Humboldt Area Foundation Hires New Chief Executive Officer
Humboldt Area Foundation hired Bryna Lipper as the foundation’s new Chief Executive Officer. Lipper is coming to Humboldt County with a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University and a history in philanthropy: She was the acting director for the Office for International and Philanthropic Innovation at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…
North Coast Night Lights: Eureka Slough Railroad Bridge
I remember when the rails in Humboldt County rumbled to the passage of great trains rolling regularly through the county. Looking back, I took far too little advantage of the photographic opportunities they afforded while their time and mine here overlapped. Now we have them in memory only, and photographing the remnants of their steel…
The Boys of Summer Fog: Photos from Crabs Opening Weekend
Back for their 75th season, the Humboldt Crabs baseball team’s first game on Friday night at the Arcata Ballpark ended in an 8-3 loss to the Corvallis Knights. (Read more about the weekend’s games here.) The Crabs also lost the next two games to the talented Corvallis team on Saturday and Sunday, influenced no doubt…
Eureka Council Rejects Humboldt Made’s Proposal, Moves Forward with Virginia Marketing Firm
Meeting in closed session on the heels of recent revelations that staff had materially misrepresented the extent of issues with Humboldt Made’s proposal to provide marketing services for the city, the Eureka City Council voted this evening to direct the city manager to negotiate the $370,000 annual contract with the other finalist, Eddy Alexander, based…
UPDATE: Inmate Fight Breaks Out at Klamath-area Fire Camp
UPDATE: The California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation reports that the one staff member and three inmates treated for injuries sustained in last night’s riot at the Alder Creek Conservation Camp have been released from the hospital. “The inmates who initiated the incident have been transported to Pelican Bay State Prison and placed in administrative…
An Ignominious Opening Weekend for the Crabs
You wouldn’t know it from the sky but summer is here and in Humboldt that means it’s Crab season once again, baby! Yes, folks, the best time of the year has arrived and our favorite decapods took the field this past weekend against the Corvallis (Phil) Knights. It was a bespoke nightmare tailored with stranded…
HumBug: A Walk in the Woods
When I looked out today the sun was shining and the bugs were out. I set my computer and camera to acquire a stack of photos of a snail hunting beetle I’d collected on a late night walk, and out the door I went. I managed to identify four different species of butterfly and the…
Eureka Staff Repeatedly Provided Council, Public Inaccurate Information About Marketing Contract Process
During a tense May 21 Eureka City Council meeting, council members lamented that what they deemed a flawed process used to select finalists for a $370,000 annual marketing contract had broken the public’s trust. Things have since gone from bad to worse amid new revelations, including that staff has repeatedly and materially misrepresented key facts…
Test Shows ‘Some Asbestos’ in Material Found in Gist Hall
Material found in Gist Hall earlier this month “does indeed contain some asbestos,” according to a statement posted today on the Humboldt State University website. Other “loose materials” found in the building will also be tested, with results expected back next week. Meanwhile, HSU is working with an outside firm on a clean-up plan, according…
Julie Benbow Tapped to Head Visitor’s Bureau After Supes Extend Contract
The Humboldt County Visitors Bureau’s board of directors has named Julie Benbow as the tourism organization’s interim executive director. Benbow steps into the role Tony Smithers held for decades until his unexpected death in January. And the board’s announcement comes on the heels of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors’ unanimous vote Tuesday to extend…
UPDATED: Orcas Spotted in Humboldt Bay (With Video)
UPDATE: Biologist Mike Kelly, who writes the column “Washed Up” for the North Coast Journal, reported via Twitter that he also caught sight of one of the orcas but apparently missed seeing the pod catch a sea lion. “The remaining sea lions did seem nervous,” he says, showing a picture of several huddled on a…
Parolee in Fortuna Murder-for-Hire Case Faces Charges in Death of Eureka Woman
A man convicted nearly 30 years ago in a grisly Fortuna murder-for-hire case is now facing three felony charges and the revocation of his parole in connection to a fatal motorcycle crash that killed a well-known private investigator who worked on several major Humboldt County cases as a court appointed mitigation specialist. Stephen Duane Chiara,…
Getting into the Moroccan Tea Cookie Business, Almond by Almond
Jmiaa El Hessni comes out from the kitchen with a plate piled with nine types of cookies and sets them down on the small coffee table. She explains, in a mixture of halting English, French and Arabic, the names and ingredients in each one. She wears a pink and navy silk headscarf and glasses with…
The Black Market’s Legacy
Fifty dollars worth of weed. That’s reportedly what led four young men to arrange via Snapchat a meeting with a 16 year old on the dark Arcata street. According to Arcata Police Chief Brian Ahearn, they’d planned to simply hand over whatever small quantity of black market cannabis $50 buys these days and go on…
Overachievers Gone Wild
Reviews BOOKSMART. Unless you’re one of those people who has the sun shining on them every day, high school can be tricky to navigate. Whether it’s infuriating or merely tedious, it’s quite a trial at the time. Having a best friend with whom to bond can definitely help someone through the highs and lows. Central…
What’s in a Name?
