So the ballots are out, and it’s time to consider many important issues. One issue is in regards to the state of our county roads. I am sure it takes no convincing to recognize the need to repair our roads. They are in horrible condition, and in fact state data show that on average each car owner is spending $900 per year per car on repairs related to bad roads. Shocks, tires and rims, alignments and more from hitting potholes and rough patches. The question is how to raise funds for road repair.

Measure O is on the ballot to raise funds for road repair and a small amount for transit. There are those that have said it should have been a special tax earmarked for roads, but that would have taken 67% of voters to pass. That would have been an unlikely outcome. Polling suggest that a majority will support the measure, but not 67%. So we decided to do it as a General Obligation tax that only needs 50% plus one to pass. Yes, that means that the funds go into the general fund and there is no guarantee that these funds will go to roads. While that is true, the ballot language was crafted carefully to be sure that roads will be the primary use of the funds, with a little to transit. Read the ballot language carefully and you will see that it says 911 emergency response will be improved by fixing roads!

Measure Z was a General Obligation tax as well, and we have made sure that the funds raised did go to improving Public Safety, as promised. Not one dollar went to existing General Fund expenses. We fulfilled our promise to the voters. We hired more deputies and supported local fire departments and have a Measure Z committee to keep all spending accountable. Measure O will also have an accountability committee made up of road experts, labor contractors and members of the public to keep all spending on track. We fulfilled our promise to voters on Measure Z and we will assure these funds from Measure O go to roads and some for transit.

Currently, the limited funds we have for roads goes mostly to emergency repairs, and we have little left to leverage federal and state funding. With Measure O we will generate $24 million dollars per year, and that will allow us to leverage significant federal and state funding. Twenty percent of our funds will leverage 80% federal funding. That means that we could leverage up to $100 million dollars per year with federal and state assistance. That means potholes can be fixed, roadsides mowed to reduce fire starts and visibility increased for cars, bikes and pedestrians. It means taking care of roads before they fall apart and require complete, expensive rebuilds.

Yes, taxes add up, and inflation has hit everyone hard, but this is a small price to pay for greatly improved road conditions. And as mentioned above, we are all already spending the money on expensive car repairs. Let’s move those funds up front and be proactive in repairing roads before they tear our cars apart. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Please consider supporting Measure O as the sensible approach to taking care of our roads. This one cent sales tax is only on taxable items. It does not apply to food, rent, medicines and medical care, and many other items. Thank you for your support.

Steve Madrone
Humboldt County 5th District Supervisor

Among the blitz of election ads flooding TV, social media and street corners, you won’t see any opposition to a ballot measure proposing to lock in billions of dollars to pay doctors more for treating low-income patients.

But opponents of Proposition 35 have a warning even if they don’t have the money to pay for ads: The measure could backfire and cause the state to lose billions in federal funding.

Prop. 35 would take an existing tax on health insurance plans and use the money to increase payment to doctors and other providers who see Medi-Cal patients. Its supporters have raised $50 million, drawing from groups representing hospitals, doctors and insurers.

Medi-Cal, the subsidized insurance plan serving some 14-million Californians, has ballooned in size over the past decade with increased eligibility and benefits. But those changes haven’t come with a commensurate increase in payment to doctors.

As a result, health care providers and advocates say too few doctors accept Medi-Cal, leaving patients with nowhere to turn.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the measure is leading and likely to pass.

But opponents, represented by a small coalition of community health advocates, seniors and activists for good governance say the details of the proposition put the state at risk of losing billions in federal funding.

That’s because the federal government under both the Biden and Trump administrations has warned California that its tax on health plans to fund Medi-Cal services takes unfair advantage of a loophole in federal regulations. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services intends to close that loophole, regulators wrote in a letter to California officials late last year.

“This is the fatal flaw of this initiative,” said Kiran Savage-Sangwan, executive director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Coalition, which is leading the opposition. “We can all have opinions on how to spend the money, but we have to raise the funds first.”

The problem, opponents say, lies in how California taxes health plans and how Prop. 35 limits changes in the future.

