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Get ready, America. After years of firm denials, Gov. Gavin Newsom is finally acknowledging his presidential ambitions.

Over the past month, the Democratic governor who once insisted that he had “sub-zero interest” in the White House has begun publicly inching toward the idea. In a profile published in the Wall Street Journal this week, Newsom said he would wait to see if the moment felt right.

“I’m not thinking about running, but it’s a path that I could see unfold,” he said.

The shift in tone comes, perhaps fortuitously, as all eyes are on Newsom again.

With President Donald Trump sending military troops into Los Angeles in recent days to quell sometimes unruly protests against immigration enforcement raids, Newsom has seized the moment to reestablish himself as the leader of resistance. The governor sued to stop the deployments and is now doing nearly endless rounds in the media accusing Trump of slipping into authoritarianism. He has sent daily queries to his fundraising list referencing the situation in Los Angeles and the president advocating for his arrest.

On Tuesday evening, Newsom gave a short video address, carried live on CNN, that sought to elevate his fight to national significance, warning that “other states are next,” and to rally the public behind him to defend democracy.

“This is about all of us. This is about you,” Newsom said. “It’s time for all of us to stand up.”

Many people already assume that Newsom is in campaign mode. A poll released last month by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times found that more than half of California voters believe Newsom is more focused on boosting his presidential prospects than governing the state and solving its problems.

But the ability to expand his message beyond California could stir voters in the rest of the country to start seeing Newsom as a potential leader, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

He commended Newsom for channeling the growing fear and anger over Trump’s actions in his remarks, which Sabato believes may have changed the minds of some skeptics who regarded the governor as just “another pol with good hair gel.”

“He saw the danger to the American republic,” Sabato said. “It was a home run.”

Though speculation about a future presidential bid has followed Newsom throughout his career — his family even joked about it in a congratulatory message in his college yearbook — he never would have admitted that he had his eye on the White House even a few years ago.

After defeating a recall attempt in 2021, Newsom told NBC’s Chuck Todd in an interview that he had “never” considered running for president and had “no, no, no, no, no” interest in ever doing so because “who needs the damn stress?”

During an endorsement interview with the San Francisco Chronicle during his re-election campaign for California governor the following year, Newsom said he had “sub-zero interest” in being commander in chief and that “it’s not even on my radar.” He reiterated to CBS that “it’s not my ambition” and “I have no interest” in ever running.

The question came up again repeatedly last summer as frantic Democrats considered whether to replace President Joe Biden on the ticket, and Newsom always loyally batted it down, emerging as perhaps Biden’s most forceful surrogate until the bitter end.

Newsom’s star has risen in recent years

Whether those proclamations were sincere is, of course, another matter.

Newsom’s political star exploded with his early handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and he has spent the years since burnishing his national profile — touring red states to campaign for fellow Democrats, proposing a constitutional amendment to restrict gun ownership, debating Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Fox News, launching a controversy-generating podcast. The recent book “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House” reported that Newsom was among the prominent Democrats who contacted campaign operatives last summer to explore their chances if Biden dropped out.

Gov. Gavin Newsom at a press conference in the state Capitol following the first COVID-19 death in California. March 4, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters

Representatives for Newsom did not respond to questions about why he is speaking differently now about a potential presidential campaign and whether it represents an intentional strategy. But the switch has been notable and consistent in recent weeks.

In early May, Newsom told the video podcast Next Up with Mark Halperin that his decision was “to be determined.”

“I might. I don’t know,” he said. “But I have to have a burning ‘why’ and I have to have a compelling vision that distinguishes myself from anybody else. Without that, without both and, I don’t deserve to even be in the conversation.”

On his own podcast last week, guest Dr. Phil asked Newsom whether he was running for president in 2028 and the governor did not rule it out. “You’re not ruling anything out about your future either, so we’ll leave it at that,” he said.

If Newsom does ultimately enter the race, voters are unlikely to care about his pivot from past pledges that he would not, Sabato said, because it will be so expected.

“If you’re governor of California, the assumption is that you’re running for president,” he said.

And broken promises seem to matter little in politics anymore, Sabato added, “The one thing that Trump has done for everyone is eliminate the issue of hypocrisy.”

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Does President Donald Trump or Gov. Gavin Newsom have final say on deploying the California National Guard to Los Angeles? And when can a sitting president send the Marines to a U.S. city, as Trump did in L.A.?

Those are the questions at the heart of a rapidly moving legal challenge Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed against Trump that is scheduled to get its first hearing starting at 1.30 p.m. today at a federal court in San Francisco.

