Good morning! It’s Wednesday, March 25. This is Rob & Omar.
All clear: Sunny. Mid-80s. All week. NOAA
Not enough? Fresno-area farmers get 5% more water. Maven’s Notebook
Class Action? Fresno hospital accused of unpaid overtime and labor violations. GVWire
Help farm workers: A new bill would help distribute free menstrual hygiene products to women who work in remote, high-poverty agricultural regions. ABC30
Is this still a thing? What happened to plans around this historic building? The Fresno Bee
Debatable: California governor candidates will debate at Fresno State campus next month. KMPH
Regulating AVs: Fresno-area gig drivers will join a statewide rally today to draw attention to new state legislation aimed at addressing “regulatory gaps” in the autonomous vehicle industry. The rally in Fresno is set for at 10am outside City Hall. Business Journal
As seen on Netflix: A Michelin-recognized Mexican restaurant is coming to a former Fresno comic book store. The Business Journal
1. Fresno police to hold first military equipment community meeting
Four years after a state law went into effect increasing police transparency on local military equipment, the Fresno Police Department will host its first community engagement meeting on the matter.
The state law, known as AB 481, requires annual community engagement meetings on military equipment. However, as Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad found out, the Fresno Police Department never held the annual meetings in the years since the law passed.
Even with the community engagement meeting slated for today, Fresno residents have still aired concerns about whether the Fresno Police Department is fully compliant with the state law.
Fresno police’s annual military equipment use report does not explain how police officers have used military equipment — which is required in AB 481.
One Fresno resident told Fresnoland she wants to see the Fresno City Council table the item until Fresno police fully comply with requirements in state law.
2. Fresno Unified budget picture comes into focus
Fresno students, parents and teachers will get a better look at Fresno Unified finances during tonight’s regularly scheduled school board meeting.
FUSD has been making cuts, offering buyouts and scrambling to close a multi-million-dollar budget deficit next year as enrollment continues to fall.
With more than 200 layoffs on the table and a $55 million hole to fill, district and union leaders have clashed over proposed cuts.
The potential job cuts come just weeks after the district’s elected trustees gave themselves a massive raise — doubling their own take-home pay as they prepare to make budget cuts just about everywhere else.
Fresnoland’s Diego Vargas will be on hand at tonight’s board meeting, with the closed session meeting set for 4:30 p.m. followed by the public meeting at the Fresno Unified school board chambers in downtown Fresno.
3. What the frack?
If the Trump Administration gets its way, parts of Fresno County — and the rest of the central San Joaquin Valley — will see more oil drilling and fracking in places like Millerton Lake, YourCentralValley reports.
In January the U.S. Bureau of Land Management released a study calling for oil and gas leasing for as much as 850,000 acres of Valley land, despite the well-documented health and environmental risks associated with fracking.
President Donald Trump’s war in Iran has spiked gas prices and leaders are scrambling to ease the pain for already cash-strapped citizens ahead of the midterm elections.
YourCentralValley has a detailed map of the local areas under consideration.
The final environmental impact statement will be available to the public May 22.
