A federal bankruptcy court judge approved Credit: Omar Rashad / Fresnoland

Quote of the Week

“Racism is not free speech.”

— Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi, responding to Mary Macias, a representative of the Bakman Water Company, a water utility company in southeast Fresno. Macias used a few seconds of her time during public comment to criticize Councilmember Luis Chavez for having a Mexican flag by his seat in council chambers, during their Feb. 23 meeting.

This Week in Fresnoland

Madera Community Hospital, with its signage removed, sits idle on a rainy February day. Two months have passed since the hospital closed its doors following a failed merger deal with the Trinity Health Corporation. Credit: Omar Rashad / Fresnoland

Madera Community Hospital’s board members blamed inadequate Medi-Cal reimbursements for the hospital’s closure in December – but an email from Trinity Health says otherwise.

Or at least, it’s a bit more complicated than we thought, according to Omar Shaikh Rashad. An email obtained by Fresnoland seems to indicate that the hospital had more trouble recouping costs from private insurance companies than Medi-Cal. 

Confused? Me too. A quick explainer: hospitals operate in a tenuous tug-a-war between themselves and the insurance companies. A person is sick or injured and the hospital provides services, which are later paid for (reimbursed) by either the government or the private insurers, depending on the patient. 

While the rate negotiations might shift depending on the facility, its resources, and its labor costs; the actual issue isn’t really the cost of care. It’s how much hospitals want to charge, and how much insurance companies are willing to reimburse. Tug-a-war.  

Madera Hospital closed its doors for good after a deal with Trinity Health fell through. To hear the MCH board tell it, the hospital was in dire financial straits mostly because of low Medi-Cal reimbursements.

But in their email, Trinity Health representatives emphasized that the reimbursement rates from private insurers were also strangely low, lower even than the Medi-Cal reimbursements. Normally, hospitals rely on private insurers to make bank.

Trinity Health had a lot of concerns, per their email. Ancient facilities. Decrepit equipment. An awful rate of staff retention, the way Madera Community Hospital was just hemorrhaging nurses and physicians. They noted the absence of key programs that would make the hospital more attractive to potential patients. 

And they were concerned about the $15 million loan Madera Community Hospital needed to even participate in negotiations. Without it, the doors would’ve shut last summer. 

Meanwhile: the effects on Madera residents can’t be understated, as Esther Quintanilla reports for Valley Public Radio. KVPR will be hosting an event with 1A on the closure of the hospital tomorrow evening at Fresno City College.

The Fresno City Council added a real estate agent to the Planning Commission.

The planning commission sets and oversees individual developments and broader land use policy, so you can see how there were some concerns when Mayor Dyer appointed Jacqueline Gutierrez Lyday, a real estate agent for London Properties, per this story by Danielle Bergstrom. London Properties represents residential, commercial, and industrial transactions across the city. 

She actually isn’t the first commissioner to have their hands in real estate – Commissioner Brad Hardie is the president of Regency Property Management – and there is a honor code driven recusal process for instances where a commissioner has a conflict of interest with a proposed item. Deputy Mayor Matthew Grundy said she’ll have to “self-police” when these issues arise. 

You can read more about Lyday in the story, and we also have an earlier article that explains a bit more about the planning commission and what they do. 

And if you’re really interested, the commission has a meeting on March 1.

The State Department of Water Resources announced that it would boost allocations to its State Water Project contractors from 30% to 35%, following even more stormfronts.

So at least farmers and previously drought-stricken cities can be excited about the torrential rains in this story by Jesse Vad at SJV Water. The Newsom administration announced Tuesday, Feb. 21, that they would loosen pumping restrictions out of the delta through the end of March, and on Feb. 22 the State Department of Water Resources confirmed that they would be moving even more water south. 

Additionally, the federal Bureau of Reclamation announced that the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors would get 100% of their allocation from the Central Valley Project. Ernest Conant, director of the bureau’s California-Great Basin region, wisely advised caution: conditions in California could change on a dime. While it seems that three years of drought conditions have now come to an end, no one knows for sure what the next year holds, and not all river basins were improved.  

He said that the month of March, and the snowmelt it might bring, will really confirm if we’re out of a drought or not.

The warming centers operations will be extended for a third time.

