Good morning! It’s Monday, Aug. 25. This is Rob. Happy National Kiss-and-Makeup Day!
Heat check? Yeah, definitely more heat today with a high around 101, with a chance of rain early this week.
Good news: Fresno County will break ground on the new Clovis Regional Library on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at 755 3rd Street, behind the Clovis Senior Center.
1. Waitin’ on a bus …
With a new school year officially off and running, Fresno Unified’s has begun transition to a new school bus company to eventually take over routes for students in special education classes — but the company already is offering all district parents a free app to help them track their students in real time, Fresnoland’s Diego Vargas reports.
Zūm, a Redwood City-based student transportation company that serves school districts nationwide, received a five-year contract from Fresno Unified to provide bus transportation and technology services for the district beginning earlier this month.
Starting next year, Zūm will also begin to provide transportation on special education bus routes.
The company works with First Student, the district’s on-going bus company that has seen controversy in recent years.
“In 2018, driver shortages caused students to be nearly an hour late to class. Similarly, continued staff shortages and issues adapting to new state mandates over school start times in 2023 caused some students to arrive up to two hours late,” Diego writes.
Last year, drivers from First Student represented by SEIU Local 521 also sounded the alarm over alleged wage theft, sexual harassment and retaliatory behavior in their workplace.
2. ‘It felt like I had a second chance’
A Fresno man detained by federal authorities for over a month due to what his attorney describes as “clerical error” doesn’t have to appear in court again until 2028, The Fresno Bee reports.
Silviano Torres was taken by federal agents around dawn on May 29 while Torres was outside his Fresno home preparing to take his child to the babysitter when the two Homeland Security agents seized and accused him of missing an immigration court date.
Torres’ attorney told The Bee that his client was detained as a result of a clerical error. In 2013, when he applied for DACA, the notary handling his case failed to submit additional evidence to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, causing USCIS to deny his application.
Silviano Torres: “At the time, my daughter was with me, so I was really concerned about the safety of my daughter and not to have her traumatized by seeing her dad being taken away.”
3. Wildfire burning in eastern Fresno County
Wildfire erupted over the weekend amid thunderstorms in eastern Fresno County and raced through more than 3,300 acres and was still burning out of control late yesterday afternoon, ABC30 reports.
The Garnet Fire also triggered evacuation orders across multiple rural zones as firefighting crews work to slow the spread of the blaze.
Cal Fire says the blaze sparked around 2:13 p.m on Sunday afternoon, south of the Garnet Dike area, near Rodger’s Ridge.
Evacuation orders have been issued for zones K27, K30, and K31, while residents in zone K29 are under evacuation warnings and urged to remain alert if conditions worsen. Those under evacuation orders are facing an immediate threat and are being told to leave.
“The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but authorities speculate it could be from the thunderstorms from earlier today,” ABC30 reports.
