California public school students will get additional coursework on the harms of alcohol in 2025, thanks to a new law from a former lawmaker whose drunken driving arrest inspired her legislation.

In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2865 by former Los Angeles Democratic Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, whose DUI last year helped derail her political career.

California schools are already required to provide instruction about alcohol, narcotics and other dangerous drugs. This bill would require that schools also provide instruction about the short- and long-term harms of excessive drinking — including alcohol’s link to chronic diseases, mental health problems and deaths.

As she pitched her bill to her colleagues in 2024, Carrillo told them that it was important for students to learn about alcohol’s consequences in the hopes they don’t go down the path she did.

“I wish I would have known in high school what I know now,” she said at one hearing. “I would have made different choices.”

On Nov. 3, 2023, Carrillo crashed into parked cars in Northeast Los Angeles. Police said her blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit, according to the Los Angeles Times. She ended up pleading no contest to the DUI in the middle of her race for Los Angeles City Council, which she lost. Because she ran for city council, Carrillo left her Assembly seat this year.

“I want young people to learn early how something that is so legally and easily accessible can do so much harm if not consumed with more knowledge and more responsibility.”
— Wendy Carrillo, former Assemblymember

Carrillo said her DUI was a wake up call for her. She said she started going to therapy and became sober. As she reflected on her life, she said her own struggles with booze began at an early age. And she was troubled by how prevalent alcohol is in society, despite its documented dangers.

Alcohol is a national and global health issue

According to federal health officials, alcohol-related diseases kill 178,000 people in the U.S. each year, and death rates are increasing. Noting that alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including bowel and breast cancers, the World Health Organization last year declared that “when it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount.”

Carrillo testified that 54 Californians die each day from alcohol.

“I want young people to learn early how something that is so legally and easily accessible can do so much harm if not consumed with more knowledge and more responsibility,” she told her colleagues.

Her bill passed without any lawmakers voting against it.

What the law will do

Under the new law, school boards can decide which grades receive the new instruction. They can ask the state for reimbursements for the costs of instruction, training and updates to instructional materials, said Nicholas Filipas, a spokesperson for the California Department of Education.

At the San Juan Unified School District in the Sacramento region, educators shouldn’t have trouble rolling the bill’s requirements into their schools’ curriculum, said Raj Rai, a spokesperson for the district, which educates about 39,000 students.

“Alcohol education has been embedded into our high school health class curriculum for quite some time,” Rai said in an email. “Our curriculum team will review the currently adopted health materials to see if anything additional is needed to meet the new requirements.”

The district already has several programs that teach students grades six through 12 about the harms of alcohol and drugs with the goal of reducing or eliminating teen substance abuse.

The district’s high schools also regularly participate in California’s Highway Patrol’s “Every 15 Minutes,” Rai said.The CHP describes the program as challenging teens to “think about drinking, driving, personal safety, the responsibility of making mature decisions and the impact their decisions have on family, friends, their community, and many others.”

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

Excellent news, fried chicken lovers! Humboldt County’s first Wingstop opened today in Eureka — and it’s already packed to the brim. 

Wingstop, a fast-food joint founded in 1994, has expanded aggressively. They’ve opened over 500 new locations worldwide the last two years and started the process of opening a Eureka location in 2023.

Located on Broadway street, it’s open from 11 a.m. to midnight every day. 

At noon today, barely an hour after opening, every parking spot in the lot (which Wingstop shares with a new Starbucks, at 2411 Broadway Street) was filled and the line inside to order food was backed up almost to the door. Most customers were waiting anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes for their orders, but everyone waiting outside said they expected that to be the case and they didn’t fault the staff for that. 

For some eager Wingstop fanatics, the wait has been excruciating. One employee of a nearby business (who asked to be left unnamed) said she talked to people who had camped outside of the Wingstop overnight.

One customer waiting for his 20-piece boneless wing special, local man Reuben Davis, said he tried to eat at Wingstop every time he was out of town and he was excited when he heard there would be a location opening up in Eureka. 

“It’s nice to have a fried chicken place that’s semi-decent,” Davis said. “It’s nice to have another option here.” 

Kai Lund, another local waiting on 50 wings to share with their friends, said they moved up from Wingstop-heavy Southern California when they were younger. They were overjoyed when they heard one was coming to Eureka. 

“It was like I got my childhood back,” Lund said. 

By Dezmond Remington.

Lund says the main thing they like about Wingstop is the quality of their boneless wings and their customer service. 

