The latest North State and California news on our airwaves for Monday, March 7.
Near-freezing temperatures alone don’t activate Chico’s emergency warming center
Overnight temperatures in Chico were mainly in the 30s and 40s over the weekend, at one point dropping to freezing early Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. The cold weather was unwelcome news for many of the city’s unhoused residents, as the city’s Pallet shelter site hasn’t opened yet and last week, the city said the weather wasn’t going to meet the threshold to activate its emergency warming center.
Erik Gustafson, the city's public works director for operations and maintenance, said the center is opened if the temperature falls below 32 degrees for a period of time, or if the temperature falls below 45 degrees and there’s anticipated precipitation of three-quarters of an inch or more.
The center — which consists of a large tent filled with heating equipment — is currently located at Comanche Creek Greenway. Those camping at Comanche Creek had mixed feelings about the need for the center; some said they don’t rely on it, but others like Donavan Arbayo, said they do.
"They put in this warming station, and then they took everything out. They said it's too hot. Well, the daytime is hot, but at nighttime it's below 52 degrees every single night,” Arbayo said. “Some of us are gonna end up dying out here. Especially those that are sick.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hypothermia usually happens at very cold temperatures, but it can occur even at cool temperatures above 40 degrees if a person becomes chilled by something like sweat or rain.
— Alec Sutson, NSPR
Flanagan Fire nearly contained
Cal Fire says crews have successfully increased containment, mop up and suppression repair on the Flanagan Fire in Shasta County. The fire started west of Shasta Lake City and prompted numerous evacuations on Friday.
In a news release Saturday, Cal Fire said the fire was due to an escaped burn pile project that was lit by the agency.
As of this morning, Cal Fire was reporting that the fire was 88 acres in size and 90% contained. No structures have been damaged or destroyed.
— Sarah Bohannon, NSPR
Butte County gets new fire chief
Garrett Sjolund was appointed Chief of Cal Fire’s Butte Unit last Wednesday.
According to a press release from the unit, the role means he’ll be fire chief of the Butte County Fire Department, the fire departments of the cities of Biggs and Gridley, and the town of Paradise. In all, Sjolund will oversee 22 fire stations, more than 400 firefighters and 150 volunteers.
The release states that Sjolund was first hired by Cal Fire in 1996 and that he’s worked with fire stations, Helitack Air Attack, Cal Fire’s Incident Command Management Team 3, and in administration.
— Sarah Bohannon, NSPR
Chico State president focuses on sagging enrollment
California State University, Chico, is trying to reverse its falling student enrollment numbers.
Chico State President Gayle Hutchinson said enrollment has been on the decline since 2018, citing the devastating Camp Fire, coronavirus pandemic and enrollment declines at community colleges as reasons.
Tuition accounts for about 35% of the school’s operating budget, and Hutchinson said the CSU Chancellor’s Office has made it clear only campuses experiencing enrollment growth will receive money to support that growth.
“Chico State is not one of those achieving its enrollment target, and we haven’t been over the last four years,” Hutchinson said Thursday in her State of the University address.
She said the school’s spring headcount in 2018 was about 17,000 students. This spring, the headcount is about 14,000 students. Hutchinson implored faculty, staff and students to think of ways to quickly reverse the decline.
That includes enticing students who have taken a break in their education back to the school, as well as developing new enrollment strategies for graduate studies, international education, and continuing education programs.
— Andre Byik, NSPR
California mayors react to governor’s CARE Court proposal
With mental illness and homelessness affecting cities up and down California, several big-city mayors are backing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s so-called CARE Court plan.
The proposal would authorize civil court judges to order people with severe mental illness or a substance use disorder into treatment programs for up to a year.
Jerry Dyer, the mayor of Fresno and the city’s former police chief, said too often people with mental illnesses are arrested.
“And then end up in the largest mental health facilities that we have in the state of California — and those are our jails,” Dyer said. “And that’s really not where we want these folks to end up. Because they do not get the treatment and care that they need there.”
Newsom’s proposal has sparked concerns among advocates who say it will criminalize homelessness and violate civil rights. State lawmakers will ultimately decide the plan’s fate, but the governor hopes it will take effect as soon as July.
