Good morning! It’s Thursday, April 16. This is Rob & Omar.
Easy weather: Sunny and 70s today! NOAA
Topa! The 48th annual Fresno Basque Festival begins at 9 a.m. May 2. The free public event includes a parade, Basque music, dancing, and food. More info
What rhythms with ‘poetry’? The Fresno County Public Library is accepting submissions for its 27th Annual Poetry Contest, inviting residents of all ages to share their writing and be recognized as part of a long-standing community tradition. Facebook
1. First look at changes for Fresno arts funding
Fresno city staffers with the parks department presented draft guidelines for the next cycle of Measure P arts funding at a meeting Wednesday night, which received mixed reactions from many in the public, Fresnoland’s Julianna Morano reports.
Some changes to the grant guidelines were met with cautious optimism, including a proposal to begin paying the individuals who review grant applications and giving them rigorous training on unconscious bias and other aspects of grant review — which city staff said came from feedback from the arts community following the last grant cycle.
“But there’s more debate coming on other suggested changes to the guidelines, including a proposal to have at least two of the 20 to 25 panelists reviewing grant applications come from outside the City of Fresno,” Julianna writes, “a provision city staff said was an attempt to mitigate issues with conflicts of interest for panelists who may have ties to the Fresno organizations or artists whose applications they’re reviewing.”
Kimberly McCoy: “I don’t like the one about members residing outside the City of Fresno because they’re not going to know anything about those artists or the applicants.”
2. Law firm dodges fine over improper case citations
A Fresno County judge chose not to fine a Fresno law firm after taking steps following 11 fake and improper case citations making their way into one of its court filings, Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad reports.
Back in February, Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan exposed a December court filing from Aleshire & Wynder, LLP for including four case citations that do not exist, along with seven other improper case citations.
Aleshire & Wynder, LLP parted ways with the attorney who drafted the court filing in question just two days after Culver Kapetan’s scathing February order. The law firm’s main attorney in the lawsuit also withdrew the application that the court filing in question was a part of.
“[T]he court is satisfied that the offending application was not the result of a direct action taken by those primarily handling this matter or anyone remaining with the firm,” Culver Kapetan wrote in an April 14 tentative ruling.
3. Herndon-Barstow school gets a new safety crosswalk
A new crosswalk went up Wednesday on Grantland Avenue near Herndon-Barstow Elementary School, Fresno County’s first-ever HAWK crosswalk, ABC 30 reports.
“The HAWK signal is designed to alert drivers as pedestrians cross a busy roadway,” the newsroom reported. “When a pedestrian presses the button, the signal cycles through flashing yellow, steady yellow and then red lights, warning drivers to slow down and stop.”
The signal operates 24/7. The roughly $1 million project was completed in March.
“Parents of Herndon-Barstow Elementary students and Central Unified School District leadership raised concerns about the lack of a highly visible crosswalk along Grantland Avenue,” county officials said in a news release. “With no traffic signals present to slow or halt vehicle traffic, students and nearby residents faced significant safety risks.”
