KZYX News

by Stacey Sheldon October 14, 2021--The City of Ukiah’s Community Service Department recently launched its 50 in 5 Arts Campaign. This ambitious project aims to install 50 pieces of public art throughout Ukiah in the next 5 years. The intent of the 50 in 5 campaign is to showcase Ukiah's creativity and culture through public art that reflects the unique wisdom, intellect, history and imagination o...

October 26, 2021 — Faulkner Park is a little-known gem of Mendocino County, known for wild azaleas and a history of providing refreshment to bears. The forty-acre park, formerly known as Bear Wallow, is just a few miles up Mountain View Road outside Boonville. Now, neighbors are rallying to protect dozens of its giant redwoods from a PG&E plan to remove them, citing the safety of its infrastru...

October 25, 2021 — Now that the census is over, a citizens’ commission is working with county staff to advise the Board of Supervisors on redistricting, or plans to readjust the boundaries of the county’s five districts. The fifth district will remain geographically complex, including the south coast, Mendocino and Albion, and points inland. But the fourth district has lost population, while the t...

October 21, 2021 — The burn scar from the Hopkins fire could cause a lot of environmental damage if it’s not mitigated before a serious storm, though straw wattles are scheduled to be installed along the waterway today and tomorrow. And the county’s juvenile hall is preparing to house serious youth offenders who have previously been incarcerated at state facilities.

For Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Oct. 22. I’m Sonia Waraich. Fire and forest ecologists virtually all agree that prescribed and cultural fires will be an important tool to stop catastrophic wildfires from ripping through the state’s forests. But what should we do about forestland that’s already been burned by a fire? The U.S. Forest Service’s answer in th...

October 20, 2021 — With the repeal of the latest cannabis ordinance and deadlines looming, legacy growers are facing more uncertainty than ever. Growers have until the end of the month to submit their applications — again — through an online portal, and the end of the year to get licenses from the state. The moratorium on Phase III growers under the original cannabis ordinance, which has been rein...

October 19, 2021 — As the difference between safety and security in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest is parsed with utmost refinement, one thing remains clear: the logging sites are dangerous. Two activists have complained of significant threats, one of them caught on video. EPIC, the Environmental Protection and Information Center, has sent a letter to Wade Crowfoot, the California Secretar...

October 18, 2021 — Efforts to take over the license for the Potter Valley Project have had some significant setbacks lately. One is an expensive equipment failure that could take up to a year and a half to repair. The other is that the Two Basin Partnership, a coalition of entities seeking to take over the license from PG&E, has not been able to secure the funding it needs for studies that are...

For Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Oct. 15. I’m Sonia Waraich.  It’s a Wednesday afternoon in late September and technicians from San Diego are installing a desalination unit at the Fort Bragg water plant.  Heath Daniels works for the city and will be responsible for operating the desalination system when the Noyo River’s water becomes too salty. The river...

October 13, 2021 — PG&E crews have moved decisively into the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. On Friday afternoon, chainsaws roared along Mattole Road, as forest defenders prepared a tree sit to protect old growth habitat trees. “These are our last big Douglas fir trees on the coast of Northern California,” said Gabrielle, a landowner who lives near the park and has worked in conservation for yea...

October 12, 2021 — By now, everyone in the region has noticed clear-cuts around PG&E wires, from Deerwood to Hopland to Humboldt and Sonoma Counties. PG&E’s ill-maintained equipment causes fires that kill people and animals, and burn down towns and rapidly dwindling habitat. In response, the utility is removing the vegetation that could catch fire if it comes in contact with the lines. The...

October 11, 2021 — Four years after the Redwood Complex fire displaced much of the community, and two years into the pandemic, the Redwood Valley Grange is still serving as a hub for people to come together over books, food, herbal tea, and art by people they know. We’ll hear from grange members about how the grange served the community in the aftermath of the fire, and what’s next.

October 8, 2021 — The debate about who is responsible for dangerous conditions in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest has heated up. Protestors insist that the logging is contributing to climate change while Cal Fire, which manages the forest, claims that protestors are endangering themselves and tree fallers by forcing loggers to stop working in the middle of a precarious task. Another concern...

October 7, 2021 — The Board of Supervisors discussed applications for over $20 million in state-funded cannabis grants this week. The $2.2 million dollar equity grant was awarded to the county last year by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. The much larger Local Jurisdiction Assistance Grant Program was approved as part of this year’s state budget as a way to help local go...

October 6, 2021--Mendocino County’s Ukiah Unified School District is proud to offer, for the first time ever, a Northern Pomo Language and Cultures class at Ukiah High School. Buffie Schmidt, of the Sherwood Valley Rancheria, serves as instructor to the 40 students she teaches. Both the school district and Schmidt hope this groundbreaking course will revitalize Pomo languages and traditions, and h...

October 5, 2021 — Protesters in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF), which is managed by CalFire, are facing increased hostility as the end of logging season approaches. Threats of legal action and at least one instance of what sounds very much like a casual death threat have emerged in the past few days. And a fight about activists’ First Amendment rights to document political activity...

October 4, 2021 — Projected construction costs for a new jail building have gone up more than 14% in the last three years, an unprecedented increase driven by steel tariffs, supply chain delays and shortages of skilled labor. In spite of several efforts to reduce costs, the architect on the project told the Board of Supervisors last week that there is a budget shortfall of $3.6 million. In 2017, t...

Mendocino  County Public Health Officer Andy Coren, Lucresha Renteria of the Mendocino Coast Clinic in Fort Bragg, and an immunocompromised patient talk about the third Pfizer shot, now available on the coast for qualifying patients.

September 30, 2021 — Mendocino County will receive $600,000 from the state for cannabis enforcement, possibly as soon as next month. Senator Mike McGuire announced the allocation of $1.5 million of general fund monies at a press conference yesterday with sheriffs from around the north coast and Third District Supervisor John Haschak. Humboldt County will also get $600,000 for its enforcement effor...

September 29, 2021 — Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren gave a sobering covid update to the Board of Supervisors yesterday. In the last two weeks, there have been eight covid deaths at two nursing homes, and the first child with the illness has been admitted to the hospital, leading to perhaps the most chilling possibility since late 2019. Though vaccines for children are just around the corner,...

September 28th — PG&E’s plans to clear cut around power lines on private property are not limited to Mendocino County. This weekend, KZYX paid a visit to Harry Vaughn, a small landowner in Southern Humboldt, just outside Miranda, where crews have been marking trees for removal. Vaughn depends on the income he makes from farming mushrooms in the woods and from small-scale logging, “which is one...

September 27, 2021 — KZYX took a significant step forward in the quest to bring its main studio to Ukiah last week. The station now has a permit to install a tower at 390 West Clay Street, formerly the site of acupuncturist Grace Liu’s clinic. KZYX will maintain a satellite studio in Anderson Valley, but the current signal is threatened by the growth of trees between Philo and the transmitter on C...

More than 31 years after Earth First! activist Judi Bari was car-bombed in Oakland, an exhibit opens in the Willits museum, featuring the bombed car, artifacts of the time, and first-hand accounts and music in seven public presentations.

September 21, 2021 — PG&E’s failure to maintain its equipment and the vegetation around its infrastructure has led to massive conflagrations in the past few years. Now the company is trying to clear fire hazards around its lines in high fire risk areas. But are they going too far? And is the enhanced vegetation management program even effective? The program is exempt from environmental review...

A former resident of Little River, Troy Springer is a yoga teacher and healer, currently living in Ontario, Canada. She's just published her first novel and is starting a sequel.