California enacted a number of AI regulations in 2025, often in watered-down form. The Dreamforce conference hosted by Salesforce in San Francisco on Sept. 18, 2024. Photo by Florence Middleton for CalMatters
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California showed it was serious about regulating Big Tech in 2025 — and Big Tech showed it was serious about coming to the statehouse and fighting back.
The upshot was a barrage of laws designed to curb tech harms but often in watered down form.
Take San Francisco Democratic Sen. Scott Weiner’s legislation to keep artificial intelligence systems from enabling catastrophes like biological weapons attacks. The original version would have mandated safeguards over AI systems and imposed possible liability on their developers.Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed it amid concerns that it would stifle innovation in the state’s booming AI industry. This year’s version, signed into law, merely requires big AI companies to publish safety frameworks and creates a pathway for reporting safety incidents.
Still, advocates for more regulation won some outright victories, including a new browser setting to forbid websites from transferring personal data. Experts say this “opt out” will end up helping consumers across the U.S.
Meanwhile, California’s executive branch struggled with the process of guarding against online hackers, losing its top cybersecurity official amid discord in the office that position oversees. Law enforcement agencies across the state also struggled to correctly handle the digital data they collected, with many local police departments illegally sharing information on vehicle movements, gleaned from automated license plate readers, with federal agencies like Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
2026 outlook
Next year will see no end to the tension between protecting Californians from artificial intelligence and the impulse to protect the flow of money into the industry. An ambitious bill requiring disclosure of AI use in consequential decisions, such as in housing and education, will return. Data centers will stir controversy as AI spikes their power use, potentially opening the door to nuclear power. Lastly, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have drawn up proposals — thus far not acted upon — to preempt state laws regulating AI. If enacted, such plans would hit California hardest.
Firefighters work to put out a fire in the rubble of a home that burned down on Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, as a result of the Palisades Fire. Jan. 9, 2025. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters
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Days after 2025 began, two fires scorched through Los Angeles neighborhoods, the most destructive in California’s history. The Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires also renewed attention to issues such as utility oversight, insurance coverage, and the broader challenges of wildfire planning in a changing climate. And their harms rippled outward, leaving thousands of low-income workers and immigrants without jobs.
Nevertheless, as part of budget negotiations, Gov. Gavin Newsom sought to reauthorize California’s landmark cap-and-trade program, launching a debate that would resolve in the final hours of the legislative session.
Blaming climate and environmental regulation, Phillips 66 and Valero followed through on plans to shutter oil refineries, raising concerns about gas prices and the future of the state’s oil industry. In Wilmington, Phillips 66 is now closed. A high-profile explosion at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery nearby underscored persistent safety and environmental risks tied to remaining facilities.
By the end of the legislative session, these issues converged, as legislators passed a six-bill deal that included a plan to boost oil drilling, relief for ratepayers who fund wildfire mitigation, and an extension of the now rebranded “cap-and-invest” program.
As lawmakers passed sweeping reforms to California’s landmark environmental review law, critics warned exemptions may make it easier for potentially high-polluting advanced manufacturing facilities to take root in already vulnerable areas.
Affordability, the cost of climate adaptation, and pollution harms, in the skies and in the waste stream, continue to be key issues for California. As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s balancing act continues, the state will navigate tensions with environmental justice advocates unhappy with compromises. Emerging risks include the cost – in energy and water – of data centers, and the environmental consequences of the battery economy.
Gabriela
“Gabi” Anne Didion December 29, 1994 — November 28, 2025
Gabriela
“Gabi” Didion was born on December 29, 1994, in Pasadena,
California. She studied mathematics at the University of California,
Santa Cruz, before moving to Arcata in 2019. Prior to settling in
Humboldt County, Gabi lived in Santa Cruz, where she also formed many
meaningful friendships that remained important to her throughout her
life.
From
a young age, Gabi carried a strong sense of acceptance, warmth, and
quiet strength that naturally drew people toward her. She had an
unmistakable spirit — resilient, compassionate, intelligent, and
deeply alive — and she showed up for others with sincerity and
heart, even if it sometimes took hours for her to get there. To know
Gabi was to feel seen, supported, and genuinely cared for.
