Cover Stories
A Listicle to Save the World
With all the bleak environmental news out there — climate change, rising sea levels, endangered species, starving abalone — it can be easy to feel lost and disheartened, unsure of what you can do to make a difference. With that in mind, we reached out to a handful of local environmental nonprofits and asked them…
SCRAP vs. Weed Waste
With legalized cannabis comes a bumper crop of plastic packaging, cutting sharply into how green your weed is. The creative reuse mavens at SCRAP Humboldt took up the challenge and whipped up five simple projects for reusing the tubes and baggies before the landfill blows your high. Get more crafty ideas down at the 101…
2nd UPDATE: Man Found Dead on U.S. Highway 101 Died of Gunshot Wounds
2nd UPDATE: Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Samantha Karges confirmed this morning that Salvatore Riccobono IV died from “multiple gunshot wounds.” Karges could not say how Riccobono’s body ended up on U.S. Highway 101 near Salmon Creek, where it was struck by a driver in the early hours of April 23. She also could not release any…
Music Tonight: Wednesday, April 25
Modern jazz tricksters LD51 haunt the cozy confines of The Speakeasy tonight at 8 p.m. for an evening of free music. Meanwhile, Whomp Whomp Wednesday at The Jam is curated tonight by electro maestros HullabaloO, bouquet, Norman and Little Brain. Doors are at 10 p.m. and it’s only $5 before 10:30 p.m., $10 after. Viva.
Marek Reavis Appointed New Public Defender
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted in closed session this afternoon to appoint Marek Reavis, currently serving as interim public defender, to that office’s top job. Reavis’ appointment caps a tumultuous year for the department, which saw public outcry and mass resignations over the board’s previous appointment, David Marcus, whom many considered unqualified. After…
Music Tonight: Tuesday, April 24
Humbrews hosts a jammy evening of Americana and roots music as California Kind plays a set of semi-improvisational takes on traditional U.S. styles at 8 p.m. ($20). Join longtime jam scene regulars Kate Skene, Barry Sless, Rob Barraco, Pete Sears and John Molo for an evening of groovy, twangy fun.
Cruise Ships Coming to Humboldt Bay
The city of Eureka announced today that fledgling efforts to bring cruise ships to Humboldt Bay have been successful, with the first such ship arriving Monday, May 21. According to its press release, the city, in association with the Humboldt Bay Harbor District, formed a partnership with Eureka Main Street, the Eureka Visitor Center and former city council candidate…
Music Tonight: Monday, April 23
Our live punk rock entertainment comes from a faraway place tonight as Bogotá, Colombia’s own quartet Primer Regimen takes over The Siren’s Song for an evening of ’80s influenced hardcore. Usual suspects The ChainLinks, The Scum Lourdes and The Cissies strut it up as well. Eight p.m. is the hour, $6 is the price.
HumBug: Safer to Look Like Crap
First day out with my new Canon 6D Mark II today and so far I’m happy. I used my Sigma 150/600-millimeter lens and, after a slow start, managed to find a few subjects. I watched as a smallish dragonfly searched among the willows looking for someplace to dine on its catch. As soon as it…
8 Year Old Found Dead After Being Swept Out to Sea
The U.S. Coast Guard has recovered the body of an 8-year-old girl who was swept out to sea near Big Lagoon yesterday afternoon. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reports that the girl was swept into the ocean while jumping into waves on the ocean side of the lagoon at about 3:15 p.m. yesterday. Sheriff’s deputies…
St. Joseph Health Hit with Anti-Trust Lawsuit Alleging Unfair Business Practices to Protect 10-fold Price Markeups
The company that owns Redwood Urgent Care has filed a federal lawsuit against St. Joseph Hospital, alleging pervasive and systemic violations of state and federal laws designed to protect fair business competition. Wahidullah Medical Corp., which owns Redwood Urgent Care and its outpatient medical testing laboratory, filed the anti-trust suit earlier this month, seeking a…
Music Tonight: Sunday, April 22
