PREVIOUSLY:

• TRAVEL ALERT: Highway 101 is Closed at Richardson Grove

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Press release from the California Highway Patrol:

On 09/20/2023 at approximately 1330 hours, a pedestrian was walking from a trail on the west roadway edge of US-101, south of the Richardson Grove State Park entrance. Based on witness statements, the pedestrian stopped just west of the west roadway edge on the dirt shoulder awaiting a family member. At that time, a vehicle which was later identified as a 2010 Black Toyota Tundra, driven by Earl Castillo of Leggett, was traveling southbound on US-101.

Castillo allowed the Toyota to travel off the west roadway edge and crashed with the pedestrian standing on the dirt shoulder. Castillo failed to stop at the crash scene, fleeing southbound on US-101. Shortly after the crash, CHP personnel arrived on scene. CHP located vehicle parts identifying the involved vehicle as black Toyota pickup. This information was broadcast via CHP Dispatch and a be on the lookout for the involved vehicle was requested. Multiple Cal-Trans employees who heard the broadcast observed the Toyota matching the description and called it in to CHP dispatch. While traveling on US-101, two officers observed the Toyota and attempted to make an enforcement stop. The Toyota failed to yield to the patrol vehicle’s lights and sirens and traveled northbound at a high rate of speed. The Toyota attempted to flee up a private driveway but due to a locked gate, was unable to continue.

Officers conducted a high risk stop and detained Castillo. Evidence from the scene and damage Castillo’s Toyota were consistent with the vehicle’s involvement in the crash. Upon evaluation, Castillo was determined to be DUI and was placed under arrest for 23153(G)VC, 20001 VC, 192(C)(1) PC, 1203.2 PC, 2800.1 VC. Castillo was transported to the Humboldt County Jail and booked on the above charges. Due to the nature of the crash and charges, a bail enhancement was requested and granted. The California Highway Patrol Garberville Area is conducting follow-up and ask if anyone observed the actual crash or the Toyota fleeing the scene to please call the office at 707-932-6100.

The Garberville Area CHP would like to thank citizens who stopped at the scene and rendered aid. The following agencies assisted with this investigation: Cal-trans, Garberville Fire, Cal-Fire, City Ambulance, and State Parks.

A week after negotiations to rescue California’s floundering home insurance market stalled out in the Legislature, the state’s top insurance regulator put out his own rescue plan that effectively amounts to a trade for the state’s major insurers.

Under proposed regulations Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced this afternoon, major insurers will be required to cover a certain share of homeowners in the state’s most wildfire-prone areas. In exchange, the Department of Insurance will allow companies to charge more to cover the rising costs of doing business in a fire-ravaged state.

Lara called the package of new proposed regulations “the largest insurance reform” since 1988, the year California voters passed a proposition requiring insurance companies to get prior approval before raising premiums.

The plan is meant to reverse what has amounted to a slow-motion exodus of private home insurers from the state. In the last year and a half, seven of the top 12 property insurers operating in California have either placed new restrictions on where they do business or stopped selling new policies here entirely.

The biggest player of all, State Farm, announced a freeze on new policies in May, kicking off a fresh round of panic among homeowners scrambling to find affordable insurance policies and lawmakers eager to tackle the crisis.

For years, insurance companies have complained that current rates and the existing regulatory process don’t allow them to recoup the cost of doing business in the state’s most at-risk regions. By easing some of those restrictions, while requiring the companies to expand their coverage, “it’s the department calling the bluff of insurers,” said Rex Frazier, president of Personal Insurance Federation of California, a trade group.

In principle, that’s a trade-off insurers are willing to make, he added, though it will ultimately depend on how the specific regulations are crafted in the coming months.

Amy Bach, executive director of the consumer group United Policyholders, struck a similar note.

Lara “did not sell out to the industry here, in my opinion, he struck a deal,” she said. “Whether it’s going to manifest positively overall…the proof will be in the premiums.”

But Consumer Watchdog — an advocacy group that Lara all but called out by name during his presentation as “bombastic” and a group “materially benefiting” from the current regulatory system — came away with a difficult conclusion.

“He’s basically capitulated to the industry,” Jamie Court, the group’s president, said of Lara. “There’s not really much coming back for the consumer in here.”

