![\"Bullard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Thomas20Arax.jpg\" "\\"Bullard")
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Bullard High football coach Don Arax, left, and FUSD trustee Keshia Thomas, right, are shown.<\/p>\n
Fresno Bee file photos<\/p>\n
The Fresno Bee published several notable reports Friday covering local courts, food and media. From a defamation case update involving a Fresno Unified trustee to previews of buzzworthy restaurants and shakeups at local TV stations, here are the top stories of the day.<\/p>\n
Here are Friday\u2019s top stories to catch you upFresno schools trustee\u2019s racial charge against coach \u2018wasn\u2019t true,\u2019 her son says \u2014 Albert Alford Jr. told The Fresno Bee<\/a> that the 2013 story of former Bullard High football coach Don Arax using a racial slur never happened. His mother, Fresno Unified Trustee Keshia Thomas, repeated the allegation in a 2022 podcast, prompting Arax to sue for defamation. Arax\u2019s attorney says Alford\u2019s press statement contains inconsistencies with a court declaration filed under penalty of perjury.These four restaurants will have the most buzz in the Fresno area in 2026 \u2014 Michelin-recognized Tijuana taco shop Tacos El Franc is aiming for a mid-September opening<\/a> on Shaw Avenue near Highway 41. Hibachi Burger, a locally owned burger and hibachi concept, plans to open in September at the former S21 Sushi & Sake Bar spot. EggBred debuts in Clovis the first week of September, and a dual Mayd Modern Mediterranean and Butterfish California Poke location is slated for late October or early November.Why one ABC30 reporter was off the air + more changes to Fresno\u2019s TV news scene \u2014 ABC30 anchor Jessica Harrington explained in a social media video that she had been away from AM Live<\/a> to freeze her eggs and attend a journalism conference in New Orleans. Former anchor Cory James is returning to the station Monday to anchor AM Live and Midday. Meanwhile, KSEE24\/CBS47 is losing reporters Ben Morris and Brian Dorman, with more changes expected.<\/p>\n Original stories by David Taub, Bethany Clough and Joshua Tehee<\/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 Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bullard High football coach Don Arax, left, and FUSD trustee Keshia Thomas, right, are shown. Fresno Bee file…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-433834","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\/433834","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=433834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}