Cover Story
Bridgeville
It’s the third Friday of the month, and volunteers at the Bridgeville Community Center are busy. The community center’s food pantry feeds around 60 families from neighboring communities. On other days, it offers adult education, mental health referrals and a senior lunch. For those accustomed to larger burgs, the tiny town — 83 acres, population…
HumBug: Bee Alert!
Yesterday while working outside, I noticed a large black and yellow bee diligently working its way around the periphery of one of the many dandelions in my yard. I paused and took a picture of it to report to Bumblebee Watch. They are tracking various species of the genus Bombus, some of which are endangered.…
‘Unregulated Far Too Long:’ Vacation Rentals That is, Not Pot
Acknowledging that they are playing catch-up on yet another high-impact issue affecting residents countywide, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to jump into the vacation rental regulation business. “Currently, the county code is mute on this issue,” said Chair Mark Lovelace in introducing the discussion. “It is another issue that has been…
Photo Contest!
It’s been a wet winter, and I don’t think we’re alone in saying we’d kind of forgotten what that felt like. But now that back-to-back months of double digit rainfall totals have jolted us back into winter life in Humboldt, we’d like to preserve what that looks like. You know, in case it doesn’t come…
Arcata, HSU Eying $3.2 Million Property
The city of Arcata and Humboldt State University are researching the potential purchase of a plot of land that butts up against the city’s Community Forest and the school’s campus. The 58-acre property on Bayview Street, which recently hit the market with an asking price of $3.2 million, has long been on the city’s radar,…
Pins and Needles: Inked Hearts 2016
Lots of creative body art was on display at the seventh annual Inked Hearts Tattoo Expo at the Blue Lake Casino and Hotel on Feb. 4 through Feb. 7. Over 20 invited tattoo artists from all over the U.S. were booked up during most of the long weekend. Check out the slideshow below for photos…
TL;DR Five Things You Need to Know About This Week’s Cover Story
Busy week? We get it. Here are some highlights from the cover to get you caught up. (And a few things that didn’t make it into the issue.) The tiny town of Bridgeville (85 acres, population about 25, located on State Route 36 about an hour east of Fortuna) first rolled across international headlines when…
HumBug: A Winter Walk
Tuesday was mostly clear so I put off house cleaning and took a walk. Along the road I saw a few pale lavender colored Milkmaid flowers (Cardamine californica). They are the first wildflower I see every year. Aside from having to extricate myself from quicksand up to my knees, I had a good time taking…
Plunge-worthy
The largest fundraiser of the year for the Redwood Discovery Museum is also one of Humboldt’s wildest and silliest events — which is saying something. Teams with themes and solitary dignitaries all dive into the frigid waters of the bay to raise money for the interactive educational children’s museum at the Perilous Plunge on Saturday,…
DA: No Charges in Fatal Hoopa Officer-Involved Shooting
Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming announced today that no criminal charges will be filed against Hoopa Tribal Police Sgt. Seth Ruiz stemming from his fatal Sept. 4 shooting of an armed suspect near Weitchpec. In a press release, Fleming stated that she reviewed all evidence in the case, including the statements of three civilian…
Airport Adds Service to Portland
Come April, folks looking to get out of Humboldt County will have a new option: direct air service to Portland. Pen Air, a regional airline based in Alaska, announced via press release that it will soon be adding two daily flights between Portland and Arcata/Eureka, err, the California Redwood Coast – Humboldt County Airport. The…
Marijuana gets a Czarina
The Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation (the BoMM or the BuMMR, depending on who you ask) has a new chief. Lori Ajax, the deputy director of the state department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to head the newly formed agency that will develop and enforce vast medical marijuana reforms…
UPDATED: DA: No Death Penalty in Gang Murder Case
UPDATE: Eighteen-year-old Joe Olivo III, one of four men accused of the gang-related murder of a 14-year-old Arcata boy in 2014, will be tried as an adult in the case, according Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming. Olivo III, who police identified as a Sureño gang member, was arrested Feb. 2 in San Luis Obispo…
Far Above the World
David Bowie was a man who did it all — music, acting, fashion, art — influencing every industry he touched. He showed us it was OK to be odd, colorful and different with his unabashed self and ever-changing personas. His self-awareness was the compass from which his inventions and reinventions sprang forth and returned. A…
Huffman Backs Bill to get USPS off our Backs
Last month, the U.S. Postal Service contacted the Journal to tell us we were breaking federal law by including medical marijuana advertisements in our paper, which is mailed to subscribers through the USPS. Those advertisements, of course, are legal in the state of California. We decided to continue business as usual; read NCJ news editor Thadeus…
14-Year Old’s 2014 Killing Gang Related, Says EPD
Jesus “Smiley” Romero-Garcia laid on the front lawn of a residential home in Eureka, bleeding and semi-conscious, for nearly nine hours in the rain before he was found and taken to St. Joseph Hospital. The 14-year-old died of his injuries — three stab wounds to the chest — at around 9:30 on the morning of…
What Deadline?
