Marty Durlin

Jim Culp interviews Petra Schulte, who talks about the benefits of a plant-based diet in living a longer, healthier life.

In Mendocino Village, there was zero rainfall during the month of February. The county as a whole is showing less than half of normal rainfall. The State of California has predicted a "moderate drought year," and County Superintendent Carre Brown says we should start conservation measures early. Ryan Rhoades, incoming District Supervisor of the Mendocino Community Services District,  takes on a system of 400 individually owned wells in a drought year.

The gray whales are passing close to shore on the Mendocino Coast as they migrate north from the Baja to the Arctic. Under ordinary circumstances, their presence would be celebrated by the volunteer-run Point Cabrillo Light Station, but this year the coronavirus has intervened. Jim Culp reports.

Jim Culp talks to Alexandra Jennings, interim manager at The Woods, a senior community in Little River, about the precautions they took early on to protect against the coronavirus.

Last week officials from Sonoma Clean Power, the Renewable Energy Development Institute and The Energy Alliance Association presented energy-saving options for businesses at a Fort Bragg workshop. SCP Programs Manager Chad Asay talked about his latest project, the Advanced Energy Center, which will open this summer in downtown Santa Rosa and will feature new building technology that can not only save energy, but produce it. 

Anderson Valley resident Captain Rainbow is the founder and impresario of the Variety Show, a two-night extravaganza of local creativity and community that takes place every year on the first weekend of March at the Anderson Valley Grange. Begun as a celebration to inaugurate the newly built Grange in 1991, the tradition continues for the 29th year on Friday, March 6th and Saturday, March 7th, featuring skits, animal acts, dance, music, story-telling and -- always -- surprises. 

For over two decades, children in Mendocino Village have celebrated the Chinese New Year by parading through town to the Temple of Kwan Tai on Albion Street. This year's parade took place on Thursday, February 13th, and celebrated the Year of the Rat. The Rat is the first sign of the 12 animals cycle of the Chinese Astrology, and 2020 is considered a year of new beginnings and renewals.

Jim Tarbell and Carrie Durkee and their colleagues will present workshops every other Saturday from 10 to noon, starting on February 1 at the Mendocino Community Center and running through June 20. The workshops, titled Elections 2020: Creating our Future, will focus on engagement in local, state and national campaigns. In this report, Jim talks about why our democracy isn't working, and Carrie reports on her week in Phoenix, working on voter registration.

For two decades, recreational fishing for groundfish species in deep waters off the California coast was declared off limits by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. This was meant to protect certain stocks that had been overfished, notably the yelloweye rockfish. But on November 1st of last year, because of increasing populations of the rockfish, the depth limit restrictions were lifted. KZYX talked to Richard Thornton, owner-manger of Anchor Charter Boats in Fort Bragg, about the season that finished at the end of December.

Cobbler and shoemaker Jason Clapp began to make shoes as an extension of his hobby, working with leather. Then he moved into cobbling, learning about the glues and synthetics that are part of modern, factory-made shoe repair. He spoke with KZYX about his trade, its importance and why he enjoys it.

Former visual effects editor Bill Kimberlin, who worked for 20 years at George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic, talks with KZYX about how his high school years in Boonville influenced his career, and some of the high points he describes in his memoir, "Inside the Star Wars Empire."