As you know, the Kelly Clarkson Show is “the uplifting daytime destination for humor and connection,” a boast which was on full display today when Kelly had on a couple of our neighbors on to share their story. 

During today’s “RAD HUMAN” portion of the show, Clarkson interviewed Amy Bowers Cordalis, a Yurok attorney who chronicled her tribe’s generational fight to remove dams on the Klamath River. Later in the segment, Cordalis was joined by her niece, Keeya, one of the young people who, earlier this year, became among the first to kayak the river’s full length in more than a century.

Tune in above!

A short and unsubstantial Arcata City Council meeting last night was highlighted by a public hearing where commenters shared their opinions on public transportation with a focus on their “unmet needs.” On the whole, much of the feedback was positive — but the Humboldt Transit Authority’s inability to run buses on Sundays and late at night got some flak.

The comments will be forwarded to the Humboldt County Association of Governments. Other jurisdictions have done the same; both the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the Eureka City Council heard from residents this past week. 

Both speakers and councilmembers talked about the difficulty people without cars have getting around Humboldt County; councilmember Kimberley White even mentioned she had to hitch rides after meetings back to Valley West when her car needed repairing recently. The lack of public transport to Bayside and south G Street was also mentioned.

Councilmember Stacy Atkins-Salazar said there was a chance the requests for late night and Sunday routes may never be realized, despite their frequency. 

“Obviously, it’s important to hear all of the unmet needs,” she said. “But I think when they get evaluated, they go through a process of what is reasonable to meet, which is a whole metric. So just because we might want Sunday service or Bayside (which lots of people do), if the metrics don’t show that it’s reasonable to meet for funding, then it doesn’t get met. Which is why sometimes we hear the same requests year after year.”

It wasn’t all bad news; Mayor Alex Stillman said that over 1,000 Cal Poly Humboldt students were riding the bus to and fro the new Hinarr Hu Moulik dorms daily, and White said she was excited to be able to take a cheap public bus all the way to Willow Creek to see family during the holidays. The route to Ukiah got a few shoutouts as well from the councilmembers, as did HTA’s affordability, dependability, and speed.

“You have to have numbers to run all night. We’re not an urban area like San Francisco,” Stillman said. “…We’re not there yet. Our population base is still 134,000 people for the entire county. It’s going to take a while for this to come.”

Other tidbits: Hyland Fence, Forest Update, End of Stillman’s Tenure

City Manager Merritt Perry said during his report that he’d reached out to the owners of a property on Hyland Street in Bayside whose recently installed fence was blocking pedestrian access to Golf Course Road (a few Bayside residents complained about the fence at the last city council meeting. The old shortcut shaved off about 200 yards). However, both the fence and the path are on private property, and Perry said they didn’t seem too interested in removing it. No action for future meetings was planned. 

Michael Furniss, the chair of the Forestry Management Committee, updated the council on the various going-ons in city-owned forests, complete with trail cam footage of cougars and owls and other creatures. Surprise: there are a lot of ‘em out there!

Last night’s meeting was the last city council meeting 86-year-old Alex Stillman will preside over as mayor. A special meeting to elect a new mayor and vice mayor will be held Dec. 11. 

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The Trump administration today proposed opening nearly 1.3 billion acres of U.S. coastal waters to new offshore oil and gas leases. The plan includes opening federal waters off the California coast to drilling operations for the first time in four decades, along with a remote region off Alaska in the northern Arctic where drilling has never before taken place.

While the announcement was anticipated, it was met today with fierce condemnation by state and local representatives, including our local U.S. Congressman, Rep. Jared Huffman, who serves as ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee. He described the Trump administration’s moves as part of “an all-out war on clean energy.” 

Congressional Democrats held a virtual press call this afternoon. You can watch the video of that event at the bottom of this post. 

Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom today addressed the move from the Cop 30 climate conference in Brazil, saying Tump’s offshore drilling proposal is “dead on arrival.” See below.

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In a subsequent statement, Newsom said this:

Trump’s idiotic plan endangers our coastal economy and communities and hurts the well-being of Californians. This reckless attempt to sell out our coastline to his Big Oil donors is dead in the water. Californians remember the environmental and economic devastation of past oil spills. For decades, California has stood firm in our opposition to new offshore drilling, and nothing will change that. We will use every tool at our disposal to protect our coastline. It’s interesting that Donald’s proposal doesn’t include the waters off Mar-a-Lago.

