Residents gathered at the corner of Hwy 25 and Tres Pinos Rd on Oct. 18 to oppose Proposition 50, the measure spearheaded by Gov. Gavin Newsom that would change California’s redistricting rules in an effort to counter Republican-led redistricting in red states.
Across social media, mailers and campaign signs, opposition to the measure is appearing throughout San Benito County. More than just an effort organized by the local Republican Party, it’s being supported by others who oppose the measure, local Republicans say.
“Prop 50 seems to be a unifying factor, but it’s definitely very organic,” Peter Hernandez, local business owner, former county supervisor and former Republican candidate for the 18th Congressional District said. “You don’t have the structural organization at the local levels, but you have passionate people who do believe in this.”
Prop. 50 is part of Democrats’ strategy to counter Republican attempts to preserve their majority in the House of Representatives after the 2026 elections. In August, President Donald Trump asked Texas Republicans to redraw their state’s congressional map so as to flip five seats in the 2026 midterm elections and keep their current majority—a move Texas Gov. Greg Abbott initially resisted but ultimately agreed to pursue.
Unlike Texas, where redistricting can be approved through the state legislature, any change to congressional district boundaries in California must be submitted to voters. So, state Democrats—led by Newsom—put Prop. 50 on the Nov. 4 ballot to offset Texas’ gains.
Former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has emerged as a prominent voice opposing the measure. A longtime supporter of independent redistricting, he backed the 2008 initiative that created the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, which has drawn the state’s maps for the past 15 years.
Currently in California, state and local redistricting occur every 10 years following U.S. census results.
Protecting that independence, Schwarzenegger says, is protecting democracy.
“What Texas is doing is wrong, but California doing the same thing in reverse isn’t the answer,” Schwarzenegger said in a mailer distributed across the county. “Californians are leaders in political reform. Our best defense to destructive politics is real transparency, accountability, and competition.”
Opponents of Prop. 50 gathered in Hollister on Oct. 18. Photo courtesy of Celeste Toledo-Bocanegra.
Local Republican leader Robert Bernosky told BenitoLink that California should focus on its own challenges, rather than getting into national political fights.
“What Gov. Newsom is doing is using our state to oppose the president,” Bernosky said. “We have to worry about California and let others worry about themselves.”
State Democrats campaigning for a “Yes” vote say Prop 50 wouldn’t eliminate California’s independent redistricting commission. Instead, they say, it would only pause its work for five years until new maps are drawn after the 2030 census. Their stated goal is to flip enough congressional seats to push back against federal health care cuts that were mandated in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Local Republicans say that changing the maps midway through the decade violates California’s laws. “Basically it’s changing the rules midstream,” Hernandez said.
San Benito County Republican Party Secretary Celeste Toledo-Bocanegra told BenitoLink that with Prop. 50 Newsom is “disregarding the California Constitution.”
“When you give politicians power, they have problems giving it back,” Toledo-Bocanegra said. “Prop. 50 is a big power-grab.”
Former supervisor Peter Hernandez at his shaved ice store on San Benito St. Photo by Juan Pablo Pérez Burgos.
If approved, Prop 50 will change the congressional district to which San Benito County belongs. Since 2021, the county has been part of District 18, a seat Democrats have held for more than three decades. The district also contains parts of Santa Clara County, including Gilroy, Morgan Hill, and sections of San Jose, as well as parts of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
The new maps, while keeping these areas, would add Coalinga, Avenal and their surrounding rural areas, to District 18. Both areas, in Fresno and Kings counties respectively, lean more Republican.
To Hernandez, this change poses a threat to rural communities.
“Rural communities are increasingly being absorbed into urban districts, and Prop. 50 would only accelerate that,” Hernandez told BenitoLink. “This means the issues facing rural communities will be ignored, and rural voters will lose their voice.”
In contrast, Bernosky said he believes adding Coalinga and Avenal and their surrounding areas could end up benefitting local Republicans by adding more red votes to District 18, potentially bringing them closer to electing a Republican representative. But the overall outcome could backfire, as Republicans may lose five congressional seats statewide, dropping from nine to four.
“Yes, it could increase our chances of having a Republican representation in San Benito County,” he said. “But that doesn’t do any better. What’s better for San Benito County is to have more statewide Republican representation.”
For the remaining two weeks of campaign, Toledo-Bocanegra said she is going to call registered Republicans in the county to remind them to vote “No” and offer to pick up and submit ballots.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.
Thousands attend ‘No Kings’ protest in Redding to denounce the Trump administration
A woman waves at passing cars while holding a sign that reads, “No Kings in America since 1776.” Photo by Madison Holcomb.
More than 3,000 people gathered in front of the Redding City Hall and along Cypress Avenue for a “No Kings” protest this morning.
The Oct. 18 event was just one of more than 2,600 organized across the country as part of a nationwide protest movement against the policies of the Trump administration. The estimated crowd count for the Redding event was provided by organizers.
A sign held by a protester reads, “Defend Democracy.” Photo by Madison Holcomb.
The Redding protest was filled with music, dancing and cheering, unique signs denouncing President Donald Trump and smiling people of all ages. In conversation, many of the protesters voiced frustrations about Trump’s handling of immigrants in the U.S. and how they feel he’s overstepping his bounds as president.
“As a king, you don’t care about your people. You care about maintaining power,” said Shannon McMahon, a Redding resident who attended the protest. “And right now, I see the administration doing everything they can to maintain power. They say they’re doing what the voters asked for. But I’ve talked to people who voted for Trump; this is not what they asked for.”
