David Jackson
 
| USA TODAY

Show Caption

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will disclose his new nominee for the Supreme Court on Saturday, triggering an historic battle for the high court’s future in the last six weeks of a presidential election.

“I’ve spoken to many (people) and we’re getting close to a decision,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a campaign stop in the Pittsburgh area.

The announcement is tentatively set for 5 p.m. EST on Saturday, the president said...

A mandatory requirement for health workers to get the flu vaccine this year came under fire at Tuesday’s Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting.

A host of public speakers, including some nurses, said the health order is unconstitutional and it takes away their right to choose between a mask or the vaccine, which has been the case in prior years.

Some who spoke also believe the mandate is a precursor to an order for them to get the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available.

A registered nurse told supervisors that workers who refuse to get the vaccine could lose their jobs and that will result in a shortage of health care workers, before yelling, “We will strike.”

“I am pro vaccine, but more important, I...

A person at Foothill High School in Palo Cedro has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a letter dated Tuesday and sent to parents by Principal Steve Abbott.

The letter did not identify whether the person is a student or on the school’s staff.

Abbott’s letter says fewer than five people came in close contact with the person who tested positive. Those five individuals have been told to stay home.

RELATED: Coronavirus outbreak at Shasta County nursing home has sickened 34 residents, 8 workers

The last incidence of the “known exposure” was last Thursday, the letter says.

Foothill High’s COVID-19 case comes a day after University Preparatory School in Redding announced a case of its own.

RELATED: Public heal...

The largest wildfire in the history of California has crept toward several remote Trinity County communities but so far a team of experienced firefighters has kept the flames at a distance.

Crews have surrounded about 100 residences with fire hoses in the Ruth and Post Mountain areas, and have built long stretches of fire lines in Ruth Valley where the communities sprawl into the hillsides and have roads with no names.

“We are prepared for that main fire to come into Ruth as best as we can,” said Mike McMillan, a contracted public information officer who’s sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management out of Boise, Idaho.

Some 3,000 residents have been told to evacuate, although many of them are staying whe...

North State residents, especially those with health problems, should stay indoors as much as possible this week to avoid bad air pollution.

Wind is pushing smoke from wildfires burning in California into the Northern Sacramento Valley. Those winds are expected to continue through Friday.

A change in the wind may clear the air a bit this weekend.

Tuesday morning, air quality sensors in much of Shasta, Siskiyou and northern Tehama counties registered air pollution levels in the unhealthy range for everyone, according to the EPA’s AirNow Fire and Smoke app...

Shasta County Health Officer Dr. Karen Ramstrom blamed the recent rise in local COVID-19 cases in part on an outbreak at a skilled nursing home.

Ramstrom told the Shasta County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that 42 people (34 residents and eight employees) have tested positive since the outbreak there started Aug. 27.

Health officials declined to identify the facility but directed a reporter to a California Department of Public Health database that says 34 residents at Windsor Redding Care Center on Court Street have tested positive for COVID-19.

“We have done several site visits and have had communications with them daily, provided several rounds of personal protection equipment to meet their needs and have ...

In a likely precedent-setting decision, the California Fish and Game Commission on Tuesday voted 4-0 to approve the western Joshua tree for the next stage of protection under the California Endangered Species Act. This marks the first time the state law has been used to give protection to a species that is mainly threatened by climate change.

The species — one of two types of the iconic desert megaflora — is facing massive habitat loss due to warming temperatures that are pushing its livable habitat farther north and into higher elevations. Scientists predict that Joshua Tree National Park could be devoid of its namesake plant by the end of the century.

The western Joshua tree now receives protection under the a...

Nicholas Wu
, 
John Fritze
 
| USA TODAY

Show Caption

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump won a crucial victory Tuesday in the battle to fill the Supreme Court vacancy caused by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as Senate Republicans largely coalesced around a goal of rapidly confirming a yet-to-be-named nominee, possibly before the November presidential election. 

Just four days after Ginsburg’s death, wavering Senate Republicans have mostly lined up behind Trump’s desire to move quickly on the nominee he intends to name Saturday – underscoring the president’s tight grip on th...

John Bacon
, 
Jessica Flores
 
| USA TODAY

Show Caption

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus quietly surpassed 200,000 on Tuesday, less than eight months after the first American fatality.

The U.S. reached 100,000 deaths in May. Now, some experts estimate the death toll could almost double by year’s end.

Fatigue for social distancing and the push to get back into offices and schools could fuel new cases – and deaths – in the coming weeks and months...

University Preparatory School in Redding will transition to distance learning beginning Tuesday due to a confirmed coronavirus case.

School officials notified parents of the decision to move to virtual classes for the next 14 days in a voicemail and electronic letter that went out Monday night. Students will resume in-person instruction and athletic workouts on Oct. 5.

An employee who answered the phone at the school’s office Tuesday morning confirmed the positive COVID-19.

The school did not disclose whether the case involves a student, employee or someone else who might have been on campus. 

News: Shasta County families and coaches face challenge of cost and time with sports

Students who were in close contac...