Cover Stories
While a Constitutional Right, Abortion Access Remains Limited in Humboldt
When someone finds out they’re pregnant at the Open Door Women’s Health Clinic, they’re met with a discussion about options for how — and whether — they want to proceed with their pregnancies. “We ask them, ‘What would you like to do? What’s best for you?'” said Humboldt County gynecologist Kim Ervin, whose been providing…
Humboldt’s Grisly History of Illegal Abortions
George Landgren was not a good husband or father. In 1913, he abandoned his wife, Alma, and their two little boys, and headed south. When the local sheriff forced him back to Humboldt County to care for his family, he spent just enough time with them to avoid being charged with desertion — and to…
NCJ Preview: Abortion Access, Native Foodways for Youth
This week, for our Health and Wellness issue, we’re talking about local barriers to abortion access, despite legal rights. Funding, transportation, Catholic-run hospitals and can make it difficult to make reproductive choices here in Humboldt. We’ll also look back at the tragedies of deadly illegal abortions through Humboldt’s history. We’re also checking out how a…
Music Tonight: Thursday, Jan. 26
The Old Steeple is coming into 2023 hot, with a show tonight at 7:30 p.m. featuring Grammy- winning singer-songwriters. Shawn Colvin was last in Humco, I believe, when she shared the stage at the Van Duzer with Steve Earle in 2016, for a show that I snagged free tickets to out of sheer chance. Marc…
Earl Robert Bootier: 1945-2022
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Hambro to Open CRV Center in Fortuna
The Fortuna Planning Commission has approved a conditional use permit for Hambro Recycling to open and operate a California Redemption Value (CRV) recycling buy-back center in the Friendly City, providing a service closer to Southern Humboldt residents who currently have to travel to Arcata to sell their CRV recyclables. “We had a booth at the…
Music Tonight: Wednesday, Jan. 25
Singer, songwriter and mandolin player AJ Lee fronts (what else?) AJ Lee & Blue Summit, a bluegrass band that has spent the time since its inception in 2015 building up a fanbase, first in Santa Cruz and the Bay Area, and onto the world of international touring. I can certainly see why the group has…
Margaret “Maxine” Stevens: 1950-2023
On Jan. 14, 2023, Margaret Stevens, “Maxine” to her parents and siblings, was taken by angels to her place in heaven. A seventh-generation Californian, she was born in Oxnard, California, to Vernon and Rozella Warde on July 8, 1950. Margaret was a nurse for more than 40 years and was very ‘Old School’ when it…
Public Meetings When the COVID State of Emergency Ends
California’s Brown Act requires that when decisions are being made, public agencies’ meetings must be open to the public. The traditional method of meeting this requirement was to have boards or councils meet in one physical location, which was posted in advance on agendas made available to the public. Members of the public had to…
Music Tonight: Tuesday, Jan. 24
The timing couldn’t be better for tonight’s performance at the Van Duzer Theater by the Peking Acrobats featuring the Shanghai Circus, as we have just this Sunday passed the torch from the Year of the Tiger to the Year of the Rabbit. 7 p.m. ($39, $20 children). The heady mix of gravity-defying acts, complemented by…
Music Today: Sunday, Jan. 22
Two 3 p.m. matinee gigs are happening today, both which more or less fall under the banner of “high” art. If you missed the main concert yesterday evening at Calvary Lutheran in Eureka, fear not, you still have a chance to catch a concert and conversation with Trio Duende, a world class chamber music group,…
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to Hold Non-Judgement Day
In response to the cancelation of the planned Dragging Through History fundraiser for local nonprofit Lost Coast Pride at the Old Steeple, Humboldt’s chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an LGBTQ+ organization engaging in activism that parodies faith-based bigotry, has announced it will hold a Non-Judgement Day on Sunday, Jan. 22 at Ferndale’s Town…
ATV Crash Kills 76 Year Old Near Alderpoint
A 76-year-old man was killed on private property in the Alderpoint area Thursday after being ejected from a Polaris Ranger around 1:20 p.m. when it overturned down embankment and landed on them. The individual, who was driving the ATV-like vehicle, died at the scene, according to the California Highway Patrol, which is investigating the incident.…
Mary Ellen Krohn: 1949-2022
On Nov. 15, 2022, we lost Ellen Krohn at the age of 73. “Mimi” as those close to her called her — and they were many — was formally Mary Ellen Krohn, born Mary Ellen Coffey in Connecticut on Jan. 20, 1949. She spent her early life on the East Coast and her high school…
Yurok Tribe Nabs $8 Million Grant for Youth Center
The Yurok Tribe announced this afternoon that it has received a $7.9 million state grant to construct a youth center in Weitchpec. “The new facility will serve as a one-stop location, where our youth will have access to the culturally informed services and self-empowering support they need to lead healthy, productive lives,” said Yurok Chairman…
‘Absolutely Disgraceful’
Editor: I found it absolutely disgraceful to hear about the ignorance of pastor Tyrel Bramwell of St Mark’s Lutheran Church in Ferndale (“Old Steeple Cancels Drag Event over Safety Concerns,” posted Jan. 13). Every single war since the beginning of time has been started in God’s name. God is an entity that no one can…
‘The Void’
Editor: After reading Mark Larson’s piece in the Jan. 12 issue (“KHSU MIA After Quake”), I was also struck by the void which has been left by KHSU since April of 2019. For decades I was a KHSU supporter and listened to much of the diverse programming. At times it felt like KHSU was the…
Donate!
