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Should the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office be subject to additional oversight through an independent, civilian-led system? If so, to what degree? And is it appropriate for the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors to seek increased oversight over another independently elected official?

The Board of Supervisors pondered those questions during a nearly three-hour discussion that stretched well into Tuesday evening. The board considered several strategies aimed at increasing accountability and fostering public trust in the department — which Sheriff William Honsal said was at an “all-time high” — including the development of a ballot measure that, if staff could meet the fast-approaching deadline, would be put to voters during the general election in November. 

Ultimately, the board wound up voting 4-1, with First District Supervisor Rex Bohn dissenting, to form an ad hoc committee that will work with staff to research and develop an ordinance that would create a civilian-led oversight system that would operate independently, but report to the Board of Supervisors. 

The ad hoc committee, made up of Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell and Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo, was instructed to return with a draft ordinance by the end of September. 

Why does HCSO need oversight now?

This latest push for independent oversight over the HCSO began about a month ago when a group of community members showed up to non-agenda public comment to urge the board to draft a ballot measure that would establish an independent oversight committee to oversee independent investigations into the department.

During a 15-minute opening statement, Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone, who sponsored the agenda item, explained why he thought additional oversight was needed. He recalled two years ago when the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury issued a report urging the county to increase independent oversight over the HCSO, which Honsal deemed unnecessary, asserting that he and his office had measures already in place to handle allegations of misconduct.

The board decided to form an ad hoc committee to look into it, but nothing ever came of it. 

Madrone | Screenshot

“I think a lot of the reason why communities have developed these oversight committees … has been because there’s a lack of trust when law enforcement does all of their reviews of everything in-house,” Madrone said. “And my focus here is to actually build trust in our law enforcement. … I believe that as we improve that trust, it increases the number of people that want to become deputies … because they’re more trusted in the community.”

On top of that, Madrone felt additional oversight, even if it involved paying an independent auditor or an inspector general, could actually save the county money in the long run.

“When we look at the cost [to] the county over the last 10 years, there’s been … almost $14 million in legal expenses and another $14 million in settlement costs,” he said. “The top two [county departments] on the list are social services and the sheriff’s department. Together, they account for $8 million of that $14 million … so they’re by far the largest proportion of our legal settlement costs.”

About ten minutes into his statement, Madrone described an incident that came to his attention involving two deputies and a “known person that does drugs” during a traffic stop in the Garberville area. The man was pulled over and asked to roll his window down, but he refused to comply and locked his door, prompting one of the deputies to smash his window and “put glass into the person’s eye.” 

“[It] really escalated this situation very rapidly,” Madrone said. “Luckily, there was another deputy there on the scene who was really good at deescalation. I will say, it’s been my experience that the vast majority of the deputies are incredibly responsible, dedicated individuals that do good stuff. But every now and then, there’s one person that maybe isn’t along with that.”

“As I understood it, you told us that the response to that critical incident — [which is what] I would call it, because it led to a lawsuit — was that that deputy was put in charge of deescalation training as a response to that situation,” he continued, speaking to Honsal. “I don’t know what reasonable person would think that taking a person that escalates a situation like that so quickly would be a good person to be training others. … There are many other cases I could point out that I thought that things were not handled well and were not really reviewed by anybody [outside of] law enforcement.”

About 30 seconds later, County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes interrupted Madrone and asked the board to take a quick recess. Madrone asked if he could finish his comments, to which Hayes responded, “That’s our concern. We’d like to talk with you, please.” 

He reassured Hayes that he wouldn’t wade into legal territory, and wrapped up his statement by outlining potential next steps for the board. He reiterated that there was a group of community members “ready to bring a ballot measure forward,” adding that the board could either work with the group to place an item on the ballot or staff could draft a county ordinance.

Following a 20-minute break, the board returned to the dais as though nothing had happened and continued its discussion. 

Arroyo acknowledged the recent “groundswell of interest” among community members, but felt interest in a civilian oversight committee for the HCSO has bubbled up off and on since the Civil Grand Jury report came out two years ago. She acknowledged that the ad hoc committee that was created in response to the report had only met once in that time.

“We have had prior conversations about this and, to be totally frank, it’s it puts us in an awkward situation when community members want us to have oversight of a very large, very complex office headed by an elected official who we are peers with,” she said, later adding that it’s a “little awkward” to “work with the sheriff on oversight for the sheriff.”

Arroyo said she would be “open to putting this on the ballot,” but emphasized that doing so was not intended as an attack on Honsal.

“[This] isn’t a statement of anything to do with our current sheriff,” she said. “I see this as an opportunity … to have some more transparency and trust developed in what [HCSO’s] processes are, and for folks to ultimately have more confidence in the systems that we have in place.”

Bohn | Screenshot

Bohn felt the whole proposal was completely unnecessary, given that Honsal’s “governing body” are the voters of Humboldt County. “If he’s not doing it right, he’s not staying, and I have full faith in that system,” he said. “We’ve got good people doing it, and I’m not gonna blow smoke up their heinies on that, but we’ve got good guys, and they’re led by good guys.”

