Good morning! It’s Wednesday, Sept. 2. This is Rob.
True or false? The Interior Department disputes parts of the Yosemite Park land sale stories. YourCentralValley
Audit: Should Fresno State’s Athletic Corporation and its $56 million budget even exist? The Fresno Bee
Safe AI? Fresno Unified says its AI plan focuses on teaching students how to use the technology responsibly. KMPH
Latino College Expo: More than 50 colleges, universities, trade schools and career programs are expected to participate in Fresno Unified’s upcoming Fresno Latino College Expo; an event dedicated to connecting students with colleges, scholarships and other resources to help plan for life after high school. The event is set for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8 at Fresno Convention Center’s Valdez Hall, 702 M. St., Fresno. More information
The flying flowers: The California State Parks Foundation is asking the public to observe and report sightings of western monarch butterflies. Western Monarch Count
1. ‘Hopes and dreams’
A project more than five years in the making launched Tuesday morning by knocking down one building to put up a new commercial kitchen on Fresno Street for the city’s mobile food vendors.
The $5 million project has raised $4.2 million to date, mostly through philanthropic help from places like the Vesper Society and 11th Hour Project.
The move highlights the city’s at times tense relationship with its mobile food vendors. The Fresno City Council has increased regulations and fines for sidewalk vendors multiple times in recent years.
Veva Islas, executive director of Cultiva La Salud: “It will be a location where hopes and dreams for food vendors will be brought to reality.”
Read the full Fresnoland story here.
2. Unsettled
Fresno Unified Trustee Keshia Thomas and former Bullard High football coach Don Arax didn’t reach a settlement on Monday in the now-years-old defamation case after Thomas falsely accused the coach of using the “n-word.”
In a statement from FUSD following Monday’s failed talks, the district said it’s not liable for any damages in the case, which is now expected to result in a pricey judgement, with GV Wire speculating the cost as “a possible multimillion-dollar judgment.”
A trial date is set for December.
The district has argued that it’s not liable for Thomas’ false statements because, they say, only the district superintendent and school board president can speak on behalf of the district.
But one attorney consulted in the GV Wire story says that’s a hard argument for the district to defend in court because Thomas is an elected official who was brought on to the 2022 GV Wire podcast — where she made the false statements about Arax — because she was an FUSD trustee who agreed to talk about racism in district schools.
In August, Thomas issued a public apology to Arax, claiming she believed the statements at the time she made them, a claim Arax’s team has disputed.
3. Retaliation?
Six months after the Fresno city police union settled a sexual-harassment-related wrongful termination lawsuit — and just before union leadership elections — the City of Fresno has launched an investigation into the officer at the center of the claims, The Fresno Bee reports.
Union leaders confirmed the investigation of Sgt. Jeff La Blue, who is also the president of the Fresno Police Officers Association.
The union and settled a sexual harassment lawsuit in March involving La Blue and former office manager Anna Pine for an undisclosed sum.
Michael Rains, attorney for the union, said the city notified La Blue of the investigation in mid-August, just days after the union announced leadership elections in September.
The union is calling the investigation retaliation, a claim City Hall denies.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Danielle Bergstrom.
