Cover Story
Crimes Against Nature: Poaching Takes its Toll on the North Coast
They come at night, under the cover of darkness, traversing the back roads of Redwood National and State Parks, home to much of what remains of the world’s last old growth redwood stands. Carrying chainsaws and wearing headlamps, the thieves often take side trails to scour the towering trunks for knobbed growths that encase intricately…
UPDATE: Eureka Paid Former City Attorney $165K for Resignation
UPDATE: Acting City Manager Brian Gerving responded to a Journal request with a full accounting of Day-Wilson’s resignation agreement payout, which totals more than $165,000. According to Gerving, who’s in the acting role with City Manager Greg Sparks and City Clerk Pam Powell both out of the office, Day-Wilson was paid $80,794 for six months…
Music Tonight: Wednesday, July 4
Forks Lounge in Willow Creek hosts its weekly Wednesday free acoustic jam with host Jimi Jeff at 7:30 p.m. And just like that, I have captured another Pokémon by including a Willow Creek gig in the mix for the first time. Huzzah. Whomp Whomp Wednesday at The Jam is featuring a Path to Northern Nights…
It’s (Almost) Official: Madrone is Humboldt’s Next Fifth District Supervisor
The Humboldt County Elections Office released its final report this afternoon, and the results have challenger Steve Madrone pulling off an improbable upset over two-term incumbent Ryan Sundberg by 118 votes in the Fifth District supervisorial race. Madrone trailed in all the early election night tallies before pulling ahead by a slim 33 votes in the…
Sean Robertson Appointed as New Humboldt Bay Fire Chief
Humboldt Bay Fire has a new chief. Directors of the district’s joint power authority board announced yesterday that Sean Robertson has been appointed to the post, filling a vacancy created by the resignation of Bill Gillespie in November. Robertson has been with the department since August of 1998 and over the past two decades has…
Music Tonight: Tuesday, July 3
Music is often nothing if not the convergence of sound and stories so let’s examine the latter half of that equation tonight. As part of the ongoing Mad River Festival, Dell’Arte presents its International Family Series: Stories in the Tent. In a collaboration with the Mad River Union, Dell’Arte showcases five stories written by Humboldt…
Set It Off
Celebrate the day that 13 little colonies said yes, we can and signed the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Humboldt’s Fourth of July festivities are plentiful — we’ve got parades, barbecues, festivals and fireworks. Here’s where to tip your star-spangled hat. The Friendly City does everyone a solid by starting the festivities a day…
2nd UPDATE: Southbound 101 Reopened Near Willits, Homicide Suspect in Custody
2nd UPDATE: The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has identified the victims in Monday’s shooting on U.S. Highway 101 and announced a suspect is in custody. According to the sheriff’s office press release, police arrested 23-year-old Ubaldo Ramirez at about 1:30 a.m. in Covelo on suspicion of fatally shooting his father, 51-year-old Calixto Ramirez, and critically…
Crabs Crunch Expos
Over choruses of “O Canada” and riotous, bench-pouding cheers, the Crabs completed a sweep of the California Expos (née Montreal) Sunday afternoon. In the 10th inning, third baseman Wesley Ghan-Gibson punched a walk-off double over the Expos center fielder and sent the Expos on a quiet bus ride back to Central California (a cruel fate,…
Records Missing for at Least 800 Pounds of Marijuana Seized by Rohnert Park Police
Documentation for the destruction of about 800 pounds of marijuana seized by Rohnert Park public safety officers in recent years is missing from court files, KQED has found, despite the officers writing in police reports that the court ordered the evidence destroyed. Rohnert Park has released 40 police reports involving traffic stops by former police…
Planning Commissioner Arrested on Suspicion of Public Intoxication
Humboldt State University Police Chief Donn Peterson confirmed that one of his officers arrested Humboldt County Planning Commissioner Noah Levy in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 1. Peterson said Levy was observed by an officer on the 1000 block of G Street (close to the Arcata Plaza) and arrested on suspicion of being drunk in public,…
Update: Highway 20 Back Open
UPDATE: Calfire states in a tweet that Highway 20 is now open after the Pawnee Fire forced closures: “The California Highway Patrol has removed the road closure at State Route 53 and State Route 20 in Lake County and at State Route 16 and State Route 20 in Colusa County. State Route 20 is open…
Protesters Gather at Local Homeland Security Office
Several dozen people gathered this morning in front of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in Old Town Eureka to protest the Trump Administration’s immigration policies. Several speakers addressed the crowd, which waved signs emblazoned with slogans like “Keep Families Together,” “Refugees Welcome” and “Chinga La Migra,” and occasional passing cars honked messages of…
Fatal Single-Car Crash Near Alderpoint Kills One
The Garberville office of the Highway Patrol reports that in the early morning hours of July 1, a 47-year old man from Olympia, Washington, let his westbound vehicle leave Alderpoint Road and collided with a tree. The man was driving a 1970 Chevrolet C50 box truck. The wreck was not discovered until the mid-morning, Cal-Fire…
