=. School kids age 5 to 11 can now be vaccinated in L A County … but mask orders are creeping back.

=. A nasty crash last night on Civic Center Way.

=. A Santa Monica school has a mold infestation … and the school board is all over it.

=. Malibu Elementary School has a mold problem … and parents say no one is paying attention.

=. Big Caltrans project number 5 in Malibu is announced.

=. Neither tide nor time will stop for anyone … as Caltrans is learning at Trancas.

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This is Malibu’s Only Local Daily News … the Monday edition … I’m Hans Laetz reporting. 

Covid Cases Creeping Back In In LA County Hospitals

The number of COVID-positive patients hospitalized in Los Angeles County has reached its highest number since March, according to the latest state data.

As of Saturday hospitalizations stood at 402, one more than on Friday. The number of those patients being treated in intensive care was 44, down from 47 a day earlier.

L.A. County on Friday extended its order requiring mask use on public transit, including in rail and bus stations; in indoor areas of airports and seaports; and in ride-sharing vehicles. 

Vaccine clinics this week also began making available COVID-19 booster shots for children ages 5 to 11, following the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation.

Mask requirements are up for most kids in Malibu … due to the rash of positive tests that indicate many kids may have been exposed to Covid.

Last weel .. 27 students and staff tested positive at the major Malibu school campuses. … Malibu Middle School and Malibu High School. 

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Crash On Civic Center Way Late Sunday Night

Pretty nasty crash last night on Covid Center Way in central Malibu.

Sheriff’s traffic deputies are still investigating what happened. 

A single car wiped out on the newly-rebuilt section of road … at the curve near the condos.

The driver was extricated.

Three fire truck crews responded. 

No severe injuries were reported… but the road was closed for more than an hour …. It’s open now. 

This was on the stretch of Civic Center Way that was redesigned and rebuilt by the City of Malibu.

No word on what caused the crash.

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Small Spot Fire Put Out In Civic Center Area

On Saturday night … a quarter acre of brush burned ust east of Malibu Lagoon along Pacific Coast Highway. Firefighters stop the fire I just a quarter acre. No official report has been issued as to what started the fire or what burned… 

But there is a thicket of brush in the area where illegal fires have been set before by homeless people.

And, a fairly large power black out hit Malibu wine country and Seminole Hot Springs yesterday. Power went out for about 401 customers early in the morning and was out all day. 

No word from Southern California Edison as to what caused the outage.

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Mold Problem Described At Malibu Elementary School

Another Malibu school campus may have a public health problem.

This time it is mold … caused by water leaks at the Malibu Elementary School campus on Point Dume. 

We don’t have many details on the issue … yet.

But the Santa Monica Daily Press is reporting that a handful of Malibu parents called in to last Thursday’s school board meeting.

The pArents apparently complained that their kids’ classrooms have mold growing in them at Malibu Elementary — formerly Point Dume Marine Science School.

An they said School District leadership has bonito been paying attention to their complaints.

Craig Foster was the only board member to address the Malibu complaints …. He is the only one of seven board members who lives in Malibu. 

The other board members were preoccupied with the major mold contamination in Santa Monica …., at John Muir Middle School.

“Mold is everywhere” any Hohn Muir …. Said district operations manager Carey Upton

Air samples taken in one classroom on the Muir campus in Santa Monica showed mold spores sho high that kids and the teacher were immediately moved to another classroom.

Upton told the school board that a contractor looked behind a whiteboard and found that the back of it was “pretty well covered with mold.”

Water leaks at John Muir may have saturated some areas with mold … and the district is already spending about 66 thousand dollars to test and design a repair.

Malibu Elementary should get the same level of attention … said Foster at last week’s meeting.

He was the only board member to address the malibu school mold.

If this sounds familiar … it should.

Santa Monica. Board members were largely non responsive  to the discovery of PCB at Malibu High School …. at least at first.

That’s the opinion of many Malibu education leaders … and it was the final straw for many … as they began to campaign actively for a separate Malibu school district.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Foundation.

The Malibu Foundation underwrote the KBUU solar panels and batteries at the transmitter … which keeps KBUU’s FM transmitting on 99.1 during storms and blackouts… 24 seven… on clean renewable Malibu sunshine.

 

Closed-Door School District Divorce Update To City Council Tonight

And speaking of that … 

Malibu’s efforts to divorce itself out of the Santa Monica dominated school district is playing itself out behind closed doors. 

There have been at least three secret mediation sessions … trying to hash out a financial settlement that would allow Malibu tax money to keep flowing to Santa Monica …

The questions will be … what is the price to extricate Malibu from the Santa Monica political dominance.

The majority of the Santa Monica based school board is at least paying lip service to the divorce concept.

But at the same time … they are using district tax money to fight a public relations war against the Malibu separation effort.

At the same time … Santa Monica is managing a 160 million dollar Malibu High construction project that must get city planning commission approval … and then city council approval. … on a tight schedule this summer.

Tonight at 5:30 … the Malibu city council will get an update on the negotiations from the lawyers and others working on the project. 

It will be behind closed doors.

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When choosing someone to represent you when you buy … sell or rent a house … local knowledge is very important.

Malibu zoning rules … Coastal Commission rules …

Members of the Malibu Association of Realtors are local experts.

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$44 Million Malibu Budget To City Council Tzonight

Later tonight … the city’s 44 million dollar budget will go before the city council. 

