Arcata, Calif. – In an effort to reduce the number of motorcycle crashes, California Highway Patrol will deploy additional officers May 24, 2025 in the Humboldt Area. Officers will look for violations by both motorcycle riders and drivers that make roads dangerous for other traffic, including unsafe speed, following too closely, unsafe lane changes, and improper turning.
Motorcycle-involved crashes in California continue to be a major concern for the California Highway Patrol (CHP). From January 2023 through December 2023, provisional statistical data revealed there were 24 injury crashes involving motorcycles and 2 fatal crashes involving motorcycles in the CHP Humboldt Area jurisdiction.
Funding for these operations are provided by a grant from the Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Titled “Get Educated and Ride Safe (GEARS) VIII”, the grant funding assists the CHP in reducing deadly and serious-injury crashes involving motorcycles. The Humboldt Area will continue to deploy additional enforcement efforts through September 30, 2025.
Press release from the District Attorney’s Office:
Today, the Honorable Judge Steven Steward sentenced brothers Brandon Michael Widmark, age 29, and Jesse ChakChak Widmark, age 20, to serve life in prison for their April 2023 crimes in Eureka. On March 18, 2025, following a 7-week trial, a Humboldt County jury returned verdicts of guilt as to each of the defendants for the attempted murder of a peace officer, multiple counts of assault with a firearm on a peace officer, forcefully resisting a peace officer, and robbery. Additionally, Brandon was convicted of felony hit and run causing injury, evading an officer and causing injury, child abuse, false imprisonment, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Judge Steward sentenced Brandon to serve 39 years 8 months to life in prison, and Jesse to serve 56 years 4 months to life in prison.
On April 18, 2023, the brothers robbed a man in a back parking lot of the Bayshore Mall in Eureka and fled the scene in a lifted red Ford truck with Arizona license plates. Brandon, who drove the truck with his brother in the rear passenger seat, girlfriend in the front passenger seat, and her toddler in the rear center seat, struck a pedestrian at the intersection of Washington and Summer Streets. He fled, leaving the seriously injured pedestrian in the street. Reports of these crimes were made, providing police officers with initial details regarding the crimes and suspects in the red truck.
Shortly thereafter, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputy Raleigh Willoughby observed the red truck and attempted a traffic stop. The truck fled from Dep. Willoughby through the Cutten area, northbound on Dolbeer Street toward Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital, and past the Washington Elementary School at a high rate of speed. Deputy Willoughby did not pursue at a high speed out due to public safety concerns, including it was nearly time for school dismissal. Nonetheless, Brandon continued to drive recklessly, all the while refusing pleas from his girlfriend to pull over and let her and her child out of the vehicle. At the intersection of Dolbeer and Harris Streets, Brandon collided into a vehicle causing serious injury to the people inside the vehicle.
The defendants got out the of the now-disabled truck, and armed themselves with rifles, aiming at the pursuing Dep. Willoughby in his marked patrol vehicle. Jesse fired one shot at Dep. Willoughby, missing his head by less than two feet, but striking his patrol vehicle. As this happened, both were fired upon by arriving HCSO Lt. Conan Moore, Dep. Chad Crotty, and Dep. Luke Mathieson; each defendant was shot seven times.
Although Brandon was shot before he was able to fire a round, he continued to manipulate his firearm in a manner consistent with trying to clear a malfunction or to load a round into the chamber. Brandon refused commands to drop his weapon and was subsequently fired upon by Lt. Moore that ultimately resulted in Brandon dropping his rifle.
Immediately after eliminating the threat, Dep. Willoughby, Lt. Moore, Dep. Crotty, and Dep. Mathieson began administering life-saving efforts to the brothers. The defendants were transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital where they remained until they were medically able to be housed at the Humboldt County Correctional Facility.
District Attorney Stacey Eads stated “I am extremely grateful for the heroic actions of the officers involved. The thoughtful verdicts of the jury and Judge Steward’s sentencing imposed are just, and with this outcome may these two defendants never harm another again.”
Due to the nature of the officer involved shooting, the Critical Incident Response Team, led by Eureka Police Detective Ray Nunez and Humboldt County District Attorney Investigator Ryan Hill, was deployed to take command of the scene and the investigation. Their efforts, along with the efforts of the four Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office personnel, led to the successful prosecution of this case, the jury’s verdicts, and ultimately the appropriate sentence for both defendants.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy District attorney Roger Rees, with assistance from District Attorney Investigators Ryan Hill and Greg Hill, Victim Advocate Ben Duhem, as well as countless others. Brandon was represented by attorney Rebecca Linkous, and Jesse was represented by attorney Anakalia Sullivan.
