An epidemic of business closures due to low staff or companies refusing to adhere to the state’s vaccination rules. This time in Contra Costa County. Public health officials indefinitely closed the In-N-Out Burger in Pleasant Hill for ignoring continued warnings to verify customers dining inside could prove they were vaccinated or were tested for the COVID 19 virus in the past 72 hours. Two other locations did the same and were warned or fined in Contra Costa too. In-N-Out continues to blow off the requirements, putting out a statement that they won’t be the “vaccination police”, calling it “unreasonable, invasive, and unsafe”. The In-N-Out in San Francisco was also shuttered for a few days for the same reasons.
Lakeport Police have formally partnered with Lake Family Resource Center to offer help to those dealing with mental health challenges and help the department with de-escalating certain situations. Last week the City Council approved an intervention responder program and gave the Police Chief and City Manager permission to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Lake Family Resource Center. That means a community crisis intervention specialist will be funded by Lake Family Resource Center and assigned to the Lakeport Police Department. They’re currently finalizing the memo and look to start the program officially Monday.
A man from Humboldt County we told you about who went missing on a camping and hunting trip near Covelo is still gone and his family is asking for help finding him. John Davis vanished on his trip Sunday morning. There’s a meetup to search for him this morning at 10 a.m. at the 8 mile Bridge on Highway 162 west of Covelo. He was reportedly out with his son and dog, who were found. Davis is described as a 48 year-old white man with brown hair and blue eyes, 5 foot 11, 220 lbs. He was last seen in a camouflage rain jacket and neon green pants with reflective stripes.
A man wanted for three warrants in Ukiah has been arrested. Police say an officer on patrol saw a car with an equipment violation and stopped it. The driver gave a phony name, but was identified eventually as Jesse Lucas, who had 3 misdemeanor warrants for his arrest. He was found with two others, a female named Nicole Sanderson and a man who was not involved in any wrongdoing. Lucas was detained after being found with suspected Fentanyl, then 131 grams of suspected methamphetamine and Fentanyl packaged for sale. There was also paraphernalia for their use. Sanderson was also detained but released with a citation for having a pipe. Lucas was jailed on $22,000.00 bail.
Police say they’ve arrested a man for driving a stolen car from Georgia in Ukiah. They pulled the guy over in a 2021 Nissan sedan for driving well over the speed limit on S. State St. Two people in the car were removed. Charles Christian was found to be on parole for a felony. He said the car was rented from Enterprise in North Carolina, but he apparently never brought it back. He was arrested and held on no bail. The passenger was not found to be involved and released at the scene.
Police in Ukiah at the Jack in the Box on Airport Park Blvd., earlier this month for reports of a fight. A 911 caller said two men were in an altercation. One named, David Calvo, was found with a concealed fixed blade knife and detained without incident. Another man had visible injuries on his head and face and told police Calvo, an acquaintance of his, accused him of stealing his jacket, and he punched him trying to take the jacket off him. A witness yelled to stop. Calvo was also found with a glass pipe to smoke meth out of, and he had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant. He was arrested and held on 62,500.00 bail. The victim was checked out by medics and released.
Lake County officials have put out a statement after finding out the California Citizens Redistricting Commission had released potential District-based boundaries, which would alter all of Lake County’s present alignments. It happens each decade after the US Census, but the county was against the materials being seen by the public. Their press release said the proposed overhaul would be a great disservice to Lake County at a critical time. So the Board of Supervisors submitted a Letter of Opposition to the Commission, and is encouraging concerned Lake County residents, to make their voices heard too.
To submit comments, visit https://www.wedrawthelinesca.org/ and scroll down to “Visualizations Feedback Form.” The commission is meeting again today.
The Fort Bragg City Council has put caps on business permits for cannabis dispensaries in the central business core. There is not a cap outside the area in the city though. They’ve capped it at three dispensaries, which will be given permits on a merit-point system instead of first-come-first-served. The council is looking to put local businesses first. Right now there are two cannabis dispensary business permits approved, one of which is in the central business district, but there are more pending. The city council is also looking to keep any dispensaries at least 100 feet away from youth centers.
It looks like the Employment Development Dept. is putting the scandals behind them and catching up with the scores of backlogged claims from when the pandemic first surfaced. The agency has admitted there may have been as much as $31 billion in fraudulent payments made and hundreds of thousands of backlogged claims for weeks at a time. Lawmakers took a meeting on the matter this week. The state auditor had a report from back in January that found EDD was unprepared for the pandemic. The head of the agency, appointed by the Governor around the same time says the department is “being transformed”. She also said the department has been working its way through 21 recommendations by the state auditor.
The yearly Lake County Burn Ban has been lifted. Cal Fire allowed for the move due to the lowered wildfire risk after recent rains. The Lake County Air Quality Management District says you must have a burn permit in order to burn outdoors and you can pick them up at your local Fire Protection District.
The water emergency in the city of Fort Bragg is over and at least one of the city of Mendocino’s wells has recovered. The well looks to be in recovery mode after severe drought that caused a trio of wells to run dry this past summer. The Mendocino Voice reports the town got over 4 inches of rain Saturday alone and the October rainfall total is over 8 inches, just shy of the ten inches the town needed for recovery in 35 wells that were either dry or underproducing. The news site also reports at the city council meeting in Fort Bragg on Monday, they rescinded the water emergency where the Noyo River was flowing nicely over normal for this time of year. Some areas of the county got between 4-13 inches of rain from the atmospheric river that dumped on us this weekend and Monday. There’s also a chance of rain today, but slight. And another system is expected Sunday into Monday.
Crews came out as the rain fell to protect the Russian River from debris that could have flowed from the Hopkins Fire burn area. After the National Weather Service forecasted four to six inches of rain for the Ukiah valley, the county moved to protect the river. The Board of Supervisors agreed to allow work around the burn scar for about $50,000. The California Conservation Corps jumped into help. The Russian Riverkeeper nonprofit also helped, bringing supplies along. The crews reported to the Mendocino Voice news site they were able to curtail as much as 95 percent or more of the debris out of the river. The Board of Supervisors got a status report Tuesday after the rainstorms moved out, finding a small section of the riverbank collapsed but most of the work helped.
