As sea levels rise each year, something known as the “king tides” are set to hit California. A warning to be careful if you are out photographing today and tomorrow and January 21 and 22. King Tides are generally a foot or two higher than an average high tide, which experts say regular tides could turn into over the next twenty years or so due to human-caused sea level rise which happens due to the use of fossil fuels releasing carbon into the atmosphere. Photos taken by the public for the California King Tides Project are used by the state and local officials and researchers who study the sea level rising and flooding possibilities.
A man is apparently dead in the Laytonville area after a leg was found. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Dept reports getting a call from a woman two Sundays ago who says her boyfriend had been gone a couple of days after he said he was going for a walk into town. A deputy tried to locate the 58-year-old to no avail. Then this past Tuesday the dept. got a call to suspicious clothing found, the following day, this Wednesday a human leg was found, and the search was on. Yesterday more human remains were found they say may have been related to the leg. The remains have not been positively identified and the investigation continues.
Congressman Jared Huffman announced the US Postal Service is getting a bunch of electric vehicles. After the federal government announced an agreement with the USPS, the agency is going at least 70% EV and will be 100% EVs by 2026. The agreement says the service will also electrify postal facilities with $3 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. Huffman says it’s great news for the future of the postal service, the economy and the planet. He touts asking for the money to electrify the postal service vehicle fleet each year in appropriations bills since 2014, and says he’s drafted multiple postal fleet electrification bills too. He also pressured the agency to electrify its old vehicles which were supposed to be replaced with more gas guzzling vehicles.
A new report says prosecutors across the State of California are against state Senator Scott Wiener’s bill to allow the decriminalization of some hallucinogenic drugs, including magic mushrooms or psilocybin. The head of the Calif. District Attorney’s Association says the proposal “recklessly puts policy before science” and says some of the drugs in the bill have been proven to be highly unpredictable and “have even been connected to violent crimes”. He does say however that if supporters are looking for more research or advocating for their therapeutic use under medical supervision, that’s another story. But the bill is reckless, just the same.
A woman from Willits is accusing a cop of years of sexual misconduct. We are not naming the 41-year-old who says from 2015 to 2020, Derek Hendry, victimized her. She claims the former cop with various agencies was physically violent, threatened to jail her and used the power of his badge to coerce her into several sexual acts, one time, even inside a police vehicle. The woman is a former addict who has a criminal record and says she knows that might go against her credibility, but says that’s why Hendry went after her, and other addicts. Hendry worked in the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office until 2018, then the Willits Police Dept. He was fired from both agencies. This summer the Willits police chief reportedly asked the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to investigate and criminal charges were forwarded to the Mendocino County DA’s office for consideration.
The commercial Dungeness crab fishery is opening finally in Fishing Zones 3-6. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has approved opening all areas south of the Sonoma/Mendocino county Line, but there’s a 50 percent trap reduction starting New Year’s Eve. There’s a 64-hour gear setting period that begins next Wednesday, Dec. 28th. The agency says the trap reduction it to reduce a risk of entanglement for humpback whales as they continue migrating to their winter breeding grounds. Vessels have to have at least half of their valid buoy tags for the current fishing season visible for inspection at all times until the trap reduction is lifted. As for Fishing Zones 1 and 2 (Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties), they will also open the same time. They were delayed due to poor meat quality results.
A bunch of weapons accessories have been found by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Department of Homeland Security at a home in Hidden Valley Lake. A search warrant was served as part of an investigation regarding the import, manufacturing, distribution, and buying of the accessories. Officers say Justin Spillers was compiling the items to make ghost guns and had been buying and imported so-called “Glock switches” which are illegal in California. They’re used to make a handgun fully automatic. Officers say they also found an assault weapon and silencers for the weapons, ammo and further evidence he was assembling full weapons there. The man was not there at the time and has not been contacted yet by police. They will forward all to the DA’s office for potential charges.
After some back and forth over the last couple of weeks, the Lucerne Area Town Hall says no to the Scotts Valley Band of Pomos to use a grant from the state to buy the Lucerne Hotel for homeless youth housing. It was after a two-hour long meeting where it was agreed a letter would be sent to Lake County, the State of Calif. and the federal government on the matter. The special meeting was called for this week after reports escrow on the old hotel would close by the end of the month. Lake County News reports a pretty decent sized crowd showed up and about 20 more people attended on Zoom and the more on Facebook Live. The decision not to approve of the sale boiled down to community impact.
A water study published on illegal cannabis grow impacts has been released by the federal government. The US Forest Service reports there was a “surprising” amount of contaminated water related to the cannabis grow sites. The Forest Service says it further shows there’s a need to close down the “clandestine sites and monitor their impacts to conserve the public’s natural resources”. The study was done at four different national forests in California. The researchers used new polar organic chemical integrative samplers to see if there was water-soluble pesticides which were found at 11 percent of downstream sampling stations during the first wet season.
A special meeting by the Lake County Office of Education board in conjunction with the Lucerne Area Town Hall regarding the purchase of the old Lucerne Hotel by the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians. The meeting Wednesday to look over the Tribe’s application, then grant award of over 5 million dollars to purchase the hotel and turn it into a youth homeless shelter. The tribe noted some partnerships on the project, which specifically the Board of Education stipulated they were unaware of. The application showed the Tribe felt the hotel would have been a perfect venue for the shelter. The Superintendent of Schools says the idea is out of the scope of their regular work.
