Ranked choice voting was approved by Eureka voters in the fall of 2020. — Ed.

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PREVIOUSLY:

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Press release from the Humboldt County Office of Elections:

The Humboldt County Office of Elections announced today that ranked choice voting for the City of Eureka will begin during the 2028 election cycle instead of November 2026.

This change is the direct result of proactive system testing to ensure the voting system’s ranked choice voting capabilities meet the highest standards of precision, accuracy and state requirements before it is implemented.

Background

In summer 2025, the Humboldt County Office of Elections hosted in-depth tabletop exercises to stress-test the planned ranked choice voting rollout. The county’s voting system was tested during these exercises. 

While the goal was to launch in 2026, testing identified limitations in the voting system’s ranked choice voting functionality that require additional updates and subsequent state certification, making implementation in 2028 necessary.

“Our tabletop exercises did exactly what they were designed to do. They showed us what it will take to get this right,” said Humboldt County Registrar of Voters Juan P. Cervantes. “We’re not going to rush implementation at the expense of systemic integrity.” 

To address these issues and build a resilient system, the Elections Office is working closely with the City of Eureka and has brought a team of experts, with experience with rolling out ranked choice voting, together for support. Key partners include:

• California Secretary of State’s Office of Voting Systems Technology Assessment
• City of Redondo Beach
• Californians for Electoral Reform
• Disability Rights California
• Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center
• Center for Civic Design
• Democracy Rising
• Accessibility and language access experts
• Hart InterCivic

Next Steps

The Humboldt County Office of Elections continues to partner closely with Hart InterCivic, the county’s voting system vendor, who is on track to submit the required system updates to the state for certification testing in early 2027.

“Hart InterCivic is fully committed to Humboldt County’s methodical implementation plan,” said Julie Mathis, CEO at Hart InterCivic. “Our team is actively developing the required ranked choice voting updates for the Verity system, and we stand firmly behind our timeline to submit them for state certification in quarter one of 2027, ensuring a successful rollout in 2028.” 

Due to this timeline change, City of Eureka contests in the upcoming November 2026 General Election will continue to use standard plurality voting, which means the candidate who receives the most votes will win. 

Prospective candidates are being informed of this change today during the City of Eureka’s official candidate education workshop to ensure complete transparency.

“This decision reflects our responsibility to the voters of the City of Eureka who supported the ranked choice voting initiative, ensuring we implement it thoughtfully and correctly,” said Eureka’s City Clerk Pam Powell. “We remain fully committed to this initiative. Our continued partnership with the county ensures that when ranked choice voting is introduced, it is secure, accessible and meets our community’s high standards.”

“This work is about getting it right,” Cervantes added. “By bringing everyone to the table, we’re making sure ranked choice voting is implemented thoughtfully and earns the public’s trust.”

About Humboldt County Elections Office

The Humboldt County Office of Elections is committed to ensuring all eligible residents have an opportunity to exercise their right to vote, conducting elections in a fair, accurate and efficient manner, providing reliable information and the best possible service to voters, districts, candidates and other interested parties. For more information, visit HumboldtGov.org/Elections.

From the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s Facebook page:

The Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District (HVPUD), a chartered entity of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, proudly announces it has been awarded approximately $39.7 million through the California Public Utilities Commission’s Last Mile Federal Funding Account to implement the Hoopa Trinity Rural Access Initiative Linkup (Hoopa TRAIL) project.

This transformative investment will expand high-speed fiber broadband infrastructure across Trinity and Humboldt Counties, delivering reliable internet access to thousands of unserved and underserved households, businesses, and community anchor institutions in some of California’s most rural and geographically challenging regions.

The Hoopa TRAIL project will deploy more than 100 miles of fiber optic infrastructure, connecting communities including Willow Creek, Salyer, Hawkins Bar, Big Bar, Junction City, Douglas City, and Lewiston, and reaching over 2,000 serviceable locations. The network will provide gigabit-speed internet, enabling critical access to telehealth, education, emergency services, economic development, and government resources.

