It’s Monday, September 8. Danielle, here.
☀️ Is it fake fall? High of 89 today, and we won’t even see 90 degrees this week. We’ve already been carving pumpkins and baking pumpkin bread over at my house.
🔥 Garnet Fire grows by 13,000 acres: The massive fire in the Sierra National Forest is at nearly 50,000 acres now, and just 14% containment. More details on the growth from Omar S. Rashad here.
😷 Smoke watch: The Valley Air District’s Air Quality Alert is still in effect, but Purple Air is showing healthy air quality levels in Fresno-Clovis this morning.
☕️ Portland expats find community in Fresno through coffee: After leaving the tech life, Raj and Nishi Gautham have found a new way to build meaning in their adopted home — through the Supri cafe at Copper and Maple. Business Journal
1. A fix to avoid new hurdle for residents seeking eviction protection
Councilmember Tyler Maxwell is bringing forward a proposal this Thursday to exempt the city’s Eviction Protection Program from requiring individuals calling in to provide income verification, Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad reports.
The program already institutes a rigorous intake process — only 146 of the 330 people who called into the program last year received legal help — and Maxwell said there’s no need for more verification beyond that.
This is all taking shape six months after funding for the program was supposed to be saved thanks to a state housing and homelessness grant. Turns out, that funding source didn’t end up being used to keep the program alive.
Councilmember Tyler Maxwell: “This goes against the very basic idea behind eviction protection. When people are facing the potential 72-hour eviction, the last thing you want them to do is scramble to find documentation and perform all these verification requirements because they could be at jeopardy of losing their housing.”
2. State to CA school districts: don’t pull back on English-learner guidance
Even though the federal Department of Education has rescinded their Obama-era guidance and requirements for school districts to educate English-language learners, California officials are emphasizing to local districts: it’s still required, EdSource reports.
But many school districts have historically relied on the 2015 federal letter to spell out their legal requirements, when it comes to meeting the letter of the law. A 1974 Supreme Court case established rights for English-language learners in classrooms.
3. Neighborhood immigration checks could deter citizenship pursuits
Federal immigration officials announced in late August that they plan to pursue random ‘checks’ on people who are pursuing naturalized citizenship in the U.S. — a policy that hasn’t been implemented since the Clinton Administration, The Fresno Bee reports.
The practice allows federal officials to visit an applicant’s home or neighborhood, unannounced, to learn more about their daily life.
To become a U.S. citizen, a person has to demonstrate ‘good moral character’. Previously, FBI background checks helped fulfill this requirement.
Local immigration attorneys are concerned that the new level of scrutiny on what constitutes ‘good moral character’ will deter people from completing the citizenship process.
They’re encouraging their clients to be more proactive in seeking letters from family, friends, and co-workers to demonstrate their character and accomplishments.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Omar S. Rashad.
