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Yahoo
5 days 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
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
President Trump's first 100 days in office: A failure to lead the nation
'Here are 10 ways Donald Trump failed us in his first 100 days in office' ( April 29) In the short span of 100 days Trump has: ▪ Nearly crashed the U.S. economy deleting trillions of dollars including individuals 401Ks; ▪ Made the U.S. the pariah of the world with tariffs and a trade war; ▪ Made us less safe by saying he would not aid a NATO ally under attack if HE doesn't think they are worth it; ▪ Threatened our neighbor Canada; ▪ Threatened Greenland and by extension Denmark; ▪ Deported US citizens and immigrants here legally; ▪ Filled his cabinet with incompetent and unethical morons because they will do as they are told. The United States will not survive another 6 months of this let alone 4 years. But the biggest failure and shame belongs to the Republican Congress that cowers in fear and accepts literally anything Trump says. I believe the house has 'representatives' by design, but is now filled with spineless cowards representing billionaires. It is beyond disgraceful, it is repulsive. Opinion Trump is a liar, a thief, a bully, and a coward. The republican house members are absolutely worthless. Elections have consequences, this time they may be irrevocable and fatal. They must be stopped before it is too late, congress must act. Randy Sacks, Coarsegold 'If you changed your last name after getting married, your right to vote is at risk' ( March 13) The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would impose new federal proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting, purportedly to ensure election integrity. Instead, however, this cynical piece of lawmaking directly threatens traditional marriage values and as a result could strip voting rights from millions of women. This is because more than eight in ten women in the United States have adopted their husbands' surnames as their own, often per their religious beliefs. The problem? Their names now do not match their birth certificates, one of the few documents the SAVE Act considers acceptable for proof of citizenship (another being a valid U.S. passport). This could force women to either decline to take their spouse's name or sacrifice their hard-won right to make their wishes known through their ballots. To be clear, it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote. This unnecessary measure has passed the US House and awaits action in the Senate, meaning it is just one legislative step away from the president's desk. I urge everyone reading this letter to contact California's US Senators, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, to urge a 'No' vote on this assault on our personal, political, and religious freedoms. Dennis J. Pfaff, Redwood City 'Bill by ex-energy company executive would slash solar credits. How shady' ( April 27) In 2018 I purchased a solar power system for two main reasons. The first was to control the price of electricity in my monthly bill. The second was to help the environment by going green. The utilities – with the help of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and members of the state legislative – are chipping away at the incentives that attracted me to the purchase of the solar power system. News articles that come out explain that non-solar user's electric bills are high because owners of solar systems don't pay their fair share and that this pushes the cost to the non-solar user. This is a false narrative. Solar owners have purchased or rent a solar power system with their own money. They provide surplus electricity to the grid during the daytime above what they have used in their own home or business. Owners of solar power systems are not the bad guy. They don't make billions of dollars profit each year. I pay approx. $12 a month for electric service. I received a credit of $7.06 this last February from my surplus of 228 kWh at true-up. Read AB-942 that is being proposed. David McGee, Clovis Police traffic stops 'We asked Fresno police chief about traffic stops and race. Here's what she said' ( April 22) Articles have been written about police officers conducting traffic stops. Perhaps the organizations conducting the studies and the person who wrote the Bee article should read the California Vehicle Code. It lists the driving and traffic laws that ALL drivers needs to obey, like faulty equipment, expired registration, blacked-out front windows, speeding, unsafe driving, and so on. This gives Officers a reason, or in legal terms, 'probable cause' to make a traffic stop. We all study the Vehicle Code, go to DMV, take a written and driving test for our license and sign that we will obey ALL laws. Maybe the studies should be conducted on the people who violated the laws and ask them why they chose to violate the law. To get a good dose of reality drive the city streets and count the intersections where people have spun their tires and have damaged the asphalt. Or better yet, stand at a major intersection and count the number of vehicles that fail to stop, run a red light, speed through the intersection and multiply that by the number of major intersections in the city. Do that before inserting the race card in a study/arrticle. Frances Garcia, Fresno
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Who gets to name the next Fresno County library? Whoever writes the biggest check
Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@ Buildings in Fresno County can now be named — pending the approval of the Board of Supervisors — by whoever can sign the biggest check. The board adopted the new policy in January and began asking for bids in April for the Clovis and Reedley branches of the Fresno County Library. The supervisors get the final say on which bidder can name the buildings, but the policy allows corporations, wealthy groups or an individual with a disposable income to try to stake a claim on the name of public buildings. Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who brought the policy to the board, said he had recently had constituents asking about getting the name of a loved one on a public building. He said the county had no formal policy so the board needed one. Projects like a library can rack up high construction costs, and he said the county may need to get support from the public sector. The two new libraries are estimated to cost $37.4 million, for example. 'It could be used for furniture, it could be used for artwork and even could be used for decorations in general inside the building,' Magsig said. 'Anything that we can do to get the private sector involved to cut a check.' The libraries are the only buildings officials are actively seeking sponsorship for, but the policy does not rule out other county-owned structures. The policy says the naming rights can be purchased for no more than 99 years. Naming rights are common in the private sector, like those on NFL stadiums and NBA arenas. College campus buildings are also often are named after donors or sponsors. The Fresno State Bulldogs play at Valley Children's Stadium and students may also study inside Lynda and Stewart Resnick Student Union, named after a wealthy farming family. Though it may not be unprecedented, what is less common is soliciting for bids for a structure like a library — a utilitarian space open to all residents. The new policy begs the question: Who gets to be honored on a public building? 