‘Kickback Scheme’
How EDD and Bank of America make millions on California unemployment
Humboldt Marks 1 Year Since First COVID Case Reported
One year ago today, the news came: Humboldt had its first confirmed case of COVID-19, which at the time had yet to be detected almost anywhere else in the nation. The individual, who had recently returned from China, recovered after seeking treatment for flu-like symptoms at St. Joseph Hospital. Exactly a month would pass before…
Harper Motors Carousel Has a New Home
Have you noticed anything different when driving on the U.S. Highway 101 safety corridor? Especially when you pass Harper Motors? Maybe you’ve noticed that a bright red and yellow tent and the contents underneath it are missing? Well, the Harper Motors carousel has found a new home with the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria…
Public Health Confirms 12 New COVID-19 Cases, Reports Dip in Available ICU Capacity
Humboldt County Public Health reported this afternoon that it has confirmed a dozen new COVID-19 cases, which after yesterday’s zero, makes 51 this week. Public Health also reported another hospitalization and a dip in available local intensive care unit capacity. With today’s results, the county’s case tally stands at 3,036 roughly a year after the…
Arcata Council to Consider Vacation Rental Cap
The Arcata City Council will consider adopting an ordinance tonight that would cap the number of vacation rentals at 100 and establish regulations regarding their operation, including obtaining a permit and posting contact information at the site. The consent agenda item was moved forward earlier this month in a 3-1 vote, with Mayor Sofia Pereira…
School Reopenings More Likely in Rural Areas, at Private Schools
New state mapping data details California’s school-reopening divide, in which hundreds of school districts — mostly smaller and rural or inland — are offering in-person instruction to elementary students while many of the state’s largest, urban districts remain indefinitely in remote learning. But the divide between public and private schools is much starker: Eleven months…
No New COVID Cases Reported Today, But Only 50 Samples Tested
Humboldt County Public Health reported no new confirmed COVID-19 cases today for the first time in a daily report since October, leaving the county’s cumulative tally at 3,025. But due to impacts of labs being closed for Monday’s holiday, only 50 samples were included in today’s report and officials urge continued vigilance. Earlier today, meanwhile,…
Highest Rate of Local COVID Cases in 20 to 39 Year Olds
As Humboldt County readies to mark one year since its first confirmed COVID-19 was reported, data is showing that individuals in their 20s and 30s make up the largest percentage of local cases. “In the most recent weekly update on the Humboldt County Data Dashboard (humboldtgov.org/dashboard), residents age 20-29 made up about 24 percent of…
Camping Ordinance, CRV Concern Letter on Eureka Council Agenda
The Eureka City Council is slated Tuesday to consider another iteration of a camping ordinance and look at sending a letter to state officials, the California League of Cities and the state recycling commission on impacts to local stores due to a lack of CRV redemption centers. The camping ordinance before council members is a…
Public Health Reports 39 New COVID Cases Since Thursday, Uptick in Available ICU Capacity
Humboldt County Public Health reported today that 39 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed locally since Thursday, with one new hospitalization, as well. But today’s press release also reported that 23 previously reported positive cases have been removed from the county’s cumulative case tally, either because they were false positives, unconfirmed or the patient was…
Fifth Update: 101 Reopened After Slides
5th UPDATE: U.S. Highway 101 has reopened to one-way controlled traffic. “This is subject to change pending additional slide activity,” Caltrans cautions. “Crews continue to monitor the situation for safety concerns.” Crews spent two days clearing a deluge of debris due to slides on the stretch south of Crescent City. Motorist are advised to check…
From the NCJ Archives: Say it with Heart this Valentine’s Day, Literally
Editor’s note: Say it with heart this Valentine’s Day, like literally, with this recipe shared by Journal Arts & Feature’s editor Jennifer Fumiko Cahill called Love in Disguise. For years I’ve flipped through an old Irish cookbook in my kitchen and smiled at a recipe for beef heart called Love in Disguise: You cut the…
Hoffman, Fauci Recommend Double Masking to Ensure Tight Fit
