Good morning! It’s Thursday, Feb. 5. This is Omar & Rob.
No fog in west-central Fresno but a hazardous conditions warning remains in effect until noon. Highs in the lower-70s today. NOAA
A Catholic parish plans to install a parking lot in Fresno’s Tower District. The Fresno Bee
Fresno City College resumes full campus scheduled following a weekend crash. KMPH
1. Faith leaders speak at vigil outside ICE Office
On a foggy Wednesday morning, more than 50 community members gathered outside the downtown Fresno ICE office for a vigil, mourning the lives taken by federal immigration authorities.
Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad was at the vigil, organized by Faith in the Valley, which will take place monthly. Speakers at the Wednesday gathering included several local religious leaders who called on people of faith to be vocal about the federal government’ s policies on immigration.
Pastor Simon Biasell-Moshrefi called on other faith leaders to become vocal and take a stand against federal immigration authorities, as a record-high number of people have died in their custody since President Donald Trump took office.
Imam Hajj Reza Nekumanesh pointed out how the attention needs to remain on immigrants arrested by ICE, not just U.S. citizens injured or killed by immigration authorities.
2. Ex-Bitwise CEO disbarred in California
Former Bitwise chief Jake Soberal can’t be a lawyer in California anymore, YourCentralValley reports.
Soberal and former Bitwise co-CEO Irma Olguin Jr., pleaded guilty to wire fraud and are both currently serving prison time in connection with a $115 million fraud scheme that propped up the once-beloved tech and real estate company.
Soberal, a longtime licensed attorney, received an 11-year prison term, two years longer than his co-conspirator, Olguin Jr. YourCentralValley reports that Soberal’s term was longer due to his experience as an attorney.
Soberal was disbarred in October, with the California State Bar Association noting that the ex-CEO misled investors by making fraudulent representations about his company’s financial stability.
Bitwise abruptly collapsed in the Spring of 2023 as the pair’s financial scheme unraveled.
Following their convictions in 2024, the pair released an apology letter online.
3. Bullard High students join anti-ICE protests
Bullard High School students walked off their north Fresno campus Wednesday, the latest in a string of student-led protests both at home and across the nation decrying federal anti-immigrant tactics and the Trump Administration’s mass deportation effort.
The Fresno Bee reports that students left campus and marched toward the Fashion Fair Mall.
Bullard’s walkout came a day after students across town at Hoover High School also protested ICE and Border Patrol violence with a march to Fashion Fair.
On Friday, hundreds of Fresno Unified students from several high schools, including Edison and Fresno High, joined the national shutdown protests.
