A man accused of burglarizing a home in Fort Bragg has been found not guilty. The Mendocino County DA’s office posted on Facebook that the jury came back yesterday and acquitted 54 year old Robert Charles Nutt III for an incident that happened in Fort Bragg in December 2021.
PG&E reporting on a bunch of scams during National Consumer Protection Week. The report last week for the year 2021, where the utility company says they got over 11,000 scam reports from consumers who say someone called them pretending they worked for the company, and what’s more, they shelled out as much as $600,000 in fraudulent payments. The company says there were probably a whole bunch more not reported. And that there are still people getting the calls this year, at a high rate. In January PG&E reported getting 1,055 reports of attempted scams, with customers paying scammers over $65,000. In Feb., there were 4 in Ukiah and 3 in Lakeport and at least one in Clearlake, Garberville, Hopland and Redwood Valley.
Fort Bragg Police are adding social workers to the department to help when they get calls for someone with mental illness. They say they’ve had a 60% increase in such calls so they’re sending social workers for these service calls who will also act as caseworkers so they can help with any associated court appearances and assist with social services programs that may be available. They will also help with the Emergency Winter Shelter and a planned Respite Center. They’re also deciding which staff members within the department can help hire the social workers which will be paid for by a grant.
The owner of a property in Middletown who’s been trying to get a cannabis business up and running is appealing a recent Lake County Planning Commission ruling against them. WeGrow owner Zarina Otchkova filed an appeal to the Board of Supervisors last week for the growing, processing and distribution business on nine acres she owns, within a 309 acre property. She was planning for nearly 3 dozen greenhouses, some drying buildings, a shed, a bunch of water tanks and fencing next to Hidden Valley Lake. The Planning Commission unanimously gave it a thumbs down, saying there needed to be an environmental impact report.
Congressman Mike Thompson says he’s secured nearly 11 million dollars for infrastructure projects. The money will pour into the Fifth Congressional District as part of the ‘For The People’ bill. For Lake County, Kelseyville is getting nearly a half million dollars for a sidewalk project for the Safe Routes to School Program. And Lake County as a whole is getting $320,000 for the Lake County Full Circle Effluent Pipeline Preliminary Design Report Update. That money is going to check the existing wastewater treatment facilities to eventually provide source water for the effluent pipeline. The money will also pay to extend telehealth for 150 days beyond the end of the public health emergency; and many more projects statewide.
The Lake County Cannabis Alliance has presented a plan to the Lake County Board of Supervisors to help relieve them of some of their financial requirements as many across the state complain they could go out of business. The proposal would immediately reduce taxes, change regulations for seed to sale operations, and one-day allow the farmers to allow tourism projects. Their plan is for immediate relief for the industry, switching to a gross receipts tax model like other counties and re-examine zoning restrictions and allowable permits. Down the road, they’d like to see updates for current permits, and ways to upgrade farms so that Lake County can one day be the “Napa of Cannabis”.
Even though schools statewide will begin to dump their mask mandates, Sonoma County health and education leaders are going to urge students to continue wearing masks indoors. The mask mandate ends tomorrow. But in Sonoma County’s 40 school districts, they can individually decide if they want to enforce stricter face covering rules than the state’s. Santa Rosa will keep the mandate in place for now. The Sonoma County Office of Education Superintendent also ordered unvaccinated school staffers and volunteers to wear a mask indoors. They could also end up requiring weekly coronavirus testing.
The Russian River got a new name… temporarily. Somebody took it upon themselves to name the river the Ukrainian River, covering a sign with the country’s yellow and blue colors, like an inverted Ukrainian flag, because any upside-down flag is the international symbol of distress. A Salinas man said he did it, then posted it on social media.
Gas prices are way up, if you haven’t noticed. It’s about $5.69 a gallon for regular unleaded here in Calif. But the national average is about $1.30/gallon less. The average in Northern Calif. is about $5.70 as well, in San Francisco, it shot up to nearly $6/gallon. It’s all over the place in Lake County, from $5.29 to $5.99/gallon. And in Mendocino County, from $5.25 to $5.75, give or take. Gas prices exploded after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The President also announced earlier this week there would be a ban on Russian oil imports while the invasion continued spiking prices. The Gov. says he’s also working on relief for surging gas prices, but has yet to release what that looks like.
As new cases of the once ‘novel’ coronavirus decline, there’s a push for stricter paid sick leave laws from worker advocates. Those calling for change say they would also like to see stronger outreach regarding labor rights for rural farmworkers, as well as people who don’t speak English or Spanish. Apparently some workers aren’t even aware they could have retroactive pandemic paid sick leave available to them. Labor groups like The United Farm Workers, California Rural Legal Assistance and others in the Central Valley have reported to the state that many low-wage workers did not get COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave. State law says if there are 26 or more employees, workers are eligible for up to 80 hours of leave related to COVID.
