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The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors today granted a reprieve to hundreds of local cannabis growers who collectively owe millions of dollars in Measure S cultivation taxes. 

In a four-to-one vote, with Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone dissenting, the board agreed to nix the looming December 31 tax deadline, though only for growers who’ve already entered into payment plans with the county. Those folks will now have up to four more years to square their debts, with 25 percent of the balance due by the end of each calendar year, starting in 2026.

But for tax-delinquent growers who have yet to enter payment plans — most of whom have ignored the county’s attempts to collect — the board opted to bring down the hammer. If those farmers don’t pay their tax bills in full by the end of this year, then the Planning and Building Department will begin the process of revoking their permits.

These moves come six weeks after the board unanimously agreed to eliminate Measure S taxes altogether due to collapsing revenues from the struggling industry as well as burdensome administrative costs. Earlier this year, the board agreed not to enforce a previously established deadline of March 31 for Measure S taxes, extending it to the end of the year. 

Today’s vote represents the latest gesture of leniency toward the county’s remaining legal weed farmers. Supervisors justified the decision by noting that revoking their permits would only drive them back to the black market while likely eliminating any possibility of collecting what’s owed.

Planning and Building Director John Ford informed the board that of the 1,006 cannabis cultivation permits issued countywide since legalization, only 518 growers still have active permits. 

In all, he said, 815 current or former permit-holders owe a total of $8.9 million in Measure S taxes. The 518 active growers collectively owe about half of that amount ($4.3 million). And less than half of those folks (240 permit holders, representing $3.35 million in delinquent taxes) have entered into payment plans.

At the risk of getting too deep in the weeds, another 63 weed farmers have permit applications still in process. They collectively owe the county a bit over $1 million in Measure S taxes, having been granted interim permits. Of those 63 growers, 33 have entered payment plans. They collectively owe $561,456 in Measure S taxes.

Summing up this state of affairs, Ford said, “Over half of the community of cultivation sites owe Measure S taxes.” He asked the board whether it was prepared to start revoking all those permits, given the real humans behind them.

“Every number up there represents a person,” Ford said. “Some of them have stories that it’s hard for me not to be sympathetic to — I’ll just say that. I know this is a hard decision, and that’s why I wanted to bring it back and make sure this is really the direction the board wanted to go.”

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn said that while he’s aware that the board has been “kicking this can down the road,” he also believes, “We’re going to drive everybody back underground if we suspend these licenses.”

He and Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell said they’d feel fine revoking the permits of people who have yet to enter payment plans, most of whom have likely gone belly-up and left the county. Their colleagues agreed. There was some debate over how to structure a repayment plan for the balance of permit holders, and Bohn advanced a proposal that had been suggested via email by the Humboldt County Growers Alliance: Four years to pay up, with 25 percent due each year.

“I’m not willing to go out four years,” Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone said. “I think that’s a long time. It increases the administrative burden on the county. We’re in a bad budget place.”

During the public comment period, quite a few growers called in to voice support for the four-year plan, with many describing severe economic woes. One said he’s paid more than half of his Measure S tax bill and recently sent in a $4,000 check, adding, “But that was all my money from sales, so I don’t really have any money for Christmas.”

Suzanne Maese of cannabis consulting firm Margro Advisors was emotional, her voice shaking as she said, “This county has asked far too much of these folks. … I want you to know that you’re dealing with people’s livelihoods. For you folks, it’s just a vote. For our farmers, it’s a matter of putting food on their table.”

Appearing in person, farmer Nya Hessler said the recent federal ban on intoxicating hemp was a rare example of good news for local cultivators. 

“We might see the best year we’ve seen in years,” he said.

Gordon

Ross Gordon of the Humboldt County Growers Alliance was among those urging support of the four-year repayment plan.

“Doing it over a longer period of time is going to provide more people with an opportunity to pay, an opportunity to bring that revenue in,” he said.