Going back to the critical incident Madrone referenced earlier in the meeting, Bohn said, “[The driver] didn’t do what he was directed to do, and it escalated. Do what they ask, and it won’t escalate.” 

Bushnell asked if the call for independent oversight was triggered by a recent event. After being told that it hadn’t, she said she would be more comfortable with a signature-gathering campaign to put a measure on the ballot. “Those signatures [would indicate that] yeah, there’s 9,000 folks out there in our community of Humboldt that want this, and that’s really glaring,” she said.

Board Chair and Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson said he could understand concerns around transparency in law enforcement, noting that he had poor experiences as a younger person. “That was a long time ago, though, I want to just be really clear, I also have some very positive experiences with law enforcement as well.”

Wilson felt, if a measure were to appear on the ballot, that it would be very likely to pass. “My caution on that is when we go through that process and we create an ordinance through a ballot measure, it becomes very inflexible, and it becomes hard for us to manage [and] to make changes,” he said. “I would prefer that we do an ordinance through this board so that it allows us to amend it in the future in a much better, easier way.”

‘The sheriff is the subject matter expert’

Honsal delivered his own 20-minute statement after the board’s initial remarks. With Undersheriff Justin Braud seated at his side, Honsal emphasized that a sheriff is not beholden to a board or council. “The sheriff works for the people,” he said.

Honsal | Screenshot

“By electing the sheriff, the community ensures this role is directly accountable to the people they serve,” Honsal continued. “The electoral process allows residents to influence who manages our local law enforcement and how their concerns are addressed. The sheriff is the subject matter expert. The sheriff is the one that’s elected to oversee and have oversight over the sheriff’s office. … I’m the person that the people trust to oversee the sheriff’s office.”

Honsal also disputed the notion that “there’s some kind of mistrust” in his department. “I believe that the trust this community has with the sheriff’s office is at an all-time high, and I ask each one of you to prove me wrong,” he said.

Gesturing to two stacks of books and binders, Honsal emphasized that all of the HCSO’s policies and procedures can be found online, and said that anyone who has questions or concerns about the policies can request review. “Anyone can critically review these policies — you don’t have to be on an oversight committee,” he said. “We don’t necessarily advertise that this is going on because this is stuff that people do every day.”

Honsal also detailed how the sheriff’s office responds to critical incidents, which, depending on the severity, may be subject to review by the county’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT), including representatives from the local police departments, the District Attorney’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, and, in some cases, the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office and the California Department of Justice. 

For example, following an officer-involved shooting, the HCSO will issue a press release announcing a CIRT investigation. Once the investigation is complete, the DA will make a determination in the case. “The DA has not been opposed to criminally charging anyone with the sheriff’s office,” he said. “We’ve had cases and where, where sheriff’s office employees have been prosecuted under the law and convicted.”

As he concluded his statement, Honsal emphasized that “there is no evidence to support that this current system is not working.” He added that a civilian-led oversight committee, if it were formed, would serve as an advisory body to the board, but that’s where it’s power would end.

“They have no inherent authority over the office of the sheriff, and I think that’s very important,” he said. “This is the difference between what the City of Eureka has and what you’re proposing here. This committee … can’t institute or make the sheriff’s office do anything. … The county would waste time and money and resources in a difficult budget time to prove what we already know: the sheriff’s office is committed to serve our community [and] to earn the public’s trust through compassion and accountability.”

[It is perhaps worth noting that there are about a dozen California sheriff’s departments have adopted additional oversight measures, according to the California Coalition for Sheriff Oversight (CCSO).]

‘This isn’t about fixing anything, it’s about enhancing what already exists.’

Of the 20-odd people who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, the majority of speakers advocated for additional oversight of the sheriff’s office, many of whom emphasized that calls for transparency should not be taken as a criticism. (“This isn’t about fixing anything, it’s about enhancing what already exists,” as one person put it.) 

Going back to Honsal’s previous statement about trust in law enforcement being at an all-time high, Eureka resident Dan Rathbun said “this is the perfect time to establish an oversight committee.”

“Honsal has been elected over and over again — good for us and good for him — but who knows what the next sheriff is going to bring,” he said. “One thing I can tell you is that democracy makes mistakes. The People elect crooks. The People elect horrible people, and when those people are in office, we are going to wish we had more checks and balances. … And now is a time we can do it without friction, when there’s no there’s no problems in the sheriff’s office when we don’t have to fix a bunch of shit.”

Eureka resident Margaret Dickinson echoed the previous speaker’s comments, emphasizing that Honsal has done “an excellent job” in his role and thought it was unfortunate that he felt so “strongly about defending [himself].”