It’s another quiet Sunday here behind the redwood curtain so the bigger shows we have flash through on the weekend from time to time are simply not here at the moment. However, it is Earth Day so let’s remember to enjoy our massive alpha mother anyway while we are still allowed a collective purchase upon…
Pod People
Welcome To Night Vale, the twice-monthly podcast about a small desert town where weird is the norm, comes to Van Duzer Theatre on Sunday, April 22 at 7 p.m. at ($30) as a live, stand-alone show, perfect for newcomers and long-time listeners alike. The popular series takes the form of a local community radio broadcast…
El Leñador Turns 5
Humboldt State University’s bilingual student paper El Leñador started out as an insert in The Lumberjack. Some 40 issues later, it’s a full-fledged, award-winning paper with rotating editors and a dedicated staff focusing on Latinx culture and issues. Students, staff, faculty and community members gathered to celebrate the paper’s fifth year in the Kate Buchanan…
Music Tonight: Saturday, April 21
Winnipeg’s Mulligrub makes the trek south from the Cree land of muddy water to play its brand of emo pop for you at the Outer Space tonight. Fellow travelers Señor Fin from Seattle bring a big, hushed and pretty rock sound down from rain town and local songwriting act Blood Honey (now with drums!) rounds…
Board of Supervisors Prepares for Auditor Controller Do-Over, Public Defender Appointment
UPDATE: On April 24 the board voted unanimously to appoint Dillingham to the postion. Previously: The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will consider Tuesday appointing Cheryl Dillingham as interim auditor-controller. Again. The board voted unanimously at its April 3 meeting to appoint Dillingham to the post. But the item on the board’s agenda that day…
Music Tonight: Friday, April 20
It’s the closing performance for the 25th season of the Eureka Chamber Music Series tonight at 7 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church ($30/$15 for Calvary Lutheran Church members/$10 seniors/$5 children). The Ariana Quartet will work through a program with Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 1 in C major as well as Ravel’s Quartet in F Major, then…
Arcata to Vet Bringing Back Former FBI Agent in Lawson Investigation, Other Measures
The Arcata City Council directed staff to look at bringing back a retired FBI agent who recently stepped down from the David Josiah Lawson murder investigation or hiring another expert during Wednesday’s meeting after hearing demands for action from a packed room that included the slain 19 year old’s mother. While not taking an official…
Music Tonight: Thursday, April 19
It’s another vinyl showdown in Old Town tonight at 8 p.m. at The Siren’s Song (free). The weekly 33 and a Third rap, funk and hip-hop sock-hop is curated by turntablists Goldylocks and Fade for your dancing pleasure, and if you happen to want more out of the shindig then remember that the mic is…
Kill the Ivy. Kill it All.
World got you down? Feel helpless, like you don’t know how to make a difference? Do I have a mission for you. You can save the world from ivy, starting with your own yard or nearby patch of woods. Get outdoors, commune with nature, kill ivy. Feel the purpose pumping through your veins. No expensive…
None Taken, We’re Sure
Editor: Regarding the article, “Mistrust Led to Ex-FBI Agent’s Departure from Lawson Case,” Apr. 13. Great job, you got the story straight from the horse’s mouth (no disrespect to Mr. Parker). Carman Gentile, Arcata
Alchemists launch eco-friendly whiskey
Making a shot of whiskey is a tough job. There are lots of rules laid down by the federal government to make sure “American whiskey” is precisely what the world expects it to be: at least 51 percent fermented grain (corn if you want to call it Bourbon), distilled to no more than 80 percent…
Exit Interview with Bill Damiano
Humboldt County Chief Probation Officer Bill Damiano has less than a week left on the job and he’s using the time to break in a new pair of hiking boots and clear out his office for his successor, current Assistant Chief Shaun Brenneman. After 30 years working in the county probation department, Damiano has accrued…
Languishing or Progressing?
