Hey, Latines of Fresno! We want to hear from you about how we can better serve the diversity of Latino communities across our region. Today is the last day to take our short, 5-minute survey. Thank you for sharing your feedback!
Good morning! It’s Friday, Aug. 8. This is Rob, wishing you a happy National Frozen Custard Day!
😓 You know the drill: Triple digits again today (101ish) and over the weekend.
🐶 Don’t shop, adopt? The Fresno Animal Center partnered with the annual “Clear the Shelters” campaign to help pets find homes and to raise money to support the center’s efforts. Donations can be made at www.fresnoanimalcenter.com/donate.
🎧 Listen up: Fresnoland reporter Julianna, here. I’ve been binging the few precious albums that singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley released in his lifetime and posthumously in anticipation of the documentary about his life, music and mystery coming out this weekend. Will I also take a field trip to San Luis Obispo’s Palm Theatre this weekend to make sure I can see the doc in case it doesn’t screen in Fresno? I honestly might, stay tuned.
Also, Shakira was in town last night for Fresno’s first-ever concert at Valley Children’s Stadium.
1. As ‘close to a smoking gun’ as it gets?
Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad reviewed a fat stack of City Hall emails that appear to directly refute claims made by city leaders in 2023 that the city council’s budget process was somehow exempt from state opening meeting laws known as the Brown Act.
The emails, obtained from the city’s ongoing transparency lawsuit from the ACLU and the First Amendment Coalition, don’t show the council’s budget committee dissolving each year between 2018 and 2023. In fact, the emails reveal numerous budget committee meetings held consistently throughout those years.
At least one of the emails appears to show Councilmember Mike Karbassi urging his fellow leaders to use the budget committee to avoid a public council debate that he said would likely cause “a fight, which won’t look good publicly.”
2. Fresno (finally) excluded from Trump’s weird ‘sanctuary’ list
The Trump administration took its second crack at identifying “sanctuary” communities in California, KVPR reported this week, just months after an error-riddled list bizarrely — and falsely — included non-sanctuary communities like Fresno and GOP strongholds like Huntington Beach.
The new list includes Los Angeles and San Francisco but excludes the central San Joaquin Valley.
The Trump Administration has never fully explained its sloppy, typo-laden list from earlier this summer. Trump officials removed the online list about three days after it was first published, replacing it with a “Page Not Found” error message, KVPR notes.
Trump’s team has filed numerous lawsuits against jurisdictions it accuses of resisting White House plans for mass deportations that have targeted much more than the criminal street gangs it claims to focus on, including Los Angeles.
3. Rats ‘are everywhere’
A roof-rat infestation has caused more than $300 million in damage for farmers in the central San Joaquin Valley of California, The Fresno Bee reports.
Almond industry officials say the rats have chewed up trees, nuts and irrigation tubing on orchards and farms throughout Fresno County and beyond.
At least one almond grower reportedly estimated that rats ruined about 50% of his crop, and said he’s exterminating up to 100 rats every day. Another grower told The Bee the problem this year is the worst he’s ever seen.
As one expert told The Bee: “We live in an infinite sea of rats. They are everywhere.”
