The California Highway Patrol on Tuesday announced more than $19 million in grant funding to 71 California law enforcement agencies, crime laboratories, and nonprofit organizations to help address the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

The grants are the result of Proposition 64, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which tasked the CHP with administering grants for education, prevention, and enforcement programs to help communities combat impaired driving. Money is also available to crime laboratories conducting forensic toxicology testing.

Funding for the grants comes from a tax on the cultivation and sale of cannabis and cannabis products sold in California.

“Communities throughout California will benefit greatly from the disbursement of these grant funds intended to help make California’s roadways safer for all who use them,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “The money will be used to help enhance traffic safety by educating the public on the dangers of impaired driving, removing impaired drivers from the roadway through enforcement operations, and advancing research on the issue.”

Fifty-four recipients of law enforcement grants will use funds to address impaired driving within their communities. In addition to traditional impaired driving enforcement, funds will also be used for drug recognition evaluator training to enhance their respective agency’s ability to detect drug-impaired drivers. Additionally, funding will allow for public outreach campaigns, including educational presentations and community events.

Listed below are the law enforcement grant recipients for state fiscal year 2023-2024, which begins July 1:

Anaheim Police Department
Anderson Police Department
Auburn Police Department
Berkeley Police Department
Brawley Police Department
Brea Police Department
Calexico Police Department
Chula Vista Police Department
City of Corona Police Department
City of El Monte Police Department
City of Fullerton Police Department
City of Glendale Police Department
City of La Verne Police Department
City of McFarland Police Department
City of Montebello Police Department
City of Parlier Police Department
Covina Police Department
Danville Police Department
El Cajon Police Department
El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office
Fairfield Police Department
Folsom Police Department
Fort Bragg Police Department
Garden Grove Police Department
Hanford Police Department
Huntington Beach Police Department
Imperial County Sheriff’s Office
Irvine Police Department
Kensington Police Department
La Habra Police Department
La Mesa Police Department
Lincoln Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
Manteca Police Department
Marysville Police Department
Monterey Park Police Department
Morgan Hill Police Department
Ontario Police Department
Orange Police Department
Pittsburg Police Department
Rio Dell Police Department
Riverside Police Department
Rocklin Police Department
San Diego Police Department
San Joaquin Police Department
Sierra Madre Police Department
Simi Valley Police Department
St. Helena Police Department
Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department
Ventura County Sheriff's Office
Winters Police Department
Woodland Police Department
Yuba City Police Department

Five recipients of education grants will use funds to teach local communities about impaired driving laws, while highlighting the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

Below are the education grant recipients for state fiscal year 2023-2024:

City of Lancaster
City of Long Beach
Imperial County Sheriff’s Office
Marin County Public Defender
Sacramento County District Attorney Laboratory of Forensic Services, Arrive Alive

Eleven recipients of two-year toxicology crime laboratories grants will use funds to eliminate backlogs in the analysis of forensic science evidence and to purchase and/or upgrade laboratory equipment to improve testing capabilities.

Below are toxicology crime laboratory grant recipients for state fiscal years 2023-2025:

Contra Costa County, Office of the Sheriff, Forensic Services Division
Kern Regional Crime Laboratory
Los Angeles Police Department
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, City and County of San Francisco
Orange County Crime Laboratory
Sacramento County District Attorney Crime Lab
San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
San Diego Medical Examiner Department
San Mateo County Sheriff's Office Forensic Laboratory
Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office
Ventura County Forensic Services Bureau

One recipient of a one-year toxicology medical examiners/coroner’s office grant will use funds to help improve and advance the data collection in cases involving driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

Below is the medical examiners/coroner’s office grant recipient for state fiscal year 2023-2024:

Riverside County Sheriff's Department

The application process for future grant funding is expected to open again in early 2024. Additional information is available on the CHP Web site, at CHP’s Cannabis Tax Fund Grant Program.

