In Wildfire Prone Community, Many Residents Have A Reason To Stay

Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, July 15, 2024…

• As a fast-moving fire broke out over the hills near the town of Mariposa earlier this month, residents rushed out of their homes. The French Fire started on the Fourth of July, and was the latest fire to hit so close to the town. For residents, fire is becoming a part of life.
• California Republicans are in Milwaukee this week for the Republican National Convention, just days after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Many said they were still processing Saturday’s horrific shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, which left two dead including the alleged gunman. 
• The founders of Bitwise Industries, a now defunct Fresno-based tech company, have agreed to a plea deal that will include paying millions in restitution and pleading guilty to two felonies. Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr. have been part of a wide-ranging white collar criminal investigation that charges them with defrauding investors of $100 million.

In The Fire-Prone Town Of Mariposa, Residents Don’t Lose Sight Of What Keeps Them There

As a fast-moving fire broke out in Mariposa’s hillside earlier this month, residents rushed out of their homes. The French Fire started on the Fourth of July and quickly burned 908 acres. Firefighters managed to stop the fire’s progress right at the town’s edge.

By some estimations, the French Fire is the seventh wildfire over the last 20 years that has grown to more than 500 acres. Despite the frequency of fires in recent years, many residents aren’t ready to leave yet.

Brenda Ostrom has lived in this Gold Rush era town since 1998 and lately has been busy building what she calls her dream kitchen. She’s already put in around $80,000 into this renovation and expects it to be done by September. She admits she panicked when the fire sparked, because it brought down her neighbor’s home. “In that two hours, I had decided that if my home burned, I would leave the community,” Ostrom said.

Republican National Convention Gets Underway Following Trump Assassination Attempt

Republican delegates are gathering this week in Milwaukee for the 2024 Republican National Convention, where they will nominate former President Donald Trump for president and Trump will announce his pick for vice president.

The planned convention is taking place after Trump was injured in an assassination attempt at a Saturday campaign rally in Butler, Pa. One person at the rally was killed and two others wounded before Secret Service agents killed the shooter.

President Biden condemned political violence in remarks from the Oval Office on Sunday, and said the attempted assassination of former President Trump necessitates a cooling down of heated political rhetoric in the country.

Bitwise Founders Agree To Plea Deal

Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr., co-founders of the now-defunct Fresno-based technology company Bitwise Industries, have agreed to a plea deal, according to the Fresno Bee.

As part of the deal, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Fresno, the pair will plead guilty to one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud. They’ll also have to pay millions in restitution. Federal authorities have charged Soberal and Olguin Jr. with lying and misrepresenting their finances, defrauding investors of $100 million.

In May of 2023, Bitwise furloughed 900 employees nationwide, including nearly 400 in the Fresno area. The sudden collapse of the company – which promised to create thousands of jobs in the technology sector by bringing in people who didn’t typically get the opportunity to do so – halted projects and investments locally and in various U.S. cities.