Picking up where legislators left off

Despite mounting public angst and calls for action from top lawmakers, the politics of addressing the problem in the Legislature proved too thorny this year.

In the final weeks of the legislative session that ended a week ago, lawmakers scrambled to bridge the demands of insurers — who called for higher premiums to cover more of their costs and for a more flexible rate-setting process — and those of consumer groups, who resisted calls to add to the financial burdens of homeowners. After negotiations floundered, Gov. Gavin Newsom hinted that his administration and Lara’s Department of Insurance might be willing to act on their own.

In a statement, Sen. Bill Dodd, a Napa Democrat involved in the unsuccessful negotiations, cheered Lara’s announcement. “Given that the Legislature is not in session right now, utilizing the commissioner’s regulatory authority makes good sense,” he said. “I know there is work that still needs to be done and I’ll be supporting these efforts any way I can.”

Insurance companies have pointed to three main reasons that doing business in California is increasingly a losing proposition: Escalating wildfire risk, ever-rising construction costs and the global price of reinsurance — insurance policies that insurance companies, themselves, take out.

While costs have increased, the amount the companies are allowed to charge homeowners is tightly capped and closely regulated in California, making home insurance policies relatively cheap by national standards. In order to raise rates, major insurers need a sign-off from the Department of Insurance.

Currently, insurance companies are not allowed to factor in the cost of reinsurance into those applications. They are also prohibited from using forward-looking models to predict future costs — something insurers say they desperately need as a warming climate and residential development encroaching into fire-prone areas results in fire seasons that are longer and more catastrophic than they have been in the past.

Lara proposed giving companies both of those tools, though companies will apparently only be allowed to itemize the cost of reinsurance as it pertains to California. It’s unclear how this calculation will be made.

Bach with United Policyholders said allowing companies to use predictive models isn’t inherently a bad idea — “Are these models nefarious tools of Satan? No,” she said — but hopes there will be transparency about which models are used and how they work.

In exchange for these new tools, companies will be required to cover homeowners in wildfire-prone parts of the state at 85% of their statewide coverage. For example, if a company provides 10% of the homeowner policies across California, they would be required to provide 8.5% of the coverage in areas deemed “at-risk.”

Court, with Consumer Watchdog, said 85% is 15% too little. “It’s a really sh — y deal,” he said.

California homeowners currently unable to get insurance on the private market can currently turn to the FAIR Plan, a last resort issuer of fire coverage funded through a levy on regulated insurers. Between 2018 and 2022, the number of homeowners covered by the FAIR Plan more than doubled to roughly 3% of all homeowners.

But the FAIR Plan policies are expensive and limited. And if the FAIR Plan runs out of money, it’s legally required to refill its coffers by levying a surcharge on major insurers. The prospect of the FAIR Plan running out of cash and slapping the industry with the bill has also encouraged insurance companies to scale back their coverage.

Consumer Watchdog regularly challenges the applications for higher premiums that insurance companies submit to the state, an intervention allowed for under the 1988 ballot measure. Today, Lara also said he wants to make it easier for the public to see who intervenes and how much they are compensated for doing so.

“One entity is involved in nearly 75% of all interventions for rate approvals, materially benefiting from a process that is meant for a broader public participation,” he said, referring to the nonprofit.

Lara also said that “throwing bombs is easy and putting out bombastic statements from entrenched interest groups doesn’t benefit anyone.”

Court said his organization would continue to fight back as the department drafts the detailed regulations. “We’ll be battling over this stuff for many months to come,” he said.

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

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Sept. 20, 2023, at about 6:55 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies served a search warrant at a residence on the 400 block of Liscom Hill Road in Blue Lake to investigate community complaints of ongoing drug-related activity.

Ernest Michael Smither Jr.

While there, deputies contacted 46-year-old Ernest Michael Smither Jr. and a 70-year-old male. During a search of Smither Jr. and the residence, deputies located a total of five firearms, four of which were loaded, approximately 1.6 grams of methamphetamine and various ammunition.

Smither Jr. was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of felon in possession of a firearm (PC 29800(a)(1)), person prohibited in possession of ammunition (PC 30305(a)), possession of a controlled substance while armed (HS 11370.1(a)) and possession of a controlled substance (HS 11377(a)).

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. To report suspected drug activity, ongoing trespassing or similar issues, file a report online at humboldtsheriff.org/report.

