KZYX News

Economic woes are hitting shelter animals hard, as would-be adopters struggle with rising costs, housing insecurity, and the difficulty of finding affordable veterinary care. The result is that animal shelters across the country are at capacity. Some shelters have even re-instituted the practice of euthanizing for lack of space. Mendocino County Animal Shelter is not destroying animals to make roo...

New year’s blessings typically include wishes for a long life. Sunday, the last day of the lunar new year celebrations, coincided with the 115th birthday of Edie Ceccarelli, the third oldest person in the world. At Alex Thomas Plaza in Ukiah, the Lantern Festival was back, after three years’ pandemic hiatus. Instilling Goodness Elementary and Developing Virtue Secondary Schools from the City of Te...

The Board of Supervisors heard an update last week on the non-lethal wildlife exclusionary program. They also proceeded with the development of a pilot program that would ask voters to approve the creation of a benefit zone to assess residents of Brooktrails and surrounding areas to maintain evacuation routes on private roads. And, while supervisors concluded that the county is not in a position t...

During a presentation on the county’s fiscal year-end close, the Board of Supervisors learned that there may be a $2.2 million carry-forward from last year. Treasurer Tax Collector Auditor Controller Chamisse Cubbison qualified the number by saying that up to half of it may already be committed. Supervisor Ted Williams tried to get some specifics. “What is the exact amount of the carry-forward?” h...

Life after Creekside Cabins has begun for former residents of the campground that was declared a public health menace on January 21st, weeks after a sinkhole in the driveway made it impossible to drive off the property. A temporary bridge allowed for a brief evacuation last week, but the majority of trailers, vehicles, and belongings were abandoned. The former residents who made it over the bridge...

A Ponderosa pine tree in Potter Valley, and the decades’ old bald eagle nest high in its branches, appear to be safe from PG&E crews that tried to remove them two years in a row due to their proximity to powerlines. Now, after protesters from all over the state joined local activists and a nearby tribe to ensure that the tree remained standing, PG&E has declared that its “preferred solutio...

The recent series of atmospheric rivers knocked down old growth trees and inflicted moderate structural damage in Mendocino State parks. Preliminary estimates for clean up and repair after the storms range from half a million to a million dollars. More precise numbers will be available after a thorough investigation of the costs to replace a couple of bridges over Little River, in the Van Damme St...

Creekside Cabins residents eked out a few more hours of evacuation time after Thursday night’s occupation of the bridge over the sinkhole that opened up between the RV park and Highway 101 on December 30th. The county paid a contractor to lay down a temporary bridge on Wednesday and Thursday, but contrary to expectations, the bridge was not available after 5:00 pm. Last night, residents refused to...

Residents at Creekside Cabins occupied the temporary bridge between the RV park and Highway 101 last night, counter-blocking an excavator that was moving into position to prevent access to the property. Residents originally had between 8:00 am Wednesday and 5:00 last night to evacuate. Now, after last night’s standoff, they’ll be allowed another hour this morning to get off the property that’s bee...

Residents at Creekside Cabins, an RV park just north of Willits, have been ordered to be off the premises today, due to a public health emergency. An order ratified this week by the Board of Supervisors says anyone on the premises after 5:00 pm Wednesday will face misdemeanor charges. But many residents have nowhere to go, and their vehicles aren’t in any shape to get them there if they did. Infor...

The Board of Supervisors ratified a state of emergency and order to close Creekside Cabins just north of Willits yesterday, amid conflicting claims about the safety of the water. On December 30, a sinkhole opened up outside the property, stranding about fifty residents and making vehicular access to their homes impossible. Today, the county is installing a temporary bridge to the property that wil...

The Mendocino County Museum received an outpouring of community support last year, when word spread that the county fiscal team had suggested closing it as a cost-saving measure. That idea was quickly abandoned, and now the museum is rolling out a strategic plan, which includes a survey and public events around the county to find out what community members want from their museum. Museum Administra...

