Fresno native Brian Van Anne, director of Genesis Family Center's foster care program, left September 6 to spend two weeks volunteering with the Red Cross, helping to provide mental health services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. He will share his experiences each day with Bee readers.

7 P.M. CENTRAL TIME -- We're heading back to the hotel for the night. We will return to the Red Cross center around 8 a.m. for tomorrow's assignment.

Today turned out to be a very good, productive day. The line we helped set up in the morning got going and people were getting forms to receive debit cards. We went back into the Astrodome and were walking around just seeing what we could do to help out. One woman who lives in Houston was looking for her cousin, who lived in New Orleans. I led her to a computer lab set up in the dome; evacuees can use it to check e-mail or use the internet, but there's also a database set up for people looking for friends and relatives. We were there for about 20 minutes before I had to leave, but she had already found several postings about her cousin.

Continue reading "A productive day" »

Fresno native Brian Van Anne, director of Genesis Family Center's foster care program, left September 6 to spend two weeks volunteering with the Red Cross, helping to provide mental health services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. He will share his experiences each day with Bee readers.

The hallway of the Reliant Center

12:45 P.M. CENTRAL TIME -- Secret Service officers are here prepping the Reliant Center for Vice President Dick Cheney to visit tomorrow.

I spoke with a man in his early 20s who took refuge with his girlfriend in the Superdome when New Orleans flooded. The couple eventually left on foot, walking along an interstate highway until they were picked up and taken to Houston's Reliant Center. He hasn't spoken with his mother since New Orleans flooded and has no idea where she is or whether she's alive. He asked if he should get in line to receive a Red Cross voucher, because his girlfriend had walked across the street to a store and got locked out of the complex this morning. She has with her their paperwork that qualifies them for vouchers.

Fresno native Brian Van Anne, director of Genesis Family Center's foster care program, left September 6 to spend two weeks volunteering with the Red Cross, helping to provide mental health services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. He will share his experiences each day with Bee readers.

11:45 A.M. CENTRAL TIME -- We made it inside the Reliant Center with a Mexican paramedic team from Jalisco.

Now we're setting up garbage cans as guides for people to line up against as they wait for their $200 Red Cross vouchers. Tomorrow, the $2,000 FEMA housing vouchers are supposed to be released.

We heard there apparently was a small riot here earlier and that's why the center was on lockdown. There's a lot of media here right now.

Fresno native Brian Van Anne, director of Genesis Family Center's foster care program, left September 6 to spend two weeks volunteering with the Red Cross, helping to provide mental health services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. He will share his experiences each day with Bee readers.

11 A.M. CENTRAL TIME -- It's crazy here right now. We got up and were in the hotel lobby by 7:30 a.m. We got tired of waiting around so we made our way to the Red Cross center around 9. They had us waiting around there and we got so frustrated that we hopped in a cab and came to the Astrodome to see if we could do something.

Continue reading "Hectic in Houston" »

Fresno native Brian Van Anne, director of Genesis Family Center's foster care program, left September 6 to spend two weeks volunteering with the Red Cross, helping to provide mental health services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. He will share his experiences each day with Bee readers.

10 P.M. CENTRAL TIME -- We just got done touring the Reliant Center and Astrodome; it's just like you'd see on television or imagine. There are rows and rows of people everywhere and many of them have started little family groups with their cots pushed together. Some were sweeping their areas with brooms and tidying up. "We're clean people and this is our home now," one person said. I got scolded by my supervisor for trying to take a picture; apparently it violates confidentiality rights.

The ground level and the hallways around the stadium where the concession areas are are filled with people and cots. In the upper decks, the televisions mounted to show sporting event replays are each showing different things: baseball games, CNN, local news, cartoons, movies.

Continue reading "Inside the Astrodome" »

Fresno native Brian Van Anne, director of Genesis Family Center's foster care program, left September 6 to spend two weeks volunteering with the Red Cross, helping to provide mental health services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. He will share his experiences each day with Bee readers.

8 P.M. CENTRAL TIME -- We just arrived outside the Houston Astrodome and Reliant Stadium for a tour of where we will begin working Thursday. Our supervisor, a Red Cross worker from Maryland, will show us where 10,000 to 15,000 people have been living for the past week. Already, we see throngs of people in the parking lots. There are kids here with no parents, and parents who don't know where their kids are.

