KZYX News

By KZYX News Department

KZYX reporters and independent journalists cover local news for Mendocino County, California, Monday through Friday in six and a half minute reports. The KZYX News podcast is available for redistribut... more

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The podcast currently has 1,166 episodes available.

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July 26, 2022 Ukiah Players Theater raises its curtains again after pandemic closures
Neil Simon’s Tony-winning romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park is currently being performed at the Ukiah Players Theater until the 31st of the month. The play, originally written to take place in the 60s, in fact, takes place in 1982 in the Ukiah players theater’s rendition. The change is an ode to the 40th anniversary of the theater, says director Eric Ward. With 80s-inspired costumes, soundtrack, and set props, the play follows a young newlywed lesbian couple who have just moved to New York City in a teeny apartment on the top floor. Corie, played by Grey Wolfe-Smith, is an interior designer whose colorful personality is expressed with a rainbow wardrobe. Her wife Paula, played by Amanda Baguley, is beginning her law career and is the opposite of Corie, Paula is always anxious, concerned, and just trying to get some sleep. From the director’s notes on the couple’s dynamic: “opposites attract, but what makes someone easy to love, can also make them very hard to live with.”

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7min
July 26, 2022 Fort Bragg swears in new police chief, hires Interim City Manager
July 26, 2022 — The Fort Bragg City Council swore in a new chief of police and hired another retired public employee as an interim city manager Monday night.
Last month, the council bid farewell to Interim Police Chief John Naulty and Interim City Manager David Spaur, who were both serving for a limited time due to their retirements from public service. Last night, Neil Cervenka, formerly of Turlock, took his oath of office as the new chief. Cervenka thanked family and friends and pledged his loyalty to his new community, saying, “I commit to concern for this community and all the issues that affect it. I commit to compassion for all segments of this community regardless of status. And I commit to courage, to do the right thing, no matter if it’s difficult.”
In another key position, Peggy Ducey can put in 960 hours a year as Interim City Manager, in keeping with the rules of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). She will receive no benefits or any other form of compensation outside of an hourly rate of $76.30, starting July 26.
And the council adopted a resolution to declare a Stage 1 water alert, asking for a citywide water conservation goal of 5% to 10% and prohibiting wasteful water use. Water customers are only supposed to irrigate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays before 9am and after 6pm, and restaurants will only serve water upon request.
Operations Manager John Smith told the council that water in the Noyo River, one of the city’s three water sources, is diminishing. “The Noyo River is currently at 6 cubic feet per second,” he told the council on Monday. “It was 6.75 when I wrote this, which is still 4.3 million gallons a day, which sounds like a lot, but it’s dropping about 1.5 cubic feet per week.”
Smith added that the city’s small desalination plant is ready to go as a last resort, and promised to keep working on the city goal of storing 60 million gallons, an estimated four months’ supply.
And officials are preparing for the next election, just a month after publishing results from the last election.
City Clerk June Lemos told the council that the deadline to return nomination papers to run for
Fort Bragg City Council has been extended to August 17, because Vice-Mayor Jessica Morsell-Haye is not seeking re-election. Council member Lindy Peters’ papers have been certified, and he is qualified to be on the November ballot.
The Council heard a number of reports, among them a draft of a feasibility study to diversify the local economy by developing the former Georgia Pacific Mill site. As its tourism-based economy crashed during COVID, the city received $137,000 in CARES Act money from the U.S. Economic Development Agency, plus a $10,000 California Sea Grant for the Blue Economy Symposium to develop new ideas to create sustainable jobs and industries.
However, as Morsell-Haye pointed out, the former Georgia-Pacific mill site is not public property. “This study was initiated at a time when we were in negotiations for that property,” she said. “We’re talking about uses on property that we do not control.”
Last year, Mendocino Railway, or the Skunk Train, won an eminent domain case against Georgia Pacific and purchased 272 acres of the mill site property according to the terms of a stipulation for $1,230,000.
Though the Skunk Train does not engage in interstate commerce, its lawyers claim that its status as a railroad means that it is subject to federal jurisdiction, which exempts it from local and state permitting regulations. In 2019, the company declared that it would not be seeking permits from the city of Fort Bragg to do work on the property, but that it was happy to make a donation to the city equal to the cost of a building permit.
The City sued the Skunk, asking a local judge to declare that the railway is not a public utility, and to command it to comply with all city ordinances. The First District Court of Appeals briefly placed a stay on the case after Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Clay Brennan declined to throw it out, but the stay was dissolved after about five weeks. The City and the Skunk are scheduled to be back in court for a case management conference in September.
On Monday night, Chris Hart, of Mendocino Railway, called in to the City Council meeting to complain that his company made only a brief appearance in a document concerning land it owns. “I do feel that Mendocino Railway’s perspective could have been more incorporated,” he said. “It is concerning that even though we are a local company that owns much of the land and is trying to invest millions, we’re not considered a stakeholder or an asset. Instead we’re shown as an obstacle. The study states that we interfered with the City’s verbal agreement with GP when we used eminent domain in the summer of 2021. It makes no mention of the City’s interference five months earlier.”
Last year, the City Council wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation, urging ...
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7min
July 25, 2022 Noticias en Español del lunes 5 de julio
La organisación UVA, Ukiah Vecinos en Acción está preparando un podcast en español para informar a la comunidad latina de la región.
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11min
July 25, 2022 UVA's new Spanish language podcast.
UVA, Ukiah Vecinos en Acción is working on the production of Spanish language podcast to cover news and information for the local Latino community.
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7min
July 25, 2022 Newscast July 22, 2022
