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Industry leaders form alliance to protect undocumented workers

Central Valley business leaders of the various industries recently launched a new organization to protect to frontline workers in the midst’s of the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown.

Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League, a non-profit dedicated to promoting the agricultural industry, including providing legal protection and assistance to members regarding labor related issues, helped launched the Immigration Reform for Frontline Workers Alliance.

The alliance’s seeds were planted in February with discussions from members of various industries including hotels, restaurants, and construction.

In May, the league pulled together with the Fresno County Farm Bureau to discuss immigration bills that have a potential to deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol raids on businesses.

“Agriculture was greatly concerned because of what was happening in various parts of the state and out of the state,” Cunha said. “So, we came together and talked about all the different bills.”

Cunha highlighted the H.R.4393 bill, “The Dignity Act”, a bipartisan effort to provide undocumented individuals with an opportunity to obtain legal status if they meet certain requirements, as well as update aspects of the legal immigration system.

Cunha said members of the Nisei Farmers League discussed how to get something passed through that would deal with the immigration issues that businesses are facing, as well as for their workers and their families.

They then came up with the name for the Immigration Reform for Frontline Workers Alliance.

Cunha said that for the Trump Administration, and some Republican legislators, penalties for being an undocumented immigrant in the states is not enough for them, and the only punishment they deem fit is to be removed from the country.

This would affect various industries, he added.

“I think those people would starve,” Cunha said. “Stores would go empty. The hotels would not operate. The restaurants would be shut down. Construction of housing for all sources of income levels would be shutdown, along with many other things.”

On September 23, the alliance met with the Nisei Farmers League, which was hosting with the Fresno County Farm Bureau for a roundtable discussion on immigration legislation in Congress.

They met with congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) and congressman David Valadao (R-Hanford), with the roundtable being coordinate to invite leaders in various industries.

There were over 60 participants present at the round table, including many diverse organizations, individual businesses, along with employees to speak on the issue of immigration and what is needed to protect workers, their families, and to remove their daily fears regarding ICE raids.

Cunha said the workers and families present spoke about their daily experiences in the work place and the fear they have regarding immigration enforcement.

Individuals in the meeting discussed the need for a more broad guest worker program for all industries, he added.

Cunha said he does believe that President Donald Trump does realize how important immigrant workers are to the agricultural industry.

“Industry and farmers have spoken to Trump and some of the words he uses have been coming from farmers. I think he see’s the importance of these people and that we can’t just go out there and bust people and leave the country stranded,” Cunha said.

For those wishing to help and support local immigrant communities, Cunha advises people to reach out to the Nisei Farmers League.

For more information email mcunha@niseifarmersleague.com or call (559) 251-8468

New cCARE partnerships aim to keep cancer care local in Fresno

The California Cancer Association for Research & Excellence (cCARE), last month, announced two new partnerships with California Urology and Central Valley Medical & Women’s Imaging, joining together to extend cCARE’s ability to treat patients in the Central Valley.

The partnership saw six urologists and three advanced practice providers join the team; the partnership will extend cCARE’s comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach in urology and imaging, providing patients with convenient, personalized care.

Fresno has long suffered from a shortage in health care workers, with Northern and Southern California assuming a large number of high-tech and specialized centers in the state. However, cCARE Board President and Medical Director of Radiation/Imaging, Jedidiah Monson, MD, said that the Central Valley is home to centers that are capable of treating nearly every type of cancer.

“Fresno has impressive academic centers to the north and south, so it’s not surprising that when residents receive a serious cancer diagnosis, they sometimes seek treatment at these other locations,” Monson said. “The good news is that almost all cancer treatments can be safely provided here in Fresno. Our technology is advancing rapidly, our doctors are well-trained and board-certified, and everything needed for comprehensive cancer care is available close to home.”

Monson said that, while some cases are best handled by specialized teams and academic health centers, he estimates that fewer than 5% of patients should need to leave the Valley for treatment.

