KZYX News

November 29, 2021 — In the two weeks since a mountain lion killed two goats at the high school farm in Boonville, the remaining goats have been listening to a.m. radio all night long, and scarecrows have been giving off offensive odors to deter further losses. But the long-term solution is a high fence, ideally twelve feet tall, with a five-foot visual barrier around the bottom so predators lookin...

by Stacey Sheldon November 25, 2021--The City of Ukiah recently censored the message, “No Human is Illegal on Stolen Land” on the new mural in Todd Grove Park. The mural is the creation of the Ukiah Valley Youth Leadership Coalition, a teen program of the Arbor Center at Redwood Community Services. The teens, with the help of lead artist Josue Rojas, designed a large-scale mural on the theme of im...

by Alicia Bales November 23, 2021--Jackson Demonstration State Forest is roughly 50,000 acres of public land in the heart of Mendocino County, managed by CalFire. Although these state-owned woods are enjoyed by hikers, mountain bikers, equestrians and foragers, JDSF is not a park. It was once industrial timber land, and continues to be logged by CalFire. A coalition of groups, including the Coyote...

by Stacey Sheldon November 19, 2021-- On Saturday, November 20th, Willits’ Noyo Theater will host the Mendocino premier of a new documentary film called Lady Buds. The film follows six courageous women from the Emerald Triangle and Bay Area as they emerge from the shadows of the cannabis underground to go legal. But with big money corporations taking over the industry, these trailblazers must now,...

November 24, 2021 — Local disaster relief has moved to Ukiah. In September, almost five years after opening her doors in a Redwood Valley warehouse, Danilla Sands, the Director of Disaster Resources for United Disaster Relief of Northern California, moved into a new 7200 square foot building on Airport Park Boulevard. It’s in the old Mendocino Animal Hospital, and would-be veterinary clients still...

November 22, 2021 — The Board of Supervisors adopted a map reconfiguring the county’s district boundaries at a special meeting last week. And wildlife organizations are offering to help, after a mountain lion killed two goats on an outdoor school campus in Anderson Valley. The redistricting effort is a follow-up to the census. It’s meant to even out the population numbers so there is no more than...

November 18, 2021 — The Board of Supervisors declined to approve a $3.5 million increase in the healthcare contract at the county jail this week, which would have brought the agreement total up to just over $19.1 million. But supervisors rebuffed a presentation by top management at Naphcare, which has been providing healthcare to inmates since 2017, calling the documents “thin” and asking tough qu...

November 17, 2021 — The Board of Supervisors authorized $50,000 for the sheriff’s independent legal advice this week. And on Tuesday, the Board voted unanimously to appoint an ad hoc committee, consisting of coastal Supervisors Dan Gjerde and Ted Williams, to look into creating local policy around short term rentals. Sheriff Matt Kendall previously stated his preference for the local law firm of D...

November 16, 2021 — The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Monday to pass a resolution asking for a scientific review of the management at Jackson Demonstration State Forest, with an eye toward meeting environmental goals laid out by the governor. County supervisors do not have jurisdiction in the forest, which is managed by Cal Fire under the authority of the state. A moratorium on all log...

November 15, 2021 — Community members working to save redwood trees in Faulkner Park met with PG&E representatives and Supervisor Ted Williams on Friday afternoon. Faulkner park is a small county-owned property on Mountain View Road, just a few miles outside Boonville. PG&E contractors have marked dozens of massive trees for removal, citing concerns that the trees will fall on the power li...

November 11, 2021--By Stacey Sheldon November 11, 2021--The Ukiah Valley Youth Leadership Coalition, a teen program of the Arbor Center at Redwood Community Services, recently unveiled their latest public arts project: a new mural at Todd Grove Park. Thanks to grant money from Drug Free Communities and All Children Thrive, local teens of Ukiah Valley, with the help of lead artist Josua Rojas desig...

For Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Nov. 12. I’m Sonia Waraich. Catastrophic wildfires are growing in size every year, threatening lives, communities and entire ecosystems. Historically, the U.S. Forest Service’s approach to managing fires was to suppress them at all costs. Now, the agency is recognizing that intentionally setting low-intensity fires in the...

