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Hours after a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, emergency alerts sounded on phones across Humboldt County, warning coastal residents to evacuate to higher ground in response to a potential tsunami threat. The alert, issued at 8:28 p.m. on Wednesday, was the third and most urgent in a series of escalating emergency alerts.

“A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you,” the tsunami warning stated. “You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.”

Not long after the alert was issued, local authorities attempted to downplay the tsunami warning on social media, referring to it as an “advisory” rather than a “warning” in an apparent attempt to ease concern among anxious residents. A Facebook post from the Eureka Police Department said the tsunami warning was “sent out in error” and was “meant for Del Norte County only,” causing confusion in the comment section.

Ryan Aylward, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Eureka, told the Outpost that the alert was issued intentionally, but said at no point were local officials expecting inundation outside of the tidal zone.

“Honestly, it was confusing for us too because we didn’t know where exactly the threat was,” Aylward said in a recent phone interview. “We knew that the tsunami wave height for Humboldt Bay was going to be about a foot, so we weren’t expecting waves to exceed the normal tidal area. But, after the warning went out, we talked to the local Office of Emergency Services, and they wanted to emphasize in the messaging that Humboldt County is not in a dangerous situation and people don’t need to evacuate, but they should avoid beachfronts and harbors.”

As predicted, the tsunami that arrived at our shores just before midnight was measured at about 1.2 feet — well within the threshold for a tsunami advisory — with no reported damage to the Humboldt Bay area. Our neighbors up in Crescent City didn’t fare so well, with local officials reporting up to $1 million in damages after three- to four-foot waves battered the city’s harbor.

Understanding the Tsunami Warning System

When an earthquake strikes, staff at the National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC) in Alaska rapidly analyze seismic data to determine whether or not a tsunami is possible and, if so, when and where it will occur.

“They’re trying to analyze what type of earthquake it was, how deep it was and trying to get that exact magnitude to understand the tsunami threat,” Aylward explained. “Once they have an idea of the magnitude and have confirmation that the earthquake generated a tsunami, the [NTWC] analyzes data from the buoys out in the ocean and creates a model to determine the approximate wave height forecast for the West Coast.”

As more data comes in, the NTWC runs the model again and again to get a better estimate of the wave size and the duration of the tsunami. They also look at the region’s history of tsunamis. In this case, staff determined the tsunami would exceed the warning threshold for several “small pockets” on the North Coast.

“They made the decision [to issue] a tsunami warning for Crescent City — that wasn’t even a question — but they decided to pull [it] as far south as Cape Mendocino … because of a spot right around Trinidad that was [expected to] exceed the threshold, which is just over three feet,” Aylward continued. “For most areas in Humboldt County, it was advisory, but there were some small pockets — like that spot up near Trinidad and other remote areas up in northern Humboldt — that could exceed the threshold. So, that’s how we ended up with a warning.”

In the hours leading up to the tsunami’s arrival time, the NTWC held hourly briefings with local and state authorities, including the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) and Humboldt OES, the California Geological Survey and NWS. If waves aren’t expected to exceed the advisory threshold, local jurisdictions are empowered to make their own decisions on which areas of the county are notified, said Humboldt OES Program Manager Ryan Derby. However, that process changes when a tsunami alert is upgraded to a warning.

“In those cases, the NTWC issues Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) to jurisdictions within the tsunami warning scope, without prior notification to the impacted jurisdiction,” Derby wrote via email. “Their ability to issue WEAs is at a countywide level, which prevents their ability to notify smaller subsets of a county. This results in the entire county receiving WEAs from the NTWC when only a small portion of the county may experience warning-level impacts.”

It’s a delicate balance. While it’s generally best to err on the side of caution, an emergency alert urging residents to evacuate immediately can incite panic and chaos. Remember that 7.0-magnitude earthquake we had last December? Before the shaking had even stopped, a siren-like tsunami warning emitted from our phones, prompting hundreds — perhaps thousands — of Humboldt County residents to evacuate their homes and offices, gridlocking traffic on Highway 101 and the Samoa Bridge.

