Jerry Lee, the new executive director of the Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC), says that we are in for some big changes in 2011. Lee is now working on a plan to build the public access [...] Continue Reading
Local & State
The Out-of-State Transfer Scam
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is again making a mad dash over the borders with large numbers of prisoners in an expensive attempt to reduce overcrowding within its [...] Continue Reading
Fresno Food Not Bombs 2011 Celebration and Fund-Raiser
Historically, February 25 has seen many milestones. The Beatles first single, “Please, Please Me,” was released on this day in 1963. The Beatles also began recording Abbey Road on that date in 1969. [...] Continue Reading
Merced Homeless Couple Declared Heroes—Given $5 Reward
In the early morning hours of December 21, a homeless couple huddled together for warmth beneath an overpass at Bear Creek Drive and G Street in Merced. The couple, Joseph Edwards and Bernice [...] Continue Reading
Race Relations in 2010
It was 1996, not long after O.J.’s acquittal in his criminal trial. One of my colleagues at the Fresno Center for Nonviolence, a retired physician, was outraged by the (in his view) miscarriage of [...] Continue Reading
Opinion and Analysis from the Grassroots
Fresno Could End Hunger Here, Now By Edie Jessup The fallout of Walmart’s ploy with poor cities, in a pretense of addressing hunger, is a case study and an expose of Walmart’s co-opting the City of [...] Continue Reading
China Syndrome or Chinatown?
Conflict and Contradiction for Fresno’s Nuclear Ambitions Fresnans looking for some cozy holiday movie watching might consider curling up with two classic California films from the 1970s—The China [...] Continue Reading
A Tale of Two Cities
The voting precinct map (below) illustrates why there is a gap between the political power of north and south Fresno. Voters north of Shaw Avenue are more conservative and have a much higher voter [...] Continue Reading
From the Editor
Last month, I spoke at the Metro Ministry’s 40th anniversary celebration. It was an honor to share some of my thoughts with the 300+ people at the event. Metro Ministry is one of those progressive [...] Continue Reading
Progressive News Briefs
Fresno Police Officers Beat Homeless Man In February 2009, Fresno police officers Jeff Gross and Scott Payn were caught on videotape beating Glen Beaty. Beaty, who was homeless at the time, had been [...] Continue Reading
Fresno’s Next Boondoggle
On December 9, a divided Fresno City Council voted in favor of privatizing the city’s commercial solid waste operations. Now, 100 drivers represented by IUOE [International Union of Operating [...] Continue Reading
Church Sanctuary versus NIMBY
It has been more than two months since homeless encampments in the City of Merced were forcibly closed and the “No Camping Ordinance” strictly enforced. Homeless people have been scattered throughout [...] Continue Reading