Mendo Local Weekly Roundup — Aug. 2, 2026
Firefighting crews battle the Feliz fire, broadboad crews lay middle-mile fiber, and Mendocino youth get ready for the Redwood Empire Fair
Editor’s note: MendoLocal.news will be migrating over to a new website over the next few days, please be patient with any glitches! And, we’ll be on vacation August 6 through 9 and largely out of communications range. If the glitches persist on August 11, please let us know so we can fix them!
🏛️ Mendocino County
Mendocino County’s Broadband Backbone Takes Shape Along Highway 20
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · July 30
Crews have just 8 miles left to finish installing state-owned middle-mile fiber along Highway 20 — part of a 250.7-mile Mendocino County network within California’s 8,200-mile backbone — with the segment on track for completion by Christmas 2026. Once done, the line will connect to last-mile projects like Fort Bragg Fiber, linking local communities to national and international networks.
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🌊 Fort Bragg
Identity of Woman Released After Fatal Traffic Collision in Fort Bragg
By Savana Robinson, The Mendocino Voice · July 28
Stephanie Sprague, 67, of Fort Bragg was struck and killed by a westbound GMC Sierra while crossing the 100 block of Cypress Street Thursday evening. The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office investigation.
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Catherine Breed Will Set a Record by Swimming the Length of California’s Coast
By Mary Rose Kaczorowski, The Mendocino Voice · July 27
Mill Valley open-water swimmer and former NCAA champion Catherine Breed is attempting to swim California’s entire ~900-mile coastline, a historic first, on an expedition running July 1 to early November. She stopped July 26 at Noyo Harbor’s Noyo Center for Marine Science, addressing more than 100 people amid talks on Mendocino Coast kelp forest restoration.
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🔥 Hopland
Feliz Fire Holds at 841 Acres Near Hopland; Coyote Valley Tribe Opens Shelter
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · Aug. 2
The Feliz Fire, which broke out near the 3600 block of Feliz Creek Road in Hopland and closed U.S. 101 for several hours, stabilized at 841 acres with 10% containment Sunday as more than 400 firefighters held the line. No structures were reported damaged as of Sunday morning. Roughly 500 people were evacuated, and the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians opened its Redwood Valley tribal gymnasium as an overnight shelter after other Ukiah-area evacuation centers closed.
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🏕️ Irish Beach
Irish Beach Owners Cited for Camping on Their Property
By Chelsea Randall, Independent Coast Observer · July 30
Following multiple complaints about aggressive canine behavior, the Mendocino County Building Department cited Moira Megan McNamara and Rick Edward Thompson, owners of 15381 Forest View Road, for unpermitted development on their Irish Beach lot.
Read more (Subscription to the Independent Coast Observer required)
🎨 Mendocino
Mendocino County Superior Court Justice Patrick Pekin Swears in Canine Mayor
By Lin Due, The Mendocino Voice · July 29
Superior Court Judge Patrick Pekin officiated the July 19 swearing-in of Bodhi, a 120-pound Giant Alaskan Malamute, as honorary mayor of Mendocino, capping a five-month fundraiser in which each dollar donated to the dog park counted as one vote. Bodhi — who ran on adoption-first initiatives, shelter fundraisers, and foster recruitment — cleared the 2,500-vote threshold on July 5, and proceeds will buy new bark for the park’s two play areas.
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💡 Point Arena
It’s “Baby Season” at the B. Bryan Preserve
By Chelsea Randall, Independent Coast Observer · July 30
This year’s baby season at the B. Bryan Preserve has so far produced five roan antelope calves, three sable antelope calves, one Hartmann’s mountain zebra foal, and one Cape buffalo calf. Another zebra foal is still expected.
Read more (Subscription to the Independent Coast Observer required)
💧 Potter Valley
FERC Says a Southern California District Can’t Intervene in the Potter Valley Fight
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · July 31
Federal regulators rejected the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District’s bid to intervene in PG&E’s plan to decommission the Potter Valley Project, ruling the Southern California district missed the December 1 deadline by more than seven months without explanation. EVMWD, which valued the project’s senior water rights at $500–850 million, may now pressure PG&E to sell rather than dismantle the century-old Eel River hydro facility.
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Three’s a Charm: Siblings Compete for Grand Championship Title
By Carole Brodsky, Ukiah Daily Journal · July 30
Three Potter Valley siblings — Whitney, 16, Aubrey, 18, and Ethan Fansler, 14 — will compete head-to-head for Grand Champion at the Redwood Empire Fair’s Junior Livestock Auction, which fair CEO Jennifer Seward says outpaces any similar program in California. The siblings noted sharply rising costs, with a bag of feed doubling to $50 and low-end animals now starting around $25,000.
