I can still picture myself at about 10 years old, wedged into a school-bus seat next to my childhood best friend, Austin, with both of us so excited that we were probably saying absolutely nothing that made sense. We were bouncing around, watching Fresno pass through the windows, and waiting...
A Thank You to Sen. Caballero From CA Small Businesses and Others
California’s small businesses, nonprofits, healthcare providers and community organizations have a champion in state Sen. Anna Caballero. For years, organizations across California have been caught in a growing wave of litigation under the California Invasion of Privacy Act, or CIPA — a 1967 law written long before websites and modern...
Why So Many Countries Around the World Quietly Root for Iran
I have been stunned by the number of officials from a wide variety of countries who, while hardly favoring Iran or feeling much empathy for the Islamic Republic, have privately expressed to me a huge sigh of relief over Tehran’s success in thwarting US-Israeli aggression. Given that many of these officials...
Where the Teacher Is a Hero
Crystal Barnes teaches high school biology in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and in March she had a student who kept falling asleep in class. Barnes could have scolded the girl, sent her to the principal’s office or simply let her fail. Instead, she asked the student why she was always sleepy....
Under Trump, Protected Wild Horses Are Going to Slaughter
They once had run free through the desert mountains of the West, a multicolored band of 68 wild mustangs that had never been saddled or corralled. Then the federal government rounded them up with helicopters in an attempt to control wild populations on public lands. The horses were held for...
Fresno County Officials Say Stabbed Prosecutor Was Targeted, Call for Criminal Justice Reform
The stabbing of a Fresno County prosecutor at Courthouse Park was a targeted attack by a man the prosecutor had handled a criminal case against nearly a decade earlier, Fresno County law enforcement officials said Friday while calling for changes to California's criminal justice system. Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni,...
Fresno Has Plenty to Do. So Why Does It Feel Like There’s Nothing to Do?
It happens almost every week. Friday rolls around, someone asks what we want to do, and despite living in a city with restaurants, bars, concerts, farmers markets, movie theaters, arcades, escape rooms, VR experiences, and enough coffee and boba shops to keep all of us caffeinated well into retirement, my...
Fresno’s Fashion Fair Is Changing, but the Memories Haven’t
I miss malls the same way I miss Blockbuster. I don't necessarily want to give up the convenience we have now and go back to wandering aisles hoping the movie I wanted was still in stock, but there was something about the experience that Amazon, streaming, and two-day shipping have...
As CA Water Law Threatens Valley Ag, Farmers Preach ‘Gospel of Agave’
When James Hunt planted 14 acres of agave on his secluded Merced farm last year, he thought he’d harvest it for liquor. After all, for centuries, Mexico has capitalized on distilling agave into tequila and mezcal. The vision was picturesque – rows of large, spiky succulents rooted in a field...
Fresno Planning Commissioners OK SEDA Plan Without Financing Details
While city officials said they've revised their Southeast Development Area plan to meet the concerns of residents there, as well as other plan opponents, a key element — a detailed financial study — was notably missing at the Fresno Planning Commission hearing Wednesday night. Despite Fresno planning commissioners Jacqueline Lyday,...
