Justin Whitaker’s booth, in the lobby, had first grabs at all of us rushing into the Eureka Theater for StrangeBrew Beer Fest 2014 last Saturday night. It helped that he was strategically placed across from Cypress Grove’s cheese table. “Everybody’s going for The Lush,” said Whitaker, who home brews with his wife, Eryn. Truth, though: Everybody […]
Medical / Health
Posted inNews
HSU Conference Focuses on Addiction, Social Change
“It’s not about quick fixes. It’s about commitment, persistence and showing up.” Virginia Belton, PhD candidate and founder of Redwood Palliative Psychology, says that our community is on the cusp of a change. With one of the highest drug-induced death rates in the state (far above the state average, according to the California Center on […]
Posted inNews
Gets in Your Eyes, Lungs
Every summer it’s the same, it seems: The woods burn, and the smoke settles in heavily over our inland communities. This season, so far, it’s the Happy Camp and July forest fire complexes, and the Oregon fire in Weaverville, clogging skies and lungs — and the North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District has been […]
Posted inNews
Algae Toxins in the Trinity
These may be the dog days of summer, but ol’ Rex and Rusty better be careful about what rivers and lagoons they go jumping in to celebrate: The poor dogs don’t want to encounter toxic blue-green algae, which can thrive in the low flows and warm water conditions we’re seeing now on local rivers including […]
Posted inNews
UPDATED: Nonprofit Sues Blue Cross Over Obamacare Networks
A Southern California nonprofit filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Anthem Blue Cross misled millions of customers when rolling out its plans under the Affordable Care Act, leaving many enrollees on the hook for large out-of-pocket expenses. According to a report in the Sacramento Bee, the suit alleges that the insurance giant published inaccurate provider networks, causing many customers […]
Posted inNews
State Launches Insurance Investigation
Regulators have launched an investigation into whether Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California violated state law by misleading consumers with inaccurate provider lists, the Los Angeles Times is reporting this morning. The California Department of Managed Care has begun a review looking into provider access issues with the two insurance giants’ plans offered […]
Posted inNews
Care Home Shut Down, Owner Suspended
The state has shut down Chamberlain’s Residential Care Facility for the elderly, at 3252 Lucia Road in Eureka, and suspended the license of the home’s operator, Gina Chamberlain, accusing her of numerous health and safety code violations, including taking a client’s prescription narcotics for her own use. The state’s “order of temporary suspension of license” […]
Posted inNews
St. Joes Service Workers Vote Union
Service workers at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka have voted 149 to 74 to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), with 223 of the 227 eligible bargaining unit members voting. The ballots were counted Friday, April 18. The workers voting for representation include nursing assistants, housekeepers, monitor technicians, cafeteria workers, operating room aides […]
Posted inNews
New Pot Banking Guidelines Moot in CA?
Thanks to some recent direction from the Obama administration, banks are now allowed to do business with folks who make their living in the legal marijuana trade. But, maybe not in California. In response to a growing uneasiness with the cannabis cash conundrum, spurred at least in part by the introduction of legal recreational marijuana […]
Posted inNews
Huffman Urges Obama to Reclassify Marijuana
North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, joined 17 of his cohorts today in sending a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substance Act. Currently, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance under the act, putting it in the same category under federal law as heroin, […]
Posted inNews
We Flunk, Mostly
The American Lung Association has released its State of Tobacco Control 2014, a report that “tracks progress on key tobacco control policies at the state and federal levels” according to the executive summary. The intent is to see how well jurisdictions are doing in protecting people from tobacco smoke. Counties and cities are graded, too, in […]
Posted inNews
H1N1 Claims Local Man
A local man died in a Humboldt County hospital from H1N1 influenza related complications, the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services confirmed today. The man — who has not been identified but officials say was in his 60s — died Monday and also had underlying health conditions, according to a county press release. […]