Latest news with #FresnoBee
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Fresno hospital system quietly cuts hundreds of nursing supervisor roles
In the Spotlight is a Fresno Bee series that digs into the high-profile local issues that readers care most about. Story idea? Email tips@ Fresno's largest healthcare system discreetly slashed hundreds of nursing supervisor positions in recent weeks as part of a staffing shakeup. Nearly 300 clinical nursing supervisors employed by Community Health System were informed that they had to decide whether to take a pay cut, apply for a leadership position or accept a severance package. A March 4 letter obtained by The Bee confirms CHS notified Fresno city and county officials about plans to eliminate 285 positions due to the hospital system 'restructuring its operations.' The letter said the layoffs impacted 180 positions at Community Regional Medical Center, as well as 19 positions at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital and 86 positions at Clovis Community Medical Center. The layoffs at CHS took effect May 3, weeks before news broke that the health system agreed to settle a federal probe and pay a $31.5 million fine, raising questions for some staff members. Last month, CHS entered a massive settlement agreement announced last month by the U.S. Attorney's Office. The settlement addresses allegations that CHS was involved in a multi-year kickback scheme in which hospital executives provided expensive wine, liquor, cigars and meals to physicians in exchange for patient referrals. CHS denies the settlement was the reason for the staffing changes. 'Community frequently evaluates our care model to assure that we have the right staffing mix to meet changing patient care needs,' Daniel Davis, R.N. division president of hospitals for CHS, said in a statement. 'This shift was driven solely by clinical best practice and patient care needs and was not designed to achieve cost savings,' Davis said. Any company with 75 or more employees must file a WARN notice if it lays off 50 or more employees in a 30-day period, according to state law. Hospital spokesperson Mary Lisa Russell said a WARN notice was sent out in early March, as required by law. However, a spokesperson for the state's Employment Development Department said they had no record of a WARN notice from CHS. Two nurse supervisors said the 285 impacted employees were forced to apply to new leadership positions, or take a demotion, with the majority taking big pay cuts. 'We were told that these changes had nothing to do with finances. That is incredibly hard to believe,' said one former nursing supervisor who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of professional retaliation. The nursing supervisor said rumors started circulating in February about the elimination of clinical nursing supervisor roles. She said affected staff met individually with human resources to explore their options — either applying for assistant nurse manager, charge nurse or clinical nurse ladder positions, or accept a severance package. CHS also offered two-year retention bonuses. Most positions offered lower pay than the eliminated supervisor role. Another nursing supervisor who had worked at Community for more than a decade — who said she loved her job and had no discipline record — accepted a severance package after her position was eliminated. The supervisor said she thinks the restructuring was a cost-saving measure. She said employees and patient care were sacrificed to pay for leadership's actions. Clinical supervising nurses who accepted other nursing positions have to be retrained on charting and other bedside nurse responsibilities, she said. 'I loved working here, I love my team,' she said. Davis said CHS developed a new job description for assistant nurse manager, which is a model of clinical leadership and staffing followed by other local hospitals like Kaiser, Kaweah Health and Sutter Health. 'Based on those needs and industry best practice to support nursing at the bedside, we transitioned away from Clinical Nursing Supervisors and toward a combined Assistant Nurse Manager and Charge Nurse model,' Davis said. Davis said that 247 of the 285 affected nurses transitioned to new roles. 'Only a small percentage chose to separate,' he said. He also said in the coming months, 'nearly 95% of our workforce will see compensation increases as we continue to implement an organization-wide set of adjustments to align with California's new healthcare minimum wage.' A new state law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023 requires an increase in the minimum wage for workers at several eligible healthcare facilities.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
A 4-year-old named this Fresno family's breakfast restaurant. What's on the menu?
