5 Things to Know: Tuesday, October 6

By
Casey Dolan
-

Welcome to 5 Things to Know – a daily rundown of things you might want to be aware of if you live in, visit, or just like being aware about what’s going on in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. As always, thank you for your continued support of Cactus Hugs.

1) The Coronavirus

The big news continues to what’s happening in Washington DC and, well…

 

That’s a huge outbreak anywhere, but especially the White House – where, as it turns out, they only recently learned that ignoring COVID-19 and mocking those who try to guard against it just isn’t a very good strategy for the people who work in the building or for the entire country during a pandemic.

Turning to news from our area, Riverside County reported 126 new cases and 6 new deaths in the last 24 hours. Here is the latest on what’s going on in the desert:

More:

  • It’s looking like there is a a good chance that Riverside County could re-enter California’s purple tier and have several sectors of indoor business closed again as early as next week. “There is no good way to say it, but both our positivity rate and case rate are still rising,” Riverside County Public Health Officer Cameron Kaiser said during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. “We see a similar phenomenon in San Bernardino County, so we do not believe this is a local artifact of our own numbers.”
  • The Riverside County Board of Supervisors backed away from a plan they had been considering over the last few days to break from the state and allow for the reopening of more business sectors as early as this month. If they had gone through with the move, the county risked losing up to $114 million in state funding.
  • The state’s top health official says California has not seen a link between increased virus transmission and the reopening of K-12 schools for in-person learning and increased coronavirus transmission – though he did caution that it can take time for trends to emerge.
  • If you were hoping to see some sort of financial relief from Washington DC sometime soon, don’t get your hopes up:

Although, he did tweet the following just three days ago, so knows what’s going on anymore:

2) RIP, BB Ingle

Party and event promoter BB Ingle died on Tuesday after a yearlong battle with prostate cancer.  Ingle produced many large events in the Coachella Valley for decades, including huge parties on Halloween and New Year’s Eve.  He was 68.

3) It’s Still So Damn Hot

Because 2020 has to be the worst year in every possible way, the Coachella Valley extended its record of triple digit temps this year, with 141 days now this year being over 100 degrees:

But, there is some good news – as it looks like cooler temps are FINALLY on the way (with Saturday potentially having a high temp under 90, but let’s not talk about it so as not to jinx it):

4) Riverside Co. Courts to Close an Extra Day per Month

As the state and county deals with the fallout from a $54 billion deficit due to the coronavirus pandemic, you can expect plenty of changes in the way things operate…at least for a while.  One of those changes is that the Riverside County Superior Courts will close one day a month for everything but emergency services through at least June.

And while this will surely slow down the legal process for many cases, on the bright side, it’s one less day you have to worry about being called for jury duty, I suppose.

5) Here’s Where to Drop Off Your Ballot

Yeah, yeah…I know, this was posted here yesterday too.  But, ballots are just arriving and I  just want to make sure everyone has the info to make their vote count.

Your mail-in ballot is on the way (or, maybe already in your mailbox) and you’re probably pretty motivated to vote this year. But, as you may have heard, Donald Trump has been trying to slow down the mail for months because he’s desperate and he knows he’s behind.

So, you may be thinking that you might prefer to drop off your ballot, rather than put it in the mail.  If so, here’s a list of dates and places you can do that in Riverside County.

Important: Before you drop off or mail your ballot, make sure you sign the envelope and that your signature matches the one on your driver’s license, state ID or the signature you provided when registering. The county elections office will compare them to protect your vote.

Stay safe.  Stay smart.  Stay cool. Wear a mask.

Seriously though, don’t be a selfish ignorant asshole. Wear a mask.  ??

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