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Just 10 days after the public learned that Annie’s Cambodian Cuisine will be demolished to make way for a drive-through, the Annie’s family is dealing with more distress, after a masked burglar broke into the restaurant early Tuesday morning.

Laura Chau-Yang, co-owner of Annie’s Cambodian, arrived at the restaurant at about 7 a.m. and found the front door glass had been smashed in, she told the Outpost this morning. When she went inside, Chau-Yang discovered that the cash register had been taken. The register contained less than $200. 

Footage from the restaurant’s security cameras shows that the intruder smashed in the door sometime after midnight, briefly entered the restaurant and then left. The intruder then returned just before 4 a.m. (presumably having waited to make sure no alarms went off or police arrived), immediately went to the refrigerator and filled one grocery bag with beer and another with bottles of Pepsi. The intruder then went behind the counter to grab the cash register, struggled for a moment, pulling hard on the register to disconnect it from its cords. The burglar then returned to the bags of drinks, picked them up and headed out the door.

Below is footage of the break in, starting when the burglar returned at about 3:47 a.m.

The intruder was wearing a hoodie, a face mask and gloves and, as Chau-Yang points out in the video commentary, had a long object tucked into the back of their hoodie — possibly a machete or other weapon of some kind. Although it is difficult to say for certain what the object is.

The owners have reported the incident to the Eureka Police Department and Chau-Yang said that their insurance should cover some of the losses and damages. Her biggest immediate concern is finding someone to fix the door. In the meantime, the restaurant will be open for its usual hours, though it may be a bit drafty.

“If you come to Annie’s today, dress warm,” Chau-Yang told the Outpost.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On March 5, 2022, at about 6:48 a.m., a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy on patrol on the 700 block of Casino Way in Blue Lake observed a driver passed out behind the wheel of a running vehicle parked at a gas pump.

The deputy conducted a welfare check on the male, who was later identified as 30-year-old Morgan Donald Wright. The deputy awoke Wright and determined him to possibly be under the influence of an unknown substance.

During a search of Wright and his vehicle, deputies located approximately 18.6 grams of Fentanyl, approximately 11.7 grams of Methamphetamine, items consistent with the sale of controlled substances, drug paraphernalia and $200 cash believed to be associated with the sale of the controlled substances.

Wright was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of possession of a controlled substance for sales (HS 11351), transportation/sale of a narcotic controlled substance (HS 11352(a)), possession of a controlled substance (HS 11378), possession of a controlled substance paraphernalia (HS 11364(a)) and transportation/sale of a controlled substance (HS 11379(a)).

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On March 7, 2022, at about 2:33 a.m., a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy on patrol in the area of New Navy Base Road observed suspicious vehicle activity in the Samoa Dunes area.

The deputy contacted three individuals, one of whom, 42-year-old William Lee Nicholson, was found to have multiple warrants for his arrest. As deputies went to take Nicholson into custody, Nicholson fled. Deputies located Nicholson hiding in the dunes nearby and he was taken into custody without further incident.

Nicholson was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on fresh charges of resisting a peace officer (PC 148(a)) and violation of probation (PC 1203.2(a)(2)), in addition to warrant charges of driving on a suspended license (VC 14501.2(a)), failure to provide evidence of vehicle registration (VC 4000(a)(1)), failure to provide evidence of vehicle insurance (VC 16028(a)) and violation of mandatory supervision.

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On March 6, 2022, at about 6:12 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle in the area of the Samoa Bridges. The vehicle initially failed to yield and later came to a stop in the Woodley Island area. Upon stopping, a male passenger, 42-year-old Gordon Dale Briggs Jr., fled from the vehicle.

Deputies observed Briggs Jr. discard a firearm into nearby brush as he fled. The firearm was later recovered and found to be loaded. Briggs Jr. was taken into custody after a brief foot pursuit. During a search of Briggs Jr. incident to arrest, deputies located drug paraphernalia.

Deputies also contacted two individuals who remained inside the vehicle during the traffic stop. Through their investigation, deputies learned that Briggs Jr. had reportedly threatened to kill the driver and passenger of the vehicle, forcing the driver to evade deputies. The two occupants were not injured during this incident and were released at the scene.