Humboldt County Health Officer Ian Hoffman suggested during a media availability Thursday that residents should consider double masking, if possible, in an effort to avoid another potential surge in COVID-19 infections. Hoffman’s comments came a day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported it has found double masking — or wearing a medical procedure…
Huffman: Trump’s ‘Crimes’ ‘Undeniable,’ Senators ‘Betrayed Their Oath’
This vote was not an absolution of Donald Trump. His crimes are undeniable. That will go down in history, along with the Senators who betrayed their oath and refused to stand up to the man who incited a violent attack against all of us and our democracy. — Rep. Jared Huffman (@RepHuffman) February 13, 2021…
NCJ Preview: HSU’s Polytechnic Hopes and a Skate Ramp Grows in Petrolia
Is Humboldt State University ready to become a STEM-heavy polytechnic? We’re discussing the financial boon and the housing burden if it happens. And if you’ve ever wondered how that half pipe out in the middle of Petrolia got there, we’ve got the tale of how the community pulled together to build it and keep it…
California Shifts Vaccine Priorities Again: People with Health Conditions Eligible Next Month
Californians with high-risk medical conditions will qualify for COVID-19 vaccines starting March 15, the state’s health secretary announced today. Under the state’s previous guidelines, people with chronic conditions did not qualify for vaccinations until people 65 and older, first responders, food industry workers and educators were vaccinated. Under the new guidelines, people ages 16 to…
Details Emerge in Triple Homicide; Loleta Community ‘Heartbroken’
The 18-year-old Loleta man accused of fatally shooting three people — including a 16-year-old girl — at a home on the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Reservation on Wednesday morning was known to the victims and was a “guest in their house,” Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal told the Journal this morning. Deputies…
Public Health Expanding Efforts to Reach Latinx Community Amid COVID
It’s been seven months since Public Health began reporting demographic data on the county’s COVID-19 cases, which showed a disproportionate rate in the Latinx community, much like the rest of the nation. On Tuesday, Humboldt County Health Officer Ian Hoffman told the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors that about 13 percent of the county was…
County Surpasses 3K COVID-19 Cases, Available ICU Capacity Dips Below 15%
Humboldt County surpassed 3,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases today when Public Health reported 33 new cases, bringing the county’s tally to 3,009. While it took the county 290 days to record its first 1,000 cases, the next 1,000 came in 35 days and the next in 34 days. And while the county reported no new COVID-19…
Suspect in Bear River Triple Homicide Arrested
An 18-year-old has been arrested in Utah on suspicion of murder in the deaths of three people at a home on the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Reservation. Loleta resident Mauricio Eduardo Johnson is being held on a no-bail warrant. According to a news release, the sheriff’s office investigation “determined two vehicles associated…
Direct Flights From Humboldt to Phoenix Coming this Summer
The California Redwood Coast Humboldt County Airport (ACV) will begin offering daily non-stop flights to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (PHX) in Phoenix, Arizona, beginning June 3. The airline will provide the flights daily departing PHX from 10:25 a.m. and arriving at ACV at 12:55 p.m. and then departing from ACV at 3:25 p.m. to arrive in…
Fieri Buys Ferndale Meat Co. Building, Enterprise Reports
According to the Ferndale Enterprise, the Victorian Village’s iconic butcher shop and sandwich stop’s building has been purchased by hometown hero hero (not going to apologize for that) Guy Fieri. As soon as editor Caroline Titus got wind the property was up for sale from Paul Beatie of the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce on Jan.…
UPDATE: Suspect Arrested, Victims of Triple Homicide at Bear River Rancheria Identified
UPDATE: An 18-year-old has been arrested in Utah on suspicion of murder in the deaths of three people at a home on the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Reservation. Loleta resident Mauricio Eduardo Johnson is being held on a no-bail warrant. For more information on the arrest, click here. PREVIOUS: The Humboldt County…
The Polytechnic Push
Cal Poly Humboldt? Cal Poly Redwoods? Northern California Polytechnic? Whatever you call it, if Humboldt State University is designated the California State University System’s third polytechnic school and rebranded accordingly, it would be a potential game-changer for an institution facing steadily declining enrollment and resulting budget shortfalls. HSU is in the process of outlining how…
