When former President Barack Obama struck a somber tone in his farewell speech last month, it’s unlikely many in the hills of Humboldt took much notice. “The next wave of economic dislocations won’t come from overseas,” the then-president warned. “It will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes a lot of good, middle-class […]
economy
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Gubernatorial Advice
Fresh off a report that legal recreational marijuana sales reached $1.3 billion in his state last year, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper dropped by Sacramento to advise California lawmakers on the state’s rollout of recreational regulation. Speaking before a Senate Governance and Finance Committee hearing chaired by North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire, Hickenlooper said he […]
Posted inNews
There’s Weed-Infused Vodka Now
We all knew it was coming to this. Humboldt Distillery — which began selling its Humboldt Vodka brand a couple years ago — has released a cannabis-infused vodka called, obviously, “Humboldt’s Finest.” Owner Abe Stevens explains in a press release that the vodka — which doesn’t have any THC in it, rendering it legal to […]
Posted inNews
No Shopping Cart Left Behind
Could Eureka’s scourge of shopping cart bandits and their war on our disease-free children (think of the children) be coming to an end? In its latest monthly newsletter, the city announced it’s going medieval, appointing a “shopping cart czar” (no joke) to bring an end to Eureka’s greatest dilemma: people stealing shopping carts and pushing […]
Posted inNews
UPDATE: No Go For Eureka’s Fair Wage Act
SECOND UPDATE: The third election night report is in, with 67 percent of county precincts reporting, but the numbers on Measure R didn’t change from the second report. It’s likely that most, if not all Eureka precincts, are in. Over at the Siren’s Song Tavern, Fair Wage Folks gathered to listen to Turtle of the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Humlandia
Our hearty rhododendrons lack the delicate grace of Portland‘s famed roses; Eureka’s bridges are fewer in number — and much less spectacular — than the spans that etch the skies of the Rose City. Portland’s Mount Hood offers killer skiing an hour away from downtown; our nearest source of powder is Mount Shasta, a four-hour […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
That Juice Tax
It’s been seven months since Arcata’s excessive electricity tax went into effect, and the threat to residential growers’ bottom lines seems to have sent most of them packing. The results are drastic. In the year or so between city residents’ approval of the tax and implementation, the number of houses using “excessive” energy dropped from […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Boring Stuff about Banks and Laws
Industrial sites are the hot real estate commodities in Colorado, as would-be pot barons are snatching up warehouses and other properties suitable for indoor marijuana growing. A Bloomberg news story this week led with an anecdote about a Denver broker who offloaded a leaky, 40,000-square-foot warehouse in less than a day to a cash-paying client […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Panama: Linking the Oceans
The Panama Canal is a 50-mile long waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This year marks the centenary of the link that, in 1914, drastically changed global commerce by cutting 5,000 miles off the dangerous “round the Horn” route. However, if the architect of the Suez Canal, Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps, had succeeded with […]
Posted inNews
Internet Dreamin’
Clad in a busy floral tie, white shirt and slacks, Larry Goldberg sits on the handrail of a single lane wooden bridge, with a bulky computer on his lap and a cellular phone the size of a dictionary beside him. The dirt road behind him curves in front of a barn and a logger’s hard […]
Posted inNews
Train Coming?
The Upstate RailConnect Committee got thrown quite a curveball at its recent meeting in Weaverville. The committee, a working group of representatives from Humboldt, Tehama and Trinity counties and other interested parties, has been working for a couple of years now on figuring how to cobble together some $300,000 for a massive study to determine […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Don’t Get Caponed
“But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” said Ben Franklin. But there’s a way to avoid at least one of those: grow weed. “B-b-but sales tax!” some cry, as though paying 8 percent of the cost of that flat screen at Target comes anywhere near the income […]