“It’s a bit sad for me to see patients leaving Fresno — where effective, expert therapy can be delivered — and traveling far away, often with great hardship,” Monson said. “I believe it’s important that we encourage patients to receive care locally, especially since our providers are well-trained practitioners, interns, and fellows.”

The partnership looks to do just that; by expanding the team and working to bring high-volume centers to Fresno, Monson said that the coordination allowing health care workers to seamlessly integrate surgery, systemic therapy, imaging, radiation and more, helps better meet the needs of the community.

cCARE functions as an alliance member of Navista. As part of Navista, Cardinal Health’s oncology practice alliance, cCARE continues to expand throughout the state, including the Central Valley.

“We’re excited to be part of the growth,” Monson said.

Exchange Club named Porterville’s 2025 Nonprofit of the Year

The Porterville Chamber of Commerce has named its 2025 Nonprofit of the Year, honoring The Exchange Club for its commitment to the community.

The Exchange Club of Porterville has served the community for more than 60 years, supporting youth, veterans, families and public safety initiatives throughout the area.

The club is volunteer-run and hosts a number of events annually including the annual Veteran’s Day Parade, heralded as the longest-running Veterans Day parade in the U.S. The club also organizes National Night Out and the Battle Cross Memorial at Porterville High School.

In addition to its community service the club fosters local leadership, meeting weekly and partnering with local organizations. The club also assists in mentorship programs through the student-led Excell Club at Granite Hills High School.

The Porterville Chamber of Commerce will celebrate all of its honorees at its Annual Awards & Installation Ceremony on Nov. 21 at the Veteran’s Memorial Building, located at 1900 W. Olive Ave., in Porterville.

The event will also showcase the Chamber’s Woman & Man of the Year, Large & Small Business of the Year. Tickets start at $80, with tables available for $600. Sponsorships for the event are also still available.

California governor signs law to protect kids from the risks of AI chatbots

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed legislation to regulate artificial intelligence chatbots and protect children and teens from the potential dangers of the technology.

The law requires platforms to remind users they are interacting with a chatbot and not a human. The notification would pop up every three hours for users who are minors. Companies will also have to maintain a protocol to prevent self-harm content and refer users to crisis service providers if they expressed suicidal ideation.

Newsom, who has four children under 18, said California has a responsibility to protect kids and teens who are increasingly turning to AI chatbots for everything from homework help to emotional support and personal advice.

“Emerging technology like chatbots and social media can inspire, educate, and connect – but without real guardrails, technology can also exploit, mislead, and endanger our kids,” the Democrat said. “We’ve seen some truly horrific and tragic examples of young people harmed by unregulated tech, and we won’t stand by while companies continue without necessary limits and accountability.”

California is among several states that tried this year to address concerns surrounding chatbots used by kids for companionship. Safety concerns around the technology exploded following reports and lawsuits saying chatbots made by Meta, OpenAI and others engaged with young users in highly sexualized conversations and, in some cases, coached them to take their own lives.

The legislation was among a slew of AI bills introduced by California lawmakers this year to rein in the homegrown industry that is rapidly evolving with little oversight. Tech companies and their coalitions, in response, spent at least $2.5 million in the first six months of the session lobbying against the measures, according to advocacy group Tech Oversight California. Tech companies and leaders in recent months also announced they are launching pro-AI super PACs to fight state and federal oversight.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta in September told OpenAI he has “serious concerns” with its flagship chatbot, OpenAI, for children and teens. The Federal Trade Commission also launched an inquiry last month into several AI companies about the potential risks for children when they use chatbots as companions.

Research by a watchdog group says chatbots have been shown to give kids dangerous advice about topics such as drugs, alcohol and eating disorders. The mother of a teenage boy in Florida who died by suicide after developing what she described as an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship with a chatbot has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Character.AI. And the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine recently sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging that ChatGPT coached the California boy in planning and taking his own life earlier this year.

