The Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival Valentine’s Day Program
The Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival presents “Love Duets,” a delightful program of romance to start your Valentine’s Day off on the right note. Tune in online Sunday, Feb. 14 at 11 a.m. for works by Robert and Clara Schumann, and music from Hollywood and the Jewish diaspora performed by mezzo soprano Cecelia Hall, tenor…
Free Conservation Lectures This Week
There are a couple of excellent conservation lectures on tap this week via Zoom. First up, Redwood Region Audubon Society’s online lecture series continues with Of Puffins and Petrels: Conserving Seabirds of the Outer Coast of Washington presented by Peter Hodum on Friday, Feb. 12 from 7 to 8 p.m. (free). Learn about Hodum’s collaborative…
Humboldt Opens Vaccine Appointments to Those 70+, Teachers
Humboldt County Public Health announced this afternoon that it broadening the pool of those eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines to include those 70 and older, as well as K-12 teachers, early childhood educators and support staff. The changes take effect immediately, though appointments remain limited by vaccine supply. “Individuals from the above categories will be…
Public Health Confirms 16 COVID-19 Cases, Two New Hospitalizations
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 16 new COVID-19 cases today — making 69 so far this week — as well as two new hospitalizations, making six this week. The new cases were confirmed after laboratories processed 280 samples with a test-positivity rate of 5.7 percent. Local case counts have slowed in recent weeks, with the…
FOURTH UPDATE: Death Investigation at the Bear River Rancheria
FOURTH 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. THIRD UPDATE: The…
HSU Black History Month Featured Speakers: Leah Penniman, Ja’NetAdams
Black Liberation Month continues this week with more distinguished speakers presented by Humboldt State University’s African American Center for Academic Excellence. On Thursday, Feb. 11, Leah Penniman shares about her 20 years as a food sovereignty activist and her book Farming While Black during her talk Liberation on the Land from noon to 2 p.m.…
Teacher Vaccinations in California Determined by Luck, Location
How soon teachers can expect to get vaccinated depends largely on where they live and could determine whether the bulk of California’s students return to campuses this spring — or next fall. Teacher vaccinations have emerged as a central point of contention in California’s charged debate over reopening schools as unions representing teachers and school…
County Reports Lowest Single-Day COVID Tally Since November
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed five new COVID-19 cases today — the lowest daily tally since Nov. 18 — though the county did announce two new hospitalizations, making four this week. The new cases were confirmed after laboratories processed 107 samples with a test-positivity rate of 4.7 percent. Local case counts have slowed in recent…
Rare Catch: ‘Butters’ the Albino Crab Finds a Home at HSU’s Marine Lab
An albino Dungeness crab caught in the Bay Area was brought up to local outfit Comet Fisheries, which help revive the unusual crustacean by placing it in an aeriated tank before HSU’s Marine Lab came Tuesday to take it to a new home. It now goes by “Butters.” Based on pictures on a Facebook post…
NCJ Archives: Snow Fun in 2019
Two year ago tonight, a flurry of snow began falling on coastal Humboldt, much to the delight of grownups and children alike who rushed out into the night (and the next morning) to enjoy an impromptu snowball fight, build a snowman or snowwoman and simply revel in the moment. The rare coastal arrival, the likes…
Public Health Confirms Another COVID Death, Dip in ICU Capacity
Humboldt County Public Health reported that it has confirmed 48 new COVID-19 since Friday, as well as other another COVID-related death of a local resident in their 60s, bringing the county’s tally to 32. In a press release, Public Health also urged any local residents 75 and older who haven’t been contacted by their primary…
COVID and Churches: U.S. Supreme Court Lifts State Ban on Indoor Services, Other Lawsuits Continue
Among the beach-goers denied, the indignant gun shop owners and frustrated parents who want schools reopened, one set of plaintiffs against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pandemic shutdown restrictions have scored a big win: churches. A 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued late Friday sided with house-bound pastors and their congregants in their claim Newsom’s bans on…
For the Birds, It’s Time to Hit Pause on Major Trimming, Vegetation Removal
For the birds, the city of Arcata is reminding residents to avoid tree trimming or other major yardwork that disturbs or removes vegetation as nesting season arrives. According to a news release, the first of the month marked the start of the early nesting season, when hummingbirds and birds of prey, including kites, hawks, owls…