Continue reading "Day before work" »

Fresno native Brian Van Anne, director of Genesis Family Center's foster care program, left September 6 to spend two weeks volunteering with the Red Cross, helping to provide mental health services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. He will share his experiences each day with Bee readers.

4:15 P.M. CENTRAL TIME -- The atmosphere here at the Houston Red Cross center is electric. People are buzzing when they get in. Every five minutes there's a new group of people; they fly in, they drive over, they get processed and they head out. Most of the people here now also are from California. Everyone here has been really good.

We've been given our assignment for now: We will provide mental health services for other volunteers at the Houston Astrodome, who also are trying to deal with what they've been thrust into. But that could change by tomorrow; it could change tonight. That "be flexible" mantra the Red Cross was drilling into us during orientation wasn't a joke.

Continue reading "Being flexible" »

Fresno native Brian Van Anne, director of Genesis Family Center's foster care program, left September 6 to spend two weeks volunteering with the Red Cross, helping to provide mental health services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. He will share his experiences each day with Bee readers.

We landed in Houston this morning at 1:30 after a layover in Phoenix. Our first extended contact with a local came during a 30-minute cab ride with the most opinionated taxi driver ever. He wanted to bomb New Orleans because of the infection and disease that was left behind. And, he asked, "What kind of idiot builds a city in a bowl, anyway?"

Continue reading "Arriving in Houston" »

Fresno native Brian Van Anne, director of Genesis Family Center's foster care program, volunteered through the Red Cross to help provide mental health services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Tonight, he leaves for a two-week stint. He will share his experiences each day with Bee readers.

Friday morning I was checking e-mails at work when I came across one from the Red Cross requesting help from social workers willing to provide mental health services.

My wife and I had been following the news stories at night before we went to bed. We were interested in helping out, but weren't sure what the best way would be. Most likely we were just going to send a check and, of course, keep praying for the victims.

When I read that e-mail on Friday morning, I made a quick phone call to the Red Cross before our weekly staff meeting and started to carry on with the rest of my day. Around lunchtime I got a call back asking if I was really interested in volunteering my time. I was. After checking with my supervisor, I signed up for the Red Cross' disaster class. Word got around of what I had done and within about half an hour my supervisor, Carol Dela Torre, CEO Elaine Bernard and one of our social workers, Michelle Molina, joined me in signing up for this two-week assignment.

Continue reading "Preparing to leave" »

Two articles in today's Bee address the latest advances on the downtown front. Reporter John Ellis looks at the Fresno Redevelopment Agency's hopes to expand its ability to condemn properties downtown. Meanwhile, Russell Clemings reports on talks of converting the rooms of the old downtown Hilton into condos.

Fresno's retail revolution continues. In case you missed it, in Thursday's Business section, reporter Bethany Clough told us that Fresno is finally getting a Banana Republic, as well as a J.JillRumors of the Fig Banana have been around for a while, but now we've got a tentative date. Expect the store to open at Fig Garden Village in early June 2006. And if Banana Republic is too rich for your blood, a BR outlet store should be coming to Tulare in the first quarter of '06.

In July, The Bee invited a group of local bloggers to talk to its employees about blogs. Bee copy editor Will Albritton put together this video on some of the lessons he learned and points he's pondering after watching the panel. You can also watch more video of paleoblogger Chris Pirillo giving his thoughts on blogging, as well as additional footage from the panel. (Free RealPlayer plug-in required.)

Mike Osegueda is in Las Vegas taking a look at the world of hip-hop and rap fashion. Take a look at Sin City and suits twice a day this week through Mike's eyes.

Most of the big-name designers have their showrooms sealed off to regular folk. You have to be a buyer with an appointment to get in and check things out.

L-R-G, the popular clothing line aimed at the hip-hop and skating generation, opened its doors for us for a sneak preview of what's coming in Spring 2006.

The Santa Ana-based company, which has a roots/agriculture theme running through its designs, is venturing into new terrain with a line of outdoors accessories, including tents, sleeping bags and canteens in camouflage colors with unmistakeable urban flair.

Beyond that, they're launching a women's line, Luxirie, which will keep with that rootsy image in warm colors like greens, blues and purples.

With the men's line, L-R-G is raving about its new denim, with styles and textures they developed after a trip to Japan.

