A man from Ukiah could be going to prison for ripping off some money from a motel room last year. The Mendocino County DA reports 60 year old Robert Ed Taylor was convicted for going into a motel room last May and stealing $800 while the occupants were away. He also had six previous Strike offenses from 1979 – 2016 for various crimes like robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and making terrorist threats, twice. He had more charges on his record out of Southern Calif. too for grand theft, causing traumatic injury in Santa Cruz County and possessing drugs in Alameda County. His case is being sent to the probation department for a sentencing recommendation and he’s due back in court next month.
As cases head down the slope in Calif. the Gov. is allowing more businesses to open on the way to a full reopening in a couple months. And lawmakers have passed a bill so hotels and other hospitality companies start to bring laid-off workers back. The industry was hit hard by the state’s stay home order last year and companies are starting to fill back up, to at least 50% capacity. A Democratic lawmakers bill forces hotels, private clubs and janitorial service companies to reach out to former employees and give them their jobs back, but also give them five days’ notice to see if they want to come back.
Even more people are eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine. The state is allowing anyone over age 16 to be vaccinated and reports there are more vaccine doses on the way. And almost half the residents 16 and older have received at least one dose, and nearly 74 percent of those 65 and older. The state reports administering more than 24 million doses, almost 5 million of those in the hardest hit communities. Blue Shield who is managing the vaccines for the state says the state can administer up to six million vaccine doses a week. The director of the state Dept. of Public Health says we still need to stay vigilant and not let our guard down even after being fully vaccinated.
In Lake County, the interim Public Health Officer, says cases are declining. Dr. Evan Bloom is filling in for Dr. Gary Pace who’s on vacation. Bloom reported to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday those getting the virus now are not vaccinated, and that’s why they’re pushing for more people to be fully vaccinated. You can sign up with Public Health to get your vaccine, they will automatically set up your second appointment for you. Adventist Health and Sutter Health are hosting vaccine clinics and Lake County Tribal Health Consortium is vaccinating its patients.
The state Public Utilities Commission had been looking to rebuke or somehow punish Pacific Gas and Electric for not taking swifter action in its plan to fight wildfires in its service area. The commission has put the utility in the first of the six steps of Enhanced Oversight and Enforcement Process so the company will work faster to improve its safety record after coming out of bankruptcy in 2020. This means the commission could come down even harder on PG&E to make sure the company is working to improve its safety performance if specific “triggering events” occur. They will have enhanced reporting and oversight requirements and if they continue to fail, there could be a full revocation of PG&E’s ability to operate as a California electric utility.
Library Park in Lakeport has no bathroom access at night because of ongoing security issues. The city reports staff from the Public Works Department are working on more maintenance and upkeep at the public restrooms and nearby boat ramps. Lake Co News reports there have also been complaints people were in the bathrooms longer than a half hour and leaving hazardous things like used needles behind. The city also reported some people were even sleeping in the bathrooms overnight and locking the doors. So they will all be closed and locked at midnight and the main restrooms, next to Carnegie Library at the park, are locked at 4:30 p.m. daily. There will also be more police patrolling the park.
Here we go again, critically dry land across Calif. That means wildfire season is sooner. The National Weather Service in Sacramento says there’s record dryness in the state for this time of year, that’s more typical of June, than April. Lake Co News reports a professor of meteorology and his students from San Jose University are studying plants moisture content saying April’s usually the highest fuel moisture content, but the plants they studied for the Fire Weather Research Laboratory were still dormant. The news site reports Calif. is 70% below normal for total precipitation this water year which goes from Oct. 1st to September 30th of the following year.
The Governor is pushing for all Calif. schools to reopen in the fall. It’s not a mandate though. The Gov., who is facing a recall effort, plans to reopen the state June 15th. And as part of his plan, he wants to see schools 100% reopened in the fall for the next semester. The Gov. visited an elementary school in Santa Rosa a couple of days ago saying, if the current trend of cases going down continues, full in-person instruction can be offered to all students next school year. There are no requirements for schools to reopen, but he is offering financial incentives for schools that do. Some schools and teachers remain reluctant, and parents, especially in hardest hit areas are still keeping their kids home even if in person learning is offered.
Things are getting better at the Building Bridges Homeless Shelter in Ukiah. The last report that went to the Planning Commission on the shelter’s operations regarding police calls, shows they’ve gone down the last several months. The Daily Journal reports there were no reports of complaints from the public or those staying at the shelter since the last report. There were 135 calls between September 2020 and February 2021 to Police, but it was down from 189 calls the year before. The report says most of the calls were from those staying at the shelter, but management says they believe they’ve improved the reporting process. There was concern about a possible rape report, but apparently it come from someone who was not staying at the shelter and came to the shelter for help.
California plagued with fraudulent unemployment claims and still investigating. Now a new report says first time claims were at their lowest level for three months. There were nearly 70,000 initial claims during the week ending April 10th, way lower than the 145,500 claims from the week before. Across the country there were 576,000 initial claims down from 769,000 claims the week prior. Continual glitches in Calif. though with the system. The Employment Development Department tweeted 178,000 workers couldn’t reapply for their benefits though. They say they’re trying to fix the glitch.
The federal government has declared Calif. is officially in a drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture declared a drought disaster for 50 counties so farmers across the state can get federal loans. The Secretary of Agriculture reportedly wrote to Gov. Newsom with the designation, calling them “primary natural disaster areas” due to drought. That means emergency federal loans can be made available. It’s not a drought emergency declaration though, that would allow the governor to take action for the entire state, like mandatory conservation, waiving some regulations and reallocating funds.
