On a recent Friday night, about two dozen people sat around small tables in a room at Eureka’s Jefferson Center, talking about the realities of living on the financial brink. Each had their own story to tell, but common threads in the obstacles they face trying to not just make ends meet, but forge a […]
News
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Supes Talk Fire Insurance, Cannabis Tax Collection and Auctioning Off a Pistol
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors moved forward Oct. 24 with a plan to collect a combined $16.3 million in past-due cannabis excise tax bills and permit fees. County Planning Director John Ford explained the county is owed about $14.2 million in overdue taxes and another $2.1 million in permit fees. He recommended a different […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
‘Demonstrated His Rehabilitation’
During an Oct. 16 hearing with a lot of open questions and uncertainty, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge John Feeney made one thing clear. “I think Mr. Dinsmore has clearly demonstrated his rehabilitation,” the judge said of Steven Dinsmore, the man he gave a more than 30-year prison sentence back in 2007 after he was […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Ghosts on the Tracks
A railyard at night is already a spooky place, and even more so with the fog that’s settled on Samoa and the shoulders of the roundhouse, blurring the riveted and rust-streaked tops of 19th century train cars and tall steam donkeys. An open doorway offers a glimpse of old double-handled saws hanging on a wall. […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Growers Seek to Remove Cannabis Initiative from Ballot
The Humboldt County Growers Alliance and seven local farmers have filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent an initiative that would dramatically reshape the county’s cannabis cultivation regulations from appearing on the March ballot. The suit, filed Oct. 11 against Humboldt County Registrar of Voters Juan Cervantes, alleges proponents of Measure A, dubbed the Humboldt Cannabis […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Former HumCo Fair Bookkeeper Indicted for Alleged ‘Ghost Payroll’ Scheme
A federal grand jury has indicted the Humboldt County Fair Association’s former bookkeeper on five counts of wire fraud stemming from an alleged embezzlement scheme that prosecutors believe saw her reroute hundreds of thousands of dollars from the association and another local nonprofit to her personal accounts in 2021 and 2022. Nina Tafarella, who oversaw […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Newsom Signs ‘Overhaul’ of Mental Health System
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 10 announced he signed the first of a series of bills aimed to transform California’s mental health system. Depending on who you ask, this transformation represents a long overdue humanitarian response — or a worrisome step backward on civil liberties. The governor’s Oct. 10 signature loosens long-standing rules about who […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
‘In the Interest of Justice’
It’s a Wednesday morning and Steven Dinsmore is in the visiting hallway on the sixth floor of the south side of the Humboldt County jail, talking to the Journal by a two-way phone through a Plexiglass divide. Clad in an orange jumpsuit, small beads of sweat begin to form on his clean-shaven head as he […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Transforming Valley West
Arcata City Councilmember Kimberley White has a lot to say about Valley West. It is, she says, one of her subjects. After all, Valley West is the place White has called home for 20 years, the place she set down her Humboldt County roots and raised her daughter, and it’s the focus of her work […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Supes Reimpose Cannabis Tax
Humboldt County cannabis farmers have had a brief reprieve from half of Benjamin Franklin’s famous adage that nothing is certain in life except death and taxes, but that will soon come to an end. The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Oct. 3, with Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell recused, to resume collecting an […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Ghosting the System
College of the Redwoods is facing an enrollment problem — scammers who use bots to submit fake applications, taking advantage of the community college system’s open-door policy in an attempt to sign up for classes and steal financial aid meant for students in need. But it’s not just about the money. These so-called “ghost students” […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
In Search of Safe Crossing
Sitting in the rec room of the Bayview Heights apartment complex on Eureka’s Fourth Street earlier this month, Robert Lane says he feels like he’s become a prisoner in his own home. Every time he goes out — whether to walk his beloved 13-year-old boxer mix Sadie, or to visit friends — it’s the same […]