Good morning! It’s Tuesday, Jan. 27. This is Rob.
Your daily fog advisory expires at 11 a.m. as usual, making way for clear skies and highs in the 60s. NOAA
Small local restaurants opening in downtown Fresno. ABC30
A soccer stadium would bring big changes downtown. The Business Journal
1. City Hall shakes up planning division
About a month after a contentious vote over the largest development project in Fresno history, administrators are shaking up the planning department at City Hall.
Fresnoland’s Danielle Bergstrom spoke with veteran planner Casey Lauderdale, who questioned whether the staff reshuffling was retaliatory on the heels of the controversial SEDA vote last month.
“Our team has really stood up inside City Hall for community interests,” she said. “We’ve spoken up against things like SEDA, even though we were pretty much forced to work on that.”
The city’s long-range planning division engages residents across the city to build and implement plans that support neighborhood goals.
Lauderdale: “Our culture isn’t just ‘check the box.’ We question things. And I think we’re being punished for that.”
2. Fresno bracing for massive cuts to child care programs
The Trump Administration effort to freeze billions in federal child care funding could cost Fresno County millions, and leave hundreds of infants, children, and families with even fewer options in a community where finding reliable childcare has never been easy.
As the White House battles with the courts over the order, Fresno-area child care specialists are bracing for impact, Fresnoland’s Diego Vargas reports.
The Trump administration attempted to freeze $10 billion in federal funding for child care in five states, with California alone possibly standing to lose $4.7 billion.
For a district like Fresno Unified, the impact of the funding freeze may manifest itself across its eight child development centers that provide full-day care to hundreds of infants, toddlers and preschool aged children.
Fresno Unified receives around $24 million from the CDE’s California State Preschool Program. In 2026, 1,385 preschoolers were enrolled at 73 FUSD preschools. Currently, the district serves 345 infants and toddlers at its development centers.
3. Retired teachers compare Fresno Unified’s insurance disruption to elder abuse
Fresno Unified administrators on Monday pushed back against new claims from retirees who accuse the district of reneging on its promise of lifetime benefits in the wake of a healthcare disruption that caused chaos and confusion for thousands of former district teachers and staff.
Diego Vargas reports for Fresnoland that the retirees, in a letter from their attorney Kevin Little, are demanding the district return to its pre-2023 self-funded healthcare plan and reimbursements for expenses accumulated from network restrictions and coverage denials.
“The District’s conduct — knowing or reasonably should have known that network disruptions, prior authorization denials, and plan opacity would disproportionately harm the oldest, most vulnerable retirees — constitutes systematic elder abuse,” the letter states.
FUSD administrators bristled at the criticism in a Monday statement:
“These allegations are baseless, misleading, and have unnecessarily alarmed retirees who understandably care deeply about their health coverage.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