What the judge rules, and the likely appeals that follow, may alter decades of understanding about the roles of governors and the White House in quelling domestic unrest.

Some legal experts called Trump’s moves to bring in troops unnecessary and an abuse of power. Newsom has argued that and more. He delivered a fiery speech Tuesday that likened Trump to other “failed dictators.”

“Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves, but they do not stop there,” Newsom said. “Trump and his loyalists, they thrive on division because it allows them to take more power.”

But Jessica A. Levinson, a constitutional law scholar at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said that blocking the president’s authority is “going to be a hard argument for the governor to make” during an appearance on the Dan Abrams Show on Wednesday.

The administration argues that the armed troops will do what local law enforcement has so far been unable to do: Bring order to the streets of L.A. Critics, including Newsom, counter that sending soldiers — especially Marines trained for the battlefield — to quell a civil disturbance is just as likely to inflame the situation and ratchet up the risk of violence.

Trump called up the National Guard to Los Angeles on Saturday after protests broke out in response to federal immigration officers raiding work sites and arresting individuals they say are in the country without authorization. Trump’s order cited “incidents of violence and disorder” in his message. The soldiers will “temporarily protect” the immigration enforcement officers, the memo said.

The president has so far ordered 4,000 National Guard and 700 U.S. Marine troops to L.A. The judge on the case is Charles Breyer, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

Trump has not yet invoked the Insurrection Act, a law that would give him more authority to deploy troops domestically and use them for law enforcement. As is, the National Guard soldiers are charged with protecting federal agents and building.

Core to Trump’s justification was a federal statute that only one president had previously used, Bonta’s legal team wrote. President Richard Nixon employed it so that the National Guard could deliver the mail during the U.S. Postal Service strike of 1970. It’s also the first time since 1965 that a president federalized a state National Guard without the request of a governor.

Newsom and Bonta sued Monday after the governor formally asked Trump to rescind his activation of the Guard. They filed the suit just as news outlets began reporting that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would deploy the U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, as well. On Tuesday Newsom and Bonta sought a temporary restraining order to halt both orders.

The California challenges argue that involving the Marines and National Guard harms state sovereignty, drains California’s resources and “escalates tensions and promotes (rather than quells) civil unrest.”

Newsom’s suit says the city does not need the military to keep the peace. “To put it bluntly, there is no invasion or rebellion in Los Angeles; there is civil unrest that is no different from episodes that regularly occur in communities throughout the country, and that is capable of being contained by state and local authorities working together,” the suit said.

He also maintains that a president cannot deploy the National Guard without approval from the state governor. Newsom and Bonta cite the government code that permits Trump to deploy the National Guard, which says federalizing the troops is “issued through” the governor.

The Trump legal team offers the opposite interpretation of the government code: “The statute is thus clear that the orders are issued by the President, and they are conveyed through State officials. Nothing in the statute entitles a Governor to veto or impede a valid presidential order,” the team wrote in their filing on Wednesday.

The filing excoriated Newsom’s pitch for a restraining order as a “crass political stunt endangering American lives.” It also said local and state law enforcement were “unable to bring order to the city”

Levinson underscored the stakes of the case: “Saying that you need the governor’s consent would mean that any single governor would have the ability to essentially veto the president using power under this statute.”

Chris Mirasola, a law professor at the University of Houston, wrote that the issue has seen “no meaningful challenges” but that this is an area in which the “courts have traditionally been exceedingly deferential to the executive branch.”

Bonta told reporters on Monday that challenging Trump on his powers has few precedents, since deploying troops without a governor’s support is rare. “This is not a section of the law that’s been subject to multiple opinions and has a lot of case law on it,” he said.

Eighteen state attorneys general who are Democrats backed Bonta. “The president’s decision to federalize and deploy California’s National Guard without the consent of California state leaders is unlawful, unconstitutional, and undemocratic,” they issued in a joint statement.

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Ben Christopher contributed to this story.

In Loving Memory of Michael Joseph Mangiantini
March 4, 1952 – May 30, 2025

Michael Joseph Mangiantini, beloved son, husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend, passed away on May 30, 2025, at the age of 73. Born on March 4, 1952, to Connie and Ernest Mangiantini, Michael lived a life marked by dedication, resilience, and a deep love for his family and community.

Michael was the devoted husband of Kathy Mangiantini for over 25 years until her passing. Their marriage was built on love, laughter, and shared strength, and it remained a cornerstone of Michael’s life.

