Tulare County's General Services and Sheriff's Departments announced today that the Kings River in Tulare County is closed to motorized vessels, such as boats and jet skis, until water levels and rates increase.

Tulare County Parks Manager Neil Pilegard said motorized vessels should not be used in the Kings River until water flows reach 400 cubic feet per second. As of today, water is flowing at a rate between 30- and 50 cubic-feet per-second.

"Operating motorized vehicles in the Kings River with low water levels and rates is dangerous," Pilegard said. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

Tulare County works with the King River Watermaster to determine water levels and flow rate. Pilegard said the Kings River Watermaster estimates that flows will remain at low levels through the end of May, including Memorial Day Weekend.

A team of students from University Preparatory High School (UPHS) won the “Best Overall” award in the high school portion of the annual Step Up Youth Challenge, which concluded April 25 with a red carpet awards ceremony at the Visalia Fox Theater. The UPHS students, along with teams from five other high schools and 13 middle schools, worked October through April to identify a community need and create a program to address that need.

UPHS students developed a multimedia teen pregnancy prevention program. The program, which was designed for middle school audiences, is performed on stage with a mix of video interviews with teen parents and short play vignettes. UPHS Language Arts teacher and project advisor Dr. Tara Williams said, “From my point of view, the students took a lot of initiative in putting the project together.