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Local News 08 21 26 · KMUD News

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  Speaker A: Foreign.
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  Speaker B: Welcome to the KMUD News. I'm your news Director, April Lewis, and I'm glad to be with you for this broadcast. In this episode, we have a story on Eureka Vacation rentals being approved with the mayor breaking a tie vote and this week's KMUD News sports report. But first, some local alerts and updates. This is KMUD News. Starting off with road notices from Caltrans, many in southern Humboldt have noticed extensive current and upcoming roadworks along Highway 101. We want to share current roadworks and planned road work in that area for our listeners. The following is currently scheduled roadworks along US 101 and southern Humboldt Utility work from Redwood Drive to the South Garberville Alder Point Road overcrossing will begin on Monday, August 24. Lane closures will be in effect from 8am to 6pm on weekdays. Motorists should expect minor slowdowns. Drainage work is scheduled at the southbound off ramp to Hooker Creek Road from 6am to 7pm on weekdays. A full southbound off ramp closure will be in effect. Use an alternate route. Drainage work is scheduled at the northbound off ramp to the southern entrance of Avenue of the Giants in Phillipsville from 6am to 7pm on weekdays. A full northbound off ramp closure will be in effect. Use an alternate route. Drainage work is scheduled in the southbound direction near Dimmock Road undercrossing through Wednesday, September 30th. A southbound shoulder closure will be in effect. Expect minor traffic slowdowns. Utility work is scheduled in a northbound direction between Dimmock Road undercrossing and Eagle point Viaduct from 8am to 6pm on weekdays. Moving northbound shoulder closures will be in effect. Expect minor slowdowns. Paving work is scheduled between the Salmon Creek Bridge and Myers flat separation from 6am to 8pm on weekdays. Lane closures will be in effect with full ramp closures at Salmon Creek Road. Use an alternate route for ramp closures. And lastly, drainage work in Wiatt will begin on Monday, August 24th. A full southbound off ramp closure will be in effect from 6am to 6pm Motorists should use an alternate route. KMUD News is actively following up with Caltrans and will provide more information on planned projects next week. From the City of Rio Del the City of Rio Del is in the process of reviewing and planning for the community's current and future housing needs. The housing element identifies housing needs and establishes goals, policies and standards to preserve, improve and develop housing within the City of Rio Del. As part of this process, the City wants to hear from its residents. Community input is an important part of identifying local housing priorities, addressing housing challenges and developing strategies that will help meet the needs of Rio del Residents now and in the future. Residents are invited to attend the meeting to learn more about the city's housing planning efforts and provide input on the types of housing affordability, development opportunities and other housing related issues that are important to the community. The Rio del Community Meeting will be on Tuesday, August 25th at 6pm it will be at the Rio del City hall at 675 Wildwood Avenue in Rio Del. The meeting provides an opportunity for residents to share their thoughts, concerns and ideas regarding the future of housing in Rio del Community. Participation is encouraged and resident input will help the city better understand local housing needs and priorities. Next A Silver Alert the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's assistance in locating 64 year old Bobby Smith, who was reported missing by family members on Aug. 15. A Silver Alert has been issued for Smith. Anyone who has seen Smith or has information regarding his whereabouts is asked to contact the Sheriff's Office at 707-445-7251 and reference case number 202-603-703. Also from the Humboldt Sheriff's Office on August 19, at approximately 10:14am Humboldt County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Tagmire beach in Willow Creek to search for an individual who had been observed struggling to swim in the Trinity river the previous day. The individual's vehicle remained parked at the location, prompting concern for their welfare. Deputies responded to the area and began searching for the individual with assistance from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office of Special Services Division. Deputies conducted an extensive search of the river and surrounding river bar. During the search, deputies located two deceased individuals in the water. The circumstances surrounding their deaths remain under investigation and appear consistent with drowning. The deceased have been identified as 45 year old Arcata resident Lex Rincon, an 18 year old New York resident, Krishna Rincon. Their next of kin have been notified. The cause and manner of death remain pending and autopsies are scheduled for early next week and up next Our main stories this is KMUD News. Eureka's number of vacation rental units will increase by 5 with approval of an appeal to the City Council. Daniel Mintz reports.
