California lawmakers won’t be creating a state Election Day holiday this year. Nor will they be providing grants to local governments to convert public golf courses into affordable housing, or forcing health insurers to cover fertility treatments. All of these proposals were victims of the seasonal culling of bills known as the suspense file. This […]
Politics
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‘Bad Optics’ Hang Over Auditor-Controller Contract
Within weeks of the Humboldt County Auditor-Controller’s Office issuing almost $12,000 in payments to a local consulting firm earlier this year, the firm’s owner, who up until December served as chair of the Humboldt County Central Democratic Committee, voted in favor of the committee’s endorsement of Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez’s re-election bid and made a […]
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NCJ Preview: Summer Camps, Brett Watson and Genius Rice
The Journal‘s annual Summer of Fun issue is here with a rundown of classes, camps and workshops to entertain the kids when school is out. Everything from surfing to stage fighting to science camps are in there and we’re going over the highlights. We’ll also look at what we know about the sexual harassment allegations […]
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California Democrats Lean into Abortion Rights as ‘Defining Issue’
When a draft Supreme Court ruling that would overturn the constitutional right to abortion leaked Monday night, Democratic leaders in California reacted swiftly with shock, grief and fury. It didn’t take long for the personal devastation to turn political. By Wednesday morning, Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is running for re-election this year, had already cut […]
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Local Candidate Forums Set
Election Day is just five weeks away, with much at stake on the local ballot, with countywide races for district attorney, superior court judge, auditor-controller and clerk/recorder, as well as two supervisorial seats to be decided. It’s a lot. Fortunately, there are a host of opportunities in the coming weeks to get to know the […]
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Geopolitics Undermine Energy Authority’s Solar Project
When local politics nixed Terra-Gen’s wind farm energy project near Rio Dell in 2019, regional electricity aggregator Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA) turned to a solar project hundreds of miles away to meet its renewable energy goals. Now, world politics have botched up that second choice, according to Jaclyn Harr, client specialist manager with an […]
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One Seat, Six Candidates: Arcata City Council Race Makes a Special June Ballot Appearance
A former mayor, a consultant, three previous candidates and a Cal Poly Humboldt student are all seeking a single open seat on the Arcata City Council, making for a crowded field on the June ballot. The top vote-getter of the six candidates — Chase Marcum, Humnath Panta, Dana Quillman, Edith Rosen, Alexandra Stillman and Kimberley […]
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State of the State: Will Gov. Newsom do More to Reduce California Inequality?
Gov. Gavin Newsom is an unlikely champion of California’s down and out. Yet the wine entrepreneur, who built his political career and fortune with help from the state’s wealthy elite, campaigned on a promise to address California’s disparities – and do so boldly. From his first day in office in January 2019, Newsom called the […]
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California Senate to Introduce Bill Divesting Funds from Russia
A broad, bipartisan coalition of California senators and assemblymembers, including Senate Majority Leader and North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire and North Coast Assemblymember Jim Wood, is introducing a bill that will divest public funds from Russia and Russian-state entities following the country’s attack against Ukraine. “The world is watching the atrocities taking place in […]
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State Threatens Auditor-Controller with $5K Fine for Delinquent Fiscal Report
Facing a threat from the State Controller’s Office sent through the California Department of Justice that it intends to exercise all of its authority under the law — including pursuing a $5,000 against her personally — if Humboldt County fails to turn over a statutorily mandated financial statement that’s more than a year overdue, embattled […]
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Meth, a Mother, and a Stillbirth: Imprisoned Mom Wants her ‘Manslaughter’ Case Reopened
The 29-year-old woman was rushed to a Central Valley hospital on Dec. 30, 2017. Seven of her nine children had been born high on methamphetamine. This one, her 10th, was coming two weeks early. Doctors detected no fetal heartbeat at 9:30 p.m. At 10:14 p.m., she tested positive for methamphetamine. Eight minutes later, Adora Perez […]
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Is This Another Way to End California’s Death Penalty?
Instead of outright abolition, opponents of the California death penalty are pushing legislation to limit death sentences. But the blowback to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to dismantle Death Row at San Quentin demonstrates the political risk. Unable to persuade California voters to do away with capital punishment altogether, the movement to abolish the death penalty […]