Beyond that, L-R-G is launching its own shoe line, details are under tight wraps right now, but having seen a few on the feet of the L-R-G elite, they definitely have a Bathing Ape / Nike Air Force 1 style to them.

L-R-G can be purchased in Fresno at Mainland, FTK and Skully Bros.

From Bee Business reporter Robert Rodriguez:

With the legislative session coming to a close, supporters of the Million Solar Roofs bill are touring the state, urging legislators to pass one of the nation's largest solar power initiatives.

If approved by the Assembly and signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, Senate Bill 1 would build 3,000 megawatts of solar power from 1 million roofs over a 10-year period.

Mike Osegueda is in Las Vegas taking a look at the world of hip-hop and rap fashion. Take a look at Sin City and suits twice a day this week through Mike's eyes.

At MAGIC, presentation matters. Every booth here is different. Some are plain and simple. Some are big and flashy. Each one has a little personality.

Here's a photo gallery featuring 10 of my favorites.

In yesterday's Bee, reporters George Hostetter and John Ellis brought us a story heralding Fresno's imminent new fee structure for developers and laying out some of the difficulties for the city going forward. The story follows a flurry of activity and discussion on the subject last week. Expect more stories as the City Council continues taking action. Related: City Council member Jerry Duncan writes on his blog that he was misquoted in last week's L.A. Times story on the issue. (Correction: That is Jerry Duncan, not Brian, as an earlier posting misstated.)

Read below the fold for more news.

Continue reading "Developer developments" »

For years, Fresno has charged its developers less than other cities do to carry out construction projects. Throughout the '90s, while other cities were raising their development fees to keep up with growth and inflation, Fresno's fees stayed put. Now, those fees aren't enough to cover needed public improvements like parks and street lights and fire stations, say some City Council members.

Last year, they started doing something about it. They increased fees to bring in money for streets, bridges and parks in July. Then in November, they upped the fees to pay for traffic lights. Recently, they've been looking at raising fees to fund parks and fire stations, a measure that was supposed to be discussed this Tuesday, but didn't make it onto the agenda. Council member Brian Calhoun is talking about placing a moratorium on new development until the fees are raised.

Bee columnist Bill McEwen has been talking about this issue for a while now; here's his April 14 column on the matter, and here's one from today. In June, the Bee's editorial board chimed in in support of the fee increases.

With Tuesday's publication of an L.A. Times story about the situation, local bloggers have also been getting into the fray, from Fresno Famous to Dorktown to Dyerama.

Update (8/26): On Friday, The Bee's editorial board delivered a strongly-worded piece on the topic:

The way this issue has unfolded makes the city's leadership look inept.

Charging builders fair fees, which would be passed on to the homebuyer, is a proper strategy for providing services to the city's growth areas.

No more excuses. Get it done.

In today's Life section, Bee reporter Mike Oz looks at Club Casa Blanca, the five-month-old nightclub downtown. Mike describes it this way:

Here, his approach is all about options. Casa Blanca is open Friday and Saturday nights, flipping between club nights and concerts.

When in nightclub mode, Casa Blanca has three different rooms, each catering to a different crowd. ... When in concert mode, the walls and seats can be moved to give the look of a big, open concert.

According to at least one blog, this flexibility makes for nice ambience. LiveJournal user rathrberiding says:

Last night Tyler hooked Amanda and me up with free concert tickets to see Chris Cagle at Club Casablanca in downtown Fresno. It was awesome, lots of fun. The cool thing was it was not a formal concert, so little kids were on the stage, Chris was talking to us and it was just laid back and cool.

• Not sure how we missed StuffOnMyCat.com, but would like to remedy the oversight as soon as possible. "Stuff + cats = awesome," asserts the site's banner, and the spread of pictures below it confirms that this is pretty much the truth. The site was created by Fresnovian designer Mario Garza.
• A thriving discussion continues on Famous about what the Mayor's Creative Economy Council should be recommending to bring creative professionals to Fresno. Anyone can add her opinion to the mix.
• George Berz of the streaming police scanner Web site ScanFresno.com (previously discussed here) sends along a note saying that he's switched to a new server and added some features to the site, including a discussion board.

From The Bee's editorial board: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's office has informed the chancellor at the new UC Merced campus that he won't be present at the university's opening ceremony.

Do you think Gov. Schwarzenegger should attend the UC Merced grand opening? Share your thoughts in this thread.

