Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. That holds true for politicians, including the candidates in California’s Sept. 14 recall election and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Campaigning during a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic and deadly, unprecedented wildfires, their approaches to the state’s problems can vary. But the facts behind some of those […]
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Bill to Protect Dudleya from Poaching on Newsom’s Desk
A California bill aimed at protecting dudleya, sometimes called “live-forevers,” from the international black market by imposing stiff fines for illegally taking the succulents from public and private lands is now sitting on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. The bill authored by Assembymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego) and sponsored by the California Native Plant Society comes […]
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California Can Keep Thirstiest Crops, State Ag Chief Tells ‘State of Mind’ Podcast
The head of California’s agriculture agency said on the California State of Mind podcast that even devastating drought doesn’t mean the state must uproot its thirstiest crops. Instead says Karen Ross, head of state Department of Food and Agriculture, improvements in water usage among some of the state’s biggest water consumers will help solve the problem. […]
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Not Enough Subs: California Schools Face Severe Teacher Shortage
Kelly Rhoden, the principal at Nevada Union High School, spent her morning Monday scrambling to find substitutes for her absent teachers. The school, about 60 miles northeast of Sacramento, has 86 teachers. Thirteen were out on Monday. “We have quite a few teachers out either because they’ve tested positive, they’re symptomatic, or they have their […]
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Register to Vote by Monday to Get a Recall Ballot in the Mail
The last day to register to vote in order to receive a mailed ballot for next month’s recall election is Monday, according to the Humboldt County Elections Office. The Sept. 14 vote will determine whether Gov. Gavin Newsom, who took office in 2019, keeps his job. Voters are being asked two questions on the ballot. […]
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Humboldt Judge Rescinds Release of Convicted Sex Offender
A Humboldt County Superior Court judge issued a ruling last week striking his December of 2016 order for the conditional release of a local man who’s been designated as a Sexually Violent Predator. According to a Humboldt District Attorney’s Office news release, Judge John Feeney’s Aug. 13 ruling was based not only on the inability […]
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Record-breaking COVID Hospitalizations Hit 6 Counties, Including Humboldt
Hospitals in six rural California counties — all in remote, northern parts of the state — are now treating more COVID-19 patients than ever, breaking records by exceeding their winter surges. Driven by sharp spikes in infections and low vaccination rates, COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Del Norte, Tuolumne, Lake, Humboldt, Nevada and Mendocino counties have […]
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Newsom Recall Election: How to Cast Your Vote (with Video)
To keep Gov. Gavin Newsom or not to keep Gov. Newsom? That is the question. Upset by the progressive governor’s policies, his handling of the pandemic and his infamous maskless dinner at the French Laundry, about 12 percent of the number of Californians who voted in the last election for governor signed petitions to force […]
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California First State to Require Teacher Vaccinations or COVID Tests
UPDATE: Gov. Gavin Newsom announces order requiring teachers to be vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19, making California the first state to do so. According to his office, the new policy goes into effect tomorrow and school are required to be in compliance by Oct. 15. “To give parents confidence that their children are safe […]
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Who’s Running in Newsom Recall? Politicians, Activists, Californians of All Stripes
California’s second gubernatorial recall election in history is shaping up to be pretty different from the first. Just 41 candidates filed all the paperwork necessary by the 5 p.m. Friday deadline to run to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Sept. 14 recall — a field that includes GOP politicians, a reality TV star, […]
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EDD Fiasco Takes a Surprising Turn
Just how dysfunctional is California’s unemployment department? Apparently so dysfunctional that Bank of America, which since 2010 has had an exclusive contract with the state to deliver unemployment benefits through prepaid debit cards, wants to end the contract — even though the Employment Development Department just renewed it for another two years. The news, first […]
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Breakthrough COVID is Rare in California
About 7,550 out of more than 19.5 million Californians who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have contracted the disease, a minuscule percentage that provides strong evidence of the vaccines’ effectiveness, according to state data. The breakthrough infections through June 23 amount to 0.039 percent of vaccinated Californians — or one case out of every 2,583 […]