Gabi
loved good food, travel, spending time with friends, and the finer
things in life. She had a keen eye for clothes and jewelry, a deep
appreciation for beauty, and a natural affinity for her home, her
plants, and the spaces she nurtured.
She
was a huge and vital part of her community and a friend to many. Gabi
had a rare ability to connect people from all walks of life, bringing
warmth and humanity wherever she went. She carried herself with
courage and resilience through life’s challenges, maintaining a
positive and hopeful spirit even in moments of uncertainty. Her
laughter, sense of humor, presence, and loyalty will be remembered by
all who were fortunate enough to share life and space with her.
Gabi
was a beloved daughter, friend, community member and radiant
presence in the lives of so many.
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The obituary above was submitted by Gabi Didion’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 California Department of Fish & Wildlife:
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is initiating efforts in northern California to capture deer, elk and wolves by helicopter and outfit the animals with GPS collars.
Helicopter captures for deer and elk will be conducted in portions of Alameda, Colusa, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Santa Clara, Sierra, Siskiyou and Tehama counties throughout the month of January 2026.
Capturing and collaring mule deer, tule, and Rocky Mountain elk improves CDFW’s understanding of species distribution, habitat use, abundance, migration patterns, recruitment rates and survival.
Capture teams will be targeting wolves in Siskiyou, Lassen and Tehama counties and potentially other uncollared packs or wolf groups in Modoc, Shasta and Plumas counties. Any captured wolves will be returned to the nearest suitable public land habitat after processing.
Deployed collars will transmit data to CDFW scientists daily for up to three years and provide detailed information about animal movements, habitat preferences and locations. For collared wolves specifically, CDFW will share animal location information with cattle and sheep producers with the goal of reducing negative interactions with the understanding GPS tracking collars do not transmit data in real-time. Wolf movement and location data will automatically feed into CDFW’s online Wolf Tracker mapping tool.
Wildlife capture operations will take place on lands managed by CDFW, the USDA Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management as well as on private properties with permission from landowners. CDFW is grateful to the USDA Forest Service, BLM, timberland owners and other private parties for providing access to their lands for these wildlife capture efforts.
A collision took place in Eureka today at the intersection of Hodgson and H streets. | Photo via EPD.
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Eureka Police Commander Leonard La France tells the Outpost via email that the incident described below (and pictured above) marks the third injury-inducing traffic collision today.
Press release from the Eureka Police Department:
On December 29, 2025, at approximately 11:15 a.m., EPD Patrol Officers responded to the intersection of H Street and Hodgson Street following a report of an injury traffic collision.
Upon arrival, officers located a collision involving three vehicles, one of which had rolled over. At least one individual sustained injuries and was transported to a local hospital; the injuries appeared to be non-life-threatening. Preliminary investigation indicates the collision was caused by one of the drivers failing to yield to oncoming traffic. Alcohol or impairment do not appear to be a factor.
This incident remains an active investigation. Anyone who witnessed the collision or has information that may assist investigators is urged to contact the Eureka Police Department at 707-441-4300 (Officer Sollom).
This collision underscores an ongoing concern for traffic safety within our community.
Compared to 2024, during the first eleven months of 2025, EPD increased traffic enforcement efforts by 233%, from 2,415 traffic stops to 8,060. These efforts include addressing speeding on major roadways, distracted driving, unsafe driving behaviors, driving under the influence, and reckless driving. EPD has also taken steps to arrest drivers operating vehicles at dangerous speeds and in a reckless manner throughout the city.
In addition to enforcement, EPD has launched public awareness efforts such as the Slow Down Eureka campaign, increased transparency by sharing information about significant collisions, and ongoing advocacy for improved traffic control measures at high-risk locations.
Despite these efforts, overall traffic collisions have only decreased slightly (by approximately 3%) and officers continue to observe dangerous driving behaviors that negatively impact the safety and well-being of our community.
