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The sun is shining and the rain is gone (for now), so many folks are probably thinking about getting outside and soaking up some rays this weekend. But before you head out to any of our beautiful beaches, you should know that there is an increased risk of sneaker waves over the next couple of days. 

“Series of long period westerly swells will bring an increasing risk for sneaker waves Thursday through Saturday,” the US National Weather Service (NWS) posted on Facebook. “Beachgoers need to remain alert and always exercise caution, especially on Saturday.” 

In case you aren’t familiar, a sneaker wave is a disproportionately large wave that can appear in a wave train without warning. Sneaker waves can be extremely dangerous and can sometimes pull people out to sea. According to the NWS, the risk will be “moderate” on Thursday and Friday, with a “higher risk” of sneaker waves on Saturday. 

As always, the NWS and common sense tell you to stay further back from the water than usual, avoid steep beaches, don’t crawl on the rocks or jetties and never turn your back on the ocean! 

Stay safe and go enjoy that sunshine!

California will fail to meet its ambitious mandates for combating climate change unless the state almost triples its rate of reducing greenhouse gases through 2030, according to a new analysis released today.

After dropping during the pandemic, California’s emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other climate-warming gases increased 3.4% in 2021, when the economy rebounded.

The increase puts California further away from reaching a target mandated under state law: emitting 40% less in 2030 than in 1990 — a feat that will become more expensive and more difficult as time passes, the report’s authors told CalMatters.

“The fact that they need to increase the speed of reduction at about three times faster than they’re actually doing — that does not bode well,” said Stafford Nichols, a researcher at Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles-based economics research firm, and a co-author of the annual California Green Innovation Index released today.

“As we get closer to that 2030 goal, the fact that we’re further off just means that we have to decrease faster each year.”

The state is even further away from meeting a more aggressive goal set by the Air Resources Board in the state’s new climate blueprint. Under that plan, greenhouse gases must be cut 48% below 1990 levels by 2030. Gov. Gavin Newsom had urged the board to adopt the more difficult goal, calling the new scoping plan the “most ambitious set of climate goals of any jurisdiction in the world.”

David Clegern, an air board spokesman, said in an emailed statement to CalMatters that state officials are confident that California will hit its targets, including its goal of carbon neutrality by 2045.

Clegern said the state is in the midst of updating its climate programs and strengthening regulations, which, he said, “takes time” because they have to “translate into projects and action in the real world.”

“It is more important than ever to transition existing facilities, and build clean energy infrastructure,” Clegern said. “This decade is critical for implementation of the state’s plans and policies. ” He added, “as we have stated for more than 10 years, California’s climate plans will continue to adjust to what remains a developing threat.”

Greenhouse gases are spewed by an array of sources, mostly from vehicles, industries and power plants that burn fossil fuels, but also from livestock, landfills and other sources.

The report, compiled by Beacon Economics and environmental nonprofit Next 10, analyzed state data and concluded that through 2030, California would have to cut all greenhouse gases by 4.4% every year, beginning back in 2022. (Only preliminary data is available for 2022.)

To put that challenge in perspective, the state has only achieved annual cuts of more than 4% twice over the last two decades, both during major recessions, in 2009 and 2020, according to Stephanie Leonard, director of research for Next 10. And from 2016 through 2021, the annual average reduction has been just 1.6%, according to the report.

“We need each program to perform as well as or better than identified in the scoping plan in order to achieve our goals.”
— Liane Randolph, Chair of the California Air Resources Board

Massive amounts of emissions — more than 100 million metric tons a year — will have to be eliminated for California to meet the mandate. The state couldn’t spew more than about 258 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in 2030, compared to 2021’s 381 million, according to the report.

Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, told the state Legislature’s joint committee on climate change policies on Monday that there is little room for error in the years ahead.

“The challenge is that we need all of our programs to be effective and reduce emissions as laid out in the scoping plan,” Randolph said. “We need each program to perform as well as or better than identified in the scoping plan in order to achieve our goals.”

Power plants and cement are major emitters

California already has made substantial progress cleaning up cars and trucks. It has the world’s strictest emissions controls on vehicles, including a regulation that phases out new sales of gasoline-powered cars by 2035. Last year, electric vehicle sales were up 29%, though they slowed at year’s end.

But electricity generation was responsible for some of the biggest increases in emissions between 2020 and 2021, a 6.7% increase for imported electric power and 3.9% for in-state power, the report found.

