The West Center says they’ve chosen a dozen wannabe business owners for their “Startup Mendocino” accelerator program for 2023. The West Business Development Center leads the free program for entrepreneurs who have ideas for businesses with a path to make their dream a reality. They offer intensive training program, which begins this year on January 12th. It goes all the way out to the first week of June. Those participating will learn about business and financial planning, successful branding and marketing, technology and best practices for e-commerce, time management, and how to pitch your business to others. Some of the local sponsors making the program a reality include: Redwood Credit Union, the County of Mendocino, Savings Bank of Mendocino County, Tri Counties Bank, Charles D. “Charlie” Kelly, LPL Financial LLC, and Umpqua Bank.
The Mendocino County Tourism Commission at the latest Board of Supervisors meeting where they broached a higher tax rate could be implemented. The Commission along with Civitas Advisors said they thought the Business Improvement District, should double its assessment for lodging and campgrounds. They also asked for an option to be considered for a 1% assessment on “tourist facing” businesses, which, along with local governments would need to give the thumbs up to such a plan. The planned 2% assessment is industry standard in northern California and can save the county money marketing itself.
PG&E has applied for an eagle nest removal under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The Fish & Wildlife Service also prepared an Environmental Assessment about potential impacts of removing the nest, which said there would be No Significant Impact. The Service is asking for public comment for two weeks which started yesterday. They’re also having a public meeting on the matter next Tuesday. The removal of the nest is because it’s on a dying tree on private property near an above-ground electric distribution line for just one customer north of the Van Arsdale Reservoir in Mendocino County and there are two bald eagles who nest there.
Staff from Lake County along with researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Vermont working together on current water quality trends in Clear Lake, and how they are impacted by wildfires and climate change, say it’s climate change causing more problems for water quality, than wildfires. They evaluated water quality after three major wildfire years in the Clear Lake Basin, with the report published in the Peer-Reviewed Ecology Journal, Ecosphere, entitled, “Turning up the Heat: Long-term water quality responses to wildfires and climate change in a hypereutrophic lake”. The report came after calls from the public who were concerned about the lake’s quality. The team found higher phosphorus concentrations were associated with hot and dry weather, not rain, alone, or rain after wildfires, reporting that climate change may be a greater threat to Clear Lake water quality than wildfires.
As we head into another potentially severely dry year, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California declared a drought emergency. The company is asking all regional water agencies to immediately reduce their use of all imported supplies. This comes less than a year after they declared a similar emergency for millions of residents who depend on the State Water Project, a slew of reservoirs, canals and dams in Northern California. Residents who rely on the other major supply — the Colorado River — were not included in that emergency, but experts say conditions on the Colorado “are growing increasingly dire” too. Here in Calif., even though we’ve had a bunch of rain, Oroville, which is one of California’s largest reservoirs, is only 59% of capacity as of this past Monday.
Tens of thousands of Californians could be eligible for COVID-related unemployment benefits. The benefits did end several months ago, but a new report says up to 100,000 Californians could still get unemployment benefits retroactively due to changes in federal guidelines. It relates to folks unemployed in 2020 and 2021 who did not meet initial eligibility requirements and may now receive hundreds of dollars in weekly benefits. This is for those who refused to work because their employer had violated COVID-19 safety standards, school employees whose usual work schedule was affected by COVID-19 and others who were laid off or had their reduced as a direct result of COVID.
After a decade and a half of service a member of the Lake County Board of Education is leaving. Dr. David Browning left his District 4 seat after 16 years. Nancy Hudson a retired administrative assistant in the Education Dept. was elected in his place. There are five seats just like the Lake County Board of Supervisors. The other members were all re-elected to their seats, and one was not up for re-election. The oath of office was administered to Hudson and goodbyes and accolades were made to Dr. Browning.
During off hours the Lake County Board of Supervisors apparently tried canceling the Lucerne Area Town Hall meeting due to an agenda item. As we reported yesterday the Scotts Valley Pomos are trying to buy the Lucerne Hotel to use as a homeless shelter. Board Chair Eddie Crandell, whose district the hotel is in, brought the action forward, which Lake Co News reports was in direct violation of the town hall’s recently updated bylaws, approved by the Board of Supervisors. It says all meeting dates and locations are up to the chair. The chair sent out the town hall agenda on Monday asking the Board of Supervisors to stop the Lucerne Hotel purchase by the Pomos. There’s also been some back and forth about whether the meeting can even take place at the hotel, where the town hall has been regularly meeting. But the Town Hall tells the news site they intend to move forward with the meeting.
Someone brought COVID to the last Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting. An email went out yesterday saying there had been an exposure at the meeting Tuesday. The email says the county was informed by an individual who had been in Board Chambers for the retirement proclamation for the Sheriff and others that they had been diagnosed with COVID-19. It goes on to say anyone there between 10:45 AM to 1:30 PM was in close contact with this person. The chambers were packed to the brim with members of the public and county employees. The county’s asking any employee to wear masks if they were there for the next ten days and test every few days. And if they become symptomatic to test and isolate.
Final and certified results of the Mendocino County election have been announced. And in Fort Bragg, there was something of a surprise… The Daily Journal reports the early results had Tess Albin-Smith way behind Michelle Roberts, but after all of the votes were tallied for three open seats, Albin-Smith ended up ahead of Roberts. It came out like this Jason Godeke got 26% of the vote, then it was Marcia Rafanan with 16%, Albin-Smith with 12% was in third, just a tick ahead of Roberts who had 11.99% of the votes. And it should be noted, Albin-Smith had campaigned for her own seat as a write-in candidate because of some sort of ballot glitch.
A California Highway Patrol commander has been found shot to death in Tennessee a couple months after her husband also turned up dead after missing. Julie Harding was a commander for the Yuba-Sutter area. She was being investigated for a possible connection to her husband Michael Harding’s death. She had also been arrested on suspicion of breaking into a home in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and taking a dog that was her husband’s. Turns out that was his girlfriend’s home. She says Harding had been stalking and harassing her. The local Sheriff says they don’t know yet if Harding’s death was by suicide or murder.
