A new $50,000 scholarship fund established specifically for Southeast Asian students in the Fresno area community is the first of its kind. "Our goal is to hand out five scholarships per year for the next ten years," said Pao Yang, CEO of the Fresno Center. "If we do get more donations and...
What’s Next for Lee Brand, Who Quietly Made Fresno a Better City?
Lee Brand soon will exit politics and the Fresno mayoral chair as a man of his word, hoping that residents all over the city prosper, and riding the high of bringing Southwest Airlines here. Freed from the grind of leading California's fifth-largest city amid the tumult of the COVID-19 pandemic,...
Dyer on COVID: Says He’s Feeling Worse. Former Commissioner Confirms Hosting Event.
Incoming Fresno mayor Jerry Dyer said he is feeling worse, one day after revealing he tested positive for COVID-19. "It got a little worse today. It hurts to cough or move. I feel like all my energy has been stripped away. This is a weird virus in that just when...
Fresno Mayor-elect Dyer Tests Positive for COVID-19
Fresno Mayor-elect Jerry Dyer tested positive for COVID-19, he announced on Tuesday. "After being notified of my exposure to Steve Brandau last Tuesday evening at a small dinner gathering, I had a Rapid PCR test done Tuesday evening. That test showed no detection of Covid. I started to experience a...
Granite Park Lawsuit Accuses Fresno of Racism, Retaliation
Terance Frazier, the Fresno developer who has had a long-running disagreement with the city over Granite Park, filed a federal lawsuit Friday night. In the suit, Frazier claims the city of Fresno — which owns the facility — failed to live up to its obligations when he leased the Granite...
COVID-19 Kills Parks-Safety Sales Tax Effort, Brand Says
Mayor Lee Brand says there is no chance that a successor to Measure P — the 2018 sales tax measure for parks currently ruled to have failed — will be on the November ballot. "You're going to see nothing on the November ballot. The COVID crisis and the consequence, which is...
Right Man at the Right Time for Fresno Police Reform
Fresno is fortunate to have Oliver Baines heading its police reform commission. He has the temperament, brainpower, and experience to lead a group with divergent personalities (and expectations) in a successful effort. Most important: He knows what's at stake because he's lived it. "I think this is something that we're...
Police Aren’t Defunded as Fresno Approves $1.3 Billion Budget
The Fresno City Council adopted a budget on Tuesday, continuing last year's $1.3 billion spending plan for another three months. "For an elected official, this is the year from hell, but we've all done a remarkable job and all the pressure of working together," Fresno Mayor Lee Brand said. The...
Advance Peace Is Approved, but Arias and Hall Remain at Odds
Even though the Fresno City Council approved funding for Advance Peace, perhaps council president Miguel Arias and police chief Andrew Hall didn't get the message Thursday. They continued their public sniping at each other during the debate. Also in Politics 101: Arias, Hall snipe at each other over police metrics....
Mayor Brand’s Team Apologizes to Council About Federal Fire Grant
At the end of Fresno Fire Chief Kerri Doni's presentation to the city council on Monday, council president Miguel Arias apologized. What was the apology for? The arguing that ensured after the council learned Fresno Mayor Lee Brand's administration never filed for an important federal grant. The grant would have...