HUMBOLDT TODAY: There have been multiple arrests for felony sexual crimes this week; law enforcement have released an image of the suspect in a recent Hoopa bank robbery; plus, San Marino week continues! Catch up on the Humboldt day that was in today’s online newscast with John Kennedy O’Connor.

FURTHER READING: 

• Arcata Man Arrested on Suspicion of Sexually Assaulting Two Children, Sheriff’s Office Says
• McKinleville Man Arrested for Possession of Child Pornography After Weeks-Long Investigation, Sheriff’s Office Says

HUMBOLDT TODAY can be viewed on LoCO’s homepage each night starting at 6 p.m.

Want to LISTEN to HUMBOLDT TODAY? Subscribe to the podcast version here.

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Representatives from Cal Poly Humboldt, California State University, the City of Arcata and more gathered at the long-vacant Craftsman Mall site in Arcata Friday morning to celebrate the official groundbreaking of the university’s largest-ever student housing development. 

“This project underscores Cal Poly Humboldt’s exciting future as a polytechnic,” Tom Jackson, president of Cal Poly Humboldt said during the ceremony. “Student housing will be the first facility built as part of our polytechnic agenda, and also demonstrates our commitment to honor the designation with great responsibility as we continue to maintain the commitment to invest infrastructure resources for our polytechnic transformation.” 

The university (back when it was still HSU) purchased the property in 2020, saying that it would be set aside for some kind of future development. Many Arcata residents no doubt remember that for several years the property was slated to be developed into a large-scale housing development known as “the Village” — a proposed project that was met with controversy, community debate and seemingly endless deliberations from the Arcata City Council, until the developers withdrew their application in 2020. 

As many people would have guessed, the university decided to use the property to build additional student housing and announced plans for the roughly $200 million project earlier this year. Developers Sundt Construction and SCB Construction expect to complete the project by 2025. 

The facility will consist of two large buildings, hold 241 units (a combination of two, three and four-bedroom apartments) and will house up to 964 students.  In addition to the housing units, the site will hold 328 parking spaces, a covered bike storage, recreation facilities, a fitness center, a courtyard, common lounges, study and conference spaces and a café/market that will be available for students, university employees and other members of the community. The facility will also meet LEED sustainability standards, with electric vehicle charging stations and a high-efficiency irrigation system for the landscaping.

President Tom Jackson and Larry L. Adamson, alumni trustee

Mike Fisher, associate vice president for facilities management, said during the ceremony that the university will also be creating an “accessible shuttle service” that will provide transportation between the new student housing site, campus, off-site parking and the university’s new Health Care Education Hub, which will take over the old warehouse on Samoa Boulevard. 

Fisher added that Cal Poly Humboldt partnered with the City of Arcata to complete a segment of the Annie and Mary Trail, which will run alongside the housing site and connect to Sunset Ave. The entire trail is planned to eventually connect from the Bay Trail all the way to Blue Lake. 

Arcata City Manager Karen Diemer told the Outpost that developers should complete the segment of the trail by the time the housing development opens in 2025 and that the city and the university will likely share trail maintenance duties. Diemer added that she is excited to see a housing project finally moving forward on the Craftsman Mall site. 

“People talk a lot about the relationship between the university and the city and the truth is we are completely interwoven,” Diemer said during the ceremony. “Building and partnering on this future housing for students is just one really natural extension of that partnership.”

Trinity Bowie with her award-winning painting.

Press release from St. Bernard’s Academy art teacher Maya Makino:

When Trinity Bowie got a call from an unknown number she assumed it was a spam call. Luckily, she picked up, because U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman was on the line. He was calling to congratulate Trinity, a 17 year old junior at St. Bernard’s Academy in Eureka, for winning the Second District congressional art competition, a nationwide high school visual art contest.

The winning piece from each district is displayed at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. for one year. Trinity and the other winners will be flown to D.C. to be honored at an awards ceremony.

Trinity’s painting, “Balance in Two Worlds”, was created as part of her Advanced Placement Art portfolio, which focused on modern indigenous culture. Trinity is a member of the Bear River Band Rancheria.

In her artist’s statement Trinity wrote: “This is a painting of myself after a ceremony in my traditional regalia, that is all hand-made. As I stand looking at a modern world it feels like there is no place for Native Culture anymore. The church is a major element (considering the decades of damage the catholic church inflicted on my people, especially during the boarding school era.) The blue jays in the tree show significance because their feathers are important and used to make the veil in the flower dance (women’s coming of age ceremony) Which I will be having for myself very soon.”

Maya Makino, Trinity’s art teacher at St. Bernard’s Academy, said, “Trinity is an exceptional artist and student. She is a focused artist who creates pieces with deep layers of meaning. I’m excited for Trinity’s bright creative future.”

It happens that Trinity will fly to D.C. on her 18th birthday. What a way to celebrate!

