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

###

Gov. Gavin Newsom closed out the legislative year with one of the most sweeping overhauls of California’s energy and climate policies in decades — a package that could give him a presidential debate-stage talking point on rising energy costs as the Democratic Party shifts its focus to affordability.

The six-bill deal — passed Saturday after lawmakers extended their session by an extra day because of last-minute dealmaking — was sold as a way to ease gas prices and soaring electricity bills while preserving the state’s signature climate programs.

Ratepayers are expected to get some relief through measures to cut the cost of building transmission lines, and an expanded cap-and-trade energy credit aimed at blunting rising energy bills. They also will get some protection from utilities hiking rates based on the cost of wildfire-proofing their infrastructure, such as by putting power lines underground. But they’ll also continue paying $9 billion over the next decade into a fund to compensate wildfire victims.

The package of legislation now heads to the governor’s desk for his signature.

Newsom and his allies, who negotiated the package in the final days of the legislative session, said the state needed to allow more permits to drill oil to head off more refinery shutdowns that could send gas prices soaring.

Critics said the biggest winners of the maneuvering were the oil industry and the state’s major utilities. Oil drilling measures advanced in Kern County after refiners threatened to shutter plants. Utilities gained sweeping new wildfire liability protections and the ability to join a regional power market — a step critics warned could tether California to fossil-fuel states at a time when the Trump administration is moving to roll back clean energy.

Michael Wara, a Stanford legal scholar focused on energy policy, called it “astonishing” that lawmakers managed to pass so many major bills at once, including the two-thirds vote to reauthorize cap-and-trade. California is making steady progress in shifting from fossil fuels to renewables, even as wildfires complicate the transition, and while the measures were imperfect, they were necessary, he said.

“I’ve been a part, over the last decade, of getting individual tweaks done in each of these areas — but the idea that we would get them all done at once, on time, when we needed to, is astonishing to me,” Wara said. “Are the bills perfect? No, from my perspective they’re not perfect, but they are all material improvements over the status quo.”

The future of cap and trade reinforced

At the center of the bargain was the extension of California’s cap-and-trade system — rebranded by Newsom as “cap and invest” — through 2045. The extension, hammered out in backroom talks, was one of the most divisive elements of the package.

The carbon-trading program, launched in 2013, is California’s way of putting a price tag on greenhouse gas emissions — those responsible for climate change. The program sets a strict cap on emissions for polluters and hands out a limited supply of permits companies can sell to other polluters if they cut enough emissions.

The final agreement on the program preserved rules that let oil companies avoid paying the full cost of their emissions while leaving untouched a cap on carbon prices. That setup shields polluters while leaving consumers potentially exposed to higher gas prices, experts said.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas stood by the energy package on Saturday, arguing the measure to boost in-state oil production and keep refineries from closing would keep prices down at the pump. “Altogether,” he told reporters, the deal “is going to result in some billions of dollars in savings.”

The California Chamber of Commerce was out front in opposing the cap and trade deal, arguing it would make energy less affordable by taking credits away from gas customers and giving them to electric utilities — hurting families, renters, and small businesses that still depend on natural gas. The powerful business group has poured at least $6.9 million into legislative races over the past decade, according to CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database.

The oil industry’s chief lobbying group, the Western States Petroleum Association, which had pushed back early on, eventually settled into neutrality. Meanwhile, environmental justice advocates remained staunchly against it, saying the program protects oil and gas companies while leaving nearby low-income communities to bear the health costs of pollution.

Construction site of the High Speed Rail ramp in Fresno on Sept. 12, 2025. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

A group of seven environmental justice groups from across the state, including Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action, said the extension “institutionalizes inequality in California’s climate policy.”

“This year, California’s leaders gutted basic public health and safety protections and took away tools communities need to protect themselves from polluters,” the groups said.

Alongside reauthorization of the program, a companion bill provided a blueprint for how the state should spend its revenues, reshaping it starting in 2026 to guarantee $1 billion a year for high-speed rail and $1 billion a year for lawmakers to direct through the budget.

