I was with the mailing crew for the newspaper in the office of the Fresno Center for Nonviolence on Van Ness Avenue last month when an anti-ICE protest march of students from Fresno High School came down the street. I came out to watch. I didn’t see any adults, just a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the students for their cause.
I heard later they marched all the way to City Hall. The student marches spread to six other schools in Fresno County, according to our reporter Bob McCloskey in his front-page article. Unfortunately, the Clovis Unified School District and the Clovis Police Department are pursuing a punitive response, both for students and for parents who might have participated.
In this issue, Rachel Youdelman has more of her continuing insightful coverage of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, focusing on right-wing Supervisor Garry Bredefeld and his mental gyrations about funding for streets and transportation, as well as issues around ICE raids, including the local student protests.
Fresnoland broke a story last month, which we reprint here, about the Fresno Arts Council losing $1.5 million to an embezzler. The as-yet-unnamed culprit apparently took advantage of poor bookkeeping on the part of the Council.
Our sister organization, the San Joaquin Valley Media Alliance, is a recipient of Fresno Arts Council funding. It has received funds already, but organizations that have not yet been paid are being left in the lurch.
Also, Tim Sheehan, of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, takes us on a deep dive (in English and in Spanish) into the coming financial tsunami for local clinics and hospitals due to funding cuts coming from Washington. His interview with the public health officer of Madera County, Dr. Simon Paul, is especially helpful.
As we enter the spring season, enjoy the good air.
—Peter Maiden, interim editor
