No Cage Fights?

Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin is following through on her compaign pledge to move "cage fights" out of Woodward Park.

There were 2 fights held there last year and some residents complained about them being held in a public park.

Fresno City Council failed to block them in November. But the city now says it won't authorize any future fights in the park.

The promoter of the fight, Rick Mirigian, says that violates his rights because there is no city policy barring fights at the park.

He is talking to attorneys and is deciding whether to sue. I'm sure the lawyers are working overtime on this...

Stop Wasting Money!

tells Obama to not only Fresno mayor Ashley Swearengin but to 60 other mayors in Friday morning meeting's with Obama and his Cabinet secretaries.

"If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it and put a stop to it," Obama said. "And I want everybody here to be on notice that if a local government does the same, I will call them out on it and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it."

Swearengin agreed that "you have to be careful" in how new federal dollars are phased in.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, in an interview, likewise agreed that "cities must take care to spend the new money wisely and not fritter it away on "ridiculous" wish lists."

Let's hope they stay focused on this path.

It's not yet clear how much money Fresno or any other city will get from the 1,473-page stimulus bill.

Swearengin said she invited Education Secretary Arne Duncan to visit Fresno, and she reported getting a positive response.

Supposedly he said, 'E-mail me. I'm coming to California, and I'll stop on by,'

Amgen Tour of CA comes to Clovis

The Amgen Tour of California starts Stage 4 today. They will start off in Merced at 11am and end up in Clovis at estimated 3.19-4.29pm.

Here are the details:
ROUTE DETAILS
Day: Wed, Feb 18
Start: Merced
Finish: Clovis
Start Time: 11:00 AM
Miles: 115.4
KM: 185.7
End ETA: 3:19-4:29 PM

A free shuttle service will be offered 12:00 noon to 6:00pm between the Sierra Vista Mall Bus Stop and Clovis and Fifth Streets. Parking is free. Sierra Vista asks that you park on the south side of the mall. There will be signs posted on 168 and Shaw advising of the shuttle service.

Valentine Trivia

Like it or not, Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Here are some interesting Valentine trivia:

• England's King Henry VIII declared February 14th an official holiday in 1537 for the first time.
• In Wales, love spoons of wood were carved and given as gifts on Valentine's Day. Hearts, keys and keyholes formed the favorite theme of spoon decorations, which together symbolized- "You unlock my heart!"
• In the middle Ages, people believed that the 1st unmarried person of the opposite sex you met on the morning of St. Valentine's Day would become your spouse.
• Valentine cards were 1st handed out in the 17th century.
• ~ 1 billion Valentine's cards are sent each year! (Christmas is highest with 2.6 billion cards sent)
• 110 million roses, the majority red, are sold within the Valentine 3-day time period.
• ~ 85% of all valentines are purchased by women
• oldest known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum
• 1st commercial Valentine's Day greeting cards produced in the U.S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland who is known as the Mother of the Valentine She made elaborate creations with "scrap" of real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures.
• In 1866, candy manufacturer NECCO made the first "Conversation Hearts" — then called "Motto Hearts." NECCO says they sell 8 billion "Conversation Hearts" between January 1st and February 14th.

New review for Campagnia Restaurant

Fresnohub reader Chuck just submitted a review for Campagnia Restaurant.

Please do check out his review at Campagnia Restaurant review. Thanks, Chuck!

Fresno woman sells baseball card for $64,073

72-year-old Fresno antique dealer Bernice Gallego put her baseball card on Ebay and made $64,073.

She found in an old box and once put on eBay for a mere $10!

The card is a 1869 Peck & Snyder advertisement which depicts the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team and is considered to be the first baseball card.

Bernice has become somewhat of a celebrity, appearing on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," featured on the front page of Yahoo! and chronicled in The New York Times.

She has quite a sense of humor saying "I had hoped to bail out California from this financial emergency, but it didn't quite get that far. But maybe it'll bail out my credit cards."

She was also quote saying "I would have been happy with anything," she said. "We aren't greedy people. Like my mother used to say, save room for the dessert. We just had our dessert. And it was great."

Congrats, Bernice!

If you would like to read more about this story, go to fresnobee.com

Fresno Pacific Layoffs

Unfortunately, Fresno Pacific has announced that it will lay off 15 people due to financial difficulties.

They will provide salary and benefits to those laid-off through either the end of their contracts or through the end of Fresno Pacific's fiscal year end.

Changes to Fresnohub site

Some changes to the Fresnohub site:

1) A Google search button has been added to the left navigation menu:







2) There is also a "Search this Site" button on the top navigation bar:

3) Finally, the background colors have been changed to white for a cleaner look.

Pangea has closed

Just announced - Pangea has shut its doors.

According to KMPH, officials for the restaurant say that those who still hold gift cards can redeem them at Campagnia which is operated by the same owners.

Campagnia, as many of you know, is located at Champlain and Perrin in Northeast Fresno.

Rain!

Yes, much needed rain...

About 1/4 inch of rain fell overnight in Fresno and more is expected later in the week.

No power outages were reported in the Fresno area but 7,300 PG&E customers were without power in 62 separate outages in the Madera County foothills and Mariposa County.