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THURSDAY JULY 12, 2012 www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 6A Breaking news at: Pastimes Palmer Named Artist of Month RED BLUFF Vlasic Signed SPORTS 1B Sunny 108/70 Weather forecast 6B DAILYNEWS TEHAMACOUNTY DAILY 50¢ T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Fire grows to 16,000 acres Corning limits prayer to council, staff By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer CORNING — The City Council Tuesday unani- mously approved its policy on invocations given before council meetings to include council and city staff only. Initially on the consent agenda, Mayor Gary Strack pulled the item to clarify whether it included just coun- cil members and management or whether staff referred to the all city employees. The council had an unwritten policy in place, but upon receiving a request by a member of the communi- ty to give an invocation decided at the June 26 meeting See PRAYER, page 5A County ozone rates surpass EPAlimits By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Courtesy photo Air support stands ready to respond to the Mill Fire, which was 35 percent contained at 16,000 acres as of Wednesday evening. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Closures remain in place for the Mill Fire as it continues to burn, growing to 16,000 acres with 35 percent containment as of Wednes- day afternoon. The fire, which has 1,317 person- nel assigned, including members of Red Bluff Fire and the Tehama- Glenn unit of CalFire, has resulted in two injuries and the destruction of five outbuildings, according to a NorCal Interagency Incident Man- agement Team press release. Predictions of hot and dry condi- tions through the next day have caused the fire, which is in difficult terrain, to be listed on the team's website as having a high potential for growth. There are moderate south to southwest winds, com- bined with low humidity expected over the next few days. The fire has an estimation for containment set for July 20, accord- ing to the site. The fire, which is burning in northwestern Colusa County about 10 miles west of Stonyford in the Mendocino National Forest, started about midnight on July 7. Costs for putting out the fire are estimated at $2.8 million as of Wednesday evening. For a full list of closures within the Mendocino National Forest visit SACRAMENTO (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown issued a furlough order Wednesday for more than 11,000 Cali- fornia workers whose unions have yet to reach a deal for a 5 percent wage cut. Brown's order forces employees to take one day of unpaid leave a month, which amounts to a pay cut of about 5 percent. Governor issues furloughs for last 2 labor groups Bruce Blanning, executive director of the Profes- sional Engineers in California Government, said Wednesday that he still hopes to reach a compromise with Brown. His group wants the state to eliminate pri- vate contracts for work he says can be done cheaper by state engineers. ''We said we can take a pay cut, just don't outsource our work at twice the cost,'' Blanning said. California lawmakers passed a budget last month authorizing the Democratic governor to furlough state workers to help save an estimated $402 million for the year. Schwarzenegger's furlough order, which created employee uproar, most unions — 19 of the state's 21 labor groups — quickly reached agreements with Brown before the new fiscal year started July 1. Only the two unions representing 11,600 state engi- neers and heavy machinery operators continue to hold out. Unlike former Republican Gov. Arnold period,'' according to the order from the California Department of Human Resources dated July 5. Most of the engineers work at Caltrans, the state ''Employees must take one day off within each pay See LABOR, page 5A Courtesy photo Officer Kevin Bowen was sworn in Monday as Red Bluff Police Department's newest officer. Bowen and his wife Tracy have three boys and live in Redding. He is a Marine Corps veteran who comes to Red Bluff Police from the private sector after having completed the an extended police academy. Official says health law will aid 3M Californians SACRAMENTO (AP) — More than 3 million uninsured residents will be able to buy affordable coverage starting in Janu- ary, as the state moves aggressively to implement the federal health care law, the head of Califor- nia's health insurance exchange said Wednes- day. 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Peter Lee, executive director of the California Health Benefit Exchange, sought to dispel what he said are myths about the health reform overhaul. qualified people get a fed- eral subsidy to pay for pri- vate health insurance, he said. ''The Affordable Health Act is so far from a government health system that it's mind-boggling,'' Lee told a meeting of the Sacramento Press Club. ''The exchange is giving The exchange will help people financial support to choose, in a market- place, the private plan they want to choose. That's as far from govern- ment as you get.'' The vast majority of California's 7 million uninsured people do not have insurance because they cannot afford exist- ing plans or have been refused coverage by insurance companies, not because there was no mandate to buy insurance, Lee said. argument that the new health insurance system will result in rationing of services. ''Today we have rationing because 7 mil- He also dismissed the lion Californians don't have health care. Today we have rationing because we have private health plans that make all sorts of decisions about what's covered, what's not,'' he said. See HEALTH, page 5A Only a handful of the health care law's provi- www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/mendoci- no/alerts-notices. CalFire's Tehama-Glenn unit has sent crews to the Sites Fire Com- plex, also in Colusa County near Stonyford. fires totaling 4,185 acres with 70 percent containment, according to the CalFire incident website. Resources sent include two engines, two dozers, 10 fire crews and nine overhead, a CalFire The complex is made up of five Tehama County remained on a federal list of places where ozone rates are higher than the allowed standard. A remote area of spokesman said. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @DN_Zeeb. The Environmental Protection Agency desig- nated the Tuscan Buttes area above 1,800 feet ele- vation as a "marginal nonattainment" area for ozone levels that exceed the standard of 75 parts per million in its latest May rule. Tuscan Buttes is about 13 miles north- east of Red Bluff off of Highway 36. Tehama County's other ozone monitor in down- town Red Bluff is below the allowed standard, although Air Pollution Control staff is worried that may change. The marginal classifi- cation is the lowest of five levels the EPA can desig- nate an area. A series of steps to clean up the area must be accomplished by the summer of 2015. Tehama County Air Pollution Control officials have been working to have only the Tuscan Buttes area classified rather than the entire county, which can be the case when a monitor in a jurisdiction scores higher than the standard. District staff say the Red Bluff monitor is a better representative of air quality on the valley floor than that at Tuscan Buttes. It is believed Tuscan Buttes tests higher than Red Bluff because its ele- vation collects incoming traffic pollution from the Bay Area and Interstate 5. Ground-level ozone is See OZONE, page 5A Bowen sworn in to police force