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Huffman and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla also issued a press release:

Washington, D.C. – Today, Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) condemned the Trump administration’s draft 2027-2032 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which proposes opening vast swaths of previously protected federal waters, including along the California coast, all of Alaska’s offshore waters, and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

“With this draft plan, Donald Trump and his Administration are trying to destroy one of the most valuable, most protected coastlines in the world and hand it over to the fossil fuel industry.

“They didn’t listen to Californians. They didn’t listen to communities up and down the West Coast. Instead, Trump wants to take a wrecking ball to our communities while trampling over anyone who stands between him and what billionaires demand.

“These lease areas are not only irreplaceable, but allowing drilling in these areas would undermine military readiness and pose risks to national security. But Trump doesn’t care. Californians remember every spill, every dead dolphin and sea otter, every fishing season wrecked by contamination. We built stronger, cleaner, more resilient coastal communities — and a burgeoning $1.7 trillion coastal economy — in spite of all that. And we’re not going to stand by and watch it get destroyed by Trump’s oil and gas pet projects.

“This plan targets California and the whole West Coast because they think we will roll over. They are wrong. We’re going to fight this with everything we have.”

Background

The Trump administration’s draft 2027 to 2032 Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing plan released on November 20 marks the most aggressive push in decades to open all of the California coast, nearly all of Alaska’s offshore waters, and vast stretches of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, including areas long protected by moratoria and despite opposition from even Republican senators in Florida.

The proposal includes six lease sales off California between 2027 and 2030, the first attempt to drill in these waters in more than forty years. This move directly targets areas President Biden withdrew from future leasing in January 2025, when he protected 625 million acres in the Pacific, Atlantic, Eastern Gulf, and Arctic. Trump tried to wipe out those protections on his first day back in office, repeating the same maneuver a federal court rejected in 2017 when he attempted to undo President Obama’s Arctic and Atlantic withdrawals.

The draft plan also lands in the shadow of the Republican budget reconciliation law passed in July 2025, which mandated new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, lowered offshore royalty rates, and expanded fossil fuel industry access without environmental review.

Here’s video from the press call:

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And lastly, here’s the announcement from the U.S. Department of the Interior:

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior today announced a Secretary’s Order titled “Unleashing American Offshore Energy,” directing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to take the necessary steps, in accordance with federal law, to terminate the restrictive Biden 2024–2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program and replace it with a new, expansive 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program by October 2026. As part of this directive, the Department is releasing the Secretary’s Draft Proposed Program for the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. 

These actions reflect the Trump administration’s continued commitment to restoring American Energy Dominance by replacing the smallest offshore leasing plan ever published by an administration with one that fully addresses the nation’s growing energy needs. 

“Offshore oil and gas production does not happen overnight. It takes years of planning, investment, and hard work before barrels reach the market,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “The Biden administration slammed the brakes on offshore oil and gas leasing and crippled the long-term pipeline of America’s offshore production. By moving forward with the development of a robust, forward-thinking leasing plan, we are ensuring that America’s offshore industry stays strong, our workers stay employed, and our nation remains energy dominant for decades to come.” 

Under the new proposal for the 2026–2031 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, Interior is taking a major step to boost United States energy independence and sustain domestic oil and gas production. The proposal includes as many as 34 potential offshore lease sales across 21 of 27 existing Outer Continental Shelf planning areas, covering approximately 1.27 billion acres. That includes 21 areas off the coast of Alaska, seven in the Gulf of America, and six along the Pacific coast. The proposal also includes the Secretary’s decision to create a new administrative planning area, the South-Central Gulf of America. 

“Offshore oil and gas development requires long-term vision, steady policy, and the confidence for companies to invest in American energy. For years, that confidence was undercut by the Biden Administration’s failed leasing policies,” said Jarrod Agen, Executive Director of the National Energy Dominance Council. “By putting a real leasing plan back on track, we’re restoring energy security, protecting American jobs, and strengthening the nation’s ability to lead on energy for decades to come. 

This action implements Executive Order 14154 and supplements Secretary’s Order 3418, both titled “Unleashing American Energy.” The orders instruct all Interior Department bureaus and offices to accelerate responsible energy development consistent with federal law. By replacing the failed Biden-era plan with a robust and competitive offshore leasing program, the Department will open new opportunities for offshore investment and job creation, reinforce America’s role as a global energy leader, and help ensure a stable and secure energy supply well into the future. 

Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Secretary of the Interior must prepare a national program that identifies the size, timing, and location of potential lease sales to best meet the country’s energy needs while considering economic, environmental, and social factors. 

The current proposal follows a public request for information and comment published in April 2025. The Department received more than 86,000 comments from stakeholders, states, industry representatives, and members of the public. Feedback from those comments informed the proposal released today. 

