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In a press release, the holiday-themed episode will focus on military families needing a redone home, and the show is asking the Fresno community to submit nominations for those needing families (plus, all families, military or not, are more than welcome to submit a nomination).

“We want to do a holiday themed episode that’s even bigger and more extreme that ever, “ said Casting Director David Shumsky. “In order to pull off such a huge venture, we need the support of the entire community. We know that Fresno is a community that will come out to help one of their own.”

“We really want to help families whose homes present major problems for the family, those big issues that affect the family’s quality of life on a daily basis. We want to find deserving people who just don’t have the resources, ability, or time to fix those serious issues without our help,” he said. “For this special
episode we’d love it if the holiday season had some special significance to the family’s story. Maybe they have unique holiday traditions, or volunteer in an organization specifically geared toward the season. Ultimately, we want to give this family the best holiday they’ve ever had.”

Here’s are the necessary components to nominate a family to have a home makeover:

1. The names and ages of each member of the household
2. A description of the major challenges within the home
3. Explanation of why this family is deserving, or a positive role model in their community
4. Photos of the family and a photo of the home
5. Don’t forget to include a contact phone number
6. Send submissions to lisa.matt@emhe.tv

FLYER:

Be on the lookout Fresno, your family could soon be awoken to Ty Pennington yelling “GOOD MORNING!”

Usually, the most heated items are stuck strained to the most controversial. Until you wind up with a group like Occupy Fresno, who’s myopic view of education is simple: pay cuts.

More specifically: Administrative pay cuts. Even more specifically: Michael Hanson’s yet-to-be-seen pay cut.

And that’s about the extent of Occupy Fresno’s policy regarding Fresno Unified School District.

As the Fresno Bee currently addresses some of the bigger education issues at Fresno Unified in their “Dropping Out” series this week, there hasn’t been a word about Fresno’s drop out rate from Occupy Fresno.

Instead, hand-picked protesters from the organization are getting arrested on a daily basis.

But there are bigger problems on the other side of Fresno, bounded by Shaw, Barstow, Cedar and Chestnut avenues: Fresno State.

Just last week, Fresno State students, along with students across the California State University system, were given word that their tuition would increase 9% in Spring of 2012.

It’s safe to say some members of the 99% will be forced to pay the 9%.

Aside from the 9% tuition increase, some of the recent decisions made by the University administration have looked even worse. Most notably is the proposal to dump the College of Science and Mathematics and sprinkle its components across the remaining schools inside Fresno State.

Granted you’re an Occupy Bulldog Stadium protester, you’d also oppose the current pay rate of Fresno State’s head football coach given his team’s current performance.

But where are the huddled masses rioting in the Free Speech Area? They’re at Courthouse Park playing amateur games with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department.

In a slate mailer to supporters in the newly created 5th Assembly District, Bigelow made it apparently clear that he will challenge former Republican Assembly member Rico Oller for the seat.

The mailer asked voters to attend a fundraiser at Bill and Linda Smittcamp’s home in Clovis, a city not actually in the 5th Assembly District.

As far as fundraising goes, Bigelow has already dropped $50,000 into his new “Friends of Frank Bigelow for Assembly” campaign committee.

In a special feature of this week’s TIME Magazine, the magazine called on some of it’s TIME 100 honorees to submit nominations for this year’s TIME Person of the Year. Along with MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, writer Jonathan Franzen, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Clovis native Colfer was also asked to nominate a person.

Rather than Steve Jobs or the 99%, Colfer said that his former forensics and debate coach, Mikendra McCoy, deserved the sought-after award:

What was said:

“In the unsympathetic world of an inner-city public high school in Clovis, Calif., Mikendra McCoy supplies her students with much more than just an education. With compassion, she teaches life lessons. ‘You got to tell the world who you are before it tells you’ is one of the many quotes I remember from her class, along with ‘As long as you own who you are, no one can ever use you against you.’”

Devin Nunes was a no-show during the House of Representative’s vote to adopt a Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. All of his regional colleagues, including Democrats Jim Costa and Dennis Cardoza, supported the ill-fated bill, which garnered a 261-165 majority, but was short of the two-thirds necessary to be considered for an amendment.

Earlier in the week, Republican Rep. Jeff Denham released a non-scientific poll for his constituents to vote in support or opposition to the amendment. According to an update to the Congressman’s Facebook page, over two-thirds of constituents who participated in the poll supported the notion of the Balanced Budget Amendment.

FLOOR SPEECHES:

Atwater Rep. Jeff Denham (R, CA-19)

Fresno Rep. Jim Costa (D, CA-20)

POST-VOTE:

In a statement, Costa said, “A Balanced Budget Amendment or the success of the Super Committee alone are not enough to restore our fiscal well-being. But by combining these goals with a bipartisan commitment to shared sacrifice and balancing our budget each year, we can build a sound fiscal future for the next generation.”

Following rumors and speculation that Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (CA-21) might challenge Feinstein, the poll gives Nunes all the cover he needs to bail from a Senate bid.

