Across the country, students are short-circuiting their laptops at school in a new and sometimes dangerous social media trend. The “Chromebook challenge” involves students jamming objects into their laptops until they spark and smolder. Students then record the smoking laptops and share the footage on TikTok and Instagram, sometimes set...
The World Is Wooing US Researchers Shunned by Trump
LONDON — Help Wanted. Looking for American researchers. As President Donald Trump cuts billions of federal dollars from science institutes and universities, restricts what can be studied and pushes out immigrants, rival nations are hoping to pick up talent that has been cast aside or become disenchanted. For decades, trying...
Community Health Paying $31.5M to Settle Kickback Allegations of Money, Liquor, Cigars
Community Health System of Fresno has agreed to pay the U.S. government $31.5 million to settle allegations it gave physicians bonuses and extravagant gifts such as expensive wine, liquor, and cigars as incentives to use the medical network's electronic health record system. It is alleged that those gifts from the...
To Fix $50M Budget Hole, Fresno Will Hold Off Hiring and Make Spending Cuts
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer unveiled his $2.36 billion budget on Wednesday to the media, revealing how he plans to balance a $50 million deficit. "We will live within our means here in the city of Fresno, but we will also build a better future at the same time," Dyer said....
Bad News for California. State Budget Is $12 Billion in the Red
SACRAMENTO — California is staring down an $12 billion budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. The Democratic governor shared the number as he laid out his nearly $322 billion state spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. He says the deficit is partly due to broad economic uncertainty, including...
Has the California Dream Become a Mirage?
LOS ANGELES — California eclipsed Japan in 2024 to become the fourth-largest economy in the world. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced earlier this month that the state’s population increased for the second year in a row. Tourism has hit record levels, as Los Angeles prepares to step onto the world stage...
Young People Drive Fresno to CA’s Top Job Growth: Wells Fargo Study
California suffered the biggest job losses in the U.S. for the first part of the year, a new study from Wells Fargo shows. High interest rates impacted debt-heavy sectors, causing employers to shed jobs at a rate of more than 18,000 a month in the first quarter. Fresno, however, managed...
Special Report: At Social Security, These Are the Days of the Living Dead
Rennie Glasgow, who has served 15 years at the Social Security Administration, is seeing something new on the job: dead people. They're not really dead, of course. In four instances over the past few weeks, he told KFF Health News, his Schenectady, New York, office has seen people come in...
Housing Component Halted, but Fresno’s Senior Center Is Moving Forward
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer's landmark senior center is moving forward even though the nearby housing portion has halted. The state recently passed over the application for $15 million in essential tax credits to help build senior housing near Ashlan and Blackstone avenues at the highly anticipated Fresno Senior Activity Center,...
Clash Over Teen Sex Solicitation Reveals the Rift Within CA Democratic Party
This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. A reliable political axiom — at least in California — is that when one party achieves dominance in some arena, it fragments into factions defined by ideology, gender, economics, ethnicity, geography or even personality. The axiom has been...