Before the program and individual lease sales are finalized, the public will have multiple opportunities to provide input. The Department encourages broad participation in the upcoming 60-day public comment period, which will begin when the proposal is published in the Federal Register on November 24, 2025. 

As of September 1, 2025, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management manages 2,073 active offshore oil and gas leases covering about 11.2 million acres. Offshore production accounts for roughly 15 percent of the nation’s domestic oil output. The Outer Continental Shelf is estimated to contain about 68.8 billion barrels of oil and 229 trillion cubic feet of natural gas yet to be discovered. 

Today’s announcement marks the first of three proposals that will be developed before final approval of the 2026–2031 program. Inclusion of a planning area in this proposal does not guarantee that it will be included in the final program or offered for lease. Each lease sale will undergo additional review, environmental analysis, and opportunities for public comment. 

For more information and to view maps of the proposed areas, visit www.boem.gov/National-Program. 

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After operating as a joint coffee house/cannabis dispensary for the past eight months, the geometric building at 2742 Broadway in Eureka will soon be remodeled and reopened as a Shotz Coffee, which also has locations in Fortuna and Rio Dell.

This morning we stopped by the big tin can of a building, with its cantilevered window shades and cinder block derrière, and spoke with Assistant Manager Peter Portman. He confirmed that owners Tashina and Mike Benson recently sold the business to Shotz owner Nicole Norton.

The cannabis dispensary portion closed this past Sunday while the coffee drive-through will operate through the end of the month, Portman said.

The Bensons, who also own a weed farm in Southern Humboldt, purchased Gold Rush Coffee from founders Joe and Karen Paff in 2022, according to a recent story from SFGate. This past April, the couple re-opened the drive-through as a coffee-cannabis combo with the clever double-moniker Gold Rush Coffee and Green Rush Cannabis. A “GR” logo served both aspects of the business.

In that April SFGate story, Tanisha Benson discussed the collapse of wholesale cannabis prices in California, saying, “The bulk market since legalization is really hard on a farmer — like, you just cannot make a living wage. It’s not realistic.”

The coffee industry hasn’t exactly been a goldmine either in recent months. The Trump administration’s tariffs on coffee contributed to skyrocketing wholesale prices, which impacted businesses here in Humboldt and across the country. Last week, amid inflation concerns, the administration rolled back tariffs on more than 200 food products, coffee included. 

Haleigh Licona, a manager at the Fortuna Shotz location, told the Outpost via email that the place will reopen as Shotz Coffee sometime in January.

In the office at the back of the building this morning, Portman said most of the crew of employees will continue working at the location under the new ownership. The dispensary lounge will be remodeled back into a walk-in lobby for coffee drinkers. Shotz also offers food items, including breakfast burritos, bagels, açai bowls and banana bread.

Portman is among the employees who will stick around.

“I’m really excited about it, honestly,” he said. “I like this spot. I like the clientele we have here. It’s really special.”

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In response to the recent lapse in funding for federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, the Eureka City Council on Tuesday approved $30,000 in funding to support local food assistance programs. The funds will be equally split — $15,000 apiece — between Food for People and St. Vincent de Paul’s dining facility in Eureka.

Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery explained that the proposal came about “out of concern for SNAP benefits going away” during the government shutdown, which ended Nov. 12. “SNAP benefits were reinstated … but [there] are other issues pending that could be coming to people who provide food for our community,” he said.

While SNAP, known as CalFresh in California, is not presently at risk, the recent lapse in federal funding showed just how quickly local resources can become overwhelmed “when the food security safety net breaks down,” said Ashliegh Diehl, treasurer for Food for People.

Diehl | Screenshot

“In the days following the announcements of delayed SNAP benefits, Food for People saw an immediate 40 percent increase in people seeking our assistance,” Diehl said while commenting on the council’s proclamation for Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. “Many of them were scared, not knowing how they’d feed their family. While that emergency has passed, looking ahead, we anticipate an additional strain.”

Policy changes enacted through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will “significantly change” how SNAP benefits are administered and who is eligible, Diehl said. 

“These shifts will place new burdens on states and communities, and ultimately reduce access for many people who currently rely on food assistance here in Humboldt,” she continued. “Thousands of residents could be affected, which will increase pressure on local food banks and other community organizations. When the larger safety net wavers, the impact is immediate at our local level.”

Staff had initially suggested that Foor for People and St. Vincent de Paul’s split the $15,000 in participatory budget funds, but Councilmember Leslie Castellano asked if it would be possible to up the city’s contribution by another five or ten thousand dollars. Slattery said he was fairly confident that increasing allocation wouldn’t threaten the city’s budget.

