Year: 2019

I’ve never been one to read the last page of a novel first, and I really hate spoilers, but I’m going to tell you how this week’s cover story predicting a devastating Ridge fire ends: […]

Butte County schools soon will receive nearly $1 million for counseling services, school supplies and materials, excursions and extracurricular activities thanks to a donation from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. founder Ken Grossman (pictured) and his […]

The Paradise Irrigation District has detected unhealthy levels of benzene in water around the Ridge, the utility announced Tuesday (Jan. 8). PID and the State Water Resources Control Board recently tested drinking water for 30 […]

South Butte County will house around 1,200 evacuees still displaced by the Camp Fire after the Gridley City Council unanimously approved a short-term lease with the federal government for 350 modular homes in the city […]

Photo by Charles Finlay As the Camp Fire ravaged the Ridge communities on Nov. 8, 2018, the view from Chico was of a “horrible orange” eastern sky. Editor’s note: This eerily prophetic story appeared in […]

Photo by Ashiah Scharaga Chris and Kelsey Kerston have joined the Camp Fire Long-Term Recovery Group along with dozens of others to help the Ridge rebuild. Since the Camp Fire, Chris and Kelsey Kerston have […]

Photo by Meredith J. Cooper Stewart Nugent fought the flames from his house, to the left, but the Camp Fire claimed most of the rest of his neighborhood in central Paradise. On Tuesday (Dec. 31), […]

Photo by Evan Tuchinsky Dr. Jamaal El-Khal sees patients in Ampla Health’s mobile unit at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds—shifts he’s taken on top of practicing primary care in Chico and Orland clinics. Dr. Jamaal El-Khal […]

I moved from Chico to Ashland, Ore., six months ago. Considering others’ misfortune, it appears that I left at the right time. The middle week of December was my first return since the Camp Fire, […]

This coming year has to be better than the last one, right? I have to think so. As Paradise begins to rebuild, one of the biggest questions is going to be whether the town will […]

For Butte County, 2018 will forever be remembered as a year marked by disaster. Specifically, the Camp Fire and its aftermath. The 86 people who perished. The nearly 14,000 homes reduced to ashes. The annihilation […]

Photo by Jason Cassidy Cinderella (Camryn Titus) and Prince Charming (Jake Bevens) at a dress rehearsal at Chico Commnity Ballet studio. To the rest of the clumsy masses, ballet dancers are capable of magic. With […]