Ultimately, the board agreed. Bohn made the motion, and after some discussion about moving the annual due dates or maybe offering discounts for early payment, the supervisors coalesced around a plan, though Madrone still objected.

“I think going out four years is way too much,” he said. But he recognized that he was in the minority. “Looks to me like this is going to pass probably four to one, and that’s fine. I have no problem with that.”

And that is indeed how it passed.

A recap of 2024’s Food Drive.

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Every year our colleagues at KHUM Radio link up with local high schoolers and — for the last eight years — Sen. Mike McGuire to throw the biggest danged fundraiser/foodraiser for Food For People, our local food bank, that they can possibly throw. 

It’s the annual food drive, and it’s on right now!

Every day this week, KHUM will be broadcasting live from the following locations between noon and 6 p.m.:

• Tuesday Dec. 9th - Wildberries
• Wednesday Dec. 10th - North Coast Co-Op (Eureka)
• Thursday Dec. 11th - Safeway (Eureka)
• Friday Dec. 12th - Eureka Natural Foods (Eureka)

Thursday at Safeway is the big day, when the senator will be on hand to welcome and tally up the donations collected by local high schools. A winner will be declared! You are welcome to come by!

What else can you do to help? Bring down some non-perishable foods — or throw some extras in your cart, if you happen to be shopping at one of those places at one of those times — and give it to your friendly local KHUM deejay at the front of the store. And say hello!

Or: Money! Food For People will take money, too. That kind of donation has the advantage of never going bad, plus it allows Food For People to be a little more flexible based on need.

Make the scene! Here’s a press release from Sen. Mike McGuire:

Sen. McGuire’s TENTH ANNUAL Humboldt Holiday Food Drive is this Thursday, December 11th from 3-6 p.m. at the Eureka Safeway. 

Now the largest on the North Coast, the Food Drive will benefit Humboldt’s Food Bank, Food for People, and the 21,000 Humboldt residents who rely on the organization each month. Behind the scenes of the annual six-week Food Drive are thousands of students from six area high schools (Arcata, Eureka, Ferndale, Fortuna, McKinleyville & St. Bernard’s) who have been hosting their own food drives on school campuses across Humboldt this fall. All the proceeds from the student food drives will be delivered between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 11 to the Eureka Safeway.

Since 2016, the Food Drive has raised more than a quarter million dollars and 177,000 pounds of food for our neighbors in need. The Holiday Food Drive makes a life-changing impact in Food for People’s ability to sustain their work to feed hungry families and seniors. Each year, enough food and funds are raised from the Holiday Food Drive to sustain the food bank’s needs through early spring.

This year, Food for People is facing the biggest challenges yet in their organization’s history with the massive cuts to SNAP, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which will strip food assistance for 5.5 million needy Californians each year. This has created a perfect storm in our community and historic demand at Food for People as we enter the holiday season.  

That’s why Senator McGuire and Food for People are rallying to collect truckloads of food – and monetary donations – to help neighbors in need.

What: Humboldt Holiday Food Drive
When: December 11 from 3-6pm
Where: Eureka Safeway, 2555 Harris Street
Why: The need has never been greater.
Donate Here: Donation Form

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President Donald Trump’s offshore wind ban has been overturned.

On Monday, Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled that President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order halting permits and leasing for new wind energy projects is “unlawful,” vacating the order and ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, which include 17 states and Washington, D.C. A group of environmental advocacy groups, including the Arcata-based Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), filed an amicus curae brief in support of the suit.

In her 47-page ruling – linked here – Judge Saris wrote that the so-called Wind Order — one of the first executive actions of Trump’s second term — was “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law.” The order continues:

Further, given that the Wind Order constitutes a change of course from decades of agencies’ issuing (or denying) permits related to wind energy projects, the Agency Defendants were required, at minimum, to “provide a reasoned explanation for the change” and to “display awareness that [they were] changing position.” … They failed to do so. Instead, they implemented the Wind Order on Inauguration Day without elucidating the “reasons for the new policy.” … [T]he Wind Memo does not provide adequate explanation: It merely includes a single sentence citing “various alleged legal deficiencies underlying” wind permitting, “potential inadequacies in various environmental reviews,” and the possibility that these vaguely defined issues “may lead to grave harm.”