Tom Parker, a retired FBI agent who recently stepped down from assisting the Arcata Police Department’s investigation into David Josiah Lawson’s killing, says he’s convinced the case could be solved in just a few months, if not weeks, if he were able to bring the right people on board. “We’d have this thing finished up,”…
Plaque Build Up
Editor: Driving down 101 from Eureka’s music festival, while breakfasting at the Eel River Café in Garberville, I read about the disputes over removing the McKinley statue (“Long Road to Nowhere on McKinley Vote,” Mar. 23). Why not keep the statue but add a plaque that creates a learning opportunity? Mention his alacrity in joining…
Further Reporting, Please
Editor: According to your article, “Arcata Chief Abruptly Resigns Amid Growing Frustration”, people of color are regularly assaulted on the HSU campus, left bruised and bleeding. Wow! Why haven’t these crimes been reported? The NCJ should certainly do a follow-up story about these alleged assaults. Diane Higgins, McKinleyville
Magnificent Frigate Birds
Frigate birds are a surprising study in contrasts. On the one hand, I admire them gliding effortlessly high overhead, following the updraft above a Pacific beach in southern Mexico. On the other hand, here’s a male “magnificent” frigate bird on the Galapagos, perched clumsily with his ungainly red gular pouch inflated. It’s a chick magnet:…
Correction/clarification:
In last week’s story about the Humboldt County Auditor-Controller’s office, “Drama at the A/C,” we incorrectly stated that Assistant Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez had been the subject of multiple complaints by her coworkers for creating a hostile work environment. In fact, while county spokesperson Sean Quincey confirmed that there had been “multiple complaints” in the…
Even Banana Slugs Take their Chances
Banana slug, suspended from a thread, Are you afraid you’ll hit your head? You twist down a strand of slime too delicate to be re-climbed. Soft eyestalks swivel round. Hanging upside-down, are you aware, do you care d a n g l i n g in midair?
To the Dogs
Reviews RAMPAGE. Dear Mr. Johnson (née The Rock): Your fans are small but we are many. You are one but you are great, and you carry on your crafted shoulders our hopes and dreams. We love you and we are worried about you. Many of the movies you are making are borderline nonsense. We understand…
News from Home
As we gape and cringe at cable news chyrons, push notifications and presidential tweets — sweet mother of Murrow, the tweets — it’s easy to think of national stories as the totality of “the news” and the impacts outlined there as the finite shape of an issue’s reach. But neither is true. When we throw…
Love for Lawson
Editor: Thank you for sharing the voice of Charmaine Lawson. Her grace, poise and strength in the aftermath of pain most of us can’t even imagine is inspirational. Charmaine sent her son to school in Humboldt and we failed to protect him, from our racism, our inadequate and ineffective services and our lack of understanding…
Victory Gardening
What does gardening have to do with being more environmentally friendly? Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just beginning, I’m here to encourage everyone to start or expand their edible landscaping this year. Maybe it will come as a decision of economics or to fulfill as desire to live more lightly on the planet. Maybe…
Democratic Statuary
Editor: I hope the initiative to leave the McKinley statue on the Arcata Plaza gets on the ballot because that will give the people of Arcata the opportunity to acknowledge and reject, if only in a small way, the many injustices that settlers and the U.S. government visited on the indigenous peoples of the North…
Canni-bias
Even as the Humboldt County Convention and Visitors Bureau was taking a bit of a public beating about its lack of cannabis marketing during the April 3 Board of Supervisors meeting (See “Cannabis Convention and Visitors Bureau?,” Apr. 5.), a survey on that very subject was winging its way to the inboxes of HCCVB’s target…
Appoint, Don’t Elect!
Editor: Recently there was turmoil in the Public Defender’s Office. Most people pointed the finger at the Board of Supervisors for making a bad choice and asking/demanding that it correct its error. In a little less than a year, corrective action was taken and things seem to have quieted down. Now the ongoing problems in…
Vinyl for the Soul
This week includes an important day for your local music scene, sandwiched right between 4/20 and Earth Day. It’s Record Store Day, a barely decade-old bridge between the music collecting public, independent record stores (what’s left of them) and the recording industry (what’s left of it). Why would I mention an ostensibly commercial holiday in…
Kids and Guns
Editor: I have two grandsons age 12 and 13. Both go to school here in Eureka. I have spoken to both and some of their friends, regarding feeling safe at school. Some have hunted for wild game and some have not. They are all aware people kill, not guns. (Put a gun by a tree…
Meet the Flockers
Godwit Days are here again. The Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival, a week-long festival celebrating Humboldt’s favorite shore bird, the marbled Godwit, as well as the abundant and diverse wildlife that cohabitates with it, kicks off April 18 with dozens of bird walks, field trips, lectures, workshops and activities in and around the county…
