Graffiti is being cleaned up in Merced. The Merced Police made the following announcement on their Facebook yesterday:

The Merced Police Department is stepping up gang violence prevention efforts after a recent rise in gang-related incidents.

Merced Police Department is investigating a serious traffic collision on W. 21st Street. Avoid the area to prevent delays.

Merced police investigated a major-injury traffic collision on West 21st Street near Canal Street on Thursday morning. The Police Department Traffic Unit was on scene and West 21st was closed between Canal and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. It was reopened around noon.

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- Merced police are searching for a vehicle believed to have been used by a murder suspect last month. On June 16, 22-year-old Betty Ann Choates was found at D Street and Childs Avenue suffering from several gunshot wounds.