A protester in a frog hat holds up a sign that says, “No KKKings.” Photo by Madison Holcomb.
Allene Fultz said she was born and raised in Redding, and that she’s disappointed to see the Trump administration “spin America in such a hateful way.”
“He’s just turning this country into something that I never wanted it to be, and what a lot of people don’t want it to be,” she said. “He’s spinning it like everybody wants the same things he does, and it’s just not true.”
A protester holds a sign that reads, “I like my America blended hold the I.C.E.” Photo by Madison Holcomb
No visible counter-protesters attended the Redding rally today — but the No Kings protest movement has drawn criticism from Republican leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson, who labeled the protest as a “hate America rally.” Several people at the Redding protest told Shasta Scout they don’t see it that way.
“We can disagree with what the current Trump administration is doing without hating America,” Shasta County resident Brian Erickson said. “We wish to make a strong and independent America. We wish to really focus on having the most rights for the citizens, not for the corporations.”
Similarly, McMahon said she doesn’t think attending the No Kings protest made her anti-American.
“I see what we’re doing as actually protecting my American patriotism, my right to have a country where I can vote,” she said. “I want money spent on protecting the environment, or I want money spent on having more refugees be able to come in and find shelter here.”
A masked protester holds up a sign with down-facing arrows that says, “Real Patriots.” Photo by Madison Holcomb.
This was the second nationwide No Kings protest event held — the first was held on June 14, the same day Trump held a U.S. Army 250th anniversary military parade on his birthday in Washington, D.C. More than 1,600 people attended the Redding No Kings protest in June.
Redding resident Joe Adams said he was glad so many people attended the protest today.
“It’s easy to feel alone when you’re just looking at stuff online and feel isolated,” Adams said. “I got a little choked up walking in here, just seeing all the people out here and the signs and the things like that. There’s a little sense of, ‘There’s more than just me that doesn’t like what’s happening.’”
See more photos of the Redding No Kings protest below.
A protester holds a sign that reads, “I am conservative but I’m not crazy!” Photo by Madison Holcomb.A protester with a bubble gun holds a sign that says, “Power to the peacefull.” Photo by Madison Holcomb.A protester waves an American flag while holding up a sign that reads, “No Kings since 1776.” A protester smiles at the camera while holding a sign that says, “Say No to Facisism If you see ICE Agents Call 916-382-0256 and Report Their Location.” It’s a number used by NorCal Resist. Photo by Madison Holcomb.A protester holds a sign that reads, “Super Callous Fragile Bigot Help Us! He’s Atrocious!” Photo by Madison Holcomb.A protester holds a sign that says, “People Before Profits.” Photo by Madison Holcomb. A protester holds a sign that reads, “I served to protect: The Constitution! America From Enemies — Foreign & Domestic Our Freedoms.” Photo by Madison Holcomb.A protester holds a sign that says, “Hey Hey Donald J. How Many Laws Did You Break Today?” Photo by Madison Holcomb
Do you have information or a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
Homeless woman and advocates address Ukiah City Council after encampment ordinance passes
FILE — Tents belonging to unhoused people set up outside San Jose Diridon Station in San Jose, Calif., on May 25, 2021. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News)
UKIAH, CA., 10/17/25 —The Ukiah City Council on Wednesday gave final approval to an ordinance that follows updated state guidance about unhoused people camping in public spaces and removes a requirement that encampments can only be cleared if shelter space is available.
During Wednesday night’s meeting, the City Council approved an ordinance amendment that will follow Gov. Gavin Newsom’s guidance on how local jurisdictions should address homeless encampments.
Earlier this year, Newsom released a model ordinance that aims to give guidance to government entities in creating their own policies on homelessness. The policies include providing advance notice of removals and partnering with service providers and shelters to help unhoused people.
The proposed changes to the city’s ordinance stem from the 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which stated that criminal punishment of people camping in public spaces is not considered “cruel and unusual” under the Eighth Amendment.
The approved change to the ordinance will remove the requirement that police may intervene in homeless encampments only if shelter space is available and a person refuses to move to the shelter. This means law enforcement can take action even when no shelter beds are available.
Another change requires the Ukiah Police Department and other city officials to make efforts to help people in violation of the ordinance find shelter. The police chief may also delegate enforcement authority to other city officials. Lastly, the amendment explicitly prohibits camping in the public right of way in a manner that blocks a pathway, in accordance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
According to the 2025 Point-in-Time count for Mendocino County, an annual survey conducted by the Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care to count sheltered and unsheltered homeless people in the county on a single night in January, the total number of unsheltered people in Mendocino County was 440.
For local homeless advocates like Marigold Klein, who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, there needs to be designated locations in the city of Ukiah where people living in their cars can sleep safely.
“Ukiah needs a safe place to park for unhoused people,” she emphasized during the meeting. “I have talked to people who are working full-time and still living in their cars because they can’t afford both food and rent. I see disabled people, elderly people, we need a safe place for them to sleep and it’s legal for them to sleep.”
One of those people who works but can’t afford housing and lives in her car is Jana Baker, who also gave an impassioned speech during the public comment period.
“I am currently homeless, and I’ve worked all my life,” Baker said. She noted that the salary she makes only allows her to buy food and gasoline, but not housing. “I make $1,200 a month, that’s what rent is. I could rent a place, and give up my storage, gasoline, food, and I’d have a roof over my head. It’s ridiculous.”