Dickinson | Screenshot

“I don’t think you need defending. … I’ve only had one unfortunate encounter with the sheriff’s deputy many years ago — it was over a dog — and I really would like you to think about the fact that we’re all here temporarily,” she said, noting her “advanced age.” “We don’t know what the future holds … and I think that it is important to think about the structure of government and what we’re leaving behind. I think it is important that citizens have the opportunity to function as part of the government, and I think it’s a real opportunity to set up something that would be effective.”

Several other speakers, many of whom were family members of or associated with law enforcement in some capacity, felt the creation of an oversight committee was redundant, if not insulting to the department. HCSO deputy Julian Aguilera questioned how the formation of an oversight committee would impact morale, emphasizing that he has “never given a reason for a citizen not to trust me or the ability to perform my duties.”

“We’re not doing anything wrong, but it’s going to be an extra layer of stuff that we have to think about,” he said. “I fully support our sheriff [and] I trust his administration. He has never steered us wrong, and there’s a reason why he’s getting reelected every time [he] runs.”

Destry Henderson, president of the Humboldt Deputy Sheriff’s Organization, argued against the proposal, noting that civilian-led oversight committees don’t have a “meaningful understanding of how policing works.”

Henderson | Screenshot

“It appears to be designed as another opportunity to bash the hard-working, low-paid deputies who serve our community with honor and second-guess their fellow elected representative, the sheriff,” he said. “Transparency and community relationship has greatly improved in the last decade and continues to yearly.”

‘This is about an office that has a very different type of power’

Following public comment, the board spent another 45 minutes hashing out next steps for a ballot measure and asked Juan Pablo Cervantes, the county’s clerk-recorder and registrar of voters, to explain the process for a county-sponsored ballot measure versus a citizen-led initiative. 

Cervantes said the cost of placing a measure on the November ballot would be a “negligible addition … especially since we’re not likely to have a one-card ballot.” As far as logistics go, staff would need to submit the ballot text and question by Aug. 7 at the latest. He added that it would be near-impossible for community members to gather the required number of signatures — somewhere around 5,000 — before the deadline.

Asked how drafting a ballot measure would impact staff time, CAO Hayes said her staff would “wring her neck” if she gave OK’d the proposal, noting that staff is still working on the county budget and has a tremendous workload to get through before the fast-approaching summer break.

After a bit of back and forth, Wilson reminded his peers that the board was being asked to “investigate the formation of a civilian-led oversight system for HCSO,” not to place a measure on the ballot. Going back to his previous statement, he suggested that the ad hoc work with staff to draft an ordinance that would establish civilian oversight committee, which would give the board the option to make changes to the document down the line. 

Arroyo reiterated her previous point about the “awkward” nature of working with the sheriff about increasing oversight over his department.

Arroyo | Screenshot

“I don’t disagree that we should communicate with the sheriff about this,” she said. “It’s just … a little awkward to say, like, ‘Oh, can you oversee yourself?’ I think the point that we all could use some input and oversight is well-taken, but this is about an office that has a very different type of power than we have, and that’s why people are asking for it. It’s incredibly different type of power and organization.”

After some additional conversation, Wilson made a motion to form a new ad hoc — comprised of just Arroyo and Bushnell — to research potential oversight systems and work with staff to come up with a draft ordinance for review by the end of September. Bushnell seconded the action.

The board approved the motion in a 4-1 vote, with Bohn dissenting. Before casting her vote, Bushnell noted that she was voting yes on the item because, if she didn’t, was was worried that it would “go in a different direction.”

PREVIOUSLY

• Humboldt County Supervisor Mike Wilson Seriously Pissed Off Elon Musk

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The California Coastal Commission has formally apologized to SpaceX, as part of a settlement agreement for a lawsuit involving choice comments about Elon Musk from a few commissioners, including Humboldt County Supervisor and Commissioner Mike Wilson.

The comments, made during an Oct. 10, 2024, Coastal Commission meeting, were related to a regulatory hurdle for the massive aerospace company to increase the number of launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. The commission regulates the coastal zone of the state, including the base.

“The Commission acknowledges that these political comments were irrelevant to the Commission’s consistency review and were improper, and the Commissioners apologize for those comments,” the letter, signed by Vice Chair Caryl Hart, says.

Concerns over Musk’s business practices and political activity were voiced by commissioners who ultimately rejected SpaceX’s plans in a 6-4 vote. Court documents later note the Air Force overrode the Commission’s objection, and SpaceX’s launches were not impeded.

“This company is owned by the richest person in the world with direct control over what could be the most extensive global communication system on the planet,” Wilson said at the 2024 meeting, referring to Starlink. “And just last week, that person was speaking about political retribution on a national stage. And it was very glib and but yet he was standing next to a person [Donald Trump], a candidate that openly promotes and is working to normalize that language, right?” 

Despite the comments, Wilson actually voted in favor of SpaceX launches.

Five days later, SpaceX launched the lawsuit that named each commissioner as defendants over the comments and vote, alleging political bias.

This settlement agreement, first reported by Reuters and signed by each commissioner earlier this month, includes a written apology and a promise by the Commission to “not take into account the perceived political beliefs, political speech, or labor practices of SpaceX or its officers in considering any regulatory action concerning SpaceX.”