According to the poll, Feinstein leads Nunes 55% to 31% with a 4.4% margin of error, the second worst performance among the candidates polled by Public Policy. Fortunately, there’s a reason for that: he isn’t as well known outside of the Central Valley.

The same poll also polled for voter’s favorable or unfavorable opinion of each of the candidates. Of the 500 likely voters, 11% had a favorable view and 22% had an unfavorable view of the Valley Congressman.

For the Tulare native, those numbers are good and bad: on one hand, Nunes has tons of room for improvement, since only 33% of polling respondents actually held an opinion of him. It’s also bad since his unfavorable rating is double that of his favorability.

Also in the Public Policy Poll, two-time U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell led the pack of Republicans, garnering 38% to Feinstein’s 53%.

A Comparison of Republican candidates based on the going price of baseballs with their autograph.

So, exactly how well are the GOP candidates doing?

Rick Perry is having problems remembering the Department of Energy, Herman Cain can’t remember exactly which conflict is Libyan and Mitt Romney’s campaign is lowering expectations in Iowa while still leading a conservative pack.

But there’s more than just scientific poll numbers to tell you that Romney’s doing well: he’s kicking the living daylights out of his fellow Republican contenders on eBay.

As many Americans will do on occassion, I perused eBay looking at some of the more ridiculous items up for bid on the auction site and then typed in “Mitt Romney Autographed Baseball.”

I’m a big fan of baseball (Go Giants!) and realized that, on eBay, baseballs are relatively inexpensive medium for autographs (even though paper is even cheaper, people don’t sell random bits of paper) and autographed books like Fed Up or No Apology have different retail prices, making them unequal evaluators.

With that in mind, each candidate is ranked below by the average bid price (as of Nov. 15, 5:40 p.m.):

(CLICK ON THE FIGURE FOR FULL-SIZE)

On top of his lack of interest for the district, he’s entirely writing off the election, stating that even Fresno City council member Clint Olivier can’t beat out the four-term Democrat, and refused to endorse him.

Much of the issue comes down to the National Republican Campaign Committee’s lack of motivation in regards to the California 16th, namely the money race. Patterson projected that a fair fight against Costa would require a $2 million investment from the House Republican fundraising committee.

Patterson also cited that the new California 16th has a considerable Democratic edge. However, the number (15%) is considerably lower than that of the current California 20th (20%), where Jim Costa defeated Andy Vidak by 3% of the vote.

While Patterson may write off the race in November of 2011, by August of 2012, the race may reflect that of Costa’s incredibly close matchup with Hanford cherry farmer Andy Vidak, in which the NRCC and a number of other nationwide Political Action Committees pump lots of cash for last-minute vote getting

Those loose ends: former Mayor Jim Patterson and Olivier’s council colleague Larry Westerlund.

Westerlund and Patterson have an electoral history, and it isn’t friendly. Two years ago, Westerlund proved to be a spoiler for the Republican nomination for the California 19th district, causing then-State Senator Jeff Denham to beat out Patterson for the nomination, and the seat.

Patterson’s interest in the race has been lukewarm at best. Recently, the former mayor started a Christian radio station (KRIV 1680 AM) and with that, his chances at a third Congressional bid might not go over so well in the California 16th.

Westerlund also faces some difficult moves if he chooses to run for the Republican nod. Most notably, the Council member will have to increase his visibility with the electorate and run a campaign aimed at winning the nomination, unlike his 2010 bid which never got off the ground floor.

Analyzing the California 16th

The California 16th will be new terrain for Valley politicos. In 2010, Costa defeated Republican Andy Vidak by just over a 3% margin for the California 20th Congressional district. In the California 20th before the 2010 midterms, Democrats held a 20% voter registration edge to Republicans (50-31%).

But things are markedly different in the California 16th, with Democrats only holding a 15% edge over Republicans (48-33%) which bodes well for whichever Republican winds up with the nomination in June 2012.

Costa’s demise is a high priority for the National Republican Campaign Committee, as they prepare to gain momentum in the Central Valley by shutting out Democrats in the region. Part of the Republican’s help came from Dennis Cardoza, who announced his retirement recently. With Cardoza out of the running, the NRCC can focus its attention on the California 16th and the empty California 21st district.

According to one Republican, the NRCC has already begun scouting candidates to challenge candidates. The main characteristics being sought are fundraising prowess and broad base support. The source also noted that the NRCC is hoping to avoid the 11th hour rescue mission that it undertook for Andy Vidak’s upstart campaign in 2010.

With the NRCC already digging through the Valley’s Republican talent, it’s clear that a bloody Republican primary, similar to the 2010 California 19th primary, is out of the question. Fortunately for the four Republicans embarking on that tough election in June 2010, there Democratic opponent was so weak that the Republican nomination equated to a November victory.

Unfortunately for Olivier, Patterson or Westerlund, history won’t repeat itself. The winner of the 2012 Republican contest will face a Democrat with a political pulse. Whomever winds up with the nomination will need to have enough cash and support to overwhelm the four-term congressman.