Good morning! It’s Monday, Dec. 15. This is Rob.
No sun, yet again: Another hazardous dense fog advisory remains in effect until 11am today, with mostly cloudy skies and highs reaching 50. NOAA
Fresno refreshes holiday tradition: Downtown Fresno hosted its first-ever evening Christmas parade over the weekend. CBS47
Millerton New Town gets a new fire station: Fresno County leaders cut the ribbon on a new fire station by Table Mountain Casino. KSEE24
1. ‘Is anybody looking out for Fresno Unified?’
Fresno’s plan to open up land for nearly 45,000 homes in southeast Fresno risks 11 school shutdowns and mass layoffs for Fresno Unified in only its first decade of build out, Fresnoland’s Gregory Weaver reports this morning in an exclusive story.
According to estimates from the district’s financial team and the Fresno Teachers’ Association, shared verbally with Fresnoland by multiple sources with direct knowledge of the estimates, within 10 years of SEDA breaking ground, the district could be forced to close eight elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school.
The district could lose about $200 million in annual funding that would go towards classroom supplies, teachers, and after-school activities, likely forcing layoffs.
SEDA now faces a potential final approval vote by the Fresno City Council at 4:30 pm on Thursday, Dec. 18.
Fresno Unified’s Deputy Superintendent Ben Drati: “The shocking thing to me is this is happening in broad daylight. Is anybody looking out for Fresno Unified in this whole county?”
2. Hmong New Year celebration turns 50 in Fresno
Fresno’s Hmong New Year celebrations will mark 50 years since many Hmong families arrived in the United States as refugees following the Vietnam War.
Many remember the lives lost as Hmong refugees fled Laos in the 1970s, and many endured dangerous months in camps before resettling in the U.S., arriving as strangers in a country they helped during America’s so called Secret War, Fresnoland’s Gisselle Medina reports.
In the U.S., Hmong communities have reimagined the New Year celebration, blending traditional dances and hand-embroidered attire with authentic Hmong cuisine and cultural ceremonies.
The largest Hmong New Year celebration in the U.S. happens every year at the Fresno County Fairgrounds. The event has previously attracted over 100,000 attendees from Minnesota, Utah, and across California in a single year. Organized by Hmong Inc., this year’s celebration will take place daily Dec. 26 to 29.
The Hmong Inc. CEO and President Toulu Thao: “It takes your memory back. Sadness because of what you went through, but also happiness, saying, ‘Wow, gosh, we made it here.’”
3. ‘We lose a part of our history’
After a structure built in the late 1800s burned down in Fresno’s Chinatown last week, neighborhood advocates told The Fresno Bee that the owners of vacant buildings would do more to keep their properties properly secured.
They told The Bee that some owners of vacant buildings are practically impossible to find.
Some unsecured buildings are often used by unhoused people looking for shelter, and in the winter months they sometimes illegally light warming fires inside.
Jan Minami, executive director of the Chinatown Fresno Foundation: “We lose a part of our history. These buildings were carefully built by one immigrant community or another who were forced across the tracks into Chinatown.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Danielle Bergstrom.