Baker also spoke about how community members often assume homeless people are not working. She explained that many people who live in their cars — including some of her neighbors — work regular jobs but still can’t afford the costs of renting a housing unit.
“My proposal is to have a space where people can feel safe. I’d like to see Ukiah have a place for these people, people like me. For people who want to go to work and come back to their car and still feel safe,” Baker said.
At the end of the public comment period, city staff asked Baker for her contact information so they could ensure she is on the appropriate lists for local subsidized housing for people experiencing homelessness who want to transition into housing.
“Thank you for your time, I appreciate it,” Baker said before departing the meeting.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 5 at 5:15 p.m. at the Ukiah Civic Center at 300 Seminary Ave. Residents can also participate virtually via a Zoom link at the top of the agenda when it becomes available. Public comments can be emailed to cityclerk@cityofukiah.com or called in at (707) 463-6217. Meeting agendas can be found at cityofukiah.com/meetings.
Bombshell lawsuit from former Shasta Assistant CEO Eric Magrini alleges retaliation, harassment over ideological issues
Eric Magrini visits a Shasta County polling place during the November 3, 2020, election. Photo by Annelise Pierce.
“[Mr. Magrini] believes that certain Board Members stalked his wife at her place of employment … and that certain supervisors stalked him and his granddaughter at her school.”
That’s an excerpt from a complaint filed by former Shasta County sheriff and assistant CEO Eric Magrini against Shasta County about a week ago. The lawsuit alleges multiple labor violations.
Magrini says his issues with the county began after he resigned from his role as Shasta County Sheriff and was appointed as Shasta County’s first Assistant CEO. In that role, Magrini alleges that “certain” county board members approached him saying they “intended to punish him for enforcing the COVID-19 orders and laws during the pandemic.”
“They accused him of being a traitor to the Republican Party,” the lawsuit reads, “and to those who objected to the imposition of COVID-19 health orders.”
Amid a litany of allegations that includes stalking and other forms of harassment, the only board member specifically named in the lawsuit is County Supervisor Kevin Crye. He is alleged to have been aware of where Magrinin’s wife worked, where his granddaughter went to school and where their family worshipped.
Crye did not respond to two requests for comment. He briefly discussed the lawsuit in broad terms during his radio show on Sunday, Oct. 5. Referring to Magrini as “the disgraced and failed ex-sheriff,” Crye focused most of his statements on broad claims of corruption in local government and what he referred to as the “crooked local media.”
“You know you’re succeeding when they call you a fascist,” Crye said, amid other wide-ranging remarks about his critics.
Magrini’s lawsuit claims he informed county officials — including the support services director, the acting CEO and county counsel — of the alleged harassment and retaliation against both him and some of those who worked for him. But according to the lawsuit, Magrini was told there was nothing county staff could do about the behavior of elected officials. Current Shasta County CEO David Rickert responded to a request for information by saying the county doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Magrini says he also reported his complaints to various state and federal officials, including those at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the Department of Labor.
In March 2023, the lawsuit indicates, Magrini went on medical leave after his physicians informed him that his body could not tolerate his ongoing level of work-related stress. He says he asked the county to implement certain policies that would allow him to return to work without having contact with Crye, including a request to work in a remote office space. Instead, Magrini said, he was terminated in August 2024.
The lawsuit claims the county’s failure to act in response to his concerns resulted in the loss of his employment as well as his emotional distress, anxiety, stress and humiliation. He filed a claim with the county in February, according to the suit, and it was denied the next month. Magrini is now asking the court to implement civil penalties against the county for multiple violations of California labor law and to award him damages of a currently unspecified amount to compensate for his losses.
An alleged hit list
The lawsuit references conflicts that allegedly occurred behind closed doors at the county, going back to 2021 and revolving around ideological issues, including COVID-19 and elections.
Several former employees at the county are named in the suit, including former county attorneys Rubin Cruse, Jim Ross and Matt McOmber, who retired or resigned between 2023 and 2024, and former public health director Karen Ramstrom, who was fired in 2022. Magrini claims they, like himself, were on a “hit list” of individuals who either enforced COVID-19 mandates or defended those who did.
His support for those individuals, Magrini’s lawsuit claims, only increased the hostile work environment he faced.
Divide over elections
The lawsuit claims Magrini was also retaliated against for supporting former Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen amid “alleged conspiracy theories about the unfounded elections fraud during the 2020 presidential election.”
Magrini was targeted in part, the suit states, because he did not support the board’s effort to make “so-called” election reforms. The suit also describes how Magrini allegedly denied a travel request submitted by Crye in an effort to ensure that his meeting with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for election advice could be expensed to taxpayers. The trip, the lawsuit says, related to Crye’s attempt to “thwart the County’s election procedures.”
In August 2024, just a few days after Magrini was terminated by the county, Williams gave public comment during a board of supervisors agenda item on proposed changes to county policy. The policies, which are cited in Magrini’s lawsuit, address how employees can seek recourse if they experience harassment or retaliation in the workplace.
Williams told the public the anti-harassment policies were the result of “a year of pressing for changes in outcomes in a system that is intentionally designed to lead employees to a dead end.”
“They tell a story,” Williams continued, “of a work environment where such specific and detailed policies are now necessary to address harassing, abusive and retaliatory conduct that procedures must be outlined for handling of complaints against elected officials.”
