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Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

On March 31, 2026, at approximately 8:00 a.m., Officers with the Eureka Police Department (EPD) responded to Sangha Tattoo Studio in the 500 block of F Street for a report of a burglary.

Upon arrival, officers discovered that multiple windows to the business had been broken, and access had possibly been made to the interior. Officers conducted a search of the building and did not locate any suspects inside.

Officers obtained video surveillance footage from nearby businesses, which showed a male subject wearing a facial covering breaking the windows of the business.

Video footage indicates the incident occurred at approximately 1:00 a.m. Additionally, a vehicle described as a silver or gray Ford truck was observed parking near the business prior to the incident and leaving the area shortly after the incident occurred.

The investigation is ongoing.

The Eureka Police Department is requesting anyone with information related to this incident to contact the Criminal Investigations Unit at 707-441-4300.

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After nearly 30 years in business, the New Harris General Store is closing its doors. 

“We have done everything we could to keep the store open. We have poured our time, our energy, our hearts, and our resources into it, even working without pay at times and investing more than we will ever recover financially,” the owners wrote in a statement posted to Facebook, which can be read in full below. “In the end, we have had to face the reality that it is no longer sustainable to continue.”

For decades, the family-owned business has served as the only grocery store for folks living in the far reaches of Southern Humboldt, offering organic food, plant starts, homemade baked goods and countless other handcrafted items. But beyond the goodies and the groceries, the New Harris Store has provided a place to gather with neighbors and friends. It will be sorely missed.

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Dear Friends and Community,

After much reflection, many long conversations, and every effort we could possibly make, Rob and I have made the difficult decision to close our The New Harris General Store.

This has not been an easy choice. For nearly 30 years, (27 years with doors open, many years in preparation) this store has been far more than a business to us. It has been a place of service, connection, friendship, and community. It has been one of the great honors of our lives to welcome you here, serve you, and be part of the everyday rhythm of this place we love.

We have done everything we could to keep the store open. We have poured our time, our energy, our hearts, and our resources into it, even working without pay at times and investing more than we will ever recover financially. In the end, we have had to face the reality that it is no longer sustainable to continue.

There is real sadness in this ending. There is also relief in knowing we gave it everything we had. We can close this chapter with clear hearts, knowing how much love and care lived here.

We want you to know how deeply grateful we are for your support over all these years. Thank you for your loyalty, your kindness, your stories, your friendship, and your trust. Thank you for allowing us to serve you and to be woven into the life of this community for so long.

Watching our community change and dwindle has been hard, and saying goodbye to this chapter is painful. But we are not leaving. We love this community deeply, and we will continue to be here, redirecting our energy into new ways of doing what we love and of supporting the place and people we care about.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for close to 30 years of love and connection. We will always treasure the memories, the relationships, and the privilege of having been part of your lives.
With love and heartfelt gratitude, Kim,  Rob, Terra, Jeff and Family.
We still have many items for sale, come in, call, come by say hi, we’ll be here for a bit longer, Monday through Friday 11:00 to 5:00.

Mark Kelly Reed
September 18. 1957 - March 17, 2026

Mark Kelly Reed was born in Eureka on September 18, 1957 and passed away peacefully in his sleep on March 17, 2026. He was preceded in death by his father, Jerry Hayes Reed; his mother, Clara Mae Reed; and his brother Jerry Reed. He leaves behind his loving wife of 30 years, Patricia Reed. Mark was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, uncle and loyal friend who will always be remembered for his big heart, generosity and a love he shared with everyone who knew him.

Mark graduated from Eureka High School and followed in his mother’s footsteps, building a career as a realtor for 25 years. He later worked as a property manager and also spent 10 years working along side his mother as a bail bondsman. He took pride in his work, but what mattered most to him was always his family and the people he loved.

Mark had a deep love for music and the outdoors. Some of his happiest times were spent camping at Shasta Lake and in Redding, surrounded by family and friends. He loved being out on the water, taking his boats out for a cruise and enjoying life with those closest to him. His final trip was one he truly treasured, renting a luxury houseboat so he could bring together his closest family and friends for one more special time filled with love and memories.

