct contacts with the rebel alliance, argued for intervention against Trujillo. Quoting Bowles directly: "The next morning I learned that in spite of the clear decision against having the dissident group request our assistance Dick Goodwin following the meeting sent a cable to CIA people in the Dominican Republic without checking with State or CIA; indeed, with the protest of the Department of State. The cable directed the CIA people in the Dominican Republic to get this request at any cost. When Allen Dulles found this out the next morning, he withdrew the order. We later discovered it had already been carried out."


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: An internal CIA memorandum states that a 1973 Office of Inspector General investigation into the murder disclosed "quite extensive Agency involvement with the plotters." The CIA described its role in "changing" the government of the Dominican Republic "as a 'success' in that it assisted in moving the Dominican Republic from a totalitarian dictatorship to a Western-style democracy."


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Juan Bosch, the earlier recipient of CIA funding, was elected president of the Dominican Republic in 1962 and was deposed in 1963.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Even after the death of Trujillo, the unusual events continued. In November 1961, Mexican police found a corpse they identified as Luis Melchior Vidal, Jr., godson of Trujillo. Vidal was the unofficial business agent of the Dominican Republic while Trujillo was in power. Under the cover of the American Sucrose Company and the Paint Company of America, Vidal had teamed up with an American, Joel David Kaplan, to operate as arms merchants for the CIA.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: Joel David Kaplan was the nephew of the previously mentioned Jacob Merrill Kaplan. The elder Kaplan earned his fortune primarily through operations in Cuba and the Dominican Republic.


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: In 1962, the younger Kaplan was convicted of killing Vidal, in Mexico City. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison. Kaplan escaped from a Mexican prison using a helicopter. The dramatic event was the basis for the Charles Bronson action film "Breakout".


title: Rafael Trujillo

text: The Mexican police requested for the FBI to arrest and remand Joel Kaplan on 20 August 1971. Kaplan's attorney claimed that Kaplan was a CIA agent. Neither the FBI nor the US Department of Justice has pursued the issue. The Mexican government never initiated extradition proceedings against Kaplan.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: 19 Kids and Counting (formerly 17 Kids and Counting and 18 Kids and Counting) is an American reality television series that aired on the cable channel TLC for seven years until its cancellation in 2015. The show features the Duggar family: parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their 19 children – nine daughters and ten sons – all of whose names begin with the letter "J". During the duration of the show, two children were born, three children were married, and four grandchildren were born.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The show focuses on the life of the Duggar family, who are devout independent Baptists, and frequently discusses values of purity, modesty and faith in God. The Duggars avoid birth control, saying they have decided to allow God to determine the number of children they have. All of the children are homeschooled and access to entertainment such as movies and television is limited. They practice chaperoned courtship, in which a couple becomes acquainted only in a group setting. The values presented on the show have been associated with the Quiverfull movement, which has been described as promoting strict family conformity, male hierarchies and subservient roles for women. The Duggars have stated that they are not associated with the Quiverfull movement. However, in an article formerly published on their website titled "Why Have Such a Large Family?", the Duggars reference Psalms 127:3-5, from which the Quiverfull movement name comes. Moreover, in 2001, Jim Bob and Michelle were interviewed for an article published on a Quiverfull affiliated website. The Duggar family has also been connected with the Institute in Basic Life Principles and the Advanced Training Institute, both of which were founded by Bill Gothard.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The series began on September 29, 2008, and concluded on May 19, 2015. The show was TLC's most popular, averaging 2.3 million viewers per new episode in Season 10 and scoring in the Nielsen "Cable Top 25".