Receiving this funding represents more than infrastructure is a continuation of the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s enduring responsibility to its people and its ancestral lands.

The Tribe calls Hoopa “the place where all trails return.” Just as the tributaries of the Trinity River flow back home, this project reflects a modern extension of that philosophy: building a digital river that connects communities, strengthens resilience, and ensures that no household is left behind in the digital age.

“This is an immense honor for HVPUD and a monumental step for the communities we serve,” said Linnea Jackson, HVPUD General Manager. “Through Hoopa TRAIL, we are not only delivering broadband—we are creating opportunity, supporting sovereignty, and reaffirming our commitment to serve our ancestral territory and surrounding region with pride and purpose.”

The project will leverage existing Tribal infrastructure, including HVPUD’s network and central operations in Hoopa, and will interconnect with California’s statewide middle-mile network to ensure long-term scalability and sustainability.

Construction is anticipated to begin following environmental review and permitting, with a projected completion timeline of approximately 24 months.

HVPUD remains committed to equitable access by offering affordable, no data cap broadband plans, ensuring that cost is not a barrier to connectivity for low-income households and Tribal members.The Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District (HVPUD), a chartered entity of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, proudly announces it has been awarded approximately $39.7 million through the California Public Utilities Commission’s Last Mile Federal Funding Account to implement the Hoopa Trinity Rural Access Initiative Linkup (Hoopa TRAIL) project.

This transformative investment will expand high-speed fiber broadband infrastructure across Trinity and Humboldt Counties, delivering reliable internet access to thousands of unserved and underserved households, businesses, and community anchor institutions in some of California’s most rural and geographically challenging regions.

The Hoopa TRAIL project will deploy more than 100 miles of fiber optic infrastructure, connecting communities including Willow Creek, Salyer, Hawkins Bar, Big Bar, Junction City, Douglas City, and Lewiston, and reaching over 2,000 serviceable locations. The network will provide gigabit-speed internet, enabling critical access to telehealth, education, emergency services, economic development, and government resources.

Receiving this funding represents more than infrastructure is a continuation of the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s enduring responsibility to its people and its ancestral lands.

The Tribe calls Hoopa “the place where all trails return.” Just as the tributaries of the Trinity River flow back home, this project reflects a modern extension of that philosophy: building a digital river that connects communities, strengthens resilience, and ensures that no household is left behind in the digital age.

“This is an immense honor for HVPUD and a monumental step for the communities we serve,” said Linnea Jackson, HVPUD General Manager. “Through Hoopa TRAIL, we are not only delivering broadband—we are creating opportunity, supporting sovereignty, and reaffirming our commitment to serve our ancestral territory and surrounding region with pride and purpose.”

The project will leverage existing Tribal infrastructure, including HVPUD’s network and central operations in Hoopa, and will interconnect with California’s statewide middle-mile network to ensure long-term scalability and sustainability.

Construction is anticipated to begin following environmental review and permitting, with a projected completion timeline of approximately 24 months.

HVPUD remains committed to equitable access by offering affordable, no data cap broadband plans, ensuring that cost is not a barrier to connectivity for low-income households and Tribal members.

The Hoopa TRAIL project stands as a model for Tribal-led infrastructure development, demonstrating how strategic investment, community leadership, and cultural values can come together to build a stronger, more connected future for all.

The Hoopa TRAIL project stands as a model for Tribal-led infrastructure development, demonstrating how strategic investment, community leadership, and cultural values can come together to build a stronger, more connected future for all.

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The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday received a stark update on our region’s housing safety net. 

Cheryl Churchill, executive director of the housing authorities for both the City of Eureka and the County of Humboldt, told the board that policy and funding changes from the Trump administration are set to reverse hard‑won gains in housing low‑income residents. 

The two local housing authorities — Eureka’s and the county’s — are currently administering more than $16 million in federal housing assistance for families that mostly earn between 30% and 50% of our region’s median income. While the demand for such assistance is growing, federal housing officials have effectively frozen the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program and are allowing key pandemic‑era subsidies to expire early.

