Remote Surveillance Trailer in Redding, CA

Another national retailer is closing in Redding.

Joann Fabrics and Crafts has announced it is closing 500 of its 800 locations across the country, and the store on Dana Drive across the street from Target is among those scheduled to be shuttered.

The fabrics and crafts store opened on Dana Drive inside the former Circuit City building in 2013 after relocating from Hartnell Avenue. Circuit City closed in Redding in 2009 after the electronics retailer declared bankruptcy.

News of Joann Fabrics closing hundreds of locations comes in the wake of the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time.

The Redding store is one of 60 in California that will close, according to the company's restructuring website. Stores in Chico, Eureka, Sacramento, Woodland, Vacaville, and Yuba City also are on the chopping block.

Meanwhile, stores in Grants Pass, Klamath Falls and North Bend are among the 14 locations in Oregon closing.

The company did not say when the stores will close.

A store employee in Redding directed questions to the company.

Joann Fabrics spokeswoman Amanda Hayes did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

In a statement to USA TODAY, the company said: "This was a very difficult decision to make, given the major impact we know it will have on our Team Members, our customers and all of the communities we serve. A careful analysis of store performance and future strategic fit for the Company determined which stores should remain operating as usual at this time."

The 28,000-square-foot store on Dana Drive will join a growing list of empty retail space in Redding.

Last spring, 99 Cents Only on Hilltop Drive closed after 21 years in Redding. In that same shopping center, Big Lots is expected to close after the company agreed to a sale of its assets to Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC that allowed Variety Wholesalers to acquire between 200 and 400 Big Lots stores. Redding is not among the locations that will be saved.

The old Barnes & Noble and OfficeMax building on Churn Creek Road is still empty.

And the old Raley’s supermarket on Hartnell Avenue has been vacant for more than a decade.

But new retail is popping up in south Redding with the buildout of the Churn Creek Marketplace and River Crossing Marketplace shopping centers, the former anchored by Save Mart, the latter by Costco.

There also is a new shopping center being built on the old Costco Property on Dana Drive. River Bend Commons will feature At Home, Raising Cane's and Starbucks.

David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly "Buzz on the Street" column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.

The proposed health center will offer Chinese and traditional medicine, along with spa services and care from primary care and certain medical specialists.

Redding Record Searchlight

The Redding Rancheria intends for its upcoming $232 million Tribal Health Village in Shasta County to be a place where people can see their cardiologist or dermatologist, get an accupuncture treatment, learn to cook healthy meals, work out in the pool or treat themselves to a spa day.

The 185,000-square-foot complex is expected to break ground in March and could open in about two years, said Glen Hayward, executive director of Redding Rancheria Tribal Health Systems.

At its meeting on Feb. 4, the Redding City Council approved permitting Redding Electric Utility to extend its services to the planned Health Village complex, as the city now does for the nearby Redding Rancheria-owned Winn-River Resort & Casino.

Distinguishing the Redding Rancheria's Tribal Health Village will be its 95,000-square-foot spa, which will offer massages, facials and Botox treatments as well as intravenous therapies of vitamins or IV fluids.

"In general it doesn't matter what you're doing, when you can make a person feel better about themselves... they tend to do better. They're more likely to come to the doctor. They're more likely to work out," said Hayward.

The proposed center will offer traditional and Chinese medicine, Hayward said, blended with a wellness component. The complex will start off with 11 primary care providers and 7 medical specialists, with plans to add more health care staff over time.

"It's taking all these approaches to health care that really encompass taking care of the whole body of the person," Hayward said, adding that "We're just trying to meet the needs of the next 60 years for our tribe" and others in the community.

A total of 22,000 patients belong to the Redding Rancheria health system, which includes people covered by Medicare, Medicaid and the Partnership HealthPlan of California.

Native Americans can join the health system regardless of their insurance coverage and about 40% of Tribal Health patients are Native American, said Hayward. Non-Native Americans must be medically "underserved" to be eligible to join Tribal Health, he said.

Where some patients will move

Initially, the 8,000 patients now being seen at the Redding Rancheria Tribal Health Center's main campus on Liberty Street will be transferred to the Health Village, said Hayward.

The Rancheria-owned Churn Creek Healthcare center, now operating at 3184 Churn Creek Road, will move into the 33,000-square-foot location on Liberty Street.

More doctors will be hired at the Churn Creek Road location to care for patients covered by Medicaid, the government health program for low-income and some disabled people, as well as people belonging to Partnership HealthPlan of California. The Churn Creek complex also contains a dental office and drug and alcohol recovery service located in a building that shares a parking lot with the health center.

After the new Health Village opens, total employment in the system will increase to 265, up from 200 now. The tribe's health system includes five locations in Shasta County and one in Trinity County.

"Proactive" approach for health care

Hayward said the way medicine is delivered now, practitioners tend to step in after someone gets sick.

At the Health Village, he said, "We're taking more of a proactive approach," with a demonstration kitchen where dieticians will lead families in an interactive teaching "cook along" where they'll learn to prepare healthy meals. There will also be an organic garden on site where patients can get fresh vegetables.

It will be the first tribally-owned health center in the country to offer such a wide array of treatments. It will also be the largest tribal health center in California, in terms of square footage, said Hayward.

Michele Chandler covers public safety, dining and whatever else comes up for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Accepts story tips at 530-338-7753 and at mrchandler@gannett.com. Please support our entire newsroom's commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area rangers are cautioning anglers and boaters to clean their equipment and crafts (small and large) before taking them to Whiskeytown Lake and other Shasta County waters.

