Cover Story
Civil Grand Jury Reportedly Investigating Auditor-Controller
The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury is investigating allegations of “deficiencies” and “poor service” in the Auditor-Controller’s Office, Fortuna Union High School District Superintendent Glen Senestraro told his Board of Trustees at its Nov. 10 meeting. The board voted unanimously at its September meeting to send a complaint to the grand jury detailing allegations of…
Assembly Bill 1311 Brings New Hope to CRV Recycling for Rural Areas
California rural counties will have new tools to make California Redemption Value (CRV) recycling easier now that Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed North Coast Assemblymember Jim Wood’s CRV bill. AB1311 makes changes to the state’s recycling law to better meet the CRV recycling demands of California’s rural counties by allowing CRV redemption centers to operate…
Public Health Confirms Two Hospitalizations and 10 New COVID-19 Cases
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 10 new COVID-19 cases today, with two hospitalizations reported of a resident in their 50s and another in their 60s. Earlier today Public Health released a COVID-19 video update featuring Public Health Director Sofia Pereira who talked about the pending milestone of 10,000 local COVID-19 cases confirmed — which she said…
Sugar Bear’s Holiday Spirit
We did not expect to get hit with Sugar Bear fever but here we are. The victory lap the 84-foot-tall tree took around the county as it made its way from its home in the Six Rivers National Forest to Washington, D.C., where it will serve as the Capitol Christmas tree, won it some fans.…
Public Health Confirms 24 New COVID-19 cases
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 24 new COVID-19 cases today, with no new hospitalizations or deaths reported. Public Health officials are reminding residents to practice social distancing, wash hands frequently and plan safer gatherings, especially with the return of colder weather, upcoming holidays and more people traveling and spending time indoors. The Center for Disease…
Food for People Receives $50K Grant
Food for People is closer to rebuilding its facility thanks to a Simpson Family Fund- Green Diamond Resource Company grant of $50,000. “Food for People is grateful to the Simpson Family and Green Diamond for this generous grant. Green Diamond has been a consistent supporter of our annual programs, especially during the holidays. This grant…
Another COVID Holiday: Is California in a Better Place this Year? Not in Humboldt.
The holidays are here and people are ready to gather, hug and feast. But is California in a better place this year when it comes to COVID-19? Last year, as Thanksgiving approached, infections were creeping up, culminating in a brutal winter surge, and the governor implemented an emergency curfew to slow the spread of the…
Samuel P. Oliner: 1930-2021
Samuel P. Oliner passed away on November 17th, 2021. He was born in Zyndranowa, Poland, in 1930. Zyndranowa was a farming village in southern Poland near the Czech border in the Carpathian Mountains. He lived on the small farm belonging to his grandparents Isak and Reisel Polster, together with his parents and siblings. Sam was…
93 New COVID-19 Cases Reported Since Friday
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 93 new COVID-19 cases today, with no new hospitalizations or deaths reported. Today’s cases — which come on the heels of 183 confirmed last week — come after laboratories processed 519 samples with a test-positivity rate of 17.9 percent. After recording a test-positivity rate of 10.1 percent in July — the highest for…
Supply Chain Woes Trigger Shortages of Critical Medical Devices
When Henry Genung was four months old, doctors cut a hole in his windpipe and inserted a tube to help him breathe. Born with a rare genetic mutation that blocked his upper airway, Henry, who is now 18 months old, will need the tube for several more years. For three months, Henry hasn’t had a…
NCJ Preview: Salmon, Chili Dogs and Fiscal Drama
This week’s cover story looks at the impact of the salmon population on Native communities, culturally, economically and in terms of survival. We also have a story on the Civil Grand Jury investigation of the Auditor-Controller’s Office and what the recent Board of Trustees’ letter of no-confidence means. We’re also looking back on Fortuna’s iconic…
UPDATED: Supes to Consider No-confidence Vote in Auditor-Controller
UPDATE: The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Monday in support of a vote of no confidence in the job performance of elected Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez. Supervisors Michelle Bushnell, Rex Bohn and Virginia Bass voted in favor of the symbolic rebuke, with Mike Wilson and Steve Madrone dissenting. PREVIOUS: The Humboldt County…
Public Health Confirms 39 New COVID-19 Cases, Health Officer’s Return Expected Next Week
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 39 new COVID-19 cases today — making 183 this week — with no new hospitalizations reported. Today’s cases — which come on the heels of 204 confirmed last week — come after laboratories processed 349 samples with a test-positivity rate of 11.2 percent. After recording a test-positivity rate of 10.1…
Eureka Council Moves Forward Ranked Choice Voting, New Ward Maps
The Eureka City Council cast unanimous votes on two election-related items this week, including a major change to the way residents in Humboldt County’s largest city select their representatives. At Tuesday night’s meeting, the council moved forward what’s known as ranked choice voting by introducing an ordinance to implement the method supported by Eureka voters…