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: On May 22, 2015, TLC suspended the series when the Duggars' eldest son Josh publicly apologized for having "acted inexcusably" following reports that he molested five girls, including some of his sisters, by fondling them. These events occurred in 2002 and 2003, when Josh was 14 to 15 years old and prior to the beginning of the show. On July 16, 2015, TLC announced that the show was officially canceled and would not resume production. A spin off show, "Counting On", aired in December 2015 and was cancelled in 2021, due to Josh Duggar's arrest for child pornography.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The Duggars live in Tontitown, Arkansas, near Springdale and originally appeared in several TLC and Discovery Health one-hour specials, mostly focused on four of Michelle's last five deliveries. Jim Bob Duggar has an older sister, Deanna, who occasionally appears on the show. Michelle Duggar (née Ruark) has six older siblings (Pamela Ethel, Kathie Ann, Evelyn Alice, Carolyn Jeannite, Freda Louise, and Garrett Floyd Jr.). The couple met in the early 1980s when Duggar and a fellow church member were sent for a follow-up visit after Michelle experienced a religious conversion. The Duggars were married on July 21, 1984, just after Michelle's high-school graduation. When they married, she was 17 and he was 19; neither attended college. Together they first launched a used-car business, then towing and real-estate businesses; both are licensed real-estate agents.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The Duggars initially chose to wait before having children and used birth control pills in the early years of their marriage. Their eldest child, Joshua, was born in 1988. They resumed using oral contraceptives after his birth but conceived again despite this precaution; however, Michelle miscarried early in her pregnancy. She has mentioned that they named this child Caleb, despite not knowing the baby's sex. After consulting a doctor, the Duggars were told that birth control can in some cases allow conception but cause miscarriage. As a result, they decided to stop using birth control and allow God to determine the number of children they would have. Michelle soon became pregnant again, this time with her first set of twins, Jana and John-David. Michelle gave birth 17 times, over a period of years, approximately one birth every 15 months.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The Duggars are devout independent Baptists.They only watch programs they consider to be wholesome family television and various historical events. Their Internet service is filtered. They adhere to certain standards of modesty in clothing, in accordance with their religious beliefs. Shorts and tank tops are prohibited, and the women do not wear skirts that go above the knee. According to Michelle Duggar, such standards are mandated by scripture. They believe that baring one's thigh is "nakedness and shame" and runs the risk of "defrauding" others – or stirring up and arousing "desires in someone else that cannot be righteously fulfilled". They avoid beaches and public swimming areas "because it's just too hard for the guys to try to keep their eyes averted in those situations". Female family members keep their hair long, and males are clean-shaven and short-haired. They practice chaperoned courtship, where the couple get to know one another in a group setting. The Duggars describe this as "dating with a purpose". The Duggar children cannot begin a courtship without parental permission. Before a courtship officially begins, an interested man must speak to the woman's father.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: Jim Bob Duggar served as a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002. He was defeated for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate by incumbent Tim Hutchinson in 2002 by a vote of 71,576 to 20,546. He later became a real estate agent and investor. The Duggars' income is derived from rental proceeds of commercial properties they own. Prior to the scandal surrounding son Josh, they lived debt-free.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: Construction of their 7000 square foot house began in 2000 when they bought the lot and ordered two steel frames. One of the frames was not drilled correctly, so the Duggars received a third frame which was used to build the girls' room and the industrial kitchen. Discovery Networks completed the build, finding local Arkansas construction workers to donate their skills and time. The home was completed on January 20, 2006. Some of the painting, decorating, furnishings, appliances and other finishing touches, such as a stocked pantry, were provided by Discovery Networks and corporate sponsors as part of the one-hour television special entitled "16 Children and Moving In".


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: But there were longstanding questions about the way ""19 Kids and Counting"" (...) were able to skirt child labor laws because they were classified as documentaries. A 2010 investigation by The Times revealed that producers of ""19 Kids and Counting"" and other reality TV programs had not obtained work permits to employ minors under 16. Patriarch Jim Bob Duggar said at the time the family didn't consider the filming to be work. (...) And the questions go beyond labor law. As children, the Duggars' offspring were conscripted into a reality show that stripped them of their privacy and anonymity, all in service of their parents' extreme religious beliefs.<ref name="LAT19/12/2021">News Analysis: The Duggars built a wholesome reality TV empire on TLC. Now it's in ruins "Los Angeles Times"</ref>


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: Michelle Duggar gave birth via emergency C-section to the couple's 19th child, Josie Brooklyn Duggar, on December 10, 2009, six months into her pregnancy. When she was rushed to the hospital for gallstones, doctors discovered that she was pre-eclamptic and performed an emergency delivery. Josie was premature at only 1 lb, 6 oz at birth. Nearly four months later on April 6, 2010, the Duggars were able to take the baby to their temporary rental home in Little Rock while they awaited medical approval to take her home to Tontitown.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The Duggars took Josie home to Tontitown for good on June 23, 2010. By that December she weighed 15 lbs 12 oz.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: On December 2, 2008, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's book "The Duggars: 20 and Counting!" was released. Their second book, "A Love That Multiplies", was released on June 7, 2011. The eldest four girls – Jana, Jill, Jessa and Jinger – authored "Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships", which was released on March 4, 2014.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: On November 8, 2011, Michelle Duggar and the family appeared on NBC's "Today Show" to announce she was expecting their 20th child. On December 8, 2011, the Duggars announced that Michelle had miscarried 20 weeks into her pregnancy. Six days later, they held a memorial service for the stillborn baby girl that they named Jubilee Shalom (meaning celebration and peace).