In The Bee and on the blogs:

• Gas prices: Business reporter Bethany Clough reported on Saturday that Fresno's gas prices set record highs every day since Monday of last week. Last Wednesday, the Business section included an informative Associated Press Q&A: "Can the government do anything about soaring gas prices?" That same day, the Opinion page published a letter from local blogger Joel Dyer urging Fresnans to act in the face of gas price increases. Today, The Bee's editorial board spoke on the subject.
• Home prices: "Fresno is the most overpriced housing market in the nation, according to one economist," reports Sanford Nax in The Bee's business section. LiveJournal's Kniwt and The Editor over at Fresno Famous have some thoughts on this. (Previously on the Beehive.)
• Last week, The Bee's Metro section reported that the Fresno City Council had voted to use Fresno County jail inmates for city cleanup projects. IndyBay.org reports that John Crockford, co-chair of the Fresno County Peace and Freedom Party, isn't too happy about this.
• Blogger Neil'o Whispers offers a peek into the thought process behind his remarks in last week's Business story about the Indian Independence Day celebration.

A couple of highlights from this weekend's Bee:

• Dorm room challenge: The Bee invited three interior decorators to take a whack at freshening up a standard Fresno State dorm room. Whether your tastes run to fuchsia or feng shui, you might take away some ideas.
• Driver, 84, tells of carjacking in Fresno: Retiree Fay Allen talks about driving through town with her clean-cut, courteous carjacker.

Now Mayor Autry is getting the Richard Florida religion. As Bee business reporter E.J. Schultz tells us, the mayor is putting together a panel of Fresno's "knowledge worker" types*:

Hoping to give the city an edge in this competitive recruitment game, Fresno Mayor Alan Autry on Wednesday introduced a 12-person task force to recommend how the city can lure more software designers, artists, engineers and others whose "sole economic function is to create a new idea."

"Creative people of any age are a critical component of any successful city," Autry said, announcing the effort during a news conference at City Hall. "We will have strategies and tactics to reach that vision."

The "Mayor's Creative Economy Council" will meet weekly for 90 days. A report will be issued to the City Council, with recommendations on how to change city policies to draw more creative talent.

Fresno Famous has issued a call for anyone who wants to send the committee a message to post on the Sour Grapes blog. Jarah Euston, Famous' editor, is one of the invitees. (Update: Frank Delgado is also posting about the council on Urban Tribe Six.) Click the infobox in our story to view the others.

* "Knowledge workers?" See yesterday's Tim Stearns interview.

For our Newsmakers series following locals often quoted in The Bee, the Beehive spoke with Tim Stearns, director of the Lyles Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Read the interview and surf through an archive of stories from over the past decade, showing how Fresno has developed through the lens of this influential professor.

Last Thursday, Bee reporter Erin Kennedy tells us, FUSD superintendent Michael Hanson delivered a sobering speech to school administrators, laying out the difficult job they've got ahead of them.

From the story:

"I will say very clearly: 'We need to do better,'" Hanson said during the daylong administrators' retreat at the LaRyan Event Center in west-central Fresno. "These numbers aren't lying. We've got to call it. We've got to deal with it."

It was a stark contrast to his predecessor, Santiago Wood, who started his tenure in August 2000 with a 35-minute speech to 8,500 of the district's 10,000 employees at Fresno's Selland arena. Wood's thunderous voice, preacher-style homilies and passionate promises had the audience on its feet, hollering "Yeeah!" and raising fists in exuberant agreement.

We've republished Erin's story from August 2000 about Santiago Wood's rousing speech, for contrast. The Bee's editorial board approves of Hanson's approach.

"'Madden NFL 2006' scores," says the AP review of the latest game in Electronic Arts' blockbuster Madden franchise. "The newest Madden sucks," says Fresno blogger Neil'o Whispers. Both agree that the game's new "QB Vision" feature is a turnoff for casual users, but while the AP reviewers call the feature "innovative and realistic," Neil'o says it's "totally artificial." Any "Madden '06" players care to referee this dispute? Is the latest Madden lame or worth buying?

OK, no, probably not. But we're not above a little sensationalism now and then. While it may not bring about any high-profile indictments, PunkStory.com takes us back to the days of mohawks, leather, and fishnets, with a collection of photos from Fresno's punk scene in the early '80s. The folks behind PunkStory are combining those photos with interviews of people involved in that scene to bring us a documentary called "I Was There! A Punx Story." Read more about it on the Fresno '80s Punk Rock forum. See also: Fresno Punk Scene History and Fresno City Hardcore.

