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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
• Tomorrow’s the Day of No Water Main! Everything Should be Cool, but Maybe Go Easy on the Wet Stuff

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A mechanical failure during last week’s emergency repair work to a damaged Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District (HBMWD) transmission pipeline caused chlorinated water to spill into Janes Creek, resulting in the death of more than 250 fish, including trout, sculpin and Coho salmon, according to district staff.

Contractors for the HBMWD had almost finished repairing a major water transmission line last Tuesday evening when the spill occurred, according to General Manager Michiko Mares. She explained that a temporary pipeline had been installed to drain chlorinated water from the pipe as part of the disinfection process that’s performed prior to bringing the transmission pipeline back into service. The temporary line ruptured, causing roughly 13,500 gallons of chlorinated water to flow into Janes Creek over a 15-minute period, Mares said.

District employees promptly notified the appropriate regulatory agencies, Mares said, including the California Office of Emergency Services, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Humboldt County Division of Environmental Health, which serves as our region’s Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA).

“We’re required by law to notify the state whenever there’s any discharge to a water body that could be characterized as hazardous,” Mares said, adding that HBMWD is working closely with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to analyze the extent of the environmental impacts. 

Stephen Gonzales, a CDFW spokesperson, told the Outpost by phone that one of that agency’s environmental scientists responded to the scene of the spill — near Coombs Road in northern Arcata — and saw “a couple dozen” dead Coho salmon, about 200 dead trout (mostly cutthroat) and roughly 40 dead sculpin. CDFW’s investigation is ongoing, and the tally of dead fish could rise, Gonzales added.

“Fortunately, this year has been a really big population of Coho, so that is why we’re seeing a lot of these fish affected,” Gonzales said. He also explained that while such spill of chlorinated water are initially deadly for fish, the chemical is quickly diluted by water, so there should be “no ongoing dangers to these animals.”

The district had retained engineering contractor firm GR Sundberg to perform the work necessary to fix the leaking transmission line, which serves as a backbone of service to customers in the greater Humboldt Bay area, including residents of Arcata, Eureka and the Samoa Peninsula.

“As you can imagine, after working nearly 24 hours straight, staff was very disappointed,” Mares said. “… It’s very unfortunate, and it’s certainly not what we wanted to have happen. But these things do happen, and we were able to restore our transmission water line, which is very important to the entire community.”

The district gratefully described repair workers as “water heroes” and thanked its regional partners once the project had been completed without any interruptions to service.

Mares said the HBMWD is now working closely with regulatory agencies including CDFW and NOAA Fisheries.

Nearly three-quarters of California public high school seniors applied for federal financial aid this year, soaring past last year’s figures by 11 percent and giving further indication that California’s efforts to get more students to apply for federal grants are paying off.

This time last year about 307,000 high school seniors completed a financial aid application. This year, that number is around 340,000. The California Student Aid Commission that oversees college aid in the state released the information today. In 2023 a slightly higher share of seniors completed aid applications — about 74% to this year’s 72.7%. In 2024, the figure was 64%.

“We must take a moment to reflect and celebrate this achievement for California’s future,” said Daisy Gonzales, the commission’s executive director and who formerly led the state’s community college system, said in a statement. “With more high school seniors applying for financial aid, we can expect our higher education segments to serve more students.” A spokesperson for the commission, Shelveen Ratnam, said Gonzales and other commission executives were unavailable for an interview today.

A 2021 state law required high schools to ensure their seniors complete financial aid applications. Neglecting to complete the application denies students the ability to receive $22,000 or more in state and federal financial aid in their first year of college. Last year the commission conducted market analysis to understand why parents and students do not apply for aid. Among the answers: families were skeptical that aid can actually be free.California is expected to spend about $2.9 billion on student financial aid in 2025-26, a major reason why more than half of California residents do not pay any tuition to attend the state’s public universities.

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Data that the commission shared with CalMatters also shows that more students whose parents don’t have lawful immigration status applied for federal financial aid than last year. Somewhat surprisingly, this year’s figures surpass those from 2023.

The revelation for now rebuffs worries that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown would prompt more college students to leave federal money on the table to try to protect their parents.

About 64,700 high school seniors from so-called mixed-status families completed a Federal Application for Financial Aid, or FAFSA, in 2023 by the Sept. 2 deadline. In 2024, the figure dropped to just under 60,000. This year, it jumped to over 69,000.