After the disorganized response, Humboldt OES, in partnership with the Eureka NWS and the Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group, held a countywide tsunami evacuation drill to practice proper evacuation procedures. Still, comprehensive education around disaster preparedness is lacking.

‘One Size Doesn’t Fit All’

Reflecting on this week’s emergency response, Derby emphasized that every incident is different, particularly when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis. That’s why it’s so important for residents to familiarize themselves with the tsunami hazard map — linked here — and to listen to guidance from local emergency officials.

“The main takeaway is that for near or local earthquakes, when strong and/or long-duration shaking occurs, the earthquake is the community’s warning,” he said. “We must treat every tsunami advisory and/or warning seriously and trust the guidance of local officials until an ‘all-clear’ message is provided. Complacency to these situations can result in truly devastating impacts to the community and people’s lives.”

Still, there’s room for improvement, he said. Take the NTWC and NWS mapping system, for example. The map below, which was used in several advisories and warnings issued by the NWS, depicts the weather forecast zone for the Humboldt County coast, not the tsunami hazard zone.

“While the NTWC alerts and their automated process are in place to provide for public safety, and community members should absolutely pay attention to those alerts, the best advice we can provide is to follow the guidance and direction of local emergency officials,” Derby said. “Local emergency information takes into account the nuances of our specific threat landscape, community makeup and emergency actions that residents and visitors should take.”

Lori Dengler, emeritus professor of geology at Cal Poly Humboldt, agreed, adding that emergency officials “need to do a better job of identifying and forecasting impacts.” She also suggested that the NTWC and NWS implement tiers for different levels of tsunami warnings.

“One size doesn’t fit all,” Dengler told the Outpost. “Right now, we only have one level of tsunami warning  — anything between three feet and over 100 feet. Our tsunami maps are based on our worst-case threat — an earthquake the size of Kamchatka or the 2011 Japan quake happening right here. … But most tsunamis are far smaller than this and we need to follow Japan’s lead and have two or three levels of tsunami warning: moderate, large, enormous. That way, we could be more precise in describing the areas likely to be impacted.”

Dengler also suggested that the NTWC and NWS change the terminology for tsunami alerts because residents might not know the difference between a watch, advisory and warning. “[P]eople need to know what to do on their own.”

Aylward said the NWS office is working to improve and refine the local mapping system and reduce the scale of the emergency alert system.

“Currently, the wireless emergency alert system goes out to the entire county [when there is a tsunami alert],” he said. “People out in Hoopa received it even though, of course, there was no tsunami danger out there. We’re trying to narrow the [alert] area.”

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Not sure if your house is located in the tsunami zone? Check out the state’s interactive Tsunami Hazard Area Map at this link.

Additional tsunami safety resources

• Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group
• Humboldt Emergency/Disaster Information
• Humboldt Alert Sign-Up
• Arcata Emergency Preparedness
• USGS Earthquake Hazards Program
• CalOES Resources
• California Earthquake Authority
• NOAA Tsunami Safety

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Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office release:

On July 31, 2025, at approximately 6:00 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO)  deputies conducted a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 101 near the Indianola Cutoff for a vehicle  code violation. This traffic stop led to the arrest of two individuals and the seizure of a  substantial quantity of suspected fentanyl and methamphetamine, underscoring HCSO’s  commitment to combating the opioid crisis in Humboldt County. 

Deputies identified the driver as Aaron Gore Stott, 46, of McKinleyville, a known suspect in  multiple recent narcotics investigations. These investigations include two separate narcotics related warrants served at his residence leading to the arrest of multiple narcotics offenders. 

The passenger was identified as Andreas Sala McDaniel, 65, of Eureka. During the stop, deputies  observed a clear plastic baggie containing suspected fentanyl on Stott’s person, prompting his  immediate detention. 

An HCSO K9 handler and his partner, Yahtzee, were on scene shortly after the traffic stop was  initiated. K9 Yahtzee was deployed and alerted to the presence of narcotics within the vehicle,  leading to a search that uncovered approximately 76 grams of suspected methamphetamine and  fentanyl, along with a digital scale, drug paraphernalia, and a stun gun.  

