As 2021 comes to a close, our Ask the Record Searchlight live chat team is taking a break from hosting the chat in real time.

Ask the Record Searchlight returns in January, along with new features. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, the newsroom decided to spotlight your coolest Ask the R-S live chat questions from throughout the year right here.

Ask the R-S is a newsroom-wide initiative to connect with you, our readers. If you wondered about something happening around town or want to know more about a North State issue, please send us your questions. 

Find out how to Ask the Record Searchlight at the bottom of this story. Thanks for making our 2021 amazing. Wishing everyone all the best in 2022.

Q. A family member informed me about a new California law coming Jan. 1 that will require households and businesses to put food scraps into green bins instead of into the trash. San Diego is giving people small green bins for their kitchens to collect food scraps that then are transferred to the green bins and collected. What plans does Redding have to support this law?

A. Redding officials said plans are underway to start collecting food scraps from households and businesses in January 2022, when provisions of Senate Bill 1383 activate. 

Why care about garbage? Rubbish including food scraps and yard trimmings comprise half of what ends up in California's landfills, according to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle).  

That so-called organic waste shipped off to landfills to rot ends up emitting an estimated 20% of the state’s methane, "a climate super-pollutant that is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide," according to CalRecycle's website.

That's where Redding's program comes in.

The new law will mean changes for consumers ranging from individual households and restaurants to big grocery store chains. Supermarkets are especially of interest, said Public Works Supervisor Mike Deedon, as they are major generators of food waste, including spoiled vegetables.

Under the effort, household organic waste — including onions gone nasty or a mushy head of lettuce — would be placed in a city-provided sealable receptacle that would be collected, with the contents eventually being processed into compost, Deedon said.  

Read more: When it comes to recycling, you may be doing it wrong

The new law also calls for surplus, unopened food from groceries that remains good and edible to be rescued and directed "to avenues where it could be used in a safe fashion" instead of heading to the compost heap, Deedon said.

For now, to explore the possibilities and needed equipment, there's a pilot project involving a single Redding restaurant that is collecting diners' plate scraps and sending them to the city for composting. The test, which started in April at the Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant, was to continue through the end of the summer, Deedon said. 

Q. I recently went down to launch my kayaks on the Sacramento River along Park Marina Drive and noticed new private property signs and locked gates at the boat ramp and where people commonly feed the ducks. What is going on?

A. Overseers of the property said vandalism helped prompt the new private property signs and locked gate.

Both the boat ramp and the area next to the ramp are private property, said Cameron Middleton, the realtor who handles the land situated along the Sacramento River for its owners, the Kutras family.

The McConnell Foundation had held the leases on a wide swath around the Park Marina Drive property, including the park across the street, until earlier this year. That's when the nonprofit's lease expired and control of the land reverted to its original owners, the Kutras family. They've owned that property, and others nearby, since the Great Depression.

The family's land along the Sacramento River now contains a shuttered Budgetel River Inn motel and adjoining restaurant, a golf driving range, an 86-space mobile home park, a few low-rise office buildings and a circular office-retail complex.

Some see big potential for the area.

Right now, the city of Redding is working on a development plan for the Park Marina Drive roadway. What comes out of that will directly affect future land use plans for the surrounding area.

More: Six takeaways from Park Marina Drive going on a 'road diet'

But let's turn the discussion back to those signs, gates and locks.

Some of the "public use down there was interfering with the tenants and their businesses at and near the ramp," said Middleton, who said he didn't want to get into the details, but noted there were issues with vandalism, noise and fire and insurance concerns.  "As it came to our attention, we had to address the issue," he said.

Middleton, who is also vice chair of the Redding Planning Commission, said that as a result of all that, "at least for the time being, we have gated off the private boat ramp. It will be accessed (only) by those tenants and leaseholders."

The future could include new projects, new development, new businesses and an  enhanced waterfront, Middleton said: "We're looking at a lot of options right now to try and do that."

A. The cost to fill up at the pump has dramatically increased from a year ago, and it's a scenario that is playing out across the country and in California, which at $4.387 has the highest average in the nation for regular unleaded, according to AAA.

Prices are on the rise because demand is way up from last summer, when the pandemic kept many off the roads, dampening the demand for oil, which affects the cost of gas.

“What’s driving it? I would just say it’s COVID induced. … Without COVID, we certainly wouldn’t be here. You could certainly make an argument that it’s politics. But it’s not politics,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for Gas Buddy.

So, here’s where we are.

As of Aug. 3, the average cost for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in greater Redding, or Shasta County, was $4.392.