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  Speaker C: Having succeeded in appealing a Eureka Planning Commission decision, the operators of a five unit vacation rental property won't be required to use two of the units as long term rentals. In an Aug. 18 hearing, city council members were split on approval of the appeal, with Mayor Kim Burgell breaking a tie vote. Kathleen Stanton and Chris Morris renovated a two story Victorian house at 1102 Jay street into a short term rental fourplex. A detached unit brings the number of STRs on the property to five. Last June, the city's planning commission approved a permit for the STRs, but in a 3 to 2 vote required that two of the units be operated as long term rentals. Recapping the commission's move, assistant planner Taylor Rayburn said the main concerns were over loss of affordable housing units, the intensity of use and concerns about there being no off street parking. But Stanton told council members the use won't be as intensive as the maximum occupancy suggests.
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  Speaker D: Staff expressed concern that five vacation rentals could accommodate up to 22 adults, which is viewed as potentially too intensive for the site. And we've previously clarified that this is not how the property is operated. We only rent the number of people that we have beds for. And so the units are configured to accommodate approximately 12 guests. And the current staff report acknowledges our proposed 12 person occupancy limit. If the city's concern is intensity of use or over occupancy, that concern can be directly and effectively addressed. Were willing to accept a condition limiting occupancy to 12 guests.
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  Speaker C: Representing Stanton and Morse, attorney Chris Hamer argued that the commission's concern about housing impact has no basis, saying vacation rentals make up less than 1.5% of the city's housing. Morris addressed parking concerns, saying vacationing STR tenants usually only have one vehicle while long term rental tenants generally have two people in them and each of those people usually has a car. Earlier, Rayburn noted that parking requirements can't be placed on the project because it's located within a half mile of a major transit stop. The council had divided opinions with council member Leslie Castellano paying heed to Eureka's housing need.
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  Speaker E: I am imagining that the appellants have, you know, are aware of our regional housing needs allocation and that the primary reason why the city of Eureka's numbers have increased so substantially is because of the cost of housing, the few number of adequate rentals available. And so, you know, and the cost that this bears for local residents and taxpayers is really extreme in trying to implement this housing. And though for sure I have no interest in making you rent or create affordable housing to anyone you know, I do generally have consistently supported efforts that will further housing in general and increase the supply of housing.
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  Speaker C: Having multiple STRs on one property was questioned by council member Katie Moulton, but council member Scott Bower said the cost of renovating Victorian houses is astronomical, making it hard to pencil out with lower costs long term renting Council Member Mario Fernandez supported allowing five units as STRs, saying that's what the appellants had worked out prior to the Commission's decision.
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  Speaker F: This is something that was worked on or that something agreed upon at the time and worked on up through the change. And that's not out of any disrespect to staff, who sounds like all the way through the process did everything that they could to work with the appellants as well as the Planning Commission who's done everything that they can to find a way of splitting the difference of compromising. So once again what I would like doesn't seem feasible, but at the end of it then I would need to, from my perspective, defer to what we have already agreed upon with the appellants.
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  Speaker C: With Council Member Rene Contreras deloach absent, there was a split, leaving it to Burgel to break a tie, noting that the permit can be revoked quote if in fact this whole situation does not work out. She voted in favor of allowing all five units as SDRs, breaking the tie and approving the appeal in Eureka for KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz.
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  Speaker B: Here's Ray Hamel with this week's KMUD News Sports Report.
