Building a Safety Net
Sequoia Park Zoo helps an endangered butterfly species spread its wings By Kimberly Wear
Cover Stories
Building a Safety Net
Inside a nondescript concrete building at the Sequoia Park Zoo, hundreds of rare caterpillars are settled down for a long winter’s nap. So small their black, spikey forms only come into focus under the lens of a microscope, the Behren’s silverspot butterflies-to-be are housed in specially outfitted jars kept on shelves of a regular kitchen…
All a flutter: How to Benefit Butterflies
While Behren’s and Oregon silverspots aren’t found in Humboldt County, there are still ways to lend a helping hand to the endangered butterflies on the local level. With another banner batch of Behren’s caterpillars waiting in the wings for their spring awakening in just a few months, Sequoia Park Zoo Butterfly Conservation Director Christine Damiani…
Call for Submissions: 2024 Coloring Book Art
CALLING ALL ARTISTS: Ink up your pens or charge up your tablets, it’s time for another NCJ Coloring Book! Submit your black and white line drawings and we’ll create the book. Here are the specs: • Black and white line art only • Dimensions: 8.5″ x 11”, either landscape or portrait • Submit high resolution…
Music Tonight: Friday, Feb. 2
Jenny Don’t and the Spurs are one of the finest country acts on the West Coast, with a repertoire of covers and originals that walk the line of classy, sassy and old time fun. I’ve always enjoyed this group, so I was pleased as punch to see a stopover on their tour tonight at the…
Music Tonight: Thursday, Feb. 1
Comedy-rap curio Afroman is back in town tonight at 9 p.m. at Humbrews. Best known for his 2000 track “Because I Got High,” Afroman has kept the faith with touring in support of a steady stream of new material. He’s even running for president and, according to his website, has a fairly progressive platform, highlighting…
Saving Salmon: Newsom Unveils Blueprint for Ending Decades-long Decline
With salmon populations throughout California declining for decades and facing the threat of extinction, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday unveiled a state strategy aimed at protecting and restoring the iconic species “amidst hotter and drier weather exacerbated by climate change.” The blueprint calls for tearing down dams and improving passages for migrating salmon, restoring flows…
Spokespeople Mum as to Who is Behind Mystery Offer for Eureka Schools’ Jacobs Property
More than six weeks after a newly formed LLC emerged seemingly out of nowhere to enter into a $6 million deal to acquire an 8.3-acre property from Eureka City Schools, the identities of those involved remain a mystery. Spokespeople for AMG Communities — Jacobs LLC, which filed articles of incorporation with the California Secretary of…
EPD Officer Found to Have Failed to Investigate Sexual Abuse Allegation
A Eureka police officer was found to have failed to timely investigate allegations of the sexual abuse of a minor last year, neglecting to take any action on a report from school staff for more than a month. The officer, who resigned amid the internal affairs investigation, was found to have neglected his duties, engaged…
‘First in the Country’: Incarcerated Students in CPH Degree Program Now Eligible for Federal Financial Aid
Incarcerated students enrolled in a groundbreaking program at Pelican Bay State Prison to earn their bachelor’s degrees from Cal Poly Humboldt are now the first in the nation eligible to receive Pell Grants to pay for their education. Access to the aid opened up this summer under federal legislation signed in 2020, reversing a previous…
Patsy Ruth Walker: 1929-2023
Patsy Ruth Walker (Hackett), born Sept. 25, 1929, passed away peacefully at the age of 94 at Seaview Rehab & Wellness Center in Eureka on Dec. 27, 2023. She was raised on a sheep ranch outside Ferndale by her parents George and Bertha Hackett (McAllister). She then went on to marry Harold Hall Walker in…
Music Tonight: Sunday, Jan. 28
Hey hey, it’s another Grateful Getdown matinee show at Humbrews today at 3 p.m., overseen by some of this county’s greatest G. Dead interpreters. Last night’s 9 p.m. gig was for adults of drinking age only but today’s hoedown is for dead people of all ages. As was the case on Saturday, $10 is the…
Music Tonight: Saturday, Jan.27
Tuvan throat singing first came on my radar when I was a teenager, via the documentary Genghis Blues, where San Francisco blues musician Paul Pena learned the art over shortwave radio and was invited to Tuva to perform in one of their festivals. I even saw one of his hosts, the amazing Kongar-ool Ondar, do…
Butterflies, Real Estate Mysteries and Pop-up Dining
This week we’ve got a story about how conservationists are working to bring an endangered butterfly back from the brink of extinction. Also, the Eureka City Schools’ property sale mystery continues. We’ve got a brief on the hostage situation and police shooting in Eureka. Finally, we’ll look at how pop-up nights at Alchemy Distillery are…
Music Tonight: Friday, Jan. 26
DJ Kreepeeo is curating Phonk Crypt at the Miniplex tonight at 10 p.m. Expect a clubby appreciation of the mix-tape culture of the ’90s -’00s Dirty South sound, with all the grimy crunk and horror-show beauty that put underground rap on the map from Memphis to Houston. It’s a $5-$10 sliding scale but (loud enough…
2024 NCJ Pet Photo Contest
[IMAGE-1] Voting has closed and the results are in! Pick up a copy of this week’s North Coast Journal on newsstands today to see the winners (they’ll also be posted here Thursday morning). See all the furry cuteness at petphotos.northcoastjournal.com.
