More than 10,000 people showed up to the 14th Taco Truck Throwdown, and it was a Saturday night to remember at Chukchansi Park. The small kitchens inside more than 20 taco trucks were extra busy all night, keeping up with the long lines of people eager to have some of the best tacos in Fresno. This year's Taco Truck Throwdown winners weren't new to the competition: the judges crowned…

Fresno is joining the national Yes in God’s Backyard movement, which encourages churches to build affordable homes amid the nation’s housing crisis.

The California Public Utilities Commission’s hearings over proposed electricity rate hikes came to Fresno Friday afternoon, drawing a split crowd of Central Valley residents and industry groups that clashed over whether the increased rates are appropriate. The public hearing comes after the Pacific Gas & Electric Company submitted a request earlier this year to California’s regulatory commission for private utilities companies, asking commissioners to approve annual rate hikes over a four-year period from 2027 to 2030.

After nearly four years of debate, a key committee voted Thursday to move forward with a new plan for Fresno County’s transportation sales tax — bringing together factions frequently at odds in a rare show of consensus. An overwhelming majority — 93% — of the Measure C Steering Committee passed what they called a “high priority” expenditure plan that sets aside nearly 70% of tax revenue to fix and improve local roads, and 25% to maintain and expand public transit.

The Fresno City Council cleared what they hope is the second-to-last hurdle needed to pass legislation making it easier for developers to build homes on land zoned for offices. Council President Mike Karbassi and Councilmember Annalisa Perea — who have been on different sides in past debates over the new rules — both voted to approve the new version in a split 4-3 vote.

Changes are coming to how the Fresno Unified Board of Education will rate the performance of the superintendent in its yearly evaluations. A draft template of the new evaluation tool was presented at Wednesday’s board meeting. The new template evaluates the superintendent’s performance by tracking the progress of the district’s goals and guardrails. Fresno Unified’s goals and guardrails are a set of district objectives aiming to improve student performance and raise employee standards through 2030.

A coalition spanning Fresno's political spectrum delivered an ultimatum to Mayor Jerry Dyer on Thursday: Kill the massive Southeast Development Area (SEDA) or face a voter referendum that could permanently halt suburban sprawl in California's fifth-largest city. At a press conference scheduled Thursday just before the Fresno City Council's workshop on the controversial 45,000-home SEDA specific plan, the coalition demanded that Dyer launch a comprehensive process to write a new general plan, charting a new economic future for Fresno.

The Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission plans to furlough over 600 employees two months from now — indefinitely — citing a lapse in federal funding to its programs during the now record-length federal government shutdown. The Fresno EOC furloughs, which would affect 639 staff at over 40 centers across Fresno County, kick in Jan. 1, according to a copy of a letter to affected employees obtained by Fresnoland.

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to begin the process of eliminating vehicle entry fees for veterans and active military members at their county-run parks. Introduced by Supervisors Garry Bredefeld and Nathan Magsig, the proposal for free entry comes a week ahead of the Veterans Day holiday. Currently, vehicle entry fees for the park are $40 annually, or $5 daily.

Close to 530,000 people are registered to vote in Fresno County, according to elections officials. But will even half of them vote in an off-cycle statewide special election? As of Monday, Nov. 3, election officials already received 139,432 ballots — about a 26% turnout the day before election day. That figure accounts for vote by mail ballots, as well as ballots picked up from dropboxes across the county.

This story will be updated around 8:00 p.m., after polls close and the first batch of results will be released by county election officials. It's a big day for California. It's also a big day for the country. California's 2025 statewide special election puts only one question to voters across the state: whether to change California's congressional districts in the middle of a decade, to favor democrats.

The Central California Food Bank, the San Joaquin Valley’s premier hunger-relief organization, can expect to receive a quarter of a million dollars from the City of Fresno following a procedural vote this Thursday. The donation would add Fresno City Hall to the growing list of groups stepping up to try and fill the emerging void left by the interruption and delay of SNAP/CalFresh benefits to the millions of Americans who depend on the program to feed their families.

