Mendocino County Today: Monday 2/16/2026

RAINFALL (past 24 hours): Leggett 2.44" - Laytonville 2.43" - Willits 2.16" - Yorkville 1.96" - Ukiah 1.22" - Boonville 1.17" - Hopland 1.11" - Covelo 0.74"

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): That was quite the gully washer yesterday ! I got 3.19", a new 1 day high for me I think ? Much smaller daily amounts are forecast this week along with some wind added now. Next weekend is forecast to have some higher amounts. I think the amount of rainfall we get could vary greatly from the forecast amounts, we'll see ? Oh yea, a cloudy 44F this Monday morning on the coast.

A FEW LIGHT SHOWERS are expected Monday. Monday evening the cold air moves in with rain and snow starting right behind it. Monday night and Tuesday a strong winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow, especially in Humboldt and Del Norte counties. Snow levels are expected to be around 1500 to 2000 feet, but local areas may be lower. Additional rounds of rain and low elevation snow are expected through the week. (NWS)

ATTEMPTED MURDER ON BRANSCOM ROAD

On Friday, February 13, 2026, at about 12:00 P.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to the 11700 block of Branscomb Road in Laytonville for a report of shots fired. The reporting person notified MCSO Dispatch that Brandon Lee Langenderfer, 32, of Willits, had shot at a 68-year-old adult male victim. The victim's head had been grazed by a bullet and Langenderfer fled the scene.

Upon arrival, first aid was rendered by medical personnel who confirmed the victim had sustained a superficial wound. The victim was examined and treated at the scene by medical personnel and Sheriff's Deputies initiated an attempted-murder investigation.

During the investigation, Sheriff’s Deputies learned that Langenderfer had walked up to the victim's property while he was outside his residence. Langenderfer produced a firearm, pointed it at the victim and discharged the firearm. The victim ran for safety and Langenderfer fled on foot into a wooded area.

During the investigation, Deputies learned of a vehicle that was associated with Langenderfer. Deputies along with the assistance of other law enforcement agencies vigorously searched the area for Langenderfer.

At about 4:00 P.M., a CalFire Prevention Law Enforcement Officer observed the vehicle that had been associated with Langenderfer in the 6900 block of Branscomb Road. Deputies responded to the location and contained the area. Multiple verbal commands to prompt Langenderfer to surrender were given with no response. Deputies formulated a plan to safely clear the area. With the use of a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, aka drone) and Deputies searching on foot, Langenderfer was located hiding in some brush along with Miranda Marie Mullin, 31, of Willits. Langenderfer and Mullins were safely detained.

Langenderfer was placed under arrest for Attempted Murder, Prohibited Person in Possession of Ammunition, Possession of Controlled Substance With Prior Convictions, Violation of Parole, Resisting, Delaying, or Obstructing Law Enforcement, and a Felony Warrant for violating State Parole. Langenderfer was booked and lodged at the Mendocino County Jail and is being held on a no-bail status due to his parole violations.

Mullins was placed under arrest for Resisting, Delaying, or Obstructing Law Enforcement, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and an out-of-state arrest warrant. Mullins was booked and lodged at the Mendocino County jail and is being held on a no-bail status due to her outstanding charges and the out-of-state warrant.

This investigation is ongoing and anyone with information regarding this case is requested to call the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086 (option 1), or the Sheriff's Office non-emergency tip-line at 707-234-2100.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office would like to thank the following agencies for their assistance with this investigation: CalFire Prevention, California Highway Patrol (CHP), California State Parks, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

ED NOTE: Our arrest archive shows that Mr. Langenderfer has been arrested more than a dozen times going back to 2020 for a variety of drug-related crimes including burglary, brandishing, criminal threats, theft of an ATV, assault with a deadly weapon (gun) with great bodily injury, battery, illegal firearm possession, saps or similar weapons, possession of a dirk/dagger, and multiple parole/probation violations and failures to appear. He is obviously a free-floating menace to the Laytonville/Willits area and should not be released from custody to continue his drug-fueled crimes. Apparently local courts are unable to restrict his escalating criminal activities in any significant way. He needs to be stopped before he kills somebody.

Likewise, Ms. Mullins has been arrested multiple times going back to 2017 for robbery, burglary, possession of tear gas, stolen property, saps or similar weapons, conspiracy, and various drug and probation violations.

REDWOOD VALLEY MUNICIPAL ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING FEBRUARY 11, 2026

by Monica Huettl

The Meeting Opened with Public Comments and Some Debate About Free Speech

Gabriel Baca announced that the Mendocino County Rapid Response Network (MCRRN) provides information to the public about Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The MCRRN distributes wallet-sized cards printed in English and Spanish with the phone number of the rapid response hotline, and cards listing your rights should you have an encounter with ICE. The MCRRN also provides information about how to contact ICE if a family member is detained. Check out the website MCRRN for more information. Baca said counties that vote Democratic are more likely to be targeted, and volunteers are working to ensure safe elections in November.

MAC member Deb Hughes responded that “The Redwood Valley MAC is not a place for political comments.” Chair Dolly Riley replied that, “This is free speech.” The public comments were not made by the MAC Members. Hughes said, “The federal officers have a right to be here.” (Note: So far, Mendocino County has had no visible ICE sweeps.) Riley commented that she is glad the MAC Members can hold different political views while remaining on good terms with each other.

Charlie Coleman wants to finalize the proposed county public noise ordinance. This was drafted by former Supervisor Glenn McGourty, now retired. Current supervisor Madeline Cline is not prioritizing the noise ordinance. Coleman said last weekend there was loud music in his neighborhood that lasted until 6:00 a.m., and it started back up again at 9:30 a.m. (Note: it was Super Bowl weekend). Coleman is concerned that the late-night loud music will get worse as the weather warms up. Chair Riley suggested he make a public comment at a Board of Supervisors meeting, and also talk to Supervisor Cline in person at her upcoming coffee meetings.

Guest Speaker - Attorney Phil Williams on the Topics of the Potter Valley Project (PVP) and Raising Coyote Dam

Phil Williams has 15 years of experience in the field of water law. He is currently Special Water Counsel to the City of Ukiah. Williams emphasized that he was speaking on behalf of himself, not on behalf of the City. His experience as an Army officer in Iraq taught him that a secure, clean water source is one of the basics of a stable community.

PG&E owns the PVP, including Lake Pillsbury, Scott Dam, the tunnel through the mountains to Cape Horn Dam and Van Arsdale Reservoir, the pump station and power house. This was originally built 120 years ago to provide hydroelectric power. Once the water, owned by PG&E, leaves the power station, it is legally considered “abandoned.” Some important points:

For 120 years the Eel-Russian diversion tunnel has supplied water to the Russian River, which would go dry in the summer without Eel River water. The “abandoned” water has allowed an economy to flourish in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.
Almost every water right on the Russian River is predicated on the 120 years of “abandoned” water coming from the Eel River.

Lake Pillsbury originally had a storage capacity of 90,000 acre-feet of water. About 20 years ago, that amount was reduced to 70,000 acre-feet. Because of seismic concerns about the safety of Scott Dam, the storage in Lake Pillsbury has been reduced to 52,000 acre-feet. However, there is a 12,000 acre-foot “dead pool” at the bottom of the lake which cannot be used because it is below the intake valve, there is silt, and the dam could be structurally compromised if the water level gets below 12,000 feet. This means that there is only 40,000 acre feet of water available in Lake Pillsbury.

PG&E thinks the infrastructure could fail, and it has been losing money on the PVP. As early as 2007 PG&E indicated that it wanted to withdraw from the PVP. Williams said that PG&E is very good at making money and, “If PG&E could make money off the Potter Valley Project, they would.”

An audience member commented that PG&E could install high-tech turbines and make money generating electricity. PG&E opted not to do this.

The Eel-Russian Project Authority (ERPA) was created to “manage, plan for, and operate in a post-PG&E world,” Williams said.

ERPA will manage the New Eel Russian Facility (NERF), a pumping station planned where the present Cape Horn Dam sits, that will continue to send Eel River water through the tunnel during high flow periods.

An audience member commented that we will still have to pay PG&E for the electricity to pump the water through the tunnel. Chair Riley commented that it could be possible to use hydraulic rams that can move water without electricity, such as are successfully used in Comptche.

Williams said that ERPA worked on implementing a two-basin solution by signing a Water Diversion Agreement with entities on the Eel River side, including the State of California, the Department of Fish & Wildlife, CalTrout, the County of Humboldt, and the Round Valley Indian Tribes (RVIT). The RVIT will own rights to the water after PG&E withdraws from the PVP.

MAC Member Hughes asked, “How did they determine that the water belongs to the Round Valley Indian Tribes?” The reason is that the Winters Doctrine (note: a doctrine is a framework of rules established through judicial decisions) says that when the federal government reserves land for an Indian reservation, it also implicitly reserves water rights to fulfill that purpose. The water rights begin from the date the reservation was created, which was prior to PG&E’s water right.

