California Democrats Have New Ideas for Confronting ICE: Taxes, Lawsuits and Location Bans

Cayla Mihalovich and Maya C. Miller / Yesterday @ 7:44 a.m. / Sacramento

Federal immigration agents in Willowbrook on Jan. 21, 2026. Some of the officers were involved in a shooting during an early-morning operation in the Los Angeles neighborhood. Authorities said the person was attempting to flee when agents opened fire on them. FBI and ATF personnel later fled the scene. Photo: Ted Soqui for Calmatters.



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California Democratic senators advanced a measure Tuesday that would make it easier for people to sue federal agents over civil rights violations, a bill shaped by fears of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement practices.

The bill from Sens. Scott Wiener and Aisha Wahab, both Bay Area Democrats, took on additional significance after federal agents gunned down Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen and ICU nurse, in Minnesota last weekend. Senators discussed the measure on the floor for more than 90 minutes before voting along party lines, 30 to 10, to send it to the Assembly.

“It’s a sad statement on where we are in this country that this has to be a partisan issue,” Wiener said just before the vote on his bill, which is also known as the “No Kings Act”. “Red, blue, everyone has constitutional rights. And everyone should have the ability to hold people accountable when they violate those rights.”

It’s among several bills lawmakers are moving forward in the new year to confront an escalation of aggressive immigration enforcement tactics and to protect immigrant communities. They include bills that would tax for-profit detention companies, prohibit law enforcement officers from moonlighting as federal agents and attempt to curb courthouse arrests.

Those efforts follow a slate of legislation signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year to resist the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign in California, including a first-in-the nation measure to prohibit officers from wearing masks and others that limit their access to schools and hospitals.

While some of those laws are facing legal challenges, the new batch of proposals offer “practical solutions that are squarely within the state’s control,” said Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director at California Immigrant Policy Center.

Here’s a look at some of the key bills lawmakers are considering:

No moonlighting as a federal agent

Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat from Culver City, authored a bill that would prohibit law enforcement from taking a side job as a federal immigration agent.

At a press conference in San Francisco earlier this month, Bryan said the measure is especially timely as the federal administration ramps up its recruitment of California’s local law enforcement.

“We don’t collaborate in the kidnapping of our own community members, but there is a loophole in state law,” he said. “While you can’t collaborate with ICE while you are working in your police shift, you can take a second job with the Department of Homeland Security. And I don’t think that that is right.”

In an interview with CalMatters, he said the legislation is intended to bring transparency and accountability, and to close that loophole.

“The federal administration has created not just a secret police but a secret military at the expense of health care, social safety nets, and key benefits that the American people need and rely on to make it through the day,” said Bryan. “All of those resources have been rerouted to the unaccounted militarized force patrolling our streets and literally killing American citizens.”

Keep ICE awy from courthouses

Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes, a Democrat from San Bernardino, introduced legislation to prevent federal immigration agents from making “unannounced and indiscriminate” arrests in courthouses.

“The issue is clear cut,” said Gómez Reyes in a statement. “One of the core responsibilities of government is to protect people — not to inflict terror on them. California is not going to let the federal government make political targets out of people trying to be good stewards of the law. Discouraging people from coming to court makes our community less safe.”

The legislation was introduced nearly two weeks after a federal judge ordered that the U.S. Justice Department halt civil arrests in immigration courts across Northern California, ruling that its deportation policies hadn’t addressed the “chilling effects, safety risks, and impacts on hearing attendance.”

Efforts to bolster protections in California courthouses have also been championed by Sen. Susan Rubio, a Democrat from West Covina, who introduced a bill that would allow remote courthouse appearances for the majority of civil or criminal state court hearings, trials or conferences until January 2029.

Taxing detention centers

Assemblymember Matt Haney, a Democrat from San Francisco, introduced a bill that would place a 50% tax on profits from immigration detention centers. Over 5,700 people are being held in seven immigration detention centers across California, three of which are located in Kern County.