Briggs Jr. was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of convicted felon in possession of a firearm (PC 29800(a)), person prohibited in possession of ammunition (PC 30305(a)), resisting a peace officer (PC 148(a)), kidnapping (PC 207(a)), criminal threats (PC 422) and tampering with ID marks on a firearm (PC 23900), in addition to warrant charges of Post Release Community Supervision revocation (PC 3455(a)), person prohibited in possession of ammunition (PC 30305(a)) and possession of a controlled substance (HS 11377(a)).

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

Toddlers and preschoolers who have mostly known a school life with tiny masks may be in for a big lifestyle change after Friday, when the state mask mandate for kids ends at midnight.

While wearing masks is still strongly recommended, some medical experts worry removing the state mask mandate could be risky for tots.

The change shifts the onus of requiring masking to child care and preschool operators, schools and school districts. Schools will no longer be able to bar a student from school for not wearing a face covering.

“The wisest thing to do is go from a requirement to strongly recommending (masks) and recognizing that there may be some places where they want to continue masking and that is okay,” said Dr. Tomás Aragón, state public health officer and director of the California Department of Public Health. “We are leaving it up to the county, district or schools.”

Aragón told CalMatters that March 11 was selected because by then, state officials project that infections will have declined even more. It also gives schools and families more time to make decisions or prepare for the change.

Parents throughout California have been vocal about wanting the mask mandate in schools lifted. At the Discovery Preschool in Truckee, children have not been wearing masks for a few months, said Courtney Dent, the school’s assistant director, in violation of state guidelines. The Nevada County preschool has 72 students 2 to 5 years old. Dent said some children in January wore masks because of the surge, but the school leaves it up to families.

Masks are required for staff, teachers and parents of children at Discovery Preschool. Other safety measures include taking kids’ temperatures when they arrive, not allowing parents into the classrooms and doing activities outside.

“We are leaving it up to the county, district or schools.”
— Dr. Tomás Aragón, director, California Department of Public Health

Dent said they are waiting for the rules to change for the staff. “I hope to god it does change, we are all ready,” she said.

While schools like Discovery Preschool have already made the decision to not require masks, some experts say the state’s decision to end the mandate comes too soon, especially for California’s smallest residents, who are not eligible for vaccination against COVID-19.

“The message the public has heard is, ‘Masks are not necessary,’” said John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. “The state is leaving the decision to the parent or the adult. That’s fine, but now the parents are struggling with the decision.”

Swartzberg said another two to three weeks would have meant knowing for sure the case rate has decreased enough to lift the mandate instead of relying on predictions.

“That is hope, that the trajectory will continue,” he said about the state’s projection. “I think it’s a fairly safe bet, but I think public health policy should be based on health unless the policy is having significant harm.”

Shira Shafir, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, goes even further for the 2 to 5 year-olds.

She points out that these children are ineligible to be vaccinated, can get infected, can transmit the infection to others and, while rare, can get severely ill from COVID-19. They are also often in the same facilities with infants under 2 who cannot wear masks.

“The wise thing to do is to continue to have children mask until they are eligible to be vaccinated and there is a sufficient number of them vaccinated to be protected,” Shafir said.

Experts agree that for the smallest children, the most effective protection is for everyone around them to be vaccinated.

While some have worried that masking impedes learning or development, Shafir, Swartzberg and Aragón say there is no evidence of developmental or emotional downside to children masking.

Aragón said a variety of factors went into the state’s decision to lift the mandate, including the rate of new coronavirus cases, the number of vaccinated Californians, how many people the omicron variant infected and the lessons learned about COVID-19 over the last two plus years.

The COVID-19 case rate in California as of March 7 was 11.1 new cases per 100,000 people, a drop from 19.5 cases per 100,000 people the previous week, according to the Department of Public Health. By Friday the state expects it will be even lower.

Swartzberg questions the decision, noting that last June California did not follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation to lift mask mandates because the state’s rate back then was 3 new cases per 100,000 people. He wants to see the rate at least that low again before students are allowed to pocket their face coverings.

Since then, so many people have been infected by the delta and omicron variant surges that the calculation has changed, Aragón said.

“We are not comfortable taking the masks off.”
— Kimi Mtovic, owner, Miss Kimi Family DayCare

Plus, a mask in a school setting, Aragón said, has been just one tool to reduce transmission. Now, schools will need to focus on ventilation, getting kids to stay home when they are sick and other precautions.