Speaking to Shasta Scout by phone Monday, Williams, who worked for Magrini as deputy CEO before being appointed to Acting CEO, said her former superior’s difficulties with the county were “one of multiple” situations she was referencing when she spoke to the board last year. Today, Oct. 7, the Shasta County board voted unanimously in closed session to hire outside counsel to represent the county against Magrini’s lawsuit. The former sheriff told Shasta Scout he’s unable to provide comment on his pending litigation.
Do you have information or a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
With no opposition from the public, the Hollister Planning Commission approved a 17-unit apartment project designated to include all affordable units in a 3-0 vote on Sept. 25.
The commissioners also approved a six-unit residential project, which includes an inclusionary housing element.
Though it wasn’t included in the application submitted to the city, applicant Community Services Development Corporation, a nonprofit that builds affordable housing in San Benito County, intends to provide senior housing. Executive Director Sonny Flores said the goal is to set aside seven of the units for senior citizens.
He said all the units will have one bedroom and be located on the ground floor of the multi-story building. He said the nonprofit is working with the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Cruz—which also serves Hollister and San Juan Bautista—to have those units meet the extremely low income requirements.
Image from the Sept. 25 agenda packet. Image from the Sept. 25 agenda packet.
“Our goal with working with Housing Authority is to get project-based vouchers so those units can be for extremely low income tenants,” he said.
He told BenitoLink that the corporation would still designate the seven units for seniors if they are unsuccessful with the Housing Authority.
Flores said out of the more than 300 applicants on the corporation’s waiting list seeking affordable housing, there are more than 70 who are looking for a one-bedroom unit. He said the majority of those are seniors.
“There’s a huge demand for senior affordable housing and all forms of housing from extremely low family units to moderate rate,” he said. “Currently in San Benito County, we’re seeing a huge need.”
The project on Fourth Street includes multifamily apartments with one- and two-bedroom units spread over two multi-story buildings. One of the units is proposed to be designated for very low income, 13 would be for low income, and three for moderate income tenants.
According to the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s 2025 income limits, the San Benito County area median income is $140,200 for a household of four. That size household would be eligible for very low income housing if it earns less than $66,800 and low income housing if the household makes less than $106,950.
Table of income limits from the Department of Housing and Community Development by household size.
Flores said their current rent fees on their projects vary from $1,040 to $1,125 for two-bedroom units.
The project consists of seven one-bedroom units and 10 two-bedroom units. The project also includes 25 parking spaces, and 830 square feet of common open space including a playground, according to the staff report.
Flores said the next steps for the project is completing construction drawings and returning to the city for additional permits. He said ideally those steps can be completed within 12 months and then start construction.
He said the nonprofit has funding on hand available for the project but are pursuing state and other funds.
“The reason we would definitely like to work with the city or [secure] state funding is lower costs would lower the cost [of rent] to the residents ultimately,” Flores said.
Though Commissioner Julio Rodriguez supported the project because “we are in desperate need of affordable housing,” he expressed concern about residential projects being proposed in mixed-use zone designations, which aims to encourage commercial projects to include residential elements.
However, Flores told the commissioners the nonprofit bought the property in partnership with the Dollar General store developer to meet the mixed-use zoning goals.
“Dollar General was one part of it and we were finishing the housing part of it,” he said.
In 2023, the Community Services Development Corporation completed a 24-unit, self-housing project on Southside Road. The nonprofit also developed the Sunrise Senior Apartments in Hollister and the Palm Court apartments.
Also at the Sept. 25 meeting, the commission also approved a six-unit project known as Everglen 2 that includes a medium income unit. The first iteration of the project, which included six market-rate units, was denied by the Hollister City Council in May, which cited a lack of inclusionary and multi-family elements in the project.
Hollister Planning Commissioners discussing the six-unit Everglen 2 project. Photo by Noe Magaña.
The newer proposal does not require City Council review and approval, and would move forward unless the commission’s approval is appealed.
The commissioners’ discussion centered on concerns that the affordable unit would be the developer’s last priority and be the last to be built and occupied.
The board decided to make the project’s approval contingent on ensuring the affordable unit be occupied no later than the fourth lot.
The project on Chapel Road is considered an extension of the 82-unit project approved in 2022 and currently under construction by KB Homes.
The previous applicant, Pad Trust’s Augie Dent, told the council in May that he removed the residential units in the undeveloped area from the original project of 88 units because a 2022 density calculation “required to take them away.”
Everglen includes a linear park and walkway totaling 1.3 acres along Hwy 25. Some of the units are planned to have attached accessory dwelling units. None of the residential units in the first phase were classified affordable.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news!BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.
Head Start programs in Mendocino, Lake counties to remain open during shutdown
MENDOCINO CO., 10/1/25 – Head Start programming is not expected to be affected by the government shutdown, North Coast Opportunities said Wednesday.
Head Start is a federally funded program that provides early childhood education, health, nutrition and family support services to children from low-income families. NCO, a Ukiah-based nonprofit, operates Head Start programs in Mendocino and Lake counties.
According to NCO, Head Start classrooms, staff and offices are not at risk of closing during the shutdown.
Congress failed to agree on a budget Tuesday, triggering a federal government shutdown that will furlough some employees and hinder federal services.
“Our dedicated team will continue to provide comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition and family support to ensure the well-being of our youngest learners and families,” NCO said in a statement.
Fires, floods and other disasters are multiplying. Schools are adding training for workers to combat them
WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Gavin Abundis watched as firefighter Adrian Chairez demonstrated how he uses pulleys and harnesses to rappel down buildings. “You’ve probably seen it in the movies where they’re going down ‘Mission: Impossible’ style,” Chairez said with a laugh one day this past winter as he prepared to step off a tower. “We get to do that.”
