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California government agencies are going all-in on generative artificial intelligence tools under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2023 executive order to improve government efficiency with AI. One of the first to roll out is a chatbot from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the primary agency tasked with coordinating the state’s wildfire response.

The chatbot is meant to give Californians better access to “critical fire prevention resources and near-real-time emergency information,” according to a May release from Newsom’s office. But CalMatters found that it fails to accurately describe the containment of a given wildfire, doesn’t reliably provide information such as a list for evacuation supplies and can’t tell users about evacuation orders.

Newsom has announced AI applications for traffic, housing and customer service to be implemented in the coming months and years. But Cal Fire’s chatbot issues raise questions about whether agencies are following best practices.

“Evaluation is not an afterthought,” said Daniel Ho, law professor at Stanford University whose research focuses on government use of AI. “It should be part of the standard expectation when we pilot and roll out a system like this.”

The chatbot uses the Cal Fire website and the agency’s ReadyForWildfire.org to generate answers. It can tell users about topics such as active wildfires, the agency, fire preparedness tips and Cal Fire’s programs. It was built by Citibot, a South Carolina-based company that sells AI-powered chatbots for local government agencies across the country. Cal Fire plans to host the tool until at least 2027, according to procurement records.

“It really was started with the intent and the goal of having a better-informed public about Cal Fire,” said Issac Sanchez, deputy chief of communications for the agency.

When CalMatters asked Cal Fire’s bot questions about what fires were currently active and basic information about the agency, it returned accurate answers. But for other information, CalMatters found that the chatbot can give different answers when the wording of the query changes slightly, even if the meaning of the question remains the same.

For example, an important way Californians can prepare for fire season is assembling a bag of emergency supplies should they need to evacuate. Only “What should I have in my evacuation kit?” returned a specific list of items from Cal Fire’s chatbot. Variations of the question that included “go bag,” “wildfire ready kit” and “fire preparedness kit” instead returned either a prompt to visit Cal Fire’s “Ready for Wildfire” site, which has that information, or a message saying “I’m not sure about the specific items you should have” and the wildfire site link. Two of those terms are present on the site the chatbot referenced.

And while the chatbot didn’t generate incorrect answers in any of the queries CalMatters made, it doesn’t always pull the most up-to-date information.

When asked if the Ranch Fire, a 4,293-acre fire in San Bernardino County, was contained, the chatbot said that the “latest” update as of June 10 showed the fire was 50% contained. At the time CalMatters queried the chatbot, the information was six days out of date – the fire was 85% contained by then.

Similarly, when asked about current job openings at the agency, the chatbot said there weren’t any. A search on the state’s job site showed two positions at Cal Fire accepting applications at the time.

Mila Gascó-Hernandez is research director for the University at Albany’s Center for Technology in government and has studied how public agencies use AI-powered chatbots. Two key factors she uses to evaluate such chatbots are the accuracy of information they provide and how consistently they answer the same questions even if the question is asked in different ways.

“If a fire is coming and you need to know how to react to it, you do need both accuracy and consistency in the answer,” she said. “You’re not going to think about ‘what’s the nice way to ask the chatbot?’”

Currently, the chatbot is unable to provide information about evacuation orders associated with fires. When asked who issues evacuation orders, it sometimes correctly said law enforcement, while other times said it didn’t know. Cal Fire’s Sanchez said it’s reasonable to expect the chatbot to be able to answer questions about evacuations.

If there are no evacuation orders for a particular fire, he said, “the answer should be ‘there doesn’t appear to be any evacuations associated with this incident.’”

Sanchez said he and his team of about four people tested the chatbot before it went out by submitting questions they expected the public to ask. Cal Fire is currently making improvements to the bot’s answers by combing through the queries people make and ensuring that the chatbot correctly surfaces the needed answer.

When CalMatters asked the bot “What can you help me with?” in early May, it responded, “Sorry I don’t have the answer to that question right now” and asked if CalMatters had questions about information on the Cal Fire site. By mid-June, that answer was updated to being able to “provide answers to questions related to information located on this page such as details about current fires, CAL FIRE job classifications, examination requirements and CAL FIRE’s various programs.”

