As county assessor, my job is to complete and maintain the assessment roll that shows the values and status of all property in Fresno County. The tax roll is the basis upon which the tax collector prepares and sends out property tax bills to property owners of record. Property taxes...
In the Name of Equity, Gov. Newsom Should Sign SB 306, Prioritize Extreme Heat Protection
If you ask Californians how our changing climate is affecting them, they will tell you about the rash of wildfires they’ve experienced. They will tell you about water — how the recent drought changed the way they use water. And how this year’s massive rain storms impacted them. And people...
Zakaria: Biden Shouldn’t Repeat the Mistakes of Industrial Policies Past
The Biden administration has pursued a new and ambitious economic agenda, premised on the notion that the prevailing orthodoxy of the past few decades — specifically, the imperative to embrace free markets and free trade — was inadequate to the needs of the U.S. economy. Initial data from the Treasury Department...
Protect Our County by Voting ‘No’ on Measure E. It’s a Tax to Benefit an Elite Few.
Our democracy is on the ballot in Fresno County, and it's disguised as Measure E. While it's being promoted as a path to prosperity for Fresno State and its students, a closer look reveals it to be a hefty sales tax on our working poor designed to empower and enrich...
For Fresno Police, Traffic Tickets Should Not Be Priority Over Burglaries
Should we spend more dollars on traffic enforcement or burglaries? I’ve always been a fan of law enforcement, so much so that I even graduated from Fresno State with a bachelor’s degree in criminology with the option of Law Enforcement. During law school, one of my best jobs was at...
Zakaria: Ukrainians Are Determined to Persevere, but They Worry That Their Allies Aren’t
As the war for Ukraine continues, the dominant worry in Kyiv these das is not about Russia but the West. Ukrainians have reason to be worried. Support for their fight is waning in some European countries. An election in Slovakia later this month could bring into power a populist prime minister who is distinctly...
Armenians Will Be Forever Grateful if Stallone Accepts This Challenge
As a child in the 1980s, I grew up watching Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky" movies. It felt like Stallone and his movie wife Adrian, played by Talia Shire, were a part of our family. Each punch Rocky took felt real and the series always got me teared up. The story of...
Zakaria: Immigration Can Be Fixed. So Why Aren’t We Doing It?
n recent years, millions of migrants have arrived at the Mexican border, with huge numbers claiming asylum. Although some might have legitimate claims, most are fleeing the same conditions of poverty, violence, instability and disease that have been driving would-be immigrants to the United States for hundreds of years. America's...
Zakaria: America Survived the ‘China Shock.’ There’s Still the Trump Shock.
For years, U.S. economic policy has been greatly shaped by the idea of the “China Shock.” The term, coined by three economists in a 2016 paper, captures the widespread belief that trade with China resulted in the deindustrialization of significant parts of the United States and the loss of huge numbers of manufacturing...
Save Our Sequoias Act is Controversial, But Would Be a Bipartisan Climate Win
Kudos to all of our local Members of Congress for coming together in support of the bipartisan Save Our Sequoias Act (H.R.2989). Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is the bill sponsor, joined by Republican cosponsors David Valadao, John Duarte, and Tim McClintock, and Democrat Jim Costa. Total California House support...