CHP is investigating a fatal crash near Willits. According to CHP dispatch, the crash happened around 2:30 Tuesday afternoon on Highway 20 near the Willits Slide. CHP has not released additional information.
You may notice a lot of smoke around Mendocino County, but CAlFire says there are no active wildfires. They say the smoke is coming from several prescribed burns, made more noticeable by the weather conditions. Burns are going on in Jackson State Forest, at the Shamrock Ranch southeast of Laytonville, and Hopland Research and Extension Center south of Ukiah, near the Lake County line. Controlled burns are also happening in southern and eastern Lake County.
Lake County has a new Director of Animal Care and Control. The Board of Supervisors appointed Gregory Wilkins on Tuesday after a nationwide search that started in August. Wilkins comes to Lake County from Texas, where he was the shelter manager for Animal Services in Dallas. His experience includes working with animals in six states since he started his career in 2012. Board of Supervisors Chair Bruno Sabatier says Wilkins’s experience will serve him well and bring a strong passion for animal welfare to his new job. Wilkins replaces Jonathan Armas who left the job without a public explanation last summer.
New figures from California Attorney General Rob Bonta show Mendocino and Lake Counties are among the top ten in the state for seizures of illegally grown marijuana. Bonta joined with local and state law enforcement to announce the tally of seizures of illicit cannabism totaling almost 750,00o plants and more than 50 tons of processed cannabis. On the street, that comes to about 353 million dollars. Mendocino County was second on the list with 133,000 plants eradicated, while Lake County saw 42,000 plants eradicated. Riverside County in Southern California topped the list with 136,000 cannabis plants eradicated. AG Bonta credits the work of the state’s Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis, or EPIC, program. He says while California is home to the world’s biggest legal and regulated cannabis market, the illegal market poses a major threat to the environment and the economy, with increasing concerns about labor exploitation by illegal growers.
This is National Teen Driver Safety Week and the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is repeating its message–drinking and driving don’t mix for anyone but that young drivers are at a particularly high risk. CHP says crashes are the leading cause of death in teenagers. Teen drivers were found to be at fault in more than two-thirds of those cases, with drunk driving being a major contributing factor–84 percent had alcohol levels above the adult legal limit. ABC says it investigates every serious event involving alcohol and conducts regular checks to make sure businesses and establishments that sell booze aren’t selling it to minors.
The Lake County Tribal Health and its Food as Medicine Program is getting a federal grant to help improve nutrition. The USDA says the program will get nearly $500,000 for its Produce as Prescription outreach. The initiative offers incentives for increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and works to reduce food insecurity. The grant is part of a 46 million dollar allocation for food programs reaching underserved communities nationwide.
The state has announced nearly 4 billion dollars for transportation infrastructure projects–including some work in Mendocino and Lake Counties. Among the projects–7.7 million dollars in emergency allocations for the Long Valley Creek Bridge on Highway 101 near Laytonville and 2 million for building repair and EV charging stations at the Ukiah maintenance center on 101 and the Booneville maintenance center on Rt 128. In Lake County, the projects include 40.5 million dollars to widen 3 miles of RT.29 from 2 to 4 lanes and make other improvements in the Kelseyville area. The money comes from a combination of state and federal sources and covers almost 600 infrastructure improvements statewide.