Arcata’s city council voted last night to approve new inclusionary housing requirements and an agreement with the Great Redwood Trail Agency to start the groundwork on the Annie and Mary Trail.
The city council voted to place the inclusionary zoning measures on yesterday’s consent calendar at the last city council meeting after amending it to kick in when a development is 60 units or bigger, instead of the original 30.
Its passage motivated a little resistance. During public comment, Arcata resident Rebecca Smith said that she thought 60 units was far too high of a hurdle to clear and wouldn’t lead to many apartments for lower-income people. Both council members and other residents had the same concern at the last council meeting, but Arcata’s community development director David Loya said that there were a few constructed last year in the Valley West neighborhood.
Everything on the consent calendar, including the inclusionary zoning measure, passed 4-0.
The council also voted to approve a licensing agreement with the Great Redwood Trail Agency, which will allow the long-anticipated Annie and Mary Trail to begin construction this year. When finished in 2027 (or so), it’ll extend all the way from Arcata to the Water District Park on West End.
The GRTA owns the old railways on which the trail will be built, so a licensing agreement is a necessary step for the trail to be built. Under the terms of the agreement, the city will be able to build the trail and will maintain it for 25 years. If somehow a rail company decides to start using trains in Arcata again, the trail will be removed.
“All of us here have been on the council for a while,” councilmember Sarah Schaefer said. “We see these projects that are big projects that we’ve been talking about the whole time we’ve been on council, so it’s really nice to see these really start to move forward with a really exciting and soon timeline. I’m really excited to move forward on this.”
Press release from the office of Sen. Mike McGuire:
Senate
President pro Tempore Mike McGuire led an afternoon ceremony
yesterday to officially dedicate the Annette Brooks Memorial Bridge
on Highway 101 in memory of fallen Caltrans worker Annette Kaleialoha
Brooks.
Brooks
served for 36 years at Caltrans, rising through the ranks from a toll
booth collector in the Bay Area to Steel Structural Painter
Supervisor in Humboldt County. She was beloved by her family,
co-workers, and community of friends in Humboldt, and was known for
her warm smile, big laugh, and many artistic talents.
After
Brooks’ tragic death on April 24, 2017, Caltrans, along with the
County of Humboldt and the City of Rio Dell, partnered with Sen.
McGuire on a state resolution to name a bridge in honor of Brooks.
The newly designated Annette Brooks Memorial Bridge is located in
southern Humboldt County over beautiful Jordan Creek, just a few
miles south of Rio Dell.
“On
the almost the 8th
anniversary of her passing, we’re here to make good on a promise
and raise the signs for the Annette Brooks Memorial Bridge,” said
Pro
Tem McGuire.
“Ms. Brooks dedicated her career to the people of California and
went above and beyond every day in her job. We were honored by the
presence of Annette’s family, friends, and co-workers at this
week’s ceremony. It was a beautiful tribute to her life in public
service.”
“Our
Caltrans family was honored to gather in memory of Annette Brooks
yesterday. She was an incredibly dedicated and successful supervisor,
and even more, a friend who is sorely missed by so many. It was our
privilege to join Senator McGuire in designating the Annette Brooks
Memorial Bridge, and cement Annette’s memory in the history of
Humboldt County,” said Caltrans
District 1 Director Matt Brady.
The
dedication ceremony was attended by Brooks’ five siblings, Brian,
Curtis, Douglas, Evalani, and Ferlin, and two nephews, Jordon and
Jeran.
Following
Brooks’ death at the Caltrans substation in Rio Dell, along with
another horrific workplace violence event in 2021 at a light rail
station in San Jose, the state Legislature passed SB 553 in 2023. Now
state law, the legislation require employers to establish and
maintain a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan that includes incident
logs, trainings, and period plan reviews, among other support and
protections from those enduring unlawful violence in the workplace.
The
Annette Brooks Memorial Bridge designated Bridge Number 04-0208 over
Jordan Creek at post mile 46.19 on State Highway 101.
It looks like the dream of keeping horse racing alive at the Humboldt County Fair is just barely hanging on by a thread, following today’s meeting of the California Horse Racing Board.
According to an excellent report on the Daily Racing Form’s website, the board voted 3-2 to deny the fair’s request for seven days on the racing schedule. But the board is currently short of members, and four votes are required to take definitive action on such a request.
One of the “yes” votes on the board — Oscar Gonzalez — encouraged the fair to try again once an empty commissioner’s seat is filled, the DRF reports.