From the Journal Archives: Crabby Patty Cravings
Editor’s note: Looking for a new way to prepare that fresh crab the North Coast is blessed with this time of year? Wendy Chan has you covered with her Crab Foo Yung recipe from the Journal’s achieves, a dish inspired by all those times her sons watched SpongeBob SquarePants while growing up. The Krabby Patty…
A Couxp in Arcata
With insurrection fresh in our minds, you’d be forgiven for mispronouncing the name of the Couxp food truck lately parked by Pacific Outfitters in Arcata Monday through Friday. But the chickenwire detailing and the smell of Buffalo sauce should announce its poultry-centric mission of fried chicken sandwiches and wings. After a Feb. 1 soft opening…
Online Fundraisers Benefit Animals and the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse
You know the drill: Stay home, stay safe, save lives. By participating in Sequoia Humane Society’s online Mardi Cause 2021 auction, you can save furry lives, too! From the shelter of your home, you can help shelter kitties and canines by bidding on local gourmet products, pet products, veterinary exam certificates, exotic trips and more.…
NCJ Preview: Eureka’s Needle Exchange Battle and Supporting BIPOC Youth
This week we’re looking into how and why the city of Eureka continues to butt heads with Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction over needle exchange. Also, we’re talking about a new local nonprofit nurturing and supporting BIPOC youth, HC Black Music and Arts Association. Its organizers are putting on Harambee Liberation Month, a series…
Temporary Changes to Arcata’s Green Waste Drop-off Service
Green waste drop-offs for Arcata residents with Recology service are temporarily on hold as the Wes Green Landscaping facility undergoes ownership changes but there are interim options in place, according to the city. For now, Recology customers in Arcata can go to the Wes Green site at 6360 with their load and check-in across the…
Public Health Reports 11 New COVID Hospitalizations, Warns Against Super Bowl Gatherings
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 30 new COVID-19 cases and 11 new hospitalizations, including five people under the age of 50 and two of patients in their 20s. “Humboldt County Public Health officials said this increase in hospitalizations is a reminder that anyone can develop symptoms of COVID-19 that require medical treatment, especially those with…
Ryan’s Law: Bill to Allow Dying Patients Access to Cannabis is Back
State legislators, including North Coast Assemblyman Jim Wood, are reintroducing a bill that would require hospitals and healthcare facilities to allow terminally ill patients access to certain forms of medical cannabis. Known as Ryan’s Law, the Senate Bill 311 is named for late San Diego resident Ryan Bartell, who died in April of 2018, just…
Drive-in Movies at Redwood Acres
Oh, the nostalgia of drive-in movies. We love them — even in winter — and Big Picture Movies has a couple of feel-good family movies playing this weekend on the giant HD screen out at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. Bundle up the snacks, blankets and kids and join Marty, Doc and the DeLorean and all your…
Black Liberation Month Speaker Series
Humboldt State University’s African American Center for Academic Excellence is hosting a virtual speakers series in honor of Black Liberation Month this February. All lectures take place via Zoom and are free. First up is Algorithms of Oppression with Safiya Noble on Thursday, Feb 4 at 5:30 p.m., followed by The Grey Area: Creating a…
Public Health Confirms 29 New Cases; Nearly 4k Vaccine Doses Coming Next week
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 29 new COVID-19 cases today, with no new hospitalizations. This week has now seen 127 case recorded, one death and six hospitalizations, after five deaths and 258 cases were confirmed last week, for a record 990 cases reported in January. Today’s results came after 258 tests were processed with a…
Arcata Vacation Rental Regulations, Cap Move Forward
The Arcata City Council moved forward in a 3-1 vote, with Mayor Sofia Pereira recused, a municipal code amendment last night that will establish regulations for short-term rentals and cap their number at 100, with some exceptions. Councilmembers Brett Watson, Stacy Atkins-Salazar and Emily Goldstein voted in favor and Sarah Schaefer against. Several councilmembers, in…
UPDATE: All Clear Given in Scotia
UPDATE: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has given the all clear in Scotia. PREVIOUS: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team is on the scene in Scotia after what could be a military-grade mortar was reported to be located inside a garage in the area of Second and Third streets, where residents are…
COVID Advisory Panel Rejects Higher Vaccine Priority for Disabled Californians, Those with Chronic Conditions
