=. At least one dead in a two-motorcycle crash in western Malibu Saturday.
=. Malibu gets a two for one deal … for firefighting advisers.
= Monarch butterfly population is up … but a groves of trees where they spend the winter is curt down by utility crews.
=. Butterfly experts now say that planting milkweed in places like Malibu … may not be such a good idea after all.
=. And a Texas oil company -ays a quarter billion dollars for oozing thick oil onto beaches in Santa Barbara
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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

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

Details Missing From CHP On 2 Motorycle Fatal Crashes

Saturday afternoons motorcycle mayhem on Pacific Coast Highway resulted in at least one death.
But most details have not been released yet about the late afternoon crash on PCH at Leo Carrillo Beach.
There were two separate crashes … according to preliminary reports from the California Highway Patrol log.
The second crash happened when one rider was trying to reach his downed friend.
Packs of motorcycles were observed on the highway at the time.
PCH was closed for most of Saturday evening … sending hundreds of cars onto narrow and twisting Highway 23 as drivers followed their computers to Ventura.

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Still No Details On 200-House OC Fire That May Be Related To SCE Malfunction

Drones flew up and down a steep … smoldering hillside in Orange County yesterday… Seeking out any lingering hotspots. The coastal fire took out 200 acres and 20 mansions on a ridge top overlooking Laguna Beach Wednesday.
It is now 80% contained… but here haven’t been any active flames since Friday.
As of Sunday morning … 71 homes near the Coronado Pointe subdivision were still on evacuation orders as of Saturday evening.
No more yet from fire investigators … in Orange County … regarding the cause of that big brush fire last week.
It may be months before we get an official determination if Southern California Edison power equipment was the root cause of the blaze .
Edson has notified the state that its overhead power equipment had some sort of unusual readings as the fire broke out.
The fire took out 20 large houses … and damaged another 11 … in a matter of three hours,
The multimillion dollar mansions on the ridge top were all built before construction fire codes were tightened … but they were not very old.
Fire experts say meeting stringent … recent fire codes is the key to survive a brushfire.

Malibu Adds 65 Years Of Fire Experience To Staff

Malibu has hired two part time fire safety liaisons … both on part time agreements … instead of one full time employee.
And together … they bring 65 years of experience on local wildfire fighting.
Assistant Fire Chief Greg Hisel and Fire Fighter Paramedic Brad Yocum are the new city employees.
They will work along side with the city’s current Fire Safety Liaison … Gabe Etcheverry.
Malibu pays the L A County fire department for the seven fire engines and command staff stationed in Malibu.
But the city does its own fire response planning and community preparedness outreach.
Greg Hisel retired from tcounty fire 5 years ago … after 34 years.
He served as a Battalion Chief for nine years, including an assignment with Battalion 5 in Malibu.
Brad Yocum retired from county fire four years ago … after 30 years … half as a paramedic …. and half in the forestry division.
At the Public Safety Commission meeting two weeks ago … the city’s emergency coordinator said … we’re getting 2 for 1.

NEWSCART A733XX DUENAS HIRE

“We anticipate that instead of getting one full-time person we’re looking to get two part-time superstars so to speak.
“These are a couple of guys with a -ton- of experience … a couple guys who just have tremendous experience.
“And I think between those two and Gabe we are going to be in the best position this city has ever been in going into a fire season.”

The city’s Fire Safety Liaison officials are responsible for designing and implementing wildfire preparedness and mitigation programs.
But they do not command the fire trucks … that is L A County’s job.
And many residents in Malibu are still smoldering over the lack of fire trucks defending Malibu …. And the management of fire trucks as they arrived in Malibu … during the Woolsey Fire.
Fire chief Daryl Osby has told residents that the entire L A County Fire Department has about 400 fire trucks … and half of those were sent to try to stop Woolsey before it crossed the 101 Freeway.
That left the entire firefighting force on the wrong side of the mountains as the fire chopped into western Malibu … taking out 16 hundred houses altogether …480 of them inside Malibu city limits.

Air B and B Fails To Warn Renters Of Severe WildFire Risks

Air B and B is not doing enough to protect renters of houses in high fire risk areas from the dangerous of wildfires … according to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times .
On Sunday … the Times examined thousands of short-term Airbnb rentals operate in the state’s most hazardous fire zones.
The newspaper found that Air B and B does not provide warnings or evacuation information to guests when they make a reservation in a fire danger area.
And the company’s refund policy adds to the potential dangers.
The company has been unwilling to cancel reservations or issue refund for rentals right next to burning fires … most recently at Lake Tahoe.
Some people who rented Air B and Bs above Malibu say they could not get a refund after the woolsey Fire interrupted their stay in 2018.
Air B and B has 200 listing in the Woolsey Fire area ofMalibu and the Santa Monica Mountains that were scorched by the Woolsey fire in 2018.
The Times points out that Malibu now requires B and B hosts post a code of conduct not he wall at their properties … that explains that the city is in a high fire risk area.
It urges guests to consult an Internet page with evacuation and fire danger information … on the web.
L A County does not even go that far.
According to the LA Times … Air B and B accounts for more than half of the vacation rentals in the state.