Mark was well loved by many and had countless close friends. He was the kind of person you could always count on, never hesitating to help someone in need. His kindness, sense of humor, and loyalty left a lasting impression on everyone fortunate enough to know him. He was also a long time NASCAR fan and enjoyed watching races whenever he could.

Mark is survived by his nephew, Jerred Reed; his sister, Lori Reed; his step-sister, Ava Blackwell; his adopted daughter, Sara Balke; his grandchildren, Justin and Emily; along with many extended family members and dear friends who will forever hold his memory in their hearts.

Mark will be forever loved, deeply missed, and always remembered.

A celebration of his life will be held at Trinidad Town Hall on April 12, 2026 between 1 and 5 p.m. For more information, please call Patty Reed at (707) 498-6889.

The family would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to Coral Rainey for the kindness, compassion, and loving care she provided to Mark in his final days.

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

Alan Duane Wright passed away on March 24, 2026, in Eureka at the age of 76, with his daughter Lena by his side.

Alan was born to Donald and Lois (Hoskins) Wright on April 25, 1949 in Eureka. He was the second child born of three children to Donald and Lois. Donna was first in 1948 and Marlena last in 1953. The family moved to High Street in Eureka in 1950 and lived there for many years. Alan attended Alice Birney School, Jacobs Junior High School and Eureka High School. Alan was in high school when he started working at the Eureka Seafood Grotto on Broadway as a dishwasher, then cook and then manager and chef. Over the years he also cooked for The Café Marina, The Cabaret, The Cutten Inn and Coney Island. He also worked for many years with the Mission Linen Co.

Alan loved motorcycles like his father and was a fan of NASCAR Racing. Alan was outgoing, loved people and was always joking and laughing. In 1969 he married Judy Delp and together they had two children — Lena and Brian Wright.

Alan is survived by his daughter Lena Kestler and his son Brian (Shari) Wright and daughter Elleigh. He is also survived by his grandchildren Alyshea Molina and Jada Wright, his great-grandchildren Uriah and Sequoia Funk and October Wright. Also surviving are his two sisters, Donna (Michael) Heuer and Marlena (Billy) Gillespie; his brother Dennis Wright; his aunt and uncle Lynda (Jack) Murphy; his nephew Jody Ables; his nieces Tiffany McLearn and Traci Walden. He also leaves behind cousins Michael Shaffer, Mickey Harris and Chuck Wright.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Lois Wright (1999); his father, Donald Wright (2011); his nephew Tyler Walden (2000); his cousin Renee Stillramm (2025); his cousin Linda Skaife (2025); and the love of his life, Judy Wright Davis (2023).

The family would like to thank the Ida Emmerson Hospice of Humboldt, the Senior Resource Center and The PACE program for all they did to help and care for Alan. The family also wants to say thank you to Cindy Hermes, Rebecca Thurman Barbara McGee and Lynden Jacaway for their loyal friendship and love. The family would also like to thank Dr. Angela Smith with the Kidney Care Services of Humboldt for the care she gave to Alan.

Alan had a song he used to sing — “Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day!” He will rest in peace at Ocean View Cemetery Eureka alongside his family in the Wright family plot. There will be a celebration of life planned at a later date. Memorial donations may be made in Alan’s memory to Ida Emmerson Hospice of Humboldt or The Senior Resource Center.

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

If you live and vote in Shelter Cove or the Trinidad area, your June 2026 ballot will come with the question of raising local property taxes.

Shelter Cove’s Resort Improvement District is seeking capital for big water infrastructure replacement projects, while the Trinidad Union School District is looking for voters to sign off on bonds to fund a spread of upgrades and repairs.

Measure A: Shelter Cove Wants to Replace 60-Year-Old Infrastructure

Shelter Cove’s Resort Improvement District No. 1 — the entity tasked with providing utilities and emergency services to the far-flung community on the Lost Coast — is asking for property owners to agree to a $60 per-year increase on the special utilities, improvement and operations tax. The tax, at $80 since 1981, would total $140 annually if approved.

Funds are needed, District General Manager Christopher Christianson tells the Outpost, because of two huge projects they want to take on.

District engineers previously estimated replacing the cove’s water treatment plant will cost $6.4 million, and the replacement of four water storage tanks will cost $3.3 million. Three of these tanks broke during the Dec. 2024 earthquake as they lack seismic features, but were repaired.