Churchill explained that Humboldt County has been allocated more than 12,000 Housing Choice Vouchers on paper yet is only funded to support about 995 vouchers per month, with roughly 978 currently in use. 

Since late 2024, she said, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has barred local housing authorities from issuing new vouchers and has recaptured about $2 million in local reserves that had been fueling a significant expansion since 2024. 

Special‑purpose vouchers for veterans, disabled residents and former foster youth are still being issued in limited numbers, but the larger program that serves most low‑income renters is in a “slow attrition” phase. Churchill does not expect that trend to reverse until 2027. 

Compounding the problem, she warned, Emergency Housing Vouchers created during the COVID‑19 pandemic are running out of money years ahead of schedule, leaving roughly 70 to 100 local households at risk of returning to homelessness by around 2027 with no clear path to convert them into regular vouchers.

“When we talk about a good-sized group of people potentially facing homelessness and eviction over the next year, I don’t have a solution,” Churchill said. “We talk about this in our COC [Continuum of Care] meetings frequently. Nobody has a solution.”

Despite this dire state of affairs, the Eureka Housing Authority is pressing ahead with several major redevelopment projects in the city aimed at rehabbing and expanding the aging public housing stock from the 1950s and ’60s. 

Churchill detailed three phases — nicknamed Green, Red and Blue (or Blue & Purple) — that will demolish and rebuild or substantially renovate older units. The Green Phase, for example, calls for a planned 44‑unit family project on Hiler Street while the Blue & Purple Phase will see a 44‑unit senior housing building at C and Clark streets. Both phases will be supported by state grants and tax credits. 

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The Red Phase, meanwhile, entails the renovation of nearly 100 redwood-built public housing units from the 1950s and ‘60s, bringing them to “like-new status,” according to Churchill. 

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Another state‑funded project will replace the undersized Boys and Girls Club facility on Prospect Avenue, near Winco, with an approximately 4,500‑square‑foot shared community space. 

Waitlists for city‑owned housing units remain open, she said, even as voucher waitlists — which already hold more than 1,600 applicants — are closed until HUD allows new issuances.

Fourth Third District Supervisor and Board Chair Mike Wilson sounded off on the Trump administration, describing it as “hostile to housing people in general” and condemning recent legislation that stripped federal subsidies for existing housing. 

“It’s so frustrating because the simplest and easiest way for us to keep people off the street is to house them in existing housing,” Wilson said. “[And] to have an administration that makes a conscious choice to defund that is shocking to me.”

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Public Calls for Sheriff’s Oversight Board

Earlier in the meeting, half a dozen public commenters spoke in favor of establishing a community oversight board for the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, and while the assorted speakers didn’t identify themselves as any sort of official committee, they have evidently drafted a voter initiative intended for inclusion on local ballots in November.

Public speaker Caroline Griffith. | Screenshot.

“The residents of Humboldt County deserve professional monitoring and accountability of their public agencies, especially the powerful and influential Sheriff’s Office,” leadoff speaker Caroline Griffith said. 

She referenced a 2024 Civil Grand Jury report advocating such an oversight body (a proposal that Sheriff Billy Honsal has publicly resisted) as well as the City of Eureka’s Board of Community Oversight on Police Practices. 

The proposed Humboldt County Sheriff’s Policy and Practice Board would have subpoena power and be subject to the Brown Act and other public meeting laws. 

“The board would serve as an impartial and objective, independent body that audits and assesses community complaints, jail conditions, budget and spending and certain specified critical incidents involving members of the Sheriff’s Office,” Griffith explained. By increasing transparency and providing a stronger, more independent review structure, this board would benefit both the public and law enforcement officials, she argued.

She asked the board to place the matter on an upcoming meeting agenda and then place it on the November ballot.

Other speakers endorsed this request.

