KZYX News

June 3, 2022 — Senator Mike McGuire may have taken his victory lap a little too soon at a town hall about the Great Redwood Trail on Wednesday night. “Tonight we are able to announce — and this is late breaking,” he declared; “We have finally put a nail in the coffin of Big Coal. We have beat back Big Coal and the toxic coal train.” The nail may be in the coffin, but there’s no train in it yet. Mc...

June 2, 2022 — With a state budget surplus of $97 billion, a coalition of state public health departments and community advocates is weighing in on how to invest a promised $300 million to rebuild the state’s public health infrastructure, especially the workforce. The PublicHERO initiative spells out how much money the coalition wants to be allocated to which priorities in training, recruiting, an...

June 1, 2022 — As another dry summer heats up, the Board of Supervisors is considering asking voters to approve a sales tax for local fire districts and county-wide water projects. The tax for Measure B is due to decrease this year, and the Board hopes voters will agree to replace that reduction with the new tax, which is expected to generate about $7 million per year. At a meeting in mid-May, fir...

May 31, 2022 — Russian River water users are preparing for another dry year, with water rights curtailments for those who depend on Lake Mendocino, and the possibility of just a trickle coming out of Lake Pillsbury. PG&E, which still owns and operates the Potter Valley Project under an annual license, has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to give it permission to release fi...

May 27, 2022 — Sheriff Matt Kendall is facing a last-minute challenger in the coming election. Trent James is a former Mendocino County deputy and Willits police sergeant whose YouTube channel “Confessions of an Ex-Cop” focuses on claims of corruption and malfeasance in local law enforcement agencies. He was sworn in as a write-in candidate one day before the filing deadline, on Monday May 23rd.

May 27, 2022 — Sheriff Matt Kendall is facing a last-minute challenger in the coming election. Trent James is a former Mendocino County deputy and Willits police sergeant whose YouTube channel “Confessions of an Ex-Cop” focuses on claims of corruption and malfeasance in local law enforcement agencies. He was sworn in as a write-in candidate one day before the filing deadline, on Monday May 23rd.

May 25, 2022 — The struggle over the water of the Eel River continues. With PG&E operating the Potter Valley Project on an annual license, environmental groups like Friends of the Eel River are claiming violations of the Endangered Species Act, and asking regulators to reconsider authorizing the annual license. Meanwhile, Russian River water users, whose attempt to take over the hydropower lic...

May 23, 2022 — Well over 120 people, representing political, business, and arts and history interests, turned out for a behind-the-scenes tour at the Mendocino County Museum on Friday night. There was even an impromptu concert, featuring flute, kazoo, harmonica and guitar by musicians Malakai Schindel and Kyle Madrigal. The event doubled as a mixer for the Willits Chamber of Commerce, and did trip...

May 20, 2022 — The pandemic is not over, with small outbreaks, high transmissibility, and new, highly contagious variants. But with treatments available and hospitals not seeming to be at risk of getting overwhelmed, new health orders are not likely to appear on the horizon soon. Public Health Officer Dr. Andrew Coren shared his recommendations earlier this afternoon, which included universal indo...

May 20, 2022 — Mendocino County is set to receive $57 million for last-mile broadband internet infrastructure. With the passage of Senate Bill 156 last year, which provides more than six billion dollars for broadband in the State of California, the county is considering 27 projects in unserved communities, where it must spend the money before January 1, 2027. The plan is for the county-led last mi...

May 19, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors considered proposing a sales tax to fund firefighting efforts and water projects this week. The Board cannot impose a tax, but it can draft an ordinance and put it before the voters on a ballot. In this case, the tax initiative would appear on the November ballot, which could also feature a quarter-cent tax initiative to fund the libraries. Measure B, the ta...

May 18, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors heard yesterday morning from museum supporters, frustrated cannabis growers, the public health officer, and supporters of a letter asking that PG&E halt its enhanced vegetation management program until it provides more information. Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren called during public comment to warn that the pandemic is not over. Case rates have tri...

