Glory Over Land and Sea
The 2025 Kinetic Grand Championship By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill
Cover Story
Glory Over Land and Sea
After the Brake Check lap around the Arcata Plaza on Saturday, May 24, 48 kinetic sculptures and their teams — from canine to bovine, warriors to hippies, spooky to sparkling — set off on the more than 50-mile, three-day quest for glory that is the annual Kinetic Grand Championship. The rollicking ride detoured past Dead…
Kerima Christiane Furniss (née Dees): 1959-2025
Kerima Christiane Furniss passed away peacefully on Sunday, May 11, 2025, in Eureka, California, at the age of 65. Born in Berlin on June 1, 1959, Kerima crossed oceans to find her true home and loves in Arcata, California, where the welcoming spirit of the community and the strength of her Universal Sufi spiritual path…
Scott John Keele: 1948-2024
Scott John Keele passed away peacefully under Hospice care at his country home on Dec. 12, 2024. It was the culmination of a courageous 5-plus year battle with pancreatic cancer. Along the way, Scott was constantly supported and guided by his wife and life partner, Susan. Their resilience and positive attitude in the face of…
NCJ Best of Humboldt 2025
BEST IN SHOW 2025 🏆 Being the BEST ain’t no game — it’s a title you earn. To claim your spot as Humboldt’s Best in Show, you’ve got to get votes — and not just once. The BEST don’t just sit back — they show up, stand out, and let the whole county know they’re…
Photos: Forest Moon Festival Feels the Force
The Saturday, May 31 schedule for the third annual, three-day Forest Moon Festival opened on the Arcata Plaza with up close and personal photo opps with costumed Star Wars characters and appearances by actor Kyle Newman (director of Fanboys) and Kevin Thompson, original cast member as Ewok actor and stunt performer from 1983’s Star Wars:…
Humboldt County Fair to Hold Town Hall
With horseracing in the far back stretch as an option for entertainment, the Humboldt County Fair board and staff are seeking input from the public on what to do next. A town hall is scheduled for Monday, June 9, at 7 p.m. in the fairgrounds’ Turf Room. HCFA CEO Moira Kenny cautioned the board during…
Sheriff’s Office Identifies Contractor Killed in Landslide as Former Police Sergeant
An employee of a Caltrans contractor was killed Saturday morning during an active landslide on State Route 36 east of Swimmer’s Delight, the agency announced. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office identified the man killed as former Eureka Police Sgt. Rodrigo Reyna-Sanchez, 58, who reportedly took up work with the contracting company after his retirement in…
Kinetic Glory, Trump Cuts and Rural Portraits
Our Glorious edition features the three-day Kinetic Grand Championship race. We’ve also got an update on how Trump’s cuts are impacting vital services for folks in Humboldt County. Finally, we have the story of a painter who focuses on the warmth, humor and humanity of rural Humboldt. Hit subscribe for weekly updates on local stories.
Co-op Donation Brings Food for People Closer to Challenge Goal to Offset Trump Cuts
Food for People’s efforts to offset a huge, DOGE-induced funding loss got a boost recently, when the North Coast Co-op pledged to add $3,500 to the Farmers Fund challenge, encouraging community members who are able to also contribute to the effort to help both local farmers and food-insecure households. “The North Coast Co-op is excited…
It’s Crab Season! (baseball, that is)
Nothing says summer like the return of Humboldt Crabs Baseball. With games kicking off this weekend at the Arcata Ball Park, the Crabs are the oldest continuously operated, independent, summer collegiate baseball team in the U.S., bringing 80 years of tradition, hometown pride and small-town fun to our corner of the world. First game of…
Forest Moon Festival Fun
Celebrate Humboldt County’s claim to Star Wars fame at the Forest Moon Festival, honoring the region’s role as the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi. This countywide event takes place May 30-June 1 and features themed activities, film site tours, costumed characters and more. On Friday, May 30 at 6 p.m., head to…
Mission‘s Accomplishments
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING. It took me until the previous Reckoning to realize that, among its many other fine and compelling attributes, one of the great successes of the Mission: Impossible franchise, at least in its late-stage iterations, lies in its simultaneous fealty to its origins — cinematic, not so much the television…
‘Seems Fair to Me’
Editor: President Trump asked Walmart to eat the cost of his tariffs (Mailbox, May 22). He warned he would publicly shame them and other companies if they don’t, and they choose to pass the costs on to consumers instead. Of course, Trump’s now outraged because Walmart said they would likely pass the costs on. I’m sure…
‘Voice of Reason’
Editor: Couldn’t have said it better myself. Mr. Burton hit the nail squarely on the head (Mailbox, May 22). Concise, precise and totally right on; kudos, sir, for the voice of reason. Dave Kahan, Redway Related Stories
You Say Aluminum, I Say Aluminium
My wife, Louisa, and I recently found ourselves looking up at a statue comprised of 7,400 welded aluminum plates, the Winged Virgin of Panecillo Hill in Quito, Ecuador. It’s the tallest aluminum statue in the world with a total height of 135 feet. Based on a 48-inch-tall wooden sculpture created in 1734, the Virgin was…
Correction
A story in the May 22, 2025 edition of the North Coast Journal headlined “‘God Looking Back at You'” contained an error regarding the branch of the service John Calkins served in. He served in the U.S. Navy. The Journal regrets the error.
Above the Falls
It began as tiny as a dust mote Dancing in the mist Of the swirling waterfall Hundreds of feet deep in the narrow canyon Then circling, circling Upward and outward As if on golden tendrils Increasing in size As it rose Finally soaring White head and tail radiant in the sun Huge wings outstretched to…
Feds Impact in Humboldt
Another week, more news of the cascading impact of the Trump administration’s actions on Humboldt County. Here’s a rundown on the latest: Cal Poly Under Investigation On the same day the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced its investigation found Columbia University had violated federal law by showing indifference…
Cut to Rip Torn
I’ve got a lot on my mind but very little room to write about it, which is fine; I’ve been overlong in the intros lately anyway. So I’ll just give a peek instead of an essay about what I’ve been thinking about recently. Two things mainly, both published in this still-young year, the first I…
What’s Good: A Dipped Cone to Save the Day
Dipped soft serve cones saved my marriage. When, at the age of 28, having been a licensed driver for more than a decade, I needed to learn stick shift, it was my husband who put his head in the lion’s mouth. We practiced every day on backroads and in empty parking lots in upstate New…
‘What Life was Like Here’
At the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, from which Nicolette Reinsmith recently graduated, her Bay Area peers were mostly urban and moneyed, unlike Reinsmith, who describes her family as “lower middle class.” When she told fellow students stories about Humboldt County, they were baffled. They barely knew where it was. “They thought…
Trinidad Art Night
This townwide walk includes a variety of art exhibits, live music, artist receptions, face painting, skate ramps, pop-up sales and oyster, cider or wine tastings. Forbes & Associates and Westhaven Center for the Arts present Sarah Corliss. For more info, call (707) 834-2479 or visit trinidadartnight.com. THE LIGHTHOUSE GRILL 355 Main St. Jeff Stanley, Acrylic…