“I was shocked to learn actually that the county doesn’t have an oversight board already,” Cal Poly Humboldt grad student Amy Scott said. “Eureka has had theirs since 2022; it has been useful. There was a great report about it even increasing police morale.”

Eureka mom and business owner Sierra Braggs said she works with people on the autism spectrum, many of whom “are terrified of encounters with law enforcement, because any time that they deviate from what is prescribed … literally their life is in jeopardy, and they’re very aware of the national stories of what can happen to people.”

Eureka City Councilmember Leslie Castellano was among the speakers advocating for a citizens’ oversight committee. She noted the successes of Eureka’s police oversight board, saying it has provided greater transparency, public engagement and trust in law enforcement.

“Trust is meaningful, and that trust requires community engagement and opportunities for serious public discourse,” Castellano said. “A ballot initiative would do just that and generally bring greater professionalism.”

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Assessing Community Health

Does Humboldt County need a checkup? Couldn’t hurt, right?

Briana Sherlock, the county’s deputy director for public health, said her office routinely works on Community Health Assessments (CHA), compiling data on cancer, prenatal care, youth tobacco use, maternal and infant health, and adverse childhood experiences. This information helps to guide the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) — a “treatment plan” that sets priorities every three years.

In the previous CHA/CHIP cycle, the community identified four main priority areas:

1. Suicide prevention
2. Substance use
3. Housing instability and homelessness
4. Healthy beginnings and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)

The next cycle could be similar, or maybe not. It will depend on the data the county receives, Sherlock said, and she urged local residents to complete a new countywide health survey at livewellhumboldt.org. (You can also access it by scanning the QR code in the image above.)

As that web address suggests, this community health checkup is part of the broader Live Well Humboldt initiative, which maintains a publicly accessible community health data dashboard offering customizable data on health indicators. This dashboard is used by other government agencies, nonprofits and grant writers to track health trends and support funding requests.

Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo encouraged people to check out the dashboard, calling it “an incredible asset.”

Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone agreed, emphasizing the importance of taking the community’s “pulse” through regular surveys.

DHHS hopes to get at least 10% of the county’s residents (roughly 13,000 people) to complete the survey. As incentive, everybody who completes the survey will be entered to win a $30 Visa gift card.

Tidbits

• Humboldt County Aviation Director Justin Hopman is set to move back to Florida with his family after this week, after just two months on the job, but County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes said he has “graciously” agreed to help the county through the transition process of recruiting and hiring his replacement.
• Humboldt County’s In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Advisory Board urged supervisors to oppose proposed state budget cuts that would eliminate emergency backup caregivers, link IHSS eligibility more tightly to Medi-Cal status and shift additional care costs onto counties. Board Chair Margaret Lewis warned of severe impacts on vulnerable residents local budgets.
• The board unanimously agreed to change the name of Cesar Chavez Day to “Farmworkers Day” in light of the recently surfaced allegations of sexual assault by the late labor organizer. 
• Lisa Dugan, a member of the McKinleyville Community Advisory Committee, spoke in support of using a $50,000 state grant to fund an initial feasibility assessment for the long-discussed prospect of McKinleyville incorporating as its own city. Supervisor Madrone agreed, saying, “It’s high time we finally get the data so the community can actually have an informed discussion about revenues, expenses, pros and cons.” The board approved the proposal as part of the meeting’s consent agenda.

Cal Poly Humboldt spent more than $90,000 to hire a security firm to guard Nelson Hall for six days after a pro-Palestine occupation forced its closure earlier this month, public records obtained by the Outpost show. 

The university hired AX9 Security, a firm with licenses to operate in nine states and Washington D.C., to post a couple people outside of Nelson Hall from Feb. 28 (after the protestors left the building at around 2 a.m.) to the evening of March 5. It cost CPH $91,476, according to a copy of their contract the Outpost accessed via a public records act request. 

The unarmed guards were instructed to avoid physical contact with students and staff and to report any safety concerns to the University Police Department, according to a CPH spokesperson. 

