The California High-Speed Rail Authority approved its Fresno-Bakersfield section Wednesday -- the second piece of what is planned as the backbone of a statewide passenger train network.

The agency's board, meeting in Fresno, took two separate votes related to the 114-mile route. Board members certified the final 20,000-page version of its environmental-impact report, intended to analyze how building and operating the rail system would affect homes, businesses, farms and wildlife habitat in the region, and detail how the agency will minimize or make up for those effects.

The oil company owning the faulty Arvin gas line that leaked and caused the evacuation of eight homes will compile a human health risk assessment on the released toxins.

Petro Capital Resources LLC pipeline has left more than three dozen people displaced since March 18. The pipeline has since been shut down.

Giving Bakersfield a token of its esteem, the California High-Speed Rail Authority board on Wednesday approved the Fresno to Bakersfield segment of its bullet train line -- and a resolution affirming construction will stop at city limits for now.

The bullet train will still take out numerous private buildings in Bakersfield, and bisect portions of city facilities including its recent Mill Creek redevelopment project, the parking lot of the McMurtrey Aquatic Center, and the Municipal Services Corporation Yard.

TEACHER TALKS TARDIES: A math teacher at Highland High School is urging the Kern High School District to enact a district-wide policy to curb student tardiness -- which he calls "a serious classroom management problem" that he's seen escalate.

"Let's do something about tardies," Scott Clare told the school board Monday night.

SACRAMENTO -- The board that oversees California's $68 billion high-speed rail project voted Wednesday to unanimously adopt a planned route for its second and most substantial section to date, a 114-mile stretch between Fresno and Bakersfield.

Meeting in Fresno, the board voted 7-0 to approve a 20,000-page environmental planning document, sending the next phase of the project on for federal review.

Services scheduled

Craig Lawrence Medina, 45, Bakersfield, April 30. Service 1:30 p.m. May 9, Victory Outreach, 220 Eureka St. Greenlawn Funeral Home.

Services scheduled

Craig Lawrence Medina, 45, Bakersfield, April 30. Service 1:30 p.m. May 9, Victory Outreach, 220 Eureka St. Greenlawn Funeral Home.

We recently had to put one of our dogs down. Old age, heart failure and bad kidneys for Rocco, a 12-year-old Boston Terrier. Bostons have a 12-to-15-year life expectancy, so it wasn't a surprise per se, but we had hoped his passing would have been more gentle.

It's not a good place to be when you're the one handing off your pet to go to the great beyond. There's something inherently disconcerting about making the decision, as if you want to crawl under a rock and hide because of your personal power to end the life of an animal. At the same time, however, you realize it's also an act of mercy.

Getting money is fun. From the time we got an envelope with birthday money from grandma to getting our first tax return, we think getting money is fun.

Business is all about getting money. It should also be fun, but we tend to concentrate more on the struggle than the outcome. You contend that business is about work, it takes effort. Don't most fun activities -- football, golf, amusement parks, the beach -- take effort? Effort is not the issue, provided you enjoy the exertion.

David Jacobson was an inmate who died in October 2009 after he was attacked by three inmates at Wasco State Prison.

Although he was a thief, the way he died was unfortunate.

John Farrer raised his conductor's baton in front of the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra for the first time in 1970 as a guest conductor. Now, 44 years later, he will retire his Bakersfield baton.

"It will be a very emotional experience," Farrer said Wednesday on "First Look with Scott Cox."

Services scheduled

Jesus "Chito" Cueto, 66, Bakersfield, May 4. Visitation 5 to 8 p.m. with rosary at 6 p.m. May 7, Basham Funeral Care; Mass 10 a.m. May 8, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church; interment at Hillcrest Memorial Park. Basham Funeral Care.

Services scheduled

Earlene Bocleair, 82, Riverside, April 30 in Riverside. Visitation 9 to 10 a.m. May 10, Greenlawn Southwest Celebration of Life Center; service 10 a.m. May 10, Greenlawn Southwest Celebration of Life Center. Greenlawn Funeral Home Southwest.

Services pending

Jesus Cueto, 66, Bakersfield, May 4. Basham Funeral Care.

The film screening inside a Bakersfield church hall was never intended to be a community forum about fracking.

But because of one technical problem after another, and a few restive oil and gas industry people in the audience, there was almost no avoiding it.

Services scheduled

Melinda K. Adams, 60, Bakersfield, April 22. Graveside service 11 a.m. May 9, Greenlawn Cemetery. Doughty-Calhoun-O'Meara Funeral Directors.

Services scheduled

Richard "Dick" L. Barnett, 80, Bakersfield, April 29. Visitation 2 to 5 p.m. May 8, Doughty-Calhoun-O'Meara Funeral Directors; service 10 a.m. May 9, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. Doughty-Calhoun-O'Meara Funeral Directors.

Services scheduled

Diana Fay Smith, 58, Bakersfield, April 25. Private visitation; graveside service 1 p.m. May 5, Greenlawn Funeral Home Southwest. Basham Funeral Care.

Services scheduled

Vivian Michelle Herrera, 49, Bakersfield, April 28 in Los Angeles. Visitation 4 to 8 p.m. May 5, Hillcrest Memorial Chapel; service 10 a.m. May 6, St. Francis Church. Hillcrest Memorial Park & Mortuary.

A prominent environmental group accused state oil regulators Wednesday of failing to comply with public disclosure rules contained in an interim version of California's new fracking law.

The accusations are part of the Center for Biological Diversity's efforts to build support for a proposed fracking moratorium that on Wednesday cleared the state Senate Environmental Quality Committee. The legislation, Senate Bill 1132, would disproportionately impact Kern, by far California's top oil-producing county.