Cover Story
Black Snakes
Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from Kaitlin Reed’s book Settler Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush in Indigenous Northern California that has been edited for publication in the Journal. The July sun was hot on the back of my neck as I struggled to find my footing on a steep mountainside along…
Music Tonight: Friday, July 14
The Miniplex is hosting a free psyche and space jam night, as local post-punk and science fiction concept band Control Voltage, aka CV, shares the stage with the experimental collective Datura Blues, helmed by Oryan Peterson-Jones, who has press-ganged the author into making a rare appearance on bass, something I would do for very few…
Music Tonight: Thursday, July 13
Local guitar picker, American primitivist and world music collector Oryan Peterson-Jones has two free shows in two days ahead of his band, Datura Blues, performing later this month at a festival in Northern Oregon. The first is a solo gig at Old Growth Cellars this evening at 6 p.m.
Cal State has a New Chancellor. Her Challenges Include the System’s Sexual Misconduct Allegations and Massive Budget Gap
A $1.5 billion budget shortfall, student outrage over planned annual 6 percent tuition hikes for at least five years, stubborn racial gaps in graduation rates and widespread distrust over how the university handles sexual assault claims. This is the job that awaits Mildred García, who was named chancellor of the California State University today. García,…
James Richard Proctor: 1936-2023
Born August 5, 1936, in Denver, Colorado, and shortly after moved to Selma, California. Jim attended Selma High School where he earned his letterman sweater playing football, swimming and diving. After high school, he joined the United States Marines Corps and then the United States Navy serving 23 years, including service in the Vietnam Conflict.…
Music Tonight: Wednesday, July 12
Solo acts are an occasional treat in this column, as the people involved often seem to be extra dedicated and focused on their work in a way that often can’t be as intense when diffused across a larger ensemble or band. Plexusplay is one such artist, a performer whose work is defined by a virtuosic…
‘Armed and Dangerous’ Suspect Named in Arcata Fatal Shooting
The Arcata Police Department has released the name of the suspect in a fatal July 2 shooting. A news release states APD has secured an arrest warrant for 24-year-old Gregory Nelson Mattox, of McKinleyville, on suspicion of murder. He is described as a white male, about 5 feet, 11 inches tall, thin build with dark…
CA Legislature Mulls Expanding Paid Sick Leave
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, California’s three days of paid sick leave for full-time workers was not enough to cover quarantines or vaccine side effects. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law requiring companies to offer as much as 80 hours of supplemental sick leave for employees. The temporary measure was restored in early…
Sheriff’s Office Searching Near Ettersburg After Human Remains Found
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a ground search near Ettersburg today for additional human remains after a jawbone was located in the Mattole River by California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists on July 8. According to a HCSO news release, the call came in just before 8 p.m. and a deputy responded…
Music Tonight: Tuesday, July 11
Blondies is a venue I always like to mention, as it used to be a neighborhood haunt of mine and I have a file cabinet of good show memories there. Tonight at 7 p.m., it hosts Los Angeles acts Human Musik, Soundfrom, SpaceyY, Telltale Ballroom and recognized locals Drastic Gnarlys. It’s only $5 to find…
PG&E Announces ‘Pilot Project’ to Hookup New SoHum Customers
Nearly one year after capacity issues impacting PG&E’s ability to provide service to new customers from Fortuna to the Mendocino County border came to light, PG&E today announced a pilot project that could allow the utility to begin providing some new hookups in the Southern Humboldt area by the end of next year. According to…
NCJ Preview: Settler Cannabis, Supes Pony Up for Fair and Free Lunch
We’re talking about an excerpt from a Cal Poly Humboldt Native American Studies professor’s book and what it says about the Green Rush, the supes’ move to save the fair and Jefferson Community Center, which is feeding kids through a collaborative mentorship project. Hit subscribe for weekly updates on Humboldt stories.
Music Tonight: Monday, July 10
Savage Henry Comedy Club is throwing a changeup pitch on its regular Metal Monday to present a Goth music twist. Come join Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Convert, Portland’s Father’s Milk, Oakland’s Silence in the Snow and local heroes Psyop Victim and DJ Dastbunny for a night of darkwave and distortion at 7 p.m. ($10).
