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The Department of the Interior on Wednesday announced a $514 million investment as part of President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda that will bring clean, reliable drinking water to communities across the West through five water storage and conveyance projects.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has allowed us to begin work on long overdue water storage projects, providing clean, reliable drinking water to families, farmers and Tribes throughout the West,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “The investments we’re announcing today will continue to fund these important efforts, expediting essential water storage projects and providing increased water security to Western communities.”

Among the projects receiving funds is the Sites Reservoir in neighboring Colusa and Glenn counties.

The project will receive $129 million for an off-stream storage project that will develop up to 1.5 million acre-feet of new water storage on the Sacramento River system located west of Maxwell, California.

The reservoir will deliver multiple benefits including cold water for salmon by using new and existing facilities to move water in and out of the reservoir, with ultimate release to the Sacramento River system via existing canals, a new pipeline near Dunnigan, and the Colusa Basin Drain. 

This Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding builds upon previous year allocations to fully announce all of the storage and conveyance funding provided by the law.

President Biden’s Investing in America agenda represents the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history and is providing much-needed resources to enhance Western communities’ resilience to drought and climate change.

Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Reclamation is investing a total of $8.3 billion over five years for water infrastructure projects, including rural water, water storage, conservation and conveyance, nature-based solutions, dam safety, water purification and reuse, and desalination.

Since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed three years ago, Reclamation has announced almost $5.3 billion for more than 670 projects.
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NORTH COAST, Calif. — The Department of the Interior on Tuesday announced a $849 million investment from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to revitalize aging water delivery systems across the West.

The funding supports 77 projects in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Washington to improve water conveyance and storage, increase safety, improve hydropower generation, and provide water treatment. This includes 14 projects totaling $118.3 million in the Colorado River Basin.

In California, the funded projects include the Lake Berryessa Wastewater Treatment and Collection System in Napa County, which will receive Reclamation funding totaling $4,044,500.

The funds will be used to repair the main lift station, repair wastewater ponds and equipment, replace air relief/vacuum valves, replace lift station pumps, replace 1-½ inch black wastewater lines, and rehabilitate/replace septic tanks. Funding is for planning, design and subsequently implementation.

The Tuesday announcement follows the release of five alternatives earlier this month that will be analyzed as part of the Post-2026 Operations for the Colorado River Basin.

Since day one of the Biden-Harris administration, the department has led critical discussions over how to bring the Colorado River back from the brink of crisis in the face of an unprecedented 24-year drought.

Having achieved overwhelming success in 2023 on interim operation plans to guide operations through 2026 with a historic consensus agreement, and following more than a year of collaboration with the states and tribes who call the Colorado River Basin home, the release of alternatives is the next step in a responsible path to guide post-2026 operations for the Colorado River.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda provides transformational resources to safeguard clean, reliable water for families, farmers and Tribes,” said Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis. “As we work to address record drought and changing climate conditions in the Colorado River Basin and throughout the West, these investments in our aging water infrastructure will conserve community water supplies and revitalize water delivery systems.”

“Reclamation is committed to utilizing these historic investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to revitalize our infrastructure for continued reliability and sustainability for the next generation,” said Bureau of Reclamation Deputy Commissioner Roque Sanchez. “These facilities are essential to the West as they provide water for families, farms and tribal communities, while also producing hydropower and recreation opportunities for communities throughout the Basin.”

Deputy Commissioner Sanchez visited the Lower San Acacia Reach Improvements project in New Mexico on Tuesday, which will receive $143 million to realign the Rio Grande for improved water conveyance and to provide a long-term strategy to better manage sediment.

Senior Advisor John Watts also visited the Delta Mendota Canal Subsidence Correction project in California today, which is receiving $204 million to address structural impacts to the canal from dropping groundwater levels.

The projects selected for funding today are found in all the major river basins and regions where Reclamation operates. Among the 77 projects selected for funding are efforts to restore canal capacity, sustain water treatment for Tribes, replace equipment for hydropower production and provide necessary maintenance to aging project buildings.

The Biden-Harris administration has led a comprehensive effort to make Western communities more resilient to climate change and address the ongoing megadrought across the region by harnessing the full resources of President Biden’s historic Investing in America agenda.

As climate change has accelerated over the past two decades, the Colorado River Basin experienced the driest period in the region in over one thousand years.

