After rumor mongering, plodding, hemming, hawing, and perhaps some behind the scenes prodding, there will be a supervisors race after all. On March 7, former Eureka Councilman Chris Kerrigan announced his candidacy for the county’s 4th District seat via a short speech on the steps of the County Elections Office. Backed by several notable Humboldt […]
humboldt county
Posted inLetters + Opinion
I’m Still Worried
This week’s cover story is a scholarly write-up by Journal News Editor Thadeus Greenson about the General Plan Update process — and how money may or may not influence decisions. He started with a public records act request to county supervisors for emails during a specific time period last year when they were changing the […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Fall of the Khmers
Empires always fall. After 200 glorious years (the Pax Romana), the Roman Empire took another two centuries to decline into obscurity. Despite his boast of an empire that would last 1,000 years, Hitler’s Third Reich collapsed at the end of WWII. The British Empire, on which “the sun never set,” surrendered to the reality of […]
Posted inNews
The Faces of Obamacare
In many ways, Jude Ehrlich is the face of Obamacare on the North Coast. The good face, anyway. The 44-year-old McKinleyville man never used to have much trouble getting health insurance. He had employee-offered plans until 2000, when he started his own small business and purchased his own policy, which helped cover his treatments for […]
Posted inNews
Dry Times
Things are looking up! Humboldt County isn’t out of the desert just yet, but a wetter-than-average February has the county’s year-to-date rainfall totals looking much more respectable. When the last drops were counted on Woodley Island, the folks over at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tell us a total of 6.09 inches of rain […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Monday, March 10, 1:30 p.m. — Enough!
As I wrote in this column last week, I’ve been having flashbacks. I started as a reporter for the Arcata Union in 1981 covering the perennially contentious Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, my favorite assignment. Once in a while, the county planning commission beat overlapped, too, and, always, politics. After 33 years, I’m mostly retired, […]
Posted inNews
Wet February Boosts Rainfall Totals
Things are looking up! Humboldt County isn’t out of the desert just yet, but a wetter-than-average February has the county’s year-to-date rainfall totals looking much more respectable. When the last drops were counted on Woodley Island, the folks over at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tell us a total of 6.09 inches of rain […]
Posted inNews
#Communityengagement #entrapment?
Two government agencies dove into the Twitterverse this past week, one looking to gather public input 140 characters at a time and the other seeking to increase traffic safety by doling out messages commonly read on handheld portable devices. First, the county of Humboldt, with a community meeting planned for Thursday to identify priorities as the Board […]
Posted inNews
Dry Times
Despite a recent little burst of rain, Humboldt County is deep in the throes of drought. Things aren’t looking up. Here, this and last year’s precipitation at Woodley Island show just how dire things are when compared with the 30-year average — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s standard of measure. Experts are comparing this […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Ben Kelsey: Arcata Founding Father, Trail Builder, Indian Killer
Last summer, when I first encountered the Kelsey National Recreation Trail which runs east-west across the north side of the Marble Mountains, I thought, “I just hope this isn’t the same murdering scoundrel Kelsey who helped found Arcata.” Hope on. The trail is indeed named for Ben Kelsey, one of the leaders of the infamous […]
Posted inNews
Pie in the Sky
Stepping into the Desserts on Us factory off Arcata’s Ericson Way is like landing on a planet whose atmosphere is mainly composed of caramel. And chocolate. The air inside is so thick with the aroma that it might actually have calories, but nobody seems to mind. On one wall is a whiteboard with dates chronicling […]
Posted inNews
Salmon in the Middle
The schools of large adult Chinook salmon swimming back and forth in most pools of the lower Mattole River from November to mid-January offered a powerful testament to both the resilience of these remarkable fish and to the challenges they now face in light of climate change and California’s pernicious drought. Many people still remember […]