Chicken and Dumplings from Here and There
Over the 30 years that I’ve lived in the United States, I still haven’t tried American chicken and dumplings. When I saw a few posts from fellow foodies, I was curious about this traditional comfort food. After reading some recipes, I found some similarities to my rural hometown’s dough soup. I know its name is…
Meditations for Hitting the Pandemic Wall
As we inch/hurtle toward a year of living with COVID-19 and its attending horrors, those of us not wrapped in the gentle insulation of exactly the right medication (prescribed or otherwise) might be struggling a bit. Who would have thought, other than informed epidemiologists shouting themselves hoarse, that this would have lasted longer than that…
History of a Rural Half Pipe
Driving the Lost Coast through the spot on the map that is Petrolia, it is hard to miss the community skate ramp. Perched in a field adjacent to the Mattole Valley Community Center, it is one of only a scattering of landmarks dotting the rural landscape. As a former resident of Petrolia, I’ve witnessed faces…
Rivers Are Green, But Steelhead Hard to Come By
This past weekend saw all of our coastal steelhead rivers turn some shade of green — some emerald and some olive. Condition-wise, it was probably the best we’ve had this season. But pristine conditions only last so long. The next round of storms is forecast for Thursday and that will likely be the end of…
Your Own Little World
BLISS. It is a conundrum as old as … people, I guess. Or at least dating back to the period when people had enough time to focus on something other than survival and their baser impulses. I refer to the question of the nature of reality itself, of perception and invention, the birth of philosophy,…
The Journal in Time
A Time magazine article posted online Jan. 22 was brief — just over 1,000 words — yet packed with mostly grim facts on the state of local journalism across America: “1,800 communities that had a local news outlet in 2004 didn’t have one at the end of 2019.” This trend continued after the pandemic hit…
Healthcare for All
Editor: The U.S. has nearly one-quarter of the world’s casualties from COVID-19 (NCJ Daily, Feb. 4). Why is our death toll so high in this, the wealthiest of nations with the best health and medical expertise on earth? The answer relates to organization and access. Our fragmented healthcare system has been incapable of coherent plans…
It’s China’s Fault
Editor: A couple of issues ago you had an article regarding the absence of CRV recycling in wide areas of California (“Taxed,” Jan. 28). I thought the writer did a pretty good job bring up the issues surrounding the problem. The writer mentioned but did not elaborate on the primary aspects of the problem. The…
‘Misses the Mark’
Editor: Several letters and comments about those [tobacco] ads deserve a response from the publisher and we all appreciate that one was provided (“About Those Ads,” Feb. 4). But the “business is business” attitude of the publisher ignores a root cause of ill health in our community. As someone actively engaged in addressing the roots…
Warrior Women (Part 1)
While the election of a woman to what’s arguably the second most powerful position in the country is a newsworthy event, it’s hardly unprecedented. The world has known plenty of powerful female leaders: Queen Dido (Carthage), Cleopatra (Egypt), Boadicea (Iceni, a British tribe that nearly defeated the Romans), Elizabeth I (England), Catherine the Great (Russia),…
A Lone Daffodil
Don’t you know it’s too early? Can’t you see the others Still cuddled and huddled in their robes of green Crowding together against the cold, wet, wintry day Not ready yet to welcome them Or you? Why are you willing to stand so tall In radiant yellow Your brazen bugle blaring? It’s true The primroses…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Author Anton Chekhov made a radical proposal: “Perhaps the feelings we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows people who they should be.” In accordance with astrological potentials, my beloved Aries darling, I invite you to act as if Chekhov’s proposal were absolutely true…
‘Kickback Scheme’
She didn’t know it at the time, but last September was when everything started to unravel for Julie Hansen. It was late in the month when the furloughed Disneyland candy maker noticed a string of suspicious charges totaling $12,222.23 on her state-issued Bank of America unemployment debit card. First, the money was credited back to…