During public comment, St. Vincent de Paul Redwoods Region Board President Bob Santilli echoed previous comments about the challenging future ahead, underscoring that the nonprofit sector is often resilient on “precarious” funding streams that “can dry up overnight.”

Santilli | Screenshot

“We’ve pretty much seen a decline in funding over, I’d say, the last eight years or so, primarily in the grant funding world,” Santilli said. “We’re looking at non-traditional funding measures down the road, and we’ll see what happens, but it’s very much a blessing that yourselves are considering this measure for us, and it’s just further evidence of the long-standing support of the city, and we’re grateful for that.”

Councilmember Castellano made a motion to up the contribution to $15,000 for each organization, which was seconded by Councilmember G. Mario Fernandez. The motion passed in a 5-0 vote.

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Other notable bits from Tuesday’s meeting:

• Eureka Police Chief Brian Stephens presented the council with a mutual aid agreement for Humboldt County law enforcement that will guide the local response during a major incident or emergency. The agreement — linked here — includes all governmental law enforcement agencies in the county, as well as two tribal agencies. The agreement has already been reviewed by the city’s Independent Police Auditor and the Citizens’ Oversight of Police Practices (COPP) Board. The council agreed to receive and file the report, but did not take additional action on the item.
• The council also received a report on the city’s Façade Improvement Rebate and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Grant Program. The program aims to reduce crime and “promote better health and wellness within the community” by improving the exterior of buildings and businesses around town. Eureka’s Economic Development Manager Swan Asbury said the city has had 90-plus site visits where several staffers talk to property owners about maintenance issues and potential improvements, but only 37 people have submitted grant proposals thus far. “I think that it is rare that [our city is] willing to do this, and that’s where the value is,” Asbury said. The council agreed to receive and file the report.
• The council also passed an ordinance designating fire hazard severity zones in the city, which is based on historical fire behavior, fire weather potential and fuel loading. The updated map — linked here — identifies most of Eureka as a “no hazard” zone, with the outskirts of the city designated as a “moderate fire hazard severity zone.
• The council also passed a proclamation acknowledging Nov. 20 as the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

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This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

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New federal regulations could leave California with 61,000 fewer truck drivers as the Trump administration bans certain immigrants from operating large vehicles. With fewer truck drivers on the road, consumers may see higher shipping costs, too.

Following an executive order from President Donald Trump in April, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy began cracking down on truck drivers by creating new regulations that prevent refugees, asylum seekers, and those with Deferred Action for Child Arrivals, or DACA, from holding commercial trucking licenses. The administration is also increasing enforcement to penalize those who have limited English proficiency.

California is the main target of both actions, sparking a feud between Duffy and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“Licenses to operate a massive, 80,000-pound truck are being issued to dangerous foreign drivers — often times (sic) illegally. This is a direct threat to the safety of every family on the road,“ Duffy wrote in a statement in September. “California’s reckless disregard is frankly disgusting and an affront to the millions of Americans who expect us to keep them safe.”

Newsom has been unsparing in his responses. “Sounds like the federal Secretary of Transportation needs a lesson on his own road rules,” wrote his press office in October on the social media platform X. “Once again, the Sean ‘Road Rules’ Duffy fails to share the truth — spreading easily disproven falsehoods in a sad and desperate attempt to please his ‘dear leader,’” the office said in November, responding to more allegations by Duffy.

Until recently, the federal government allowed states to issue trucking licenses to non-citizen immigrants, including refugees, asylum seekers, and those with DACA. Of the more than 720,000 trucking licenses that are active in California, about 8%, or roughly 61,000, belong to this class of immigrants.

Now, under the new federal regulations released in September, nearly all of the 61,000 immigrants will lose their licenses in the coming months or years — for some, as soon as January.

Losing thousands of license-holders could disrupt California’s transportation economy, said Rebecca Higgins, vice president of policy for the Eno Center on Transportation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. These cuts may lead to a sudden drop in the number of drivers in the state, potentially increasing shipping costs, she said.

In addition to the new regulations, the U.S. Transportation Department has repeatedly claimed that it conducted a “nationwide audit” of trucking policies and that at least five other states — Texas, South Dakota, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Colorado — have a history of violating federal law by giving licenses to ineligible immigrants. But the transportation department only publicly released an audit of California’s Department of Motor Vehicles and has refused to respond to CalMatters’ requests for data on any other state.

