County IT and HR Departments are Slow to Respond to Requests REDDING — Remaining staff in the Shasta County Elections Office are working under heightened pressure to prepare for the November 3 election while short-handed, according to confidential sources inside the office. Five employees are out on sick or medical leave, and two more have recently left their positions. Two of those on leave abruptly took sick leave after security video showed them involved in entry into the

REDDING — A group of concerned Shasta County residents gathered Monday afternoon outside the Board of Supervisors chambers at 1450 Court Street to protest what they called the illegal destruction of election materials at the Registrar of Voters office on Saturday, October 3. The 3 p.m. demonstration marked the second protest this week. Participants carried signs, flags, and an Appeal to Heaven banner. They said their goal was to remind supervisors and County Counsel Joseph La

Democrat Xavier Becerra has not agreed to another debate with Republican Steve Hilton after their only scheduled fall matchup, while a Hilton campaign poll taken immediately afterward shows the governor’s race tightening. The week has also brought a fight over Becerra’s family story and a backlash, much of it from Republicans, against a sexually suggestive Hilton ad aimed at liberal voters. The two nominees to succeed termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom had debated for an hour on CN

Political Cartoon Shasta County is Involved in a Possible Unlawful Destruction of Public Records Redding, CA October 2, 2026 On the morning of September 30, while a shredding company employee stood ready to wheel ballots to the shredding truck parked behind the Elections Office, Shasta County Registrar of Voters opened sealed ballot boxes for the November 2024 election and found log sheets in the boxes. Those log sheets should not have been commingled with the ballots and

Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra clash over homelessness - Credit nbclosangeles.com (fair use for news commentary) BURBANK — Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton spent an hour Wednesday night arguing less about the fine print of California government than about who is to blame for the state’s condition: President Donald Trump, or 16 years of one-party Democratic rule in Sacramento. The CNN debate, moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash at the network’s Burbank s

Shredding truck parked behind the Election Office on September 30, 2026 September 30, 2026 Redding, CA REDDING — A shred truck was already parked behind the Shasta County Elections Office on Market Street on Wednesday morning when Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis stopped the destruction of November 2024 election materials. Curtis, in front of staff and local reporters, began opening sealed boxes so the vendor could start feeding them into the truck. Curtis opened 10 boxes and

September 27, 2026 Redding, CA On Sunday morning’s “Jefferson State of Mine” on KCNR (1460 AM / 96.5 FM), hosts Terry Rapoza, Janet Chandler, and Win Carpenter interviewed Shasta County Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis and his wife, Jody Curtis, about the federal review of June 2, 2026, primary ballots and what Curtis described as additional problems in that election. A federal grand jury subpoena issued Sept. 10 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Californ

Opinion There is hardly any aspect of American life that the government does not now touch. Some of that involvement is the work citizens have long expected: delivering water, regulating or supplying power, building and maintaining roads, providing a safety net for the poor and the elderly, policing and locking up criminals, fighting fires, educating children and young adults, and defending the country. The problem is how far that reach has gone beyond those core duties — tel

Registrar Clint Curtis says a private shredding company is booked for 8 a.m. Wednesday, September 30. He wrote that the job “covers both” the sealed 2024 ballots and the office logs, sign-in sheets, and video from December 3, 2024 — the same file the county closed without producing. He also wrote that “this county is much more concerned with covering up election issues than addressing them.” A separate lawsuit did not fix that records request. Curtis, Sept. 23, 2026: the shre

The nine candidates for Redding City Council's three open positions answered questions at the September 16th forum. (L-R) Rebecca Ann Miller, Joana Rebollar, Russ Wenham, Mark Mezzano, Paul Saulsbury, Christina Prosperi, Jack Munns, Elise Sloan, Tenessa Audette The Greater Redding Chamber of Commerce’s Redding City Council candidates forum on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, was held at the Cascade Theatre, 1731 Market Street, Redding, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Host/emcee: Todd Jones,

REDDING — On Thursday morning, Sept. 17, Judge Benjamin L. Hanna denied Arne E. List’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked Shasta County from destroying November 5, 2024 federal-election materials still in official custody. The ruling does not mean the ballots no longer matter. Hanna said the emergency ask was too extraordinary: telling the County not to follow California Elections Code section 17301 after the 22-month retention period. The under

California does not invite observers as a favor. Elections Code § 15104 says vote-by-mail observers get notice and sufficiently close access—close enough to see envelopes, signatures, and whether staff are following the rules. Chain-of-custody rules exist so a ballot can be followed from the drop box to the sealed bag.

On September 9, Measure B proponents Laura Hobbs and Richard Gallardo appeared on Kim Yeater’s Take Your Power Back show and described the lawsuit in plain terms: citizens wrote a charter amendment, collected signatures, won at the ballot box, and Sacramento sued them while their own county board stepped aside. That is the public record. It is also the story they told on air. Photo credit: TakeYourPowerBack.com What voters passed Measure B, approved June 2, 2026 with about 55

Shasta County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis has been ordered to appear before a federal grand jury in Sacramento on September 24, 2026, and to bring original paper ballots and related records from the June 2 primary election. The subpoena, issued September 10 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, commands Curtis to testify at the Robert T. Matsui United States Courthouse and to produce materials held under California Elections Code Se

DALLAS — Republicans closed the first midterm national convention in their party’s history Thursday night with a two-day rally at American Airlines Center that organizers billed as a 20,000-person showcase for President Donald Trump, congressional candidates and the Make America Healthy Again agenda. The Sept. 9–10 gathering was not a nominating convention. Delegates did not pick a ticket. The purpose, RNC leaders said, was to put midterm races on a national stage and keep Tr

School Board Candidates: Teresa Roberts, Sanny Ong, and Linda Glass Discuss How They Plan to Improve Education in Shasta County Schools REDDING — Conservative school-board and city-council hopefuls told a packed Shasta County Republican Assembly (SCRA) meeting Thursday that local government has drifted from core academics, parental authority, fiscal discipline and public safety — and that boards and councils must stop rubber-stamping Sacramento and union priorities. The Se