“The big message we want to get across,” Sanchez said, “is be patient.”

But experts said the process of kicking the tires on a chatbot should happen long before procurement begins.

The preferred process, Stanford’s Ho said, is to establish criteria for how the chatbot should perform before a vendor is selected so there are clear benchmarks to evaluate the tool. Ideally, those benchmarks are created by an independent third party. There should also be an evaluation of the benefits and risks before the chatbot is released.

And in a best-case scenario, the public would be involved before launch, Albany’s Gascó-Hernandez said. Agencies interested in using chatbots should identify the questions the public is likely to ask the AI tool ahead of time, ensure those are representative of the expected population the agency serves and refine the chatbot by having members of the public pilot the system to ensure it provides the kind of information they seek.

“These user engagement and user experiences are very important so the citizen ends up using the chabot,” she said.

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Three years after CalMatters’ reporting revealed that only 3% of California Highway Patrol officers wore body cameras, one of the state’s largest police forces plans to equip all its officers with the technology by next year.

In 2015, now-retired Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer pitched a $10 million plan to give all CHP officers body cameras. Lawmakers landed on a one-year, $1 million pilot program. Officers recorded nearly 93,000 videos within that year, but the program was never expanded.

In 2022, CalMatters’ story noted that the pilot project had only led to 237 body cameras agency-wide, putting the CHP far behind local law enforcement agencies. At the time, the agency said it was focused on upgrading its dash cam system. Five months later, CHP sought funding for body cameras for all its officers, and state lawmakers approved the budget request.

So far about 2,400 body-worn cameras have been handed out to officers in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and the Sacramento area, according to CHP spokesperson Jaime Coffee. In total, all 7,600 officers are expected to receive their cameras by March 2026, she said.

“This is the perfect example of it moving too slow,” Jones-Sawyer said. “I always knew this needed to happen. I was just 10 years ahead of my time.”

Highway patrol officers make around 2 million stops a year, according to data from the state Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board. Officers have also been used for work outside of state highways. They’ve been deployed during the federal government’s immigration raids in LA, used to fight crime in Oakland and police drag races, among other things.

There’s little research on whether body-worn cameras reduce police violence. However, a 2022 study found some evidence that, after three years, agencies with body cameras saw a decrease in police killings compared with agencies that did not.

Since 2023, state lawmakers have given CHP nearly $20 million for the new cameras and have planned $5 million in ongoing funding to support the new system.

David Eugene Albee
November 9, 1948 - June 24, 2025

David Eugene Albee went to be with the Lord at the age of 76 on June 24th, 2025. He passed away at his longtime home in Ruth, with his family at his side. He was preceded in death by his wife Ginger, father Jack, mother Emma, brother Joe, and sister Mary. He is survived by his brother Jack Albee (Cindy), sister-in-law Fran Albee, sister-in-law Sherry Brown, brother-in-law Craig Brown, son David (Lyndee) Albee, son Dan (Terra) Albee, daughter Kristin (Phil) Berti, 11 grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

Dave was born in Scotia on November 9, 1948, to Jack and Emma Albee. He grew up on a sheep and cattle ranch in southern Humboldt County. His love for ranching and the outdoors was ingrained in him during those early years on the ranch. Hunting deer, trout fishing, running hounds, working stock dogs, and handling livestock were powerful influences on him. Simply put, cowboy life was in his blood.

Dave attended Miranda Elementary School and South Fork High School, graduating in 1966. While at South Fork High School, Dave met the love of his life, Ginger Brown, whom he would later marry. Dave also became an outstanding football and basketball player during his high school years. After high school, he went on to Humboldt State to study history and play football. While at Humboldt, Dave was fortunate to play on one of Humboldt’s best football teams. During his junior year, the Lumberjacks went 10-1 and won the Camellia Bowl. He was always very proud of that. Dave completed a bachelor’s degree in history and earned his teaching credential from Humboldt.