“We recognize that recent events over the past two weeks have impacted members of our campus community,” the spokesperson said. “In response, additional security personnel from AX9 have been brought in to support a safe learning and working environment.”

There were also rumors that the AX9 personnel were asking masked students entering Founders Hall for their IDs; neither the Outpost nor Cal Poly Humboldt could verify the incident.

Ed. note: There’s a lot to chew on in the EPD’s annual report, which was presented to the council last week. Some of it — like the department’s new focus on proactive, officer-initiated activity — we’ve written about in the past. 

But if you’re a person who’s at all interested in the city of Eureka’s public safety infrastructure, the whole 50-page, graphics-heavy PDF is well worth a perusal.

Above and below: Some select pages that caught our eyes. What about yours?

Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

On March 17, 2026, Chief Brian Stephens presented the Eureka Police Department’s 2025 Annual Report and Military Equipment Use Report to the Eureka City Council and members of the public during a regular City Council meeting. The 2025 Annual Report provides a comprehensive overview of department operations throughout the year, including calls for service, crime statistics and highlights from various divisions and programs.

The report is intended to increase transparency and provide the community with insight into the department’s activities, priorities, and public safety efforts during 2025. The Military Equipment Use Report was presented in compliance with California Assembly Bill 481, which requires law enforcement agencies to obtain approval from their governing body prior to purchasing, acquiring, or funding equipment defined as “military equipment.”

The City of Eureka adopted an ordinance to adhere to this state law, which also requires an annual report detailing the inventory, use, and oversight of such equipment. Additionally, City of Eureka Security Camera Use Policy 1.82 requires an annual report to City Council outlining how public safety cameras are utilized throughout the City of Eureka to support crime prevention, investigations, and public safety operations These reports are part of the Eureka Police Department’s ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and community engagement.

All reports can be found at this link or on the City of Eureka’s website.

PREVIOUSLY

• ‘Brighter Days Ahead’: Locals Rally to Save the Historic Fortuna Theatre
• After Suffering Water Damage Caused by the Earthquake, Fortuna Theatre is Still Closed and it Looks Like it Won’t Be Reopening Any Time Soon

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The 6.4 magnitude quake that rattled Humboldt County almost four years ago damaged homes, destroyed infrastructure, and displaced five dozen people in Rio Dell. It also forced the Fortuna Theatre to stop screening films: a broken sprinkler system caused severe structural damage. It’s been shuttered since. 

Its closure may be a minor tragedy compared to the rest of the carnage the earthquake wrought, but a few years of neglect hasn’t been easy on the theater. Its marquee, huge and unlit, is visible from both ends of Main Street. The interior has degraded, and vandals shattered the 90-year-old tempered glass on the ticket booth last week. It’s becoming an “attractive nuisance,” as theater advocate Linda Rasmussen put it, but there may be a renaissance in its future. The city of Fortuna and the group that wants to save it have a shot at purchasing it.

California’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program funds local projects in rural areas that benefit the impoverished. Fortuna’s city council decided at a meeting last week that they’d apply for up to $1 million from the program; if the application is successful, the city will lend the money to the Fortuna Theatre Foundation, a group dedicated to the theater’s repair and re-opening. The foundation would use the cash to buy the theater; the loan will be paid back over the next 30 years at an interest rate of 3%. Fortuna wouldhold a lien on the theater. California will reveal the grant’s recipients in September.

Linda Rasmussen, a founder and advocate for the foundation, told the Outpost that the city had been keeping them updated on funding opportunities, and let them know about the CDBG program. She was astounded when Fortuna approved their application.

“I was stunned,” Rasmussen said. “I’m like, ‘Whoa, they voted that through.’ Then I was excited. Then I’m scared too, because there’s a lot of work. I’m scared about the volume of work that’s going to have to be done.”

