Good morning! It’s Thursday, Feb. 19. This is Rob.
Storm watch: Wet skies, chilly temperatures and blustery winds today with a high-wind advisory all day and a ‘freeze watch’ in effect through Friday. High of around 50 today. NOAA
Cheers! A new bar is opening inside a century-old home in Fresno. YourCentralValley
‘Gotta go fast’ The public is invited to an event called “Critical Hits: Asian Creativity in the Global Game Industry,” featuring a speech by Professor Hirokazu Yasuhara, the original Game & Level Designer of Sonic the Hedgehog! The event runs from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20 at McLane Hall, Room 121. Registration is required. Admission is free. Instagram
1. Fresno Unified trustees secure highest pay ever ahead of expected budget cuts
In a recent interview with Fresnoland, the president of the Fresno Unified school board acknowledged the district could have been clearer with the public when the trustees doubled their own pay last month — but says “I don’t think it was listed to intentionally confuse anyone.”
But at least Board President Veva Islas was willing to explain and defend her reasoning behind supporting an enormous pay bump for the trustees on Jan. 14.
Besides Islas, Trustee Andy Levine was the only other Fresno Unified board member willing to talk about it. Levine was also the trustee to vote against the pay raise and one of just two who refused to take the money. (The other, district officials say, was Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, who apparently didn’t want the money and didn’t want to discuss not taking it either.)
The other four trustees — Susan Wittrup, Keisha Thomas, Claudia Cázares and Valarie Davis — all took the money and refused to talk about it ahead of a budget season that’s expected to get very ugly as districts across California begin announcing layoffs.
2. Commercial driving schools out of business?
At least two Central Valley truck-driving schools appeared on a federal list of closures that reportedly includes more than 550 commercial driving academies across the county, YourCentralValley reports.
The television station identified the local driver schools as “Prime Truck School LLC and Francisco Javier Barraza Lopez’s commercial driving school.”
The move is the first tangible sign of fallout from a directive late last year to review thousands of training schools deemed out of compliance with “Trump Administration standards.”
As previously reported by Fresnoland, administration’s crackdown on commercial drivers also sparked a lawsuit in California when, late last year, the DMV abruptly canceled more than 17,000 commercial licenses — many if not most of whom are immigrants — over a paperwork issue flagged by Trump’s transportation department.
3. Saying good luck to a legendary weatherman
After more than three decades as “the face of weather, news, and humor in the Central Valley,” Kopi Sotiropulos plans to retire at the end of March, KMPH reports.
Kopi joined the Great Day morning show in 2003.
“Kopi’s weather forecasts, humor, school visits, and genuine connection with viewers have made him not just well known but deeply beloved across the San Joaquin Valley,” the station reports.
His final day is set for March 27.
Kopi: “What job can you be wrong about 25 percent of the time and still get a paycheck?”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
