News Blog

Dora Portillo (left) worked with the group of women volunteers in the kitchen assembly line.

True North Organizes Fundraiser for Committee Leader to Apply for Residency

by Iridian Casarez on November 5, 2019 at 12:56PM

Although Portillo is from El Salvador, she didn’t know how to make pupusas until her daughter’s classmates at HSU asked her if she could cook some for them as they were missing home and needed a familiar meal. According to Portillo, she didn’t have a recipe or someone she could ask for an authentic one, so she started to experiment.

New City Manager, Emergency Declaration on Eureka Agenda

by Kimberly Wear on November 4, 2019 at 1:38PM

The Eureka City Council will consider Tuesday formally appointing Dean Lotter as city manager, with a $170,000 annual salary and other benefits. Currently the city manager of New Brighton, Minnesota, the council selected Lotter to replace Greg Sparks, who is set to retire next month, from a pool 40 and five finalists who came to Eureka for the last stage of the process.

UPDATE: One Injured in 101 Crash Involving 2 Trucks, 2 Cars North of Willits

by Kym Kemp on November 4, 2019 at 9:01AM

SECOND UPDATE: A multi-vehicle crash that snarled traffic on the U.S. Highway 101 south of Willits for hours Monday left one person with a possible broken wrist but otherwise spared those involved. According to the CHP, the pileup began when a Fortuna resident driving southbound in a Nissan sedan stopped due to a “traffic hazard,” causing an Arcata man in a truck-tractor behind him to partially enter the northbound lane to avoid a collision.

Remember to change those clocks back an hour.

Time to Fall Back

by Kimberly Wear on November 2, 2019 at 11:59AM

Just a reminder to set those clocks that need changing back one hour tonight with daylight saving coming to an end at 2 a.m. Sunday.

At the western edge of the North American continent, on the rough shores of the great Pacific Ocean, Trinidad, Humboldt County, California, sparkles in the moonlight under a starry sky. The Big Dipper and Polaris, the North Star, have been enhanced for recognizability.

North Coast Night Lights: Lost in Space (Big Dipper over Trinidad)

by David Wilson on November 1, 2019 at 9:38AM

We could not see the shape of the coastline changing before our eyes, but we knew it was. The waves crashed against rock and beach unceasingly, one after another, and still we saw no changes.

State DOJ Denies Proposed St. Joseph, Adventist Health System Merger

by Kimberly Wear on October 31, 2019 at 3:11PM

The California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) today issued a letter denying the proposed partnership between Adventist Health System/West and St. Joseph Health System. The parties submitted notices to the CA DOJ that requested approval to form a joint operating company to manage and have authority over each health system’s facilities in Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, and Sonoma Counties.

Plane Missing After Stopping in Shelter Cove

by Kym Kemp on October 30, 2019 at 11:17AM

Last Thursday, Kayla Rodriguez, a Bay Area nurse, excited to be leaving on a short jaunt up the coast with her friend, Justin Winfrey, sent an Instagram post to her boyfriend as she arrived at the Novato air base at 5:49 p.m. Between then and the moment the two passenger plane they were in disappeared off the radar at 9:22 p.m., her activities are clearly tracked through social media posts to friends, interactions with witnesses and even a camera at Gyppo Ale Mill, where the two stopped after landing at Shelter Cove that evening before heading back south.

Transmission lines like these carry power into Humboldt County along state routes 36 and 299.

County: No Power Shutoff Tonight

by Thadeus Greenson on October 29, 2019 at 5:37PM

The Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services is reporting PG&E has advised that the county is no longer in the scope of the Public Safety Power Shutoff planned to commence at 7 p.m. due to diminishing elevated fire conditions. The release states that Humboldt County will remain with power throughout the evening, and that PG&E is hopeful it can restore power tonight to those who are still down from the Oct. 26 shutdown.

A generator reportedly caught fire behind Big Blue Cafe in Arcata on Oct. 27.

Fire Officials Talk Big Blue Blaze and Blackout Safety with Another Shutdown Coming

by Thadeus Greenson on October 29, 2019 at 4:46PM

With Humboldt County looking like it's headed toward another blackout beginning at 7 p.m., local fire officials are warning residents to be fire safe and be careful with equipment that produces carbon monoxide. Arcata Fire Battalion Chief Curt Watkins said his and other local departments responded to a number of blackout-related calls for service during the Oct. 26 blackout that left Humboldt County without power.

The screenshot OES provided to show PG&E had indicated the "N. Humboldt" division was located in Siskiyou County.

PG&E and OES on Different Pages (and Maps) Until Late This Morning

by Thadeus Greenson on October 29, 2019 at 1:09PM

What we have here is a failure to communicate. If you’ve been paying attention and bracing for the next PG&E blackout, you’re likely super confused by now, having been inundated with conflicting reports from the company, local officials and a nonprofit for close to 24 hours.

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