Good morning! It’s Friday, March 27. This is Rob.
Stepping outside: More sunshine and mid-80s temperatures this weekend. NOAA
Fresnoland is hiring: That’s right, we’re hiring for our first-ever Senior Revenue Officer to help lead and execute our fundraising strategy with local donors and sponsors. Share with your fundraising friends! Fresnoland
Kick the can: Council punts for now on whether to fight $15 million penalty over racist harassment at City Hall. Fresnoland
‘They will lie.’ Fresno immigration attorney speaks out on ICE tactics. ABC30
Pardon? A man pardoned for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack plans to be a Madera County supervisor. YourCentralValley
Any notes? The Fresno Restaurant Association crowns its ‘best’ spots to eat. The Business Journal
1. ‘We vetted it, vetted it, and vetted it’
The Fresno City Council on Thursday approved a contentious police disclosure report that critics say remains legally incomplete.
The City Council approved the department’s annual military equipment use report over the objections of numerous residents who have questioned whether the city fully complies with a state law known as AB 481, Omar S. Rashad reports for Fresnoland.
City leaders, including police Chief Mindy Casto, argue that it’s “not an explicit requirement” of the law to summarize how, when and why military equipment was used in specific situations. She also suggested such a requirement might be impractical.
However, California Government Code 7072 plainly states a requirement for law enforcement to summarize how they use military equipment. After all, it’s called the annual military equipment use report.
Chief Mindy Casto: “We vetted it, vetted it, and vetted it with the City Attorney’s Office, and that’s not an explicit requirement of it. But it doesn’t mean it’s not something we could look at doing if that’s something the community is interested in.”
2. It’s ‘more with less’ season
The Fresno Unified School Board didn’t have much to say this week about the more than 450 estimated job cuts that will help the district fill at least part of its $55 million budget deficit next year.
Fresnoland’s Diego Vargas has been following the district’s budget woes and was on hand again Wednesday as FUSD’s finance chief painted a grim picture of the district’s enrollment-related fiscal problems.
A total of 466 jobs — including retirements and attrition — are on the line.
The teachers union president said the cuts would hurt students at nearly two dozen schools that are about to lose their full-time nurses.
Teacher Marisa Rodriguez: “Our folks want transparency and answers about what is going to happen in this next year on our campuses if you go through with these layoffs, because it just feels you’re going to expect more and more with less and less support.”
3. Do Fresno apartments need cooling standards?
Sweating through summer in an apartment with no air conditioning is a reality that is as routine as it is harsh for thousands in Fresno — where about half of us rent our homes.
The fight over indoor apartment temperature standards goes back years now and the next round got underway earlier this week, Rob Parsons reports for Fresnoland.
While California requires landlords to keep apartments at 70 degrees when it’s cold, there’s no corresponding standard for sweltering heat.
Landlords have lobbied against mandating an 82-degree temperature cap, successfully defeating that specific standard last year in a housing bill the governor ultimately signed.
The latest round emerges as Fresno renters endured a particularly scorching March that has seen temperatures climb almost 10 degrees above average.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
