Cal Fire and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are conducting a prescribed burn at the Coyote Valley Dam. It starts Monday at 5:00 P.M. and will about four hours with smoke visible throughout the Ukiah and Redwood Valley areas. They say it’s to help the Corps remove vegetation from the face of the Coyote Valley Dam for increased access and visibility for a required inspection. Coyote Dam and the Fish Hatchery area near the base of the dam will be closed to the public. The burn will be conducted under very tight restrictions for the personal safety of firefighters and area residents.
A new study shows women, Black and Latino workers are being paid less than their white male counterparts at California State University. The study by the Calif. State Univ. Employees Union shows disparities in nonfaculty members are part of a failure of the salary system which hasn’t been keeping pace with the rest of the country. And with that CSU and labor leaders are reportedly negotiating a way to rework the entire salary structure so the university system is more competitive on the job market. The report looked at the salaries of about 12,000 nonfaculty workers at 23 campuses and in the chancellor’s office, including custodians, lab technicians and healthcare workers.
Leggett had a minute of fame. The tiny town appeared on the TV game show Jeopardy Monday. The category was “On the Coast” and the winner of a question then chose the “On the Coast” category for $600 with the clue about “PCH”. It said it’s “PCH for short, this road has its northern terminus near Leggett, California.” The champ, who had been on a streak, punched the buzzer and answered the Pacific Coast Highway, which runs along the state. The champ had his last night though, even though he correctly named Leggett, losing a sixteen episode winning streak.
As a reminder the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has their budget talks and will broach a new sales tax subject. The meeting this morning will feature consideration by the Board of a new sales tax on the November ballot. The money received from the proposed tax would go for fire and/or water. Whether one or the other, or both, remains to be seen. At the same time, Mendo Voice reports the Citizens for the Library also have a tax on the ballot. They’ve reached out to the Board saying the competition on the ballot is not welcome. They’ve even secured 4,200 signatures for the library measure.
A hero has been honored by folks in Lakeport. A medal of heroism from the city with the police chief and former fire chief in attendance. Larry Richardson won the honor for jumping into action pulling two men out of a burning home last September. At the time he was on duty at the Lake County Fairgrounds and says he saw smoking at the Fairgrounds Village Mobile Home Park, a park for those 55 and older. The fire and police chiefs arrived after Richardson and say he risked his own life to rescue two people, who were burned by the fire. He carried one of them out. The two were both taken to the hospital for burns. The source of the fire was apparently a cigarette.
Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05)’s H.R. 7910, the Protecting Our Kids Act has passed the House of Representatives. Yesterday Congressman Thompson’s bill with NY House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler and Texas rep and Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairwoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Thompson says after the heartbreaking mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, and Tulsa, there’s also everyday gun violence that often goes unreported and has to be addressed to save lives. If it passes the Senate, it will raise the age of purchase of some firearms to 21, make the sale, import, manufacture, transfer or possession of a large capacity magazines illegal, put new laws in place against gun trafficking, regulate storing of firearms and more.
Could California go purple? The state’s been a blue Democratic stronghold for years, but then the progressive San Francisco DA was recalled, and a billionaire former Republican is the front runner for the Mayoral primary in LA. He’s now a Democrat though. There were a bunch of close US House races in Orange County and the Central Valley, but those areas have always leaned Red. Attorney General Rob Bonta has advanced to the General, but he’s got stiff competition from Republicans. But Republicans have been on the losing end of statewide races since 2006.
A record low turnout has been recorded for Tuesday’s primary election. Many races were uncontested locally, and the ones that did have challengers, won with staggering leads. Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle will face off against Governor Newsom in November. Even though Newsom has been bashed and battered, and faced a recall, he looks fairly safe in the race. Dems were also leading in races for US Senate with former Senator, and now VP Kamala Harris’ successor Alex Padilla leading in polls against Republican Mark Meuser and 21 other challengers. Some DA’s and other law enforcement officers across the state want to oust Attorney General Rob Bonta, but he has a stealthy lead against Republicans Nathan Hochman and Eric Early, and Anne Marie Schubert, the anti-establishment Sacramento DA who ran with no party preference. Turnout was only 16%.
It looks like a runoff for the State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. Yesterday morning with all counties reporting, Thurmond had under 46% of the vote. He had to get 50% to win outright. Three others, all closely behing Thurmond, first, a math teacher in San Francisco, Ainye Long, with 11.7%; then closely behind her were George Yang, an engineer from Menlo Park and former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, and Lance Christensen, a former vice president of education policy at the California Policy Center, a conservative think tank.
Many already know it, the month of June is Pride Month. The Lake County Board of Supervisors made that official at their latest meeting, proclaiming it and flying a rainbow flag over the courthouse. Also, the Board heard from the Sheriff about military equipment usage and the Community Development Director reported on forming the Cannabis Committee. The Sheriff’s office shared their new Military Equipment Policy and discussed buying more drones. The Sheriff says most of the equipment is stored in case there’s a riot at the jail. The Lakeport Police Chief also chimed in with support, since there’s no SWAT team around. The Cannabis Task Force we hear will have nine spots. The application deadline is next Wednesday.
Lake County’s Community Visioning Forum Planning Committee had another meeting. They’re set up to help promote tolerance, respect, equity and inclusion in the county. They have another half dozen meetings planned this year. They invite residents, county and city leaders along with tribal governments to attend. They hired a local consultant for visioning forums, Nicole Anderson, who told those in attendance it’s important to connect with others. There was also an anti-racism expert on hand discussing shifting mindsets and perspectives.