Inside Look is a Fresno Bee series where we take readers behind the scenes at restaurants, new businesses, local landmarks and news stories. When a new breakfast restaurant is named by the daughter of the owners, you know it's a family-run business. That's the case at the newly opened Branch Breakfast Co. in northwest Fresno, at Marks and Herndon avenues near Save Mart. It opened in early May in the former Daddy Waffles spot, which closed late last year. Branch was the name of the make-believe restaurant where then 4-year-old Kaydence Cardoza (she's now 9) served her parents Cheerios and milk on a folding Minnie Mouse table. Brett and Stephanie Cardoza have a more sophisticated menu at their real restaurant. It features a little bit of everything — traditional breakfasts, some Mexican-influenced dishes — and everything from the biscuits to the mixed-berry jam is made from scratch. 'We have people ordering just a biscuit for the jam,' said server Esther Contreras. A chile verde omelet is proving to be a popular favorite, made with Oaxaca cheese. You can catch a whiff of Stephanie's favorite, the shrimp and grits bowl, before it even hits the table. It's made with sweet chili shrimp, linguica and two sunnyside up eggs. There are also pancakes, waffles, and bacon, along with steak and eggs, avocado toast and a burger with an English muffin bun. The Cardozas know they're opening a restaurant at a time when others are closing. The last BJ's Kountry Kitchen closed recently (replaced by The Waffle Place), as did Country Kitchen in downtown Fresno, and several others. Food costs are high, customers spooked by tariffs are pulling back on spending and the price of eggs has been an emotional roller coaster for everyone in the breakfast business. 'It's a huge risk because it's everything we have,' Brett Cardoza said. 'It's our whole heart and soul.' The pair doesn't have investors. This project is their baby. But both have years in the restaurant industry — she managing and serving, and he managing at some of the most respected restaurants in town. He recently oversaw food and beverage operations for all eight restaurants at Table Mountain Casino. But the price of eggs is coming down, and they know how to keep costs down, he said. Most dishes on the menu are priced between $16 and $18. Plus, the restaurant is a dream for the couple, and there are always challenges when tackling that, Stephanie Cardoza said. For her, opening Branch is a return to the neighborhood she grew up in (where people routinely pull their golf carts up to the back of the restaurant). She's a Bullard High School graduate. He went to Immanuel High School in Reedley, his first job washing dishes and The Spike & Rail Steak House in Selma. In addition to 9-year-old Kaydence, you may also see their 4-year-old, Owen, in the restaurant. Kaydence named her make-believe restaurant Branch (they're not quite sure why, though she did draw a picture of a branch with a bird, and she was watching the TV show 'Trolls' at the time, which has a character named Branch). Also, Brett Cardoza, who grew up in Laton, always loved the oak trees in his home town. A large oak branch decorates the entrance to the restaurant. It's a metaphor for the branches of a family tree, and brings back memories of their little girl's play restaurant, the parents note. Stephanie Cardoza smiles when she remembers how she ordered a soda at that make-believe restaurant, but her daughter said all they had was milk. She brought out the entire gallon, with a straw sticking out the top. 'We're like, 'Wow, this is great service, but your foods costs are going to be terrible,'' she joked. Details: Branch Breakfast Co. is at 7089 N. Marks. Ave., suite 101. Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Closed Tuesdays. 559-214-5424.
USA Today
20-05-2025
- Business
- USA Today
This California municipal golf course appears destined to close — for an airport expansion
This California municipal golf course appears destined to close — for an airport expansion Planes making their approach at Fresno Yosemite International Airport often fly directly over Airways Golf Course, a popular municipal track that has been as busy as ever in recent years, one of many that have taken advantage of the post-COVID golf boom. The course saw 60,000 rounds in each of the last few years, according to a story at the Fresno Bee, and with green fees that sneak under $30 during the week, it's easy to see why seniors and youth players make the 6,900-yard course a part of their daily itineraries. But thanks to an upcoming airport expansion, it's expected that Airways will soon be shut down for good. The course, which has been open since 1952, has two years left on a lease that is unlikely to be renewed. Here's more from the Bee: The golf course, located just west of the intersection of Clovis and Shields avenues along the eastern edge of the Fresno airport, is owned by the city of Fresno. 'The golf course sits on a site that's always been designated for future development of the airport,' said Henry Thompson, Director of Aviation at Fresno Yosemite International Airport. 'There's a future need of the airport to grow in that direction. 'And it'll restrict the airport's growth if we don't plan now and grow.' Closure could come in as soon as two years when the course's lease expires in April 2027. Sadness surrounding Airway's looming future, meanwhile, is already taking place. Airways might have fallen short of providing a ritzy country club-like experience for golfers. But its imperfect conditions — from the occasional dry spot on the course to large, fallen trees creating obstructions around the fairways — seldom turned off folks from golfing at Airways. Traffic at Airways picked up in 2018 when the semi-private course Fig Garden closed its doors. And while there are no plans to close the city's Riverside Golf Course, there are also no plans to add any new courses to the municipal circuit.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
A roller derby renaissance in Fresno? Meet the team bringing the sport back