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: A few months after the birth of their daughter Mackynzie, Josh and Anna Duggar learned that she was pregnant with their second child, but the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. On their daughter's first birthday, Josh and Anna Duggar announced they were expecting again. The couple welcomed their second child, Michael James, on June 15, 2011. They learned that they were expecting again in September 2012.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: Josh Duggar was offered a job at the Family Research Council during his wife's pregnancy with their third child. Marcus Anthony was delivered by a midwife on June 2, 2013. Duggar announced that he was hired to be the executive director of the Family Research Council's political action committee, FRC Action, on June 18, 2013, and that the family would move to Washington, D.C.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The Duggars issued an announcement that Jessa Duggar was in a courtship with Ben Seewald on September 18, 2013. The couple met through their church. On August 15, 2014, after eleven months of courtship, the couple announced their engagement and were married on November 1, 2014.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: Jill Duggar's courtship with Derick Dillard was announced on March 31, 2014. They were introduced by Jim Bob Duggar and became further acquainted via supervised Skype and text conversations while Dillard was serving as a missionary in Nepal. Jill Duggar and her father traveled to Nepal to meet Dillard in person and began a formal courtship in November 2013. The couple announced their engagement on 9 April 2014, and were married on 21 June 2014.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The Dillards announced their first pregnancy on August 20, 2014. Their son, Israel David Dillard, was born on April 6, 2015.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The Seewalds announced their first pregnancy on April 21, 2015, having waited until the second trimester.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: Arnold Hamilton of "The Dallas Morning News" described "19 Kids and Counting" as "part "Little House on the Prairie," part "Yours, Mine & Ours"–except the only blending in this real-life family occurs with restaurant like precision at mealtimes". He described the Duggars as acting "against the trend", considering the 2002 US Census found that only 0.3 percent of women aged 15 to 44 have given birth to seven or more children and that this number has declined steadily since 1976.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: In an op-ed for "The New York Observer", Nina Burleigh described the Duggars as "good TV. Good, sugarcoated rat poison, politically speaking", referring to the Duggars' political activity such as their opposition to abortion and their lobbying efforts against legislation that would allow transgender people to use public restrooms matching their gender identity.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: In an article published in the "Journal of Religion and Popular Culture", Christy Mesaros-Winckles described the Duggars as "unofficial spokespeople for the Quiverfull movement". Referring to the first season of the show, Mesaros-Winckles said that the Duggars introduced themselves and their religious beliefs with the "subtle and disturbing" message of conformity and "rigid male hierarchy" associated with the Quiverfull movement. Mesaros-Winckles asserted that the show provides a platform for the legitimization of this movement, while downplaying "patriarchal gender roles and strict family conformity". Mesaros-Winckles also said that the Duggars "try to convince the audience that their way of life is best for raising healthy, godly children" and that a large family is a "biblical mandate". She concluded that, despite the small size of the Quiverfull movement, with perhaps only several thousand followers, the show "19 Kids and Counting" has brought the movement to the forefront of American culture.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: Feminist Amanda Marcotte referred to the Duggars as part of the "Christian patriarchy movement", which she described as interchangeable with the Quiverfull movement, saying that the Duggars promote sexist values which run counter to mainstream American culture.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The Duggars have said they are not part of the Quiverfull movement, stating: "We are simply Bible-believing Christians who desire to follow God's Word and apply it to our lives."


