Mendo Local Weekly Roundup — November 1, 2026

🏛️ Mendocino County

FAIR Plan Premiums Rise Across Mendocino County, Especially on the Coast
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · October 30
The California FAIR Plan is raising fire-insurance premiums an average of about 22% across Mendocino County — and roughly 25% on the coast — for policies renewing on or after Oct. 15. And individuals can see increases four times that amount, The steepest projected hikes target coastal communities with scant history of recent major wildfires, including Manchester (40%), Mendocino (39.7%), Point Arena (36.4%) and Caspar (34.8%).
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Newsom Orders a Storm Plan for Highway 1
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · October 29
Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered state agencies to pinpoint the stretches of Highway 1 most at risk from this winter's El Niño storms and to do preventive work before they hit, with a new task force due to report by Dec. 15.
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Magnitude 4.0 Earthquake Strikes Near Lake Pillsbury Amid Series of 12 Quakes
By Isabel Beer, The Press Democrat · October 28
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck about 6 miles north of Lake Pillsbury, near the Lake–Mendocino county line, around 5 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28 — the largest in a sequence of 12 quakes logged in the area over several weeks, the USGS said. The shaking centered near the Bartlett Springs fault zone and PG&E's Potter Valley Project, whose Scott Dam impounds Lake Pillsbury; the utility surveyed the project that morning and reported no impact.
Read more (The Press Democrat subscription required)

🚜 Elk

Landslide Repair in Elk Roughly Two Months Away From Completion
By Karen Elowitt, Independent Coast Observer · October 30
Caltrans says the shear pile wall built to strengthen the hillside and cliff along Highway 1 in Elk is expected to be finished the week of Nov. 20.
Read more (Subscription to the Independent Coast Observer required)

🌊 Fort Bragg

Scott Mayberry Received Voter List From Rafanan, Denies Sharing It With Anonymous Facebook Account
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · October 31
Fort Bragg City Council candidate Scott Mayberry acknowledged receiving a voter roll purchased by candidate and Vice Mayor Marcia Rafanan but denied any role in an anonymous Facebook post that used voter-registration data to suggest a private citizen who supports another city council candidate had committed voter fraud.
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Fort Bragg Has No Head Start This Fall, a First in More Than 30 Years
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · October 30
For the first time in more than 30 years, there is no Head Start classroom on the Mendocino coast this fall after North Coast Opportunities closed its Fort Bragg center in May and moved its 16 federally funded slots to Ukiah.
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Noyo High School Celebrates New Home With Ribbon-Cutting, Tours and Tears
By Carole Brodsky, Ukiah Daily Journal · October 30
Noyo High School, Fort Bragg's alternative-education campus, celebrated the opening of its new permanent, bond-funded home Friday with a ribbon-cutting, tours and a Rotary Club barbecue, and students had their first full day of classes there Monday.
Read more (Ukiah Daily Journal subscription required)

Public Records Cast Cold Water on Heated Election Accusations
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · October 29
Public records do not support an anonymous Facebook post's claim that Fort Bragg dentist Alan Limbird committed voter fraud. The accusation appears to have relied on outdated information — the couple owns homes in Fort Bragg and Mendocino, and a 2025 voter file lists both at their Fort Bragg house. The registrar said Vice Mayor Marcia Rafanan was not permitted to post the voter roll she had purchased on an anonymous Facebook site targeting a rival city council candidate.
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Blue Shield Cuts Off Mendocino Coast Pharmacy
By Frank Hartzell, Mendocino Coast News · October 28
Blue Shield has notified a customer that it is cutting off Mendocino Coast Pharmacy. The customer says they paid nearly $2,000 out of pocket for prescriptions that normally run about $600 a month and warned the move will push patients to an already-overloaded Safeway pharmacy and to CVS.
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🎭 Gualala

Mini "Crime Wave" Hits Mendonoma Coast
By Karen Elowitt, Independent Coast Observer · October 30
A cluster of thefts along the Mendonoma Coast has residents on alert, including a break-in at the Rod & Gun Club in Manchester and the theft of a vintage motorcycle in Gualala. A tool box and fishing poles were also taken from a boat at Arena Cove.
Read more (Subscription to the Independent Coast Observer required)

🍇 Hopland

Caltrans Sues Companies Behind Hopland's Thatcher Hotel and Stock Farm Restaurant and Inn for Eminent Domain
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · October 28
Caltrans has sued two companies tied to the family behind Hopland's Thatcher Hotel and Stock Farm restaurant and inn, seeking temporary construction easements on strips of both U.S. 101 properties for ADA sidewalk work. The project, which began July 12 and is expected to finish in November, has severely disrupted Hopland's small business district.
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🎨 Mendocino