California’s estimated budget deficit has grown by $9 billion since January, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced today, though the governor downplayed the severity of its potential impact on critical government services and programs.

During a press conference at the California Natural Resources Agency in downtown Sacramento, Newsom unveiled a revised spending plan that will rely on some additional fiscal gimmicks — including shifting funding sources and internal borrowing — to address a projected $31.5 billion gap in the 2023-24 state budget.

“We have a $31.5 billion challenge, which is well within the margin of expectation and well within our capacity to address,” Newsom said.

Despite the growing shortfall, California’s overall budget is now expected to be $306 billion, including special funds, less than a 1% decline from the current fiscal year, a record $308 billion.

Newsom proposes to close the deficit by shifting $3.3 billion in existing commitments out of the general fund, including paying for $1.1 billion in climate spending and $1.1 billion in college student housing projects with bonds, and pulling back another $1 billion in unused money from programs such as middle class tax refunds and utility bill support for low-income residents.

Under the governor’s plan, the state would also borrow $1.2 billion from special funds and extend a $2.5 billion on managed care health plans to address the spending gap. Extensive savings would remain largely untouched, though Newsom did propose to make a $450 million from one reserve account.

California’s fiscal picture has largely worsened since January, when finance officials projected the state would face a deficit of $22.5 billion. Newsom called it a “modest shortfall” and proposed to delay some spending commitments, reverse recent steps to shore up the state’s fiscal health and shift around funding sources to limit program cuts.

Enduring high inflation, turmoil in the regional banking sector and a showdown in Washington, D.C., over raising the federal debt limit have all deepened the economic headwinds. Monthly tax revenues came in billions of dollars below forecasts this spring, and fears of a recession continue to loom, which Newsom said could reduce state revenues by tens of billions of dollars even in the mildest scenario.

“That is an uncertainty that we must take very seriously and very soberly,” he said.

Adding to the unpredictability, most Californians don’t have to file their income taxes until October because of the intense damage and disruption from winter storms. Officials estimate that $42 billion in payments will be delayed until the new deadline.

The governor’s updated budget proposal kicks off a month of negotiations with the Legislature, which must pass a budget by June 15 to get paid.

Legislative leaders have been largely optimistic about the budget situation, arguing that they have plenty of fiscal tools at their disposal to avoid deep spending cuts. Last month, Senate Democrats pitched raising taxes on large corporations, an idea that Newsom quickly rejected.

With less money to go around, however, the challenge is getting everyone to agree about what should take the hit. Some lawmakers have already raised objections to potential cuts for climate programs and public transit funding that the governor proposed in January.

It will be the first budget process for many of them; nearly a third of the entire Legislature was newly elected in November. And aside from a brief downturn at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, most have faced only surpluses and growing revenues during their tenures. Because of term limits, there are only a handful of legislators who were around during the last recession more than a decade ago.

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

New signs for the times have popped up in Arcata. Cal Poly Humboldt, you are now fully christened. Details from Caltrans below:

JUST IN TIME FOR GRADUATION! Our North Sign Crew replaced Humboldt State signs with new Cal Poly Humboldt signs on U.S. 101 in Arcata. Please be mindful to watch out for visitors and increased traffic this weekend for commencement on Saturday at Redwood Bowl.

From Caltrans District 1, we congratulate all the graduates on your outstanding accomplishment!

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Since the first time local actor Amelia Resendez read the Jean-Paul Sartre play No Exit when she was in high school, she has dreamed of someday being involved in a production of it. So it really is a dream come true to be making her directorial debut with the show, currently running at North Coast Repertory Theatre. 

“I’ve been thinking about this play ever since I first read it,” Resendez told the Outpost in a post-show interview at the theater. “I’ve always loved these characters. It’s a dream play of mine to be a part of … It’s not like most shows you see.” 

And No Exit definitely is not like most other shows you see. Written by Sartre in 1944, the existentialist play features a cast of only four and takes place entirely in one sparsely decorated room. There are no set changes, no costume changes and virtually no entrances or exits from the stage, apart from each character’s initial entrance.

The story revolves around three people – Garcin (played by Andrew AJ Hempstead), Estelle (Bella Rose) and Inez (Liz Whittemore) – who have died and are entering into some kind of afterlife. After the Valet (played by Sun Lanzilli, but on opening weekend was played by understudy Holly Robertson) ushers each character into a room holding only two sofas, a chair, a lamp and a fireplace and mantel topped by a bronze state, the three main characters begin to get to know each other, unfolding their stories and confessing the dastardly things they each did in their lives on Earth. 

Director Amelia Resendez

It becomes clear that the characters are in some form of hell for the atrocious sins they committed. But “hell” is not what they expected – rather than the fiery lava, demons and torture chambers they thought they’d face, the three characters are forced to eternally endure something far worse: each others’ company. Each character has their own eccentricities and irritating traits, but they also share a couple of major things in common: they are selfish, self-centered and, like many humans, desperate for others’ approval.  

