šŗ *drinks craft beer once* CEO does a Racism
Plus Coronavirus testing dries up, International students in danger of deportation and the Fresno Police reform commission finally meet publicly.
āļøĀ Good morninā, Fresno! It is Sunday, July 12, 2020.
It is hot yāall. And my Internet is out at my house right now until Monday. So Iām out here mooching off some Starbucks wifi to write this newsletter for yāall to write this newsletter. It is currently 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I am melting. Stay cool out there!
-Ram š§”
Fresno By Five
šŗš¤¬ The Racist CEO In Town
Florida CEO that visited a Fresno taphouse has resigned after a video of him shouting racial slurs at the bartender went viral.
On Tuesday, July 7, Jason Wood, CEO of digital marketing firm Actionable Insights, refused to wear a mask and had a little too many craft beers at Out of the Barrel Taphouse, and bartender Rebecca Hernandez tried cutting him off.
Wood became very mad and proceeded to shout some expletives such as calling her a āSand n-wordā and equating her to ādumb Saudi Arabians.ā
The whole situation was recorded by Hernandez and posted on her social media accounts and you can see for yourself below:
Wood resigned shortly after, just a few days after he issued an apology. He said that āhe had never had craft beer beforeā and says heās not a racist.
However, FOX26 has apparently uncovered that in 2019 a former account manager for his company filed a lawsuit alleging that Wood discriminated against the women in his company. Allegedly, he would call them dumb and morons and force them to work through lunch. So, he might not be racist but he might be sexist. Or both! š
š· Coronavirus Updates: Testing Dries Up
As of July 11, the most recent data available at the time of writing, there have been a total of 8282 (+2,172 from last week) total confirmed cases and 88 (+11) deaths in Fresno County. Another record-breaking week for most new cases since the start of the newsletter with the most deaths reported for the week. A total of 1,871 (+502) people have recovered and 394 (+61)Ā have ever been hospitalized.
Testing right now is in short supply. Weāve plugged the LHI.care website that offers free Covid testing. Fresno Countyās Interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra said that testing has now reverted back to testing symptomatic people for the three Optum testing sites within Fresno. The closest testing sites for asymptomatic that are open for appointments are in Hanford and Mariposa.
š¤¦āāļø Local Restaurateur Being a Baby
Local Restaurateur David Fansler, the owner of Pismoās, Westwoods and Yosemite Falls, is making a big fuss that his big, garage-style windows for his restaurant do not satisfy state requirements for outdoor dining.
He posted a whole novel on Facebook saying he is being singled out by the Fresno County Health director Pomaville and snitches on other restaurants and bars not complying with regulation.
Fansler has kept his restaurants and dining room open despite one of his employees testing positive for Covid-19 and getting five citations from code enforcement.
š§International Students at risk for deportation
International students enrolled in college in the United States will have to leave the country if their universities switch to online-only courses or risk deportation, lmmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Monday.
According to the press release, nonimmigrant F-1 (student visa) students cannot take a full course load online but if itās a hybrid of online and in-person they can only take one class or three credits online. Which makes no senseā¦ during a pandemicā¦ wheere going to class literally endangers themā¦
The State of California has filed a lawsuit challenging the decision citing that it endangers these students to coronavirus and will already hurt the budget of schools with these students leaving.
Fortunately for our local international students, Fresno State will offer in-person classes. Here is a list of classes for international students to take. If you know an international student, please forward this email to them or share this post:
Fresno Pacific University students should not be affected that much as they are offering classes in-person this fall. Fresno City College, however, is going fully online next semester. FCC president Carole Goldsmith released this statement:
šPolice Commission Meet Publicly for the First Time
The Fresno Commission on Police Reform had their first public meeting on Monday via Zoom with public questions being answered at the end.
The commission raised concerns on the 90-day time span that Fresno City Council President Miguel Arias set for their report. Commission chairman Baines will be asking for more time for the commission as all the commissioners have other important committees they serve on.
To break up the work, Baines created four subcommittees focusing on different areas of police reform ā community input, community development, police training and policy, and budget.
During the Q&A portion, GVWire asked about a controversial tweet that was sensationalized in the San Joaquin Valley Sun. For some background, the commissionās second-in-command, Sandra Celedon, tweeted this during the Minneapolis protests back in May:
The San Joaquin Valley Sun article implies that it was an attack on the Fresno Building Healthy Communities nonprofit, which Celedon is the CEO. Itās really a bad article, in my opinion, and the Sun is no stranger to making a big deal out of single tweets for articles. That last link is literally one of the worst articles of local news ever. No cap.
During the meeting, Celedon refused to answer, calling it an āasinine questionā and she would love to talk personally to David Taub, the GVWire reporter that asked the question, in her off time and teach him some American history. Damn š³
š²The Block Sale Must Go On
Despite the pandemic, the annual Harvard Avenue block sale still went on today despite government officials like Fresno Councilmember Esmeralda Soria urging folks not to attend. As with every event, social distancing and other safety precautions were present. Only 10 people in a yard were allowed at once. There were safety enforcement officers present but no violations were handed out. One person was very sad the ātamale ladyā did not go. I am very sad for them as well.
And donāt forget to register to voteā¦ Kanye said so
This newsletter was edited by Tommy Tribble (@tomiiwrites on Twitter) but he does not take responsibility for the ellipses in this emailā¦ Ram added thoseā¦