Cover Story
Under the Color of Authority
Adam Laird’s career ended in less than three seconds. You can watch it happen in real time in the grainy video footage captured by the dash-mounted camera of a Eureka Police Department patrol car. You can see the 14-year-old suspect splayed out on the street near the curb on California Street, his baggy white sweatshirt…
Going to the Ball
On Friday, Feb. 17, the Kate Buchanan Room got fierce when contestants and performers worked the runway at the Aqueerius Ball. Emcee Mantrikka Ho got the ball rolling with a history lesson about New York City ball culture and its signature form of expression, voguing. The evening, organized by the Humboldt State University Queer Student…
Music Tonight – Wednesday, Feb. 22
Merrick of The Miniplex informs me that Natalie Mering’s Weyes Blood is returning to Arcata backed by a full band supporting her fourth LP, Front Row Seat to Earth, which received some praise from the all-knowing hipsters at Pitchfork. Joining this 9 p.m. bill is Fatal Jamz out of Los Angeles and a DJ set…
Defense Attorneys Urge Supes to Scrap Public Defender Hire, Start Over
It’s very hard to say exactly what recently hired Public Defender David Marcus has been doing for the last five years since his controversial tenure leading Lassen County’s defense services for the indigent came to a close. The resume Marcus submitted to the county indicates that, since leaving Lassen County in 2012, he has worked…
Updated: Officials ID Woman Recovered From Humboldt Bay
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation in to the death of a 28-year-old woman whose body was recovered Sunday from Humboldt Bay. Community Service Officer Stacy Hanson today identified the woman as Richelle Anaya, of Samoa, and said an autopsy has been scheduled to determine a cause of death. Hanson said the…
HumBug: Season’s Greetings
Undaunted by the rain, I was out barbecuing a chicken a few nights ago when, attracted by my porch light, a moth buzzed me. I kept working but noted where it came to rest. Of course I had to investigate, and when I did I noted it was decorated with a lacy black pattern on…
Music Tonight – Sunday, Feb. 19
The 142-year-old Holy Trinity Church of Trinidad is having A World of Song Benefit Concert this afternoon to help raise funds to maintain its historic beingness. Former Humboldt State University music instructor Steve Berman — now living in Grants Pass — will be performing on a multitude of instruments such as the oud, hurdy-gurdy, balalaika,…
Bounce City Night
Is that leftover Valentine’s Day candy coursing through your kiddos’ veins? Take them to Bounce City Night on Wednesday, Feb. 22 from 5:30-8 p.m. at Four Square Faith Center (free) where they can to burn it off, eat pizza and go home ready for bed. Jump times: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. for pre-school and special…
Music Tonight – Saturday, Feb. 18
More Celtic tunes tonight at Cafe Mokka but this time with Whoops! at 8 p.m., free and all ages. There’s a local showcase of music over at The Miniplex in Richards’ Goat Tavern and Tea Room starting at 9 p.m. The email mentioned “three of the most obscure and totally unique groups in Humboldt, giving…
Ready for Primetime
Amid all the wagging cuteness and elegance on display at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show last week, a local pup turned some heads. More Than Ready, an Irish setter owned by Fortuna’s Tom and Anita Gage that came into the competition ranked 18th in the nation for owner handler dogs, took home a…
Music Tonight – Friday, Feb. 17
It’s the Third Friday Blues this evening at the Westhaven Center for the Arts at 7 p.m. with Jim Lahman, Dale Cash, Ron Perry and Bill Moehnke bringing the blues from the turn of the century to modern day. Sliding scale of $5-$10 for this one. Celtic band Good Company returns to Cafe Mokka tonight…
Pop, Rock and Roll
There are two types of people in the world: Those who think Revolver is the greatest album ever recorded. Period. And those who’d tattoo the track listings from Exile on Main St. on their forearms in true rock and roll fashion. You’re either in the Beatles’ or the Stones’ camp — even if you think…
Attack of the English Ivy
A number of conservation groups, government branches and a logging company petitioned for a ban of selling English Ivy in California. Over 20 organizations, including the Environmental Protection Information Center and Green Diamond Resource Co., led a petition to designate English Ivy as a noxious plant. Tom Wheeler, Executive Director of Environmental Protection Information Center,…
Music Tonight – Thursday, Feb. 16
Get your bluegrass on early with the Compost Mountain Boys, who are back at the Mad River Brewery Tap Room at 6 p.m. for free. Tributes are the name of the game this weekend with two such local acts hitting the stage at The Jam in Arcata around 9:30 p.m. I’m going to guess on…
One Billion Rising
Rise up and join others locally and around the globe in solidarity against violence and exploitation of women and children at One Billion Rising, Friday, Feb. 17, 1-3 p.m. on the Arcata Plaza (free). A mass choreographed dance happens at 1:30 p.m. Related Stories
Roll the Tapes. All of Them.