In short, what that means is the Trump administration claimed that offshore wind is uniquely harmful to the environment — while promoting coal and nuclear energy, both of which have been proven to have significant environmental impacts — without having the evidence to back it up.

​​Matt Simmons, an attorney with EPIC, said the president is allowed to change U.S. energy policies, but emphasized that “you have to show proof [and] reason that something informed your decision, that you aren’t just saying this for no reason.”

“What the Trump administration completely failed to do here was provide any sort of evidence that offshore wind is harmful to the environment, and therefore needed this emergency action to shut down leasing and permitting across the entire country,” Simmons continued. “In this particular case, the states … argued that the order was so harmful to their economies and to their efforts to fight climate change that it was not acceptable to leave it standing in the meantime. [Judge Saris] agreed with the states, and not only declared it unlawful, but vacated the order.”

Asked whether the ruling will stick, Simmons said it’s likely that the administration will appeal.

“The Trump administration has basically no respect for the law, and so they often sort of shoot from the hip and do things in an unlawful way,” Simmons added. And this is just yet another example of them doing that. That’s why they lose so frequently in court, because they don’t bother to do the actual work of following the law.”

Congressman Jared Huffman issued a statement this morning celebrating the ruling, calling the administration’s “war on clean energy flat-out illegal.”

“From day one of Trump 2.0, Democrats have been fighting for the American people and a clean energy future,” Huffman wrote. “The fight isn’t over, but the courts have sent a clear message – this lawless president can’t get away with killing affordable, job-creating clean energy just so he can tip the scales for his Big Oil billionaire buddies.” 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued the following statement in response to the court ruling:

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Bonta today celebrated the decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts invalidating the Trump Administration’s action freezing the development of wind energy and declaring it unlawful. Wind energy is a homegrown source of reliable, affordable energy that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, creates billions of dollars in economic activity and tax payments, and already supplies more than 10% of the country’s electricity. Today’s decision vacates the Trump Administration’s “Day One” executive memorandum that imposed an indefinite moratorium on offshore and onshore wind energy projects and brings the attorneys general lawsuit to a final resolution subject to appeal. 

“Today, we celebrate another victory against the Trump Administration. A court has agreed with California and our sister states nationwide: The Trump Administration’s attempt to thwart states’ efforts to make energy more clean, reliable, and affordable for our residents is unlawful and cannot stand,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The Trump Administration seems intent on raising costs on American families at every juncture — and California is equally committed to challenging every one of its illegal attempts to make life more expensive for Californians.”

BACKGROUND: 

On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Memorandum that, among other things, indefinitely halted all federal approvals necessary for the development of offshore and onshore wind energy projects pending an indefinite federal review of wind leasing and permitting practices. Pursuant to this directive, federal agencies stopped all permitting and approval activities related to onshore or offshore wind energy projects. 

In addition to relying on onshore wind energy, in California, there are also currently five federal offshore wind leases off of California’s coast. Two are located offshore by Humboldt, while the remaining three are offshore from Morro Bay. These new developments are designed to bring substantial amounts of clean energy to the grid, including enough to power 1.6 million homes and potentially more. The President’s directive would have not only derailed the transition to clean energy but would have also threatened to increase consumer energy costs and jeopardized the creation of thousands of union jobs and the increased economic activity to the Humboldt area.

In May, Attorney General Bonta joined a multistate coalition in suing the Administration, alleging that the President’s memorandum would harm states’ efforts to secure reliable, diversified, and affordable sources of energy to meet the increasing demand for electricity and help reduce emissions of harmful air pollutants, meet clean energy goals, and address climate change. The directive also presented a looming threat to the states’ significant investments in wind industry infrastructure, supply chains, and workforce development — investments that already total billions of dollars.

