AM1600 KUBA News Briefs

by Chris Gilbert – KUBA News Director

VERY DRY YEAR – This year’s January and February was the 8th driest in Yuba-Sutter in the history of National Weather Service record keeping, which goes back to 1898. There was 2.53 inches, with only three hundredths of an inch in January, which is about five inches below normal. The driest ever was recorded just two years ago, at only 1.7 inches. For the season, we’re at 14.61 inches, with 16.46 being the historic average.

SPELLING BEE PARTICIPANTS MOVE TO CHAMPIONSHIP – Four students will be participating in the California State Spelling Bee Championships this spring, after their success at the Yuba County competition. Haley Rongley, a 5th grader from the Camptonville Academy, finished first in the elementary school division, with Amelia Adamson, a 6th grader from Foothill School, taking second place. Kaleigh Sherwood, a 7th grader from Camptonville Academy, finished first in the intermediate school division, with Walker Lee, a 7th grader from Bear River School, coming in second, Brooklyn Baca, a fifth grader at Marcum-Illinois K-8 School in Nicolaus, has won the Sutter County competition, finally outspelling AK School sixth grader Carson Bingham, with the word “chlorine”, after the two went six straight rounds. It’s the first winner for Marcum-Illinois. Unlike Yuba County, Sutter County doesn’t have a separate intermediate school division. Baca and Bingham will participate in the elementary schools championship, along with two winners from Yuba County. The state elementary school competition is April 18th in Stockton. The intermediate school championship is May 2nd in San Rafael.

FISH KILL CONFIRMED – A formal report confirms the initial findings regarding the deaths of recently hatched salmon near a Yuba River powerhouse operated by the Yuba County Water Agency. Agency Administrator Curt Aikens says around 200 were killed about a month ago due to a loss of electricity at the powerhouse. The outage caused wicket gates to go to the closed position, causing a major flow reduction. But Aikens says it was on a relatively short stretch of the river and occurred not long after a recent storm which improved the runoff. He says he can’t remember the last time that the agency dropped below the flow requirements, complicated by a very unusual failure mode. The powerhouse is located below Englebright Dam.