A new Starbucks is coming to Clearlake. The city reports the company broke ground on their first drive thru in Lake County. It’ll be near Carl’s Jr. and Walmart. There’s already one inside a grocery store in Lakeport, but this stand-alone store will open around Labor Day. A developer from Monterey is building the coffee shop, and says interest in Clearlake has been strong. And city officials say there’s been interest from local and national retailers in the city too. There’s another developer apparently interested in buying a piece of the old Pearce Field airport property and another piece of land for hotels.
The city of Lakeport and Lakeport Disposal Inc. had their Spring 2021 Community Cleanup Day on April 24. They reported collecting 21,000 pounds of household trash and junk and another 478 pounds of appliances and nearly 300 more of electronics. The report to the city council from the city manager also included the police dept.’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, which happened the same day as the cleanup, on April 24th. There were 72 pounds of pills collected at the police station at their drive-thru event. Volunteers from SafeRX Lake County helped at the event and distributed Narcan kits.
It’s happening, Windsor town officials have formally requested that grand jury investigation into the town’s Mayor, Dominic Foppoli, after seven women accused him of some kind of sexual impropriety. The allegations first surfaced in a report from the San Francisco Chronicle. It said over the years 2003 to 2020, Foppoli engaged in sexual harassment at his family’s winery or while serving on the Town Council, and there was even rape allegations. Legal experts say it’s going to be a challenge to oust the mayor this way. There’s also a recall effort which may take a while. And the mayor denies it all and is not resigning. He says the recall effort is being done by “a small group of obstructive individuals” and that those behind it were committed to “destroying a local leader.”
Some survivors of the 2017 and 2018 wildfires in Northern Calif. are speaking out after a reports say Pacific Gas & Electric’s $13.5 billion settlement trust is spending a ton on overhead, and not on victims. The Press Democrat reports the Fire Victim Trust, which is supposed to distribute funds to survivors, spent $51 million, or almost 90% of its spending on overhead last year. Only $7 million went to victims last year. The newspaper reports a survivor, who’s also a lawyer says the claim’s administrator sent him a statement last week that said over 9,000 claimants got $195 million in payments as of April 30th. Apparently most of the claims went out after March of this year, so the $7 million that went out last year was just part of it.
The first government to government meeting between the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians and Cal Fire included talks on Indigenous cultural resources and sites in Jackson Demonstration State Forest and how Cal Fire manages Jackson. Mendo Voice reports the Coyote Valley Band of Pomos asked for the government-to-government talk because they want a one year logging moratorium. And the news site reports Cal Fire has never done this sort of government to government consultation with a native tribe regarding Jackson, a 76 square mile working forest between Willits and Fort Bragg.
Cannacraft has to pay hundreds of thousands in restitution and investigative costs to Sonoma County for misleading claims. The cannabis company in Santa Rosa reported one of its products, cannabidiol, usually referred to as CBD, could be therapeutic for many conditions, including chronic pain, cancer, anxiety, diabetes, PTSD, sleep disorders, alcoholism, and more. The DA’s office worked within the state’s Food, Drug, and Medical Device Task Force, which is tasked with protecting the public from false and misleading advertising in the sale of food, drugs and medical devices, including cannabis and CBD products. So Cannacraft is paying out $300,000 in the case.
Proposition 19 has reportedly caused an influx of property transfers throughout the North Bay. The law lets homeowners who are over the age of 55 hold a better tax rate if they sell a house and buy another. It also does not allow parents to transfer the property to their kids if the children live there. So that led to a massive transfer of property across the state before the law took effect started April 1st. The deadline for that was February 15th. Homeowners in Sonoma County reportedly filed 917 transfers before the February deadline. There are usually under 200 each year.
Tourism may continue to take a hit in Napa as the downtown area will stay the way it is until at least until February of next year. There are tables along one block of Main Street which were set up during the worst of the pandemic. The restaurants have temporary permits so they can offer outdoor service. The permits go through Feb. 28th after the city decided on the emergency program last August. The city and businesses are supporting the promenade style Main St. closure which seemed to work just fine through winter when there was another dining shutdown due to surging COVID19 cases.
An evacuation ordered at an apartment complex in Ukiah after a chemical odor was detected. Ukiah Valley Fire Authority reports getting a call to the apartments in the 1050 block of N. Bush street Wednesday night after reports of people smelling something and workers in the attic reported feeling weird but were okay when they were outdoors. Fire and police reported to the apartment complex where about 30 seniors live. Fire officials sourced the smell to someone cleaning jewelry with a blow torch and a chemical solvent.
After city staff recommended a new device for the purple pipe project to keep algae at bay. The Ukiah City Council approved buying a sonic buoy system which controls algae with sonic vibrations so its safer for aquatic life. They also send back real-time water quality data. The city will purchase one buoy per recycled water pond to break down the algae, at a cost of nearly $176,000. The staff report to the city council said the algae would not break down unless they used chemicals, but only so much was safe. And after researching what to do, came upon the technology which was being used elsewhere in the state.
A reopening in steps, finally, at the Ukiah Senior Center. The center also gathered for a special awards ceremony after a year of the COVID19 pandemic. The center closed down for activities and programs, but now they are reopening in phases. The executive director says socializing is a key part of our lives, and it’s been very hard on seniors who are eager to get back to the center for in person classes and sit down meals. They’re hosting senior aerobics, line dancing and bingo for now. They will add other activities and meals through the summer and have a Mother’s Day Dinner Fundraiser this Sunday, it’s drive-thru. The Thrift Store never closed and the store manager says they actually did quite well during a challenging time.
Woodland Community College could be free as the college could pick up tuition and other expenses for some students. College officials at the latest Clearlake City Council meeting presenting their Promise Program. It could mean free everything for students, including health services and parking. They also offer a $1,000 scholarship for the student’s second year at the school. The Clearlake City Manager says they’ll work with the mayor on the idea, the Mayor Dick Slooten supports the idea and says he thinks it will increase attendance for full time enrollment and it will also be a “great boost for the city of Clearlake.”
Senator Bill Dodd has a new bill to get wireless broadband infrastructure in place for communities without it to bring the state into alignment with existing federal and state laws. Dodd says his legislation would increase 5G wireless access and improve home and small business access with fixed wireless broadband solutions, calling it critical as Californians increasingly rely on wireless services for distance learning, telehealth and remote working. Both state and federal law call for local governments to provide reasonable, non-discriminatory and cost-based access to street light poles and traffic signal poles in the right of way. It also makes clear how cost is determined to decide attachment rates.
