A power outage has been reported near Fort Bragg along Highway 20. As of last night there were about 140 or so customers were without power. Then about a half our later a small fire was reported with power lines down pretty close to the area, which was caused by severe weather. No estimated time of the power coming back on was immediately available.
The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has some events coming up in the New year. On January 10th, there will be a yearly meeting to go over general business and organization for 2023. You can attend on Zoom or the county’s YouTube channel. If you want to comment send an email to the Board of Supervisors through their eComment platform. Or leave a voicemail on their phone line. For details about the agenda, visit the Board’s website.
The yearly swearing in for the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors new members is set for the New Year. At their first meeting in 2023, next Tuesday, the Board will swear in newly elected members at 10 am. The County Assessor/Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters Katrina Bartolomie will be conducting the Oaths of Office. Elected officials are being told to bring the Oath of Office they have already received, and if they didn’t get it to call the Registrar’s office. You can catch the swearing in ceremony on the County’s YouTube page.
The Palace Hotel in the news as it’s restored to its former glory. The Ukiah mainstay is being overhauled by architects and engineers from San Francisco known for recycling historic buildings. The historic preservation experts are going to get into the permitting process for the facelift, working with city officials and apparently applying too, through the state Historic Preservation Office. They’re eyeing a start of construction in about a year. The new owner says she’s putting one year into the plan, then after all approvals are secured the old hotel will be transformed into a visitor and retail center. Architects Page & Turnbull in San Francisco are collaborating. The first draft application of restoration plans are being sent to state Historic Preservation Office next month.
Some towns in Humboldt County are still picking up the pieces after the 6.4 earthquake rattled residents. The Sheriff William Honsal and the Office of Emergency Services manager Ryan Derby were at Thursday’s special board of supervisors meeting for an update. It had been canceled on Tuesday because it was the same day as the temblor. The Sheriff said the state of emergency was declared last week with an eye on keeping community members housed and safe. And Derby said they were coordinating with several agencies to get damage estimates. The board unanimously voted to ratify the state of emergency which will help expedite recovery efforts.
Congressman Mike Thompson lauded the latest government funding bill which he says had provisions he wrote on marriage and family therapists and telehealth to be included. It was due to COVID19 and lockdowns that many people needed to access care and couldn’t. Thompson said it’s essential to the wellbeing of the community to be able to get care including an expansion of the amount of mental health care providers to Medicare beneficiaries and for an expansion of telehealth since the COVID-19 pandemic. Thompson says the policies he was able to get into the government funding bill, will help communities get the care
they need, especially in underserved and hard-to-reach areas.
In Lake County a group serving teenagers donated some goods with the help of Santa for Christmas. Totes4Teens delivered stuffed duffle bags and Santa Bags worth about $350 to teenagers across Lake County. 131 teens in need received the items after the Totes4Teens committee spent all year getting the program together. The goods were delivered the Monday following Thanksgiving to the agencies and schools who were helping. Then they are able to get the teens their gifts during the winter/Christmas break. The group says many of the donated items were handmade, everything was brand new, size appropriate, and high quality.
Californians are being invited to nominate folks who have shown themselves to be leaders, and who have significantly contributed to a healthier Calif. The California State Park and Recreation Commission (SPRC) is giving the Golden Bear Award to residents who have helped preserve the state’s natural and cultural resources and created opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation. The award recognizes these people each summer. The Commission gives out the award to five individuals – one statewide and one per division (Northern, Coastal, Central, Southern). The 2023 nomination period for the Golden Bear Award program is open now until June 30, 2023.
The newest dean for the Woodland Community College’s Lake County campus has been announced. The Yuba Community College District has chosen Ingrid Larsen unanimously. Lake County News reports Larsen has been an academic counselor and instructor for college success skills there since 2016. She’s taking over for Dr. Annette Lee who was the dean on an interim basis. Larsen studied undergrad at California State University, Chico, then got her Masters in counseling at Sonoma State.
The District Attorney for Sonoma County has announced the first payment by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (“PG&E”) to pay local nonprofits impacted by wildfires. There are five payments to be made as part of an agreement with the energy company related to the Kincade Fire. Fire Safe Sonoma, Conservation Corps North Bay, Nuestra Communidad, Council on Aging, Interfaith Shelter Network, Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin and Jameson Humane all got at least $100,000. They will get four more payments too. Several local health clinics are getting tens of thousands of dollars too because of air contaminants related to the 2019 fire that burned 77,000 acres and destroyed hundreds of homes. It triggered the largest evacuation in the county’s history, with 200,000 residents rushed from their homes. 5 people were injured in the fire.
A grant has been awarded to Redwood Community Services for its Tule House in Lake County. The money to be used for improvements and expansions at the residential treatment program for mothers undergoing treatment for substance use disorders. 8 moms get to stay in a family-like setting and have their kids with them. The Department of Health Care Services’ (DHCS) Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program is one of more than 50 projects that benefitted from the Governor’s recently announced half billion dollars to improve California’s behavioral health infrastructure for children and youth. 8 more beds will be added at the House for a total of 16 women in treatment at one time.
Questions remain about why the coast of Northern Calif. gets hit by earthquake’s in the “Mendocino Triple Junction.” The USGS named the point where three faults and three plates meet where it’s said to be the most seismically active area in California. The San Francisco Chronicle reports one of the researchers at the federal agency says there have been at least 40 other size 6 or larger earthquakes along the faults over the last 100 years. It includes six which were 7.0 or larger too. There was also a 6.2 one year ago on December 20th, 2021. The area is also sometimes called the “Triangle of Doom”. The USGS is still trying to pinpoint an exact location of the epicenter. Right now, they have an idea, but it’s not concrete.