Uniquely is a Fresno Bee series that covers the moments, landmarks and personalities that define what makes living in the Fresno area so special. It's Tuesday night and Jodie Mettler is playing referee, calling out faux penalties to a dozen or so women as they skate close circles around the roller hockey rink at Fresno's Cary Park. It's the last practice for Ash City Roller Derby before a weekend scrimmage in Los Angeles and the skaters are working on team skills like position, blocking and formations. A tripod of players throw hip blocks in one direction, then shifts the other direction and clips a skater as she tries to take a wide roll around the group. Mettler forgot her whistle, so she yells out a quick 'tweet,' forcing a skater off to the side of the rink to do 10 squats. This is a practice, after all. After a few minutes of this work, the team huddles up to discuss the drill, then sets off to run it again. 'It's all game play tonight,' says Mettler, a founding member of Ash City Roller Derby who skates under the moniker Bae-Phomet. She's number 666, obviously. Since July, Ash City Roller Derby has been working to revive the full-contact sport in Fresno. The league's name is a double play on words: Ash, as in the tree, which in Spanish is Fresno; and also ash, as in the metaphorical remains from which the phoenix was reborn. There was time when Fresno was a roller-derby town. At one point, there were three teams in two separate leagues. Crowds were consistent, if not huge. Up to 1,000 people came out to watch matches at The Fresno Convention Center, and later the fairgrounds in the late 2000s and early 2010s. In 2008, The Fresno Bee ran a week's worth of profiles of Smog City Roller Grrls in advance of a home match at the Fresno Convention Center. Columnist Mike Osegueda called the team's resident speedster, Betty Rocker, a 'certified roller derby star ... who might actually be the top sports star in Fresno right now.' That team ended in 2008, but spawned a pair of others: NoTown Roller Derby and Valley Fever, the later of which morphed into the Central California Area Derby. Mettler joined the NoTown team the week after she moved to Fresno in 2010. She skated under the name Cherry Pie (number 3.142). Finding the team was one of the first things she did in town. 'That was a priority.' Roller Derby goes back nearly 100 years to days of banked-track endurance racing, but early versions of the sport as it's known now became popular in the 1950s and '60s first on radio and later on TV, where it evolved into a kind of professional wrestling on wheels. A story in The Bee in 1956 announced a run of National Roller Derby League matches at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. There would be bouts three nights a week for 13 weeks. League founder Leo Seltzer said he expected crowds of 9,000 a night. When the league came to Fresno's Kearney Bowl in 1960 (the Bay Bombers faced off against the Los Angles Braves), an announcement ran in The Bee alongside a story on the Indy 500. Eventually, the sport fell out of favor and by the 1980s was forgotten or only remembered with fond nostalgia. That was until the 2000s, when it saw an underground revival, thanks to slew of documentaries and at least one major studio film, the Elliot Page feature 'Whip-It.' That was Jessica Meredith's entry into the sport. She'd skated before, the way kids do, but she wasn't an athlete. As a 20-year-old queer person of color, she was mostly looking for a community. She found that in a derby team in Merced, where she was living at the time. It was immediate, says Meredith, who skates under the name Afrodisiac. 'I, to this day, have not found an experience anything like that.' That community and camaraderie is what led her to reach out on social media last summer. The sport had all but disappeared in Fresno during the pandemic and she wondered if anyone else wanted it back. 'We had no idea that other people felt the same way.' Now, roller derby is by no means a mainstream sport. The only way to really watch it live is in person (at scrimmages and more official matches set up by leagues across the country) or on Twitch. 'The joke is that ESPN will pick up fake horse riding before they'll pick up roller derby,' Mettler says. For the uninitiated: This isn't the dystopian battle sport depicted in sci-fi films. There's no ball. Points are scored as one skater laps around a pack of defenders in a series of two-minute 'jams.' Bouts are run in two, 30-minute periods. It isn't played on a banked-wood track (at least per the set of rules that Ash City plays under) and there isn't any fighting (staged or otherwise). It is still full-contact. Hip and body checks are allowed. And things are less DIY then they were in the 2000s, when the majority of the sport was centered out of Texas (where it was insanely popular), Mettler says. Nowadays, there's an international world cup and the skaters look to be seen as the athletes they are. So, it's not the speed competition that people might remember. 'It's a slower game,' Mettler says. 'It's strategic, right from the whistle.' Ash City is still a new team with a mix of veterans and newbies. Its matches are sanctioned by the The Women's Flat Track Derby Association, though Ash City is not yet an official member. That requires the organization to go through an apprenticeship program. The team runs on $10 monthly dues, with no coaching staff and no official home rink (someplace with a roof and air conditioning where Ash City could schedule matches without concern for heat or rain). The club would love to get back inside the Fresno Fairgrounds, at least for match days, but there's an expense that makes that difficult, Mettler says. So, the team (15 skaters, per its Instagram page) meets at Cary Park twice a week for practice. Some of the woman skate more. Meredith travels to Visalia twice a week to skate with the V Town Roller Derby team. They also host boot camps to recruit and train new members. The last one ran six weeks and had 30 skaters. On May 31, the team is hosting its first mixed-level hometown scrimmage. It start at 10 a.m. with a $5 suggested donation for spectators ($10 for those looking to compete). Mostly, the skaters are out here just making it work, Meredith says, because none of them want to see the sport die again. 'We're here to stick around,' she says. 'When people think of roller derby in Fresno, I don't want it to ever be a question.'
