An outbreak of COVID-19 has been reported at the Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center in Ukiah. 8 cases reported so far in residents. The Mendocino County Public Health Dept is working with the shelter on contact tracing, isolating those who have tested positive and telling close contacts to quarantine. The CEO of Redwood Community Services says they’re also working with Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Street Medicine and are currently not offering any public services to slow the spread, at the same time taking care of the guests they do have there and following isolation and quarantine orders. They’re continuing their sanitizing measures as well. The Public Health Officer, Dr. Andy Coren says the shelter’s been ready for an outbreak due to the risk with their work and have done what they can to slow the spread. He says the staff at Building Bridges are heroes for dedicating themselves to helping such a vulnerable population during these times.
Today in FORT BRAGG, there is free testing at the Veterans Hall, it’s walk in, and first come first serve, starting at 9 am. They’re located at 360 Harrison Avenue. A reminder to wear a mask and maintain social distance when waiting in line.
A fire has burned in Covelo near the Cal Fire Station. The fire was put down pretty quick last night, just after 8 pm. Smoke was visible in the area, witnesses saying it looked to be the back of a house or barn in flames.
Legislators are back indoors for a session for essential services, as they refer to it, as 85% of the rest of the state is in lockdown. The session took place the same day as the new shelter in place order started in Southern Calif, a major chunk of the Central Valley and five counties around the San Francisco Bay. The Press Democrat reports both the Senate and Assembly met inside with permission from Sacramento County public health officials. Sacramento and surrounding counties are not in lockdown because they have more than the threshold of ICU beds at 15%. No visitors are allowed at the capitol and they reportedly have a new air filtration system. And the Assembly met at the NBA arena so the 80 members had enough space for social distance.
There’s an app for that. The Governor announced a new smartphone tool to see people around you who may be infected with coronavirus and alert others if you’re infected. It’s been used as a beta test on some university campuses, and developers don’t allow people to know who you are or exact location. It uses Bluetooth wireless signals to detect as two phones get within 6 feet of each other for at least 15 minutes. You can opt in if you’re interested starting Thursday.
A woman and her three year old son who had been missing in northern Mendocino County, then found 5 days later are recovering themselves after they were in a car crash that injured a man. Kym Kemp is reporting they spoke to Trinity Brey’s rescuers. 2 firefighters found Brey and her son Anthony Florentine-Perez December 4th after they disappeared from the crash November 30th near Confusion Hill. The firefighters say one of them found the woman half naked and her toddler in an embankment, who was totally naked. An ambulance took the pair to the hospital. The firefighters brought clothes to the boy in the hospital, he was hungry and dehydrated. No word on their condition or why the pair had no clothes.
The Governor just saying no to his party who say the state can afford another $2.6 billion a year on Medicaid for illegal immigrants. A state senator from Los Angeles and an Assembly member from the Central Valley are reportedly pressuring Governor Newsom so the state would become the first to cover every income-eligible resident for healthcare, regardless of their immigration status. They can already qualify for Medi-Cal if they’re under 26 years old. Newsom has spoken in the past about the state getting universal health coverage in campaign promises, he also spoke about single-payer health care. But he’s been distracted by huge wildfires, homelessness, and as of late the pandemic.
Assemblyman Jim Wood says he’s introduced a bill to expand statewide efforts to prevent wildfires. Wood says 15 out of the 20 most destructive wildfires in the state have been in the last 10 years. And he says, five of the six largest wildfires in California were this year. He blames it on historic fuel load levels along with the effects of climate change devastating the state over the years. Wood’s bill will beef up the state’s capacity to prevent and reduce the impact of wildfire so that folks don’t lose their homes and rely on insurance companies. Wood says one in four residential structures are within or in proximity to “high” or “very high” fire hazard severity zones.
An online meeting is being held by Caltrans and the Mendocino Council of Governments on the Gualala Downtown Streetscape Enhancement project. The meeting’s not until next month, but they want to gather public comment ahead of that. They’re currently working on an alternative to what they already received public comment on. So now there’s a new online survey to gather more input and comments about the new project. Right now there ae issues with State Route 1 through downtown Gualala which can cause conflicts between cyclists, pedestrians, and vehicles, so they’re looking to create safe, comfortable facilities for pedestrian and bicycle travel, and to improve traffic flow in the area. For more info on the January 14th public meeting, visit: dot.ca.gov/gualaladowntown
Over $565 million dollars has been set aside for projects on Calif. roads and 2 billion for future improvements. Caltrans says they’re committed to improving transportation infrastructure and creating safer, more reliable travel options.
