The Mendocino County Sheriff’s office is investigating the death of a man in a county jail cell, just hours after he was arrested. The Press Democrat says the 64-year-old was arrested on suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia and other charges just after midnight Tuesday, He was also reportedly intoxicated and a registered sex offender. He was alone in his cell when deputies found him unconscious just after 6 AM, and pronounced dead a little while after that. The sheriff’s office says it will find out how the man died
The Lake County Board of Supervisors has given the green light to an affordable housing project in Nice. It will serve behavioral health clients and low-income families. It took some effort, including a waiver of state environmental quality act rules, but the Board voted to approve the final financial details of the Collier Avenue project. It will have 40 units, divided by need. Half will be for behavioral health clients, 10 will go to Redwood Coast Regional Center clients, and the rest will go to people with low and very low incomes. Supervisor Bruno Sabatier admits the process has been rocky , partly because of the 2008 recession and loss of state redevelopment money. The only hurdle now is approval from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Once that happens, work could start by April, with the first occupants moving in late this summer. The total cost of the project is just over 18 million dollars, which comes from several sources.
There may be hope for all your friends who are lowriders. Lawmakers are taking up a bill to repeal a ban on lowrider cruising enacted back in 1988. The assembly and senate passed a bill last year recognizing the cultural significance of chopped cars in California. Now, the law could end the prohibition statewide. Some cities say it is ok, but the repeal would stop all local police from stopping drivers from cruising and driving cars that have been modified to be a certain height.
The national forest service is looking at how to restore healthy tree stands after a large wildfire. In the last few years, nearly 88 percent of the Mendocino National Forest in the Coastal Mountain Range of northwestern California has burned. The damage was caused by the Mendocino Complex in 2018 and the August Complex in 2020. Together, these wildfires burned over 1.4 million acres. Restoration efforts can help native vegetation and tree stands return to the affected area while reducing the accumulation of woody debris that could fuel the next wildfire. Current maps and models do not have a high enough resolution to generate site-specific plans after a big fire. The Forest Service’s Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory in Seattle will set up a network of long-term monitoring plots in the Mendocino Complex and August Complex. Foresters will use the plots to monitor post-fire tree stands, including their structural condition, accumulation of dead wood, seedling survival, and shrub regeneration.
Congressman Mike Thompson had a unique perspective on President Biden’s State of the Union message last night. Thompson wasn’t there. Thompson was chosen as a designated survivor by House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, who kept the congressman away from the capital in an undisclosed location in case the unthinkable happened. This was his third time in that role. Historians say it is actually an honor that shows Thompson’s standing among Democrats. No word yet on what the congressman did for a couple hours last night, but last year he made dinner and watched the speech. You may remember that ABC show a few years back that featured an obscure cabinet member taking over when the capital was destroyed in a terror attack.
You might see an automatic credit of as much as 91 dollars in your PG&E bill later this year. The utility says it is giving money back and helping people with sky-high energy bills. Natural gas users will receive $52.78 back, while electric users will receive $38.17, for a total of $91.17 if you have both. Utilities get a climate credit from the state if they use less fossil fuel and have to give it back to customers.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors has declared an emergency in Clear Laek, to save the endangered Lake Hitch. drought and habitat loss are factors in the potential extinction of the hitch, known to the Pomo as the chi. Over nine hours, testimony featured testimony from scientists and tribal members pointed out that the hitch’s numbers are in free fall. Biologists aren’t really sure how many are left. Lake Co News reports agencies are developing a hypothesis about what is driving decline and exploring specific research avenues, County and local officials admit they are frustrated and will do everything they can to reverse the troubling trend. Officials say the process has been messy, but that is sometimes how democracy works.
The Mendocino Cannabis Alliance is upset with the county for what it thinks is a failure to move small and legacy cannabis cultivators towards state annual licensure.. The group has written to Governor Newsom expressing concerns that Mendocino has moved just six farmers to annual licensure—or less than 1 percent. By contract, 62 percent have made that move in Humboldt County. The deadline to make the change is in June and the Alliance says some of those operators could even lose state licenses while the county drags its heels. Executive director Michael Katz says he would like to see more accountability in the process and blames the County Board for not making the issue a priority.
An emergency warming center is opening in Lakeport. The Sunrise Special Services Foundation will host that center at 1111 Whalen Drive in what used to to be the former Juvenile Hall. It was an emergency cooling center last summer as well. The facility has 35 beds that will provide warm and safe space for the homeless in Lake County for the next three months.
Worth a mention because everyone is talking about it this morning. LeBron James is now the highest-scoring player in NBA history. James is at 18,388 points–and still going.
