☕ Good morning! It’s Monday, Oct. 20. This is Rob.
🌞 Sunny skies again today with temperatures topping out around 80 in Fresno. NOAA
🎺 Jazz on Van Ness will take place at the Big Red Church from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25. Facebook
🏀 The 1990s are back: Fresno State’s men’s basketball team will return to Selland Arena for one night. The Fresno Bee
1. Thousands in Fresno protest Trump
Thousands poured into the streets of Fresno over the weekend, adding their voices to the millions that marched in protest nationwide as part of Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ rallies, Fresnoland’s Diego Vargas reported.
And while many GOP leaders, including President Donald Trump, mocked and criticized the protesters, questioning the legitimacy of the rallies, the protesters who spoke with Fresnoland on Saturday were a mix of workers, clerks, teachers and accountants.
Thousands packed the overflowing sidewalks near Manchester Center, a chorus of anti-Trump chants greeted with an endless stream of honking car horns — many in support of the peaceful rally, while others clearly honked in counter-protest, signaling support for the president, who won Fresno County last year, collecting nearly 51% of the local vote. Trump was the first GOP candidate to carry the county since George W. Bush in 2004.
Mike Dalena, a spokesperson for Central Valley Indivisible: “I don’t think there’s a singular thing that’s driving people out here. I think it’s a cacophony of disaster that’s occurring around us.”
2. More restrictions for Tower District vendors?
Another round of proposed restrictions for street food vendors in Fresno’s Tower District is drawing criticism, Fresnoland’s Julianna Morano has reported.
The first amendment would ban sidewalk vendors from setting up in the Tower District Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m.
The second proposes an increase to the fines for vendors who cook with barbecues, grills and other heated surfaces without a permit anywhere in the city. The new proposed fines go as high as $500 after repeated violations.
“This policy unfairly links all crime in Tower solely to vendors in an attempt to justify these bans during brick and mortar operating hours,” KSEE reported one critic saying.
3. The case against Bobby Salazar
And The Fresno Bee has a new story looking at the life and alleged crimes of Bobby Salazar, one of the city’s most famous restaurateurs.
From his rise to prominence in the 1990s, to becoming a grocery-store name brand, The Bee also looks at Salazar’s controversies over the years.
Most recently, Salazar has pleaded not guilty to hiring the president of an outlaw biker gang to set fire to a restaurant location on Blackstone Avenue so Salazar could collect an insurance payout. He’s currently out of jail and awaiting trial on a $1 million bond.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Danielle Bergstrom.
