HumCo Records 89th COVID-19 Death, 35 New Cases
For the third consecutive day, Public Health is reporting that another Humboldt County resident has died of COVID-19, while also confirming 35 new cases of the virus and two hospitalizations. The death brings the county’s cumulative death toll from the virus to 89, with 36 having come since Aug. 1. A state database shows 20 people…
Yurok Tribe Nabs $30 Million Education Grant
The Yurok Tribe was awarded a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods to create a regional five-year effort for a “cradle-school-career pathway project” that will build programs and support services for students in Del Norte County. “The Yurok Education Department is excited about what this grant means for our families,…
Huffman Looks to Abolish U.S. Space Force
North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman has introduced a bill that would abolish the “unnecessary” Space Force created by the Trump administration. “The long-standing neutrality of space has fostered a competitive, non-militarized age of exploration every nation and generation has valued since the first days of space travel. But since its creation under the former Trump…
HumCo Records 88th COVID Death, 72 New Cases Reported
Another Humboldt County resident has died of COVID-19, Public Health reported today, while also confirming 72 new cases of the virus and two new hospitalizations, including one of a resident in their 20s. The death — of a local residents in their 50s — brings the county’s cumulative death toll from the virus to 88,…
Body Found in Blue Lake Identified, Determined Homicide
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has identified the body found near Hatchery Road in Blue Lake on Sept. 11, as 65-year-old Blue Lake resident Eugene Steven Segal. Segal’s death has been deemed a homicide after an autopsy revealed his cause of death to be blunt force trauma and stab wounds. The investigation is ongoing and the…
Public Health Reports Three More COVID-19 Deaths
Three more Humboldt County residents have died of COVID-19, Public Health reported today, while also confirming 84 new cases of the virus and two new hospitalizations since Friday’s report. The deaths — of local residents in their 40s and 60s, and another over the age of 80 — bring the county’s cumulative death toll from…
Students with Disabilities Across California Stuck in Limbo
The school year at Duarte Unified School District, 20 miles east of Los Angeles, started a month ago, but Brady, Ellie and Jack Fitzgibbons have yet to receive any instruction from their teachers. The 13-year-old triplets are on the autism spectrum, and their mother Julie Fitzgibbons didn’t feel safe sending them to school because she…
North Coast Night Lights: The One that Got Away
A week ago, I read about a giant fireball visible up and down the West Coast — from the Bay Area north to Washington — as it streaked across the sky. My photo heart ached to have missed that one; I was probably watching Ted Lasso instead… or sitting alone with my thoughts. A month…
Robert Durst Convicted of Murder Committed While Living in Humboldt
The New York Times reports that Robert Durst, “the enigmatic real estate scion who evaded criminal suspicion for half his life only to become a national sensation after damaging admissions were aired in a 2015 documentary on HBO, was convicted on Friday in the execution-style murder of a close confidante more than 20 years ago.”…
NCJ Preview: Otters, Police Transparency and Blackberry Mania
This week we’re talking about the North Coast Otter Art Initiative and the beautiful painted sculptures created by local artists to raise money for otter research. We defy you to scroll through the offerings without smiling. We’re also looking at the importance of de-escalation how a new law makes it possible to gain access to…
Humboldt Quilters Dress Capitol Christmas Trees
It’s not even officially fall and Humboldt quilters have already finished their holiday decorations. Well, for the nations’s Capitol, anyway. Since the Capitol Christmas tree (named Sugar Bear, by the way) and dozens of other smaller trees for congressional offices were selected from the Six Rivers National Forest, the quilted tree skirts are coming from…
Public Health Confirms Six Deaths as ‘Breakthrough’ Cases, One More Death, Four Hospitalizations, 77 New COVID-19 Cases
Humboldt County Public Health has confirmed 77 new COVID-19 cases, four hospitalizations of one person in their 50s, two in their 60s and one over the age of 80. In addition to the hospitalizations, a person in their 60s has died from the virus, marking the third COVID-related death this week. Public Health officials have…
2021 Apple Harvest Festival Canceled
Sad to say, but it looks like the Friendly City’s annual Apple Harvest Festival will be put on the shelf again this year. Organizers had hoped to offer a limited and safe event this year, but didn’t feel that was possible. The annual event that sees the whole town transformed into an autumn cornucopia with orchard…
Here Comes the Rain
A wet weekend is in the forecast, with some parts of northern Humboldt County expected to see more than two inches of rain and the potential of localized flooding, “particularly in areas with poor drainage,” according to the Eureka office of the National Weather Service. Northern Trinity County is forecast to see around a half…
California Commits $500 Million More to Student Housing: ‘A Drop in the Bucket’
Free tuition is great, and California excels at that compared to the rest of the country. But with rents sky high, affordable housing has become the chief expense for most students – and relief is harder to come by. Lawmakers have a plan for that: They’ve poured $500 million into this year’s state budget so…
Eureka Condemns ‘Hazardous’ Motel