Abundis, a then-senior at Aptos High School in Santa Cruz County’s Pajaro Valley Unified School District, has a friend whose home burned down a few years ago in a fire sparked by lightning. He said it’s pretty common to know someone who has been affected by fires in California, especially as they become more frequent and intense because of climate change. That drew him to this class on fire technology, and may steer his career.
“Knowing that there’s something that I can do about it to serve my community definitely encourages me to pursue this career,” said Abundis.
Demand for the course has grown so much in recent years that the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, which jointly runs the class with the Watsonville Fire Department, doubled the number of classes offered, from two to four, this school year. “There was a time when we would go into the schools and recruit students,” said Rudy Lopez Sr., fire chief of the Watsonville department. “Now, they just sign up.”
As climate change alters the environment and economies, the need is growing for jobs that help prepare for, respond to and lessen damage caused by fires, floods and other natural disasters. That’s led schools and community colleges to explore how to prepare students for careers in such fields as fire science, protecting and restoring watersheds and other ecosystems, forestry management and search and rescue. In some cases, student interest is driving the new courses — surveys show teenagers and younger adults are more environmentally conscious than older people and more likely to support action on climate change.
Watsonville, Calif., Fire Chief Rudy Lopez Sr. talks with students during a Fire Youth Academy class at Watsonville Fire Station No. 2. Credit: Minh Connors for The Hechinger Report
Kate Kreamer, executive director of Advance CTE, a nonprofit that supports state leaders who oversee career and technical education programs, said more school districts are offering climate-related CTE courses, but it’s challenging to find statistics because the issue is so politicized and because what the classes are called differs by school, district and state. One example of that growth: A “resiliency careers in forestry” program, which trains people as foresters, fire program managers and log truck drivers at five California community colleges, enrolls some 700 students compared with 37 when it launched three years ago, according to the Foundation for California Community Colleges.
Students in Santa Cruz’s yearlong fire science course say they love that it’s so hands-on. They practice putting on and taking off more than 70 pounds of equipment in under 90 seconds, watch water cannons blast from the top of fire engines and get a chance to hold “attack lines,” 200-foot-long water hoses. They also learn about the specialized vocabulary of firefighting, the range of jobs available and the certifications that are required. The course helps expose students to careers in firefighting, which is facing a significant shortage of people to fill jobs in California and some other regions of the country. In the state, entry-level jobs pay between roughly $50,000 and $100,000 per year, according to the statewide group California Professional Firefighters.
Charlotte Morgan, a soft-spoken then-senior from Aptos in the Watsonville class, said she wanted to take this course specifically because of her interest in climate change: “Growing up in Santa Cruz, we spend so much time outside and we care so much about it, and I want to protect that.”
Her friend Bellamy Breen said she felt the same way, though she’s interested in working on water conservation issues. “With climate change there’s more droughts, there’s more saltwater intrusion, and with all the agriculture here, it’s very important,” she said.
Related: Want to read more about how climate change is shaping education? Subscribe to our free newsletter.
Watsonville firefighter Adrian Chairez rappels from the top of a building during a Fire Youth Academy class in Watsonville. Credit: Minh Connors for The Hechinger Report
President Joe Biden championed such initiatives as the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which invested billions of federal dollars in supporting jobs that tackle climate change, including clean energy manufacturing, water infrastructure projects and wildfire prevention and preparedness efforts. Under President Donald Trump, who calls climate change a hoax, there has been a swift reversal of those initiatives. In recent months, the federal government has let go of hundreds of climate scientists, halted research funding and canceled 400 grants to help communities prepare for more extreme weather events.
Yet for communities that have been hit with natural disasters, there is a demand for jobs that transcends politics, even in conservative communities where climate change is sometimes dismissed as fake science.
John Gossett, president of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in North Carolina, said that after Hurricane Helene devastated his region last year, college presidents in Mississippi and Louisiana who have endured catastrophic natural disasters told him to expect an enrollment drop of 40 percent to 50 percent. But Gossett said that while enrollment in several programs has remained flat, courses in fields that were highly visible during the hurricane — such as fire and rescue, EMT and paramedics and nursing — have drawn more interest from students.
Police officers played a big role during the disaster, participating in search and rescue missions and directing traffic. Gossett said the college had to double its number of basic law enforcement training cohorts from two to four this semester in response to the unexpected demand. It also reinstated a course in geomatics, or land surveying, and added a class in agri permaculture, an approach to land management that imitates natural ecosystems in rebuilding. The college’s construction program offers additional environmentally friendly certifications, including in green buildings and solar technology.
Gossett sees a strong link between these in-demand courses and economic development of the region, even though there is no mention of climate change in course descriptions. “It’s in our mission, it’s what we do,” he said. “We’re trying to help people get to a better place in life, where they can make more money and have more options. And all of that is wrapped around workforce development.”
Southeastern Kentucky has also been hit recently by disasters, including catastrophic floods in 2021, 2022 and 2025 that led to a devastating number of deaths, unsalvageable homes and mud-filled businesses and school buildings. It’s the region served by Hazard Community and Technical College, with 4,400 students across campuses in Central Appalachia. “You just can’t believe how much water there was, there was 6 feet of water in one of our buildings,” recalled its president, Jennifer Lindon.
