Central Valley Daily

Dec. 16: Fresno’s Major Airport Expansion Is Here. It Almost Didn’t Happen.

By Elizabeth Arakelian,

Published December 16, 2025 at 4:45 AM PST

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For years, the City of Fresno has been renovating and expanding Fresno Yosemite International Airport. In the coming weeks, many of those projects will be fully in use – including a brand new terminal and new restaurants. But these projects met some turbulence earlier this year when the federal government threatened to pull funding. KVPR reporter Samantha Rangel talks to us about what happened and what’s next.

Plus, the latest news headlines: What to know about California’s new minimum wage; and will Porterville soon have a new library?

Central Valley Daily

Elizabeth Arakelian

A Valley native, Elizabeth earned her bachelor's degree in English Language Literatures from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her master's degree in journalism from New York University. She has covered a range of beats. Her agriculture reporting for the Turlock Journal earned her a first place award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

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Samantha Rangel

Samantha Rangel reports on stories for KVPR in the Fresno and Clovis areas. After growing up in the town of Firebaugh, Samantha is now enrolled at California State University, Fresno. There, she is studying to earn her B.A. in Media, Communications, and Journalism. Before joining the KVPR news team, she was a reporter for The Westside Express, where she covered education and other local news in Firebaugh.

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Jonathan Linden

Jonathan Linden is a podcast producer at KVPR. Born and raised in Riverside, he's a Southern California native. Jonathan's passion for public radio began at a young age when his brother would play NPR while driving him home from middle school. He earned his B.A. in journalism from Biola University in 2019.

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