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  Speaker G: North coast football fans will get their first opportunity to check out this year's HTNL teams in action and at this weekend's League Preseason Jamboree. Hello and welcome to this week's KMUD News Sports Report. I'm Ray Hamel with humblesports.com we'll have more on the League Jamboree in just a moment as we take a look at all of the big local sports stories of the week, including a look ahead to the opening weekend of the 2026 football season, some College of the Redwoods football news, some high school soccer, an update on the newly renovated Albi Stadium, why August was a big month for CR Sports, how the Crabs fared in the end of season Pacific Empire League awards and why it was a big week for local motorsports fans. But first up, with the 2026 high school football season now just a week away, local fans will get their first opportunity to check out the league teams in action at this weekend's HDNL Pre Season Jamboree. The Jamboree will take place at McKinleyville High School on Saturday, with the varsity teams taking the field at 10am February, followed by the JV teams at 12:30pm the jamboree includes 16 varsity scrimmages, each of which will include 10 plays on offense and 10 plays on defence for both schools involved. Each team will feature in four different scrimmages and scrimmages will be held simultaneously at both ends of the field with Saint Bernards and Eureka and Ferndale and Arcata getting the action underway. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and students. The new season kicks off next week with six of the nine local varsity teams set to play on opening weekend. On Friday night, the Del Nord warriors open at Oakland High School, Fortuna will host St. Helena, Hoopa plays at Trinity and Ferndale travels to play Anderson High School the following day. The Mckinleyville Panthers kick off their 2026 season at home against Cloverdale while Eureka hosts Windsor Arcata. South Fork and St. Bernards will each have an opening weekend by before kicking off their seasons the following weekend, South Fork opens at home against California School for the Deaf, Arcata travels to Ukiah and Saint Bernards will be tested right off the bat when North coast section powerhouse St. Vincent de Paul travels to Crusader Field. College of the Redwoods is also gearing up for the 2026 season opener in football, the Corsairs open at San Jose on Saturday, August 29th with with kickoff set for noon. They will play their home opener against Reedley the following weekend and once again CR will play its home games at Cal Poly Humboldt's Redwood bowl this fall. The Eureka Loggers will also host their opening game at the Redwood Bowl. The Loggers are putting the final touches on the newly renovated Albi Stadium as the iconic North Coast Stadium gets set to celebrate its centennial this year. Opened in 1926, Albi Stadium has been undergoing construction for the past couple of years, but the Loggers will get to call it home once again this fall. The high school will host football and boys and girls soccer games there on the new All Weather Field. However, it was announced this week that the new facility will not be ready in time for the season openers. According to school officials, the Loggers will definitely play their games there this fall, but it remains week to week for now. In the meantime, the soccer teams will continue to play their home games at Washington Elementary School. Eureka is scheduled to play home football games against Marshfield and Ferndale in the month of September, but if the new stadium is not completed in time for those games, they will also take place at the Redwood Bowl. The local Ute football season is also fast approaching with the Six Rivers Conference teams scheduled to scrimmage at the Redwood bowl this weekend. The preseason jamboree will be held on Sunday Switching gears the local high school sports year officially began this week. On Tuesday afternoon, the Ferndale girls soccer team kicked off the 2026 season with a dominating 70 win over Mendocino. The Wildcats, who are the defending Little Four and North Coast Section Division 1 champions, hit the ground running and scored five first half goals in the win. Reigning Little Four MVP Madison Hageman, who is a sophomore this year, picked up just where she left off a year ago and scored a hat trick of goals in her season debut. College of the Redwoods athletics, meanwhile, enjoyed a good month off the field of competition Last week. The north coast sports community showed up in big numbers to support SEA or athletics as the local JC hosted its 22nd annual dinner and auction. Almost 500 community members were on hand to raise a record $285,000. With additional funds still being received, the annual dinner and auction is the department's biggest fundraiser of the year and and all funds raised go towards supporting the college sports teams. The event honored former Corsair football standout Sean Howe, now a defensive assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers, inducted former CR football player and longtime Ferndale High School football coach Clint McClurg into the CR Athletics hall of Fame and celebrated the return of the historic Corsair Speedcar to the Eureka campus. Switching gears, a couple of former HTNL baseball standouts were included among the honorees, including in this year's Pacific Empire League End of Season awards which were announced recently. Mckinleyville's Jackson Kelly and Del Norte's Preston Daniels were each named among the All League pitchers. Kelly spent the summer playing with the Humboldt Crabs and pitched a no hitter against the West Coast Kings, which was one of the highlights of the summer at the Arcata Ballpark. The former Panthers star made 16 appearances for the Crabs and finished with a record of 40 and an ERA of 3.92. He is joined on the All League team by Daniels, who pitched for the Medford rogues for the second straight summer. Daniels, who was named Big 5 MVP and humble sports High School Player of the year in 2025, appeared in eight games for the Rogues and had an ERA of 2.33. Several other Crabs players also received All League recognition, including the versatile Adam Enyart, who recently closed out his college career at Sacramento State. Enyart was included among the All League pitchers and All League position players. In addition, the Crabs supporters were also honoured as the league's Fan Base of the Year. The Crabs recently closed out another successful summer season with a record of 40:13 and rounding out another busy week in local sports, it was a big weekend for North Coast Motorsports fans. The Redwood Acres Raceway hosted its popular Fan Appreciation Night at the local track on Saturday, and a packed house showed up for a packed night of racing action. Among the highlights of the night? Jerry Peterson took the checkered flag in the Late Models main event, while Anthony Fomassi was first across the line in the Upstate Bombers Series main event. Racing returns to Redwood Acres next weekend, and that's this week's kaymud News Sports Report. Until next time, I'm Ray hamel with humble sports.com.
