Elisa Ballard

Shasta County Board of Supervisors – October 27, 2026 Meeting Highlights Before a large crowd of citizens, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors met on October 27, 2026, to address mobile home park rent issues, automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology, library services, water infrastructure problems, budget adjustments, social services funding, and key personnel appointments. The meeting included extensive public comment on several contested items. All Supervisors were in attendance...

Historical Origins The holiday’s earliest roots are commonly traced to Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival among peoples in Ireland, Britain, and parts of northern France. It marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter (roughly October 31–November 1). The Celts believed the boundary between the living and the dead grew thin at this time, allowing spirits, fairies, and other beings to cross over. Customs included lighting bonfires, wearing disguises or costumes to avoid being...

File: Mogul balloon train USAF 1995.png - the type referenced in response to Walter Haut's affidavit. October 25, 2026 A newly released batch of government records has again drawn attention to longstanding claims of unidentified aerial phenomena and related anomalies. The Department of War’s seventh public release under the PURSUE program, issued October 23, includes historical materials connected to the 1947 Roswell incident, a 2010 contractor investigation of a Utah ranch long associated...

REDDING, CA — The Redding City Council met for roughly six hours on October 20, 2026, taking up permitting improvements for restaurants, a proactive local emergency declaration for the anticipated 2026-27 El Niño, ongoing flooding concerns along Henderson Ditch, proposed electric utility rate increases, tobacco retail enforcement, airport racetrack use, and mid-cycle budget adjustments that include public safety staffing reductions. All five council members were present: Mayor Mike Littau,...

The public is invited to attend the rally at Riverfront Park where the following candidates are scheduled to speak: Robin Littau, U.S. House of Representatives - California's 2nd Congressional District Chris Kelstrom, Shasta County Board of Supervisors - District 5 Helen Mead - Anderson Union High School District Charlie Hawkins - Anderson Union High School District Sanny Ong - Redding School District Paul Goedecke - Bella Vista School District Linda Glass - Gateway Unified School District...

The race for California’s newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District is the first under the map created by Proposition 50 (approved by voters in November 2025). The district now stretches from Marin County and the North Coast into more conservative inland counties, including Shasta, Siskiyou, and Modoc. Representation under the new lines begins in 2027. Incumbent Democrat Jared Huffman led the June 2026 primary with about 56.5% of the vote. Republican Robin Littau finished second with roughly...

Dr. Dan Sloan Authur Gorman, R.N. Shasta County, Calif. — On October 4, 2026, KQMS News Talk 105.7 host Kevin Crye and intern Deasle Delello interviewed Dr. Dan Sloan, a candidate for Shasta County Office of Education (SCOE) Trustee Area 1, and incumbent Trustee Authur Gorman of Area 2. The two are not competing against each other; voters in each area elect their own trustees. The Shasta County Board of Education consists of seven members representing two trustee areas. Area 1 generally...

Paul Preston, founder of the New California State movement Redding, CA — October 17, 2026 On Saturday afternoon, Paul Preston led a town hall at the Red Lion Hotel before a crowd of about 40 residents. Preston is the founder, president, and self-styled governor pro tempore of New California State. A Northern California radio host and former educator, he has led a multi-year effort to form a new 51st state from most of California’s rural and inland counties. The movement, which Preston and...

SHASTA COUNTY, Calif. — Voters in Shasta County’s District 5 will choose between incumbent Supervisor Chris Kelstrom and Anderson City Councilman Mike W. Gallagher in the Nov. 3 general election. Neither candidate secured a majority in the June 2 primary — Gallagher received approximately 49% of the vote, Kelstrom about 41%, and challenger Gary Oxley roughly 10% — sending the race to a runoff. District 5 covers southeastern Shasta County, including Anderson, Cottonwood and Shingletown....

