KZYX News

For Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Monday, Sept. 20. I’m Sonia Waraich. Prescribed burns aren’t happening on Forest Service land right now and it’s unclear when that’s going to change, but it needs to be sooner rather than later according to the people who study the intersection of forests and fires. Last month, the chief of the U.S. Forest Service sent a letter to...

For Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Sept. 17. I’m Sonia Waraich. Mendocino National Forest is open to the public again after a historic closure. The U.S. Forest Service ended the regional closure order at 13 of the 18 national forests in California at midnight Thursday. It reopened the parks a couple days early because of improving weather and fire condition...

By Stacey Sheldon September 15, 2021--After a nineteen month closure due to the covid pandemic, school is back in session for Mendocino County's Ukiah Unified School District. Earlier this month, UUSD reopened its 16 schools throughout the Ukiah area to serve their population of approximately 6,000 K-12 students. The return to in person learning provides yet the latest challenge for students and t...

September 16, 2021 — The coalition of entities that wants to take over the license for the Potter Valley Project is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to give it until May of next year to refine its plans. The project consists of Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury in Lake County and Cape Horn Dam and van Arsdale Reservoir in Potter Valley. That’s where a diversion sends water from the Eel R...

September 15, 2021 — The People’s Referendum to repeal the new cannabis ordinance, Chapter 22.18, has been victorious. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously yesterday to repeal the ordinance, rather than place the decision on the ballot for a special election, which was the other option. Supervisor Mo Mulheren spoke up first during a straw poll before the vote. “I was an active community memb...

September 14, 2021--CalFire Mendocino Unit Chief George Gonzales took KZYX's Alicia Bales on a tour of the 257 acres of the Hopkins Fire burn zone. The toll of this fire is evident as soon as you cross the Moore Street Bridge over the Russian River to Eastside Calpella Road, where half a dozen houses were lost right along the river. From Eastside Calpella Road, they took Marina Drive up to Rubicon...

September 14, 2021 — The Board of Supervisors is set to discuss the referendum to repeal the new cannabis ordinance today. Petitioners gathered a qualifying number of signatures, which means the board can either repeal the ordinance themselves, or submit the decision to the voters for a special election. Growers who struggled to get licensed under the previous ordinance (Chapter 10a17 of the count...

September 10, 2021 — Public Health reported three more deaths from covid-19 this week, all of them under fifty, all of them unvaccinated. The youngest was a 36-year-old woman from Ukiah. A 43-year-old Covelo man and a 47-year-old man from Ukiah also succumbed. And the county reported 77 new cases yesterday. Program director Alicia Bales spoke with Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren Thursday afte...

September 9, 2021 — The PG&E settlement funds from the fires that devastated Redwood and Potter Valleys have been allocated, and some in Redwood Valley are disappointed at the amount that went back into the community that was most affected. At last night’s Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council meeting, Deputy CEO Darcie Antle explained that some of the items requested by the community can...

September 8, 2021 — Sheriff’s deputies had a second close encounter early Monday morning with the red bearded burglar who is suspected of breaking into a string of remote cabins on the coast. The encounter was so close, according to Sheriff Matt Kendall, that a K9 handler had his hands on the suspect before he escaped again. Kendall said deputies cornered the suspect, believed to be forty-year-old...

September 6, 2021 — The promised battle between the sheriff and the Board of Supervisors has entered the phase of inconclusive meetings and lengthy court filings. In July, Sheriff Matt Kendall asked the board to authorize $50,000 to hire local attorney Duncan James so he could fight a policy that would make department heads responsible for exceeding their budgets. He’s also stated that the county...

From Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Sept. 3. I’m Sonia Waraich. Eric Hillesland and his wife Elaine own two inns in the town of Mendocino – the Raku House Inn and Alegria Oceanfront Inn and Cottages. They’re across the street from each other and have an amazing view of the ocean. In the two decades that they’ve owned the place, Hillesland said they’ve usual...