Major Screwup In Computer Sets Of Cellphones Across So Cal, Glendale Forgot Too Say It Was A Drill

Thousands of cell phones went off Saturday in Malibu… And tens of thousands of cell phones went off across southern California… When the city of Glendale accidentally triggered a fire evacuation alert.
It apparently took Glendale more than 20 minutes to figure out how to cancel the alert.
Glendale was doing an evacuation drill in the Chevy Chase Canyon area… A high-risk fire zone near La Canada.
People as far away as Ventura got the alert by mistake.
The city now says that its computer software overloaded when more than 100 points were drawn on a map… outlining the boundaries of the evacuation area on a computer.
The software was set to default to a regional evacuation warning… If a map was drawn that was too complex.
Emergency warning experts tell KBUU that was problem one.
Problem two was that the message went out without the word drill in it… A critical error.
And problem three was that Glendale officials apparently had no way to cancel the region-wide emergency alert quickly.
One state official told KBUU news false alarms like this caused people to turn off their cell phone warning capability… or ignore messages.
Like Glendale… Malibu has the capability to generate cell phone alerts for all phones within a certain geographic area.
But it could be said that this is why the systems are tested… to find computer software and human mistakes like what happened on Saturday.

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Big Texas Oil Company To Pay $247 Million For Spilling Oil In Santa Barbara

In news from up the coast ….
A big oil company from Texas has agreed to pay $230 million dollar to fishermen, fish processors, and coastal property owners in connection with a massive 2015 oil spill in Santa Barbara County.
Hundreds of birds, and marine mammals were killed by the spilled oil.
Plains All American Pipeline didn’t admit liability in the deal … an effort to settle damages lawsuits brought in federal court.
But U-S investigators found that Plains made a number of preventable errors.
More than 140,000 gallons of oil spilled in the pipe rupture … just up the coast from Santa Barbara.
The pipe carries crude oil from the offshore oil platforms … up the coast 80 miles from Malibu … to a refinery near Bakersfield.
The pipeline break forced the shutdown of four offshore oil platforms in the county, because it left them with no way to move oil. One of them, Platform Holly, is being decommissioned.
Exxon-Mobil owns the offshore platforms … and has tried to use tanker trucks to temporarily move oil from its three platforms to Bakersfield.
Santa Barbara County rejected the tanker plan … but the company is now suing over that decision.

Monarchs Climb Back, But Utility Company Chainsawed Winter Grove At Leo Carrillo

There is a combination of good news and bad news for the endangered monarch butterflies.
The fall butterfly census in California found a massive increase in the number of butterflies along the California coast.
While 1.3 million were found in California in 1997, their numbers dropped to fewer than 2,000 in winter 2020-21.
About 247 thousand butterflies were counted last fall across the state.
Planting non-native milkweed along the coast may be counterproductive… disrupting natural breeding cycles and preventing the butterflies from migrating.
What is clear is that grove of trees that are used by butterflies in the winter time are critical … and they are endangered.
The Xerces society… Which is dedicated to helping the monarchs… blames Southern California Edison for destroying a monarch butterfly grove at Leo Carrillo beach after the Woolsey fire
Te Xerces Society says Leo Carrillo State Park in Malibu is one of the Top 50 Priority Sites for protecting monarch butterfly overwintering.
They say some of the trees at Leo Carrillo State Park survived the fire … but utility crews came in and cut most of the surviving trees.
Leo Carrillo’s butterfly grove is now a shadow of its former self .,.. according to the Xerces Society.
Butterfly experts now say it may be a bad idea to plant milkweed in the coastal overwintering zone.
Monarchs traditionally leave the California coast in late winter for find milkweed in places like the San Joaquin Valley …
The successive generations of butterflies also need other blooming plants like yarrow that provide nectar to refuel for the next stage of their journey.
When they get to the Central Valley this time of year, they need milkweed to lay their eggs; the plant’s pointy green leaves are also food for the caterpillars.
Other types of weeds that live in the San Joaquin Valley are necessary for the breeding butterflies to eat… and if those weeds are not here in the Coastal area… the newly born butterflies may starve.
On the milkweed front … a satyte-funded effort to provide milkweed and other plants for monarch butterflies continues … but not along the coast.
They have planted 30,000 milkweeds and other flowering native species in eight locations to restore habitat, up in the San Joaquin Valley … near Stockton.
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UCLA will be having a blood drive at Malibu High School (in the gym) on Tuesday, May 17th from 9 am to 2pm.
The blood drive is for every 16 and up and community members are allowed to come and donate blood. If you are available to donate blood please put your name and phone number below.The entire blood donation process only takes about 45 minutes, Hill said. There’s paperwork to fill out and vital signs like blood pressure are taken; then the donor relaxes on a bed while donating blood, which takes 10 to 15 minutes. Then comes the fun part — going to the snack table to sit down and munch on cookies and other snacks.
At the end, each Malibu blood donor was rewarded with the choice of an AMC movie ticket or an In-N-Out Burger gift card.

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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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Support for Radio Malibu KBUU comes from the Mark & Grether Group.
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 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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Support for KBUU Radio also comes the the Malibu Association of Realtors.
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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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu.
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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.