Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) continuing to be proactive against possible wildfires is conducting aerial patrols in Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, and Humboldt counties. There are helicopter patrols scheduled as part of their Vegetation Management Program to locate any dead or dying trees. They started the patrols yesterday, checking electric transmission lines including in Clearlake, Lower Lake, Kelseyville, Middletown, Lucerne, Clearlake Oaks, Upper Lake, Lakeport, Cobb (Geysers), Hopland, Mendocino, Gualala, Fort Bragg, Philo, Ukiah, Elk and Point Arena. They could be flying out of Ukiah and flights may hover as low as 300 feet. They should be done with all of the work Friday, depending on the weather.
A strike by therapists at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California is over as the union members gave the thumbs up for a new contract. This puts an end to a 10-week strike, the longest by mental health workers in the nation’s history. Most union members voted to accept the new contract after two days of back and forth. The National Union of Healthcare Workers represents 2,000 non-psychiatrist therapists in Northern California for Kaiser. It’s a 4 year contract that will be retroactive to September 2021, expiring in September 2025.
A new report says most students in the state of California are behind in school. The national report shows less than half of students polled were proficient in reading and only a third were performing at grade level in math. These are the first statewide test scores since 2019 and could prove there’s been a learning loss due to the pandemic and at home school, instead of in-person, face to face learning. The state superintendent of public instruction says indeed, there’s a lot of work ahead, and that “gaps that we were working to close before the pandemic have persisted.”
Three people who’ve been accused of ripping off victims of the massive Tubbs fire in 2017 cannot plead no contest. The three family members, a husband, wife and their daughter, who were working as building contractors, are accused of cheating 16 survivors of the fire out of cash. At the family’s sentencing hearing yesterday, the judge tossed out the trio’s no contest plea, from back in April. And during a court recess, some of the family’s victims said they just wanted closure, but others said they hope the latest development means the defendants get a stiffer sentence.
Gas prices are still declining, thankfully. The average price for a gallon of regular dropped three-cents overnight to $5.80… still high, but still, it’s 32-cents less than last Tuesday and 19-cents less than a month ago. Marin County was at around five-68, Lake County at five-72, Mendocino County around five-83, and Napa County has five-89.
As we head into the colder months in California, health experts say we could see another surge in COVID. There are reports of various coronavirus subvariants slowly arriving in the state. In Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area, they are seeing a change. There had been a steady decline in new cases. Right now, one of the omicron subvariants, known as BA.5 is the dominant version across the country. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported over 60% of all new coronavirus cases were that strain.
Looking for a new furry companion? The Clearlake Animal Shelter is in need of not only people to adopt, but to foster too. Last week at the last City Council meeting there were shelter staff on hand who talked up the animals that can be made part of your family. They said, as of last Thursday, that there were 30 adoptable dogs and 70 were being held at the shelter. Apparently, there’s a crisis across the country with way too many animals available for adoption. Some shelters have even stopped accepting animals. They also say volunteers who can help exercise the dogs are also welcome.
The Great ShakeOut had millions of Californians registered. 9.8 million in all and thousands here on the North Coast. That included individuals, families, schools, businesses, and other organizations who pretended they were experiencing an earthquake and practiced what they would be doing, should a real earthquake occur. There was a 23% increase in the amount of registrants along the North Coast this year. If you are not signed up for the alerts, check out MyShake and if your county has their own alert system.
A candidate forum got a good turnout in Fort Bragg. The League of Women Voters held the forum October 14th ahead of the mid-term election next month. They also live-streamed the event on the Fort Bragg City Government video site. They had a total of eight candidates there, and another turned in written responses to the moderator. There are four city council seats currently open. Three are for four-year terms, and one is a two-year term. That seat has only one candidate, Lindy Peters.
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