Whether it be housing or commercial real estate, economic slowdowns stifled growth in Fresno County in 2024. But after years of declines, experts expect a turnaround soon. The Fresno County Economic Development Corporation brought out a panel of experts to discuss housing construction and sales, major commercial real estate purchases,...
First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close
California's effort to have no new gas-powered vehicles sold in the state by 2035 is beginning, and it requires 35% of all 2026 models sold this year to be zero-emission. Dealers say they aren't close to fulfilling the mandate for zero-emission vehicles and are nervously wondering what the future holds...
Possible US Shutdown End Brings Investor Relief, Fresh Data Focus
NEW YORK — With an end to the U.S. government shutdown potentially on the horizon, investors who feared more economic fallout breathed easier and turned to an expected flood of delayed data to shed more light on growth and the likely path for interest rates. Markets on Monday welcomed the...
His Students Suddenly Started Getting A’s. Did a Google AI Tool Go Too Far?
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. A few months ago, a high school English teacher in Los Angeles Unified noticed something different about his students’ tests. Students who had struggled all semester were suddenly getting A’s. He suspected some were cheating, but he couldn’t...
Trump: Americans to Receive $2,000 Each From Tariff Revenue
President Donald Trump on Sunday said every American with the exception of the wealthy will receive $2,000 from the revenue the U.S. has collected from tariffs. “A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high-income people!) will be paid to revenue,” Trump posted on Truth Social. He did...
Fresno Firefighters Respond to Three Structure Fires. One Person Hospitalized
Fresno firefighters battled three separate structure fires across the city overnight, leaving several residents displaced and one hospitalized for smoke inhalation, officials said Monday. The first fire broke out around 11:30 p.m. Sunday in a vacant commercial building on the 800 block of F Street in downtown Fresno. Fire crews...
Legal Experts Split Over State, Federal Immigration Control
The second Trump administration has been largely defined by strict immigration enforcement and net zero illegal border crossings. Amid the enforcement, legal policy analysts are divided over whether federal or state governments should control immigration and border security. The U.S. The Department of Homeland Security reported fewer than 500,000 border encounters so...
Fresno Police Arrest Teen for Pointing Laser at Helicopter
A 16-year-old was arrested Thursday evening for pointing a laser at a Fresno Police Department helicopter, authorities said. Shortly before 6:30 p.m., the department’s Air Support Crew was assisting officers on a traffic stop near Fruit Avenue and Cesar Chavez Boulevard when they noticed a red laser beam tracking the...
Merced Needs a New Police Station, Chief Says. What Are the Obstacles?
Old pipes. Broken air conditioners. Offices in closets. These are the challenges Merced police officers face day in and day out while working from an aging headquarters the department has outgrown. Staffing at the police department is the best it’s been in years, Chief Steven Stanfield told The FOCUS. But...
Slack Down for Thousands of Users, Downdetector Reports
Slack, a messaging and communications platform, experienced a possible outage Monday, with thousands of users reporting issues, according to Downdetector.com. More than 15,000 users had reported problems with the platform as of 10:30 a.m. PT, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collecting status reports from multiple sources. Most users...
Oil Prices See-Saw as Oversupply Concerns Persist
NEW YORK — Oil prices swung between gains and losses on Monday as analysts stuck to predictions that rising supply will outweigh demand in the months ahead, while hopes of progress in ending a U.S. government shutdown raised investors' risk appetite. Brent crude futures rose 26 cents, or around 0.4%,...
New Fresno Sandwich Shop Brings New York’s Chopped Cheese Flavor West
David Boursalyan admired the chopped cheese shops in New York. He watched videos of them when he was young and took a trip to New York to see and taste them. Now, the budding entrepreneur is bringing the concept to Fresno. He opened Chop Cheese Bodega in central Fresno last...