Two days after the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors passed a comprehensive outdoor medical marijuana cultivation ordinance — an effort of superbureaucratic speed — state lawmakers lifted the deadline that led to the county’s mad rush. Assemblyman Jim Wood announced this morning that his emergency legislation, lifting a March 1 deadline for local jurisdictions to […]
Grant Scott-Goforth
Grant Scott-Goforth was an assistant editor and staff writer for The Journal from 2013 to 2017.
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Thirst
Cheers and applause from a standing-room-only audience filled the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors chambers on Jan. 22 when the board voted unanimously to adopt an outdoor medical marijuana land use ordinance. The ordinance — the culmination of a fast-paced review process by the board, county staff and the planning commission begun in September — […]
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Get Out of Jail for a Fee
By the time locals went to the polls in 2014 to elect a new district attorney, they’d heard a lot about Humboldt County’s famous pot industry. Candidates had debated strategies for going after the worst players, for protecting the patients who benefit from California’s legal medical marijuana system, and for dealing with an ever-growing pile […]
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Plan Fray
Since the beginning of January, the board of supervisors has been working diligently to cobble together a medical marijuana land use ordinance from a slew of parts: a year-long private drafting process, multiple planning staff drafts, dozens of hours of public comment, and a month-long planning commission review. As the supervisors narrowed in (they were […]
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Will the Lassics Lupine Survive?
You’re forgiven if this is the first time you’ve seen the Lassics lupine. The rare flower exists in less than four acres on Earth, on two small, alpine plots in southern Humboldt and Trinity counties. Climate change has dwindled the flower’s individual population to fewer than 60, scientists believe, prompting the Center for Biological Diversity to […]
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As Supes Move Closer to Marijuana Ordinance, the Planning Commission Expresses Outrage
A new outdoor medical marijuana draft ordinance has been released in advance of next week’s board of supervisors meeting, and it contains the stiffer restrictions on canopy sizes and cultivation in timber lands that supervisors have asked for since their review began at the beginning of the year. It’s a turn away from some of […]
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Supes Nix Planning Commission’s Tweaks of Medical Marijuana Draft Ordinance
In a play-it-safe move, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday that it would base its discussion on a proposed outdoor medical marijuana ordinance on the original draft produced by county staff, before it underwent dozens of hours of public comment and was re-written by the planning commission in November and December. When supervisors discussed […]
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Look Both Ways
Following a terrible year for countywide traffic deaths, Eureka is continuing its push to make its streets safer. In August, the city produced a transportation safety action plan, a collection of data, goals and priorities to lower the number of collisions in city limits. To do that, the city needed to look at car crashes. […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Tick, Tock
The Fortuna City Council voted unanimously Jan. 4 (with Councilmember Linda Gardner absent) to approve the first reading of an ordinance banning almost any medical marijuana activity, including cultivation for personal use, within city limits. The city already has a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries on its books, but the expansion of the prohibitions, City […]
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Eureka Wants Your Food Truck Suggestions
Dying to eat somewhere a little less brick-and-mortary? Or maybe you’re looking to bring your ramen-burrito fusion to life without the full risk and investment of a restaurant? (Actually, don’t steal that, that’s mine.) The city of Eureka wants to hear from consumers and entrepreneurs about food trucks. Tapping into nationwide popularity for the small, […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Resolving Weed
Every year, it seems like Humboldt County’s marijuana industry, and the complicated relationship our community has with cannabis, goes through massive upheaval. And every subsequent year, there seem to be even more drastic changes. Reflecting back on 2015 (see this week’s cover story), and looking ahead to 2016 fits the pattern. We are coming out […]
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The Top 10 Stories of 2015
By most measures, 2015 was a rough year on the North Coast. We saw soaring numbers of traffic fatalities, suicides, drownings and homicides, including a pair of officer-involved shootings. Several years of drought left our hills primed for a summer of inland fires and dried creeks, putting added pressure on dwindling salmon runs. And the […]