In December 1969, Dave married Ginger Brown, his high school sweetheart. Dave and Ginger moved to Ruth in 1972, where they started a family, and Dave took a job at Van Duzen Elementary School as the 8th grade teacher. Dave thoroughly enjoyed this job. He had many challenging students, but nothing that a sturdy yardstick couldn’t cure. Dave started basketball and football teams for the kids during those years, and they had a lot of fun and quite a bit of success.

In 1975, Dave’s father-in-law, Larry Brown, bought the Travis Ranch located just to the south of Ruth. Dave left the school business and went to work on the ranch. Dave poured his heart and soul into working on the ranch. He loved it. He and Ginger raised their family during those years. Dave gave the kids all the opportunities he had growing up, and Ginger took care of everybody.

In 1990, Dave returned to the school business. He went back to work at Southern Trinity as a teacher, but eventually he completed his master’s degree in education and became the superintendent. During his school days, he made business decisions, taught classes, disciplined kids, and did a lot of basketball coaching. He enjoyed most of his school duties; however, he really loved the basketball coaching. He was good at it. His teams took on the character of their coach, disciplined and tough as nails. Over the many years he coached on the Northcoast, Dave was regarded as one of the best coaches in the area.

In 2006, Dave retired from the school business for good. He went back to work full time on the Travis Ranch with his boys, David and Dan. Things were good for a couple of years. He was enjoying the cowboy life, and he and Ginger were being blessed with some grandchildren.

Unfortunately, Ginger had a massive stroke in 2009, and she became completely incapacitated. This would prove to be the biggest challenge of Dave’s life. For nearly ten years, Dave cared for Ginger’s every need until she finally passed in 2019. It was the most extraordinary act of love and commitment one could give.

In the fall of 2020, the August Complex Fire burned the entire Travis Ranch. The fire devastated the land and killed a large portion of the cow herd. Dave had a strong connection to the land, having worked on it for nearly 50 years. He wrote a story about his experience during the fire called “A Fire Story.” His story is very interesting, and I encourage all to read it if you get a chance.

Sometime in 2022, while logging and working to clean up the mess in the aftermath of the August Fire, Dave began to have health issues. Fatigue and weight loss were the primary symptoms. He trudged on. Getting up at 3 a.m. and working long days. Finally, he went to the doctor. Throughout 2023, he had several visits and blood tests. A couple of vitamin deficiencies were found, but something else was wrong. In February 2024, he was diagnosed with an incurable cancer. He battled for a year and a half. Finally, he said enough. Dave Albee didn’t fear death. He led a good life, and he was a good man. He was hard-working, honest, giving, and a servant of God. Dave gave his life to the Lord in 1990. He is in heaven now with his love, Ginger.There will be a memorial service for Dave at Ruth Community Church on July 19 at 10 a.m.

Anyone is welcome to attend and celebrate this wonderful man. A lunch and time of fellowship will follow the service.

Rebecca Ruth Wilcox Laloli passed away peacefully at her home on April 15, 2025.

Rebecca was born to Glenn Wilcox and Ethel Brinker Wilcox on August 26, 1954 in Twin Falls, Idaho.

She came to Humboldt County on a Greyhound bus with her mother and uncle when she was two months old. Her father had come ahead to start a new job in Scotia at the Pacific Lumber Company.

Becky grew up in Scotia attending Stanwood A. Murphy Elementary. She had a large close family with many cousins who lived nearby, and a church where she loved to play the piano and sing with her sisters.

She graduated from Fortuna High School in 1973. Shortly after high school, a friend introduced her to a Ferndale boy, Dale Laloli, and they were married in May of 1975.

They lived in Humboldt County until 2009 when they relocated to Rice Valley, Oregon. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary a little early in March of this year with their family.

Becky worked at Crown Redwood Lumber Mill until she had their first child, a daughter, Autumn.

She settled in as a homemaker and four years later had a son, Travis.

She loved supporting her kids (and grandkids) in all their activities: carpooling, counseling at summer camp and attending sporting events of all kinds. One of her favorite things to do was watch her kids, grandkids and friends’ kids play sports.