He was a man of many talents and trades, working at a variety of places including his parents’ bakery in Sonoma, Gallo Winery in Sonoma, John Deere in Fernbridge, the Firestokers Youth Group in Rio Dell, Sun Valley Floral Farm in Arcata, and in West Yellowstone as a trusted maintenance man. Whether he was repairing planes or lawnmowers, Michael approached every job with pride and precision. He was known for his ability to fix nearly anything and for his willingness to lend a hand to anyone in need.

Michael was preceded in death by his loving parents, Ernest and Connie Mangiantini; his aunt Louise Mangiantini; his uncle Ezio Mangiantini; and his sister, Ernistine Mangiantini.

He is survived by his siblings: John (Jennifer) Mangiantini, Theresa Rivera, Rose (Dave) Carey, and Dan Mangiantini. He also leaves behind his daughter Kimberley Olson and her fiancé Alejandro Marquez; his stepdaughter Michelle Petracek and her husband Don; his grandchildren Miriam, Alex, and Destiny Petracek, Brianna, Heather, and Christopher Olson; and his great-grandchildren Nevaeh Baldy and Orion Petracek. Michael’s circle of love extended far and wide, and he is also survived by countless friends whose lives he enriched.

Michael will be remembered for his generous spirit, his quick wit, his mechanical genius, and his enduring love for family. He was a man who showed up, worked hard, and made people feel welcome, whether they were family or friends.

Services will be announced at a later date.

“Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day.”

Tim Anthony Moore passed away at the age of 50 years old at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka. He went peacefully with loved ones at his bedside.

Tim was born on March 4, 1975 to Marita Louise (Wheeler) Moore and Randall Wesley Moore in Phoenix, Arizona. Tim spent most of his childhood moving around with military parents. He and his younger siblings Pamela, Benjamin, and Scott had extraordinary experiences living in Texas, New Mexico and Mississippi. They lived a couple of years overseas in Azores, Portugal. Tim and his family travelled to Germany while overseas.

With his family, Tim moved to Sacramento, California, for his junior year of high school before moving to Humboldt County, where he graduated from McKinleyville High School. After high school, Tim attended Humboldt State University.

Tim was known for his amazing artwork, displayed in Eureka a few years ago. He hoped to publish a collection of deeply philosophical essays. In younger years, he greatly enjoyed swing dancing. He will be remembered by his family and friends as a kind, caring, and brilliant man.

Tim was preceded in death by his brothers, Ben and Scott, and by his parents, Rita and Randy. He is survived by his sister Pamela (Moore) Coleman, niece Ericka Rosas, nephews Dameon, Jordan Moore, and Jasper Hedrick Moore, grandmother Gloria (Gannon) Wheeler, and many aunts, unclose, cousins, and family-by-love Alex and Bob.

Internment will be at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Arcata on Wednesday, June 25 at 11 a.m.

Our relative, Phillip Ammon, was born on December 8, 1936, and crossed over May 27, 2025. He is preceded in death by his mother, Ruth, and father, Chauncey LeRoy Ammon, Sr., and his brothers Wes, Les, Jubie, Junie, Toby and John. He had a special bonds with his niece and nephews who passed before him, They are Jack, Earl, Ronnie, LeeRoy, Robert, Kenny and Lynne Ammon.

He is survived by Paul, Dena (Bill), Frank (Marcell), Tom, Erick, Mike (Diane), Bonnie, Jim (Shelly), Shannon, Joe (Lottie), Tammy, Danny (Cassie) and Shelley (Devon) Smith as well as his great nephews and nieces and great-great nephews and nieces.

He was known around town as Phil but to those who loved him most, he was Uncle. Phillip Ammon was born in the old Indian Hospital on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. He was raised on South Fork and attended school in Salyer and Hoopa. He served in the US Army and was stationed in Germany during the Cold War. When he returned home from the service, he lived his life surrounded by his family, people and traditions. He was a proud member of the Tsnungwe Tribe.

He never married but lived with his widowed mother, Ruth, and then alone in the Ammon family home. He was a devoted son and family member. While he often had a gruff exterior, he had a good heart.

Phillip loved living alone and gathering those things that inspired him. He would surprise his nephews with his treasures. One time he opened the trunk of his car and offered shirts that he had bought and may never have even worn to his nephews. On his niece’s birthday, he baked her a birthday cake in a frying pan. He loved “going down the hill” to Willow Creek where he made his daily rounds visiting friends and going to his favorite places. He liked traveling in his Cadillac, Mustang, Corvette, a pickup or his big old sedan.

