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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PrideStaff Fresno, Modesto, and Visalia Offices Named Best of Central California Staffing Agency Winners for 10th Year
FRESNO, Calif., June 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- PrideStaff, a nationally franchised staffing organization, is pleased to announce its Fresno, Modesto, and Visalia offices have been named Best Staffing Agencies in The Fresno Bee's 2025 Best of Central California Awards for a 10th year. This award celebrates businesses, organizations, and professionals across Central California. Each year, The Fresno Bee readers vote online in more than 290 categories, ranging from employment agencies and real estate brokers to day spas and fine dining establishments. The contest engages the community, inviting residents to support and recognize outstanding local businesses through nominations and daily voting. The contest fosters local economic growth by encouraging consumers to engage with and support companies within the area. "What an honor it is to win first place in the 2025 Best of Central Valley Business list," said Sean Akin, Vice-President of Branch Operations for PrideStaff Fresno and Modesto. "This award is special because nominees are selected and voted on by the people we are privileged to serve. Each vote reflects the dedication our team members show every day. They have risen to the challenges of today's recruiting market, making rewarding connections as they adapt to the changing needs of employers and job seekers. We extend our gratitude to each person who voted for us; every vote reflects the trust and satisfaction people find in working with us." "In any challenging economy, positive client and candidate feedback is one of the best ways to know you're getting it right," stated Blanca Covarrubias, Owner/Strategic-Partner of PrideStaff Visalia. "In continuing Our Mission to 'Consistently provide client experiences focused on what they value most,' we bring the highest levels of service to our community. We are matching the right employers with the right job seekers. We are helping businesses grow as we help careers progress. That's important work in any economy." "The work the PrideStaff Fresno, Modesto, and Visalia offices have been doing throughout their Central California communities continues to make us proud. To be named among the Best Staffing Agencies in The Fresno Bee's Best of Central California Awards for a 10th year is a powerful testament to their unwavering commitment to excellence and the lasting value they bring to the clients and candidates they serve," said PrideStaff Co-CEO Tammi Heaton. "Their dedication makes them truly stand out. Congratulations to PrideStaff Fresno, Modesto, and Visalia for receiving such well-deserved recognition." About PrideStaffPrideStaff was founded in the 1970s as 100% company-owned units and began franchising in 1995. It operates offices in North America to serve thousands of clients and is headquartered in Central California. With 45-plus years in the staffing business, PrideStaff offers the resources and expertise of a national firm, with the spirit, dedication, and personal service of smaller, entrepreneurial firms. PrideStaff is the only nationwide commercial staffing firm in the U.S. and Canada with over $100 million in annual revenue to earn ClearlyRated's prestigious Best of Staffing® 15-Year Diamond Awards two years in a row, highlighting exceptional client and talent service quality. For more information on our services, or staffing franchise information, visit our website. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Pridestaff, Inc Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
With $200M delayed, will paying for downtown projects fall on city of Fresno?
With $200 million promised to Fresno in 2023 still held up by the state, the city is beginning to consider how else it could pay for infrastructure upgrades that are crucial to its ambitious downtown revitalization plans. 'We need the money,' Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said Tuesday at a panel discussion about high-speed rail hosted by Fresnoland. 'As I shared with the governor, I don't want to go out and bond a project.' But Dyer's office told The Fresno Bee in a statement that the mayor is already preparing to seek a lease-revenue bond, if he has to, so the city can keep building infrastructure that's already planned. Unlike a general obligation bond, a lease-revenue bond would only require the City Council's approval. Along with replacing sewer and water mains and upgrading streets and sidewalks, building new parking structures is part of the spending plan for the $250 million that the state committed in 2023 to help Fresno improve its downtown infrastructure. The projects are necessary to support housing for a population boom Dyer envisions as downtown also prepares to be the site of a California high-speed rail station. The city received an initial $50 million award in 2023, with the promise that it would receive another $100 million in the 2024-2025 fiscal year and the final $100 million in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. (The city has also been awarded a separate $43.7 million grant to help with the downtown upgrades.) California's budget problems last year prompted the state to defer the remaining $200 million for downtown Fresno until the 2026-2027 fiscal year. Gov. Gavin Newsom is scheduled to present a revised 2025-2026 budget next month, though financial strains are likely to remain present in that revision, Calmatters recently reported. In the meantime, the city has moved fast to use the money it's already received. Construction that began last year on $22 million-worth of sewer and water main replacements in downtown and Chinatown is expected to be completed this fall. And, on Thursday, the City Council approved a $2.2 million contract for the design of a 900-stall parking structure slated to go up at H and Mono streets, just southwest of Chukchansi Park. District 3 Councilmember Miguel Arias told The Bee that in order to award the construction contract for that parking garage, the city would need another disbursement of infrastructure money from the state. 