From the Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association:

On Wednesday, February 4th, the Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association will be assisting a local rancher with a prescribed burn in the Korbel/Blue Lake area. We will be broadcast burning patches of bramble and woody shrubs to maintain open grasslands and increase forage value for livestock and wildlife. Smoke may be visible from Blue Lake and Highway 299.

All plans and dates are subject to change or cancellation depending on weather conditions, resource availability, air quality, regional wildfire activity, and other factors.

All of our burns are carefully conducted by a diverse mix of community members, prescribed fire practitioners, and fire professionals in accordance with CAL FIRE and North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District regulations. Thank you for supporting community burning!

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• (UPDATE) Pending Eviction, the Kinetic Sculpture Lab is Struggling to Find a Way Forward

Although the Kinetic Sculpture Lab won’t be the same place it has been for the last 30-odd years, they’re still sticking around — and if you want to get up close and personal with the art, you’ll have a shot soon.

The lab is moving into a warehouse at 1680 Samoa Boulevard, about half a mile from the old spot in the Creamery District. The former location is packed with sculptures and tools, and the lab’s small staff won’t be able to move all of that by themselves. The lab needs volunteers (preferably about 30 of them) for a few hours on Feb. 14 and 15 to move items to the new location, as well as people to help clean up the new warehouse on Feb. 7. 

They’re also looking for people with trucks and trailers to help move everything. 

Kinetic Lab contributor and Kinetic Sculpture Race competitor Malia Matsumoto told the Outpost that many of the teams who were building sculptures in the lab have moved their stuff out, so the main things left to move is lab property: lots of tools and decades-old machines, some of them floating in the rafters. Though they’re bulky, she said they’re not heavy.

Matsumoto said the lab will be able to stay in the new spot for at least one year. Matsumoto said she wants to use that time to figure out the lab’s future, perhaps becoming a nonprofit. Five racing teams are moving into the lab, and they’ll have the space to host more teams in the new place than they could in the old. 

“We figure, the more the merrier!” Matsumoto said. “Thirty people doing one hour of work is much more fun than one person doing 30 hours of work. Just like Kinetics, many hands make light work.”

Go here to sign up.

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Press release from the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office:

On January 31, 2026, at approximately 1600 hours, the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office received a report regarding a male subject, identified as Maximo Macanas (DOB: 04/26/1988), who was struck by a sneaker wave while eel fishing at the mouth of the Klamath River near 4351 Klamath Beach Road. Maximo was fishing with a friend and his younger children at the time. He was last seen wearing a Carhart jacket and green waders.

• Yurok Tribal Police Department Officers Flores and Luna-Orozco were the first to arrive on the scene. - The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Humboldt Bay Station was notified and responded with search helicopters and a boat.
• Del Norte County Search and Rescue (SAR) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife were also dispatched.
• Yurok Tribal Police deploying a boat on the river side of the mouth and Fish and Wildlife deploying on the ocean side.
• Due to limited visibility at nightfall, Incident Command was demobilized and resumed on February 1, 2026, at 0830 hours.
• This multi-agency response included Gasquet Fire, Del Norte SAR, Fish and Wildlife, and Yurok Tribal PD.
• Search teams utilized boats in the river and conducted ground searches along the Klamath River spit, the Requa side, and Klamath Beach.
• At approximately 1500 hours on February 1st, no clues were located.
• Although active efforts have concluded, our Search and Rescue team intends to search the coastline for Maximo once a week moving forward.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call in the Del Norte County Sheriff’s office at (707) 464-4191 or the Yurok Tribal Police at 1-855-55YUROK (1-855-559 8765) ext. 9060

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The good news? The commercial Dungeness season has finally commenced in the Northern Region of California, nearly a month after opening elsewhere in the state. Following delays due to elevated levels of domoic acid and price negotiations, crabbers in Humboldt Bay, Trinidad Harbor and Crescent City set traps over the weekend and began hauling their catch ashore early Monday. 

The not-so-good news? 

“As anticipated, there seems to be a lack of volume in this last remaining area for commercial crab harvest, which further justifies our strike for a fair price,” Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association President Harrison Ibach told the Outpost in a text this morning. 

The marketing association, which represents local, independent boat captains, agreed to a price of $4.75 per pound on Friday.

