Snow in the mountains at different locations in the Northstate are forcing chain restrictions.

Here are the restrictions currently in place:

• Highway 299 near Burney are requiring chains or snow tires
• Highway 3 between Weaverville and Hayfork
• Highway 44 east of Shingletown
• Highway 36 near Mineral

For the most up to date information, go to the CalTrans website here.

Preliminary data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows that the fall run of Chinook salmon returning to the Coleman Fish Hatchery, outside Anderson, is only about 60 percent of what it was last year.

Scott Hamelberg, the project leader, says about 8,000 returned this year.
Of those, about 5,000 were used during the spawning season.

Last year, about 14,000 returned to Battle Creek, with nearly 10,000 entering the hatchery.

The case has been dismissed against a 17-year-old Redding girl accused in the drinking death of Shelby Lyn Allen. Late Thursday afternoon, the judge dismissed the charges including one count of felony manslaughter and two misdemeanors involving providing alcohol to a minor.

Shelby Lyn Allen was found dead in a Palo Cedro home last December after a night of drinking with friends in the accused girl's home. Prosecutors argued her friend didn't do enough to save Shelby's life but the judge ruled the girl did not do anything to make the situation worse and, therefore, the charges could not stand.

In an interview with KRCR News Channel 7, Steve Allen, Shelby's father said ,"We'll never have closure about losing our daughter but my family's life is the same yesterday before concluding the trial as it was today and as it will be tomorrow after the trial's concluded. This has absolutely no effect on my family's life other than it was distracting us from our educational message."

A Butte County man was arrested for DUI after driving his car into a building in Chico on Thursday. William Speer of Oroville reportedly drove his Jaguar through a breezeway and into a medical building on Rio Lindo Avenue just after 11am.

The crash did break some glass doors in the medical building but it did not cause much structural damage. Witnesses say they watched Speer turn like he was going to park right inside of the building. No one was seriously hurt in the crash.

Police are still looking for an unidentified female passenger who fled the scene after the accident.

In Red Bluff on Thursday, the men and women of the Red Bluff Police Department took time to remember a dark day in the force's history. Seven years ago, one of their fellow officers was murdered; it was a case of the officer being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Officer Dave Mobilio was gunned down while gassing up his patrol car on Main Street. His admitted and convicted killer says he did it to protest police brutality.

Chief Paul Nanfito says his officers are making sure not to relive that horrible day, but are careful to never forget. They wore black bands on their badges in remembrance, while they went about their business.

They use that day as a training tool for new officers. It serves as a reminder that their job is a dangerous one.

Nanfito also says his department stays in contact with Dave Mobilio's widow and child and always will.

Dave Mobilio's killer, Andrew Mickel, is in San Quentin on death row.

It was a reminder Thursday afternoon that what most of us take for granted most of the time is very special to a group of people.

For what is believed to be the first time ever, the Oath of Allegiance was taken in the Federal Courthouse in Redding by 16 new U.S. citizens from all over the globe. They are from Mexico, the Philippines, India, Canada, Kenya, the Czech Republic, and Saudi Arabia.

To become an American citizen, they have to show knowledge of U.S. history and government. They came from all over the Northstate: Redding, Chico, Corning and elsewhere.

If you are interested in becoming an American citizen, there is a workshop Thursday night at the First Presbyterian Church on Placer Street in Redding. It starts at 6:30pm.

Just about six weeks ago, temperatures soared, along with the planes, at the Redding Air Show. On Thursday, profits from the event landed in the hands of groups in need.

The Redding Exchange club donated $60,000 dollars from the Air Show to local charities and non-profits during a luncheon at Win River. Nearly 50 groups were given checks for helping with this year's Air Show.

With this year's donations, the amount the Air Show has given back to the community tops more than $900,000.

Butte County has its first swine flu death. Public Health officials announced that a man over the age of 65 died two weeks ago at an area hospital.

The victim had previous health problems, which most likely contributed to the death. Butte County now joins Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties. All of them have had one person die from the illness.

California as a whole has had at least 298 people die from the swine flu.

The Shasta Sunset Dinner Train will be shutting down at the end of the year. The owners announced the closure mid-November. The last rides will be offered in December.

The train has been in service for 13 years, and runs from McCloud to Mount Shasta City. They are selling the business, so someone could possibly continue the train.