November 12, 2021 — A resolution about the Jackson Demonstration State Forest will be on the agenda for a special Board of Supervisors meeting this Monday. Supervisors Ted Williams and Chair Dan Gjerde are sponsoring a resolution to ask the Governor to evaluate the environmental benefits, including wildfire resilience, of the current management practices in JDSF. The resolution also asks the Gover...

November 10, 2021 — Public meetings will remain remote, in light of increasing covid numbers. Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren told the board of supervisors yesterday he fears the rising tally could herald a new surge. And Supervisors agreed to convene an ad hoc committee consisting of Supervisors Ted Williams and Glenn McGourty to look into PG&E’s enhanced vegetation management program.

November 9, 2021 — This Thursday, residents around the Ukiah groundwater basin may see a helicopter flying low, hauling a large hoop. It’s part of a state-sponsored program designed to map the geological features of groundwater basins. Katherine Dlubac is an engineering geologist and the project manager for the Department of Water Resources’ stateside Aerial Electromagnetic (AEM) surveys. She laid...

November 8, 2021 — The online cannabis re-application portal closed late Tuesday night, amid confusion about the final requirements and the fate of incomplete applications. At this point, it’s not clear if those who re-submitted their applications online will be denied a permit if they are missing any documents. Michael Katz, the Executive Director of the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance, sent KZYX an...

For Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Nov. 5. I’m Sonia Waraich. Climate change is intensifying and the window to make changes that can stop that intensification is closing. Many scientists and engineers around the world are racing to invent or improve technology that can mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis. One of those technologies is being test...

November 4, 2021--Sheriff Matt Kendall describes the arrest today of William Evers, who has eluded local law enforcement for many months. Evers was apprehended today in Albion with no injuries to himself or Sheriffs' Deputies.

November 4, 2021 — Time is running out for a regional entity to take over the license for the Potter Valley Project. The Two-Basin Partnership, a coalition of local government and conservation groups seeking to take over the license from PG&E, is unlikely to meet the deadline to submit its application. And funding sources for a costly study plan have not materialized. FERC (the Federal Energy...

November 3, 2021 — PG&E crews have been moving through public and private forest lands throughout northern California, taking down thousands of healthy trees within hundreds of feet of its lines. Many landowners believe that if they refuse to allow this work to be done, they, not PG&E, will be liable if the utility’s infrastructure causes a fire that spreads in the surrounding vegetation....

November 2, 2010 — The city of Ukiah came alive for Dia de los Muertos, with live music, freshly-baked bread, and little girls in colorful skirts with skulls and flowers painted on their faces. Mayor Juan Orozco, who has a full time job as a math teacher, also took on the role of event planner in the lead-up to the celebration. I “We started the event last year, with just a little altar at the Cit...

October 28, 2021--Mendocino College Repertory Dance Company will present its upcoming show, Open Air, November 5th, 6th and 7th at the Ukiah campus. Performance Director Eryn Shon-Brunner says the show's title is fitting, as all of the original pieces of this innovative dance performance will unfold outside in different locations on Mendocino College's Ukiah Campus. The outdoor, roving show allows...

November 1, 2021 — The cleanup from the Hopkins Fire has a clear path forward now. The State has issued a proclamation declaring the event an emergency, which means the county can probably be reimbursed 75% of what it spends on remediating the damage, including what it’s spent so far. And the Department of Toxic Substances Control is scheduled to begin cleaning up hazardous waste in the burn zone...

October 27, 2021 — Community members who love Faulkner Park are considering a variety of ways to protect it from PG&E’s plans to cut dozens of beloved redwoods. The company fears that iconic old trees will fall on its poorly maintained infrastructure. Steve Wood, who has walked the trails for years, described why the small county park has such a special place in neighbors’ hearts, and how the...

For Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Oct. 29. I’m Sonia Waraich. The drought’s been relentless in California over the past couple of years and the past fall was particularly brutal. Dozens of wells went dry in Mendocino. Dried out soil and fuels elevated the risk of wildfires. And reservoir levels and the streamflow in many rivers reached historic lows. But t...