Since time immemorial, the Yurok people have called the coastal area north of Trinidad — located in the heart of their ancestral lands — Sue-meg. Now, some 170 years after the name was usurped, the 1-square-mile property with meadows, forest lands and long beaches stretched out below soaring cliffs will officially be known as Sue-meg […]
Government
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Student COVID Vaccinations: California Becomes First State to Require Them for Kids in Schools
In another aggressive effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 and ensure schools remain open, Gov. Gavin Newsom today announced a vaccine mandate for students ages 12 and older, making California the first state in the nation to require students to be fully vaccinated for in-person instruction. The mandate would add the COVID-19 vaccine to […]
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State Commission Votes to ‘Restore the Name Sue-meg,’ Remove Patrick’s Point from Park’s Name
The State Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously today to — as one commission described — “restore the name of Sue-meg” to the unit currently known as Patrick’s Point State Park to honor the designation used by the Yurok people for the area since time immemorial. “This genuinely historic decision represents a turning point in […]
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Judge Requires COVID Vaccines for California Prison Workers
California prison workers will join the list of state employees who must be vaccinated against COVID, a federal judge ruled Monday — a loss for the state prison guards’ union and Gov. Gavin Newsom. For months, the politically powerful union and the Newsom administration have resisted a COVID vaccine mandate for prison workers, despite the […]
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California Still Won’t Make COVID-19 Workplace Outbreaks Public
Supporters of a push to require companies to report workplace coronavirus outbreaks publicly say they plan to keep fighting despite recent setbacks that they say allow big businesses to keep outbreaks secret. In February, Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-San Bernardino, proposed a law requiring the California Department of Public Health to report COVID-19 outbreaks by […]
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Contractor’s Deal on California Rent Relief Gets more Lucrative
Despite an initial slow rollout of rent relief money, the state of California is extending and more than doubling its deal with the outside contractor it hired to get the money to tenants and landlords. The contract with Horne LLP, a Mississippi-based accounting firm that specializes in disaster relief, jumped from $51.7 million when the […]
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Governor Signs Wood’s Wildfire Prevention Bill
Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed North Coast Assemblymember Jim Wood’s bill creating a wildfire prevention entity in the Office of the State Fire Marshal into law. “It is clear that we cannot firefight our way out of this wildfire crisis,” Wood said in a press release. “California needs both a world-class firefighting force and a […]
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Huffman Looks to Abolish U.S. Space Force
North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman has introduced a bill that would abolish the “unnecessary” Space Force created by the Trump administration. “The long-standing neutrality of space has fostered a competitive, non-militarized age of exploration every nation and generation has valued since the first days of space travel. But since its creation under the former Trump […]
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NCJ Preview: Otters, Police Transparency and Blackberry Mania
This week we’re talking about the North Coast Otter Art Initiative and the beautiful painted sculptures created by local artists to raise money for otter research. We defy you to scroll through the offerings without smiling. We’re also looking at the importance of de-escalation how a new law makes it possible to gain access to […]
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California Commits $500 Million More to Student Housing: ‘A Drop in the Bucket’
Free tuition is great, and California excels at that compared to the rest of the country. But with rents sky high, affordable housing has become the chief expense for most students – and relief is harder to come by. Lawmakers have a plan for that: They’ve poured $500 million into this year’s state budget so […]
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Eureka Condemns ‘Hazardous’ Motel
The city of Eureka condemned The Royal Inn, a motel on the 1100 block of Fifth Street, today after finding during an inspection yesterday that conditions there “posed a significant hazard” to occupants and the surrounding community. “During the course of the inspection, code enforcement personnel catalogued numerous violations of the Eureka Municipal Code, California […]
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Full Speed Ahead on Overhauling California Recalls
With the wreckage of the failed recall attempt against Gov. Gavin Newsom still smoldering, California Democrats have reached a new consensus: They really don’t want to do that again. On the morning after voting ended and recall candidates conceded, the chairpersons of the election committees in the state Assembly and Senate said they’re kicking off […]