‘Obvious Consequences’
Editor: Increasing productivity is the catch phrase that all employees nowadays hear at Providence/Saint Joseph Hospital. This has been the model for many years. Unfortunately it has taken away from patient care, satisfaction and safety. Many of the departments that used to be local have either moved down to Southern California, or north to Oregon…
‘Missing’
Editor: A health-related topic that’s important to Humboldt County was missing from the Jan. 18 “Health and Wellness” issue. The U.S. Census has recognized Humboldt as being among the top counties in the country for use of wood heating. This is, without a doubt, creating a serious public health problem here, but it goes unrecognized.…
Vote!
Editor: Mike Wilson is a diligent public servant for Humboldt County, working to improve daily life for the whole community and preserving our natural resources. Mike has been a leader in protecting Humboldt Bay. He didn’t shy away from taking bold action to prevent impending environmental disaster at the former Samoa Pulp Mill, which has…
Hiking the New Year
Not bothering with resolutions, I celebrate the New Year by hiking. I start with the hills in the park nearby, legs burning from doing nothing all fall, all year. Days later I hike out to Headwaters, find myself soaked in sweat and struggling to catch my breath trudging up the two-mile hill above three-mile bridge.…
Questions Swirl Around Jacobs Property Swap
In the weeks since Eureka City Schools decided to break off negotiations with the California Highway Patrol and enter into an agreement with a mystery developer to trade 8.2 acres of its old Jacobs Middle School campus for a small home on I Street and $5.35 million in cash, several of the entities with a vested interest…
Dry the Rain
I’ve been enjoying the frantic back and forth between the flood days and warm sun days, so I haven’t really paid much attention to January slipping by. Which is unfortunate because it’s one of my favorite months. They all have their charm, depending on where you are, and my associations from childhood with our Humboldt…
Alchemy’s Pop-up Magic
Less than an hour before sunset, the Alchemy Distillery (330 S. G St., Arcata) gives off the glow and thrum of a party through the large open window counter, where patrons sit inside and out, bustling bar traffic on one side, overhead heat lamps cutting the chill on the other. There’s still a line of…
New Art Sellers Around Old Town:
Walking through the door of the 4th Street Mercantile (215 Fourth St., Eureka) is a surprising, almost surreal experience. The interior space seemed to me somehow larger than the actual building. As I approached the counter just inside the entryway, my eyes were drawn beyond it, in all directions, to the expertly curated displays of…
Might Have Beens
With the joys and horrors of our most recent, apolitical global cataclysm rapidly diminishing beyond the remembering, we return to some version of normal. Which is to say, many of the smaller, headier but nonetheless celebrated releases of 2023 are just now making their way to screens where country folk like ourselves can access them.…
Thanks to JFC
Editor: The Humboldt medical system may be coming apart at the seams (“‘A Critical Decision,'” Jan. 18) but thanks to Jennifer Fumiko Cahill’s “Is Zopissa Right For You,” we can all die laughing. Gordon Inkeles, Bayside Related Stories