Part of a slide presentation to the Board of Supervisors on March 18, 2025, by then-Director of Public Works Troy Bartolomei. (Click on photo to enlarge.) SHASTA COUNTY, Calif. — More than 18 months after the Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted (4-1) to demolish the Old Courthouse complex and replace it with a parking lot, a public records request has turned up no formal independent assessments, internal emails, meeting notes, or cost estimates supporting the options presented to the...

October 14, 2026 - PALO CEDRO — Nearly three weeks after authorities say a driver intentionally struck him with a vehicle while he was helping clean up after the inaugural Palo Cedro Rodeo, Carlos Zapata says he is getting stronger every day and remains hopeful about a full recovery. In a Wednesday evening interview with Shasta Unfiltered, Zapata declined to discuss specific injuries, citing ongoing insurance matters and the criminal case. News reports at the time described him being taken to...

October 12, 2026 - REDDING — The Redding City Council on Monday approved a mid-cycle budget report and resolution that increases citywide appropriations by $4,281,210 for fiscal year 2025-26 while reducing them by $9,041,220 for fiscal year 2026-27, as staff presented updated figures showing tighter cash positions than earlier estimates. Vice Mayor Dr. Paul Dhanuka led the special meeting. Mayor Mike Littau was initially absent and joined remotely. Council members Tenessa Audette, Jack Munns,...

REDDING, Calif. — The Shasta County Board of Supervisors opened its October 13, 2026 meeting by adopting a resolution recognizing Ashleigh Roller, Investigative Technician II with the Sheriff’s Office, as the county’s Employee of the Month for October. The board also adopted a proclamation designating October 2026 as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Shasta County, sponsored by Board Chair Chris Kelstrom. Employee of the Month Ashleigh Roller with the Sheriff's Office 4 H Ambassadors presented...

October 13, 2026 - SHASTA COUNTY, Calif. — Shasta County Board of Supervisors Chair Chris Kelstrom said in an October 6 report to Action News Now that election records sought under a Public Records Act request have been located inside the Elections Office, despite earlier concerns they may have been destroyed with November 2024 ballot packages. As of October 13, the records have not been provided to the requestor, Kari Chilson, nor shared with Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis. Chilson filed...

SHASTA COUNTY, CA — Shasta County voters opening their November 3 general election ballots have discovered that the uncontested race for Redding City Clerk is missing, despite state law requiring it to appear. The omission, which Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis has attributed to a misunderstanding of election code, is prompting city officials to prepare for a special election that could cost taxpayers $200,000 to $300,000. Incumbent Sharlene Tipton, who was appointed to the post and is...

Friday and Saturday, October 23 and 24, 2026, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Contact Arise Academy for vendor space at 530-351-4041 or AriseAcademy1776@gmail.com

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 locked ballot...

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services opened a new National Institutes of Health clinic this week to evaluate and study patients who report health problems after vaccination, the centerpiece of a broader push by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to document, investigate, and treat what the department calls potential vaccine-related injuries. The clinic opened Oct. 5 on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. HHS and NIH leaders marked the opening with a ribbon-cutting. The...

Redding City Council Meeting Ends After Midnight REDDING — After a meeting that ran more than seven hours on Tuesday, the Redding City Council cut 13.5 vacant police positions, voted to close Fire Station 3, and reset the city’s general-fund plan around flatter sales-tax growth and a goal of restoring a 10 percent reserve by fiscal year 2029. The same night, the council adopted a state-mandated turf-watering ordinance and heard that Redding Electric Utility’s cash position is being propped up...

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 CNN on Sept. 30 in...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that temporarily allows dyed, off-road diesel on the highway and defers the federal excise tax on that fuel through Dec. 31, a step the White House says is meant to cut costs for farmers, truckers, and other diesel users. The order, titled “Emergency Tax Relief on Diesel Fuel,” directs the Treasury secretary, in consultation with the secretary of war, to determine within five days whether relief is authorized under federal...

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 studio, is...

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 found log sheets...

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 California directed...