Mendo Local Weekly Roundup — July 11, 2026
More local sightings of sunflower sea stars, a data center moratorium, and timber harvesting returns to Fort Bragg
🏛️ Mendocino County
Supervisors Advance a Road Sales Tax After a Standoff Over Where All the Money Goes
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · July 10
The Board of Supervisors voted 4–0 on July 7 to advance a 1% sales tax proposal that is heading for the November ballot. The tax would double spending on county roads by raising about $5.5 million a year.
Read more
The predator we lost may return — and the kelp is betting on it
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · July 10
Sunflower sea stars — a key urchin predator wiped out by a marine epidemic starting in 2013 — are naturally reappearing in small numbers along the North Coast. Their return raises hope the ecosystem could recover without relying solely on labor-intensive culling of purple sea urchins.
Read more
Visit Mendocino County’s contract has lapsed — and someone else wants in
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · July 9
Visit Mendocino County’s contract to run the county’s tourism marketing has expired, and the hoteliers that fund the organization through self-assessments are seeking to more fairly allocate the dollars — and are highlighting the differences between coastal and inland tourism.
Read more
County Planning Director Resigns for New Job, as Grand Jury Report Faults Her Department
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · July 8
Planning and Building Services Director Julia Krog has tendered her resignation to take a job with Marin County, just as a civil grand jury report faulted her department for lacking written policies and failing to enforce fire-safety rules. Chief Building Official Richard Angley will serve as interim director while supervisors prepare a required 90-day response to the report.
Read more
Mendocino County Moves to Block Data Centers Before They Arrive
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · July 8
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously July 7 to have staff draft a temporary moratorium on data-center construction — a preemptive move made before any developer has applied. Commenters cited the heavy electricity and water demands of the AI-driven facilities.
Read more
Supervisor Mulheren’s Tax Sharing Agreement Is Just Another Bad County Idea Going Nowhere
By Mark Scaramella, The Anderson Valley Advertiser
Columnist Mark Scaramella critiques Supervisor Maureen Mulheren’s Master Tax Sharing Agreement with the City of Ukiah, calling it yet another failed county initiative. The agreement, negotiated in secret without proper county staff input or public review, was approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2024 based on optimistic claims rather than financial analysis. Scaramella details how county staff later found the agreement confusing and nearly impossible to implement, while parcel owners in the proposed annexation area were never consulted. The piece argues the agreement exemplifies a decade-long pattern of mismanagement by county supervisors, citing numerous other failed initiatives including the mental health privatization debacle, the auditor-controller merger fiasco, and various other costly missteps.
Read more (Subscription to the Anderson Valley Advertiser may be required)
🍇 Anderson Valley
Twenty Years And Counting: Reflections on Community in Anderson Valley
By Terry Sites, Anderson Valley Advertiser · July 10
After two decades in Anderson Valley, Terry Sites reflects on what defines community in this small valley of 3,000 residents. Sites explores how the intimate scale of the community allows neighbors to know one another deeply—from recognizing patients at the health clinic to greeting friends at local businesses.
Read more (Subscription to the Anderson Valley Advertiser may be required)
🚨 Covelo
Covelo Area Struck by Multiple Disasters in Five Days
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News
The Covelo area experienced an extraordinary week of crises between July 7-10, including a wildfire, a fatal shooting, and an earthquake. The Agency Fire broke out Tuesday near Agency and Mina roads, threatening multiple structures before being contained to less than an acre. On Thursday, a woman was found shot to death in a vehicle off Rifle Range Road, with the Sheriff’s Office investigating as a homicide. The week culminated Friday evening with a magnitude 4.4 earthquake centered 7 miles north of Covelo on the Bartlett Springs fault, felt across Northern California. While the earthquake caused no reported damage, experts say larger quakes cannot be ruled out.
Read more
⚖️ Fort Bragg
A Federal Judge Ordered Fort Bragg to Hand Over a 2014 Mill Site Contamination Letter
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · July 10
A federal judge has ordered the City of Fort Bragg to turn over a September 2014 letter it sent to Georgia-Pacific about contamination at the former mill site — but under a protective order that keeps the letter confidential. This keeps it hidden from the public.
