Good morning! It’s Tuesday, June 30. This is Rob.
Clear: High of around 93 today with more clear skies over Fresno. NOAA
Show time: Where to see firework shows for the Fourth of July. YourCentralValley
‘Do it big’ Grammy-nominated rappers are headlining Fresno’s ‘Party in the Park’. Tickets on sale soon. ABC30
Regular or deluxe? Clovis gets a new Chick-fil-A on Wednesday. YourCentralValley (Also, did you know the Chick-fil-A cows have names? When were you gonna tell me?)
Heads up, daytrippers: Here’s a look at local gas prices as the holiday weekend approaches. ABC30
Family matters: In an effort to celebrate families and protest Fresno County’s anti-queer “Nuclear Family Month,” Maarte is joining forces with a local photographer from 5 to 8 p.m today (June 30) at Maarte taking free photos in a project dubbed “This is what family looks like.” Instagram
1. Fresno’s CRMC in yet another insurance dispute
For at least the third time this year, Fresno’s primary hospital is locked into yet another contract dispute with a major health insurer with yet another potentially painful deadline just weeks away, ABC30 reports.
If Community Regional Medical Center fails to reach an agreement with Cigna Healthcare by July 15, the hospital will be dropped from the insurance carrier’s network, meaning Cigna members would likely pick up 100% of the costs of care at CRMC and Clovis Community.
ABC30 reports that Fresno’s hospital is demanding higher than average prices, which the hospital says is needed to offset rising drug, operating and personnel costs.
Earlier this year, Fresno residents covered by Blue Shield were in limbo for months before the hospital finally cut a deal retroactive to Feb. 1. In January, thousands of Fresno Unified retirees were infuriated when they cut off from care amid a dispute between the hospital and insurance carrier Aetna.
2. Are we over IPAs, yet?
Fresnoland’s Vince Mancini recently took on area breweries, looking for the best beer, the best atmosphere and the best time.
The investigation into Fresno’s best craft brews comes with one key rule: No IPAs.
In his “IPA-hater’s guide to Fresno and Clovis breweries,” Vince ducks and dodges as many hop-heavy IPA beers as possible, while zeroing on what makes each spot and each beer good, or, if not good, at least unique.
“There are just so many other styles out there more interesting (to me) that don’t get nearly as much love – helles, dunkel, bock, marzen, red ale, red lager, black lager, vienna lager, Belgian…the list goes on.”
3. Reedley farmer gives away nectarines
Amid a lengthy legal fight with a major ag producer, a Reedley farmer is giving away his white nectarine crop this year to anyone willing to come and pick the fruit they want, KMPH reports.
Cesar Mora “has opened his orchard to the public after saying an ongoing legal dispute left him unable to sell roughly 125,000 pounds of white nectarines this year.”
Mora: “So I’m glad to be able to give it away and share it instead of watching it all drop on the ground.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