Neither the Redding nor the Chico Municipal Airports were affected by a computer glitch reported by the F.A.A. early this morning. The problem involved two F.A.A. systems in Atlanta and Salt Lake City that handled automatic flight plans. The glitch caused a "domino effect" around the country, delaying flights and cancelling others. The problem, now fixed, forced air-traffic controllers to manually enter flight plans, which is much more time-consuming.

Shasta County Sheriff's Investigators are looking into the death of an inmate at the Shasta County Jail.

Officials say 62 year old Thomas Chandler, of Alaska, passed out in a housing unit around eleven Wednesday morning.
Jail staff gave him CPR and he was taken to the hospital where he died.

It's believed he had a medical condition and no foul play is expected.
Chandler had been in jail since last week on drug charges.

Christmas for the Troops, a fundraiser organized by local veterans groups, will be Saturday, November 21. A pasta dinner will be served before volunteers help to build care packages for troops overseas. The event starts at 5PM at the Shasta County Veterans Hall, 1605 Yuba Street, Redding. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for children and can be purchased at Tobacco & Brew, Leatherby's Family Creamy and Holiday Quality Foods. For more information, please contact Charlee Thompson at (530) 402-7149.

Bad checks will not be tolerated in Butte County. That was the message that District Attorney Mike Ramsey delivered Wednesday afternoon, as he announced the results of the County's annual bad check sweep.

11 people from 5 counties are in custody after being arrested for writing bad checks which totaled nearly $8,500. Ramsey says he has heard just about every excuse from suspects when they get caught.

He said, “One man in particular indicated that he was so drunk, he didn't remember writing the check so he couldn't be held responsible for it. We held him responsible for the check.”

Seven other suspects remain at large. Anyone with any information about bad check writers is asked to contact the District Attorney's Fraud Hotline at 1-866-DAFRAUD.

Property owners who were concerned about the effects of a proposed bottled water plant in Glenn County were out in full force at a public hearing on Wednesday.

Members of the Orland Technical Advisory Committee spent over five hours listening to questions and concerns about the plant being proposed by Crystal Geyser.

Opponents of the project say the plant could lead to significant depletion of the local aquifer, the saturated zone beneath the water table, as well as creating numerous other problems such as noise and pollution. They say the possibility of new jobs in the area is not worth the potential cost to the community.

Crystal Geyser is expected to issue a written response to questions and concerns raised at the meeting by the end of the month. The Technical Advisory Committee will take up the issue again on December 16th.

The City of Anderson extended their moratorium on marijuana collectives Tuesday night. Council members voted to add another 4 months to the current moratorium.

That will give officials time to write up a permanent solution. The Planning Commission will host a workshop in December to come up with ideas.

Officials tell us there was some talk about a complete ban on marijuana, but no decision was made last night about that.

The Chico City Council has made a final decision on the Wal-Mart extension project. In a 4-3 decision, the proposal was rejected for the second time in six weeks.

Officials say concern over traffic and air quality impacts led to their decision. Wal-Mart can apply for an expansion again after one year, but would have to start the permitting process over from the beginning.

A Shasta County man will spend 20 years in prison for burglarizing houses in the Redding area. 36-year old Timothy Flanagan pleaded guilty Tuesday to burglary charges.

Police say he would break into unlocked garages and cars to steal various things, like GPS systems, sunglasses, and electronics. Between February and July of this year, he committed 14 burglaries.

He was eventually caught by detectives and linked to the crimes through fingerprint evidence. His sentencing will take place in mid-December.

Redding police believe arson is to blame for sparking a fire that caused nearly $12,000 in damage on Boulder Creek Drive Tuesday night.

The fire was sparked around 8 p.m., according to a police department press release. It was extinguished before it could threaten neighboring units in a 6-unit complex.

The investigation is continuing.

A group of Shasta County non-profits began gathering holiday food donations for an all-day event Wednesday morning.

The annual "stuff the truck" event began at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning at Taylor Motors in Redding. It was set to end at 6 p.m.

Organizers include the Good News Rescue Mission, the Salvation Army, and the Shasta Senior Nutrition Program. They hope to collect 600 turkeys and hams, as well as other food.

They hope to motivate givers by raffling off a thermal cooker.

