Konocti Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Becky Salato is the 2025 North Coast Woman of the year. She was honored on Monday, during a Senate floor ceremony, led by Senate Leader Mike McGuire at the state Capitol. McGuire says Salato has gone over and beyond guiding Konocti Unified through some of the toughest challenges over the past years, including the pandemic, low graduation rates, and several wildfires that destroyed countless homes and turned people’s lives upside down in Lake County. Salato has been KUSD’s superintendent for the past five years. Senator McGuire represents the North Coast, which includes Del Norte, Trinity, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin counties.
California has been developing new rules to reduce single-use plastics under a law known as SB 54, which requires all such items to be fully recyclable by 2032. But those rules may change according to the governor. After years of work by state regulators, businesses, and environmental groups, Governor Gavin Newsom has now ordered them to start over and look at the rules again due to concerns about costs.
It’s the talk of the town. The Fort Bragg Apartments project. The 87-unit apartment complex has been proposed by Kosh Grewal, who also owns the Emerald Dolphin Inn with his family. The Mendocino Voice says it would be Fort Bragg’s largest housing project of the century if approved. The 2.7 acre site just south of the Noyo River Bridge would include six studio apartments, 36 one-bedroom and 45 two-bedroom units. Grewal says 8 of the units will be low income and the rest would be market rate. You can weigh in on this project with your concerns and comments at the Fort Bragg Planning Commission meeting tomorrow beginning at 6 at Town Hall.
Former Southern California Democrat Congresswoman Katie Porter announced she’s running to be California’s next governor. Governor Gavin Newsom is term-limited from running again. The crowded field so far includes Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former state Senate Leader Toni Atkins and former state Controller Betty Yee. Kamala Harris will decide if she’s running for governor by the end of summer and Porter says if Harris gets into the race, she’s out.
Almost four-thousand campsites in 18 federally funded national forests in the state could close this summer due to budget cuts by the U.S. Forest Service. An email sent to California forest supervisors requested a list of parks that might be shut down to save money. This could lead to no maintenance, toilet pumping, trail upkeep, or search and rescue services. According to the forest service, the list is still in the planning stages, and no final decisions have been made yet.
The Clearlake City Council has selected two new members and reappointed the current chair to the city’s Planning Commission. Lake County news reports that during Thursday night’s meeting, the council voted to appoint Derek Counts and Ray Silva to the commission for the first time, and reappoint Fawn Williams, who’s finishing her first term. City Clerk/Administrative Services Director Melissa Swanson says Commissioner Terry Stewart didn’t want a second term and Williams and Robert Coker both asked to be reappointed. The council also made appointments to the city’s Measure V Citizens Oversight Committee, which monitors Clearlake’s one-cent road sales tax.
