The Fresno County Sheriff's Office is holding back on disciplinary records that should be made public, a new lawsuit alleges. ACLU of Northern California filed the lawsuit in Fresno County Superior Court on Monday. They accuse the Sheriff's Office of not complying with a 2018 law requiring law enforcement agencies...
Can Clovis Unified Student Bring Home His Family’s Second National Spelling Bee Win?
A very familiar name will be representing Fresno County in the Scripps National Spelling Bee later this year. Achuth Vinay, a sixth-grade student at Fugman Elementary in northeast Fresno, has won the county Spell Off and hopes to repeat his sister Ananya's 2017 national championship. Achuth, who apparently is Fresno...
‘Honor System’ in Play as Fresno Vaccine Eligibility Widens Significantly
An estimated 4.4 million more people became eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine at the stroke of midnight Monday morning according to the state data. Beginning March 15, vaccinations became available to those with certain medical conditions, disabilities, living spaces, or work environments that put them at higher risk for serious...
Nearby Counties Set to Move Into Red Tier. What About Fresno?
The California Department of Public Health today announced that 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Californians in some of the state’s hardest-hit communities, increasing immunity where the state's transmission rates and disease burden have been the highest during the pandemic. With that goal met, the state...
COVID Variant Testing in Fresno County is Elusive. ‘I Wish I Had Better News’ Says Vohra
When Governor Gavin Newsom visited the Fresno County Fairgrounds on Feb. 10 he brought with him news of a new COVID-19 variant found in Southern California. “We have the first reported cases of South African variants. Two cases have been reported through Stanford, one in Alameda County and one in...
Newsom Says He’s ‘Struggling’ to Get a FEMA Mass Vaccination Site in the Central Valley
The behind the scenes lobbying effort to get a FEMA mass vaccination site in the Central Valley hasn't garnered fruit, at least not yet. California quickly received two of the federally supported sites in Oakland and Los Angeles last month. Gov. Gavin Newsom, visiting a vaccination site in Earlimart this...
Fresno County Woman Faces Prison Over $790,000 Crop Insurance Fraud Allegations
A Selma woman was arrested Wednesday on a federal indictment charging her with mail fraud for allegedly submitting over $790,000 in fraudulent crop insurance claims, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced in a news release. According to court records, from at least November 2013 through September 2016, Sihota controlled...
Top Doc Says Fresno County is ‘On the Cusp’ of Reaching Red COVID Tier
Another Tuesday update from the state, and another week of Fresno County not moving down into the less restrictive 'red' tier. The good news is the county is doing well in case positivity, with a rate of 5.3% — down from last week's 6.0%. That would be good enough to...
Local Nonprofits Stepping Up to Bolster COVID Vaccination, Education Efforts
The messy and confusing distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has prompted a broad array of nonprofits and volunteers to step in to fill the gaps. In Fresno County and across the nation, organizations are helping get shots in the arms of people from diverse and sometimes hard-to-reach communities. Disaster-relief charities are...
Do You Live in a Neighborhood Prioritized for COVID Vaccine? Check Here.
Many of the 400 ZIP codes across the state being prioritized by California officials for additional COVID vaccination efforts are in the Central Valley and could allow Fresno County to widen businesses reopenings in the weeks ahead. Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration said Thursday it will direct 40 percent of the...