Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
On June 5, 2025, a deputy involved shooting occurred in the Loleta area. When we have a critical incident, we want to release as much information as possible as soon as the investigation allows. Today we are able to share with our community a critical incident video which includes an overview of the June 5th incident and corresponding video.
The below linked video contains graphic images and explicit language that may be disturbing to some viewers. This video is not suitable for children. Viewer discretion advised.
During the morning hours of September 19, 2025, the Eureka
Police Department was notified of multiple tagging incidents on several buildings that occurred
overnight. Officers determined the graffiti to be consistent across all locations.
At one location, the words “This was never their land to extract from” were written beneath the
drawings. At another, the phrase “The death of greed” was found. The images appear to depict a
figure hanging from a rope while holding a flower.
This case is being investigated as felony vandalism. While the images are disturbing and have no place
in our community, investigators have not determined a clear motive. The graffiti does not appear to
specifically target any particular group or race. Regardless of intent, the depiction of violence has no
place in our community, and EPD is committed to ensuring that Eureka remains a safe and welcoming
city for all.
This remains an active investigation, and EPD is asking for the public’s assistance. Anyone with
information is urged to contact the Eureka Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit at 707-
441-4300.
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Original post:
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The Eureka Police Department is looking to identify the person responsible for a repeated image that was tagged on quite a few buildings over the past 24 hours or so.
The all-black paintings, some of which were applied atop existing murals, depict a figure hanging from a rope, head askew, with a flower at the end of one arm. Each suspended figure appears to be wearing a tuxedo or business suit but has no discernible hands or feet. Some of the images have been signed with the tag “KUUM” while others are accompanied by words regarding “THE DEATH OF GREED” and resource extraction.
[UPDATE: Another message, which has since been covered up, read “DON’T BE THE NEXT … .”]
EPD spokesperson Laura Montagna tells the Outpost that officers are investigating, and she believes the suspect was captured on security camera footage, though the department had not yet obtained it, to her knowledge.
Lt. Luke Scown with the Arcata Police Department said that agency received at least two reports saying the hanged man image had been painted on the back side of the Allen Building, home to Barnes’ Pharmacy. APD has no suspects at this time, Scown said.
There’s some discussion about this graffiti taking place over on the Humboldt subreddit, where a number of users agree that the image may be a political statement on the 21-year-old Black man who was recently found hanging from a tree on a university college campus in Mississippi. A county coroner ruled the death a suicide, but the man’s family is skeptical of that conclusion. They’re conducting their own investigation and plan to seek an independent autopsy.
Is that what the image means? Who knows? A Facebook user who messaged the Outpost interpreted it as a “terrorist threat.” A woman who called in suggested that it represents a threat against the local business community and expressed fear for the safety of her family. [Clarification: She wrote to us on Facebook to specify that she’s “concerned that the local businesses of people of color are being targeted.”]
Meanwhile, many of the images have already been painted over.
While online opinions regarding the merits and intent of the hanged man art vary, the two local police departments were unanimous in considering them a crime.
Eureka real estate update! The long-vacant building at the northwest corner of Fifth and G streets is set to become a hub for local artsiness. The Ink People Center of the Arts made public today news that they have purchased the space, which has historically housed Meyer Bistrins clothing store, nightlife venues Club West, Indigo, Aunty Mo’s, the short-lived Eureka Alibi and most recently Roses’ Billiards.
To celebrate the acquisition, Ink People staff held an open house gathering in their new digs. LoCO attended and snapped some photos, which you can find at the bottom of this post.
For more on the Ink People’s plans for the space, peruse their press release below:
After 46 years of stewarding arts and culture, The Ink People Center for Art and Culture has purchased 535 5th Street in downtown Eureka, converting a long-vacant structure into the organization’s first permanent home in its more than four decades of service to the North Coast. The acquisition positions The Ink People to expand programs, strengthen the creative economy, and support the flourishing of arts and culture across Humboldt County and the wider region.
“A permanent home for the Ink People means stability for artists and youth, space for cultural exchange, and year-round access to creative resources for the North Coast,” said Leslie Castellano, executive director of The Ink People. “Turning an underutilized and vacant building into a place for connection and possibility will support community flourishing and revitalization efforts throughout the region.”
“I am very proud of the ways the Ink People has grown since I have retired,” said Libby Maynard, co-founder and retired executive director of The Ink People. “This is a huge milestone for the organization and for the community.”
Located in the heart of the Eureka Cultural Arts District, 535 5th Street will be redeveloped into a flexible, community-serving facility. Plans include gallery and exhibition space; classrooms and convening areas for youth and adult learning; and a small performance and gathering venue. The organization will also consolidate administrative offices, increasing efficiency and public access.
