To, To, To, To the Moonš
Everybody you know is an investor, weāre back in Purple Tier and Adventure Church might not close the deal.
āļøGood morning, Fresno! Itās Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021
Hey gamers and nongamers, Ram here.
Stocks. Letās talk stocks. Iāve never talked about stocks until this week but rest assured I am now an expert at pretending to know stuff about stocks. I should know I bought some $NOK (Nokia) stocks and Iāve already lost $50. I know what Iām doing. I just like the stock.
(This is not financial advice. Please do not take financial advice from people on the internetāespecially from me.)
Seriously though, there was a lot of stock talk. Robinhood this, Dogecoin that, Gamestop here. And if you havenāt been exposed to the stock talk, then all I have to say is ālucky you.āĀ
The GameStop situation is confusing. But if you really want to understand it, hereās the best explanation I found.
This thread further explains the backstory of $GME and the Reddit user u/DeepFuckingValue who started it all.
Also, the Wall Street Journal featured a great profile of u/DeepFuckingValue. He isnāt the Reddit basement degenerate I thought he would be. He actually seems like a nice, swell guy. In other words, he isnāt a great representative of the average user of the r/WallStreetBets subreddit which is of course toxic and loathsome.Ā
Also, trigger warning: r/WallStreetBets is full of ableist language. But, if you want to be plugged into ground zero of this whole stonk situation, the subreddit is where itās at. They even bought a billboard in New York.
If any of yāall invested in meme stocks, I wish you a very pleasant hold the line. We are taking this to the moon and burning the hedge funds with it.
LFG,
Ram š§”Ā
P.S.
We also have merch now! If you want to help us out and show your support for Fiveby, cop a hoodie or a t-shirt. Both are designed by yours truly and printed by a local screenprinter. The only stock you should be buying is taking our stock of merch, aha ha.
Fresno by Five
š¦ Coronavirus Updates: Stay-At-Home Order Lifted
As of Jan 30, since last Sunday there have been:
84,137 (+3,799) Total Cases
Total Deaths: 1,137 (+94)
Currently Hospitalized: 502 (-82)
Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted the regional stay-at-home order on Monday, hereās a breakdown on why and what that means for us.
The decision was made based on projections that ICU capacity will go above 15% within the next 4 weeks. The state predicts the San Joaquin Valley (which includes Fresno County) will have a 22.3% capacity by Feb 22.
As of Jan. 30, Fresno County has 8 ICU beds available.
The lifting of the stay-at-home order surprised Fresno County interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra. He says he wasnāt expecting this announcement to come this soon. But he hopes these projections prove accurate and hopes everyone doesn't make unsafe choices, particularly with the Super Bowl coming up. So maybe donāt have the big Super Bowl gathering?
Fresno County is back at Purple Tier of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy which allows for the reopening of outdoor dining, the hot topic issue in the Valley.
In other Coronavirus news...
The eviction moratorium has been extended to June 30 on Thursday, protecting an estimated 240,000 to 700,000 households from eviction from all over the state.
The Fresno County Jail has more COVID-19 positive infections than inmates.
The CDC is saying that schools are safe to reopen if masks are worn and social distancing is followed. Despite this, California teachers are asking for vaccines before classrooms reopen. The Fresno Bee Education Lab also did a live Q&A with Fresno County health and school officials.Ā
Fresno County has started vaccinating essential farm workers this week with 3,000 administered this week.
Vaccines are still short in supply. Fresno County leaders asked for 38,000 doses. They got 8,000. Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi sent a letter to President Biden asking for more vaccines.
š The Adventure Continues: Latest on Adventure Churchās Quest for the Tower Theatre
The Adventure Church v. Tower District saga continues. Adventure Church was fined $250 by the City of Fresno for holding Sunday service.
The church, with the full armor of God, threatened the City of Fresno with a lawsuit claiming the cityās interference with the purchase was ādiscriminatory.ā
Mayor Jerry Dyer tried playing peacemaker by offering an alternative: a discounted rental rate at the Fresno Memorial Auditorium. He also said that the auditorium will get renovations to sweeten the deal.Ā
There are a few problems. It will interfere with Childrenās Musical Theaterworksās (CMT) two-week performance blocks and, as the Munro Review puts it, itās kind of offensive as CMT has been begging for renovations to the auditorium for years.
The deal between the church and Tower Theatre might not be set in stone as we thought. The attorneys of Sequoia Brewing say that their clientās lease required them to be notified of the sale and allowed a chance to buy. But they were not notified so the deal might not go through.Ā
Danielle Bergstrom of the Fresnoland Lab explores an obscure plan that might save the Tower Theatre. Plus, some interesting Tower District history.
And if youāre reading this on Sunday, the church has canceled their in-person services and, āper legal counsel,ā they are holding services online today instead.
š§ļø Up and down the Atmospheric River
Itās raining. And when itās raining, itās news here. And Iām not talking small talk. That fš¤¬cking rain caused road damage, flooding and power outages.