Christianson said the District is maintaining the infrastructure, but wants to be proactive with replacement.

“They started with the District in 1965, so it’s time. This kind of infrastructure lasts 40 to 50 years. We’re over 60 now,” he said.

Christianson said, when applying for loans or grants for replacement, they’ve found the District often needs to match up to 25% of funds to qualify, hence the need for funding.

He said the only methods to boost revenue are property taxes and utility rate increases. But the district just came off a five year rate increase. And while Shelter Cove has just around 650 utility customers, there’s about 3,850 property owners.

“If we can spread out the costs over that bigger pool, it’s less of an impact on the ratepayers,” he said.

The District estimates, if Measure A is approved, the tax will generate an additional $231,000 on top of the existing $308,000 revenue — totaling $539,000 annually.

The last two attempts to increase this particular tax, in 1993 and 1994, failed to meet the required two-thirds majority. This time around, the district is asking for a more modest increase. But Christianson says the election could still be a nail biter, like a 2017 fire tax measure that passed by a single vote.

Two-thirds of the funds would legally be required to pay for capital improvements to the utility systems, while the remaining one-third could be used for operating the systems. There is no sunset to the tax.

There’s some other projects the district wants to tackle — like upgrades to the generator plant, repairs to water and sewer mains, backhoe replacement, and upgrades to the wastewater treatment infrastructure, for example.

“We’ve been in the red for a few years now, budget-wise, so [we’re] trying to help our budgets and not impact the ratepayers as much as a rate increase would,” said Christianson.

People registered to vote in Shelter Cove will weigh in on Measure A in the June 2 election.

For the full ordinance, click here.

To read an argument in support, click here.

Measure B: School Repair Bonds an ‘Investment in the Future of Trinidad’

The Trinidad Union School District, which operates a TK-8 with 166 registered students, has been discussing the idea to issue school bonds for the past few months to pay for a spread of repairs and upgrades.

The district is asking for voter approval to issue up to $4 million in general obligation bonds. This will spell out an average annual tax rate of about $30 per $100,000 of assessed property value within the district, a tax that would end in 2059-2060.

The infrastructure repairs, said Superintendent and Principal Alyse Nichols, come down to fixing infrastructure and making the building more secure, modern and dry.

“We’ve got classrooms that leak whenever it rains. Our windows are beginning to fail, our fence around our kindergarten classroom needs to be replaced,” she told the Outpost. Bathrooms also need to be updated for accessibility, technology needs to be updated and furnaces need to be replaced, she said.

Some buildings are about 50 years old. The last time the District issued a bond was 15 years ago, an effort that updated classrooms and brought the school a multipurpose room and an aftercare facility.

Nichols said the district has a facilities fund, but it’s mostly used for smaller repairs.

“We go after bonds because the repairs are just so expensive that we don’t have millions of dollars in our reserves that we can put towards the infrastructure projects that we need,” she said. The tax is estimated to generate an average revenue of $265,000 a year, according to the measure.

55% of voters need to support the measure to pass. With a recent District survey finding high approval, Nichols is hopeful it will go through.

“I like to think of it as a central point in the community. And any investment we do there is going to impact the whole town, and it’s also going to impact our kids. So it’s an investment in the future of Trinidad,” she said.

The school has students hailing from McKinleyville north to Orick.

According to the measure, the total debt service including the principal and interest that would be required to be repaid if all the bonds are issued and sold is estimated at $12,650,000. The tax, used to pay off the bonds and the interest, would begin in 2028-29, if approved.

The school board would establish an Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee to oversee the measure. The funds can’t be used for teacher or administrator salaries.

Those in the Trinidad Union School District — which includes a stretch of land including Westhaven and Trinidad — will weigh in on the measure come June.

For the ordinance, click here.

To read an argument in support, click here.

Apparently, Arcata is responsible for its own tourism website, and, well, it ain’t really up to snuff. 

The city’s tourist-attracting vehicle, VisitArcata.com, currently presents a pretty surface-level overview of what’s worth doing and where’s worth staying. You can probably already guess the included imperatives: Watch a Crabs game! Stay at the Hotel Arcata! Go to the community forest and Moonstone Beach and the Farmers Market! So on and so forth. But it’s a tad out-of-date, and there’s an item on tomorrow’s city council agenda allowing city staff to consider putting out a notice letting design consultants know they can bid on a chance to fix it up. 