In his youth, Phil worked in the Forks Services Station. He and Floyd Fork remained life-long friends. When he went to work for the US Forest Service he became a third generation employee of the Forest Service. His grandfather, June Ammon, was hired in 1905 before the Forest Act in 1906 created our national forests. June worked in the Klamath Forest in the area from Salyer to Orleans on horseback. His son, Chan, also worked for the Forest Service as a packer and carried many supplies into remote areas for the agency. Phil worked for the Forest Service until his retirement in the 1980s.Like his grandparents and parents before him, Phillip remembered details about our homeland others never knew, like where the old Native trails are. He knew who lived where, when, and why family members joined the service and how life has changed on South Fork, our home. He was the last Ammon family member of his generation and knew he needed to pass his knowledge of the land, our family and fellow Tsnungwe to the next generation. Sometimes when asked about an event, a place or some detail, he would think about it for days until he figured it out and remembered to pass it along.

Although Phillip appeared to live a quiet life working at the Forest Service and living with his mother, he was a world traveler. He took cruises and road trips regularly. He took his mom and other elders on road trips to Oregon, Washington and Alaska. His favorite kind of traveling was going on cruises. He would make friends during the trips and say goodbye to them at the journey’s end without regret. He cruised in segments until he traveled around the world but rarely talked about his adventures. But he would surprise us all and dress as an Arab Sheik wearing garb from one of his cruises and go downtown on Halloween.

Our uncle lived a quiet and thoughtful life. He leaves behind many loved ones and his love for his family, culture and community. But we know he has been welcomed by those he loved most on the other side. Today, let us be happy and celebrate this welcome.

Thank you for your many acts of kindness and companionship to our uncle and the Ammon family members. And a special thanks Rob Mac and Gina Moon who helped us care for him in his later years.

Pallbearers: Lee, Roy, John Magdaleno, Jeramy, Lincoln, Emmett Chase, Jr., Grant, Thomas, Israel, Isiah, Randy, Jacob, Jared, PJ & Milo Smith, Gabel Ammon. Honorary Pallbearers: Wade, Paul, Frank, Tom, Erick, Mike, Jim, Joe, Danny Ammon and Rob Mac.

Graveside services will be on June 14, 2025, at 11 a.m. at the Ammon Family Cemetery on South Fork for family and friends.

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UPDATE, 4:30 p.m.:

The county identified the applicant of this project as Christopher Trent, owner of Redwood Recovery, LLC, which is based in Garberville. 

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UPDATE, 5 p.m.:

Kerry Durkee, owner founder of Redwood Recovery Center, LLC, says her Eureka-based outpatient detox organization has no affiliation with the very similarly named LLC cited above and is not involved in the Hartsook Inn proposal.

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Southern Humboldt may soon have its own residential detox facility in the redwoods as an unidentified applicant is looking to establish one inside the former Hartsook Inn, a long-shuttered tourist lodge just south of Richardson Grove State Park.

On Tuesday, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors approved a general plan amendment and zone reclassification for the 17.7-acre property, which borders Richardson Grove and the South Fork Eel River, just north of the spot where Reggae on the River is often held.

The supervisors approved the rezone request as part of its consent calendar, which means they didn’t discuss any of the project specifics. A staff report concluded that a residential detox center on this property would serve the public good “by providing needed health care and treatment options in Southern Humboldt.”

The inpatient residential detoxification center will provide “a safe, structured environment for individuals seeking treatment for substance use disorders,” the report says, adding that it could provide jobs and needed health care in remote areas of the county while preserving the property’s potential to revert back to a hotel.

Originally built in the 1920s, the Hartsook Inn was, for a time, a popular retreat for such celebrities as Bing Crosby and Mary Pickford. With a grand lodge and 50 cabins nestled in the redwoods, the Hartsook burned down and was rebuilt several times over the decades. Save the Redwoods League purchased it in 1998, then sold it in 2007 to the Heartwood Institute, whose owners planned to transform it into a retreat destination with a conference center, restaurant and spa. However, the property has remained vacant and deteriorating for many years.

Who is behind this new detox center proposal? Their identity remains somewhat obscured at this point. [No longer! See the update at the top of this post.] A petition letter was submitted to the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department in January by an employee of Drug Rehab Agency, a marketing and consulting agency based in Kansas City.

The Outpost reached that agency’s owner, Jon McMinn, via phone on Tuesday. He said his company had been hired “on behalf of the client” to get the project through the approval process but he declined to identify that client by name, citing a non-disclosure agreement. McMinn offered to check with his client before getting back to us but had yet to do so by the time this post was published.

The two-parcel property was most recently purchased in May 2022 by a company called Hartsook Inn, LLC, according to data on file with the Humboldt County Assessor’s Office. The registered agents for that company have an address in Glendale and dozens of LLCs in their names.

