A Pandemic Poetry Reading with Laureate David Holper
When the city council appointed David Holper Eureka’s first poet laureate in 2019, it was supposed to last a year. Then again, a lot of things turned out differently than planned in 2020 and the term was extended. You can watch Holper’s live reading via Zoom and on Public Access Channel 8 on Tuesday, April…
EV Charger Access Lecture
The future is electric but Where Will We Charge our Electric Cars? Three HSU grads discuss that and more Monday, April 5 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Online. Join EV researchers Chih-Wei Hsu, Anh Bui and Derek Ichien to learn how charger access can be maximized for the public and what that might look like for…
Early Breweries on Tap at Humboldt County Historical Society Program
Humboldt’s hop history is on tap for this month’s Humboldt County Historical Society Program, Mercantile Brewing in Humboldt County, happening Saturday, April 3 at 2:30 p.m. via Zoom. Presented by Michael Berry, this journey back in time chronicles every commercial brewery known to have operated in Humboldt County from 1854 to the present day — and…
Public Health: 20% of HumCo Residents 16 and Older Now Fully Vaccinated
Public Health reported today that 57,326 COVID-19 vaccine doses have now been administered in Humboldt County, with 22,365 residents — almost 20 percent of the local population over the age of 16 — now fully vaccinated. Nearly 60 percent of county residents over the age of 75 are fully vaccinated, the county reported today as…
RCAA Plant and Seed Exchange
Although a bit windy, these spring days have been fine. Gardeners are in their yards pushing bulbs and seeds into the ground coaxing the colors of spring. Need an inexpensive source for your seeds and starts? Want to help others make their gardens grow? Stop by the Plant and Seed Exchange on Saturday, April 3…
Journal Changes Ownership
The North Coast Journal Inc. — a media company that includes the 15,000-circulation weekly newspaper and website, plus nearly a dozen publications serving Humboldt County, California — has been sold. The buyer, Melissa Sanderson, 37, took over as president and publisher March 31. She has worked for the company since 2014, first as sales manager…
Cooperation Humboldt Plants Fruit Trees for Everyone
Cooperation Humboldt’s mission to make food more available to all is steadily growing, with the local nonprofit planting an additional 130 fruit trees throughout the county this year. “We believe that nutritious food is a fundamental human right, and our projects aim to put that belief into practice in very tangible ways,” said Tamara McFarland,…
Last Look at Outer Space’s BIPOC Art Show
If you’re in Old Town today, swing by Studio 424 and peer through the windows for a last look at the Outer Space Arcata’ Phantom Gallery Exhibit “All Colors Are Beautiful,” an assemblage of work by 18 local BIPOC artists curated by Taylor Snowberger and Julio Cesar Torres. The window gallery space was donated for the…
HumCo Remains in Red Tier, Three New COVID-19 Cases Reported
Humboldt County Public Health reported three new COVID-19 cases today — making 29 so far this week — as well as a new hospitalization. The new cases came after laboratories processed 60 samples with a test-positivity rate of 5 percent, bringing the county’s cumulative count to 3,476. The state of California, meanwhile, updated its COVID-19…
Two-Hour Delays at Last Chance Grade
Caltrans is reporting that drivers should expect two-hour delays on U.S. Highway 101 at Last Chance Grade south of Crescent City on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., beginning today. Motorists can expect shorter delays of 30 minutes outside of the 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. window. According to the Facebook post, Caltrans anticipates “these 2-hour delays on…
Is California Blowing it on Unemployment Reform?
If not for a persistent mail carrier, Lance Hastings might not have discovered all of the fake unemployment claims. Last September, the head of the California Manufacturers & Technology Association got the first jobless claim from a worker he’d never employed. Mistakes happen, he thought, and reported the letter sent to the group’s boarded-up former…
Drug Task Force Reports Seizing 5K Fentanyl Pills
The Humboldt County Drug Task Force reported today making a handful of arrests and seizing more than 5,000 counterfeit Percocet pills containing fentanyl after a weeks-long investigation initiated after multiple fentanyl overdoses were reported in the Hoopa Valley. According to a press release, the investigation started March 5 when a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy working…
Public Health Confirms 36th Local COVID Death
A 36th Humboldt County resident has died with COVID-19, Public Health reported today. The county’s 36th COVID death was of a resident in their 80s, Public Health announced in a press release, while also confirming 26 new cases of the virus locally. The new cases were confirmed after laboratories processed 632 samples with a test-positivity…
Volunteers Needed for Expanded COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution
With California residents 50 and older becoming eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine this week, and then residents 16 years and older a couple of weeks later, Humboldt County Emergency Operations Center is going to need all the help it can get to vaccinate the majority of adults in the county. The EOC is currently looking…
County COVID Response Costs Exceeds $11 Million
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began a little more than a year ago, Humboldt County’s response, from ramping up testing capacity to the now expanding vaccination efforts, has reached $11.7 million. According to a county’s press release, “the state and federal governments have already allocated or committed to future allocations totaling just over $14 million for…
It’s Going to Get Gusty: Gale Force Winds Expected
A small craft advisory will be in effect starting at 11 p.m. today and a gale warning starting at 3 a.m. Monday for what are expected to be rough conditions off the coast. The National Weather Service office in Eureka is forecasting that a cold front will make its way across coastal waters tonight with…
NCJ Preview: Anti-Asian Racism, Government Transparency and Those EPD Texts
This week we’re talking about how the recent shootings in Atlanta and their aftermath fit a historic pattern of anti-Asian racism and how the national trend ripples to Humboldt. We’ve also got the Foilies, the annual roundup of outrageous incidents of redaction and refusal of public records. And we’re following up on the Eureka Police…