A University of California San Francisco think tank released a study based on proposed marijuana legalization ballot measures that warns of a corporate takeover of the marijuana industry that could have negative public health effects. The report, which comes from the university’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, says legalization — the most prominent…
From the Ashes of Congress
The largest dam removal project in U.S. history appears to be back on track. According to a joint press release issued Feb. 2, the federal government, the states of Oregon and California and PacifiCorp — the energy company that owns the dams — have reached an agreement in principal to amend the historic Hydroelectric Settlement…
Samoa Highway
Another barn down — what is it about rubble that so wanders my eye from the road? Is it the latent carpenter in me, the joist salvager, or just the itch to fix what might not have been lost, Or the treasure hunter, seeking old gold rings, jumbled tools and jewels, Or yet again the…
Hum Plate Roundup
If the wall-to-wall Betty Boop décor (down to a tacked-up pair of socks) doesn’t give it away, the sign exclaiming that pizza fries with meatballs and cheese are back should clue you in that Deb’s Great American Hamburger Company (3340 Redwood Drive, Redway) is not about subtlety. Good thing, too. You will be grateful for…
Half a League From Stardom
I’ve been told by more than a few people to check out the 2013 documentary 20 Feet From Stardom. Winner of an Academy Award, the film is about a few singers with tremendous voices who played the role of “backup singer” to many bands over the decades. I’m still unclear what’s taken me so long…
My Friend Antonio
As I age, I read the local obituaries more often to see if any of my friends or former colleagues have died. I am sure I am not the only senior who has developed this informative yet morbid habit. I have noticed the obits have a style, a form and, moreover, describe in peaceful, glowing…
Broken Relics
How does a sculptor adapt to a world already brimming with stuff? Both Walter Early and Benjamin Funke (full disclosure: this writer’s partner) make a point of making do with what we have: everyday, mass-produced objects possessing little or no inherent value. Their two-person show Chronic Fatigue is up at Humboldt State University’s First Street…
Arts Alive!
Presented by Eureka Main Street. Opening receptions for artists, exhibits and performances are held the first Saturday of each month. For more information, phone Eureka Main Street at 442-9054 or go to www.eurekamainstreet.org. A TASTE OF BIM 613 Third St. Nancy Flemming, paintings. ADORNI CENTER 1011 Waterfront St. ”Ikebana,” Gordon Trump, sticks-n-stones art; Paul Rickard,…
We Could Be Heroes
Reviews KUNG FU PANDA 3. The third installment of this successful animated saga of anthropomorphic animals rolls in with more backstory for its panda hero, Po, otherwise known as the Dragon Master. Knowledge of the first two movies isn’t really necessary to enjoy this rollicking 95 minutes, but I had seen both heading in. The…
Native Plants, the Designer Way
Our regional plants offer so many ways to deepen our relationship with the environment around us. Not only do they attract birds and native insects (which form the base of our food chain and help birds feed their young — and are charming in their own right), they highlight the unique beauty only found here…
Grangers, the Time is Now
In “The State of the Grange” (Jan. 3), Linda Stansberry detailed the delicate state of health in which an organization at the bedrock of American democracy finds itself. Civil war is the worst kind of catastrophe, and why the National Grange started rejecting parts of itself after 150 years is baffling. But the case isn’t…
It’s All About Us
The best long-running drama not on television just ended. Let’s call it Ferndale Law. The show starred a hot British ex-pat who somehow found herself owning and running a small paper in a quaint little town 5 miles off a remote highway at the westernmost edge of the continental U.S. She marries a guy who…