Music Tonight: Monday, July 2
International Spanish folk touring act Sangre de Muerdago plays the Sanctuary tonight at 8 p.m. For a sliding scale fee of $10-$25, come enjoy the Galician-inspired sounds of the multi-instrumental acoustic act. On the Bywater side of St. Claude Avenue in New Orleans is a quirky little two-story building with — if memory serves —…
HumBug: Late Bloomers and Frisky Dragonflies
The walk started off noticing my neighbor’s elm tree is infested with mourning cloak caterpillars. They’re going to town on one of the branches, stripping the leaves right down to the tough ribs. I didn’t tell him. It’s a big tree and I doubt loosing a few leaves is going to have much effect on…
Music Tonight: Sunday, July 1
Wake up, wake up, wake up, it’s the first of tha month. No, Cleveland’s finest rap vocalizers Bone Thugs isn’t running through town today — sorry for the tease. However, you can catch a musical treasure from a little farther up north when Toronto banjoist and composer Jayme Stone brings his Lomax recordings-inspired act Jayme…
Updated: Pawnee Fire Closes Sections of Highway 20
The Pawnee Fire exploded this afternoon and has closed sections of Highway 20 in Lake and Colusa counties, according to Caltrans. The agency’s Facebook page states, “SR 20 has been closed from the junction of SR 53 in Lake County to SR 16 in Colusa County. Caltrans will reopen the highway as soon as it…
Protesters Say ‘Enough is Enough’ at Families Belong Together Rally
A diverse crowd of protesters stretching some three city blocks made their way through the streets of Old Town Eureka this morning, peacefully decrying the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy at the border and demanding the reunification of separated families. As they wound along the route, marchers held aloft handmade signs, some reading “In our…
Music Tonight: Saturday, June 30
Tyger Byle bills itself as “Humboldt’s preeminent jug-prog band.” Having never seen the group live and so being deprived of all context I have absolutely no idea what that means. At all. However, I am told by local sources that it is a show worth checking out so maybe find out for yourself — for…
Lalas Burlesque Show
Ooh, la la la. And a few more Lalas … Round up your posse or make it a hot date night and head to Bear River Casino Resort Saturday, June 30 at 9 p.m. for the Los Angeles-based Lalas Burlesque Show. The ladies of L.A. deliver an evening of ribald humor, dance and audience interactivity…
Pedestrian Killed in Private Driveway Accident
A pedestrian was killed in Bayside on Friday evening when she reportedly tried to grab onto a pickup truck on a private driveway. The California Highway Patrol is withholding the identity of the 5o-year-old Bayside woman was was killed until her family can be notified. According to the CHP, a 53-year-old Bayside man was driving…
Crabs Bomb Three Homers in Series Against B-52s
Attention 101-South drivers: The Crabs have corked their bats and the Samoa exit is no longer safe during game time. Back home from their longest and final road trip of the year, our favorite arthropods pummeled their south bay brethren, the B-52s, in a two-game series. The Battle of the Safety Corridor commenced Tuesday evening,…
91 Year Old Killed in Arcata Dog Attack
A 91-year-old man was killed in a dog attack in Arcata on June 25, according to the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office. According to a press release, Donald Steele sustained fatal injuries consistent with a dog attack. His manner of death has been deemed “accidental.” The dog that allegedly attacked Steele was taken into the custody…
Families Belong Together Rally in Eureka on Saturday
A local Families Belong Together rally will join hundreds of others taking place across the country Saturday to protest the separation of families at the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a “zero tolerance” approach by the Trump administration that has left thousand of children in detention centers away from their parents. The march is scheduled…
‘Definite Plan’ for Klamath Dam Removals Filed
The “definite plan” for removing four dams from the Klamath River has been filed with the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission, providing a detailed blue print for how the largest river restoration project in U.S. history will unfold. “We have completed a major milestone through the development and filing of this plan,” said Mark Bransom, executive…
Music Tonight: Friday, June 29
Humboldt’s finest Pink Floyd tribute band Money plays the Eureka Friday Night Market on Clarke Plaza this afternoon at 5 p.m. This free gig — not in the sky — will allow you ample ambling time to check out the various wares around you at the market while vibing out to analog verisimilitude of bygone…
Mad About Dell’Arte
Humboldt County’s own Dell’Arte International received a shout-out from the San Francisco Chronicle this week in an article highlighting the performing art center’s 47-year history, nearly all of which has been spent in the bucolic city of Blue Lake. Currently ongoing is its 28th annual Mad River Festival, which features original theatrical works by the…
Music Tonight: Thursday, June 28
