NEWS ARTICLE ARCHIVE — in chronological order, with pagination below
-
CELL feast shows off local farmers, chefs, locally-grown food
If the way to a community”s heart is through its stomach, the heartiest organization on the Mendocino Coast must be Coast Economic Localization Link, known as CELL. Community power through tasty local food was the idea behind CELL”s Local Abundance Festival Saturday. “Local” is defined as food grown within 100 miles, which means the organic…
Read More » -
Fort Bragg festival features wags, kisses and huckleberry cobbler
If there was ever any debate that Providence loves dogs, the perfectly timed sunshine that greeted the Huckleberries and Hounds Festival cleared that up. The inaugural festival Saturday managed to celebrate with gusto two highly incongruous if harmonious local treats, all in an effort to raise funds for Fort Bragg”s second off leash dog area.…
Read More » -
County asks for official role in PG&E wave energy project
Mendocino County wants to be an official player in the Pacific Gas and Electric plan to develop wave energy off Fort Bragg. But because the county waited until after the end of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission”s filing period, it has to argue for inclusion as “intervener.” “The county urgently requests the Commission accept and…
Read More » -
City, county, others officially jump into wave energy fray
For those who, like Socrates, like questions better than answers, the Oct. 5 wave energy forum sponsored by the Alliance for Democracy and other groups at Fort Bragg Town Hall was all about currently unanswerable questions. Fort Bragg Mayor Doug Hammerstrom and local wave energy buffs Cindy Arch and George Reinhardt, along with Richard Charter…
Read More » -
Caspar Fest now has sustainable features
There were flying trapeze acts, a petting zoo, local musicians playing all day, a Noyo Food Forest feast, and it was all capped off by rides in a hot air balloon. The first Caspar Fest was enough to make many locals forget the big names of past Caspar World Folk Festivals, which this event replaces.…
Read More » -
Locals unsure, curious about wave energy
Pacific Gas & Electric is seeking $6 million from the Public Utilities Commission to study wave energy off Fort Bragg as part of aggressive efforts by the company to boost its alternative energy portfolio. Three representatives from the utility told a packed house at a Fort Bragg Town Hall last Thursday about the local proposal…
Read More » -
County urged to catch a ride on wave energy
Two inland members of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors didn”t think it was worth sending a top county staffer to a wave energy hearing in Portland, Ore. on Tuesday, Oct. 2. The board met at Fort Bragg Town Hall Sept. 18. But faced with a crowd of coast residents enthusiastic for the county to…
Read More » -
Coast”s last big wooden bridge is kin to Minnesota bridge, Part 3 of 3
The continuing look at the 14 Shoreline Highway state bridges between Elk and the Ten Mile River has shown that bridges built during the heady post World War II days are costing taxpayers more than $100 million now, with all needing retrofit repairs and three — the old Noyo River Bridge, the Ten Mile River…
Read More » -
Skatepark will not be on school district property
By a 2-to-1 vote last Thursday night, the Fort Bragg Unified School District Board rejected the idea of a skatepark adjacent to the high school campus, despite the pleas of top city leaders and skaters and their parents. However, as an alternative, the City Council agreed at a special meeting Monday to consider locating the…
Read More » -
Post-war bridges are showing their age, Part 2 of 3
A search for a missing Caspar Creek Bridge road sign found it deeply entangled in vines beneath massive but mostly unseen pillars. This was just one indication that the 14 aging bridges along the Mendocino Coast”s Highway 1 examined in this series have gone from admired to mostly forgotten. Even though the structures are largely…
Read More » -
Locals say they love and fear Otis Johnson Park
With towering redwood trees and quiet, fern-filled canyons, Otis Johnson Wilderness Park draws many locals for its meditative qualities. A city survey taken Saturday showed two primary reasons for visiting the park: to walk dogs and to enjoy the isolation, serenity and quiet. The big trees, creeks and native plants were favorites of those seeking…
Read More » -
City seeking input on future of Otis Johnson Park
If there is such a thing as a best-kept secret in Fort Bragg, Otis Johnson Wilderness Park is it. The forest is nestled above Pudding Creek but isn”t visible from any road or street. Many locals report they have never visited the seven acres of towering redwoods, pines and firs, rising from canyon walls decorated…
Read More » -
Search for local bridge data reveals national information gap, Part 1 of 2
Federal and state government agencies collect valuable data on the quality and safety of every publicly-owned bridge in the nation, but they do not make that information available to the public in useable form, a newspaper investigation shows. While there is no evidence that slow and incomplete delivery of bridge data violates any laws or…
Read More » -
Schools seek quick decision on skate park
School, city and recreational officials are determined to get neighbors of a proposed portable skate park on Dana Street to express their opinion. And fast! The Fort Bragg Unified School District Board spent more than an hour last Thursday night talking in painstaking detail about how they could hurry the skate park into existence. They…
Read More » -
Hearing on 2002 Klamath salmon kill raises bigger questions
A congressional investigation of Vice President Dick Cheney that got under way this week is good news to scientists who want to put science first, says Congressman Mike Thompson. “Tuesday”s hearing is a loud message to everyone in public service that they are there to do a job based on their expertise. If the vice…
Read More » -
Humboldt supervisors enter wave energy fray
Fourth District Supervisor Kendall Smith said visiting Chevron officials were interested to hear about Mendocino County”s activist history, from The Whale Wars to fierce opposition to aerial spraying of herbicides and pesticides to the recent GMO measure. “This community has often been at the forefront of issues that impact our environment,” Smith said. “I told…
Read More » -
Hearing on 2002 Klamath salmon kill raises bigger questions
A congressional investigation of Vice President Dick Cheney that got under way this week is good news to scientists who want to put science first, says Congressman Mike Thompson. “Tuesday”s hearing is a loud message to everyone in public service that they are there to do a job based on their expertise. If the vice…
Read More » -
Humboldt supervisors enter wave energy fray
Fourth District Supervisor Kendall Smith said visiting Chevron officials were interested to hear about Mendocino County”s activist history, from The Whale Wars to fierce opposition to aerial spraying of herbicides and pesticides to the recent GMO measure. “This community has often been at the forefront of issues that impact our environment,” Smith said. “I told…
Read More » -
Chevron promises extensive local process
Chevron officials came to Fort Bragg on Tuesday to answer questions about wave energy and to explain why the company worked 18 months in secret before filing a claim off the town of Mendocino earlier this month. Raymond Cunningham, Mendocino project manager for Chevron, provided evidence the oil giant is serious about wave energy and…
Read More » -
Local wave energy tests can now get in the ocean faster
The federal agency that has taken control of wave energy has cut by 80 percent the time required to get experimental projects into the water. The plan has widespread support, despite the lack of any process that ensures local control and questions about the legitimacy of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission”s current control of the…
Read More »