Good morning! It’s Wednesday, April 29. This is Rob and Omar.
More clear skies with highs in the low-80s today. NOAA
Health alert: Authorities have confirmed a tuberculosis exposure at Fresno’s Justin Garza High School. ABC30
More ArtHop changes: “The partnership involving the Fresno Arts Council, Hella Fresno, the Bad Kids Club, Alley in the Valley, and Fresno Street Eats will spread out ArtHop’s different attractions on Thursday, May 7.” GVWire
‘Everything Zen’: “The Big Fresno Fair has added five acts to its 2026 Table Mountain Concert Series, bringing the total announced lineup to nine shows at the Paul Paul Theater this fall.” Business Journal
Face the Shredder! The City of Fresno will host a paper-shredding event for residential solid waste customers at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 2 at the Public Utilities Operations & Maintenance Building, 1665 G St. Customers must present a state-issued ID, along with a City of Fresno Utility Bill indicating solid waste service or a Proof of Eligibility Form. Participants must be City of Fresno residential solid waste customers. No other utility bills will be accepted.
1. High Speed Rail lacks transparency, state analyst says
When the High Speed Rail Authority submitted a February business plan to state legislators, it was meant to help them make decisions about the stalled project.
But a new report from California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office says the High-Speed Rail business plan lacks transparency for omitting details about its intent to relocate future Central Valley stations, The Fresno Bee reports.
A top LAO analyst also said there’s a funding gap not just for the entire project but for the portion that goes from Merced to Bakersfield.
LAO Principal Analyst Helen Kerstein: “We think that’s a very substantive change to the program and the plan, and it should be called out so that folks really understand what’s happening.”
2. High-speed rail bills are moving faster than the train
A Huntington Beach Republican state senator renewed his long-standing criticism of California’s sluggish high-speed rail project this week after new cost estimates show the train’s price tag has grown to $231 billion, KMPH reports.
Voters in 2008 approved the project with a $33 billion sticker price and an expected completion date of 2020.
High-Speed Rail officials now say the project’s future depends on attracting private investors and focusing on a more commercially viable vision, connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco.
State Sen. Tony Strickland, a frequent high-speed rail critic, said the latest cost projections are more evidence that the effort is an unwieldy boondoggle that should be abandoned. The project, Strickland and other Republicans, including President Donald Trump, say has lost too much public trust.
Strickland: “We’re now at a point where we are supposed to go from Merced to Bakersfield. We don’t have enough money to go from Merced to Bakersfield but we’re also wanting to move some money to L.A. and San Francisco. Can you explain that?”
3. Distressed hospital program needs $300 million
A bill protecting distressed California hospitals seeks another $300 million in funding, and new changes, if approved, would allow for-profit hospitals to also apply for funding , something currently only available to public and nonprofit facilities, the Business Journal reports.
Assembly Bill 1923, introduced by Fresno Democrat Esmerald Soria, seeks to extend the life of the original distressed hospital loan program signed by the governor in 2023.
The original $300 million fund, the Journal reports, is largely depleted.
The latest round of funding is needed as hospitals continue to face mounting financial pressures tied to federal healthcare cuts under the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Soria: “The risk of losing access to critical healthcare services for Californians has never been greater than right now. Hospitals serving small and rural populations are facing a financial cliff right now, thanks to the largest federal healthcare cuts in history.”