OpenAI and Meta last month announced changes to how their chatbots respond to teenagers asking questions about suicide or showing signs of mental and emotional distress. OpenAI said it is rolling out new controls enabling parents to link their accounts to their teen’s account.

Meta said it is now blocking its chatbots from talking with teens about self-harm, suicide, disordered eating and inappropriate romantic conversations, and instead directs them to expert resources. Meta already offers parental controls on teen accounts.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

Marc Maron ends his podcast with final guest Barack Obama after 16 years and nearly 1,700 episodes

Barack Obama helped Marc Maron lock the gates on his podcast Monday, returning to the show for the final episode after 16 years and more than 1,600 episodes.

The former president gave new status to “WTF With Marc Maron” and to podcasts in general when he visited Maron’s Los Angeles garage studio while still in office a decade ago. Obama brought the 62-year-old host, stand-up comic and actor to his Washington office for the last interview.

Obama asked the initial questions.

“How are you feeling about this whole thing?,” he said, “transition, moving on from this thing that has been one of the defining parts of your career and your life?”

“I feel OK,” Maron answered. “I feel like I’m sort of ready for the break, but there is sort of a fear there, of what do I do now? I’m busy. But, not unlike your job … I’ve got a lot of people who over the last 16 years have grown to rely on me.”

Maron laughed as he acknowledged he was comparing his podcasting gig to the presidency.

“I think it’s pretty similar,” Obama said.

The identity of the guest was not revealed until the episode dropped, and fans had been speculating. Obama was a popular guess, both because of his relationship with “WTF” and because Maron in an interview with Variety in July said Obama would be his ideal final conversation.

The host explained the decision in an unusually brief and straightforward introduction to the episode.

“It became clear that the guest we needed to have was singular,” Maron said, “in that he could address the importance of this being our final episode, but also address how we move through the world we’re living in, as frightening as it is.”

Maron asked Obama for advice on moving on from your life’s biggest job.

“You’ve still got a couple of chapters left,” Obama said. “Don’t rush into what the next thing is. Take a beat. Take some satisfaction looking backwards.”

After a much talk on the state of the world, Obama brought it back around to Maron’s farewell.

“I think we’re going to be OK,” Obama said. “I think part of the reason you had such a big fan base during this 16-year run is there was a core decency to you and the conversations that you had.”

Maron avoided sentimental farewell talk during the episode — he got that out of the way on Thursday in his penultimate episode, where talked directly and emotionally to his listeners.

“I’m grateful to have been part of your lives,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot of stuff together. A lot of breakups. Death. Cats. The world.”

The new Obama episode was No. 1,686 of the pioneering and influential long-form interview podcast that had humble beginnings in 2009 as a place where he worked out his issues with other stand-up comedians in the garage of his home that he dubbed “The Cat Ranch.”

Maron’s cats were always an essential part of the show. His final words on Monday’s episode were tributes to the ones who had died.

“Cat angels everywhere,” he said.

For most of its years the show has opened with a fan-composed rock ‘n’ roll theme song that opens with an audio sample of Maron in his small role in the film “Almost Famous” shouting, “Lock the gates!” The song is named for one of Maron’s common phrases, “Are We Doing This?” Another such phrase, “Are we good?” was often his last question to guests and is the title of a new documentary on him.

Eventually, with help from guests like Obama, Robin Williams and Paul McCartney, “WTF” became a media institution where authors, artists, musicians, Hollywood stars and political leaders would give him their backstory.

Maron announced in June that he and longtime producing partner Brendan McDonald had decided to end the show. He said there was no particular reason, other than that he was tired and utterly satisfied with the work they had done.

On Monday, Maron seemed moved as he read from a pseudolegal document that he had drawn up for Obama to sign, releasing McDonald “from the professional responsibility to listening to me talk.”

California oil workers face an uncertain future in the state’s energy transition

Thirty years ago, Willie Cruz was shocked when he learned the Southern California oil refinery where he worked was shutting down.