When the kids were a little older, she began working in the cafeteria at Rio Dell School which offered a great schedule for having kids at home. Over the years she moved on and had many jobs: gardening work at Doebel’s flower farm, clerical work at various offices, janitorial work at Mercy Hospital in Roseburg, Oregon, and lastly housekeeping for some special clients that she loved like family.

Becky was a quiet and kind person with a deep faith. She loved reading, and being in nature, working in her yard, and going for long walks with her dogs.

She also enjoyed being active and had a natural athletic ability, excelling at anything she tried: snow skiing, water skiing, bike riding, swimming, throwing horseshoes (a Wilcox family tradition) and horseback riding. In her late 40s she decided to start competing with her horse Orie in gymkhana. She did well, winning many buckles, pieces of tack and even a saddle.

She was known for her apple pie and had won a few pie baking contests over the years.

Becky and Dale enjoyed taking their RV trailer on little weekends away to the coast and hunting for agates on the beach.

Rebecca was preceded in death by her father, Glenn Wilcox.

She is survived by her loving husband Dale Laloli, daughter Autumn (Brian) Ogden, son Travis (Janet) Laloli, grandchildren Bridget and John, mother Ethel Wilcox, siblings Mort (Tina) Thompson, Esther (Steve) Smith, Julia (Gary) Davis, Sarah Sheldon, and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank Home Health, especially Nurse Matt Pennington, Bristol Hospice of Eugene and all of the wonderful friends and family who have checked in, brought meals, flowers, cards and a helping hand during this difficult time. It has all meant so much.

There will be a memorial on July 13 at 2 p.m. at the Turf Room in Ferndale. In lieu of flowers donations can be made in her memory to Wild Souls Ranch in Fortuna or your local hospice.

Becky will be interred at the Ferndale Cemetery in a private service.

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WARNING: This story contains details of child pornography and sexual violence.

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The question of whether sexually violent predator Richard Stobaugh should be released back into the community remains open tonight following an all-day hearing that explored the implications of his reported possession of child pornography while confined to a state mental hospital.

Appearing before Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Kaleb Cockrum, Senior Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm called a series of witnesses who testified that Stobaugh was found in possession of a contraband hard drive in 2018 and that the device contained folders with pornographic photos and videos of underaged girls. Timm argued that by failing to disclose this information to his treatment team at Coalinga State Hospital, Stobaugh revealed himself to be “deceptive by nature,” a man who remains a predator who’s unsafe to be released.

Meanwhile, Humboldt County Public Defender Luke Brownfield, who is charged with defending Stobaugh, questioned whether the hard drive belonged to Stobaugh or to another inmate altogether. And a pair of mental health professionals testified that, even with the evidence of child porn possession, they stand by their professional assessments that Stobaugh is appropriate for conditional, supervised release.

Stobaugh was sentenced to prison in 1988 for a series of violent sexual assaults, and in 2012, after being designated a sexually violent predator, he was transferred to the locked facilities of Coalinga State Hospital. His treatment team there says that in recent years, Stobaugh has willingly submitted to treatment and, having served his full prison sentence, he is now appropriate for highly supervised released.

But there has been significant public outrage — along with official statements of opposition from Sheriff William Honsal and the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors — to a proposal that would place Stobaugh in a house on the outskirts of Manila.

Stobaugh, now a senior citizen, appeared today via Zoom on a wall-mounted TV in the courtroom wearing a long-sleeved, collared tan shirt with matching pants. During the proceedings he occasionally wrote down notes, but mostly he was attentive to the witnesses, who testified remotely via Zoom.

At the end of today’s evidentiary hearing, Timm urged Judge Cockrum to deny Stobaugh’s release while Brownfield argued that the defendant has changed and should be granted released per the recommendations of his treatment team.

Cockrum took the matter under submission and said he’ll likely issue a ruling on the matter tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

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At the outset of today’s hearing, Cockrum explained that since Stobaugh has served the entirety of his prison sentence and been recommended for release, the burden lies on prosecutors to show by “a preponderance of the evidence” that his release would be inappropriate.