That’s because California’s drought resulted in less hydroelectric power and more reliance on natural gas to avoid power shortages, according to Leonard. In 2020, the state faced its first non-wildfire rolling blackouts in nearly two decades after record-breaking heat. Last year, the state extended operations at three natural gas plants along the Southern California coast to shore up California’s straining power grid.

Natural gas plants are the largest source of greenhouse gases among California’s in-state producers of electricity. California has a law mandating zero-carbon, all-renewable electricity by 2045 but it has a long way to go: About 42% of power generated in the state came from natural gas in 2022.

“It will take more action, time and resources to further decarbonize the economy, but the last couple decades offer hope.”
— 2024 California Green Innovation Index

The report also highlighted cement facilities, saying California has some of the planet’s most polluting cement plants. As more housing is built and more cement is produced, the authors recommended “urgent action” to cut those emissions.

California’s seven cement plants emit about 7.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases per year, according to the air board, which has a working group aimed at decarbonizing the industry. Some factories are turning to low-carbon fuels, including the burning of tires.

Carbon capture and storage technology also may be used at cement plants because they are so difficult to decarbonize. These facilities capture emissions from industrial plants, then inject them underground.

“California’s cement plants are an example of the challenge. Our cement is more carbon-intensive because we have older plants,” said Clegern of the air board.

​​Wildfires were another large emitter of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases in 2021.

“Too often the fact of California’s historical accomplishments is cited as evidence that state policy is on track, when often the pace of change going forward falls well short.”
— Danny Cullenward, Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee

On an optimistic note, the report acknowledged that California has some of the lowest per-capita emissions in the U.S., and is the third-most carbon-efficient state, following New York and Massachusetts. However, many of the easiest and least costly steps have already been implemented. So finding room for future reductions will be more challenging in coming years.

“The state has shown that it is possible to grow the economy, while lowering emissions,” the California Green Innovation Index says. “It will take more action, time and resources to further decarbonize the economy, but the last couple decades offer hope.”

The new analysis is the most recent example of an outside entity warning that California’s climate goals face major hurdles. The state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office said last year that California lacked a “clear strategy” for meeting its 2030 targets.

Also, last month, the state’s advisory committee for its controversial cap and trade market noted that the state was not on track to meet 2030 targets. Cap and trade is the state’s market that allows companies to buy and trade credits for reducing greenhouse gases.

“Too often the fact of California’s historical accomplishments is cited as evidence that state policy is on track, when often the pace of change going forward falls well short of what is required to meet the state’s next climate targets,” Danny Cullenward, an economist and vice chair of the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee told CalMatters.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “the state is not on track for its 2030 climate target.”

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

Do you live in Eureka? Would you like to have a say in how the city spends some of your tax dollars? Do you have a project in mind that would benefit folks in your community or neighborhood? If you answered “yes” to all three of those questions, you might want to get involved in the City of Eureka’s participatory budgeting process.

Image: City of Eureka

The City of Eureka set aside $75,000 of this year’s budget for participatory budgeting, a process in which local residents decide how public funds are spent. Each of Eureka’s five wards will get approximately $15,000 for projects that seek to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods.

The Eureka City Council approved five projects during last year’s participatory budgeting process: a rental assistance program, a utility assistance program, a tiny home and city-sanctioned encampment workshop, enhanced traffic safety measures at California and Wabash streets, and a mural at the intersection of Summer and 14th streets.

“Last year was kind of a learning experience because it was our first time doing participatory budgeting,” Lane Millar, the city’s finance director, told the Outpost. “We’re hoping people are more inspired to bring creative projects to the table this time around.”

Asked what kind of projects the city is looking for, Millar said the city is open to a variety of ideas, as long as they’re legal and located within Eureka city limits. 

The City of Eureka is looking for delegates and delegate alternates to help organize meetings within their wards and work with neighborhoods to turn ideas into full-blown project proposals. The city council will select a delegate and an alternate from each ward. Those interested can submit an application at this link. Applications will be accepted through Friday, March 29.

More information on the participatory budgeting process can be found here.

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UPDATE, 3:50 p.m. : After publishing, the Outpost received an email response from Superintendent Roger MacDonald, saying that Perry will remain in the principal position for the remainder of the school year and will be “reassigned” to a teaching position in the district starting in August. 

“Mr. Perry has disclosed to the school community that he was released from his position as Principal though he is absolutely completing the school year in this position,” McDonald wrote to the Outpost. “I just spoke with him and he is focused on continuing to lead Arcata High and do his best to serve our students.” 

