The Loleta resident accused in the triple murder of a family at a home on the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Reservation has been returned to Humboldt County more than three months after being arrested in Utah. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office states in a social media post that Mauricio Johnson, 19, arrived […]
Courts
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County Allows Cannabis Growers to Apply for Tax Refunds in Wake of Court Ruling
After a an appeals court ruled the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors overstepped when it “impermissibly broadened the scope” of the cannabis tax voters approved in 2016, the county is beginning the process of refunding potentially millions of dollars in tax payments. In a press release issued today, the county is introducing a process for […]
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Man Found Guilty in Skateboard Attack Death of Good Samaritan
A Humboldt County jury today found a man guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Bernhard “Ben” Bertain, who died on Christmas in 2018, three days after interceding in an altercation at the Burre Center in Eureka. Bertain, 58, was struck several times with a skateboard by Jason Ryan Barnes, now 48, while coming […]
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Humboldt Company Fined $2M for Clean Water Act Violations
A U.S. District Court judge this week ordered a Humboldt County company to pay just more than $2 million in civil penalties for discharging pollutants into Hall Creek, a tributary to the Mad River, in violation of the Clean Water Act and for noncompliance with state and federal pollution control measures. According to the May […]
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Video: California’s Police Use-of-Force Law Explained
In the culmination of one of the fiercest political battles in recent years, California in 2020 put in place a new legal standard tightening the rules around when police can use deadly force. The new standard was a compromise between police and civil rights groups. It legally permits police to use deadly force only when “necessary […]
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DA Names New Chief Investigator
The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office announced today that Kyla Baxley has taken on the role of chief investigator, having previous served as the senior district attorney investigator, replacing Wayne Cox, who retired on Tuesday. Baxley, who joined the office in 2013 after five years with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, grew up in Eureka […]
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COVID and Churches: U.S. Supreme Court Lifts State Ban on Indoor Services, Other Lawsuits Continue
Among the beach-goers denied, the indignant gun shop owners and frustrated parents who want schools reopened, one set of plaintiffs against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pandemic shutdown restrictions have scored a big win: churches. A 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued late Friday sided with house-bound pastors and their congregants in their claim Newsom’s bans on […]
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Lawson Civil Trial Pushed Back
The trial date for Charmaine Lawson’s civil lawsuit alleging the city of Arcata violated her constitutional rights by inadequately and incompetently investigating the 2017 stabbing death of her son has been pushed back to late this year. The case — in which Lawson alleges racism and discrimination contributed to the city’s “deliberately indifferent” policies, practices, […]
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County Says AG’s Push to Extend Monitoring of CWS ‘Waste of Taxpayer Money’
Nearly two years after the California Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Sheriff’s Office reached an agreement regarding an AG investigation into local adherence to the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced today he would be seeking a court order requiring the county […]
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Judge Dismisses Case Against Four Septuagenarian Rainbow Ridge Activists
Early this morning a judge dismissed charges against four septuagenarians stemming from protests against logging on Rainbow Ridge. In June of 2019, four local elders and residents of the Mattole area – Jane Lapiner, David Simpson, Ellen Taylor and Michael Evenson – were arrested and charged after they planned to stop timber fallers for Humboldt […]
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COVID-19 Screenings Now Required for In-Person Court Appearances
The Humboldt County Superior Court announced Friday that all people attending in-person court proceedings will be required to complete a daily COVID-19 screening before being allowed into a courtroom. The court recently announced that with the rapidly rising number of positive COVID-19 cases, all criminal jury trials scheduled between Dec. 8, 2020 and Jan. 19, […]
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Jury Trials to be Reset Due to Increase in County’s COVID-19 Cases
Due to the increased amount of positive COVID-19 cases in Humboldt County, the Humboldt County Superior Court requested and has been granted an Emergency Order where all criminal jury trials scheduled to start between Dec. 8 and Jan. 19, 2021 will be reset. The order was granted to reduce the public safety risk associated with […]