The long saga of the Potter Valley hydropower project near Ukiah is entering a new chapter, but how the story ends is still a mystery now that PG&E’s operating license has expired. The project includes two dams, a powerhouse, and a diversion tunnel between the Eel and Russian Rivers. Now, it looks like PG&E will give up the license, meaning the dams could eventually come down. Congressman Jared Huffman, who has been working on the decommissioning, says it will take years before all the details are worked out between PG&E, federal regulators, and others with a stake in the outcome. Environmental groups want the dams gone to recover wild salmon and other fish populations blocked from their natural habitats by the project.
A remote ridge in eastern Lake Country could be preserved as part of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla and Reps. Mike Thompson and John Garamendi are behind a bill that would add the 11-mile Walker Ridge to the Monument lands. The bill has the backing of more than a dozen environmental groups and the Yolo Tribe. The ridge along the Lake County border with Colusa County is a diverse habitat that is home to Bald and Golden eagles, Peregrine falcons, Tule elk, mountain lions black bears, bobcats, and other imperiled species. Congressman Thompson thinks the addition of that 4,000-acre tract will pass. The Lake Berryessa monument runs through Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Solano, and Yolo counties and was established by then-President Barack Obama’s executive order in July 2015.
California businesses continue to add jobs as the number of unemployed people dipped below one million for the first time since the pandemic started. Last month, there were more than 62,000 new positions created statewide. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the California Employment Development Department say the state has recovered 2,463,400 of thee jobs lost during the pandemic, or 89.2%. Governor Newsom calls the new numbers good news for the state’s continued economic recovery. The road ahead may be rougher though. Some economists think as both government support and consumer spending shrink, the job market could get tighter in the coming months.
The COVID19 vaccine mandate for school kids has been tabled… for now. The Governor’s office announced holding off on the mandate until at least, next summer. That’s to allow federal regulators time for final approval for the vaccine for children. The California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly says that schools will also need more time to prepare for the mandate once the approval happens, so with that, officials say the mandate will not happen before July 1st of 2023. The Governor says the state will require all school kids to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, but since the vaccine only got emergency approval for children so far, we wait. There will be two exceptions for the vaccine: Medical reasons and personal beliefs.
The man who’s charged with killing another man in the parking lot of a bank last month would not appear in court. 69-year-old Leslie Adelman is accused of stabbing James Anderegg to death March 27th during a fight over possessions in Ukiah. The courthouse deputy explained on the record that Adelman complained he was not able to see his lawyer yet. But the lawyer with the alternate defender’s office told the Mendocino Voice that wasn’t true. The news site says they have requested Adelman’s visitor and phone call records from the Mendocino County Jail. Police say the victim, Anderegg was arrested a couple weeks before his death for robbery, but the charges were later dropped, and he was released from jail. Adelman’s plea entry has been postponed until next Thursday, for which he’s been ordered to appear.
The Mendocino National Forest is closed due to wet trails. Forest officials issued a wet weather trail closure starting today. These closures generally go into effect if there’s two inches or more of rain in a 24-hour time frame or if the earth becomes saturated. The wet weather off-highway vehicle (OHV) trail closures mean no trail use because it’s too slippery. It also impacts water quality, damages trail tread and puts public safety at risk. The temporary closure lasts until there’s no measurable precipitation recorded for 48 consecutive hours.
Ukiah city staffers along with the city’s Diversity, Equity Committee are being honored. The Committee was put together in 2020 after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. They were tasked with coming up with an Equity Action Plan for the city. There are 11 committee members who represent the city council and nine demographic groups. They say they started to immediately engage with underrepresented groups in the community to understand barriers, resources, and opportunities. They also had multiple discussions with City leadership and local government and learned much about diversity, equity, and inclusivity issues and best practices. The city’s Equity Action Plan was adopted in January 2022.
For more information about the Committee, Equity Action Plan, and our accomplishments, visit www.cityofukiah.com/equity or contact Traci Boyl at 707-467-5720 or tboyl@cityofukiah.com.
The state’s considering declaring a water emergency in this third year of drought. The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) Division of Water Rights (Division) is looking at readopting an emergency regulation to reduce water rights in the Russian River watershed. The Water Board looked over the 2021 Emergency Regulations so now the Division is proposing changes. The new emergency regulation would feature four major changes: (1) a refined water availability methodology for the Russian River Watershed; (2) protect water for fish habitat in Lower Russian River tributaries; (3) support for a voluntary conservation program that would work in parallel with curtailments; and (4) improved administration of curtailments and exceptions across watersheds. They had a public workshop on the matter yesterday.
A man from Nice has been found guilty of multiple sex assaults. The jury found 37-year-old Antonio Thomas Magalhaes guilty after only deliberating for an hour. He was charged with 7 crimes, including sodomy by force, rape and rape of an unconscious person. He’s in jail until sentencing in June and faces nearly 40 years to life. During trial the jury heard about multiple cases of assault and abuse on one victim from Sept. of 2018 until March of 2019. The victim said he broke into her home, held her down and forced himself on her. Another time he broke into her home while she was sleeping and attacked her. Another victim was attacked by Magalhaes while she was too drunk to resist and raped her while she was unconscious.
A woman from Novato has been sent to jail for nearly a year after a crash that killed two people last March. 23 year old Keilah Marie Coyle was charged for a crash that killed 53 year old Cassandra Elaine Rolicheck and 47 year old Miguel Maciel Dominguez. At the time police said Coyle was in a pickup truck and involved in a noninjury hit and run on Highway 101 in Sonoma County. Later she was on Highway 29 north of Middletown and crossed the highway’s double yellow lines and hit Rolicheck’s van. The prosecution charged Coyle with several counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and special allegations for causing great bodily injury and the death of more than one person. She was in jail a couple months, then released to rehab. Besides her year in jail, she will be on probation. But if she violates probation, she could end up in state prison. Since she was in rehab and jail already, she was released with time served.