Horse racing has long been the big cash cow for the Humboldt County Fair, which earns money not only from fairgoers but from off-track betting revenue. Continued racing dates for the fair are strongly opposed by Southern California interests, which would — openly, according to the DRF report — prefer to keep that money for itself.
Apparently, the south feels that already receiving 49 weeks a year of commissions
generated from wagers placed in the north is somehow not enough. North-generated
commissions have never gone to the south in the past during this late August time period
and there is no justification in precluding HCPA from having a third week of racing
just so the south can receive a windfall from money wagered in the north.
Federal fishery managers unanimously voted this week to cancel commercial salmon fishing in California.| Photo: Michael Humling - U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
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North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman today issued a statement in response to the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s recent decision to shut down California’s commercial salmon fishing season for the third year in a row, in an effort to help Chinook salmon populations rebound from deteriorating ecological conditions. The “unprecedented” move could have “devastating impacts” on the coastal communities and fishermen who depend on the salmon season to stay afloat, Huffman said.
Read the full statement below.
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Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02) released the following statement regarding the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s vote to cancel salmon fishing season in California:
“Coastal towns, river communities, and thousands of salmon fishery employees depend on the salmon season to generate income and stay afloat – and now, for the third year in a row, they’ve been dealt another devastating impact with an unprecedented closure of the 2025 salmon season. The last two years of closures have devastated California’s coastal economies – and facing a third consecutive closure marks an unprecedented low point. Our slipping environmental conditions are to blame for this economic disaster: we are seeing dangerously low ocean abundance forecasts for the Sacramento River Fall-Run Chinook Salmon, and Trump’s extremist agenda is only going to worsen this already developing crisis,” said Rep. Huffman.
“Trump has vowed to slash current environmental protections even further – which could result in more irresponsible water management during droughts and ultimately, additional salmon season closures in the future. It’s completely unacceptable – and while I’m relieved that I’ve been able to pass reforms in Congress for federal disaster relief, the amount of disaster money secured is not nearly enough to sustain the needs of fishermen, tribes, businesses, and families who depend on healthy salmon fisheries. Now entering this third canceled season, we will have to restart this process for federal funding once again and keep pushing the state to speed up its own process for quantifying impacts,” Rep. Huffman continued.
“While I will continue fighting to bring these state and federal efforts home, this scramble for disaster relief is an unsustainable and insufficient solution to the downward spiral that California salmon fisheries are facing, and have been facing for years now. Instead, we need to implement mechanisms to prevent fishery disasters in the first place. And to do that, we need to confront the irresponsible policies that are killing salmon – including failing to protect cold water supplies, starving rivers and tributaries of flows salmon need to survive, and over-pumping in the Delta during sensitive times for migrating salmon. Trump’s environmental policies are only going to worsen these already compromised conditions, and I will keep doing everything I can in Congress to prevent his agenda from impacting our coastal communities here in California,” Huffman concluded.
Students walking out of their classes through the hallways at Coalinga College on Oct. 9, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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President Donald Trump has taken aim at students and professors at California’s elite institutions, such as UC Berkeley and UCLA, but community colleges, which enroll the majority of the state’s students, have largely avoided the administration’s ire.
Until recently. The U.S. Department of Education announced on March 27 that it was stopping California universities and colleges from using federal funding to “provide services to illegal immigrants.” The education department is specifically referring to federal TRIO programs, which provide various forms of financial aid and counseling to low-income, first-generation students.
California schools don’t track how many of their students lack legal status. Although exact figures are hard to capture, some estimates, such as the number of applications for in-state aid, suggest that there are thousands of students without legal status, most of whom are attending California’s community colleges.
More than 100,000 students in California are enrolled in a TRIO program, said Dalia Hernandez, the president of a professional association that works closely with these programs. Informally, colleges know that some students in these programs lack legal status. Now campus TRIO officials are grappling with the president’s order and wondering if they are going to have to start documenting citizenship.
Although non-citizens aren’t eligible for federal financial aid, in 2022 the education department granted California special permission to enroll them in TRIO programs’ academic services through September 2026.
Now the administration is revoking that permission.
In a Zoom webinar a few days after the education department’s announcement, Hernandez’s organization, the Western Association of Educational Opportunity Personnel, told college leaders that they could keep serving students in their programs, regardless of immigration status. However, moving forward, schools would need to reject any suspected non-citizen, she said. The federal education department has yet to provide any additional guidance about how to interpret the TRIO policy change.
“I’ve been in 1,000 meetings talking about every executive order that comes out, and every meeting is like, ‘Well, we don’t know what’s going to happen and it’s probably going to get blocked by a federal judge, so just hold on,’” said Brian Boomer, the director of grants at the West Hills Community College District in California’s Central Valley. “This was a little different because they actually gave a directive.”