We’ve reached out to the Humboldt County Administrative’s Office and Department of Health and Human Services for more info and will update this post (or just write another one) once we know who the applicant is.

SoHum has been without a residential detox center since Singing Trees Recovery Center closed, then reopened under new management only to shut down again after the new owner was arrested for DUI and child endangerment, then reported to the state on allegations of unethical behavior, including misappropriation of government funds.

The county staff report says a detox facility on the Hartsook Inn property “will contribute positively to the local economy by creating jobs, attracting professional health care staff, and enhancing support services in the area.” It also noted that the facility “will provide much-needed resources to combat substance abuse and improve overall public health, directly benefiting the local population.” Clients would not be allowed to leave the premises while enrolled in the detox program.

The staff report also notes potential negative impacts. Given its proximity to Richardson Grove and the South Fork Eel, “its potential presence can be interpreted as not being consistent with the intended nature of the property,” the staff report says, noting the site’s history as “a visitor-serving entity.” Tourism could suffer, the report argues. 

“However,” it continues, “the property has not been operational as an Inn (or visitor-serving entity) for many years, and the social, health and economic benefits that could be gained from a professional health care center are worth consideration.”

Here’s the property location and boundaries:

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A recent cyberattack on United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) is disrupting grocery supply chains across the United States, causing widespread shortages of mass-produced frozen foods and other pantry staples. 

While the scale of the security breach remains unknown, the Outpost has received confirmation that at least two local grocery chains have been affected, including all five Murphy’s Markets and the Chef’s Store in Eureka. 

“Fortunately, we got on it immediately,” John McClurg, deli supervisor for Murphy’s Markets, told the Outpost. “I went over to the Chef’s Store and bought a ton of produce because, at first, nobody really knew anything. We just knew that there had been a [cyber] attack and that [UNFI] had to reboot their system. They couldn’t receive any phone calls, and their computers were down. The first analysis indicated that they were going to be out until next week.”

UNFI officials noticed the security breach late last week after “unauthorized activity” was detected in its system. “We are assessing the unauthorized activity and working to restore our systems to safely bring them back online,” UNFI officials wrote in a statement issued on Monday. “As we work through this issue, our customers, suppliers, and associates are our highest priority. We are working closely with them to minimize disruption as much as possible.”

As more information began trickling in, it became apparent that metropolitan areas — especially cities with Whole Foods Markets, which has a primary distribution agreement with UNFI —  would bear the brunt of the attack and subsequent food shortages. 

“We — and by ‘we’ I mean Humboldt County — have fared better because we have a lot of smaller, locally-based distributors that we go through that weren’t affected by [the attack on] UNFI,” McClurg said. “I talked to a friend in New York who handles food distribution, and he said it’s just an absolute zoo in the city right now. This is one of the few times it pays to be in a smaller area like Humboldt County, where pretty much everyone I know can supplement their losses through other vendors.”

That said, you might have a hard time finding some of your favorite cereals and frozen treats at Murphy’s Markets for the next few days.

“You might not see your Stouffer’s or your Marie Callender’s pot pies … but you’re going to be fine with essentials,” McClurg said. “This is not a panic buy situation. If you had your heart set on Stouffer’s mac and cheese, you might not find it at our store.”

[CLARIFICATION: After publication, McClurg reached out to the Outpost to clarify that the name-brand items currently out of stock are expected to arrive in a delivery on Friday and should be back on shelves this weekend.]

In an emailed response to the Outpost’s inquiry, Sara Matheu, a spokesperson for the Chef’s Store, confirmed that one of its “third-party suppliers” recently experienced a “temporary supply chain disruption, which has temporarily impacted some scheduled product deliveries.” However, she did not identify the third-party supplier by name. 

“Our Eureka [Chef’s Store] customers remain our top priority, and we are implementing measures to mitigate potential product disruptions,” Matheu said.

In a written statement issued this morning, UNFI said the investigation into the security breach is ongoing. 

We continue working steadily to safely restore our systems and provide the services our customers and suppliers know and expect from us. As of today, we’re gradually bringing our ordering and receiving capabilities back online, with the goal of further increasing our capacity over the coming days. The investigation is ongoing with the support of leading forensics experts. Our customers, suppliers, and associates are our highest priority. We continue to work closely with them to minimize disruptions as much as possible.

Reached for additional comment, store managers at Ray’s Food Place in Arcata and WinCo in Eureka said they were not aware of the cyber attack. The North Coast Co-op and Eureka Natural Foods did not respond to our request for comment before publication. We’ll update this post if we hear back.