KZYX News

April 27, 2022 — In August of last year, Mendocino County received about eight and a half million dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act, which the President signed into law to help local governments recover from the economic toll of the pandemic. The county will receive the other half of its s$16.8 million award this summer. The funding can be used to cover a broad array of costs, from paying...

The American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law last year, awarding federal money to local governments to help alleviate the long-term economic and public health effects of the pandemic. The US Department of the Treasury urged an open community process for the distribution of the funds, but Mendocino County plans to use the money to balance the budget. In a special public affairs show, we heard f...

April 26, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors voted last week to require payment of cannabis taxes to renew permits, and asked the Executive Office to come back at a future meeting with more numbers about what it would mean to lower the tax rate. In 2016, Mendocino County voters passed Measure AI, an ordinance stating that growers are liable for a 2.5% tax on their gross receipts, which amounts to a y...

April 25, 2022 — PG&E is now operating the Potter Valley Project under an annual license, after a mystery applicant was turned down cold. And forest health enthusiasts gathered at a Buddhist monastery in Leggett over the weekend to strategize how to build fire resilience using grant funding and local labor. On Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted PG&E a license to ope...

April 21, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors went over budget priorities in a preliminary fiscal review this week, where they learned details about the projected deficit and discussed belt-tightening measures. Interim CEO Darcie Antle summarized the most significant projected shortfalls, saying non-departmental revenue had had to be cut three percent, or $4.3 million, to meet the revenue projections...

April 20, 2022 — Attendance was low at the first hybrid in-person zoom Board of Supervisors meeting in two years yesterday. After public comment, which ranged from unresolved issues in the cannabis department to dissatisfaction with the covid response, the Board received an update from state officials on the scientific review of Jackson Demonstration State Forest, which the Board requested last ye...

April 19, 2022 — The license for the Potter Valley Project expired on Thursday, April 14. By Friday, a coalition of environmentalists and fishermen had filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue PG&E, the project owner, under the Endangered Species Act. The main complaint is that the fish passage facility at Cape Horn Dam in Potter Valley causes unauthorized harm to endangered fish, by preventing...

April 18, 2022 — Three environmental organizations are suing CalFire over the approval of a timber harvest plan by Mendocino Redwood Company which they say violates Measure V; would degrade the watershed of Russell Brook, which is a tributary of Big River; and would damage spotted owl habitat. The Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Protection and Information Center, or EPIC, and th...

April 15, 2022 — Around late March as I drove into Mendocino Village, I saw a new sight: two of the biggest flags in rich brilliant color, dancing in the strong wind. Flags in the town of Mendocino are normal for the music festival, art events, to direct to one of the many weddings that the rustic and charming backdrop of Mendocino plays host to. This pair struck an immediate chord with this journ...

April 14, 2022 — The California Deptartment of Fish and Wildlife has announced that the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in the entire state of California will close two months early, at least until mid-November, due to five humpback whale entanglements in crab gear along various parts of the coast. The commercial fishery from the Sonoma-Mendocino line to Mexico closed last Friday, and the rest o...

April 13, 2022 — Ballots for the primary election will be mailed out to voters at the end of this month, and sample ballots are now available at the Mendocino County elections page. The election will be especially lively in the fifth district, where Supervisor Ted Williams is facing challenger John Redding, and a bond measure for the Anderson Valley School District will be decided. Third District...

April 12, 2022 — With pandemic restrictions lifting and spring in the air, people are gathering again, planning events both recreational and civic-minded. In Covelo on Saturday, volunteers set up tables in the park outside the library to attract more helpers to their various causes and to drum up enthusiasm for upcoming events like the Big Time and the Blackberry Festival, both of which have been...

April 11, 2022 – Libraries are often thought of as places to check out books or engage in a quiet read. However, Mendocino County Libraries provide more than just what can be found on their shelves. Each branch offers well beyond what could be considered traditional library services. Zip Books, WiFi hotspots, 3D printers and California State Park Passes are offered through the library and availabl...

April 8, 2022 — As drought parches the land and fire season approaches, community groups are trying to figure out how to get more water to quench more fire. In the absence of small natural oases that used to be plentiful, that often means building huge expensive tanks, like the one envisioned by a coalition in the north county. The Leggett Fire Water Project is an effort to build a large steel tan...

April 7, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors took on criminal justice, trash, and housing at this week’s meeting, though a hearing to consider a permit to convert a Willits-area motel to apartments was postponed until May third. The board approved a pre-trial pilot program to monitor people who have been booked into jail, can’t afford bail, and are likely to show up to their next court date if they ar...

April 6, 2022 — As the county faces the possibility of a multi-million dollar shortfall, the Board of Supervisors gave the go-ahead to the assessor’s office to devise a program to assess taxes — but not penalties, on unpermitted structures that are not currently on the tax rolls. The Board also approved a program to grant hiring bonuses up to $20,000 for the sheriff’s department. Supervisors agree...

April 5, 2022 — A new alliance of environmentalists, fire departments, and landowners in northern Mendocino county is seeking to make forest resilience a priority for changes in the climate, economy, and social structure. About fifty people showed up at the kickoff event for the Northern Mendocino Ecosystem Recovery Alliance at Tan Oak Park in Leggett on Sunday. Kerry Reynolds is the Organizationa...

April 4, 2022 — As PG&E’s tree-cutting crews move into more neighborhoods, some property owners are slowly starting to think in terms of an organized response. But the enhanced vegetation management program, with its multitude of contractors and the lack of education or publicly available documents, is bewildering to most landowners. Lauren Robertson is a resident of Pine Mountain in Willits....

March 31, 2022 — Ukiah was rocked by two murders in six days, less than a half a mile apart. Both victims and both suspects were mentally ill, homeless, or both. Now Redwood Quality Management Company, which oversees the county’s mental healthcare contracts, is planning a 16-bed Medi-Cal certified mental health rehabilitation center for the acutely mentally ill, a block from the critical residenti...

March 30, 2022 — ruth weiss, Queen of the Beats, always had a special connection to the majestic trees on her property at the end of the Albion ridge. Before her death, she crafted a conservation easement with the Mendocino Land Trust to protect those trees in perpetuity. We’ll hear from ruth weiss herself, reciting some of the poetry she composed in the company of her beloved trees, and Amy Wolit...

March 29, 2022 — On April first of last year, four Ukiah police officers beat a naked, mentally ill man on South State Street, inflicting 54 punches, four knee strikes, and a kick to the head. Officers emptied an entire can of pepper spray in Gerardo Magdaleno’s face and deployed their tasers four times. The incident was captured on multiple bystander videos. It was also recorded by a body camera...

March 28, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors and County Counsel cross-examined two principals of a former mental healthcare contractor last week in hopes of learning how to lay hands on documents the county needs to satisfy a state audit. The county is obliged to provide specialty mental healthcare to Medi-Cal patients, which it does using state realignment money as a 40% match for federal Medi-Cal f...

The Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council is an association of ten Native American Tribes from Northern California that aims to reclaim, steward, and restore ancestral lands and waters in northern California. Founded by Mendocino and Lake County tribes in 1986, the Council is the first-ever intertribal land protection organization.

Judy Leach, President of the Adventist Health Hospital in Fort Bragg, explains ongoing improvements to the patient record system and why it matters; discusses staffing concerns and the impact the pandemic has had on the transition from a public to private hospital.

Judy Leach, President of the Adventist Health Hospital in Fort Bragg, explains ongoing improvements to the patient record system and why it matters; discusses staffing concerns and the impact the pandemic has had on the transition from a public to private hospital. Additional subjects in the full-length interview include insurance access for the coastal area, and entry level job openings as well a...