Good morning! It’s Thursday, Jan. 15. This is Rob.
😶🌫️Same: Dense fog in the morning. Clearing this afternoon. Highs in the 60s. NOAA
🙏Walk-ins: Yosemite National Park says you can see the annual Firefall event without reservations this year. ABC30
💵Got my money? Newsom’s budget includes another installment of his multi-million dollar pledge to downtown Fresno revitalization efforts. The Fresno Bee
🛬Big FAT: Fresno Yosemite Airport opens its largest terminal expansion ever. The Business Journal
🎨Feeling crafty? Craft club launches at the Politi Branch Library (5771 N. First) starting Thursday, Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. Supplies will be provided. Fresno Library has details on that and other clubs at other branches this semester. Fresno Library
1. Reports of Measure C’s demise greatly exaggerated?
An effort some had declared dead raced onto Fresno’s fast-track Wednesday as a community-backed effort — endorsed by the county’s two big-city mayors — to renew a critical transportation tax now seeks community backing to qualify for the November ballot.
Fresnoland’s Julianna Morano covered Wednesday’s news conference, hosted along a broken road behind Fresno State’s Bulldog Stadium.
Measure C is Fresno County’s half-cent sales tax that has funded transportation and road projects since the 80s. It’s set to expire in June 2027 and a prior renewal effort in 2022 failed.
The coalition’s new plan represents a dramatic shift in transportation policy for Fresno County, Fresnoland’s Danielle Bergstrom notes in the story.
But the group’s main obstacle — so far — has been the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.
2. Community hospital restores partial access to retired FUSD workers
A short-term deal announced late Wednesday restores doctors visits and prescription refill services to about 1,500 retired district employees on Medicare who abruptly lost health care access on New Year’s Day amid stalled contract talks between Community Health System and insurance company Aetna.
But fights — and questions — over retiree access are anything but finished, Fresnoland’s Diego Vargas reports.
The deal comes just hours ahead of a meeting later today of the district’s Joint Health Management Board, where a potential vote remains on the table to expand access to alternative options for the district retirees.
Community Health officials have yet to explain why they chose to cut off access to FUSD retirees on Aetna’s Medicare Advantage PPO Plan. When asked, spokespersons have dodged the question and, instead, pointed to an application process for retirees to request service extensions.
Beyond increasing public pressure from Fresno Unified leaders this week, it’s unclear how the situation changed for the hospital between Jan. 1 and Wednesday.
3. Division on MLK Day
Martin Luther King Jr’s historic visit to Fresno in June 1964 is a point of great pride for many locals.
But as Americans prepare once again to honor the iconic civil rights leader, the unity MLK sought remains elusive — even among locals dedicated to honoring his legacy, Fresnoland’s Gisselle Medina reports.
For the last few years, Fresno has had two separate MLK committees after a rift split the group. Both Fresno committees have planned activities this upcoming weekend.
Rising Star Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Booker Lewis says the fight for justice is as important as it has ever been.
Lewis: “One Fresno cannot be achieved until you deal with justice. Justice has to run down like water, righteousness like a mighty stream. You can’t be equitable with me when you are treated better than I am.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
