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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The chip sealing projects will begin on Highway 29 July 6, with the Highway 175 project to begin July 26, Caltrans said. Both projects will continue through August.
Caltrans will chip seal almost 12 miles of pavement on Route 29 from the Lake/Napa County line to the Coyote Creek Bridge, and 8.5 miles of pavement on Route 175 from Cobb to Middletown.
Daytime work hours will be 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday on both projects.
On the Highway 29 chip sealing job, nighttime work hours will be 7 p.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday night through Friday morning. One-way traffic control with a pilot car will be in effect.
Motorists should anticipate 15-minute delays in both project areas, Caltrans said.
The agency explained that chip sealing is an economical way to extend the life of existing pavement. It provides a new high-traction surface which typically lasts five to 10 years.
The projects are using a rubberized binder which helps the environment by including ground up rubber from used automobile tires.
The Highway 29 project will use 128 tons of recycled rubber from about 20,000 passenger cars, while 94.5 tons of rubber recycled from 14,500 passenger cars will be used for the Highway 175 stretch, Caltrans said.
Access to and from private driveways and county roads will be available. Caltrans said loose gravel will be present on the road.
Signs reflecting reduced speed limits will be posted, and motorists are urged to use caution when driving through the work zone, watching in particular for pedestrians and bicyclists. Caltrans urged motorists to use alternate routes when possible.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
On Friday, county Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley began counting unprocessed vote-by-mail – or absentee – ballots as well as provisional ballots.
All told, Fridley said there were 3,081 unprocessed absentee ballots, 148 votes cast on eSlate election machines and 537 provisionals – 5 of which also were cast on the eSlate – still to count.
That totaled approximately 3,766 ballots that still needed to be figured into the overall election results, said Fridley.
In addition, there were a couple hundred vote-by-mail ballots that came up as blank in the ballot counting machine because the voters had used pens rather than No. 2 pencils, Fridley said.
The Registrar of Voters Office began processing absentee ballots May 19, and first reported counts for those ballots Tuesday after 8 p.m. By the end of election night, Fridley's office reported that 6,151 absentee ballots had been cast.
The official canvass began Wednesday morning. Fridley said she has 28 days to complete and verify the final count.
“We're moving right along,” Fridley said Friday afternoon.
Fridley said it's rare for the absentees and provisionals to change an election's outcome.
However, she pointed out that it is possible that the uncounted ballots could impact the very close district attorney's race.
That contest saw challengers Don Anderson and Doug Rhoades with 4,088 and 3,463 votes respectively, while incumbent Jon Hopkins took third place with 3,258 votes.
Only 205 votes separate Rhoades and Hopkins, a narrow margin that the yet-to-be-processed ballots could affect, Fridley said.
She said she didn't expect a change in the standings of the sheriff's race, which had Francisco Rivero placing first with 4,297 votes, followed by incumbent Rod Mitchell with 3,852 votes and Jack Baxter with 3,008 votes.
Processing the absentee and provisional ballot is a time-consuming process, Fridley said.
Registrar of Voters staff must check the voters' signatures, addresses and ballot types, compare them to registration records and then sort them into the appropriate precincts, she said.
Provisional ballots, according to the California Secretary of State, are ballots used by first-time voters, absentees who show up to vote in person, those who have moved within their county without reregistering and anyone whose name doesn't show up on the polling place roster for an unknown reason.
The provisionals must be looked at individually to make sure that people who submitted them are registered to vote, which takes research. Some people also will submit a provisional ballot to vote for a different party that that they're registered for, which isn't allowed, she said.
Ballots submitted via the eSlate voting machines take even longer, she said.
For what is supposed to be a paperless process there is a lot of paper; Fridley said the electronic ballots must be printed out and compared to paper trails, then her staff must mark the choices on Mark-A-Vote cards and count the ballots in the precincts from which they came.
Fridley said she also was watching for write-in candidates on the ballots. She was noticing that people were writing in candidates from different parties on their ballots this year, an issue which may result from the fact that California's primaries haven't been open.
On Tuesday, Californians voted to implement open primaries. But Fridley can't say how California voters' decision to accept an open primary for the state will affect her job. Fridley said the open primary must first withstand likely court challenges.
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- Written by: Karen Turcotte
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In response to the heightened fire danger, Cal Fire is increasing its staffing and urging the public to be extra cautious this weekend.
“The grass across the region is already dying or dead,” said Chief Andy McMurry, assistant deputy director for Cal Fire.
“Our firefighters are ready to respond to any wildfires, but we really need to the public’s help in preventing fires.”
On Friday, Cal Fire began prepositioning many of its air tankers from the department’s maintenance base at McClellan Air Park in Sacramento County to its air bases across Northern California. Throughout the winter the aircraft undergo extensive maintenance preparing them for firefighting activity.
Cal Fire has staffed its airbases in Southern California since the beginning of May, where conditions have dried out earlier.
The red flag warning stretches from Redding to Modesto and into the East Bay from 11 a.m. Friday to 8 p.m. on Saturday due to a combination of warm temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds.
Cal Fire officials are urging the public to remain extra vigilant this weekend and help them prevent fires.
Here are some tips to help prevent wildfires:
Don’t mow weeds after 10 a.m.
Never use a lawn mower in dry grass.
Completely extinguish any campfire.
Make sure cigarette butts are properly extinguished and never thrown outside.
For more fire safety tips visit the Cal Fire Web site at www.fire.ca.gov or www.ReadyForWildfire.org.
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