The Ukiah City Council reportedly preparing for cost cutting because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Daily Journal reports city staff will be showing the council their plan to slash spending because of losses from coronavirus in the city. The report will have service level changes due to the “unprecedented financial impacts to the city’s financial health.” The report will suggest cutting as much as $320,000 out of the 20/21 budget and the city manager’s expected to present the council with ideas today. Some of the ideas for cuts are to non-essential services, like the Sundays in the Park concert series, Moonlight Movie Madness and youth sports, plus modifications to other non-essential services. The meeting at 6 tonight is virtual… Register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/4910662329263871245
A man from Ukiah has been arrested for stealing a car from a woman who gave him a ride. Police say a woman called to report her car missing after she left the man alone in her car as she went into the Safeway on S. State St. Monday night. She says when she came out, her car was gone. 23 year old Thomas Hanover was arrested early yesterday morning after the car was stopped by cops in the 300 block of East Gobbi Street. They say it was a high risk stop requiring back up officers from the Sheriff’s Office and the CHP. Another man with Hanover, Anthony Rojas was also arrested. Cops say Hanover was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft and violating his probation. Rojas for being involved in the vehicle theft, and for violating his probation because of contraband found in the vehicle that was his. The vehicle was released back to the owner.
The Gov. says he’ll have a new statewide order out regarding coronavirus ahead of the Independence Day holiday weekend. Even though he already ordered mask wearing to be mandatory, there will be enforcement to go with it. He says it’s mostly up to local law enforcement and adds the state has financial resources to beef up enforcement of the order in counties or cities if local officials decide they won’t comply. The state has set aside $2.5 million in the state budget for health directives at the county level. Newsom says if local law enforcement officers won’t enforce and are being dismissive, that money will be used to override them. The order comes as the state Department of Public Health reports positive tests increased from 4.4% two weeks ago to 5.6% over the last 14 days and 5.9% over the last seven days.
A restaurant owner in Mendocino has closed shop after another $10,000 violation of the county’s health order. Instead of requiring workers to wear masks, he boarded the Fiddleheads Café up on Saturday. The owner, Chris Castleman has received two formal notices of violation, ordering him to stop operating unless he follows the directives to slow the spread of the virus. He spray painted on the boarded windows, “Closed by order of Mendocino County”, and that’s a violation of zoning provisions as a Historical Preservation District. He was first cited June 16th and told the Press Democrat he wouldn’t be forcing his employees to do anything, adding it was a personal choice. Now he’s got a GoFundMe page to raise money for lawyers’ fees. The post says it’s after “3 months of attacks from a small group of activist/bullies and overreaching politicians” so he’s going to fight back.
No new restrictions in Sonoma County after three new deaths since March. The Press Democrat reports the county supervisors have not put out any new directive, nor has the Public Health Officer ahead of the July 4th holiday weekend. The county saw its highest one day total of 282 cases this week, 25% of its total since March when the pandemic first started surfacing. The newspaper reports Supervisor Lynda Hopkins says contact tracing has connected a lot of the new cases to Memorial Day weekend gatherings. She says she believes if residents do the right thing, they can slow the rate of infections. And the chair of the Board of Supervisors says visitors to Sonoma Valley have not been consistently following orders to wear a mask.
A new report says the California board regulating nurses across the state doctored records to make it look like they were following up on allegations against nurses. The state auditor report says some of the allegations were serious complaints including patient harm, which in some cases leads to nurses losing their licenses. In 2016 the auditor found the board took too long assigning and reviewing complaints from medical misconduct to the death of a toddler. The audit directed the board to move faster to get thru a backlog of pending investigations against nurses, but instead they wrote things down in 2018 that were false. The next report against the Board of Registered Nursing is due next month, a review of whether they’re properly overseeing nursing schools.
New restrictions expected by the Gov. ahead of the holiday weekend. The Gov. announced he would come out with a new order today as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations spike. He says if folks are not planning to stay home or wear a mask, they will have to enforce it to slow the spread of the disease. He has not said exactly what, but hinted it could include restrictions on indoor gatherings because family gatherings were one of the “areas of biggest concern”.
Four more cases of coronavirus have turned up in Lake County. And Five in Mendocino County. Tests are still pending in both counties. The Mendocino County Public Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan spoke yesterday instead of her regular Friday public announcements because of the July 4th holiday weekend. Dr. Doohan says the county will have to slightly roll back the shelter in place order that she’ll release today.
The Lake County Public Health Office reported a total of 60 cases now, 20 are active and four are in the hospital, one more than on Monday.
The Mendocino County Public Health Officer says the state is currently experiencing the start of the surge that she says will peak in Sept. She says the new shelter in place order is because of the spikes in the state and in alignment with what’s happening elsewhere and in Mendocino County. Five cases were confirmed positive yesterday. The county has had 83 cases. The new health order goes into effect Friday at noon. Leisure as it was is staying, but not opening further. Bars will be closed in county’s on the state’s watch list. Alcohol can only be sold until 8pm. She also says her earlier order allowing groups, or bubbles of people at work or in childcare will be reduced from 12 to 6.
A group of people planning an unofficial 4th of July “parade” in Willits have called it off. The city council and city manager had announced they were against the idea after learning about it. It was being organized after the cancellation of the traditional celebrations in Willits due to the pandemic. The group reported to the city council they were not trying to promote massive crowds, just a string of decorated cars traveling through downtown. But no matter, the city and county asked them to cancel. And at the last city council meeting organizers tried to explain but council members weren’t having it. The number of coronavirus started to spike at the same time of the last council meeting, so one of the organizers posted on Facebook, with that in mind, they were canceling.
The Governor working out a deal with lawmakers so schools wouldn’t have permanent cuts of up to $8 billion dollars. But the state’s relying on money from the federal government to help shore up the state budget and will temporarily take money from schools if needed. The Lake County School Superintendent Brock Falkenberg says if the money from the fed doesn’t come thru, there will be deferrals to school districts which could mean loans for some schools. The Super of Kelseyville schools says they have scant reserves and if they need to defer money from the state, they will have to get a loan. For the time being the state will divert money from the first stimulus related to coronavirus, the CARES Act, $1 to $6 billion for K-12 schools for reopening and learning loss fixes.
Senator Mike McGuire’s bill related to public safety power shutoffs has passed the full Senate. The bill will force utility companies to harden, modernize and manage vegetation so the intentional shutoffs have a smaller footprint and don’t last as long as the ones last year. McGuire says his legislation will make shutoff events the tool of last resort, and not a default strategy. He blames the utility for not updating the grid and his bill will make the company move faster to make improvements to their system. It forces Investor- Owned Utilities to prioritize public health and safety and to provide reliable electrical service which McGuire says Californians deserve in this day and age.