Cruz, now a 61-year-old living in Arizona, had spent five years working in the environmental department when Powerine Oil Company said it would close the plant in Santa Fe Springs, southeast of Los Angeles.

Cruz feared getting laid off again if he stayed in the industry. He decided to look into respiratory therapy, in part because he’s asthmatic. A federal job training program paid for his schooling.

“I thought it was pretty cool, you know — go from polluting to helping, right?” Cruz said.

Now he’s advising his son, Wilfredo Cruz, as the Phillips 66 refinery in Los Angeles where the 37-year-old has worked for 12 years plans to close by the end of the month.

Thousands — perhaps tens of thousands — of workers could lose jobs in the coming years as California tries to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. Energy company Valero said earlier this year it would close a refinery in the Bay Area.

California’s leading Democrats are grappling with how to confront lost jobs and high gas prices that the oil industry says are the result of the state’s climate policies.

State energy regulators are negotiating to keep the Valero plant open and recently backed off a proposal to penalize oil companies for high profits, while Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation to speed oil well permitting in the Central Valley. That action came after years of Newsom declaring he was “taking on big oil.”

That inconsistent messaging has left the industry’s workers unsure of what the future holds.

Refinery closures

California was the eighth-largest crude oil producer in the nation in 2024, down from being the third-largest in 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Valero and Phillips 66 refineries set to close account for roughly 18% of California’s refining capacity, according to state energy regulators. They both produce jet fuel, gas and diesel.

The Phillips 66 refinery will start shutting down this month and end active fuel production at the end of 2025, the company said. The closure is based on multiple factors and “in response to market dynamics,” Phillips 66 said.

The announcement came after Newsom signed a law last year aimed at preventing gas price spikes that allows energy regulators to require that refineries keep a certain amount of fuel on hand to avoid shortages when they go offline for maintenance. But the company said its decision was unrelated to the law.

Phillips 66 said it is “committed to treating all our refinery workers fairly and respectfully throughout this process.”

Valero announced plans to “idle, restructure or cease refining operations” at its refinery in the Bay Area city of Benicia by the end of April. The company didn’t respond to emails seeking comment on the status of its plans.

Valero pays about $7.7 million annually in taxes to the city, making up around 13% of Benicia’s revenues, City Manager Mario Giuliani said.

“It’s a significant and seismic impact to the city,” he said of the planned closure.

Forty-six oil refineries in California closed between 2018 and 2024, according to the state’s Employment Development Department. The fossil fuel industry employs roughly 94,000 people in the state, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

One study estimated that the state would lose nearly 58,000 workers in the oil and gas industries between 2021 and 2030. About 56% of those workers will have to find new jobs because they are not retiring, according to the 2021 report by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Supporting displaced workers

Lawmakers approved the Displaced Oil and Gas Worker Fund in 2022 to help workers receive career training and connect with job opportunities. The state has since awarded nearly $30 million overall to several groups to help workers across the state — from oil-rich Kern County to Contra Costa County in the Bay Area.

But the funding is set to run out in 2027, and state lawmakers wrapped up their work for the year without an agreement on whether to extend it.

Newsom spokesperson Daniel Villaseñor said the governor is committed to supporting displaced oil workers “and affected communities in transitioning into new and emerging jobs and economic opportunities.”

Newsom approved $20 million in the state’s 2022-2023 budget for a pilot program to train workers in the industry who’ve lost their jobs to plug abandoned oil wells in Kern and Los Angeles counties.

California needs a clear plan for workers who will lose jobs because of the state’s energy transition, said Faraz Rizvi, the policy and campaign manager at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.

“We’re in solidarity with workers who have been displaced and who are looking for a relief to ensure that they’re able to find work that is important for their communities,” Rizvi said.

But Jodie Muller, president and CEO of the Western States Petroleum Association, said the state can protect jobs by changing its climate policies.

“The extremists fighting to close California refineries should explain why they are OK with destroying some of the best blue-collar jobs out there — because we certainly are not,” she said in a statement.

