Good morning! It’s Tuesday, Feb. 10. This is Omar & Rob.
Rain is expected in Fresno later today and into tomorrow with highs in the 60s. NOAA
Dad’s Cookies is coming to downtown Fresno. Business Journal
Fresno-area superintendents are calling for an end to student walkouts. The Fresno Bee
1. Artists press Fresno leaders about $1.5 million in public funds reportedly embezzled
Just two days after Fresnoland broke the news about a law enforcement investigation into the Fresno Arts Council’s missing $1.5 million, reportedly embezzled, local community organization Dulce Upfront held a community meeting for artists and arts organizations left in the lurch.
Two top city officials — Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White and Councilmember Miguel Arias — made a surprise appearance at the Monday meeting, and spent more than 90 minutes answering questions from community members, Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad and Julianna Morano reported.
The community gathering went from bringing together aggrieved local artists and arts organizations in a moment of strife to also giving them a rare opportunity to press city officials about how $1.5 million of public money went missing.
White and Arias emphasized that a law enforcement investigation is only just getting underway and asked for patience as detectives look into how public funds disappeared at the local arts nonprofit, which has been around in Fresno for more than 45 years.
However, that ongoing investigation didn’t keep White from confirming a few major details: all of the $1.5 million in question were public funds. Additionally, the Fresno Arts Council blew through deadlines for a mandated Sept. 30 report. When the arts nonprofit finally handed over the report to city officials, White described it as “a data dump” with insufficient information.
The community event was organized by Ome Lopez of Dulce Upfront, who said she was proud she was able to cultivate a space where affected community members could speak directly and question city leaders about missing Measure P funding.
Lopez: “I think it just speaks to the continued demand for transparency and accountability and equity to arts and cultural programming. There’s a movement of artists that really feel a sense of connection with each other.”
2. This week of the Fresnolandia podcast
This week on Fresnolandia, Danielle and Jordan dive into a wide-ranging “grab bag” episode after a week off, catching listeners up on some of the biggest stories shaping Fresno right now.
In addition to the latest on the Fresno Arts Council embezzlement probe noted above, the episode also explores the impact of Omar’s recent investigation into city contracts, including how public attention pressured the Fresno City Council to close a controversial loophole and to build a new transparency page for the public to better track spending.
Then the team welcomes reporter Gisselle Medina to discuss a lawsuit involving immigrant commercial truck drivers whose licenses were threatened by a DMV system error — a story with real economic stakes for families and the Central Valley’s logistics industry.
3. Clovis City Hall to display ‘In God We Trust’ sign
The Clovis City Council will display an ‘In God We Trust’ in the council chambers at City Hall, YourCentralValley reported.
The unanimous vote Monday follows months of public outreach, including a survey that reportedly found 68% of those polled said they strongly supported placing the sign at City Hall, with just 13% strongly opposed.
Before voting in favor of the proposal, Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck noted her concerns.
Ashbeck: “I have deep concerns about the motivation, the politics, and the use of this. I’m not happy about that, but I will support the action of the council because I’m not going to argue about this of all things. But I think we need to be mindful that there are 129,700 people who are not in this room saying this is a really good idea.”