The Commission also agreed to no longer require SpaceX to get a Coastal Development Permit for the launch program in Federal Enclave Areas.

Meanwhile, SpaceX agreed to share monitoring data on sonic booms the Air Force collects.

The lawsuit was ordered dismissed April 17.

In a statement, California Coastal Commission spokesperson Joshua Smith said the commission still has “serious concerns about the impacts to coastal resources from increased rocket launches at the base. These impacts include restrictions on public coastal access, harm to sensitive species and coastal habitat, as well as the frequency and intensity of sonic booms.”

“Federal law requires the federal government to provide information to and coordinate with the Coastal Commission on such issues. The federal government has yet to provide sufficient information to the Coastal Commission about these activities and their impact on the California coast,” the Commission statement said.

An email to the media contact for SpaceX seeking comment went unreturned by publishing time. A text to Wilson similarly went unreturned.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Amazon Confirms Plans for a Distribution Warehouse in McKinleyville
• Supervisor Madrone: The Jobs That an Amazon Warehouse Would Provide are Not What Humboldt County is Looking For

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A protest is scheduled to be held before the county-led informational meeting on the proposed Amazon warehouse this afternoon.

It’s obvious that the warehouse shouldn’t be constructed, claim the organizers, and they offer plenty of reasons why.

“We do not want mega-corporations putting locals out of business, taking advantage of the community with their exploitative labor practices, and destroying the environment,” reads a widely-shared post from local radio DJ and activist Jacquelyn Stubers. “This is the opposite of boosting the local economy — it will send dollars away from the county and put them into the pockets of billionaires.”

The meeting will be on the permit application and the county’s permit review process, and will be at Azalea Hall in McKinleyville at 6 p.m. tonight. The protest is planned to take place next to the hall at Pierson Park at 4 p.m.

The organizers have encouraged residents to write to Steven Lazar, a senior planner with Humboldt County. Lazar told the Outpost he’s received emails from about 140 people since the plans were publicized in February; a list of compiled public comments on the project runs to 127 pages, the vast majority of them against the project.

Stuber said she was unavailable to comment; another organizer did not respond to a request for comment.

The oyster producing giant of Humboldt Bay comes to a grinding halt for weeks each year due to sewage overflows. And while emergency aquaculture closures keep the shellfish-dining public safe, oyster farmers say the situation is putting the industry on ice.

“When we are notified, everything stops,” said Todd Van Herpe, owner of Humboldt Bay Oyster Company, which farms on three acres in the north bay.

Affected farms are ordered closed by the California Department of Public Health’s Preharvest Shellfish Unit, and planned harvests come to a standstill. Sometimes, shipments have to be recalled.

For oyster companies, this means cancelled deliveries and triggers what Van Herpe calls a “cascading effect” that disrupts the careful timing of oyster seeds planted years in advance.

A closure from one overflow can last up to 21 days. And combined with mandatory harvest shutdowns during rain events, oyster farmers can go months in a year without harvest income.

Sometimes, Van Herpe said, the closures can be frustrating, especially when there’s a string of them in a row.

“I’m doing everything I can to play by the rules and do a good job, and do this in an ecologically friendly way and try and be an honest purveyor of oysters. And despite all that, something out of my control can shut me down and impact my business,” he said.

When asked to estimate business losses each year from the closures, he laughed. “I think it’d be pretty easy to quantify. And maybe I don’t want to know,” he said.

Arcata Settles With Pacific Seafood

After a 2024 sewage spill and 19-day closure, Pacific Seafood sued the City of Arcata for business losses. Arcata settled with Pacific Seafood and its subsidiaries for $71,500 in March.

1,275 gallons of sewage were released into Humboldt Bay from Arcata’s wastewater system on Jan 13, 2024. This prompted California’s Department of Environmental Health to close shellfish production in the bay from Jan. 13, to Feb. 3, 2024.

“Pacific Shellfish [a subsidiary of Pacific Seafood] was required to cancel harvests and shipments, and experienced lost sales, lost product, employee time, and other expenses and costs as a result,” a claim submitted to the city of Arcata states.

3,800 acres of tidelands, submerged areas and water bottoms in Humboldt Bay are leased by Pacific Seafood and subsidiaries, according to legal documents. The companies point to the vertically integrated nature of the business, with everything from shellfish production to packing being disrupted when the bay was closed.

The complaint alleges Arcata was negligent and has failed to properly design, operate and maintain the wastewater and stormwater systems. It points to four spills in 2024 that similarly shut down operations.

In a statement shared with the Outpost by spokesperson Lacy Ogan, Pacific Seafood pointed to the ongoing nature of the problem.

“Humboldt Bay shellfish farmers and our employees and their families are particularly harmed by bay closures every year, but aging water treatment infrastructure in Arcata and Eureka is a problem for everyone. This is a community problem that needs a community solution, with everyone working together to protect Humboldt Bay and all those who depend on it to have clean water,” the statement said.