Escalating ‘resistance’

Cheer, of California Immigrant Policy Center, said the early introduction of the bills demonstrates more urgency from the state Legislature to tackle issues around immigration enforcement.

“My hope for this year is that the state can be as bold and innovative as possible seeing the crisis communities are facing from immigration enforcement,” she said.

That means ensuring funding for attorneys to represent people facing deportation, addressing existing gaps in state laws around information sharing with the federal government, and looking into companies that are directly profiting from the business of arresting and deporting people, Cheer said.

Republicans have criticized the measures, which they characterize as overstepping on federal priorities.

“No one likes to see what’s happening in Minnesota. No one wants to see that coming to California,” said Sen. Tony Strickland, a Republican representing Huntington Beach. Instead, he argued, cities and states should jettison their so-called “sanctuary” policies that hamper coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

He also criticized Democrats for taking precious Senate time to prepare for hypothetical scenarios rather than addressing existing problems in California.

“At the end of the day, we have a lot of serious issues here in California, and we need to start focusing on California-specific issues.”

Kevin Johnson, an immigration law professor and former dean of the UC Davis School of Law, said state and local governments are trying to figure out how far to go in resisting federal immigration enforcement given Trump’s threats to pull funding from sanctuary jurisdictions.

“While there’s concern and fear in immigrant communities, there’s some solace being given by the support expressed by state and local officials,” he said. “As the Trump administration escalates its aggressive deportation tactics across the nation, California has escalated its resistance.”

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CalMatters reporter Wendy Fry contributed to this story. Cayla Mihalovich is a California Local News fellow.


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Bachelor’s Degrees at Community Colleges: Lawmakers Say Yes, UC and CSU Say Slow Down

Mikhail Zinshteyn / Yesterday @ 7:35 a.m. / Sacramento

A graduating student walks back to their seat after receiving their diploma during a commencement ceremony at Southwestern College in Chula Vista on May 24, 2024. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters

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In the past two years, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed three bills that would have allowed community colleges to award students more bachelor’s degrees. Unfazed, lawmakers are now backing a fourth bill that does much of the same.

The measure, Assembly Bill 664, cleared its first legislative tests by passing the Assembly Jan. 26, potentially setting up another collision course between state lawmakers and the governor. While Newsom supports more bachelor’s degrees for students, he’s repeatedly stated his opposition to adding more community college baccalaureate programs that go outside an agreed-upon process in a law that he and lawmakers approved in 2021.

That law said community colleges can develop up to 30 bachelor’s degrees per academic year, as long as the degrees do not duplicate the baccalaureate programs of the University of California and California State University.

But since then, community colleges and Cal State have disagreed on what counts as duplication, resulting in more than a dozen stalled community college bachelor’s programs because Cal State opposed them. Both public university systems oppose the latest bill. They fear more community colleges will seek their own degrees that duplicate what the universities offer, unraveling the 2021 law.The universities see themselves as the traditional generators of bachelor’s degrees. Community colleges say the state is too big and spread out to limit public four-year degrees to just the Cal State and UC.

Students shouldn’t be forced to enroll in universities dozens or hundreds of miles from home when the community college a few miles away can offer a bachelor’s degree that employers in the area say more workers need, bill backers say. Those backers include its main author, Assemblymember David Alvarez, a Democrat from Chula Vista.

His bill would allow the community college in his district, Southwestern College, to create up to four additional bachelor’s programs in applied disciplines, such as teaching English to speakers of other languages and designing websites. Alvarez stresses that his bill isn’t creating more general bachelor’s degree programs popular at the universities, such as psychology. Rather, he’s seeking to develop programs employers seek in the south San Diego County area.

While his bill is limited to just his district, Alvarez told fellow lawmakers Jan. 13 to follow his lead in creating bachelor’s degree programs at their local community colleges if they have unmet labor market needs. “I would expect nothing less from each one of you to do what I’m trying to do here.”The 2021 law limiting community college bachelor’s degree creation “has fallen short,” he said then.