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
Snow blindness and cliff fall: Tiffany Slaton's harrowing tale of survival
In the Spotlight is a Fresno Bee series that digs into the high-profile local issues that readers care most about. Story idea? Email tips@ Tiffany Slaton sustained snow blindness after encountering several snow storms during her weekslong fight for survival after she went missing in the Sierra Nevada of Central California. Slaton was reported missing by her parents April 29 after they had not heard from her since April 20. Slaton had gone to the mountains of Fresno County on an electric bicycle with a trailer and camping gear and planned to visit Mono Hot Springs, a spot off Kaiser Pass Road about seven miles from Lake Edison. Slaton fell off a cliff on Kaiser Pass heading to Mono Hot Springs as she tried to search for help. The fall left her unconscious for two hours. 'I'll never do a real vacation longer than three days ever again,' she said. That was not all. She said she had to splint one of her legs and 'pop the other knee back into place.' Slaton said she couldn't get back on the road because the main road was blocked due to an avalanche. She said she attempted to call 911 five times. One of the closest businesses from where she went missing was a Starbucks about 18 miles away. 'I ended up on this very long arduous journey that I journaled to try and keep sane,' she said. 'And eventually managed to get to civilization. I ran out of food after five days.' The Fresno County Sheriff's Office said Slaton, who celebrated her 28th birthday on Thursday, was found at Lake Edison in eastern Fresno County after an owner of Vermilion Valley Resort checked on his property near the lake and found one of the cabins occupied by Slaton. The owner knew of the ongoing search for Slaton, who's from Jeffersonville, Georgia, and her description. He then called deputies. Deputies traveled to Kaiser Pass Road and met with the owner, who had driven Slaton out to the staging point. Her parents, Bobby and Fredrina, reunited with their daughter Thursday. Tiffany Slaton said she didn't want to panic during dire situations. She remained calm. 'The worst thing that you can do in an emergency situation is panic,' she said. 'I'm a traveling dialysis technician and an archery coach by trade. I didn't want to panic. In the first five days, I was still ready for my vacation. 'I had some of Fresno's best citrus, which is funny because I'm kind of allergic to it, but I did have food to begin with. I'm a trained permaculturalist. That means I'm very good at foraging and helping people not to go to the grocery store in very rural areas, and the Sierra's has a large selection of leeks that is hard to find in other places.' According to the Food Network, leeks are a bulbous, elongated vegetable within the Allium family, closely related to onions, garlic, and scallions. 'I managed to survive off of these leeks and boiling the snow melt for a very long period of time. During the time she was missing, Slaton said she lost her tent and vestibule, as well as her sleeping bags. 'I was outside with nothing but a lighter and a knife,' she said. Slaton said she saw mountain goats, coyotes and bears. She didn't panic when she saw the animals, but instead kept walking. The last sighting of Slaton was April 20 when a camera at Huntington Lake captured her. There had been no confirmed sightings since then, deputies said. Until Wednesday. Slaton said she's thankful for the Vermillion Resort for giving her an opportunity to live. She was only there eight hours before being found. 'I would not be here at that moment because that was the 13th heavy snowstorm I had been in,' she said. 'It was going to be the last one. If he hadn't come that day, they would have found my body there.'