Questioning the affordability premise

The sweeping climate and energy package was born of mounting pressures — some long expected, others abrupt. Affordability has become the defining fault line in Democratic politics since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, powered by a campaign fixated on cutting costs and fighting inflation.

At the same time, Democrats are leaning into the rhetoric of “abundance,” a term popularized by columnist Ezra Klein to capture the idea that more housing, clean energy and infrastructure can ease scarcity and lower costs. But some consumer advocates and Capitol insiders argue the measures won’t ultimately help consumers.

“I don’t know how any of this saves money,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. “But this is the new state of Sacramento. I think it happened because of Trump, honestly, I think this is all about abundance and Trump, and Democrats trying to make a name for themselves by dumping regulation.”

Republicans, too, slammed the package, but they called it over-regulation that would continue to keep gas and energy costs high. Sen. Kelly Seyarto, a Murrieta Republican, called Democrats’ goals of using the cap-and-trade dollars to improve transit “unrealistic” when Californians “are not going to give up driving their cars,” and said the party’s stated three goals can’t coexist.

“Climate, energy and affordability are like oil, water and sand,” he said. “People aren’t going to be able to live here.”

Newsom’s push to keep gasoline prices and energy bills in check — a message potentially aimed as much at a national audience in a future presidential bid as at Californians — meshed with Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’s early pledge to make 2025 the Legislature’s “year of affordability.”

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire and his team resisted giving ground to oil and gas interests without securing gains for environmental and social justice priorities, given the concentration of polluting industries and poor air quality in low-income communities.Cap-and-trade renewal took on urgency as carbon auctions faltered and Trump singled out the program — originally set to expire in 2030 — as potentially unconstitutional.

A ‘giveaway to big oil’?

At the same time, refinery closures and oil company threats to leave California put Newsom in a bind. After blasting the industry as deceitful and politically manipulative for years, Newsom reversed course. His administration unveiled concessions to keep production in the state and the California Energy Commission suspended a controversial profit cap on gasoline refiners for the next five years.

Oil pumps in the Kern River Oil Field near Bakersfield on July 6, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

While much of the governor’s original oil refinery proposal was pared back in the Legislature, drilling approvals advanced in Kern County. That was a victory for Republican Sen. Shannon Grove, who represents the county. Grove has spent a decade pushing to keep drilling and its middle-class jobs alive there.

The approved oil permits, she said, “will result in California-compliant oil that is the most regulated in the world.”

Nevertheless, Assemblymember Alex Lee, a Democrat from Milpitas, criticized the oil deal from the Assembly floor Saturday as a “giveaway to big oil.”

“The thing we need to focus on is a controlled and managed phaseout of fossil fuel, like the dinosaurs that they process, the petroleum-oil, fossil-fuel industry fuel is dying out,” Lee said. “Refineries and facilities are closing, not just in California, but in Texas and across the world.”

Lawmakers also established a state fund to monitor pollution mitigation in disadvantaged communities.

Layered onto those debates was a high-stakes battle over utility finances. Wildfire liabilities loomed over investor-owned utilities, especially Southern California Edison, now under scrutiny for its potential role in the Eaton Fire in Altadena. Newsom pressed to expand California’s $18 billion wildfire fund — a safeguard supporters said was vital to protect ratepayers if utilities sparked future blazes, but one that critics warned could ultimately drive consumer bills higher.

Meanwhile lawmakers took a major push to let California join a shared Western electricity market, allowing power to flow more easily across state lines. Supporters say it could cut costs for customers and steady the grid during crunch times like heat waves, while supporting in-state clean power producers who could sell excess electricity to neighbors.

Consumer advocates, led by The Utility Reform Network, warned the change could weaken California’s control over its clean energy agenda and hand more power to a federal government under Trump that is siding with fossil fuels. Some environmental and consumer groups shared that concern.

The shift is important because California has spent decades building one of the cleanest grids in the world and the move to open up that system to other Western states could reshape how both renewable and fossil power move across the region.