In an interview, Alvarez doubled-down on the point that too many communities have adults eager to earn a bachelor’s degree but either cannot get into an over-enrolled public university or live too far away.“California is about providing opportunity and access to students,” Alvarez said. “Are we actually doing that in the state? I would say the answer to that today is we are falling very, very short.”

But the former chancellor of the state’s community college system thinks Alvarez’s bill, however well intentioned, is the wrong approach.

“I have, from the beginning, been opposed to community colleges offering baccalaureate degrees,” said Eloy Ortiz Oakley. “I think it is a mistake.” He was system chancellor when the first community college bachelor’s degrees were underway. Now he thinks a better solution is to send professors at under-enrolled Cal State campuses to community colleges that want bachelor’s degrees, such as Southwestern.

Developing more bachelor’s programs means hiring additional full-time faculty and administrators. It’s an approach that adds costs to public systems of higher education at a time when the state government is projecting multi-billion dollar deficits. Creating new bachelor’s degrees also takes two to three years before they’re offered to students, he said. If there’s market demand now, colleges and universities should collaborate by merging academic staff now as well, Oakley said. He now leads the College Futures Foundation, which is a CalMatters funder.

Alvarez notes that his bill requires Southwestern College to collaborate with nearby universities to create smoother pathways for students to earn bachelor’s degrees — similar to Oakley’s recommendation. Alvarez notes that Southwestern is doing the work to bolster degree attainment; it’s launching bachelor’s degrees programs so that nearby university professors teach on the Southwestern campus. However, he maintains that the college needs a legal dispensation to offer the bachelor’s programs his community needs.

The emphasis on existing collaboration with the four-year campuses makes him think Newsom won’t veto his bill, he said. Lawmakers will have until Aug. 31 to send the bill to the governor.

Appeal of community college bachelor’s

Community college bachelor’s degrees are cheaper than the ones offered at UC and Cal State, at about $10,000 for all four years. That’s a win for students chasing affordability who may not qualify for the state’s tuition waivers to the public universities, though about 60% of California students at UC and Cal State do.

California’s community colleges are relative novices at awarding these degrees: The first ones debuted about a decade ago. Now, around 300 students earn bachelor’s degrees at community colleges annually, compared to around 160,000 at the UC and Cal State. As a result, economic data is limited on whether these community college degrees lead to the higher pay that bachelor’s degrees offered by the two public universities yield.

A recent academic study published in the National Bureau of Economic Research reviewed several other states and found that community college bachelor’s degrees lead to higher wages than associate degrees would but slightly lower earnings compared to bachelor’s degrees from traditional universities. Results varied by major.

Nor does the community college system publish public data on the graduation rates of students who pursue bachelor’s degrees. The UC and Cal State do — and must by state and federal law.

“We do not have this information packaged in a public-facing tool like CSU provides,” wrote Melissa Villarin, a spokesperson for the California Community Colleges, in an email.

Public universities oppose bill

Both the UC and Cal State say the latest bill circumvents the 2021 law that allows community colleges to develop bachelor’s programs annually as long as the degrees do not duplicate existing programs at the two university systems. Under the law, both systems get to weigh in on whether there’s duplication. But under Alvarez’s bill, UC and Cal State can’t appeal the programs Southwestern launches.

The law supercharged the creation of community college bachelor’s programs — more than 50 are now approved at around 40 colleges. Before the law, 15 community colleges each offered one bachelor’s degree.

Left unsaid by Cal State officials during a bill hearing Jan. 13 is the fear that more community college bachelor’s programs will pull students from Cal State. But a Cal State administrator made just that point when lawmakers in 2024 introduced two bills that would allow several community colleges to award bachelor’s degrees in nursing. Those nursing bills cleared the Legislature but Newsom vetoed both. Cal State professors also worried about revenue losses from community college bachelor’s degrees in 2022 after the 2021 law passed.

