May 24, 2021
Mayor Dominic Foppoli resigned abruptly on Friday, and now the town of Windsor has to fill a vacancy.
The Windsor Town Council can fill the Mayor’s seat with either a special election or appointment of one of the council members. If one of the council members is chosen to serve out the rest of Foppoli’s term, the council would then have to appoint another person to fill that vacancy. A special election would cost anywhere from $50-thousand to $80-thousand dollars. The next Town council meeting will be June 2nd where the council will accept Mayor Foppoli’s resignation and also swear in newly elected council member Rosa Reynoza. Foppoli’s resignation comes as a ninth woman has accused him of sexual assault.
May 10, 2021
The National Weather Service is extending a red flag fire warning through Tuesday for the Sacramento Valley and portions of the North Bay hills. The warning was initially set to expire on Monday, but forecasters extended the warning to go through 6 p.m. Tuesday. This comes as the region is seeing continued low humidity, high temperatures and gusty winds reaching 40-miles-per-hour from Modesto and Redding, to parts of the northern Bay Area, including the North Bay hills. Multiple organizations including the NWS, are working to avoid a repeat of last year’s devastating wildfire season.
KSRO News Director Michelle Marques spoke with meteorologist Brayden Murdock from the National Weather Service about the conditions that prompted the warning.
May 7, 2021
A trust established to distribute over $13.5 billion dollars in PG&E settlement money spent more on overhead costs than survivor settlements during 2020.
KQED reports that the special Fire Victim Trust accrued $51-million in overhead costs last year while only distributing $7-million to victims. However, only a small portion of payouts to victims happened in December, and the bulk of payouts have happened in 2021. A report says that more than 9,000 claimants had received $195-million in payments as of April 30. An annual report filed in federal bankruptcy court last week by the trustee shows that $38-million was spent on financial professionals, claims administrators, consultants and other operating expenses. Another $12-million was used to set up the claims process.
May 4, 2021
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KSRO News Director Michelle Marques talks with Sonoma County Public Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase about the status of Sonoma County in the state’s tiered coronavirus levels, and confirms that we should be in the Yellow Tier sometime next week.
April 6, 2021
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Health officials say that Sonoma County is likely going to be in the Orange Tier on the coronavirus tier list tomorrow. Though current guidelines have us still in the Red Tier, those are expected to change once the state has administered 4 million vaccine doses to the most disadvantaged people in the state. The state will likely hit that 4 million mark today. The move to the Orange Tier would allow some businesses to reopen for the first time while allowing others that are already open to increase their capacity.
News Director Michelle Marques talks with Sonoma County Communications Manager Paul Gullixon about the parameters for the further loosening of restrictions, as well as vaccine supply in the county…