Right now, the Managed Care Organization Tax, also known as the MCO Tax, generates revenue for Medi-Cal by taxing health insurers that serve both Medi-Cal and commercially insured patients. The federal government gives California a dollar-for-dollar match to whatever funds are raised by the tax. For Prop. 35 that’s an estimated $7 billion to $8 billion annually through 2027.

However, California has historically placed the majority of the tax burden on Medi-Cal insurers and not commercial insurers. In its letter to state officials, federal regulators said Medi-Cal plans represent 50% of all insured people but bear “99% of the total tax burden.” That is at odds with the spirit of the law, which is meant to redistribute revenue from commercial insurers to Medi-Cal plans, regulators wrote.

Prop. 35 would cap the tax on commercial insurers at a minimal rate. Any attempts to modify the tax would have to go back to the ballot box or be approved by three-fourths of the Legislature. Opponents say that means federal rule changes requiring the commercial tax to be more equal to the Medi-Cal tax will force the state to reduce taxes on the Medi-Cal plans.

“The end result of that is when the federal government makes good on their promise to change the rules on this tax, the revenue we raise from this tax will be dramatically reduced and we would leave billions of dollars on the table,” Savage-Sangwan said.

Proponents of the measure said this argument is false but did not provide details. They say Prop. 35 will make the Medi-Cal program more stable and higher rates will encourage more providers to see low-income patients.

California’s Medi-Cal reimbursement rates fall in the bottom third compared to all other states, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and rates for specific services like obstetrics are among the lowest in the country.

“Prop. 35 is a critically needed investment to protect and expand access to care for Medi-Cal patients and all Californians,” said Molly Weedn, spokesperson for the Yes on Prop. 35 campaign, in a statement. “The principal purpose behind Prop. 35 is to provide stability and predictability… to address the significant shortfall of providers who can see Medi-Cal patients.”

The California Association of Health Plans said that it did not ask for the commercial tax cap in the proposition and that it has historically supported this tax structure to pay for Medi-Cal. A higher tax on commercial plans could increase premiums.

Where is Gov. Newsom on Prop. 35?

The largest donors to the yes campaign are the California Hospital Association, Global Medical Response, and the California Medical Association, which collectively donated $38 million. Opponents have raised no money, according to state campaign finance records.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has not taken a formal stance on the measure, although he said at a press conference in July that he’s concerned about how it would lock in tax revenue for a single purpose. The state budget he signed that month shifted most of the tax revenue from the tax on health insurers into the general fund to pay for the Medi-Cal program.

If voters approve Prop. 35, the state would face a $2.6 billion deficit in the current budget, which relies on the tax to fill in gaps. That deficit would increase to $11.9 billion over the next three budget cycles, according to an analysis from the Department of Finance.

“This initiative hamstrings our ability to have the kind of flexibility that’s required at the moment we’re living in. I haven’t come out publicly against it. But I’m implying a point of view. Perhaps you can read between those many, many lines,” Newsom said at the press conference.

Newsom’s office did not respond to multiple requests on whether he would formally oppose the measure.

Savage-Sangwan said the opposition has not solicited any money for their campaign.

“We are using the very small megaphone that we do have to just get the facts out,” she said.

Trade-offs in 2024 health care ballot measure

The political split over Prop. 35 is unusual. The measure’s opponents are often on the same side as its supporters when it comes to health policy issues in the Capitol. But community health advocates say they’re speaking up because the future ramifications of the initiative are too risky.

“We want to make clear that the goals of the prop are goals we agree with. We recognize our providers in Medi-Cal are paid far too little and that disproportionately impacts people of color, children of color especially,” said Mayra Alvarez, president of The Children’s Partnership, another opposing group.

Some lawmakers agree. During multiple budget hearings, Sen. Caroline Menjivar, a Democrat from Van Nuys, came to oppose the proposition in part because the industry organizations that negotiated who would get money from the tax left out “community providers” and those “who don’t have high-paid lobbyists.”

“By listening to those with boots on the ground, the legislature developed a plan to equitably address many Medi-Cal concerns over the next few years,” Menjivar said in a statement from the opposition campaign.

The tax is expected to generate more than $30 billion over the next four years. The budget Newsom signed puts most of the money in the state’s general spending account, but set aside roughly $2 billion to increase rates for services including community health workers, private duty nursing, adult and children’s day centers and children at risk of automatic Medi-Cal disenrollment. If Prop. 35 passes, different groups will get rate increases.