Several lawmakers are also on record in favor of more community colleges providing bachelor’s degrees to address local workforce needs and create a more affordable option for students who can’t leave their communities.

“Baccalaureate programs at community colleges are the answer. I hope there’s more encroachment,” said Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, a Democrat from Cupertino, during a legislative hearing on the bill Jan. 13.The bill cleared the Assembly 69-1.

Duplication has been a multi-year battle

In 2023, two leading lawmakers on higher education issues wrote to community colleges that they cannot duplicate existing UC and Cal State degrees, regardless of location. The letter came as one community college created a bachelor’s in fire management that resembled a bachelor’s degree — not yet in existence — that was slated to be offered at a Cal State nearly 300 miles away. Cal State opposed the community college degree, but the college launched it anyway.The issue was an ongoing one — the community college system in 2022 suggested that how far a college is from a public university can be a factor in whether a degree is duplicative of the university’s. The 2023 legislative letter seemingly supersedes that 2022 belief.

Since the 2021 law through April of last year, the community colleges submitted 52 bachelor’s programs for approval, according to a document Cal State shared with CalMatters. Of those, 16 programs remain pending because of Cal State’s duplication concerns and seven had duplication concerns that the segments resolved. The other 28 programs were approved without any duplication concerns. The remaining degree, in fire management, is the only one Cal State labels as one the system opposed but that a community college created anyway.

Southwestern, which is near the U.S. border with Mexico, has sought a bachelor’s program in binational environmental architecture that has been disputed by Cal Poly Pomona for more than a year. That campus offers a similar program, without the binational emphasis.

Duplication hinges on whether the courses are similar, but the evaluation doesn’t consider whether the university with the existing degree has the capacity to enroll all the students who desire that workforce skill, said Southwestern College President Mark Sancez at the Jan. 13 hearing, in defense of Alvarez’s bill.

Southwestern College student Marilynn Palomino is in the process of earning an associate degree in criminal justice to work in a police crime lab doing forensic work. That position requires a bachelor’s degree, wrote Chris Jonsmyr, a spokesperson for Alvarez, in an email. But the only forensics bachelor’s at a public university in California is at San Jose State University, some 500 miles away, said Jonsmyr. Alvarez’s bill would lead to an applied forensics bachelor’s at Southwestern as one of the four programs it’s proposing, his staff said.Palomino is a single mother with a son and daughter.

“Transferring would require relocating hundreds of miles away with my children or leaving them behind,” she told lawmakers Jan. 13.

Community colleges far from public universities

Several data points are a driving force in bringing bachelor’s degrees to community colleges. One is that 29 of the state’s 116 community colleges are at least 25 miles from a public university, leaving many students “place-bound” or regionally stuck in the area their community colleges serve. About 150,000 students attend these colleges that are far from public universities.

Students at community colleges that are within 25 miles of a public university transfer to a four-year university at higher rates than those that are farther away.Community colleges have low transfer rates — just 21% of students who wanted to transfer do so after four years, a state report said. This could be a sign of a broken transfer system that might be remedied if more colleges could offer bachelor’s degrees. Or it could mean colleges aren’t ready to expand their services when they’ve struggled to graduate more students with degrees and certificates or transfer them at higher rates.

“Why would you create a new product when the bulk of your products are failing?” asked Oakley, the former community college system chancellor.

Enough students to go around

While Alvarez and Oakley disagree on whether bachelor’s degrees for community colleges is the solution to bring more students into bachelor’s programs, both say Cal State isn’t meeting the moment.

After steady enrollment growth throughout the 2010s, Cal State has struggled financially because roughly half of its campuses are contending with enrollment declines. Thirteen of the system’s 23 campuses had lower enrollments than their state targets last year.

That’s perplexing to Alvarez and Oakley, given that Cal State tuition is still relatively low, despite recent annual tuition hikes. Both also observe that other universities with higher tuition are attracting tens of thousands of students. There are about 113,000 California students at for-profit colleges that award bachelor’s degrees. Despite its affordability, Cal State is not winning over these students.

