Good morning! It’s Thursday, April 2. This is Rob.
Like yesterday, but different: Clear skies and highs in the 60s today. 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
Baseball and beer! Kick off the Grizzlies season at the Beer Garden at 5:30 p.m. April 7, with live music from The Stereo Hopeful. Grab a beer and a game voucher for $15, at the Beer Garden, and stick around for fireworks after the game. Tioga Beer Garden
1. Fresno’s radical revival
Born out of a dark chapter in Fresno State’s long history, a once defunct printing press that celebrated many of the region’s greatest writers, poets and artists, is getting a second life.
Fresnoland’s Julianna Morano spoke with professors, writers and the widow of the man who started it all more than 50 years ago as they work to revive the once-thriving local literary scene by resurrecting Scrub Jay Press, founded by Professor Eugene Zumwalt.
Zumwalt famously was targeted by Fresno State leaders as a “radical” for working to boost Latino enrollment and helping form what became the first faculty union. Tension came to a head in 1970 when armed officers literally barred Zumwalt from his office by bolting the door to its own frame with a two-by-four.
Zumwalt never left Fresno State, but in the remote hills above the city, he and other literary radicals helped shape a loose-knit community of artists and teachers and writers, many of whom had their work printed or reprinted by Zumwalt’s Scrub Jay Press.
The press went dark in the late 2000s and gathered dust for the rest of Zumwalt’s life. Not long after his death in 2023, a new generation of Fresno State professors and local writers and artists are reviving the historic press and hoping to breathe new life into the region’s diverse and underrated literary scene.
2. Would-be governors debate in Fresno
Candidates vying to be California’s next leader stopped in Fresno on Wednesday to make a pitch directly to Central Valley voters, ABC30 reports.
Candidates Xavier Becerra, Steve Hilton, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter, Tony Thurmond and Antonio Villaraigosa discussed everything from protecting immigrants, healthcare and housing to affordability and high-speed rail.
All candidates took the opportunity to court the region’s farmers, calling for relaxed air and water standards, more water storage and cutting regulations, among other topics.
The governor’s partisan primary races are set for June 2. The top candidates will move on to the general election in the fall.
3. New phase of high-speed rail construction in Fresno
Work on the Shaw Avenue overpass of the California high-speed rail project ramps up this week as crews begin assembling some three-dozen massive concrete girders that will lay the foundation for a future roadway, KMPH reports this week.
Construction is expected from 7 a.m. to noon through at least April 7.
“Some of the girders will span more than 150 feet and can weigh more than 165,000 pounds each,” KMPH reports. “Construction on the Shaw Avenue overpass and grade separation project began last summer with the building of a bypass road to route traffic around the work area.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