Stott and McDaniel were arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on  multiple charges, including: 

• Health and Safety Code § 11352(a): Transportation or sale of controlled substances
• Health and Safety Code § 11378: Possession for sale of methamphetamine
• Health and Safety Code § 11379(a): Transportation for sale of controlled substances
• Health and Safety Code § 11395: Unlawful sale or furnishing of controlled substances
• Penal Code § 22610: Unlawful possession of a stun gun by a felon or addict
• Penal Code § 12022.1: Felony committed while released on bail or own recognizance 

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office remains steadfast in its efforts to disrupt the distribution of  illicit narcotics, particularly fentanyl, which poses a severe threat to public safety. HCSO notes  that under current California law, possession of fentanyl is often classified as a “non-violent”  offense, which can result in repeat offenders being released from jail by Superior Court Judges to  appear in court at a future date and time. The Sheriff’s Office encourages community members to  stay informed about the dangers of fentanyl and to support efforts to strengthen public safety  measures.

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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PREVIOUSLY: Motorcycle Accident on Highway 36 Results in Rider Fatality 

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David Lindberg, a local geologist and longtime active member of local government and community organizations, has been identified as the victim in yesterday’s fatal motorcycle collision with a deer on Hwy. 36.

Lindberg was in the midst of serving a four-year term as the Division 3 representative on the board of directors for the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District. 

Here’s the press release from the California Highway Patrol:

Trinity County, California – On Thursday, July 31, 2025, at approximately 1417 hours [2:17 p.m.], the Redding Communications Center received reports of a solo motorcycle crash on State Route 36 near mile post marker 33.8.

Officers from the CHP, Trinity River Area Office, Trinity County Sheriff’s Office, US Forest Service, Cal-Fire, and Cal-Trans personnel responded to the scene.

Emergency personnel located a 2019 Honda Super Cub C125, on its side, on the north dirt/gravel shoulder of State Route 36. The motorcycle appeared to have collided with a deer, causing the rider to be ejected onto the dirt/gravel shoulder. The rider was later identified as David Lindberg, born in 1954. The rider was wearing a DOT approved motorcycle helmet. DUI or drugs are not considered to be a factor in this traffic crash.

Trinity County Sheriff’s Office is handling the coroner’s investigation. The circumstances of this incident are currently under investigation by the California Highway Patrol, Trinity River Area. Anyone with information pertaining to the incident is asked to contact the Trinity River CHP Office at (530)623-3832.

The California Highway Patrol would like to thank Cal-Fire, Cal-Trans, US-Forest Service, Trinity County Sheriff’s Office, and Trinity Life Support Ambulance for their assistance with this incident.

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

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Gov. Gavin Newsom is eyeing a special election in the first week of November to ask California voters to sign off on revised U.S. House districts that could boost Democratic prospects in the 2026 midterms.

Though no new seats have been proposed yet, Newsom said Thursday that he is working with the Legislature and congressional representatives on a plan that would temporarily set aside California’s independent redistricting commission and bring an alternative map directly to the public for approval.

“We will go to the people of this state in a transparent way and ask them to consider the new circumstances, to consider these new realities,” Newsom told reporters during a visit to a Sacramento County airfield, where he showed off new state firefighting equipment.

“This is not going to be done in a back room. This is not going to be done by members of some private group or body,” he added. “It’s going to be given to the voters for their consideration in a very transparent way so they know exactly what they’re doing and they can go back in 2030 to original form with our independent redistricting intact.”

It was the most detail the governor has publicly provided so far about how he plans to respond to a burgeoning partisan redistricting war set off by President Donald Trump in recent months.

States last redrew their congressional seats after the 2020 census, to ensure the districts are roughly equal in population, and were not expected to revisit the process for another decade.

But Republican leaders are under growing pressure from Trump to help shore up a narrow GOP majority in Congress ahead of a potentially challenging midterm election. Texas lawmakers are currently rushing to adopt a new congressional map eliminating five Democratic seats, which has sparked similar efforts in other Republican-controlled states and hand-wringing from Democrats about how to counteract it.

Newsom: California must step in

Newsom asserted again Thursday that California must pause independent redistricting, which he has previously supported, to fight a president that “wants to rig the game” against Democrats, who could potentially block Trump’s agenda if they win control of the House in 2026.

