Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman on Wednesday ordered the case against Chamise Cubbison, Mendocino County's former auditor-controller, to proceed to a preliminary hearing. Moorman will rule on an motion to dismiss after that hearing. On Tuesday the newly elected Board of Supervisors met for the first time. Among their first actions was to elect a chair and vice chair and limit public comment on specific topics to no more than ten minutes.

At today's hearing, Cubbison's defense attorney will try to convince Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman that Lt. Andrew Porter, the sheriff's investigator who interviewed Chamise Cubbision, Paula Kennedy, and Lloyd Weer acted in bad faith when he failed to preserve the emails he reviewed. Many of the emails were subsequently lost.

Mendocino County is relaunching the mobile spay and neuter van, which is designed to bring essential services to communities across the county, following a successful trial run at the Humane Society of a new van. Thirty-four surgeries were completed, and the van is now ready to expand its operations with helping spay and neuter animals all across Mendocino County.

Cases involving public officials charged with misappropriation of public funds typically involve spending money on fancy dinners, cars, houses, lavish trips — and worse. The unusual case against Chamise Cubbison, Mendocino County's former Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector, involves an obscure payroll code that a county employee in charge of payroll used to compensate herself after Cubbison told the employee she was exempt from overtime rules. Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman will consider hear testimony from Cubbison's manager at the time, former auditor Lloyd Weer, as well as Andrew Porter, the sheriff's investigator in a motion to dismiss on Monday. Tom Rakes, head of the county’s IT services when the county’s email archival system mysteriously collapsed, has also been subpoenaed.

Mendocino County, once ranked first in California for opioid-related deaths, has seen a significant improvement, now ranking 10th among counties statewide. We interview Cara Eberhardt, a doctor specializing in addiction medicine, and Marji Brunelle, an overdose prevention advocate, about the decline.