Patricia “Pat” Ann Wilsey (Richardson, Lendahl, Taylor, Clark, Werner), 85, passed away on May 9, 2026, in Eureka. Born on June 4, 1940, in Scotia, Pat lived a vibrant and multifaceted life filled with creativity, love and cherished moments with family and friends. Pat was the daughter of Andrew Gerald Richardson and Mildred (Millie) Florence Richardson. She grew up alongside her sisters Gloria Huber and Judith Price. One of her fondest memories growing up was when her father built them a play house and her mother planted a Cecile Brunner Climbing Rose in front of the window that smelled heavenly, every time she caught a whiff of that fragrant rose she would be transported back to her childhood.

Throughout her life, Pat demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt and thrive wherever she called home. Though she lived in many places over the years, her heart was tied to Cecilville, nestled along the beautiful Salmon River. Cecilville was where Pat and her husband Glenn Wilsey built their home together — a place surrounded by nature’s beauty and the warmth of family and friends. A talented and prolific quilter, Pat poured her heart into every creation. Each quilt she made was a testament to her love for those who received them — crafted with care (and perhaps a touch of humor when nearing completion). She said that no quilt was complete if it didn’t have an “oops” block. She was fortunate to spend the last 5 years creating a vast number of quilts celebrating life events for family and friends while also completing many of her mother’s unfinished projects - The sentiment often expressed in our home was “she who died with the most unfinished projects won”, her daughter is not sure yet who the winner is but it may be a close tie between Pat and her mom Millie. Just recently she was able to work with her niece Julie on a quilt that was started by her sister Gloria over 70 years ago, those were the times that she loved the most by spending time and sharing stories and knowledge.

Pat had an enduring love for gardening, cultivating both food and flowers with equal enthusiasm. Her practical yet thoughtful approach to life made her a cornerstone of support for those around her. Whether cooking up something delicious in the kitchen or engaging in spirited debates around the table, Pat’s presence was always felt deeply by those fortunate enough to share time with her. A lover of games, Pat especially enjoyed winning — a playful competitiveness that endeared her to family gatherings. Her ability to reminisce about shared memories brought laughter and connection to all who listened.

Pat’s legacy is carried forward by her loving family: daughter Andrea Arnold; son-in-law Karl (Buck) Arnold; son Tony Byram; daughter-in-law Lynn Byram; son-in-law Jack Fearing; grandchildren Angela Winogradov, Karl Arnold, Kacey Arnold, Amy Beckley, Tracy Fearing, Kehli Saucier, Gabriel Fearing, Sean Fearing, Erin Tisera, Phil “PJ”, Hillary, Jimmy and Adam; great-grandchildren Ashlyn, Matt, Daniel, John, Cody, Joseph, Eric, Jennifer, Angel, Connor, Ryder, Lane, Whitney, Morgan, Ryan, Olivia, Seamus, Jedidiah, Falcon, Millie, Finnigan, Magdalene, Danny, Lucy and 18 great-great grandchildren. as well as numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and cherished family and friends. 

She was predeceased by father Andrew Gerald Richardson, mother Mildred Florence Tipton (Thornton, Richardson, Walker, Smith), sons Duane and Daniel Lendahl, daughter Sherri Fearing (Lendahl), husbands Bill Clark and Wendell “Glenn” Wilsey, sisters Gloria Huber and Judith Price, brother in law’s Mickey Huber and Elmer “Butch” Price, great-grandson Alexander Winogradov and great-great-grandson Tanner Trolinder.

Pat enjoyed the Easter celebrations spent making hats, painting eggs and taking silly photos with her grandchildren Angela and Dale and the girls, she loved traveling to Placerville and sharing a Thanksgiving feast with grandchildren Amy and Craig and the moments with the family that came to sit around the table and share blessings. Patricia was blessed with many close relationships, she treasured her relationship with Michelle who she considered another daughter, she loved the time they spent cooking and looking up plant names and recipes on the computer. 

