First News
Sonoma County First News for August 2, 2024
Patchefong below, scatter high clouds above with low to mid-fifties out the door. Today will be mostly sunny with highs near 90. I'm Mark Prell. Good morning from the KRCB, Sonoma County Newsroom. Here's your first news for Friday, August 2nd, 2024. The federal government is spending more money to restore salmon and habitat populations along the West Coast. Just over $18 million is going to replenish California's Fisheries Restoration Grant program. $2.5 million is going to the Klamath River Intertribal Fish and Water Commission to fund restoration efforts undertaken by four federally recognized Klamath Basin tribes. The U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the funding Thursday. Well, five years after pledging to eliminate traffic accidents causing severe injuries or fatalities in Santa Rosa by 2030, the goal appears to remain quite distant, in fact, while severe accidents on city streets fell roughly 30 percent between 2019 and 2020. They surged right back up by 2022. That's according to a report to go before the Santa Rosa City Council next Tuesday. The report says about 52 crashes causing severe injuries or death occurred in Santa Rosa in 2022. That's the most recent year for which statistics are available. The data excludes accidents that happened on area freeways. The report zeroes in on particular road segments and intersections that have more than their share of incidents. It concludes that education and enforcement alone won't eliminate deadly crashes. Urges renewed focus on reducing speeds and conflict points to improve safety. Getting money for that will require an influx of state and federal grants. The report is being presented to the Council as informational and no action is expected. Meanwhile, in Santa Rosa next week, expects some overnight lane and ramp closures along Highway 101. That's as replacement of an outmoded overpass gets underway in earnest. The idea is we need to work on a new drainage system for the new overpass that we're building. That's Caltrans spokesman Jeff Wise. He's talking about the Hearn Avenue overpass in Santa Rosa, an original crossing built with the freeway in the early 1960s. The volumes have increased tremendously since, often causing delays on the two lane structure. Wise says traffic also occasionally backs up onto off ramps and the freeway itself, causing safety hazards. It's a happy project, not while it's being constructed, but the new overpass will have twice as many vehicle lanes, but it'll also have two sidewalks and two bicycle lanes. We'll really sort of unify those neighborhoods, I think. I hope I'm not exaggerating it, but if you look right now, it's really kind of dismal walking across that overpass. It'll be so much nicer. As part of the initial work, the Hearn and Yolanda Avenue on ramps to northbound 101 will be closed overnight Tuesday through Friday starting at 10 p.m. Off ramps from southbound 101 to Hearn Avenue will close at 9 p.m. The ramps were scheduled to reopen weekday mornings at 5 to minimize disruptions and 8 a.m. on Saturday. One or two lanes of the freeway will also be closed through the construction zone overnight. Wise says completion will take a while. The overpass is scheduled for completion late next year. Well, in case it's been a while since your last visit, a regional park near the city of Sonoma has been upgraded, Maxwell Farms Regional Park now features new sports fields and restrooms, better ADA access, and a renovated parking area with electric vehicle charging stations. The unveiling follows nearly two years of work. County Regional Park staff say they replaced grass fields for baseball, soccer, and lacrosse with artificial turf. Their stated aims are to cut water use, prevent govers from tunneling and creating tripping hazards, and reduce event cancellations due to rain. A pedestrian crossing was also added along Verano Avenue. The park's entrance was reconfigured, making it easier to drop off and pick up large groups. While park officials say they hope to one day fill concessionaire stands built into the new restroom buildings, future plans for the 82-acre park between Boyes Hot Springs and downtown Sonoma include revamping the skate park and building a new bicycle and scooter pump track along with new pickleball courts and trail improvements. Construction on the second phase is scheduled to begin when funding is secured. Will everyone into roadblocks while researching your family's history? An upcoming hour-long free workshop should help you unlock information and databases, maps, historic newspapers, and genealogy websites. It's being hosted by Simone Kremkow, a librarian at Sonoma County's History and Genealogy Library. Attendees will learn how to access the library's electronic resources and digital collections and use online databases to find information. The event runs from 11 a.m. to noon at the Windsor branch of the Sonoma County Library next Friday, August 9. Registration is encouraged but not required. You're listening to Sonoma County First News. A coalition of environmental groups is asking the California Public Utilities Commission to dismiss a plan by gas utilities to blend hydrogen into the fossil fuel gas lines that help feed our homes and businesses. Opponents say that hydrogen is too expensive, risks indoor air pollution and gas leaks and is not guaranteed to be produced using renewable sources. Jim Denison, with the Sierra Club, says in the long term the state needs to phase out appliances that use fossil fuel gas in favor of electric models. Ultimately, any kind of partial system that relies on this blending is going to prolong the reliance on the gas system rather than getting a 100% solution to the problem through electrification. SoCal gas argues that hydrogen will produce the amount of fossil fuel gas used and result in lower carbon emissions and less air pollution. They also cite a study from UC Riverside that found that blends of up to 5% hydrogen could be used without significantly increasing risk factors and storage, transmission and utilization. People are invited to comment on the CPUC website. Denison notes that SoCal gas, San Diego Gas and Electric, Southwest Gas Corporation and PG&E are all seeking approval to pass $200 million in costs onto rate payers for the pilot projects. This is the utilities third try to get an application for hydrogen blending pilots approved. They keep failing to present applications that address basic questions about how to do this safely and in a way that effectively engages the communities that are affected. If approved, the projects would be built at UC Irvine, UC San Diego, Truckee, Lodi and Orange Cove. The federal government is spending billions to build hydrogen hubs across the U.S. including one in Long Beach, in part to help decarbonize industries such as shipping. New from the Embedded Podcast Female athletes have always needed grit and talent, but for decades they've also needed a certificate. And even now they're still being checked and questioned. Their story is the newest series from CBC and NPR's Embedded, it's called Tested. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. The forecast calling for possible thunderstorms that may unleash fire starting lightning and erratic winds and that could erode progress made over the past week. Weather, fuels and terrain are expected to post challenges for the 6,000 firefighters battling the park fire which erupted in a wilderness park in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Chico. The fires push northward has brought it towards the rugged lava rock landscape surrounding Lasen Volcanic National Park which has been closed due to the threat. Cal Fire says lava rocks make it hard and slow work for hand crews. Checking whether elsewhere partly to mostly sunny for us today after some morning low clouds expect highs near 90 tonight partly cloudy with lows around 60 then tomorrow continued sunny after morning clouds highs near 89 Sunday slightly cooler with mid 80s then warming slightly into next week upper 80s Monday near 90 on Tuesday. We'll see those overnight lows mostly in the 50s. At the coast today we'll stay partly cloudy, West Northwest winds will be 10 to 20 miles per hour. Bodega Bay, you're reaching 68 later, Cloverdale climbing to 96, Hillsburg 95, Windsor 94, Nashville and Greaton will see 93 this afternoon, Sonoma 92, Sevastopol and Petaluma will both reach 88, Gurnville 87 and 90 on the way for Santa Rosa. Well thanks for starting your day with us we are your local member supported public radio newsroom and you can become a member anytime at krcb.org and that's what you'll find more local reporting plus any updates to the stories you just heard. And join us for morning edition and all things considered for more North Bay news coverage weekday mornings and afternoons on krcb 104.9. From Sonoma counties NPR station I'm Mark Prell stay safe out there enjoy the weekend and have yourself a good day. [MUSIC PLAYING]