Press release from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force:

On September 20th, 2023, Humboldt County Drug Task Force Agents, and Officers with the Fortuna Police Department (FoPD) served a multi-location search warrant at a residence located in the 1000 block of Ivy Lane, Fortuna, a residence located in the 1000 block of Shamrock Drive in Fortuna, and on the persons of Aaron Allen ROBERTSON (Age 30) and Heather Danielle SPECHT (Age 29). After a multi-week investigation, the HCDTF believed ROBERTSON and SPECHT were in possession of large quantities of cocaine and multiple firearms for the purpose of sales.

Specht.

HCDTF Agents and FoPD Officers responded to both residences on Ivy Lane and Shamrock Drive. Upon their arrival at the Shamrock Drive residence, ROBERTSON and SPECHT were observed exiting the residence and entering a vehicle that was parked in front of the structure. Agents surrounded ROBERTSON and SPECHT and they were detained without incident.

After ROBERTSON and SPECHT were detained, Agents searched their vehicle and located approximately 8 grams of cocaine, a digital scale, and packaging materials.

Robertson.

Agents continued on to search the residence that ROBERTSON and SPECHT were observed to be exiting. Agents located a large safe in the garage. After gaining access to the safe, Agents located four firearms including a functional 9mm “Uzi” sub-machinegun. Agents also located a box containing multiple plastic baggies, including one large vacuum sealed bag that had been opened. All of the packaging was covered in cocaine residue and accompanied by large bowls and mixing utensils.

Agents responded to the additional property on Ivy Lane that was also under the control of ROBERTSON and SPECHT. Agents searched the Ivy Lane residence and located five additional firearms and ammunition.

ROBERTSON and SPECHT were transported to the Humboldt County Jail where they were booked for the following charges:

• 11351 HS Possession of narcotics for the purpose of sales.
• 11352 HS Trafficking Narcotics.
• 11370.1 HS Possession of a firearm while possessing narcotics.

The HCDTF will also be seeking the additional charges of 30605 PC, possession of an assault weapon and 33215 PC, possession of a short-barreled rifle on both ROBERTSON and SPECHT.

Cuellar.

After ROBERTSON and SPECHT were transported to jail, Humboldt County Drug Task Force Agents, and Officers with the Fortuna Police Department served an additional warrant at a residence located in the 3000 block of Smith Lane in Fortuna, and on the person Malik Amador CERVANTES-CUELLAR (Age 30). During the multi-week investigation, Agents were able to identify CERVANTES-CUELLAR as an associate of ROBERTSON and SPECHT. The HCDTF believed CERVANTES-CUELLAR was also in possession of large quantities of cocaine and multiple firearms for the purpose of sales.

Upon arrival at the residence on Smith Lane, Agents located CERVANTES-CUELLAR, Johnathan Charles ROBERTS (age 26), and Taylor Franklyn MILLER (age 25) inside of the residence. All three subjects were detained without incident.

Roberts.

During a search of the residence Agents located 25 firearms including several assault weapons. Agents also located hundreds of rounds of ammunition, several high-capacity magazines, multiple vests equipped with body armor, packaging materials, and a digital scale with cocaine residue.

After interviews and the investigation, Agents were able to determine that the assault weapons located in the residence belonged to ROBERTS and CERVANTES-CUELLAR. ROBERTS and CERVANTES-CUELLAR were placed under arrest and MILLER was released from the scene.

ROBERTS and CERVANTES-CUELLAR were transported to the Humboldt County Jail where they were booked for the following charges:

• 30605 PC Possession of an assault weapon
• 32310 PC Possession of a high-capacity magazine

As CERVANTES-CUELLAR was being booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility, Correctional Deputies located a small baggie containing 1 gram of cocaine, concealed on his person. The small baggie was consistent with the packaging materials that were located at CERVANTES-CUELLAR’s residence. The HCDTF will be requesting an additional charge of 11370.1 HS, possession of a firearm while possessing narcotics, on CERVANTES-CUELLAR.

Anyone with information related to this investigation or other narcotics related crimes are encouraged to call the Humboldt County Drug Task Force at 707-267-9976.