###

CalMatters reporter Yue Stella Yu contributed.

Dear Friends,

I’ve sensed a pivotal moment in our country. I bet you can sense it as well—everyone holding a collective breath, wondering the consequence of the assassination, the violent and disgusting murder of Charlie Kirk on a college campus in broad daylight. Immediately people reacted with grief, fear, shock, and anger posting their videos and thoughts to express and make sense of their feelings. I did too.

I didn’t follow much of Charlie Kirk’s vocation, mainly because debates easily dissolve into dehumanizing rhetoric where there’s a winner and a loser. But I’ve observed him as a powerful, straight white Christian man, where his personhood was rarely on the line so he was able to debate without seeming to take anything personally–even the hatred thrown towards him. This was a privilege and advantage he had compared to many young college students directly and negatively impacted by his political and religious views. Gender, religious, racial, and sexual minorities bore the brunt of his opinions and they felt it acutely.

While Charlie may not have noticed his own level of privilege, I still deeply respected his willingness to engage with people who thought very differently from him. He chose to practice free speech in public settings while giving others the opportunity to do likewise. Many young people in our country have felt emboldened by his example—either continuing forth with his ideas or against his ideas. He lived our country’s legacy of democracy through public debates and free speech in the public square.

But there is a loud movement attempting to stop this legacy and end democracy. We’re told to hate our neighbors and be against our countrymen, furthering the distance from each other. Instead of empowering people toward free speech, we’re pitted against each other, suspicious of the other. This widening tear has existed for generations, where people keep gluing, sewing, repairing, fastening that tear, attempting to hold it together, praying this or that leader will have better bonding power. The beautiful idea of our nation is altruistic but divided by how those ideas should manifest.

We horrifically witnessed a public execution of a public figure. We can continue forth, protecting and respecting free speech or be torn apart by saying it’s “their” fault: It was the radical left’s fault because they looked down on and hated everyone who doesn’t think like them. It was Charlie Kirk’s fault because he said horrible things about people and believed in guns. It was to stop people from talking about the Epstein Files. It was the liberal college campuses that produced violent rhetoric. It was MAGA who hated immigrants, trans-people, and women.

We point fingers while calling on others to rise up and take his place—emboldened by divisive blaming rhetoric seeming bent on creating a wider tear where repair seems hopeless. I’ve heard of celebrations over his death and pictures of his cartoon face with blood spurting from his neck. I’ve read how it’s time to start a civil war against those liberals who caused his murder. I’ve heard pastors say it’s time to double down and get more aggressive against the left.

After listing out recent political attacks on both Democrats and Republicans, journalist Ezra Klein wrote, “Political violence is contagious. It is spreading. It is not confined to one side or belief system. It should terrify us all.” We must see our shared need for each other instead of our desire to make enemies and blame.

You know whose voices have been loudest? The collective grief and desperate prayers for his wife and children—both those on the left and the right who have purposefully and publicly condemned this act of violence, voices shaking with deep sadness and anger over his death and the loss his family will forever feel.

Repairing the tear means we must see each other rightly. Charlie Kirk was a villain to some and a saint to others, but he was neither fully villain nor fully saint. He existed somewhere in the middle, as we all do. The temptation is to air his dirty laundry or whitewash his legacy but no one is all good or all bad. When we attempt to paint him in such a light, we begin to fight each other, creating a wider tear. The Apostle Paul once wrote our fight isn’t against each other—against human beings. Our fight is against the powers and principalities, against evil and demonic forces that dehumanize and objectify people by stealing their personhood, killing their body, and destroying their influence–as Jesus once said in John 10:10. When we participate in these behaviors, we are aligning ourselves with the Adversary of lies and against the God of truth.

My prayer for our nation within the legacy of Charlie Kirk is we will uplift and support free speech in various forms, becoming more educated and grounded debaters bent on love and understanding. That we don’t fall prey to the divisive rhetoric from politicians or pulpits or perpetuate political violence. That we will respect each other’s personhood even if we can’t respect their ideology. And we will work together, in the midst of our differences, to repair the tear.