An influential group of California health experts is holding fast for now to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to make age the primary criteria for getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The decision announced Wednesday dismayed advocates who hoped the group would recommend moving disabled people and those with chronic medical conditions to the front of the line…
Digging Up the Past
A formidable intoxicant, nostalgia. Smoothing the rough edges of the past, it can also induce prejudice toward the future and obfuscate perceptions of the present. It reorders memory and, dependent upon mood and inclination, can alter the fundamental properties of things remembered. A pleasant, sticky trap, especially in times of stress and conflict, it must…
Point of Contention
Is the Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction responsible for problem behavior near its headquarters at 1522 Third St. in Eureka? This was the central question the city of Eureka sought to answer and address when it initiated an undercover investigation into the nonprofit in January of 2020. Neighbors had complained of noise violations, needle…
About Those Ads
In letters to the editor the past few weeks and in personal messages to me, readers have blasted our decision to accept tobacco advertising — those Lucky Strike ads you’ve been seeing. We have been accused of either completely losing our moral integrity or being financially desperate and on the brink of bankruptcy. I assure…
Bridging the Gap
You might see a group of Visión y Compromiso “promotores” tabling at local mercados throughout Humboldt County — they’re on a mission to help as many Latinx residents as possible obtain health insurance and access healthcare services. Visión y Compromiso Humboldt is a new chapter of the nonprofit Southern California based organizational coalition of “promotores,”…
Husky Pride
Editor: I want to thank the school board at Fortuna for putting education first (“‘Staff Challenges’ Amid Quarantines Has Fortuna High School District Classes Going Virtual,” posted Jan. 16.). They gave families the choice of attending class or learning online. My student has been in class since August, is being educated and is loving it.…
Ethics, Smokes and Revenue
Editor: There has been much hand wringing regarding the full-page tobacco ad in the NCJ (Mailbox, Jan. 21 and Jan. 28). Perhaps some have not noticed that with much reduced revenue for print media, not to mention restaurants, bars and music venues, etc., they are just barely hanging on. The Times-Standard is using the USPS…
Young and Free
Sarah Vevoda’s 7-year-old daughter Jaz used to say she had “up hair,” her natural Black curls growing upward instead of hanging down like nearly everyone else’s around her, including her family. Sarah, who is white, says Jaz has commented on not seeing other people who look like her. “It’s very hard for her to be…
Cabbage for Comfort
Varieties of the species Brassica oleracea are exuberant plants — it’s a pity we don’t often see them in their glory. Broccoli, the various cultivars of cabbage and cauliflower all produce abundant leaves crowning the head. They sort of show off, profuse in their physical presence. Brassicas are generous and it seems to me fitting…
The Beachcombing Olympics
The 2024 Olympic qualifying trials in beachcombing are about to start right here in Humboldt! I’m hoping to represent Team USA in the 10,000-meter freestyle beachcomb. I’m up against a crowd of fierce-looking athletes. Wish me luck! The objective is simple: Competitors cover 10,000 meters of beach in a full-contact beachcomb to find the most…
Morning Song
How many mornings did we break fast, together? More than I can count in the rest of my days. And how many lessons did you teach me? More than I can ever realize. How many times did you share your wisdom, Teach me to dance on your feet while holding my hands, Share your adventures…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Herman Hesse’s novel Siddartha is a story about a spiritual seeker who goes in search of illumination. Near the end of the quest, when Siddartha is purified and enlightened, he tells his friend, “I greatly needed sin, lust, vanity, the striving for goods, and the most shameful despair, to learn how…
Winter Pruning on the North Coast
Winter has finally arrived in Humboldt, after the sunshine and warmer temperatures in early January. We’ve had frosty nights, even on the coast, and now the normal rains have returned, at least for now. But it’s still time to get out in the garden, especially if you have fruit trees, ornamental flowering trees or roses.…
Junior Albers was a Contender
Born in 1951, Wilfred Albers Jr. learned to fend for himself at the dinner table as one of nine children. Then, as a Yurok tribal member growing up in Eureka, he had to be tough and prove himself, sometimes with his fists. In high school in the 1960s there was a tradition where teenagers would…
Green Rivers Headed Our Way
After a solid week of rainy weather that turned all the coastal rivers big and brown, it looks like we’re headed toward a green water convergence. Some rain is in the forecast for Wednesday but after that we should begin to see some sunshine and dropping water levels. The Smith will be the first to…