A celebration of life will be held on Sunday, May 31, 2026, at 1 p.m. at 1774 Van Eaton Avenue, McKinleyville, where Pat lived for the last five years enjoying the birds and creating quilts. There will be an outdoor service honoring the loving and funny mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great great grandmother, aunt, friend and loved one that we have lost.   We will be honoring her life with a sharing of love and the party that she wanted where we will have great food, jokes and laughter in her memory. Friends and family are welcome. there is limited parking so please ride-share if possible.

Raise a toast to a life lived well — it may not have been perfect but it was honest, funny and the best she could do with what she had. Mom will live forever in my heart and my stories, she was the perfect mother for me and I am so thankful that she was mine.

Betty Anne Hanson
October 14, 1940 to May 13, 2026

Betty Anne Hanson was born October 14, 1940 in Hollywood, California to Thorkild and Nanna Mazanti. She came into the world joining her older sister, Ruth, and later her younger sister, Jane, completed the family. The three little Mazanti girls became a lifelong trio of sisters and friends. As a child, a friend invited her to church. Oh how that changed her life. She said that knowing God made life sweeter and He carried her through all the hard moments. She graduated from Redondo Union High School.

Through her sisters and their dear friend Bob Wilson, she met her future husband, Richard Hanson. They married in 1961 and Richard helped her get her college degree. She graduated from USC with a bachelor’s degree in Occupational Therapy. She thoroughly enjoyed taking care of her patients. They later had a daughter, Leslie, and a son, Russell. Betty cherished her family. They took many summer road trips to see our National Parks, especially enjoying Sequoia, Glacier and the Grand Canyon. Betty and Richard faithfully took care of their parents as they aged and loved passing on family stories.

After Richard died in 2016, she bravely moved to Northern California to live close to Leslie. It was hard to leave family in Southern California, but she began a new adventure in McKinleyville. She thoroughly enjoyed making new friends and trying new things. Betty’s gentle Christian faith quietly radiated throughout her life. It showed as she cared for her family, as she worked with patients and in her service at church. If you knew Betty, please know you were often prayed for and loved.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents, Nanna and Thorkild, her sisters Ruth (Bob) and Jane, her dear husband Richard, and their infant son, David. She is survived by her daughter, Leslie (Chris) Gross, grandchildren Matthew (Kristin), Johanna, Sarah (Trevor) and Sam, and her son Russell (Chinami) Hanson, grandchildren Emma and Louie. She is survived by her brother-in-law, Bruce Hansen (Joan) and many precious nieces and nephews. She will be greatly missed by her friends and family.

A celebration of life service will be held at Trinity Baptist Church, in Arcata on May 30 at 11 a.m.

”You make known to me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” -Psalm 16:11

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

Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

On May 19th, 2026, at approximately 11:00 a.m., Officers with the Eureka Police Department (EPD) responded to the intersection of Fairfield Street and W. Henderson Street for the report of a traffic collision involving multiple vehicles.

Upon arrival, Officers located four involved vehicles, including a gold Nissan Altima and a blue BMW sedan.

The driver of the Nissan was transported by ambulance to a local hospital with suspected moderate injuries. A passenger in the BMW also sustained minor injuries as a result of the collision. The driver of the BMW was identified as Landon Zachary, 18 years old of Eureka. Zachary was transported to a local hospital for medical clearance and was later taken into custody for felony reckless driving causing injury.

The investigation revealed that the BMW was traveling southbound on Fairfield Street approaching W. Henderson Street at a high rate of speed. Video footage showed the BMW failing to stop at the posted stop sign before colliding with the Nissan and two parked vehicles.

In total, four vehicles were involved in the collision. At this time drugs and alcohol do not appear to be a contributing factor to the collision.

Anyone who witnessed the collision or has information related to the incident is encouraged to contact the Eureka Police Department at (707) 441-4300.

