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Quick reads — Chico says council could revote on downtown project if mayor had conflict
Chico State commencement week begins
Chico may feel a little busier than usual this week as families and friends arrive to celebrate Chico State graduates.
More than 3,700 students are expected to cross the stage during the university’s 136th commencement ceremonies.
Chico State says six ceremonies will be held at University Stadium from Wednesday through Sunday. Tickets are required for all ceremonies, and guests will go through security screening.
Each ceremony will also be streamed on the university’s website.
Transparency note: Chico State owns NSPR’s broadcast licenses but does not oversee the station’s news production or programming.
Shasta County assigns monitors after allegations against registrar of voters
Shasta County officials are taking new steps after allegations of abusive behavior against the county’s Registrar of Voters.
The Record Searchlight reports the county has assigned two staff members to monitor interactions between Clint Curtis and election department employees.
Curtis has been accused of “pervasive, abusive behavior” toward staff in two formal reports. Reporting from Shasta Scout says the allegations include verbal threats, including threatening to punch staff member in the throat and to drag a staff member out of their office by their hair.
The Record Searchlight also reports Curtis has refused requests from county supervisors to work from a separate location. Curtis denies the allegations and says he plans to press charges against the employees who filed the complaints.
City lawyers say if Chico Mayor Kasey Reynolds’ vote is thrown out, the City Council should be allowed to reconsider the downtown redesign without her participation.
Lawyers for the city of Chico are asking a Butte County judge not to require the city to move forward with the Downtown Revitalization Project if Mayor Kasey Reynolds is found to have a conflict of interest in the case.
In a legal briefing filed May 13 in response to a lawsuit led by former Mayor Ann Schwab, the city’s lawyers say that if the judge voids Reynolds’ vote on the project to redesign downtown streets, the City Council could simply take another vote on the project without Reynolds.
The lawyers also say Schwab’s lawsuit doesn’t offer legal support that a judge has the authority to issue an order that “in essence, invalidates a vote by the City Council while also stripping that same legislative body completely of its authority to conduct a revote on the same project.”
Schwab’s lawsuit alleges that Reynolds violated the California Political Reform Act by voting on the downtown project as a downtown business owner.
Reynolds was a key no vote on the project, which ended in a 3-3 tie on April 21, effectively rejecting the proposal to reduce traffic lanes on Broadway and Main streets, widen sidewalks and install protected bike lanes.
Project proponents say action is needed soon to resolve the deadlock, as an important state grant deadline that could help fund the plan is approaching in June.
Reynolds previously declined to comment on the allegations in a statement to NSPR. She was expected to file her own legal briefs on the lawsuit on May 13, though those documents weren’t immediately available before NSPR's deadline.
A judge will consider arguments at a hearing on May 27.
Immigration authorities showed more interest in local inmates compared to 2024
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told county supervisors today that federal immigration authorities showed significantly more interest in people booked into the local jail in 2025.
The annual report under California’s Truth Act comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) faces scrutiny nationwide.
ICE expressed interest in 52 people booked at the county jail in 2025, according to Honea’s report. Thirty-eight of those cases met the criteria for the Sheriff’s Office to share information with federal authorities.
State law limits when his office can cooperate with immigration agents, the sheriff said. Those cases mainly involve serious or violent crimes.
“I don’t inquire as to the intent of federal authorities,” Honea said. “Again, that gets back to — they do their job, I don’t do anything — either to assist beyond what I’m allowed to under state law or interfere in any way.”
Honea said ICE ultimately arrested six people after they were released from jail.
That’s up from 2024, when ICE made no arrests after showing interest in 13 people.
Shasta County DA says low staffing is straining prosecutions
The Shasta County District Attorney’s Office says it’s running so short on prosecutors that some cases will have to wait.
District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett says the situation has reached a near crisis point.
In a recent video posted to Facebook, Bridgett said the office is supposed to have 28 prosecutors. Right now, it has 20, and by the end of the month, four more prosecutors are expected to leave.
Due to non-competitive pay, extremely large case loads, our ability to not recruit over the last many years has resulted in us now having only 16 line level prosecutors to handle all the cases in our office,” Bridgett said in the video.
Because of the shortage, she said prosecutors will focus first on the most serious crimes, including homicides, sex crimes and child abuse cases.
Other cases could face delays or temporary backlogs.
It’s not clear how long the staffing shortage could continue affecting the office.