Point of No Return?
With the Green Rush and the drought colliding this summer, is it too late to save Humboldt’s watersheds?
Cover Story
Point of No Return?
As the golden state turns brown, there’s a debate raging, pitting fishermen against ranchers, farmers against environmental groups and Sacramento bureaucrats against rural landowners throughout the state. With a state snowpack that’s just a fraction of normal levels, the magnitude of our current drought is finally hitting home. Meanwhile, in Humboldt County, known for its…
A Goosenecking Sight at Clam Beach
I suspect I’m not the only Humboldt-er who finds myself meandering down the beach keeping a gentle eye out for seafaring debris from Japan’s 2011 tsunami – you know, a skiff, a soccer ball, perhaps a motorcycle? It’s fascinating to think these wayward objects, gone astray in the midst of one of this century’s worst…
CORRECTION: No Que La Chinga
We were misled and in turn, we misled you, our readers. You see, word on the street was that Que La Chinga was playing a free show at The Logger Bar as part of the Humboldt Folklife Festival. We rejoiced! We high-fived! We danced jigs! Now, we humbly beg for your forgiveness. Due to unforeseen…
ROTR 2014 Videos: Vote Now!
Good news — it turns out it is your place to judge. Check out these 30-second video submissions and vote to help us decide who gets four, four-day passes to Reggae On The River 2014! Leave a comment below with the assigned video number in the text to cast your vote. We’ll announce the winner…
Amphibian of the State
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has tapped the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) to be our state amphibian. In other news, there is, in fact, such a thing as a state amphibian. So far, the Sequoia Park Zoo doesn’t have one of these little flippered fellows — which, according the the press release,…
Eureka Finance Director Resigns, Accepts Post with HCSD
Eureka Finance Director Paul Rodrigues is resigning his post with the city, having accepted a position that will allow him to spend more time with his kids, something he feels is very necessary in the wake of his wife’s death. Hired by the city in December 2010, Rodrigues said he’s loved working for Eureka, but…
Lisa Rossbacher’s First Day on Campus
It was beautifully gray-skied today up at Humboldt State University — just the weather the institution’s new president, Lisa Rossbacher, had been promised she could (happily) expect here in her new home county. After a surprise blast of welcoming horns from the Marching Lumberjacks, Rossbacher hiked around campus on her first official day, meeting staff…
UPDATED: Planning Commissioner Arrested on Suspicion of DUI
The California Highway Patrol issued a press release this morning providing some details of Saturday’s arrest of Humboldt County Planning Commissioner Noah Levy. See the full release following the original post below. Original Post: Humboldt County Planning Commissioner Noah Levy was arrested early Saturday morning on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol in…
Returned Artifacts Come With Poisonous Problems
The Hoopa Tribal museum is host to hundreds of cultural artifacts, but many among those returned to the tribe after a law passed in the 1990s made it easier for Native American communities to get their property back are dangerous to handle. During the 19th and 20th centuries, archaeologists, collectors and museums doused Native American…
Tonight’s Setlist: Labor of Love
Here are things Tacocat, Ponytime and Chastity Belt have in common: Seattle A certain danceability to their various forms of pop/punk/rock Members in the “supergroup” band Childbirth. Julia Shapiro (guitar, vocals), Bree McKenna (bass, vocals) and Stacy Peck (drums) are clearly having fun, but dead serious about kicking ass, lyrically and musically. Favorite tracks include…
Fire in Hoopa Destroys House, Threatens Others
UPDATE: Hoopa Valley Tribe Public Information Office Kristan Korns reports that the fire is being treated as a suspected act of arson and that United States Bureau of Indian Affairs Investigators are on scene. Additionally, Korns said a Hoopa Wildland Fire Department captain suffered a burn while battling the blaze, but said the injury was…
Rail Time
There was a time when Humboldt was abustle with rails and choo-choos. Sure, now we have freeways and you can even fly in and out of Arcata (sometimes … OK, occasionally), but it’s important to remember where our towns and cities came from. We still have our ports, but the echoing chugs and whistles are…
Frittered Away
In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love the apple fritter at Happy Donuts ($2.75). Jane Austen would forgive me. After all, is this not the Mr. Darcy of doughnuts — Crusty and intimidating, a…
Tonight’s Setlist: Would You Like To Have Your Face Melted?
