COVID-19 Special Coverage

In today’s show, we’ll hear from a couple who lost everything in the Bear Fire. We’ll also hear from the head of the North Valley Community Foundation talks about how the Camp Fire prepared it to quickly help survivors of this latest tragedy. To wrap it up, for all of us who are feeling like these crises are never-ending, some advice from the Butte County Health Department on how to cope. If you have questions or comments, leave them on our message line at 530-433-9216 or head over to mynspr.org

You'd be forgiven this week for having a sense of horrible déjà vu. Orange skies. Smoke. Fire. Evacuations. We’ll hear about major losses in Berry Creek and talk with someone from CalFire about what it’s like for firefighters out on the line in this kind of heat. Plus, a pyrogeographer explains some of the differences in fire behavior between the Bear Fire and the Camp Fire. That’s all ahead.

In today’s show, Butte County warns that a spike in COVID-19 infections will keep getting worse unless the community commits to social distancing and face coverings. That’s especially true for local college campuses. Also, we explore the relationship between the US Forest Service and CalFire , as both agencies look toward a holiday weekend of super high temperatures and low humidity.

The U.S. economy has been pretty much hobbled by COVID-19. Five months in, millions of people have no paychecks, the temporary boost to unemployment has ended and an unprecedented eviction crisis looms. Dan Lindheim is a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. He was a World Bank economist, senior advisor to former Bay Area Congressman Ron Dellums and City Administrator of Oakland. NSPR's Marc Albert spoke with him about what could happen without an agreement on

Many parts of the state are still grappling with very significant numbers of COVID-19 cases. There contines to be problems with testing and getting results quickly, though we’ve entered the sixth month of the pandemic. Even in places like Trinity County with relatively few cases, there’s cause for concern. In today’s show, we’ll learn how to interpret coronavirus cases in the state, including the status of evictions in California, and if you need food or rental assistance, where to find it. If

Trinity County has only seen six confirmed cases of COVID-19, but the county public health department says they don't take low case numbers as a reason to be less vigilant. NSPR’s Andre Byik spoke with Trinity County Public Health Director Marcie Jo Cudziol about how the virus is behaving in the county and how they are keeping track of cases and working to prevent spread.

Today we're hearing from Shasta County, where the first COVID-19 case was discovered in the North State. Despite a recent uptick in cases, Shasta County, with larger towns like Redding and Anderson, is fairing relatively well. It is one of the most populated Northern California Counties that is not on the State’s Watch list. We’re going to try to find out why. We’re also going to look into the status of COVID-19 testing, who gets tested, how to get the test, and how long it takes to get results,

In some locations, it is hard to get a COVID-19 test. In others, supplies are an issue. And yet in others, it takes so long to get results, by the time they’re available, the person who was tested may have already spread the illness. To try to better understand what is going on with testing and why, NSPR’s Marc Albert spoke with Elisabeth Rosenthal, the editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news service covering health care policy.

This week w e’re taking a closer look at COVID-19 outbreaks in a North State jail and prison. We'll hear from Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea and from an employee at the California Correctional Center in Lassen County. We’ll also take a trip to Downieville to learn more about the community’s classic bike race that won’t be happening there this year due to the pandemic. If you have questions or comments for us leave them on our message line 433-9216 – or you can also leave comments on our website

We are in a moment where people all across the world are questioning and calling out systemic racism and police brutality. But for one particularly group in the North State, this conversation around police violence and demands for accountability have been taking place for years. It was March 17, 2017, when Desmond Phillips, a 25-year old black man who was suffering from a mental health episode was shot and killed by Chico Police. It was ruled by a federal judge that the officers’ actions in the