The demand for Wingstop, at least during today’s frenzy, was overwhelming the delicate ecosystem of the Starbucks-Wingstop alliance. People were parking in any available space, legal or not, and were whipping through the Starbucks drive-through to get back on the street. A Starbucks employee coloring in a sign asking people not to do that wasn’t too mad, though.

“It’s Wingstop!” she said. “It’s Wingstop in Humboldt. People need it.”

Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

Eureka, Calif. – On January 1st, the Eureka Police Department will conduct a driving under the influence (DUI) Checkpoint from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at an undisclosed location.

DUI checkpoint locations are determined based on data showing incidents of impaired driving-related crashes. The primary purpose of DUI checkpoints are to promote public safety by taking suspected impaired drivers off the road.

“Impaired drivers put others on the road at significant risk,” Chief Brian Stephens said. “Any prevention measures that reduce the number of impaired drivers on our roads significantly improve traffic safety.”

Eureka Police Department reminds the public that impaired driving is not just from alcohol. Some prescription medications and over-the-counter drugs may interfere with driving. While medicinal and recreational marijuana are legal, driving under the influence of marijuana is illegal.

Drivers charged with a first-time DUI face an average of $13,500 in fines and penalties, as well as a suspended license.

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

On December 29, 2024, at about 1805 hours [6:05 p.m.], Eureka Police Department responded to Wood and L Streets for an adult female in crisis who climbed to the top of the water tower.

At times, the distraught female dangled off the railings by her hands.

Based on the magnitude and complexity of the situation, Humboldt Bay Fire (HBF), City Ambulance, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Crisis Negotiations Team Deputies (CNT), the Community Safety Engagement Team Mental Health Officer (CSET-MIST), the Crisis Alternative Response of Eureka Managing Mental Health Clinician (CARE), and a HCSO drone were called to assist. The United States Coast Guard and CHP were also contacted.

After three hours of negotiations, the female voluntarily climbed down the water tower. After being medically assessed, the female was placed on a mental health hold and transported to a local facility for care.

As this time of the year can be difficult time for many, we encourage anyone struggling to reach out to any of the following:

• 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text)
• Local Crisis Line: 707-445-7715
• Humboldt County Behavioral Health at 720 Wood Street in Eureka
• Local Emergency Departments

The Eureka Police Department would like to thank HBF, City Ambulance, CARE, and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance during this incident. 

Press release from the Northern California Community Blood Bank:

The Northern California Community Blood Bank is in urgent need of type O+ blood donations as supplies have reached critically low levels once again. The shortage is attributed to increased local demand for O+ blood products over the Holiday Season, resulting in a strain on the available inventory.

As January is National Blood Donors Month, we encourage everyone to take this opportunity to give back to the community. Donating blood is a simple yet impactful way to help save lives.

The Northern California Community Blood Bank urges individuals with O+ blood type to donate as soon as possible to help replenish the supply and ensure that patients in need can receive life-saving care and transfusions.

To schedule a blood donation, please visit the Northern California Community Blood Bank’s website, nccbb.org, or call 707-443-8004.

Press release from the California Highway Patrol:

On Sunday, December 29, 2024 at approximately 8:44 AM, a 2024 Ford pickup was being driven on Centerville Road, west of Poole Road., by an adult male. The Ford was also occupied by two male juveniles [ages 5 and 3], who were unrestrained on the flat bed of the truck.

The Ford was traveling eastbound on Centerville Road, west of Poole Road. As the driver of the Ford turned left onto a private road, one of the juveniles was ejected and suffered major head trauma as a result of the fall.

The driver immediately notified emergency personnel and self-transported the injured juvenile to Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna. Unfortunately, the juvenile succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased by medical personnel at the hospital.

The names of all parties are currently being withheld, out of respect for the families of the involved.

The California Highway Patrol is continuing its investigation and asks for anyone that may have information related to this crash to contact the Humboldt Area CHP at 707-822-5981 or email Humboldt_Area@chp.ca.gov.

[NOTE: The incident report included with this press release indicates that the driver’s age was 56 while the juveniles’ ages were 5 and 3. The 3-year-old was identified as the fatality.]

The time has come, once again, to fire up the LoCOTron 3000 and review the year that was through the lens of The Only Metric That Matters™ — that is, traffic to the Lost Coast Outpost website. We scry the guts of the analytics to see what they say about the last 12 months … and about ourselves, the Humboldt clicking public.

