The city of Eureka announced today that fledgling efforts to bring cruise ships to Humboldt Bay have been successful, with the first such ship arriving Monday, May 21. According to its press release, the city, in association with the Humboldt Bay Harbor District, formed a partnership with Eureka Main Street, the Eureka Visitor Center and former city council candidate […]
Linda Stansberry
Linda Stansberry was a staff writer of the North Coast Journal from 2015 to 2018. She is a frequent contributor the the Journal and our other publications.
Posted inNews
Board of Supervisors Prepares for Auditor Controller Do-Over, Public Defender Appointment
UPDATE: On April 24 the board voted unanimously to appoint Dillingham to the postion. Previously: The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will consider Tuesday appointing Cheryl Dillingham as interim auditor-controller. Again. The board voted unanimously at its April 3 meeting to appoint Dillingham to the post. But the item on the board’s agenda that day […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Canni-bias
Even as the Humboldt County Convention and Visitors Bureau was taking a bit of a public beating about its lack of cannabis marketing during the April 3 Board of Supervisors meeting (See “Cannabis Convention and Visitors Bureau?,” Apr. 5.), a survey on that very subject was winging its way to the inboxes of HCCVB’s target […]
Posted inNews
Exit Interview with Bill Damiano
Humboldt County Chief Probation Officer Bill Damiano has less than a week left on the job and he’s using the time to break in a new pair of hiking boots and clear out his office for his successor, current Assistant Chief Shaun Brenneman. After 30 years working in the county probation department, Damiano has accrued […]
Posted inNews
Mercer-Fraser Co. Withdraws Controversial Glendale Site Plans
A controversial project that would have created a marijuana extraction plant near the Mad River at Glendale has been withdrawn, John Ford, director of the County Planning and Building Department, confirmed this afternoon. The project, which came before the Humboldt County Planning Commission in January, would have rezoned a parcel of land near the Mad […]
Posted inNews
David Josiah Lawson Remembered
Two students stood alone in the middle of the Arcata Plaza in the pelting rain, redirecting mourners. Due to the weather, the vigil and memorial for David Josiah Lawson, a Humboldt State University student who was killed on April 15, 2017, was moved to the D Street Neighborhood Center near campus. By the time Charmaine […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Don’t Smoke Fake Weed
The science of why smoking cannabis screws with your memory is kind of fascinating. Memory itself is kind of fascinating. The current understanding is that our brains are kind of like computer processors that take immediate, short-term data and processes it during sleep’s REM-cycle to be stored as long-term memories. Cool, huh? Anecdotally, we might […]
Posted inNews
Power Struggles, Security Breaches, a Sexual Harassment Complaint and a Brown Act Violation Rock the Auditor-Controller's Office
Although it’s elected, the position of county auditor-controller is rarely the stuff of headlines. But the county’s top fiscal job, which involves financial oversight of county agencies, budgeting and disbursement of county funds, has recently garnered some controversy, thanks in part to Assistant Auditor Karen Paz Dominguez, who first stepped into the spotlight at a […]
Posted inNews
Partnership Health Awards Humboldt County $1.05 Million for Affordable Housing
Partnership HealthPlan of California, the region’s MediCal administrator, announced this morning it has awarded the county $1.05 million in grant funding for supportive housing units. The nonprofit also granted the Redwood Community Action Agency $1.26 million. According to the press release, Partnership awarded a total of $25 million in grants this week for “housing-related projects […]
Posted inNews
Humboldt County’s Most Successful Addiction Treatment Program Might Be Probation
When Joel Pittman was a kid, he wanted to be a doctor. Instead, the Eureka native found himself homeless at 21, traveling up and down the West Coast, spending around $200 a day on heroin to avoid going through withdrawal or getting “dope-sick.” To support his habit, he dealt drugs and stole. He was arrested […]
Posted inNews
Remembering and Honoring Herrmann Spetzler
Every seat in the main auditorium of the Arcata Community Center was full. Half an hour before the memorial for Herrmann Spetzler, late CEO of Open Door Community Health, vehicles futilely circled the packed parking lot. More than 500 people attended the celebration of life for Spetzler, who died unexpectedly March 11 at the age of 70. […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Five Ways to Honor the Departed
The last joke my grandmother told was a yellowed newspaper clipping, left in an envelope in her desk drawer for us to find after she died. It was a humor essay by a man who described the effort it took in his life to accumulate all his possessions, and how little fun it would be […]