GLENN COUNTY, Calif. — Caltrans is alerting motorists of an upcoming short-term closure of the north- and southbound Interstate 5 Willows safety roadside rest areas, or SRRAs, in Glenn County for construction.

Crews are scheduled to close the Willows Rest Areas starting at 7 a.m. Tuesday, July 5. The closure will continue through Aug. 31.

During the closures, northbound I-5 motorists will be directed to use the Corning SRRA in Tehama County (about 25 miles north of Willows). Southbound motorists will be directed to the Maxwell SRRA in Colusa County (about 24 miles south of Willows).

This $470,000 project will construct new sidewalks and ramps that meet current American with Disabilities Act standards and add new parking lot and crosswalk striping. TSI Engineering Inc. of North Highlands, Sacramento County, is the contractor for the project.

Weather, the availability of materials or unexpected events may delay or prolong the work. Caltrans advises motorists to “Be Work Zone Alert.”

The department will issue construction updates on Twitter @CaltransDist3 and on Facebook at CaltransDistrict3.

For real-time traffic, click on Caltrans’ QuickMap quickmap.dot.ca.gov/ or download the QuickMap app from the App Store or Google Play.

After another wet winter and above average snowpack, warming temperatures and winds are quickly drying out the abundant annual grass crop.

The increasing fire danger posed by the high volume of dead grass and hotter, drier conditions in the region is prompting Cal Fire to suspend all burn permits for outdoor residential burning within the State Responsibility Areas of  Colusa, Napa, Solano and Yolo County.

This suspension takes effect  June 26 and suspends all residential outdoor burning of landscape debris such as branches and leaves.

Cal Fire will also be suspending all burn permits for outdoor residential burning within the State Responsibility Areas of Sonoma County, effective Monday, July 3.

“During this period we still encourage residents to work on creating that defensible space and complete home hardening projects to improve your home’s chance of surviving a wildfire should one strike near you,” Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief Mike Marcucci said. “Visit our website to learn what you can continue to do now, and how to do it safely, that way the best of intentions do not inadvertently create a spark that can ignite a fire.”

Since Jan. 1, 2023 Cal Fire and firefighters across the state have already responded to over 1,943 wildfires as of the most recent reporting period, June 19.

While outdoor burning of landscape debris by homeowners is no longer allowed, Cal Fire is asking residents to take that extra time to ensure that they are prepared for wildfires by maintaining a minimum of 100 feet of Defensible Space around every home and buildings on their property and being prepared to evacuate if the time comes.

Here are some tips to help prepare homes and property:

• Clear all dead and or dying vegetation 100 feet from around all structures.
• Landscape with fire resistant plants and nonflammable ground cover.
• Find alternative ways to dispose of landscape debris like chipping or hauling it to a biomass energy or green waste facility

The department may issue restricted temporary burning permits if there is an essential reason due to public health and safety.

Agriculture, land management, fire training, and other industrial-type burning may proceed if a Cal Fire official inspects the burn site and issues a special permit.

The suspension of burn permits for residential landscape debris does not apply to campfires within organized campgrounds or on private property.

Campfires may be permitted if the campfire is maintained in such a manner as to prevent its spread to the wildland. A campfire permit can be obtained at local fire stations or online at www.PreventWildfireCA.org.

For additional information on how to create Defensible Space, on how to be prepared for wildfires, as well as tips to prevent wildfires, visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org.

Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) honored Colusa County nonprofit Karen’s House as the 2023 Fourth Assembly District Nonprofit of the Year at the State Capitol Wednesday, June 7.

This is the eighth year the California Assembly has honored nonprofits throughout the state on California Nonprofits Day.

“Karen’s House is an incredibly valuable organization as the first and only domestic violence program in Colusa County,” said Aguiar-Curry. “As vice chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, I am so grateful for the services Karen’s House provides to women who are trying to break the cycle of domestic violence. I am thrilled to be able to honor such a fine group as the Fourth Assembly District Nonprofit of the Year.”