A previously anonymous victim of disgraced former Ukiah police sergeant Kevin Murray has filed a claim in civil court for sexual assaults that she says escalated in violence in the spring and summer of 2014. She’s seeking unspecified compensatory damages, including the costs of medical and related expenses, against Murray, the City of Ukiah, and the Ukiah Police Department. Civil suits, unlike cri...

Fresh crab will be hitting the docks this weekend, after the Dungeness crab season opened on the North Coast with historically low prices. Fishermen will be selling at $2.25 a pound, which is less than half of last year’s price. Lauren Schmitt, of KMUD news, spoke with Harrison Ibach, President of the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association as he was setting pots on Tuesday. While crab boats co...

A healthy Sunflower Sea Star was spotted off the Mendocino Coast for the first time in over 8 years.  Commercial diver Grant Downie, and Nature Conservancy Kelp Project Director, Tristin McHugh talk about the importance of the species and the current efforts to track sea stars locally and statewide.  Photo of Sunflower Sea Star provided by Grant Downie.  

At a special meeting over the holiday weekend, the Fort Bragg City Council agreed to use $25,000 from a city fund to continue the emergency winter shelter program at the Motel 6. Weeks of heavy rain have led to more than a ten-fold increase in room rentals for homeless people each month since November. And a pair of bald eagles in Potter Valley have gotten another reprieve, with the Coyote Valley...

The closed landfill in Laytonville has long loomed large as a source of grief in the community. Some residents of the unincorporated area and the neighboring Cahto Rancheria are sure that contaminants are causing damage to the environment and their health. The bottom of the landfill is unlined, which means water can percolate into the historic waste and then back out again into the soil and ground...

Redwood Valley residents gathered in the firehouse on Saturday morning for a demonstration of a warning siren and updates on plans to increase the number of sirens to notify people in remote areas of a pending emergency. One siren, installed at the station in August 2021, has a range of about one square mile. Kerry Robinson is the chief of the Redwood Valley Calpella Fire District, which has 23 vo...

Cost overruns and delays at the new jail county continue, with exasperation on all sides at inaccurate estimates, delays at the state level, a continuing lack of financial information, and fears that the county will be unable to meet its obligations. The new estimated date to complete construction, which has not yet begun, is May 2025, rather than March 2024, which was the originally anticipated m...

A small group of activists from across California has gathered in Potter Valley to protect a dying Ponderosa pine tree containing a decades-old bald eagles’ nest. On January 5, the US Fish and Wildlife Service issued a permit to PG&E to remove the tree, on the grounds that it poses a hazard to a nearby power line. PG&E de-activated the line over the summer, and is providing generator power...

January 10, 2023 -- Persistent rain patterns impact Covelo residents with fallen trees, power outages, and dangerous road conditions. KZYX reporter Eileen Russell interviews Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall and Covelo Fire Department volunteer Linda Marshall to find out how the latest storms have affected essential services. The National Weather Service is predicting another seven days of rai...

On January 4th 30-foot waves overtopped the cliff at Point Cabrillo and slammed into the light house. It was the worst damage on the coast from the major storm that walloped California, bringing torrential rains, gales, floods and high surf.  State Parks Superintendent Loren Rex explains the damage at Point Cabrillo and other local parks.  Photo provided by California State Parks

For 49 years, bird enthusiasts have gathered in Manchester to participate in the annual Christmas Bird Count.  The Fort Bragg Bird Count has been around for 12 years.  Dave Jensen and Tim Bray lead the counts under the umbrella of the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society. And it’s not just about counting birds.  The count information is shared with the National Audubon Society and joins over a hundred...

As the County prepares to hire a contractor to repair the 25-year-old cap on the Laytonville landfill, old questions about contaminants are rising to the surface. A 2020 report found that one of the groundwater wells had detected contamination that triggered extra reporting requirements and a study about how to take corrective action. The landfill is monitored by a network of ten wells, plus gas p...