Good morning! It’s Monday, March 2. This is Rob.
Good times: Sunny skies today with highs near 70. NOAA
The fear: A struggling iconic donut shop has customers concerned. The Fresno Bee
Happy birthday! The Marjaree’s Birthday Soirée, a benefit dinner for the Marjaree Mason Center, is set for Friday, March 20 at Table Mountain Casino Resort. More info
Raisin run: The ‘Heard it through the Grapevine’ 5K run is set for 9 a.m. March 21 at Kearney Park. Highway City Community Development
1. How does this happen?
A Fresno judge wants a prominent California law firm to explain how nearly a dozen fake, improper, and frivolous citations appeared in legal filings on behalf of the City of Fresno in an ongoing eminent domain lawsuit.
Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad breaks down the complex case that also involves a highly contentious seizure of land and property to make way for badly needed road safety improvements — and a string of suspicious fires in the neighborhood leaving business owners on edge.
Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz confirmed that City Hall has cut ties with the specific attorney who signed the legal filing in question.
Fresnoland reached out to the attorney, but received an automatic bounceback replay that she was “no longer with the Firm” Aleshire & Wynder, LLP, the prominent firm with offices across the state that has worked on numerous cases on behalf of Fresno City Hall over the years.
“Based on these observations, the court determines that legal contentions made by counsel for plaintiff were not warranted by existing law as represented through counsel’s signature and filing of the application,” Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan wrote in her Feb. 24 ruling.
The outside law firm will need to demonstrate at an April 14 court hearing why its “frivolous contentions” aren’t a violation of California law that should be subject to a $10,000 fine.
Janz confirmed the city will not be billed or held liable for any potential sanctions handed down by the judge next month.
2. ‘Part of the culture’
Dozens gathered Saturday as a roar of drums and clashing cymbals celebrated the arrival of lion dancers during Chinese New Year festivities hosted by the Chinatown Fresno Foundation.
Many local business owners say that Chinese New Year not only strengthens connections across communities but also deepens their own understanding and appreciation of the celebration, Fresnoland’s Gisselle Medina reports.
This Chinese New Year marks the Year of the Horse. Celebrated by millions around the world, it is a time for cultural traditions, family reunions, and hopes for good fortune in the coming year.
This year the celebration officially fell on Feb. 17, kicking off the 16-day Spring Festival.
In Fresno, the celebration took place on Feb. 28, when the Chinatown Fresno Foundation managed to schedule the lion dancers.
Jan Minami, director of the foundation, said they always try to schedule the celebration as close as possible to the official start date, but this year the lion dancers were fully booked, and the chosen date worked best for local businesses.
3. Some good news for truck drivers — at least for now
More than 20,000 immigrant truck drivers can keep their licenses in California, at least for now, despite efforts by the Trump administration and the state of California to revoke them, according to a tentative ruling last week.
According to CalMatters via KVPR, The decision puts the state of California in a bind. The U.S. Department of Transportation already has repeatedly pressured the California DMV to rescind licenses belonging to many asylum seekers and other immigrants with temporary legal status.
“While immigrant drivers in the courtroom celebrated today’s tentative decision,” CalMatters writes, “attorneys for the state of California said the judge’s ruling could hurt many more people. The Trump administration has threatened to rescind California’s ability to grant commercial licenses altogether if the state doesn’t comply with its orders regarding immigrant truckers.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Danielle Bergstrom.