Here's a breakdown of average gas prices for some other areas of the state:

The average cost of gas in Redding a year ago was $3.184.

But the roads were significantly less crowded, which meant fewer people were pulling up to the pump to fill their tanks. 

For example, travel during the Fourth of July holiday this year was 40% higher than a year ago, according to AAA.

“It didn’t set a record, but the only year that AAA’s holiday travel forecast was a higher amount was in 2019, right before the pandemic,” AAA’s Sergio Avila said.

“When you think where we were last year, a lot of things were shut down, people working from home. … The demand for gas just wasn’t there,” he added.

To put it another way, “the demand came roaring back as the vaccine allowed the economy to reopen and Americans hit the road,” De Haan of Gas Buddy said.

What’s more, when demand for gasoline was down, oil production dropped, and oil supply is still playing catch-up and not expected to reach pre-COVID levels until next year.

De Haan said similar economics are playing out in the housing market right now as the number of houses on the market are way down, so the cost to buy a house is up.

The good news is gas prices could start to level off. Still, don’t expect a precipitous drop.

“We could be facing another year or two of what I consider elevated prices because of what I consider these COVID imbalances (on supply and demand) to persist for quite some time,” De Haan said.

By the way, the record average price in Shasta County is $4.62 in June 2008.

Q: What is happening with the new Bethel campus that should have started construction two or three years ago?

A: It will be at least another five years before Bethel Church begins moving to its $96 million new campus off Collyer Drive in east Redding, administrator Charlie Harper told Record Searchlight business reporter David Benda in late February.

Harper, a member of the church’s senior leadership team, said the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry will continue to lease space for classes at the Redding Civic Auditorium for at least another seven years. The school will eventually relocate to the new campus, to be located on Collyer Drive and Twin Tower Drive, east of Churn Creek Road on the north side of Highway 299.

Last week, Bethel spokesman Aaron Tesauro said via email the pandemic led to the megachurch's decision to slow down work on the new campus.

"We chose to delay the site work during the pandemic to ensure that our energy was focused on serving the immediate needs of our church family and local community," Tesauro wrote. 

The 171,708-square-foot campus will be built in phases and include 1,851 parking spaces and 300 bike racks. There will be a one-story worship center that seats 2,600 people and a two-story building for the School of Supernatural Ministry with classroom space for up to 3,000 students.

Q: Why must I pay $20 for a ticket to see the Garden of Lights exhibit? The Redding City Council voted to divert $250,000 in transient occupancy tax revenue in each of the attraction’s first two years.

A: Turtle Bay spokesman Seth McGaha said the money has gone toward startup costs and other “infrastructure” to create the Garden of Lights. For example, Turtle Bay had to bring electricity into the park’s botanical gardens to light up the attraction.

Under the agreement, the city earmarked $500,000 in hotel taxes to help pay for the $800,000 attraction. The council voted to redirect $250,000 in fiscal year 2020-21 and 2021-22 to the Garden of Lights.

McGaha said Turtle Bay has been working toward becoming a self-sustaining entity since the city of Redding stopped subsidizing the park years ago, and the Garden of Lights is helping the park do that. The park was getting approximately $800,000 a year from the city, he said.

“Turtle Bay is a private nonprofit that charges admission into its museum and at all the fundraising events, and funding from the city was not intended to go toward the cost of admission (to the Garden of Lights).

"I know there is a lot of questions about the finances about the Garden of Lights. What I can say is it takes a tremendous amount of expenses," McGaha said, adding that ticket prices were determined by Turtle Bay's board of trustees after researching admission costs at other light shows throughout the country.

Giving the council a 2020 Garden of Lights recap last March, then Turtle Bay board chairman Randall Hempling said: “Our intent is never to come back and ask for anything,” when asked about the possibility of any future revenue requests to the city.

The Garden of Lights also received $35,000 from the Redding Chamber of Commerce’s City Identity Project. That money paid for the design work, which was done by Fromme Design. The Florida-based landscaping firm has worked with the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Balboa Park and the Oakland City Zoo.

“We are thrilled with the success of the Garden of Lights and very proud to have played a part in the creation of that community experience,” Redding Chamber of Commerce President Jake Mangas said.

And it has been a success.

The attraction brought in $1.04 million in revenue from sales of admission tickets and gift shop items last year. Hempling told the council in March that 76,700 tickets were sold in 2020.

This year, the Garden of Lights has sold 43,000 tickets since they went on sale Sept. 1, McGaha said. He added that the goal is to sell 75,000 tickets this year. Approximately 6,000 people came to the light show during its first weekend.