Read more (Ukiah Daily Journal subscription required)
🏙️ Ukiah
Ukiah High Athlete Raising Award-Winning Poultry
By Carole Brodsky, Ukiah Daily Journal · Aug. 2
Ukiah High junior and cross-country runner Chase Vagt, 16, a third-generation fair participant, will show breeding bantams and about 50 market birds at the Redwood Empire Fair, competing in poultry showmanship Wednesday and the Junior Livestock Auction on Aug. 8.
Read more (Ukiah Daily Journal subscription required)
Building Supervisors Illuminate Craftsmanship at Redwood Empire Fair
By Carole Brodsky, Ukiah Daily Journal · Aug. 1
Longtime Redwood Empire Fair supervisors Katrina Tindall (Junior Building) and Loraine Patton with Nancy Trumble (Home Arts, 31 years) described the behind-the-scenes work of cataloging, judging, and artfully displaying hundreds of youth and home-arts entries. Tindall has nearly filled the Junior Building through years of outreach, while the Home Arts Building this year features roughly 62 quilts and 60 preserves entries.
Read more (Ukiah Daily Journal subscription required)
Brenda Hodges Retiring as Redwood Empire Fair Fine Arts Building Supervisor
By Carole Brodsky, Ukiah Daily Journal · July 30
After about 25 years as the Redwood Empire Fair’s Fine Arts Building supervisor — and 22 at the Mendocino County Fair — Brenda Hodges is retiring, capping a tenure in which the self-taught artist also served as the fair’s poster artist for nearly a quarter century. The fair’s Beading Group created a tribute poster of her decades of fair posters, on display in the building for visitors to add their own notes of thanks.
Read more (Ukiah Daily Journal subscription required)
Ukiah Valley Fire Authority Has New Acting Chief
By Savana Robinson, The Mendocino Voice · July 28
Battalion Chief Justin Buckingham was appointed acting fire chief of the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, effective immediately, after seven-year chief Doug Hutchison departed. Buckingham brings 28 years in fire service, including 17 with the authority, while the city begins its search for a permanent chief.
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🐖 Willits
Willits Man Sentenced to 24 Years for Serial Child Abuse
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · July 30
Neil Kiger, 42, received the maximum 24-year prison term after a jury convicted him of 11 felony counts, including lewd acts and continuous sexual abuse of a child he acted as a stepfather to between 2020 and 2023, when the victim was 10 to 13. Kiger, who had been hiding in Florida, must register as a sex offender for life and is limited to 15% good-time credits as a violent felon. Read more
Goat, Pig, Horse or Turtle? Willits to Vote on New Playground Sculpture
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · July 28
Local artist Gary Martin is donating a climbable bronze animal sculpture to the Willits City Park playground at no cost to the city, and residents will pick from three or four finalists — goat, pig, turtle, and possibly a horse — through local media in the coming weeks. Martin, inspired by a century-old bronze goat in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square, said his own favorite is the pig. Read more
Horse Show in Willits
By Maureen Jennison, Willits Weekly · July 26 Willits
Riders competed in the Willits Frontier Days Horse Show on Sunday, July 26, showcasing their own riding skills and those of their horses. Winners are listed in the Willits Weekly.
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🐻 CalMatters
David Valadao Lost in the Last Anti-Trump Blue Wave. Will Farmers Help Him Win This Time?
By Maya C. Miller, CalMatters · July 31
Republican U.S. Rep. David Valadao, the only sitting dairy farmer in Congress, is betting his farming credentials can hold California’s 22nd Congressional District in the Central Valley against Democratic challenger Randy Villegas, a community college professor and school board trustee. Rising fuel, fertilizer, and crop prices, tariff uncertainty, and Valadao’s decisive vote for a Trump budget bill that cut $28.4 billion from Medi-Cal and 20% from SNAP are shaping the race. Read more
CA’s Privatized Public Defense Leads to Caseloads 3x the Most Basic Standards, Report Finds
By Anat Rubin, CalMatters · July 29
A new report from The Wren Collective found that California’s privatized public defense system produces caseloads up to three times the most basic standards, with one Kings County attorney representing nearly 600 defendants in 2025 — triple the recommended maximum. Two dozen counties use flat-fee contracts that pay lawyers a fixed amount regardless of work, an arrangement critics say discourages investigation and pressures defendants toward plea deals — and seven of the eight counties with the highest incarceration rates use it.
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