Mendocino Review Board Asks for White Hydrants, Not 'Barney Purple'
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · October 30
The Mendocino Historical Review Board voted 3-0 on Oct. 5 to recommend the village's new recycled-water hydrants be painted white, with only the caps in state-approved purple — "We don't want the Barney purple," Chair Holly Madrigal said. California generally requires recycled-water hydrants to be purple to avoid confusion with drinking water, so the water and school districts are asking the state whether a purple-capped or striped option would comply.
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🏙️ Ukiah

Bend School Shooting Hero Is a Ukiah High Grad
By Lisa Music, Redheaded Blackbelt · October 31
Cassidy Schutz, the Oregon teacher who tackled the gunman during the Oct. 15 mass shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, is a Ukiah High School graduate who grew up in Ukiah. Police said Schutz threw her cellphone at the shooter and fought for his shotgun — buying time that let an armed parent stop the 16-year-old — in an attack that killed three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, and 25-year-old teacher Megan Lambert.
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Palace Hotel Goes Back to the Ukiah City Council on Nov. 4
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · October 31
The Ukiah City Council will again take up the vacant downtown Palace Hotel on Wednesday, Nov. 4, when staff are expected to lay out the city's options.
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Ukiah Asks for Another Year on Old Dump; Garbage Customers Will Help Cover $21.1 Million
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · October 29
Ukiah is seeking another year to finish closing its old landfill on Vichy Springs Road, after missing the Oct. 31 deadline. The closure is now pegged at $21.1 million — up from $13.4 million a year earlier.
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Ukiah's New 16-Bed Mental Health Center Is Up and Running
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · October 29
Ukiah's new 16-bed Anchor Mental Health Rehabilitation Center at 531 S. Orchard Ave. has admitted its first residents, with about eight beds filled by late October. Every resident so far is a Mendocino County conservatee. The county currently has about 40 residents placed out of county for lack of in-county beds.
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Salinas Motorcyclist Killed in US 101 Crash South of Ukiah Identified
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · October 29
Adrian Jimenez, a 40-year-old Salinas motorcyclist, was killed in an Oct. 25 crash on southbound U.S. 101 south of Ukiah. Jimenez reportedly lost control of his Harley-Davidson, landed in the roadway, and was struck by a Kia driven by a 26-year-old San Rafael woman who stayed at the scene. CHP has not said whether drugs or alcohol were involved and continues to investigate.
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Ukiah Valley Fire Authority Appoints New Fire Chief
By Mendo Voice Staff, The Mendocino Voice · October 28
The City of Ukiah and the Ukiah Valley Fire Protection District have appointed Justin Buckingham as fire chief of the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, with a swearing-in set for 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4. Buckingham, acting chief since July 27, has 28 years in the fire service — 17 of them in Ukiah — and succeeds Doug Hutchison, who led the agency for seven years.
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Historical Society of Mendocino County Expands Efforts to Preserve Local History
By Carole Brodsky, Ukiah Daily Journal · October 27
The Historical Society of Mendocino County is expanding its preservation work around a donated high-definition scanner that it intends to use to digitize its entire archive of roughly two million documents and tens of thousands of photos. Only about 20% of which is digitized so far.
Read more (Ukiah Daily Journal subscription required)

🚂 Willits

JDSF Prescribed Burn in Thompson Gulch
By CAL FIRE MEU, Willits Weekly · October 29
CAL FIRE conducted a prescribed burn to treat about 150 acres of timber slash and understory in the Thompson Gulch area of Jackson Demonstration State Forest. Burning began Oct. 29 and continued through Oct. 31.
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Party in Pink
By Maureen Jennison, Willits Weekly · October 29
A "Party in Pink" breast cancer awareness fundraiser raised $4,000 for the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County. The event featured Zumba, food, and raffles.
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Tribal Members Oppose Endorsement of Bourassa as Court Records Detail 2024 Fight for Control of Tribal Building, Bank Accounts
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · October 27
Eight tribal members — many of them elders, with a ninth signing on later — wrote to news outlets opposing the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians' endorsement of Buffey Wright Bourassa for Mendocino County's 3rd District supervisor seat, citing a divisive 2024 tribal council dispute and the tribe's shaky finances.
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🐻 CalMatters

Police Union Mounts Last-Minute Campaign to Oust a California Supreme Court Justice
By Adam Ashton, CalMatters · October 31
PORAC, California's largest law enforcement union, is running a last-minute campaign urging voters to reject state Supreme Court Justice Kelli Evans in the Nov. 3 retention election. Union leaders concede the push is unlikely to unseat Evans — a 2022 appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom — but say it is meant to signal to judges that PORAC is watching how they rule on laws expanding parole and release for incarcerated people.
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'Red Boxing': How California Legislative Candidates Signal Ad Messaging to Outside Spenders
By Kate Wolffe and Nadia Lathan, CalMatters · October 30
CalMatters identified at least 14 California legislative candidates whose websites package campaign messaging so independent expenditure committees can lift it directly into ads — a practice known as "red boxing."
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