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Link to full grand jury report here.

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Press release from the Humboldt County Grand Jury:

The 2022-23 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury) Grand Jury has just released its first report of the year entitled Humboldt County Elections Integrity — It’s Okay to Vote!.

The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury directed one of its investigations into the voting procedures and the counting of those votes for the November 08, 2022 General Election. The current national political climate has prompted people to question the integrity and accuracy of even our local elections. The recent election provided the Grand Jury with an instructive opportunity to closely observe the process of voting and vote counting in Humboldt County with particular attention to election integrity and vote security.

The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury believes that having the ability to vote for government officials and laws, through an election process, is one of the greatest rights we have as American citizens. It allows us as people in our communities to determine who represents and governs us. Maintaining the integrity of the elections process, voter registration, ballot accessibility, polling locations and vote counting is essential to making us all a part of the democratic process.

The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury did an extensive study of the voting processes. We observed the pre-election testing of election equipment, training of poll workers and the initial processing of vote by mail ballots interviewing many of the personnel in charge. On Election Day, we watched the opening and closing of the polls and the first tabulation of votes at the Elections Office. In the end, we witnessed the final certification of the voting results.

The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury found that The Humboldt County Elections Office provides its citizens with a fair and impartial election accessible to all eligible voters. Our investigation began weeks before the November 2022 election. We wanted to observe voting by mail and how computer software maintained a fair and impartial voting system. We can confirm that county employees, volunteer citizen poll workers and independent monitors did a professional job. We did find some minor areas that could use improvement and the attention of the Elections Office and make recommendations that, if followed, will lead to an even better work environment.

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It’s that time of year again! Northcoast Children’s Services programs all around the county are painting up rocks all pretty and hiding them out in the world for you to find … because why?

Because it’s fun! Because it’s spring! And maybe also, a little bit, because they’d like you to be aware of their program, and of little kiddos in general.

The Outpost’s Stephanie McGeary wrote about last year’s rock hunt at this link, and took some pictures of the rocks too. This year, NCS’ Christy Synder joins our John Kennedy O’Connor to tell us about all things rock hunt in her own voice. Video above, transcript below.

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JOHN KENNEDY O’CONNOR:

Well, welcome to another Humboldt Conversation. I’m really pleased to say today we’re here with Christy Snyder, who’s the group manager with Northcoast Children’s Services. Christy, welcome to Humboldt Conversations.

CHRISTY SNYDER:

Thank you. I’m so happy to be here.

O’CONNOR:

Lovely to meet you. Now, you’ve got a really exciting event coming up, tell us a bit about this.

SNYDER:

You know, we are always looking for exciting ways to recruit for our programs, which are preschool programs and home base, zero to five. And we last year started rock painting. I have a rock. So we paint these rocks and we place them in all the communities in Humboldt and Del Norte County. And then we want families to find the rocks, anyone to find the rocks. Call us — and on the back will be our phone number, so that you’ll be able to call us — and we’ll put you in a drawing for a gas card, a $50 gas card, which isn’t much this day and age. And that won’t go far, but it’s a little bit.

O’CONNOR:

It goes quite a long way actually, 50 bucks is a full tank. Almost. So we’re here in Arcata, this is obviously where the main office is, but these are going to be everywhere in Humboldt.

SNYDER:

Yes, we have sites in Garberville, Rio Dell, Willow Creek, Orleans, Eureka, McKinleyville, Arcata. So they’ll be all out there. So look for them in your daily walks or when you’re out and about. Give us a call. It was so fun to talk to the people who found these last year. And I don’t know if anybody, if you’ve looked for rocks, it’s really fun when you find them. And so we wanted to build into that.

O’CONNOR:

Very beautiful. Now, who actually makes the rocks themselves and who does the painting?

SNYDER:

Every site has instructions to do some rocks with their staff. Some sites are doing it with the kids. Sonoma, our Head Start Sonoma site, always does it with the kids and then goes out and puts the rocks out in Eureka and Sonoma Streets, California, Wabash, around their center. And those are kid-drawn rocks, but both staff and children in the schools do them.

O’CONNOR:

Yeah, I mean that’s a particularly beautiful one. How many are going to be out there that people are going to be looking for?

SNYDER:

Gosh, math. I would say we have about 19 or 20 centers participating and I would say each center, it’s about three to eight rocks. So each town could potentially have 10 rocks. A lot.

O’CONNOR:

It’s going to be exciting. Yes. And as you say, just one gift card at the end.