County Records 35th COVID-19 Death
Public Health reported today that Humboldt County has recorded its 35th COVID-19 death — this one in a resident in their 80s — as well as eight new cases of the virus. The new cases were reported after laboratories processed 276 samples with at test-positivity rate of 2.9 percent, bringing the county’s cumulative case count…
A Sanctuary Garden
Tomorrow at 1:30 p.m., Centro del Pueblo and Cooperation Humboldt will be holding a ceremony to consecrate the Arcata Community Health and Wellness Garden (11th and F streets) as a sanctuary for all people. The ceremony will feature music, food for those experiencing food insecurity, a land acknowledgement and the “ceremonial planting of seeds important…
Vaccine Allocations Tick Upward as Public Health Announces Nine New COVID-19 Cases
Humboldt County Public Health reported today that it expects to receive nearly 7,000 COVID-19 vaccination doses from the state next week, representing a 25-percent increase from this week’s allocation. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced today that California will open up vaccination eligibility to all residents age 50 and older April 1, with those age 16 and…
COVID-19 Vaccine Line Opening to 50-Plus Next Week, 16-Plus April 15
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced today that California residents age 50 and older will join the ranks of those eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations beginning April 1, with all individuals 16 years and older entering the line on April 15. “With vaccine supply increasing and by expanding eligibility to more Californians, the light at the end of…
Too Big
Editor: Sun Valley CEO Lane DeVries states the reason for developing his land for cannabis production is because his cut-flower business is struggling due to the impacts of globalization and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Strange, because his company, Arcata Land Co., applied for Conditional Use Permit #12255 for 784,080 square feet of cannabis cultivation…
Too Small
Editor: The good people of Arcata who live out on the bottoms are upset about a big dope grow being proposed by Sun Valley bulb farm (“Going Big,” March 18). I don’t really blame them but there are bigger factors at play here. I believe that the most important item is the quality of our…
Sprung
Like a long-rusted statue The robin stands stock-still But with a spasm and a spurt He comes to life Plucks a worm From the earth And leaves it too J. Commander
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the novel House of Leaves, the hero Johnny Truant describes his friend Lude as wanting “more money, better parties, and prettier girls.” But Johnny wants something different. What is it? He says, “I’m not even sure what to call it except I know it feels roomy and it’s drenched in…
The Foilies 2021
The day after the 2021 inauguration, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut took to Twitter to declare: “Biden is making transparency cool again.” This was a head-scratcher for many journalists and transparency advocates. Freedom of Information — the concept that government documents belong to and must be accessible to the people — has never not been…
A Year Apart
I remember vividly the last time I shook someone’s hand. It was Wednesday, March 11, 2020, at a hastily called press conference at the county Department of Health and Human Services at which then County Health Officer Teresa Frankovich was announcing the declaration of a local health emergency due to COVID-19. She stressed this was…
‘Abhorrent’
The city of Eureka has put two of its police officers on paid leave and hired a third-party to investigate allegations in a bombshell report by the Sacramento Bee that detailed text messages the pair allegedly sent in a thread with four other officers, including misogynistic, dehumanizing, vulgar and violent messages. Eureka Mayor Susan Seaman,…
Lentils: The Great Leveler
The worst lentils I ever ate were the ones I appreciated the most. In the early ’80s, my husband, Barry, and I joined hundreds of other North Americans and Europeans and went trekking in the Himalayas. We chose to walk the three-week Muktinath Pilgrimage trail, a windy, mountainous route along the Kali Gandaki gorge, the…
Seed Season
At this time last year, Humboldt County was about to go into lockdown along with most of the state, country and, well, world. Toilet paper was being hoarded, and you couldn’t find a sanitizing wipe anywhere. And seeds! Garden seeds became a hot commodity as many people decided to spend their time sheltering in place…
Late-Season Steelhead Anglers Have Plenty of Weekend Options
If you’re looking to get that one last steelhead trip in, this could be the weekend to do it. All the rivers are green and have plenty of water. The main stem Eel and Chetco have good color and ample water, and that’s probably where you’ll find the majority of the boats. The Smith is…
Sound of Metal and the Weight of Oscars
I’ve dedicated a fair plot of real estate in this column to the idea that movie awards (and award shows) do not matter. For what it’s worth, I’ve wasted even more time thinking than writing about it. But, as I’ve prattled, American culture, the universe at-large and the sonofabitching third decade of the 21st century…
The Awful Familiarity of Anti-Asian Violence
It’s not that the murder of eight people in Atlanta on March 16 didn’t shock. Even after so many mass shootings and a widely reported spike in anti-Asian hate crimes, the news that the suspect, a 21-year-old white man, had driven to three Asian-owned spas and killed Douyou Feng, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Paul…
More, Please
Editor: Thank you so much, Jessica Ashley Silva (“The Beautiful Disaster of My Medicated Mozzarella Fail”) and Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (“Cannabis Strains We need in 2021”), for your articles in the Journal’s March 18 issue that brought smiles and laughs in this pandemic time. Jessica’s beautiful disaster mozzarella and Jennifer’s cannabis strains were fun and…
‘Just Plain Wrong’
Editor: I am sorry to have to write this, but attacks on Asian Americans simply because of their ethnicity is just plain wrong. I hope Humboldt citizens of all political persuasions will stand with our Asian American friends and neighbors and show the respect that is deserved. John Dillon, Eureka