They and California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials are trying to stop golden mussels from invading North State waters after the animals first arrived for the first time in Northern California last October. The tiny fresh and brackish water mollusk could spell big trouble for California reservoirs, clogging pipes, they said; and could potentially devastate Whiskeytown Lake’s other freshwater bodies’ ecosystems.

The state recently began to require inspections of boats at Folsom Lake and Lake Clementine in the Sacramento area to stop the invasive species from spreading.

Whiskeytown biologists are working with the CDFW to monitor the lake for golden and other mussels (quagga and zebra), according to park spokesperson Scott Einberger. But they need park visitors’ help.

The park is stationing staff at boat ramps to ask anglers, kayakers and other watercraft users if they washed and drained their equipment before they came to the park. It’s the best way park visitors can “avoid spreading invasive species between water bodies,” Einberger reported.

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Similar in oblong shape to invasive quagga and zebra mussels, golden mussels are usually yellow or brown. They reach 1.5 inches or smaller lengths. While tiny, they attach themselves to surfaces where they “grow in dense … colonies containing as many as 80,000 to 200,000 organisms per square meter,” the CDFW said.

Here’s where golden mussels are invading California, the kind of damage they’ve inflicted elsewhere and what people can do to help protect Whiskeytown, Lake Shasta and other waters.

Mussels clog water pipes, infrastructure and damage local economy

If they make it into Shasta County lakes, golden mussels could potentially damage Redding’s and other towns’ infrastructures, lake ecosystems and local recreation business, the CDFW cautioned.

Mussels can affix themselves and grow on the interiors of water pipes, clogging water flows. That can in turn “impede distribution of municipal water supplies, agricultural irrigation and power plant operation,” the CDFW said.

Golden mussels and other filter feeders can also hurt local ecosystems and recreational businesses dependent on them. They “consume large quantities of the microscopic plants and animals that other species depend on … displacing native species and sport fish.” They also encrust docks and beaches, and get into steering components in boats, jet skis (not allowed at Whiskeytown) and other watercraft, the CDFW reported.

Whiskeytown biologists said they aren’t sure how fast the prolific mussels can sabotage a California lake because they’re so new to the state, Einberger said. However, mussels “caused significant damage in Argentina and Brazil” since they arrived in those countries in the 1990s.

What boaters can do to prevent spread of golden mussels

Whiskeytown is asking people who play at the park to follow the state's “clean, drain and dry" practices whenever they move fishing equipment, kayaks and other boats out of one water body, and before they put it into another.

Before boaters and kayakers leave a beach, dock or other area next to water:

Anglers should dispose of unwanted bait, worms and fish parts. If you keep live bait, drain the container and refill it with spring or dechlorinated tap water. “Never dump live fish or other organisms from one water body into another,” the CDFW said.

How golden mussels got into Northern California

Golden mussels likely entered the golden state on hulls or in ships traveling to Pacific Coast marinas from the animal’s native Asia. They likely got sucked on board ships that use seawater for ballast, according to the CDFW.

The species first showed up on Oct. 17, 2024, near Stockton at Rough and Ready Island, the state reported. Its population is erupting in the San Joaquin Valley between Concord and Stockton. Golden mussels also showed up south of that area last autumn in the O'Neill Forebay in Merced County, east of Santa Cruz; and in the San Luis Reservoir in February.

Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.

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How gas prices have changed in Redding in the last week

Gasoline prices have increased by just a few cents compared to this time last month, but the cost to fill up the tank has declined by nearly 40 cents per gallon since last year. The national average fuel price is about $3.16, with Lubbock, Texas, seeing the cheapest metro-area prices at $2.62 and Lihue, Hawaii, with the most expensive at $5.12.

After a monthlong pause on tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, the Trump administration proceeded at the beginning of March to impose 25% tariffs on the two neighboring nations, including a limited 10% tariff on Canadian energy. However, on March 6, the president announced a pause on tariffs until April 2.

GasBuddy projects states in the Northeast could see the most significant spike in fuel prices as a result of potential tariffs, possibly by 20 to 40 cents per gallon, as this region relies heavily on Canada's New Brunswick refinery.

Meanwhile, by April, gas prices may decrease as a result of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' plans to boost crude production. This increased output, however, is just one of several factors influencing prices in the month ahead.

"While OPEC has signaled its intent to stabilize the market, policy decisions from the White House could introduce further uncertainty, making it difficult to predict where prices will head next," GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said in a statement this month. "However, nearly every year sees a seasonal spring increase, which could eventually push prices higher ahead of summer."

Stacker compiled statistics on gas prices in Redding, CA metro area using data from AAA. Gas prices are current as of March 27.

Redding by the numbers- Gas current price: $4.54--- California average: $4.67- Week change: -$0.03 (-0.7%)- Year change: -$0.29 (-6.0%)- Historical expensive gas price: $6.43 (6/16/22)

- Diesel current price: $4.83- Week change: -$0.03 (-0.7%)- Year change: -$0.28 (-5.5%)- Historical expensive diesel price: $7.06 (6/16/22)

Metros with the most expensive gas#1. Lihue (Kauai), HI: $5.12#2. Santa Rosa, CA: $4.92#3. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA: $4.90

Metros with the least expensive gas#1. Lubbock, TX: $2.62#2. Laredo, TX: $2.64#3. Gadsden, AL: $2.65

This story features writing by Tim Bruns and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 371 metros.

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