Williams estimated that if the Russian River entities decided to fight this in court, we would probably lose through the appellate level, and maybe possibly win in the U.S. Supreme Court. The RVIT and environmental groups would not be happy with us if we abandoned an agreement hammered out after years of negotiation for a two-basin solution.

Williams said this is a “very good chance to reconcile with the Round Valley Indian Tribes.” Under the Water Diversion Agreement, they will help us in a partnership situation.

Addressing the efforts to “Save Lake Pillsbury,” Williams walked us through the alternatives:

40,000 acre-feet of water is tiny compared to other water projects.

What if the Federal Bureau of Reclamation Purchased the PVP? Purchasing and operating the PVP in its present state would cost between $500 million and $1 billion dollars. The Bureau of Reclamation has already looked at this, and it does not meet their criteria for funding a project. The Office of Management and Budget would not approve this.

What about the Army Corps of Engineers? The ACOE handles flood control, not water supply projects.

What about the Department of Agriculture? The Department of Agriculture does not operate water supply projects.

(Note: the MendoMatters Facebook page posted a February 12, 2026 article by Keely Covello about U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins D.C. press conference to announce the Farmer and Rancher Freedom Framework to “end government overreach” and protect farmers from “lawfare.” Local veterinarian Rich Brazil attended the press conference where he brought attention to the water situation in Potter Valley in light of PG&E’s planned removal of the PVP. Secretary Rollins, despite expressing support for farmers and ranchers, has not yet offered an alternative to ERPA’s plans.)

What about the State of California? Most state water projects are built to move water into Southern California. Williams said he “finds it odd that two Southern California water districts have filed comments” on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s PVP web page. “I don’t know why, but it's certainly not because those two Southern California water districts care about us.”

What about a private entity taking over? To break even, the private entity would have to charge $12,500 per acre-foot. Nobody would buy water for that price, and they couldn’t make a return on their investment.

Williams is working on the project to modernize and raise Coyote Dam to increase storage capacity in Lake Mendocino to 240,000 acre feet. At the time Coyote Dam was built, the voters of Redwood Valley opted not to fund the construction, giving Redwood Valley no rights to the water in Lake Mendocino. The Russian River Flood Control agency was created and did contribute to the building of the dam. RRFC has rights to some water in Lake Mendocino, costing $65 per acre-foot.

Raising Coyote Dam would provide enough water storage for severe droughts such as we experienced in 2021 and 2022. Lake Sonoma held 100,000 acre-feet at the end of 2022’s drought.

Coyote Dam needs to be modernized to clear the Russian River downstream of mud. The dam currently has only one port, located at a low level, that releases a lot of silt. If the dam was rebuilt of concrete, with more ports at varied levels, the Russian River would have much better water quality and a “blue ribbon fishery.”

Williams said, “Currently we have a Pinto version of the Dam. Lake Sonoma is the Ferrari version.”

An audience member asked whether Sonoma County will still own 80% of the water in Lake Mendocino. Williams said because this will no longer be “abandoned water” from PG&E it’s going to change almost all the water rights to the Russian River.

Hughes asked how long it will take to convert the dam to concrete, raise it, and have it refill? Williams acknowledged, “There will be an interim where water will be a bit scarce,” but the plan is to rebuild the remodeled dam very quickly, using coffer dams, and it should take a couple of years to fill up.

Will water still flow through Potter Valley? Under the Water Diversion Agreement, water will flow seasonally. Williams said, “We aren't leaving anyone behind,” and suggested a that a pipeline may be possible from Lake Mendocino to Potter Valley, as is used to move water to Redwood Valley.

Williams did not address how all this will be paid for. For those interested in learning more, here are some web links to entities where you can find board minutes, scientific and engineering reports, and financials.

Report from Redwood Valley-Calpella Fire Chief Marty Creel

The Fire Department will hold a community hands-on CPR class Saturday, February 28th from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

The Fire Safe Council is active in Redwood Valley. Find information on the Mendocino FireSafe website. Defensible space inspections are free of charge.

Chair Riley said there is a Fire Safe neighborhood group that covers all of Roads A and B, and the section of East Road between Roads A and B. Creel remarked that he hoped all of Redwood Valley would become Fire Safe.

An audience member asked about neighbors who don't keep their property cleared. Creel replied that “Right now we are in an education phase. Some counties will do the work and attach it to your tax bill.”

The department is currently training on structure fires. They will begin training on wildfires in April. There were 717 calls last year, 70% of those were medical. There are currently 24 volunteers, and four Explorers (aged 14-17) who will be eligible to become volunteers when they turn 18.

The siren was tested on February 11. The test was announced on the department’s Facebook page, and on the electronic sign in front of the Fire Department.

The Fire Department Board Meeting schedule is posted on the website, meetings are open to the public.

Report from Monica Barragan, Field Rep for Assemblyman Chris Rogers

Assemblyman Rogers has introduced 10 bills so far this session. Some highlights:

Rogers introduced a bill that would remove the requirement that survivors of domestic abuse notify their abuser before filing a temporary restraining order.

AB1699 the Good Fire Act. This expands the capacity to conduct prescribed burns for increased safety from wildfires.

AB1866 seeks to ensure that small rural low income communities can receive state funds after disasters. Currently there is a $72 million threshold before disaster funds will be dispersed. Some small communities do not meet that threshold, for instance Rio Dell experienced earthquakes with $35 million of damage, but that was too low to get assistance from the state.

Assemblyman Rogers hosted 16 town halls last year. He hopes to schedule one in this area soon. See Chris Rogers Webpage for more information.

MAC Member Hughes asked whether Rogers voted for the mileage tax? There is a $31 billion deficit for roads and infrastructure because there are fewer gas tax revenues due to the popularity of electric vehicles. Barragan said “Bill 1421 authorizes research to be conducted on a mileage-based tax system.”

Redwood Valley Recreation Center (RVRC)

Dr. Marvin Trotter gave an update on the committee working to create the RVRC at the abandoned campus of the Redwood Valley School. He traveled to Eureka, along with committee members Marybeth Kelly and Debra Phenicie, to view the recreation center created at the abandoned Jefferson Elementary School. That recreation center is hugely successful, and was funded by Proposition 68 money. The center in Eureka sparked neighborhood pride with nearby properties being spruced up, leading to higher property values. Dr. Trotter urged the public to attend the February 12 Ukiah Unified School District Board meeting to show support for the RVRC. The group hopes to obtain Prop. 68 funds, but they need the UUSD to accept their proposal before that is possible.

Redwood Valley Grange

The Grange hosts a flea market every second Saturday. Food will be available for purchase. The Grange meets on February 19, with a potluck at 5:30 p.m., meeting at 6:30 p.m. Jim Beatty, the Dancing Grandpa, will host more of his popular play dates at the Grange. The annual St. Patrick’s Day pancake breakfast will be on March 15, a fund raiser for the Grange and the Humane Society for Inland Mendocino County.

Report on Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG)

Gizmo Henderson reported on the latest MCOG meeting. The goal is to have only two fare rates for the MTA, but that has not yet been finalized. MCOG is looking at expanding service for the Highway 162/101 corridor to Covelo. Some Covelo residents use the MTA to travel to Santa Rosa for medical appointments, and expanding service will provide later afternoon return routes. MCOG is studying how sea level rise will affect roads on the coast. There is no update on the proposed public transit mall.

Community Action Plan (CAP)

Provisions from the draft CAP were accepted by the County Planning Department and will be voted on by the Board of Supervisors.

Officers and Members Reports and Announcements

The Redwood Valley MAC will change to a smaller census, with five members instead of seven. There is still an opening for one MAC member.

The MAC purchased two sandwich board signs, announcing meeting times. These seem to have been successful already, as there were some additional faces in the audience at the February meeting.

The next MAC meeting will be March 11th at 5:30 p.m.

KAREN RIFKIN: Correction. Matt LeFever is a half time teacher so his annual salary is ONLY about $50,000.

MARYLYN MOTHERBEAR: I’ll be reading in Ukiah on Saturday! Please come out and see me, hear my latest published work, and say hi. I would love to see my friends and community there.

AN INACCESSIBLE DOCKET IN CASE INVOLVING JOURNALIST IS MADE PUBLIC AFTER EDITOR FILES MOTION TO INTERVENE [updated]

District attorney orders law enforcement not to access seized devices

by Elise Cox

A previously inaccessible court docket and related records in a case involving journalist Matthew LaFever were made public on February 2.

Included in the records was a request for a special master and a transcript of a discussion relating to “an agreement in principle” between Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster and LaFever’s defense attorney, Orchid Vaghti.

Six weeks later, no order appointing the special master appears in the court file.

Neither Vaghti nor District Attorney David Eyster responded to a request for comment.

The records were released after Elise Cox, editor of MendoLocal.News, filed a motion to intervene seeking access as a member of the press.