What do we find? This year, like most years, was a rich stew. We like fun (Hollywood stars, ambitious songwriters) and triumph (dams blown up with explosives) and fear (police standoffs, car crashes, earthquakes) and excitement (campus occupation). We also like to exercise other parts of our brains, those generally rated higher than the amygdala. We like deep dives on local industry and infrastructure, and we care about who and what we choose to represent us, as citizens in a democracy.

We’re doing OK, Humboldt! Here’s to an even better 2025!

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25. (VIDEO) Shirtless Man Spews Racial Insults, Teen Girl Appears to Aim Gun at Onlookers During Arcata Plaza Confrontation; Three Detained After Traffic Stop

We kick off our countdown with a little bit of redneck mayhem on the Arcata Plaza. No one was hurt, or at least not seriously. The gun the teenage girl was wielding turned out to be a BB gun.

What a shitshow! It feels like this kind of thing happens elsewhere more often than it does here, though maybe that is not accurate.

24. Iraqi Man Arrested on Dazzling Array of Charges, Including Human Trafficking, Following Table Bluff Road Grow Op Raid

Kind of a throwback interstate marijuana-themed case, with a licensed operation allegedly involved in all kinds of shady underground deals. A veritable arsenal of weapons were found at the site.

Among the items confiscated by the Drug Task Force during a raid: 13 watches, “various jewelry items” and a pound of hydrocodone pills. First time I can remember pills measured by weight.

23. Northtown Arcata Will Be Swarming With Movie Folk Tomorrow, As Bigtime Production ‘BC Project’ Films in the Neighborhood

Here we go! One of four or five big running stories this year was eminent director Paul Thomas Anderson coming to town, and bringing Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn with him, to film what was then codenamed “The BC Project,” and later officially titled The Battle of Baktan Cross. (Though it’s unclear if that name will stick.)

This is only the first of several high-ranking stories about the production, and we’ll have more to say on the topic later. But Northtown was quite a scene that day, and the movie people were very generous with the townfolk who wanted to stand around and gawk. Check out Stephanie McGeary’s wonderful report from the front lines, if you missed that.

22. (PHOTOS/VIDEO) Police Descend Upon Cal Poly Humboldt Activists in the Early Morning Hours; Several Dozen Arrested; University Administration Issues Statement

Little ol’ Cal Poly Humboldt played an outsized role in the 2024 nationwide uprising against the war in Gaza, garnering international attention and lots of traditional media coverage for the week-long occupation of Siemens Hall.

This post was the culmination of that occupation, as a team of police from around Northern California were brought to Humboldt by Sheriff William Honsal and Cal Poly Humboldt police to break up the occupation and clear the campus in the middle of the night.

Dozens were arrested in the crackdown; none were charged. Perhaps most importantly, no one was injured. You can have different opinions about whether it was wise or warranted to end the the protest in this way, but it was, thankfully, a strangely peaceful denouement to several days of high tension and uncertainty.

21. Humboldt Ranchers and Farmers Left Scrambling After Closure of Redwood Meat Co., the Region’s Only USDA-Certified Slaughterhouse and Processing Facility

The closure of Redwood Meat, off Myrtle, was more than just a blow to its employees — it left the area’s entire still-not-insignificant cattle industry scrambling for ways to get its product to market. Ryan Burns talked to lots of industry people to get a sense of what the loss of this critical piece of infrastructure would mean to the county.

This was the first part of the story. In the months that followed, Burns covered the weird family drama that left Redwood Meats’ assets in the hands of rancher Ray Christie.

20. Two and a Half Pounds of Meth En Route from Modesto to Eureka Intercepted by Drug Task Force

That’s a lot of meth. Right? We’re not exactly certain how much meth this amounts to, in terms of doses of meth.

The suspect in the case has been arrested for meth many times previously.

19. (UPDATING) Police Arrive at Cal Poly Humboldt En Masse, Warn Protesters to Deassemble

This was the updating post from night before the crackdown, when it became clear that something was going to happen.

18. (UPDATING) WEATHER ALERT: Flood Warning Issued for Humboldt Bay Area, Heavy Rain Expected to Continue Through the Afternoon

This was a nice Saturday photo gallery of a hellacious rain day last January.

17. There’s a Ticking Time Bomb in the Heart of Orick, and It’s Not Clear Whether Anybody Can Do Anything About It

Very gratifying that so many of you read this story about what might seem like an obscure, complex issue in a far-flung corner of the county.

