The National Weather service has issued a fire weather watch for eastern Mendocino County and northern Lake County. Forecasters say there’s an increasing chance of thunderstorms and gusty winds during the the watch period starting early Frida . There is also a red flag warning though Friday night for parts of the Mendocino National Forest in interior Humboldt and Trinity Counties.
CHP is investigating a crash in Lake County that seriously injured one person and left the SUV involved on the side of a building. Responders were called to the Sandpiper wreck on Lakeshore Boulevard in Nice late Wednesday night, where they say the vehicle slammed into the structure and ended up wedged against a telephone pole and on top of a fire hydrant. One person was airlifted to a trauma center, and another was said to be less seriously hurt. Witnesses reportedly told troopers the vehicle was all over the road before it crashed.
Two men have pleaded guilty to charges related to the death of a worker at an illegal cannabis operation in Round Valley. Mendocino County DA David Eyster says Iran Hoaglan and Lawrence Joaquin from Covelo entered their pleas in separate deals in county court. The charges were filed after the victim was found dead inside a burned vehicle in Covelo on Halloween in 2023. Hermengildo Escalera was a worker at a nearby illegal cannabis grow. Hoaglan agreed to murder, while Joaquin admitted to voluntary manslaughter. Hoaglan will get 25 to life while Joaquin will get 17 years when they’re sentenced on September 4th. The two men had lived in the same building as the victim on the illegal farm near the Covelo Dump.
PG&E is planning a virtual town hall to update its plans to decommission the Potter Valley Hydro project. The meeting on August 11th will come after the June 29th deadline for the utility to submit its plan to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission next Tuesday. PG&E says in a press release that the town hall will discuss the overall regulatory process and opportunities for public participation. We have a link to the meeting info on our website. https://tinyurl.com/3d3sahyj
MCHC Health Centers in Mendocino and Lake Counties are reassuring patients that there are no indications that federal immigration officers plan to visit any of their sites. MHCC says patients’ privacy is protected by federal HIPAA laws and that they won’t release any information–including immigration status–without consent. For those with concerns, MHCC says it can offer video visits instead of in-person appointments. The organization provides services at two centers in Ukiah and in Little Lake and Lakeview.
Meanwhile, the Lake County Department of Social Services says immigrants should weigh their risk when they apply for benefits like Medi-Cal and SNAP. The department says it can no longer assure applicants for those programs that their immigration status will only be used for the programs, and could be shared with federal immigration authorities. The federal agencies that manage Medicaid and food benefits started sharing that information with ICE earlier this month. Social service groups worry that such sharing will cause many people to stop applying for benefits that they may be entitled to. California and several other states are suing to stop the release of state welfare program data to DHS.
The city of Ukiah has concluded history won’t get in the way of plans to demolish a building on East Perkins Street. The building owners want to tear down the 78-year-old building that once housed Pioneer Furniture, Curry Furniture, and was a warehouse for Montgomery Ward to make way for future development. The city has done a review of the history of the property and says there is no evidence that it is tied to any significant events or notable people and so isn’t protected from demolition The Pinoleville Pomo Nation, which owns the building, applied for a demolition permit in April and the city held a public hearing in June on the demolition permit application. The city council has approved the permit, pending the historical review.