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: The Duggar family has received criticism due to their stance on LGBT issues. In August 2014, Michelle Duggar recorded a political robocall regarding legislation affecting transgender individuals, which "The Huffington Post" described as "transphobic" and "The Washington Post" described as "anti-anti-discrimination". The robocall includes Michelle saying: "The Fayetteville City Council is voting on an ordinance this Tuesday night that would allow men – yes, I said men – to use women's and girls' restrooms, locker rooms, showers, sleeping areas and other areas that are designated for females only. I don't believe the citizens of Fayetteville would want males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls." In response to this robocall, a petition was started on Change.org calling for TLC to cancel the show "19 Kids and Counting", which received over 100,000 signatures. In response to the first petition, a second petition was started asking TLC to keep the show on the air, which also received over 100,000 signatures.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: In November 2014, the Duggars asked married couples to take a picture while kissing and share it on their Facebook page. Several users noted that pictures of same-sex couples were deleted from the Duggars' Facebook page. While working for the Family Research Council, the Duggars' eldest son Josh Duggar said, "I truly believe every child deserves a mother and a father"; the Family Research Council has been labeled as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, with SPLC saying they were designated as such due to their publication of "anti-gay propaganda". Josh Duggar has been described as an "anti-gay activist" by GLAAD.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: “19 Kids and Counting” also regularly documented the Duggars at events organized by the group in ways that omitted key information: For instance, episodes featuring commencement ceremonies from Alert Academy, an IBLP-led quasi-boot camp, never mention that the program denounces homosexuality and endorses the use of “loving corporal correction” on children. (...) The Duggars are associated with the Biblical patriarchy movement, which holds that men are ordained by God to be the leaders of their households and strongly discourages birth control. (...) “19 Kids” and “Counting On” made it seem like “it’s quirky and zany to run a household with that many children,” says Kathryn Joyce, author of “Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement,” when in reality older girls are often forced to serve as co-parents to the detriment of things like their education. Once the Duggar girls reached adulthood, there were few options available to them other than marriage, kids and reality TV.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: On May 21, 2015, a police report from 2006 was revealed to the public by "In Touch Weekly" magazine, stating sexual molestation allegations against the Duggars' eldest son, Josh Duggar. The report states that, in 2002–2003, Josh – then 14 to 15 years old – fondled five girls, including four of his sisters, by touching their breasts and genital regions on multiple occasions while they were asleep and on a few occasions while they were awake. These events occurred prior to the beginning of the TLC series. The case was never fully investigated, and the statute of limitations has now expired. On May 22, 2015, TLC removed all reruns of the show that were previously set to air from its current airing schedule, with the statement: "We are deeply saddened and troubled by this heartbreaking situation and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and victims at this difficult time."


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: In the wake of the controversy, more than twenty advertisers, including General Mills, Walgreens, Payless ShoeSource, Choice Hotels, Pizza Hut, Sweet Leaf Tea and Crayola, announced that they were pulling their ads from the show;


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: Hulu also removed the show's entire back catalog of episodes from its streaming service. Public reaction to the revelation led to several petitions calling for TLC to cancel the series on Change.org, citing conflict between the reported events and the show's promotion of family values.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: Josh, along with his wife and his parents, responded to the revelations. Josh apologized, stating he had "acted inexcusably" and resigned from his position at the Family Research Council. Anna stated that she knew about Josh's actions two years before she married him and believed that the counseling he received after the incidents "changed his life". The Duggars described this time as a dark period in their lives and said it caused their family "to seek God like never before". They were featured in an interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News Channel's "The Kelly File" on June 3, 2015, where they answered questions regarding the scandal.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: On April 29, 2021, six years after the show's cancellation, Josh was arrested for possession of child pornography and later convicted. See Josh Duggar's 2021 arrest, trial, and conviction.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: On July 16, 2015, Discovery Communications, parent company of TLC, confirmed to CNN that the show was officially canceled and that all further production would be ceased. In the wake of the allegations, the network announced that it would produce a one-hour, commercial-free documentary special on child abuse, which would include Jill and Jessa Duggar.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: TLC had paid the Duggar family an estimated $25,000–$45,000 per episode. One branding expert estimated that the loss of endorsements, speaking engagements and book deals based on the show could cost the Duggars an estimated $25 million a year.


title: 19 Kids and Counting

text: A three-part spin-off series, "Jill and Jessa: Counting On", focusing on newlyweds Jill and Derick Dillard, Jessa and Ben Seewald, Anna Duggar and several of the other adult Duggar children (sans Josh) aired in December 2015. Its first episode attracted more than 2.2 million viewers, according to a report by The Nielsen Company. The third episode garnered the highest ratings and viewership, at 2.5 million viewers, and ranked in the Top 5 cable shows for the night. In March 2016, it was announced that "Counting On" had been picked up for a full season, which premiered on March 15, 2016.


