Good morning! It’s Wednesday, Oct. 15. This is Rob.
⛅Mostly sunny again today, following Tuesday’s rainstorms. Highs in Fresno today and tomorrow are expected to land in the mid and upper 60s. NOAA
👷♀️Five years after the Creek Fire and some still haven’t started rebuilding. The Fresno Bee
📺 ABC News journalist Bob Woodruff speaks today (Wednesday, Oct. 15) as part of the San Joaquin Valley Town Hall series in Fresno. GV Wire
😁 Sequoia Brewing Company appeared to pay homage to a Fresno councilmember’s recent bipartisan political warning at the reopening of its north Fresno location. Instagram
🎙️ Comedian Rob Schneider is coming to Fresno’s Tower District. KSEE
🎥 Fashion Fair Mall is hosting a “Fall Flicks Series” this month in the Outdoor Village. KMPH
1. Forest Service failure?
The loss of hundreds of centuries-old Giant Sequoias in McKinley Grove this summer was an epic and devastating tragedy that did not have to happen, a new investigation from Fresnoland’s Gregory Weaver reveals.
As early as 2019, a chorus of voices began urging the U.S. Forest Service to conduct controlled — or “prescribed” — burns around Teakettle Experimental Forest, an ancient grove near Fresno that experts said had a high risk for wildfire danger, according to interviews and government documents reviewed by Fresnoland.
The prescribed burn project had a complete plan and full funding — for years — but never happened.
In early September, when the ancient trees went up in flames, they helped fuel the blaze’s massive surge into the Dinkey Creek Basin and reduced the Giant Sequoias of McKinley Grove to ashes.
Scientists and experts who spoke with Fresnoland say much of the damage could have been avoided if the Forest Service simply carried out the long-standing and fully-funded Teakettle burn project at any point during the first or second Trump administration or all four years of the Biden Administration.
2. ‘Deeply disappointed’
The Sikh Coalition expressed frustration with Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, a day after the California governor and presumed 2028 Democratic presidential candidate vetoed a Central Valley bill supported by many in Fresno.
Fresnoland’s Gisselle Medina broke the news late Monday that Newsom had vetoed SB 509, a proposal authored by Merced Democratic state Sen. Anna Caballero that sought to beef up law enforcement training and education in connection with “transnational repression,” when a foreign state harasses or targets diaspora communities.
The bill was opposed by the Coalition of Hindus of North America.
While acknowledging disappointment over the veto, the Sikh Coalition also noted that, in explaining his decision, Newsom announced that similar training and education plans were already in the works for California law enforcement.
The Sikh Coalition acknowledged the announcement as good news, but also wondered out loud why nobody in Sacramento mentioned it earlier.
3. ‘Stabilize our students’ emotions’
A $150,000 Fresno Unified investment into permanent housing for about 20 local families is already hinting at promising results, KVPR reports this week.
Project Access sprang from the 2023 contract negotiations between FUSD and its teachers union, with both sides committing $30 million to help students and families experiencing homelessness. A similar project is underway in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The project comes as the district has expanded campus social workers to elementary schools, part of its yearslong, multi-million dollar investment in social and emotional support services for students.
Priscilla Lopez, a social worker for Fresno Unified elementary schools: “A lot of times we kind of separate social emotional support and academics, but actually they go hand in hand. When we’re able to stabilize our students’ emotions or help them stabilize their emotions, then they’re able to learn more in the classroom.”
