Good morning! It’s Friday, Jan. 30. This is Rob.
Today’s weather? We’ll have the usual. Again. NOAA
The Fresno Grizzlies invite you to a job fair at the ballpark on Feb. 7. Instagram
The City of Sanger approved a $5.25 million settlement with a victim of a former city cop who raped and sexually assaulted the women over a six-year period. ABC30
While many across the nation participate in a “national shutdown” today in protest of the federal government’s recent violence against citizens and immigrants, Fresno Unified schools say they will remain open today and support students’ rights to protest. KMPH
1. Council overhauls spending rules after Fresnoland investigation
Less than a month after a major two-part Fresnoland investigation, the Fresno City Council adopted new rules aimed at beefing up spending transparency and closing loopholes that allowed councilmembers to award multiple small-dollar contracts without public oversight.
Fresnoland Investigative Reporter Omar S. Rashad was at City Hall on Thursday when the council unanimously approved changes to city laws and procedures.
Outgoing Councilmember Miguel Arias, who led the city’s renewed transparency efforts, called Thursday’s vote a good start and acknowledged more work needs to be done.
The city plans to upload contracts worth less than $100,000 onto a public website — but the policy change excludes contracts worth $100,000 or more. Additionally, the new rules do not include any “blackout” period for councilmembers to spend city dollars for advertisements during a political campaign, as Arias originally promised.
2. Thousands of Fresno-area truck drivers stuck in limbo
Thousands of immigrant truck drivers remain stuck in limbo amid a lawsuit challenging the recent DMV purge of thousands of commercial drivers licenses in connection with a federal government crackdown on immigrants.
A December lawsuit filed by the Sikh Coalition and others, on behalf of the Jakara Movement and five anonymous immigrant drivers, challenges the DMV’s planned cancellation of nearly 20,000 commercial driver’s licenses, Fresnoland’s Gisselle Medina reports.
More than 17,000 drivers were told their licenses would be canceled on Jan. 5, with another 2,700 notified in December that their licenses would be revoked in mid-February. Advocates say many of those drivers had valid work permits or were never given a chance to update their records.
The Jakara Movement estimates as many as 5,000 drivers in Fresno County received cancellation notices, and around 15,000 drivers throughout the central San Joaquin Valley.
Naindeep Singh, executive director of the Jakara Movement: “Commercial drivers transport our food. They drive our buses. They keep our ports, warehouses, schools and hospitals functioning. When these workers are abruptly removed from the workforce, everybody feels the impact.”
3. Fresno police union head accused of firing worker who rebuffed sexual advances
A former police union business manager is suing the Fresno Police Officers Association and its president, Jeff La Blue, accusing the union head of firing her for rejecting his sexual advances.
Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad heard back from the union late Thursday in a statement from La Blue generally denying the allegations outlined in the suit filed last week by ex-business manager Anna Pine.
In his statement, La Blue acknowledged the suit, denied wrongdoing and said Pine was fired for workplace performance issues. He said the union plans to fight the allegations in court.
Pine’s attorney, Brian Whelan, scoffed at the union’s claims this week in a statement to Fresnoland saying La Blue was caught on tape revealing plans to fire Pine and speaking about her in derogatory sexualized terms.
Whelan: “Afterward, they lied about her to cover it up. That is not a misunderstanding — it is blatant retaliation and sex discrimination, and my client will be vindicated in court.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