'There's a lot of questions there about what is this saying about power and money and access?' said Andrew Fiala, a professor of philosophy and founding director of the Ethics Center at Fresno State. 'A corporate entity that is using this as advertising, that gets a little bit odd from my perspective.' Residents could see allowing corporations to name a public building as a step towards oligarchy, when a small group of people, who are typically wealthy, have greater power. 'Big corporations and wealthy people have lots of access and that breeds distrust and resentment, and there's a whole cascade of negative public things that come out of so-called oligarchy,' he said. The names on buildings and in public spaces are often intensely debated. Some draw praise, like when the Clovis Unified School District named its newest school after World War II internment survivor and beloved educator Satoshi 'Fibber' Hirayama. Many areas of the country had a reckoning with the names of monuments and statues in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer, and that included Fresno County. The city of Fresno studied whether some of its monuments with connections to racism and sexism — the Meux Home and Chandler Airport — should be renamed. The federal U.S. Board on Geographic Names ordered the change of several names in Fresno County that were considered offensive. The most commonly debated location was Yokuts Valley, which is the new name for the region that formerly went by a sexist, racist and derogatory term against Native American women. But, Fresno County's leaders say opening up the sponsorship of county buildings is a smart decision that could be a blessing when budgets see shortfalls. Supervisor Luis Chavez, too, stressed the board will get the final decision, saying the leaders will make a decision that is correct for the community and the region where each individual building is located. 'It's very narrowly outlined to make sure you don't get the library sponsored by Camel cigarettes or something,' he said. 'As budgets get tighter, I think it's going to be important that we get creative.' Both Chavez and Magsig said any corporation that throws its hat in the ring would have to at least be considered. Magsig noted developers have before been given leeway to name streets as they built out neighborhoods, saying the naming rights of a library isn't any different. 'I can't think of an example of how something like this could be problematic,' he said. 'We will see. Time will tell.'
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Highway 41 work in Madera County will cost $150 million. Who's paying for it?
Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@ It will cost Madera County an estimated $150 million to expand the two-lane Highway 41 near Riverstone and Tesoro Viejo, where daily rush-hour congestion makes obvious the need to improve the state road. That's a large price tag in a county where many are skeptical of how road work funding generated by their Measure T sales tax dollars has been administered in the past. So, who is footing the bill to improve the state route near Madera County's growing master-planned communities? 'At the end of the day, those improvements are largely going to be borne by the homes that are being built down there,' Madera County District 5 Supervisor Bobby Macaulay told The Bee. The county explained to The Bee how it intends to finance the Highway 41 improvements. The plan does not include any tax dollars from the 0.5% Measure T sales tax voters renewed in November, according to county officials. Development road impact fees and property tax increments generated by the Tesoro Viejo and Riverstone enhanced infrastructure financing districts will ultimately provide the majority of the funding. The rest will come from state and federal grants. Construction on the improvements — led by the county, not Caltrans — is expected to begin early next year. It will widen the highway to four lanes between avenues 10 1/2 and 15, and also add more turning lanes at the major intersections of the four-mile stretch. At $56.4 million, revenues from the road impact fees that Madera County charges developers make up 38% of the Highway 41 improvement funding. The county's Code of Ordinances says developers are charged $24,179 per single-family home they build in southeast Madera County. In the past year, Treber said, the county has collected an average of 'close to $2 million a month' from developers in road impact fees. A federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan is expected to provide 24% of the funding, or $36 million, for the Highway 41 improvements. This loan has been approved for the county, but its amount will be determined based on the actual bid price of the project. If necessary, the loan can fund up to 33% of the Highway 41 project. The county has also obtained a $25 million federal RURAL grant, which will fund an expected 17% of the project. Madera County has also applied for a $25 million grant from the state's Local Partnership Program, which would fund another 17% of the project. Awards for this competitive grant will be announced in June. Treber said the county is confident it will receive the award, but it can use more of the developer road impact fee funding and the federal loan if it does not obtain this grant. The county has also obtained $1.9 million in congressional discretionary funding from Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, which will provide 1% of the funding for this project. The last $3.9 million of the project's funding, or 3%, will come from the property tax increments already generated by the Riverstone and Tesoro Viejo enhanced infrastructure financing districts, known as EIFDs. The county established these two EIFDs in 2018 with the intention of funding parks and Highway 41 improvements. The districts are funded by 25% of the annual increase in county property tax revenue that is generated by development within Riverstone and Tesoro Viejo. Property tax revenues increase when development occurs because development on a property raises its assessed values. 'The homeowners aren't seeing an increase in their taxes,' Treber said. 'It's simply taking that incremental increase from vacant agricultural land into urban development and carving out 25% of that to fund regional infrastructure projects, primarily (Highway) 41.' The EIFDs will also repay the federal TIFIA loan the county is borrowing to fund the Highway 41 improvements. The funding generated by the EIFDs 'increases every year as more homes and more development occurs,' Treber said. The Highway 41 improvements come as Riverstone and Tesoro Viejo continue to add residents to Rio Mesa, the southeastern area of Madera County planned to one day be home to 100,000 people and 30,000 homes. But Treber said the Highway 41 expansion is not solely for the benefit of Riverstone and Tesoro Viejo. 'It's benefiting all of our residents that live on the 41 corridor, that commute down into the Valley every day,' he said. Macaulay, the District 5 county supervisor, also noted that over 1 million vehicles travel Madera County's stretch of Highway 41 each year on their way to Bass Lake and Yosemite National Park's southern gate. 'Beyond that, residents up in the mountain communities often have to travel to Fresno for work, as well as goods and services that they need,' Macaulay said. 'We're all using that road.'