Duffy has threatened to withhold $160 million in federal highway safety funds from California because of alleged violations found in the audit. That money, representing about 4% of these federal funds, is supposed to arrive next fall. Duffy doesn’t have the legal right to withhold the remaining 96%.

Separately, the transportation department said it will no longer award any money to California from a different federal grant, totaling about $40 million, because it alleges that California isn’t enforcing English-language proficiency guidelines for truck drivers.

‘Insufficient evidence’ to support new regulations

Over the last decade, the demand for truckers has grown as companies like Amazon increasingly offer home shipping for any product imaginable. The trucking industry has expanded along with it, though companies have long struggled to retain workers willing to work the long hours with low pay that many entry-level positions offer.

With more trucks on the roads compared to 10 years ago, truck drivers are involved in a higher percentage of crashes and traffic-related fatalities. Duffy said the new regulations for immigrant drivers are an effort to save lives. But in publishing the new regulations on immigrant truck drivers, Duffy’s transportation department acknowledged that there’s “insufficient evidence” to prove that certain kinds of immigrants drive more dangerously than other drivers. Instead, the department justified the regulations by citing a number of high-profile crashes involving truck drivers who allegedly lack legal status, including a fiery crash on the I-10 in Ontario in October.

The driver, Jashanpreet Singh, is in jail, where he’s charged with vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving leading to the death of three people and injuries of two more. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security claims he lacks legal status and said it plans to detain him even if the charges are dropped.

In a Nov. 13 letter, the transportation department claims that if California had complied with the new regulations then “the crash may have been avoided.” But Higgins said the federal focus on a few crashes involving immigrants is glossing over the “root cause” of most traffic accidents, such as speeding and driving under the influence.

Thousands of licenses rescinded

Following the federal audit of California’s DMV, the state has already rescinded 17,000 licenses from immigrant truck drivers, giving each of them 60 days to stop driving and find a new job. Duffy said California was “caught red-handed” violating federal law on trucking licenses while Newom’s press office said that was a “lie.”

The reality is more nuanced. The federal audit found that California had issued some trucking licenses with expiration dates that extend past the dates that the driver could prove their legal right to remain in the U.S. The California DMV said that federal law never prohibited this practice until September, when the transportation department changed the rules. California rescinded these 17,000 licenses to abide by the new regulations and never violated the law, the DMV said.

After it rescinded those licenses, California asked the federal government to drop its threat to withhold $160 million in highway safety funds, but the transportation department refused.

All told, the money at risk represents a small fraction of the total federal dollars that go to California’s highways, so small that most Californians are unlikely to notice the change on the road, said Higgins. “The general public doesn’t notice a 3% or 2% reduction in highway funding, and they don’t notice a 1% reduction in trucks on the road.”

Still, she said many truck drivers and trucking companies could be hit hard.

Because of the transportation department’s new rules, California has already denied over 300 applications for truck licenses from refugees, asylum seekers, and those with DACA status, said Toni Tinoco, the assistant deputy secretary for communications at the state’s transportation agency. Driving schools say that some students have decided not to apply at all, knowing that their applications won’t be accepted.

Even after rescinding 17,000 licenses, California still has about 44,000 immigrant truck drivers whose licenses are still valid. But it’s likely that they won’t be able to renew their licenses as long as the federal regulations remain in effect. The only exceptions are those who have certain work visas known as the H-2a, H-2b or E-2, which are relatively rare for truck drivers.

A lawsuit by two national unions representing truck drivers appealed the new federal regulations and a judge agreed last week to temporarily pause their implementation, saying the federal government didn’t give states enough prior notice before changing its rules.

But the U.S. Transportation Department said the ruling doesn’t apply to any state under disciplinary actions, such as California. Tinoco said California will continue denying immigrants their licenses.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

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In February 2024, a Los Angeles County jury awarded $2.34 million to an 84-year-old nursing home resident named Betsy Jentz, finding that the facility had violated her rights on 132 occasions, at times leading to serious injuries.

Six months later, an Alameda County jury found another facility had violated the rights of 71-year-old James Doherty, Sr. more than 1,400 times. That included seven instances in which staff failed to transport him, causing him to miss chemotherapy treatments, court documents said. Doherty died following the development of a large pressure sore. His family was awarded $7.6 million.

In February, a jury in Shasta County is scheduled to hear a case against a nursing home accused of negligence in the 2020 COVID-19 deaths of 24 patients.

And next spring, trial is scheduled to begin in the case of a 79-year-old dementia patient, referred to as Cheryl Doe, who was allegedly raped twice in another Alameda County facility; a second case against the same facility alleges that excessive sedation of 64-year-old Alando Williams led to his death.