The Mendocino County Cannabis Cultivation Ad Hoc Committee has rescheduled its Virtual Town Hall. It’s tomorrow at 4 pm with Supervisors John Haschak and Ted Williams. They plan to update the public on the latest efforts with State agencies. The public will have an opportunity to ask questions and provide public comment. When: Wednesday, December 16, 2020 at 4:00 pm To attend:
To join via Zoom, click the link: https://mendocinocounty.zoom.us/j/89835755017
To join via phone, dial: +1 669 900 9128 and enter the webinar ID: 898 3575 5017
The webinar will also be streaming live on the County’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/mendocinocountyvideo) and the County’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/mendocinocounty/).
A new study says there will be catastrophic flooding in the state and will disproportionately impact low income housing. The study by a health scientist at UCLA says low income communities and communities of color are most vulnerable. The threats are mostly in California’s smaller cities and in the northeastern United States. But in Calif, there were three Bay Area cities in the top 20 at-risk cities in the study, Corte Madera in Marin County, Foster City in San Mateo County and Suisun City in Solano County. The UCLA study says affordable housing would be hit harder in almost all of the top ranked cities and the danger goes up exponentially by 2050.
It didn’t go as planned for environmental groups in court, against a project along the 101 and into Richardson Grove State Park. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week the lower court made a mistake by saying Caltrans did not consider the impact on redwoods’ root zones, traffic and noise in its environmental assessments of the project. The appeals court said the state agency’s analysis did address and satisfy the National Environmental Protection Act’s requirements. And so the higher court reversed the district court’s judgment, and vacated the injunction.
The state has made sure those living in fire prone areas will not lose their homeowners insurance. The Daily Journal reports premiums and nonrenewal rates are going through the roof the last five years. This year alone more than 4 million acres were blackened, twice the last record. So now the state’s insurance commissioner has put a one year moratorium in place so that over 2 million homeowners near the fires that broke out this year, are protected. It gives them time to find a new policy or try to find a way to abate fire risk around their home and get their current provider to continue insuring them.
The yearly Redwood Credit Union holiday giving program is online like so many other events during the pandemic. Instead of members taking food and gifts to various credit union branches, there are virtual options this year. You can visit the website for some virtual ideas. They have partners who will collect food and gifts and distribute to the most needy. The credit union is partnering with Ukiah Valley Christmas Effort in Mendocino County and the Redwood Empire Food Bank. The credit union is asking anyone who can to donate and choose a nonprofit that will help.
A special Fort Bragg City Council meeting along with a local church so they can put together a homeless shelter this winter. At the meeting last night the mayor said we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis in the community this winter. Mayor William Lee says as it gets colder, if they don’t find a way to do something, there could be deaths from exposure to the elements. Usually, the nonprofit, Mendocino Coast Hospitality provides year round services for the homeless, but they’ve had a hard time finding a space and staff. Apparently they found a spot thru Trinity Lutheran Church for January and the first two weeks of February. They voted unanimously to move forward and to pay more to get staff onboarded, as much as $4 per hour.
CAL FIRE Mendocino Unit is doing a huge controlled burn outside Yorkville. The burn part of the Vegetation Management Program tomorrow and Thursday near Upper Rancheria Creek in the southeastern part of the county, south of Highway 128 and north of Cloverdale. Aircraft and smoke will be visible in the area. They say the primary reason is to reintroduce fire as a natural element of the ecosystem, then to improve wildlife habitat for small mammals and reduce overall vegetation to lower the risk of catastrophic wildfires in the future. The burn will be done under very tight restrictions with the safety of firefighters and area residents at the forefront. The agency says if there’s any indication the burn cannot be conducted safely due to the weather, they’ll cancel.
An investigation into why a woman and her son disappeared after a car accident where a man received major injuries. The CHP reports after Trinity Brey and her son were found Friday, she partially clothed, and the 3 year old, naked. Evidence shows, the CHP says, that Brey was driving the car that was in the solo crash November 30th. The woman and her son disappeared afterwards, found on the side of the 101. The CHP also says there were drugs found in the car and child protective services is also investigating. The CHP also reports Brey says after the crash, she and her boy fell into the Eel River then stayed at an old, abandoned marijuana grow across the river for four days. Witnesses had called 911 to say they saw a naked woman in the area.
