News
Lightning fire updates
Update: At 4:40 p.m. today (Aug. 18), Cal Fire updated the the Butte Lightning Complex situation, raising the number of all active fires in the county to 35, and the acreage burned to 1,500 (including […]
Wildfire
News
Delivered from hunger
Jenny Lowrey couldn’t contain her excitement when the semi pulled into Yankee Hill Hardware on July 31. “Oh my god. Seventeen-hundred families are going to get free food today,” she said. “Ah, I love this!” […]
News
Disaster County
In early March, as coronavirus started to spread through the Sacramento Valley, Katy Thoma remained optimistic. She understood the gravity of the situation—Butte County officials had recently declared both a local emergency and a local […]
News
Anatomy of a surge
This is an update of previous story published on July 14, 2020. In early spring, health officials and providers across California braced for a flood of coronavirus patients. Spread of the disease elsewhere—such as New […]
Community Essays
Guest comment
“I hate it, too.” That was my message to one of my juniors back in April. Distance learning had been suddenly foisted upon us, and he was struggling with staying interested in it. I had […]
Camp Fire
Paradise premiere
This Friday (July 31), Rebuilding Paradise, the Camp Fire documentary by Ron Howard will be officially released, both online and in select theaters. The Academy Award-winning director—who has relatives who used to live in Paradise—spent […]
News
Fifteen Minutes: Patrick Hardy, disaster preparedness expert
With his new app, Disaster Hawk, Sacramento-based disaster preparedness expert Patrick Hardy aims to make disaster planning less confounding for families, small businesses and just about anybody. As COVID-19 numbers continue to rise, Hardy provides advice […]
News
Day of reckoning
Michael Hanko leaned over the lectern in a Chico courtroom as if his legs would give out, mustering the strength to continue speaking about the sibling he lost in the Camp Fire. His was the […]
News
Guilty pleas from PG&E
On Tuesday morning (June 16) at Butte County Superior Court, more than 19 months after the Camp Fire, PG&E pleaded guilty to causing the mega blaze as well as 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter linked […]
Camp Fire
Can PG&E limit outages?
While economists are trying to determine just how stark the new COVID-19 reality is for mom-and-pop businesses, a recent survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce suggests the situation hasn’t hit rock bottom: Forty-three percent of […]
News
Hunger pains amid the pandemic
As cars lined the street outside the Magalia Community Church on a Tuesday morning last month, Pastor Kevin Lindstrom led a small group of volunteers in worship, praying that everyone arriving that day be “filled […]