With Christ’s love,
Pastor Bethany

Humboldt County just took a big step towards protecting our night sky! In August, the Board of Supervisors approved the Inland Outdoor Lighting Ordinance, regulating outdoor lights to limit light pollution and light trespass. This is a significant win for the dark sky movement and will require new development on unincorporated land to use light fixtures and bulbs that reduce light pollution.

But this isn’t just about seeing more stars — light pollution disrupts the natural rhythms of wildlife and humans alike. Bright lights left on at night can alter the timing of bird migrations, interfere with seasonal flowering cycles, and affect our own sleep cycles.

Sylvia van Royen, GIS & Policy Analyst for Humboldt Waterkeeper, joins us to discuss the new lighting ordinance and how Humboldt residents can adapt their outdoor lighting to be friendlier to migrating birds and support the biological rhythms essential to our region’s biodiversity.

To learn more:

• Humboldt Waterkeeper Light Pollution Factsheet
• DarkSky Approved lighting fixtures
• DarkSky International’s explainer on What is Light Pollution? & Glossary of light-related terms.
• Light Pollution Webpage from the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals
• New World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness

###

This is what Webster’s Dictionary says about “huckleberry”: “1. Any of a genus (Gaylussacia) of plants of the heath family, having dark blue berries resembling blueberries, but with 10 large seeds.”

Now I don’t agree with this description of the huckleberries growing in Humboldt County. My wife and I join other family members who live in Arcata and Dows Prairie each fall to participate in our annual huckleberry picking party. I haven’t noticed any seeds in the berries I have picked.

###

[UPDATE from 2025: The word “huckleberry” means different things in different places. Mr. Dearing’s Webster’s had an East Coast bias, as one might expect: Gaylussacia are found only on that lesser shore, and in South America. The Humboldt County huckleberries the author describes are almost certainly Vaccinium ovatum, pictured above. It will be the Outpost’s featured “PLANT of the DAY” on Aug. 28, 2029, but you can see it here, now. — Ed.]

###

The one person in our family most responsible for our enjoyment of huckleberry picking is Bea Reckord, sister of Marilyn Moxon, Art’s wife. These girls were born and raised in Dows Prairie. The Worth family children consisted of one boy and five girls. They grew up with huckleberries. Bea tells me they picked and cleaned huckleberries and sold them for 60 cents a gallon when they were young girls.

To this day, Bea and Marilyn love to go out, find the patches that are lush with berries, and telephone us when to drive to Arcata for the fun.

During the last 10 days of September and the first 10 days of October, the huckleberries are ripe and ready to be picked. It is true they are time consuming to pick and clean. Actually the picking is easy, and can be lots of fun, but if you pick them “dirty,” the way I do, they are tough to clean. I imagine if you kept track of the time required to clean a few gallons, you would be working for about two-bits an hour, but when you eat a pie filled with huckleberries, it is well worth the effort.

We were in Arcata recently to attend my wife’s college homecoming celebration. Part of the program was in honor of the Class of ‘39 — but that is another story. On that particular Sunday we got our gear together and headed for the huckleberry patch. Now I know you will understand that I can’t tell you exactly where we go to pick; we are like fishermen who never tell where they have all the luck. We are selfish, and besides, the girls who comprise the main crew would disown me if I say too much.

I know other people are aware of this patch of berries because many of the bushes were already picked, but there were plenty left for us and we picked from 1 p.m. until after 6. These girls never know when to stop.

My brother-in-law Art Moxon didn’t go with us this year. He talked himself out of going by saying he had to pick up irrigation pipe all afternoon. I know he fails to find anything attractive about picking huckleberries, but when he did go, he kept the party loose with his bear noises and his berry stealing. Now Art didn’t really steal any berries, he just borrowed them in order to be able to impress the girls with his ability to pick huckleberries. As soon as the girls started dumping their filled buckets into a larger container, he would sneak around, being careful to keep out of sight, fill his pail with berries from the container, then walk around and show everyone how full his bucket was. He would claim he had picked his quota, and would just scout around to find patches with more berries for them to pick.