Blue Lake Celebrates Annie & Mary Day on Sunday
Hello, summer! Festivals galore await us at every turn. In sunny Blue Lake this weekend, it’s the 54th annual Annie & Mary Day, happening Sunday, July 9, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (free admission). The celebration of the historic Arcata Mad River Rail Line (and namesakes Annie Carroll and Mary Buckley), starts off with a…
PlanCo Approves Permits for Tear Down of Schneider Home
After an emotional apology from the developer, the Humboldt County Planning Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve the permits and permit modifications necessary for Travis Schneider to tear down his partially constructed family home overlooking the Fay Slough Wildlife Area. After amassing a host of permit violations during construction of the more than 20,000-square-foot home…
Bigfoot Daze in Willow Creek this Saturday
Celebrate the Notorious BIG (foot, that is) at Bigfoot Daze, Saturday, July 8, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Willow Creek (free admission). The 61st annual family-friendly festival offers a downtown parade and a slew of activities at Veterans Park, including food and vendor booths, a horseshoe tournament, ice cream social, Bigfoot calling contest, watermelon…
McKinleyville Fatal Shooting Suspect Arrested, Victim Identified
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reports that the suspect in a July 3 fatal shooting in McKinleyville was arrested this morning in Trinidad without incident after a two-day search, during which residents in both communities were urged to take extra precautions, including locking their doors and not opening their doors to strangers. Jasen Dwain Coley…
Free Meals and Skills for Kids at the J Café
At one end of the J Café, a little girl in a pink skirt perches on the arm of an overstuffed chair and scrapes her teeth on the skin of a green apple. At the other end, a couple of kids are using tongs to add fresh black cherries and watermelon wedges on their paper…
Gardening in the Gloom
If you’re a gardener, you’re probably wondering what in the ever-living gahhh is going on with the weather this year. First, we had unending rain, then the rain stopped. Sort of. Then it came back. Then it went away. But wait! The overcast skies moved in after that. Lots and lots of overcast skies or…
A Tale of Two Characters
Pairing is a weird notion, particularly in art and music, where not every comparison is consonant. A lot is left up to individual taste, as well, which is the nature of critical study. My general criteria for reviewing local music is as follows: I won’t write about anything I disliked (this town ain’t big enough…
Maintaining a Legacy
INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. Time may eventually allow us to more properly contextualize the great Dr. Jones. Younger generations may have already done it, distanced as they presumably are from the visceral, world-making experience of meeting Harrison Ford’s irascible, iron-tough, impossibly cool archeologist at an age when that introduction was as formative,…
‘Serious Consideration’
Editor: I appreciated Elaine Weinreb’s very thorough reporting titled “McKinleyville Inc.?” in the June 22, 2023, edition. It seems a lot to make incorporation a reality, and it almost seems insurmountable. I had attended a few McKinleyville Advisory Committee meetings or McKinleyville Service District meetings remotely, with interest in the downtown area community development. The serious…
Drones in Rwanda
“You now see much bigger and wealthier countries like the U.S. using Rwanda as a role model.” A surprising statement given that Rwanda, a landlocked country in the heart of Africa with a land area twice that of Humboldt County, was the scene of a brutal massacre 29 years ago: 1 million dead in 100…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Genius physicist Albert Einstein said, “The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old questions from new angles, requires creative imagination and makes real advances.” What he said…
Supes Pony Up $1 Million in Effort to Save Horse Racing at the Fair
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $1 million in emergency repairs for the Ferndale fairgrounds’ earthquake-damaged grandstands on June 29 after a structural inspection determined the facility was currently unsafe for use. Not moving forward could have meant canceling the races or at least limited viewing for one of the Humboldt County Fair’s…
Buck Wild
I’m writing this under the influence of the waxing Buck Moon and maybe it’s the weather, or the masses of asses clogging up the roads and beaches, but I am definitely feeling a sense of power and excitement with tinges of manic frustration. As I may have alluded to before, the effect of the full…