“In the CSU, they have failed to sort of re-create themselves in a way that’s relevant to what learners need today,” Oakley said.

Added Alvarez: “I’m surprised, really, that there’s so much indignation at the fact that we want to provide easier access to higher education for students when there’s plenty of students and plenty of need.”

Davis Jenkins, a research professor on community colleges at Columbia University, agrees. Even if community colleges increased the number of bachelor’s degrees they award 10-fold to 3,000, “which would take years,” he said, “I don’t think CSU has anything to worry about.”



OBITUARY: Lorraine Marie Holland, 1947-2026

LoCO Staff / Yesterday @ 6:56 a.m. / Obits

Just when smiles and laughter are needed most, there’s a little less of it in the world today. On January 12, 2026, after 78 years of life, love, and unconditional kindness, Lorraine Marie Holland - our beautiful mother, stepmother, wife, grandmother, sister, cousin, friend, and devout ancestral genealogy archivist - passed away peacefully at her home in Eureka.

Lorraine was born on March 27, 1947 to Mary and Art Oliveira of Fortuna. She grew up on a farm in Fortuna and attended elementary and high school there and graduated in 1965. She grew up with her older brother, Leonard, and many cousins who also attended the same schools (including the Ingersolls, Chisms, Bairds and Oliveira boys). Her family was deeply involved with their Portuguese heritage in Ferndale and Arcata.

After graduation, she got a diploma from the Humboldt Business College in bookkeeping and ventured to the Bay Area, where she would meet and eventually fall in love with her future husband, George Holland. They married in 1973, making her a second mom to George’s four children (Debbie, Tommy, Cindy, and Robert), and then moved back to Humboldt County where they settled down in Eureka. There, they worked for many years together at Campton Electric. In 1975, they welcomed their son, William, and enjoyed many years going on family hunting and fishing trips with all of their wonderful dogs (Lady and the pups and of course, Sadie, their only Bassett).

Lorraine was a devoted and loving mom and absolutely enjoyed being a grandmother and great-grandmother. She was a two-time breast cancer survivor. She was exceptional at remembering everyone’s birthday, listening to their stories, and doing her best to support them. She always had an incredible joy for life (and Bingo), and even when she was battling cancer or other health issues, never failed to smile. She enjoyed family get-togethers, crafts, reading, and was a keen record-keeper of the family ancestry. Having graduated high school 60 years before, she still met regularly with old school friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins.

Carrying on her legacy is her husband George, her children Will (Danielle), Debbie (Gary), Tommy, Cindy (Eti), Robert, grandchildren Elizabeth, Matthew, Carrie (Robert), Kevin (Tiffany) Jeffrey, Andrew, Jessica, Robert, Amanda, 5 great-grandchildren, brother Leonard, and many beloved cousins and friends. We will miss the beautiful light in this life that was Lorraine, but all those she touched will always keep that light aglow.

We will be celebrating and remembering Lorraine at a memorial service to be held on Saturday, February 14, 2026 at 9:30 a.m. (St. Joseph’s Catholic Church) followed by a reception at 11:30 a.m.at the Portuguese Hall of Ferndale. No need to wear black or dress too formally. Lorraine liked being “comfy.”

The church cannot accept flowers. Your presence is enough.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Lorraine Holland’s family. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.



OBITUARY: Darlene ‘Weedie’ Nunes, 1952-2026

LoCO Staff / Yesterday @ 6:56 a.m. / Obits

Darlene ‘Weedie’ Nunes of Roseville, Calif., passed away in her sleep on January 2, 2026, at the age of 73.

Weedie was born on November 19, 1952, in Eureka. She grew up in Ferndale, where she graduated from Ferndale High School in 1970. During her time in Ferndale, she worked at many places, including Humboldt Creamery, The Palace, J&W Liquors and the Kwik Feed. She went on to attend College of the Redwoods before moving to the Bay Area and obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Sciences for Management Information Systems from San Jose State University in 1995. She then settled in Roseville, and used her degree to start a career as a computer scientist at Hewlett-Packard before retiring from the California Department of Insurance.

