{"id":314690,"date":"2026-05-14T02:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T02:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/314690\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T02:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T02:21:12","slug":"fresno-bee-endorses-fresh-ideas-in-four-city-council-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/314690\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno Bee endorses fresh ideas in four city council races"},"content":{"rendered":"

From a bear wandering a northwest Fresno neighborhood to the identification of a 13-year-old boy killed in a scooter crash, Fresno Bee subscribers gravitated toward stories shaping daily life in the region last week. Readers also followed business shake-ups, city council endorsements and the ongoing debate over a massive development plan.<\/p>\n

These were some of the best-read stories among Fresno Bee subscribers last week.<\/p>\n

Video: Bear spotted in Fresno neighborhood, near Herndon and West avenues \u2014 A brown bear was spotted early Thursday morning on Isla Avenue in northwest Fresno around 7:15 a.m. Councilman Mike Karbassi alerted the public after a resident in his district reported the animal \u201con the loose.\u201d The California Department of Fish and Wildlife sent a team but could not locate the bear. Click here for full story.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"West West Coast Sourdough is now Cali Rays Sourdough Deli at Brawley and Herndon avenues, photographed Tuesday, April 28, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n

What\u2019s happening at West Coast Sourdough? Restaurants rebrand in Fresno, Clovis \u2014 Franchise owner Raj Singh began rebranding several West Coast Sourdough locations as Cali Rays Sourdough Deli in March, citing rising food costs, slowing sales and a lack of engagement from the company. The shift follows the 2024 departure of founder Kay Uppal, who filed suit in late February alleging his business partners breached fiduciary duties and diverted corporate assets. Affected restaurants include locations in Porterville, Visalia, Fresno and Clovis. Click here for full story.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Downtown Downtown Fresno is seen from above. The June 2 primary features statewide, congressional, legislative, county and city races, with ballots beginning to arrive in mailboxes May 4. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n

ENDORSEMENTS: We\u2019re endorsing fresh ideas in Fresno\u2019s 4 historic city council races \u2014 The Fresno Bee Editorial Board endorsed candidates in four city council primaries, favoring fresh perspectives and leadership experience in districts 1, 3, 5 and 7. Only one incumbent, Brandon Vang, is running among the 20 candidates across the four races. Key issues guiding the endorsements include the anti-camping ordinance, High-Speed Rail, a proposed downtown soccer stadium and Fresno\u2019s public image. Click here for full story.<\/a><\/p>\n

Fresno\u2019s megadevelopment plan a tough sell for rural homeowners. \u2018We\u2019ll be pushed out\u2019 \u2014 Rural homeowners in the path of Mayor Jerry Dyer\u2019s plan to build 45,000 homes on 9,000 acres of mostly farmland say the Southeast Development Area plan threatens their way of life and could cost them upward of $100,000 to connect to city utilities. The Fresno City Council voted 5-2 in December to send the plan back for revisions, citing concerns about financial viability and environmental impact. Opponents have organized under the Fresno Southeast Property Owners group. Click here for full story.<\/a><\/p>\n

Update: Coroner ID\u2019s 13-year-old Fresno boy killed in motorized scooter crash \u2014 The coroner identified Dominiq Puentes as the 13-year-old killed Friday night in a moped collision with a white truck at Palm and Bullard avenues around 10:40 p.m. A 12-year-old passenger remained in critical condition. Puentes was a student at Phoenix Secondary Academy who previously attended Tenaya Middle School. Click here for full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Original stories by Liliana Fannin, Joshua Tehee and Anthony Galaviz<\/p>\n

This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media\u2019s AI policy.<\/a><\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Christopher Kirkpatrick<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Christopher Kirkpatrick is senior editor of The Fresno Bee and Vida en el Valle.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From a bear wandering a northwest Fresno neighborhood to the identification of a 13-year-old boy killed in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-314690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}