The new site will expand the capacity of several core Ink People initiatives:
DreamMaker Program: fiscal sponsorship and professional support for grassroots arts and culture projects serving neighborhoods across the North Coast.
MARZ Project: a hands-on digital media and creative technology program where teens learn audio, video, design, and storytelling skills that translate to college and careers.
Community Exhibitions & Events: rotating shows, public art activations, and cultural programming that reflect and celebrate the diversity of Eureka and neighboring communities.
By activating a long-underutilized property, the project advances local economic development goals. The center will attract residents and visitors to downtown, create contract and part-time opportunities for artists and creative workers, and provide a platform for small creative businesses to sell work, teach classes, and host events. The organization will work with local contractors, fabricators, and suppliers throughout renovation and build-out.
“This is an investment in people and place,” Castellano added. “A permanent cultural center supports jobs, draws cultural tourism, and keeps creative talent rooted here. Most importantly, it offers a welcoming, intergenerational space for learning, healing, and belonging.”
To ensure a successful transition, The Ink People is launching a capital campaign inviting individuals, businesses, and public partners to invest in the build-out and revitalization of the site. The campaign will include naming opportunities, sponsorships, and in-kind support to make the new home as beautiful, accessible, and vibrant as the North Coast communities it serves.
Renovation planning and community engagement will begin immediately, with phased opening of public-facing spaces to follow. The Ink People will announce opportunities for volunteers, partners, and donors to participate in the transformation of the site in the coming months.
Local muralist Blake Reagan paints temporary signage announcing the building’s new residents.
Inside the cavernous space
Ernesto Gomez serenades gathered creatives
Ink People Center for the Arts Executive Director Leslie Castellano casts some vision
At approximately 6:44 p.m. [on Sept. 15], Eureka Police Department patrol officers responded to a report of a reckless driver traveling at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour within the US Highway 101/South safety corridor.
During the incident, the passenger—who also owned the vehicle—requested the driver to pull over and let them exit due to the dangerous driving behavior. The driver refused, effectively detaining the passenger against their will while continuing to drive recklessly. When the vehicle eventually stopped near 4th and R Streets, the passenger was able to exit. The driver then fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle.
Officers located the suspect a short time later near the 3300 block of Broadway and conducted a traffic enforcement stop. The driver, identified as 35-year-old Abdul-Rahman Ahmed Omar of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was ultimately taken into custody for kidnapping, false imprisonment, and possession of a stolen vehicle.
Within the vehicle, officers recovered a pistol loaded with a high-capacity magazine.
Omar was transported and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for multiple felony charges.
To protect the integrity of this ongoing investigation, further details are not currently being released.
Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to contact the Eureka Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU) at 707-441-4300.
Press release from Humboldt Waterkeeper and the Redwood Community Action Agency:
Humboldt Waterkeeper’s interactive digital Humboldt Bay Water Trail map is now available to help kayakers, paddlers, and others navigate around the bay. Originally developed by Redwood Community Action Agency (RCAA), Humboldt Waterkeeper has breathed new life into the map, updating it with channel depths from NOAA’s navigational charts and crowd-sourcing updates on the best boat launches. Download the georeferenced PDF for mobile apps like Avenza, or access the interactive web map directly in any browser.
“RCAA has been collaborating with leadership visionaries to provide a continually updated water trails map for residents and visitors alike,” said Denise Newman, Projects Coordinator for RCAA’s Natural Resource Services. “RCAA is pleased to see Humboldt Waterkeeper buoy this effort for our boating community with a digitized and easily updateable map.”
Beginning in 2009 with a variety of funding sources, RCAA has worked with Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation and Conservation District, HSU Center Activities (now Cal Poly Humboldt Outdoor Adventures), the cities of Arcata and Eureka, local boating outfits and retailers to maintain the water trails map for residents and visitors alike.
“The updated Humboldt Bay Water Trails map is a great contribution towards getting more people on the water in fun and safe ways. It’s an important resource for local paddlers to discover new launch spots and paddle routes, and for visiting paddlers to see all the options for getting on the bay and to tailor their excursions to tides and other conditions,” said Brian Orland, a local sea kayaker and member of Explore North Coast.
Both the web map and the georeferenced PDF allow for live location tracking on a smartphone or other mobile device. Details on access, tides, safety, water recreation tips and local resources allow paddlers to make informed decisions for how to best enjoy Humboldt Bay by watercraft. These details can be found in the web map by tapping or clicking on symbols, such as the numbered dots representing boat launches. Choose your preferred location, route, length of trip, and time of day in tandem with the tides.
Humboldt Waterkeeper is surveying people about their uses of Humboldt Bay – whether you paddle, fish, swim, or none of the above, your input is helpful.