Timm’s first witness, sworn peace officer Gerardo Paredes, testified that as part of a special search team at Coalinga, he helped conduct a search of Stobaugh’s four-man dorm room on April 6, 2018. The search uncovered three portable DVD players, a projector and a hard drive. The serial numbers on the DVD players had been scratched off, which is against the law, Paredes said.

The People’s second witness, Sandy Herr, is a special agent with the California Department of Justice but was employed as a detective at Coalinga in 2018. Two weeks after the contraband was recovered from Stobaugh’s dorm, Herr helped conduct an interview of Stobaugh at his request, she said.

During that interview, Stobaugh was “nervous, shaky and sweaty” as he tried to attribute everything on the confiscated hard drive to another inmate, Robert Abelman, whom he considered his best friend. According to Herr, Stobaugh told the investigators that he expected child pornography to be found on the drive — photos of 16- to 17-year-old girls in a file folder named “J.B.” for “jail bait.” He said Abelman had shown him one of these photos and he offered to provide information about Abelman smuggling methamphetamine into Coalinga.

Herr said Stobaugh’s story changed under questioning that he misrepresented his own criminal history, claiming his youngest victim was 20 years old when in fact she was only 18. As the interview progressed, Stobaugh appeared “nervous, sweating and stuttering,” his face red and twitching, which led Herr to conclude that he wasn’t being forthcoming. 

In the interview, Stobaugh said he’d obtained his friend’s hard drive so he could watch movies, but he couldn’t give any examples of movies that would be found on the device, Herr testified. Under further questioning, Stobaugh said the girl in the photo was actually only 14 or 15, not 16 or 17, and that she was nude. Herr said his demeanor changed while describing the photo: He was smiling as if pleased, with a smirk on his face. 

On cross-examination, Brownfield asked Herr why she’d never asked Abelman if the hard drive was, in fact, his. She said it was because the item had been found in Stobaugh’s dorm, not in Abelman’s, and because Stobaugh clearly knew what was on it and tried to “manipulate the situation.”

On redirect from Timm, Herr testified that during the investigation with Stobaugh, she offered to go ask Abelman directly if the hard drive was his, which caused Stobaugh to get nervous and say something like, “I just killed myself.” In her estimation, Stobaugh really didn’t want investigators revealing to Abelman what Stobaugh had been telling them.

The People’s third witness was Coalinga peace officer and certified cybercrime examiner Hill Magpayo. He testified about what investigators found on the hard drive through a forensic analysis. There was a folder named “ZZZ Rick’s folder,” and Magpayo said “Rick” was Stobaugh’s nickname. 

In a folder named “Personal Stuff,” investigators found a sub-folder named “My Movies” that contained a 12-minute video showing a Caucasian girl, roughly 10-14 years old sitting on a patio. The video starts out with her fully clothed but proceeds to depict her orally copulating with an adult man who then engages in vaginal sex with her, Magpayo said.

Another sub-folder, labeled “Pictures,” held photos of an Asian girl, age 12-14, laying on a bed masturbating. Forensic search tools eventually discovered “several thousand” photos of various children, some engaging in sex acts while others were merely “erotic” images of naked or partially naked kids, Magpayo testified.

He also said that Abelman was willing to testify that the hard drive was his but that he (Abelman) didn’t believe there was any child pornography on it.

Both Magpayo and Herr had trouble remembering many of the details of these incidents, some of which occurred more than seven years ago, and Timm often had to prompt them to refer to their reports or to other documents, which resulted in drawn-out and stilted testimony. In one such exchange, Timm asked Magpayo to find a spot in an interview transcript where Stobaugh said Abelman was running a business in the hospital, operating a drug trade and selling other contraband to fellow confined patients. 

Later, Magpayo testified that, according to Stobaugh, Abelman had an electronic tablet that he’d “jailbroken” to gain access to the internet via WiFi. Stobaugh admitted to showing photos on the tablet to other patients and Coalinga, who said that the images didn’t look legal, according to Magpayo.

The dorm room search in 2018 also turned up handwritten papers that looked like “payo” sheets — a ledger of debts for contraband, complete with emails and bank account numbers. Timm displayed a copy of the document on Zoom via a courtroom camera. 

