Steve Newman died on August 21, 2025 at the age of 82. He died at his home in McKinleyville, where he’d lived the previous 48 years. He died peacefully, in his sleep, near Carol, his wife of 44 years.

Steve was born in Evansville, Indiana on November 13, 1942. Son of Morton, a lawyer and later judge, and Babette, whose family lived across the Ohio River in Henderson, Kentucky, Steve would spend his life near rivers, oceans, creeks and other bodies of water, often most content simply sitting near them. He and his sister Nancy (“the only person I’ve known my entire life”) had, in many ways, a typical 1950s midwestern childhood, but they would each find their way out of Indiana, separately moving around the country and world, but were never far from one another, both eventually landing in California in the 1970s and remaining a major part of each other’s lives till the end. A lifelong science enthusiast, Steve often joked that as a kid he dreamed of becoming a nuclear physicist, but because of pronunciation issues due to a lisp, he decided to pursue a career in law like his father instead.

Graduating high school in 1960, Steve then attended Indiana University. In Bloomington, Indiana in the early ’60s, he found a countercultural scene that included many friends that he would remain close to for the rest of his life. He discovered much of the music and literature that he was so passionate about during these years. Still, he graduated with a degree in economics and left for Cornell to attend law school.

It turned out, the law wasn’t his thing. After a couple attempts at law school, he spent much of the 1960s trying to figure out what was. He moved to Washington D.C. and got a job in the Labor Department. He went back to Indiana and got his master’s degree in media studies, a relatively new field. (He would claim his thesis on Marshall McCluhan was the shortest in university history, a legacy of brevity and mystery of which he was very proud.) He worked at ABC news in New York during the moon landing, taking a weekend off to attend Woodstock, which he left after a few hours. He never liked crowds.

In the early 1970s he found his way to California, attending UCLA in pursuit of a Ph.D and joining the Coast Guard. After his honorable discharge from the Coast Guard he traveled up the coast for a summer to escape the crowds of LA and visit a friend from his Bloomington days who was now a professor at Humboldt State University. He never left. Finding a small house on the Pacific Ocean in the town of Trinidad (“An incredible beach, a real dream spot… 55 dollars a month!” he’d write to his parents), he got a job at HSU in the media department. He remained in the department for more than 30 years. In the media department he found his thing: he loved being a detached observer behind the lens of the camera and the editing process, during which one’s choices of inclusion and omission are vital in telling the larger story. In Humboldt is also where the long story of his early life ends and the simple, more important one begins.

In 1977, at a university function, he met Carol Bany, who’d attended college at HSU. They began dating. She knew it was serious when he took her to look at a house he was thinking of buying. He bought it. On Bartow Road in McKinleyville, it would be the house he remained in for the rest of his life. He and Carol were married under the apple tree in that backyard in 1981. In 1985 their son Nick, now a chef in New Orleans, was born. In 1987, they had a daughter, Tara, a special education consultant in Sonoma. He was an excellent husband and father. Carol and his kids (and later grandkids) were everything to him. The ‘80s were spent picking apples and blackberries in the backyard, playing catch with the kids, collecting rocks and feathers on the beach, and writing little poems and songs for his family (although he could never carry a tune or play an instrument, he never let it stop him.) Train trips back to Evansville to visit his mother (his father passed away just before he became a father himself) were another highlight, Babette remained a very important part of his and his family’s life until she too passed in 2011. He would videotape every trip, holiday, or school function and edit them with as much care (and more love) as any professional project he was working on.

In 1995 he was diagnosed with cancer. He only hoped to live long enough to see his kids graduate from high school. He did, and then lived more than 20 years longer. In 2004, he retired from HSU, as the head of the media department. In retirement he got to spend a couple quality years with Tara, who was still in high school. Their lunches of clam chowder at the Marina or breakfast at the Seascape formed a bond that carried over to a game of words with friends that lasted the rest of his life. He remained a constant presence in both of his kids’ lives till the very end. He also got to spend quality time in his beloved backyard with his dog Stewie, who, like Brownie in Evansville, Mutlett in Trinidad, and Molly before him, was a major part of his life.

But, most importantly, he got to spend his later years with Carol, who also retired from her career as a nurse. They would walk around McKinleyville hand-in-hand. They took trips to Ireland, to visit her family’s roots, and often spent Christmas with Nick in New Orleans. They were inseparable. By far, the highlight of these twilight years were visits with the grandkids. Tara and her husband Justin had Grace in 2017, and Jack in 2018. His third act as PopPop may have been his favorite one of all.

