The California state senator we’ve been telling you about who’s accused of sexual misconduct has resigned. In a critical resignation letter, Democratic Sen. Tony Mendoza of Los Angeles says the whole investigation into the allegations were to pressure him to leave. The letter saying the Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon wouldn’t rest until his head was on a platter due to the #MeToo movement. An outside law firm came to the conclusion that Mendoza more than likely engaged in improper behavior, including possibly coming on to an intern, offering booze to underage staffers and making sexually inappropriate remarks to others. Mendoza is the third legislator to quit due to sexual misconduct allegations the last few months. Mendoza’s been a leave since an explosive report in the Sacramento Bee newspaper. He denies everything and is suing the senate.
Drivers in Calif. may soon be able to take several photos for their driver’s license, then choose which one they like best. Democratic State Senator Josh Newman of Fullerton is proposing the bill saying, many people get unflattering photos, but you have no choice… then you have to show it to everybody. The idea is to take several photos, but you have to pay more money to do so, then that extra cash goes to a Driver Education and Training Fund. Newman says the money’s needed since most schools no longer run driver’s ed classes after the Great Recession.
It’s a thumbs down vote from the Fort Bragg Planning Commission for a cannabis processing business in town. The applicant, Root One Botanicals can appeal the 2-2 vote, then it’s up to the City Council. The commission said it was concerned because there might be a federal crackdown on marijuana and because there’s other businesses nearby, including the Calvary Chapel, which sits in the radius the city has for “sensitive sites” such as churches and schools. The two commissioners who liked the idea said it was in an ideal location and said the applicants had worked with city staff, the police and fire departments so their proposal would comply with the ordinance.
The Fort Bragg City Council is another step closer to their final plans for retail marijuana sales. The council considering the sales telling staff to draft an ordinance where they’ll come up with one ordinance to cover both recreational and medical use, so locations could sell accessories, follow the same odor requirements, prohibit on-site smoking or ingestion and require a security plan the police department approves of. So far there’s four retail cannabis permits that have been issued in Fort Bragg. There will be other tweaks so that it matches up with state regulations, so things are fluid and automatically adjust as state law changes.
A new referendum to be on the April ballot so there could be expanded fire services in Northshore communities. If Measure E passes, money would go to the Northshore Fire Protection District, which covers more than 350 miles of land including Upper Lake, Nice and Lucerne. The money also for more hours of staffing for the Upper Lake Fire Station and accepting insurance payments for medical emergency responses. The fire chief says if it doesn’t pass they’d possibly close some stations and limit some emergency medical services. Many of the calls last year were medical. The Record Bee reports the Measure needs a two-thirds vote to pass.
A local couple raising money after the October fires in Redwood Valley from the sale of T-shirts, brings in a bundle. The Perkowskis donating the proceeds to the North Coast Opportunities Wildfire Relief Fund. Their company, Perkowski Screenprint & Embroidery came up with the “Mendo Strong” T-shirts and has Mendo Mill in Ukiah and Harvest Market in Fort Bragg selling them for $20. The couple says they wanted to help fire victims and won’t take a profit from it. So far they’ve raised about $15,000. They say they’ll continue making and selling and donating for as long as there’s a demand.
There’s a vacancy on the Clearlake City Council so they’re accepting applications for Russ Perdock’s seat. He’s resigned so he can apply to be the next police chief. The term expires in November. The council discussed either having a special election, or appointing someone, but then the seat would stay open. So an ad hoc committee is charged with looking at all of the applications, interviewing the applicants, then suggesting up to three people who might work. Then they could come up with someone by the end of March.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors had a listening session on the status of insurance money to cover the state’s debris removal operations for the Valley fire. County staff is collecting money for the Valley Fire Debris Insurance Collection Project with the money going back to the state since CalRecycle was in charge of the Valley fire debris program. The County Administrative Office reported getting more than 500 payments totaling more than nine point seven million dollars, an increase of 133 payments since the January report. That chunk mostly after a large settlement with AAA. About 500 people with insurance have not been paid yet for the debris removal and about 400 had no insurance for the removal.
No it was not a confederate flag. That was fake news. The Seattle Times getting a news tip that someone was flying a Confederate flag under their American flag and residents weren’t having it. But that flag actually, was the flag of Norway, some locals showing patriotism for their home country during the winter Olympics. A tipster sending a note to the paper with concern, saying they wanted to know why the Confederate flag was flying in their neighborhood, but they didn’t want to go to their neighbors and knock, to ask. The person flying it said they were a proud Norwegian-American. And that their parents came to America in the mid-1950s.
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