The Battle for Elk River
Aggrieved land owners, logging’s legacy, timber companies and a state agency collide in a beleaguered watershed
CR to Suspend Classes to Prep for Possible COVID-19 Closure
College of the Redwoods is suspending classes the week of March 23-27 to prepare for the “the eventuality that we will need to suspend face-to-face instruction,” according to a release. The decision comes on the heels of Humboldt County Health Officer Teresa Frankovich’s announcement of the decision today to declare a local health emergency in…
UPDATE: Humboldt Declares Health Emergency for COVID-19, Announces Local Testing is Available
Humboldt County Health Officer Teresa Frankovich has declared a local health emergency in response to the COVID-19 virus, describing it as a proactive step that will free additional resources and increase coordination between state, local and federal agencies. But, during a press conference this morning, Frankovich made clear that local conditions have not changed and…
How California is Responding to the Coronavirus (Video)
As more Californians test positive for the novel coronavirus, state health officials and Gov. Gavin Newsom are trying to control the outbreak. The U. S. response to the problem got off to a rocky start. Faulty tests and a shortage of test kits kept many people from being diagnosed. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tested…
Trinidad Rancheria: Hotel Could Open Next Summer
If all goes as it hopes, the Trinidad Rancheria could have its hotel overlooking Trinidad Bay open in the summer of 2021, says Executive Director Jacque Hostler-Carmesin. The Rancheria’s controversial proposal to build a five-story hotel on its property off Scenic Drive south of Trinidad took a major step forward recently when the Bureau of…
NCJ Preview with Access Humboldt
This week: We’re talking about the Elk River Watershed, Humboldt County elections and how we camp out in the NCJ office to cover them, as well as how a pair of local campers became outdoor cooking YouTubers. Hit subscribe for weekly updates via YouTube.
Up in the Sky: A ‘Super’ Moon with Something to Crow About
There’s a celestial show going on up in the sky through this week as a full moon with a bunch of fancy names makes an appearance. According to NASA, this is a “Supermoon” — a full moon that occurs when the moon is closest to the Earth. As the first one in March and the…
Young Mother Dies, Infant Uninjured After being Hit on Broadway
A 25- year-old mother is dead after being hit by a car late Saturday night while pushing her infant in a stroller on Broadway in Eureka. The child was not injured. According to a Eureka Police Department release, the incident took place just around 11:45 p.m., when Kelsey Diffin was apparently pushing her child across…
UPDATE: Del Norte County Coronavirus Test Comes Back Negative
UPDATE: The test for the Del Norte County individual thought to possibly have COVID-19 has come back negative, health officials announced. In a release Sunday, Del Norte County Public Health Officer Dr. Warren Rehwaldt said there was “no evidence of corona virus” and that additional information is expected to be release today. Read the full…
Daylight Saving: It’s Almost Time to Spring Ahead
Just a friendly reminder for when you go to bed tonight: It’s once again time to set the clock ahead one hour with daylight saving starting at 2 a.m. Sunday. As we all know, this is also an excellent time to make sure those batteries are working properly in your home’s smoke and carbon monoxide…
North Coast Night Lights: Lone Oak and Country Road
In the still of the night, on a ridge top beside a quiet country road, an old oak tree enjoys a long view of valleys and sky. What changes it must have seen as the years turned and the seasons slipped by, day by day and night by night. Most of us will see the…
He Shoots, He …
For serious sports fans and weekend warriors, what happens on the field has far-reaching significance. The games we play and watch can become an organizing force in our lives. Sports divides and unites. Love of a game can be passed through generations. Sports can even become the sole topic of discussion between people with no…
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 First and C streets. TBA. A TASTE OF BIM 613 Third St. TBD. ADORNI CENTER 1011 Waterfront St. Paul Rickard and Barbara Saul, artwork.…
Modern Monsters