After 2020, he spent much of his last five years at home. In (mostly) good health and (always) good spirits, he spent much of these years in the backyard, photographing the birds and deer who would wander in. He continued to edit short videos (his “video doodles”) that he would share with friends and family till the day before he died. Although most of his time was spent at home, he remained very social till the end, with each day of the week devoted to a Zoom call with people from different phases of his life, from high school in Evansville, to college in Bloomington, to friends from the late ’60s and early ’70s, to his son and grandkids. He would regularly meet with friends from HSU, and occasionally host a Friday beer group in the backyard.

Writing home in 1971, he told his parents: “Nancy says you’re kinda worried and I should tell you more things. I really can’t though because I’m pretty much just taking things as they come. I’m happier and more relaxed than I have been in years, tho which is something.”

He would have been proud of what followed. Steve died quietly at home, having lived a full life.

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PREVIOUSLY

• One Killed, One Injured in Shelter Cove Plane Crash, Sheriff’s Office Says
• 48-Year-Old Santa Rosa Man Identified as Deceased Pilot in Last Weekend’s Shelter Cove Plane Crash

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The cause of last month’s fatal plane crash off the coast of Shelter Cove remains a mystery following today’s release of a preliminary investigation report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). 

According to the report, 48-year-old Santa Rosa resident and student pilot Brian Mariette and a passenger flew into Shelter Cove for lunch on Aug. 17 and had just taken off on their return flight to Santa Rosa when their Cessna 140 hit turbulence, rapidly lost altitude and crashed into the Pacific, seriously injuring both men, according to a preliminary investigation report released today by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The wreckage remains unrecovered, the report says.

A witness told investigators that after taking off from the remote cliffside airstrip, the plane made a steep, climbing right turn over the ocean before disappearing into the low coastal fog. The passenger, who has not been publicly identified, relayed to investigators that they’d departed to the south, into the wind, and intended to circle back over the runway to gain altitude. 

After entering the fog, however, the passenger looked down and saw the ocean “closer than expected,” the report says. “Shortly after entering the fog, he described the feeling of turbulence and stated the airplane was ‘violently pushed down’” before hitting the water, according to the report.

The witness who’d watched the plane take off heard sirens and someone in the water calling for help.

According to the NTSB report, the passenger did not remember exiting the airplane after the impact. Shelter Cove Fire personnel responded to the scene and found the men in the water, according to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. Both men were recovered and brought to shore, but the pilot was pronounced dead at the scene. The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office later determined that he had drowned.

You can download and read the full report via the link below.

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DOCUMENT

• Aviation Investigation Preliminary Report (NTSB) 

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PREVIOUSLY:

• The Water District Will Have to Temporarily Shut Down an Important Main Soon, but They Aren’t Expecting it to Affect Customers

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Press release from the City of Eureka:

The Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District (HBMWD) has announced that it will conduct critical maintenance on its transmission pipeline this week.

Here is the schedule released today:

The isolation of the transmission pipeline will begin at 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 9. The shutdown is expected to last a minimum of 24 hours, but could extend up to 48 hours depending on conditions.

During this maintenance period, local water systems, including those serving the Cities of Eureka and Arcata, the Humboldt Community Services District, and the Samoa Peninsula (Fairhaven, Samoa, and Manila) will operate using existing reservoir supplies.

There should not be any interruption to water service. However, we encourage customers to use water wisely over the next 48 hours.

HBMWD will post updates at www.hbmwd.com. For questions, customers may call HBMWD at (707) 443-5018 or City of Eureka Public Works at (707)441-4203, publicworks@eurekaca.gov.

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Press release from the Humboldt County Administrative Office:

For those looking for a special day to tie the knot, the Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder’s Office is thrilled to announce a hauntingly beautiful opportunity for couples to celebrate their union this Halloween.

In person civil wedding ceremonies will be performed for extended hours at two locations to accommodate couples seeking to make their love official on this eerily romantic holiday.

On Friday, Oct. 31, the Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder’s Office will host elegant, gothic-inspired civil marriage ceremonies at the historic Humboldt County Fairgrounds, located at 1250 Fifth St. in Ferndale. The ceremony site will be transformed into a dark and glamorous wonderland for the occasion. Ceremonies will be held by appointment between noon and 6:15 p.m., rain or shine. Fairgrounds ceremonies will be available on a first come, first served basis, so interested couples are encouraged to call 707-445-7593 to schedule their ceremony as soon as possible.