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DOCUMENT: New York v. Trump

Charles Francis Bounds
July 11, 1942 – November 23, 2025

Born in Ashland, Oregon, to Charles and Melba Bounds, Charles grew up in his father’s auto shop, where he discovered his gift for mechanics. That gift became a lifelong career in the automotive industry, as he eventually purchased Trinity Auto Repair in Willow Creek. 

Charles served his country in Vietnam. He served his community with his hands. But the greatest chapter of his life was his love story with Carol. They married, built a family, and though life took them in different directions, God brought them back together. They remarried, and their later years overflowed with laughter, devotiacon, and the joy of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a great-great-grandchild. 

Charles was more than a mechanic — he was an artist who loved to draw, a jokester who loved to tease, and a grandfather who filled his family’s lives with laughter.  

He is survived by his wife, Carol; daughters Cynthia McAuley, Chellyn Bowser, and Tracey Hamby; and his sister Judy Buchanan. He was preceded in death by his son, Michael Bounds, and a nephew. He leaves behind a large and loving family, including grandchildren Justin, Tim, Danielle, Victoria, Carlyn, Joel, Valarie, Neil, Ross, Jessicah, Kaden, Brenna, Jacob, Charlee, Emily, and Arthur, as well as many great-grandchildren, a great-great grandchild, nieces and extended family members.

His story is one of service, artistry, humor and above all, love. He taught us that true love can endure distance and time, that laughter is a gift worth sharing, and that family is the greatest treasure of all.

Charles will be laid to rest December 15, 2025, at Eagle Point National Cemetery, joining his parents.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Charles Bounds’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

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Buying a home in Humboldt County is a dangerous investment — at least according to the real estate analytics company ATTOM. 

The private equity-backed firm, which claims to be “passionate about real estate data,” recently released its latest U.S. Housing Risk Report, which ranks Humboldt County at #2 on its list of the riskiest housing markets in the U.S. The top spot on the risk list went to our NorCal neighbor Butte County. El Dorado and Shasta counties also made the top five.

What do these rankings mean? Well, a post on the company’s website says they’re based on an assessment of vulnerability in county-level housing markets during last fiscal quarter. The rankings are based on a variety of factors, including relative home affordability, equity levels and unemployment rates. (And apparently only 580 of the nation’s 3,000-plus counties have sufficient data to analyze in this way.)

The Outpost obtained a copy of the data ATTOM compiled for its report. Humboldt’s report card came in as follows:

• 50.2% of income needed to buy
• 3.1% of properties underwater
• 1 in every 803 properties with foreclosure filings
• 6.1% July 2025 unemployment rate

The figure that immediately jumps out is the 50.2 percent. That’s how much of the county’s median income you’d have to spend each month in order to afford the median-priced home here. Experts typically recommend spending no more than 30 percent of your gross income on housing.

The “underwater” figure represents properties where the amount owed is more than it’s worth. It’s a safe guess that the collapse of our local cannabis industry has influenced that number here.

Meanwhile, the county’s unemployment rate in July (which is the most recent data we have, thanks to the federal government shutdown) was 6.1 percent. That’s equal to the statewide rate but higher than the national rate of 4.6 percent, according to the California Employment Development Department.

ATTOM’s analysis found that 16 of the 50 highest-risk markets were located in California. Your real estate investments are safer in Wisconsin, Tennessee and Montana, according to the report, which doesn’t address matters of living quality and natural beauty.

Local realtor and seasoned number-cruncher Charles McCann releases his own regular reports on local real estate trends, as represented in a series of graphs. His latest report was just issued this morning, and it includes the chart below. It reveals that local housing prices, which spiked during the pandemic, have since stalled.

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As you can see, since peaking in late 2022, prices have been on a slight downward trajectory, albeit with a lot of seasonal volatility.

