There are no more routine testing mandates in Mendocino County. The Public Health Officer, Dr. Andy Coren has sent a revised health order that ends the mandatory tests for unvaccinated workers along with mask recommendations. Those will stay in place in all healthcare settings though to stay in alignment with the state Department of Public Health’s Covid restrictions set Sept. 14th. Coren stated health employees in general and psychiatric hospitals, adult care facility workers, and school employees who remain unvaccinated must still be tested under federal law. And Coren is still strongly recommending masks since the county is at low community spread. The county is still getting about 5 new, reported Covid cases/day. The county has also had 136 deaths to date.
The Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off is back in Ukiah. Next month, a celebration for All Hallow’s Eve with live music, food, activities for the kids and a parade with the winning pumpkin atop a float. The entry forms are now available for the mid-October event. The winner gets $1.50/lb. That meant nearly a thousand dollars for last year’s winner which weighed 644 pounds. The weigh off this year is October 14th with PumpkinFest events October 15th and 16th.
Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off entry forms are now available at the City of Ukiah Civic Center Annex at 411 W. Clay Street in Ukiah or on the web at http://www.cityofukiah.com/pumpkinfest.
Please call the Community Services Department at 463-6231 for more information.
The Westport Village Society is getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money from the California Coastal Conservancy. It was a unanimous vote at a meeting of the Conservancy in Fort Bragg to give $845,000 to the Westport Village Society so the nonprofit can acquire property at DeHaven Creek Headlands to preserve public access for critical coastal lands. The 26 acres can be enjoyed by the 200 or so residents in Westport for even more coastline. The Mendocino Voice reports a lot of the residents there are considered disadvantaged with a median income of $39,000.
Congressman Mike Thompson has announced his Public Safety Heroes including 2 in Lake County. Cory Smith and Officer Juan Altamirano are in the group in Thompson’s district. They were named the 2022 Lake County Public Safety Heroes for going above and beyond the call of duty. He says Smith is a proven leader as both a paramedic and Fire Marshal, whose “coolness and skill under pressure led to the safe evacuation of multiple endangered citizens during the Cache Fire”. And he added Officer Altamirano was an exemplary officer and demonstrates “important values of respect and commitment to duty”. His accolades came after he responded to a suspicious car report.
The state’s task force on reparations is considering money to pay anyone back who’s been the victim of forms of racial discrimination, generational pain and suffering as Black Americans in the state of Calif. Consultants are working on the amounts now. It could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars for Black Californians that are descendants of slaves. But there are some against the idea saying it will be hard to prove who should get what and a major challenge to get the Legislature on board. The nine-member panel deciding with economic experts met over the weekend at the California Science Center after first releasing a 500-page report on the state’s history of slavery and racism in June. The task force is set to meet again in Oakland in December.
PG&E could be in hot water again. The US Forest Service is investigating if the giant utility company is responsible for the massive Mosquito Fire, the largest so far this year. The federal agency reportedly took a PG&E transmission pole and other equipment from the ignition point in the Sierra Nevada foothills earlier this month. They said in a regulatory filing with the fed that the fire started in the area of a PG&E power line on National Forest Land. The Service says their initial assessment led them to conduct a criminal investigation into the fire. It comes after the company was held criminally liable for fires in 2015, 17 & 18, and most recently for the massive Dixie Fire last year.
A new report reminds, the unsheltered can still vote in California elections. The Bay Area News Group reports it’s a common misconception a physical address is needed to vote. A study about a decade ago showed just about 10% of recorded homeless individuals voted. Whether they live in a shelter or a homeless camp, there are ways they can vote in local elections. First they must register and be at least 18 years old. Some counties do require identification or the last four digits of their social security number. They can register on paper at libraries, government buildings and polling places on election day — or online at RegisterToVote.ca.gov.
The word squaw is no more in California on monuments and for place names. The Governor was joined in ceremony by Native American tribal leaders Friday and signed a bill to remove the word from almost 100 geographic features and locations across the state. One of which was the unincorporated town of Squaw Valley, but some residents there said they didn’t want the name to change. But apparently the Dunlap Band of Mono Indians liked the idea. Their ancestral home is part of the area. In Fresno County, there is Squaw Lake and Squaw Leap, which will also get new names. Towns and officials have three years to remove the name.
A recently released report that was part of the reason former Ukiah policeman Kevin Murray got a light sentence, has been released. Mendo Fever reports it shows the Sonoma County probation dept. couldn’t give a stronger sentencing recommendation for jail time because they never received key background criminal reports. There was a one year jail term recommended but it could have been more if they had more information before coming to their final conclusion on sentencing. The report they didn’t receive reportedly included the investigative reports of a second alleged rape. But the charge was dropped, along with three other sex related charges against him, if he pleaded no-contest instead to two lesser charges.
A fire that burned a home in Ukiah has been deemed arson. Investigators say the fire Sunday night was deliberately set. Ukiah Valley Fire Authority Battalion Chief Justin Buckingham told Mendo Fever they found the fire was intentionally set by someone unknown so far. The home had been abandoned. There were items inside that showed there could have been squatters living there. That had been a problem several times in the past too. But firefighters found nobody inside when they got there. They say the fire didn’t start because of a an “unattended warming or cooking fire.” The fire started near the Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op.
The inaugural policy summit on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) is planned. Next Tuesday, October 4th is the 1st Annual Northern California Tribal Summit on MMIP. They expect to have tribal leaders, law enforcement officials and MMIP survivors along with state and federal lawmakers, academic researchers, and victim advocates all working together to find ways to end the crisis. The summit is being held in Arcata at 8:30am at the Arcata Community Center. The Yurok Chair Joseph L. James says the crisis has gone on too long and has touched every tribal citizen in the state and across the country. He adds, that it has gone on long enough and the time to “take action, is now”.
94.5 K-Wine / Max 93.5 FM 