Although Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder stated during a Friday hearing that “nothing has been sealed” in The People of the State of California v. Matthew LaFever, the case had remained entirely inaccessible to the public since it was filed on Dec. 2, 2025. The docket, case number, and filings were visible only to a limited group of courthouse personnel.

Even after the hearing, members of the public were unable to locate the case. A clerk assisting visitors at the Ukiah courthouse searched using both the case number and LaFever’s name and found no record. It was not until Monday afternoon that Court Executive Officer Kim Turner confirmed the file could be accessed from a public terminal.

“I wish I had a good explanation for the confusion around whether the file was sealed, confidential or public, but I do not,” Turner wrote in an email to MendoLocal.News.

Background of the case

LaFever, a working journalist and part-time high school teacher, was arrested by the Ukiah Police Department three months ago for allegedly annoying or molesting a minor (PC 647.6)

The charges followed an investigation, documented in a search warrant and Ramey arrest warrant, into Snapchat messages LaFever allegedly exchanged with a 17-year-old girl he met through the platform. LaFever has not been charged with a crime, and his bail was exonerated last month. LaFever’s lawyer has repeatedly communicated to MendoLocal.News that she and her client will not be commenting on the case.

The case is listed in the court’s online system as a miscellaneous criminal petition. While the caption now reads The People of the State of California v. Matthew LaFever, a Dec. 2 motion seeking appointment of a special master retains its original styling: Matthew LaFever v. the People of the State of California and the Ukiah Police Department — as originally reported by MendoLocal.News.

The motion to intervene

Cox’s motion argued that the U.S. Constitution does not permit criminal proceedings to be closed by default, by custom, or for administrative convenience. “Any closure — particularly one occurring before charges are filed — requires strict, on-the-record justification,” the motion stated.

The filing further asserted that no such justification appeared in the record. There was no written order authorizing closure and no findings showing that constitutional requirements for sealing the case had been met.

Search warrants and journalist protections

LaFever’s motion to appoint a special master, revealed in the newly disclosed documents, cites the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act, California’s shield laws enshrined in the state Constitution, and Evidence Code Section 1070, which protect journalists’ unpublished materials and confidential sources.

Special master requirements are rooted in Penal Code §1524 and related case law and enshrined in the rules of the State Bar of California, Under those rules, when law enforcement serves a search warrant on certain professionals — including attorneys, psychotherapists, and clergy — a special master must be appointed to oversee the search and prevent privileged information from being improperly accessed. The special master is required to accompany officers serving the warrant and is prohibited from allowing law enforcement to participate in the search itself.

Those procedures do not appear to have been followed when Ukiah police seized LaFever’s electronic devices on Oct. 17, 2025, or when he was arrested on a Ramey warrant on Nov. 3, 2025.

Ukiah Police Chief Tom Corning and Ukiah City Manager Sage Sangiacomo declined to comment on whether a special master participated in the LaFever investigation.

The investigation and seizure of devices

According to the Ramey arrest warrant application signed by a Ukiah police detective, police received a complaint from the mother of one of LaFever’s journalism students, who reported that LaFever had said “Oh, damn” while standing behind her daughter with his phone in his hand.

When police interviewed the teen, she allegedly told them about a friend who had engaged in Snapchat conversations with LaFever over the summer using an alias. As alleged in the Ramey warrant, the friend later disclosed her real age and reported that LaFever continued the conversation, made comments about her appearance, and sent shirtless photos of himself while requesting a photo of her in return.

Based on those messages, the detective told Judge Patrick Pekin there was probable cause to believe LaFever had committed the misdemeanor offense of annoying or molesting a minor, which does not require physical contact but does require conduct that would disturb or offend a reasonable person.

The Ukiah detective requested and received a search warrant authorizing seizure of LaFever’s iPhone, Apple Watch, router, SD card, and three laptops.

The 33-page warrant included a request for a “digital forensic search order” and proposed searching devices at the scene to avoid seizing irrelevant equipment. At the same time, the detective sought authorization to transport devices to “a secure location like a forensic lab or the Ukiah Police Department.”

Over the following 16 days, police conducted an extensive forensic examination of LaFever’s digital activity across multiple platforms, based on the press release announcing LaFever’s arrest.

The Ramey warrant and arrest

On Nov. 2, the detective appeared before Judge Faulder and requested a Ramey arrest warrant — a procedure typically used for expediency, often in serious felony cases. Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall said such warrants are most commonly sought in homicide investigations. Misdemeanor suspects are typically sent a letter and asked to surrender voluntarily.

LaFever was arrested the next day at his home on the misdemeanor charge.

Leak allegations and a narrow circle

That same day, former sheriff’s deputy and former Willits police officer Trent James posted a 44-minute YouTube video describing graphic details allegedly drawn from LaFever’s digital devices, including information contained in the then-confidential Ramey arrest warrant.

“There is enough evidence at this point, these cops have this guy dead to rights,” James said in the video, asserting additional allegations not included in court filings or forwarded to prosecutors.

To date, LaFever has not been charged with any crime, and pending the appointment of a special master, the case appears to be stalled.

Ukiah Police Chief Tom Corning said the department conducted an internal affairs investigation after the video was published but “did not identify an individual responsible for leaking information.” Corning did not respond to questions about whether a special master oversaw the search of LaFever’s devices or whether an outside investigator reviewed the leak.

Citing the California Public Records law, MendoLocal.News has asked to review the contract with an outside investigator to conduct the leak investigation, if it exists.

Kristine Lawler, city clerk of Ukiah, responded on February 12, 2026: “After a reasonable inquiry and diligent search, no responsive documents to your request were found.”

In the video, James described friendly relationships with members of the Ukiah Police Department command staff. “I always knew him to be a really good dude,” James said about Chief Tom Corning. “I mean I remember Corn Dog is working on the coast as a deputy. He started about the same time I did. Yeah. And um working with him he was a fantastic deputy so I yeah I have nothing bad to say about Tom Corning.”

In his email to MendoLocal.News, James expressed his longstanding animosity toward LaFever, whom he has publicly accused of biased reporting dating back to the 2022 sheriff’s race. He also objected to a question from MendoLocal.News about any discussions he had regarding the Ukiah Police investigation with a law enforcement colleague he worked with at a previous department.

A festering news article

James ran for sheriff of Mendocino county in 2022 as a write-in candidate. During his campaign, he gave an extensive interview to LaFever. In LaFever’s article, published on May 26, 2022, the journalist questioned James’ residency status, noting that James had told viewers he was in Florida, Texas and on the East Coast, while also claiming to maintain a permanent residence in Mendocino County at a friend’s home, where he rented a room for two months.

James lost the election but received 2,488 votes, equal to 15 percent of the vote for that particular race.

Under California law, knowingly filing a false or forged document with a public office is a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison and fines of up to $10,000. There is no indication James was charged with such an offense.

James declined to provide specific examples from LaFever’s article that were inaccurate, or one-sided, or to name statements that he wasn’t given a chance to address. James has previously cited the article in a YouTube video as an example of LaFever’s allegedly one-sided and biased reporting.

Instruction to restrict access

During a Dec. 17 hearing on appointing a special master, Deputy District Attorney Robert J. Waner told the court that prosecutors and defense counsel had reached an agreement in principle.

“Law enforcement has already been instructed not to access LaFever’s devices pending further court order,” Waner said.

He added that prosecutors would submit a revised warrant incorporating the appointment of a special master.

“We’ll submit the order, you’ll sign it, and we’ll get to work,” Waner said.

Update: The Ukiah city clerk has confirmed that the Ukiah Police Department did not hire an outside investigator to look into the source of the leak of graphic details from LaFever’s data/devices on the day of his arrest to an influencer who boasted of his friendly ties to the department while expressing animosity toward the accused. February 13, 2026 9:26 a.m.

(Mendolocal.news)

NEW EXHIBIT AT GRACE HUDSON MUSEUM

"Liwanwalli," by Michelle Napoli, courtesy of the Grace Hudson Museum

"Momím Wené/Medicine Water: Flowing Through California Indian Country," opened at the Grace Hudson Museum on Feb. 14 and runs through May 10. It tells a story of tribal relationships between the people and their waterways through the paintings, basketry, beadwork, and regalia of over 30 Native artists. Their work reflects the various tribal histories of California Indian Country, changing times, and lifeways. Arranged by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, this exhibit began in central California and is now flowing to the home of the Ukiah Valley Pomo, where their regional voices will be added to the story.

The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah and is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4:30 p.m. General admission is $7; $15 per family; $5 for students and seniors; free to all on the first Friday of the month; and always free to members, Native Americans, and active-duty military personnel. For more information please go to www.gracehudsonmuseum.org or call (707) 467-2836.

EKA YANTI: About 1966, Percy Daniels driving a Darwin Christiansen Peterbilt up out of Elk Creek. I was home on leave from the Army and rode a load with Percy. It was a one-man show. He drove up to the landing on top the ridge between Elk Creek and its south fork ("Clem Ridge" in Beacon & Ross slang) loaded his own truck and darned if I remember where we dropped it off, maybe Greenwood Lumber Co.

