Large fires in and around Orleans last week have sparked new criticism of the Forest Service’s plan to reduce wildland fires in the remote and mountainous community. The Dance Fire burned more than 600 acres before firefighters contained it on Friday. Flames destroyed the home of a tribal elder, as well as two other outbuildings. […]
Grant Scott-Goforth
Grant Scott-Goforth was an assistant editor and staff writer for The Journal from 2013 to 2017.
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River Rising
The Trinity and Klamath rivers are going to get colder, higher and faster next week when the Bureau of Reclamation increases water flows from the Trinity Reservoir. The release is expected to help another strong run of returning chinook salmon in the Klamath, hopefully preventing the spread of disease that contributed to a fish kill in […]
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Unhealthy Air Warning Issued
Fires in Southern Oregon and Eastern Humboldt County are choking Northern California with smoke. Air quality alerts were issued today for Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity Counties. The North Coast Air Quality District declared air unhealthy in Willow Creek, Orleans, Forks of Salmon and Burnt Ranch. “People are recommended to restrict any outdoor activity,” the […]
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The Big Gift
In the small lab of the Northern California Community Blood Bank, swift hands process and package blood, plasma and platelets while machines shake, spin and freeze the small bags of bodily fluids. This lab next to St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka is the heart of North Coast blood distribution. Here, the workers take in raw, […]
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Draft Reports Calls for Supes to Repeal Emergency Ordinance
A new draft report from the Human Rights Commission calls for the county to repeal its emergency ordinance, which restricted demonstrating in front of the County Courthouse in response to Occupy protests last year. The report, completed this week by a Human Rights Commission subcommittee assigned to focus on the ordinance, recommends that the Board […]
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The Billion-Dollar Dream
A whole lot of money and a whole lot of cargo. That’s what a draft report says is necessary to build and pay for a railroad between the Samoa Peninsula and the national rail system in the Central Valley. Restoring the north-south line would also cost a bundle — more than $600 million, according to […]
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Staking a Claim
Despite a number of high-profile police shootings, and the recent arrest of a Eureka Police officer by his own department for an alleged assault, few people who file injury claims against the Eureka Police Department are paid. With one notable $4 million exception, claims against EPD rarely seem to pay off. Every year dozens of […]
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Planned Trinity Water Release Rankles Central Valley Irrigators
Another round of the all-too-familiar fight over Trinity and Klamath waters has pulled North Coast congressmen and Central Valley irrigators into the mix. The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) — which controls the release of water from the Trinity Reservoir — announced last week that it was considering an extra release of Trinity water this year […]
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Report: East-West Rail Would Cost $1 Billion
A whole lot of money and a whole lot of cargo. That’s what a draft report says is necessary to build and pay for a “high risk” east-west railroad between the Samoa Peninsula and the national rail system in the Central Valley. The cargo necessary for a viable railroad would make Humboldt Bay one of […]
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Kai the “Hatchet-wielding Hitchhiker” Attempts Suicide in Jail
Kai tried to kill himself yesterday in a New Jersey jail where he’s being held on murder charges, Gawker reports. He was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. Kai — born Caleb McGillivary — was arrested in May after police found a 73-year-old New Jersey lawyer Joseph Galfy dead in his home. The two reportedly met by chance in […]
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Judge Denies Ranchers’ Bid on Upper Klamath Water
Ranchers facing water shut-offs in the Upper Klamath Basin lost a bid to keep their water rights intact while they appeal a state decision that granted Klamath Tribes senior water rights earlier this year. Klamath Falls Judge Cameron Wogan declined to put the state’s recognition of tribal rights on hold, the Associated Press reports, because an appeal could take 10 […]
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Coastal Commission’s Disapproval of Indianola Interchange Could Be Good for a Bay Trail
Eureka-Arcata trail advocates may soon have a new ally in Caltrans, after the Coastal Commission dealt a blow to Caltrans’ safety corridor plans in a report the commission released at the end of June. Caltrans’ preferred plan (it has come up with six alternatives) included an interchange at Indianola Cutoff, a signal at northbound Airport […]