11-20-2025

Welcome back to Zephyr News! This week you'll hear about the latest Chico City Council meeting, Chico Board of Supervisors meeting, segments from The Chico State Orion, ChicoSol, and an interview with the head coach of Chico State's men's basketball team.

Contributors this week are: David Fuhs and Grant Charles Parks.

Production: David Fuhs, Trevor Parks, and Lorenz Weissel.

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:08

Welcome back to Zephyr News, a weekly production of FM 90.1 KZFR Chico. Zephyr News is broadcast each Thursday evening from 7 to 7.30 p.m. This week's show features contributions from Chico Seoul, Chico State student newspaper The Orion, as well as featured segments by KZFR community contributors on the Chico City Council meeting, Board of Supervisors meeting, and an interview with the head coach of Chico State's men's basketball team, Kevin Meter.

SPEAKER_04 1:13

Five items were discussed in closed session public employment, the city attorney, conference with labor negotiator attorney Laura Aizon, and Administrative Services Director Barbara Martin, involving employee organizations, that is, unions. Existing litigation, Warren versus Chico, and Tai Tao versus City of Chico, and Public Employment, the City Manager. In all five items, direction was provided, but no formal action was taken. City Council proclaimed this week as Global Entrepreneurship Week. During its consent agenda, Council voted six to nothing with one recusal to extend the annual Free Friday parking meter forgiveness program to the Friday before Thanksgiving. There were five public comments. An individual representing over 110 city workers said they do support the confirmation of Eric Gustafson for assistant city manager, and they do not support contracting outwork currently done by city employees. A speaker who receives public housing assistance suggested sobriety tests for the recipients of public assistance. Someone representing California state retirees announced they plan to have a representative present at all future city council meetings. Another speaker complained about the behavior of the police department's rapid response team to a March 2025 incident in a parking garage that resulted in an individual being killed by the police and recommended there be a root cause analysis after each such incident so they do not occur again. The final speaker asked the city to provide perimeter security around the alternative homeless site on Cohasset Avenue and decrease the number of people living outside but nearby that site and requested urgency in that matter. Administrative Services Director Barbara Martin provided the city's mid-year financial update after the close of the 2024-25 fiscal year. Revenues for general and park funds were slightly more than forecast, but are expected to be flat next year, while operating expenses are expected to rise by about 6%. The surplus balance will be about$4 million. Director Martin identified projects needing a total of about$800,000 in funding and recommended that the surplus funds be used for that. Council voted$4-3 to do so. There is one public comment. A representative of Chico State urged council to support public works projects, specifically the North Cedar Avenue improvements. Staff recommended introducing an ordinance proposed by police chief Aldridge to prohibit pedestrians from lingering on medians in roundabouts and in areas immediately adjacent to retail businesses, promote public safety, and reduce accident risks. There is one public comment against the ordinance. Council voted four to three to approve the ordinance. Council voted four to three to approve the first two recommendations. Finally, council voted seven to nothing to approve the employment agreement for assistant city manager Eric Gustafson. This has been David Foos reporting for Zephyr News.

SPEAKER_09 4:35

This is Zephyr News on KZFR. I'm Grant Charles Parks. Today we're recapping highlights from the Butte County Board of Supervisors meeting held on Tuesday, November 18th in Oroville. The agenda covered land use updates, emergency preparedness, and public safety funding, and we are going to focus on three major items support for homeless youth, major investment in the Chico area fire response, and new funding for mental health services in the justice system. The board unanimously adopted a resolution recognizing November as Homeless Youth Prevention Month. The request came from Voices United, a youth-led group working in partnership with the Butte County Office of Education and Youth for Change. At the meeting, Board County Board of Supervisor Tammy Ritter said the following.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

And whereas the citizens of Butte County, California are the key to preventing youth homelessness by acting as mentors and role models for youth, guiding them towards available resources, productive choices, and creating opportunities for youth to successfully transition to adulthood. Now, therefore, be it resolved. The Butte County Board of Supervisors do hereby proclaim November 2025 as Homeless Youth Awareness Month in Butte County, passed and adopted unanimously by this board today.

SPEAKER_09 6:19

Present at the meeting to accept the resolution was Josh Endar, who said the following.