All of these facilities have one thing in common: state records list Shlomo Rechnitz as an owner. [NOTE: In Humboldt County, this includes Eureka Rehabilitation and Wellness, Granada Rehabilitation and Wellness, Seaview Rehabilitation and Wellness and Fortuna Rebhabilitation and Wellness.]

Court documents show Rechnitz and his companies have denied all allegations in all of the cases. Mark Johnson, an attorney representing Rechnitz’ facilities and one of his main companies, Brius LLC, said in an email that facilities cannot comment on active litigation.

“It is accurate that nursing homes are the target of abusive lawsuits that accomplish nothing but depleting resources for patient care,” he said.

Johnson sought to distance his clients from the cases, saying that Rechnitz and his wife, Tamar, “are passive owners of the facilities” and have “absolutely no role in operations or management.” Johnson said “the licensees” contract with a company to manage the facilities, adding that “each facility has all the necessary resources for patients and staff.”

Rechnitz has been on the state’s radar for years. In 2014, then-Attorney General Kamala Harris attempted to prevent him from purchasing new homes. In 2018, the State Auditor’s Office found his companies had significantly higher rates of federal deficiencies and complaints than the rest of the state’s care facilities.

A jury in August held the nursing home Alameda Healthcare & Wellness Center responsible for the death of James Doherty, 71, an Air Force veteran. The jury awarded his family $7.6 million. Photo via Lanzone Morgan, LLP

In 2021, a CalMatters investigation documented that the state Department of Public Health allowed Rechnitz and his companies to operate 18 nursing homes while delaying a decision on granting licenses to them. The state had kept the license applications in a “pending” status for seven years after he acquired the homes. Rechnitz and his companies were allowed to continue operating five additional homes even after the state denied licenses to them.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law meant to address the issue, but state regulators in 2023 granted Rechnitz’ companies the licenses to operate the homes just before the measure took effect.

Now elder care advocates say he is Exhibit A in how regulators at the Department of Public Health are failing some of California’s most vulnerable citizens. They say the state could push for greater accountability, including withholding licenses from owners they deem to be bad actors.

Wendy York, a Sacramento attorney specializing in nursing home abuse, said that watching elderly and disabled residents repeatedly suffer the same types of injuries in these facilities “feels like a broken record. It feels like Groundhog Day.”

York brought the lawsuit in 2021 alleging that one of Rechnitz’ companies’ facilities, Windsor Redding Care Center, was responsible for the COVID-related deaths of some 24 elderly and dependent residents. Johnson, the attorney for Rechnitz’ facilities, previously said the company “vehemently” disagrees with the allegations in the case, which is headed to trial early next year.

There are “government agencies who are responsible for their oversight,” York said, but “at the end of the day, it feels like we’re the ones who are doing the enforcement.”

Johnson called it “crucial to note that California is one of the only states in the country to provide zero liability protection for healthcare providers during the unprecedented pandemic.”

“This is particularly noteworthy since nursing homes were the front line in trying to protect our frail and elderly,” he said.

At least one of the cases against Rechnitz’ facilities includes allegations about his own conduct. A man suing Rechnitz and his companies over a relative’s injuries wrote in a sworn declaration filed in court that Rechnitz attempted to intimidate and bribe him with Lakers tickets during an unexpected phone call on the eve of his scheduled testimony in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Johnson, the attorney representing Rechnitz’ facilities, called allegations about threats “completely false and defamatory.” A judge ruled the conversation could not be introduced as evidence.

Alameda Healthcare & Wellness Center, a Shlomo Rechnitz-owned nursing home, in Alameda on Oct. 25, 2025. Photo by Florence Middleton for CalMatters

In another case, Rechnitz and his wife Tamar in discovery disclosed their net worth: $786 million.

Tony Chicotel, a senior staff attorney for California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, said that dollar figure hasn’t been divulged publicly before.

“At least in some of these chains, the money that was meant to go for patient care is being stripped away and sent up top to the ownership,” he said.

Johnson, the attorney for Rechnitz’ facilities, did not comment on the disclosure of the family’s wealth when CalMatters asked him.

‘Heightened monitoring’ for two years

The Department of Public Health has for years refused CalMatters’ requests for an interview about licensing issues related to Rechnitz’ companies’ homes. They again declined requests for an interview for this story. They did not provide a reason.

Instead, spokesman Mark Smith, said in an emailed statement that the department “remains committed to transparency and accountability for all providers, and to the health and safety of all nursing home residents in California.” In response to CalMatters’ questions about facilities in which Rechnitz is listed as an owner, Smith noted that the department had “negotiated for and obtained heightened monitoring authority and additional enforcement powers, beyond those applicable to other skilled nursing facilities, for a period of two years at 24 of this provider’s locations.”