Additionally, the Clerk-Recorder’s Office will be offering private civil marriage ceremonies, by appointment, at the Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, located on the fifth floor of the Humboldt County Courthouse at 825 Fifth St. in Eureka, which will be specially decorated for the occasion. Courthouse ceremonies will be scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

How to Book a Halloween Day Wedding Ceremony

Civil wedding ceremony bookings must be done in person at the Humboldt County Clerk- Recorder’s Office. The fee to book a wedding ceremony is $100. Spanish language ceremonies are available upon request. 

Due to high demand, couples must book their Halloween ceremonies no later than Thursday, Oct. 30 and are reminded that a marriage license is required for a wedding to be performed.
All couples must arrive to their ceremony with marriage license materials on hand. 

How to Obtain a Marriage License

A marriage license can be obtained up to 90 days before the ceremony date. A marriage license application may be competed in person in the Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, or you may begin the application process online at tinyurl.com/HumCoWeddings.
Please note that the couple must appear in person to complete the application process and provide a valid government-issued ID. The marriage license application process takes about 30 minutes and costs $78 for a public license or $80 for a confidential license.

Choose Your Own Wedding Officiant

Couples can make prior arrangements with the Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder’s Office for the ceremony to be performed by a person of their choice, age 18 or older. The person must be an ordained officiant or deputized to perform the ceremony in advance by the Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder. The fee to be deputized to officiate a wedding ceremony is $50. The Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder’s Office will provide comprehensive wedding ceremony packets containing ceremony wording, instructions and sample license completion guides for all officiants.

For more information or to schedule your wedding ceremony, please call 707-445-7593 or visit humboldtgov.org/Clerk-Recorder.

About the Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder’s Office

The Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder’s Office maintains vital records and provides essential services to the public, including the issuance of marriage licenses and performance of civil marriage ceremonies. The office is committed to providing efficient, professional service to all Humboldt County residents. For more information on services the Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder’s office provides, please visit humboldtgov.org/Clerk-Recorder.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Sept. 6, 2025, at about 8:19 a.m. a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy was driving the area of Henderson St. and B St., in Eureka when he observed 68-year-old Daniel Griffith of Eureka smoking methamphetamine. The deputy contacted Griffith and placed him under arrest without incident.

 

In addition, Griffith had several outstanding misdemeanor warrants for his arrest and was in possession of a stolen shopping cart from a nearby business. Griffith was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where he was booked and housed on the following charges:

• H.S. 11550(a) Use or be Under the Influence of any Controlled Substance
• H.S. 11395(b)(1) Possession of controlled Substance with 2 or more priors
• B.P. 22435.2(a) Theft of a shopping cart
• P.C. 496(a) Possession of stolen property
• P.C. 978.5 Bench Warrant / Failure to Appear

This is Griffith’s ninth arrest for very similar charges since the beginning of 2024 and due to the new voter approved felony H.S.11395(b)(1) under Proposition 36 this is the first time he was not cited and released from the HCCF.

 

This case is still under investigation.

 

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

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Press release from Six Rivers National Forest:

Dillon Fire: 11,957 acres; 57% containment

Email: 2025.Dillon@firenet.gov   

Personnel: 1,242

Online Fire Information: www.linktr.ee/srffirepio      

Containment increased significantly in the southern area of the fire Sunday as crews strengthened control lines along Rock Creek. Clear weather conditions allowed air operations to conduct frequent water drops throughout the fire area, at times with four helicopters flying simultaneously.  

Crews continue to look at opportunities to go direct on the southwest corner of the fire from Forest Road 13N47 north toward Forest Road 14N21 to keep the fire footprint as small as possible. The fire continues to back to the west into Coffee Can Creek drainage.

Structure protection efforts continue along the Highway 96 area. The safety of people, property and structures remains a top priority.
The spot fire across from Dillon Creek Campground is secure; firefighters have laid hose down to the Klamath River. Hose lays will remain in the area until after the forecasted rain passes on Tuesday.
Cool and wet conditions were prevalent Sunday, and half an inch of rain is expected this morning with larger showers in the afternoon. Smoldering conditions will follow.

The combination of rain and smoke will lower visibility on roads near the fire area. Slick conditions are possible. The public is encouraged to exercise caution and be mindful of heavy equipment.

A virtual public meeting will be held at 6 p.m. today on both the Six Rivers’ and Klamath national forests’ Facebook pages. Recordings will be available on the respective pages afterwards.
Evacuations and Closures:

Intermittent closures of Highway 96 are possible, particularly near Seiad Valley. Road updates can be found on the Caltrans’ website at https://dot.ca.gov/travel.

The Six Rivers National Forest has issued a forest closure order in the vicinity of the Dillon Fire. More information can be found at www.linktr.ee/srffirepio.

