Lawmakers are looking to get more money for folks who file a malpractice lawsuit. If the bill moves through and makes it to the Governor, it wouldn’t have to become a ballot initiative instead. Right now the state doesn’t cap the amount patients can win in malpractice suits, but there is a limit on how much someone can win for non-material items like pain and suffering, at $250,000. It’s been a yearslong battle to get that limit up, with Doctors historically fighting the raising of limits, claiming it would explode their malpractice insurance premiums and that it could close community health clinics. Lawmakers are looking to gradually increase the limit over the next decade. The California Medical Association and the Consumer Attorneys of California, Californians Allied for Patient Protection support the move.
The state Fish and Game Commission on their toes at their meeting, tackling multiple issues. One is a regulation to ban the use of hydraulic pumps to catch clams, sand crabs and shrimp. It was already in the mix, but just a temporary regulation, which will become the standard. The Commission also approved its Pink (Ocean) Shrimp Fishery Management Plan, consistent with Oregon and Washington, so the marine animal will be part of a fishery, the first in the state with the Marine Stewardship Council sustainability certification. The Commission also considered listing southern California steelhead as threatened or endangered and said no to a petition to ban bear hunting.
After a father and son went missing after fishing in Humboldt Bay, their search was called off. The Coast Guard suspended the search for Scott Arbaugh of Eureka and his son Josh Arbaugh of Arcata. The pair took off from Fields Landing Tuesday using a small speedboat. They were reported missing by family members Tuesday night and the search began. Their sunken boat was found later that night about a ½ mile northeast of King Salmon. By yesterday the search was called off after over 50 hours of scouring the area. Helicopter and ground crews and dive teams searched.
The Save the Redwoods League says they’ve working to secure, then protect over 450 acres of coastal redwood forest in Mendocino County. It’s the Atkins Place property, which is critical habitat that connects Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve and Bureau of Land Management protected lands. A major chunk of it is a coast redwood and Douglas-fir forest. There is about 1.25 miles of steelhead and coho salmon-bearing streams and grassland and ridgelines. The League says they’ll work to raise $1.3 million by June 30th to make the acquisition a reality. The land is located in the South Fork Big River watershed and is spawning habitat for steelhead trout and coho salmon, plus endangered foothill yellow-legged frogs and northern spotted owls, northern goshawks, white-tailed kites and other raptors.
A grant has been applied for by both Adventist Health, Mendocino County and the City of Fort Bragg to fix up Bainbridge Park which was chosen as a finalist in the State Farm Neighborhood Assist program. If they get the most votes, the park could win the grant. Votes are being tallied online until next Friday, May 6th. The contest is a choice between 100 proposals and whoever gets the most online votes wins $25,000. That will pay for part of the installation of two artificial turf soccer fields, which are part of a major upgrade at Bainbridge Park, the only public playground in the city.
Individuals can vote up to ten times a day through May 6 by visiting https://www.neighborhoodassist.com/entry/2045173.
A man in Ukiah has been arrested after he was seen on a motorcycle by police then took off at speeds over 85 mph. Police had previously noticed the bike in a hotel parking lot without the correct license plates, the ones that were on the motorcycle were for a different bike. The officer on the scene says when the rider saw him, they took off. The officer went after the bike which was going too fast for the area and flying through intersections, while passing other vehicles in a reckless manner. The guy eventually got off the bike and ran and refused to listen to police commands to stop. He was finally stopped and identified as Joseph A. Hoaglin. Hoaglin was booked for reckless evading and forged vehicle registration and held on $35,000.00 bail.
The Neighborhood Fire Safe Council is offering free wildfire safety home assessments. The council is looking for neighbors to do the assessments together so they can get info out to as many people at once as possible. They say, not to worry, it’s a non-judgmental, non-binding, non-regulatory risk-free educational opportunity. You schedule the time and place and a Mendocino County Fire Safe Council representative will visit to explain how you can assess wildfire risks at your home, review ways to lower your risk, and they’ll walk your property and share observations and answer questions.
To set up an evaluation session contact us at admin@firesafemendocino.org or 707-462-3662
Lake County may return to a standalone Human Resources department, not one that’s managed by the County Administrative Office. An idea broached by Supervisor Bruno Sabatier at this week’s Tuesday meeting. The agency had been standalone for decades, then coming under the auspices of the County Administrative Office various times for various reasons. Departing County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson requested it be part of her office again, but now that she’s leaving office, her assistant will take over, but that means she’s oversee Human Resources as they search for Huchingson’s permanent replacement.
After a makeshift bomb was found in Lakeport, police are trying to figure out who left it behind. The homemade explosive device was found Tuesday night in the Grocery Outlet parking lot. Police and firefighters responded, and officers found it under a car. They say it looked like it was made of cardboard, powder, shrapnel, and a fuse. They said at the time it would not have exploded without being lit first. It was taken to a remote area to render it safe and officers are working to figure out how it got there and who made it.
A protest hearing against Lakeport’s long-awaited annexation of a section of S. Main Street is planned. The meeting is a week from tomorrow in the city council chambers. They will consider written protests about the annexation and won’t hear any testimony regarding the city’s application per se’. The annexation is for around 137 acres, with 50 parcels, south of existing Lakeport city limits, and across from South Main Street and Soda Bay Road and east of Highway 29. The annexation process started in 2019 and the Lake Local Agency Formation Commission approved the annexation in March of this year, but there needs to be a protest proceeding because of some written protests from area neighbors.
A company looking at alternatives or a fix for the Orr Street Bridge have been in Ukiah hearing from locals. The project manager for the bridge handed out maps, snacks and comment cards with the transportation engineer. Some people complaining about what the work would bring, noise, pollution and traffic snarl-ups. Options on the table include removing the currently closed bridge and rebuilding with a pedestrian walkway or just building a new pedestrian bridge at the end of Myron Place, but that could mean the removal of a bunch of trees.
If you want to weigh in, email comments to orrstreetbridge@cityofukiah.com or call 707-463-6200.
As COVID-19 cases rise in Sonoma County, more people are seeking testing. The county reported an average of 16-hundred people per day were getting tested, up 200 from last week. Sonoma County’s case rate is at 14 cases per day per 100-thousand residents. It was at six or seven cases per 100-thousand residents a few weeks ago. It reflects a steady rise in cases nationwide, largely blamed on the B-A-Two Omicron subvariant.