Just two weeks after passing a complete ban on medical marijuana, the Red Bluff City Council voted to take a step back Tuesday night after what the Red Bluff City Attorney called numerous lawsuit threats. The earlier ordinance that was approved banned all medical marijuana collectives, dispensaries and cooperatives in the city. It also would have made it illegal to grow the drug anywhere for medical reasons.

Under the new proposed ordinance medical marijuana patients would be allowed to grow indoors with some limitations. Outdoor growing would still be banned. The council also asked that the definition of dispensaries be changed so it does not include the exchange of marijuana between a caregiver and a patient. Dispensaries, collectives and cooperatives will still be banned under the new recommendations.

Tuesday night's decision means the process to establish some type of guidelines in the city will start all over. The council will have to approve the new guidelines twice before they are official. The public will have the chance to comment on the new guidelines during a future city council meeting. The date of that meeting has not been determined.

Just like the former ballplayer he is, Redding Mayor Rick Bosetti broke up the tie, meaning medical marijuana Co-Ops and collectives are soon going to be regulated by the city.
By a three to two vote, the council decided Tuesday night that a reformatted version of an ordinance that was already presented needs to go into effect.

The Co-Ops and collectives will soon have to apply for a license from the Chief of Police and meet a number of requirements.
Those include not sharing a common wall with other businesses.

Eight revisions from the original were accepted including defining a collective as having ten or more patients.
Also, patients have to have a recommendation for a specific quantity of the drug.

Council members Missy McArthur and Patrick Jones were the lone dissenters.
Jones says he is still concerned that the ordinance is opposite federal law. McArthur says she is concerned about the cost of possible legal challenges, that she still wants an ordinance, just one that is more thought out.

The ordinance will be read again in December, then go into effect 30 days after that.
The council did agree to review how the ordinance is working six months after it goes into place.

A year after Prime Healthcare Services took over Shasta Regional Medical Center, profits, the number of employees, and the numbers of patients are all up. At the hospital, that is a reason to celebrate.

Chairman of Prime Healthcare, Dr. Prem Reddy, made one of his twice-monthly trips to SRMC to congratulate staff on the turn-around. Shasta Regional is making a profit; there are 25 more employees than last November; and there are more admissions to the emergency room and the hospital.

One year ago the hospital was literally hours from closing, and employees were actually boxing up equipment.

We asked the hospital's top administrators to compare the last days of ownership by Hospital Partners of America to what it is like under Prime. Chief Nursing Officer Cyndy Gordon, who has been working there since 1978, says that the staff is more relaxed now.

While the hospital has turned a financial corner, not everyone is happy about how it got there. Staff was originally cut, and contracts with insurers, unions and vendors were canceled.

Since Red Bluff's marijuana ban went into effect, one local mom has decided to single-handedly take on the City. She is gathering support for medicinal marijuana one signature at a time.

In November, the Red Bluff City Council approved a ban on growing medicinal marijuana within city limits. The ban also fines collectives for being open.

The City says they voted for the ban, because the community of Red Bluff supports it. Alyssa Eastman says that is not the case.

The stay-at-home mom has been going door-to-door for 2 weeks now. She has gathered 130 signatures from people who say what the City of Red Bluff is doing is not right.

Alyssa says the research shows not everyone is on board with the City, and it is time to listen to the people.

To be fair, Alyssa came across 40 people who either supported the ban, or declined to comment.

Swine flu shots were given to students in Chico on Tuesday. Parents lined up with their kids at Marsh Junior High School.

The line stretched out the door and around the building with people waiting to have their kids vaccinated.

Over 3,700 doses of the intra-nasal vaccine have been given out free of charge at school clinics since the beginning of the month. That accounts for over 20% of students in the county.

Public Health officials say these types of clinics benefit more than just the kids being vaccinated. By vaccinating the children, officials feel like they are protecting the entire community by slowing the spread of the virus.

The last school swine flu vaccination clinic will be at Pleasant Valley High School on Thursday from 3:30-7:30 PM.

It might be raining and snowing, but Lassen County has been declared in a state of emergency. The Department of Agriculture says Lassen County is so dry that it needs help.

Officials say the drought started the first of the year and is ongoing. Farmers and ranchers in Shasta, Modoc, Plumas, and Sierra as well as Lassen County, can all apply for the low interest loans.