That period has ended.

“This does not mean our department will avoid holding this provider or their facilities accountable,” he said. “We will continue to monitor these locations as appropriate, enforce and cite for regulatory violations if needed, and take further corrective action if necessary.”

A CalMatters analysis of data from both the state health department and the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services found 78 California facilities in which Shlomo Rechnitz or his wife, Tamar, were listed as having an ownership stake. 

On average the facilities fared poorly on several key quality metrics compared to the state overall.

• In the past three years, the 78 nursing homes received an average of 12.4 citations for facility-reported incidents, compared with 6.1 for all nursing homes statewide.
• A higher proportion of these facilities has received a federal fine in the last three years than the state’s overall rate. Two-thirds of the facilities received at least one federal fine in the last three years, compared to half of all facilities across the state.
• The facilities have been fined an average of $47,897 during the last three years, compared to an average of $29,573 for all California facilities.
• The facilities had comparably low federal quality ratings: Almost 58% of these facilities had recent ratings of one or two stars (out of five), compared with slightly over 37% of facilities statewide.

Johnson, the attorney for Rechnitz’ facilities, noted in his email that a large percentage of these facilities are located in Los Angeles County, which he said issues deficiencies at a higher rate than any county in California, many of which are overturned on appeal.

He also said that “Mr. Rechnitz’ facilities self-report at a significantly higher rate than other comparable facilities,” which, in turn, could lead them to have a higher number of deficiencies.

Kamala Harris’ intervention

Back in 2014, Rechnitz bid on 18 Country Villa nursing homes in federal bankruptcy court. Then Attorney General Harris was so concerned with his track record that she filed an emergency motion to prevent him from purchasing or managing the homes, describing him as “a serial violator of rules within the skilled nursing industry.” At the time, Rechnitz’ attorney characterized the remarks as “defamatory” and “outrageous.”

The purchase went through.

Rechnitz then submitted change-of-ownership applications seeking licenses to run those homes. Rather than approving or denying them, CalMatters found that the state Department of Public Health simply left his applications in “pending” status for years. Despite that, his companies were allowed to continue operating the homes.

In 2015, he applied for licenses for five Windsor nursing homes. The next year, the department denied the change of ownership applications, but again allowed Rechnitz’ companies to operate them.

In her scathing 2018 report, the state auditor Elaine Howle criticized the California Department of Public Health, saying weak oversight and licensing lapses increased risk to nursing home residents.

In an effort to address these issues, the Legislature passed a law in 2022 to close a loophole that had allowed nursing home operators to run facilities without first receiving licenses. The law required the Department of Public Health to look at an applicant’s track record over several years before granting a license.

But before that law took effect the following year, the Department of Public Health suddenly granted Rechnitz and his companies many of the licenses it had previously left pending or outright denied. The group includes nursing homes that were the focus of recent lawsuits, such as Country Villa Wilshire, the Los Angeles-area facility where a jury awarded $2.34 million after a woman allegedly fell repeatedly due to understaffing; Windsor Redding, where the 24 patients died during a COVID outbreak; and Windsor Healthcare Center of Oakland, where complaints filed in Alameda County Superior Court allege a woman was sexually assaulted twice and a man died after being given too much medication.

Ed Dudensing, a Sacramento-based attorney who specializes in elder abuse in nursing homes, is bringing the case in Alameda County Superior Court alleging that neglect and poor staffing allowed a fellow patient to rape 79-year-old Cheryl Doe on multiple occasions while she stayed at Windsor Healthcare Center of Oakland. He is also representing the family of 64-year-old Alando Williams in the lawsuit against the same facility alleging overmedication and wrongful death.

Dudensing has three other active cases against facilities affiliated with Rechnitz and his web of companies alleging neglect, abuse and wrongful death.

In one of them, 78-year-old Barbara Pendley allegedly died after suffering severe dehydration at North Point Healthcare & Wellness Centre in Fresno.

North Point was another facility that the state opted to grant Rechnitz and his companies the license for under the 2023 settlement agreement.

Rechnitz and his companies have filed legal responses denying allegations in all of these cases, several of which are scheduled to go to trial in the coming year.

“We’ve just got to keep fighting,” Dudensing said.

“There was a time when there was a lot of scrutiny and that’s obviously well-documented,” he said. “But he managed to slip through.”