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  Speaker B: Next is a story from KPFA on the integration of AI into healthcare if
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  Speaker H: you've called a hospital lately and found yourself talking to a computerized voice instead of a person to continue in English, press 1, you've likely run into what technologists call an AI agent. Unlike chatbots, an AI agent can take actions like scheduling appointments without a human involved.
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  Speaker B: Automated Appointments WordPress 2 Evan Mendenhall is
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  Speaker H: founder of a company called Professional AI Agents.
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  Speaker I: You could talk to ChatGPT and say, Hey, I would like you to send an email to my mom that I'm
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  Speaker B: going to be in town later.
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  Speaker I: And then if it's an agent, then it has the tool, the program tool to be able to take action in software.
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  Speaker H: He spoke at the AI Engineer World's Fair in San Francisco this summer, where leading tech companies, artificial intelligence engineers and startups converge to showcase their latest advancements in AI over the course of four days. One of those days had a track completely devoted to AI and healthcare. Among the companies showcasing their AI software sundermind. It's a platform that contracts with clinical therapists and psychiatrists and some of the largest healthcare providers in the nation.
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  Speaker E: Sondermind has served over a million people across the country. We partner with some of the biggest names in mental health care, including Headspace, Aetna, Anthem and more.
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  Speaker H: That's Akeley Reed, Principal AI Engineer at sundermind.
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  Speaker E: With that, I'd like to introduce you to Sonder. This is our clinically grounded AI coach which has been purpose built for mental health.
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  Speaker H: So Sonder is billed as turning human therapists insights into machine readable evaluations, moving from single prompt agent to supervisor executor evaluator with human oversight.
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  Speaker E: We want Sonder to be able to help provide mental health support to individuals who are seeking support but maybe aren't ready for therapy yet or between sessions.
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  Speaker H: Sondermind also contracts with Kaiser Permanente.
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  Speaker F: Kaiser is begun replacing therapists with technology
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  Speaker G: to triage patients Seeking care.
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  Speaker H: That's Benjamin Eickert, the policy director of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents more than 19,000 healthcare workers, including nurses, mental health clinicians, therapists and medical technicians. In recent years, Kaiser and other hospitals have increasingly incorporated AI into their hospital networks, sparking protests from nurses and therapists.
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  Speaker C: You can never replace human therapists.
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  Speaker H: In 2024, Kaiser deployed an AI documentation tool called Abridge across all 40 of its hospitals. The AI tool records patients conversations and automatically generates clinical notes. Kaiser called it the largest implementation of ambient listening technology in the United States. The tool Abridge, was integrated with epic, the largest electronic health record company in the nation. EPIC holds more than 300 million patient records, including from leading hospitals like the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, ucsf, University of California, San Francisco, and Kaiser. Clinicians say Kaiser has also employed a second, more controversial AI tool called evisit. Matthew Arts is the spokesperson of the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
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  Speaker A: Kreizer has begun using its E Visits, which are online questionnaires that are tied to digital algorithms to triage patients, where patients are answering questions and an algorithm is making those determinations that a licensed therapist should be making.
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  Speaker H: And that, the union says, is against the law.
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  Speaker A: California Health and Safety Code defines screening and triage as a service that has to be provided by a a licensed medical provider. And that's not what's happening for many Kaiser patients right now.
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  Speaker H: The union filed complaints with California regulators last year and both state and federal regulators last month. On July 20, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors called a special hearing on July 21 to investigate the complaints. Supervisor Cheyenne Chen opened the hearing with a direct statement.
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  Speaker J: I have heard allegations that Kaiser is using AI, or machine learning, to replace clinical judgment. I find this absolutely unacceptable. The idea that we would allow AI to provide clinical treatment or triage for patients is shocking.
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  Speaker H: At the hearing, Dr. Jasmine Smith of the national association of Social Workers raised another concern. Algorithmic bias impacting quality of care for clients of color.