Students wait as firefighters prepare a demonstration during a Fire Youth Academy class in Watsonville. Credit: Minh Connors for The Hechinger Report
She said the college is rethinking course offerings to be more responsive to the disasters. Hazard offers an annual firefighter training, but water rescue is becoming such an important part of the job that the college is adding a swift water rescue component, focused on saving people from fast-moving floods, for first responders from across the state. Its classes in construction are changing too, to incorporate information on how to rebuild homes on higher ground to better withstand winds and floods. Because of the demand, Hazard now runs several construction courses simultaneously, and the curriculum is accelerated — what would have taken 16 weeks now takes six.
Lindon said there are waiting lists for Hazard’s heavy equipment and line worker classes, as the community clears debris and rebuilds infrastructure. The college is also designing a new course on water treatment systems, after a plant flooded, leaving several counties with no drinking water for days. Lindon said the county is building a new treatment facility, which means there will be several jobs available.
“It’s time to really sit down and think about how we plan for 10 years, 20 years, because I don’t think that these disasters are one-offs,” she said. “What we thought was a 1,000-year flood has happened in three of the last five years. So it’s a different time for sure. Most of us all really love this area. We want to stay here, so we need to figure out how to better protect it.”
Other institutions are seeing the need to reach out to students to get them interested in these careers early on. John Boyd leads Mayland Community College, about an hour’s drive from Asheville, North Carolina, which was devastated by Hurricane Helene.
Boyd’s community is still cleaning up from the storm, and the college has lost students as many residents moved out of the area. But it hired a firefighter instructor to teach the area’s all-volunteer firefighters and work with K-12 schools to expose younger students to careers important in the region. The college is also building an environmental science center featuring exhibits for children to give them a better understanding of local environmental changes, like how physical damage during Hurricane Helene caused rivers to become permanently wider and deeper.
In this deep red area, no one mentions climate change. “We’re a very, very conservative area here,” said Boyd. “We focus on what it is and what we do now, not how it got there.”
The college is also training operators of large machinery like backhoes and bulldozers. Half of the trees in one local county were downed in the storm, and other debris still needs to be cleared. “That timber in another year is going to become a massive fire hazard,” said Boyd. “For the next few years we’re going to have a lot of fuel laying on the ground.”
Kreamer, with Advance CTE, said disaster-related coursework is one piece of a bigger shift, with high schools around the country altering courses in fields as diverse as construction, HVAC, fashion technology and cooking to adapt for climate change. Matt Siegelman, president of Burning Glass Institute, which analyzes labor market data, said many traditional jobs now require an understanding of green technology. Construction, for example, increasingly relies on sustainable materials, energy-efficient designs and newer construction techniques. Green jobs are growing at about 2 percent a year, but traditional construction jobs that require some green skills are growing much faster, he said.
Kreamer said that as demand for these roles grows, a number of challenges must still be overcome, including improving collaboration between education and industries and between community colleges and K-12 schools. “You can only do so much by reskilling,” she said. “Adults have to look at the next generation as part of that pipeline strategy,” by introducing students to career options in elementary and middle school.
Jack Widman is dragged on the floor during a demonstration on how a firefighter would rescue someone during the Fire Youth Academy class in Watsonville. Credit: Minh Connors for The Hechinger Report
In firefighting, career opportunities differ by geography, with rural areas often relying on volunteer squads and larger cities on paid workers. Concerns about the health risks facing wildfire firefighters have also been intensifying.
In California, more than 6,500 wildfires have broken out so far in 2025, putting this on pace to be one of the worst years for fires on record. In Santa Cruz, district administrators expect more than 110 students to complete the fire science program this school year, compared with 57 last year.
Students say they learn not just about fighting fires, but also about standing up for others, persevering and not getting discouraged. “It’s super-valuable life advice,” said Jack Widman, a then-senior, during last winter’s class at the Watsonville fire station. Like his classmate Gavin Abundis, Widman is considering a career in firefighting.
“Firefighting doesn’t solve climate change,” added Abundis, “but I feel I’m part of the solution.”
Contact editor Caroline Preston at 212-870-8965, via Signal at CarolineP.83 or on email at preston@hechingerreport.org.
Who pays for wildfire damage? In the West, utilities are shifting the risk to customers
Every spring, investors flock to Omaha, Nebraska, for Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting, where Warren Buffett holds court. Insiders call it Woodstock for Capitalists, and CNBC covers it with the fervor of Fox Sports on Super Bowl Sunday.
Last year’s meeting held particular weight. Investors were watching closely to see if Buffett, the company’s 93-year-old CEO, would name Greg Abel, Berkshire’s vice chairman, as his successor, and how the company would weather the billions in wildfire lawsuits threatening its energy utilities. Buffett dodged the succession question, but the meeting revealed something just as consequential: the company’s strategy to avoid wildfire liability.
Two months earlier, the Utah legislature had passed a law allowing utilities to charge their own customers to build a fund for future fire damages. The state also has a 2020 law on the books that capped the amount fire victims could sue utilities for damages. Combined, the two laws mean that if homes in Utah burn down due to a power company’s faulty electrical line, the financial damages residents can seek are limited — and they may already have been paying into the fund that covers them. For utilities, the result is reduced costs.
At the shareholder meeting, Abel singled out Utah as “the gold standard” of utility protection — a model he urged other states to adopt. “As we go forward,” he told the crowd, “we need both legislative and regulatory reform.”