The budget picture is generally rosy.

One item of possible controversy is a proposed 30 thousand dollar reduction in the amount of city money sent to the Boys And Girls Club of Malibu.

The club operates after school and youth mental health services at four Malibu schools. 

In most other cities … those service are handled by municipal governments. 

City council member Steve Uhring proposes cutting its appropriation to give to other worthy charities. 

He says the Boys and Girls Club has other financial resources …. including the Chili Cook Off.

Council member Mikke Pierson agreed in what he called a compromise.

The two councilmen came up with a recommended list of charity donations form the city.

30 agencies applied for funds … 26 are recommended to be funded.

Among the four that are getting stiffed is some outfit from Agoura Hills … which asked for 10 million dollars.

Talk about unclear on the concept.

Malibu also has money sent over from the county that must be spent on library services.

14 million dollars has stacked up in that account. 

Malibu is reportedly the only city on LA County with a cash surplus like that.

Most cities in LA County are desperate for money to keep libraries open.

Former Mayor Laura Rosenthal serves on a a foundation that is trying to raise money for libraries in poorer sections of the area.

She is asking that Malibu donate 500 thousand dollars to the LA COunty Library Foundation … to start an endowment fund.

This fund would invest and use the profits to fund badly needed library services.

City Councilman Steve Uhring has already gone on record as saying money generated ny Malibu property taxes should stay in Malibu … given the large amount of property taxes that already flow from Malibu to the LA County government. 

The question … what kind of Malibu do we want to be … goes before the city council tonight. 

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Support for KBUU radio… For eight years now… Has come from Rancho Del Cielo. Perched high above the Pacific Ocean and overlooking Paradise Cove… Rancho Del Cielo is a partner bringing public radio to the Malibu.

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Ocean Water Keeps Spilling Under Trancas Bridge

The Trancas bridge reconstruction project engineers have a problem.

The diminished amount of beach sand at the mouth of the Trancas Creek means that ocean water keeps spilling into the lagoon at high tide. 

The lagoon usually evaporates almost entirely in the summertime.

Not this year.

Caltrans needs a dry lagoon to begin demolishing the 95 year old bridge … which is falling apart.. 

Demolition is supposed to start in 10 days. 

Contractors have tried sucking all the lagoon water Into trucks … the lagoon water is full of bacteria and cannot be pumped into the ocean.

The dirty lagoon water has to be trucked out to a sewer plant in L-A.

If enough water can be sucked out … bulldozers will move sand into what’s left of the lagoon to keep the water out. 

It sounds like a problem that a squadron of little kids with Tonka trucks might be able t help with.

Meanwhile … the traffic light at Guernsey is installed and ready to turn on.

But first the crosswalk stripes have to be installed. 

The schedule is to build the detour on PCH … with its tiny lanes and 30 mile and hour speed limit… next week.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Brewing Company.

Malibu Brewing Company is a locally owned craft brewery, proudly supporting our community, and local public radio.

Their Happy Days Honey Blonde is a light dry traditional blonde ale… Brew with local wildflower honey from the Santa Monica mountains.

Find Malibu Brewing Company premium craft beer in select retailers, or order direct at brew malibu dot com

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Caltrans Project #5 On PCH: Two Culverts At West End

And now comes news of even yet another Caltrans project coming to PCH.

Two drainage culverts deep under the road … at the very western end of Malibu … are failing. 

This is at Nicholas Canyon Beach … just east ion Leo Carrillo State Beach … where the road is way up high on a bluff and crosses two deep cantons.

So deep that the construction crews back in the 1920s called this “Grand Canyon.”

The metal pipes that were installed when the road was widened in the 1940s have rusted … separated … cracked.

They are in danger of failing. 

The state is asking the city for permission to tunnel under the highway and install new concrete culverts 

No lane closures or other traffic safety measures along PCH will be required for the project.

The culvert replacement at Nicholas Canyon Jons the Trancas Creek bridge on the list of current state highway projects on PCH.

Caltrans is also planning to rebuild the giant culvert under PCH at Solstice Creek … next to the Corral Canyon Road signal.

And the biggest project … the state intends to build a vertical wall under PCH  eats of the Big Rock signal. 

‘That one will prevent the road from sliding towards the ocean … it will require lane closures and will likely greatly snarl traffic near Big Rock once it starts. 

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The Mark & Grether Group is a small tightly knit team… based in Malibu… with full-time marketing and operations staff to deliver exceptional results and smooth real estate transactions.

Mark & Grether Group… a top producing team with 35 years of experience and over $1 billion of real estate sold and leased …. from Malibu’s coastline to the canyons.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Mark and Grether Group.

The Mark and Grether Group is Proud to be a trusted resource, you are local experts available to help you navigate the intricacies of Malibu real estate.

The Mark and Grether Group a top producing team … with 35 years of experience… And over $1 billion of real estate sold and leased from Malibu’s coast lines to the canyon

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You can hear the news live every morning until 9:30 on KBUU.

FM 99.1 in western Malibu.  Also: streaming at www.radiomalibu.net

Between 10 and 2 … you can hear the newscast playback loop on KBU2. That’s on FM 99.1 HD2 in your car, or streaming at s7.viastreaming.net/6500

If humanly possible, the KBUU NewsScript is usually published at around midday at www.radiomalibu.net