When Rachel Howard was 10 years old, she awoke one night to find her father dying, clutching at a knife in his neck, surrounded by blood in their Merced home. Her family moved to Fresno soon after, where she kept the fact of her father's demise a secret, even from her boyfriends. Now, almost 20 years after the murder, she's published the details of the tragedy in a memoir, The Lost Night, which has drawn ecstatic reviews from The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others.

Rachel will be reading from her book and signing copies at 6 p.m. today at Barnes & Noble, 7849 N. Blackstone Ave. For more about Rachel and The Lost Night, read her interview with Heather McLane (the voice of the Bee for anyone who calls our newsroom) from last week's Fresno Famous. Also see Bee reporter Don Mayhew's interview with Rachel from yesterday's Life section. You can also find Rachel's blog at RachelHoward.com.

As you may have noticed, we've changed up the look of our story-level pages on FresnoBee.com.

The main change: no longer does text flow around advertisements. Instead, ads and stories have been separated to appear side-by-side on the page. Also, instead of massive info-boxes taking up room in the story, we've given you expandable info-boxes which you can click if you want more information. Given how you use the site, we've taken away the left-rail navigation on story pages, and expanded the navigation at the top.

You'll find several other changes, and as with any new feature, a few bugs as well. Let us know of any bugs you find, or leave your comments on the new layout in this thread.

Fresh off the announcement that Fashion Fair Mall is bringing a Cheesecake Factory to Fresno, we learn from Bee business reporter Bethany Clough that Fashion Fair also will be bringing us four upscale retailers: Anthropologie, BEBE SPORT, Lucky Brand Jeans and Sephora. And if you missed Bethany's story on Friday, you might not know that Claim Jumper opened its River Park restaurant on Monday.

When Fresno Famous editor Jarah Euston went to the BlogHer conference, she was interviewed by online media pioneer J.D. Lasica (co-creator of OurMedia). In the video interview, she talks about the roots of Famous, her hopes for the site, and her thoughts on citizen journalism.

The Web continues to swarm with talk about Maribel Cuevas, the 11-year-old girl arrested by the Fresno P.D. after throwing a rock at a younger boy. Don't miss this update from The Bee: turns out Maribel won't get that felony trial after all.

After having grown up in Fresno, Janelle Aaron is leaving the city to try to make it as a country singer in Nashville. The Beehive got the jump on her potential stardom by making a music video, VH1-style.

A block of land central to downtown is getting lots of love from some excellent Fresno developers. Possibly too much love. If you're interested in what's happening in Fresno's downtown, read up on the developments around Broadway Row, the subject of Bee writer Bill McEwen's latest column, last week's Fresno Famous centerpiece, and KFSR's weekly San Joaquin Spotlight (featuring Famous editor Jarah Euston and former City of Fresno Economic Development Director Fred Burkhardt; here's a direct RealPlayer link to the show).

Please forgive the post title. Couldn't resist.

The Bee was onto the Atkins Diet way before 2002, when it became a frontrunner in the dizzy world of weight-loss routines. In 1996, Bee food editor Vivian Taylor talked about Atkins and other trendy diets of the day. By last year, when reporter Guy Keeler revisited the Atkins craze, it was an absolute force in the food industry. From that story:

It all started late last month when Subway Restaurants unveiled a new line of low-carbohydrate sandwiches called Atkins-Friendly Wraps. The next day, Carl's Jr. introduced its Low Carb Six Dollar Burger wrapped in iceberg lettuce leaves instead of the traditional bun. Then last week, Burger King pounded the drums for a new bunless Whopper, served in a plastic salad bowl and eaten with knife and fork.

This breadless revolution is being fueled by an army of low-carb dieters, most of whom are following a weight-loss plan developed by the late Dr. Robert Atkins.

What a difference a year makes. The great low-carb behemoth Atkins Nutritionals is filing for bankruptcy.

Famous alerts us to the creation of two shiny new multimedia products from the folks at Greytank/Gardenside Productions: 1) a Brad Basmajian videoblog and 2) a Greytank podcast.