SPEAKER_10 6:23

Well, thank you so much for uh this proclamation and for just acknowledging that there is an issue reading into the public record. It's very important that everybody knows that our youth out there are struggling. Like you said, we do have 1,800 students in our public schools here who we've identified bringing some uh a little bit of extra help getting to school, staying in school, and that's really our focus is trying to get that education going. It's a real privilege for me to be able to work with these youth because I see like so much potential in them, and it really, it really means a lot that you all would acknowledge that and see that too.

SPEAKER_09 6:59

The board also approved plans for a new 9,000 square foot fire station on county-owned land at Kiefer Road and Garner Lane in Chigo. This will replace the current station 41 built in 1960, which officials say no longer meets operational needs, especially following highway reconstruction and increased demand for regional response. District 4 supervisor Todd Kimmelshoe said the following Those two miles could save somebody's life.

SPEAKER_08 7:26

And by moving them to Garner and Kiefer, they are going to be closer to a residential area as opposed to where they are right now. Down Garner, all the houses on Kiefer, and that area just continues to grow. Um, and it's gonna keep growing. So I'm in 100% support of this. If you guys have not been to Station 41, um, take a tour. I have. Floors falling through, it's ridiculous that something that I wouldn't put my worst enemy in, we put our firefighters in.

SPEAKER_09 7:52

The project is the first major capital investment funded by revenue from Measure H, the countywide one cent sales tax passed in 2024 to restore public safety and library services. The estimated$12 million cost will be funded over multiple fiscal years, with an initial$1 million allocated now to begin design work. Another unanimous vote approved the acceptance of a$1,141,699 Path Justice Involved grant from the California Department of Health Care Services. In other highlights, a discussion on long-term sewer infrastructure in Sterling City did not result in a vote, but staff will return to the next Board of Supervisors meeting with funding options. For Zephyr News, I'm Grant Charles Parks.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

The large language model was developed for the university students and faculty, and it has already been implemented at Chico State, one of the 23 CSU campuses plated to roll out the program. Over 140,000 Chat GPT-EDU accounts have been created system-wide. Of those, about 5,000 Chico State students, faculty, and staff have signed up for the service. It's free to the 460,000 students and 63,000 faculty and staff. The initiative is intended to level the AI playing field, allowing access to all students regardless of income or financial standing. The companies involved in the wider technology initiative include Adobe, Alphabet, Amazon Web Services, IBM Infrastructure, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and the Office of the California Governor Gavin Newsom. The EDU version provides additional privacy protections that are not offered in the paid version. That's according to James Frazy, the Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at San Diego State University. The user agreement states that, quote, OpenAI will not use any customer content, including, but not limited to, audio, video, text, screen sharing, attachments, customer input, or chat GPT output for training purposes. Monique Sense is the vice president for the Division of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer. She wrote, quote, neither Tico State nor the CSU will be actively monitoring user interactions or conversations within ChatGPT. However, like with other technologies such as email that the university provides, the university can access detailed use data, which can be accessed under specific circumstances, unquote. Such circumstances include complying with legal obligations, investigating violations of university policies or laws, and ensuring system security and integrity. Several union groups, such as California Faculty Association, have raised concerns about the possibility that job security would be negatively impacted by the initiative. Actually Geb is currently acting as Chico State's interim chief of staff and the executive director of university communications. Now, the Office of the President is recommending she assumes the role of Chief of Staff permanently. The Office of the President sent an email to the campus community for an intent to hire on November the 6th. Geb said the duality between both her positions worked well to strengthen her insight into the university. She said, quote, university communications has been my heart on this campus, and communications is integral to the work of this role as chief of staff. There's natural synergy between the two, end quote. In her time as interim chief of staff, Geb has advanced President Steve Perez's ideas, such as the community agreements toward respect, empathy, and integrity, and budget transparency. The anticipated start date is December the 1st, according to the email. Chico State women's soccer team played in the C CAA Tournament Championship game Sunday, falling 1-0 against Cal Poly Humboldt. Despite the loss, the Wildcats had a well-fought match. They recorded 14 shots, three shots on goal, and nine corner kits. Freshman goalkeeper Kennedy Bristeño tailed six staves in the effort. With the loss, the Cats now have an agonizing await ahead of them. The NCAA tournament selection show takes place November the 17th at 3:30 in the afternoon. The champions of each conference get an automatic bid into the tournament. The Cats' impressive season keeps them in contention for one of the 56 team selections, which would allow them to continue their season at the Division II tournament in Colorado Springs, Colorado. If they are not chosen for the regionals, the Cats season and the career of head coach Kim Sutton will officially come to an end. Throughout her 25-year career at Chico State, Sutton has a 226 to 146-76 record, solidifying her place as the winningest head coach in Chico State woman's soccer history. Despite narrowly missing a perfect ending to her career, Sutton has done a remarkable job at the helm of the Cats program. This year she earned her fourth C CAA Coach of the Year Award. The end of the season will also mark the end of the college careers of the Cats' seven seniors: Peyton Johnson, Alexia Chavez, Gianna Martin, Hannah Pierry, Taylor McMahon, Jordan Braille, and Claire Barris. This week's contributing reporters include Raquel Friedrich, Chris Hutton, and Ayana Curry. These stories and much more can be found at theOrion.com. My name's Kepler, signing off.