The Garden of Lights runs through Dec. 31. It is open Wednesdays through Sundays, closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and Christmas Day.

For ticket prices and availability, go to www.reddinggardenoflights.org.

Q. In June there was a fatal motorcycle accident on East Cypress Avenue that involved a rented truck full of catalytic converters. Since then I have read that thefts of catalytic converters are on the rise. What happened with that investigation?

A. In the accident on June 24, police said a man riding a motorcycle westbound on East Cypress Avenue near Bechelli Lane was killed after he started to pass a Penske delivery truck as the truck made a left turn into the Redding Subaru dealership parking lot. The 66-year-old motorcyclist died after he hit the driver's side of the truck, police said.

No arrests were expected to be made in the crash. But police said the truck's cargo — more than 900 catalytic converters — aroused suspicion.

All over the West Coast, "crooks go for the precious metal inside the catalytic converter. It's mind-boggling how much they can get for recycling it," said Redding Police Sgt. Rob Garnero.

An investigation found the owners of the auto parts had legitimate receipts from multiple sellers in Oregon and were going on to Nevada, said Garnero. 

More: Here's why these expensive car parts are being stolen in the North State

"Whether or not they were stolen and sold, we were not able to tell. We had to release those because we had no evidence that (the parts) were stolen or that the people stole them," he said.

"We're not going to drive up to Oregon to investigate a catalytic converter case. They're apparently legitimate sales and we can't prove that these things were stolen," he said.

More: Redding motorcyclist dies after East Cypress Avenue crash: police report

As far as determining as far as where the auto parts came from, said Garnero, "chasing down the chain of custody ... where they came from — that is nearly impossible to do in a case like this."

That's because catalytic converters aren't etched with serial numbers indicating who owns them. Often car owners don't bother to report the parts have been stolen, either. Garnero said they're likely not sure the police can figure out who did it because stealing the items takes all of 30 seconds. And perpetrators strike at night, cover their faces and leave no fingerprints, Garnero said.

What is certain: thieves target hotel and apartment parking lots. And they favor newer cars as well as hybrids because the metals in the catalytic converter on those vehicles are less tarnished and therefore more valuable, he said.

But if victims reported the crimes, there might be a glimpse of the getaway car or its license plate. 

In the meantime, he said, car owners can help protect against catalytic converter thefts by parking inside a garage, in well-lit areas or getting a catalytic converter lock.

Q: What is the status of the IASCO flight training school? Are COVID-19 restrictions causing an interruption for Chinese students? 

A: Statewide COVID-19 restrictions that started in March 2020 “had a very significant impact on us,” said Conrad Wurschmidt, director of operations at the IASCO Flight School, located in south Redding.

Before the pandemic, IASCO was drawing about 90% of its students from China. “We have had zero international enrollment since COVID hit,” he said, with their last group of trainees arriving in December 2019.

Staffing has been cut to three instructors, down from between 15 to 30 instructors when the school was training up to 100 pilots a year, said Wurschmidt.

In the spring of 2020, about 20 Chinese students left IASCO's program and returned to China, said Wurschmidt.

The remaining 20 Chinese students, who were closer to graduating, completed their training and returned home at the end of last year, he said.

As COVID-19 began to spread from Wuhan, China, around the world, the U.S. imposed a travel ban in January 2020 to prevent students from China from entering the U.S. 

The COVID-19 travel restrictions for Chinese students were lifted in April. However, Wurschmidt said that  "the demand has not spiked ... The number of students is still pretty low."

While hopeful that IASCO’s contracts with Chinese airlines to train pilots will resume in 2022, “as of now it’s all preliminary,” he said.

Even as passenger numbers shrank before vaccines became available, the U.S. government deemed airlines to be critical infrastructure, enabling them to continue operating. But the school also gave up its second facility in a business park across from Redding Municipal Airport. It now has only one office, located on the airport's property.

During the pandemic, the flight school increased its focus on attracting students from the North State and now has about 25 students who are training to be charter pilots or become certified to fly commercial aircraft.

“We’ve really been working to try to build up our student base locally — to shift our business toward that, during the time we can’t work with our international (airline) partners,” said Worschmidt. “That’s been able to at least keep us training and flying.”

More:Possible sale of Redding Rodeo arena, Civic Auditorium land being discussed

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Michele Chandler covers city government and housing issues for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Follow her on Twitter at @MChandler_RS, call her at 530-225-8344 or email her at michele.chandler@redding.com. Please support our entire newsroom's commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.