EPD no longer has a dedicated Traffic Unit, meaning traffic enforcement is handled by a small number of Patrol Officers (often only four to six) who must balance these efforts while responding to emergency calls across the city. Despite these limitations, EPD remains committed to improving roadway safety; however, enforcement alone is not enough to address the ongoing challenges we face. We need the community’s help.
Drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists all play a critical role in roadway safety. We ask everyone to slow down, remain alert, be patient, and follow the rules of the road. Take extra time to look both ways (more than once) before entering intersections, and pause briefly when a traffic light turns green to ensure it is safe to proceed.
Together, through shared responsibility and awareness, we can reduce preventable collisions and make Eureka’s roadways safer for everyone.
Jenny Creek along the Klamath River. | Image courtesy KILT and PacifiCorp.
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Press release from the Klamath Indigenous Land Trust and PacifiCorp:
Klamath Basin, CA/OR — Today, as salmon return to the headwaters of the Klamath River for the first time in over a century, the newly formed Klamath Indigenous Land Trust (KILT) and PacifiCorp announced the landmark purchase of 10,000 acres in and around the former reservoir reach of the river. This transaction represents one of the largest private land purchases by an Indigenous-led land trust in U.S. history.
“Dam removal allowed the salmon to return home. Returning these lands to Indigenous care ensures that home will be a place where they can flourish and recover,” said Molli Myers (Karuk), President of the Klamath Indigenous Land Trust Board of Directors. “Our communities spent generations fighting for this moment and we honor our ancestors who carried this vision forward. The healing that’s underway is real, and this acquisition reflects the future we’re building together as People of the Klamath Basin.
PacifiCorp, the previous landowner, partnered with KILT to complete the sale following a decades long Indigenous-led effort to remove four dams on the Klamath River, completed last year. The purchase includes lands upstream and adjacent to the former hydropower project that are central to the future health of the river and its fisheries. With this transfer, stewardship of these lands will be guided by Indigenous values and ecological restoration goals for the first time in over a century.
“PacifiCorp is gratified to see these lands transition to a stewardship model that honors their cultural and ecological significance,” said Ryan Flynn, president of Pacific Power, the division of PacifiCorp that serves customers in California, Oregon and Washington. “We recognize the leadership of the Klamath Basin Tribes and KILT in shaping a restoration vision that will benefit the entire region.”
KILT was formed by Indigenous leaders from four different Klamath Basin Tribes who met after the 2002 Fish Kill and spent the next two decades committed to the grass roots movement to un-dam the Klamath and bring their salmon home. “We are from different Tribes and we each have our own cultural traditions, but it was through working together and by bringing Tribal People from all over the Basin together that created this moment,” said KILT Board Vice President Wendy Ferris-George (Hupa/Karuk).
With the acquisition complete, KILT’s next steps include developing comprehensive land management plans with input from area Tribes, ensuring stewardship reflects both cultural values and ecological priorities. These plans will address habitat recovery, cultural resource protection, fire management, and public access considerations.
“This is the next chapter in the Klamath River’s renewal,” Board member Jeff Mitchell (Klamath/Modoc) added. “It’s proof that Indigenous leadership and community partnerships can achieve transformational change at a landscape scale.”
Funding for the purchase was kindly provided by The Catena Foundation, the Community Foundation of New Jersey, and an anonymous donor.
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About KILT:
The Klamath Indigenous Land Trust was formed last year by a group of colleagues and friends who worked together for over two decades on the Bring the Salmon Home campaign that led to the eventual removal of the lower four Klamath River dams. KILT’s Mission is to protect and preserve land for the benefit of Klamath Basin Tribal communities and to advance public interest purposes such as fish and wildlife habitat restoration and enhancement, public education, and public recreational access. In this way we seek to empower Klamath Basin tribal communities by providing them with greater control over their land and resources through facilitating and supporting land returns, conservation easements, and other mechanisms.
About PacifiCorp:
PacifiCorp is one of the lowest-cost electrical providers in the United States, serving more than 2 million customers. The company operates as Rocky Mountain Power in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming and as Pacific Power in California, Oregon and Washington. PacifiCorp provides safe and reliable service through a vast, integrated system of generation and transmission that connects communities with the largest regulated utility owner of wind power in the West. For more information, visit PacifiCorp.com.