Read more
Public Utilities Commission met in Fort Bragg to discuss affordability programs and access
By Mary Rose Kaczorowski, The Mendocino Voice · July 10
The California Public Utilities Commission held a voting meeting July 2 at Fort Bragg Town Hall to take up utility affordability programs and access, part of its practice of rotating meetings around the state.
Read more
CAL FIRE tour marks return of logging to Jackson Demonstration State Forest
By Frank Hartzell, Mendocino Coast News · July 10
Cal Fire is hosting a public tour Saturday, July 11, of the Camp 20 timber harvest plan in Jackson Demonstration State Forest, marking the resumption of logging after a four-year pause. The project would remove roughly 1,200 to 1,600 second-growth trees as part of a study comparing forest-management approaches.
Read more
Pacific Textile Arts celebrates 30 years of fiber arts
By Carole Brodsky, Ukiah Daily Journal · July 9
The Fort Bragg City Council issued a proclamation last month honoring Pacific Textile Arts for 30 years of serving the local fiber-arts community. The all-volunteer nonprofit, which grew from a Berkeley weaving school and relocated to the coast beside the Krenov School for Fine Woodworking, raised about $70,000 in private donations to buy its building.
Read more
🤖 Hopland
Robots and drones audition for grape growers at Hopland center
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · July 6
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) hosted a free agricultural-technology field day June 30 at the Hopland Research and Extension Center, where eight companies demonstrated robots and drones built to help grape growers with disease control and labor shortages.
Read more
🐹 Point Arena
Students Embark on Summer ELOP Adventures
By David Torres, Independent Coast Observer · July 9
Dozens of students enrolled in the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program visited the Point Arena lighthouse. Other highlights this year included visits to the Noyo Marine Center and the Skunk Train.
Read more (Subscription to the Independent Coast Observer required)
The Point Arena mountain beaver is running out of fog
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · July 5
The Point Arena mountain beaver, an endangered rodent found only in coastal Mendocino County, is threatened by declining summer fog as the climate warms. The primitive animal has inefficient kidneys that demand near-constant water and depends on the cool, humid coastal fog belt to survive.
Read more
🏡 Town of Mendocino
In 1884, a Mendocino resident helped ensure today’s birthright citizenship
By Carole Brodsky, Ukiah Daily Journal · July 10
With the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling reaffirming birthright citizenship, the Ukiah Daily Journal revisits Look Tin Eli, a Mendocino-born resident whose 1884 court victory secured birthright citizenship for California-born Chinese Americans. His case helped pave the way for the precedent cited in last week’s decision.
Read more
🏊 Ukiah
Ukiah City Council OKs fee hikes for some community services
By Justine Frederiksen, Ukiah Daily Journal · July 9
The Ukiah City Council approved a slate of fee increases for community services, including higher room-rental rates at the Ukiah Valley Conference Center and future hikes to city pool admission. Community Services Director Jake Burgess said the fees, presented July 1, were set to cover equipment costs and keep staff pay competitive — though pool admission stays $10 this summer.
Read more (Subscription to the Ukiah Daily Journal may be required)
🎉 Willits
Chris Rogers Marched in Willits’ Parade
By Jennifer Poole, Willits Weekly· July 9
Assemblymember Chris Rogers chose to celebrate the nation’s 250th Independence Day in Willits, marching in the local Frontiers Day parade.
Read more
Willits City Council Passes 26-27 Budget
By Jennifer Poole, Willits Weekly · July 9
The Willits City Council passed a $16,821,004 budget for fiscal year 2026-27 at their special meeting on June 29. The vote was 4 to 1, with Councilmember Bruce Burton dissenting.
Read more
🏛️ CALMATTERS
Once-in-a-Lifetime Federal Housing Bill Becomes Law—Here’s What It Means for California
By Ben Christopher, CalMatters · July 10
A major bipartisan federal housing bill is set to become law this weekend, marking the largest piece of housing legislation Congress has passed in a generation. Rather than one sweeping change, the bill includes 56 regulatory tweaks and pilot programs designed to boost housing construction nationwide.
Read more
Kaiser Nurses Say AI Surveillance Is Harming Patient Care
By Khari Johnson, CalMatters
Kaiser Permanente call center nurses are raising alarm about workplace surveillance tools and AI systems that prioritize speed and cost savings over quality care. Seven current and former nurses told CalMatters that those spending more than 15 minutes on patient calls face criticism and performance evaluations, while AI systems rate their empathy and tone of voice.
Read more