Butte County

The local health emergency for COVID-19 is terminated in Butte County. Also, city officials in Chico say about 90 people are now using the shelter site for the unhoused in south Chico, and California's first suspected case of monkeypox was reported in Sacramento.

A Butte College program aims to ease the labor shortage in the region. Also, hundreds of bills in the California Legislature cleared a major hurdle Thursday, and scientists say a $1 million state-funded project to boost the Western monarch butterfly population in California by restoring their habitat appears to be working.

California is in a drought — and not just a drought of water, but also a drought of fire. But how is that possible when the state has been experiencing more large and destructive fires than ever in recent years? Well, many fire experts say these extreme fires are largely due to a lack of fire, through a century of wildfire suppression and not getting enough deliberate or “good” fire on the ground.

On a quiet afternoon in March, members of the Mechoopda Tribe set fire in the city limits of Chico for the first time in more than a century.

Putting prescribed fire on the ground benefits the environment and can help make communities safer from wildfire. The practice takes training and knowledge, but it can be learned like any skill.

The City of Chico is preparing to enforce its anti-camping ordinances after the opening of its shelter site. Also, Butte County Board of Supervisors candidates attend a forum on police reform, and Cal Fire will be conducting a prescribed burn on Cohasset Ridge starting this week.

Butte County has agreed to pay the family of a man who died while held at the county jail. Also, tribal leaders are calling on the California Legislature to act on the crisis of missing Indigenous people, and the Thursday Night Market in Chico opens today.

The Shasta County Board of Supervisors terminates the county’s health officer in a narrow vote. Also, officials in Butte County struggle to fund road repairs following disasters, and homicide charges are filed after last month’s mass shooting in Sacramento.

Damage to roads and road infrastructure associated with the 2020 North Complex Fire in Butte County is estimated at $75 million.

Firefighters say they’ve stopped forward progress of a fire in remote Shasta County. Also, Butte County supervisors have approved a multi-year health officer contract, and Trans Month wraps up in Chico.