The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors got a preview this morning of the findings of Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo’s listening tour on healthcare provider recruitment and retention, which will be the focus of a community forum later this month. Arroyo, who said she undertook the effort because healthcare delivery is a top constituent concern and something she’s passionate about personally, said she’s spoken to nearly four dozen healthcare professionals, from doctors, nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants to local CEOs, administrators and experts. The findings of her re ..read more

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of Weitchpec man whose body was found Wednesday under the Trinity River Bridge at State Route 96 and Tish Tang Road. According to a news release, deputies and Hoopa Valley Tribal Police officers responded to the scene around 2 p.m. and located the individual, later identified as Paul Dean James Jr., in thick brush. “The subject had been deceased for what appeared to be several days,” the release states. “Investigators from the Humboldt County Major Crimes Division and a Humboldt County deputy coroner were then called to the sce ..read more

While a CalMatters report last year found that many of the 73,000 or so California residents held in county jails who are eligible to vote face barriers in casting ballots, local officials say that wasn’t the case in Humboldt County in November. When addressing the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors in advance of its certification of local elections results, Humboldt County Registrar of Voters Juan Pablo Cervantes credited the sheriff’s office’s efforts with ensuring local inmates who were eligible had the opportunity to cast a ballot. “I wanted to highlight the exceptional work done by t ..read more

Providence St. Joseph Hospital has filed a motion asking a Humboldt County Superior Court judge to dismiss the bulk of the lawsuit brought against by the California Attorney General’s Office alleging it illegally denied abortion services to a local woman, while asking that the rest of the suit be stayed pending a state investigation. The filing concedes none of the facts alleged in the AG’s case, but argues that even if they are true, they don’t provide sufficient grounds to bring the lawsuit. The demurrer argues that the hospital’s First Amendment right to the free practice of religion prot ..read more

A 3-year-old boy was killed Sunday morning after falling from the flatbed of a truck near Centerville Road, according to the California Highway Patrol. Another 5-year-old child who was also riding unrestrained was not injured. According to a CHP press release, a 56-year-old man was driving with the children, all Ferndale residents, around 8:45 a.m. when the boy was ejected from the vehicle as it turned onto a private road off Centerville Road and suffered major head trauma. “The driver immediately notified emergency personnel and self-transported the injured juvenile to Redwood Memorial Ho ..read more

Chuck Leishman, the former general manager and publisher of the North Coast Journal, died Thursday. He was 72. Leishman spent more than 40 years in the newspaper business, almost all of it working for alternative weeklies, doing everything from writing and selling ads to serving as owner-publisher. It was a job offer from the Journal that brought Leishman back to California in 2012. Hired as the company’s general manager and tasked with running day-to-day operations, Leishman was instrumental in launching two new publications — the tourist magazine Humboldt Insider and Humboldt Cannabis Mag ..read more

The former bookkeeper accused of embezzling more than $400,000 from the Humboldt County Fair Association has pleaded guilty to five federal counts of wire fraud. Tafarella, 49, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or both for each count when she’s sentenced at a hearing scheduled for April 30 at the federal courthouse in San Francisco. After multiple delays in holding a change of plea hearing, Tafarella formally applied to enter pleas of guilty in the case Dec. 18, with the application signed by federal Judge Charles R. Breyer the same day. T ..read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in response to Avian Influenza, also known as “Bird Flu,” being detected in dairy cows in Southern California. This comes after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ordered a new national milk testing regimen to better monitor the outbreak at the beginning of the month. “This a step in the right direction … It can help assist with those herds that that were affected,” says Zach Cahill, a North Coast representative for the Western United Dairies trade association, who runs a certified organic dairy in Ferndale, of the emergency ..read more

North Coast Congressmember Jared Huffman has been named the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee after a weeks-long campaign for the post. “It is the honor of my lifetime to win this election and be named ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee,” Huffman said in a press release of his new role as Democratic leader of the committee. “My entire career has been centered around natural resources – from my time as an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council to the past 12 years serving on this committee.” In the release, Huffman noted his district gives him ..read more

In the runup to the November election, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Ferndale violated federal rules prohibiting nonprofit entities from engaging in electioneering activities in favor or opposition to any candidate for public office, a pair of experts tell The Journal. St. Mark’s pastor Tyrel Bramwell’s election-related conduct began raising questions among some Ferndale residents in October, when he put up a Trump campaign sign on the lawn outside his personal residence, which is owned by the church, posted a video to his YouTube channel urging people not to vote for a Ferndale City Council ..read more