The site is “outdated in terms of design, functionality, accessibility, and user experience,” reads a staff report. “Additionally, evolving expectations, integration with social media, and accessibility compliance standards (including ADA requirements) necessitate a comprehensive review and potential modernization of the platform.”

A brief perusal confirms the soundness of that idea. Much of the info on the site is cloistered, difficult to access, and not particularly fetching. Some of it stopped being correct several years ago. (The long-shuttered event venue The Jam earned a few mentions.)

There’s no budget allotted for the site’s maintenance and no time to do it anyway, claims the report; everyone from community members to the city council to city staff to the chamber of commerce wants it revamped. 

An article on the annual lantern floating ceremony, held to remember the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and honor the hundreds of thousands of victims, also exhorts visitors to “spend some time in town and Shop!” before the ceremony, with a link to the site’s page on shopping, which is just a map of members of the Arcata Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber’s executive director, Meredith Maier, told the Outpost that she’d like to go even further and let the chamber run the website. They get calls a few times a day from people interested in visiting , and it’d be easier to have a pretty, well-functioning website to direct them to, one that presents Arcata as an excellent “base camp” to explore the county at large. They already have the staff, the knowledge, and the connections to do it, Maier said. 

“We’d keep it fresh and up-to-date,” Maier said. “…The site, as it is now, is not dynamic, it is not something tourists are obviously going to because we’re the ones that are fielding the calls from people that are coming to town.”

The item is on the consent calendar and will almost certainly pass. If approved, the city is recommending a budget of $25,000 for the project. 

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It’s supposed to rain a lot in March, especially here in Humboldt County — but that has not been the case this year.

Eureka averages about five and a half inches of precipitation in March, but the 2026 version has delivered less than half an inch, according to data from the National Weather Service. And with none in the forecast today, we can go ahead and mark this down in the record books as the city’s driest March since 1926 and the second-driest since modern record-keeping began in 1886.

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While the National Weather Service has just the one measuring station in the county, this super-dry spell has been “pretty similar across the board in Humboldt,” meteorologist Jacob Boomsma told the Outpost in a phone interview earlier today. 

To zoom out a little bit, Eureka’s rainfall remains at about 88% of normal for the current water year, meaning the 12-month period that starts each October 1. That’s largely due to some very wet weather in the second half of December and the first week or so of January. 

“So we’re doing pretty good this year for precipitation, but March really fell off,” Boomsma said.

You can see that reflected in the graph below, which shows the observed rain accumulation hitting a stark plateau late last month.

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This mini-drought is also reflected in the depleted snowpack across the northern Sierra Nevada and Trinity Alps. Snow accumulation has been well below average since the beginning of the water year and has now almost entirely disappeared, as shown in the below graph from the California Department of Water Resources.

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The snowpack in Trinity County is less than 5% of normal, according to Boomsma, though he said that has less to do with a lack of precipitation than with warm temperatures, which caused that precipitation to fall as rain.

We’re not alone in this trend, either. This has been among the driest and warmest Marches on record across much of California. On March 19, Ukiah tied its record high March temperature of 91 degrees, set in 1914. San Francisco recorded its first-ever 90 degree March temperature on the 20th, and its total rainfall this month, 0.06 inches, is barely above the record low for March of 0.03 inches, set in 1923.

Across much of the American West, temperatures have been 3 to 9 degrees above normal, according to the Climate Prediction Center. Scientists overwhelmingly agree that human-caused climate change is exacerbating volatility in the weather, which can be especially catastrophic here in California given our susceptibility to drought, wildfires, landslides and other extremes.

But good news is on the horizon — for the short term, anyway. 

“A cold spring storm will bring rain and high mountain snow to Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity and portions of Mendocino and Lake Counties Wednesday into Thursday,” the NWS Eureka forecast says.

“That should help a bit,” Boomsma said. With fire season around the corner, he and his colleagues are keeping their eyes on fuel moisture, meaning the amount of water in vegetation and dead organic matter.

“We did have some record dry fuels a week or two ago, but this next storm looks like it will correct things back to where they should be,” Boomsma said. “So it’s not the end of the world yet.”