UPDATE: County Employees Expected to Get Direct Deposits by End of Day, Workforce Board Issues No-Confidence Vote in Auditor-Controller’s Office
UPDATE: Humboldt County Deputy County Administrative Officer Sean Quincey released an update on the county’s payroll problems this afternoon, saying U.S. Bank has confirmed it has what it needs to make direct deposit payments to county employees by the close of business today. “We are in the process of printing out paper checks for employees…
Public Health Reports 28 New COVID-19 Cases, Changes in Youth Sports Mask Guidelines
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 28 new COVID-19 cases today — making 144 so far this week. In a short video released earlier today discussing changes to masking guidelines for youth sports, Public Health Director Sofia Pereira mentioned that Health Officer Ian Hoffman is currently out on “family leave” but offered no additional details. The…
PG&E Reactor Officially Decommissioned, Nuclear Waste Not
PG&E’s Humboldt Nuclear Power Plant reactor site was deemed fully cleaned up by the Nucle ar Regulatory Commission today. While the federal government no longer has oversight over that part of the site — “none at all,” said commission spokesperson David McIntyre — the spent fuel and other radioactive waste, however, remains under federal jurisdiction.…
COVID Sidelines Arcata High Tigers’ Championship Run
The Arcata High School Tigers are now the second local football team to have to forfeit a playoff game due to an outbreak of COVID-19. The team was scheduled to have the home field advantage Saturday against the Justin-Siena High School Braves, which hail from Napa, and was one game away from a shot at…
‘No Fish Means No Food’
Keeping salmon in her children’s diet is “an entire job,” says Georgiana Gensaw, a Yurok Tribe member and mother of four in Klamath Glen, a community whose only easily accessible food store is a fried chicken shop attached to a gas station a few miles away. The nearest grocery store, Safeway in Crescent City, lies…
Little Graces
Lately I’ve been focusing on small graces and pleasures: a walk in nature with a loved one, a good meal, seeing a cool bird, or reading something full of brilliance and (maybe a bit too much) hope, like Kim Stanley Robinson’s excellent novel The Ministry for the Future. Even a chance meeting with an old…
Bob’s Footlong Closing After 72 Years
Cheyenne Moreno places a split open footlong hot dog on the flat-top grill behind the counter at Bob’s Footlong. The link hisses louder when she drops a grill press on it and turns to warm the bun on the neighboring grill. She flips the dog and covers it in cheese slices and an aluminum dome…
Around Mount Tamalpais
I grew up in the shadow of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County. I explored fire roads and trails, even sneaking onto the peak the night before high school graduation with friends and then toasting the sunrise with oranges and champagne before hiking down to the Mountain Theater for graduation. I also grew up in the…
Coastal King Season Winding Down
The surge in flows brought by the atmospheric river in late October was a blessing in so many ways. It put an end to another horrible fire season, began to fill our parched reservoirs and created perfect river conditions for the late-run fall king salmon to make their way from the Pacific to their spawning…
Star Power
RED NOTICE. For the right project, it’s hard to imagine a better starting trio than Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds. They’ve got the sarcasm, charisma and sex appeal that one imagines audiences long for in movie stars. And as these three continue to work steadily in the spotlight, most of us are on…
Time Warp
Editor: The proposed Daylight Act (NCJ Daily, Nov. 11), which would allow individual states to observe Daylight Saving Time year-round, while continuing to give them the option of switching back and forth between Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time or staying on Standard Time year-round, is a recipe for disaster. Imagine the confusion that would…
“Spent Fuel Rods (in Storage)”
Related Stories
Lock the Entrance?
Editor: Before I can get behind a Caltrans project to combat sea level rise and protect U.S. Highway 101 between Eureka and Arcata, I need to know why another alternative won’t work (“Racing the Rise,” Nov. 11). Under the current plans I have seen, a myriad of private parties and public agencies each need to…
‘Breathing its Spirit’
Editor: I fully understand the grief of P. Givins (Mailbox, Nov. 11) at the spectacle of a giant fir tree, “Sugar Bear,” lying dead on a flatbed bound for D.C. But, if I might offer condolence, I was a little kid in NYC, where an equally celebrated tree was brought to Rockefeller Center every Christmas.…
Voices from the Past
“Oh how much I want you at my birthday party. You’ll make the day so much more fun. I do hope you can make it.” — Letter from Claudia Severa to her sister Sulicia Lepidina, wife of Flavius Cerialis, prefect of a cohort stationed at Vindolanda fort, circa A.D. 100. This birthday invitation, written on…
Untitled
Fortunes come and go, little fly~ yesterday you may have thought yourself one of the privileged few, evading the pumpkin spider’s web and flying in the open door from the garden, finding a warm haven in advance of last night’s killing frost, And this morning, basking on the edge of the counter, rubbing your hindmost…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries poet and philosopher Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843) had many ups and downs. He was one of Germany’s greatest poets and philosophers, but he also endured more emotional distress than most people. His biographer wrote, “Sometimes this genius goes dark and sinks down into the bitter well of his heart, but mostly…