Life as an oil worker

For many workers, the industry offers an opportunity to earn a living wage without a college degree.

Wilfredo Cruz was attracted in part by the paycheck. After more than a decade, he makes a base salary of $118,000 a year as a pipe fitter at the Phillips 66 refinery.

But there are downsides.

Every day when Cruz gets home from work, he showers immediately to try to shield his son from exposure to any harmful chemicals. He also never lets the 2-year-old ride in the car he takes to work.

Now he’s enrolled in an online cybersecurity training course, schooling paid for by the state program that’s set to expire in the next couple of years.

“There’s not really a real clear plan to be able to get workers from this oil industry into these new fields,” he said. “So, you feel kind of forgotten.”

North Carolina effort wipes out $6.5B in medical debt for 2.5M people

More than 2.5 million North Carolina residents are getting over $6.5 billion in medical debt eliminated through a state government effort that offered hospitals extra Medicaid funds from Washington if they gave patients the financial relief and implemented policies to discourage future liabilities.

Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, the state health department secretary and other officials announced Monday results so far from what then-Gov. Roy Cooper unveiled 15 months ago as a first-of-its-kind initiative.

While helping almost one-quarter of North Carolina residents, Stein said the effort has exceeded expectations in giving individuals and families a second chance to succeed financially after medical crises. Officials previously estimated it could help about 2 million people get rid of $4 billion in debt. The debt that had been held by hospitals, and are usually difficult to recover, will be pulled from credit reports, the governor said.

“This is life-changing news for so many families,” Stein said, adding that recipients on average will have $2,600 erased. “No one chooses to have a heart attack or get diagnosed with a chronic condition — you just have to deal with it. Today’s announcement will free people from the financial stress so that they can focus on getting healthy.” Another news conference speaker described patients who avoided services or threatened to halt treatments to prevent debt from accumulating on themselves or their family.

Hospitals that agreed to participate have already alerted many patients to tell them their debt is essentially canceled, state health officials said Monday. And Undue Medical Debt, a national group working on the effort and taking over some hospital liabilities, plans to send 255,000 notices this week to other recipients.

The effort germinated from what’s called the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program, which state legislators approved in 2023 at the same time as expanded Medicaid coverage to working adults who couldn’t otherwise qualify for conventional Medicaid. Hospitals pay assessments to draw down billions of dollars in federal money.

The state Department of Health and Human Services last year proposed that ertain hospitals could receive higher program reimbursement levels to treat Medicaid enrollees if they agreed to medical debt initiatives. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services signed off on the plan details, and by August 2024 each of the roughly 100 acute-care, rural or university-connected hospitals that qualified decided to participate.

Under rules previously announced, the hospitals had to eliminate medical debt going back to early 2014 for patients who are Medicaid enrollees. They also would later have to eliminate other debt for non-enrollees based on income levels. And the hospitals were directed to discourage debt by doing things like automatically enrolling people in charity care programs or curbing certain debt collection practices. The $6.5 billion figure includes debt relieved directly through the initiative and through hospital policy changes to implement it, Stein’s office said.

Other state and local governments have tapped into federal American Rescue Plan funds to help purchase and cancel residents’ debt. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced in July that $429 million in medical debt had been erased for more than 352,000 state residents.

“North Carolina’s approach is completely unique,” said Jose Penabad, the Undue Medical Debt vice chair. Several states are following North Carolina’s use of Medicaid incentives closely, he added.

North Carolina debt eradication exceeded initial estimates in part because patients outside the population being targeted also had their debt eliminated, Stein said. Hospitals, for example, sometimes have eliminated debt for patients incurred at associated physician practices, said Jonathan Kappler, a state deputy health secretary. More debt will be eliminated in the future, he added.

State health secretary Dr. Dev Sangvai, told reporters the law approved by Congress in July that made cuts and policy changes to Medicaid won’t immediately affect the debt elimination initiative.