Swartzberg is concerned that this is another area where there will be inequity. When masks come off and protection is dependent on filtration systems, fans and outdoor time, then schools or child care centers with fewer resources will be less safe.

Mask rule changes for schools and child care sites have been slower to come from the state than for restaurants, retail stores or public events.

“Children have no choice, they have to be in school. they don’t have a choice who they sit next to and they spend a long period of time day after day with other people,” Aragón said. “So we are extra protective of the children with the primary goal of keeping the schools open.”

By lifting the mandate, the state has shifted the responsibility to the child care, preschool and school officials, and that makes things more difficult for them especially in this politicized environment, experts said.

When masks were a requirement, at least a preschool had state law to lean on, Shafir said.

“Now that it’s strongly recommended, it forces the administration, the heads of preschools, day care, toddler yoga, whatever it is, to decide,” she said. “They no longer have that protection from the state to implement a policy that is in the best interest of the children.”

And it’s easier for kids to do when all of them are required to wear a mask, she said.

Shafir is the parent of a 3-year-old who attends a university-run preschool. The children there are required to wear KN95 or similar masks and get weekly nose-tickle COVID-19 tests.

Shafir said her preschool is keeping masks and other precautions in place for students through the end of March.

“We hope that families and places will continue to (wear masks),” Aragón said. “We recognize there are some families in some parts of the state that feel differently and don’t want to wear a mask, and this gives them the opportunity to do something different.”

Kimi Mtovic, who owns Miss Kimi Family DayCare in San Jose, said she and her staff are keeping their mask on.

“We are not comfortable taking the masks off,” she said. “For the kids, it’s going to have to be up to the parents, whatever they are comfortable with.”

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

Gov. Gavin Newsom is an unlikely champion of California’s down and out. Yet the wine entrepreneur, who built his political career and fortune with help from the state’s wealthy elite, campaigned on a promise to address California’s disparities – and do so boldly.

From his first day in office in January 2019, Newsom called the manifestations of California’s inequality – homelessness, poverty and rising costs – “moral imperatives,” not just policy priorities. “So long as they persist, each and every one of us is diminished,” he declared.

Those inequalities persisted and were laid bare by two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a tumultuous time that saw the governor overcome a Republican-led effort to recall him from office last September.

Now with the pandemic receding, the economy rebounding and no major political opposition standing in his way to reelection this year, Newsom has the opportunity to return to his original priority of reducing the stain of poverty on the state.

He is expected to address the issue today in the final State of the State speech of his first term. ​​”There is going to be an explicit call out on inequality, and the stakes,” said an aide, who spoke only if not named because they were not authorized to give a preview of the speech. “One of the themes of the speech is going to be democracy, and tying that to how unchecked inequality undermines democracy.”

Some experts and advocates say Newsom’s efforts to close the economic divide may determine his legacy – and help set him apart from his predecessor and fellow Democrat, Jerry Brown, who insisted state government could only go so far in closing the divide between rich and poor.

“If the comparison is past governors in California, he’s trying to do a lot,” said Chris Hoene, director of the California Budget & Policy Center, a nonprofit that researches policy affecting low-income Californians. “If the comparison is where we were when he took over as governor, and where we are today, he’s facing a ton of headwinds. And the urgency and the need drives expectations about him doing more.”

Nationally, the jobs recovery is in full swing, and though California has lagged other states, it could at last see improvements as mask mandates loosen and the economy returns more to normal. The pandemic – and record state budget surpluses – have given Newsom the opportunity to address the state’s inequalities. The Democratic leaders of the state Assembly and Senate leaders also say they want to use the budget to create a more inclusive recovery and more equitable economy.

But Assembly GOP leader James Gallagher of Yuba City said it’s the policies of Democrats that are driving inequality.

“We have a huge surplus because the wealthiest are doing so well,” he said. “That doesn’t tell the story of the middle- and low- income earners in this state.” 

For instance, he said working families are getting hammered by the state’s high cost of gasoline, which according to AAA has now topped an average of $5 a gallon – an increase accelerated by the Ukraine war. Gallagher and other Republicans also blame the state’s gas tax, which Democrats raised in 2017 under Brown to repair roads and bridges and expand mass transit. Newsom has proposed putting off a scheduled July increase, but the governor has met resistance from his own party in the Legislature. The climate change agenda of California Democrats has also driven up the cost of utilities, further deepening inequality, Gallagher said.