Cassie Dunham, the previous deputy director of the Center for Health Care Quality for the California Department of Public Health, last year became chief executive and president of the California Association of Health Facilities, the industry’s lobbying group. Through a spokesperson, Dunham declined an interview for this story citing her involvement with the development of departmental policy during the time that the state granted Rechnitz the licenses.

Corey Egel, a spokesman for the industry group and himself a former spokesman for the Department of Public Health, said in a statement that the association “supports strong, transparent oversight but believes the system would benefit from clearer timelines, more consistent application of standards, and more efficient resolution of pending cases — so that regulatory goals and resident care priorities can both be met.”

Patient lawsuit at newly licensed nursing home

Among the facilities that Rechnitz’companies received a state license to run in 2023 was Country Villa Wilshire, an 81-bed Los Angeles nursing home.

According to a lawsuit against the facility, 84-year-old Betsy Jentz landed there in November 2020 after she fell and fractured her ribs and hip. Prior to her injuries, the complaint stated that Jentz had been in excellent health; her attorneys said she had run 27 marathons.

But during the next year, according to a plaintiff’s brief, Jentz fell at least 10 times. On some of these occasions, she hit her head, suffered a fractured and dislocated shoulder and a fractured pelvis. The complaint also described malnutrition and severe pressure ulcers. It attributed those injuries to neglect. In court filings, Rechnitz and his companies have denied all responsibility.

A Los Angeles jury in February 2024 ordered a Los Angeles nursing home to pay Betsy Jentz $2.3 million, finding the facility had violated her rights and contributed to serious injuries. Photo via Lanzone Morgan, LLP

On the evening of Jan. 28, 2024, Jentz’ great nephew Derek Skylar Aud was preparing to testify in court the next morning. Then, according to court documents, he received an unexpected phone call.

The man on the other end of the line introduced himself as Shlomo Rechnitz, Aud later wrote in a declaration filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Over the course of more than an hour, Rechnitz allegedly told Aud that “things would get very nasty” for him and Jentz if Aud testified, the declaration said. Rechnitz allegedly said he would prolong the case for years and bring to light damaging information his private investigators had collected about Jentz.

He also said his private investigators had learned that Jentz loved basketball, and said she could receive courtside Lakers tickets “right next to LeBron James” if she agreed to a side deal, Aud told the court.

“Mr. Rechnitz then said ‘listen, I get it, we really fucked up and I’m accepting full responsibility, but I want the remedy or accountability to be on my terms and cut all these outrageous attorney’s fees out of the picture,’” Aud said in the declaration. “He also said ‘we fucked up and I accept responsibility, we were severely understaffed.’”

Rechnitz did not directly respond to these allegations in court, and the judge ultimately did not allow the jury to consider the phone call to Aud in making its decision.

Attorneys from Lanzone Morgan, a Long Beach law firm that specializes in nursing home abuse, represented Jentz and Aud in their case against Country Villa Wilshire. They said that the judge accepted defense attorneys’ argument that the call constituted “confidential settlement discussions” and did not allow the jury to hear testimony about it. Gittler & Berg and Ekpebe Law Group, the law firms that represented Rechnitz and his companies in the case, did not respond to CalMatters’ requests for comment. The jury’s $2.34 million verdict is now being appealed.

Lanzone Morgan also brought the case against Alameda Healthcare & Wellness that ended in the $7.6 million judgment in August. The case is in a post-trial phase in which the judge is determining how to apportion the liability among defendants.

Rockport Healthcare Services, the administrative services company for many of the homes, is also named in some of the lawsuits, including the one against Alameda Healthcare & Wellness. Rockport is owned by Steven Stroll, who has also served as Rechnitz’ accountant. Rockport has filed responses in court denying responsibility for the allegations.

Elizabeth Kim, an attorney with Lanzone Morgan, said she wants to see the Department of Public Health stop issuing licenses to Rechnitz and “other bad actors.”

“It’s shocking to me that he’s able to get licenses after he pretty much runs many of his facilities into the ground,” she said. She referred to an Aug. 22 trial in which Rechnitz acknowledged owning a private plane and having recently sold a home in Los Angeles for $23 million.

Her client, Aud, whose great aunt Jentz died in January 2025 a few months after the jury made its decision, wrote in his declaration to the court:

“I continue to feel uneasy about the calls and threats and I carry the fear of retaliation with me daily…I do live in fear that Mr. Rechnitz is now even more furious and that he will make good on his threats.”

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CalMatters Data Reporter Erica Yee contributed to this story.

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About the data

Besides court records, the data on Rechnitz-owned facilities in this story is based on state and federal databases. See full methodology and download the data.