Berkshire Hathaway Energy, or BHE, Buffett’s $100 billion energy arm, operates a vast power grid that stretches across the West. BHE subsidiaries such as Rocky Mountain Power and PacifiCorp are responsible for maintaining more than 17,000 miles of transmission lines that serve roughly 10 million customers across 10 states. In recent years, BHE has been slapped with lawsuits in Oregon worth nearly $10 billion for fires caused by its faulty equipment. For BHE, the Utah laws were a significant win, shielding the company from that kind of liability in at least one state. Across the West, BHE-owned utilities and their lobbyists are now trying to replicate that success, securing laws that both cap wildfire damages and shift costs onto customers.
“It’s infuriating to me that they are creating these situations,” said Stephanie Chase, a research and communications manager at the Energy & Policy Institute and a former consumer advocate in the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. “They’re not doing a good job at maintaining their power lines. Then when they start fires, they don’t want to pay for them.”
BHE’s infrastructure is aging, and maintaining it is expensive. Climate-proofing measures, like running power lines underground, can easily cost more than $1 million per mile, according to the Institute for Energy Research, and would put the cost of sending all BHE-owned equipment into the ground at well over $17 billion. Other resilience measures, such as trimming branches that grow over power lines and inspecting equipment in rural areas, are also expensive.
“Vegetation management is not one of the things that they receive a return on investment,” said Chase. State regulatory agencies typically set utility prices using a formula known as the rate base, which excludes routine maintenance like vegetation. By contrast, utilities earn a return when investing in new infrastructure, Chase added. “Utility companies have a much bigger incentive because they’re receiving a return on equity on any funds that they put into capital expenditures: building a new plant, building construction, building new lines,” she said. BHE did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Earlier this summer, the Wyoming legislature passed a law that limits damages that can be awarded to victims of a utility-caused fire, so long as the company followed its own wildfire plan. In July, Idaho also enacted a similar law, shielding utilities from negligence if they prove they adhered to their wildfire plan. According to state regulatory filings, at least one representative for Rocky Mountain Power and other utilities operating in the state lobbied lawmakers in March and April to get the law passed.
One state senator who voted against Idaho’s law, Bruce Skaug, told Grist that it leaves little regard for residents who may have legitimate grievances. “We don’t want to bankrupt utilities,” Skaug said. “At the same time, if they burn down your house, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting the claim through a jury trial.” Yet, the law could do just that, he said. Skaug hopes to tweak the law to better protect residents during the next legislative session, which begins in January.
PacifiCorp is also running the same playbook in Washington. The company has petitioned state regulators to start tracking the cost of insurance increases and wildfire liability, which Chase calls a “stepping stone to getting those costs included in customer rates.” From there, utilities could begin to press regulators or legislators for permission to pass those costs on to customers.
In Utah, Rocky Mountain Power’s lobbyists benefited from a friendly legislature. Carl Albrecht, a co-sponsor of the two bills, spent decades working for utilities — including 23 years as CEO of a small electric cooperative — and takes several thousand dollars in political contributions from the energy utility industry and Berkshire Hathaway each year, according to campaign finance disclosures. Perhaps most crucially, Utah hasn’t had any major wildfires in recent memory.
That’s not the case in Oregon. In September 2020, fires enveloped hundreds of thousands of acres across the state, burning down 4,000 homes — including a state senator’s — and killing 11 people. In the aftermath, PacifiCorp became the state’s arch-villain — and a chance at the perks it won in other states vanished.
Soon the public learned that at least some of the half-dozen fires burning across Oregon that Labor Day stemmed from downed power lines owned by PacifiCorp. A subsequent investigation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an agency that oversees energy markets and transmission, found that the distance between vegetation and power lines did not meet safety standards and that some of these violations were so severe that “at least 45 percent of PacifiCorp’s BES lines” should not have had any power running through them at all.
Public outcry turned into class action lawsuits against PacifiCorp, which turned into a costly lesson for BHE. Since 2020, juries have awarded more than $300 million to several dozen plaintiffs. Yet the fate of thousands of other claimants remains unresolved as the lawsuits drag out in court. In the end, the company may be on the hook for around $8 billion more in potential damages.
But the lawsuits may not bring much relief to the victims.
“Warren Buffett is not just going to dump billions in to settle,” said Bob Jenks, executive director of Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, a consumer advocacy group. More likely than meeting the claimants’ demands, Jenks predicted that “the company will go into bankruptcy.”
Despite its pariah status in Oregon, PacifiCorp has been trying to secure the same protections that it has in Utah. Earlier this year, when state representatives introduced utility-friendly bills in the Oregon legislature, they were dead on arrival. “I didn’t expect the degree of anger at PacifiCorp that’s out there,” Jenks said. “I understand. Your house burns down, and PacifiCorp is playing hardball and doing everything they can to prevent liability.”
The notion of offering some financial support to utilities in the form of ratepayer funds isn’t inherently problematic, experts acknowledge. For example, utilities in California rely on wildfire funds to pay for damages caused by their fires. As in Utah and other states, ratepayers contribute to the pot. But unlike other states, a government entity called the California Earthquake Authority — and not the utilities — oversees the distribution of that fund when it’s needed. After a tree felled a PG&E power line in 2021 and sent the Dixie Fire burning across Northern California, the fund has provided $445 million in support to the utility. As a result of the program, utilities like PG&E can avoid bankruptcy, but aren’t allowed to pass on the costs directly to their own customers.