May 17, 2022 — The candidates for County Superintendent of schools, incumbent Michelle Hutchins and challenger Nicole Glentzer, presented their positions at a forum at the Little Lake Grange in Willits on Sunday afternoon. Both candidates are former school superintendents, and each brings a wealth of endorsements to the race. Hutchins counts state leaders, two county supervisors, retired sheriff T...

May 16, 2022 — The candidates for Third District Supervisor and County Superintendent of Schools took questions at the Little Lake Grange in Willits yesterday. Incumbent Third District Supervisor John Haschak and challenger Clay Romero differed on most issues, though each expressed support for the local cannabis industry, and they agreed that they would prefer to keep the county museum in Willits...

May 13, 2022 — PG&E has been removing trees and other vegetation from around its transmission line that runs alongside Highway 20 between Willits and Fort Bragg, including 115 acres of land belonging to the Jackson Demonstration State Forest, which is managed by CalFire. The work began last summer, and is about halfway done. CalFire sold a little over a million board feet of merchantable redwo...

May 12, 2022 — The Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council held a hybrid meeting last night on zoom and at the grange. The council agreed to form a committee that would educate community members about local water issues, and advocate for Redwood Valley’s interests as water resources dwindle. The council decided to recommend that a cannabis grow not be allowed to increase its area of operations,...

Local innkeeper Ken Taylor works to reduce his reliance on groundwater with the help of Localizing California Waters, a non-profit. He also advocates with other local businesses and residents to develop individual property level solutions that will help with the ongoing drought and create a healthier environment going forward.

May 10, 2022 — Incumbent Ted Williams and challenger John Redding are vying for the Fifth District Supervisor’s seat in next month’s election. They presented their positions at a League of Women voters event last week, fielding questions about healthcare, fire preparation, drought, and economic development. A major issue on the coast is the uncertain future of the Mendocino Coast Healthcare Distri...

May 9, 2022 — The Faulkner Park crisis has subsided for the time being, in the wake of a community meeting and a consent calendar vote at last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting. About a dozen members of a group called Friends of Faulkner Park gathered on a sunny Friday morning to hear from high-level PG&E representatives about company plans to remove dozens of large redwood trees that are ne...

May 5, 2022 — During a third-quarter budget workshop this week, the Board of Supervisors hashed out where to make cuts in a county budget with significant projected shortfalls and very little information about the cannabis department. While county staff estimates that $6.8 million in cannabis tax revenue has been uncollected, the cannabis department was one of three that has not yet turned in its...

May 4, 2022 — Two Measure B-funded facilities opened last week. The Regional Behavioral Health Training Center on East Road in Redwood Valley opened on Tuesday, after being remodeled. Some pieces of equipment, like a media cabinet for hybrid meetings, a virtual reality training program, and gun lockers, are expected to arrive soon. The Critical Residential Treatment Center on Orchard Street in Uki...

May 3, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors is holding a budget workshop today in preparation for budget hearings on June 7th and 8th. At the hearings, community organizations will have an opportunity to make a case for why they should receive a portion of a $16.8 million award from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), intended to alleviate the long-term impacts of the pandemic. Though the Unit...

May 2, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors will hold a budget workshop on May 3 to prepare for next month’s third quarter budget hearings. Inflation is up, but revenue seems to be available — if there were enough staff to collect it. Supervisor Ted Williams gave a preview of tomorrow’s meeting. “We’ve been meeting with each department, and looking at if they have any outside contracts that they can cu...

Since the appointment of anti-abortion Justice Amy Coney Barrett secured a conservative super-majority on the US Supreme Court in October 2020, women’s rights advocates have warned that Roe V Wade, the 1972 court decision that affirmed the right to abortion, was in danger of being overturned.  On Monday, the online newspaper Politico dot Com published a leaked draft decision in a case currently be...

April 28, 2022 – The Youth Leadership Coalition, a teen program of Redwood Community Services’ Arbor Center, successfully lobbied Ukiah’s City Council to pass an ordinance banning the commercial sale of nitrous oxide canisters, known as whippets, within the city limits. Whippets, which have become a popular party drug among young people, deprive the brain of oxygen and can cause strokes, leading t...