We made an AI image to illustrate this story and it came out really stupid and funny, but since you guys always bitch about AI art you get this Unsplash image instead. Happy?
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It is time, once again, to take stock of your Humboldt County Year That Was through the lens of “The Only Metric That Matters”™ — that is, the number of clicks on the Lost Coast Outpost website. It is the secret clave to which the county danced the year away. Or maybe it is the sphygmomanometer that gives us the deepest insight into the health of the patient. You are welcome to invent your own metaphor.
Looking over the list, I’d say the main theme that emerges, here amid the natural disasters and goofball features and one-off tragedies, is this: Change.
Of course there’s big change at the federal level, which trickles down to the ground sooner or later, but there is also strictly Humboldt-level change that would likely have proceeded regardless of who took office at the beginning of the year. Institutional change at Cal Poly Humboldt. Changes in the very courses of the Eel River and the Klamath River. A promised fix to the biggest problem that has plagued our principal highway for years. A change in Eureka’s long relationship with Walmart, even.
In 2025 we experienced these changes, or we dreamed of them, or we feared them, or we protested them. The world coming is not the world we knew. We are going to have to make new maps.
Very strange and sad case of an apparently mentally unwell young man — later determined to be an out-of-towner named Nicholas Anderson — acting weird and threatening, eventually pulling a knife and charging at deputies.
This was a very short and sweet breaking news kind of story that ended up hitting pretty hard. Yes, Cal Poly Humboldt’s continued emergence from the chrysalis of Humboldt State was no big surprise, but what if they discontinued your old major? What if you had been an economics student?
On the day after Christmas, two Calmatters stories about new laws for 2026 pop up in the feed. One is about new rules for car sales. The other is about the very sanctity of our precious bodily fluids. In MAHA Humboldt, which do you think charted?
Anyway, tortilla-makers are now required to include a vitamin essential to a successful pregnancy in their products — one that Latina women, generally, happen to be a bit more deficient in than women from other populations. So there you go.
These golden mussels sound like a major pain in the keister. Humboldt was primed for the story, as the local water district had sounded the alarm a month earlier. For now, Ruth Lake remains mussel-free. But that requires constant vigilance, especially from you motor boat owners.
This story sucked. I used to belong to a Facebook group of independent news outlets across the country. It was a place for local-level reporters to talk shop. When the Outpost was trying to figure out what to do with this — whether or not we should run something about it — I sent a message to the group with my quandary. I said: We got this flyer in the mail that threatens to launch a campaign of vandalism against local Tesla owners. Police say they’re aware of it. We’re trying to figure out whether or not we should run a story about it. What do you think?
The responses from our peers fell into two categories. Both of them were idiotic.
The first category of response was: What? Why would you censor the news? This is an organized campaign of violence! Your readers will want to know about it! I bet it will get lots of clicks!
The second category of response was: Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you publish a story. Immediately notify police and turn over all your material to them! Otherwise you are party to a crime!
That is when I bid this Facebook group adieu.
Eventually we decided that the fact that the flyers were getting police attention (without our help) made posting a story about them worthwhile, even though it was clear that the dipshit who was making them — “one idiot with a brick, a stamp and a printer,” as commenter Phyllobates terribilis would put it — was begging for our platform to amplify his would-be reign of terror.
And then, of course, every content mill in this stupid nation called us and tried to get us to give them hi-res versions of the letter, including the postmark and whatnot, so they could play true-crime and pretend to crack the case themselves. Of course we did not, and of course this wave of organized Tesla sabotage never came to pass.
This chonker was a whirlwind sensation when she first sashayed into her enclosure back in April, but as much as you loved her then you loved her even more when she was able to crash diet herself down to a more reasonable (though still far from svelte) body-mass index.
The (apparently) final chapter in the long drama over what to do with the big ol’ K-Mart at the south end of Eureka, which became a ghost building when Papa & Barkley — once the Great Green Hope of the local weed industry — closed its doors.