In any Humboldt County election, the main event is the League of Women Voters “candidate forum.” (Debates have been banished from all elections.)

Tonight, on KEET-TV and broadcast live on the Internet, the candidates for Fifth District Supervisor — Evan Schwartz and Mary Burke — take the stage.

If you’re interested at all in local government — and you should be, given the whole 250-year experiment in government of, by and for the people that we’ve been running over here — then you should tune in!

Press release from the League of Women Voters:

Tune in on Tuesday, May 19, 2026 at 7 p.m. for the Humboldt County Fifth District Supervisor candidate forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County in partnership with KEET-TV. Candidates Evan Schwartz and Mary Burke will answer questions submitted by community members over the course of an hour.

The forum will be broadcast live on KEET-TV with a live stream available on their website (https://video.keet.org/), and archived for later viewing on Access Humboldt.

The public is welcome to submit questions, either via email to leaguehumboldt@gmail.com (until 6:45 p.m.) or via phone to 707-445-0811 (starting at 6:45 p.m.).

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. 

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

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California’s community colleges have been battling fraudulent students for years, trying to prevent scammers from stealing financial aid money.

Recent data shows the colleges’ efforts finally may be working.

Last spring, CalMatters reported that colleges were seeing unprecedented reports of fraud, with scammers stealing millions more dollars of student aid than in any previous period, according to reports submitted by colleges to California’s Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

Now fewer scammers are bypassing colleges’ vetting systems, according to monthly reports, and school administrators say they’re better, though still not perfect, at detecting and preventing fraud.

After CalMatters reported on the rise in fraud last year, Republican U.S. Congress members called for a federal investigation, a Democratic state legislator launched a state audit and later, California’s Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office approved a new ID verification policy for students. Colleges now are more vigilant about policing fraud, said Jory Hadsell, an executive in technology initiatives for the chancellor’s office, who pointed to better filtering practices and new software to detect fraud.

Between January and March 2025, scammers stole nearly $5.6 million in federal student aid and over $900,000 in state aid. By comparison, this spring colleges have reported losing just under $1.5 million in federal student aid and about $330,000 in state aid to fraudsters.

Last spring was “really the peak,” Hadsell said. He said he anticipates the end-of-year total in 2026 to be “significantly lower” than last year.

Even in the worst months, such as last spring, the money distributed to scammers is less than 1% of the total financial aid distributed to community college students in California. Students use the money to help pay for tuition, books and the cost of daily living expenses, such as rent, transportation and food.

But any fraud, however small, is unacceptable, said Chris Ferguson, executive vice chancellor of finance and strategic initiatives. “The ultimate goal for our system is zero.”

Some anti-fraud policies have been slow to take effect. The California Community Colleges Board of Governors voted nearly a year ago to require ID verification for all students, but only about 50% of college students are doing it as of this month. Hadsell said the delays arose in part because of complications verifying information of students under 18 years old, who represent a growing demographic for the community colleges. He said ID verification, which is currently optional, will become mandatory on July 1.

The board also voted to “explore” the option of charging students an application fee of no more than $10, but with the rates of fraud declining and other solutions that seem to work, the chancellor’s office is no longer pursuing that option, Ferguson said.

After blaming California officials, the U.S. Department of Education, which shares responsibility for administering federal aid and detecting fraud, said it would implement a “screening process” for applicants. It was supposed to take effect last fall but didn’t launch until last month, according to press releases from the department and statements from the California Student Aid Commission. CalMatters reached out to the U.S. Education Department five times over the last 12 months, seeking clarification, but the department has refused to respond to questions about delays with the screening process.

When more than a third of college applicants are fake

After classes suddenly moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office saw an increase in financial aid fraud on their application portal, CCCApply, which is used by nearly every student as the first step in applying to community college.

In 2021, the chancellor’s office suspected roughly 20% of applicants were fraudulent.