The company did not want to comment on possible future litigation related to spills.

Meanwhile, Arcata’s city manager pointed to ongoing efforts to repair parts of the wastewater infrastructure — including the most recent phase of an ongoing Inflow and Infiltration Reduction Program for the city’s collection system, which aims to address a systemic problem that causes sewage spills.

“It’s frustrating, because we put a lot of work into maintaining our sewer collection systems to avoid things like this. And if you look at the type of rainfall events that result in these overflows, it’s a very hard thing to manage such a large amount of water in such a short period of time,” said Arcata City Manager Merrit Perry.

He said it’s common for cities to see overflows during large storms. “But the city’s committed to continuing to work to improve our collection system and avoid these types of situations from happening in the future,” said Perry.

The sewage overflow in question was on a wet day, when water inundated the sewage system. A manhole on West End Road overflowed into Janes Creek, ultimately reaching Humboldt Bay.

Arcata has since bolted down the manhole lid where the spill originated and added a high alarm sensor. But infiltration of old pipes in the area with groundwater and rainwater during winter remains an issue.

Heavy storms and “flushable” wipes causing overflows

Humboldt Bay is the largest producer of oysters in California. It’s also surrounded by multiple wastewater systems. More recently, spills in December 2025 and February 2026 resulted in closures, according to Pacific Seafood.

A California Department of Public Health spokesperson said it’s typical for Humboldt Bay to experience one to three sanitary sewer overflows per calendar year that cause a partial or full bay closure for oyster farming.

But why do the spills happen?

Daniel Vit, field superintendent for Eureka’s department of Public Works, said sanitary sewer overflows in Eureka are most commonly caused by a blockage in the sewer main — typically a combination of grease and debris like so-called “flushable” wipes, which really shouldn’t be flushed.

Overflows often happen during rainy weather, when sewage collection systems get inundated with water. Rain runoff and groundwater can get into aging pipes, compromised private laterals and illicit connections like rain gutters that feed into the sewage system.

“If that water has nowhere to go, it will follow the path of least resistance, which unfortunately is usually a manhole or clean-out, resulting in an SSO [sanitary sewer overflow],” said Vit in an email.

Kelly Allen, Eureka’s public works director, said the city is investing in maintenance, upgrades and monitoring of the system to reduce the likelihood of spills.

“Our ongoing goal is to make spills a non-issue, and the work being done is focused on improving reliability and preventing incidents before they occur,” she said in an email.

But fixing this problem is an expensive and time-consuming process.

Netra Khatri, Arcata city engineer, said it’s very difficult to estimate how much money it would take to fully prevent sanitary sewer overflows. “For a city with aging infrastructure, multiple creeks, and high groundwater levels during the winter season, a rough estimate would likely be in the millions of dollars to significantly reduce or prevent sewer overflows,” he said in an email.

For example, replacing the city’s entire collection system — something that would significantly reduce the inflow and infiltration problem — would cost $100 million or more, estimated Khatri.

Jen Kalt, executive director of environmental organization Humboldt Waterkeeper, said sewage systems locally and across North America aren’t ready for abnormal weather events, which are expected to become more frequent.

“The infrastructure is not built to accommodate the type of rain events that we’re seeing increasingly because of climate change,” she said.

Humboldt County’s Public Health Lab is working on adding a key shellfish test

The problem isn’t unique to Humboldt Bay. A massive sewage spill in the Potomac River earlier this year hit the oyster industry hard, with buyers hesitating to source seafood from the area. It’s also an ongoing problem for Massachusetts aquaculture.

For California, Humboldt Bay sees more sewage-related closures than other oyster farming areas, such as Tomales Bay.

“Humboldt Bay is surrounded by two large municipalities, several sanitary sewer collection systems and several wastewater treatment plants,” pointed out Grant Boyken, spokesperson for California Department of Public Health in an email.

And because overflows are often associated with heavy rainfall, the North Coast’s high precipitation is another factor.

Rainfall by itself triggers closures due to bacteria-related concerns, ranging from three to nine, days depending on rain. During the 2024-2025 season, Humboldt Bay had 155 full or partial closure days due to rainfall, according to the CDPH.

Closures are important to protect public health, said Boyken, because shellfish are filter feeders that can concentrate bacteria and pathogens in their tissues.

“Human sewage discharged into the water from sanitary sewage overflows can contain pathogens and poses a risk of illness to shellfish consumers. CDPH closes shellfish harvesting to protect public health and allow time for the shellfish to cleanse,” he said. 

The industry is highly regulated by the National Shellfish Sanitation Program and state public health agencies.

Overall, Van Herpe, owner of Humboldt Bay Oyster Co, said he doesn’t necessarily feel like the regulations go too far.

“It’s a common feeling throughout the industry, that the public’s health is a primary concern. Nobody wants to get anybody sick,” he said.