Together, the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provide the largest investment in climate resilience in our nation’s history, including $15.4 billion for western water across federal agencies to enhance the West’s resilience to drought and deliver unprecedented resources to protect the Colorado River System for all whose lives and livelihoods depend on it. This includes $5.35 billion for over 577 projects in the Colorado River Basin states alone.
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Bailey Blunt. Photo courtesy of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.

NORTH COAST, Calif. — The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is requesting the public’s help in the Bailey Blunt missing person investigation.

Blunt was reported missing to Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 25, 2023.

She was last seen on Sept. 22, 2023, when she reportedly went to retrieve her belongings from a location off Berg Road and State Route 299, where she had been staying with her ex-boyfriend Tyler Burrow.

Since law enforcement’s first response to investigate Blunt’s disappearance, multiple searches of the Berg Road property were conducted, including the use of highly specialized K-9 teams and ground searchers without success.

Blunt has not utilized any credit cards or contacted any of her loved ones since the disappearance a year ago, authorities said.

Interviews have been conducted by investigators with more than 30 individuals, including Tyler Burrow. Search warrants have been issued and served on vehicles, properties, cellular phones and electronic records as part of the ongoing investigation, the sheriff’s office reported.

Tips received throughout the investigation have led to thorough searches of locations in Humboldt and Trinity Counties, and Oregon.

At this point, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has followed up on all possible leads and is requesting the public’s help in this investigation. Investigators believe there are people in this community that know what happened to Blunt.

Blunt is 29 years old and described as a white female, approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 200 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

She has a tattoo of a trident on her neck and a fishing hook on her left hand.

If anyone has any information, please contact Investigator Jennifer Taylor with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Division.

To make an anonymous crime tip please call 707-268-2539 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on Monday announced the designations of 19 new National Historic Landmarks, or NHLs, reflecting the importance of the sites in sharing America’s diverse history.

The new NHLs are nationally significant properties for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans, African Americans, Asian American Pacific Islanders, and women’s history in addition to moments important in development of American technology, landscape design, and art.

“As America’s storyteller, it is our privilege at the Department of the Interior, through the National Park Service, to tell our nation’s history and honor the many historical chapters and heroic communities that brought us to where we all are today,” said Secretary Haaland. “These newly designated historic landmarks join a list of the nation’s premier historic and cultural places, all of which were nominated through voluntary and locally led stewardship.”

An NHL designation is the highest federal recognition of a property’s historical, architectural or archeological significance, and a testament to the dedicated stewardship of many private and public property owners who seek this designation. While the National Park Service (NPS) maintains NHL listings, most are privately owned.

The new NHLs join a select group of over 2,600 nationally significant places that have exceptional value in illustrating the history and culture of the United States. NHL theme studies supported many of these nominations and designations.

“The National Park Service is committed to helping preserve and share a fuller and more inclusive account of our nation's history, a history that is not complete until all stories are represented. These 19 newly designated landmarks help do just that,” National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said. “We are proud to recognize these nationally significant places representing the diversity of the American experience and our country’s collective heritage.”

In addition to the new designations, the NPS has updated documentation for 14 current NHLs and has withdrawn designation of three NHLs because of demolition or destruction.

The list of new national historic landmarks is listed below.

Alaska
Ladd Field (Updated Documentation and Boundary Change)
Fort Wainwright, Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK
Fort William H. Seward (Chilkoot Barracks) (Updated Documentation, Boundary Change, and Name Change)
Haines, Haines Borough, AK
Sitka Naval Operating Base and U.S. Army Coastal Defenses (Updated Documentation and Boundary Change)
Sitka, Sitka Borough, AK

California
Summit Camp
Tahoe National Forest, Nevada and Placer Counties, CA
Tor House (Robinson Jeffers Home)
Carmel, Monterey County, CA

Colorado
Boulder County Courthouse
Boulder, Boulder County, CO

District of Columbia
Furies Collective
Washington, DC
Lucy Diggs Slowe and Mary Burrill House
Washington, DC

Guam
Manenggon Concentration Camp
Yona Municipality, GU

Hawaii
Pu'ukoholā Heiau (Updated Documentation and Boundary Change)
Kawaihae, Hawaii County, HI

Iowa
Reeve REA Power Generating Plant
Franklin County, IA

Kentucky
Big Bone Lick Site
Union, Boone County, KY

Louisiana
Mr. Charlie Offshore Oil Rig
Morgan City, St. Mary Parish, LA

Maryland
Monocacy Battlefield (Updated Documentation and Boundary Change)
Frederick County, MD