WHERE DID OUR $100 GO?

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

We visit Ukiah’s city park early every morning to walk around with some other people who do the same thing. Exercise, I suppose.

Some people bring a dog, and the people who don’t have a dog leave it home. Everybody gets along OK. It’s the kind of club you don’t have to pay to join and there aren’t any monthly dues.

That’s the only way it could be, since nobody works. Ed has a fancy pension he brags about but no one believes him, including his wife, and John and I get Social Security welfare. Nick says he works in real estate. That means he drives people around, points at houses and later everybody gets together to sign documents someone else prepared.

Question: How is that work?

But the funny thing is that John and Ed have it in their tiny brains that Nick makes a lot of money doing his real estate stuff. Unlikely, I say.

“Think about it. If Nick had a lot of money do you honestly think he’d set his alarm for 5 a.m., saddle up Peanut the dog, then walk three miles so he could hang out with US??

“Any other rich people you see hanging around Todd Grove Park?” I asked. “This ain’t rocket surgery. Rich guys drive around in limousines and go hobnobbing with movie stars and Silicon Valley cats. Or bank presidents and country clubbers. Or even golfers.”

John and Ed aren’t the brightest knives in the light socket but they got the point, sort of. Yet they remained suspicious.

“What about Dick Selzer?” John said. “Dick Selzer’s rich and Nick hangs out with him. So there.”

I sighed. “Yeah, yeah, but you have to realize Dick Selzer parlayed his real estate hobby into writing for the Daily Journal, and newspaper columnists are the ones who make the big bucks in America.”

Their faces clouded over; I’d lost them at “parlayed.”

If it isn’t already obvious, Ed and John are both perpetually focused on money, which is not to say they are impoverished. Not exactly. But they walk around Todd Grove Park, both heads bowed, and if one of them spots a nickel on the pavement it’s like barnyard chickens squabbling over a fat bug.

(Dear Reader: This long, drawn out introduction brings us to the point, which took place in a grassy section at the south end of the park, not far from the rocket ship.)

The four of us were in a loose circle when Nick, while holding Peanut’s leash, stared at the ground. He bent over, picked up something wet, flattened it out and maybe he shrieked. In all the excitement I’ve forgotten his words, but I remember him holding it up and showing everyone what he’d found:

A one hundred dollar bill.

We could not have been more astounded if Nick had discovered Jimmy Hoffa’s grave. I’m not sure any of us had ever seen a hundred dollar bill before, and we gaped like it was a Faberge egg.

I spoke first. “Uhh, Nick, you know we’re socialists right? If anyone gets anything everyone else gets to have it too.”

“Especially rich people,” piped up John. “To each whatever they want and the rest of us take whatever’s left over.” Ed nodded. “Eat the riches.”

Nick was in a tight spot, and maybe because he actually knew a little more about money than the rest of us, he proposed that he keep one-half of the $100, and that Ed and John and I should divvy up one-third of the rest, and Nick would keep whatever’s left over.

Math might as well be French, and with none of us knowing nothing of either, we agreed to the offer.

Nick, emboldened by that gambit’s success, doubled down.

“Since I don’t have my wallet with me I can’t give you guys anything right now,” he said. “I’ll go to the bank, get change and pay everyone tomorrow morning.”

Frowns and furrows followed, but nobody could think of anything wrong with Nick’s offer. Maybe we were so giddy at getting a piece of the action we never guessed we were being played.

Morning dawned, park walkers gathered, Nick arrived and announced, a little too cheerfully, I thought, that it was very sad, but the hundred dollar bill was a fake. A counterfeit. Sigh.

More frowns and furrows. I looked around. Then I noticed Peanut the dog was wearing a shiny new rhinestone collar, and Nick was sporting a Rolex.

Now of course his new watch could have been a phony; I hear you can get a fake Rolex for about 50 bucks.

RON PARKER:

CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, February 15, 2026

GARRETT BUNKER, 26, Gualala. Suspended license, contempt of court, probation revocation.

OCTAVIO DIAZ-RUIZ, 32, Ukiah. DUI, suspended license for DUI, no license.

JOSHUA HARDAGE-VERGEER, 25, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs, resisting.

AARON MUDRICH, 42, Ukiah. Under influence, public nuisance.

ALEXANDRIA YALJ, 44, Willits. Domestic battery, false imprisonment, damage to wireless communication device.

RAISE CORPORATE TAXES

Editor:

I’m amazed that there is so little conversation about how past state decisions play in current school district financial crises. In 1978, Proposition 13 limited the amount that corporate-owned property taxes could be increased each year. In 1987, the Legislature cut the flat corporate tax rate from 9.6% to 9.3%, and in 1997 from 9.3% to 8.84%.

California corporations currently pay about 4.8% of their profits in state taxes, compared to over 9.5% in 1980. They account for less than 5% of state income tax revenue. On average, corporate taxes represent only about 0.11% of their total expenses.

Twenty-one percent of California public school funding comes from property taxes. There is no readily available breakdown between corporate and individual property tax contributions. The effect of this conflation is we can’t isolate the corporate contribution to public education and see how meager it is.

Our Legislature is socially progressive. At the same time, it can be seen to be fiscally regressive, irresponsible, if not corrupt — legislating the wishes of corporate money.

We need to end Proposition 13 for corporations and raise the flat tax rate so corporations pay at least 9.5% tax on profits again. There are lots of unaddressed needs in California. The most pervasive is public education.

Jeffrey J. Olson

Clearlake Oaks

RAINSTORM

The rain drops fall over a gray misty land
The soft splattering of water engulfs you
The purple clouds wrap their arms around you,
Feel the soothing touch of the storm.
The grass as you fall
So soft, so wet against bare skin
Feel the tears you cry inside
Spill out upon the Earth’s soft carpet
The dark swirls above reach down
Mother Earth wipes away your tears
Holds you in her comforting arms
Curl up and listen to her soothing lullaby
As the thunder rolls and lightning cracks
Listen to nature’s song
Feel the harmony flowing through the air
With the wind racing playfully, dancing it’s own dance
The subtle sprinkling rain is the background music,
The thunder and lightning the symbols and drums
Close your eyes, take a deep breath
Smell the sweet scent of wet Earth
Feel your last tear fall slowly to the dirt
Let your breathing start to slow
And die there peacefully, in the arms
of the only mother you’ve ever known.

— Lisa Taylor (2005)

SAD SCENE AT OLYMPICS

Editor:

It was heartbreaking to hear the American Olympic team booed in Milan, Italy, during the opening ceremony. Our country has regressed dramatically from a world leader and inspiration to a country to be scorned internationally.

I wake up daily hoping Congress will finally say enough division, racism, antagonism, threats and brute force. I hope as well that the Supreme Court will finally rein in reckless and unconstitutional executive power.

The founders would be shocked by our current lack of separation of powers, which they so carefully crafted. Rather than upholding their constitutional oath, it seems the direction many politicians want to take us in, out of fear of midterm power loss, is either nationalizing elections or creating enough misinformation to challenge the credibility of them.

Fascinating that 2020 was supposedly stolen and 2024 not. Silence will end democracy; hopefully, it is not too late.

David Lehman

Petaluma

FREEDOM, ETC.

by Paul Modic

Are you free, truly free? If so then prove it by getting on a plane or into your car and driving away on a trip. Yes, if you’ve got the means what’s holding you back and keeping you in the repetitious monotony of home? (Another form of freedom is just staying home and “feeding the beast,” ie, I’ll be out in the park soon while turkey thighs are cooking for three hours in the crockpot.)

You don’t have to go far and wide for a bit of adventure, for example, if you’re in a couple and you tell her you’re thinking of taking a few days off would she say, “What’s wrong, honey?” (Would you? Whenever I’ve been in a relationship I would press “refresh” and take a day off each week: go out to the hills if we’re in town, go to town if we’re in the hills. It was my idea but looking back I bet she liked the break also. Once I realized it had been ten days so I guess things were going well.)

I was free once, three years ago when I packed my car and took off, listening to the biography of Ben Franklin all the way to Mexico. It wasn’t easy getting that free, packing took weeks and when I was all loaded up I still didn’t leave for a couple more.

Finally I was out on the open road, free from the normal while sitting for most of a week, gassing up and staying in motels and even had a mini-adventure with a woman at a rest area in the late afternoon on a 108 degree day in the Arizona desert.

So are you truly free, can you just get moving or do you have a dog or wife or something to worry about? I know I’m projecting, I think I want to travel but it’s too easy to just stay home. Sometimes I suspect that traveling may just be an excuse to get back home and relax again?

(Yesterday I played ping pong with Steve and he told me about all of his friends who are vacationing on the beach in Mexico, viva they’re free!)

