Highlights and lowlights fromthe week’s news
HIT » It had all the makings of yet another major disaster in an area that has already had far more than its share.
When fire broke out off Grand Avenue inOroville on Thursday afternoon, the initial outlook wasn’t good. Notwith a strong wind fanning the flames and dry grass and hundreds of homes close by.
Oroville reacted quickly. Much of the city was immediately shut down and a large evacuation order lifted. Firefighters stormed to the scene rapidly and in great numbers. Air supportwas called in as well.
And then, amazingly, about two hours after it all started
… it was all over. The flames were extinguished, the evacuation orders were lifted, people went home and everyone in Oroville was able to get back to their lives.
We’ve devoted an incredible amount of space in this newspaper to terrible events the past couple of years. Sometimes, it’s very important to shine a spotlight on people who prevented yet another terrible event from happening.
Oroville did that Thursday. Well done, everybody.
MISS » There’s some question about the legality of the fakeballot drop boxes the Republican Party has been placing in California, but it sure is shameful.
It’s just another step in the war on elections that the Trump Administration and some of its allies have been conducting. Casting doubt on free and fair elections is a critical step toward the authoritarianismTrump seems to want.
First, he spread the unfounded claim that mail-in ballots encourage fraud. Then, he slowed down the post office. And now in parts of California, the GOP ballot drop boxes. Who knows what will happen to the ballots placed in those?
The fake boxes haven’t shown up in Butte County, probably because the districts up here are considered safe. They’re being placed in the districts that are in play, where either the Republican or the Democrat could win. That reveals the thinking behind the boxes.
In Butte County, there are 16 official ballot drop boxes. They’re at the city halls in Chico, Oroville Gridley and Biggs, and the Town Hall in Paradise. They’re at the libraries in Chico, Oroville, Paradise, Durham and Gridley.
In Chico, the boxes have also been placed at Chapman School, the Bell Memorial Union at Chico State University, and the Department of Employment and Social Services at the North Valley Plaza.
Oroville also has boxes at the Hall of Records on Nelson Avenue, and the Hmong Cultural Center, 1940 Feather River
Blvd., Suite H.
There’s also a box at the Palermo Union School District.
HIT » As tough as it was to shift whiledoingadozenother things, the League of Women Voters of Butte County gets an A-plus for transforming their candidates forum events.
Having worked for years with the league, we know the challenge grows at election time, from reaching out to all the candidates to securing a fair place for the forums to be.
Every election, the league has managed to pull off some amazing forums that give the public a chance to really see and interact with those running for office.
But add COVID and scheduling, questions and interactions get horribly complex.
Democracy in action, the league came through again, hosting almost a dozen candidate forums on its website, while allowing the public to submit questions in advance.
It may even be better this way because the recorded forums are still on the league’s website https://my.lwv.org/california/butte-county and can be viewed anytime.
Shout outs go to the Chico and Paradise chambers for their roles in candidate events, which are on their websites too.
More information is available this year on the candidates than in any in the past that we can remember.
MISS » Sometimes Mother Nature is a mean one.
Lightning started the North Complex fires (then called the Claremont and Bear fires) on a stormy day.
Today is the two-month anniversary of the fires’ start. On top of that, Butte County’s eastern foothills have been pummeled by north winds with strong gusts in the 40-50mph range.
Compare those gusts to car speeds, and you can see why fire crews were alarmed over the prospect of theNorth Complex fire jumping containment lines. So far so good, with containment and burned acreage staying about the same.
But all it takes is a fewembers, whipped by the wind, to cause more trouble.
Thanks also to the winds for being one of the factors in the PG&E public safety power shutoff, which has left roughly 11,000 Butte County residents without power.
The winds were expected to continue through Saturday. That’s not to mention all the trouble for the residents still under public safety power shutoff, which hopefully will end soon. PG&E still has to check the lines that were de-energized for damage.