He does believe the system can be improved, in particular by making it easier for local farmers to test their shellfish for a key indicator.

The 21-day sewage spill-related closures can be lifted earlier if shellfish samples are tested for an indicator for fecal contamination (viral indicator male-specific coliphage).

But the West Coast doesn’t currently have a lab that can test shellfish for this.

Local oyster farmers will commonly opt to wait the full three weeks rather than take on the logistics and cost of shipping samples to the East Coast, said Van Herpe.

Both the Humboldt County Public Health Laboratory and Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Laboratory are working towards offering the test in the future, according to a CDPH spokesperson.

“We are actively in the development of this assay and hope to have it online by the end of the calendar year. It might take a bit longer as this timeline is dependent on how long it takes the FDA’s National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP) to approve our validation,” said Humboldt County’s Public Health Lab Director Pepper Stockton, in an email from a spokesperson.

Stockton said CDPH’s Preharvest Shellfish Program purchased a centrifuge and water bath for the lab for the test.

“Our challenges around staffing levels have prevented us from devoting the needed staff time to this project,” he added.

Oyster farmers are the bay’s “canary in the coal mine,” a stand-in for the health of the ecosystem. They rely on clean water to farm their product.

“If something happens on the water or to Humboldt Bay, we’re oftentimes the first ones to see it, because we’re out there every day,” said Van Herpe. 

He’s hopeful the sewage spill problem can one day be fixed.

“We’re a pretty smart species if we apply ourselves. And I think that we can solve that, given the proper motivation and funding to do so,” he said.

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

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California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who made history in 2021 as the first Black person to hold the office, is seeking a second four-year term.

As the incumbent and the only Democrat in the field, she will almost certainly cruise to victory in November. She faces only one serious challenger: Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, a Republican. No Republican has won a statewide race since 2006.

During her tenure, Weber has faced criticism for California’s slow ballot-counting process — so slow that projected winners of state legislative races are often sworn in before Weber’s office certifies the results. Under state law, county election officials have 30 days to count ballots and conduct audits. Critics, including Wagner, say the time frame undermines voters’ trust in the state’s election integrity.

In an interview with CalMatters, Weber dismissed the concerns as an issue President Donald Trump drummed up to pick on California. She argued it’s important to count every ballot and that most outcomes are known before she certifies the results anyway.

“I know the value of being fast for some folks,” she said. “For me, accuracy is far more important.”

Wagner criticized Weber for doing little to lobby state lawmakers to speed up the ballot count. He said he would roll back the practice of sending universal mail-in ballots to every voter, which the state made permanent during the COVID-19 pandemic, though that would require legislative approval. He said he’d also support legislation to move up the deadline to certify election results.

“Rather than wait 30 days, let’s make these changes that are right now causing people of all parties and no party to question: ‘Geez, is that really a fair election?’” Wagner said.

Weber, a former San Diego assemblymember, was appointed to the position by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 and later won a full term in 2022. The daughter of Arkansas sharecroppers who fled the Jim Crow South, Weber drew on her family history and campaigned on expanding voter access and boosting voter turnout.

Over the past five years, Weber has overseen the administration of contentious elections that drew the national spotlight, from the recall against Newsom in 2021 to the congressional redistricting fight last November. She said she has focused on expanding voter outreach to rural corners of California and encouraging voter registration on high school and college campuses — something she said she would continue to focus on in her second term if she is re-elected.

Weber has been in court several times defending California election laws. She has sued local governments for violating election law while also defending the state’s election administration against legal challenges from both Democrats and Republicans. She most recently fended off a lawsuit by Trump’s Department of Justice seeking voter registration data in California.

Weber said she fought to defend Californians’ voting rights. “If we were giving (voter information) away like candy, who would trust us … to protect their records?”

Weber has also faced criticism from advocates who say the state hasn’t done enough to make voting accessible. Disability advocates sued her in 2024 — albeit unsuccessfully — over state election laws that do not allow voters with disabilities to return their ballots electronically.

Wagner, the Republican challenger, wants to present an alternative to Weber, even though he acknowledged that a GOP upset would shock even himself. But if he were elected, Wagner, who also served in the state Assembly, said he’d garner enough national attention to use the office as a “bully pulpit” with the Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature. He said he would require voters to display ID while voting, which also would require a new law. A GOP-backed voter ID ballot initiative on Friday qualified for the November ballot.

Wagner argued that the goal is to restore voters’ trust in state elections.

“I am not one of those Republicans who is going to be out there telling you that unless a Republican wins, the election got stolen,” he told CalMatters. “What I am saying is I believe folks on either side of the political aisle and in the middle question the integrity.”

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California has emerged as the epicenter of a sweeping hospice fraud crisis, one that is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and putting vulnerable seniors at risk.

Yet years after the state acknowledged the problem, key regulatory fixes remain in limbo while state and federal officials trade blame.

Hospice care, an end of life service typically reserved for people with less than six months to live, has become a target for fraudsters looking to steal taxpayer dollars — with devastating consequences for patients caught in the middle. It has also become rich fodder for government and media investigations.

