It’s Wednesday, Sept. 3. Omar here! Hope your August electric bill didn’t make you drop to your knees in anguish. It did for me 🥺
☀️ Not quite triple digits: Fresno has a high of 99 degrees today. It’s not that bad, right? Right??
🔥 Garnet Fire grows another 5,000 acres: The wildfire in the Sierra National Forest is now burning through 29,718 acres, with much of its growth over the last 24 hours in the northern portion of the blaze. Click here to watch today’s wildfire briefing.
🎧 Listen up: This week’s guest on the Fresnolandia podcast is Lois Henry, the founder and executive editor of SJV Water. They talked about the speculative plans to locate AI data centers on land owned by the high-speed rail authority near Fresno and whether we’ll see a fight between farmers and tech giants over water. Click here to listen or find Fresnolandia wherever you get your podcasts.
1. The real-life impact of Trump’s funding cuts
While the loss of federal funding could evaporate millions for expensive capital projects and infrastructure, it is also likely to have a real-life impact on everyday people, Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad reports.
Seven local nonprofits in Fresno stand to lose out on funding they were counting on from the federal Community Development Block Grant program. One of them is the Central Valley Justice Coalition, which provides 1-on-1 counseling and support for youth trafficking victims.
“It’s hard to just say we can’t really be there for you anymore,” said Christa Wiens, the nonprofit’s executive director. About 40% of the organization’s funding depends on federal CDBG grant funding, and now, Wiens is trying to piece together how to keep things afloat.
Executive Director Christa Wiens: “We have some that we have helped complete high school. We have some that we have helped write resumes and get jobs — others that are looking to enlist in the military. Really just moving them forward towards their own personal goals.”
2. Event: What can Fresno learn from LA’s public transit expansion?
We know how much Fresnoland readers love to talk and read about public transit and urban planning. So we’re excited to bring you some of LA’s biggest innovators, who have been working to re-make the region’s car-centric landscape into a more sustainable, transit-friendly place.
On Thursday, September 25, at 6:00 p.m. at Tioga-Sequoia, we’ll be joined by former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (and current gubernatorial candidate) and former Santa Monica Mayor Denny Zane (who founded Move LA) joining us, along with Fresno City Councilmember Tyler Maxwell, to talk all about transit.
Tickets will go fast, so reserve them now for $5 on Eventbrite. (If you’re a Fresnoland member, check your email for a special discount code!)
3. California’s largest ICE detention facility opens in Kern County
California’s newest — and largest immigrant detention facility — opened this month in California City, in the high desert of Kern County, reported The Fresno Bee and Bakersfield Now.
The former prison-turned-ICE detention center, operated by private prison operator CoreCivic, houses 2,560 beds.
Civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, along with dozens of immigrant rights advocates, attended a planning commission hearing Tuesday evening to protest the new detention facility, pointing to how it’s operating without a valid business license or updated conditional use permit.
Immigrant rights groups are concerned that the new facility, Kern County’s third, will open the gates for more immigration enforcement locally.
California City Mayor Marquette Hawkins told the Los Angeles Times in June that the re-opened facility will be an economic boost for the desert community but has concerns about due process for residents, of whom about 40% identify as Latino.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Danielle Bergstrom.