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Who was really behind Fresno council candidate attack mailer? One mystery solved
Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@ An anonymous attack ad inserted last-minute drama in the March special election to fill a seat on the Fresno City Council, accusing the eventual winner of statutory rape. More than a month after the race to replace Luis Chavez, now a Fresno County supervisor, a piece of the mystery that's gripped the city's political circles has become clear: The person behind the dark money political action committee group that sent the negative mailers to District 5 voters is a local political consultant with ties to the previous seatholder. On April 10, the Fresno Future Forward PAC responsible for the attack ad filed an amended campaign 410 form with the City of Fresno, listing Alex Tavlian as treasurer and principal officer. Attempts to reach the previous treasurer, Riley Moore, who is no longer listed on the filings, were unsuccessful. The group is responsible for the controversial mailer targeting Brandon Vang, a former Sanger Unified trustee who won the special election. But the connection to Tavlian, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, is only one piece of the puzzle. It's still unclear who funded the political action committee that sent the mailer or who released confidential information from Fresno County that was referenced in the mailer. Vang's opponents — including Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, who is married to Chavez — denied any involvement with the mailer. Pedro Ramirez, Brandon Vang's campaign manager, said there are still questions that need to be answered. 'Anybody can set up a PAC. I'd like to know who funded it,' Ramirez said. 'The public deserves to know.' Weeks before the March 18 special election, a group called Fresno Future Forward sent a mailer to hundreds of homes in southeast Fresno that included allegations of statutory rape of a 15-year-old and confidential Fresno County records related to Vang's paternity and child support. The mailer left out that the alleged victim is Vang's wife of 30 years. Vang, 52, and his wife, May Lee, 47, denied the accusations in the ad and called them 'completely false and deeply hurtful.' Dark money refers to special interests using illegal tactics to inject large amounts of secret money into elections as a way to hide political spending and avoid accountability, according to the nonpartisan legal organization Campaign Legal Center. Little was known about the PAC behind the mailer until Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz launched an investigation into the group for violating state and local campaign finance laws. Any group that spends more than $1,000 on a campaign is required to register with the City Clerk's office as an independent expenditure. The group hadn't filed any records with the city prior to sending out the mailer. There's no record of the group with the California Secretary of State. Records since filed with the city following the probe show the group spent more than $4,000 in independent expenditures. Janz confirmed to Bee reporters on Monday that he notified Tavlian by letter of the the $1,000 fine after the amended form was filed. Vang's campaign team will be watching for the PAC's required donor filings that are due in July, Ramirez said. If the city's campaign finance rules are not fully enforced, he said, 'what's stopping this from happening again?' Vang won the race and was sworn into office April 10. He is the second Hmong American on the Fresno council and the first to represent the district that includes neighborhoods east of downtown along Cesar Chavez Avenue, bordering the unincorporated community of Calwa to the southwest and the Sunnyside county island to the east. Tavlian wears multiple hats and is well known in political circles. He's worked as a consultant on several campaigns, such as communications for the Fresno Teacher Association planned strike in 2023. He is also the founder of the conservative-leaning San Joaquin Valley Sun website, though it's unclear if he remains executive editor of the publication. One of Tavlian's consulting groups, Local Government Strategic Consulting, has also received multiple contracts from the city of Fresno for public affairs and outreach. This includes one contract for up to $100,000 for District 5 communications authorized by Chavez on Dec. 17 — a month after voters elected Chavez to serve on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. The contract for District 5 'Strategic Communications and Public Relations Services' through December 2025 drew scrutiny during the special election for the size and scope of the work. It's unclear clear why Chavez authorized a contract for future services to be fulfilled months after vacating the City Council seat. Chavez didn't immediately respond to request for comment Wednesday on the contract. In an email statement, Vang confirmed he canceled the contract with Tavlian's group upon entering office: 'After thoughtful consideration, I decided to cancel the agreement as I did not believe it aligned with the immediate needs and priorities of District 5,' Vang said. 'I remain committed to using our resources with transparency and accountability, always guided by the best interest of District 5 residents.'
