In preliminary ruling, judge backs CUSD policy on privacy Schools can't out their transgender students, Mendez says in denying injunction

Senior U.S. District Judge John Mendez

by Leslie Layton & Natalie Hanson
posted March 13

An effort to force Chico Unified School District (CUSD) staff to obtain “informed consent” from parents before “socially transitioning” a youth who identifies as transgender has stalled in federal court.

A federal judge has denied a request made in the Regino v. Staley lawsuit, filed against CUSD over a gender identity case, that the district be immediately stopped from accomodating any student who identifies with a gender different than what appears on school records without first contacting the parents. read more

Lawsuit over gender identity, children’s privacy, creates turmoil ACLU files motion, asking to join with CUSD defendants

Aurora Regino, who grew up in Chico, has filed suit against CUSD trustees and the superintendent.

by Leslie Layton & Natalie Hanson
posted March 7

A lawsuit filed against Chico Unified over its response to a student who was questioning their gender identity has opened a new front for Butte County culture wars.

The lawsuit, Regino v. Staley, filed Jan. 6 in federal court in the Eastern District of California, alleges that a school counselor at Sierra View Elementary coaxed a student into adopting a male identity after the fifth-grader confided that they “felt like a boy.” The lawsuit names as defendants the Board of Education and Chico Unified (CUSD) Superintendent Kelly Staley. read more

City must open more alternate camping space prior to evicting Pallet shelter admittance procedures cause confusion

photo by Manuel Ortiz, EMS
The Eaton-Cohasset encampment where some 45 people are camped.

by Natalie Hanson & Leslie Layton
posted Feb. 22, updated Feb. 23

The City has been halted from evicting nearly 40 people living unhoused at the encampment it opened in north Chico until it can create two new additional campsites.

The City announced plans to open the sites quickly following a Feb. 22 meeting with Magistrate Judge Kendall Newman regarding terms of the settlement agreement in the lawsuit filed by Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC).

Meanwhile, some unhoused people and their advocates say it’s a struggle to access the city’s new pallet shelters, erected as part of the settlement agreement. read more

Long COVID causes confusion, anxiety The lack of information and help frustrate local patients

Kathryn Robinson, who was formerly a classical music director at Northstate Public Radio, said her music has brought her great comfort.

by Natalie Hanson
posted Feb. 16

Kathryn Robinson never expected that when she contracted COVID-19 in 2021, she would face life-altering symptoms for more than 15 months.

The Chico resident was fully vaccinated when she experienced a mild case of the Delta variant in August 2021. Three days into her symptoms, Robinson lost all sense of taste and smell. Like many COVID patients, she did not get those senses back for several months.

After recovering, Robinson said she awoke months later on Thanksgiving Day smelling what seemed like “sewage” all around her. She said chicken prepared for the holiday dinner tasted like “something rotten dipped in cleaning fluid.” It was then that she realized her sense of taste and smell were altered, a state she learned is called a combination of “parosmia” and “dysgeusia” -– altered smell and taste. read more

Long COVID: An emerging field of study Patients feel isolated, frustrated

Kathryn Robinson with Leo

by Natalie Hanson
posted Feb. 17

Kathryn Robinson, a Chico woman who says she has long Covid, wishes she could have hard evidence to battle misinformation and the isolation she has suffered.

“You almost feel like you’re crazy,” she said. “I’ve had people actually walk away when I’ve told them.”

The Centers for Disease Control is one of the few institutions releasing guidance about long COVID symptoms, as recognized researchers conduct more studies of the fairly new condition.

Joanna Hellmuth of the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco, said research shows that in some patients, their immune system was stimulated by the virus and functioning “in an unintended pathological way.” read more

Updated fundraising totals CUSD races 2022

Following are the fundraising totals as of Oct. 31 for all candidates running for seats on the Chico Unified School District Board of Trustees. Two candidates have raised more than $20,000.

District 1:
Rebecca Konkin — $10,600
Scott Thompson — $2,097 (no new October filing.)

District 4 :
Tom Lando — Under $2,000 (no filings as minimum not reached.)
Matt Tennis — $21,845

District 5:
Eileen Robinson — $6,336 (no new October filing.)
Logan Wilson — $23,540

–Natalie Hanson