Schools across California will ditch masks starting next week. After the state announced they would also start to recommend, but not require masks for all indoor spaces. The Governor, along with the Governors of Oregon and Washington announced yesterday the mask mandate would be dropped in schools next Tuesday, March 12th. The California Department of Public Health is still strongly recommending masks in schools though. Jeff Freitas with the California Federation of Teachers applauds the move but hopes local districts will keep equity in mind when deciding whether to drop the mandate.
:11 “Our Black and Brown communities have been higher hit with COVID rates, higher hit with deaths, and lower vaccination rates. And the school districts that are serving those communities need to keep that in mind when they are making that decision.”
Tag: San Francisco schools are keeping the mandate for now and L-A Unified may have to also because of their labor agreement. More than 1-thousand school districts are free to re-evaluate their policies.
Second Cut: The change brings California in line with recent updated guidance from the C-D-C. Freitas says the schools need to keep on providing high-quality masks for teachers and students who wish to wear them.
:11 “There are many people that have autoimmune situations or higher risk. They need to continue to wear masks and it needs to be OK. Schools need to create an environment where people don’t feel harassed if they continue to wear masks.”
Tag: Schools are advised to continue their push to get more students vaccinated and to offer free testing.
A man in Ukiah’s busted for domestic violence after a call to the Sheriff’s Office. A young woman reportedly called dispatch to report her boyfriend, Victor Tinajero was driving with her and they got into an argument as he was operating the car. She says he got angry and hit her in the face with a closed fist and pulled her hair. She says she tried to make a call for help but he tossed her phone in the back of the car. The woman had injuries matching the story so Tinajero was arrested for domestic violence battery, battery with serious injury and damaging/destroying a wireless communication device and held on $75,000.00 bail.
A man in Hopland’s behind bars after a family fight. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Dept. reports getting a call to the home after reports a woman had hit her uncle in the arm with a stick and may have broken his arm. But they say when they got there, they found the woman had gone outside to try to calm a situation with her uncle, identified as Burt Sloan and other family members, and that she was hit with either a bat or stick before the uncle left the scene. They got her to the hospital and arrested Sloan at another address. He’s held on assault with a deadly weapon charges and $30,000.00 bail.
A large raise coming to some who’ve retired on the state’s dime. CalPERS reports giving the biggest cost-of-living increase for pensions in more than 3 decades, because of high inflation. The 4.7% increases are for cost of living and only for those who were public employees who left the job permanently between 2006 and 2014. The info was posted on CalPERS website last week. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported it was the largest raise since 1990. Other retirees with the plan should get about 2% or up to that 4.7% mark, depending on the year they retired and other provisions in their retirement agreement.
They’re talking roads in Clearlake. City staff have requested the City Council talk about ways they can pay for more road projects at their meeting this week. The agenda says the last several years the city’s been talking over ways to pay for several road projects so they can speed up the Measure V capital improvement plan. City staff are looking at ways the city can afford to pay for some projects or borrow money for larger projects. The City Manager’s notes on the meeting say they’re planning to give the council info to look at over the next couple months, but they want to move fast to secure loans with better interest rates. The meeting is 5p Thursday, followed by the public city council meeting at 6p, in person and online.
After a Ukiah patrol officer saw a car near the Motel 6 on State Street early in the morning with someone inside, he approached. The officer says early yesterday morning he saw Taylor Fabisch who he came to find out was on felony probation out of Lake County, with terms including search and seizure. The Officer went through the car and found about 20 grams of suspected fentanyl and a suspected methamphetamine pipe. So Fabisch was arrested and taken to jail. While he was being booked, the officer found a hidden compartment in a ring with fentanyl in it. He’s charged with Violation of probation Felony, Bringing a controlled substance into jail Felony, Possession of a controlled substance Misdemeanor and Possession of drug paraphernalia Misdemeanor.
The Lake County Registrar Of Voters Office is reminding the public if you’re running for office, the Statewide Direct Primary is coming up in June. It covers Federal, State, Legislative, and County officials, including the County Superintendent of Schools, 2 Supervisor seats for District 2 & 3, the Assessor-Recorder, County Clerk-Auditor, District Attorney, Sherriff-Coroner and Treasurer-Tax Collector. You have to file before Monday, March 11th with your Declaration of Candidacy form and Nomination papers to get your name on the June 7th ballot. For more info on statewide and federal offices also on the ballot, check with the Registrar of Voters office.
A man from Upper Lake has been found guilty for murdering his stepmother last year. Matthew Daniel Mora was convicted Feb. 18th in connection to the death of 56-year-old Christine Mora. He’s going to prison for the required term of 15 years to life for second degree murder and has been ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and restitution for Christine Mora’s estate. The murder was one year ago. There was a report of a shooting and investigators found Christine dead with one gunshot wound. Matthew was found at a Super 8 Motel in Upper Lake, drunk. He says he didn’t remember the shooting, but the investigation shows he had a years long alcohol problem and was obsessed with guns. He was also in trouble for shooting a gun while drunk in Santa Maria in 2020. He apparently took a gun from a family member in Colorado and had threatened his father with it too. And there were family arguments about his drinking problem prior to the murder.
As we previously reported PG&E raised their prices for small businesses and now they’re announcing another raise for homes. Monthly bills are expected to go up by about $30 a month after the energy giant proposed burying thousands of power lines underground to try to stop catastrophic wildfires from starting. They need to get approval from the state to increase their revenue by as much as $10.5 billion to bury 3,600 electricity lines. The application sent in to the fed yesterday. The proposal would bring electric bills up by $31.41 a month for average residential non-care customers, and almost $21 a month for care customers who have low incomes.
Ukiah police report getting a call about a robbery in progress and a man armed with a tool and a knife. The reporting party told cops they were in the 600 block of Talmage Road and a man was there armed and gave a description of the suspect. When police got there they say they found Marco Fermin-Garcia with a pair of large bolt cutters. Since officers thought he might have a knife they detained him at gunpoint and handcuffed him. The victim had minor injuries and reported he became suspicious after several other burglaries, after hearing a noise and found Fermin-Garcia. He says he grabbed a crowbar because the guy taunted him. He also has surveillance cameras, but the suspect cut the power to them. Fermin-Garcia was booked into jail after police found a knife on him and meth. He’s held on $100,00.00 bail.
Remember that new college that opened up at the old Castle in Lucerne…New Paradigm College? A victim of the pandemic, the school only open a short time before COVID hit. They were offering classes in person, and certificate programs in permaculture and ecology, but closed in the Summer of 2020 after running out of money. The landlord is also reportedly dealing with a property tax dispute with Lake County regarding back taxes on the land and the 75,000-square-foot building. The Romero Institute has pulled out of their partnership with the College too. Administrators say they never really had a chance to get going after the pandemic hit. Former County Supervisor and college co-founder Denise Rushing apparently pulled out of the project in 2020.