The Ti Bar area has been placed in a level 3-GO status. Dillon Fire evacuations and warnings can be found at https://protect.genasys.com:

Evacuation Orders: SIS-1402-A, SIS-1405, SIS-1503-A, SIS-1506, SIS-1509-A and SIS-1509-B.

Evacuation Warnings: SIS-1300, SIS-1301, SIS-1402-B, SIS-1408, SIS-1503-B, 1509-C and SIS-1509-D.

Shelter information and evacuation resources are available through the Siskiyou County Office of Emergency Services at (530) 340–3539.

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

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Since he first floated the idea on a podcast this summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom has been the face of a plan to redraw California’s congressional lines to favor Democrats.

Now, as the state hurtles toward a Nov. 4 special election in which voters will decide whether to adopt a new gerrymandered map, opponents are grappling with how much to center Newsom in their campaign to defeat the proposal.

At the California Republican Party convention in Garden Grove this past weekend — which aimed to mobilize conservatives against Newsom’s measure, known as Proposition 50 — the governor was a curiously negligible presence.

In strategy sessions and trainings, GOP leaders largely looked beyond Newsom, whose slick style, celebrity stature and unabashedly liberal politics have for years offered California Republicans a delicious foil. Even the merchandise tables were missing their usual fare depicting the governor as a dictator with a Hitler mustache.

“I don’t think this is about Gavin Newsom. This is what he wants to do, but this is about Californians,” Corrin Rankin, the party chair, told reporters. She said the party will run a get-out-the-vote operation educating Republicans about how the new map would effectively take away their right to choose who represents them.

“We’re going to make sure that fine print is in bold letters and people see what exactly they’re voting for and that they’re not fooled again by the Democratic Party,” Rankin said.

Make it about the map

During a presentation Saturday afternoon about legal challenges to the redistricting gambit, Orange County Republican Party Chair Will O’Neill told attendees their most effective talking point to defeat Proposition 50 is to simply show voters the new map.

Newsom’s plan would toss out congressional districts drawn by an independent citizen commission in 2021 and adopt lines that flip the partisan lean of five Republican-held seats while shoring up the Democratic registration advantage in five more swing districts. The GOP could be left with as few as four of California’s 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Will O’Neill, chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County, speaks during the California Republican Party fall 2025 convention in Garden Grove, Orange County. He encouraged delegates to highlight the most “absurd” changes in the proposed congressional maps as part of the anti-Proposition 50 campaign. Sept. 6, 2025. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters

O’Neill told delegates to find the most “absurd” changes in their communities and post them on social media. He highlighted a proposed district around Lake Tahoe that’s been compared to an elephant head, because of a trunk-shaped swath that dips into the heavily Democratic suburbs of Sacramento, and a line drawn down the middle of a residential street in Mission Viejo, splitting houses on either side into different seats.

To win, O’Neill said in an interview, Republicans have to broaden the election to be about the detrimental impacts of Proposition 50 and reach the vast majority of Californians who are not living in hyperpartisan online environments. Only 25% of voters in the state are registered Republican, compared to 45% who are registered Democratic and 22% who have no party preference.

“Whether the person likes Donald Trump or Gavin Newsom isn’t really the issue,” O’Neill said. “If this is a straight Republican vs. Democrat election, we lose.”

There’s no escaping Newsom

For many voters, Proposition 50 will be a choice between Newsom and Trump. That’s exactly how Newsom himself has framed it.

The governor began talking about redistricting in July, after Trump pressured Texas Republicans to call a special session to redraw the state’s congressional map and bolster the GOP’s narrow control of the House. The new lines in Texas will likely flip five Democratic seats to Republicans.

Newsom has argued that California’s retaliation was necessary to save democracy — preserving Democrats’ chances of winning back the House in the 2026 midterms and preventing Trump from dragging the United States into authoritarianism.

The president, who remains deeply unpopular in California, is everywhere in Newsom’s campaign for Proposition 50, which he has dubbed the “Election Rigging Response Act.” It echoes the governor’s successful strategy for defeating a recall attempt in 2021.

But Newsom is everywhere as well. He stars prominently in one of the first ads for the campaign, which features footage from a rally he held in Los Angeles last month, where he urges voters to “stand up for our democracy.”

And some opponents are putting Newsom at the forefront of their pitch to voters.