“I think he genuinely cares about this issue, but I think that his policies – the policies of either he, or Democrats in the Legislature – have made the problem worse,” Gallagher said. “The other problem is that the governor has a lack of follow-through. He’s big on pronouncements and announcing new programs, but pretty short on implementation and results.”

What’s Newsom’s record?

In his State of the State speech last year, Newsom returned to the theme of inequality, indicating his belief the pandemic was “widening gaps between the haves and the have-nots.” “California’s most acute preexisting condition remains income inequality,” he said.

In his three years in office, he has pushed through several significant initiatives:

• Newsom has steadily expanded Medi-Cal coverage to include undocumented people until they turn 26 and once they turn 50, and in his January budget proposed covering those previously excluded. But the expansion would still leave several hundred thousand undocumented immigrants unable to qualify because they earn above the program’s annual income thresholds.

• In 2019, Newsom expanded the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit and the Young Child Tax Credit to help boost the wages of low-paid workers and families. In 2020, he signed a law allowing anyone with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number to qualify for the expanded earned income tax credit. That made undocumented workers eligible to receive hundreds, or thousands of, dollars each year. Last year, he signed a measure giving $600 one-time payments to those who receive the state’s earned income tax credit, along with an extra $600 for certain undocumented taxpayers not eligible for some federal aid.

• During the pandemic, California expanded eligibility for several safety net programs, including food assistance, allowing for more people to participate. In particular, the state paused the recertification process in the state’s CalFresh program, which provides food benefits to some 2.6 million low-income households. And the state last year created a universal free school meals program, doing away with a previous income requirement.

• When taking office, Newsom announced plans to assist working parents with a six-month, paid family leave program. He has so far extended the program to eight weeks per parent. In 2020, he signed a bill expanding unpaid family leave to include smaller employers, but in 2021 vetoed a bill intended to extend the program to low-income workers. The governor has also made progress on his goals to expand preschool, with a plan to provide universal transitional kindergarten for four-year-olds by 2025.

• Experts and activists say making higher education more affordable is important to reducing inequality in the state. Last year, the administration eliminated age and time-out-of-high-school requirements for Cal Grant scholarships to community colleges. But the governor vetoed a bill that would have made Cal Grants more broadly available. Lawmakers last year also signaled the intent to expand a scholarship for middle-class students in the state, as well as more slots in public universities for California students, though lawmakers must agree this year to fund those promises.

• The governor’s efforts with economic recovery, trying to target funds regionally could help the Central Valley and other parts of the state that are struggling. Such work might not be easy; a legislative effort to retrain oil workers has already sparked a political fight among some of the state’s labor unions.

Still, advocates say the state could be doing more to shrink the economic divide.

“It does seem like Newsom is treating a commitment to reducing poverty as one of his key legacy commitments.”
— David Grusky, director of the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality

What do the numbers show?

While recessions tend to widen income disparities between rich and poor, earnings have increased for low-income workers while unprecedented government relief kept millions from falling into poverty. That’s despite the sharp downturn in 2020, and the disproportionate number of pandemic-related job losses hitting low-wage sectors. During the recovery, some of the biggest gains are in the leisure and hospitality sectors, according to Sarah Bohn, a vice president and policy research chairperson with the Public Policy Institute of California.

“Wages are picking up the most at the low-end of the spectrum, even though we’re still in a recovery period with elevated unemployment,” Bohn said. “It might be that inequality is actually decreasing during the pandemic – which is kind of crazy, and we’ll know more soon – but when you just look at the wage statistics, the sectors that are lowest paid have the highest increase in wages.”

Nationally, data from the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank shows typical wages for the bottom 25% of earners growing faster than other income groups. Meanwhile the Biden administration has highlighted research from two influential U.C. Berkeley economists underscoring that economic growth has been broadly shared since he took office in January 2021.

In California, income inequality statistics for 2020 are not yet available, but the trend has been one of dramatic widening over the long run, with the modern economy placing a premium on highly educated workers. Analyzing pretax income and including cash from some safety net programs, the PPIC found income growth for the bottom 10% of families in California lagging significantly behind the top 10% from 1980 to 2019.

David Grusky, director of the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, said that while incomes may be increasing on the bottom end, those with higher incomes were less interrupted by job losses and many saw a significant rise in the value of their assets. 