Since we were on hiatus during the last half of last week, we missed pointing to some great reads you might not have seen from The Bee. Time to play catch-up. Look after the break for some links ...

Continue reading "Last week in the Bee" »

Two weeks ago came news of P.F. Chang's imminent arrival in Fresno. Today, The Bee's Bethany Clough reports that the Cheesecake Factory is coming to Fashion Fair, sending Fresno's chain restaurant profile skyrocketing even further.

From the story:

The Cheesecake Factory averages about $11 million a year per restaurant -- compared with $3 million to $4 million for Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar, Chili's and TGI Friday's, according to Technomic, a research and consulting firm in Chicago.

"That's huge," said Lydia Zabrycki, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Economic Development Corp. serving Fresno County. "The sales tax to our area would be fantastic."

Time to start a Banana Republic / Pottery Barn Watch. Hat tip to Mike Osegueda.

For lovers of independent film, this is a good thing to know: The Bee's Lew Griswold reports that Tulare will be holding its first independent film festival in September, featuring Murderball, March of the Penguins (link to Donald Munro's review; I can personally attest to the overpowering cuteness of this documentary), The Edukators, Me and You and Everyone We Know, The Chumscrubber, 5x2 and Grizzly Man (which looks very interesting; have you caught the trailer?). More on the festival at TulareCulturalArts.org.

Frank D tags to One by One Leadership's September field trip to Pleasanton, CA, a thriving Bay Area burg. "City nerds" are invited to join the visit for $65, which includes lunch with the city's mayor and economic development director, tours of some of the city's recreational facilities, and a taste of the city's downtown.

Fun fact: Craig Scharton, director of One by One's downtown revitalization program, used to be executive director of Pleasanton's Downtown Association, so this is a return to old haunts for him.

For mementos of Saturday night's concert at the Tower Theater, check out LiveSportsImages.com. Good-quality photographs of every performer are available for preview online, and you can order prints, t-shirts, and other trinkets printed with any of the images as well.

More RotT-related tidbits:

• Love for the concert from KFSR's Frank D.
• Fresno Famous last week was all about the concert, and don't miss the podcast.
• Rock of the Tower on Myspace: Have you been friended?

Here's a common scenario: You've plunked down well over $1,000 of your hard-earned cash to buy a brand-new PC. Now you want to be able to edit photos and audio, to design Web pages, create spreadsheets and presentations, and all that other stuff computers were made to do. And the software that came with your computer isn't cutting it -- it's lacking in features and difficult to figure out.

You could go out and spend almost $1,700 to purchase Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Adobe Audition and the Microsoft Office suite. Or you could enter the world of open-source software.

Continue reading "The Open-Source Revolution" »

By the way, for those of you who installed Greasemonkey, make sure you don't have a version higher other than 0.3.5 installed (thanks, Scott!). More info here.

If you missed this weekend's stories from The Bee, make sure to check out yesterday's A1 story "Laws with Teeth," by Kerry Ginis. From the article:

Neighbors found Tyler Babcock's naked body lying in a pasture on a cold January afternoon. Two large dogs - including a pit bull mix - had brutally attacked the 6-year-old boy. They tore apart his flesh and ripped his clothes to shreds. Tyler's injuries were so severe that nothing could be done to save his life. The dogs that killed Tyler were frequently spotted roaming the Fresno County neighborhood about a mile east of Clovis, just north of Shaw Avenue. The owners weren't required by law to keep them on leashes or confined to the back yard.

FresBlog is polling site visitors about whether pit bulls should be banned in Fresno. (Note, though, that Fresno County officials say they aren't trying to ban pit bulls, but to regulate their care.)

From MTV.com comes word that Weezer and the Foo Fighters will hit Fresno on their joint arena tour through the U.S. The press release is "not a definitive tour itinerary," and it includes no information about venues, dates or prices, but it's "at least a start," MTV says. Word from Weez/Foo band management is that the tour will run through late October.

The latest local story getting picked up in news broadcasts around the world is that of 11-year-old Maribel Cuevas, who threw a rock at some boys in her neighborhood who were pelting her with water balloons. One of the boys was hit by the rock and had to go to the hospital for treatment. Right now Maribel's awaiting prosecution on felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon, after having spent three weeks under house arrest and five days at juvenile hall.

The story is roiling the blogosphere, including local blogs Sour Grapes and FresBlog. ABC 30 has video of the story.