If you look at the weather forecast down at the bottom of the LoCO homepage, there, you’ll see that it looks like some weather is going to happen to us this weekend and early next week. And it kind of feels like it, doesn’t it? Those slightly cool winds, a heaviness to the air? Something’s going on. Am I crazy?

Your friends and ours at the National Weather Services’ headquarters are monitoring this situation, naturally. Here’s what they have to say in this morning’s Area Forecast Discussion:

Other than some stratus across portions of the Eel River Valley, skies this morning are mostly clear across the area. Temperatures ranged from a few upper 30s in some normally colder valley locations to the lower to mid 60s across the higher elevations of Lake and S Mendocino counties. A large upper low is presently nearly stationary over SE OR. The proximity of this low will continue to support cooler than normal temperatures into the weekend.

A large upper trough will dig south over the east Pacific by late in the weekend and early next week. In addition, an IVT (integrated water vapor transport) plume is forecast to impact the coast of Northern CA during this time period. While there are differences in both the upper pattern amongst the global models in addition to the associated surface features, the precipitation patterns are similar, with locally heavy rainfall still forecast to impact Northwest CA. The highest rainfall totals are expected to favor the N portion of the area. The latest QPF totals from Sunday morning through Monday evening range from around 4 inches over the windward sides of Del Norte mountains to around a quarter of an inch over South Lake County. These forecast rainfall amounts have ticked up since yesterday. Higher amounts are certainly possible due to the moderate to occasionally strong water vapor transport. A few thunderstorms are possible over the North coast and adjacent coastal waters Monday afternoon and evening. Lingering showers will continue into the middle of next week.

So rain early in the workweek, and hanging around for a bit after that. This is good news up in the north, where it could go a long way toward squashing the wildfires that continue to rampage up there.

In its continued battle to bulletproof the right to abortion, California is suing two major anti-abortion groups over claims made about the viability of “abortion pill reversal,” Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday.

Heartbeat International, a national anti-abortion group, and RealOptions Obria, a chain that operates five crisis pregnancy centers in Northern California, both promote services to “reverse” the medication abortion process. Bonta is suing both groups in Alameda Superior Court under the state’s False Advertising and Unfair Competition laws.

“(Heartbeat International) and RealOptions took advantage of pregnant patients at a deeply vulnerable time in their lives, using false and misleading claims to lure them in and mislead them about a potentially risky procedure,” Bonta said in a statement. “We are launching today’s lawsuit to put a stop to their predatory and unlawful behavior.”

The 30-page complaint alleges the two organizations use fraudulent and misleading claims to promote the safety and efficacy of an experimental hormone therapy to stop medication abortion from proceeding.

Medication abortion typically involves two drugs — mifepristone and misoprostol — taken between 24 to 48 hours apart, according to the FDA. Mifepristone, which is taken first, inhibits the body’s ability to use the pregnancy hormone progesterone, while misoprostol causes the uterus to contract and expel the contents similar to a miscarriage, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The advertised “abortion pill reversal” service administers extra progesterone to people who have taken mifepristone but have not yet taken the second drug, according to the complaint and materials published by both organizations. RealOptions’ website characterizes it as an “effective process” and states “IT MAY NOT BE TOO LATE TO SAVE YOUR PREGNANCY.” Heartbeat International runs the national hotline known as the Abortion Pill Rescue Network that local crisis pregnancy centers like RealOptions direct pregnant people toward.

The lawsuit accuses the two organizations of preying on “emotionally vulnerable individuals” and argues the organizations illegally advertise the service as a viable option without noting possible side effects such as the risk of severe bleeding.

“Defendants attract these individuals through multiple misrepresentations and pressure them by claiming they must start treatment as quickly as possible, further exploiting these individuals’ heightened emotional state,” the lawsuit states.

Study on ‘abortion pill reversal’ stopped

Proponents of “abortion pill reversal,” including those who say they have benefitted, frequently reference the use of progestin therapy to prevent preterm birth and research conducted by San Diego physician George Delgado, to support its safety. Delgado’s studies use very few patients and have been widely condemned by the medical community, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and New England Journal of Medicine, as having no merit or broad applicability. Dr. Mary Davenport, a licensed physician in California, also contributed to Delgado’s studies and is the medical director of two of RealOption’s clinics.

