Alec Stutson

School districts across the state have been debating if and when school officials should notify parents if their student identifies as transgender without the student's consent. Several lawsuits have had contradictory rulings. NSPR spoke with an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California to learn more about what the rulings mean for students. Also, New controversial plans to aid the ecological crisis in the Delta-Bay watershed were unveiled by California water regulators last week, and a boil advisory has been issued for Durham Water Irrigation District customers through today.

The city of Chico's Pallet shelter site for unhoused residents opened in April 2022. NSPR looked into the number of people the site has housed in nearly a year and a half. Also, the Butte County Board of Supervisors voted this week to explore a possible tax to fund the county’s libraries, and a controlled burn will take place in the Red Bluff Recreation Area on Friday for the first time in almost 10 years.

The California State University Board of Trustees voted this week (Sept. 13) to raise tuition rates over the next five school years. NSPR's Alec Stutson has more on the reactions from Chico State students.

Many Chico State students say they oppose the decision by the California State University Board of Trustees to raise tuition rates over the next five years. Also, a PG&E price hike as high as 26% has been proposed to the California Public Utilities Commission, and if you live in Glenn County and get a call from ‘Sergeant Harris’ asking you to send money to them, you’re being scammed.

Research out of the University of Colorado suggests that forcibly removing unhoused people from encampments could cause them serious harm. Also, the California Legislature passed a bill Friday that was targeted at Shasta County and would ban hand-counting ballots in most elections, and the federal government is meeting with small business owners to create standards to protect workers from extreme heat, but federal rulemaking can take years and requires bipartisan support.

It’s been nearly three years since the Bear Fire, later known as the North Complex, destroyed much of the communities of Berry Creek and Feather Falls. NSPR's Alec Stutson spoke with Berry Creek residents who are rebuilding in the burn scar to learn more about their challenges and needs.

Berry Creek Elementary had 70 students in 2020. Now, nearly three years after the Bear Fire burned down the school there are fewer than half still attending. With no new school rebuilt in the community yet, many students have to be transported more than 30 minutes to the elementary’s temporary site in Bangor.

Rebuilding in Berry Creek is painfully slow after the 2020 Bear Fire devastated the community nearly three years ago. Also, lawmakers in California are considering legislation to allow insurers to pass on the higher cost of living in a fire-prone state to consumers, and West Nile Virus cases increase to 10 in Butte County.

We continue to focus on the 2020 Bear Fire, later known as the North Complex, which destroyed much of Berry Creek and Feather Falls nearly three years ago. Today we look at the elementary school’s road to recovery. Also, the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office announced that charges will not be filed against a man who used a racial slur during a previous supervisors meeting, and Chico’s Thursday Night Market will close for the season on Sept. 14.

A Shasta County Board of Education meeting earlier this month became heated during a discussion of whether to censure one of its members. NSPR spoke with Annelise Pierce, managing editor of the nonprofit news outlet Shasta Scout. Also, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to help identify a suspect who reportedly brandished a gun at Palermo Middle School last Friday prompting a lockdown, and a flash flood warning for the Monument Burn scar yesterday was a reminder of how quickly rain can cause flooding in areas that have recently experienced wildfire.