The Sheriff is out of work with COVID19. Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall says he’s isolating at home for the week after he tested positive. He says his symptoms are a scratchy throat and a positive COVID test. He said he’s announcing it, because it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Undersheriff Darren Brewster and Captain Greg Van Patten are currently leading the department in person as the jail is also dealing with an outbreak. Kendall says others are out with the virus too. He says most have mild symptoms, like him. He has also publicly acknowledged he is fully vaccinated, including a booster shot, wears masks when he has to and still got infected.
Pacific, Gas & Electric is offering those impacted by wildfires last summer free removal of large-diameter wood taken from trees felled during its wildfire response. When crews were out inspecting areas hit by wildfires and cut down dead or dying or hazardous trees, they left debris behind. The work is almost done so the utility is offering residents safe removal of the debris from their properties, if it’s safe to do so. It’s for those impacted by several area fires including the Cache, Dixie, Hopkins, KNP Complex and McFarland Fires, plus many others.
The Governor’s announced changes to the nation’s first ever earthquake alert system. Newsom announced new functionality in the MyShake app so that Californians and communities can feel safe. The app was funded by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and developed by the UC Berkeley Seismology Lab. It now includes an enhancement called HomeBase to allow users to set a default location to get earthquake early warning alerts. All app users have to do within the app is go to their settings page and see the new “Add HomeBase Location” button and click it. The app also now includes a tone before a verbal warning, if there’s a Tsunami alert, also on the settings page.
The state Attorney General is warning about a new COVID scam. Atty. General Rob Bonta says this time it’s phony testing locations and websites. Bonta says as cases of the virus have surged once again, testing sites got overwhelmed with many infected waiting in hours long lines and getting delayed or untimely results. And at home tests are practically impossible to get your hands on. Bonta says scammers took advantage and set up illegitimate COVID-19 testing companies and clinics. He says they’re not sure how many may still be operating.
Another Sherwood Firewise Communities meeting has been held, this time on Zoom due to the virus. Third District Supervisor John Haschak gave an update for those at the meeting for the County Service Area #3 benefit zone, and there was someone at the meeting from a fire hardening company to give some tips. Then the three working groups for Firewise’s also shared updates. Hashak commented on an Emergency Access Route out of the Brooktrails area that was used heavily last summer during the Oak Fire.
For more information, visit sherwoodfirewise.org. The volunteer run organization is always in need of more volunteers. The next quarterly meeting will be April 14.
Another Zoom meeting for the Willits Unified School District board. The board met two weeks ago, discussing the impact the virus continues to have on the school district. The Superintendent Joe Aldridge reported around 10 percent of school staff was hit by the virus or quarantining. And that they’re following state and county health orders. He said staffing had been challenging and is just trying to keep the schools opened and safe. And thanked staff for showing up. And the School Board President Robert Chavez said he was concerned about teacher burnout, a refrain we’re hearing nationwide.
One of the interim public health officers in Lake County’s urging the community to stay away from large gatherings as he thinks there will be a local surge over the next month. Lake Co News reports, Dr. Charlie Evans, who had helped Public Health in the past, joined the new Health Services Director Jonathan Portney at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday for the latest COVID report. Evans says the state has reached the plateau for omicron cases, but Lake and other rural areas are seeing rising case numbers. Right now, Dr. Evans says, Lake County has a 27.5% positivity rate, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic, at 89.4 cases per 100,000. There are 8 people in the hospital as of Monday.
The Governor keeps giving peaks of his new budget, and now a new $10 billion zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) package. Gov. Newsom says the future is electric and the state needs to make it easier and less expensive to go there. He says that means more help for residents to buy clean cars and to put up more charging stations across the state to eliminate the state’s dependence on oil and prove it can be done, to the entire world. The ZEV package would mean all electric by 2035.
There’s a proposal for a large Monarch butterfly mural in Ukiah in the city’s plaza. The Daily Journal reports the artist Danza Davis, is a Mendocino County native living in Potter Valley. The project would show a large Monarch butterfly, caterpillar and cocoon on a blank wall in the Alex R. Thomas Jr. Plaza downtown. The mayor is championing the idea, joining others nationwide, the paper reports, to “raise awareness and encourage preservation of the Monarch Butterfly.” Then the Ukiah City Council adopted the Mayors Monarch Pledge. The city’s Design Review Board will take up the matter at their meeting this afternoon.
Congressman Jared Huffman working with colleagues in the House and Senate to get the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service to move swiftly releasing the latest tax guidance to help wildfire victims with claims from the Fire Victim Trust. The $13.5 billion settlement from PG&E after the 2015 Butte Fire, the 2017 North Bay Wildfire storm and the 2018 Camp Fire. The money started to get handed out in November 2020, and then more by the end of 2021, so this may be the first year victims are taxed. Huffman says he’s calling on the IRS for expedience in the matter so victims can file their taxes on time and with confidence.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reporting to a property in the town of Whitehorn for a dead body. The Sheriff’s office reports the body was at a marijuana garden. The 42 year old man was reportedly dead for several days before Deputies found him, and they say there were no signs of foul play that stood out. The dept. also says a landlord on the property found the body saying their tenant had been living in “unkempt and had unhealthy conditions.” His family was being notified before the man’s name was released and the coroner was also investigating the cause of death with an autopsy.