Editor: January is National Blood Donor Month (Mailbox, Jan. 12). Join us in saving lives. Having donated blood for many years, I’m what some in the industry call a “milestone donor” since I’ve donated gallons of blood. The truth is, though, that I’ve received more through helping to save lives in this way than has…
Sea Cucumber Umbrage
The DJ said, “It’s the top of the goddam hour and you’re listening to sea cucumber radio. Nothing but rock! Request lines are open.” So, I called and said, “Did you say, ‘sea cucumber,’ and are you allowed to say ‘goddam,’ on the air?” “Yes and yes. We are the country’s only station owned and…
On/Off Pet Peeve
Only humans could contrive Infinite numbers of ways To turn devices On/Off. We all struggle looking for What activates everything Every minute, of every day. Fortunately, artificial intelligence will Soon enable us to simply ask, For whatever we need! Kirk Gothier
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Good news, Aries! During the next episode in the age-old struggle between the Impulsive You and the Farsighted You, I predict the latter will achieve a ringing victory. Hallelujah! I also foresee you overcoming the temptation to quit a project prematurely, and instead pushing on to complete it. There’s more! You…
‘Everybody Works Together’
The link between teaching young Native people to process and cook acorns and addressing substance abuse in their communities might not be readily apparent, but the folks at Cal Poly Humboldt’s Rou Dalagurr Indigenous Food Sovereignty Lab know it’s there. Now the lab, born from a class project and community fundraising, is central to the…
Wytch Wellness™
Everyone wishes there was a magic potion for wellness and at Wytch Wellness™, there is! If you’re ready to commit (for eternity), we can help you transform your life, ditch stress, sleep better and feel good in your skin (or whoever’s). Our program is no fly-by-night fad, either; it’s backed up by centuries of expertise.…
Medi-Cal to Keep More Insurance Plans after Pushback
In a significant course change, the California Department of Health Care Services announced that it has negotiated with five commercial health plans to provide Medi-Cal services in 2024, scratching a two-year-long bidding process for the coveted state contracts. This upends the state’s previous plans of awarding contracts to only three health plans. It means more Medi-Cal…
My Grand Uncle Leon
I never met my grand uncle Leon, at least not that I can recall. He died when I was 9 years old and all I remember knowing about the man was that he was a doctor and had married my grandfather’s twin sister, Julie. My great grandfather was a doctor in Coney Island, New York,…
Neither Saint Nor Cynic
In an attempt to better understand the ancient world (which, for the purpose of this article, I will define as any period before my brain came online in the late 1980s), I have been reading about the philosophy of the Cynics of Greece. So far as I can tell, their prime character, Diogenes of Sinope,…
A New Year in Birding
The start of 2023 — earthquakes, torrential rain and bomb cyclones notwithstanding — has been an exciting time for birders. It begins with the ritual of that very first bird of the year. What will it be? For me, it was a tie between two birds: an American robin and a hermit thrush, both alighting…
Risk and Reward in The Whale
THE WHALE. It is an easy, reductive, even dismissive temptation to qualify Darren Aronofsky’s work as “difficult” or “challenging.” Ambitious? Polarizing? Indubitably. But in referring to it as challenging, or academic, people generally seem to mean they don’t like it, or that it makes them think about things they’d rather not. (The irony of my…
Grow Responsibly!
Editor: As one who walks the marsh, I have a chance to ponder sea level rise daily. Recently, with the unusually high tides and heavy rains, water laps at the paths’ edges often. I imagine a time when the paths will be under water, as will parts of U.S. Highway 101, Old Arcata Road and…
