Thomas Midgley, Jr. (1889–1944), a prolific inventor known to his acquaintances as “Midge,” was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. In the Betts Academy, a small, private college preparatory school, [...] Continue Reading
Science & Health
DUI Checkpoints: What’s the Agenda?
When you think of DUI checkpoints, you might imagine drunken drivers justly being taken off the road. However, a closer look at the actual practices of the Fresno Police Department (FPD) and [...] Continue Reading
From the Editor
A Progressive Analysis of the Local Budget Right-wing forces in city and county government are attempting to balance the budget on the backs of poor and working people. They want to do this by [...] Continue Reading
Community Gardens, Chickens and More
It seems like homegrown food production is on the rise in Fresno. People are digging up their lawns and replacing them with vegetable and herb gardens, backyard chicken coops are popping up in many [...] Continue Reading
California Banks Take $21 Million from Welfare Families Yearly
(Author’s note: Thanks to the Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organization (CCWRO); Jessica Barthalow, Western Center on Law and Poverty (WCLP); Lydia Velasco, Central California Legal Services [...] Continue Reading
Homeless Evicted With No Place To Go
By Serena Cervantes James Walsh (not his real name), a 38-year-old parolee with gray peppered black hair and a calm demeanor, smokes a “roly” cigarette outside the window of his second-story [...] Continue Reading
Whispers from the Streets
What good is art, anyway? These days, we are flooded with images everywhere we turn, and the corporate world produces such pretty pictures to fill our heads with how lovely life can be if only we just [...] Continue Reading
In Solidarity with the People of Cuba
On July 7, a school bus will roll into Fresno, more than half stuffed with cargo, but with a few seats remaining, with windows wide open for cooling and colorful artwork showing its mission―the [...] Continue Reading
Festive Celebration at Roeding Park
On June 11, the Statewide Homeless Memorial Event at Roeding Park had a new twist this year, with some good improvements and some lessons learned, but all in all a good event. It was a festive [...] Continue Reading
North Coast Farmers and Fishermen Unite To Stop Water Grab
The Jerry Brown administration has backed away from a proposal to build two huge tunnels to divert Sacramento River water around the Bay Delta. Jerry Meral, the deputy director of natural resources, [...] Continue Reading
Progressive News Briefs
Education Without Borders A march and rally was held in downtown Fresno last month to draw attention to the Fresno Unified School District’s high dropout rate, support ethnic studies programs and [...] Continue Reading
PDA’s National Healthcare Not Warfare Tour Comes to Fresno
In late April, leaders of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) brought their California road show, Healthcare Not Warfare, to Fresno en route to the California Democratic Party (CDP) Convention. [...] Continue Reading