Reviews THE INVISIBLE MAN. When news filtered down that Universal Pictures had big plans to reach back into its rich history and recast itself as the home of the monsters, complete with an MCU-paralleling Dark Universe franchise, I got a little excited. I grew up checking out the Crestwood House monster books from the elementary…
Cliff, the N-word and Missed Opportunities
At the end of a Feb. 17 interview with the Times-Standard editorial board, First District supervisorial candidate Cliff Berkowitz used the N-word. He didn’t direct it at anyone or tell a racist joke. But in discussing incumbent Rex Bohn’s widely reported racist joke last year, he gave an example of unacceptable behavior for a white…
Milken’s Unpardonable Redwood Felonies
Some crimes cannot be forgiven. There’s Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assaults, the Sackler family’s (alleged) opioid proliferation and, for Humboldt County, Michael Milken’s junk bonds. So when President Trump pardoned “Junk Bond King” Milken for his criminal offenses last week, the message to Humboldt was clear: No matter how many ancient forests you plunder, it’s an…
Taxes and Terroir
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors overstepped when it modified the cannabis tax approved by voters in 2016, a judge recently ruled. Passed with 66 percent of the vote, Measure S imposed a $1 to $3 per-square-foot excise tax on commercial cannabis cultivation countywide. Under the language of the measure, the tax was to be…
Injustice
Editor: In the Feb. 27 editorial “Justice For Josiah” it seems that in a rush to put some kind of balm on the failure of the Humboldt County criminal justice system to adequately address his killing, a key part of what justice for Josiah Lawson means was overlooked. The changes called for and the changes…
A Simple Solution
Editor: “The health plan is unsustainable,” says Lathe Gill in “The Quandary of North Coast Schools Medical Insurance Group” (Feb. 27). It is an accurate and distilled reflection of the healthcare crisis in the nation as a whole. The school districts’ employees, however, are clearly suffering at the forefront when “(m)any already have to give half…
It’s Science
Editor: I feel it’s worth correcting at least one statement that Cortez wrote to the NCJ (Mailbox, Feb. 13) and I quote, “But if one says there are two biological sexes according to science, they are mocked and called silly names.” He compares the public response to the science of climate change to this. Please,…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Progress rarely unfolds in a glorious, ever-rising upward arc. The more usual pattern is gradual and uneven. Each modest ascent is followed by a phase of retrenchment and integration. In the best-case scenario, the most recent ascent reaches a higher level than the previous ascent. By my estimate, you’re in one…
Pass the Eelgrass
Pssst! Hey man, wanna smoke some eelgrass?” asked an imaginary stranger. I was like, “Why would I? And who are you, anyway?” “I represent all of your imaginary friends, relatives, lovers and pets. They want to know if eelgrass can get you high. It could be the next big thing and we’d be in on…
The Battle for Elk River
Kristi Wrigley remembers a time when the Elk River ran clear and deep, providing a reliable source of good water for her home and adjacent apple orchard. Those years are now long past and the Elk River watershed has been named as one of the most degraded in Northern California. The river channel has widened,…
‘Critical Juncture’
At first glance, purple sea urchins might appear harmless enough, scurrying across the ocean floor in their spiky domed shells. And, under normal circumstances, that would be true. But a “perfect storm” of changing oceanic conditions over the last several years combined to set the scene for a population explosion of the creatures, which has…
Spread Some Love
Oh, what a great many options we have here this week. From the theater to the dance floor to the concert hall, from free to pricey, from the 21+ environs of a new watering hole to all-ages events, we have a bit of everything this week. Now more than ever, getting out and enjoying yourself…
Going Dutch
The elk scaloppini episode from the Outdoor Cast Iron Cooking YouTube channel starts with a few cooking shots before Joanie “the Teardrop Nanny” and Dean “the Fogcrawler” introduce themselves on the bank of the Trinity River. Dean wears an American flag and eagle T-shirt as he announces his “most amazing wife has an awesome recipe…