SNYDER:

One gift card, who knows, maybe I’ll have enough in my budget and do two. But it is the exciting part, is doing that raffle and giving out that gift card.

O’CONNOR:

Well, we’ll look forward to it and it’s a very exciting thing and when people find the way to contact us…

SNYDER:

Yeah, I haven’t put the stickers, but we did purchase some waterproof stickers, so it should be okay to put on the back of the road.

O’CONNOR:

Okay, well it’s going to be exciting to find one. I shall be out there looking myself. You should. We’ll look forward to starting the search. Thank you. Christy, great to meet you and thank you for joining us for another Humboldt Conversation. We’ll see you soon.

SNYDER:

All right, bye-bye.

Audrey Ann Miller passed away on April 10, 2023, at the age of 91. Audrey lived her life in a trilogy of California communities: Berkeley & Campbell where she was born and grew up, Marin County where she and her husband Duane raised their kids and she worked as a bookkeeper, and Ferndale where she spent most of her retirement. Although retirement for Audrey meant working just as hard as a volunteer! She gave back to every community she resided in, serving as a school board member and an Audubon Canyon Ranch guide in Marin, and volunteering at the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge once she moved to Ferndale. She loved to lead interpretive nature walks where she would share her love and knowledge of birds, plants and insects. At any gathering it was common to see Audrey helping kids examine pond water through a microscope or to identify animal skulls. Growing up, the Miller kids would just smile and proudly agree when someone would say, “your mamma wears combat boots.” She really did, and she wore those well-polished boots along many trails, from Point Reyes to Russ Park.

Audrey was also a trailblazer for peace and equality. She stood as a Woman in Black, a group devoted to peace, for nearly a decade, first in front of the Ferndale City hall then the county courthouse in Eureka with three other octogenarians through all sorts of weather. Her jackets were adorned with pins and buttons, her favorite read, “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.” She was a woman who acted more than she spoke, and those actions were community minded and intended to make every place she lived a better place. If someone or the community needed a hand, Audrey was there to lend it. You might have seen her in one of three Humboldt libraries where she volunteered or at the Humboldt Wildlife Refuge. You might have even seen her mucking at the fairgrounds when the epic horse rescue happened over a decade ago. Most people remember her as the small woman in dark glasses and a big hat, armed with a bag and grabber tool, who picked up trash and recycling along the streets of Ferndale during her daily three miles of walking.

Audrey had not been able to perform her daily walk/trash clean ups for the last several years and Ferndale streets are showing it. As a tribute to Audrey, on your walks around town or just to your front door, lean down and pick up a piece of trash or an old cigarette butt to show you care about your community, both human and nature. As Audrey was a woman of science, after her passing she was taken directly to UCSF Medical School to help further research, the ultimate voluntary donation. Audrey is survived by her amazing grandchildren who she relentlessly doted on, her four kids and their significant others, extended family, and a wide variety of dear friends. A celebration of life will be held from 11:00am-1:00pm Saturday, May 13 at Ferndale City Hall. Wear a hat and clean up the street in your neighborhood or Ferndale before or after the event in honor of Audrey. She would have loved that.

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Born Dec. 20. 1956, he passed away peacefully in the home his mother and father built on March 12, after a long fight with COPD and CHF. He passed comfortably with his daughter at his side.

My father was an amazing person and loyal friend. He was a wonderful father to his daughter, Melissa Newton, and Duncan Espinosa (whom he loved like his own son). One final wish my dad had was to see Duncan again and my brother made sure that happened.

My father was a jack of all trades, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix. All his friends would call him whenever they needed a car fixed or a house wired. I remember spending many of my days playing with long time friends, Joe and Tyler Carswell at their house in McKinleyville while my dad helped Ron, their dad, work on cars. (Verla, Ron’s wife, practically raised me. Verla was my second mother.) As well as playing on the sand dunes in Manila at one of my father’s many friends house while he worked on the three wheelers to get them up and running so we could go ride. One of my brothers and mine memories of riding on three-wheelers with my father was a time we were going up an big sand hill and my brother hit the kill switch and shut the three wheeler off and we all rolled down the hill. Needless to say, he learned his lesson that day about the kill switch.

Any of my fathers friends knew that all they had to do was to call him and he would be there in a heart beat to help them any time of day or night. My father would tell me about the many adventures he had when he was younger. His favorite story to tell was the time he took his motor cycle from Nevada to Eureka doing over 100 m.p.h. There was a spot in the road that he hit and jumped his bike and almost lost control.