SPEAKER_05 13:59

This is Sunny for Chico Soul. Kyle Wilson of Sonoma County joined Audrey Denny of Chico and Mike McGuire of Healdsburg in the District 1 race for Congress ahead of the Democratic primary next spring. Denny is well known in Bute County. She teaches at Chico State, and in the past, she led Chico's Democratic Action Club and campaigned twice against Republican incumbent Doug Lamalfa. In those campaigns, Denny says she coordinated a powerful grassroots effort, fueled by many volunteers and donors, coming closer than anyone else to flipping Lamalfa's seat. McGuire is a career politician and the California State Senate president pro tempore. He boasted raising more than$150,000 on the first day of his campaign for Congress. The Santa Rosa press Democrat called Wilson, quote, a long-shot candidate. But the 33-year-old labor lawyer says he was galvanized by recent wins from young progressive candidates nationwide. Wilson has a career in defending workers and says he will support small farmers and business people in Congress. Like Denny, he also will rely on volunteers and small donors during his campaign. But after Proposition 50 passed in this month's election, the redrawn district will stretch from Santa Rosa through Chico and Paradise to the Nevada border, excluding some northeastern counties bordering Oregon. The new District 1 is expected to have a Democratic voter majority. In other news, Butte County residents stepped up to help many of the 42,000 county residents who rely on CalFresh benefits. CalFresh is California's name for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps. Benefits were paused during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The shutdown officially ended on November 13th, but not before Butte County residents faced confusion and uncertainty when payments were delayed. Those delays strained households, left more families in need this month, and hit unhoused residents particularly hard. Unhoused residents rely on CalFresh to buy ready-to-eat items like sandwiches and salads because they do not have the means to store food. The CalFresh delay affected not only the people who rely on the benefits, but also local grocery stores, store workers, delivery drivers, and ultimately the entire community. District 3 supervisor Tammy Ritter explained that SNAP benefits represent$8 million monthly to Butte County. Quote, that's$8 million that's not going back into our community. And so we anticipated that that's going to mean that the cost of groceries is going to go up. Meanwhile, demand at Faith Tabernacle Church and their food distribution program surged 50% above normal in mid-November, with about 150 people seeking help. Their patrons are generally disabled, unhoused, unemployed, or low income. Nick Henderson leads the church's monthly emergency food assistance program. Henderson said, quote, What I've seen is that when you go a long time without food, and then all of a sudden you get the means to receive food, you end up using it up faster simply because you've gone without. This food distribution is a great help for them. That's why they came, even though they've received some of their benefits. The church had emptied out its supply because, quote, we know that people are having a hard time right now financially in this holiday time. Timothy Hopkins is the CEO of Community Action Agency of Butte County, which runs North State Food Bank. Hawkins told Chico Soul that the food bank was doubling distribution for all the public-facing food pantries it partners with this month, saying, quote, our biggest challenge is getting food to everyone that needs it. And having enough volunteers to run the program is another challenge. Hawkins said that there are only four people running the North State Food Bank, which serves 15,000 people in any given month. With added demand, it was, quote, going to take quite a few more volunteers. Hawkins mentioned the 530 Food Rescue Coalition, an app-based food rescue program in Butte County that connects volunteers with surplus food from retailers and delivers it to local nonprofits. He recommended downloading the app to volunteer, donate, or receive food. That's 530 Food Rescue Coalition. Hawkins also urged Butte County residents to, quote, set their political ideologies aside and focus on helping their neighbors because hunger doesn't know political stripes. Links to food pantries and distribution sites can be found at ChicoSoul.org for those in need of food in Chico. Please also consult these resources to donate food items and register to volunteer. That's Chico Sol.org. Under the byline, Butte County residents come to the aid of hungry people. Safe Space opens to unhoused people from noon to 4 p.m. every weekday, providing food, clothing, and a place to charge phones. A link to the calendar for upcoming food distributions by North State Food Bank and its partners can also be found at ChicoSoul.org under the byline Butte County Residents Come to the Aid of Hungry People. Again, that's Chico SOL.org. There will be a drive-thru food drive on December 14th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. At 196th Memorial Drive in Chico. Again, the drive-thru food drive will take place on December 14th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. At 196th, Memorial Drive in Chico. This has been sunny for Chico Soul. Follow the latest at ChicoSoul dot org. That's Chico SOL.

