Latest news with #ChicoStateUniversity
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Tehama County Museum Lecture
The Tehama County Museum will host its third lecture on Saturday, May 10 in its 2025 Lecture Series. The presentation will feature Steve Schoonover speaking on 'Before Ishi: The Life and Death of the Yahi,'. Schoonover will be speaking about his book by the same title, which he describes as an effort to unravel the history of the Yahi from the myths that have been woven around Ishi. The presentation will begin at 1 p.m. in the Marty Graffel Annex of the Museum at 275 C St., in the City of Tehama. The Museum will be staffed and open to the public from 1-4 p.m. Admission to both the museum and the presentation is free and donations will be greatly appreciated. Schoonover is a long-time Northern California newsman, spending about 40 years with the Chico Enterprise-Record. A resident of Chico since 1963 and a 1975 graduate of Chico State University. His book is an attempt to reconstruct the history of the Yahi Indians of Northern California, a history the author feels was mangled by a common infatuation with the myths surrounding Ishi, the 'last survivor of the tribe.' The focus on Ishi has allowed the Yahi's remarkable adaptation to a hostile environment to be ignored. The author also believes the facts of the destruction of the tribe have been replaced with yarns which have been widely accepted, even though in his view, they don't make any sense. For decades, Schoonover, aided by his wife and fellow reporter, Laura Urseny, have been in search of Ishi's heritage and the fate of his people, the Yahi. They 'backpacked in 1995 from the Sacramento Valley floor near Red Bluff to Childs Meadow, in a bid to replicate the Yahi annual migration.' Schoonover's dogged investigation of the historical record challenges claims made in books about Ishi, and paints a nuanced picture of gruesome violence against native populations in the mid-1800s in Butte, Tehama and Shasta counties. He attempts to burst the 'Ishi myth,' that he was starving, that he and the Yahi were part of the Mill Creek Indians, 'the last survivor of a tribe that had terrorized Northern California for years. The book focuses on the life of the Yahi and surrounding tribes, and the coming of white settlers. There will be opportunities to ask questions at the end of the presentation. The Tehama County Museum may be reached by phone at (530)384-2595, and by email at tcmuse@
CBS News
06-02-2025
- CBS News
Suspected arsonist admits guilt in historic Bidwell Mansion fire in Chico, officials say
CHICO – The man accused of arson in connection with a fire that destroyed the historic Bidwell Mansion in Chico in December has admitted his guilt, officials said Wednesday. Kevin Carlson, a 30-year-old from Chico, remains in jail without bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 5, the Butte County District Attorney's Office announced. Carlson faces up to 11 years in state prison. During the early morning hours of December 11, a Chico State University police dispatcher smelled smoke and saw through a surveillance camera that the 26-room Victorian home had caught fire, prosecutors said. By the time first responders arrived, Bidwell Mansion was fully involved in flames. Surveillance footage captured "a large burst of flames" on the building's north-facing wall shortly after 2 a.m. that day, prosecutors said. Within the following week, investigators determined there were "clear indicators of arson." What surveillance cameras also captured was a suspect running from the area of the burning building and walking through the surrounding neighborhood. Multiple cameras also captured a Toyota Highlander coming into the neighborhood shortly before the fire, and law enforcement officials zeroed in on locating that vehicle and its owner. Investigators eventually were able to track where the registered owner of the vehicle lived and identified the individual as Carlson. Following the fire, Carlson was seen on gas station surveillance footage purchasing water. The district attorney's office said Carlson was easily identifiable in that footage and was wearing the same clothing the suspect in the Bidwell Mansion footage was wearing after the fire had started. While tracing Carlosn's activities before the fire, investigators located surveillance footage of him purchasing a 5-gallon fuel can, duct tape, work gloves garbage cans and a lighter. Following Carlson's arrest on January 2, investigators also matched his GPS coordinates from his phone to the Bidwell Mansion area at the time of the fire, prosecutors said. It was also discovered that Carlson had switched his phone into airplane mode between 1::36 a.m. and 2:35 a.m., which is the timeframe for when the mansion had caught fire and when he would have arrived back at his home. The historic Bidwell Mansion was originally built in the 1860s and, at the time of the fire, was undergoing renovations that the California State Parks said were almost complete. A fundraiser to rebuild the mansion was created and announced in January. CBS Sacramento cannot guarantee that the money donated to fundraiser accounts will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering donating, you should consult your own advisers and proceed at your own risk.