The only study designed to rigorously test the effectiveness of the procedure was stopped early citing “safety concerns” after three women experienced severe hemorrhaging and were transported to the hospital. “We halted enrollment after the third hemorrhage,” the authors said in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The lawsuit accuses RealOptions of misleading pregnant people about the possibility of serious side effects by failing to disclose the potential for severe bleeding.

Numerous studies show the two-pill abortion protocol, which has been approved by the FDA for more than 20 years, will terminate a pregnancy between 95% to 98% of the time. Those who take only the first pill and not the second will continue pregnancy about 50% of the time, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, roughly the same success rate that “abortion pill reversal” advocates claim.

Crisis pregnancy centers, which do not provide abortions but may provide some medical services such as pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, have long been a thorn in the side of abortion advocates in California. The U.S. Supreme Court sided with abortion opponents in 2018, striking down a California law that required crisis pregnancy centers to notify clients about birth control and abortion options. The decision significantly chilled legislative efforts to reign in the centers’ practices.

Cathren Cohen, a staff attorney at the Williams Institute and the Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy at UCLA, told CalMatters in June that legislators and advocates were concerned about creating bad precedent.

“The anti-choice movement is very litigious. They know the federal courts are on their side,” Cohen said.

Crisis pregnancy center legislation

Two bills aiming to increase transparency about crisis pregnancy centers’ services and goals were quietly killed in the Legislature earlier this year. One of the authors, Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a Democrat from Santa Clarita, said in a statement she was grateful for Bonta’s lawsuit because “abortion pill reversal” is “one of the most dangerous procedures (crisis pregnancy centers) offer.”

“It’s disturbing that their anti-abortion ideology outweighs science and the safety of women,” Schiavo’s statement said. “I am hopeful that in the next legislative session, we will take on this entire industry, whose main goal is undermining a woman’s right to choose and blocking access to abortion care.”

Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a Democrat from Orinda, ran a measure earlier this year that ultimately died in committee, attempting to strengthen the state’s false advertising law to specify that businesses could not make misleading statements about abortion. In a statement to CalMatters, Bauer-Kahan characterized the claims made by crisis pregnancy centers as “predatory and deceptive.”

“In some of their most difficult moments, pregnant people are being misled and endangered,” Bauer-Kahan’s statement said. “It’s time to do something, and I’m proud California is fighting to end these lies.”

The centers, which are often religiously affiliated and connected to national organizations like Heartbeat International, have proliferated in California in recent years. While less than 62% of counties have an abortion clinic, nearly 80% have a crisis pregnancy center, according to a database compiled by CalMatters. In rural areas where there are acute primary care shortages, the centers outnumber abortion clinics 11 to two.

“The horrifying reality is that right now there are more crisis pregnancy centers in California than abortion care clinics,” Bonta said during a press conference Thursday. “Crisis pregnancy centers do not provide abortion or abortion referral, though they may want you to believe they do.”

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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.

James Samuel Westfall was born September 20, 1950 and left this world September 1, 2023 after struggling with a stroke in March and many health problems he had prior.

James was a man who loved serving The Lord. He loved others and always helped out when he could. He loved telling jokes and seeing others happy. To know him was to love him.

He loved horses, cowboy hats and boots. He was a collector of country gear, along with many other things. He was a true collector at heart.

He served a short time in the Marines, and though he was offered a promotion to stay he decided that lifestyle wasn’t for him and left with an honorable discharge.

Despite it only being three years he served, being a Marine stayed with him in many ways. He loved and often talked fondly of the year he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

James was a hard-working man.

His work ethic and dedication was nothing short of admirable. He worked for Eureka City Garbage Company/Recology for 39 years and was disappointed he didn’t make it to the 40-year mark, but his health had already made that decision for him. He loved his job and many co-workers in his time there.

He leaves behind his two daughters — Staci Lynn and her husband Vicente, Lisa Joy and her husband Paul — along with two grandchildren, Bianca Jasmine and Phoenix James, whom he all shared with his ex-wife, Debra, and her husband, Mike. He also leaves behind his siblings Marshall and his wife, Sandra; and Marty and her husband, Bill; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends who loved him deeply, knowing if they ever needed him he would be there in any way he could.

A celebration in his honor will be held October 15, 1 p.m. at the Bayside Grange: 2297 Jacoby Creek Road, Bayside. His family appreciates all who loved him and/or want to attend.

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