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  Speaker J: A 2022 study found that a machine learning system algorithm caused black patients to experience 33% longer wait times because it relied on factors that were closely tied to race.
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  Speaker H: Kaiser has paid more than $230 million in penalties over the past three years for failing to provide timely mental health care. That's against the backdrop of more than $9 billion in profit in 2025. The union complaint also claims Kaiser has replaced clinical triage with telephone service representatives as part of its virtual care. These TSRs only need a high school diploma. Kaiser therapist Tiana Loy says this eliminates patients say in who treats them.
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  Speaker J: Now that Kaiser uses telephone operators and AI algorithms to screen patients, there is no method for them to request preferences in a therapist that may influence treatment, such as cultural background or gender identity. IPad LGBT tell me they've waited forever to find a clinician with my background and that they were going to forego treatment if they did not come to someone like me.
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  Speaker H: Kaiser declined an interview with KPFA and declined the Board of Supervisors invitation to testify. In a public statement, Kaiser said its E Visit tool does not diagnose patients or decide what care patients need. The union disputes that, and state regulators are now investigating. Despite the concerns and protests of nurses from New York to California, the federal government also contracts with Evisit to use in Medicare, as does New York City Health and Hospitals Network, among other healthcare providers. Kaiser has also introduced remote patient monitoring technology, where cameras in patient rooms are watched by a single person in another city monitoring up to 12 rooms at a time. Kaiser nurse Sydney Simpson says when something goes wrong, the distance costs precious time.
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  Speaker A: That patient is monitored by a person miles and miles away, and each one of those people monitors up to 12 patients at a time and then will alert the nurse if something dangerous is happening in the room. But as you can imagine, the response times are severely affected.
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  Speaker H: Kaiser's growing use of AI in healthcare and the pushback has attracted the scrutiny of California lawmakers like state Senator Steve Padilla, a San Diego Democrat who introduced legislation to curtail AI in mental health care. SB903. The bill proposes a ban on the use of AI companion chatbots like Sundermind and E Visit in the provision of psychotherapy. It would also restrict therapists use of AI on the job. SB903 has passed the state Senate and is about to pass the state Assembly. Cameron Popino is a staff nurse in the emergency department at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. He warns that what's happening at Kaiser could spread to any emergency room.
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  Speaker I: When you come into the emergency department, the second person you're greeted with is the nurse at the front front desk. You're telling the nurse what your issue is, what your medical complaint is, and their judgment is key to making sure you get a timely medical response. So if you come in with chest pain, a nurse is the one to make sure that you get that EKG done. If you put a program in charge of this, there's no telling if something's going to be missed.
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  Speaker H: Back at the AI Engineer Awards fair, Christian Bosniak, a senior software engineer from the Netherlands, says the disruption AI is causing is unlike anything the industry has faced before.
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  Speaker A: This is the first time in human history where we are actually scaling intelligence, which creates a very different disruption in every industries. If we are getting closer to the base level of human intelligence and we can scale it out, then eventually I think every single job is impacted.
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  Speaker H: AI use in healthcare, budget cuts, nurses burning out then leaving the profession in record numbers are straining nursing as a profession. And there's more. New federal loan caps are making it harder to even enter nursing.
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  Speaker B: When you create loan limits, you immediately
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  Speaker H: limit access to education. For KPFA Radio, I'm Annetta Felix.
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  Speaker B: That's all for our news broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our rotation of broadcast engineers Dennis Mar, Katie Phillips, Bianna Federico, Michael McCaskill, Larry Lashley and Javier Rodriguez. Also thanks to our reporters for this broadcast, Daniel Mintz and Ray Hamel. KMUD News is now on streaming platforms including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can download download our stories and newscasts for offline listening. You can also follow us on social mediamudnews, including Facebook and Instagram. Do you have issues important to you that deserve more attention? Are there stories we're missing or that you're curious about? You can give us a call at 707-923-2605 or send an email to newsamehud.org Redwood Community Radio, Inc. Is funded by President Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at PressForward News. Redwood Community Radio acknowledges that its transmitter sites are located on the unceded territory of the Sinkyon, Wailocki, Wiat, Wilcott and Kato people. We honor ancestors past, present and emerging, and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual and physical connection that these tribes have to the Regen. I'm April Lewis. Stay tuned. In.