The estimate was higher in January 2024, around 25%. Last spring, it was 34%, though some schools saw much higher rates.

After they apply through CCCApply, students get filtered locally at their college of choice. In the Los Rios Community College District, which represents Sacramento, college officials suspected 64% of local applications from January to March 2025 were fraudulent. And that was after the state already vetted them through its portal, said Gabe Ross, a spokesperson for the district. The San Diego and Los Angeles community college districts also reported spikes in the number of fraudulent applications around the same time.

CalMatters reached out to the five largest community college districts for an interview. The Rancho Santiago Community College District, which includes parts of Orange County, did not provide sufficient data to draw conclusions about trends in fraud. The State Center Community College District, which represents schools in Fresno and Madera counties, did not respond to CalMatters’ questions.

Monthly data reports to the chancellor’s office show that once detected, most scammers who applied to community colleges were then caught and kicked out before they could apply for financial aid, but some succeeded.

This year, both Sacramento and San Diego community colleges say they’re seeing fewer attempts at fraud and are getting better at stopping those who try. The San Diego Community College District is now manually screening for fraudulent applications twice a week and is finalizing a contract with a company to help improve its detection software.

CCCApply has improved its filtering process, which helped reduce fraud attempts at Sacramento area colleges, said Ross. “When we talked about such a complex dynamic challenge, it’s always hard to identify what’s the one thing that sort of moved the needle. The truth is that we needed support from the feds, we needed support from the (chancellor’s) office, and we needed to invest in tools locally.”

This spring, he said the district flagged about 12% of college applications as suspect.

Using AI to detect AI

Measuring fraud is, by definition, imprecise. If a scammer is truly successful, colleges have no way to identify that fraud.

For a long time, administrators assumed bots enrolling in online classes were responsible for most fraudulent attempts. Yet teachers, students and financial aid administrators say some of the scams are more sophisticated now and are coming from real people impersonating students. Many fraudulent applications to Los Angeles’ community colleges have real names, dates of birth, and addresses that are likely “leaked or stolen,” said Nicole Albo-Lopez, the deputy chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District.

In San Diego, Victor DeVore, dean of student services, said the college district only requires ID verification for students flagged as fraudulent. At that point they must prove their identity, either in person or through Zoom. Once, a potentially fraudulent student appeared on Zoom and presented a valid-looking ID that matched their face, but DeVore’s team noticed that the student’s IP address was odd. “One minute they’re logging in from Nairobi, the next minute they’ll be logging in from Virginia,” he said, adding that the use of AI, virtual private networks (VPNs) or other technology has made fraud harder to detect.

Students’ personal data is supposed to be private, but school districts and education technology companies are frequently hacked. Last week, Canvas — one of the go-to learning platforms for California’s community colleges, University of California and California State University campuses — went offline temporarily due to a major hack. Its parent company, Instructure, said last week that it reached an agreement with the hackers to relinquish students’ data.

The state has turned to AI to fight fraud. Last summer, the state chancellor’s office negotiated a multimillion dollar contract with N2N Services Inc., enabling any college in the state to access the company’s software at a discounted rate. The software uses AI to detect potentially fraudulent applicants. Colleges are not required to use it, and so far, only about two-thirds do. Some districts, such as the Los Angeles Community College District, use a different fraud detection software, known as Socure.

Colleges and the state chancellor’s office continue to face political pressure and scrutiny of their approach to fraud. Last month, the U.S. Education Department said it had prevented more than $171 million in fraud in California after implementing a new policy regarding ID verification. Hadsell, with the state chancellor’s office, said the federal policy had no impact on California’s colleges. “They issued some interim guidance last year that basically said you should at least have a Zoom call with students and have them show an ID when you’re approving their aid. And those were things that were already happening. It was not, you know, some new thing at least for most of our colleges.”

Kiran Kodithala, the CEO of N2N, which collects its own data on fraud at community colleges, said the education department’s claim makes no sense.