“De facto the Trump presidency ends in November of next year if the American people are given a fair chance and a voice and a choice,” Newsom said.

While most other states give redistricting authority to their legislatures, California uses a bipartisan citizen commission created by voters through a ballot measure. So to usurp the commission and implement more Democratic-leaning districts, Newsom must call a statewide special election and go back to the voters.

Democrats currently hold 43 of the state’s 52 House seats, including several competitive districts that flipped from Republican control last November.

The governor said he wants to hold the election on the first Tuesday in November because many communities already have local elections scheduled then. That could make it easier to mount on short notice and help reduce an estimated price tag of more than $200 million — though Newsom also said “there’s too much at stake” to worry about the cost.

“How much did it cost to have the theatrics with the National Guard and Trump?” he said, referring to the president’s recent deployment of thousands of troops in Los Angeles to quell immigration-related protests. “How many hundreds of millions of dollars was wasted?”

The November target gives California an extremely tight window to act. State law requires county elections offices to send a mail ballot to every registered voter a month before election day; military and overseas voter ballots and voter information guides go out 15 days before that. The material would need to be ready by late September to meet those deadlines.

Meanwhile, the Legislature is on summer recess until Aug. 18. The Democratic caucuses of the state Senate and Assembly are expected to begin private discussions next week about advancing a ballot measure, which requires a two-thirds majority in both houses, so that they could potentially pass it before the end of August.

Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, a Healdsburg Democrat, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a Salinas Democrat, said the Assembly will review its options to counteract Trump’s redistricting scheme and “ensure our government remains fair, transparent and representative of the people.”

“This move is an attempt to silence voters who reject MAGA extremism — including here in California, where the people have spoken loud and clear in two national elections,” Rivas said in a statement.

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In its latest move against the wind industry, the Trump-led Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced Wednesday that it will rescind over 3.5 million acres of designated Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) on the outer continental shelf, halting plans for new offshore wind energy projects along the coast.

The directive does not appear to affect lease areas that have already been awarded, including those within the Humboldt WEA, which spans more than 200 square miles roughly 20 miles west of Eureka. Those lease areas sold for over $331.5 million in December 2022 during the first-ever offshore wind lease sale on the West Coast. 

“While we are not the final word, this decision does not appear to affect existing lease areas, but rather areas identified as potential future lease sites,” Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District Executive Director Chris Mikkelson told the Outpost.

“By rescinding WEAs, BOEM is ending the federal practice of designating large areas of the [outer continental shelf] for speculative wind development, and is de-designating over 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters previously targeted for offshore wind development across the Gulf of America, Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic,” the press release states.

The announcement comes in response to an order issued earlier this week by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum calling for the end of “any preferential treatment toward wind and solar facilities … in any Department regulations, guidance, policies, or practices.” Under the order, new wind and solar energy projects will be subject to “elevated review” and “enhanced oversight” by the federal government.

The order is yet another effort by the Trump administration to roll back Biden-era policies — or, as stated in the order, “an ideological agenda … tailored towards climate extremism” — that prioritized renewable energy over fossil fuel projects. 

BOEM’s announcement comes just days after President Donald Trump repeatedly attacked wind power during a press conference at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. “We will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States,” he said. “They’re killing us. They’re killing the beauty of our scenery.”

On his first day in office, Trump fulfilled a long-held promise to block offshore wind development, issuing a sweeping Executive Order to halt leasing and permitting for new wind energy projects planned for the outer continental shelf, sparking widespread concern over the future of offshore wind in the United States.

Asked whether the announcement includes the Humboldt WEA, BOEM spokesperson Brian Walch told the Outpost: “There are no remaining unleased WEAs offshore California.”

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BOEM press release:

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced it is rescinding all designated Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). This action is being taken in accordance with Secretary’s Order (SO) 3437 - Ending Preferential Treatment for Unreliable, Foreign Controlled Energy Sources in Department Decision-Making – and the Presidential Memorandum of January 20, 2025 – Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the OCS from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects. 