“Sartre is an existentialist and his whole thing is that the worst kind of people are the ones who need other people’s opinions to dictate who they are,” Resendez said. “They’re very reliant on how other people see them.”  

Resendez graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt with a degree in Theater Arts and has been involved in many local productions, including recently playing the role of Pearl in Redwood Curtain’s production of Bull in a China Shop. But this was Resendez’s first time directing a production. Though she didn’t have to undertake the difficult task of memorizing lines, she said, there were many other elements to keep track of that presented unique challenges for her to overcome. 

Though Resendez was always drawn to No Exit’s script, she had actually never seen a production of it, since it is not a play that very many theatre companies choose to put on. So Resendez didn’t have other productions to inspire her, but this did mean that her directorial choices all came from her own vision of how the play should look and sound. 

Resendez also designed the set and some elements were called for in the script because they are referenced by the characters, but other choices – such as the entrance door being placed in the middle of the room and framed by neon blue lighting – were made by Resendez. The director said she wanted the door to be a centerpiece of the set, but at the same time something that didn’t pull focus for the entire show. Resendez made another interesting choice to include the sound of a clock ticking throughout the entire show, which added a vexing element, while at the same time was something the viewer will sometimes forget about. 

The cast prepares backstage at NCRT

These choices definitely added to the tense feeling of the show, which touches on many  themes including morality, deception, selfishness, vanity and – of course – death. Though the play is full of comedic moments, it is also dark and is the kind of show that leaves the viewer pondering the absurdity of life, relationships and human nature. 

Liz Whittemore, who has been involved in many local theater productions, said that she was a philosophy major in college and was immediately drawn to this script for its philosophical themes and complex characters. Unlike physical comedy or musical theater, which tend to be more popular, this play is much more dialogue-heavy, character-driven and psychological. 

“This [show] is much more dialogue-heavy and character-driven, it’s very psychological,” Whittemore said in a pre-show interview backstage. “It has a level of depth to it that can either fall flat or really enrich the audience.”

For this type of show, Whittemore and the other actors said they appreciated that there is a small cast because they really get a chance to become close and to feel more comfortable being vulnerable with each other. 

“I love small casts,” Andrew Hempstead, who has been in many productions at NCRT and Ferndale Repertory Theatre said. “A large cast is powerful in its own right. But for a production like this, [a small cast] does a lot for building the ensemble.” 

And feeling a connection with both their castmates and the audience is a big part of why these local actors continue participating in local theater. There is a kind of experience that comes with a live show that is very different from what someone gets watching a movie or a tv show. “Something is created when you’re doing something live with other people,” Hempstead said. “Theater is not going away. COVID has shown us that.” 

Resendez added that theater is an important part of a community and life in general, because it can be used to address many different subjects and themes. 

“I never understand when someone says theater is not an important thing to teach in school, because literally every single subject is used in theater,” she said. “It’s so fantastic that with shows like this you get to see all of that come together.” 

No Exit will continue its run at NCRT – 300 5th St, Eureka – on May 19 through 21 and June 2 through 4. Sunday, May 21 will feature a “masked matinee,” where masks are required to provide a space for the immunocompromised and most vulnerable in our community. You can purchase tickets at this link.

Today in San Marino Week: The Outpost’s John Kennedy O’Connor is please to welcome Luis Busignani, a New York native with deep Sammarinese roots, who has split time between the USA and the enclave. What does it mean to be Sammarinese in the world?

Video above, rough machine transcript below.

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JOHN KENNEDY O’CONNOR:

Well, welcome to another San Marino Conversation, and I’m really pleased to say we’re joined by Luis Busignani. Did I get that right?

LUIS BUSIGNANI:

Yeah.

O’CONNOR:

Luis, it’s lovely to meet you. Thank you.

BUSIGNANI:

It’s like Luigi in Italian.

O’CONNOR:

Okay. Yeah. But you have a slight accent. You don’t necessarily sound like you’re from here. Have you lived in the US at all?

BUSIGNANI:

Yeah, I am a native American speaker. I am from Brooklyn, New York. Oh, wow. You know, after the Second World War, there were such huge migration fluxes to America and all the New York residents’ surroundings. So my grandparents moved to New York. From San Francisco.

O’CONNOR:

Marina?

BUSIGNANI:

Yeah, yeah, my mother’s side grandparents moved to New York and where my mother was born and my brother and me were born.

O’CONNOR:

So you were born in New York?

BUSIGNANI:

Yeah, Brooklyn.

O’CONNOR:

When did you come back to San Marino?