Last week, Sheila Clark, who leads the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association, became emotional as she told congressional leaders the story of a woman in Southern California who in 2020 suffered a devastating fall in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom. The woman, a Medicare recipient, could not see; she needed cataract surgery. But scheduling that surgery ran into a hitch: at the time, Clark said, the woman’s records showed her enrolled in hospice – seemingly fraudulently. Unable to recover from the injuries of her fall, the woman died two months later. “That did not need to happen,” Clark said.

That case and others have refocused attention on a problem that advocates say has never gone away – and is again sparking a partisan fight. At the congressional hearing, some Republicans blamed California and Gov. Gavin Newsom for failing to get a handle on it, while some Democrats blamed the Trump administration for not doing enough and pardoning fraudsters.

The Newsom administration says it has not been standing idle. Just this month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced charges against 21 suspects who allegedly defrauded the state of $267 million in a major hospice fraud ring. Since 2021, the office has filed 119 hospice-related criminal cases. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also announced separate recent arrests in California.

The California Department of Health has also revoked 280 hospice licenses over the last two years and is reviewing another 300, according to officials. Meanwhile, state regulations meant to limit who can obtain a hospice license were due months ago.

Stuck in the middle of delays and political back-and-forth are Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Californians who truly need end-of-life services may be at risk if they sign up with a sham hospice operator who may provide inadequate care or none at all, while others are enrolled in hospice services even though they are not dying and are locked out of services they need. “People lose access to care, they lose access to medications, to their [doctor], elective surgery,” Clark said. “It’s disheartening.”

Stricter hospice rules are still pending

In 2022, the California State Auditor found that the state’s “weak controls have created the opportunity for large-scale fraud and abuse.” Among other red flags, auditors noted a clustering of hospices in single buildings, particularly in Los Angeles County, and high rates of living patients discharged from hospice.

The audit found that Los Angeles County saw a 1,500% increase in hospice agencies over a decade, along with indicators of large-scale billing fraud and evidence that thieves stole medical personnel’s identities to obtain licenses.

That same year, the state placed a moratorium on new hospice licenses, which is set to expire next year. Meanwhile, emergency hospice regulations intended to tighten who can obtain a hospice license are again delayed. The state Department of Public Health says it’s revising draft emergency regulations based on feedback from industry representatives and consumer groups.

“Once these regulations are in place they will include stricter standards for who can own or run a hospice, nurse-to-patient ratios, limits on operators who try to oversee multiple agencies at once, minimum staffing requirements, and more thorough screening of potential licensees before a license can be approved,” said Mark Smith, a department spokesperson.

Licensing is only the first step – the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services must certify operators before they can start billing. Clark and Isidro say better fraud prevention would demand more transparency and better data sharing between state and federal government.

Fraud can happen in a number of ways

Psychotherapist Lynn Ianni still does not know how fraudsters got a hold of her information. Two summers ago she was finishing her last physical therapy session for a shoulder injury when Medicare denied her claim: Records showed she was enrolled in hospice care.

Ianni, who also testified in last week’s hearing, assumed it was a clerical error – she had hurt herself playing pickleball, but led an active healthy life. Medicare pointed her to a hospice in Arcadia where she was supposedly enrolled. The address was in a strip mall; she had never heard of the doctor. She spent hours on the phone, over months, trying to clear up the problem. Medicare refused to cover care for her shoulder even as she paid her premiums.

“It was over six months that I had no coverage or no services,” Ianni said. “I was really terrified because I couldn’t figure out how to solve it, and I had no resolution in sight.”

Fraud can take different forms. It can be providers knowingly overbilling Medicare and Medi-Cal or submitting false claims — but it can also be elaborate cases in which bad actors create sham agencies, steal medical information and bill for services they never provide or that are not medically necessary.

These scams sprawl past hospice care. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of Inspector General have also raised concerns over fraud in home health services, skin substitutes, and durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs and walkers or oxygen tanks. Just Tuesday, the feds accused a Pasadena clinic of improperly charging Medicare more than $34 million for skin grafts and wound care services it didn’t provide.

Scammers have many tricks. They make robocalls or approach people at grocery stores, after church, or door-to-door, offering gift cards, meals, or free health services in exchange for forms that ask for personal and medical information.

“They don’t realize that their Medicare number is being stolen, and next thing you know, they’re being entered into hospice,” said Catherina Isidro, director of the California Senior Medicare Patrol, a group that helps people report and navigate Medicare fraud.

Health workers have also filed whistleblower complaints reporting that colleagues share patient information with fraudsters in exchange for kickbacks, Isidro said. That kind of fraud is harder to guard against because medical providers are supposed to be people of trust.

Clark said fraudsters have made a business of stealing Medicare identification numbers from the dark web and then selling them to hospices or home health agencies. “They literally call themselves brokers,” Clark said. “‘Here’s 10 beneficiary numbers. How much will you give me every month that you’re able to bill?’”