Magpayo said that Abelman had the nickname “Mickey” in the hospital, and there was a notation on this paperwork saying “Mick-Rick 2018.” Notes of apparent transactions referenced photo trades, and one mentioned “bisexual trades.”

Other notes contained technical details about computer programs and operating systems, including Linux and Android. Magpayo said Linux is sometimes used in criminal activity, but he had difficulty explaining specifics. (At one point, Judge Cockrum sustained an objection from Brownfield about this testimony, noting that Magpayo apparently “doesn’t understand the difference between an operating system and a program.”)

Recovered photos of child pornography were sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), where the images were matched to two known victims.

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At several points during today’s hearing, Timm and Brownfield both asked witnesses about the apparent communication breakdown between law enforcement investigators and the medical treatment team at Coalinga State Hospital, as well as the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office, which didn’t learn of Stobaugh’s possession of child pornography until fairly recently.

On cross-examination of Magpayo, Brownfield asked whether the handwritten transaction log could have documented bartering of legal items such as food, and Magpayo admitted that it could. He also admitted that he never interviewed Abelman, saying there was no reason to since the contraband had been found in Stobaugh’s room, though the hard drive contained some of Abelman’s documents, including legal materials and personal correspondence. 

Stobaugh told investigators that he never personally accessed files containing child pornography, and the investigators found no child porn in the folder labeled “Rick’s stuff.”

Brownfield suggested that some of the images that were supposedly of an Asian minor may in fact have been photos of Abelman’s girlfriend at the time, who was a college-aged Asian woman. 

After a lunch break, the court heard testimony from clinical psychologist Dr. Paul Murdock, who conducted annual evaluations of Stobaugh for many years, and Dr. Robert Cureton, clinical director of the conditional release program (CONREP) for sexually violent predators at Liberty Healthcare, the agency that will be charged with monitoring Stobaugh should he be granted release.

Timm pressured both doctors on whether the testimony they’d heard today, or any of the facts regarding Stobaugh’s possession of child pornography and his failure to disclose it, gave them pause or made them reconsider their recommendation to release him to the community under supervision. 

Dr. Murdock said he has consistently diagnosed Stobaugh with an other specified paraphilic disorder (a type of recurring, intense and atypical sexual arousal), substance use disorder and antisocial personality disorder, and he said Stobaugh remains a sexually violent predator. 

But he said Stobaugh’s possession of child pornography in 2018 doesn’t change his risk assessment, which is based on something called a Static-99R, a widely used risk prediction instrument that estimates the probability of reoffending among adult males with a history of sexual crimes.

Murdock said Stobaugh’s Static-99R score is a 1, but even if it was upgraded to a 2, that’s the level given to common sex offenders who are routinely granted release after serving their sentences. Murdock also said there’s no evidence that Stobaugh is sexually attracted to children, though he may have used child porn as a commodity in the hospital. 

Timm pushed back on this, noting incidents from Stobaugh’s criminal past in which he sexually assaulted women with children nearby, seemingly using the kids as a means of control. And she asked Murdock whether he considers children depicted in child porn victims, to which he said yes.

But Murdock stood by his professional opinion, saying Stobaugh has willingly engaged in treatment for years now and evidence shows that there’s a steep drop in rates of reoffending once men become elderly.

Dr. Cureton likewise stood by his opinion that Stobaugh can be safely released under strict supervision, which includes monitoring through a GPS-enabled ankle bracelet, random drug testing, regular polygraph testing, computer monitoring, intensive psychotherapy and direct supervision — tools that “are designed to keep the community safe and to make sure that the person is progressing successfully.”

Today’s hearing occurred because the prosecution asked the court to reconsider its order granting Stobaugh’s conditional release, and Cockrum explained that due to the “liberty interest” that has already been granted to Stobaugh, the D.A.’s office bore the burden of proof. 

Timm proceeded to argue that she had met that burden by showing that Stobaugh still displays risky, manipulative and deceitful behaviors, and that, through his possession of child porn, he was still victimizing people. She said that there’s no sign that his “selfishness and criminality” will change if he’s released.