“I don’t see how $171 million in fraud in California can occur,” he said. “There’s no basis for those numbers. We’re not seeing anything remotely close.” Kodithala estimates that N2N has prevented over $34 million in fraud since last summer, though his platform is not yet in use by all of California’s 116 community colleges.

Collecting more precise data may take months or years. U.S. Representative Young Kim, who represents parts of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, launched the effort for a federal investigation last spring, but her office could not provide any updates or confirm that an investigation was in fact underway. At the state level, the Legislature last year approved conducting an audit of how California’s community colleges handled fraud but the findings won’t be released until this summer.

Last Thursday, Jake Combs was convicted of murder by a jury after about a day of deliberations, according to court records.

The 34-year-old man was found guilty of first degree murder of Trevor John Earley by the 12-person jury, in the second time the case has been tried in the Humboldt County Superior Court.

Combs was last convicted in 2023 for the murder of Earley whom he shot in the head following a dispute in which Combs’ dog bit Earley in the face. 

In 2023, Combs was sentenced to 50-years-to-life, and he was serving time in Calipatria State Prison when this conviction was overturned. 

An appeals court found issue with certain evidence the judge allowed to be heard during the trial, so the case was tried again. 

During a 14-day trial this month, prosecutor Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm aimed to show the murder was premeditated.

Meanwhile, co-defense attorneys Deputy Public Defenders Ryan McClurg and Emery Welton pressed for manslaughter. According to reporting from the Eureka Times-Standard, Combs again took the stand during this case and said he feared for his dog’s life after the dog bit Earley in the face.

Court records indicate the jury sought to review a key witness’s testimony and Combs’ testimony Thursday. Still, deliberations only lasted about a day.

Combs, who was also convicted of a weapon enhancement, is set to be sentenced July 31.

The District Attorney’s Office offered a plea deal before the jury was selected, but Comb’s attorney’s did not move to accept the deal before it timed out, according to court records. He additionally faces a drug possession charge.

Woman charged with murder for 19-month-old’s death

Last week, the Eureka Police Department announced a multi-year investigation into 32-year-old Nichole Ann Thorpe, who allegedly concealed the death of her child for an extended period of time, fraudulently collected welfare for the dead 19-month-old for two years, and now faces murder charges.

Investigators found human remains in a remote area near Blue Lake on December 4, 2023, and DNA testing later confirmed the remains belonged to the missing child, according to EPD. An arrest warrant for the toddler’s mother was issued over two years later, on April 9, 2026, “Following an extensive investigation.”

According to court records, law enforcement believe the toddler was 19 months old when she died in March 2022. The child is identified as CarmenEve Faith Robinson.

Family members told police they had not seen the child for a long time and believed she could be dead, according to EPD.

Thorpe was charged April 7 in Humboldt County with murder, felony child abuse (with an enhancement for the child’s age), and two years of welfare fraud tied to the child totaling $18,636.30.

According to jail records, Thorpe has been incarcerated since April 29 at Jay County, Indiana’s jail. She is listed as a resident of Albany, Ind.

EPD worked with the U.S. Marshall’s Office and Indiana police agencies to locate and arrest Thorpe, who awaits extradition to Humboldt County. EPD asks those with information on the case to contact Detective Sergeant Cory Crnich at (707) 441- 4300.

School threats suspect Daryl Ray Jones files mental health petition

School threats suspect Daryl Ray Jones, who faces 32 felony charges for a series of heinous phone calls that targeted schools, day cares and businesses across Humboldt County, again filed a mental health petition in court last week.

His attorney, Meagan O’Connell from the Conflict Counsel’s office, previously declared a doubt to his mental competence, but last July the court found he was mentally competent based on a physician’s report and restarted proceedings, according to court records.

Jones was held to answer to the numerous charges levied against him in March. His next hearing, during which court records indicate the petition will be discussed, is scheduled for May 28.