My father was very blessed to have many special friends in his life, many of them life long friends. Dave Thomas, Rick Plozin and Verla Carswell, and Lance and Val Marcelli just to name a few. I know that there were many, many more and I’m sorry that I don’t remember all the names.

My father is preceded in death by his mother and father, Lindy and Charlotte Pedro, his brother Jack, and his Uncle Dwayne Christianson.

He is survived by his daughter, Melissa Newton (Jason), son, Duncan Espinosa (Melanie), grandson Jonathan Stone (Alexis), granddaughter Madison Howe (Micah), granddaughter Kaylee Rapp (Connor). He is also survived by his other grandchildren, Devin and Lena Espinosa, and his one great-granddaughter Keziah Pearl Howe.

I would like to give a special thanks to Hospice of Humboldt for their help in taking car of my father. Also, a very special thanks to a young lady that stepped up to help, my own loving daughter, Kaylee Rapp, without whom I wouldn’t have been able to make my dads last days possible to stay at home. Also I want to thank Rick Polzin for taking dad out and dealing with his craziness. I know it wasn’t easy at times.

There will be a celebration of life at Freshwater Park on June 24 starting around 12 p.m.

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HUMBOLDT TODAY: A Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant has been arrested; cannabis reform proponents are calling out the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors; plus, a wind energy company has officially opened shop in Eureka. Those stories and more in today’s online newscast with John Kennedy O’Connor.

FURTHER READING: 

• Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Arrested, Charged With Brandishing Weapon at His Estranged Wife and Her Boyfriend
• Proponents of the Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative Are Calling Out the Board of Supervisors, County Staff for Allegedly Distorting the Intent of the 2024 Ballot Measure
• Arcata City Council Approves $50K Bonus for Police Officers Transferring to APD
• Dead Gray Whale Near Point St. George May Have Been Attacked by Orcas
• Missing Fortuna Man Found Dead in Solo Vehicle Crash Off Blue Slide Road
• Three-Car Crash on the Samoa Side of the Bridge This Morning

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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Rejoice, Humboldt. Step outside, breathe deep and shout “Hooray!” When you’re done, go ahead and take a few more deep inhales, because unless you’re standing near a vehicle tailpipe, a 4/20 party or the business end of a local farm animal, the air you’re breathing might just be the cleanest in the entire state.

That’s according to the American Lung Association’s 2023 State of the Air report, which issues letter grades to counties across the country based on two air quality measurements: ozone and particle pollution. 

Ozone pollution, the main ingredient in smog, can trigger a variety of health problems, leading to coughing, difficulty breathing, inflamed airways and increased frequency of asthma attacks.

Humboldt County is virtually smog-free.

With 49 out of California’s 58 counties providing data analyzed in the report, Humboldt is one of just nine counties to receive an “A” grade, with 0.0 high ozone days tallied over the time period covered. (The data from the report, collected in 2019, 2020 and 2021, was taken from the 10,000-plus air quality monitors in the EPA’s Air Quality System. Not all counties have monitors for either ozone or particle pollution.)

As for particle pollution, Humboldt County received a B grade, which may sound sorta “meh” until you learn that it was the highest grade in class. Yolo County got a C; Imperial, Lake and Ventura counties all got Ds; every other county on the report received a failing grade.

While Humboldt County experienced a bit of air pollution in recent years as smoke from inland wildfires drifted our way, most days here are pristine. In contrast, the vast majority of Californians live in communities with unhealthy levels of smog or fine particles. 

That may surprise you, but the truth is that much of California’s air is very, very bad. As CNN notes, the Golden State accounts for six of the 10 worst cities in the country in terms of annual particle pollution. California also has four of the five worst cities for ozone pollution: Los Angeles-Long Beach, Visalia, Bakersfield and Fresno-Madera-Hanford.

Nationwide, nearly 36 percent of Americans — 119.6 million people — live in communities with failing grades for unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association. That’s actually 17.6 million fewer people breathing unhealthy air than in last year’s report.

The authors attribute the country’s falling levels of ozone pollution to the success of the Clean Air Act. Since President Richard Nixon signed that act into law in 1970, emissions of outdoor air pollutants have fallen 78 percent, according to the EPA. 

“However,” the State of the Air report says, “the number of people living in counties with failing grades for daily spikes in deadly particle pollution was 63.7 million, the most ever reported under the current national standard.”

People of color and those in western states are disproportionately affected, the report found. Of the nearly 120 million people living in areas with unhealthy air quality, more than 64 million (54 percent) are people of color. 

What’s causing all this pollution? Driving is the big one. Transportation, including fuel production and the engined of our gas-powered vehicles, is responsible for roughly half of greenhouse gas emissions and 80 percent of air pollutants in California, according to the California Air Resources Board.