He could not comment on the reason for the decision. 

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In a surprise move that has upset parents and teachers, the Northern Humboldt Union High School District Board voted on Tuesday night to remove Ron Perry, principal of Arcata High School, from his position. 

“It’s been a shock,” Tiffany Bullman, a teacher at McKinleyville High School, told the Outpost in a phone interview. “No one seems to know what the reasoning is.”

Bullman said that she had heard rumors that Perry was being let go, and she and many teachers and community members attended the meeting to voice their concerns over the agenda item titled “Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release,” which the board was slated to discuss in closed session.

The meeting recording does not include the public comment period held prior to closed session, so we can’t see exactly what happened or what was said. The same goes for the closed session, which boards often use to discuss employment decisions, and are not recorded or observed by the public. But the board did report out of closed session, saying that the item had been approved. 

Ron Perry | Photo from Arcata High School website

“The board took action to authorize the superintendent to notify an administrative employee…that the employee will be released from his or her administrative position for the 2024-2025 school year,” Board member Natalie Gianinni reported after the board reconvened. The decision, Giannini said, was 4-0, with four board members voting in favor of the dismissal, and one board member abstaining. 

Since the decision, the Outpost has received multiple messages from people dismayed by the board’s vote. Anne Hartline, a retired teacher from the district, gave a statement during the meeting in support of Perry, saying that she was thrilled when he was hired by the NoHum school district.

“I have no idea why the concept of Ron Perry not being principal of AHS is even being suggested,” Hartline wrote in her statement emailed to the Outpost. “Who could possibly be a better fit for this district and this community? Losing Ron will be an embarrassment to this Board, and a huge step backward for the entire community.” 

Perry has been with the district for a while, previously serving as the principal of Six Rivers Charter High School. He has been principal of Arcata High for about two years. 

The Outpost reached out to Perry and Superintendent Roger MacDonald, but did not hear back by the time of publication. We’ll update if we learn more. 

In the meantime, it’s unclear how soon the decision will take effect and if Perry will be leaving immediately, or if he will simply not be returning at the start of the 2024-25 school year. Either way, the decision has left a lot of people concerned for the future of AHS, which has already been through three principals in the last six year, and concerned about what it means for the district.

“I worry about our district in general,” Bullman said. “Is my principal next? Who else needs to worry?”

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Jan. 8, 2024, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received a call from an individual reporting he and his son had received several threatening and Anti-Semitic messages on social media. 

Upon further investigation, it was determined that the messages were sent from 33-year-old Daniel Epperson. An arrest warrant was issued for Epperson on March 5, 2024, for the following crimes: 

• (PC 422(a)) Threaten crime with intent to terrorize.
• (PC 422.6(a)) Violate civil rights by force or threat of force.
• (PC 653M(B)) Annoy or harass with repeated electronic communication.
• (PC1203.2(a)) Violation of probation. 

On March 10, at about 3:00 p.m., Sheriff Deputies responded to the 500 block of E St., in Arcata and arrested Epperson on the warrant.

Epperson was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility and booked on the above charges.  

This case is still under investigation. 

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. 

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Press release from Cal Poly Humboldt:

Researchers have described a new species of ancient shark that was collected in Arkansas 45 years ago and fills an important role in understanding an enigmatic and bizarre group of prehistoric fishes. The study is published in the journal Geodiversitas. 

“These creatures are part of a recovered ecosystem following a major extinction of fish groups at the end of the Devonian Period, so it’s a time of incredible morphological diversity in cartilaginous fishes, including all kinds of  weird anatomy we don’t see in modern sharks,” says Cal Poly Humboldt Biology instructor Allison Bronson (‘14, Biology, Zoology), the lead author of the new study.

An artist’s reconstruction of the new shark-like species Cosmoselachus mehlingi. Image: American Museum of Natural History

The new species, Cosmoselachus mehlingi, lived 326 years million years ago and is named after Carl Mehling, senior museum specialist for the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), who has worked in the AMNH’s Paleontology Division for 34 years. 

“He’s supported dozens of Museum paleontology students over the years. But he’s also a person with a deep appreciation for the strangest and most enigmatic products of evolution. We’re delighted to honor him with a weird old dead fish,” Bronson says. 

