Good morning! It’s Wednesday, Feb. 4. This is Rob.
😶🌫️Today’s weather? You already know. NOAA
🚫Parts of Fresno City College remain closed Wednesday after a weekend crash. ABC30
🥳One of Fresno’s most beloved taquerias celebrated a new location this week. YourCentralValley
1. Fresno County sued over sex-offender housing law
Three registered Fresno sex offenders are suing the county government over a new law prohibiting more than half a dozen registrants from living together in a single-family home, Fresnoland reports.
The lawsuit, brought by the Sacramento-based Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, Inc. on behalf of the three anonymously identified plaintiffs, was filed Jan. 26 in Fresno County Superior Court.
The new law, which goes into effect tomorrow, caps the number of sexual offenders to six per home, with property owners facing fines totaling over $50,000 for successive violations, a six-month jail sentence and potential litigation.
Supervisors did not shy away from the fact that news laws were designed specifically to target two homes in Old Fig Garden managed by Centers for Living, a faith-based transitional living provider that houses some sex offenders. In early January, the center said it had nearly 40 residents.
The law, supervisors have confirmed, applies only to single-family homes and does not apply to apartment complexes.
2. Reedley biolab back in the spotlight
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Fresno-area leaders on Tuesday called for stronger federal oversight after investigators revealed that a recently discovered illegal biolab in Nevada had ties to the 2023 biolab discovered in Reedley, the Business Journal reports.
ABC30 identified the Las Vegas owner of the home searched this week as David He, who was also accused of running the Reedley biolab three years ago.
Speaking with news media at the Hall of Records in Fresno on Tuesday, Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba attempted to ease renewed public concerns.
“There were no biologicals, no chemicals, no lab equipment in that facility after our initial abatement,” Zieba said. “Nothing returned. We are safe.”
David He, who has pleaded not guilty in the Reedley case, denied connection to the Las Vegas case in a statement through his attorney.
3. Fresno Unified retirees’ health care access fully stored
Credit: Credit: Julianna Morano / Fresnoland
Fresno Unified retirees can once again receive care downtown after the hospital system finally resolved its network dispute with insurance company Aetna, The Fresno Bee reports.
Hundreds of retirees — with FUSD lifetime benefits — have been without full coverage since the New Year as the region’s largest hospital network locked horns with Aetna in a contract dispute that left former educators in the lurch.
Fresno Unified officials have criticized the hospital for cutting off retirees, which they said the hospital did not have to do. An attorney representing some of the retirees compared the network dispersion to elder abuse.
District officials called the claims “baseless” and “misleading.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
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