So far, catastrophic fires haven’t hit states where PacifiCorp has won liability caps since they’ve taken effect. But with the track record of BHE subsidiaries and rising temperatures drying out Western forests, experts believe that it’s only a matter of time.
“The risk is there,” Jenks said. “Climate change has made our forests so much drier than they used to be, and we don’t have the same June rain. Our forests weren’t designed for this.”
Yet another man dies in custody at the Shasta County Jail
The Shasta County Jail. Photo by Annelise Pierce.
Another man died while in the custody of the Shasta County Jail, the second person to be discovered unresponsive in their cell in 2025 and the sixth to die in Shasta’s custody in the past 21 months. It’s been more than 48 hours since the man was discovered unresponsive in his cell, but the Sheriff’s office has still not released his name. Public Information Officer Timothy Mapes said that as of 4 p.m. Tuesday that the Sheriff’s Office is still “pending notification to the next of kin.”
The Sheriff’s brief press release earlier this week offered few details except confirmation the dead inmate is a “male subject.” On Sunday, jail staff discovered the anonymous inmate unresponsive in his cell during a routine check. Medical staff declared him dead after attempting to perform life-saving measures, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Additionally, counties must list online anyone who dies while in jail custody within 10 days, as outlined by Assembly Bill 2761, noting their race, age, gender, and where the person died within the facility. California’s Federal Death in Custody Reporting Act’s implementation plan cites that if a Sheriff isn’t able to reach the deceased’s next of kin within 10 days, they can delay the publication of their information online for an additional 10 days while they continue to make a good-faith effort.
Since AB 2761 went into effect in 2023, data on Shasta County’s website lists five deceased men. Only three of the reported deaths indicate the cause: two are classified as accidental fentanyl overdoses and the other as a “natural” death that occurred due to compounding health conditions. The other two causes of death have yet to be determined by the county coroner, despite it being over a year and nine months, respectively, since the deaths occurred.
Three of the men died in their cells and another in the medical unit. The cause of the 2024 death for Manuel Galindo Diaz, whose death occurred while he was in a sobering cell on charges of public intoxication, is still undetermined by the coroner.
Of those who died, three were charged with crimes and were serving sentences, in contrast to the aforementioned Diaz, who was sobering up when he died, and the latest death listed on the site is from January 2025: Juan Moreno, who was awaiting trial. Three of the five deceased men were Hispanic, one was Native American and one was white.
A report produced by the Shasta County Grand Jury in May found that in the past six years, the number of deaths at the Shasta County Jail significantly surpassed other similar sized counties such as Madera, Butte and Imperial. Assessing the five deaths that occurred during a 13 month period between December 2023 and January 2024, the Grand Jury concluded that the deaths “were due to lifestyle, not because of jail procedures,” but that the reason for the jail’s higher-than-average mortality could not be determined with the data they were given.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
Fresno County is increasing transparency to approve proposed $5.3 billion budget, after blowback
Fresno County residents can expect more transparency in this year’s county budget hearing process, after years of criticism over its truncated budget process.
Last year, the county passed their $5.2 billion budget in about 92 minutes.
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors will begin budget hearings later this month on their $5.3 billion proposed budget, with the addition of eight scheduled presentations from county department heads.
Freshman county supervisor, and former Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld campaigned to introduce the changes leading up to his election win last year, and even during open sessions at board meetings.
“I’ve very clearly said I needed, in order to support this budget, to have department heads from what most would consider some of the more critical departments — and departments that have a lot of resources that the public access a great deal — to come before the board and make a presentation so that board members and the public can address, question, inquire about what’s taking place in those departments,” Bredefeld told Fresnoland in an interview.
In recent years, the county’s budget hearings have had presentations given by staff on an “as-needed” basis. The hearings would also be presented through categories on the budget — like “General Fund” and “Capital Projects” — instead of by county departments.
This year, eight of the county’s 20 departments are scheduled to give public presentations: behavioral health, district attorney, probation, public defender, public health, public works and planning, sheriff, and social services.
Fresno County Communications Director Sonja Dosti told Fresnoland that the county administrative office selected the eight departments based on “primary services that the County delivers.” She added that these departments have also “experienced impacts based on federal or state cuts.”
Bredefeld, an ex-city councilmember, says that these changes make the county’s process much more similar to the city’s.
“That, to me, is the important part of any budgetary process,” Bredefeld said. “I think the City of Fresno historically has done that in a very lengthy process, which is good, and the board is doing that now as well.”
The City of Fresno’s public budget hearings take place in late spring, with each department making a presentation. The process is much more lengthy than the county’s.
The county budget hearings will have the same rules for public comment as it does for its normal board meetings: three minutes maximum per person, and a 15 minute cap for each department. However, the board’s chairman has the discretion to extend public comment.
Bredefeld, who has said in the past that he would like to see the county’s public comment policy changed, said he’d support time extensions during the budget hearings.
“The main thing is that the public has the ability and the right to comment,” Bredefeld said. “If it needs to be extended beyond 15 minutes, I will certainly support that. I would assume the board would support it as well.”
But in order for an extension on public comment to be warranted by the chair, enough members of the public will need to show up during the budget hearings. Bredefeld said he hopes changes to the county’s budget process motivate residents to look more closely at the proposed budget this year, and participate in the hearings.
“I would love that,” Bredefeld said. “I don’t think the public has been engaged, but I think maybe that’s because they haven’t had these kinds of public presentations in the past. The city has every department present before council, and the public is certainly more engaged there. So it’s my hope that the public will be more involved with the county budget as well.”
