News 9/24/10

4 CAR COLLISION JKB 9/24/10

• A 4 CAR CHAIN REACTION COLLISION SLOWED TRAFFIC ON HIGHWAY 101 YESTERDAY MORNING.

ACCORDING TO THE CHP, THE INCIDENT BEGAN WHEN A CAR DRIVEN BY 57 YEAR OLD JEANINE ABBOT OF WILLITS SLOWED AND STOPPED FOR TRAFFIC IN A CONSTRUCTION ZONE AT YORK CREEK AT 7:50 AM. HER CAR WAS REAR-ENDED BY 55 YEAR OLD LILLIE DELOSSANTOS OF REDWOOD VALLEY WHEN SHE WAS HIT FROM BEHIND BY 38 YEAR OLD GEORGIA HOAGLEN OF WILLITS. HOAGLEN WAS THEN HIT BY 37 YEAR OLD DAWN SCOTT OF UKIAH. THE FORCE OF THAT IMPACT PUSHED HAGLENS VEHICLE INTO THE BACK OF DELOSSANTOS CAR A 2ND TIME. ONLY DELOSSANTOS SUFFERED MINOR INJURIES. THE ACCIDENT WAS CLEARED BY 8:30.

SINGLE VEHICLE ACCIDENT JKB 9/24/10

• A LAKE COUNTY WOMAN WAS LUCKY TO ESCAPE WITH ONLY MINOR INJURIES WHEN HER CAR WENT OFF THE ROAD AND COLLIDED WITH A TREE NEAR UPPER LAKE THURSDAY NIGHT.

THE CRASH OCCURRED JUST AFTER 10:30 PM SEVERAL MILES UP ELK MOUNTAIN ROAD, JUST NORTH OF THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE RANGER STATION. 26 YEAR OLD KARA SNOW WAS ABLE TO REMOVE HERSELF FROM THE BADLY DAMAGED VEHICLE AND WAS TRANSPORTED BY AMBULANCE TO SUTTER LAKESIDE HOSPITAL. THE CAUSE OF THE CRASH IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION.

FORT BRAGG SELECTS INTERIM POLICE CHIEF JKB 9/24/10

• THE CITY OF FORT BRAGG HAS SELECTED A VETERAN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER AND EXPERIENCED INTERIM POLICE CHIEF TO FILL THE POST LEFT BEHIND BY FORMER CHIEF MARK PUTHUFF WHILE THE CITY LOOKS FOR A PERMANENT REPLACEMENT.

STEPHEN WILLIS WILL PROVIDE EXECUTIVE ASSISTANCE AND SERVE AS A MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT TO THE DEPARTMENT UNTIL THE PRE-EMPLOYMENT SCREENINGS ARE COMPLETED. HE WILL THEN SERVE AS THE INTERIM POLICE CHIEF UNTIL A REPLACEMENT IS FOUND, WHICH IS EXPECTED TO TAKE APPROXIMATELY 5 MONTHS. WILLIS HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS, INCLUDING 33 YEARS WITH THE SAUSALITO POLICE DEPARTMENT AND SERVED AS THE INTERIM POLICE CHIEF FOR THE CITIES OF CLOVERDALE, HEALDSBURG, SONOMA, AND SEASIDE. HE ALSO SERVED AS AN INTERIM POLICE CHIEF IN FORT BRAGG FOR 6 MONTHS IN 2006.

SUMMER HEAT TO RETURN JKB 9/24/10

• EVEN THOUGH FALL IS OFFICIALLY HERE, THE SUMMER HEAT IS EXPECTED TO RETURN THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND INTO NEXT WEEK.

A HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE AND DESERT AIR FROM THE SOUTHWEST IS EXPECTED TO RAISE TEMPERATURES ACROSS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FOR THE NEXT WEEK OR SO. DAYTIME HIGHS IN THE UKIAH AREA WILL BE IN THE MID 90S TODAY, THE UPPER 90S TOMORROW, AND THE LOW 100S ON SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. WINE GRAPE GROWERS ARE HAPPY WITH THE TURN IN THE WEATHER AND SAY THE HEAT SPELL WILL HELP BRING IN A DELAYED HARVEST BY RIPENING GRAPES AND DRYING UP BUNCH ROT THAT OCCURRED IN SOME VINEYARDS DUE TO EARLIER RAINS.