SPEAKER_04 21:46

This is David Foos reporting for Zephyr News. I'm at Chico State with men's basketball coach Kevin Metter. Hello.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

Hey, how's it going, David? Thank you for coming here and interviewing me.

SPEAKER_04 21:57

Yeah, I wanted to ask you. Last year you took over for longtime coach Greg Clink on very short notice, just a few days before the season. Your season started slowly. Then you went on a 13-game win streak. That's a program record. That's something Coach Clink didn't do and and Puck Smith didn't do. You ended up uh really successful in the NCAA West region, and then all your most experienced players transferred out, uh going to Division I. So uh my question is, how do you manage to rebuild a team under those circumstances?

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Yeah, well, I think one thing that helped lead to our success, David, was uh mo the entire fall I was kind of coaching the team because we were hoping that, you know, or under the impression that you know we thought Clink had a really good chance of being the athletic director. And so if that was the case, Greg wanted to make sure that the team was left in a good spot. So even though I was announced four days before our first game, uh I had been the one kind of coaching the team, and so there was a lot of familiarity there. Now, once everything happened and coach decided to uh retire and pursue different things, which he's he's really excited about, a new opportunity. Um excited for him. You know, I think there was some part of the team that was obviously a little worried. Um, but I wanted to make a point, especially being the interim, that I wanted to uh be myself. And so I thought that really helped me. I wasn't trying to be Greg. We were doing a lot of the same things that we did in terms of basketball, but the way I was gonna go about it, my personality, I was gonna do it my way and and and be myself. And I think that authenticity helped um calm the guys down. And obviously, like I had 10 returners, so we had a lot of familiarity. I spent a lot of time with those guys in the gym and recruiting, so uh it was a really good job. And you know, it led us to a 13-game winning streak and having the most wins in conference history, so that was great, and it was a great group of guys, and then it, you know, this is the new normal, like everybody talks about the roster. Turnover is going to happen. That is just the way it's gonna work from now on, um, with the new landscape and the new rules. Our we had four kids get great opportunities to go to really good Division I programs with really good coaches, really good programs, great facilities. So I can't blame them for that. And they also did a phenomenal job in terms of helping us replace them. You know, I mean, the thing about it, most of our kids are from Northern California that we recruit. They're all from Northern California, so they all know each other. And so they did a great job um speaking highly about myself and our program and our coaching staff so that players would want to come here and commit. So I'm I'm really excited about this new group of guys. We have nine new players, four high school kids, five transfers, and it's been a really fun group so far, which leads me to being really excited about this year.

