Cover Story
An Industry on Edge
The Humboldt County cannabis industry is on edge, with an initiative slated to come before voters next year that would dramatically reshape cultivation regulations, capping the number and limiting the size of farms, and overhauling how the county’s primary cash crop can be grown moving forward. More than four dozen cannabis farmers and industry advocates…
Music Tonight: Thursday, March 23
Every now and then a show comes along that allows for some audience participation and behavior that would be misapplied elsewhere. Anything from The Rocky Horror Picture Show to a performance by GWAR. Tonight’s gig at Savage Henry Comedy Club is one such show. It’s called the Heckler’s Paradise and, as the name suggests, it’s…
Yurok Chief Justice Named North Coast Woman of the Year
State Sen. Mike McGuire announced today that Judge Abby Abinanti — a Yurok tribal member dedicated to addressing the Murdered and Missing Indigenous People crisis and the first Native to become a member of the California Bar Association — has been named the 2023 North Coast Woman of the Year. Abinanti has served as the…
Music Tonight: Wednesday, March 22
When people couple up, magic can happen, whether that magic is creative musical excellence (Linda and Richard Thompson’s albums come to mind), scientific advances (see: Pierre and Marie Curie) or wild violence (like the exploits of the protagonists of Terrence Malick’s Badlands, whose behavior was based on the actions of infamous characters I have no…
UPDATED: Preliminary 4.6 Quake Hits Near Ferndale
A preliminary magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck 4.3 miles west-southwest of Ferndale at 4:18 p.m., according the USGS. The temblor struck at a depth of 9.6 miles, the initial report states. The quake is one of the largest to hit our actively seismic area since the 6.4 Dec. 20 quake and 5.4 New Year’s Day aftershock.…
The Wild Midwest
There’s a lot going on at Overtime Eatery and Games. In the lot, where the old Angelo’s sign still stands, noodle bowls are steaming from the red Nou Nou’s truck. Inside, basketball plays on a massive TV, the beer counter is hopping and cabinet video games flash from a side room, beyond which, a couple…
Music Tonight: Tuesday, March 21
The Humboldt Bay Social Club has been doing its level best to stick out as a cool spot and, as far as I can tell, is succeeding. There are the regular free Thursday gigs played by guitar- slinging American Primitivist and all-around world traveler Oryan Peterson-Jones (did I forget to mention his gig Thursday, March…
Peace Rally for Ukraine
As anti-war demonstrations were held across the country Saturday to coincide with the 20-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, several dozen people gathered at the Arcata Plaza to “rally for peace in Ukraine by seeking an end to the war with ceasefire and diplomacy.” Ellen Taylor, the first speaker, reinforced that point by…
CalPERS to Pay $800 Million Settlement Over Claims It Misled Retirees on Costs of Long-term Care Insurance
CalPERS is preparing to pay out roughly $800 million to settle claims that it misled retirees when it began offering long-term care insurance in the late 1990s and pledged it wouldn’t substantially raise rates on certain plans. The nation’s largest public pension fund in the 1990s and early 2000s sold long-term care insurance with so-called…
Judge Approves Restraining Order for Former Councilmember Watson
A Humboldt County Superior Court judge has issued a workplace violence restraining order for former Arcata City Councilmember Brett Watson that restricts him from contacting, being near or entering the workplace of four city officials, among other requirements. Filed by Judge Timothy Canning on Friday, after several days of hearings earlier this month and last…
Music Tonight: Monday, March 20
Well, spring is sprung and, to quote P.G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster quoting the only poem he remembered by Robert Browning, “God is in his heaven, and all’s right with the world.” Which means that Savage Henry must be putting on yet another installment of Metal Mondays. This week’s gig features F. Emasculata from the United…
McKinleyville Man Freed After Six Years Hostage
A McKinleyville man kidnapped and held hostage for six years in Africa has been freed, according to multiple news outlets and a social media post by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. “I’m gratified and relieved to see the release of U.S. hostage Jeff Woodke after over six years in captivity,” Sullivan posted to Twitter this…
Duffy Tapped as Interim Fair GM
The Humboldt County Fair Association is under new — if temporary — leadership. The association board voted March 13 to approve the hire of retired Humboldt Waste Management Authority Executive Director and former county Fifth District Supervisor Jill Duffy as the association’s interim general manager. Duffy officially started the job March 15, succeeding Rich Silacci,…
NCJ Preview: The Cannabis Issue
This week’s Cannabis Issue takes on the cannabis reform voter initiative set to appear on ballots in 2024. We’ll walk you through the proposed regulations and what they mean for Humboldt communities. We’ve also got a recipe for sticky infused chicken wings with both a spicy and THC kick. Finally, a little levity with some…
HCSO Investigating After Body Recovered Near Redway
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Division is investigating the death of a man found Thursday in “treacherous terrain and thick vegetation” north of Redway. According to a news release, the HCSO received information March 7 that an unknown man had reportedly fallen off a steep cliff in the Ravencliff area off Redwood Drive…
Gavin Newsom Moves to ‘Transform’ San Quentin as California Prison Population Shrinks
California’s most high-profile prison will be reorganized as a rehabilitation center under a plan the governor is expected to announce Friday — a move hailed as revolutionary by some prison reform advocates but derided by prison abolitionists as mere window dressing in place of the more dramatic changes they want. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected…
Music Tonight: Friday, March 17
As I have mentioned here before, I am not a fan of this holiday, mostly celebrated in this country by mixing two of our less savory national pastimes: binge drinking and lying (in this case, about being Irish). Blame it on my former life as a bartender, I have a reflexive revulsion for this green…
Eureka Announced Partnership to Open Extreme Weather Shelter
The city of Eureka is partnering with the area’s faith-based community to open an Extreme Weather Overnight Warming Center at the Lifehouse Church in Myrtletown in cases of significant events, which could include high winds, freezing temperatures or pervasive rain. According to a news release, the city’s UPLIFT Eureka program, the Eureka Police Department’s Community…
Reminder: Fernbridge Hard Closure Begins Friday Night
Caltrans is reminding motorists that historic Fernbridge will be closed for 55 hours this weekend, including to emergency vehicles, after which it is expected to reopen fully to two-way traffic. Relegated to one-way, controlled traffic since being jolted by the Dec. 20 earthquake, Fernbridge will close entirely beginning at 10 p.m. on March 17, reopening…
What About Medicare?