It really shouldn’t be this hard. This week’s cover story examining the prosecution of Adam Laird is the culmination of years of work. But that’s not to say the story took particularly long to write or even to research. No, instead, the more than two years of work invested in this story were spent fighting…
Lumpia
Lumpia has always brought a sort of nostalgic discomfort to me — more specifically, to my stomach. Lumpia is simply a fried egg roll filled with ground pork and vegetables. But after coming face-to-face with it at every family party and eating them a couple hundred times, lumpia made an inevitable departure from my diet.…
Sheep Dates
The chronology of sheep, aka sheep dates, starts around the same time as the great change from nomadic hunting and gathering to settled agriculture, around 10,000 years ago. Sheep were the first animals to be domesticated for meat, thus occupying a special place in the history of humankind. Archeological sites in modern-day Turkey, Iran and…
Bad, Bad Men
Reviews JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2. Sequels, by their very nature, tend to place the audience at an impasse of anticipation and expectation. We want more of the same, provided we enjoyed the first installment. But we are bound to be disappointed — besides the more ardent, perhaps less analytical fan-girls and boys among us —…
Gubernatorial Advice
Fresh off a report that legal recreational marijuana sales reached $1.3 billion in his state last year, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper dropped by Sacramento to advise California lawmakers on the state’s rollout of recreational regulation. Speaking before a Senate Governance and Finance Committee hearing chaired by North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire, Hickenlooper said he…
Balance in the Force
Beatles or Stones? It’s a silly question that’s at least 50 years old. My wife answered “The Beatles” without hesitating. Yet it’s one that haunts many of us music lovers who hold cherished spots for both in our hearts. Would modern music exist as anything even close to resembling itself had John and Paul never…
Passive Resistance
On Jan. 17 the Eureka City Council voted 4-1 in favor of a broad resolution “affirming human rights, inclusiveness, environmental sustainability, affordable healthcare and religious freedom.” One month later, the resolution sits unsigned by both the city’s mayor, Frank Jager, and its mayor pro-tem, Councilmember Marian Brady, in what appears to be a passive resistance…
The Lady Doth Persist
Emilie du Châtelet is an all but forgotten figure whose contributions to scientific knowledge brought together physics, philosophy and gender in a challenge that continues to resonate today. She met an untimely death in 1749 as a result of an accidental pregnancy before she was able to resolve the two most important questions she had…
HEAT
Satisfactions of silence, rocking to and fro in changeless heat. These are the dog days, but without dogs — smooth leaves shrivel and scallop, enduring the brilliance beyond chlorophyll, green more out of inertia than natural force. I rock with the rhythms of breathing, chestfuls of heat that will not wane, even if nothing drives…
Confirmation Bias
Editor: In his letter (“Mailbox,” Feb. 9), Rick Brennan credits Sen. Jeff Sessions with saying that two-thirds of the people convicted of terror attacks since 2001 were immigrants? Clearly, that’s all the confirmation that we need! After all, it’s not as if a man with an established history of resorting to cheap intimidation tactics (as…
Horses Heal Humans
Editor: Many of us have witnessed firsthand the incredible value that horses have added to the lives of humans (“Wild,” Feb. 2). Without doubt, horses have contributed more to the human society than any other creature on the planet. They have added their “horse power” strength, their beauty to the landscape, and a calming, grounding…
‘Go Fly a Kite’
Editor: “Was Humboldt County’s public defender hiring slanted toward the prosecution?” reads your recent article (Feb. 9). Of course, is my answer. Government employees have no oversight. This is why, for decades, they received less pay and benefits than the more closely supervised private sector. Now, supervising themselves, they get pay and benefits exceeding those of…
Ballers
In New York City in the 1980s, one of the most influential subcultures was the drag ball scene, where African American and Hispanic gay men, drag queens and transgender women “walked” the runway, danced and strove to “pass” in competitions. These pageants came on the sequined heels of their predecessors dating back to Harlem around…
Moonlight at the Minor
Moonlight, the personal and poignant film chronicling the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood won the Golden Globe for Best Drama and is nominated for eight Oscars. See it and hear more about its story when producer John Montague introduces it at the Minor Theatre, Saturday, Feb. 18 and Sunday, Feb.…