Safeguarding your medical information is key

Families who truly need hospice care should not shy away from seeking the benefit over fear of fraud, said Mollie Gurian, vice president of government affairs at Leading Age, a group that represents providers of aging services. People can use the Medicare Care Compare site’s quality scores and phone directory to start looking for legitimate hospice providers. Legitimate providers should pick up the phone and be able to answer questions about their services, Gurian said.

“[Hospice] is a great benefit, and the fact that it’s been utilized to commit fraud in this way is very distressing.”

For everyone else, advocates advise guarding Medicare and Medicaid identification numbers like a Social Security number – never sharing the number over the phone or in exchange for freebies. People should also read Medicare summary notices and explanation of benefits documents to ensure everything looks accurate.

“It’s really critical that older adults, you know, Medicare beneficiaries, their caregivers or their family members, whoever is taking care of them, that they be very vigilant,” Isidro said.

Those who suspect fraud should call their state’s Senior Medicare Patrol, a federally-funded helpline that can help people disenroll from services they did not request, often within a day or two.

That hotline helped clear up Ianni’s Medicare account and restarted her benefits. Six months after first learning she was fraudulently enrolled in hospice, Ianni got a new Medicare card in the mail, with no explanation for what had happened. Just in time, too, she said: two weeks later, she broke a finger. “I was so relieved.”

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Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

Wincel Ann Nicholas, 87, of Biggs, California, passed away peacefully at her home on March 7, 2026 surrounded by her family. She was born on September 6, 1938, in Paris, Arkansas, to Eddie “Red” and Magdelene Garrett. Her early years were spent moving with her family throughout California, from Port Hueneme to Ferndale, and eventually Rohnerville, where she attended Fortuna Union High School.

In 1954, Wincel married Gordon Emry Stephens, and together they welcomed two children, Geneva Ann Stephens and Gordon Emry Stephens, Jr. In the late 1960s, she relocated to Anchorage, Alaska with her sister, Katie Currier and her family, where she later met and married Dr. Carmine Franklin Nicholas. Together they had one daughter, Christine Nicholas Santerre. Following Dr. Nicholas’s passing in 1972, Wincel returned to Humboldt County in 1975. There, she pursued her education at College of the Redwoods, earning degrees in business administration and photography, and went on to become a successful business owner in Fortuna for many years.

In 1982, Wincel reconnected with her high school classmate, Phil Branstetter, who became her life companion for over 30 years. Together they shared a life rich enjoying many mussel feeds and good times at Capetown, traveling, dancing and time with their blended family. They made their home in Fortuna before moving to Capetown in 2004 and later settling in Ferndale in 2006. After Phil’s passing in 2013, Wincel continued to cherish her independence and strong community ties. In 2024, she moved to Biggs, California to be closer to her daughter and became a member of Quota International, continuing her lifelong commitment to service.

Wincel lived a vibrant and adventurous life. She was an avid golfer and a dedicated member of the Redwood Empire Golf and Country Club for over 40 years, actively participating in tournaments and serving in leadership roles within the Women’s Golf Association. She was also a longtime member of Epsilon Sigma Alpha, Beta Zeta chapter, where she built enduring friendships over four decades. A passionate traveler, Wincel explored the world — from hiking the rugged Lost Coast Trail between Mattole Beach and Shelter Cove, to embarking on African safaris with stops in Dubai, and visiting England, Scotland, Ireland, Mexico and Hawaii.

In her later years, Wincel found great joy in life’s simple pleasures — playing pinochle with her card club, attending women’s luncheons, and walking the beach with her dear friend Marilyn Forsell and her beloved dog, Gracie. Above all, she treasured her family. She took immense pride in her grandchildren, delighting in time spent cooking, making jam, attending their sporting events and graduations, and following their lives with deep interest and love.

Wincel will be remembered for her quiet understanding, her thoughtful and wise words of wisdom, and her steadfast independence. She was a compassionate listener who devoted her life to caring for others, often placing their needs before her own with grace and humility.

She is survived by her sister, Katie Currier; her children, Gordon Stephens (Tammy), Christine Nicholas Santerre (Chadd), and stepson Lee Branstetter; her grandchildren, Geneva’s son, Robert Randow, Maggie Stephens Kelly (Vince), Garrett Stephens, Taylor Santerre Mardesich (Davis), Lance Santerre, Maci Branstetter, Kylee Branstetter, and Lane Branstetter.

Wincel was preceded in death by her parents, Red and Magdelene Garrett; her daughter, Geneva Stephens Lewis; her granddaughter, Benicia Champagne (Geneva); and her late husband, Dr. Frank Nicholas, and her beloved life partner, Phil Branstetter. 

Her legacy of strength, kindness and quiet generosity will live on in all who knew and loved her.

A graveside service will be held July 11th at 10 a.m. at Ocean View cemetery in Eureka with a celebration following in Ferndale. More information will be made available. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.