Just less than a year later, the Mendocino County Director of Public Health is out. In January Anne Molgaard was appointed to the position, and just one month less than what would have been her one-year anniversary in the position, she retired. The county CEO sent a note off to Public Health staffers saying there’s a change in leadership. It also noted if Molgard should come into the offices again, she should be treated as any other member of the public, and that confidential county business should not be shared with her. Mendo Fever reports being told that was standard language when someone departs a county position. And supervisors interviewed by the news site said only nice things about Molgard who had a lengthy government and nonprofit career.
A man suspected of an armed robbery at a market in Bonnville has been caught in New York. Deputies say they got a call Friday afternoon to the Mi Esperanza Market after someone pulled a gun, demanded money, and took off. Deputies said it was in the neighborhood of $20,000. Matias Tomas Vietto was a person of interest in the case. He apparently told friends he was going back to Argentina. Deputies found he had booked an international flight out of New York to Argentina Monday. New York cops picked him up where he’s being held until he can be extradited back to Mendocino County.
After demands for doctors’ notes at public schools for sick or infected employees or students, the Mendocino County Public Health Dept. has announced they’re allowing a return to a signed self-attestation form, instead of a note from a doctor. This is not only for COVID, but also for the flu or other viral illnesses. Health Officer, Dr. Andy Coren says most people will recover at home from flu or COVID without an issue, and recommends schools and workplaces accept a self-attestation form when people are ready to return to work or school. It basically has a checklist on it for symptoms to monitor and when is the appropriate amount of time to wait to return to work or school. Coren reminds if you have shortness of breath, are dehydrated (from vomiting/diarrhea) or have any change of mental status to seek medical attention.
The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors reports approving an agreement with unions to raise the minimum wage for County employees to $17.42. Due to inflation, the County says it hopes the measure will alleviate some of the burden on staff during these difficult times. Some of the positions that will be affected are assistant positions, all the way up to officers, secretaries, specialists in various departments and others. The wage increase will go up the first pay period of January.
Supervisor John Hashak has written a letter to the community after the latest Board of Supervisors meeting. Hashak summarized the year and also notes looking forward to the New Year. He commented on the retirement of former CEO Carmel Angelo and the new CEO Darcie Antle. The Board approved a new Strategic Plan which is sort of a roadmap for the county to follow for the next 5 years. Hashak commented on the difficulties Supervisors have been dealing with in regard to the budget. He says he’s committed to creating a more efficient, effective fiscal department. He also noted the positives in the budget, like closing deals with most of the bargaining units, getting PG&E wildfire settlement money, Measure B Funds coming in for the Crisis Residential Treatment Center and the creation of a water agency.
A wood products company in Oregon with a lumber mill in Northern CA has settled agreements related to a wildfire in Sept. Roseburg Forest Products Co. reports agreeing to deals with a handful of law firms who are handling most of the claims against the company for property losses, personal injuries and wrongful death claims related to the Sept. 2nd Mill Fire. The company didn’t release any monetary amounts they’re paying out. The fire killed two people after it ripped through the town of Weed in Siskiyou County. It burned 3,935 acres and destroyed over 115 buildings, mostly homes, and damaged dozens more. The cause of the fire has not been determined, but apparently a wooden warehouse Roseburg owns stored hot ash in it. There were 1,000 claims filed connected to the fire.
A group of students in Anderson Valley working hard for their fellow community members, collecting hundreds of pounds of food for the food bank. The Superintendent Louise Simson says all of the junior high and high school classes in Boonville have been competing to see who can bring in the most items for the food bank. The kids also bag up the items they get and distribute them. The kids have collected a total of 959 pounds so far. The competition ends this week when kids get ice cream party and find out who won the competition.
The State of California is getting hundreds of millions of dollars after a multi-state settlement related to the opioid crisis. The settlement of $5.7 billion from Walgreens after a slew of cases against the pharmacy chain. Calif. is up for $500 million dollars to “resolve allegations” the company “failed to appropriately oversee the dispensing of opioids at its pharmacies”. Both Walgreens and CVS Health agreed to pay about $5 billion each last month related to thousands of lawsuits where state and local governments claimed the companies were filling prescriptions which were actually inappropriate. The money received is supposed to be used to address the opioid addiction epidemic and provide treatment and recovery services.
There are hundreds of laws taking effect in Calif. this New Year. One of them, SB 107 will turn Calif. into a sanctuary state for transgender health. Reproductive laws, including the protection of medical records with out-of-state patients regarding abortion restrictions will also take effect. And the minimum wage is expected to go up to 15-dollars-and-50-cents. And law enforcement agencies won’t be able to use DNA collected in rape kits to investigate an unrelated crime.
The deadline for California’s COVID sick pay is getting closer as cases surge once again. The Governor has extended the mandate until the end of this month, but officials recommend starting a claim before it expires. Companies with at least 26 employees are required to provide up to 80 hours of extra paid sick leave for those who can’t work because of COVID, which is separate from the state’s mandatory sick time.
California’s on track to ring in the new year with gas prices under four-bucks a gallon. Tracking site GasBuddy says it’s expected prices will come down by the end of the month because there’s not a lot that can get in the way of falling prices. An expert with the site who tracks prices says prices in Calif. could be in the three-50 range by early next year. Triple-A currently shows the average at four-47/gallon of regular. That’s down 19 cents from last week and nearly a dollar since last month.
The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians’ have a plan to flip the Lucerne Hotel into a homeless housing facility. The idea is to use a multimillion-dollar state grant the tribe says it got after partnering with the Lake County Office of Education on the project, calling the Office of Education its “primary partner”. But the superintendent of schools says this isn’t true, and they knew nothing about the grant or the project. Lake County News reports the tribe got about $5 million dollars and the state agency that was providing the grant says they still plan to provide the funds. Escrow is supposed to close the end of the month. Apparently, according to the news site, many other stakeholders were unaware of the Tribe’s plans for the hotel, and that the hotel is not zoned for the use the tribe intended.
The current owner of the Lucerne Hotel is reportedly trying to stop the sale of the hotel so it can be used as a homeless project. Lake County News reports the Lucerne Area Town Hall was poised to consider the plan at their meeting tomorrow night. The tribal administrator was invited to speak at the Lucerne Area Town Hall about the purchase of the hotel with the $5.2 million grant for homeless youth housing. Right now, the Earthways Foundation owns the building on behalf of New Paradigm College, which closed its doors during the first part of the pandemic. But the Town Hall has now sent an email around canceling the meeting agenda related to the Hotel building.
After a man is arrested for multiple DUI charges after an accident in July which ended with people in the hospital, he was a no-show in court. 39-year-old Stephen Robert Williams didn’t show up for his preliminary hearing. His lawyer says the Pacifica man was sick and he didn’t know ahead of time. The court found there was no good cause for the non-appearance. There was a bench warrant issued for his arrest for Failure to Appear for $70,000. There was another court date his lawyer came without him and there was back and forth between counsel on getting certain documents into the case record.