Weedn with the Yes on Prop. 35 campaign said the initiative won’t automatically cause cuts if it passes. It would be up to the Legislature to decide how to pay for the programs opponents are worried about, she said, and that the initiative provides about $2 billion of flexible dollars annually for legislative priorities.

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Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Aleta Joyce Hutcheson, born in Willits, aged 71, passed away peacefully at her home in Eureka on October 3, 2024. Her selflessness and generosity were evident in every aspect of her life. Born on July 31, 1953. Aleta dedicated her life to her family and friends. She always prioritized their needs above her desires, even giving up a planned career in the military that she so much wanted. Instead, she dedicated her life to taking care of her family and devoted many years to community service.

Aleta spent most of her career as a dedicated worker for Rite Aid. She was, for decades, an enthusiastic fundraiser for various charities. A lover of reading and movies, Aleta viewed these hobbies as windows to the world she longed to explore. Additionally, she cherished collecting charming lapel pins and other small decorative items, each item holding a special place in her heart. She was also a artist loved to draw, She loved animals.

She attended Leggett Valley Primary School and graduated from Eureka High School, laying the groundwork for her lifelong commitment to community service. Though she did not pursue higher education, her impact on those around her was profound and far-reaching.

Aleta is survived by her beloved brother, Dwain A. Hutcheson, who resides in Baltimore MD. She was preceded in death by her dearly loved mother, Frances L. Hutcheson, and cherished brother, Timothy Hutcheson, and father, Edgar Elton Hutcheson. Her family finds solace in believing that she is now at peace and reunited with her loved ones.

Aleta’s life was a testament to the power of selflessness and caring. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her, leaving behind memories filled with love and selflessness.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Aleta Hutcheson’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

Press release from the Arcata Fire District:

On October 6, 2024, at 3:33 P.M. units from Arcata Fire District, Fieldbrook Fire, Cal Fire and Blue Lake Fire were dispatched to a reported structure fire on the 2100 Block of Second Road in McKinleyville.

As units responded from their stations they could see a large column of black smoke from miles away. The first arriving engine reported two outbuildings on fire with fire spreading to a single- family residence and the surrounding vegetation. The engine attacked the fire extinguishing the fire on the residence and surrounding vegetation to prevent further spread. Additional, units arrived and attacked the fire in the two outbuildings. Personnel had the fire controlled in ten minutes. Arcata Fire personnel confirmed nobody was injured from the fire. Arcata Fire personnel remained on scene for about two hours extinguishing hot spots and conducting an investigation. Allied fire agencies covered the Arcata Fire District area during the incident.

The cause of the fire is undetermined but may have been from a faulty electrical strip plug. Damage estimates to the two outbuildings, house, and belongings is estimated at $10,000. Arcata Fire wants to encourage people to dispose of damaged strip plugs and extension cords.

If you have any questions, please contact the Arcata Fire District at 707-825-2000.

UPDATE, 1:35 p.m.: The march has arrived at the Plaza, where more chants and speeches will presumably ensue. 

All day, there has been no sign of any police interest in the demonstration, according to the Outpost’s Dezmond Remington.  

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UPDATE, 1:07 p.m.: On the move toward the Arcata Plaza now.

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UPDATE, 1 p.m.: The march has paused at the corner of LK Wood and Library Circle, says Outpost reporter Desmond Remington. Cars passing are giving friendly honks of the horn. Among the chants being employed:

• “Judaism yes, Zionism no!”
• “Liberation is here!”
• “Biden did genocide!”
• “Kamala, Kamala, pick a side!”

Cal Poly Humboldt signage is picking up a little light, chalk-based graffiti:

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Cal Poly Humboldt student Rick Toledo gets the march started.

UPDATE, 12:40 p.m. The march is underway. About 100 people are now participating, says Remington.

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UPDATE, 12:30 p.m.:

Protesters at the D Street Community Center are milling about, getting ready to march. The plan is to march up LK Wood Boulevard and down to the Plaza, according to Outpost Remington, who’s at the scene.