Tuesday is the last day for California voters to turn in their ballots for the special election on Proposition 50. If you haven’t voted yet, Fresnoland has you covered on all your last-minute voting questions. Not clear on what Prop. 50 is all about? In short, it’s an attempt to gerrymander California following Texas state officials gerrymandering their congressional districts.

As the dust settles and the wounds begin to heal from the latest fight over millions of taxpayer dollars for the arts, many Fresno artists and advocates are already gearing up for next year’s funding battle. That funding comes from Measure P, the three-eighths-cent sales tax that sets aside 12% of its annual revenue for the Expanded Access to Arts and Culture grant program.

The Fresno City Council unanimously approved a deal on Thursday that will get the city reimbursed by almost half a million dollars to clear up homeless encampments along freeway ramps in the north part of town. Caltrans, the state’s transportation department, will reimburse the city’s public works department up to $400,000 to clear camps on highway ramps by Shaw Avenue and Friant Road.

The federal government won’t be the only ones monitoring Fresno County polling sites next week on election day. During a late Thursday news conference, Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz said his office will dispatch staff to also monitor local polling sites in Fresno — and also ensure there that laws aren’t broken. “I can tell you that my staff will be looking for any type of intimidation, any type of blocking of entering into any of these polling locations,” Janz said at the Thursday news conference.

Fresno City Hall plans to cut a deal with Caltrans this week to clear out additional encampments along state-owned highways and other “right of ways.” First reported this week by Central Valley Community Action, the deal would allow the city to spend up to $400,000 to remove highway encampments with California reimbursing the city up to that amount next summer, …

Welcome to CalMatters, the only nonprofit newsroom devoted solely to covering issues that affect all Californians. Sign up for WhatMatters to receive the latest news and commentary on the most important issues in the Golden State. At CART High near Fresno, there is no gum stuck to the floor. The saffron-yellow walls are unmarred by graffiti. Toting laptops, students file calmly down spacious, light-filled hallways to classes like biotechnology and digital marketing.

Advocates and interfaith leaders gathered outside the Fresno ICE Processing Center to denounce racial profiling and detentions of immigrants attending required appointments with no criminal record.

On this week's Fresnolandia podcast, Jordan and Danielle speak with Gisselle Medina, religion, culture and immigration reporter at Fresnoland; Melissa Montalvo, accountability reporter at The Fresno Bee, and Armida Mendoza, a Fresno-based immigration attorney, to discuss how ICE and Border Patrol’s immigration enforcement tactics in Fresno have changed over the past year under the Trump Administration. They talk about how the data shows that detentions in the Central Valley are up by 58% since this time last year; how ICE is detaining some people attending their scheduled appointments necessary to obtain legal status; and, discuss what the 'legal' process is.

For generations, Fresno County boosters have touted steady population gains, envisioning annual growth rates of 1% to 2% stretching decades into the future. Now, these policymakers face a reality once unthinkable for their spreadsheets: negative growth. The county's population is expected to peak and then start falling – a decade sooner than what the state forecasted just a year ago.

Hundreds of thousands of Fresno County residents, along with millions of Americans nationwide, likely won’t receive critical food assistance as winter approaches and the government shutdown rumbles on with no end in sight. The Trump Administration on Friday confirmed plans that many had feared, saying his administration either would not or could not legally tap into a $5 billion reserve fund to keep the nation’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) alive beyond Oct.

As ICE enforcement surges across the Central Valley, immigrants attending permanent residency appointments are being detained at Fresno’s USCIS office.

Encampments of unhoused people in Fresno were cleared quietly out last week by state authorities and new barriers were installed to prevent what the governor’s office described as “repopulation” of at least one campsite. A statement Friday afternoon from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced the clearing of an encampment near a “pedestrian footbridge” along Highway 180.  The governor’s office also said its SAFE task force cleared a second encampment on Thursday along westbound 180 at the northbound Highway 41 connection.

The 30,000 Fresno County residents who rely on the largest rental subsidy program in the nation will have one less thing to worry about during the ongoing federal work stoppage — now the second longest in the country’s history. The Housing Choice Voucher program, more commonly known as Section 8, will cover rent for enrolled Fresno County residents through the rest of 2025 — even though Congress continues to be in a stalemate on how to shape the federal budget for the next fiscal year.