Gabriel Dillard


24.08.2010 05:33:16

What makes a good teacher? And what can we do to be rid of bad teachers?


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14.08.2010 05:35:12

A big thumbs up goes to Oliver Wanger, Fresno's federal judge presiding over a case that affirms everyone's right to free speech and expression.


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24.07.2010 05:07:21

It seems as if the powers that be wouldn't even blink if the Central Valley withered up and died.


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08.07.2010 11:19:41

Our new reporter Clay Moffitt wrote a story for the July 9 paper about the business reaction to a rash of muggings in the Tower District in Fresno. In the last few months, up to eight armed robberies of pedestrians have happened in and around the area, and police think it's the same people perpetrating all of them. Three suspects were arrested a couple of weeks ago in the area, caught in the act.


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22.05.2010 05:13:06

Just got wind of a San Diego company that is targeting the Fresno area by selling family meal boxes that promise $75-$100 worth of food for just $30.





22.03.2010 23:59:42

The Westlands Water District doesn't have a lot of friends in the environmental community. Covering more than 600,000 acres in western Fresno and Kings counties, Westlands is ground zero in the state's so-called water war. Due to drought conditions matched with environmental protections for fish species in the delta, Westlands has seen its water deliveries diminish to the point where its influential growers are fighting tooth-and-nail for some relief.





16.03.2010 01:44:06

One of the most interesting questions people should ask themselves about the revitalization of Downtown Fresno is: "When will we know when it is finally revitalized?"





05.02.2010 06:55:43

The Raisin Administrative Committee and California Raisin Marketing Board have taken the big step of deciding to relocate to downtown Fresno. The news is obviously music to the ears of downtown revitalization supporters.


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23.12.2009 02:45:32

I don't want to be the next blogger waxing rhapsodic about how lame or awesome Fresno really is because there's a lot of that that going on right now. But thanks to a recent survey ranking my hometown as one of the worst for business, and a recent piece in USA Today (written by former Business Journal editor Valerie Gibbons), Fresnans are once again gathering pitchforks and torches to either slam Fresno or the rest of the country.





05.12.2009 05:53:23

It hasn't been a good month for academia.

First there was "Climategate," in which leaked emails between scientists studying global warming reveal possible efforts to hide evidence that global warming was not as strong as generally believed. The story has been largely ignored by the mainstream media.





05.09.2009 02:12:00

It's fair time, and along with the rides and corn dogs come the agricultural displays for counties to put their best products forward. Well, the Lodi News Sentinel is reporting that San Joaquin County chose a more political route for their display at the State Fair in Sacramento.





08.08.2009 00:55:11
In this economy, I just might scream if someone else says “in this economy.”

The phrase is ubiquitous, the go-to preface for any statement, piece of advice or counterpoint having to do with the economic doldrums. Variations include “in this economic climate” and “in these hard times.” As a business writer, I’m guilty of using these terms.

The phrase implies there is some other economy out there in a parallel universe where everyone is hiring, nobody gets laid off and consumers have more cash than their wallets can handle. That’s definitely not our economy.





18.07.2009 01:31:00

The best thing about being a business reporter is learning something new every day. With thousands of businesses in our coverage area, there is no way to know all of them.

But there are some businesses and entrepreneurs, which I’ll call “hidden gems,” that perform on the world stage, or serve some funky niche, that tend to stay under the radar.





11.07.2009 00:10:25

Ethanol from corn made a large splash in the state about four years ago with investors clamoring for a piece. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates even purchased a quarter stake in Pacific Ethanol.

Gates doesn't have the stock guru status of "Oracle of Omaha" Warren Buffett. But when rich people buy, others watch.


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28.06.2009 14:23:00

Fresno's old timers still remember Harpain's Dairy in central Fresno for its yummy ice cream. And that might be the best way to remember the land where the beleagured Granite Park development now sits because there is every indication the place is cursed.





06.06.2009 05:13:40

Emotions are boiling in the Central Valley’s farm community.  Growers are breaking the confines of their white pickup trucks and tractors to protest a regulatory and market environment they insist is bleeding their industry to death.

Yesterday, about 15 dairy operators protested outside the downtown Modesto office of Congressman Dennis Cardoza. The men wielded signs while their wives spoke with the Democrat’s aide.


Tags: Fresno | water | farmers



04.06.2009 04:47:59

Fresno business owner Jim Ganduglia toured as a percussionist for Johnny Mathis for 20 years, but he’s beating a different drum these days to protest state regulations.

Ganduglia, owner of Ganduglia Trucking, will tell anyone who will listen the California Air Resources Board rule requiring diesel truck operators to curtail emissions is a pain in the tailpipe.



07.05.2009 05:14:42

Dan Bacher, an environmentalist and editor of Fish Sniffer, a West Coast fishing magazine, has written an evocative commentary claiming that corporate agribusiness and state government are perpetuating a lie that the water crisis is causing massive job losses.





28.04.2009 00:26:01

Involuntary manslaughter charges have been filed against three top officials of defunct labor contractor company Merced Farm Labor in the case of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, who died of a heat stroke in May 2008.

Jimenez, who was two-months pregnant at the time, was working in a Stockton-area vineyard when she died. She was ill for two hours in the field before she was taken to a medical clinic.

Last year, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health fined Merced Farm Labor $262,700 for violating eight workplace safety rules, the largest fine ever issued to a California farming operation. The agency said some of the violations were intentional, and the company later surrendered its license.

Given that the state has already levied a fine on the business, should the company's principals also face criminal charges





25.04.2009 04:44:34
New California fuel regulations just might be the final nail in the ethanol industry's coffin.

A "shell game" is what Tom Koehler, a policy adviser at Pacific Ethanol, called the state's new low carbon fuel standard, adopted yesterday by the California Air Resources Board.


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