Too Sensitive

People can be too damn sensitive, a strange thing for me to say as I celebrate freedom of expression and was in “the crying cult” when I was nineteen. Since then I’ve been too damn sensitive myself, a sign of immaturity and taking yourself too damn seriously, trapped in your own little mind, prisoner of feelings of unworthiness, ignorance of how the world works and probably in some mental anguish.

Ant then I do grow up and with self-reflection comes personal growth and when you answer these three questions with yes, you’re on the way to the self-awareness which may bring a degree of peace of mind: Do I know myself, accept myself and like myself? (I’m good with the first two, a little hesitant with the third, but after some decades of hating myself and not being able to answer yes, it all works out with time.)

Extreme Sleep Patterns

Somehow I’ve got myself locked into these extreme sleeping hours but time is just a state of mind, right? A concept? It took three years of making lifestyle changes fighting insomnia but it still feels strange to wake up at 2:50 am after sleeping six hours straight through and count that as a good night’s sleep. (My research shows that six hours straight is healthier than seven hours of unsettled sleep, defined as waking up once or twice and not getting back to sleep within fifteen minutes.)

So it’s an 8:45 pm bedtime aiming for a 3:45 wake time, in search of the hallowed seven, but the whole winding down process actually starts about 5:30 pm when eating, drinking and screen time stops. Then around 7:15 it’s reading and listening to books on CD until 8:40 then lights out. (It would be a disaster trying to switch up the hours after doing it like this the last couple years, leading to a few weeks of insomniac hell. I’ll just stay with what’s working, the last few weeks sleeping straight through five to six nights a week.)

HIGH-END CLOVERDALE HOUSING, RESORT PROJECT PUTS ‘LITTLE COUNTRY TOWN’ AT CROSSROADS [updated]

by Amie Windsor

Sonoma County’s northernmost city is a blue-collar bastion where many people take pride in their roots stretching back generations.

They don’t mind if the community of 9,500 residents, tucked at the top of the famed Alexander Valley grape growing region, tends to be overlooked by the rest of Wine Country.

Long hitched to its logging legacy, with a largely faded citrus crop in its past, the town still holds tight to its farming and industrial roots. Today, many more residents work for the school district, in service and local government jobs, or in construction. Even in a tumultuous time, the grape growing business retains its hold, too, with vineyards that stretch from the city limits to the foot of the Mayacamas Mountains.

One spot on the valley floor at the city’s southern outskirts, however, is commanding an outsize amount of attention these days.

There, on 266 acres once slated for a now-defunct resort project, an out-of-town developer that first came to the county in 2023 as host of an aspirational monthlong retreat and pop-up village, has proposed something that many Cloverdale residents think clashes with the identity and heritage of what one denizen called their “little country town.”

On former industrial land, builders have proposed a sleek, mixed-use community, with more than 600 homes, a resort hotel, two restaurants, office, commercial and light-industrial space, and possibly, its own school.

As proposed, Esmeralda — dubbed after the retreat that debuted three years ago in ritzier, nearby Healdsburg — would be Cloverdale’s largest development in a generation and by far its most transformational. While it has been welcomed by some residents and officials who tout its economic appeal and gains for the local tax base, many here are skeptical.

They see the fabric and face of their close-knit community at stake.

No dedicated, on-site affordable housing is planned for lower income residents, and much of what is on the blueprints could be far out of reach for many in Cloverdale.

Pricing for the homes would range from $600,000 to $4 million, according to Esmeralda documents, which also note that “pricing will change over time as the housing market evolves.”

“Why does it have to be so dense? We like how small it is,” Paul Pieri said Thursday, Feb. 5, at a packed town hall meeting scheduled to answer questions about the project.

“Why here?” Pieri continued. “You’re going to blow us out of our little country town.”

The project has inspired some comparisons to a far larger and highly controversial proposal to carve an entirely new city out of a sprawling patchwork of Solano County farmland scooped up mysteriously in recent years by what turned out to be a coalition of ultra-wealthy tech investors. They also have outlined a vision of a walkable, self-supporting community designed around transit and local jobs, with the latest plans geared to making the city a modern shipbuilding hub set on the shore of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Esmeralda principal Devon Zuegel, a public face of both the Healdsburg retreat and the proposed development, says Esmeralda is nothing like the larger California Forever. Still, the project has been clouded by some of the same pressing questions — about its financial backers and the scope of its ambitions.

The land, site of what was once to be the Alexander Valley Resort, is held by Diablo Commercial Properties, agent for owner Spight Properties II LLC, since prior developer Laulima pulled out.

Zuegel said Esmeralda Land Co. intends to close on the purchase “once we secure approvals” for the project.

Little has been shared about who is behind the project, a void that continues to rile many residents.

“What is the concern about telling us who they are?” Cloverdale resident John Halliday asked at the meeting.

Zuegel said only that it is 19 “local Bay Area families” who have invested in the property and project, adding that “they’re actually real people, and if someone doesn’t like the project they could just find their address.”

Zuegel acknowledges Esmeralda would be something entirely new for Cloverdale.

“I’m not going to deny it,” she said. “This is a big dream.”

The proposal calls for a mix of apartments, townhomes and single-family houses. The developers also are planning for a racquet club, two indoor pavilions and an elementary school.

With more than 1.8 million square feet of landscaped area, including a dog park, community garden, sports fields for youth teams and playground, the project is conceived to be a walkable, bikeable community for multiple generations, according to Zuegel.

She estimates the development could bring an additional 1,500 residents to Cloverdale at full buildout, about a decade after groundbreaking. It still needs City Council approval, which if secured, could pave way for construction — on the hotel — as early as spring 2027.

“We’re trying our hardest to make it a reality,” Zuegel said.

At town hall, a drumbeat of concern

Proponents faced a raft of concerned voices and fearful residents at the Feb. 5 town hall meeting.

A standing room only crowd file Cloverdale Veterans Memorial building for a town hall discussion about the Esmeralda project, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)

The meeting represented the apex of Esmeralda’s nearly two-year public outreach, which has included nearly a dozen meetings and other efforts.

The more residents have learned about the development, the more they’ve taken to social media outlets and kitchen-table discussions to reckon with what could be ahead for their city. The City Council’s public comment period has become a dependable snapshot of some of that debate.

“I’ve been doing real estate for 25 years and I’m surprised by the amount of engagement,” said Michael Yarne, a real estate developer and another Esmeralda principal.

There’s still plenty to come, too.

The developer’s next steps will be to finish a litany of studies and clear planning and regulatory hurdles with the city, a process expected to take until April. The public will have a 20-day period to comment on that package — a draft environmental study, general plan amendments, zoning amendments, tentative master plan and a development agreement between Esmeralda Land Co. and the city.

Once the entitlements package is complete, Zuegel and Yarne expect to present the proposal to the Cloverdale Planning Commission in May and the five-member council in June. Both meetings will be open to the public.

“Part of our job is to scrutinize and examine all the documents to make sure it’s in the best interest of the city,” said City Manager Kevin Thompson.

Many residents aren’t sold that outside developers, even with their lofty promises to inject new business and vitality in the city, have their best interests at heart.

At times, some of that scrutiny has veered into conspiracy theories — that the land will be used as a military or weapons base, for example, conjecture that the developers have quickly sought to put down.

Terry Hull wondered aloud at the Feb. 5 meeting if the developer was part of the so-called Network State, an online movement that uses cryptocurrency to fund self-governing micro-communities.

No, answered Zuegel.

If approved, Esmeralda will be part of the city and its residents, businesses and property owners will pay “taxes and more into the school district, city, county, state and United States of America,” she said.

Integrating the Esmeralda community with Cloverdale would be important to the future of both, she signaled.

“We are going to be part of Cloverdale,” she said.

To stitch together the 3-square-mile city and Esmeralda on its southern border, the developers have begun conversations with Sonoma County Transit to extend Route 68, the free Cloverdale shuttle, into the community once it is built out.

Zuegel said they also want to add bike lanes to Asti Road in an effort to increase safe routes between downtown and the community.

“We’re very excited to be part of the community,” she said.

But the development will still be highly divergent from many larger housing projects approved over the past decade in Sonoma County, where the tight supply of homes, as in much of the Bay Area, has spurred officials to prioritize affordable and workforce units.

Cloverdale is actually one of the leaders by that benchmark, having recently approved more than 300 new apartment units for low-income to very-low income residents. That number represents about 8% of the city’s existing housing stock.

Esmeralda’s proposed 605 homes would be sold or rented at market rate.

“Who are these houses for?” 23-year Cloverdale resident Betty Landry asked. “Because they aren’t for us. Most people will not be able to buy these houses.”

Water worries

Water — and the lack of it at times in what amounts to typically the driest and hottest part of Sonoma County — is a towering concern.

Many in Cloverdale talk about the lengths they had to go in 2021, when the state’s last punishing drought led to a citywide 50-gallon per day limit for individuals.

Adding hundreds more homes and residents in one swoop could strain the city’s supply in those dry spells, which experts predict will be longer and deeper in the coming decades.