Some hospitals were initially hesitant about the debt relief efforts because of strings placed upon higher reimbursements, Cooper said last year. The North Carolina Healthcare Association, which lobbies for nonprofit and for-profit hospitals, said Monday in a statement that it’s concerned “recent and proposed government policies could add financial pressures” that prevent hospitals from expanding programs to help low-income patients.

LendingTree CEO and founder Doug Lebda dies in ATV accident

LendingTree CEO and founder Doug Lebda died in an an all-terrain vehicle accident over the weekend, the online loaning platform said Monday. He was 55.

In a company announcement, LendingTree confirmed that Lebda died on Sunday and that the company was greiving his unexpected death. A spokesperson said the accident occured at a family farm in North Carolina.

“Doug was a visionary leader whose relentless drive, innovation and passion transformed the financial services landscape, touching the lives of millions of consumers,” LendingTree’s board of directors said in a prepared statement. “His passion will continue to inspire us as we move forward together.”

Scott Peyree, LendingTree’s chief operating officer and president, has now been appointed CEO effective immediately. And lead independent director Steve Ozonian will also step into Lebda’s role as chairman of the board, the company said.

Shares of Charlotte, North Carolina-based LendingTree fell more than 4% by afternoon trading on Monday.

Lebda founded LendingTree in 1996 — to “simplify the loan shopping process” after experiencing his own frustrations when getting his first mortgage, LendingTree’s website notes. The platform launched nationally in 1998 and became a public company in 2000. It was later acquired by internet conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp, before spinning off on its own again in 2008.

Today, LendingTree’s central online loaning marketplace helps users find and compare loans for mortgages, credit cards, insurance needs and more. LendingTree, Inc. also owns brands across the financial sector — including CompareCards and Value Penguin.

In addition to his multiple-decade career at LendingTree, Lebda also co-founded a financial services platform for children and families called Tykoon in 2010. He previously worked as an auditor and consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

“All of my ideas come from my own experiences and problems,” Lebda told The Wall Street Journal in a 2012 interview.

Lebda is survived by his wife, Megan, and three daughters — Rachel, Abby and Sophia — LendingTree’s spokesperson told The Associated Press. In a statement, Megan Lebda said her husband “was an amazing man with a heart so big it seemed to have room for everyone he met.”

“Our hearts are broken, but we are also deeply grateful for the love and support that has poured in from across the world,” she said — adding that his legacy will continue both at LendingTree and in “the lives he touched.”

Education Department layoffs hit offices that oversee special education and civil rights enforcement

A new round of layoffs at the Education Department is depleting an agency that was hit hard in the Trump administration’s previous mass firings, threatening new disruption to the nation’s students and schools in areas from special education to civil rights enforcement and after-school programs.

The Trump administration started laying off 466 Education Department staffers on Friday amid mass firings across the government meant to pressure Democratic lawmakers over the federal shutdown. The layoffs would cut the agency’s workforce by nearly a fifth and leave it reduced by more than half its size when President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20.

The cuts play into Trump’s broader plan to shut down the Education Department and parcel its operations to other agencies. Over the summer, the department started handing off its adult education and workforce programs to the Department of Labor, and it previously said it was negotiating an agreement to pass its $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department.

Department officials have not released details on the layoffs and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. AFGE Local 252, a union that represents more than 2,700 department workers, said information from employees indicates cuts will decimate many offices within the agency.

All workers except a small number of top officials are being fired at the office that implements the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law that ensures millions of students with disabilities get support from their schools, the union said. Unknown numbers are being fired at the Office for Civil Rights, which investigates complaints of discrimination at the nation’s schools and universities.

Programs that oversee federal aid lose staff

The layoffs would eliminate teams that oversee the flow of grant funding to schools across the nation, the union said. It hits the office that oversees Title I funding for the country’s low-income schools along with the team that manages 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the primary federal funding source for after-school and summer learning programs.

Without staff in Title I and IDEA, districts may face delays in receiving reimbursements for spending under those programs, such as salaries for teachers in high-poverty communities, said Sasha Pudelski, director of advocacy for AASA, the association of school superintendents

“We’re talking about the people who worked on the beating heart of our federal public school programs,” Pudelski said.