For a while a local school was looking at it. We heard a rumor that Tractor Supply Company was interested. Finally county government stepped in, with dreams of turning the spot into a customer-forward “one-stop shop” permitting center. Drive up, get your building permit and whatever else you might need, then be on your way! Easy peasy!
But those dreams were crushed when Walmart rolled up and offered more money, and so Walmart it will be. But what kind of Walmart? Not a whole lot can be said for certain at this point, but there are some indications that we’ll be getting a “Walmart Neighborhood Market” — essentially, a grocery store.
This one involved search warrants served at multiple locations throughout the county following a long-running undercover operation by a member of the Drug Task Force, in which the agent insinuated himself into the alleged dealer’s circle and made several illicit purchases before the Task Force brought the hammer down.
The Trump administration bans refugees, asylum seekers and DACA holders from operating large vehicles. Assault on the working poor or long-overdue corrective? People had opinions.
This was the very, very horrifying crash outside Leon’s Car Care Center that involved a young Fortuna woman who was apparently having a mental health crisis.
The prudish among you fainted when you saw the headline — even after all these years, you still do that! — but what do you call a person who continuously calls bomb threats into schools halfway across the country, as well as threats of violence to local businesses? Lots of things, probably, but “asshole” is a pretty good place to start.
This (alleged) asshole had been (allegedly) doing that for years, wreaking special havoc at McK High in particular, and everyone rejoiced at his long-delayed arrest.
This was the first of the big “No Kings” protests in downtown Eureka, and our Andrew Goff took a zillion photos of it.
The “No Kings” protests, if you haven’t been, are fun, positive community events. If you want to come to one in that spirit, you will have a good time. Meanness and lawlessness are strongly frowned upon.
That’s a long tunnel! It’ll take years and years, but it does look like California will someday solve the problem of Last Chance Grade — that section of Highway 101 just before Crescent City that is fast disappearing down the hillside— with a state-of-the-art supertunnel!
We dare you to try holding your breath through this one! For reference, the Randolph Collier Tunnel on Highway 199 is about a third as long, at 1,900 feet. The Robin Williams Tunnel, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, is only about 1,000 feet.
The first round of the DOGE firings hit in February, and they hit Humboldt’s natural resources sector pretty hard. Our Ryan Burns talked to several people who had been terminated from their positions at Six Rivers National Forest, the Fish and Wildlife Service, Redwood National Parks and elsewhere, all for basically no reason. It didn’t even save the federal government money, to speak of. It did cripple numerous federal institutions, so … good job?
It was brave of this 59-year-old man to get out of his car, on the highway, to try to render assistance to a bear who had been struck by a vehicle. Bravery is a virtue that our culture — rightly — celebrates and honors. There are other such virtues, too, but bravery is one of them.
Sanchez — a former Eureka Police Department sergeant — was on a construction crew, working on that stretch of Highway 36 just east of Swimmer’s Delight in the middle of the night, when the hillside slid again.
If you’re re-reading about all this today, you should also re-read the beautiful obituary written by her sister. We gather from the Facebook commentary that the woman who died in this terrible series of events was very much loved in the Fortuna area, and that many people were left despondent by this incident.
The excitement had been building in the weeks leading up to this, as local jurisdictions signed on to an agreement that would continue to send some water south in exchange for cash payment, but this was the big announcement: PG&E was officially getting itself out of the business of damming the Eel River! Humboldt County was happy. Sonoma County’s water agency was happy. Mendocino County’s water agency was happy. Environmentalists were happy. The Round Valley Tribes were happy. PG&E was happy.
Who was not happy? Lake County and a few Farm Bureau chapters. They eventually managed to get the ear of the Trump Administration, which sensed an opportunity to step in and make some headlines for itself. Now everything is uncertain.
A gargantuan 8.7 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Kamchatka, Russia prompted everyone in Humboldt to put their experience playing Risk to use for a night. The waves did strike Crescent City with some force, as they always do, but the tsunami had very little impact in Humboldt. No injuries, no property damage.
Now that we have some perspective on this: Didn’t it seem like a bit much? Like: Too much flooding for the amount of rain that fell? Doesn’t it seem like we’ve had a lot more rain with a lot less flooding? Where can I file a complaint?
