The ONME Network

FRESNO, Calif. — Covered California brought its “10 Years Strong” campaign to Fresno last week, celebrating a decade of providing quality health insurance plans to people across the state. Over the past 10 years, Covered California has enabled millions of Californians to access health insurance and helped reduce the state’s uninsured rate to a historic low.

Karen Ruth Bass has just made history as the first woman and second black mayor of Los Angeles to former mayor,Tom Bradley, who was the first.

This month's strike was just one of many: healthcare workers from the Sunnyside Convalescent Hospital (SCH) in Fresno, CA, have been striking since September concerning the medical minimum wage disparities, the wage scale seniority discrepancies and the lack of quality care for the nursing home patients at the facility. In fact, the 99-bed facility stayed open throughout the strike. ONME News found that some SCH nursing home workers who were paid out from the facility, attempted to pay their bills, only to find out that the checks bounced. SEIU 2015 made several attempts to reach the SCH management to address these concerns; however, management has ignored their requests over the past nine months, according to Maria Xiquin, SEIU 2015’s regional director for the Central Valley and Central Coast. Sunnyside’s owner, Mario Marasigan has made empty promises to change the conditions of the facility and to pay the workers legal checks, canceling the bargaining agreement meetings or making excuses to cancel. As a result, Sunnyside workers struck Oct. 6, complaining of unsafe working conditions, pay at less than minimum wage and bounced paychecks. SCH employees and SEIU 2015 supporters fasted in protest at Fresno's Courthouse Park on Oct 18. ONME News spoke to some of the SCH employees, and here is a summary of their concerns ...

In this News Too Real special feature on the fentanyl crisis in California, show host, Julia Dudley Najieb, reviews how law enforcement is stepping up to tackle the crisis, full force. Attorney General Rob Bonta has seized almost 1,000 pounds of fentanyl powder since April 2021. Dudley Najieb reviews the horrific stats of the formidable increase of fentanyl-related deaths throughout California, and the many seizures at the boarder of Mexico and California and Texas and Mexico. Next Dudley Najieb reviews the Fresno county District Attorney's Office press conference, lead by DA Lisa Smittcamp; Fresno County is pressing charges for its first fentanyl-related murder case against two defendants facing a combined 33 years in prison.

At the beginning of October, President Joe Biden gave a pardon of all prior federal offenses for those incarcerate for simple possession of marijuana. He is currently directing the Attorney General Merrick Brian Garland to develop an administrative process for the issuance of certificates of pardon to eligible individuals. Before Ab-1793 was passed into law, Proposition 64 (Health & Safety Code § 11361.8) allowed individuals with marijuana convictions to petition the court for the reduction or dismissal of their marijuana convictions. However, until an LA Times news probe found that tens of thousands of Californians still had felonies, misdemeanors and other cannabis related charges on their records that still had not been expunged, even after submitting the paperwork to start the process.

After the recent leaked audio of the city of Los Angeles redistricting committee meeting from last year, high ranking public figures and elected officials behaving badly proved that California is not immune to gerrymandering tactics from desperate politicians trying to keep their powerful seats in office.

As part of the state’s ongoing response to the monkeypox outbreak, Governor Gavin Newsom today declared a State of Emergency to bolster the state’s vaccination efforts. The proclamation supports the work underway by the California Department of Public Health and others in the administration to coordinate a whole-of-government response to monkeypox, seek additional vaccines and lead outreach and education efforts on accessing vaccines and treatment.

In this episode of ONME Quick News Bits, host Julia Dudley Najieb reveals exclusive interview with Saint Augustine’s University president, Dr. Christine Johnson McPhail, who talks about the new HBCU Urban Access Hub opportunity and grants for community college students in the Central Valley.

In this part 2 of The ONME Network's 2022 California Juneteenth: An In-Depth Review of Reparations in California with show host Julia Dudley Najieb, the 2.5-hour broadcast begins with with excerpts of Juneteenth celebrations in Santa Clara County, Tulare County, and Fresno County. The 2.5 hour broadcast continues with the review of the California Reparations Task Force's key testimonies. Show host and executive producer, Julia Dudley Najieb, expresses brief, personal commentary as she delves into the two topics of physical health related to racism, and flaws in California's criminal justice system.

ONME 2022 Juneteenth special takes an in-depth look into the critical research on racism against Blacks in California, reported by the California Reparations Task Force.The three-hour broadcast begins with a healing prayer delivered by Rev. Dr. Paul Binion, II, of Westside Church of God, followed by a review of the history of Juneteenth, then a definition of slave codes, and a feature of prominent author, Shawn D. Rochester, who explains the meaning of "the Black Tax." The three-hour broadcast continues by explaining AB3121 and reviewing the California Reparations Task Force's key findings overall.