Michigan
Calumet Historic District (Updated Documentation and Boundary Change)
Calumet, Houghton County, MI
Quincy Mining Company Historic District (Updated Documentation and Boundary Change)
Houghton County, MI

Missouri
Watkins Mill (Updated Documentation)
Clay County, MO

Nebraska
Kregel Windmill Company Factory
Nebraska City, Otoe County, NE

New Hampshire
Lucknow
Moultonborough, Carroll County, NH

New York
Winged Foot Golf Club
Mamaroneck, Westchester County, NY

North Carolina
Blue Ridge Parkway (also in Virginia)
Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Mitchell, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey Counties, NC
Amherst, Augusta, Bedford, Botetourt, Carroll, Floyd, Franklin, Grayson, Nelson, Patrick, Roanoke, and Rockbridge Counties, VA
F.W. Woolworth Company Building
Greensboro, Guilford County, NC

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Latte Quarry at As Nieves
Rota Municipality, MP

Pennsylvania
Carrie Blast Furnaces Number 6 and 7 (Updated Documentation and Boundary Change)
Swissvale, Rankin, Munhall, and Whitaker Boroughs, Allegheny County, PA

South Carolina
Charleston Cigar Factory
Charleston, Charleston County, SC

Texas
Fort Brown (Updated Documentation and Boundary Change)
Brownsville, Cameron County, TX

Virginia
Azurest South
Petersburg, Chesterfield County, VA

Blue Ridge Parkway (also in North Carolina)
Amherst, Augusta, Bedford, Botetourt, Carroll, Floyd, Franklin, Grayson, Nelson, Patrick, Roanoke, and Rockbridge Counties, VA
Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Mitchell, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey Counties, NC

Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove Plantation (Updated Documentation, Boundary Change, and Name Change)
Frederick, Shenandoah, and Warren Counties, VA
Fort Monroe (Updated Documentation)
Hampton (City), VA
Loudoun County Courthouse
Leesburg, Loudoun County, VA

Washington
Fort Worden (Updated Documentation)
Port Townsend, Jefferson County, WA

Wyoming
Wyoming State Capitol (Updated Documentation)
Cheyenne, Laramie County, WY

The Secretary of the Interior also approved three withdrawals of National Historic Landmark designation.

Daniels, Josephus, House (Withdrawal of Designation)
Raleigh, Wake County, NC

Clamagore (USS) (Withdrawal of Designation)
Mount Pleasant, Charleston County, SC

Falls Of Clyde (Four-Masted Oil Tanker) (Withdrawal of Designation)
Honolulu, HI

For more information about these landmarks and the National Historic Landmarks Program, please visit https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks.
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The scene of a crash that killed a U.S. Postal Service worker in Santa Rosa, California, on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. Photo courtesy of the Santa Rosa Police Department.

NORTH COAST, Calif. — The Santa Rosa Police Department reported that it is investigating the circumstances that led to a U.S. Postal Service worker being struck and killed by a vehicle on Monday evening.

The crash victim was identified as Irvin Hernandez, 33, of Santa Rosa.

On Monday at approximately 5:05 p.m., Santa Rosa Police officers, fire, and medical personnel were dispatched to the intersection of Northpoint Parkway and Corrigan Street for a major collision involving a U.S. Postal Service vehicle and GMC Denali SUV.

Police said the SUV ended up in the front yard of a residence on Corrigan Street and the postal vehicle was in the middle of Northpoint Parkway, near the dead end.

Multiple 911 calls to Santa Rosa Police Dispatch reported that there was a male victim lying in the roadway, and he appeared to be deceased. Callers indicated that this male was the driver of the postal vehicle.

The driver of the SUV was conscious and appeared to be having a medical emergency. He had remained in the SUV after the collision, police said.

Police officers arrived on scene with medical personnel. Authorities said the male victim in the roadway was pronounced deceased immediately. The driver of the SUV was transported to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries.

Santa Rosa Police Department accident investigators and evidence technicians arrived and took over the investigation.

Based on witness statements and surveillance video from area residences, authorities said it appeared that the driver of the SUV was driving erratically prior to the collision and struck the postal vehicle and driver as he was standing outside the vehicle, sorting mail.

The preliminary investigation showed that the driver of the SUV suffered a medical emergency that caused him to lose control of the SUV, prior to the collision, police said.

The roadway was closed for several hours during the investigation. Santa Rosa Police worked in conjunction with representatives of the postal service throughout the investigation.