Fourth of July fireworks a distant memory? Do you need more explosions? No worries! A-town will literally (literally!) blow up when the experimental sludge ferocity of Tacoma’s Lozen and punk-noise brilliance of Los Angeles’ Qui (who boasted The Jesus Lizard’s David Yow as a band mate for a time and still work with him when…
North and South
This could go two ways. Pack up your banjo and head north to Blue Lake for the Humboldt Folklife Festival, or mozy south for Fortuna Rodeo Week. Wait, what kind of mileage do you get? Maybe you can hit both. The pickin’ and fiddlin’ in Blue Lake starts with a Kickoff on Saturday, July 12…
Spokes and Smoke
It’s easy to forget how beautifully situated Loleta is, tucked away in the Eel River Valley, nestled betwixt the south bay, the Eel River and the Pacific. Take a closer look at the landscape around the bucolic burg by bike or on foot during the Tour of Loleta on Sunday, July 13. There are several…
Concrete concerns
The letters paint a dire picture, with talk of birth defects, heart attacks and premature death. They warn of an industrial operation that will spew mercury, hydrocarbons and other toxics into the air just a stone’s throw from a local elementary school and a medical clinic, and just a couple hundred yards from the banks…
Hidden on Public Land
While there’s little debate that marijuana grows on public land are hazardous to the public and the environment, there is some strife between environmental groups and the agencies that are charged with monitoring those lands. At the heart of that dispute is just how much the U.S. Forest Service knows about “trespass grows,” and whether…
Oh, My!
Editor: There were some remarks that are common and were repeated in “Lion Stories” (June 26) that are simply no longer true since the hunting ban was implemented. One was that mountain lions avoid people. In fact the Wildlife spokesman Hughan “suspects” mountain lions avoid areas where people live. Well they don’t of course —…
The Barn
The Barn is settling. Body splayed, exposure and rot cushion its slide into mulch. A gaping hole along the western face of the roof, bleeds ragged like an exit wound. Whole pieces of sky make their way inside whistling and burning… On grey days, I hear a lowing, the groan…
In the Flesh
She’s framed by an angled heel on the left and a blaze of ruby curls on the right. Lying back, her bare chest rises into a field of deep slate blue. One hand rests on her ribcage, winding a tawny shadow toward her lavender underwear. Ochre tones trail from beneath her penciled form as ruddy…
Second Friday Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at more than 30 participating locations in Arcata. Visit www.artsarcata.com for even more information about the event or call (707) 822-4500. ARCATA ARTISANS 883 H St. Joyce Jonté, watercolors; Kris Patzlaff, jewelry. ARCATA EXCHANGE 813 H St. Carla Newton, mixed media.…
Quest for the Mother Tongue: Part 2
Last week, we considered the possibility of reconstructing Proto-World, the mother tongue from which all of the world’s languages, living and dead, are derived. Although a handful of maverick researchers claim to have re-created a couple of dozen “ur-words” spoken by our ancestors more than 100,000 years ago, most linguists have dismissed their efforts. Given…
The Exorcists
Reviews THEY CAME TOGETHER. This, the latest from The State alums David Wain, Michael Showalter, et al., isn’t playing here. It has only had a small theatrical opening in major cities, but, thanks to the dubious miracle of modern technology, They Came Together is concurrently available to stream on-demand from a variety of outlets. It…
Moqueca Saborosa …
It was our second evening in Salvador, Bahia, on the coast of Brazil. My husband and I came to Brazil to soak up the music, dance and beaches of Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, but the country also has a rich culinary heritage with dishes influenced by Portuguese, African and indigenous cooking. We had already…
Free Pot, Free Pot Research!
In a move sure to surprise no Rush listeners, the Berkeley City Council voted unanimously earlier this month to give city residents free pot. The granola-friendly East Bay burb, which has been a den of radical political leanings since the 1960s, couldn’t wait to make it even easier for its bobble-headed population of hippies, freegans…
Trouble in Chekhovania
Imagine — as playwright Christopher Durang did — that two American parents who are also college professors name their three children after characters in famous plays by Anton Chekhov. The result is the 2012 comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, now on stage at Redwood Curtain in Eureka. Additional inspiration came when Durang…
Due Dates
Somehow what should have been a lackadaisical post-holiday week turns out to have a number of potentially damn fine shows. Of special note, the joy that is the Humboldt Folklife Festival starts this Saturday with the Pilot Rock Ramblers and Clean Livin’ at the Mad River Brewery at 6 p.m. Other highlights include Monday’s Songwriter…
