More details have been released after a taxi driver was carjacked in Ukiah. Ukiah PD said they responded to South Orchard Avenue just before 10 yesterday morning. They said a Ukiah man reported a man held a knife to his throat and stole the Prius he was driving as a Taxi. Justin, Hietala, of Ukiah, has been identified as the suspect. He reportedly threatened to kill the victim before taking off in his vehicle. The victim was quick enough to snap a picture of the suspect on his phone, which clearly showed Heitala driving away in the stolen car. UPD used the FLOCK camera system to track down the license plate number and issue a BOLO to Mendocino County Sheriffs and the CHP. CHP spotted the taxi and laid down a spike strip before stopping the vehicle and arresting the suspect. Justin Heitala was booked into the Mendocino County Jail.
Mandatory evacuation orders are in place due to a fast-moving grass fire just east of the Mendocino National Forest in Palermo. The Apache Fire, first reported just after 7 last night, has burned 673 acres of land so far. The fire has also caused two spot fires, burning a combined 50 acres of land. The Apache Fire is just one percent contained.
Governor Gavin Newsom is set to deliver a pre-recorded State of the State Address this morning. It will stream on YouTube, Facebook and X at 10am. The governor’s office says Newsom’s speech will be posted after a copy is sent to the legislature. It comes after state lawmakers passed a nearly $298 billion spending plan over the weekend. The State of the State Address was initially scheduled for March but was postponed as Newsom waited for the voting results of Proposition 1, which he backed heavily and ultimately passed. Prop 1 aims to transform California’s mental health system and address homelessness.
California restaurants are closer to being exempt from a new law. A bill to let them continue surcharges passed a hurdle yesterday and will be voted on in the Senate this week. It will then be up to the governor to decide if restaurants can be left out of a statewide ban that starts Monday. That law requires businesses to include all fees upfront instead of tacking them on after. It applies to hotels, cruises, ticket vendors and food delivery services.
Here’s a tragic reminder for drivers to be extra careful as the morning commute begins. California is among 19 states seeing an increase in deadly crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is out with preliminary data showing 965 lives lost on the road from January to March. That’s up five percent from last year. The next two quarters will include the 100 Deadliest Days of Summer, from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
The main runway at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport is shut down for major repair work. Crews are replacing a failing underground storm drain on the northern end of the runway, which has been causing the pavement above it to crack and crumble in recent weeks. The work started at 11:00 Monday night and is expected to be completed by 7:00 tonight. There is not expected to be any impact to scheduled flights. The airport’s three commercial carriers will be using the smaller, secondary runway.
The Point Fire is fully contained. Firefighters reached 100 percent containment at 5:30 Monday afternoon, more than eight days after the fire started on the east shore of Lake Sonoma and northwest of Healdsburg. The 1,200 acre fire destroyed ten structures, including three homes, and damaged two others. It was the biggest wildfire in Sonoma County so far this year. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
This November, voters could help take Cloverdale a big step toward eventually doubling in size. A ballot measure will ask voters to decide whether the city should expand its urban growth boundary into land, called the western hills, that is currently controlled by Sonoma County. City leaders say they would preserve the land as open space, rather than annexing it for housing or commercial development. The county’s zoning currently allows 40 different types of uses for the land. Cloverdale officials say they would rezone the land to rural residential, which is more restrictive to development than what the county’s zoning allows.