Another factor? Wildfires, which lead to more ozone and particle pollution. Nationwide there were 14,407 fires in 2021 alone, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. “Those fires are why the regions with the highest concentrations of air pollution are largely in the West,” CNN says.

As noted by the Los Angeles Times, California is taking action. “Following a 2020 order from Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Air Resources Board developed a plan to ban sales of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035,” the paper says in a story published earlier today. “Similar state restrictions on diesel-burning big rigs were also recently given the green light by federal regulators.”

How do we improve matters further? The report includes a list of suggestions for both individuals and governments. For people they recommend that you prioritize walking, biking and public transit for your transportation. Also, conserve electricity, purchase your power from clean sources and refrain from burning leaves, trash and wood whenever possible.  

For local governments, the researchers recommend that jurisdictions adopt a climate action plan. (Humboldt County supervisors are working to adopt one.) They also suggest buying zero-emission fleet vehicles and set purchasing goals for renewable, non-combustion energy.

Of course, most residential customers in the county already get their electricity through Redwood Coast Energy Authority, which has a goal of purchasing 100 percent renewable power by 2030. And before long we could have massive floating wind turbines generating power off our coast.

Click the following links if you’d like to read the full 2023 State of the Air report or peruse California’s report card.

As two California higher education systems continue to feud, lawmakers have entered the equation using a route usually reserved for irate retirees: A strongly worded letter.

The matter at hand — the 1,300-student Feather River College in rural Plumas County offering a bachelor’s degree in applied fire management — has become a lightning rod issue, sparking delays and anger on both sides.

“I was quite frankly shocked and disheartened,” said California StateUniversity Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester at a trustees’ meeting, claiming that the community college system had “acted unilaterally” and out of accordance with the law by approving the bachelor’s degree program at Feather River.

At the same meeting, Koester stressed that each component of the state’s higher education system — the 116 community colleges, 23 California State Universities campuses, and 10 University of California campuses — play a distinct role.

Koester’s objection stems from the Master Plan for Higher Education California adopted in 1960 and tweaked occasionally since. In that plan, the University of California system has sole jurisdiction to award doctorate degrees; the UC and CSU systems should both award bachelor’s degrees; and community colleges are supposed to function as vocational instruction, plus undergraduate education for students who then transfer to a UC or CSU.

The crux of the current kerfuffle is a law that went into effect last year that allows the Community College Chancellor’s Office to establish as many as 30 new bachelor’s degree programs every year at any one of its 116 colleges, with certain caveats. Most importantly, the bachelor’s degree program cannot be “duplicative” of “existing baccalaureate programs offered by state universities.”

Cal State officials have argued that the applied fire management program at Feather River duplicates a bachelor’s program at Cal Poly Humboldt, though Humboldt’s doesn’t yet exist. The two colleges are roughly 270 miles apart, a five and a half hour drive. The Feather River program would theoretically enroll 20 to 25 students in its first year.

A ‘red herring’

To the CSU Academic Senate, the debate is also about enrollment and money.

In a resolution last year, it called on the CSU system to study the financial impact of allowing community colleges to award bachelor’s degrees, which they fear could lead to “reduced enrollment in CSUprograms, a reduction in revenue from student fee and potentially a reduction in State support.”

Community college administrators see a different challenge. “A great example is nursing,” said then-Community College Chancellor Eloy Oakley at a July 2022 meeting: “It is clear that there is a need (for nursing degrees), that the CSU cannot fulfill that need, so why wouldn’t we be able to fulfill that need?”

The pushback from CSU officials towards bachelor degrees, Oakley said to his colleagues, is a “red herring“. In reality, he said, it is about “perceived competition for enrollments.”

“I wasn’t expecting (the legislators’ letter).”
— lizette Navarette, interim chancellor of California Community College

Koester argues that the proposed fire degree at Feather River College is essentially the same as the one Cal Poly Humboldt plans to offer. Moving forward with the program would jeopardize the “trust” between the two higher education systems, Koester wrote to the Community College Chancellor’s office on Jan. 23.

Community college leaders decided to proceed anyway.

As new applications for bachelor’s programs poured in this year, and the leaders from both systems refused to budge on a plan to resolve future disagreements, Senate Education Committee Chairperson Josh Newman, a Brea Democrat, and Assembly Higher Education Chairperson Mike Fong, a Monterey Park Democrat, issued a joint letter on Tuesday, asking the community college system to put the new applications to a “pause.”

