The Grace Hudson Museum is opening its doors for First Friday. A week from tomorrow there will be live music and refreshments with their current exhibit, “The Curious World of Seaweed”. The museum says it features the work of artist Josie Iselin, and explores the science and history behind seaweed, the longstanding connections with indigenous peoples, and the human impact that threatens its existence. All First Fridays are free to get in.
The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah. For more information go to https://www.gracehudsonmuseum.org
A man from Redwood Valley says he’s running to unseat 1st District Supervisor Glenn McGourty. Adam Gaska says the county can do better than it is now. He says he sees a need to work on affordable housing, water insecurity, the unsheltered, stagnant wages and understaffing at the county government level. He has lived in Mendocino County his whole life, mostly in Redwood Valley. He is involved in water policy as a board member for the Redwood Valley County Water District, is the agricultural representative on the Ukiah Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency and serves on the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council.
A young man reported missing in the Brooktrails area is still gone. 24-year-old Riley Hsieh was last heard from Sunday and last seen on a family home camera system Monday. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office released a photo of him yesterday just showing him in a dark colored robe, carrying a bright green tote bag. Deputies and Search and Rescue volunteers were looking all around the area where he was believed to have gone, with no luck. The Sheriff’s Dept. says Hsieh left his home on Hawk Terrace late Monday morning. He was seen near the Willits airport around noon, and possibly reported around his home again later that day, but not since. His sister says it’s highly unusual not to be in touch with the family and that his phone being off is very strange too. She also said he may be depressed after the death of a family member.
A man from Fortuna has been sentenced for a DUI crash near Leggett last summer. Tyson Young hit another driver who ended up in the hospital with moderate injuries, but her 15-year-old daughter had to have her leg partially amputated after the accident. Young pleaded guilty and got six years behind bars. It’s not the first time the former park ranger was in trouble for driving drunk. He crashed in August of 2014 and got himself arrested for another DUI. He was also found and photographed passed out in his truck near the Avenue of the Giants in his park ranger uniform. Word is he got that case dismissed because he went to rehab, but he lost his job with the State Parks.
Due to a log jam that rammed into part of the Main Street Bridge in Monte Rio, it’s been closed after one of its supporting columns was damaged. The bridge near Bartlett’s Market, spans the Dutch Bill Creek, and is sometimes referred to as the Dutch Bill Creek Bridge. The 123 tall-foot bridge has a trio of eight reinforced concrete piles. The Sonoma County Department of Public Infrastructure says engineers are checking out the bridge to see if it can be fixed or has to be totally replaced. The east bound lane on the bridge is closed to traffic.
A former middle school principal in Cloverdale is accused of being a mandated reporter who failed to report child abuse or neglect. But Mark Lucchetti’s lawyer says the charges are bogus. He used to run Washington Middle School in Cloverdale. Five misdemeanor charges of failure of a mandated reporter to report child abuse or neglect are leveled against him. The case is apparently still being investigated before he’s arraigned May 24th. Lucchetti had been a school administrator for nearly 3 decades until he was accused of the charges by Cloverdale Unified School District officials last year. He resigned last October.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors heard from the public on their Emergency Warming Center. Lake County News reports there was a lively discussion on the matter. The Director of the Center telling Supervisors it needs to be continued after its 90-day-limit. The news site reports there were several current and former residents there speaking on the matter, saying it really should be open year-round. The board didn’t publicly respond since it was not on the agenda. There was also a closed door meeting for the board to approve settlement agreements related to the national prescription opioid litigation and the use of settlement funds from Walmart, CVS, Allergen, and Walgreens.
Temporary college student exemptions for CalFresh related to the pandemic are coming to an end. There were temporary changes for the food program after COVID19 broke out. The Federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency declaration is ending next month. With that, the State of California cannot exempt college students using temporary changes to the CalFresh student eligibility rule. It gave more eligibility to students for federal or state work-study, or who had an Expected Family Contribution of zero dollars. But the good news is that the permanent student exemptions are not over, so those who had been getting CalFresh will just recertify July 1st. They may be re-evaluated at that time.
A grant is going to help the Ukiah Valley Trails Group with hiking and biking trail maintenance fundraising. The group announced receiving money from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County for their Sustainable Funding for a Sustainable Future program. The group works almost entirely with volunteers building trails and maintaining them, but their board president says, they’re not that strong at asking folks for money. They didn’t say how much the grant was for, but that it will be matched by the Trails Group itself. With that they are looking to hire a part-time fundraising consultant so they can start a business sponsor program and yearly fundraiser.
For more information about the grant and call for proposals, go to the UVTG website at
mendotrails.org or email: info@mendotrails.org.
A young man from Covelo has been found shot to death. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office says the 20-year-old was found this week and they’re still investigating what may have happened. His wound was to his chest.
After starting an outreach program into city businesses, the Lakeport City Council is about to hear if it was effective. The Business Walk program was to get the business community up to speed on resources available to them. City staff along with the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee went out to owners and managers of businesses so they could bring up any possible issues, with an eye on helping the businesses prosper. The notes compiled will be presented to the city council at their meeting next week.