BUSIGNANI:

Actually, it’s such a long story, but not so long. You know, it’s like, I did huge things in New York, and I’ve been living mostly in New York and in Italy because of my job. You know, I work on acting, teaching drama English. I am an artist, illustrator. I’m working on different things and different projects. So that’s the reason why traveling and getting different bases all around the world sounds really nice.

O’CONNOR:

Okay, now what do you do here in San Marino? I believe you work in the jewelery industry.

BUSIGNANI:

Yeah, you know, after the… they say it’s finished? I don’t know, because I was living in New York once again, but I got stuck here in Europe because of the COVID, you know. That was such a hard period for us artists, and, you know, who works in entertainment and stuff like that. But we survived, and I kept on working on remote teaching and writing and cooperating with different people, and, you know. And I’ve been teaching English as a second language to Italians and kids, adults as well.

O’CONNOR:

Our audience is very interested to know because we are based around the small, very small, city of Eureka in California, and yet that’s more or less the same size as San Marino. So here you have this tiny little city which is about 26,000 people but you have San Marino, an independent nation, a very old independent nation. How does San Marino find its way in the world? How does it even exist?

BUSIGNANI:

I don’t know because I think that the real San Marino ones strongly believe in the fact of there is San Marino within the world. I think that those people fought a lot for their independence and to be considered such a nation with their own laws and regulations and everything and they protected a lot, themselves a lot from the rest of the world, you know, like conflicts and wars. And this is something coming from a really antique past, I think, that even now if you talk to natives here, they sound like really linked to their own nation, like San Marino and people from here.

O’CONNOR:

It is very much a unique identity. People don’t, for example, they don’t think of themselves ever as Italians, even though Italian is the language that they use.

BUSIGNANI:

Yeah, that’s really singular because you know as an American, all the times in New York as well, it counts billions of people, but nobody knows San Marino as a republic, honestly. As you said before, most people think about that one in California.

O’CONNOR:

There is a San Marino in California.

BUSIGNANI:

It’s really strange because it’s got the same colours on its flag, the one in California, and quite a similar icon on its flag, and I honestly don’t know the reason why it’s like that. But anyway, what I know through books, and you know, that’s like, since the very beginning, a man who was kind of a sculpture during the Christian persecutions caused by the Roman emperors, I think it was Dio Clasci, Dio Clasciano, that’s in Italian, and this man was persecuted because he was a Christian, faithful to that religion, sort of, and with a friend named Galileo, they moved to the Adriatic Sea coast, and once they split it, and Marino, this man, moved to this land, named now San Marino for this reason, and he founded one of the first small communities of people who believed in Christ, and they had different caves which they lived in.

O’CONNOR:

They lived in the caves on the mountain? Yeah.

BUSIGNANI:

Yeah, that’s true. And that was the very beginning of the Sammaritan’s history.

O’CONNOR:

And it is very proudly the oldest republic, certainly in Europe. I think many people think it may be the oldest republic in the world. Yeah. So it was always a very democratic, very… Yeah. And in fact, now you have this unusual system. You have two heads of state, I believe. Two at once. Yeah. How does that work? And with so few people, I’m curious. Surely everybody will eventually be the head of state for San Marino. Yeah.

BUSIGNANI:

Yeah, that’s true, that’s true. It’s really unique, it’s really unique, it’s really unique, you know. Because as a Sammaritan, you could get your own privileges, you know. It’s like the passport and just not citizenship naturally, but the possibility to live here with no troubles and to get a job.

O’CONNOR:

I mean, there is no crime here at all. No. I mean, I know you have a prison, in fact, it’s just across the street, but there’s only one person in there and he’s an ex-government official, I believe, for corruption. Yeah. It’s a very… That’s true. You have no military and you have… I mean, the only people I suppose would ever want to invade would be the Italians, and why would they? They’ve let you be peaceful here for two centuries. But it’s interesting because San Leo, who you mentioned, San Leo is now on another mountaintop. So you have these two mountaintop communities. So why does San Leo never become independent? It’s always been part of Italy, whereas San Marino was able to survive.

BUSIGNANI:

It’s really singular, it’s really singular because San Leo is part of Italy. It’s like in Illia Romagna, and it’s a region, it’s a small center there. They name it Comuni in Italian. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s it. Marino, that founder was really strong and proud of opening a new way to find an independence and independence.

O’CONNOR:

Well it’s worked very well. It’s a beautiful place, no crime. It’s raining like crazy outside, but normally it’s beautiful weather whenever I’ve been here before. It’s very interesting. Well, I don’t want to give anyone in Eureka any ideas about becoming an independent nation, but you never know. It’s more or less the same size, so perhaps when I go home, Eureka will be the first republic within the US. You just never know. Louis, it’s a real pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much for joining us for a San Marino conversation. And thank you for joining us, and hopefully join us for another San Marino soon. We have one more conversation before I leave, and we’ll look forward to that. Bye-bye.