The commission’s numbers capture the number of students who applied for state and federal financial aid in the spring to attend four-year universities and students who applied by Sept. 2 to be eligible for aid to attend community colleges. The decline in 2024 is attributed to major technology issues with a revamped FAFSA that blocked tens of thousands of students whose parents lacked Social Security numbers from completing the aid application.

Unlike federal aid applications, California’s own Dream Act application does not share user data with federal agencies. The vast majority of students complete the FAFSA, though in recent years the commission has suggested to students in mixed status households that it may be safer to apply for just state aid. Other nonprofits focused on college access gave similar advice. Roughly 3.3 million Californians live in mixed-status households, including 1 in 5 children under 18, according to 2021 data from Equity Research Institute, a USC research group.The California Dream Act Application gives students access to state tuition waivers and several thousand dollars in other grants, but FAFSA is the only way for students to also receive federal student loans and the Pell grant, which can provide more than $7,000 a year to low-income students.

The student aid commission and its financial aid support partners hosted more than 1,200 workshops on completing financial aid applications this year and trained over 16,000 professionals to help students apply for the aid.

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

Michael Spagna, Cal Poly Humboldt’s outgoing interim president, said today that Cal Poly Humboldt administrators are trying to double the student population by 2035. 

Spagna hosted a small press conference today on campus to discuss his tenure as interim president and tout CPH’s recent accomplishments, as well as talk about long-term future plans for the university and Humboldt County in general. 

CPH’s growth was at the forefront of the conversation. Its student population has increased by 4% this year, a not-insignificant figure compared to other universities in the CSU system, some of which have catastrophically shrunk in recent years. Previous increases in student enrollment for CPH were trending at around 1% year over year; currently, CPH’s enrollment sits at around 6,000 students. 

It may not end there. 

“It is our plan — and we’re crossing our fingers to keep the winds at our back — we are hoping to, by 2035, double the population of this university in terms of students,” Spagna said. “…This would be transformative for the region, transformative for all of us.”

Since the transformation into a polytechnic, past leaders have announced plans to increase CPH’s headcount to over 12,000 students by 2028, plans Spagna called “outlandish” in an interview last year. But administrators believe a lengthened timeline and aggressive recruitment strategies will make it possible. CPH offers direct admissions to high schoolers around Humboldt County, sending an email straight to their inbox if they have a 2.5 GPA or above and are on track to finish their course requirements. 

Spagna said locals should not be scared by the prospect of rapid growth. The university’s expansion will include healthcare programs that will train new providers and treat the general public, scholarship money for the Tribes, and more microgrids. Students that stay in Humboldt after graduating will provide “generations” of professionals who will provide valuable skills, he said. 

“So I’m seeing the economic, the cultural and the intellectual culture of this entire region transforming over the next five years, and I think that Cal Poly Humboldt will be at the center of a lot of this,” Spagna said. “Now, I don’t want that to sound arrogant. It’s not going to be the place on the hill. It’s going to be out in community, working with community to make this successful.”

“…I wouldn’t see it as a threat,” he continued. “I see this as a catalyst to propel forward the North Coast that’s going to be growing by leaps and bounds. “So I get it, and I understand people [asking] ‘We’re going to have all these people, and what’s going to happen?’ You watch. In 10 years, it will increase the whole vitality of this region.”

Finally! A reason to go outside today.

The Outpost has received numerous reports that the Goodyear Blimp has penetrated into Humboldt airspace. The latest reports suggest that the dirigible was seen circling over McKinleyville. 

That’s all we got for the day’s excitement. There have been more boring days, for sure.

Video above and photo below courtesy Shannon G Cortez

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CLARIFICATION! Our friends at KEET wish to make it clear that there will still be PBS Kids programming available on the main channel in the future — it’s just that the 24/7 PBS Kids Channel that’s going away, along with the other channels mentioned.

“KEET PBS will still be airing PBS Kids programming from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 6 a.m. - 8 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, on KEET-HD,” they write.

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Press release from KEET-TV:

KEET PBS, the PBS station serving California’s Redwood Coast, announced today that it will consolidate its broadcast operations to a single channel beginning October 1, 2025. The move comes in response to unprecedented federal funding cuts and urgent equipment needs, as KEET works to preserve its most essential services for the community.