Anyone with information related to this investigation is encouraged to contact Officer John Fisher, telephone 707-543-3600, Extension 8550.
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Cows at three California dairies located in the Central Valley have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI.

When herds began showing clinical signs consistent with HPAI on August 25, 2024, the dairy owners worked with their veterinarians and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, or CDFA, to submit samples to the California Animal Health and Food Safety laboratory network for preliminary determination.

The samples were then submitted to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory, where the test results were confirmed on Friday.

No human cases of HPAI have been confirmed in California related to this incident. The California Department of Public Health, or CDPH, is working in collaboration with CDFA and will work with local health departments to monitor any individuals who may be exposed to infected animals to ensure prompt clinical and public health interventions, and CDPH would provide official confirmation of any human cases associated with this incident.

“We have been preparing for this possibility since earlier this year when HPAI detections were confirmed at dairy farms in other states,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “Our extensive experience with HPAI in poultry has given us ample preparation and expertise to address this incident, with workers’ health and public health as our top priorities. This is a tough time for our dairy farmers given the economic challenges they’re facing in a dynamic market, so I want to assure them that we are approaching this incident with the utmost urgency.”

According to CDPH and the Centers for Disease Control, this influenza virus is not considered a significant public health threat and the risk to humans is considered low. The primary concern is for dairy workers who come into close contact with infected dairy cows. As we have learned from recent cases in other states, these workers may be at risk of contracting avian influenza. Public health officials have experience working with agricultural partners and supporting farm workers working with infected poultry to prevent and monitor for infection.

CDPH recommends that PPE  (masks, gloves, caps, face shields, and safety goggles) be worn by farm workers and emergency responders when working with animals or materials that are infected or potentially infected with avian influenza.

Earlier this summer, CDPH supported a one-time distribution of protective equipment for dairy farm workers and others handling raw dairy products, as well as for slaughterhouse and commercial poultry farmworkers. CDPH will continue to support dairies with confirmed positive cases with PPE.

Furthermore, affected farms can take advantage of a USDA grant that provides financial support for producers that supply PPE to employees. The CDC has confirmed four human cases of HPAI in dairy workers in other states since April 2024: one each in Texas and Colorado, and two in Michigan.

CDFA is working with public health officials and dairy owners to inform and monitor workers at affected dairies in California, and to assist the dairies with education and resources to protect their workers, including providing PPE.

For CDC guidance for employees and employers, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pdf/avianflu/protect-yourself-h5n1.pdf.

California’s supply of milk and dairy foods is safe and has not been impacted by these events. As a precaution, and according to longstanding state and federal requirements, milk from sick cows is not permitted in the public milk supply. Also, pasteurization of milk is fully effective at inactivating the virus, so there is no cause for concern for consumers from milk or dairy products. Pasteurized milk and dairy items, as well as properly handled meat and eggs, continue to be safe to consume.

The affected dairies have been placed under quarantine on the authority of CDFA’s State Veterinarian, and enhanced biosecurity measures are in place. Sick cows are isolated and are being treated at the dairies; and healthy cows have been cleared to continue shipping milk for pasteurization.

Animal movement is being tracked and evaluated, as are other potential introduction pathways. Additional testing will be prioritized according to epidemiologic risk.

Background on HPAI in California

The HPAI virus has been detected in wild birds in the U.S. since 2022, with occasional transmission into domestic poultry or wild mammals in almost all states, including California. In March, 2024, the first US detection in cattle was confirmed in Texas, most likely due to a single spillover event from wild birds. Since that time, the USDA has linked new detections in cattle to the interstate and regional movement of infected or contaminated livestock, people and equipment.

CDFA has been engaged for years with an extensive network of private veterinarians, farmers and ranchers, backyard bird enthusiasts, and local, state and federal partners to actively monitor for this disease in livestock and poultry throughout California.

The department has taken steps to reduce the risk of entry of infected dairy cattle into the state, has extensive experience responding quickly and effectively to past detections of HPAI in poultry, and is fully prepared to respond to detections in cattle.

Most infected livestock and dairy cattle fully recover from an HPAI infection within a few weeks.

No California domestic poultry flocks are affected by the current incident. Avian influenza viruses continue to circulate normally among migratory and wild birds. Monitoring of both wild and domestic bird populations is performed on a continuous basis by multiple public agencies, as well as farmers and ranchers and private bird owners.

For the most up-to-date information regarding highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in livestock in California, please visit CDFA - AHFSS - AHB - Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 Virus in Livestock.

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