Our Izzy Vanderheiden spent months, off and on, researching and writing about the levee system that protects the town of Orick from flooding, and about the truly strange bureaucratic systems that conspire to prevent anyone from fixing them. (Or: Should they be fixed at all?)

16. BREAKING: Sun Valley Floral Farms Issues Layoff Notices to Entire Workforce in Arcata and Oxnard

Probably the biggest business story of the year, maybe apart from Cal Poly Humboldt’s enrollment remaining static. Sun Valley had long been one of the county’s economic powerhouses, with a workforce of hundreds and exporting goods all around the globe.

It was never without at least some controversy — pesticides, employment practices, an ill-fated pivot to weed — but its abrupt bankruptcy and dismantling hit lots of people hard.

15. Final Election Night Report! With Perhaps Half the Vote Counted, the Status Quo Looks Like a Lock in Eureka

Most of the election year was a snooze, on the local level. In the spring, all the incumbent candidates won easily. Same with the city elections in the fall, it turned out. Though there was one significant challenger in Arcata, in the person of Genevieve Serna, the three incumbent candidates held on to their seats with a decent margin. In Eureka, the long-awaited advent of ranked-choice voting was delayed yet again, as only two candidates signed up for each seat on the ballot.

The great glaring exception, of course, was Measure F, the Arkley-sponsored initiative to scuttle the City of Eureka’s development plans, which had passed years before. It was the culmination of Arkley’s multi-pronged legal and electoral effort to stop the conversion of city-owned parking lots into housing. He put at least $1.4 million into it, shattering records. And come the day, it fell flat on its face, losing 70-30 at the polls.

 At the same time, the incumbent City Council candidates — Kati Moulton and Scott Bauer — won their reelection campaigns easily. It was a strong mark of confidence from the citizenry.

14. (VIDEO) Everyone in Humboldt County is Required to Watch This Music Video Now

Brat Summer turned into Brett Autumn!

Local singer-songwriter Brett McFarland made a big play for outlaw country stardom in the last quarter of the year, dropping several highly produced and expensive-looking music videos celebrating local people and places and culture.

Everyone loved ’em!

13. (UPDATE: SUSPECT SHOT) SWAT Team Deployed to 14th and Union in Eureka After Report of Stabbing; Barricaded Suspect With Hostages; Streets Closed in the Area

A ghastly case in which the suspect and subject of the standoff turned out to have slashed two children’s necks with a knife.

12. I Street Closed in Downtown Eureka Following Huge, Multivehicle Crash; Pedestrian Struck

Another almost unimaginable scene in downtown Eureka. The pedestrian — 66-year-old Eureka man David Sprague — was killed. A 30-year-old Eureka woman, Maria Cuevas, was arrested on DUI and vehicular manslaughter charges. Police said that Cuevas admitted to using nitrous oxide prior to the crash.

11. (PHOTOS/VIDEO) Protesters Open Cal Poly Humboldt’s Siemens Hall After Day of Tension Waiting For a Raid That Has Yet to Come

Four days after the occupation began and three days before the crackdown, protesters occupying Siemens Hall opened the doors to the media and others and took them on a tour of the building they were occupying, which included then-President Tom Jackson’s offices and those of other campus administrators. There was a lot of graffiti, but little outright wreckage.

10. (UPDATING) Humboldt Responds to Big Offshore Earthquake

A kiiiiiinda big one?

“Weakest 7.0 ever!” was the standard review of this year’s annual December earthquake. The quake rolled lazily onto shore at midmorning and got everyone swaying slowly back and forth for a good long while. No major damage reported.

The big takeaways were from the automatically generated tsunami warning that hit our phones a few moments after the shock waves petered out. The evacuation of tsunami-prone areas, everyone agrees, was something of a disaster, tying up traffic in places in places it should not be tied up in the event of an actual emergency. Remember: The key, after a big quake, is to get to high ground immediately, and high ground is probably closer than you think. As in: Walking distance, rather than driving distance.

Here’s a map of places at risk in the event of a major tsunami. Review it. Be prepared.

9. (VIDEO) BOOM! Copco 1 Dam Blast Sends Middle Klamath River Flowing Freely For the First Time in a Century

There were several other milestones left, this year — the removal of the dams’ remnants, salmon making it upriver for the first time in a century — but what more cathartic way to celebrate the decades-long fight to undam the Klamath than with a big explosion?

