17 News @ Sunrise 07/17/2024

Some of today's top stories17 News is your local election headquarters...    Republicans are working to unify their party and the country around former president trump.    Some of his rivals delivered speeches at the republican national convention urging americans to vote for trump this november.    Nbc's brie jackson has the latest this morning from milwaukeePresident Biden is shrinking former president Trump's lead among likely voters.    That's the word from a New York Time-Siena College Poll.    It shows Biden's popularity ticked up...with Mr. Trump holding a 46-percent to 45-percent edge.    That's an improvement from February....when Trump was polling at 48-percent.    About eight percent of voters still say they don't know who they're voting for this November.hundreds of county workers headed to the picket line yesterday morning to voice their concerns over the potential elimination of budgeted but vacant county positions.  There were hundreds of workers from different county jobs, including the roads department, human services, behavioral health and recovery services and more.     Attendees said that the plan could eliminate much-needed positions, delay much-needed services and resources, and intensify a growing staffing crisis. Protestors also attended the Board of Supervisors meeting to get answers about the number of positions could be cut and share their concerns... no targeted number of positions was confirmed.     We reached out to the county and in a statement, a spokesperson said, "Kern County will continue to engage our bargaining units with fair and equitable negotiations and look forward to reaching an agreement with S-E-I-U...in the near future." Meantime... the Kern County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to approve the allocation of just over $8 million in state funding secured by Assemblymember Dr. Jasmeet Bains (D-Delano) to various programs combating the spread of fentanyl.Bains detailed the plan to the Board, with $4.16 million going to local law enforcement and $4 million to medical providers to enhance substance use and addiction services.  These allocations will be used for specialized rapid response units concentrating on drug suppression and community education. The task force approach helps local law enforcement take a regional approach to enforcing and investigating drug trafficking.