“He is deceptive by nature,” Timm said. “He is a predator, and that’s exactly what Dr Murdock said that he is. But they’re not doing anything to adequately supervise him.”

Brownfield countered that the experts are considered experts for a reason, and they’ve given their opinions that he’s now appropriate for release, having passed every polygraph and done everything required of him since 2019. Brownfield said the allegation of child porn possession hasn’t been definitively proven, and even if it had, that was seven years ago and his doctors testified that he has changed.

Cockrum took the matter under submission and said he expects to announce his decision in the morning. Check back tomorrow for more coverage of this case.

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•  (PHOTOS) Wiyot-Led Affordable Housing Projects Will Bolster Eureka’s Downtown Housing Supply with 93 New Units

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Press release from the Wiyot Tribe:

The Wiyot Tribe’s Dishgamu Community Land Trust has partnered with Redwood Capital Bank to receive from FHLBank San Francisco $2 million that will help create 52 senior apartment affordable housing units to be located at Laquilh Hou Daqh “Where the Elders Are” housing development on 6th and L Streets in Eureka and $2 million dollars towards 41 affordable housing units for lower-income families and individuals at the Gou’wik Hou Daqh “Where the Families Are” Housing development on 5th and D street in Eureka.

“The Tribe has prioritized affordable housing because our tribal citizens are struggling to find affordable housing, our people are being displaced in their own ancestral lands due to ever increasing housing costs in our region. Bringing 93 affordable housing units to our area will help address that,” said Wiyot Tribal Chair Brian Mead

AHP grants contribute to the development or preservation of single-family and multifamily housing that serves people in need, including lower-income families, the chronically unhoused, families, seniors, veterans, at-risk youth, people living with disabilities and mental health challenges or overcoming substance abuse, many others.

“Funding for these two developments represents wins for our entire community, new affordable housing units for people struggling to find housing in our community; 93 units towards Humboldt County’s state-mandated Regional Housing Need for 3390 new units by 2027; and another successful partnership and land back opportunity between the City of Eureka and the Wiyot Tribe that satisfies affordable housing needs of both the City and the Tribe,” Michelle Vassel, Wiyot Tribal Administrator

The Bank’s member financial institutions work in partnership with community-based housing developers or providers to compete for AHP General Fund or Nevada Targeted Fund grants by submitting applications for specific projects in an annual funding competition. In total for the 2025 program cycle, the Bank’s AHP awarded funding for 31 affordable housing projects, including 22 in California, four in Arizona, and five in Nevada.

“In a critical time when more solutions to address the growing housing affordability crisis are desperately needed throughout our high-cost region of Arizona, California, and Nevada, we are pleased to deliver on our mission of partnering with our member financial institutions to support affordable housing and economic development,” said Joe Amato, interim president and chief executive officer of FHLBank San Francisco. “We are proud to work with our members and their partners, including Redwood Capital Bank and the Wiyot Tribe’s Dishgamu Humboldt Community Land Trust, to help make a positive impact by creating and preserving access to more high-quality, units of affordable housing that individuals and families a place to call home.”

Since the inception of its Affordable Housing Program in 1990, FHLBank San Francisco has partnered with its members to award $1.41 billion in AHP grants to help fund the development of preservation of nearly 155,000 units of affordable housing, helping hundreds of thousands of people throughout California, Arizona, Nevada, and other regions served by FHLBank San Francisco members, have an affordable place to call home.

For more information about the 2025 AHP General Fund and AHP Nevada Targeted Fund winning projects, visit FHLBank San Francisco’s website at fhlbsf.com.

Dishgamu Community Land Trust

Since time immemorial, the Wiyot people have lived along Shou’r (the Pacific Ocean) and around Wigi (Humboldt Bay). Until the onset of settler-colonialism in the 1850s they have lived in reciprocal relationship with over 40 miles of coastline, extending inland about 10 miles, living in balance with the plants, animals, earth, water, and air across multiple ecosystems and watersheds. Today, this unceded ancestral territory is marked by the negative effects of decades of extractive practices around fur, minerals, timber, fishing, water diversion, and more recently, real estate speculation. This has left the region to face increasing economic inequality alongside environmental degradation and destabilization.

