The Mendocino County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder has announced they’re still processing ballots from Super Tuesday. Katrina Bartolomie says as part of the official canvass, Mendocino County has 14,732 Vote By Mail ballots to process and 1,575 Conditional Provisional/Provisional ballots to review and process. They will be updating the counts after today, one of their deadlines, then will give an update on Schools and Special District total breakdowns. For the 1st Supervisor District, they have 2,727 to process; the 2nd Supervisor District has 3,014; and the 4th Supervisor District has 3,730 ballots to count. They’ve got 28 days from Tuesday to finish their canvass, then they’ll have the official Statement of Vote, which breaks down results by precinct.
A cold case stays cold, but the CHP says they’re not giving up. The CHP Clear Lake office has updated the public on the murder of Patrick Michael Weber of Santa Clarita, more than a year after he was found dead in his van along Highway 20. Weber found in his van in February of 2019. He was found after reports of a car crash, another driver, seeing Weber’s van crashed on the side of the highway. Cops who responded were suspicious of the circumstances of the crash so they started investigating. And an autopsy showed the man died from a gunshot wound. There was also a bunch of marijuana found in the van and he was not legally licensed to transport it. His wife telling police he was a trimmer. A person of interest has been identified, but no word if that person was interviewed.
Lake County’s Registrar of Voters reports they’re still making their way through the ballots from the Super Tuesday vote, but they don’t have a preliminary vote count for the Lake County Superior Court judicial race. The two candidates, incumbent J. David Markham and his challenger Lisa Proffitt-O’Brien, are write-ins. As of yesterday there were nearly 10,000 ballots that have not been counted. That includes vote-by-mail, provisional and conditional ballots. Per state law today is the last day they can accept ballots there were mailed in and counted. Plus new voting equipment was used for the election. Lake Co News reports the interim Registrar Diane Fridley says the new equipment has some more steps which takes more time.
The Ukiah Municipal Airport paving project is starting in May, depending on weather. The Airport Manager Greg Owen reported to the City Council they hope to start May 4th. Cal Fire tankers and other aircraft typically used during fire season won’t be able to access the airport for several weeks. The project includes repaving a 75-foot section of the airport runway, plus they’re demolishing a taxiway and adding another one. At the time they decided to do the work the City Manager said if they didn’t get it done, there would no longer be a usable runway. And if there’s a fire they will be able to support helicopters during the work.
You maybe seeing some smoke above Low Gap Park, but it’s just a prescribed burn with Cal Fire. The Mendocino Unit of Cal Fire has put out a statement saying there would be a large burn west of the Ukiah Valley, it was for yesterday and today, each day starting at 10 am, and continuing thru 5 p.m. with visible smoke, flames and aircraft hovering. It’s all part of their Ukiah Fuels Reduction Project to thin the brush and hopefully reduce the amount of fires and their intensity if they do start. They say there are very tight restrictions for the burns and if there are windy conditions, or other unsafe burn conditions, they will cancel.
A major employer in Sonoma County says they’re closing indefinitely due to the coronavirus. It’s the first major employer with the announcement after a second person in the County was diagnosed with the virus. This person became sick a day after an elderly man in Placer County died after becoming seriously ill with the coronavirus. The Gov. Gavin Newsom also declared a state of emergency after the death. There’s a local public health emergency in Sonoma County and an investigation of a Sonoma County Airport Express shuttle bus, both of the residents who got sick with the virus were on. They were in a group of people from the Grand Princess cruise from San Francisco to Mexico who hopped on the shuttle after disembarking. An employee at Keysight was under self-quarantine after developing flu-like symptoms and being tested for the virus. A company spokesperson says other employees will work from home until they find out if the single employee indeed has the illness.
The state Dept. of Managed Health Care and all commercial and Medi-Cal health plans the state regulates are being ordered to provide all medically necessary screening and testing for coronavirus for free. It also includes a waiver for cost-sharing for emergency room, urgent care or provider office visits if it’s about the virus. The Gov. says residents shouldn’t have to be afraid they’ll get stuck with a big medical bill because they’re being tested for the virus. So those who show symptoms and fit the testing requirements will get the test at no cost. Also the California Department of Insurance issued a similar directive for free medically necessary testing for 2 million more Californians. As of yesterday there were 60 positive cases, 1 death. 9,400 Californians are self monitoring after returning from travel through San Francisco Airport or LAX.
