For Immediate Release, February 22, 2021
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Court Upholds Protection for California’s Western Joshua Trees
Judge Rejects Effort to Strip State Endangered Species Act Safeguards
FRESNO,
Calif. A Fresno County Superior Court judge has rejected an effort by construction and real estate interests, along with the city of Hesperia, to strip away legal protections that currently apply to the imperiled western Joshua tree.
“This is a critical victory for these beautiful trees and their fragile desert ecosystem,” said Brendan Cummings, the Center for Biological Diversity’s conservation director and a Joshua Tree resident. “If Joshua trees are to survive the inhospitable climate we’re giving them, the most important thing we must do is protect their habitat, and this decision ensures recent protections will remain in place.”
New details revealed in alleged white supremacist pedophile s plot to kidnap Fresno girl
Fresno Bee 2/18/2021 Robert Rodriguez, The Fresno Bee
Feb. 17 Nathan Larson, an admitted pedophile and convicted felon from Virginia, will soon be facing federal prosecutors as the U.S. Attorney s Office prepares to take over the child kidnapping case against him.
Meanwhile, the complaint in the case reveals new details about how Larson allegedly schemed to kidnap a 12-year-old Fresno girl.
Larson, 40, was scheduled to be arraigned in Fresno County Superior Court on Wednesday but he was in quarantine at the jail. He is expected to appear next week when the Fresno County District Attorney s office also plans to dismiss the criminal charges against him without prejudice.