“My concern is about the water,” said Mary Kelley, a former Cloverdale Unified School District teacher. “They say they’ll put up tanks, but will that be enough?”

The city relies largely on wells fed by subsurface flows of the upper Russian River, itself sustained by the smaller of two regional reservoirs, Lake Mendocino, east of Ukiah.

To offset some of the projected water use, the developers are proposing to build two 500,000-gallon water tanks, for use in emergencies and droughts. Project representatives have also told the city they would like to move forward as customers of a future municipal recycled water project.

A study commissioned by the developers indicates the city would have enough water to take on another 1,500 residents, at least during an average rain season.

The firm estimated the project would need at least 76 million gallons annually, or 233 acre feet — equating to a 20% increase in Cloverdale’s current annual average usage over the past 20 years. (An acre-foot is equivalent to the amount of water needed to flood most of a football field one foot deep, and can supply the needs of three water-efficient households for a year.)

The current annual citywide usage is 383 million gallons, or 1,175 acre feet annually. The most the city has used over the past 20 years was 569 million gallons, or 1,746 acre feet, in 2013. Cloverdale’s state water rights allow it to pump a maximum of 910 million gallons, or 2,792 acre feet, from its river-fed wells.

By 2035, the targeted completion date for the Esmeralda project, the developer’s consultants expect citywide water demand to hit 639 million gallons, or 1,961 acre feet. By 2045, demand would be 676 million gallons, or 2,074 acre feet, according to the consultant’s projections.

In drought years, that demand could push Cloverdale to the brink of its allotted supply.

But Yarne, the Esmeralda principal, in past comments and on Feb. 5, downplayed the severity of the area’s last three-year drought, one of the worst in a generation. He called it a “regulatory drought” not a “physical drought.”

“There was water. Cloverdale just couldn’t have access to it,” he said at the Feb. 5 town hall.

That doesn’t square with documented conditions and events at the time, when Gov. Gavin Newsom stood in April 2021 on the dry bed of Lake Mendocino to proclaim what would be a state emergency.

Benny Alden, who sits on the region’s municipal advisory commission, said developers were failing to plan for the long term. Geyserville, just to the south, is tapping a new downtown well and building more than 100 new apartments, he noted.

“This isn’t planned well,” he said, worrying about downstream effects. “If each plan is individually examined then yeah, there’s enough water. But is there?”

What lies beneath?

Residents also voiced concern about the property’s history. The site has been home to past industrial operations, including a Louisiana-Pacific Co. sawmill, a Masonite & International Paper wood treatment facility and a Hot Rocks gravel mining plant.

It also encompasses two wood waste landfill areas, a truck repair shop and vineyards.

Because of its industrial past, the property has been documented with both soil and groundwater contamination, including the presence of pentachlorophenol, Zuegel and Yarne said.

According to the National Institutes of Health, pentachlorophenol dust or vapor irritates skin and mucous membranes, causing coughing and sneezing. Ingestion causes loss of appetite, breathing difficulties, sweating, coma. Overexposure can cause death.

A cleanup order has been in place from the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board since the early 2000s. Past property owners, including Louisiana-Pacific, Tyris Corp. and Masonite Corp., conducted investigations and remediation under the oversight of various state environmental regulatory agencies, including the California Department of Health Services and the regional water board.

In 2005, removal and closure of Louisiana-Pacific’s wood waste disposal site began. At the same time, the sawmill also underwent separate remediation related to groundwater, associated with the Masonite wood treatment facility, according to water board documents.

As of last month, all regulatory oversight cases associated with the environmental conditions at the site were closed.

Still, certain construction is prohibited on nearly 9% of the property, including hospitals, housing, day care facilities and schools

Esmeralda principals said they were diligently evaluating the industrial property’s past.

“It’s not in our financial interest to buy a site that is dirty,” Yarne said.

Uncertainty looms

The meeting did not assuage concerns shared by many residents, but some attendees believe the development would benefit the city.

David Blanchard, a Cloverdale resident since 2019, said growth of the tax base would better equip the city in an era of strapped municipal budgets. Developers expect the project would inject $2.4 million to $4 million in property and sales tax annually, into the city.

“It needs to be a concerted effort,” Blanchard said. “We don’t want a bunch of empty homes where property tax comes in, but it’s not bringing in sales tax and not contributing to the local economy.”

At the end of the meeting, Suzanne Black, a fifth-generation Cloverdale resident, shared that she remained in a daze about the project.

“I’m finding myself not understanding,” she said, citing concerns about environmental hazards and the ripples of a growth spree. “I’m just still really confused.”

(pressdemocrat.com)

UNION LEADERS WARN NEWSOM THEIR CAMPAIGN SUPPORT HINGES ON HIS AI STANCE

by Dan Walters

National labor union leaders, and those from California and early presidential primary states, are gathering in Sacramento this week to bluntly warn Gavin Newsom that union support for his 2028 presidential campaign hinges on protecting jobs from artificial intelligence.

The event, organized by the California Federation of Labor Unions, calls AI “the biggest existential threat facing working Americans today.” The group wants Newsom “or any candidate looking forward to the 2028 election” to know “loud and clear” that “our members want a leader who works with organized labor to protect jobs and create guardrails on artificial intelligence.”

The event evidently singles out Newsom due to his frontrunner status in very early pre-campaign polling, as well as the leading role California’s high tech industry plays in developing AI and Newsom’s somewhat ambivalent attitude toward AI’s potential effects.

“The proliferation of artificial intelligence in recent years has been nothing short of explosive,” a background paper for the event declares. “Employers have latched on to AI for everything: from using it to monitor and surveil workers to setting workers’ wages to outright replacement of workers.

“Artificial intelligence is a multi-billion-dollar industry that continues to proceed unchecked, without common sense guardrails in place, leaving workers’ livelihoods ruined and even lost in its wake.”

The briefing paper pointedly cites Newsom’s veto of last year’s Senate Bill 7, a union-backed bill to bar employers from using AI to make employee discipline and termination decisions. In rejecting it, Newsom said the measure was “overly broad” and would prevent even innocuous uses of AI.

Newsom’s veto exemplifies his efforts, as the AI industry explodes, to satisfy both the tech industry, with which he has decades-long political ties, and those who worry about AI’s societal and economic impacts.

The bill is one of many introduced to deal with those impacts. Overall, Newsom has tended to favor attempts to protect children and other vulnerable groups from AI, while opposing measures that could throttle the industry’s growth. Taxing profits on AI investments is an important revenue source for a state with chronic budget deficits.

During his final State of the State address to the Legislature last month Newsom said, “It goes without saying that no technology holds more promise and more peril to jobs, to our economy, to our way of life than artificial intelligence. The tech genie, it’s out of the bottle. So the question is not whether change is happening; it is. The question is: What values will guide us into this new frontier?”

Newsom lauded “landmark legislation to create the nation’s first rules for responsible, ethical, and safe use of AI, regulations that provide guardrails that balance risk and opportunity.”

He termed it “a template for the nation” recently emulated by New York, but he did not mention measures, such as SB 7, that he directly or indirectly blocked.

Whether AI poses the threat that worries union leaders is not easily determined. If one inserts “AI effect on jobs” into an internet search engine (powered by AI, of course) a cornucopia of studies and reports immediately pops up.

While they all acknowledge there will be impacts, there’s a wide assortment of opinions on what industries and job categories will be affected and whether those effects will be evolutionary or revolutionary, positive or negative.

Unions have assumed the negative, as witnessed by the 148-day strike by Hollywood screenwriters in 2023 over the effects of AI on their craft. It’s also noteworthy — and ironic — that Silicon Valley technology companies are shedding workers as they use AI to do the coding work that had been done by humans.

Uncertainty about the future creates fear and fear is a huge motivator in political campaigns, as Newsom will be reminded this week.

(CalMatters.org)

RAINDROPS ARE FALLING ON MY HEAD

Raindrops are falling on my head
And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed
Nothing seems to fit
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep falling

So I just did me some talking to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
Sleeping on the job
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep fallin'

But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me
Won't defeat me, it won't be long
'Till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red
Crying's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining
Because I'm free
Nothing's worrying me

It won't be long 'till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red
Crying's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining
Because I'm free, 'cause nothing's worrying me

— lyrics by Hal David (1969)

CAMILLE PAGLIA walked into a packed Bennington College auditorium in 1990, dropped her lecture notes on the floor in front of stunned faculty members, and told the room she would not apologize for offending anyone because the purpose of ideas was collision, not comfort.

She had spent years being sidelined. Departments rejected her dissertation. Committees blocked her hiring. Senior scholars told her to tone herself down and stop challenging the feminist establishment. Paglia refused. She wrote late at night in her small apartment with stacks of books piled on the floor, reading Greek tragedy alongside Madonna lyrics, comparing Emily Dickinson to rock stars, and filling notebooks with arguments no one else dared to say aloud.