“Fishermen are happy to commence this crab season, but as we feared, it may be short-lived,” Ibach said.

At any rate, friend o’ the LoCO and local photographer extraordinaire Matt Filar — a big fan of both the Humboldt Crabs and Humboldt’s crabbers — made his annual early morning visit to the Trinidad Pier to document the first day of the season.

While Filar was on scene, local vessels Shellback, Kai-Aku and Miss Phyllis came ashore with their catch. Matt has graciously allowed us to share some of his photos with our readers.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Man Arrives at St. Joseph Hospital With a Stab Wound in His Back, Says He Was Attacked at Veteran’s Park in Willow Creek for No Apparent Reason, Sheriff’s Office Says
• ‘Threat to the Community’: Warrant Issued for Suspect in Last Week’s Stabbing in Willow Creek; His Whereabouts are Unknown

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Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Feb.2, 2026, at approximately 9:05 p.m. Josue Diego Aguilar Garcia was taken into custody by the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office on the Ramey warrant.

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

The National Historic Register lists some 95,000 sites worthy of preservation around the United States. The nine of them located in Arcata are heavy hitters, excellent examples of its history and culture, and yet the Plaza, one of the most iconic places in Arcata, isn’t on it. That may change soon.

Arcata’s Historic Landmarks Committee voted last week to approve an application asking the National Register of Historic Places to add the Plaza to the list. The planning commission and city council still have to approve sending the application to the California Office of Historic Preservation, the department responsible for the register’s administration in California.

The application was prepared by Patrick O’Rourke and Jeanette Cooper, a member of the Historic Landmarks Committee and Cal Poly Humboldt’s Cultural Resources Facility (O’Rourke was also a member until December 2025). It’s packed with information about the Plaza and its history, and attempts to show that the Plaza is worthy of being included on the register because it is “associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.” 

“A place on the National Register of Historic Places would underscore the indispensable role The Plaza plays in the life of residents and visitors of Humboldt County,” the application reads.

Local historians and preservationists have long sought to add the Plaza to the register, but their efforts were hampered by a rule that excludes sites that have been greatly modified from their historical contexts, Arcata city council member and local history enthusiast Alex Stillman told the Outpost. Many of the original 19th century buildings around the Plaza burned to the ground at one time or another, so the committee is only trying to add the block boundaried by 8th, 9th, H, and G streets: “The green space in the middle,” as Stillman put it.

Adding the Plaza to the register protects it from development; in California, sites listed in the register can’t be destroyed or altered significantly. It’s different from being marked as a National Historic Landmark (NHL); only 3% of the sites on the register are also an NHL, which has to have significant national context. The only NHL in Humboldt County is Tuluwat Island. 

Adding the Plaza to the register might also draw more tourists to town and local businesses, Stillman said. They’d be able to install a brown sign advertising the destination on Highway 101, and visitors quickly googling a list of local historic areas would see it too.

“There are so few downtown plazas that are even close to how nice ours is,” said Dan Tangney, a member of Arcata’s planning commission and an early influence on the project. “People should come off the highway to experience it. It’s a great stop. To me, that brown sign on the highway or in people’s phones, wherever they find where they’re going to stop on their drives; I think they should stop at the Plaza…And it’s by far the cultural hub of Arcata, for 145 years now.”

O’Rourke, who prepared much of the application, told the Outpost it was also a chance to compile a unified historical record of the Plaza. Much of the information in the application was scattered around various documents from past local historians. O’Rourke said he talked to local historians and long-time residents for information on the Plaza, and said he was indebted to the late historian Susie Van Kirk for her research. 

The Plaza, during its long history of use, has changed many times in both form and function, something that may count against it. O’Rourke isn’t 100% sure that the state will approve the application, but said it has a strong chance. 

O’Rourke and Stillman told the Outpost that the Plaza should be included on the register because of its long history of use and as a community center. It’s remained in the same place since Arcata was founded (under the name Union) in the 1850s, and has been used from everything as a pastoral grazing land to a concert venue, but it’s always been a place where Arcatans and visitors have gathered. 

“It’s always been a focal place for downtown Arcata,” Stillman said, running through a quick history of its many uses. “Economic and social.”