“Humanity is very precious to me,” local nurse Pat Kamzler told Remington. “I’m very much for the vulnerable in society. They’re the ones getting hit. The 1% don’t care. I don’t think you need to be a nurse to care, you just need empathy… we’re marching so no one can ignore this anymore.”

“People are getting carpet bombed! We need to wake people up.”

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ORIGINAL POST: Lost Coast Outpost reporter Dezmond Remington is in Arcata, where students and community members have gathered to protest for Palestine.

Around 40 people have gathered at the D Street Community Center bearing signs and preparing to march. Many people are wearing masks.

The demonstration was announced on the “Humboldt for Palestine” Instagram account on Sept. 25. The announcement read:

Cal Poly Humboldt students are calling for a walkout and March for Palestine off-campus on 10/7. We’ve been asked to share this to spread the word! Students, faculty and staff are being asked to leave campus at 12pm and gather at the Josiah Lawson mural on 1301 D St. The students at Cal Poly Humboldt continue to stand with Palestinian Resistance!

The demonstrations, of course, follow on the weeklong occupation of Siemens Hall at the end of last semester, which was finally broken up by police action.

Remington tells us that people have also gathered on the Cal Poly Humboldt quad. It was pretty small and calm just before noon. We’ll be updating this post.

Minority and small business owners will have a chance to tell the state of California about their experiences with government contracts at a meeting in Eureka on Nov. 12. 

The California Department of General Services wants to know how business owners who run a certified small business or are women, minorities, LGBTQ people, and disabled veterans feel about their experiences getting state contracts. The CDGS is also trying to measure how much state contracting money is going towards small businesses.

They’re holding a meeting in Eureka partly because it’s the largest city on the North Coast and they want to reach as many communities as possible, but also because of its proximity to the Yurok and Wiyot tribal nations. 

The funding for the study comes from State Assembly Bill 2019. Passed in 2022, it mandates that 25% of all money spent on state contracts go towards small businesses. 

“We’re aiming to improve business for all businesses,” the Disparity Study Assistant Project Manager Maria Norris told the Outpost. 

The meeting will be conducted by Mason Tillman Associates, a consulting fir. For more information on the study, click here. To register, go here. 

The car is long.

Really long.

The whole thing is a javelin, a narrow wedge that rides on foot-wide tires in the back and skinny little wheels in the front. The driver’s seat is a foxhole. The exposed engine lives as a permanent rear passenger and drinks nothing but grain alcohol.

Its torque? Practically instantaneous. The handling? Not good, but that doesn’t really matter because it only goes straight. But just how fast can the thing go?

It’s slower than a Prius.

Despite its aerodynamic stylings, the so-called Alcohol Abuse II only spits out around five horsepower and tops out at 85 miles an hour. It’s a junior dragster — a baby brother to the fire-eating V-8s that can rip through a quarter mile in less than 10 seconds —but it’s still a nasty little thing that can whip some heads back pretty hard.

Alcohol Abuse II is the shared love between Grant and Dax Williamson, a Eureka-based father and son duo that race junior drag events from the Samoa Drag Strip to Las Vegas. There’s a deep field of junior drag racers in Humboldt, ranging in age from as young as 8 to as old as 17. Races are an eighth of a mile long. The rules are a little complicated — for safety and to prevent winners from only being kids with parents who can afford to dump money into the cars, racers aged 13 and up can’t make the run in under 7.9 seconds under the National Hot Rod Association rules, and younger drivers have to go even slower. Drivers race in head-to-head matchups. False starts (called “red-lighting” in drag racing) are disqualifications. Racers compete for points, and the season runs from April to September.

Junior drag isn’t most racers’ first motorsport. Grant Williamson, 15, has been auto racing in some form or another practically since he could walk. He started on go-karts when he was 8. When he was 13, he had an opportunity to sit in a junior drag car at a racing event. He was captivated. Soon after, Grant and Dax drove to Canada and bought their first dragster.

Twelve-year-old Jeremy Johnson’s gateway was through his father Matt, a lifelong auto enthusiast who owns a heavily modified Honda Civic that makes 1,500 horsepower. Jeremy started racing dirt bikes when he was 4, and when he was 8 he tried a junior dragster for the first time.

