Chico mayoral recall process has signatures to move forward, organizers say

By Sarah Bohannon,

Published February 15, 2022 at 7:59 AM PST

The latest North State and California news on our airwaves for Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Group says it has gathered enough signatures to ask voters to recall Chico Mayor Andrew Coolidge

The group attempting to recall Chico Mayor Andrew Coolidge said in a press release that it has submitted more than enough signatures to move forward with the recall process.

The group — Chico Voters — said District 5 resident Jared Geiser delivered 2,100 signatures Monday to the Chico city clerk. That would surpass the requirement of gathering signatures from 25% of registered voters in District 5.

The next step in the process is for the city clerk to deliver the signatures to the Butte County Clerk’s Office for verification. Chico City Clerk Debbie Presson could not be reached for comment ahead of deadline.

— Alec Stutson, NSPR

Tim Garman likely to be seated as new Shasta County District 2 Supervisor

Shasta County Clerk Cathy Darling Allen released the final vote count for the recent recall election of Supervisor Leonard Moty Monday. The results show 56% of District 2 voters cast ballots to remove Moty from office.

A final mandated audit of the election is underway. Once completed, Darling Allen will certify the election and then formally present the results to the Board of Supervisors, which is likely to happen at its March 1 meeting.

Supervisor-elect Tim Garman beat out three other candidates to replace Moty.

Moty will continue to serve on the board until Garman is formally seated.

— Ken Devol, NSPR

California’s school mask mandate to remain for at least 2 more weeks

California’s indoor mask requirement ends today, but the state’s top health official said Monday that masks will still be required in schools.

Dr. Mark Ghaly said the pandemic is trending in the right direction after the omicron surge, but he wants to make sure students and school staff will remain safe.

“The one thing that has been important throughout our entire response, especially — not only in schools, but especially in schools — is that we don’t make hasty decisions,” Ghaly said. “We will take the collection of information together to make a decision that is good for California broadly.”

Ghaly said he will reevaluate the data on Feb. 28 and expects to ease some school restrictions after that.

The California Teachers Association supports the decision to keep masks for now. Some parent groups have called for masks to be optional in schools since children are less likely to develop severe illness from COVID-19. Read the full story.

— CapRadio Staff

CDC to consider loosening some restrictions on opioid prescriptions

In a new proposal, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could loosen some of the restrictions on opioid prescribing that some doctors have said harm patients dealing with chronic pain.

Dr. Phillip Coffin, director of substance use research at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said many patients with chronic pain struggle to find physicians willing to prescribe them opioids.

In a new paper, Coffin writes that patients who've had long-term opioid therapy discontinued are more likely to die from suicide or an overdose. He said this problem was created by overprescribing opioids and the health care system is responsible for fixing it.

"If you were a surgeon and you left a surgical instrument in somebody's body after a procedure, you're responsible for getting that instrument out and dealing with any of the consequences," Coffin said.

The proposed guidelines from the CDC are more flexible and remove previous dosage recommendations.

— Holly J. McDede (KQED), The California Report

Stories from NPR partner stations are edited by NSPR Staff for digital presentation and credited as requested.

In other news

Study finds Western megadrought is the worst in 1,200 years: “Shrunk reservoirs. Depleted aquifers. Low rivers. Raging wildfires. It's no secret that the Western U.S. is in a severe drought. New research published Monday shows just how extreme the situation has become.” — NPR

Chico school board to choose final map for redistricting process: “The Chico Unified School District board will consider approving a resolution establishing district based elections, the final map for those elections and the sequence for those elections at its Wednesday meeting.” — Chico Enterprise-Record

Red Bluff council on final stretch on cannabis ordinances: “The city’s staff is asking the council to waive the second reading of two ordinances, one amending the municipal code to allow cannabis-related uses within the city the other to control cannabis activities in the city.” — Red Bluff Daily News

MJUSD introduces changes to equity policy: “Last week, the Marysville Joint Unified School District board received a presentation outlining possible changes to its equity policy.” — The Appeal Democrat

California launches ambitious effort to transform Medi-Cal to ‘whole person care’: "Over the next five years, the goal of CalAIM is to address the upstream drivers of deteriorating health — things like food insecurity and housing instability — in an effort to reduce costly emergency department visits, hospitalizations and nursing home stays." — CalMatters

Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge who defies stereotypes, is on Biden's SCOTUS list: "While four members of the current court were at one time prosecutors, Jackson, if appointed, would be the first Supreme Court justice since Thurgood Marshall to have represented indigent criminal defendants." — NPR