The Fortuna Theatre Foundation aims to purchase and refurbish the theater, restoring it to its pre-earthquake condition and resuming film screenings. (The foundation has yet to work out what kinds of films they’ll screen; they’re also considering building out a stage for live shows and looking into opening a small arcade in the building as well.) If the application is successful and the foundation manages to buy it, they’ll fulfill the requirement to benefit low-income people by giving them jobs at the theater. 

It’s an important project, Rasmussen said. Like many small towns, Fortuna has increasingly fewer and fewer places to hang out and gather outside the home and workplace. She said she talked to one recent high school graduate who started high school right around the time the theater shut down. She was disappointed they never got a chance to do the “whole high school thing” and go to the movies without their parents tagging along, Rasmussen said. Its appearance is also a problem. 

“It’s just a drag on the whole main street to see that marquee dead,” Rasmussen said. “To me, that’s the primary visual. It’s the character of a town, especially one small as ours.”

The foundation needs about $1.1 million to buy the theater, according to their website. The current theater owner David Corkill is willing to sell, according to Rasmussen and Fortuna’s senior planner Katey Schmidt. He and the foundation are working on setting up a property appraisal. Rasmussen said there’s already been some work done on the theater: the sprinklers have been fixed, and a crew will tear out the destroyed seats and walls later this month. 

The city already has much of the money they’d use to fund the theater’s purchase. Fortuna’s earned about $910,000 in ongoing revenue from past programs CDBG money funded, much of it debt repayment from ‘90s-era housing rehabilitation loans. Under federal law, money made from previous CDBG programs has to be re-invested in other low-income focused programs, though it can only be used on state-approved programs. If the money isn’t used, it has to go back to the state.

Fortuna did entertain another potential CDBG application from the Blue Timber Real Estate Company, but decided their proposal wasn’t “application ready.”

“The Fortuna community cares about this theater, and it’s not okay to have it become an attractive nuisance,” Rasmussen said. “Someday it’ll be worse. Everyone gets annoyed when I say the word ‘blight,’ by the way, but it’s going to get there. I know Fortuna is really interested in revitalizing the town. And really — you can’t do that without our theater.”

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

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California sued the Trump administration Monday to block what it says is an unprecedented power grab: using emergency authority to force the restart of an offshore oil operation shut down more than a decade ago.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, argues a March 13 order by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright oversteps his authority under the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era law.

“No matter how much President Trump may claim there’s a so-called national energy emergency — it’s just not true,” Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters. “The U.S. already produces significantly more oil and gas than we use — it’s a completely fabricated claim intended to curry favor with the oil industry.”

The legal fight pits the Trump administration and Sable Offshore Corp. against California officials and environmental groups – and comes as fuel prices jump in the wake of the Iran conflict. Sable, which bought the system from ExxonMobil in 2024, has told investors that production could increase from about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to more than 50,000 if it restarts, sending oil to refineries in Los Angeles, Bakersfield and the Bay Area.

California argues the emergency powers law is meant to prioritize contracts during emergencies — not to override state law or force a pipeline restart. The state says the administration failed to meet the law’s basic requirements, including showing an actual energy shortage.

Wright’s order marked the most aggressive federal intervention yet in a yearslong dispute. A March 3 legal opinion from the U.S. Justice Department had laid the groundwork, concluding that the emergency order could preempt state law — and even override a 2020 federal consent decree requiring approval from the California State Fire Marshal before the pipeline can restart.

Environmental groups and experts have argued that forcing the pipeline back into production would not lower gasoline prices but would put coastal wildlife at risk and set a troubling precedent for federal power over state law. The Trump administration has long sought to expand offshore oil leasing along the West Coast, which has drawn fierce opposition in California.

Sable is facing mounting legal pressure on multiple fronts. In December, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration ruled that the infrastructure qualifies as an interstate pipeline and issued an emergency permit approving a restart plan — a move environmental groups and the state of California challenged. That case is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In February, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge ordered the pipeline to remain shut down, ruling that earlier federal intervention was not enough to override an injunction requiring Sable to obtain state approvals before restarting.

Representatives for Sable, the Energy Department and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.