When Sexual Personae was finally published, everything shifted.

The manuscript had been rejected by seven publishers. Editors told her it was too long, too strange, too aggressive. Paglia kept cutting and sharpening until the structure felt like steel. When Yale University Press took the risk, the reaction was immediate. Critics called the book electrifying. Others called it dangerous. Paglia smiled at both. She believed controversy meant the argument had hit its target.

Her lectures became events. Students packed aisles. She walked onstage with the energy of a performer, speaking faster than professors could take notes. She quoted Freud, Foucault, and pop culture in the same breath. She challenged feminist icons. She challenged conservative icons. She challenged anyone she felt was protecting ideology over truth. She told interviewers she was for free speech, full stop, and if a campus could not survive disagreement, it was not a campus at all.

Opponents tried to shut her out.

They protested her panels.

They shouted through her lectures.

They demanded she soften her tone.

Paglia did not move an inch.

When journalists asked why she operated with such force, she said clarity is a duty and culture becomes stagnant when intellectuals whisper instead of argue. She wrote essays with the same precision she used in the classroom. She carved through hypocrisy. She called out censorship wherever she saw it. She defended artists, outsiders, and unpopular voices because she believed civilization depended on friction, not conformity.

Students who studied with her said she changed how they saw art, politics, gender, and power. Critics who tried to bury her ended up amplifying her influence. Every decade she resurfaced with a new wave of essays that cut through cultural noise with blade sharp sentences and unapologetic conviction.

Camille Paglia never softened her ideas to survive the moment.

She treated intellectual life as a battlefield and proved that a mind unafraid of honesty can shake institutions that prefer the safety of silence.

*Navajo Sand* (1926) by Thomas Hart Benton

HEY FELLA, WOULD YOU MIND HOLDING THIS PIANO A MOMENT?

As you are walking
down the street
this guy asks you
to hold his violin.
It’s a Stradivarius.
Soon as it falls
into your hands
you start playing like crazy.
The violin
almost plays itself.
Your powerful hands
nearly break the instrument
but the music is gentle and sweet.
You sweep your long artistic hair
out of your face.
Everybody
in the room,
in the bull ring, in the
audience, in the Coliseum
starts clapping
and shouting “Encore & Wow.”
Everybody whoever
thot you were
dumb & untalented
goes apeshit
over your hidden genius.
“Gee, I never knew you
played,” says your astonished high school
principal.

— William J. Harris (1974)

SONNY LISTON:

“When I was 13, I got a job with a construction gang. Those guys treated me like a man.

They thought I was one because I could work as hard and as long as they could, and I could do more than hold my own in a fight.

It was a tough bunch. Many had been in jail, and others were headed there. But they were the only friends I had, and they influenced what I did and thought. I never knew there were other kinds of people.

My first trouble came when I got mixed with a bad crowd. One night, we wanted to do something exciting.

We stuck up a restaurant, and I wound up in jail. I didn’t mind prison. I figured I had to pay for what I did. It was the first time in my life I got three square meals a day.”

"IT IS FROM THE BYSTANDERS (who are in the vast majority) that we receive the propaganda that life is not worth living, that life is drudgery, that the ambitions of youth must be laid aside for a life which is but a painful wait for death. These are the ones who squeeze what excitement they can from life out of the imaginations and experiences of others through books and movies. These are the insignificant and forgotten men who preach conformity because it is all they know. These are the men who dream at night of what could have been, but who wake at dawn to take their places at the now-familiar rut and to merely exist through another day. For them, the romance of life is long dead and they are forced to go through the years on a treadmill, cursing their existence, yet afraid to die because of the unknown which faces them after death. They lacked the only true courage: the kind which enables men to face the unknown regardless of the consequences."

— Hunter S. Thompson

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Have you heard about the Princeton Study that found that even if 80% of Americans want something, like national healthcare, better schools, better working and environmental conditions, congress will not act unless it aligns with their corporate donors wishes? I am pretty far left regarding unions, healthcare, education, social services, etc, but all I see is the uni-party completely agreeing to give ever-increasing amounts of money to the military-industrial complex via the defense budget, while infrastructure falls apart, life expectancy falls, education fails, and homelessness increases.

WRITERS AGAINST AI

Choose your story. Take your stand.

by Paul Kingsnorth

When I was a child, I didn’t know any writers. Neither did my parents. I didn’t grow up in that kind of world. Before I was a teenager, I’m not sure I knew anyone who had been to a university, even; not that I was paying much attention anyway. I didn’t think those places were for the likes of us.

I was a reader though, thanks to my mum and dad. My mum used to read to me every night when I was young, and both my parents encouraged my love of books, which they shared. We didn’t live in the kind (or the size) of house that had a lot of bookshelves in it, but the public library solved that problem. Like most bookworms, I worked my way through it, discovering whole worlds I had never imagined were out there, both real and fantastical, and sometimes both at once.

This was in the suburbs of Greater London back in the seventies and eighties, which now seems like a very long time ago indeed. No personal computers, no mobile phones, no CCTV cameras, no 5G towers, obviously no Internet. Back then, our analogue tech was confined to buildings, and when you went out you were out. People looked at each other in cafes, and talked on buses. Books and the telly were where you got your stories from. Often the telly had got them from the books first.

Maybe the book was the only technology I ever really fell in love with. It is a technology, of course; so are words. Language - languages, since we have so many of them, though fewer than we once did - are one of the key markers of our humanity. We speak, we tell stories, we write the stories down and thus we are able to share them with people we will never meet and who will never meet us, but who will know us in some way by our words. Humans are storytelling animals if we are anything at all. All of our religions begin with stories, and all of our nations and cultures. Our personal biographies are stories we construct. We tell stories by naming everything else that lives. We tell stories about progress and decline, good and evil, kings and peasants, fairies and ghosts, detectives and serial killers. We sing stories to music, and record them and play them back again and again. We fight over stories, and we send our sons out to die for them.

I never imagined when I was a child that I would or could ever be ‘a writer.’ From where I was reading, in the small front bedroom of our 1930s semi, writers were mythical beings, like wizards or emperors. You knew they were out there somewhere, but you never met them. Still, I dreamed of one day having a book out with my name on. Perhaps if I became really famous, it might even have one of those instantly recognisable little Penguin logos on it, like so many of the paperbacks I read as a child, though this was too much really to hope for.

Well, here I am, four decades on, author of a book with a Penguin logo on - and, indeed, several books bearing the colophon of Faber & Faber, the other publisher which I dreamed (this time as a teenage author of terrible poems) might one day accept me into its hallowed halls. Here I am, and here we all are, but everything has changed, and is about to change further and faster and forever. Stories will keep being told, of course. It’s just that their authors might no longer be human.

I am talking, of course, about the rise of Artificial Intelligence. I have written before - here and in my recent book - about some of the implications of this rise as I see them, and I won’t rehash them now. But if you want a very recent software update, as it were, you could do worse than to refer to the writings of Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic AI. Anthropic is a Silicon Valley corporation dedicated to building intelligent machines, and Amodei has written two interconnected essays about them which are worth reading if you want to understand what is happening, and who is driving it.

The first, written in 2024, is entitled Machines of Loving Grace, and it is a paean to the wonderful, transformed world that AI could bring us. It is long and detailed, and if you swapped out the talk about computers with talk about pistons and steam, it could have been written by H. G. Wells in about 1890. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, you can skip to the conclusion, which informs us that ‘the defeat of most diseases, the growth in biological and cognitive freedom, the lifting of billions of people out of poverty to share in the new technologies [and] a renaissance of liberal democracy and human rights’ are all within our reach. If we can just trust AI systems to do most of our work for us, these things can be achieved - hold your breath - ‘within the next 5 to10 years’.

Here in 2026, though, Dario is sounding a more sombre note. He still believes everything he wrote two years ago (or says he does), but two years is a long, long time in the world of AI. So, last month, he wrote a new essay - The Adolescence of Technology - this time taking a detailed look at AI’s possible downsides. His aim is to ‘map out the risks that we are about to face and try to begin making a battle plan to defeat them.’ That’s right: a battle plan. Why, you might ask, do we need to plan for battle against our potential saviours? And why is one of the people who is building them telling us to sharpen our swords? Are we facing a war against the machines already? Have we gone from H. G. Wells to Yevgeny Zamyatin in two short years?

Again, Amodei’s essay is long, but the conclusion is very different. He believes his company may only be a year away from a situation where its AIs are able to build new AIs themselves, autonomously, with no human instruction or intervention. These self-replicating AIs will be ‘smarter than all Nobel prize winners’, and will not be especially motivated to obey the humans around them. This is not a futurist fantasy: his company is already halfway through their construction, and working hard to complete it.