“The main thesis is its continued use as the center of community for Arcata,” O’Rourke said. “And so most of that is unchanged. The things that are interesting to me are the uses over time that have faded away: for instance, it was for cattle grazing initially, because the entire divide between city and countryside hadn’t come about yet. It was also used as a baseball diamond for local local amateur teams, which I thought was a really interesting use, because to think about a baseball flying out of the Plaza and into one of the windows of the local businesses probably happened a lot. I didn’t see any evidence of any disgruntlement about that, but I’m sure there’s a story somewhere.”

Historic Landmarks Committee member Jeanette Cooper did not respond to requests for comment.

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

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Yesterday bipartisan group of state Assembly members announced a package of bills to crack down on dangerous drivers and address some of the roadway safety issues CalMatters uncovered as part of its ongoing License to Kill series.

The proposals take aim at laws and practices that have allowed dangerous drivers to stay on California’s roads and contributed to a spike in traffic deaths. The bills would: require first-time DUI offenders to install in-car breathalyzers, lengthen many license suspensions and revocations, increase DUI training for law enforcement and close a loophole that allows people who’ve killed with their car to avoid consequences through a diversion program.

“Sacramento is listening. We see that there is a problem and we are doing what we can, crossing that partisan divide and trying to identify real solutions that we can deliver now to make our communities safer,” said Democratic Assemblymember Nick Schultz of Burbank, chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

The Assembly proposals are one component of a broader reckoning over years of rising traffic deaths playing out at the Capitol. Next week, a separate event is expected to include more details about new bills from the California Senate, related budget proposals and the perspective of families who have lost loved ones to drunk drivers.

Last month, Schultz introduced a bill to increase penalties for repeat DUI offenders. Assembly members detailed several additional legislative efforts at Monday’s press conference that would:

Close a diversion loophole.

We reported in December that a criminal justice reform law from a few years ago was allowing judges to dismiss misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges for drivers who agreed to take part in what’s known as a diversion program. But in an unintended twist, that has meant the drivers not only avoided a criminal conviction but also kept a clean driving record.

Assembly Member Lori Wilson, a Democrat from Suisun City who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee, introduced a new bill that would require the DMV to add points to a driver’s license when they’re granted misdemeanor diversion.

Make license suspensions and revocations start when a driver is released from custody as opposed to at the time of conviction.

Currently, someone who is convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter would likely by law have their license revoked for three years. But the revocation would often start while they’re in prison and they might be eligible to get their license back as soon as they’re out.

Wilson said her office is finalizing language on another bill that would change that.

“Driving is a privilege,” Wilson said. “This package holds dangerous drivers accountable and keeps our streets safer for everyone.”

Force first-time DUI offenders to install what’s known as an ignition interlock device on their vehicles.

This is now the third time that Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, a Democrat from Irvine, has introduced this measure. California is currently one of the few states that doesn’t require first time offenders to install the technology, which forces a driver to blow into a breathalyzer and prove they haven’t been drinking in order to start their car. Her previous efforts failed after the Department of Motor Vehicles raised budget concerns and civil liberties groups worried it would disproportionately impact the poor and people of color.

“California is the epicenter of America’s DUI and drunk driving epidemic. As moms, as dads, as Californians, it’s horrifying. And as policymakers, we have an opportunity and we have an obligation to do something about this,” Petrie-Norris said. “We know these devices work. We know that they can save lives.”

Increase training for law enforcement officers on how to enforce the state’s DUI laws.

Assembly Member Juan Alanis, a Republican from Modesto, said currently many officers only get basic training at the academy on drunk and drugged driving and must often wait for colleagues with more specialized training to assess a driver’s sobriety level.

“This is to help those agencies and officers to be able to have that training so that way we can identify DUI drivers faster, quicker and get them off the streets,” Alanis said.

Schultz called the package of proposals a “starting point” and said he expects his colleagues in the state Senate will also be proposing changes to save lives on the road.

Indeed, last month State Sen. Bob Archuleta, a Democrat from Norwalk, introduced a bill to crack down on DUIs – increasing punishment and making it easier for prosecutors to charge repeat offenders with murder.

Archuleta is expected to hold a press conference later this month along with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, road safety advocates and other state senators to announce further road safety bills.