The Green Issue 2021
Tools in the Toolbox – Looking for ways to restore and protect the state’s beleaguered bull kelp forests and in turn, red abalone stock
South G Kitchen’s Gastropub Fare on Wheels
After a soft opening April 29, Danny Emmenecker’s fledgling food truck South G Kitchen has settled into the spot behind the Arcata Redwood Curtain Brewery (550 S. G St., Arcata), serving “pub fusion,” food that’s “familiar but elevated,” with elements like kale slaw for the fish and chips and homemade pickles. “The beer at the…
Video: California’s Police Use-of-Force Law Explained
In the culmination of one of the fiercest political battles in recent years, California in 2020 put in place a new legal standard tightening the rules around when police can use deadly force. The new standard was a compromise between police and civil rights groups. It legally permits police to use deadly force only when “necessary…
Eureka Street Art Festival Goes Large(r)
The Eureka Street Art Festival is back Aug. 7-14 for round four of beautifying the city with large, colorful murals and other vibrant art. The annual event, whose mission is “to create intentional, accessible art that enlivens public spaces” as well as revitalize parts of the city, focuses on a different areas each year. Its inaugural year…
Surplus COVID-19 Doses Journey to the Bay Area as Local Interest Wanes
When the San Francisco Public Health Department put out a desperate plea for any surplus COVID-19 vaccines last week, Humboldt County — which has been having trouble filing available appointments — answered the call. According to a San Francisco Chronicle story, the Bay Area was in dire straits after receiving fewer doses than a month…
HumCo’s First Cannabis Consumption Lounge to Open Next Month
The south end of Eureka is now home to a Humboldt County first: a legal cannabis consumption lounge where you can smoke, eat, and socialize to your heart’s content. When local cannabis company Papa & Barkley converted the former K-Mart building into a manufacturing site, there was a concrete pad to the right which was…
As Vax Uptake ‘Dwindles,’ Public Health Confirms Largest Daily Case Count in Months
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 28 new COVID-19 cases today — the largest single-day tally since Feb. 11 — while sounding the alarm that vaccine uptake has “dropped significantly.” The new cases — confirmed after laboratories processed 276 samples with a test-positivity rate of 10.1 percent — make 72 for the week, already eclipsing last…
Humboldt County Fair Announces Dates, Fundraiser for the Ponies
The Humboldt County Fair announced today plans (if all goes well) to hold the event from Aug. 18 to Aug. 29 with the theme “A Country Fair with a Western Flair.” According to a news release, the fair has set up a “Horses to Humboldt” GoFundMe page to help owners make their way to Ferndale…
Yurok, Karuk Tribes Join Coalition to Ask for Federal Aid Due to Extreme Drought Predictions
The Yurok and Karuk Tribes, along with the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, have united with Klamath Basin conservationists and commercial fishermen to jointly sign a letter asking the Biden administration for significant financial relief to all Klamath Basin communities in response to extreme drought predictions. The Karuk Tribe, the Yurok Tribe, the Klamath Tribes of…
UPDATE: Woman Arrested on Suspicion of Attempted Murder, One of the Boys Stabbed Flown Out of the Area
UPDATE: One of the two boys stabbed today has been flown out of the area for treatment and the 29-year-old woman suspected of inflicting the injuries has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, assault and other charges. According to an update from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, the boys are in stable condition and…
Frontier Communications Corp. to Pay Yurok Tribe $500K, Invest Millions in Internet Infrastructure
The Yurok Tribe is a few steps closer to completing its mission to bring fast-speed internet to the reservation after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a settlement requiring the Frontier Communications Corporation to pay $500,000 for reimbursement losses for service failures and to invest $5 million in the Yurok Tribe’s effort to build internet…
Public Health Confirms 10 New COVID-19 Cases, Reports Daily Walk-in Vaccine Clinics
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 10 new COVID-19 cases and a new hospitalization today — making 44 so far this week — while also reporting thousands of vaccination doses will be available at walk-in clinics in Arcata beginning tomorrow. The cases were confirmed after laboratories processed 56 samples with a test positivity rate of 17.9…
‘People and Planet Before Profit:’ Post-Capitalism Conference Set to Kick Off
Can you imagine a world after capitalism? David Cobb can, and he wants you to join him. “We need a system that puts people and planet before profit,” Cobb says in a recent phone interview with the Journal. The good news, Cobb says, is that the core elements of the solidarity economy he and others…
5 Things to Know About Federal Drought Aid in California