Editor: We read with interest about Assemblyman Wood’s continuing efforts to find remedies for the ongoing abuses to our dysfunctional healthcare non-system (NCJ Daily, March 2). A.B. 1537 is the newest example as it tries to reign in the horrendous profiteering in privately run nursing homes in California. However, as Tony Chicotel, attorney for the nonprofit…
Dolbeer’s Donkey Engine
“… improvement is the order of the day, and there is no reason why the ox team should not make way for the steam engine as the stage coach has the [railroad] engine.” — Humboldt Times, July 31, 1881 Depending on your point of view, the Dolbeer Steam Donkey was the greatest labor saver in…
Outdoor Vacuum
I had to cut the grass. The mower’s electric, so not as loud as gas. Chaco still growled and glared. When I finally stopped, Chaco finally shared, “I dislike the outdoor vacuum.” “Duly noted,” I replied, as Chaco sniffed an early bloom. Having picked up the clippers, Chaco asked me, “Are those outdoor scissors I…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I highly recommend the following experiences: 1. ruminating about what you learned in a relationship that ended—and how those lessons might be useful now. 2. ruminating about a beloved place you once regarded as home—and how the lessons you learned while there might be inspiring now. 3. ruminating about a riddle…
Newsom’s Climate Budget Would Slash Funds that Protect Coast
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget would cut funding for coastal resilience projects almost in half, eliminating more than half a billion dollars of state funds this year that would help protect the coast against rising seas and climate change. The cuts are part of Newsom’s proposed $6 billion in reductions to California’s climate change programs in response…
In Bloom
I remember describing irony in a high school English class as something that fundamentally deals with opposites. I was looking down when I said it, having at the time not yet developed any of the obnoxious confidence that I am now unfortunately surging with. One girl in the class took my downward gaze as evidence…
Gettin’ Saucy with Pot Wings
It was the day after Super Bowl LVII. I awoke to hazy memories of Rihanna, funny commercials and something about a sports game before thoughts of leftovers took over. (Some of us are only here for the food, OK?) I peeked in my fridge and saw a whole bag of uncooked wings we hadn’t gotten…
Wishful Weed Strains for 2023
Weed Who Must Not Be Named. Who knew we’d need a Patronus against J.K. Rowling? Here to aid you in the defense against dark transphobes is a Potions Master’s concoction of three magical strains: TERF War, Neville Bongbottom and Strawberry Snape. Soon hateful takes, like those of a children’s author turned fascist cheerleader, will fizz…
Who’s Your Venus?
It would be foolish to not see the limited run of Venus in Furs at North Coast Repertory Theatre. Also, what a shame that this is not a full run of David Ives’ 90-minute comedic play of intricacies, intrigue and intimacy. Jesse March and Kathryn Cesarz will undoubtedly find even more nuance layered between the…
Staying in Touch
Some sports are like foreign languages — infinitely easier to learn when you’re younger. Once humans reach a certain age, our hips, knees and balance operate as they always have, and it’s much harder for our body to move in new, contrasting directions. For example, if you are a runner or a cyclist, your joints…
Sport and Commercial Ocean Salmon Season Closed Statewide
The Pacific Fishery Management Council on March 10 provided three options for recreation and commercial salmon fishing from the California/Oregon border all the way south to the California/Mexico border. Unfortunately, but not surprising, all three options included the words “closed.” In an unprecedented decision, the PFMC was left with little choice but to close recreational…
Thrown Back
SCREAM VI. The world’s infatuation with Scream (1996) kicked off just as I was entering a protracted contrarian period in my own cinema education. I hadn’t yet come to appreciate the craft and silliness of horror and teen movies were too easily enjoyable to possibly be of merit; I was insufferable. Because I live in…