STATE BUDGET EDGES CLOSED TO A DEAL JKB 9/24/10

• ACCORDING TO A SPOKESPERSON FOR GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, THE FRAMEWORK OF AN AGREEMENT FOR A STATE BUDGET HAS BEEN REACHED.

TOP LEGISLATORS HAVE ALSO INDICATED THE POSSIBLE ACQUISITION OF A BUDGET THAT CURRENTLY SITS WITH A $19.1 BILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT. IF AN AGREEMENT IS REACHED, IT WOULD END THE LONGEST BUDGET IMPASSES IN MODERN STATE HISTORY, ALREADY 84 DAYS INTO THE NEW FISCAL YEAR.

EDDIE FISHER DIES JKB 9/24/10

• ONE OF THEMOST POPULAR SINGERS OF THE 1950S HAS DIED.

FISHER DIED AT A HOSPITAL IN BERKLEY WEDNESDAY OF COMPLICATIONS FROM HIP SURGERY. FISHER SOLD MILLIONS OF RECORDS, HAD HIS OWN TELEVISION SHOW AND HIGH PROFILE MARRIAGES TO HOLLYWOOD STARLETS DEBBIE REYNOLDS, ELIZABETH TAYLOR AND CONNIE STEVENS. FISHER HAS TWO STARS ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME, ONE FOR RECORDING AND ONE FOR TELEVISION. HE WAS 82.

4 DEAD IN SEATTLE AREA SHOOTING JKB 9/24/10

• 5 PEOPLE WERE SHOT, 4 OF THEM FATALLY, AT A SEATTLE, WASHINGTON HOME YESTERDAY.

ACCORDING TO REPORTS, A RELATIVE OF SOME OF THE VICTIMS WHO WAS NOT IN THE HOUSE AT THE TIME OF THE SHOOTING, BELIEVED THAT A 59 YEAR OLD WOMAN, WHO WAS THE MOTHER OF SOME OF THE VICTIMS, COMMITTED THE CRIME. ACCORDING TO POLICE, THE DEAD INCLUDE TWO FEMALES BELIEVED TO BE IN THEIR LATE TEENS, A MALE BELIEVED TO BE IN HIS 30S AND THE WOMAN BELIEVED TO BE THE SHOOTER. ALL OF THE VICTIMS ARE RELATED.

AVANDIA WILL STAY ON MARKET JKB 9/24/10

• THE CONTROVERSIAL DIABETES DRUG AVANDIA WILL STAY ON THE MARKET IN THE U.S., BUT WILL BE RESTRICTED TO THOSE PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES WHO CANNOT CONTROL THEIR ILLNESS WITH OTHER MEDICATIONS.

THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION IMPLEMENTED THE RESTRICTIONS BASED ON STUDIES SHOWING AN INCREASED RISK OF SERIOUS HEART PROBLEMS, INCLUDING HEART ATTACK AND STROKES IN PATIENTS TAKING AVANDIA. THE EUROPEAN EQUIVALENT OF THE FDA ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY THAT THE DRUG WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE EUROPEAN MARKET.

WOMAN EXECUTED IN VIRGINIA JKB 9/24/10

• THE FIRST WOMAN TO BE EXECUTED IN THE UNITED STATES IN MORE THAN 5 YEARS, AND THE FIRST TO BE EXECUTED IN THE STATE A VIRGINIA IN NEARLY A CENTURY, WAS PUT TO DEATH BY LETHAL INJECTION LAST NIGHT.

41 YEAR OLD TERESA LEWIS, WHO PLEADED GUILTY IN THE 2002 TO THE MURDER FOR HIRE SLAYINGS OF HER HUSBAND AND STEPSON WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD AT 9:13 PM EASTERN TIME. DEATH PENALTY OPPONENTS ARGUED THAT LEWIS SHOULD NOT BE PUT TO DEATH FOR THE MURDER CONSPIRACY, SINCE THE TWO TRIGGER MEN IN THE CRIME WERE GIVEN LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT DENIED A STAY OF EXECUTION ON TUESDAY, AS DID VIRGINIA STATE GOVERNOR BOB MCDONNELL YESTERDAY.