The Fresno County grand jury, The Bee's editorial board and The Editor of Fresno Famous all agree: Fresno, now the top metropolitan area in the country for injection drug users, needs a needle-exchange program.

Update: FresBlog begs to differ.

Victoria and James recommend a Central Valley day trip that's not in the guide books:

Even though the California guidebooks said there was nothing to see there, I remembered from school that it is the major place where fruit is grown. It is particlarly famous for Sun Maid rasins and other dried fruits (about 200 different varities in the San Joaquin valley if I remember correctly). I thought that it was unlikely that we would be visiting that part of the world again so it would be good to see some of what goes on there. I phoned the Sun Maid raisin factory but was told that they did not do tours. Listed directly under them on on my internet search was a place called 'Sun Empire Foods.' So I phoned them. The man that answered the phone was wonderful and invited us for a tour of his factory where they process dried fruits into chocolates! (Candy here in the US). Much more exciting! But, we were to be there on a Sunday. Not a problem to him - he would open the factory especially for us!

File this under: Oh, how'd you know it was my birthday? You didn't have to give me anything. No, really, you shouldn't have. Seriously. ... Punk.

In honor of Cooper Shadrick's 15th birthday, his classmates gave him a broken leg. It's the gift that keeps on giving, a heartwarming high school tradition, the "birthday beating." Now Cooper's family is suing the Visalia Unified School District, which in turn is filing legal actions against the birthday beaters and their families.

P.F. Chang's fans, take note. Expect the restaurant to open in the River Park complex by the end of this year. Construction begins this month, says Rod Anaforian from developer Lance-Kashian & Co.

Remember when we showed you satellite photos of Fresno landmarks on Google Maps? Well, Google recently unveiled a piece of software called Google Earth, and these satellite images beat the other ones hands-down. So, once again ...

Check it out! It's the Bee! And, oh! Look, it's the Tower Theater! River Park! Parlier!

You can pay to upgrade to an even better resolution, for some quality stalking.

Two articles about new solar technologies today reveal the promise and risk of the industry. This Wired article profiles the company that's creating a cheap, innovative solar rooftop unit called the Sunflower 250. And the SF Chronicle takes a look at solar nanotechnology, an attempt to make an end-run around the need for expensive silicon in solar installations, which investors are beginning to eye hungrily.

Both articles acknowledge that many people familiar with the history of solar tech believe it will take another 20 years before solar is economically competitive with fossil fuels. And the solar industry has seen a lot of hype and vaporware (i.e. highly anticipated technology that fails to show). One Web site even breaks solar photovoltaic cells into four types -- monocrystalline, polycrystalline, amorphous and vaporware -- describing the last as "the one that pops up in the news about every 3 months, proclaiming the next major breakthrough that will make plastic spray-on solar cells that will cost around 5 cents a watt." "After almost 30 years in this business," the Web site says, "we are still waiting for one of those to actually reach production, and I suspect we will be waiting for another 30."

While he was in town, the Beehive caught up with renowned comics theorist Scott McCloud. In this rather comical Q&A, Scott talks about the mechanics behind comic strips, the four schools of comics art, why reading comics is such hard work, and more.

A LiveJournaler has gone to the trouble of collecting all the Fresno-dissing on the Internet in one place. More Fresno-dissing ensues, of course. Will our own intrepid LiveJournalers step up for the defense?

Update: LJFresno responds.

A few weeks ago, folks were all abuzz about the prospect that the powers-that-be might snag a Bass Pro outdoor store to anchor the South of Stadium project in downtown Fresno. Turns out, Bass Pro is indeed coming to the Valley.

To Manteca. In 2007.

What does this mean for the possibility of a Fresno BP? It's unclear. City Council's showing a cheery face. From George Hostetter's story in today's Bee:

Continue reading "More on Bass Pro" »

For our Newsmakers series, we conducted a phone interview with Ashley Swearengin, Chief Operations Officer of Fresno's Regional Jobs Initiative. Read on for this local business leader's story of her journey through Fresno, told in her words and in an archive of stories from The Bee in which she has appeared.

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Fresno may be one of the least affordable cities in the country (according to Salary.com), but we're one of the most affordable places for families to buy health insurance, says eHealthInsurance.com. Which makes up for it, right?

One of this month's Rolling Stone features is an article focusing on fou