A hearing is scheduled today in the felony case against Mendocino County auditor Chamise Cubbison. Her lawyers are trying to get the charges that she allegedly misappropriated 68,000 for extra pay for former County payroll manager Paula June Kennedy tossed out and the case dismissed. Questioning today will be about the County’s email archival system and IT system around the time of those alleged offenses. Competence lawyers argue that the case does not involve any crimes but involves problems with the county’s internal systems. The case against Cubbison has been moving at a snail’s pace. It has been almost a year and a half since she was indicted and there has yet to be a preliminary hearing in the case.
CHP is warning about a new scam. They say someone claiming to be with the Amber Alert system is making calls asking for information about children to register with them. CHP says they never make that kind of call, and since they’re the only agency that can activate an Amber Alert, those calls are bogus. Troopers say you should never provide information over the phone or answer calls from someone you don’t recognize. If a scammer has contacted you, report it to local law enforcement immediately.
Look for delays and parking restrictions in parts of Willis starting this week. The city says contractors on the Steel Water Main and seal replacement project are wrapping up their work starting tomorrow through Thursday the 16th. The streets are getting new pavement and concrete repairs. and selected areas. The areas affected are –West Van Lane and Muir Lane, State Street from North Main Street to the end of the Street, and Madrone Street from Magnolia Avenue to Poplar Avenue. There will be no parking there, and as the work goes on watch for some road restrictions too. The contractor will post the areas where they’ll work 72 hours in advance. Work is subject to weather conditions.
Your next PG&E bill will likely be only a bit higher than it was last year at this time. You’ll remember that last January rates jumped by around 20% because of an increase in costs related to wildfires. However this year PG&E says costs have stabilized so bills shouldn’t be up by nearly that amount. PG&E says how much bills will go up over the coming weeks the increase will depend on how cold the winter is which could affect the cost of energy. Electricity is more expensive here than just about anywhere else in the country. The average bill in January is expected to be just under $300. Over the past 3 years rates have gone up 56% and 110 percent over the last 10 years. PG&E says it’s trying to minimize its future expenses by internal savings.
Seven tribes that own California casinos are suing dozens of California cardrooms. The tribes say that the card rooms are running games that are only allowed by tribal casinos. Not so say the card rooms. They say they’re operating within the law. The lawsuits were filed in Sacramento County late last week on one of the earliest dates tribes could sue. In September Governor Newsom signed a bill that gave the tribes standing in those kinds of lawsuits effective January 1st. Until now they could not sue because they are sovereign governments. These are high-stakes lawsuits Because the tribal leaders say they depend on the revenue from legal gambling to pay for millions of dollars worth of Municipal expenses
The state says more people are getting whooping cough. It’s also known as pertussis , a highly contagious bacterial disease that is spread by coughing. It can make people very sick, especially young children. The Department of Health is urging pregnant women and anyone who cares for infants to make sure their shots are up to date. The shot is called the Tdap –Tetanus diphtheria and pertussis and protects against all three. People vaccinated are protected against the most severe illness and complications of WHopping Cough. From last January to last October the state reported about 2,000 cases of pertussis. 62 of those cases were in very young children less than four months old and one infant died..Doctors say since the end of the pandemic they’ve seen more and more cases as people put off getting shots. There is a series of guidelines for who should get a vaccine and you can find those on the California Department of Public Health Website.
2024 was a busy year for the Lake City Fire Protection District. The district says it answered 6,177 calls for service last year. That works out to about 16 to 17 calls every 24 hours. Of those runs, Most were rescuing EMS calls $4,353 of them the remaining calls were 163 fires and other emergencies including hazardous conditions, severe weather, public assistance, and more. The department has two 24/7 staff stations in Clear Lake and Lower Lake. They also have advanced life support services provided by two medic units in Clear Lake that go out on fire calls as well.
This has probably happened to you. You’ve made a subscription online and tried to cancel it but found that trying to cancel was frustrating, to say the least. A new law could change that. A bill that takes effect July 1st will require subscription services to be as easy to cancel as they are to sign up for. The Click to Cancel Law also requires those companies to remind users every year about their subscriptions so you won’t get stuck paying for services you forgot you signed up for.
There is new evidence that more people are loading up the truck and moving out of California for good. U haul says one-way rentals out of state are higher here than anywhere else, while one-way rentals TO California are lower than anywhere else too. This is the fifth year California led those lists. The Northeast also did not fare well on the out and in lists. So where are folks going? South Carolina topped the U-Haul growth index last year for the first time, meaning it netted the largest number of one-way moves with U-Haul equipment. Texas had claimed the top spot in the last 3 years and was number two . The index used data from more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul truck. trailer. and You Box-moving container transactions across the US
