Good morning! Today is Friday, July 10. Danielle here, subbing in for Rob.
Long live community pools: A new community pool in Orosi is helping to raise a new generation of strong swimmers on the valley’s east side. KVPR
(Speaking of which, have you been to Central East’s epic pool this summer? My kids were absolutely raving over the slides this week.)
From Granite Park to State Center: Developer Terance Frazier has put his hat in the ring to replace Rob Fuentes on the State Center Community College District Board, challenging consultant Marcos Osorio for the seat. GV Wire
The pride of Fresno: San Joaquin Memorial alum Max Arfsten, who just finished his first World Cup appearance for the USMNT, was named to the 2026 Major League Soccer Allstar Team. ABC6
Fresno County jail death questions: Family members of a 22-year-old inmate who died in Fresno County custody in June have filed a claim against the Fresno County Sheriffs’ Office alleging more could have been done to prevent his death. ABC30
1. Fresno’s AI conundrum
Do Fresno city leaders have much control over their ability to control how they work with AI and software from tech companies?
City Manager Georgeanne White expressed frustration over what she sees as the city being held “captive” by tech companies, whose products the city relies on increasingly have adopted artificial intelligence to perform core functions.
The city doesn’t have an official AI policy yet, even as police officers are using it to draft police reports and a city contracted attorney got their hand slapped recently for potentially AI in a court filing with hallucinated citations.
City Councilmember Miguel Arias: “I suspect that AI is going to be like meth,” Arias said at the June 8 budget hearing. “They give it to you at a really cheap price on day one, and then they’re going to rob you and rape you on year two because now we’re on the hook.”
Read the full story from Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad here.
2. City Attorney says higher code enforcement fines in the works
City officials have long lamented the persistence of negligent property owners leaving tenants to deal with unsafe living conditions. But on Thursday, City Attorney Andrew Janz claimed to The Fresno Bee that he’s going to start cracking down on it through a new fine structure, but didn’t provide any specifics.
The city hasn’t increased fines for landlords with housing habitability violations in a decade. The maximum fine for a first violation is $250, but it could be $800, if the violation also jeopardizes a person’s health and safety. They escalate to as much as $1,600.
Councilmembers Nelson Esparza and Miguel Arias signaled that they’d support heavier fines.
Councilmember Esparza: “We have some very large repeat offenders within the city, where this has been a problem for many, many years. Wherever we see an opportunity to adjust and calibrate to be more effective against those violations, we should take that action.”
Read the full story from the Fresno Bee here.
3. Clovis veterans’ hiring program touts high success rate
When organizers at the Central Valley Veterans Employment Committee started looking at the success rate of job fairs, they didn’t find good numbers, they told Your Central Valley.
So they opted to try a different approach, geared at getting veteran applicants a chance at a presentation and one-on-one with prospective employers.
The Strategic Hiring Event — coming back to Clovis on July 21 — boasts an 80% success rate in securing jobs for veterans for a least a year, according to organizers.
Army veteran Kyle Pennington: “The return on investment on this thing is incredible.”
Read the full story from Your Central Valley here.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Omar S. Rashad.