It is true that bears enjoy huckleberries. I know this as a fact because, in the 1920s, I was with my father when he was hunting deer close to the Preston Ranch. We were camped in a small clearing for the night and, as we cooked supper, we heard noises several times back in the brush. My dad acted as if nothing of importance was happening, but the next morning as we went up a draw hunting, we startled a black bear while he was in the act of feasting upon huckleberries for breakfast.

Years ago we picked huckleberries on the Samoa Peninsula. There were plenty of bushes and berries too, but unfortunately there were great big mosquitoes, and they were hungry! It just wasn’t possible to pick very long at a time which was too bad because it was easy to get to.

It is sort of interesting to think about the economics of huckleberries. They have never been available on the market, and no doubt that is because they require too much time to gather and clean. Charley Riford, a Humboldt resident for many years, claimed to have a method to clean huckleberries. I never saw him try it though, he told me about it whenever we complained about the time required to clean a gallon. Charley was from Vermont, and when he was a young fellow he claimed he picked and cleaned huckleberries. He said there was nothing to it. You just fasten a wool blanket, preferably a dark colored one and old, to a fence. You drape the blanket with the top tied to the fence about 4-foot-high, then drape the rest of the blanket on the ground. You toss the berries, a few at a time, up onto the top the blanket and, as they roll to the bottom, all the leaves, worms and stems remain stuck to the blanket.

When I approached my wife with this idea she said, “Are you nuts? A wool blanket cost $100 today. I haven’t any blankets for you to experiment with (so) we will clean the berries the same as always.”

And, do you know, I just finished three days sitting at a table on the deck cleaning huckleberries. Oh, she worked right with me to keep me from goofing off. After all, she also washes them, dries them, and then freezes them, putting them in plastic bags with a date included. This is so we can rotate them as they are used. She bakes perhaps the most delicious huckleberry pies in the world; our kids all know it. When I taste one of those pies I am ready to go through all the fun and trouble again of picking Humboldt County huckleberries.

###

The story above was originally printed in the September-October 1991 issue of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society. It is reprinted here with permission. The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history. You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.

Ellis Eugene Cleaver, 83, passed away on August 29, 2025, after a life that was often heavy with burdens but also filled with resilience, service, and a quiet kind of love. Though he was a reserved man who sometimes struggled to show his feelings, his life was defined by steadfast devotion — to his country, his family, his community, and the passions that brought him peace.

He was born on June 19, 1942, in Longmont, Colorado and spent his early years in both Colorado and Kansas before moving to California at the age of sixteen. Ellis learned early on that life required endurance. He served his country with honor as a U.S Navy veteran, serving on the U.S.S. Kearsarge as Boilerman Third Class a role that instilled discipline, loyalty, and strength. Those qualities guided him long after his time in uniform, shaping the way he approached hardship and the way he cared for others.

He had a lifelong love of classic cars, but none was more special than the Volvo he inherited from his father. That car became more than just a machine — it was a symbol of connection, memory, and pride. Through countless hours of painstaking care, he kept it in pristine condition, a reflection not only of his craftsmanship but of his devotion to preserving something deeply meaningful. Every gleaming detail carried with it a piece of his story.

He extended his passion for automobiles into the community as a proud member of the Fortuna Redwood AutoXpo Committee, where he crafted countless one-of-a-kind trophies — each one a reflection of his creativity and dedication to celebrating classic cars and the people who loved them.

His service extended well beyond his love of cars. In 2018, he was recognized as the Fire Citizen of the Year by the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department — an honor that spoke to the countless quiet contributions he made to his community. He never sought recognition, but the award reflected what those who knew him already understood: he was a man who showed up, who gave of himself, and who made a difference.