More than 30% of the jobs in Mendocino County’s Child Welfare Services remain vacant. To ameliorate this deficiency, community based organizations like SPACE, 4H, and our schools now serve as vital, local, family resource hubs that offer services aimed to improve the health of our County’s kids and their families.
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16min
July 21, 2022 La graduación de Ukiah High 2022 celebra a los graduades por su resistencia
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6min
July 21, 2022 Ukiah High graduation of 2022 celebrates grads for their endurance
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7min
July 21, 2022 Afro-Latin band, La Misa Negra, performs in Ukiah for their 3rd summer concert event
Born out of Oakland, the Afro-Latin band “La Misa Negra” performed at the third concert of the Sundays in the Park summer concert series in Ukiah. The seven member band put on a upbeat show, playing fusions of cumbia and salsa.
Nacidio desde Oakland, la band afro-latina “La Misa Negra” presentaron en el tercero concierto del serie Domingoes en el Parque en ukiah. La banda de siete musicos pusieron un espectaculo animado, jugando fusiones de cumbia y salsa.
Marco Polo Santiago, guitarist, composer, and accordion player, founded the band in 2011. KZYX sat with the band before the presentation. Translations will follow.
Marco Polo Santiago, guitarrista, compositor y jugador de acordeón, fundó la banda en 2011. KZYX sentó con la banda antes del presentacion. La traducción seguirá.
Que es tu nombre y que tocas?
Me llamo Lydia Rodriguez y toco baritono saxofon.
La banda nacio de Oakland, tu eres de la area?
Soy de Stockton pero ahora vivo en San Jose. Actualment soy nueva a la banda, ayer era mi primer concierto. Me invitaron ser parte de la banda, pienso que me adoptaron.
Por cuanto tiempo has jugado musica?
Empeze cuando tenia 9 años con el flauta, hice todas mis programes de musicas y cambie at saxofón a los 13 años.
Como te encontraste en este género?
Es lo que creci escuchando. Mis padres son de Zacatecas, Mexico. Ellos y mi hermana emigraron aquí. Es lo que siempre he sabido, es en mi sangre…esta banda también hace sonidos de rock y roll, y punk, un género que me metí por mi cuenta. Es una mezcla de todo que me encanta. Puedo sacudirme el pelo y toca musica latina, es chido!
In the car the band was telling me you performed yesterday? Where?
A festival in grass valley.
Are you spending the summer doing shows?
We just have a few shows this summer, because of the pandemic our return to the scene has been slow.
Where do you draw inspiration from when songwriting?
I have the inspiration already because I have listened to music all my life so I can think about what styles to draw from. I have my own style of composing music derived from listening to not just cumbia, but cuban music, latin jazz, mambo, rock, metal, hip hop, rap, and funk. It guides me when writing melodies and wind instrument parts. Its principle for our sound – our music revolves around the wind instruments, saxophone, trumpets, all that. And so, I write music because I’m educated on those varying genres.
What has been your favorite song to write for the band?
Pistola, a salsa song we have on our recent album.
What is next for the band?
I’m writing the next album right now. I have several songs done, they are missing lyrics, but in a few months, we’ll be putting new songs out.
La Misa Negra was a fresh sound for Ukiah, concert goers were hesitant at first but soon enough the stage front was filled with dancers, many following the steps of the musicians moving on stage.
La Misa Negra era un sonido fresco para Ukiah, la gente primero estaban vacilantes, pero pronto el frente del escenario estaba lleno de bailadores, muchos siguiendo los pasos de los musicos bailando.
For the KZYX News, I’m Ayled Zazueta. For all our local stories, with photos and more, visit KZYX.org. You can also subscribe to the KZYX news podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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7min
July 20, 2022 Hospital and insurer in negotiations that could leave public employees paying out of network costs
July 20, 2022 — A recent announcement by Adventist Health about its negotiations with Anthem Blue Cross, the county’s main insurance provider, has caused widespread panic. The contract between Anthem and Adventist, a faith-based nonprofit hospital system that manages all three of the county’s hospitals, was originally due to expire on July 18, but has been extended to August first.
Adventist posted FAQs on its website this week, directing patients to call the number on their insurance card for answers to most questions. But patients are advised that if they are in the hospital after midnight on August first, Anthem could choose to transfer them to another hospital. Some patients may be able to continue receiving care for some time as a “continuity of care service.”
In a letter to patients last month, Adventist claimed that Anthem has enjoyed record profits for the past two years, but continues to pay Adventist “substantially less than other hospital systems. Anthem is one of our lowest-paying health plans, and we can’t continue to provide quality care for patients at such significantly reduced rates.”
Adventist offered to be interviewed on this subject, but we declined because President Judson Howe refuses to speak to us about the faith-based hospital’s policies on abortion, which remains legal in the state of California.
Recent studies show that much of the high cost of doing medicine in the state of California is due to a lack of competition, both in healthcare and insurance markets.
According to a study by the California Healthcare Foundation, titled, “Markets or Monopolies,” “the preponderance of evidence suggests that hospital consolidation leads to higher prices… Furthermore, workers bear the burden of these increased premiums as employers depress wages to pay more for health insurance coverage.” The MediCare Payment Advisory Commission told Congress in 2018 that “hospitals with large market shares have the leverage to negotiate relatively high prices from commercial insurers.”
This affects small local governments offering employer insurance, as well as private citizens who pay for their own coverage. The county’s health plan is currently close to $5 million in the hole, with the county paying about 81% of the cost of skyrocketing claims, according to a presentation by Deputy CEO Cherie Johnson during last month’s budget hearings. “So we would really need to change our whole plan,” she told the Board of Supervisors. “We need to be looking at the deductibles, the co-insurances…Fully insured is where we’re looking at, so we know, with a fully insured plan, what your payments are every single month. Right now, we don’t know. We project what we believe our monthlies will be, but it’s unpredictable. We could get a $60,000 claim week, and then the next week, we could get $116,000.”
Julie Beardsley, President of SEIU Local 1021, which represents most county workers, said it’s time to cut loose. The union is in a battle with the county, which is offering a 0% cost of living allowance. “The county has been stalling about looking into new plans,” she said at a union rally during the budget hearings. “Obviously Adventist has kind of monopoly here in the county and they can charge whatever they want, but we need to look at other plans.”