Stop if you’ve heard this before: California is in the grip of a severe drought. Again. Now the federal government is stepping in to help. To assist California, which is the nation’s largest food supplier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently declared a drought disaster for 50 counties. That makes growers throughout the state who…
HumCo Records 38th COVID Death, 34 New Cases
A 38th Humboldt County resident has died with COVID-19, Public Health reported today, while also reporting 34 new cases of the virus have been confirmed since Friday. The cases were confirmed after laboratories processed 492 samples with a test-positivity rate of 6.9 percent, and come after Public Health confirmed a total of 71 cases last…
UPDATE: Fires in Bald Hills Area Contained but Large Amounts of Forest Fuel Still Burning
UPDATE: Two fires burning in the Bald Hills area have been contained, according to CalFire, with “significant work ahead to extinguish burning of large amounts of forest fuel material.” One of the Lyons Fires is about 4 acres and the other is approximately 1 acre. PREVIOUS: Two small vegetation fires are burning in the Bald…
Man Fatally Stabbed in Arcata Identified
The Arcata Police Department identified the man fatally stabbed during an early morning fight Sunday as Eureka resident Luis Enrique Pinel Zelaya. The 29 year old was killed during an incident that began outside of the Arcata Theater Lounge when he reportedly confronted another man that he had a “beef” with and stabbed him, Arcata…
Charmaine Lawson Calls on Witnesses to ‘Do the Right Thing’
Standing before about 150 people who turned out to support her on Saturday to mark the fourth anniversary of her son’s killing, Charmaine Lawson delivered a simple plea. “To get a phone call that your child was viciously taken? That’s hard. It’s hard,” she said, recalling the morning she learned her 19-year-old son David Josiah…
Man Fatally Stabbed in Chaotic Arcata Fight
Arcata police are investigating a fatal stabbing that occurred at about 1:20 this morning. Arcata Police Chief Brian Ahearn said the incident began outside the Arcata Theater Lounge on G Street when a man confronted another man he’d had a “beef” with and stabbed him. The fight moved into the 600 block of 10th Street…
Humboldt International Film Festival, April 19-25
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of pandemic stays Humboldt State University’s film students from promoting the art of film. Year after year, the oldest student-run film festival in the world keeps rolling. This year, the Humboldt International Film Festival celebrates its 54th year with an impressive line-up of independent films showing April 19-25. …
A Feast in Redway
Redway could use more places to eat, especially on Evergreen Drive, and now it’s got that and then some. In January, Laura Lasseter and her family have opened up Cafe Feast in the old Meadows Cafe location. The menu still isn’t committed to laminated paper but a roster of items is developing, like the meatball…
NCJ Preview: Bull Kelp, Hog Heaven, CRV Fixes and Latinx COVID Impacts
Our Green Issue hits stands this week so we’re looking a some eco-centric stories in the paper, including the hope for reviving the bull kelp population in our waters. We’ve got a story about how local distiller Alchemy is turning local grain into liquor and pig feed for the Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program farm. Wondering…
Denver Flights are Coming Back
Nonstop flights to the Denver International Airport out of Humboldt County are scheduled to resume June 3, adding to some new travel options announced in recent months. The United Airlines service, which started two years ago, was put on hold in April of 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are really excited for the return…
Public Health Confirms 9 New COVID-19 Cases, Expects 7.5K Vaccine Doses Next Week
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed nine new COVID-19 cases today, making 71 this week — a more than doubling from last week’s tally. Public Health also reported the county expects to receive 7,440 doses of vaccine next week — a marked decrease from the more than 11,000 received this week. The county has scheduled walk-in…
‘People are Dying as We Wait’: Bid to Tighten California Nursing Home Oversight Sputters
An effort to fix problems with the oversight of California’s nursing homes has stalled, sparking fears that the bill is doomed — and prompting elder care advocates to warn that even a delay jeopardizes residents’ safety. “I’m incredibly frustrated,” said Democratic Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi of Los Angeles, author of Assembly Bill 1502. “The pandemic has…
Weekend Events Honor David Josiah Lawson
Two events are happening this Saturday, April 17, honoring the life of David Josiah Lawson. The 4Years-4Miles J4J Walk and second annual Coat Drive starts with a run/walk/skateboard/stroll at noon at Arcata City Hall that then heads to the Humboldt Bay Trail and Arcata Marsh and ends up at the Arcata Plaza around 2:30 p.m. for a…
Public Health Confirms 37th Local COVID Death, Walk-in Vaccine Clinics Available Tomorrow and Sunday