Outside of California, it’s easy to see why some might argue these federal dollars should only serve U.S. citizens, Boomer said. But in Fresno and Kings counties, where his community college district is located, he said many immigrants are embedded in the community, work in nearby farms, and send their children to the region’s schools and colleges. “That’s the population you serve,” he said. “Our area feeds the country.”
Coalinga College is one of the two schools in his district. More than 70% of its students identify as Latino, and many are current or former farmworkers or children of farmworkers. The college’s largest TRIO program, called Student Support Services, has just under 200 low-income, first generation students enrolled, said Lissette Padilla, who oversees it.
Some of those students likely don’t have legal status, she said, but it’s not clear how many.
A ‘heartbreaking’ change for one student
As a low-income student with a learning disability and the first in his family to attend college, “J” knew he needed help navigating Oxnard College, a community college in Ventura County. He applied to one of the TRIO programs in 2021 but he said he was rejected because program administrators suspected he wasn’t a U.S. citizen. CalMatters has agreed to withhold his name because he fears drawing attention to his legal status.
“I thought this was going to be for all first-generation students,” he said. “I felt like I was abandoned.”
Two years later, after the state got special permission from the federal government, the director of the program reached out to J again, this time to encourage him to reapply. As part of one of the TRIO programs, J got one-on-one guidance with campus counselors who helped ensure that he was on track to meet his academic goals and transfer to a four-year university. The TRIO staff also took him on trips to visit various colleges, including Cal State Northridge, Chico State, and Cal State Long Beach.
Last summer, he enrolled at Cal State Channel Islands, ready to pursue a bachelor’s degree. Many Cal State and University of California campuses offer TRIO programs to their students, but Channel Islands isn’t one of them. “It’s very disappointing,” he said because he was hoping to stay enrolled in one of the TRIO programs.
Even if the university began offering TRIO programs, he won’t qualify if colleges enforce the Trump administration’s policy change. J said it’s “heartbreaking” that students without legal status will no longer have that opportunity to enroll.
In the first few days after the Trump administration’s announcement, schools received little guidance about how to respond and looked to Hernandez, the regional association president, for guidance. She said her interpretation is that TRIO programs are only required to evaluate a student’s eligibility when they first enroll. As a result, she said schools do not need to kick out any students who are currently enrolled, but they shouldn’t register any new students who may lack legal status.
She also recommended that schools revise their intake forms so that students can only identify as male or female. “We’re protecting the programs and the funding that we have,” said Hernandez, referring to Trump’s executive order on gender identity, which prohibits the U.S. government from recognizing gender expansive terms such as non-binary.
Padilla said she’s concerned that Coalinga College may, at some point, need to pull counseling services away from students without legal status who are in the program. She said the contingency plan is to move those students into similar programs that are funded by the state and which don’t ask for proof of citizenship.
Lizette Navarette, the president of Woodland Community College near Sacramento, said she was wary of the initial decision to allow students without legal status to receive services through a federal program. “There was some concern about how safe the student data would be because it’s a federal grant,” she said. For over a year now, her college has been directing those students to state programs, which she said often have more capacity and which don’t share data with the federal government.
Will TRIO get cut?
In 2021, the national association for TRIO administrators, the Cal State University system, the UC system, the California Department of Education and more than 80 other organizations signed a letter addressed to the U.S. Department of Education, calling on it to allow students without legal status to enroll in TRIO programs.
But over the years, support has waned.
The federal government allowed California to expand access to TRIO programs as part of a pilot, which was slated to end next year. In 2023 and 2024, when the U.S. Department of Education discussed expanding access in other states and in a more permanent way, California’s institutions once again voiced their support. But the national association was silent, said Antoinette Flores, the director of a higher education research team at the think tank New America.
She said the association, known as the Council for Opportunity in Education, fears that allowing students without legal status to participate could elicit more scrutiny from the Trump administration and put the entire program at risk. The association didn’t respond to CalMatters’ request for comment.
“We have had, over the years, very strong bipartisan support for federal TRIO programs,” said Hernandez, who also serves as the regional representative of the national association. But she acknowledged that nothing is certain. “There is rhetoric from the current administration about dismantling these federal programs.”
She said her regional association still wants to include all low-income, first-generation students in TRIO programs, including students without legal status, but other colleges and universities outside the state may have a different perspective. “California is one of the very few states in the country that has resources and support earmarked for undocumented students and youth. Others may not have as much.”
