Forest workers held hostage, lettuce recall. Sacramento’s top stories for July 17

The Sacramento Bee reported on a hostage standoff in Northern California, a widening foodborne illness outbreak tied to a California produce giant and a costly county settlement over social media posts.

Here’s a quick look at the top stories from Friday:

• Two U.S. Forest Service employees were released unharmed after being held at gunpoint for hours in a trailer near Gumboot Lake in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Joseph Charles Henrichsen, 49, and his adult son were charged with kidnapping a federal employee after a standoff that stretched from late morning into the early hours of the next day.

• Salinas-based Taylor Fresh Foods is pulling shredded iceberg lettuce tied to a nationwide cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened more than 1,600 people. The FDA traced the contamination to a single independent Mexican farm that represents less than 1% of the U.S. iceberg lettuce supply, with Taco Bell locations in the Midwest among the primary points of exposure.

• El Dorado County paid former Public Health Director Jennifer Byrne $75,000 to resign, plus roughly $59,000 in administrative leave pay, in a settlement stemming from Instagram posts about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Byrne was placed on leave nine days after a resident complained about the posts, and she says the allegations against her were never proven.