In her free time, Weedie’s favorite thing to do was spend time with family and friends, sharing stories and laughing. Her laugh and smile were contagious and will be missed by all who knew her. She was an amazing pool player, which earned her dozens of trophies that are still displayed at her family’s home on Grizzly Bluff Road. She also enjoyed spending time with her beloved dogs, cooking, card games, and during her final years joined a local bocce ball league.

Weedie was predeceased by her parents, John and Lily Nunes, and her brother-in-law, David Olesen.

She is survived by her older sister Linda Nunes Olesen, niece Teri Olesen Foster (Scott), and nephew Scott Olesen (Mary), along with great-nephews Kyle Foster and Dylan Foster and great-niece Sami Olesen, all of Napa.

A celebration of life will be held at Portuguese Hall of Ferndale, located at 355 Ocean Ave, Ferndale, on Saturday, February 21 at 11 a.m. She will be interred in a private burial at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Ferndale.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Weedie Nunes’s family. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.



(VIDEO) Sen. Mike McGuire Speaks of Recent Events in Minnesota While Endorsing a Bill That Seeks to Further Penalize Government Violations of Civil Rights

LoCO Staff / Tuesday, Jan. 27 @ 3:45 p.m. / Sacramento

Sen. Mike McGuire, who represents Humboldt in the upper chamber of the legislature, made a speech in support of Senate Bill 747, the “No Kings Act.” 

The bill — authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Fresno) would establish a legal path for citizens whose rights are violated by federal officials to sue those officials in court.

Watch McGuire’s speech above — the video and the audio tracks are a little out of sync — or read his remarks below:

I rise today in support of Senate Bill 747, and thank the Senator from San Francisco for his work on this today.

I rise today not just as a member of the Senate, but as a dad. 

Erika and my son, Connor, turns five years old next month. Five years old. And like so many parents across this country, I watched in disbelief last week as photographs emerged of ICE agents literally kidnapping a five year old in Minnesota. A child named Liam Conejo Ramos, he’s nearly the same age as Connor.

They didn’t kidnap him because the child had done anything wrong, because they wanted to use him as bait.

As bait.

They took a five year old, terrified and confused, knocking on his damn parents’ door, still wearing his Spider Man backpack from school, and used him to lure out his dad and then arrested him. You want to stand up here and defend that? Go right ahead. That’s not who we are as Americans or as a country. 

But it doesn’t start or end there, like millions of Americans we watched with horror this past weekend as ICE agents murdered Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Let’s call it what it is, state-sponsored violence. Just under three weeks ago, we watched as Renee Good was murdered by the secret police.

Right now, there are kids across America, right here in Sacramento and across the state, who are too afraid to go to school. Parents across this country who won’t go to work because they don’t want to be separated from their kids and deported. You talk to doctors and nurse practitioners, parents aren’t sending their kids to the doctor anymore because they’re afraid of being deported. 

Not because they are criminals, but because they are being targeted by the color of their skin. It’s called racial profiling, and it’s unconstitutional. 

This is not the America that we fight for every day. 

This is what we should be fighting against. It’s called fascism. 

And look, I think it’s easy to be scared and angry right now, but we have to turn that anger into action, and that’s how we stop this. That’s what we’re doing today with Senate Bill 747, the No Kings Act. We’re making clear that federal agents who violate constitutional rights will no longer be shielded from accountability in this state. No secret police. 

And if you violate someone’s constitutional rights, you can be held accountable in a court of law, just like all of us. Just like all of us in the California State Senate. 

So let’s show the rest of America that California will not be silent. Being silent at this point in time in our nation’s history would be immoral. We would be complicit. 

We will not be intimidated. We are better than this in this country. And together, we’re going to prove it. 

Would recommend an aye vote on Senate Bill 747.