Dishgamu Community Land Trust was created to address these challenges and help restore balance to Wiyot ancestral territory - now a collection of highly interdependent yet disparately governed cities and towns, as well as the population center of Humboldt County and the northern California coast. Our deeply rooted environmental knowledge and territorial-scale perspective make us uniquely equipped to address the scale and complexity of the challenges before us.

A key symptom of this imbalance is the lack of access to affordable, safe, and healthy housing. This not only impacts on the ability of Wiyot people to remain in their homeland but threatens the ability of the entire community to thrive in relationship to the land. Short-sighted or profit-driven responses to current housing market pressures threaten to destroy natural resources, put communities in the path of environmental hazards, and ignore the needs of historically underserved communities. The current market creates many contradictions: over a thousand houseless people living alongside vacant buildings; residents in subsidized housing choosing between economic advancement and housing security; and supposed solutions only adding fuel to the current crisis. Dishgamu Humboldt seeks to establish radically alternative forms of housing development that remove the profit-motive and empower communities. Understanding the scale of our region’s housing needs and the communities most impacted helps us set priorities for new housing construction and affordable housing preservation.

FHLBank San Francisco

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is a member-driven cooperative helping local lenders in Arizona, California, and Nevada build strong communities, create opportunity, and change lives for the better. The tools and resources we provide to our member financial institutions — commercial banks, credit unions, industrial loan companies, savings institutions, insurance companies, and community development financial institutions — propel homeownership, finance quality affordable housing, drive economic vitality, and revitalize whole neighborhoods. Together with our members and other partners, we are making the communities we serve more vibrant and resilient.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

Quenell.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HSCO) is proud to recognize Captain Bryan Quenell, who is retiring after 31 years of dedicated service to our community.

Born and raised in Humboldt, Quenell is a third-generation law enforcement officer. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father—who served with the Eureka Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office, and the Sheriff’s Office—he joined the police academy in 1994. By day, he trained with the new recruits. By night, he worked as a records clerk in the courthouse, often answering phones and filing records until 2:00 in the morning.

Since graduating from the police academy in 1995, Quenell has served important roles in nearly every arm of the Sheriff’s Office. His roles have included Correctional Officer, Resident Deputy in Hoopa, Field Training Officer, and a Team Leader for both the Marijuana Enforcement and Special Services teams, the unit that handles boating, off-highway vehicles (OHV), and search and rescue. He later served as Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Commander of the Drug Task Force and SWAT teams. Known for stepping into any role that was needed, he led special projects like integrating the Sheriff’s Office with the Coroner and forming the Community Response Unit, a problem-oriented policing team with a tip line for anonymous citizen complaints.

After two decades of steadfast service, Quenell was promoted to Captain in 2018. In this role, he oversaw Patrol, Special Services, Major Crimes, the Coroner’s Office, Animal Control, Neighborhood Watch, and Emergency Communications Center—all simultaneously. Despite his many accomplishments, he remains humble about his time with HSCO and hopes his colleagues will remember him as “firm but fair.”

“I did what I could while I was here and did my best to make it better every step of the way, no matter what role I was in, whether I was a clerk or a correctional officer or a deputy. It was just about trying to make it better for the people who will come behind me. It’s nice to give back to the community that helped raise me,” said Quenell.

As for what’s next on the horizon, right now he has no formal plans. “My wife’s convinced that I won’t be able to sit still and that I’ll probably want to get back involved at some point. Maybe a couple of years down the road, we’ll see. You never know what the future holds.”

Sheriff William Honsal praised Quenell’s impact on the agency. “We were privileged to have him as part of the HCSO family for so many years. Though he never sought recognition or accolades, his impact on this office is undeniable. He leaves behind a legacy of service and dedication, and he will be deeply missed.”

If you’re inspired by Captain Quenell’s story of commitment and service, you too can join the HSCO family. Visit humboldtsheriff.org/join for current job opportunities.