(📢 Tell us what you really think! Fill out our short, 3-5 minute survey about this newsletter to enter for a chance to win a $50 gift card to a local restaurant. 📢 )
Good morning! It’s Friday, May 29. This is Rob.
Nice? Clear skies again today, a day after scattered rain showers cooled Fresno down into the 60s, with warmer weather on the way over the weekend. NOAA
New questions: A Fresno County superintendent of schools candidate faces work-history scrutiny. ABC30
‘Six years ago’: Congressman Jim Costa reacts to the scrutiny following a recently-released ethics investigation which was dismissed due to a lack of evidence. Fresno Bee
Another Amazon warehouse: This one is opening on the city’s west side, north of the 180 freeway. Fresno Bee
1. Fresno County’s wire-theft law gets the greenlight
An effort to unite Fresno city and county efforts to crack down on copper wire theft scored a major victory this week from the California Attorney General’s Office.
A legal opinion published Thursday clears the way for Fresno County’s district attorney to prosecute wire-theft possession cases with new teeth at sentencing time. The issue had been in limbo for more than a year as county prosecutors waited for the state to weigh in on whether the ordinance was essentially canceled out by existing state law.
On Thursday, Bonta’s office said the new law is not preempted by the state and that Fresno is “uniquely and particularly vulnerable” to major damage and theft of telecommunications and energy infrastructure and concluded that existing state law is “insufficient” to protect the citizens of Fresno County.
The determination is a significant victory for Fresno County’s campaign against copper wire theft. The city and county will host a joint news conference later this morning.
2. They used to be chain restaurants — now they’re uniquely Fresno
He calls them ‘hermit crab’ restaurants.
“Businesses that take up residence inside buildings that clearly used to be something else, without much effort expended on trying to disguise the previous incarnation.”
And Fresnoland’s Vince Mancini takes you on a visual tour of some of Fresno’s best loved hermit crab restaurants, including some of the city’s favorite restaurants like El Premio Mayor and Al’s Cafe.
3. Fresno police celebrate new kennel
The Fresno Police Department celebrated its new K-9 unit kennel on Thursday, a first for the city that has traditionally housed its canine officers in horse stalls or private homes.
Chief Mindy Casto described the new facility in the McLane neighborhood as a point of pride for the department’s decades-old K-9 unit.
The facility has numerous indoor and outdoor spaces for the police dogs and a washroom to help keep them healthy and clean. For more information
Today’s newsletter was edited by Danielle Bergstrom.