'Or step forward and make up the difference with a city revenue bond,' he said. That's why the city is hoping to see $100 million for downtown Fresno in this year's May California budget revision. 'The Mayor is preparing necessary documentation to request Council support at that time should the State's commitment not be realized,' Dyer's office said. In Fresno, the City Council can approve a lease-revenue bond to help pay for construction of the H Street Parking Structure. Under such an agreement, investors could pay for its construction, own it and then lease it to the city. The lease payments would repay — with interest — the investors who purchased the bonds that backed the construction. The concept is not new to Fresno. As of June 2023, the city had 'several lease revenue bonds that are paid in whole or part by the General Fund,' according to a city debt report released last year. But it's not yet clear what a lease-revenue bond agreement for parking structure financing would look like. Early plans for the $250 million promised by the state included setting $70 million aside for downtown parking infrastructure, with about $11 million going toward a parking structure at Fulton and Tuolumne streets. Dyer's office said the amount of a bond for to pay for infrastructure would be determined when the bond is requested and would be based on construction costs that are not already fully-funded by the initial $50 million Fresno received from the state. Arias said that the city would stand ready to approve the bond for the H Street parking structure, if necessary. 'But that would be an absolutely last resort, given our budgetary constraints and our need to ensure that we continue to balance our budget,' Arias said. Multiple news outlets have reported California will face difficulty drafting its next budget, in part, because of the uncertainty President Donald Trump's tariffs have created. Stock market downturns could negatively impact state income tax dollars paid by California's wealthy — an important state budget revenue source. State Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, D-Fresno, said it's too early to comment on what Newsom's budget revision could look like. But he said the governor has been quick to approve investments for Fresno. Despite the state's budget difficulties, Dyer's office said the mayor 'remains hopeful that Gov. Newsom will honor his commitment to Fresno.'
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Where are Fresno's most dangerous intersections? See top 10 spots for car crashes
How dangerous is driving in Fresno? One intersection in the Central Valley had more than 20 car crashes in just a few years. That's according to a new study by Southern California law firm Jacoby and Meyers Injury Lawyers. The law firm ranked the 10 most dangerous intersections in Fresno, based on data from the California Highway Patrol's Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, and compared Fresno crossroads with those in other major California cities. Jacoby and Meyers Injury Lawyers awarded each intersection a 'danger score,' a composite metric that factored in the total number of crashes over a set period as well as the severity of each crash. Here's which Fresno intersections made the list: When it comes to car crashes, one Fresno intersection stands above the rest. The intersection of Friant Road and Shepherd Avenue had 21 crashes between 2020 and 2024, the study found, making it the city's most riskiest crossroads with a danger score of 42. The three-way intersection in northeast Fresno was nicknamed 'Death Row' by Fresno lawyer Warren Paboojian. It's also the subject of a YouTube channel, The Friant Roulette. Nearby resident Dan Wells, who started the Friant Roulette YouTube channel, has captured video of drivers running red lights and vehicles getting T-boned. In 2024, The Fresno Bee polled readers to discover the more dangerous intersections in the Fresno area. The intersection of South Chestnut and Central avenues in the Fresno County community of Malaga received the most votes, The Bee reported. The Friant Road-Shepherd Avenue intersection came in second. Fresno's intersection crash rate was 38.08%, 2.47% higher than other California cities, according to the study. About 4% of crashes at Fresno intersections resulted in fatal injuries, the study found, compared to the cross-city average of 2.34%. Just over 10% of Fresno intersection crashes resulted in serious injuries, the analysis by Jacoby and Meyers Injury Lawyers found, exceeding the cross-city average of 9.20%. Approximately 85% of crashes at Fresno intersections resulted in minor injuries or possible injuries, according to the law firm. These were the 10 most unsafe intersections in Fresno, according to Jacoby and Meyers Injury Lawyers: Friant Road and Shepherd Avenue Blackstone Avenue and Dakota Avenue Blackstone Avenue and Ashlan Avenue Herndon Avenue and Blackstone Avenue Maroa Avenue and Clinton Avenue Peach Avenue and Kings Canyon Road Fresno Street and Cinton Avenue Mono Street. and G Street were both tied Shields Avenue and Fresno Street These were the 10 most risky intersections in California, according to Jacoby and Meyers Injury Lawyers: Newport Boulevard and 22nd Street/ Victoria Street in Costa Mesa Route 232 Vineyard Avenue and Esplanade Drive in Oxnard Lakewood Boulevard and Firestone Boulevard in Downey Alamitos Avenue and Anaheim Street in Long Beach Green Leaf Avenue/ Shoemaker Avenue and Telegraph Road in Santa Fe Springs Orange Avenue and Spring Street in Signal Hill Valley Boulevard and La Cadena Drive in Colton Briggsmore Avenue and Carver Road in Modesto Edinger Avenue and Ward Street in Fountain Valley Ninth Street and H Street in Modesto Jacoby and Meyers Injury Lawyers said it used crash data from 2020 to 2024 from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System that was 'cleaned and geocoded by UC Berkeley's Transportation Injury Mapping System. Only crashes involving reported or suspected injuries were included, while minor incidents without documented injuries were excluded.
