PG&E

Nearly 1 in 4 Californians lack basic literacy skills, how libraries in the North State are trying to help. Also, the Oroville City Council will discuss adding new cameras to police cars at tonight’s meeting, and salmon in Butte Creek are threatened from sediment after a PG&E canal failed last week.

When a dead tree PG&E should have logged fell on a power line in 2021, it caused the largest single wildfire in California history. After the fire, prosecutors told the company to aggressively manage trees near its lines. As NSPR’s Jamie Jiang reports, county officials aren’t impressed with how PG&E has done so far.

PG&E’s move to quietly end a program to clear dangerous trees around its power lines has caused alarm for North State prosecutors. Also, Tuesday is the last day to submit public comments on the state’s plan to spend federal funds on housing for Dixie Fire survivors, and the Chico Police Department is warning residents of a new scam hitting the community involving cryptocurrency ATMs and bitcoin.

California’s electric rates are among the highest in the country. Three big power companies propose charging fixed rates based on income, saying low-income customers will save money. Critics doubt it’ll work.

Paradise residents pleaded with California officials this week to get major insurance carriers that have stopped or put caps on selling new insurance policies in the state to reconsider. Also, PG&E looks to microgrids as one solution to try to reduce the likelihood of wildfires caused by its equipment, and the state’s energy grid is expected to hold up during this week’s heat wave.

PG&E begins undergrounding power lines in Plumas. Also, the University of California is moving to allow the hiring of undocumented students, and a proposed deal to reduce water use from the Colorado River.

A Greenville woman is caring for stray cats left behind after the Dixie Fire. Also, Pacific Gas & Electric says it will begin undergrounding power lines in Magalia this week, and after a winter of record-breaking snowpack, California officials are preparing for possible springtime flooding.

The March snow survey at Phillips Station shows snowpack is nearly double the average for the area. Also, less than half of the state remains in a drought, and public health officials in California say they’re disappointed by the governor’s plan to slash funding for a program that would bring people into epidemiology, microbiology, and lab technician roles.

The Butte County Board of Supervisors sent a letter to the PG&E Fire Victim Trust to ask for lower attorney fees for vulnerable Camp Fire survivors. Also, politicians in the North State are lobbying for a federal bill that would provide tax relief for victims of wildfires, and the National Weather Service is forecasting possible snow in lower elevations in the northern Sacramento Valley.

A bobcat found dead in Butte County was found to have died from avian flu. Also, a bill introduced in the California Legislature could prohibit law enforcement from asking tech companies to hand over large amounts of location or search data, and a state lawmaker wants to further restrict so-called “ghost guns.”