First: A vendor talks to attendees at the California Republican Party fall 2025 convention in Garden Grove. Last: The California Republican Party’s North Region vice chair and Placer County chair, Mark Wright, holds a “No on 50” sign at the convention. Photos by Jules Hotz for CalMatters

Former California GOP Chair Jessica Millan Patterson is leading one of the campaigns against the measure, which has taken the name No On 50 – Stop Newsom’s Power Grab. She said in an interview that Newsom “turns out Republicans,” who are frustrated by their belief that he has treated his governorship like merely a stepping stone to the White House.

It makes Newsom a potent symbol for what Patterson called “the corruption and those backroom deals when Sacramento politicians have that type of power” to draw their own districts, which in this case would leave vast swaths of conservative Californians without representation in Washington, D.C. She slammed the governor for wearing gerrymandering “like a badge of honor.”

“It’s a sense of justice. I think people get really fired up about it,” Patterson said. “We’re going to make sure the rest of the country sees that even Californians aren’t falling for his lame vanity project here.”

A split campaign strategy

Around the convention, Assemblymember David Tangipa was the rare voice making Proposition 50 about Newsom. He urged attendees to ask everyone they know one question: Does Gavin Newsom deserve more power?

Tangipa, a Fresno Republican, said he expected that question to carry weight even in heavily Democratic California, because enough people have woken up to the problems created by the state’s liberal policies. Voters, he noted, overwhelmingly approved a tough-on-crime measure last year that Newsom fiercely opposed.

“He’s not running a redistricting campaign. He’s running an anti-Trump campaign,” Tangipa said. “They love that we want to get into facts and data and everything else and they’re getting into emotion.”

Not everyone is so convinced. Olivia Valentine, president of the Hawthorne Lawndale Gardena Republican Assembly, was in search of door signs and other materials she could use to canvass against Proposition 50. She said she would refrain from bashing Newsom because she didn’t want voters to think she was a “partisan hack.”

“I don’t want that response. I want them to understand why it’s going to be bad for everybody,” Valentine said. “Everyone should be concerned that their vote is being taken away. That’s scary.”

Shawn Steel, RNC National Committeeman for California, speaks during a panel at the California Republican Party fall 2025 convention in Garden Grove, on Sept. 6, 2025. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters

The conundrum over how much to involve Newsom — who Republicans seem uniformly convinced is using the redistricting fight to boost his prospects in an expected 2028 presidential run — is visible everywhere in the campaign.

Charles Munger, Jr., a longtime California GOP megadonor who poured millions into the ballot measure that created the independent redistricting commission, is running his own operation aimed at liberal-leaning voters. The ads have a good government message about the inherent corruption of politicians drawing their own districts, eschewing mention of Newsom and Trump altogether.

Republicans also hope that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the party’s last statewide officeholder and another champion of the commission, will rally independents against Proposition 50. Schwarzenegger has spoken out against the measure, posting himself online in a “terminate gerrymandering” T-shirt, but he has not announced a formal role in the campaign.

The motivating factor: fairness

On Saturday morning, California GOP delegates from the north state, a deeply conservative area that would be chopped up and redistributed into Democratic-leaning districts under the new congressional map, packed into a small hotel ballroom.

Most are currently represented by Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Chico Republican, whose chief of staff, Mark Spannagel, visited the session to discuss the bifurcated strategy for defeating Proposition 50.

“What motivates our center-right is not the mealy-mouthed stuff that’s going to motivate our friends on the left,” he said. “So you need to speak to them differently and you need to motivate them in a different way.”

Then Johanna Lassaga, chair of the Yuba County Republican Central Committee, stepped to the front to show off a campaign sign she had made: black and yellow, featuring simple language (“No on 50: Defend Fair Elections”) with no mention of Newsom.

California Republican Party Yuba County Chair Johanna Lassaga at the California Republican Party fall 2025 convention in Garden Grove, Orange County. Sept. 6, 2025. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters

She had thousands available for delegates to buy and distribute around their communities. She asked if anyone had property along the highway where they would be willing to hang banners that could be seen by drivers — even liberals who might be drawn to the intentionally nonpartisan message.

In an interview, Lassaga said she is deeply worried about losing a member of Congress who understands her rural community. Her family farms rice and raises cattle, and she doesn’t think a Democratic representative from a more urban area would fight for them to get water.

But Lassaga said she is trying to lift people up by focusing on what they can do to win. She is trusting in the “power of seven” — encouraging everyone to tell seven people they know to vote against Proposition 50 and then have them pass on the word to seven more people. She recently talked to the salespeople at the dealership where her husband bought a new car.

“We can’t sit and wallow in our self-pity,” she said. “The whole thing is a multilevel marketing scheme with no product.”