— CapRadio Staff
Biden’s infrastructure bill includes funding for California ports
A U.S. Senate committee met last week to discuss how the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will work. The bill was passed last August and the money aims to address the nation’s aging critical infrastructure.
In California, this includes ports like those of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which account for about 40% of the container traffic entering the country.
Sen. Alex Padilla serves on the committee and said the state has also made a financial commitment to make the federal money go further.
“Just a month and a half ago, Gov. Newsom’s state budget proposal for the next fiscal year includes $1.2 billion for ports and freight infrastructure projects, including — and this is intentional — to leverage federal grants provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” Padilla said.
Padilla said California’s agriculture industry has experienced significant supply chain issues, affecting both the import and export of perishable crops.
— CapRadio Staff
Stories from NPR partner stations are edited by NSPR Staff for digital presentation and credited as requested.
In other news
- 70,000 wildfire victims lost everything. Now they’re fighting for money to rebuild: “Most other houses on Mike Hoaglund’s road in Paradise are under construction or rebuilt three years after the Butte County town suffered near-total destruction in the 2018 Camp Fire. Hoaglund, who had no insurance on the home he lost, is still living in a trailer.” — San Francisco Chronicle
- Residents ‘amazed’ Cal Fire burn pile behind wildfire that torched 88 acres: “California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials said one of its crews lit the fire, trying to burn a pile of debris, but the blaze escaped its containment and raced out of control.” — Redding Record Searchlight
- Butte County reverses local COVID-19 health orders for isolation and quarantine: “‘The guidelines from the state for isolation and quarantine are what the public should follow if they are either positive for COVID, or they have been exposed to somebody with COVID,’ Lisa Almaguer, the communications manager for Butte County Public Health, said.’” — Chico Enterprise-Record
- Public health shifts COVID public health case investigation, contact tracing and outbreak investigation priorities: “Lassen County Public Health will be limiting case investigation and contact tracing to the general population in order to shift our efforts and priorities to high-risk individuals or settings.” — Lassen County Times
- Referendum seeks to overturn Red Bluff cannabis ordinance: “The city has opened up the application process for commercial cannabis permits, but progress has been slow and a referendum could upend the whole process.” — Red Bluff Daily News
- Yuba Water removes hazardous trees around Lake Francis: “Yuba Water Agency said this week that work has been ongoing to remove 284 dead and dying hazardous trees around Lake Francis in an effort to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and help slow the spread of a bark beetle infestation.” — The Appeal Democrat
- How Ukrainian churches in Sacramento are leading the war response: “Sacramento has one of the largest communities of recently arrived Ukrainian immigrants in the United States, according to a 2020 census analysis by the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan.” — CapRadio
- Castro to receive $400,000 salary for one year following resignation as CSU chancellor: “Joseph Castro's settlement with California State University follows his resignation last month as the system's chancellor amid allegations he mishandled cases of sexual harassment while president at Fresno State.” — EdSource
- California unemployment debt: How to dig out of a $20 billion hole?: “You may have heard how phony pandemic jobless claims swamped California, or how frantic callers jammed phone lines with questions that the state’s employment agency struggled to answer.”— CalMatters
In case you missed it
- Federal prosecutors accuse Shasta County woman of faking kidnapping — NSPR (Headlines, March 4)
- New Shasta supes chairman sets pandemic-related priorities — NSPR (Headlines, March 4)
- Climate change is a ‘threat multiplier.’ This researcher says it’ll take cities to stop its effects — CapRadio (Headlines, March 4)
- Five Chico State professors analyze Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — Chico Enterprise-Record
- LaMalfa, McClintock introduce legislation requiring U.S. Forest Service to ‘immediately suppress wildfires’ — Lassen County Times
- 2 children in intensive care, 17 others injured after SUV crashes into Anderson day care — Redding Record Searchlight
- Plumas County festivals and fairs are a “go” — Plumas News
- Marysville considering blight tax for commercial properties — The Appeal Democrat
- Tehama County Sheriff’s Department halts early morning patrols due to short staffing — Red Bluff Daily News
- Striking new evidence points to seafood market in Wuhan as pandemic origin point — NPR
- UC Berkeley enrollment capped, forcing campus to decline by 3,000 students after Supreme Court decision — CalMatters
- California Highway Patrol lags local police, other states in officer body cams — CalMatters
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