WEAs were originally established to identify offshore locations deemed most suitable for wind energy development.

By rescinding WEAs, BOEM is ending the federal practice of designating large areas of the OCS for speculative wind development, and is de-designating over 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters previously targeted for offshore wind development across the Gulf of America, Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic. 

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Note: This post has been updated to include a brief statement from BOEM.

They can’t call this year’s event the “10th Annual Humboldt Bay Marathon” because they had to take a year off for COVID, but the first running of the Humboldt Bay Marathon was indeed 10 years ago and much has changed. Empires have risen. They have crumbled. Billions have been born; probably fewer than that have died. But by far the most substantial change between 2015 and now was the construction of the Humboldt Bay Trail, which promises to change everything. Forever. At least for the race. 

On August 10, around 90 runners will tackle the marathon, which for the first time ever will utilize the barely month-old Bay Trail from Madaket Plaza up to Arcata, where runners will circle Klopp Lake and then make the trip back down. (Another 150 runners will run the half-marathon and the 5K.) In past editions, runners had to do two out-and-backs along the Waterfront Trail, and had to share limited trail space with the half-marathoners. 

“Some people were like, ‘I love that,’” said race director Terri Vroman Little in an interview with the Outpost. “Most people were like, ‘I don’t want to go back over.’ I wouldn’t want to either.”

It’s a development that Vroman Little, 62, has been looking forward to for years, even sneaking onto the trail to do some running before its official completion. Earlier editions of the race necessitated heavy doses of traffic control, especially during the first edition, which blocked a lane on Highway 255. That race racked up costs of around $20,000 and came nowhere close to breaking even. The later use of the Bayfront Trail and the double out-and-backs meant that the race saw little of the eponymous bay; now, almost all of the marathon’s 26.2 miles will have a view. 

“We’re called ‘Humboldt Bay Marathon,’ so the more access runners have to running alongside the bay just make it more ‘Humboldt Bay Marathon-ey,’” Vroman Little said. “And that new section behind the Brainard old mill site has been off-limits for decades. Now, being able to not just get back there myself, but being able to send runners from all over the place out there to see it — like, you can have eyes on Humboldt State, if you know where to look.”

The view of the university has meaning for Vroman Little beyond a simple, pretty vista. Her friend Suzanne Seemann lectured for HSU’s geography department before she was killed in an intentional hit-and-run while running with Vroman Little and friend Jessica Hunt in 2012. The crash mangled Vroman Little, but she managed to recover enough to run the Famous Idaho Potato Marathon in 2018. Her injuries made it a “grim shit-show,” but regardless, she finished. She has no desire to run another one.

Seemann’s legacy is imbued into the marathon’s DNA. Her initials, SWS, have been hidden in every hand-drawn Humboldt Bay Marathon poster made for the event, and the race used to pass by where she died, a gesture Vroman Little said “reclaimed” the site. 

Her death brought Vroman Little and Seemann’s husband Hank Seemann closer together. Hank Seemann, the current deputy director of Humboldt County’s environmental services division, had been an instrumental force behind the development of the Bay Trail.

“I hardly knew him,” Vroman Little said. “Like, he was just the guy who held the kids in the window to wave goodbye to Suzie, and then we would go for runs and come back. I didn’t really know him until after she died. So, in part, his work on the Bay Trail and the McKay Community Forest was like — he wants that for the community, and it was just a quiet, heartfelt thing to honor runners and honor Suzie.”

Little hopes that every runner who competes enjoys the hell out of it.

“Most people have trained for months to run this,” Vroman Little said. “This is their day…I just want them to feel like they won, even if it wasn’t the perfect race.”

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PREVIOUSLY 

• Humboldt’s Civil Grand Jury Issues Reports on the County’s Unfunded Pension Liabilities, Animal Rescue Network, Inmate Voting Rights and More

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Is Humboldt County’s criminal justice system inherently unfair to defendants? The latest report from the county’s Civil Grand Jury concludes that it most certainly is. 

