It’s mid-June — the days are long and generally sunny, the summer solstice draws near, and Pride Month is well underway. As Humboldt County’s Fourth District supervisor representing most of the greater Eureka area, including the physical space where the courthouse sits in the heart of downtown Eureka, it was an honor to sponsor this […]
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Posted inLetters + Opinion
The Path Toward Medicare for All
Recently Mad River Community Hospital faced the prospect of selling out to a corporate group from Texas. Is Mad River Hospital now an endangered species like so many of our rural hospitals? Recently, Blue Shield and Providence (the conglomerate owner of St. Joseph’s Hospital) struggled with a contract dispute that could have banished many people […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
In Defense of the Occupation of Siemens Hall
The reverberations of the seizure of Cal Poly Humboldt’s Siemens Hall in solidarity with Palestinians will ring out for years in our community. As we’ve navigated a “hard-closed” campus, potential criminal charges against students and community members, and a dispersed Cal Poly Humboldt graduation with President Jackson wholly absent, it is worth thinking carefully about […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Why Deindustrialization (Not Wind) is the Answer
I appreciated the Journal‘s thoughtful editorial on energy use and offshore wind project proposed for Humboldt County (“Our Last Best Chance,” April 11). Yet in ongoing “green power” debates, one important fact is consistently left out: In large part the energy produced by these projects will not supplant dirty energy, but supplement it. According to the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Let’s Bring Coast Central Out of the Shadows
If, as the Washington Post suggests, democracy dies in darkness, then democracy can waste away in the shadows. Coast Central Credit Union members — who are also its owners — deserve a full, healthy dose of sunlight. Members deserve election rules that don’t discourage campaigning for a seat on the board of directors. Members deserve […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
On the Finding of ‘Human Remains’ in the Dunes
As I write this on a Sunday night, more than 48 hours have elapsed since the sheriff’s office “received a call regarding human remains found by beachgoers in the area of the Manila Dunes” about a half-mile from my house. I learned about it the next morning when my county supervisor texted that a body […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
The View from the Van
On Wednesday, Oct. 25, I along with at least one other student living in their vehicle in Cal Poly Humboldt parking lots, was visited at my RV by Associate Vice President for Student Success Steve St. Onge and Director of Risk Management and Safety Services Cris Koczera. The administrators told us the university would soon […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Stop Blaming The Victims of Bad Road Design and Unsafe Driving
Humboldt County has a serious pedestrian safety problem. In 2022 alone, drivers in the county hit and killed eight people who were walking or rolling — and hit and injured 40 more. Of the 58 counties in California, the state Office of Traffic Safety currently ranks Humboldt as the second worst for pedestrian injuries and […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
‘A Slippery Slope to Theocracy’
The good news is that after an unprecedented 22 days without a Speaker of the House, Congress is open again. House Republicans finally resolved their internal chaos and dysfunction and selected Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana to be the new speaker Oct. 25. It is shameful and inexcusable that more than three weeks of Congress’ […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
False Narratives Fuel California’s Failure to Address Poverty
New Census data recently confirmed what many advocates saw coming: We squandered one of the greatest achievements in antipoverty policy this nation has ever known. In one year, we went from a record low poverty rate of 7.8 percent — and child poverty being cut nearly in half to 5.2 percent — to the largest ever […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Bigger Storms, Poor Oversight Put Dams at Risk
On Sept. 12, storm Daniel overwhelmed two neglected dams in Libya. The flood washed away entire neighborhoods in the coastal city of Derna, killing thousands. Experts warned just last year that lack of maintenance risked failure of the dams, built in the 1970s to allow the development they destroyed. But storm Daniel brought more rain […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
California Says No to Privatizing Medicare
On Sept. 7 an unheralded piece of legislation passed 30-6 to put California unequivocally on the side of protecting traditional Medicare. Assembly Joint Resolution 4 requests President Biden to eliminate Wall Street profiteering from Medicare via a new program, ACO REACH. REACH is an invention by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) that […]