Wildfire country

“I wasn’t expecting (the legislators’ letter),” said Lizette Navarette, interim chancellor of California Community College, in an interview with CalMatters today. “Is this signaling towards legislation that they’re going to run? Is this an indefinite ‘pause?’”

Although the letter comes from the Legislature, she said the language is “consistent with some of the other letters the CSU has sent.”

Nonetheless, she affirmed that her office would “of course want to work with the legislature” on its requests.

Neither Newman nor Fong responded to questions from CalMatters regarding the letter. A CSU spokesperson said the Cal State system wouldn’t speculate about what it would do if the community college system doesn’t pause, per the legislators’ request.

“We expect that the final approved bachelor’s program will not duplicate a CSU or a UC regardless of location,” the legislators wrote, which runs counter to the interpretation that the community colleges have made.

The colleges see “relative geographic location” as one reason why a school may deserve to award a certain bachelor’s degree.

“You have a ready-made (wildfire) laboratory here that nobody is focusing on.”
— Kevin Trutna, president, Feather River College

Feather River College is a prime example. Nestled in the High Sierra two hours north of Lake Tahoe, Feather River is a small, rural school with the setting to prove it.

“I can walk out on my campus and look at the hill across the valley and see a burnt hilltop,” Kevin Trutna, president of the college, told CalMatters. “Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, Lassen National Park. Three-fourths of our county is federal or state forest. You have a ready-made (wildfire) laboratory here that nobody is focusing on. This is our speciality.”

Both the Camp and Dixie fires tore through the Feather River Valley in 2018 and 2021, respectively, leaving nearby towns like Greenville in ashes.

“We cannot sit here and let Humboldt State (Cal Poly Humboldt) or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Chico or anybody say ‘Hey, this is our business. We’ll send you people out there,’” Trutna said. “We need to do something to be proactive to preserve the rest of our national forest.”

When Feather River College submitted an application in January 2022 to offer a bachelor’s degree in “Ecosystem Restoration and Applied Fire Management,” two professors from Cal Poly Humboldt, as well as professors from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Chico, UC Davis, and the nearby UC Cooperative Extension school all submitted letters in support.

Four months later, then-Associate Vice Chancellor of the Cal State University system Alison Wrynn objected to the Feather River program, arguing that it duplicated Cal Poly Humboldt’s soon-to-be fire management program.

Other California community colleges face scrutiny

While the Feather River program has become the most contentious, other community colleges faced similar pushback. Out of the nine colleges that were approved to offer bachelor’s degrees under the new law, at least four faced objections from CSU campuses.

Cal State San Marcos, for example, said that San Diego City College’s application to award bachelor’s degrees in “Cyber Defense and Analysis” would be duplicative of a program that San Marcos intended to build.

The nearby CSU campuses later dropped their opposition to San Diego City College’s program, but communication hiccups between the CSU and community college administrators led to additional delays to the program’s approval, the Voice of San Diego reported.

If there’s disagreement about whether a community college should proceed with a bachelor degree program, the administrators at each higher education system establish a “written agreement” that explains whether the objections have been resolved, according to the 2021 law.

The new law stipulates that the entire approval process, including any conflict resolution, should take no more than five months. It ultimately took more than a year for the community college and California State University officials to reach agreements regarding eight of the nine proposed bachelor’s degree programs.

The agreement that wasn’t agreed to

The Feather River dispute was never resolved.

“A written agreement was shared with the CSU and we didn’t really get a response back,” said Navarette.

That’s because the CSU system didn’t agree to it, said Nathan Evans, a CSU associate vice chancellor.

In the legislators’ letter, they take aim at the community colleges’ actions, writing that “written agreements” need to be signed by the “impacted parties.”

Instead of moving forward with the fire management program, Evans wants to see Feather River College and Cal Poly Humboldt collaborate on a joint degree. He pointed to programs across the state that help students work towards a certain major through two years of school at community college and two years at a four-year university. In another scenario, he referenced how professors from Cal State Fullerton and San Bernadino travel to Riverside City College or teach remotely so that community college students can get a bachelor’s in nursing in less than three years.

But Trutna doesn’t see those options as realistic. “Our students just can’t move over there for two years,” he said, adding that “this is a hands-on vocational degree, not something you can do remotely.”

And so, in March, the community college board of governors approved Feather River’s program. The law grants the community college board with the ultimate decision-making authority, leaving CSU leaders to search for a different recourse.

Meanwhile, the 14 colleges that just applied to launch their own bachelor’s degree programs will go on hold as they wait and see what agreements, if any, the two higher education systems can reach.

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