Isabella Vanderheiden!

Today, the Lost Coast Outpost is thrilled to introduce you to the latest reporter to don the teal. She is none other than …

Isabella Vanderheiden! Three cheers for Izzy, everyone!

Some of you might already know Ms. V from her previous forays into the local journalism space — either from her days as the KMUD news director, or, more lately, as assistant managing editor of the LoCO’s crosstown rival blog, which goes by the whimsical old-timey name of “The Times-Standard.” If so, you’ll be familiar with the curiosity and dedication she brings to any number of topics — county government, the cannabis industry and environmental protection, to name but a few of her regular beats.

As of today, though, Izzy has thrown off the yoke of hedge fund capitalism and exists exclusively to serve you, the Lost Coast Outpost readership. What wonders will this new, unchained Vanderheiden perform, here in our pages, over the coming months and years and decades? Who knows! Let’s find out together!

But even as you hoist one for Vanderheiden, spill a little out for the Outpost’s dear, departed Jacquelyn Opalach. Or spill it out for the Outpost, rather! Because Opalach, who covered the Humboldt County education beat better than any other reporter in at least the last 20 years, has left the Outpost to do the things that astoundingly precocious, shockingly young people are supposed to do, post-pandemic — travel the world and get a degree. We’re pretty sure she’s currently on the first leg of that mission, but we’re still waiting for our postcard.

While we wait: Isabella Vanderheiden! Give her a warm Lost Coast Outpost welcome.