“Those people who had money in the stock market fared well, and those are the people who are well off,” he said.

With its highest earners doing well, and a major boost in federal aid, California’s budget has been flush with surpluses during the pandemic. And Congress last year passed President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which California has used to address some of its longstanding inequities. Newsom and legislators have invested billions in homelessness programs, affordable housing, aid to undocumented immigrants and its youth mental health system.

The youth mental health system reforms are “transformational and are expected to be permanent,” said Ed Lazere, a researcher who tracks state fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C. 

Focus on homelessness

In many ways, much of Newsom’s political career has been defined by one of the most visible manifestations of the state’s extremes – homelessness. He garnered political attention and notoriety from activists with his “care not cash” initiative as a San Francisco supervisor, a measure intended to cut general assistance programs for the homeless in exchange for housing and other services. He often walked through the city’s Tenderloin, where he saw homelessness for himself. 

In 2020, just before COVID, Newsom dedicated his State of the State address solely to the subject. During the pandemic, his administration converted dozens of run-down motels into shelters and housing for homeless people. Last year, he and the Legislature allocated $12 billion to homelessness programs. He’s proposing another $2 billion in the 2022-23 budget. He’s also moving ahead with an ambitious plan to clear homeless encampments and offer services to people living in them. And last week, Newsom outlined a plan to allow courts to force some homeless individuals with serious mental illness and substance use disorders into treatment, while also providing some services.   

After all that, homelessness remains one of the biggest problems facing his administration. Two-thirds of voters in a February poll from UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies said he’s doing a poor or very poor job on the issue, contributing to a lower approval rating than before the recall election last September. And along with public perception of rising crime, it may be what gets in the way of a smooth path to a second term in this year’s election.      

At the same time, Californians care about inequality: In a November survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, 69% said the gap between rich and poor is growing in their region, and 76% supported increasing government funding so child care is available to more low-income working parents. And how Newsom decides to lead on inequality will matter politically in Sacramento given the number of moderate Democrats and legislators finding themselves in new districts untested by voters, many of whom could be unlikely to support riskier policies without a push from the governor. 

Those who advocate for those policies will be watching: “It does seem like Newsom is treating a commitment to reducing poverty as one of his key legacy commitments, and so that’s wonderful,” said Grusky, of Stanford. But “we can do, and should do, even more.”

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This article is part of the California Divide project, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequality and economic survival in California. CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

On January 25, 2022 Carol Masterson lost her battle with a long illness and passed away at her home in Carlotta. Carol was 84 years old. She was surrounded by friends and loved ones.

Carol was born in 1938 the only child of Kenneth and Leah Mast of Belvue, Kansas. After college Carol traveled a lot and finally settled in Carlotta in 1981. She worked as a lab technician at Saint Joseph’s for many years.

Shortly after arriving in Humboldt, Carol became active in the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County where she became an influential and important member of the Chapter, including being Chapter president for a few years. Carol contributed countless hours of service and vital support for many League projects. She loved the women and men of the League of Women Voters of Humboldt and took great pride in their accomplishments.

Carol was a great lover of music. She started playing piano at age three, picking out tunes to popular songs her mother would play. Carol would play many of those same songs to her mother when she came to live with her in Carlotta in 2005 until she passed in 2012. Carol and her mother Leah attended concerts and plays and went everywhere together. Carol played those same songs for so many of us at Christmas parties or other events whenever a piano would be present. She served on the Fortuna Concert Series Board, almost from the beginning in 1991, and was committed to creating a great experience of music in the Eel River Valley.

Carol met Holly Couling, whom she referred to as her daughter, 20 years ago. They hit it off and formed a strong and deeply loving intentional family.

George Ojala came into Carol’s life years after they had first met and their life circumstances had changed. They became best friends. They realized they were made for each other and got married in 2016. They were very happy.

Carol was loved for her joy and passion of life, music, theatre, politics, people, geography, gardening and love. She believed in, and modeled, participation and service. She was a great inspiration to many people. Carol will be missed.

Although there is not a date set for a live memorial at this time, The League of Women Voters of Humboldt did have a Zoom memorial and has loving memories of Carol posted on their home webpage.

If you are so moved, please consider a donation in Carol’s memory to the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County or The Fortuna Concert Series, P.O. Box 1031, Fortuna, CA 95540.