8. (UPDATING) Cal Poly Humboldt Issues Hard Closure of Campus; Law Enforcement Converges

Why did university administration react to the protest the way that it did? Was it necessary, several days into the occupation, to completely shutter the campus? And did they really have to cancel on-campus commencement ceremonies several days later, after the occupation had been cleared? Were they acting out of spite, rather than choosing the most rational path forward?

These were valid questions at the time, and they were asked by students and faculty associations, which, as shown in this post, were already calling for President Tom Jackson’s resignation. (They soon got their wish.) They became even more valid in the months that followed, when Thad Greenson at the North Coast Journal reviewed body camera footage that showed the president’s chief of staff peeved off at protesters who chose, in his words, to do things “the hard way.”

7. Film Set to Shoot in Eureka is From Renowned Director Paul Thomas Anderson, With Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Regina Hall, According to Industry Reports

This was the big-scoop post, all the way back in January. There had been rumblings about a big movie production coming to town even back before the pandemic. (Or maybe during it? It’s all a fog.) Those rumblings had grown in the months previous to the this post. No one in the local film world would spill the beans, no matter how hard we tried!

Then film industry newsletter editor Jordan Raup figured out from a casting call that a Paul Thomas Anderson movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio would be filming in Humboldt in the coming months, and everything became clear.

Was Anderson — a noted Thomas Pynchon nut — filming Vineland up here? That novel takes place in a fictional Northern California county strongly resembling Humboldt, and Anderson was said to be working on a script. People went back and forth on this, but photos from filming — see below! — seem to confirm that it is indeed some interpreted version of that book, updated to the current era.  

6. Remains of Humboldt Man Who Went Missing 37 Years Ago Identified with DNA Testing, Says HCSO

A local boy — Milton Pellegrini Jr. — was lost at sea in 1987, after the boat he was working on, Midnight Sun, capsized near the entrance to Humboldt Bay.

Three years later, a human jawbone was found at Houda Point.

And just this year, DNA testing — which compared DNA found in the mandible with DNA donated by his brother — confirmed that the jawbone was Milt’s.

5. TODAY: Mike McGuire is the Governor of the State of California

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The term “clickbait,” when used as a pejorative, means that the headline promises something that the story does not deliver. If the story does deliver, it’s just a good headline.

On July 3, Mike McGuire was the acting governor of the state of California. This you cannot deny. He even signed legislation and such.

4. (UPDATING) Major Pro-Palestine Protests at Cal Poly Humboldt Provoke Massive Police Response; Protesters Occupy Siemens Hall; Reports of Violent Force Between Activists and Law Enforcement

Right from the jump, the pro-Palestine protest at Cal Poly Humboldt was chaotic, and the management of it was no less so.

Backup police were called to campus at around 6:30 p.m., after protesters had decided to station themselves inside the university’s main administrative building. Someone made the decision to take Siemens Hall back by force; the students inside easily repelled their effort to push their way in. In a soon-to-be-iconic moment, one of the protesters inside bonked armored police with an empty five-gallon water jug as they tried to get past the barricaded doors. The administration lost the PR battle in the first few moments.

The following days saw a ratcheting of tension. People were ripping the lids off dumpsters and fashioning barricade shields out of them. There was an eerie premonition that some sort of Sixties-style violence would break out, at some point or another. Thankfully — see above — that never came to pass.

3. McKinleyville-Area Hunter Earns World Record With Largest Roosevelt Elk Antlers Ever Recorded

Those are some big antlers!

Everyone loves a world record.

2. (UPDATING) ‘Bomb Cyclone’ Prompts Flood Watch for North Coast Communities; High Wind Advisory in Effect

Pretty fun storm last month! The rivers swelled and the power went out in places, and there was a brief period in which parts of Loleta were under evacuation warnings. No big whoop in the grand scheme of things, as many truly badass Facebook commenters always like to remind us, but it was fun to follow it.

It also taught us all about the Fujiwhara Effect.

1. (WATCH) First Look at Leonardo DiCaprio In Character for New Paul Thomas Anderson Film Currently Filming in Humboldt

The Murphy’s Market Cutten branch went viral!

All the world’s film geeks came to LoCO to see Leonardo DiCaprio in character as, presumably, Zoyd Wheeler, or else some Zoyd Wheeler-inspired character. 

Other photos from the Cutten and Trinidad sets didn’t have that same star power.

The Battle of Baktan Cross, or whatever it ends up being called, is currently scheduled to open on Aug. 8. There will be an IMAX version.