Editor: In the interest of “see/say,” I must say that I am sickeningly disgusted by the large billboard on U.S. Highway 101 advertising the band Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. As a victim of child incest, I find the name of this band triggers my PTSD every day as I drive to and from work. Why not…
It Won’t Stop Them
Editor: Do we need any more traffic signals in Eureka? (“Big Changes Considered for 101 Through Eureka,” posted Feb. 24.) Drivers don’t stop for them anyway. Sit at any red light on any street facing Broadway and watch how many vehicles don’t stop when the lights turn yellow and red. There will be between two and five…
A Room with a View?
Editor: I have questions regarding the upscale hotel proposed to be built on Broadway (“Making Rooms,” May 16). Is someone really going to build an “upscale” hotel a couple of hundred yards from the Humboldt Waste Managment Authority transfer station, aka the dump? Will the city close the dump to accommodate the hotel developers? With…
Terraforming Mars
Say the word quickly and it doesn’t sound that difficult. We know how to warm Earth (unfortunately) so it shouldn’t take much to warm much smaller Mars. After that, it’s just a hop, skip and jump to create a breathable atmosphere, and there we have it, Earth Two. A second chance to get it right…
Faith
Is not an equation Waiting for resolution. It is the Sun rising Chasing darkness Into the corners Of mindfulness, Letting Go…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the coming weeks it will make good sense for you to travel down winding paths replete with interesting twists and provocative turns. The zigzags you’ll be inspired to pursue won’t be inconvenient or inefficient, but rather will be instrumental in obtaining the healing you need. To honor and celebrate this…
Punk and the Working Stiff
Ian Carey’s solo show at the Morris Graves Museum of Art features large mixed-media figures with elements of collage. More painted figures than figure paintings, they’ve been clipped like paper dolls from their original surroundings and re-assembled free-floating on the wall. Carey’s scrappy style veers from painstaking to deliberately de-skilled, sometimes careening giddily in the…
Iftar: Breaking the Ramadan Fast
The holy month of Ramadan is supposed to be hot. The word itself comes from the root Arabic term for intense heat, which is what you’d be feeling in the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar if you were in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan or Syria. All the better to burn away one’s sins,…
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, call 442-9054 or go to www.eurekamainstreet.org 707 BAR (formerly Steve and Dave’s) First and C Streets Barry Evans, photography. Music by Dr. Squid. ADORNI CENTER 1011 Waterfront St. Paul Rickard and Barbara…
‘So Sad:’ Arcata Shooting Leaves One Teen Dead, Another Behind Bars
A Eureka High School senior was killed and another teenager is facing murder and attempted murder charges after an apparent marijuana deal turned deadly at an Arcata bus stop over the holiday weekend. Taevonne Latimer, 18, was shot multiple times in the torso just before 10 p.m. May 26 as he and three friends met…
Wanderlust
There’s a lot going on this week. Summer Arts and Music Festival is happening in Benbow, and although I don’t know what the post-legalization attendance numbers have been looking like, it’s probably still going to be a pretty banging event for those of you rolling through. I myself will not be doing so, having decided…