Titled “Scales of Justice Out of Balance?” and featuring Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s famous quote about how best to judge a society as an epigraph, the 34-page report finds that while attorneys staff in the Humboldt County Public Defender’s Office excel in their mission to represent indigent clients, they are egregiously overworked and underpaid compared to their counterparts in the District Attorney’s Office — plus they’re forced to work in an “inadequately maintained, infested, sometimes leaking, dilapidated” old building (pictured above).

“Staff experience burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and even physical attacks, with limited resources provided to address these issues,” the report says, “Despite these challenges, the Public Defender’s Office successfully and competently represents their clients, with few client complaints.”

Regarding the workload, the report notes:

Each attorney in the Public Defender and Conflict Counsel’s Office is doing the job of at least 2.5 attorneys based on caseload recommendations from the Office of the State Public Defender. This is without taking into account the complexity of the cases, and does not allow for even a single hour of sick leave, vacation, training or administrative tasks.

(The Conflict Counsel’s Office is part of the PD’s office and also represents indigent clients, though it includes private attorneys.  Its attorneys are typically appointed when there’s a conflict of interest in the PD’s Office.)

Meanwhile, the DA’s Office receives about 40 percent more funding than the Public Defender’s Office despite having similar caseloads. Investigators and support staff in the PD’s Office staff make significantly less than their counterparts in the DA’s Office. Humboldt’s PD attorneys also make less than those in other California counties, which makes it tough to recruit and retain new ones. 

“The PD has lost experienced and effective attorneys to alcoholism and burnout,” the report says. “One former Deputy Public Defender reported it took two years after leaving the office to recover from the stress and trauma and reach the point of being able to work again.”

As a reminder, Humboldt County’s Civil Grand Jury is an independent body of 19 citizen volunteers tasked with investigating the operations of local government agencies to ensure accountability, efficiency and transparency. For this report, the group interviewed county employees, made site visits, attended court proceedings and reviewed relevant records, laws and policies.

Regarding that ugly box of rotting shingles on Fourth Street, the Civil Grand Jury notes that the county has long planned to consolidate multiple county services into one comprehensive campus, which may explain the reluctance to fix up the PD’s existing office, but those consolidation plans have been repeatedly delayed, most recently because of the county’s budget woes.

As for the pay and resource disparity between the DA and PD offices, the report notes that the problem is not unique to Humboldt. While the American Bar Association says that, as a matter of principle, there should be parity between defense counsel and the prosecution, in reality that’s just not the case.

Consider the chart below, which shows the ratio of District Attorney Office funding versus indigent defense funding for the 32 California counties that reported data for both public defender and district attorney offices. 

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The DA’s Office has other built-in advantages:

Much of what the DA needs to prosecute a case is given to them by law enforcement, including the law enforcement report, witnesses’, victims’ and defendants’ statements and contact information, electronic and physical evidence, and medical and laboratory reports. The PD must put together the defense by itself. The PD conducts its own investigations, and must identify, find and interview all defense witnesses.

The report invokes the Sixth Amendment and says it “seems difficult to justify” the big funding gap between the DA and PD offices, and it concludes that the scales of justice are most certainly out of whack.

Regarding the PD Office’s employees, the report says, “These defenders of justice are disadvantaged, deluged and devalued. They all work stressful jobs, in a demoralizing, decrepit environment, with too few staff, not enough money, little opportunity for advancement, and no hope of relief.

“Is there equity in our local judicial system? There is not,” the report continues. “The one and only advantage the Public Defender’s Office has is its quality, highly skilled, and dedicated staff. Pitted against a Goliath, these Davids are winning battles.”

As with all reports from the Civil Grand Jury, this one concludes with a list of findings followed by a list of recommendations. There are 20 of the latter in this instance. They include relocating the office into better facilities within a year; raise deputy PD wages to a level of parity with deputy DAs; provide more investigatory resources to the office; fund a full-time social worker for the office; allow the employees to bring emotional support dogs to work; and provide funding to hire more support staff.

You can download the full report by clicking here. 

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[CORRECTION: This story initially mischaracterized aspects of the Conflict Counsel’s Office and stated that the pay discrepancy between the DA and PD offices included attorneys. In fact, DA and PD attorneys are members of the same bargaining unit and thus have equal pay. The Outpost regrets the errors.]