Richard “Rich” Todd: 1951-2022
Rich lived in the Fresno area in his earlier years. He moved to Eureka in 2000 to help his sister. The first time I heard Rick sing, I asked him to marry me. I was joking at the time. History tells a different story. We married in 2002. Rick learned to love Cats and Cruising.…
Public Health: One New COVID Death Confirmed Over Past Week
Humboldt County Public Health reported today that the county has confirmed another COVID-19 death since its last report March 23. One new hospitalization over the past week was also reported today. According to a state database, six people are currently hospitalized with the virus locally, including three under intensive care. Find the full public health press…
Arcata Playhouse’s Family Fun Series is Back
Arcata Playhouse’s Family Fun Series is back! Discover the magic of the Arcata Playhouse’s feel good annual event happening March 31-April 16 in the Creamery District. Look for the big top circus tent to catch headlining performers David Gonzalez with Cuentos: Tales from the Latino World, clown duo Coventry & Kaluza, singer/songwriter and fiddler Laurie…
California to Limit Slavery Reparations After Key Vote
After more than six hours of debate Tuesday, California’s reparations task force voted that only Black Californians who can prove a direct lineage to enslaved ancestors will be eligible for the statewide — and first-in-the nation — initiative to address the harms and enduring legacy of slavery. The nine-member task force voted 5-4 in favor…
Yurok Tribe Brewery Takes on MLB
The San Francisco Giants’ stadium, Oracle Park, will now sell three craft beers from a brewery owned by the Yurok Tribe. It’s the first partnership of its kind with a Major League Baseball franchise. Linda Cooley, CEO of Mad River Brewing Co. Inc., said the partnership represents the Yurok Tribe’s sovereignty being taken seriously and…
EPD Sergeant, Captain Facing Discipline Retire, Effective Immediately
The city of Eureka’s highly publicized investigation into a unit of police officers’ dehumanizing, vulgar and violent text messages that made national headlines has come to an end — not with a bang, but with a whimper. The city issued a press release this afternoon noting that a police captain and sergeant facing pending “disciplinary…
Return of the Condor: Watch the Birds’ Arrival Home on Live Stream
UPDATE: The four young condors have arrived and will spend the next few weeks with a “mentor” bird brought in to impart important social and survival skills before being sent free to soar in the North Coast’s skies. PREVIOUS: More than a century has passed since condors last soared over Yurok ancestral lands but that’s…
Bicyclist Killed in Last Week’s Collision Identified
The California Highway Patrol today identified the bicyclist killed in a March 23 collision on Herrick Avenue as Eureka resident Michael David Eagan. He was 75. According to the CHP, Eagan was riding northbound on Elk River Road shortly before 5 p.m. when, for reasons yet to be determined, he passed into the intersection with…
Former Fortuna Police Chief Dobberstein Dead at 53
Recently retired Police Chief William Dobberstein was found dead in his Fortuna home Saturday night of an apparent suicide. He was 53. Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said his department is investigating Dobberstein’s death with an autopsy scheduled later this week, but said the preliminary report is the death appears to have been a suicide.…
Hazardous Spill Closes 101
UPDATE: U.S. Highway 101 re-opened at around 7 p.m. Saturday, with traffic now moving again in both directions. PREVIOUSLY: U.S. Highway 101 remains closed in both directions between Leggett and Laytonville due to an overturned semi carrying hazardous materials, with no estimated time for reopening. A HazMat team is at the scene of the early…
NCJ Preview: Why We Love Transparency and Bacon
A belated happy Sunshine Week to all! We’ve got the Foilies on the cover this week, the Electronic Freedom Foundation and Muckrock’s national hall of shame for government transparency fails. And it looks like Humboldt made the list this year for its response to a California Public Records Act request from the Journal. We’ll talk…
SoHum Man Pleads Guilty in Grisly 2020 Killing
A Southern Humboldt man pleaded guilty today to manslaughter in connection with the grisly February of 2020 killing of a man that he reportedly kidnapped off a rural road. Under the plea deal, 34-year-old Ryan Tanner is scheduled to be sentenced April 11 to 39 years in prison and agreed to waive credit for the…
El Leñador Takes Home Awards
Cal Poly Humboldt’s student-run bilingual newspaper El Leñador and its staff won a number of awards, including the “People’s Choice” award in Best of Show, at a college newspaper conference earlier this month. The paper published in English and Spanish was also recognized with first place wins for Best Special Issue/Section, Best Arts and Entertainment…
Gas money: Is it Better to Send Out Checks or Suspend a Tax?