September 2, 2021 — The referendum to repeal the newly enacted cannabis ordinance, Chapter 22.18, has collected enough signatures to either be repealed by the Board of Supervisors, or placed on a ballot for voters to decide if it should be repealed or not. Assessor Clerk Recorder Katrina Bartolomie reported to the board this week that she had verified 4,198 of the 6,239 signatures that were turned...

September 1, 2021 — In mid-August, Katharine Cole drove out to her pasture in Hopland through a thick haze from the Dixie Fire. Earlier this summer, she lost 20-25 trees to PG&E’s vegetation management program, which the California Public Utilities Commission approved as a strategy to prevent catastrophic wildfire. “Basically, I’m looking at a war zone here,” she said, pulling over to survey t...

August 31, 2021-- Good news! The performing arts are back. Over the weekend. Mendocino college students, alumni and guest artists returned to the outdoor stage at the Ukiah campus to showcase dance, drama and music before a live audience.  The celebratory performance, called “Live in the Oaks,” was inspired and produced by Mendocino college dance director, Eryn Schon-Brunner. “It's been quiet, or...

From Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Aug. 27. I’m Sonia Waraich. The drought situation on the coast is getting worse. Elk, Irish Beach, Mendocino Unified School District and Westport said they will no longer sell water to haulers supplying homes and businesses in Mendocino, which rely on that water.  On Tuesday, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors held...

August 27, 2021 By Alicia Bales Today, as the surge in Covid 19 infections has filled our hospitals to capacity, and reports of deaths from the virus are becoming a daily occurrence, dozens of local doctors and medical providers have signed a letter addressed to the community of Mendocino County asking for help. The letter describes the dire conditions healthcare providers are seeing at work every...

August 26, 2021 — With climate change, the current drought conditions could be here to stay. That means the ability to experiment with unfamiliar crops could be key for local farmers. Rachel Britten is the owner of the Mendocino Grain Project, which provides a variety of services to small grain farmers in the northern California region. They’ll harvest crops, clean them, and distribute them, so ea...

August 25, 2021 — The drought, following covid, market forces, and wildfire, is just one of many challenges facing local farmers. We’ll hear from two members of multi-generational families raising cattle and hay in Potter Valley about the choices they’re making and the future they face.

From Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Tuesday, Aug. 24. I’m Sonia Waraich. Caspar Cove is a beach just south of Fort Bragg. Early Sunday morning, about a dozen people were kayaking, hanging out with their families, playing fetch with their dogs and doing everything else you can imagine people doing at the beach on a weekend.  Nobody seemed to be paying any attention...

August 23, 2021 -- Jon Spitz, member of the Mendocino Non-Lethal Wildlife Management Alliance talks about their recent victory in convincing the County to end their contract with the USDA Wildlife Services. He discusses the history of their grass roots fight and explains how exclusion wild life management techniques work. Currently Mendocino County does not have an exclusion contractor. In the int...

August 20, 2021 — Hundreds of thousands of acres are on fire in the state of California. There’s been one or more fires every day in Mendocino County this week, and the Cache Fire has destroyed dozens of homes in Lake County. The topic of how to make a home resistant to fire, or hardening it, is timely. On Wednesday morning, Scott Cratty stood in a light rain of ash from the Dixie or the Monument...

From Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Monday, Aug. 16. I’m Sonia Waraich. Last month was the hottest July ever recorded on Earth and in Mendocino County, according to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,. The federal agency is also predicting there’s going to be lower than average rainfall in Mendocino for at least the next six months so the dro...

August 19, 2021 — The consent calendar and CEO report from this week’s Board of Supervisors meeting were full of big news. Earlier this month, the Board drew up an allocation plan on how to spend the one-time $22 million PG&E settlement fund for the 2017 wildfires, which started in Potter Valley and devastated neighboring Redwood Valley. Much of the money went to items the supervisors thought...

August 18, 2021 — Mendocino county is experiencing a fourth surge of covid cases, with a peak over the weekend and a record 95 cases on Thursday. County Public Health reported the death of a 49-year-old man in Ukiah yesterday afternoon, bringing the death toll to 56. Five of those deaths have been reported this month. Deputy Public Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan said that full genome testing is n...