The City of Clearlake says it’ll sue Lake County if the County doesn’t hop on board and have more than 1,000 tax-defaulted properties up for auction by November. The Record Bee reports the city sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors and to the Treasurer- Tax Collector Barbara Ringen by the Clearlake City Attorney Ryan Jones regarding the 1,121 properties in Clearlake, some of them defaulted for nearly a decade. The letter says it’s statutorily required for a tax auction at least once this year, before Halloween. The attorney says if the County doesn’t meet the City’s demand, they will take legal action to compel the Tax Collector to do her duty. Last week the Tax Collector’s office and the board said there would be 217 properties in Lake County, only 118 of which are in Clearlake, up for tax auction beginning in late May.
A call for entries by the Middletown Art Center for its yearly EcoArts Sculpture Walk. The walk at the Middletown Trailside Park for the 15th year. But only the second exhibit since the park reopened after the Valley Fire. It’s for artists who are interested in the recovery of ecosystems using their work and or having something to do with restoration. Artists should use the materials of the park and be in the spirit of the environment of south Lake County. You’ve got to submit by March 30th and be ready to install your work by May 12th to the 29th.
Applications can be downloaded at middletownartcenter.org/artists. For questions email middletownartcenter@gmail.com.
It’s a resounding yes for Adventist Health to start managing Mendocino Coast District Hospital. In election returns voters gave Measure C 90% yes. The initiative asked voters if the hospital should allow Adventist, or its subsidiary, Stone Point Health to take over operations for up to 30 years. A majority vote of more than 50 percent was needed for the measure to pass. The hospital’s interim CEO thanked voters Wednesday, in an email to the community, he thanked all who made access to healthcare services a high priority. He says now Adventist Health will permit the deployment of proven preventative health programs within our community and create an attractive arrangement for more physicians to practice locally. The hospital board also voted unanimously to close the hospital’s obstetrics department last week and agreed on a “stabilize and transfer” protocol for expectant mothers starting at the end of March.
A resident in Del Norte County is showing symptoms of coronavirus. The Del Norte County Public Health and Del Norte County Office of Emergency Services are teaming up for the resident to get tested, following the guidelines set out by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The patient took themselves to a local healthcare facility then contact testing was initiated. That to see who this patient had been in contact with the previous two weeks. Exposed contacts are being quarantined at home and monitored for symptoms. They warn this is only a presumed case until it’s confirmed with the lab test. This person is being treated in a controlled environment, the risk to the public is low. Symptoms can be mild to severe with fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Older residents and individuals with underlying medical conditions are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.
A bunch of people on a cruise ship off the coast of California are being told to hunker down in their cabins until test results come back to see if the coronavirus is also aboard with more than 3,500 people. There was a military helicopter lowering tests to the Grand Princess by rope, then plucked them back up later for analysis. Princess Cruises reported 45 people were tested after a passenger on the same ship but a different cruise died of the coronavirus and at least four others got sick. The virus also had another Princess cruise ship under quarantine for two weeks. The Diamond Princess, in Yokohama, Japan, last month. On that cruise, 700 of 3,700 people aboard were infected with the virus. 14 people have died from the virus in the U.S. all but the one here in calif were in Washington state.
A man whose DNA showed up as being the Golden State Killer and East Side Rapist is going to plead guilty so he doesn’t have a death penalty trial. Court papers and a letter from Joseph James DeAngelo’s lawyers to the victim’s families says they want to avoid a long and costly trial. He’s accused of more than a dozen murders over more than ten years in six counties in Calif. And for 13 more counts of kidnapping and robbery. There were more he was accused of too in the 1970s and 80s but the statute of limitations has expired so he can’t be tried for those. The letter sent by the public defenders office said they want to reach a resolution that satisfies all parties.