Founded in 2018, after the death of Williams native Karen Garcia, Karen’s House is the first domestic violence program in Colusa County and assists women and children with housing, food, clothing and personal hygiene needs.

Karen’s House also advocates on behalf of their clients by providing a safe space that promotes intervention, prevention, awareness and empowerment.

Karen’s House was honored with a resolution from the California State Assembly at an awards luncheon sponsored by CalNonprofits for their numerous contributions to Colusa County.

Representing Karen’s House were president and founder Cynthia “Tootie” Hackett and Colusa County Supervisor Kent Boes who also sits on Karen’s House Board of Directors.

“It was such an honor to be recognized as a 2023 California Nonprofit of the Year for our work to help victims of domestic violence in Colusa County. When a young lady I knew was killed at the hands of her boyfriend five years ago, I felt like there must be something we can do. I didn’t want her death to just be swept under the rug, so I started Karen’s House,” said Tootie Hackett, president and founder of Karen’s House.

Karen’s House is currently working towards their goal of opening and operating their own shelter, which would be the first domestic violence shelter in Colusa County.

Aguiar-Curry represents the Fourth Assembly District, which includes all of Lake, Colusa, Napa, and Yolo counties, and part of Sonoma County.

FORT BRAGG, Calif. — Caltrans reported that around-the-clock one-way traffic control will begin on Route 1 at the north end of Fort Bragg at the Pudding Creek Bridge starting Monday, June 19, and will continue until Aug. 29.

Traffic will be controlled with a temporary signal system. Motorists from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. can expect up to 20-minute delays Monday through Friday and 30-minute delays are anticipated on the weekends.

There will also be 10 nighttime closures during the following dates from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Construction will escort emergency responders over the bridge:

• Two nights from July 12 to 14;
• Three nights from July 17 to 20;
• Three nights from Sept. 11 to 14;
• Two nights from Sept. 23 to 25.

The safety project includes widening the Pudding Creek Bridge to accommodate two 12-foot wide lanes, two 8-foot wide shoulders, two 6-foot walkways and new bridge railings.

The project also includes “Complete Streets” improvements by constructing sidewalks on both sides of SR 1 from Pudding Creek Bridge south to Elm Street and north to Pudding Creek Drive and drainage improvements and relocation of the City of Fort Bragg’s waterline from the Pudding Creek Dam to Route 1.

For more information, visit https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-1/d1-projects/puddingcreekbridge.

Helping survivors of last year’s wildfires prepare to rebuild, California has completed state-managed debris removal operations for the 2022 wildfire season centered in Siskiyou County.

Debris removal crews cleared, tested and released all 218 enrolled properties impacted by the Mountain, McKinney and Mill fires.

Overseen by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, or Cal OES, and the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, the state works with counties to sign up households for the Consolidated Debris Removal Program to clear eligible fire-related debris from burned properties at no cost to property owners.

“Removing disaster debris gives survivors a path to rebuild,” said Rachel Machi Wagoner, director of CalRecycle. “We thank our state, local and federal partners for their shared commitment to assisting the communities devastated by wildfires.”

State crews cleared burned metal and concrete, ash and contaminated soil from the last of the 183 homes, as well as 7,027 wildfire-damaged trees in danger of falling on public accessed roads.

“We’re proud to work with our partners to ensure wildfire survivors can properly recovery and rebuild following an intense fire season,” said Ryan Buras, Cal OES deputy director of Recovery.

Cal OES continues to provide technical and financial assistance to Placer, El Dorado and Madera counties managing debris removal from the Mosquito and Fork fires.

Among the communities affected by the 2022 fires was historic Lincoln Heights in Weed, one of the oldest rural Black neighborhoods in the west.

California has safely cleared over 23,000 disaster destroyed properties from 60 fires since operations began in 2007.