SPEAKER_04 24:41

And they look uh you look like you have a taller and a deeper team this year, despite losing all those players.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Yeah, I mean, I think last year we were we had really good depth in terms of I think our five starters were probably the you know, some of the best maybe the best starting five on the West region in terms of just talent and and how they play together. And then we had really good backups with Isaiah Brewington, Ned Joyce, Max Walters, you know, those guys were just nails. And um so yeah, this year I think we we try to get I I didn't want to I want to be physically strong, so we have some really wide bodies, you know. I would call us beefy. I think we're not necessarily the tallest team, but we're beefy, we're wide, we're hard to move, um, we've got a good level of skill, a lot of guys that can pass shoot and dribble, which I like, um, and team with a good IQ.

SPEAKER_04 25:24

Very good. I wanted to ask you about your first weekend. I don't I think it was pretty exciting and uh things didn't happen quite the way you planned.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

Yeah, um, you know, I I I've never had a rain out in a basketball game. I didn't know those existed.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

Um for those listening, the uh game of Pomona was uh canceled to a leaky roof.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

A leaky roof. So our Friday game was canceled. I thought our guys did a great job responding, and we moved our site, game site, to a Seattle Pacific. We were planning on playing APU the first day, so then we had to switch course and play SPU, um, and which is a they're a really good offensive team, well coached. And so I thought our guys did a great job in terms of handling the adversity. Obviously, we were fired up to play our first game. That gets canceled. We had to reboot, um, and we found a way. We were down 12. Shots weren't really going our way. Our defense wasn't great. The first half we gave up 40 points, and at halftime I said, look, if we give up 80 points, like we're not gonna win a lot of games. We have to defend. And we came out and held them to 22 points in the second half, found a way. Um every guy made plays throughout that game. So I was really encouraged by the way we handled the adversity. We stuck together as a team, and we just found a way, which I think proves uh what what we can do moving forward.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

So you you significantly down, you're down double figures in the second half, it's not looking good. You come roaring back, win by 10 points in overtime, and and one of your players, Red Taylor, had a 15-point overtime. Yeah. I was gonna ask you what what it's like during a timeout when you're down double digits in the second half and it's not looking good. How how did everybody respond?

SPEAKER_02 27:00

Well, I think part of it in terms of being the leader is you know, you gotta be calm. And so I made a point to try to be very calm with the guys, let them know, and give them give them things that they can do to get us out of it. So part of it was like defensively, I'm like, hey, we're not, we're not, we we call it deep holes. So when the ball's on a wing, we need to have the opposite wing protecting the basket. So giving them physical things that we can focus on. Hey, shots aren't going in. What can we do? Go rebound. Um, so we just keep keep being patient and not get too high, not get too low. Game basketball's a game of runs. Luckily, we had our run late, and then we had another one with Cortavius Fred Taylor. He had his own run. Um, and we defended really well. I mean, we gave up 31 points in the second half if you count the the second half plus overtime, which if you can hold 31 teams to 31 points uh in a half, and then you on top of an extra five-minute overtime period, that's really good. Um, so that was really promising how we how we came out and responded in the second half.

SPEAKER_04 27:58

And your next game's at Central Washington.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Yes, we play this Friday at Central Washington, Ellensburg. Um it's their first home game of the year. They've already played five games because they played in a preseason tip-off classic, and so they're ready to go. They beat us in the Ms. Way tournament last year. They're the GNAC conference team of the year. They were projected to be number one team. Um, they're a top 25 preseason team. The reason why we scheduled this thing was to go give our give ourselves a really early season test. It's gonna be a great environment. Their fans really support Ellensburg's a little bit like Chico, I think. It's college town. The football team's gonna be there. I mean, it's gonna be a big time atmosphere and a great opportunity for our team. And uh folks can watch that by video and check the uh Yes. Go to the Chico State Athletics, go to men's basketball, click schedule, and there should be a link right there. Yeah. Thank you, David.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Zephyr News is produced by Trevor Parks, Lorenz Weasel, and KZFR Volunteers. Listeners may send tips for stories to news at kzfr.org or by using the submit a story icon on kcfr.org. This program is made possible by the financial support of listeners like you. You can support KZFR's journalistic endeavors by visiting kzfr.org slash donate. Subscribe to Zephyr News on your favorite podcast platform and share your thoughts on social media. Thank you for tuning in. We'll be back next week.