Esteemed American novelist Alice Walker once said “Time moves slowly, but passes quickly.”
It’s a sentiment some have pondered, as 2025 came and went like a blazing fireball vanishing beneath the amber horizon at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge.
Like that majestic view, time is an intangible gift that cannot be possessed, only appreciated with every fleeting moment.
That said, for a year that went by so quickly, quite a bit happened in Merced County in 2025 – including key moments that will shape the trajectory of the region.
First, one cannot talk about 2025 without mentioning the Merced County Courthouse Museum celebrated its sesquicentennial. Indeed, it was a spectacular 150th anniversary, as the county marked the occasion with $3.5 million in renovations, thus preserving the opulent Italianate-style edifice for future generations to enjoy.
It was also a banner year for our beloved Bobcats, as UC Merced marked its 20th year by earning its R1 status from Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, putting it in the highest tier of the nation’s research institutions.
In laymen’s terms, that means Merced County now hosts one of the best universities in the nation. Period.
2025 will also be remembered as the year Merced County leaders officially gave Riggs Ambulance a “Dear John” letter after a business relationship that lasted nearly 80 years.
In October, Merced County Supervisors selected American Medical Response West as the county’s new ambulance provider.
Like many relationships that cease after decades spent together, the breakup between Riggs and the county didn’t come without some discord.
There were allegations of a targeted misinformation campaign spearheaded by Riggs’ proponents meant to prey upon the fears of elderly residents. The company’s supporters denied being behind the campaign, and they in-turn alleged the RFP process was biased, which county leaders vehemently denied.
Nonetheless, the decision by supervisors to choose AMR was unanimous.
It was also a big year for the Marketplace at Merced (erstwhile known as the Merced Mall), with many of the long-awaited renovations finally coming into fruition. In 2025, stores like Boot Barn and Burlington Coat Factory finally opened up, and even more offerings are on the way in 2026.
Those stories are just a snapshot of the important Merced County events that happened in 2025. Here is a list of some of this year’s most-read and impactful stories written by Merced FOCUS reporters:
High Speed Rail may switch gears on Merced
“Blindsided” was the word many Merced officials used when learning about an August California High Speed Rail Authority report that suggested removing the downtown Merced station from the bullet train’s planned initial operating segment, as a cost-cutting measure.
City officials say the suggested alterations to the planned 171-mile Bakersfield to Merced segment were surprising, given the significant investments the city, businesses and regional stakeholders have made in planning for the proposed downtown Merced station.
Not to mention, those investments were based on longstanding promises from the authority that the downtown Merced station was going to be a priority.
It wasn’t long ago the authority was reiterating a message of making good on pledging a partnership with city. Barely a year ago, authority officials were all smiles in Merced and Chowchilla, hosting open houses to showcase the station’s preliminary designs, trumpeting the benefits of building the project in the Gateway to Yosemite.
It will likely take legislative approval to remove Merced from the train’s initial operating segment, but the station’s prospects are uncertain, though even using that word is somewhat conservative.
Ian Choudri, California High Speed Rail CEO, recently told The Fresno Bee he’s going to ask the Legislature to change state law, which restricts rail authority spending to $500 million on work outside the required initial route from Merced to Bakersfield.
In doing so, Choudri’s aim is to use private sector dollars to move forward on the project, outside of the Valley. That could mean the initial operating segment would connect to Gilroy from Madera after originating in Bakersfield or Palmdale – thus completely bypassing Merced.
Plus, now that the state has withdrawn its lawsuit against the Trump administration for its restricting $4 billion in federal funds to the project, those private sector investments will likely prove even more crucial for the authority.
Nagame and Taste of Little India close after decades in business
If you were ever fixated on having some delicious teriyaki chicken after getting off the Highway 99 16th Street exit, chances are at some point you made a stop at Nagame.
It was that way for nearly four decades, as the Japanese restaurant for years was considered a gem by locals. After Merced FOCUS reporter Alma Villegas heard a rumor the popular eatery was closing, they spoke to the owners, who confirmed it was true.
Nagame served its last dish on July 31, but it will long be remembered by its devoted fanbase of customers.
On a similar note, Taste of Little India at Main and R streets in downtown Merced also said sayonara in 2025.
Merced FOCUS reporter Christian De Jesus Betancourt spoke with Parm Samra, owner of Taste of Little India, who said he’ll miss the connection he built with customers after more than two decades in business.
Planada flood victims frustrated by slow recovery
Memories of the January 2023 floodwaters that ripped through the region may be slowly fading into the rearview for many county residents.
Yet for some folks in Planada, there was still no going back to normal in 2025. Merced FOCUS bilingual communities reporter Christian De Jesus Betancourt chronicled how many Planada residents were still waiting for promised assistance to arrive, despite millions in state dollars that were allocated to help the small incorporated town recover.