Humboldt Waterkeeper (formerly Humboldt Baykeeper) works to safeguard our coastal resources for the health, enjoyment, and economic strength of the Humboldt Bay community through education, scientific research, and enforcement of laws to fight pollution. For more info, visit https://humboldtwaterkeeper.org.
Redwood Community Action Agency is a nonprofit organization that provides housing, energy, natural resources, youth, and community services in Eureka and nearby areas. Learn how RCAA empowers people and changes lives since 1980. For more info, visit https://www.rcaa.org/.
Explore North Coast (ENC) is an association of paddlers that hosts regular paddling events, promotes paddling safety and education, and encourages stewardship of, and improvements to, bay and coastal access on the North Coast.https://explorenorthcoast.net/
The old railroad that will soon become the trail. Photo: City of Arcata.
Press release from the City of Arcata:
Construction is set to begin on Monday, Sept. 22 for the Arcata
Annie and Mary Trail Connectivity Project.
The project will add approximately 3.5 miles of paved, multi-use trail extending from the Arcata Skate
Park at Sunset Avenue, north through Valley West and ending at the Mad River at Humboldt Bay
Municipal Water District Park 1. Key features include the installation of four bridges, one boardwalk
and new striping at Giuntoli Lane and Sunset Avenue.
Granite Construction has been awarded the project and will work along the southern section, between
Sunset Avenue and St. Louis Road, through November 2025. The full project is expected to be
completed by summer of next year.
Construction hours will be Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. with possible Saturday work from 9
a.m. – 5 p.m. Community members are reminded to follow all posted safety instructions and traffic
control devices when traveling through the project area.
Additional information can be found on the City’s website at the Current City Construction Projects
page.
For more information, please visit cityofarcata.org or call (707) 825-2128
Gov. Gavin Newsom addresses the media on Cal Fire’s wildfire response capabilities at Sacramento McClellan Airport in McClellan Park, on April 24, 2025. Photo by Louis Bryant III for CalMatters
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This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.
The overhaul that Newsom and top lawmakers negotiated in the final days of the legislative session amid heavy lobbying last week reflects urgency in the Democratic Party to preserve its climate goals while simultaneously reining in the surging gas and energy costs that have threatened to drive voters to the right.
Lawmakers opened the session this year declaring a focus on making California more affordable, following a bruising national election for Democrats. The energy package was central to that goal, with progressives proposing to lower costs with industry regulations.
But after two years declaring special sessions targeting the oil and gas industry, Newsom began to warm up to them as oil refineries announced closures that could send gas prices spiking. As a result, one of the bills he signed Friday would boost domestic oil production in Kern County by approving a long-delayed environmental impact report for new wells.
“We have to effectively transition,” Newsom said at an event in San Francisco. “This is not an ideological endeavor. We’re in the practical application business. We’ve got to manifest our ideals and our goals. So this lays it out. But it lays it out without laying tracks over folks.”
The biggest part of the complex package he signed were bills to extend the state’s cap and trade program, which since 2013 has put a price tag on carbon emissions. The program caps the amount of greenhouse gases that polluting industries can emit, and to a limited extent allows companies that cut emissions to sell permits to other companies that pollute. The program raises money for many of the state’s climate programs.
The extension leaves the program largely the same, which disappointed environmental justice advocates who argued it has allowed oil and gas to continue polluting near low-income communities. In a nod to those concerns, Newsom also signed another bill in the package that creates a state fund to monitor pollution mitigation in disadvantaged communities.
He also signed two bills affecting the electricity grid. One would allow the state to create a Western regional energy market, allowing the state to trade more electricity with neighbors.
Proponents, including mainstream environmental groups, say the idea would lower prices by allowing California producers to sell excess clean energy during times the state doesn’t need it — when it’s sunny, but not hot, for example, while importing power during heat waves and other high-demand times.
The other bill aims to lower the cost of transmission infrastructure for customers by setting up a public financing system for building new power lines. It would also prevent some utilities’ wildfire mitigation costs from being passed on to customers, and replenish the state’s wildfire fund by $18 billion. The money, paid by shareholders and ratepayers over the next decade, is used to pay wildfire victims.
The package Newsom signed leaves one imminent concern unaddressed: upcoming refinery closures. Negotiations late in the legislative session to keep two Bay Area refineries open have so far failed to produce any deals.
Some Democrats simply didn’t want to give more to the oil industry, while others disagreed on how much support the state should provide, Assemblymember Lori Wilson, a Suisun City Democrat, told CalMatters last week. Wilson had been pushing for the state to support the Valero refinery in Benicia that is now set to close by the end of the year without a deal, costing the city its largest private employer.
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Cayla Mihalovich is a California Local News fellow.