The layoffs will also eliminate teams that oversee TRIO, a set of programs that help low-income students pursue college, and another that oversees federal funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

In a statement, union president Rachel Gittleman said the new reductions, on top of previous layoffs, will “double down on the harm to K-12 students, students with disabilities, first generation college students, low-income students, teachers and local education boards.”

The Education Department had about 4,100 employees when Trump took office. After the new layoffs, it would be down to fewer than 2,000. Earlier layoffs in March had roughly halved the department, but some employees were hired back after officials decided they had cut too deep.

Advocates question how US will fulfill obligations on special education

The new layoffs drew condemnation from a range of education organizations. Although states design their own competitions to distribute federal funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the small team of federal officials provided guidance and support “that is absolutely essential,” said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance.

“Firing that team is shocking, devastating, utterly without any basis, and it threatens to cause lasting harm,” Grant said in a statement.

If upheld, the cuts will make it impossible for the government to fulfill its duties carrying out special education laws, according to a statement from the National Association of State Directors of Special Education.

The layoffs will reduce the department’s special education office from roughly 200 workers to about five, said Katy Neas, CEO of The Arc of the United States, which advocates for people with disabilities. Neas, who helped lead the office under former President Joe Biden, said families rely on those teams to make sure states and schools are following complex disability laws.

One prominent example dates to Trump’s first term, when the special education office determined that Texas had illegally placed a cap on the number of students who could receive special education services in each district. Under pressure from the federal department, Texas lawmakers lifted the cap in 2017.

“As a result, tens of thousands of children in Texas now can access the education support that they need, whereas before they couldn’t,” Neas said.

The government’s latest layoffs are being challenged in court by the American Federation of Government Employees and other national labor unions. Their suit, filed in San Francisco, said the government’s budgeting and personnel offices overstepped their authority by ordering agencies to carry out layoffs in response to the shutdown.

In a court filing, the Trump administration said the executive branch has wide discretion to reduce the federal workforce. It said the unions could not prove they were harmed by the layoffs because employees would not actually be separated for another 30 to 60 days after receiving notice. ___

Associated Press writer Annie Ma contributed to this report.

___

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Campus Pointe in Fresno to welcome newest restaurant – Ichi Shabu

Just in time for cooler weather, Campus Pointe’s newest restaurant, Ichi Shabu, will host its grand opening on Oct. 28.

The Japanese hotpot concept will take a prominent place next to Maya Cinemas, in the former home of Tofas, a Mediterranean grill that closed its doors during the pandemic.

Lin’s Restaurant Group, the group behind the new restaurant and owners of other favorites in Fresno including O-Iza, two Ramen Hayashi restaurants, Spicy J’s, J-Pot and J-Tea, Hino Oishi and Lin’s Fusion, made the announcement of its latest restaurant opening in an Instagram post on Saturday.

“We are finally ready to announce our grand opening day,” Lin’s Restaurant Group CEO Jason Lin said in the post. “We can’t wait to have you bring all your friends and family. You don’t want to miss it.”

Ichi Shabu first made its social media presence known around a month ago on Instagram, with renderings of the interior.

The restaurant group has undergone vast expansion in the past decade; after renovating its original restaurant, Lin’s Fusion, in 2012, the group has opened over half a dozen restaurants in the area, ranging from upscale sushi and teppanyaki restaurants, to more on-the-go and casual experiences like Ramen Hayashi.

The newest addition to the lineup looks to build on a growing concept in Asian cuisine — the hot pot. Lin’s Restaurant Group has some experience in the concept, having opened J-Pot a Taiwanese spin on the concept, where each guest receives their own pot to customize their individual meals.

Ichi Shabu looks to follow that trend with a focus on Japanese cuisine.

Ichi Shabu is located at 3108 E. Campus Pointe Dr., in Fresno.