The genus name — Cosmoselachus — was given for Mehling’s nickname “Cosm,” to recognize his “contributions toward the acquisition and identification of numerous fossil chondrichthyans, as well as his indefatigable enthusiasm for all unusual vertebrates and many years of service to paleontology.” 

Bronson, along with colleagues from the AMNH, the University of Florida, and Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in France, focused on a fossil specimen collected in the 1970s by Royal and Gene Mapes, a husband-and-wife team of scientists and professors at Ohio University whose collection was donated to the AMNH in 2013.

That fossil specimen, Cosmoselachus, was CT-scanned at the AMNH and digitally reconstructed at the AMNH and at Cal Poly Humboldt. The team worked for many months to describe its anatomy, including dozens of tiny pieces of cartilage.

Once the reconstruction was complete, researchers placed the specimen in the tree of life of early cartilaginous fishes, finding that it plays an important role in understanding the evolution of an enigmatic group called the symmoriiforms. 

This group has alternately been linked with sharks and ratfish, with different researchers coming to different conclusions. Cosmoselachus has mostly sharklike features, but with long pieces of cartilage that form a gill cover, which is only seen in ratfish today. 

Cosmoselachus is one of many well-preserved fossil sharks from the oil-bearing Fayetteville Shale formation, which stretches from southeastern Oklahoma into northwestern Arkansas and has long been studied for its well-preserved invertebrate and plant fossils. 

Bronson and her coauthors focus much of their recent research on fishes from this formation because of the fossils’ exceptional preservation and their position in time.  

At Cal Poly Humboldt, Bronson teaches classes in Biology and Fisheries, including Evolution, Zoology, and an Advanced Ichthyology course this semester focused on Sharks and Rays. “We have such a strong program in organismal biology here at Humboldt. I feel very lucky that I can share the details of this research with my students. They not only understand all the concepts, but are also genuinely interested in learning about fishes,” she says.

With respect to the fossil’s new name, Bronson says, “lots of us are in science because, basically, we love to learn new things and work with our friends. It feels wonderful to be able to name a species after someone who has done so much for his fellow paleontologists.”

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Can California legislate its way to happiness?

Former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon is committed to trying, though he puts his own happiness at only two out of 10 (ask him again after November, he told CalMatters).

After being forced to hand over his leadership post last summer, the Lakewood Democrat became the chairperson of the newly formed Select Committee on Happiness and Public Policy Outcomes, telling Politico last October that lawmakers “don’t take happiness seriously.”

At the committee’s first meeting Tuesday, Rendon said he was inspired to take on the topic after watching the 2011 documentary “Happy” 14 times in a two-day period. This committee is at least 11 years in the making, he said.

Roko Belic, the filmmaker and first witness in the three-hour hearing, said from his visits to 14 countries, the keys to happiness are nurturing strong interpersonal and communal relationships; leading a life that includes meaning, play or novelty; and a sense of gratitude. Other experts also mentioned economic stability (but not necessarily economic wealth); a connection to the environment; and resilience.

How happy are Californians?

Mark Baldassare, the Public Policy Institute of California’s survey director, cited the organization’s September 2023 survey, which found 58% of Californian adults said they were “pretty happy,” 16% “very happy” and 26% “not too happy.” But with the number of “not too happy” Californians growing, Baldassare suggested that legislators should “pay attention” to younger adults and lower-income residents who were less happy than others.

California comes in seventh for the happiest U.S. state according to WalletHub, and three of its cities appear in the top five happiest, with Fremont topping the list overall. Fremont Mayor Lily Mei was invited to the hearing and touted the city’s “vibrant” cultural community, economic opportunities and inclusivity.

So how to get to a happier place?

In addition to abstract theories that were tossed around — including nods to Buddhism, Aristotle and Maslow — panelists floated some potential policy solutions. These ranged from the very ambitious (universal healthcare) to the more minor (increasing urban green spaces).

And while Rendon told CalMatters that not all ways to boost happiness would be a “government directive,” a country that ranks high in happiness with a strong social safety net “pretty much jives with my political ideology.”

The hearing was, for the most part, optimistic: Panelists espoused how increasing happiness benefited the greater good: Happy people live longer, are healthier, more successful at work and are more likely to volunteer.

But at times, the grave consequences of an unhappy public came to the forefront — particularly when legislators spoke about the “ripple effects” on mental health, depression and crime.

Said Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a Santa Clarita Valley Democrat and committee member: “You don’t have kids walking into schools with guns to shoot people if they’re happy, you know?”

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