One Killed in Traffic Collision North of Laytonville Yesterday Night

LoCO Staff / Tuesday, Jan. 27 @ 2:15 p.m. / Traffic

Press release from the California Highway Patrol, Garberville Area:

On January 26, 2026, at approximately 9:25 PM, a silver Ford Escape with one occupant was traveling southbound on US-101, south of Rattlesnake Summit. A white Chevrolet Silverado, driven by Ereida Ramirez-Madera, was traveling northbound on US-101, south of Rattlesnake Summit in the number one lane. The Ford and the Chevrolet were approaching each other in opposite directions. A white Freightliner truck tractor with an unloaded flatbed trailer, driven by Noel Rivera-Alfaro, was traveling northbound on US-101, south of Rattlesnake Summit in the number one lane and behind the Chevrolet.

For reasons still under investigation, the Ford crossed over the solid double yellow lines and into the northbound number one lane. The Ford continued in a southerly direction into the direct path of the Chevrolet and Freightliner. The Ford side swiped the left side of the Chevrolet and continued traveling southbound in the northbound number one lane where it collided with the left side of the Freightliner’s flatbed trailer. After being struck by the Ford, the Chevrolet lost control, hit a dirt embankment, overturned in the road, and came to rest on its side in the northbound number two lane. The Freightliner continued northbound on US-101 and pulled into a dirt shoulder, just north of the scene. The Ford came to rest straddling the double yellow lines.

As a result of the crash, the driver of the Ford was pronounced deceased on scene. A passenger in the Chevrolet sustained minor injuries and was transported to Howard Memorial Hospital. It is unknown at this time if drugs or alcohol were a factor in this crash.

The California Highway Patrol, Cal-Trans, Laytonville Fire Department, Cal Fire, and Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, all responded to the scene. This collision remains under investigation by the California Highway Patrol - Garberville Area’s Laytonville Resident Post.



The Final Year of the Late Ben Hurd’s Christmas Tree Farm Raised More Than $25k for Hospice of Humboldt

LoCO Staff / Tuesday, Jan. 27 @ 1:59 p.m. / Community

Friends of Ben. Photo: Hospice of Humboldt.

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PREVIOUSLY:

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CORRECTION: The headline for this story initially misstated the location of the Christmas tree farm. The Outpost regrets the error.

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Press release from Hospice of Humboldt:

Hospice of Humboldt is deeply grateful to “Ben’s Bunch” and the Humboldt County community for making the final season of Ben Hurd’s Christmas Tree Farm a remarkable success, raising $26,179.91 in support of compassionate hospice and palliative care services in our local community.

The beloved tree farm, a longtime holiday tradition in Arcata, opened its gates one last season with proceeds benefiting Hospice of Humboldt in honor of Ben Hurd’s legacy of generosity, community, and bringing people together.

Families from across Humboldt County visited the farm throughout the holiday season, selecting Christmas trees, sharing memories, and supporting care for local patients and families during some of life’s most tender moments.

“This meant so much to all of us,” said Tia Baratelle, Director of Development at Hospice of Humboldt. “Ben’s Bunch turned a cherished community tradition into a powerful act of compassion. The $26,179.91 raised will directly support patients and families served by Hospice of Humboldt, ensuring they receive comfort, dignity, and heartfelt care.”

Ben Hurd’s obituary photo.

Members of Ben’s Bunch shared that they were honored to carry on Ben’s legacy in a way that reflected his love for community, connection, and giving back.

The funds raised will help Hospice of Humboldt continue providing hospice care, home-based palliative care, and grief support services for individuals and families in Humboldt County.

“Humboldt has always shown up for one another,” Baratelle added. “This final season at Ben Hurd’s Christmas Tree Farm was a beautiful reminder of how much compassion lives in this community.”

Hospice of Humboldt extends heartfelt thanks to Ben’s Bunch, volunteers, and everyone who purchased a tree and helped make this meaningful fundraiser such a success.