State lawmakers have several proposals for sending checks to people to help with the increased cost of gas. One-time checks would be especially helpful for people with lower incomes, economists and policy experts said. Republicans are pushing to temporarily suspend the state gas tax to reduce the price of gas. California is flush with cash…
Fortuna Garden Club’s Daffodil Show Returns to the River Lodge
The Fortuna Garden Club welcomes the public back to its glorious in-person Daffodil Show and Sale, happening Saturday and Sunday, March 26 and 27 at the Fortuna River Lodge (free admission). After a hiatus of two years due to the pandemic, the annual daffodil show returns for the public to gaze upon and take home…
Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet Performs this Weekend
For its final show of the season, the Eureka Chamber Music Series presents the multiple Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet this weekend with two concerts available. The first, the quartet’s Mainstage Concert, is Saturday, March 26 at 7:30 pm at Calvary Lutheran Church ($40) followed by a Concert and Conversation hosted by series Artistic Director Tom…
Audit: California Utilities Aren’t Doing Enough to Reduce Wildfire Threats
As record-breaking drought fuels another potentially dangerous wildfire season, the state auditor reported today that state officials are failing to hold California’s electric utilities accountable for preventing fires caused by their equipment. The report to the California Legislature found that the new Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety approved utility companies’ wildfire prevention plans even when…
Bicyclist Killed in Crash
The California Highway Patrol is investigating a crash yesterday afternoon on Herrick Avenue that killed a bicyclist. According to CHP, the cyclist — whose identity is not being released until their family can be notified — was riding northbound on Elk River Road shortly before 5 p.m. when, for reasons yet to be determined, they…
County Races Set for June Election
Ten county offices are up for election in what’s shaping up to be a dynamic, feisty campaign season leading into the June primary. Seemingly against all odds and norms, the race to lead the county’s Auditor-Controller’s Office appears likely to garner the most attention (more on that later), but Humboldt County will also see contested…
Opening the Door to Happy Employees
The winner of Best Companies to Work For in 2022 goes to a health care provider that not only cared for the community during the global pandemic, but their employees, too. Congratulations to Open Door Community Health Centers! The pandemic has caused many of us to rethink the way we earn a living, inspiring many…
Bacon in the Wind
With the chilly wind and soft sunlight spreading over the first week of March, l thought to myself, “What a good time to cure some lap yuk!” While lap yuk, or Chinese bacon, is made from pork belly, there are many types of cured meat from different regions in China, such as pork shoulder, chicken,…
Art for an Another Life
Deep in the COVID weirdness of the fall of 2020, Blue Lake artist and Cal Poly Humboldt lecturer Gina Tuzzi got a call from a friend about contributing to a “small indie film.” Tuzzi didn’t find out until later, but the film was the locally filmed A24 and Apple TV+ production The Sky is Everywhere,…
An Eye on the Sparrow
Sparrows, in my opinion, get a bum rap. Few species give birders — even expert ones — more ID trouble. They’re small and typically some shade of brown, hence their nickname “LBBs” (little brown birds). They favor dense brush or tall grass, occasionally making short, low flights before dropping out of sight again. Their markings…
The Foilies 2022
Each year during Sunshine Week, The Foilies serve up tongue-in-cheek “awards” for government agencies and assorted institutions that stand in the way of access to information. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock combine forces to collect horror stories about Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and state-level public records requests from journalists and transparency advocates across…
Tough Conditions for Late Season Steelhead Anglers
As we move toward the last weekend of winter steelhead season on the coast, river conditions continue to be less than ideal. Not only for the anglers but for the adult steelhead and their soon-to-be offspring. As of Tuesday, only a few rivers remain open to fishing. The Smith and main stem Eel have been…
Scrappy Dreamers
If you come to Man of La Mancha knowing nothing more than it was a Broadway hit and Tony winner that spawned the hit song and eventual standard “The Impossible Dream,” you’re not alone. I myself preferred Roberta Flack’s version to the one Jim Nabors sung on Gomer Pyle. There is considerably more to it…
Robot Love and Human Folly
AFTER YANG. Envisioning the future is a dicey prospect in the best of times; lately it seems borderline pointless/delusional. Global dissolution aside, committing to an imagined version of progress or the lack thereof is a risky artistic decision, and one that can (and usually will) be revealed as foolish, wrongheaded or stupid in short order.…
Sunshine and Sovereignty
”Access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.” So reads the California Public Records Act and it sounds simple enough, right? Well, as Sunshine Week — that annual reminder of the importance of freedom of information — bore down upon us…
I Can Drive 55
Editor: In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (“Fascism 101,” March 17) and the need to stop buying Russian oil, The International Energy Agency issued a press release March 18 promoting its 10-Point Plan for developed countries to ease both the oil supply crunch and the pain of rising gas prices. Following the plan would…
137: Magic Number?
“[The fine structure constant] is one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics: a magic number that comes to us with no understanding by humans … you might say the “hand of God” wrote that number … .” — Physicist Richard Feynman When otherwise hard-headed physicists invoke God or the Devil, you can be fairly…
Falling
From plum trees pink petals fall as redwood sorrel sings a song of spring and trillium prepare to perform their seven-year ritual of breaking hearts with the force of beauty. Far away young soldiers fall and are covered with snow as Europe wakes from a seven-decade dream hearts blown to bits flowers refusing to bloom.…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Carib people from Surinam quote their mysterious Snake Spirit as follows: “I am the force of the spirit of the lightning eel, the thunder ax, the stone. I am the force of the firefly; thunder and lightning have I created.” I realize that what I’m about to say may sound…