If you’re looking for a bit of good news, the number of home sales in Humboldt County has been on the rise over the past two years, as shown in the chart below.

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ATTOM CEO Rob Barber is quoted in a post on his company’s website last week as saying, “A lot of attention has, deservedly, gone to affordability concerns stemming from the rising price of homes. But what really separated the riskiest markets in our third quarter assessment were their high rates of foreclosures and unemployment.”

“If a community is losing jobs, those homeowners will find it harder to pay their monthly mortgage bills,” he added. “That means more foreclosures, which can hurt the broader local housing market.”

But Humboldt County’s unemployment rate has remained fairly stable over the past year or so. (It rose just 0.3 percent since August of 2024.)

Given that Humboldt County ranked among the nation’s hottest real estate markets as recently as 2021, we should probably take all these charts and rankings with a grain of salt. And if our conversations with real estate agents over the years have taught us anything, it’s that now is always a great time to buy.

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Since President Donald Trump took office in January, his administration has launched an all-out attack on the offshore wind energy sector, issuing stop-work orders for near-complete projects on the East Coast and canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for other proposed projects, including more than $435 million earmarked for Humboldt County. 

In a recent segment on National Public Radio, climate solutions correspondent Julia Simon speaks with Chris Mikkelsen, executive director of the Humboldt Bay Harbor District, about how the loss of federal funding is reshaping the district’s plans for a heavy-lift marine terminal that would support the offshore wind project planned 20 miles west of Eureka.

In an at-times emotional interview, Mikkelsen told Simon that the port development project, which was supposed to be shovel-ready as soon as 2026, would “change the economic viability of our community.”

“Now we’ve been on pause since we got the news in August, we’ve been pencils down,” Mikkelsen told NPR. “It very much contributed to the delay.”

On his first day in office, President Trump fulfilled a long-held promise to block new offshore wind development in the United States, issuing a sweeping Executive Order to halt leasing and permitting for new projects slated for the outer continental shelf.

Still, Mikkelsen told NPR he was confused as to why the administration decided to pull the federal grant funding, noting that Trump “really ran on a platform that we’re gonna build back America. That we’re gonna create jobs in rural America. Good, skilled, trained, high-paying jobs.”

With the U.S. backtracking on renewable energy investments, China is now leading the global renewable energy sector. NPR correspondent Anthony Kuhn explains:

In the first half of this year, China built more solar than the rest of the world combined. China accounts for 74% of all large scale solar and wind under construction, according to the nonprofit Global Energy Monitor. … More than a quarter of China’s economic growth in 2024 came from wind, solar and battery technologies, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a nonprofit. Energy experts say it’s too early to know the full impact of the Trump administration’s anti-renewable policies, but in the first half of 2025, U.S. renewable investment fell by 36%.

You listen to the full interview below.

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The view from the Arcata Plaza might look a little different soon if the Arcata Planning Commission decides to allow clothing and home-good reseller Eco-Groovy Deals to triple their signage on their H Street storefront at their meeting tomorrow.

Their current 20-square-foot sign takes up a small fraction of the 50 by 10-foot façade. If permitted, Eco-Groovy would swap the smaller sign out for a 44-square-foot aluminum sign on the façade. They’d also add another 16 square feet of vinyl signage on the street-level windows. 

The proposed signage meets all of the city’s rules regulating design standards except for its size.

Eco-Groovy needs permission from the commission because the planned 60 square feet of signage exceeds the 20-foot maximum Arcata allows for businesses. The storefront is one of the largest on the plaza; two lots were combined in 2020 to form one 50 by 115-foot parcel, and Eco-Groovy is the only tenant. The planning commission agrees that the current sign on the façade appears “disproportionately small.” 

“The sign’s materials, scale, and placement are consistent with the character of plaza signage,” reads the city’s staff report, “and do not detract from the architectural cohesion of the immediate neighborhood.”