The weather system flowing through California is called an atmospheric river. These are long, narrow bands that carry water vapor from the ocean to the land. The water they carry is equivalent to the amount flowing from the mouth of the Mississippi River, and they are responsible for 50-75% of Californiaās precipitation.
Fun Fact: The term āPineapple Expressā is what they call when moisture from the Hawaiian Islands travel through an atmospheric river to the West Coast.
Check out the Washington Postās interactive slideshow with great photography of the damage around the state.
Highway 168 has been partially reopened. Arguably the most chill of the highways to drive on in the Valley.
Yosemite National Park reopens tomorrow after receiving over 18 inches of snow. Several trees fell, damaging park facilities.Ā
Yosemite will require reservations to enter again starting on Feb. 8 due to fears of an influx of visitors to see the Yosemite Firefall, the optical illusion where the setting sunās light hits the Horsetail Fall and makes the falls glow orange. You can get a reservation to enter through recreation.gov starting tomorrow, Feb. 1.
Fresno Bee writer and photographer Larry Valenzuela captured this stunning photo of Fresno post-rain. I wish Fresno always looked like this. Check out Larryās Twitter below and his Instagram (@newspartakid).
š The Anti-Masker
The anti-masker āfreedomā fighter Ben Martin has been cited for a misdemeanor for refusing to leave the Sprouts and that same Sprouts has filed a restraining order against him. Sad.
Speaking of cringe and people named Ben, another infamous Ben, Ben Bergquam, was spotted here with QAnon Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green talking some racist shit. Sad and cringe.
šŖ§ Signgate: Clovis Candidate Steals Other Candidateās Signs
We donāt usually feature crime stories in this newsletter but this was just odd. And hey, weāre at the intersection of politics and culture, and this is politics. I guess? Anyways, Clovis City Council candidate, Herman Nagra, was arrested and is facing felony charges for stealing his opponentsā signs. Nagra admitted to stealing his opponentsā, Vong Mouanoutoua and Diane Pearce, signs.Ā
Nagra claims he did not steal them but was merely taking down signs that werenāt supposed to be on those properties. Nagra apparently asked business owners if the candidates had permission to have the signs up. Some said they didnāt and thatās when Nagra took the liberty of removing it himself. Funny thing is that those same owners did not tell him to remove it nor did Nagra ask if he could remove them.
āThey didnāt explicitly say you can take them. But what they did say is that person doesnāt have permission to have them here and we donāt want them here. I helped them by removing them.ā
Herman Nagra
GVWire has a video interview with him and you should just hear it for yourself.
Nagra would later claim that 20 officers using āthird world tacticsā with machine guns banged on his door with a search warrant. Clovis Police Department did have a search warrant but claims they only had 10 and it was standard procedure.
š° More Need to Know Stories
The Fresno City Council has set up an equity fund to help local cannabis businesses owned by marginalized groups.
āThe stateās making funding available to get folks that donāt have that experience and are in the social equity category to lift them up and help give them a shot.ā
City Manager Thomas Esqueda
Motels along āMotel Driveā are preparing to house the unhoused as part of Project Homekey, the state initiative to rehabilitate old hotels, motels, apartments, etc. to housing for people experiencing homelessness.
āI was completely flabbergasted by the speed and the quality of renovations that the Housing Authority has created. In a three-week period, they replaced flooring, new sheet rock, lighting fixtures ā electrical has been improved ā and so theyāve really turned around these units.ā
Councilmember Miguel Arias
Fresno City College enrollment rates have declined due to the pandemic, despite state schools like Fresno State experiencing record highs of enrollment.
Simple. They [students] want face to face. In dance technique it is hard to break down what we see as instructors. Students need our close eye on their every move to make them the athletes needed to survive in this profession.ā
Cristal Tiscareno, FCC Dance Instructor
If you would like something added to the Community Board, email us at contact@fivebyfivenine.com or DM us on social media @fivebyfivenine
šCommunity Board
CSU Worker Town Hall
Show your support for CSU workers and students. The CSU is about to layoff employees and student workers despite having $1.5 billion in reserve. Learn more about it through uSpark Valleyās Post.
Register to join here: http://bit.ly/FCCUSAS
Selma Original Film Festival Open Submission
The Selma Arts Center Film Festival is now accepting submissions until February 16.
For more info, visit http://selmaartscenter.com/audition or call (559) 891-2238.Ā
š§This Week on the PodĀ
The Kids Are (not) Alright feat. The Fresno Bee Education Lab
The scholastic suckas get deep with Ashleigh Panoo, Monica Velez and Isabel S. Dieppa, three reporters from the Fresno Beeās education lab, a solutions-focused journalism initiative that became a breaking news operation overnight.
The lives of school children have become a microcosm of the haves and have-nots of a mid-pandemic society and these journalists are at the forefront of a developing crisis as nuanced and multifaceted as any other.
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This newsletter was written by Ram Reyes (@vibesradiator) and edited by Tommy Tribble (@tomiiwrites) | Follow Five By Five Nine onĀ InstagramĀ &Ā Twitter