All three of his younger brothers also race; Jeremy and his 9-year-old brother Logan went head-to-head several times last season. Jeremy won most of the matchups, but Logan snatched victory from his jaws in the final round of a competition once.

“I was very confident,” Logan said. “So I beat Jeremy, and he got really mad.”

For Isabella Fuentes-Zittel, 15, this season’s top overall scorer at the Samoa Drag Strip, the start of her fascination was just as simple — all it took was a rip down the track in a family friend’s junior dragster and she wanted in. But the Fuentes-Zittels are not a racing family, and did not have the $8,000 to spend on a car plus the money for safety gear. Isabella had to raise the money herself, going around Eureka to get sponsorships.

“I had to make this whole list, this pitch of what I was going to say,” Isabella said. “I remember sitting in the living room, having my mom help me write it down, and I’m like ‘I can’t do this, Mom, I can’t do this!’ I was in tears. I would have panic attacks before going into the places, like, ‘Dad, help me, I can’t do this.’ And then I just did it, got it done, got it over with. It was rough, but we got through it…[what made it bearable was] the thought of being able to drive the car. I would just replay the moment of me going doing the track and think, ‘It’s all worth it.’”

Her dad Todd laughed. “She’s addicted and she doesn’t even know it.”

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Drivers and their parents spend hours tightening bolts, replacing gaskets, changing fluids, swapping engines, installing clutches — the cars are babied, carried hundreds of miles in trailers full of tools and spare parts, before being forced to work harder than any single-cylinder engine should have to. Racers spend hours and hours maintaining the cars, traveling, sharpening their reaction times until the space between the go-light turning green and the accelerator being slammed into the carbon fiber frame measures only two-one hundredths of a second. The time investment adds up. Every parent said their children do well in school and make sure they know it’s their top priority, but for a couple of them the allure of professional drag racing outweighs all else. The Williamsons spent 26 weeks out of the last year on the road traveling.

“This is probably the biggest commitment I have as a 15 year old,” Grant Williamson said. “Even my job — still a big commitment, but this is probably the biggest thing, because this will really lead to my future and possibly a million-dollar paycheck.”

Isabella Fuentes-Zittel is dual-enrolled in community college and her high school and isn’t concerned about what she’ll do when she ages out of junior drag, though she does admit that it can be difficult to find time to do school and compete and maintain the car.

There’s camaraderie in the pits and on the bleachers between parents too, who get time to spend with their kids and chances to watch them win races.

“My car racing has always been a passion for me in my life,” Matt Johnson said. “And I’ve done eight seconds in the quarter mile at 175 miles an hour. It’s super freaking cool. But I’ve never felt as good as I feel when any one of those boys wins a race. And it could be a regular race, nothing special, and it’s still the coolest freaking thing in the world for me. It’s just those proud dad moments, and I get to have them pretty often.”

Many of them are also active participants in the process. Part of the byzantine scoring system is guessing how fast a car will run the race, but many parents assume that responsibility, considering factors like wind speed, air density, humidity, temperature, and any other million factors before “dialing it in.”

All the parents mentioned how grateful they were that so many other parents were so supportive of each other. When a part fails, another is always willing to give it to them, even when their kids are competing against one another.

“They’re all helpful parents out there,” Dax Williamson said. “If they see you need help — and we’ve lent out parts to other kids — then we’re going to race! Let’s have a good time, but let’s also have a good race. Let’s not win because you’re broken.”

“If you’re racing my kid and you need a motor, I’ll pull the motor off one of my other cars and give it to you,” Matt Johnson said. “And it’s happened for me. It’s happened for other parents. I’ve helped put motors and cars in between rounds that somebody gave them out of their car or trailer, just so they can make the next round.”

But none of this answers why any of them do it in the first place. Of course, it feels awesome to go fast and meet other people that also like to go fast, but there’s more to it than that for a lot of competitors.

“After racing, I was getting — not ego, but just happiness and confidence and the [knowledge] that I can do it,” Isabella said. “And then I get first place, and I’m like, ‘I can definitely do this. I can basically do anything.’ If only the girl who was driving and getting third could see me, her mind would probably blow up.”