Butte County DA disappointed PG&E off probation, continues Dixie Fire probe

By Sarah Bohannon,

Published January 28, 2022 at 7:57 AM PST

The latest North State and California news on our airwaves for Friday, Jan. 28.

PG&E’s probation ends amid concerns the utility isn’t doing enough to improve safety

Pacific Gas & Electric’s five-year term of criminal probation ended this week. U.S. District Judge William Alsup — who’s been supervising PG&E’s probation for the 2010 pipeline explosion in San Bruno — said he failed to rehabilitate the utility, pointing to multiple catastrophic wildfires attributed to the company’s equipment during its probationary term.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey — whose office secured guilty pleas from PG&E in the 2018 Camp Fire that devastated the town of Paradise — said he’s disappointed the utility is off federal probation but believes the judge is being too hard on himself.

“I believe that he has done a great deal of good in the sense of trying to change a gigantic, titanic ship — to try to move it incrementally,” he said. “And it does appear from what we have seen that they have started that incremental movement.”

PG&E said in court documents that it’s trying to stop catastrophic wildfires, citing more than $12 billion in wildfire safety expenses over the last five years.

— Andre Byik, NSPR

Prescribed burns planned in Butte County this weekend

In Butte County, two prescribed burns are expected to take place over the weekend. One will be 40 acres in the Forest Ranch area; the other two to 10 acres in Cohasset.

Olivia Wiemann is the public information officer for the event. She’s a Master’s student in Chico State’s Wildland Management program and also works at the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve, which is part of Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) that’s helped create an on-call group who perform cooperative prescribed burns in the area.

The hope is that getting “good fire” on the ground will help create buffer zones around properties and also help the growth of healthy, native plants, Wiemann said.

“Whereas if a wildfire comes in, you know, it's most likely burning at a high intensity rate in some areas, and we can have big die off of plants,” she said. “That affects our ecosystems, it affects our water, it could be worse smoke.”

Wiemann said weather conditions will be monitored closely during this weekend’s burns and they’ll only be conducted if winds remain calm.

— Sarah Bohannon, NSPR

Chico students explore career opportunities in technical fields

The trade day was a partnership between the Construction Industry Education Foundation (CIE) and the Valley Contractors Exchange in Chico.

It welcomed over 600 students from 20 North Valley high schools. Companies and technical experts from across the construction industry came to give demonstrations and provide hands-on education about their fields.

Tim Murphy, chief executive officer of the CIE Foundation, said it's vital that young people are exposed to career possibilities in the construction world.

— Alec Stutson, NSPR

Monarch butterfly count rebounds in California

Tree groves throughout California play an important role in butterfly migration. Every winter, Western monarchs arrive from across the U.S., and they’ve been tracked from Mendocino to northern Mexico over the last 20 years.

After reaching an all-time low in 2020, the number of monarchs in California has recently rebounded.

Trained volunteers from the Xerces Society announced the results of their annual Thanksgiving count this week. They counted nearly 250,000 monarchs, the highest number in five years. At their last count, there were fewer than 2,000 butterflies total. Researchers are still trying to determine the cause of the dramatic uptick in butterflies.

— April Dembosky, The California Report and KQED Staff

In other news

Pallet shelters completed, site expected to open within two months: “The shelters themselves are now erected and electricians on Thursday worked on adding power lines for heating, air conditioning and lighting.” — Chico Enterprise-Record

Lawsuit challenged conditions at two California facilities, including Yuba County Jail: “Immigration authorities must preserve coronavirus safety measures that allow for social distancing and vaccination mandates for staff and detainees at two California detention facilities, according to a class-action lawsuit settlement reached Thursday.” — The Appeal Democrat

More trust-based funding will promote racial equity across California's North State: “In June of 2020, shortly after the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police, three North State community organizations came together to develop funding that would support racial equity…” — Shasta Scout

Humboldt State University becomes Cal Poly, Humboldt: “The California State University system now has a third Cal Poly. Cal State trustees on Wednesday approved a new designation for Humboldt State University.” — Associated Press

BLM enhances protections in wild horse and burro Adoption Incentive Program: “To enhance existing protections for adopted wild horses and burros, the Bureau of Land Management announces new changes to its Adoption Incentive Program.” — Lassen County Times

Movie production and possible Hollywood star seen in downtown Redding: “A crew thought to be filming the sci-fi "The Dresden Sun" drew the attention of spectators Thursday as workers set up a green screen and lights in front of downtown Redding's new addition, the Market Center apartments.” — Redding Record Searchlight

Sacramento City Unified starts process to fire middle school teacher who used racial slurs in class: “The Sacramento City Unified School District is starting the termination process for a middle school teacher who was recorded using racial slurs in class last May, the district said Thursday.” — CapRadio