A 37th Humboldt County resident has died with COVID-19, Public Health reported today. The resident who died was in their 70s, Public Health announced in a press release, while also confirming seven new cases of the virus. The new cases were confirmed after laboratories processed 240 samples, bringing the county’s cumulative count to 3,579. Public…
Godwit Days Are Here Again
Get your godwits about you, birders — the 2021 Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival is here! The annual event is presented virtually this year via Zoom and runs April 16 through 18 with live-streamed sessions, pre-recorded lectures and more. Sessions include the Big Hour at the Arcata Marsh with Rob Fowler of Fowlerope Birding Tours…
‘Far Sleazier’
Editor: I realize that there have been a lot of complaints about the Lucky Strike ad in the NCJ, however, compared to your cover story last week, “Carrots, Sticks and Jabs,” the cigarette ad seems wholesome and honest by comparison. The ad at least contained a portion of the Surgeon General’s warning, which was more…
Cryptocurrencyand the Blockchain
Cryptocurrency, especially the largest, Bitcoin, is often touted as “new gold,” a way of holding wealth independent of banks. I discussed cryptocurrency briefly a few years ago (“Cash, Plastic or Bitcoin?” May 5, 2016), when I compared explaining Bitcoin to the challenge faced by Marco Polo when he tried to tell 14th century Venetian city…
2020
Despite the Year, Nothing was clear. We all look through Our lens of choice, As Nature bats. Maybe hindsight Will be 2020? Kirk Gothier
Pigs and Whiskey
It is, perhaps, a failure of our collective education that when we think of whiskey, we don’t immediately think of rippling fields of wheat, rye, corn or barley. Those basic grains are the building blocks of most whiskeys. Alchemy Distillery, a young whiskey company based in Arcata, uses local wheat grown at the Hindley Ranch…
Mapping Seven Artists, Seven Paths
The exhibition Seven Artists, Seven Paths is back. The exhibition reopens this week at the Morris Graves Museum of Art after a months-long virtual interlude due to pandemic restrictions on social gathering. The seven Humboldt artists whose work it features — Leslie Anderson, Becky Evans, Mimi LaPlant, Sanderson Morgan, John Pound, Emily Silver and Karen…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Today I feel the whole world is a door,” wrote poet Dennis Silk. In a similar spirit, 13th-century Zen master Wumen Huikai observed, “The whole world is a door of liberation, but people are unwilling to enter it.” Now I’m here to tell you, Aries, that there will be times in…
Tools in the Toolbox
The fragile future of the North Coast’s beleaguered bull kelp forests is perhaps best captured in a single photograph taken off the Mendocino County coast last summer. The image is at once hopeful and ominous: A tiny bull kelp stem with a single blade sways in the currents, reclaiming a spot on a once barren…
Deciphering the Gaps
In an effort to address persistent disparities in COVID-19’s impacts on the local Latinx community, Humboldt County Public Health Officer Ian Hoffman recently met with LatinoNet, a network of service providers like Open Door Community Health Clinics, Paso a Paso, Promotores, the Humboldt County Office of Education and Public Health that are dedicated to advocating…
A System in Need of Upcycling
When overwhelming demand closed Humboldt County’s last California Refund Value redemption service at the Eureka Recycling Center last September, it left residents with few options to get their CRV deposits back. Under state law, it’s now up to grocers and retailers to offer the service or face a $100 per day fee from the state,…
Kids and Sports
Plenty of adults label this generation of kids as lazy and spoiled. That is what older generations do: label the younger generations as not as tough as they were — walking to school, part time jobs, toeing the line and playing more sports. By one barometer concerning sports, the National Alliance for Youth Sports concludes…
Brookings Kicking Out Limits of Rockfish and Lingcod
While we wait for the rockfish season to open in the Northern Management area, which includes Eureka, Trinidad and Crescent City, there’s a pretty good alternative right across our northern border. Rockfish and lingcod season is open year-round out of Brookings Harbor, and the last couple months have produced some excellent fishing opportunities. When the…
Funny Running into You
THUNDER FORCE. Melissa McCarthy had already established a significant CV as a character by the time I took notice. That was 2011, the movie was Bridesmaids (of course) and I doubt I was the sole latecomer to her fan club. She made an indelible impression as the irrepressible, sweetly unhinged Megan, standing out in a…
‘Please, Come Forward’
I am Charmaine Lawson, mother of David Josiah Lawson, who was known by many as DJ. If this is your first time hearing my story, here is a brief summary of the facts leading to my son’s murder and how you can possibly help. DJ was a sophomore attending Humboldt State University studying criminal law.…