Over the summer, KEET experienced a series of technical difficulties—including an extended broadcast outage and ongoing disruptions to its PBS KIDS channel—due to failures in aging transmission equipment and critical servers. While immediate repairs have restored the main signal, station leadership determined that a more sustainable, long-term solution was needed. “As a small station with limited resources, we face a stark reality,” says David Gordon, executive director of KEET. “With the loss of 50% of our federal grant funding and escalating costs to maintain and replace technical infrastructure, we had to make difficult choices to safeguard our mission.”

Beginning October 1, KEET will broadcast exclusively on KEET HD (Channel 13.1). The additional channels—PBS KIDS, Create, FNX, and WORLD—will no longer be available. This decision follows months of careful review by KEET’s board and management, with the goal of preserving uninterrupted access to PBS’s trusted news, educational programming, and cultural content.

The transition includes the installation of a new automated master control system, designed to enhance reliability and streamline operations. Viewers may notice some temporary disruptions during this upgrade, but KEET engineers are committed to minimizing impact and keeping the public informed.

“These changes, while difficult, ensure that KEET can remain a vital part of the Redwood Coast’s media landscape,” says Gordon. “We remain dedicated to providing high-quality programming, lifelong learning resources, and public service to all our viewers.” KEET invites the community to stay engaged and informed by visiting www.keet.org.

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PREVIOUSLY

• Eureka City Council Unanimously Adopts 518-Page Bike Plan, a Master Plan for Human-Powered Transportation Improvements Throughout the City
• Eureka City Council Approves Bid Award for C Street Bike Boulevard Project in Split Vote, Despite Concerns About Community Engagement
• The Transformation of Eureka’s C Street Into a Pedestrian and Bicycle Friendly Thoroughfare Begins Next Week

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Press release from the City of Eureka:

The City of Eureka’s contractor will be performing road asphalt pavement and markings work on C Street between Waterfront Drive and Harris Street beginning on Tuesday, September 16th, 2025.

This phase of construction is expected to take one week for road asphalt paving. After road paving has been completed, road markings and signage will be applied. The road marking and signage application typically takes an additional week. Paving will begin at the location of Waterfront Drive and C Street.

Press releases will continue to be issued to update the status of this project. Road closures, traffic detours and parking restrictions will be in effect. This work will be performed between the hours of 7:00am and 7:00pm, WEATHER PERMITTING.

The City of Eureka has more info on this project on its website.

Jeffrey “Jeff” Lovett Bobbitt passed away peacefully on September 3, 2025 while surrounded by his loved ones. Jeff was born on December 12, 1942 in Houston, Texas where he spent most of his life.

He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas, and then went on to achieve a PhD in Chemistry from Texas A&M. During this time, he found a passion in teaching, and went on to be a professor at the University of Houston Downtown Campus. There he became a dean and served for 27 years, where he continued teaching due to his devotion to the craft.

In 1997 he became the Academic Vice President of College of the Redwoods, and surprised everyone by moving to Eureka, California, a place he loved deeply. While at College of the Redwoods, he made many improvements to the day to day operations of the campus, as well as being instrumental in the creation of Academy of the Redwoods, a renowned high school in Humboldt County.

His love for education never dwindled. Even after his retirement, he continued working with colleges across the nation, and served as an interim Vice President at Raritan Community College, and Onondaga Community College.

Over the years, Jeff supported Catholic churches in both Houston and Eureka by providing help with playing music and troubleshooting technology.

He truly loved the people and places in Houston and Humboldt County where he had many friends.

For over a decade, he volunteered at St. Joseph’s hospital, where he used his enthusiasm for technology to help in streamlining duties across the volunteer workforce.

Jeff is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Mary Bobbitt. He is also survived by his three children, Jeffrey Andrew Bobbitt, Elizabeth “Beth” Bobbitt, and Amy Gores, as well as Amy’s husband Lincoln Gores and their son Jacob Gores.

He is also survived by his younger brother Byrne Bobbitt.

The world is a little emptier without his love, kindness, patience, wit, and wisdom. He was an example of true strength and endurance until the very end.

Friends and family know that he has entered heaven telling stories and making everyone laugh.

Jeffrey famously said “For those who understand no explanation is necessary, and for those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.”

The family would like to share profound gratitude for the team at Hospice of Humboldt and Melissa Brock for their dedication to Jeff’s care.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Hospice of Humboldt and the Betty Kwan Chin foundation in his name.

A celebration of life will be held on his birthday, December 12, 2025, at 11 a.m. at Saint Mary’s Church in Arcata.

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