Though he was not always able to speak his heart easily, his actions told the story of his love. He was the man who would quietly fix what was broken, who showed up when needed, who carried burdens for others even when his own load was heavy. His love was steady, practical, and enduring — found in the everyday acts that, over time, spoke louder than words.To his family, he was a protector and provider. To his community, he was a quiet helper, often working in the background but always dependable. To those who knew him well, he was a reminder that strength can be quiet, love can be unspoken, and legacy can live on in both people and in passions passed down.

Ellis is survived by his wife of 62 years, Doris Cleaver, daughter Carmen Glass (Brad), son Gregg Cleaver (Layla), grandchildren Henry Ellis and Kristen Glass, Sisters Janice Starika (Jim), Lesa Morris, brother Robert West and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his Father Ralph Cleaver, Mother Mabel Holberg, and his sister Cheryl West Atkins. Though we grieve his passing, we celebrate a life lived with resilience, service, and quiet devotion. His memory will live on in every life he touched, in the lessons he taught by example, and in the pristine shine of a Volvo that will forever carry his spirit.

A service honoring his life will be held on October 11, 2025, at 1 p.m. at Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the local VFW, Fortuna Redwood AutoXpo or the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department, so that his legacy of service and care may continue.

Judy Ann Cole
Oct. 16, 1947 - Sept. 9, 2025

Judy was born to Fred and Loraine Roberts in Henryetta, Oklahoma. She spent the majority of her life in Eureka California attending local schools and she was a graduate of Fredrick and Charles Beauty Collage. Her passion and talents in life was her family, cooking, gardening, sewing and home decor. Family gatherings were a highlight of her life. Her and her husband Donn recently celebrated fifty five years of marriage raising three wonderful kids in their Freshwater Valley home. Her primary focus in life was her home and family and she was blessed with five beautiful grandchildren and recently celebrated the arrival of four great-grandchildren. She was a loving wife and mother and we will miss her dearly.                               

Judy was preceded in death by her parents, father-in-law and mother-in-law Milton and Gladys Cole, her Brothers Noble and Larry, sisters Wanda, Bonnie and Betty. 

She is survived by her husband Donn, son Shawn (Melissa), daughter Shana (Kevin), son Donnie (Charlotte), grandson Tyler Anderson (Shelby), granddaughter Haily Allen (Lucky), grandson Jack Cole (Karina), granddaughter Samantha Cole, and granddaughter Jadyn Cole, great-granddaughter Lillian Anderson, great-grandson Curtis Anderson, great-grandson Bennett Allen, great-granddaughter Elizabeth Cole. Judy’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law Jan and Mick Miller. nephew Graham Miller, (Loughlin) and their children Keeva and Keelan, nephew Andrew Miller, niece Carol Parker (David), niece Bobby Beaver (Terry), nephew David Pritchet, nephews Mark, Michael, and Tim McManis.                 

Our family would like to thank Hospice of Humboldt and especially the nurses and staff at the Ida Emmerson Hospice House for the amazing care that Judy received there as well as making this journey as painless as could be for her family and friends. If you care to make a donation Hospice of Humboldt is an amazing organization and we are very fortunate to have them in our community. 

Press release from the Humboldt County Republican Party:

One of the basic principle that underlies the American spirit is the freedom to speak our mind and state our beliefs without fear of reprisal. That is what Charlie Kirk did so well. He was able to have a dialogue and discussion with people who did not agree with him. It is tragic that his voice was silenced. The Humboldt County Republican Party stands for the principles of free speech without reprisal and the right of all citizens to take part in the national debate without fear. Let us remember Charlie Kirk and his bravery as we do our part as citizens of a free nation.

God Bless America.

Press release from the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee:

As Humboldt County Democrats, we fundamentally and categorically disagree with Charlie Kirk’s ideology and rhetoric — however, we unequivocally abhor violence as a tool to silence dissent. 

Our condolences are with Charlie Kirk’s family — his two children and wife. Our empathy is with those who witnessed a murder at Utah Valley University.

The abilities to express oneself freely, and peaceably assemble and act are cornerstones of our democracy. No one in this country, in this day and age, should be a victim of gun violence. 

We must be and act as our better selves.