Adventist told its patients that in the last five years, it’s given away more than $276 million in charity to those in need. We have not had the opportunity to review detailed financial information for Adventist Health.
But according to a report by Stat, a healthcare-focused news website produced by Boston Globe Media, nonprofit hospitals in the U.S. received an estimated $25 billion in tax exemptions in 2015. Its authors, Ge Bai and David A. Hyman, write that “many nonprofit hospitals do not provide enough charity care to justify their exemptions…More than one-third of nonprofit hospitals (36%) provided less than $1 of charity care for every $100 in total expenses.” Nonprofit hospitals are exempt from federal, state, and local property taxes, and donations to them are tax-deductible. Ge and Hyman argue that, “If nonprofit hospitals are unwilling to provide sufficient charity care to justify the amount of their current tax exemption, there is no reason we should deprive local communities of the property tax revenues that allow them to fund local schools, parks, and other public services.”
Assembly member JimWood’s office responded to our inquiries with a statement reading in part that the Assembly member understands that, “In this case, Adventist is the one initiating the action to renegotiate, requesting higher reimbursements in a number of areas…On the other hand, Anthem is seeking an agreement that would not reflect significant cost increases to the employers, employees or others with Anthem coverage. It’s important to note that the entities being affected, such as the school districts, city of Ukiah and (the) county, are self-insured and, as suc...
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7min
July 19, 2022 KZYX Newscast for 7-15-22: The Coastal Commission Meets in Fort Bragg
July 15, 2022--Victor Palomino, Sarah Reith and Alicia Bales of the KZYX Local News Team attend the California Coastal Commission Meeting in Fort Bragg and file this special report.
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25min

FAQs about KZYX News:

How many episodes does KZYX News have?

The podcast currently has 1,166 episodes available.