👼 Sacrificing Clovis kids for fun and profit
The world (Fresno County) is on fire, Clovis Unified wants to send the kids back to in-person school and, oh yeah, the pandemic is still happening. Here's what happened in Fresno last week, July 13-18
☀️ Hello, Fresno! It is Sunday, July 19, 2020.
Folks, I’mma be honest. I think I’m going to lose my mind. We really are living through a historic event, huh? Maybe the psychic damage I inflict on myself keeping up with the news but it is not looking good. But y’know gotta keep the hope alive and all? I hope y’all are taking care of yourselves!
-Ram 🧡
Here’s last week’s Fresno news in five minutes.
Fresno By Five
🥴 Recall Gruesome Newsom
A protest was held in Northeast Fresno against Gov. Newsom because of his tyrannical orders to *looks at notes* stop the pandemic. Protestors demanded Newsom be removed: members of the California Republican Assembly were there to collect signatures for “Fuhrer Newsom’s” recall. Around 70 protesters were reportedly in attendance, and if you watch the Fresno Bee interview videos, there are no masks, just vibes. Bad vibes! One protester said the curve has been flattened??? Okay.
A screenshot of the Fresno Bee video. Love their sign, the Photoshop job is amazing.
🚒 The Mineral Fire in Fresno County
A fire broke out on Monday in western Fresno County outside Coalinga and has burned through 23,500 acres, destroying four structures so far. CAL FIRE has contained about 35% of the fire and evacuation orders have been issued to a residence near the fire. Firefighters expect it to last a few more days depending on the weather conditions.
With the fire making our bad air quality even worse, Fresno County has urged people to stay indoors and a health caution has been issued.
🔥 Fires Increase in Fresno
Fire calls have skyrocketed in recent weeks, with triple-digit temperatures and fireworks in the mix since the Fourth of July. There has been a 55-60% increase in calls. The Fresno Fire PIO Shane Brown said that this month alone they had an average of 25.2 fire calls per day. Daily, we only have 80 firefighters serving a population of over 500,000. The Fresno City Council has looked for ways to get funds to hire additional firefighters. I dunno maybe defund the police and fund the fire department. Just an idea.
😷 Big Times should be canceled
The organizers of the Big Fresno Fair announced that the Table Mountain Concert Series at the Paul Paul Theater has been canceled. Those who purchased tickets should have been refunded on July 15, but refunds may come later. No word if the Fair itself will be canceled and organizers are trying to work with local health officials to make a “scaled-down” Fair. Big Times might be a Small Time this year.
⛪ Church of Covid
Cornerstone Church in downtown Fresno will still hold their Sunday service despite orders from Gov. Newsom. In-person worship will still happen at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. today. Pastor Jim Franklin says that while he knows cases are rising, it is only because we did more testing, a common sentiment on the pandemic-skeptical side of the aisle. He also said Newsom does not have the constitutional rights to close services. He says he is not defying the order and is merely standing up for his religious rights. But he’s definitely defying the order.
👼 Clovis Unified: Fuck them kids
The Clovis Unified School District’s school board voted to reopen and have in-person classes on Aug. 17 before Gov. Newsom saidSIKE y’all aren’t opening with an announcement on Friday with new guidelines. To be able to have the option of opening campuses, counties on the state’s monitoring list must be off the list for 14 consecutive days. Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Madera are all on that watchlist.
🏫 Other School District’s Plan
The other school districts that aren’t Covid Unified have to go all online. Central and Selma Unified’s school boards had both announced their intentions before the governor’s order came down. Fresno Unified previously planned to offer a hybrid system of online and in-person classes before pivoting to all online on Friday.
🍽️ Fresno/Clovis Extend Restaurants to Parking Lots
Fresno and Clovis have created emergency mandates that allow restaurants to expand patio dining to parking lots and, in some cases, parts of the street. This is in an effort to support jobs and keep businesses afloat. Several restaurants are already taking advantage of it, such as Annex Kitchen and Fresno Breakfast House. While eating out right now is very ill-advised, please at least go to a local restaurant instead of weathering 100 degrees Fresno heat just for Denny’s.
💢 Fresno County Supervisor is Super Mad
Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig’s told Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula to “go back to Sacramento” in a video posted Friday to Magsig’s Facebook page. The altercation arose from Arambula pressing Magsig on the county’s pandemic response. The video can be seen here:
Magsig accuses of Arambula for politicizing it and going to the media before calling the “hallway meeting,” they’re calling it, but it just seems like a stunt to just show how big and gruff local government is standing up to the “tyranny” of Gruesome Newsom.
😷 Coronavirus Updates: The 100th person has died
As of July 18, the most recent data available at the time of writing, there have been a total of 9,945 (+1,283 from last week) total confirmed cases and 100 (+12) deaths in Fresno County. A total of 2,332 (+461) people have recovered.
Fresno County has stopped updating their Coronavirus stats daily and now opting only to update the numbers on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Yikes.
OptumServe/LHI is still doing testing within Fresno. Sign up through LHI.care and schedule a test. They are now also taking walk-ins but on a first-come, first-serve basis. Make sure to register first and get a patient ID first.
Rite Aid is offering no-cost testing, and four Rite Aids in Fresno will serve as testing sites. Check to see if you qualify with their prescreening. If anyone gets tested through this, please let us know how it goes. Just reply back to this email.
Fresno County is now accepting volunteers to aid with the increase in Coronavirus cases. If you’re down to be a Disaster Service Worker, click here for more information.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has sent eight Department of Defense medical teams to help out hospitals within the Valley. Two teams have arrived Thursday: one at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno and the other at Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia. Their deployment is set to last 30 days.
The Fresno City Council issued an order to require people working to wear masks, even outside while near others. The vote was 5-1 with only our favorite rascal of a Councilmember Bredefeld voting in opposition.
🏫 Lastly, the most important story: Taco Bell ditching potatoes
Taco Bell announced that several popular items will be forever gone from the menu, which includes all items that had potatoes. RIP in Peace: Beefy Fritos Burrito. Taco Bell assures vegetarians that there will be more vegetarian items coming soon so y’all don’t lose too much hope. I can’t take any more losses this year. Please.
Written by Ram Reyes (@vibesradiator on Twitter) & edited by Tommy Tribble (@tomiiwrites on Twitter)