What will the results be? Amodei puts it like this:

Suppose a literal ‘country of geniuses’ were to materialize somewhere in the world in 2027. Imagine, say, 50 million people, all of whom are much more capable than any Nobel Prize winner, statesman, or technologist. The analogy is not perfect, because these geniuses could have an extremely wide range of motivations and behavior, from completely pliant and obedient, to strange and alien in their motivations. But sticking with the analogy for now, suppose you were the national security advisor of a major state, responsible for assessing and responding to the situation. Imagine, further, that because AI systems can operate hundreds of times faster than humans, this ‘country’ is operating with a time advantage relative to all other countries: for every cognitive action we can take, this country can take ten.

Any half-decent national security adviser, suggests Amodei, would advise his boss that they are facing ‘the single most serious national security threat we’ve faced in a century, possibly ever.’

Let’s pause here, and remind ourselves that the man issuing this warning about world-ending machines is currently engaged in building them.

Faced with this kind of thing, it can seem almost irrelevant to worry about the future of storytelling. Who cares about novels if the entire world is about to be consumed by killer machines armed with Nobel Prizes? But this would be to miss something important: Amodei is telling a story. It is the same story that Silicon Valley tells about everything. It is the story of Progress, carried forward by interconnected, and increasingly biologically-embedded, digital technologies. It is the story of how we use our big brains to create bigger brains, which then solve all of our problems. Ultimately, we will become happy immortals living in a world of plenty. There will be no poverty or grief. There will be no death. The Earth will be healed. All we need to do is to trust the machines.

I dug into this story at great length in my recent book Against The Machine: indeed, the whole book is an attempt to unpack and challenge it. But whichever side you find yourself on, the fact is that both Amodei and I are telling stories; or perhaps different versions of the same one. His is culturally dominant right now, and has all the money and power behind it. It is manifesting in your life and mine every minute, whether we like it or not. Even books with Penguin logos on them don’t stand a chance against a story like this. It is the tale of our century.

But that doesn’t make it true.…

https://paulkingsnorth.substack.com/p/writers-against-ai

CONTINUATION OF JACK LOEFFLER'S 1983 INTERVIEW WITH EDWARD ABBEY…

LOEFFLER: How can we co-exist with those who are antagonistic to life?

ABBEY: I think in the long run life will destroy them. The destroyers are destroyed — the dictators and the militarists. In the meantime, we’ve got to teach our children sympathy for life and all living things. It begins as an individual, personal responsibility — develop this love for life in ourselves, try to pass it on to our children, try to spread it beyond the family as far as we can by whatever means are available. Teachers, writers, artists, scientists, performers, politicians have the primary obligation. A good politician is one with the ability to lead people toward this attitude. It’s hard to think of any.

LOEFFLER: When it becomes apparent that we’re not gaining philosophically fast enough in the wake of big business and political maneuvering, what steps do you think are justifiable in trying to turn the tide that leads, literally, to a dead end, not just for our species, but for the whole planet?

ABBEY: I suppose if political means fail us — public organization and public pressure — then we’ll be driven to more extreme measures in defending our earth. Here in the United States, I see more acts of civil disobedience, as the bulldozers and the drilling rigs attempt to move into the wilderness and into the back country and the farmlands and seashores and other precious places. And if civil disobedience is not enough, I imagine there will be sabotage, violence against machinery, property. Those are desperate measures. If they become widespread, it could be that the battle has already been lost. I don’t know what would happen beyond that. Such resistance might stimulate some sort of police-state reaction, repression, a real military-industrial dictatorship in this country.

But still, when all other means fail, we are morally justified — not merely justified, but morally obligated — to defend that which we love by whatever means are available. If my family, my life, my children were attacked, I wouldn’t hesitate to use violence to defend them. By the same principle, if land I love is being violated, raped, plundered, murdered, and all political means to save it have failed, I feel that sabotage is morally justifiable.

LOEFFLER: Some would call acts of physical sabotage “terrorism.”

ABBEY: The distinction is quite clear and simple. Sabotage is an act of force or violence against material objects, machinery, in which life is not endangered, or should not be. Terrorism, on the other hand, is violence against living things — human beings and other living things. That kind of terrorism is generally practiced by governments against their own peoples. We have that kind of terrorism going on right now in much of Latin America. Our government committed great acts of terrorism against the people of Vietnam. Terrorism is radically different from sabotage, a much more limited form of conflict. A bulldozer tearing up a hillside, ripping out trees for a logging operation or a strip mine, is committing terrorism — violence against life.

LOEFFLER: For a long time you’ve been regarded as —

ABBEY: A real swine. I get a lot of hate mail, which I’m very proud of.

LOEFFLER: You’ve been regarded as a real defender of the West. Could you talk a little bit about the different faces of jeopardy which the West is experiencing right now?

ABBEY: The different faces of jeopardy? Great phrase, great phrase. What the hell does it mean? Actually, I’ve done most of my defending of the West with a typewriter, which is an easy and cowardly way to go about it. I most respect those who are activists — people like Dave Brower and Dave Foreman, to name only two. There are thousands of people involved in conservation, thousands, and they should all be named — the people who actually carry on the fight, who do the difficult work of organizing public resistance, who do the lobbying and the litigating, the buttonholing of legislators, or in some cases, who run for public office, who draw petitions and circulate them, who do the tedious office work and paperwork that have to be done to save what’s left of America. I respect those people very much. I respect them much more than people who merely sit behind a desk and write about it.

LOEFFLER: What do you think is the West’s biggest enemy right now?

ABBEY: Oh, the same old thing — expansion, development, commercial greed, industrial growth. That kind of growth has become a pathological condition in our society. That insatiable demand for more and more; the urge to dominate and consume and destroy. The ranges being overgrazed and the hills being strip mined and the rivers being dammed and the farmlands being eroded and the air, soil, and water being poisoned in the usual, various ways — just the endless speeding up of this process. The West is being destroyed by corporate greed. Not to mention the rest of the world.

*The Industrialist* (2021) by Bill Mayer

6 Comments

Harvey Reading February 16, 2026

REDWOOD VALLEY MUNICIPAL ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING FEBRUARY 11, 2026

Traveling the road to extinction. Get rid of the dams and diversions. Lower your population to carrying capacity of the natural habitat for human monkeys. Let the kaputalists (including wine farmers, etc.) wither on the vine.

George Hollister February 16, 2026

“PG&E thinks the infrastructure could fail, and it has been losing money on the PVP. As early as 2007 PG&E indicated that it wanted to withdraw from the PVP. Williams said that PG&E is very good at making money and, “If PG&E could make money off the Potter Valley Project, they would.””

I had to laugh at that one. PG&E says the PVP costs them $5 million a year. Decommissioning will cost an estimated $500 million. The Inland Water And Power Commission offered to take the project over and continue the diversion, but they needed $20 million, they did not have for a fish study. If PG&E was serious about their finances they could have given the project to the IWPC and offered to pay for the fish study to boot. The math here is pretty simple. Getting rid of the project by giving it to IWPC would be good for rate payers, and share holders. Why didn’t PG&E do that? Because PG&E’s business decision was a political decision. Their purse strings are controlled by politics.

- Harvey Reading February 16, 2026
  
  What’s 500 million of current dollars compared to costs, in current dollars, of building the dams and diversions?
  
Norm Thurston February 16, 2026

Phil Williams appears to have good knowledge and insights into water rights and the Potter Valley Project. I still have a couple of questions though: Is there a credible study that shows that Lake Mendocino will receive sufficient inflows after the PVP is dismantled, to justify the raising of Coyote Dam? And, is there any assurance that the Sonoma County Water Agency won’t drain Lake Mendocino every summer, in order to keep Lake Sonoma fuller, to encourage recreation uses?

Craig Stehr February 16, 2026

Warmest spiritual greetings from Washington, D.C. It is raining and warmer, as the only snowfall of the season is melting away, and Spring is nigh. Next up is the Cherry Blossom Festival March 20 – April 12, 2026. The fishing boats continue to bring in the catch from Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, so the morning sushi choices are fabulous at Whole Foods (all locations). Afternoons are spent at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library on a public computer, mostly sending out networking messages to order to remain active in postmodern America, in regard to revolutionary ecology, and attenuating peace & justice concerns where applicable. I am doing nothing here presently, what with the D.C. Peace Vigil having been swept away by the current presidential administration (because we were out of step with the new aesthetic upgrade for the District of Columbia). I’ve got $5,200 in the bank, $41.92 in the wallet, $150 left on the EBT card, and enough health insurance for a family of four. Suggesting performing rituals responding to global climate destabilization, and then bringing in the spiritual mojo. What else? I’m ready. You ready? Please contact me here:
Craig Louis Stehr
Adam’s Place Homeless Shelter
2210 Adams Place NE #1
Washington, D.C. 20018
Telephone Messages: (202) 832-8317
Email: [email protected]
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 34181
Washington, D.C. 20043-4181
February 16, 2026 Anno Domini

Dave in PA February 16, 2026

The $100 Bill

Nicely discusses jealousy, greed and mistrust amongst friends or acquaintances. The $100 bill was counterfeit so no one benefited. Or was it really counterfeit?

6 Comments

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