Betancourt also interviewed residents who complained there was a lack of transparency and communication with county officials, plus the organization responsible for rebuilding homeowners’ properties.
Betancourt’s story shined a revealing spotlight on the vulnerable residents who felt they had been neglected in the years after the floodwaters had receded.
Playhouse Merced board conflict goes viral
When it comes to community theater, typically the drama is reserved for the stage, rather than the board room.
The opposite was true at Playhouse Merced this year, and the situation was completely unscripted, and some might say a bit chaotic.
Merced FOCUS reporters Alma Villegas and Elizabeth Wilson were at the September meeting, which spiraled out of control after the Playhouse board had split into two separate camps.
Some members of the audience took sides, and a verbal fracas ensued that ended with Merced police responding to the kerfuffle.
In the aftermath, the organization cancelled shows and there was an exodus of paid staff who’d had enough of the internal dysfunction.
In the months since the contentious meeting, Playhouse Merced has moved forward, recently hosting a successful Holiday Workshop for children, according to the organization’s Facebook page.
Downtown Merced is for coffeeholics
If you lived in Merced during the early 2000s, getting specialty coffee in downtown Merced typically meant visiting the old Starbucks on West Main Street or Wired off 18th Street.
Nowadays, when it comes to independently-owned coffee shops, the downtown Merced region has blossomed into a vibrant bean scene – one that has evolved to meet the sophisticated tastes of caffeine fanatics jonesing for java.
Rachel Livinal, a reporter for KVPR and the Merced FOCUS, took a deep dive into how one of those independent coffee shops, The Sensory Lab, launched a unique barista internship employment program with the city of Merced and the Merced County Department of Workforce Investment.
Livinal interviewed the Sensory Lab’s owner, Justin Shen, whose goal is to build the specialty coffee workforce in Merced. “That’s No. 1, is basically, build this community so we have a more experienced barista at their young age,” he said.
Livinal’s story provided an interesting behind-the-scenes look at how far Merced’s coffee scene has come, while providing insight of how it may grow in the near future.
Vallarta at Marketplace at Merced stirs debate
With all of the buzz happening with the new changes at the Marketplace at Merced, one project that stirred debate was about whether an upcoming Vallarta supermarket should be allowed to have a liquor license.
While that might sound like relatively routine council business, the story was one of the top read items on The Merced FOCUS website in 2025. The council ultimately voted 4-3 to approve Vallarta’s petition to move forward with obtaining an alcohol license.
The division on the council in some ways mirrored the varied viewpoints that residents had on the topic. “We have a history of being business-friendly, and I see no good reason to restrict this business, at all,” said Mike Harris, District 3 councilmember.
Some community members, however, lamented the lack of grocery stores south of Highway 99 in the city. In that regard, District 6 Councilmember Fue Xiong, who voted against the license, said another supermarket in north Merced was a “slap in the face” to folks in south Merced.
Construction on the Vallarta is expected to be complete in the spring.
Popup nightclub brings joy to Merced’s disabled community
A story that warmed the hearts of Merced FOCUS readers was a profile of Club 67, a nightclub that caters to Merced’s adult disabled community.
Merced FOCUS editor Brianna Vaccari spent an evening at Club 67, described as a “judgement-free zone” where those adults can dance and visit with friends without worrying about mixing alcohol with medications or being treated poorly by other club goers who may not understand their disabilities.
The story provided insight about a special place where one night a month, the club’s patrons have a chance to be “just like everybody else.”
“And as a parent, that’s the best thing we can hope for,” said the mother of one of the clubgoers. “It makes me really happy for her that she has this opportunity, because that’s something I never thought my daughter would get.”
Goodbye Sun-Star building
This year was the end of an era for one of Merced’s most familiar buildings.
An empty field of overgrown weeds now occupies the former site of the Merced Sun-Star, the area’s daily newspaper and once one of the city’s largest employers.
During its heyday, the Merced Sun-Star building on G Street near Olive Avenue was a bustling center of activity. It contained a massive then state-of-the-art printing press, and drivers loaded up their vans every morning, delivering the daily news to every corner of Merced County, from Le Grand to Gustine.
The newsroom bustled with activity, with dozens of reporters running back and forth to assignments, and copy editors reading each story line by line, preparing the morning print edition for readers.
Many of those reporters went on to work for publications like The Washington Post, Marketplace, The Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, The Virginian-Pilot, San Diego Union-Tribune, Fresno Bee and San Jose Mercury News. The paper even sent reporters to work in McClatchy’s Baghdad bureau during the Iraq War.
The city ultimately bought the 30,500 square-foot building and 5.5 acre property from the newspaper’s parent company, McClatchy, in 2017 for $1.62 million
The building was demolished in late April, after a fire last year rendered it structurally unsafe.