When the Blue Lake City Council voted in a May 13 closed session to ratify a severance agreement with its longtime City Manager Amanda “Mandy” Mager, it violated California government transparency laws for the second time in a week. The council met that day with two items on the closed session agenda — the possible […]
transparency
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Eureka Council to Consider Vaccine Mandate, Police Oversight
The Eureka City Council will consider tomorrow whether to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for all city employees and mull increasing oversight of its police department. In a staff report, Human Resources Director Will Folger writes that “clinical trials, scientific research and safety monitoring” have shown COVID-19 vaccines to be safe and the most effective method of […]
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Conway Out as HumCo Fair GM
The Humboldt County Fair Board has “laid off” General Manager Richard Conway, the Ferndale Enterprise has confirmed. The Enterprise reported on Twitter this morning that Board President Andy Titus said the decision was made to part ways with Conway after seven years due to “large financial problems, no fair and lack of work.” The Enterprise […]
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Wildberries Tells Customers an Employee has COVID-19
Wildberries Marketplace in Arcata is advising customers that one of its employees has tested positive for COVID-19. “We were immediately in contact with the Humboldt County Department of health and are following all recommended guidelines from the CDC,” reads a post to the store’s Facebook page. “As a response to protect the health and safety […]
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‘Badly Tainted’
Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster has grave concerns about the Willits Police Department’s hiring of Jacob Jones, having learned of sustained allegations of the officer’s dishonesty during his tenure with the Eureka Police Department. In a scathing, incredulous 2,400-word letter to Willits Police Chief Scott Warnock, Eyster expresses dismay at Jones’ hiring despite the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
In Praise of Sunshine
They say sunshine is the best disinfectant and North Coast readers need only look at Senate Bill 1421 for evidence. The landmark police transparency law, which the California Legislature passed last year and took effect in January, reverses decades of institutionalized obfuscation by mandating that law enforcement agencies throughout the state release certain types of […]
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Light into Dark Places
Eureka Police Officer Jacob Jones had been on the force about a year and a half when, shortly before 6 p.m. on May 25, 2018, he was dispatched to a report of a potential weapons violation. About 40 minutes earlier, a 46-year-old man had opened the back door of his Eureka residence to call in […]
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Outstanding: A Report Expected to Shed Light on David Josiah Lawson’s Killing Remains MIA
In the aftermath of the April 15, 2017 stabbing death of David Josiah Lawson, as criticism swirled about the city of Arcata’s emergency and police responses and protests mounted, officials pledged the incident would be reviewed by an outside organization. Nearly two and a half years later, the city has yet to see the $30,000 […]
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State, Fair Association, County in Standoff Over Sunshine Laws
Some nine months after the Humboldt County Fair Association and the county of Humboldt entered into an eight-year lease agreement for the association to operate the county-owned Humboldt County Fairgrounds in Ferndale, the lease still hasn’t been ratified by the state, the last step toward making it official. The county, HCFA and California Department of […]
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UPDATE: Sheriff Outfits Some Jail Staff with Body-Worn Cameras
In response to a sharp spike in inmate assaults on officers, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is outfitting some correctional officers in the jail with body-worn cameras that it hopes will increase safety. According to Capt. Duane Christian, the office purchased 14 cameras — seven to be worn on day shifts and seven on night […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Wagging the Dog
There are currently six people whom Eureka voters have entrusted to make city decisions on their behalf. Five councilmembers and a mayor. That’s it. But these six people — all of whom have volunteered to work long hours and take on a bunch of responsibility (not to mention public scrutiny) in exchange for a modest […]
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The Foilies 2019: Recognizing the Year’s Worst in Government Transparency
The cause of government transparency finally broke through to the popular zeitgeist this year. It wasn’t an investigative journalism exposé or a civil rights lawsuit that did it, but a light-hearted sitcom about a Taiwanese American family set in Orlando, Florida, in the late 1990s. In a January episode of ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat, […]