SACRAMENTO — Grocery and retail stores in California won’t be required to charge 10 cents per bag, and they can again hand out thinner, single-use plastic bags under an executive order signed Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. It’s a change that retailers have wanted for weeks, as many major grocery...
'Morons That Run Our City' Fresno Restaurant Flyer Sparks Attention
Full O Bull Subs & Pizza near Nees Avenue and First Street has posted flyers recently that indicate a growing frustration over Fresno's shelter-in-place orders. The first flyer focused on the media and the next one took clear aim at City Hall. On the Fresno Covid-19 Resources Facebook page, some...
Fresno Awards 0% Loans to 116 Small Businesses Impacted by COVID
Teri Sanchez will use her Save Our Small Businesses funds to pay the debt on her catering company. Sunny Sehgal will use his funds to help keep his family's restaurant open for take-out and delivery. They own two of the 116 small businesses named as recipients from the city of...
Two More Nursing Home Deaths in Visalia as COVID-19 Toll Reaches 20
Twenty residents have now died from a COVID-19 outbreak at a Visalia nursing home, officials reported Friday. The deaths of two more residents of Redwood Springs Healthcare Center were confirmed by a spokesman for the facility according to a report by the Associated Press. The outbreak at the facility is...
Will Newsom Increase COVID-19 Costs on Farms, Other Businesses?
California growers and other businesses oppose a proposal by Gov. Gavin Newsom that would increase their workers' compensation costs by billions of dollars. Newsom reportedly is contemplating an executive order providing workers' comp benefits to every "essential" employee who becomes infected with COVID-19. And, infected employees — including farm, restaurant,...
Republicans Eager to Reopen Economy; Democrats More Cautious
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Announcing plans to begin reopening his state, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster cited the ongoing economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. “South Carolina’s business is business,” he declared this week as he lifted restrictions on department stores, florists, music shops and some other businesses that previously had been deemed...
Don’t Inject Disinfectants, Lysol Warns as Trump Raises Idea
WASHINGTON — The parent company of Lysol disinfectant warned Friday that its products should not be used internally to treat COVID-19 after President Donald Trump wondered about the prospect during a White House briefing. Trump noted Thursday that researchers were looking at the effects of disinfectants on the virus and...
Face Masks Required to Shop? Fresno, Clovis Stores Get on Board.
One Fresno store is actually turning away customers without face masks at the front door. Plus, if you think you don't need a mask in a fast-food drive-thru, think again. Up until now, most stores were requiring just their employees to wear masks for health and safety in Fresno and...
Somber Congress Delivers Nearly $500B More in Virus Aid
WASHINGTON — Congress delivered a nearly $500 billion infusion of coronavirus spending Thursday, rushing new relief to employers and hospitals buckling under the strain of a pandemic that has claimed almost 50,000 American lives and one in six U.S. jobs. The measure passed almost unanimously, but the lopsided tally belies...
Bicycle Shops Face ‘Tidal Wave’ of Customers in COVID-19 Era
If there's a silver lining to the dark cloud that is the COVID-19 pandemic, it's the greenbacks spent at area bicycle shops on new bikes or to recondition old two-wheelers gathering dust in the garage. Bicycle shop owners in Fresno and Clovis say they've been scrambling to keep up with...