Unhoused people in Fresno will have another week of protection from extreme weather conditions, Omar Shaikh Rashad reports. The news came late Monday night, just one day before the warming centers were set to shutter. But Fresno got about three inches of rain over the weekend, what the meteorologist Andy Bollenbacher called “a phenomenal amount of rain.” Closing the warming centers now was untenable. 

Still, it’s worth noting that the warming centers were open 24/7 in January, while in February, the unhoused found themselves stuck in the rain between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday and over the weekend. 

Omar’s story is important not just for vital information about shelter resources (and some juicy finger pointing between the City of Fresno and Fresno County), but because it highlights the real human cost of these oversights. Larry Eberhardt is 69-years-old and unhoused. Richard Manuel Lopez, 65, uses a wheelchair, and he spent six hours huddled under a roof near the warming center, waiting until it opened shortly after sunset.

Fresno County supervisors are entertaining a lawsuit against Fresno city councilmembers.

It’s an open secret that there’s no love lost between Fresno city and county politicians, but the stakes just got higher. As Melissa Montalvo reports for Fresno Bee/Fresnoland, a majority of the county supervisors voted during closed session to initiate “declaratory relief action” against supervisorial candidates Garry Bredefeld and Luis Chavez to force them to follow county campaign contribution laws.

This comes after Chavez and Bredefeld both said they’d ignore a 2020 Fresno County campaign ordinance that limits how much money they can transfer from their council campaign contribution accounts to their supervisor campaign accounts, saying the county’s rule unfairly protects incumbents.

Block Beat

DOWNTOWN FRESNO: Brick Fest Live, one of the largest national touring shows for all things Lego, is coming to Fresno this summer, July 22 – 23. I guess there will be, like, life-size Lego “models?” Does that mean it’s like Madame Tussauds, but Lego Bricks, or is it more like a giant Storm Trooper or Fire Fighter? Business Journal 

FRESNO STATE: A former university employee and a student have filed a lawsuit against the university, naming the board of trustees, former chancellor Joseph I Castro, and former Fresno State vice president of student affairs Frank Lamas in the lawsuit. Fresno Bee 

JANE ADDAMS: A new pedestrian bridge will connect the Jane Addams and Motel Drive neighborhood west of Highway 99 with Roeding Park, thanks to a $600,000 federal grant to the city of Fresno. Fresno Bee

SOUTHEAST: The City Council approved a resolution to accept the Fancher Creek Trail Plan, which will connect the neighborhoods of Calwa, Fancher Creek, and Sunnyside through a Class 1 trail along Fancher Creek and the Central Canal. City of Fresno

YOSEMITE: Yosemite National Park is closed indefinitely thanks to severe weather conditions: namely the 40 inches of snow, a new record. The previous record was 36 inches in 1969. San Francisco Chronicle

CLOVIS: There’s a second Batter Up location, now in Clovis on Cedar and Nees. ABC 30 

Department of New Construction

BULLARD: The former Fosters Freeze on North Palm Ave south of West Bullard Ave with a drive-through will become a Starbucks Coffee.

PINEDALE: A development permit was filed for the construction of a new commercial office building on West Herndon Ave east of Blackstone Avenue. 

NORTHEAST: California KiDDS Pediatric Dentistry will construct three separate single story buildings and an associated parking area on North Willow south of Nees.

JANE ADDAMS: A development permit was filed for a truck driving school on North Marks Avenue north of West Clinton Avenue. 

Around Town

Baby, it’s Art Hop, Thursday March 2. Fresno Arts Council

The Rogue Festival returns to the Historic Tower District from March 3-11, with more than 170 separate performances and 40 performing groups across eight venues. Fresno Rogue Festival

The City of Fresno is updating its eight-year housing plan, and this Community Workshop can show you how to contribute to the conversation, Wednesday, March 1 at 5:15 p.m. Facebook

Garden Vibes Live: Unplugged is an acoustic showcase in the Lookout Room at Tioga Beer Garden, Friday, March 3 at 6 p.m. Instagram

Full Circle Brewery is celebrating the launch of their Peachy Vibes wheat ale with a release party on Saturday, March 11, starting at 12 p.m. There will be peaches; there will be vibes; there will be food, fun, games, music, etc. Facebook 

Next Week in Public Meetings

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Tommy is the author of Toplines, the Fresnoland newsletter curating the top stories in the Central Valley. He thinks he's very funny.