Proposition 25 would have made California the first state to end cash bail by allowing each county to use an algorithm to assess a person’s flight risk or likelihood of reoffending while awaiting trial. Supporters pitched the referendum as the Legislature’s best plan for advancing racial justice by upending a system that preys on communities […]
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County Jail Transfers 30 Inmates to Prison with COVID-19 Restrictions Eased
Thirty Humboldt County jail inmates sentenced to prison terms during the COVID-19 pandemic, some who had been waiting in limbo for months, have now been sent to state prisons, Sheriff William Honsal reported to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. Honsal said the state prison system, which has been plagued by COVID-19 outbreaks and worked […]
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Worried it’s Too Late to Send in Your Ballot? Don’t Panic
Less than a week before Election Day and anxiety over the postal service’s ability to ferry voters’ ballots to county election administrators on time has ratcheted up yet again. Back in May, the United States Postal Service’s top lawyer advised voters across the country to put their ballots in the mail no later than 7 […]
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Replacing Cash Bail: Fairer Justice or Robopocalypse?
California is either about to right decades of inequality between rich and poor defendants by eliminating cash bail, or it’s about to turn over its justice system to robots. The question of what to do about the system that decides whether people should be free while awaiting trial will be determined by Proposition 25. The […]
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Protestor Hit at Breonna Taylor Demonstration in Eureka
About 200 demonstrators gathered at the Humboldt County Courthouse on Thursday, calling for justice for Breonna Taylor as part of a nationwide protest one day after a grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, brought no charges against police officers involved in her March 13 fatal shooting while serving a no-knock warrant at emergency medical technician’s home. […]
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Second Suspect Reportedly Arrested in Tripp Homicide
It appears another suspect has been arrested for the July 20 killing of Julius “Jules” Tripp near Hoopa. According to Humboldt County jail records, Daniel Armendariz was booked into the facility at 2:35 a.m. yesterday on suspicion of murder. Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Samantha Karges responded to a Journal inquiry about the arrest, saying it “looks […]
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County Settles with Counsel for $600K
The county of Humboldt and its long-on-leave counsel have parted ways but Jeff Blanck is not leaving empty-handed after the two parties agreed to a $600,000 settlement, according to reports by the Lost Coast Outpost and the Times-Standard. Read those stories here and here. Blanck was placed on administrative leave by the board of supervisors […]
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Driver in Near Miss Incident with Demonstrators to Face Charges, LoCO reports
A driver who was videotaped coming close to hitting pedestrians and people on horseback on Central Avenue in McKinleyville during a June 11 Black Lives Matter march will face charges, Lost Coast Outpost reports. The incident was investigated by the California Highway Patrol. Find the story here.
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“Pervasive Failure to Investigate:” Report Finds Lack of Scrutiny in Cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
For generations, order and cleanliness had been Christina Lastra’s family’s way of fighting off poverty. But the day in July 1991 when her mother’s mysterious death was ruled an accident marked the end of the orderly life Lastra had been leading in Humboldt County. “We didn’t get peace. No one ever even thought of looking […]
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Court Bans “Abusive” Spiking, but Sticks with Pension Protections
For 65 years, the California Supreme Court has taken a rigid line on pensions for public employees: Any retirement benefits promised to a worker at the outset of a job can only be reduced if they are replaced with something of equal value. That iron-clad precedent has been dubbed “the California Rule.” Today the state’s […]
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Judge Instructs County, Blanck to Talk Settlement, T-S reports
County counsel Jeffrey Blanck and the county of Humboldt have been told to find a way to settle their differences by a federal judge, who also blocked the board of supervisors from meeting to consider the status of his employment, the Times-Standard reports. According to the story, Blanck — who filed legal action against the […]
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Attorney: Nelson’s Character Led to His Release After Blue Lake Murder Arrest
Mark Anthony Nelson Jr. — a 39-year-old gas station clerk from Eureka — has had quite a week. A man came to rob the gas station where he worked. He shot and killed that man, prompting his arrest on suspicion of murder, possessing stolen property and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. […]