title: Joy Behar

text: Josephine Victoria "Joy" Behar (; née Occhiuto) is an American comedian, television host, actress, and writer. She co-hosts the ABC daytime talk show "The View", where she is the only original panelist still regularly appearing. She hosted "The Joy Behar Show" on HLN from 2009 to 2011 and "" on Current TV, from 2012 until the channel switched formats in August 2013. Behar's latest weekly late-night talk show, "Late Night Joy", aired on TLC in 2015. She also wrote "The Great Gasbag: An A–Z Study Guide to Surviving Trump World".


title: Joy Behar

text: Behar was born Josephine Victoria Occhiuto in 1942 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the only child to a Roman Catholic family of Italian descent. Her mother, Rose ("née" Carbone), was a seamstress, and her father, Gino Occhiuto, was a truck driver for Coca-Cola. Behar earned a BA in sociology from Queens College in 1964 and an MA in English education from Stony Brook University in 1966. From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, she taught English on Long Island at Lindenhurst Senior High School in Lindenhurst, New York. She studied acting at the HB Studio.


title: Joy Behar

text: Behar started her career in show business in the early 1980s as a receptionist and later a producer on "Good Morning America".


title: Joy Behar

text: She was a stand-up comedian and made appearances on ABC's "Good Morning America" and "The New Show", a short-lived Lorne Michaels NBC project. In 1987, she hosted a variety talk show on Lifetime Television called "Way Off Broadway" that included Larry David as a writer and performer. She also hosted the show "Live from Queens"; was a regular on NBC's "Baby Boom"; and continued to work the comedy club circuit. She had minor film roles including "Cookie", "This Is My Life", and "Manhattan Murder Mystery". In the early 1990s, she hosted a talk-show on 77 WABC radio in New York City. She also made appearances on HBO comedy specials "One Night Stand" and "Women of the Night 2".


title: Joy Behar

text: In 1997, Behar became one of the original panelists of the ABC daytime talk show "The View", which was co-created by Barbara Walters. Behar originally appeared only on the days when Walters was off, but she ultimately became a permanent co-host. Behar occasionally hosted a segment called "Joy's Comedy Corner" in which she presented both established and up-and-coming comedians.


title: Joy Behar

text: In August 2009, Behar and the other co-hosts, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Sherri Shepherd, and Barbara Walters, won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host following over a decade of nominations for the show.


title: Joy Behar

text: On March 7, 2013, it was announced that Behar would be leaving the show at the end of that season. She told "Deadline", "It seemed like the right time...You reach a point when you say to yourself, 'Do I want to keep doing this?' There are other things on my plate I want to do — I've been writing a play, I've been neglecting my standup". Her last show was on August 9, 2013 in which the program staged a "This Is Your Life"-style tribute to Behar.


title: Joy Behar

text: After departing in 2013, Behar continued to guest co-host throughout 2014 and 2015. On August 25, 2015, ABC announced that Behar would return as a regular co-host starting with the premiere of the 19th season on September 8, 2015. Behar was quoted as saying, "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. Plus, Steve was getting tired of applauding every time I gave my opinion. But I'm happy to be back home. And I'm looking forward to sticking my two cents into the hot topics, especially now that Hillary and the Donald are in the spotlight."


title: Joy Behar

text: During a discussion about the 89th Miss America pageant in 2015, Behar referenced contestant Kelley Johnson's attire during her monologue and questioned why she had on "a doctor's stethoscope". Behar's remark, in addition to fellow co-host Michelle Collins', resulted in an immediate social media backlash from the nursing profession, including the hashtag #NursesUnite. Behar and Collins later addressed the controversy on air. Consequently, multiple companies pulled their sponsorships from the series.


title: Joy Behar

text: In 2018, while analyzing television personality Omarosa's comments in regards to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's religiosity, Behar stated: "It's one thing to talk to Jesus, it's another thing when Jesus talks to you. That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct, hearing voices." Content analysis organization Media Research Center subsequently launched a campaign demanding an apology from Behar and urging viewers to do the same, resulting in 40,000 calls to ABC as well as 6,000 complaints to the show's advertisers. Pence himself responded and accused the show of expressing "religious intolerance". The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger later stated that Behar has directly apologized to Pence. On March 13, she issued an apology on air, stating: "I think Vice President Pence is right; I was raised to respect everyone's religious faith, and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said."