Smokestack Relics is a band made up of two multi-instrumentalist brothers, Cameron and Collin Webb, who play a sort of road running powerful brand of swamp rock — a genre known for its gritty and twangy troubadours usually from south of the Mason-Dixon line. These Webb boys hail from Golden, Colorado, but that doesn’t put…
Permit Patty and Why Everything Must Go
If you’ve passed a cannabis dispensary in Humboldt recently, you’ve probably seen the brightly colored signs offering discounts of up to 80 percent. Dispensaries throughout the state have shifted into an everything-must-go, clearance-sale mindset, offering a last chance to buy potentially tainted weed at rock-bottom prices. As of July 1, all cannabis products sold in…
Kindercamps
Editor: While The President’s new executive order may temporarily stop some of the child separations of those seeking asylum in this country, it is clear it will not stop all of them (“Dozens Turn Out to Protest Child Detention Immigration Policies,” posted June 22). Nor is there any assurance that all of the children already…
Fabulous Exit, Melania
Editor: Melania, I don’t think we will be hearing much from you in the future. How do you fire the First Lady? Ship her off to Elba? “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” I think I understand this “cryptic” message on your jacket which, once you think about it, is not at all cryptic. When…
About KHSU
Editor: In response to the last letter regarding KHSU, those of us who were at the Community Advisory Board meeting know that this is not about Katie Whiteside alone, but the new policies of removing the local programming from the community station. Katie was the canary in the mine shaft … The new General Manager,…
Drawing Lines, Mr. President
One dimension Speaks volumes, With broken lines Dashing North & South, And broken bodies Littering our past. Scenic Vistas Rarely help Weary souls Recover. All lines Are pointless.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your best ideas and soundest decisions will materialize as if by magic while you’re lounging around doing nothing in a worry-free environment. So please make sure you have an abundance of relaxed slack and unhurried grace. Treat yourself to record-setting levels of comfort and self-care. Do whatever’s necessary for you to…
TESS the Planet Hunter
Sitting in the cavernous nose of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, NASA’s TESS was launched on April 18 from Cape Canaveral. By the time you read this, TESS —Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite — will be starting its initial two-year, all-sky survey. TESS’s mission is to detect planets orbiting comparatively nearby stars in our Milky Way…
From Another Time
Reviews JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM. Color me … skeptical but I had reservations. I know, I know, I’m not leading with my customary font of optimism but rest easy, there’s something coming about a drunk minister wrestling with suicide a little later. I’ve enjoyed more than my share of Jurassic entertainment. In younger, simpler days…
Pool Rules
Humboldt County beaches cannot just be visited, they must be experienced. And getting up close with marine life in tide pools should be at the top of this summer’s to-do list. Here are some tips on doing it right. Whether it’s Indian Beach, Palmer’s Point or Luffenholtz, we’ve got prime tide pools to explore. Attention…
Tips for Hungry Backpackers
Lucky us. We who live in Humboldt County have not one but four wilderness areas in which to play: the Marbles, the Trinities, the Russian Wilderness and the Lost Coast. Breathtaking as they are, though, if you haven’t brought the right food, you”ll be too tired or hungry to enjoy their beauty. Back in the…
Bells, Banjos and Puppets
As I write this from my friend’s porch on a hot afternoon in the last week of June, my ears are met with the sweet sounds of summer. No, wait, that’s just a rooster mindlessly screaming in the yard while it pecks around in the dry dirt for snacks. Meanwhile, spreading around me with the…
The Grand Juror Who Was Banned for Life
The California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously in closed session June 20 to permanently ban former Humboldt Bay Harbor, Conservation and Recreation District Commissioner and current Humboldt County Civil grand juror Aaron Newman from obtaining a recreational hunting or fishing license. The commission’s action is rare. According to California Department of Fish and Wildlife…
A City Attorney’s Controversial Tenure Comes to an Abrupt End
The Eureka City Council “received and accepted” the resignation of City Attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson on Tuesday after a hastily called closed session meeting to discuss the potential firing or discipline of an employee. In making the announcement, Mayor Frank Jager thanked Day-Wilson for her service, saying the separation was effective immediately and includes a yet-to-be-finalized…
Tribalism and Polarization, And Why We Should Be Concerned
A Google search of tribalism in America returns 664,000 results with headlines like “The New Tribalism and the Decline of the Nation State” and “Can Our Democracy Survive Tribalism?” Recently, a bounty of new books has arrived with titles like: Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations and Us Against Them: How Tribalism…
