Another call to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. This week Congressman John Garamendi, Congressman Mike Thompson and other California senators and representatives sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to use his authority under the Antiquities Act to expand the National Monument to include Walker Ridge. Lake County News reports President Barack Obama designated the national monument in 2015 but officials say Walker Ridge is among sacred lands within and around Berryessa Snow Mountain that are central to indigenous origin stories.
The man police suspect to be a serial killer responsible for six murders in Stockton and Oakland has been formally charged with three of them. On Tuesday Stockton resident Wesley Brownlee was charged with the deaths of three men. Prosecutors have not yet said if or when they will charge him with the other three. Investigators say the five 2022 homicides in Stockton and one last year in Oakland followed the same factual patterns and the shots were from the same gun.
Mendocino College has a new transfer alliance with Arizona State University. Officials say the program called MyPath2ASU allows students to take the steps needed at the start of their Mendocino college experience to successfully plan a transfer to ASU. They say the program includes guaranteed general admission to ASU and admission into a MyPath2ASU major choice as long as all the requirements are satisfied. The program reportedly has more than 400 course-by-course guided pathways into degree programs.
If you are looking at doing some earthquake upgrades to your home, registration is open in Mendocino County for the “Earthquake Brace + Bolt Program”. Homeowners in Fort Bragg, Mendocino, Redwood Valley, Ukiah, and Willits are encouraged to take advantage of grant funding to offset the cost of seismic retrofitting of your primary residence. Eligible homeowners could get up to $3,000 to help offset the cost of seismic retrofits that brace the cripple walls of older homes and bolt houses to their foundations. Apply online through November 29 https://www.earthquakebracebolt.com.
The owners of a Calistoga landfill are selling it to Waste Connections. The North Bay Business Journal reports Upper Valley Disposal & Recycling is selling the embattled Clover Flat Resource Recovery Park which they’ve operated since 1963. COO Christy Pestoni reportedly made the decision following the death of company founder Bob Pestoni last year saying the acquisition was in the best interest for the family as well as the community. The Journal reports for the last several years Clover Flat has reportedly been the subject of complaints alleging stormwater issues, wildfire risks and pollution.
A Northern California health official is expressing concern that a new subvariant of COVID-19 could lead to a winter surge. The UC Berkeley infectious disease specialist tells the Press Democrat the BQ. 1 and BQ. 1.1 subvariants of the omicron subvariant BA.5 were barely detectable in September but appear to be growing quickly. He says it likely won’t be a severe surge because many people are either vaccinated or have antibodies but he’s concerned that people are not keeping up on boosters due to what some in health care are calling “vaccine fatigue”.
There’s a community rally set for Thursday at the Calfire office in Ft. Bragg to protest CalFire’s proposal for “co-management” of the Jackson Demonstration State Forest with Indigenous Tribes. Mendo Fever reports the rally is in response to a September 26 letter from CalFire to the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians Historic Preservation Officer offering co-management of just 75 acres of the nearly 50,000 acres of publicly owned forest and with reportedly no mention of protection for Sacred Sites. The rally will begin at Fort Bragg Town Hall Thursday at 1:30 and march to the CalFire office.