The city of Eureka condemned The Royal Inn, a motel on the 1100 block of Fifth Street, today after finding during an inspection yesterday that conditions there “posed a significant hazard” to occupants and the surrounding community. “During the course of the inspection, code enforcement personnel catalogued numerous violations of the Eureka Municipal Code, California…
Eureka Resident, 35, Identified as Man Fatally Shot Last Week by CHP
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office today identified the man fatally shot on Mad River Road as 35-year-old Eureka resident Charles David Chivrell, who died after being struck by a single round from a CHP rifle, according to an incident update. According to the HCSO release, CHP officer Michael Griffin, who has eight years of experience…
HumCo Records 83rd COVID-19 Death, 37 New Cases
An 83rd Humboldt County resident has died of COVID-19, Public Health reported this afternoon, while also confirming 37 new cases and two new hospitalizations. After a state data glitch derailed yesterday’s COVID-19 case count, Humboldt County Public Health reported today that it has confirmed 90 new cases of the virus since Monday — making 261…
North Coast Journal Inc. Purchases Ferndale Enterprise
The North Coast Journal Inc. has purchased The Ferndale Enterprise, keeping the 143-year-old weekly newspaper in local hands, and will take over publishing the paper next month. Caroline Titus, who has served as editor and publisher of the award-winning Enterprise for 25 years, said she’s excited to start another chapter in life and to have…
Full Speed Ahead on Overhauling California Recalls
With the wreckage of the failed recall attempt against Gov. Gavin Newsom still smoldering, California Democrats have reached a new consensus: They really don’t want to do that again. On the morning after voting ended and recall candidates conceded, the chairpersons of the election committees in the state Assembly and Senate said they’re kicking off…
‘Publicize These Statistics’
Editor: In reading Thadeus Greenson’s COVID surge article in yesterday’s NCJ (NCJ Daily, Sept. 9), I note that he too found the startling statistic that the county keeps semi-hidden deep in its records: “Since the first confirmed breakthrough case in February, one fully vaccinated resident has died of COVID-19 while 45 unvaccinated residents have died…
Correction
A story headlined ‘A Brutal End’ in the Sept. 9, 2021 edition of the North Coast Journal contained inaccurate information regarding millworkers’ wages in 1935. Prior to striking, millworkers were earning a going rate of 35 cents an hour for 60-hour work weeks. The Journal regrets the error.
An Ugly Clam by Any Other Name
My buddy Castration Jones is here to judge whether the northwest ugly clam (Entodesma navicula) is poorly named. You may recall that previously, Mr. Jones, who is an authority on poorly named animals, demonstrated that the soupfin shark is poorly named. “Welcome back, Castration.” “Thanks, Mike. First, I checked and can confirm this creature’s globally…
Rain Journaling
Low, pink clouds surprise. A glowing refreshment, Before the long exhale Of a wearied man having trudged so long Through dust, Succumbed to the dull stone, Scraped in thorns, Pasted in stickery sweat, To a vista: visited before, Briefly. The slow release into newness, And old places returning. This thirst will not go, It’s scratching,…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Books are mirrors: You only see in them what you already have inside you,” wrote author Carlos Zafòn Ruiz. Let’s take that a step further: “Other people are mirrors: You only see in them what you already have inside you.” And even further. “The whole world is a mirror: You only…
Otter Joy
It’s almost as if the North Coast Otter Art Initiative created a community ecosystem unto itself, with more than 100 beautifully painted otter sculptures scattered throughout Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino, Siskiyou and Trinity counties, mirroring the way the region’s iconic six rivers connect the five North Coast counties. With the contribution of 108 artists, 60…
‘Triage’
In the face of a COVID-19 case surge that reached record levels in August and diminished staffing, Humboldt County Public Health is triaging response efforts to focus on contact tracing in schools, skilled nursing facilities and other congregate living situations, as well as continued vaccination efforts, officials announced at a Sept. 8 press conference. “As…
Blackberries for the Wily
I want to write about my soft-focus childhood memories of blackberry picking, a basket on my arm as Disney butterflies danced around me. But as happy as my recollections of berry picking are, it was always a sly business of risk and reward, greed and gluttony. The house I grew up in was defended on…
Gene Cotter’s Basketball Jones
“Then one day my momma bought me a basketball and I loved that basketball; I got a basketball jones.” — “Basketball Jones,” by Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong I was at Centerville Beach one day about 25 years ago and a man came running down the beach with his Boogie Board. I yelled and he…
Plenty of Kings in the Klamath
Since just before Labor Day weekend, the Klamath River has been stuffed with salmon. The number of jacks has been amazing and we’re seeing some nice adult kings in the river, as well. The bulk of the run started a little late this year, most likely due to the unusually high water temperatures. Smoke-filled skies…
A Sharp Eye
MALIGNANT. I was a vocal detractor of James Wan before I knew his name, long before I would ever see a single frame of one of his movies. Saw (2004), his collaboration with Leigh Whannell that would spawn untold sequels, let alone copies, was the starting point of one of the most successful careers in…
Time to Talk
A can of chewing tobacco, a Sprite and the promise of a meal — that’s what it took to bring an hours-long standoff with an armed fugitive to a peaceful end. Well, that and an abundance of patience and calm, underpinned with the steady resolve to give the man every last chance to make the…
