NEWS ARTICLE ARCHIVE — in chronological order, with pagination below
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Former presidential candidate”s appearance prompts follow-up meeting
To this reporter, David Cobb”s July 16 appearance at Fort Bragg Town Hall looked like a campaign stop and an exciting potential news lead. Cobb was the Green Party”s presidential candidate in 2008 and now lives in Humboldt County. He had moved to a hot spot of Progressive politics, where a Green could actually win…
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Fishing closures unclear MLPAI”s final month
After more than 40 hours of meetings in just a week”s time, the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative (MLPAI) process in Fort Bragg ended last Friday without producing the expected map of proposed closed areas off the Mendocino Coast. That frustrated the two dozen members of the Regional Stakeholders Group (RSG) on hand, several of…
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Native Americans protest MLPAI
Facebook was key to linking Native Americans who marched through Fort Bragg and took over the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative”s Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting on July 21. “I don”t have a computer, but I know that a lot of people started talking about it and linking on Facebook and it really took off,”…
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Native Americans protest MLPA
Staff Writer Editor”s Note: The July 29 edition will carry an update on the two-day hearing. A group of six young Yurok Native American men were carrying homemade signs on Main Street, when they spotted the camera and gave thumbs up and smiles as they back slapped and shoved to get in whatever photo was…
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Native Americans protest MLPA
Staff Writer Editor”s Note: The July 29 edition will carry an update on the two-day hearing. A group of six young Yurok Native American men were carrying homemade signs on Main Street, when they spotted the camera and gave thumbs up and smiles as they back slapped and shoved to get in whatever photo was…
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Transition Towns backers aim for autonomy
In the London suburb of Brixton, Euros, pounds sterling or a new local currency called the Brixton pound will all suffice at many local businesses. That new local legal tender emerged last year from Brixton”s participation in Transition Towns, a global movement now involving 475 communities that was introduced to a full house at Fort…
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Transition Towns backers aim for autonomy
In the London suburb of Brixton, Euros, pounds sterling or a new local currency called the Brixton pound will all suffice at many local businesses. That new local legal tender emerged last year from Brixton”s participation in Transition Towns, a global movement now involving 475 communities that was introduced to a full house at Fort…
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Investigation: California”s unenforced openness laws are no match for some modern privatization efforts like MLPAI
Go too fast on a state highway and a California Highway Patrol officer is tasked with giving you a speeding ticket. Fail to pay your state taxes and the Franchise Tax Board will eventually find you, with even more painful results. But violate California”s two landmark laws that define how government meetings must be conducted…
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Investigation: California”s unenforced openness laws are no match for some modern privatization efforts like MLPAI
Go too fast on a state highway and a California Highway Patrol officer is tasked with giving you a speeding ticket. Fail to pay your state taxes and the Franchise Tax Board will eventually find you, with even more painful results. But violate California”s two landmark laws that define how government meetings must be conducted…
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Rising ocean acidity a threat to marine life
Rising acidity of ocean waters will wipe out the world”s coral reefs and could devastate crab, scallops and other creatures that build shells from calcium compounds in ocean waters, a top professor told a Fort Bragg audience last Friday. San Francisco State Professor Jonathon Stillman presented figures that showed the pH balance of ocean waters…
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Rising ocean acidity a threat to marine life
Rising acidity of ocean waters will wipe out the world”s coral reefs and could devastate crab, scallops and other creatures that build shells from calcium compounds in ocean waters, a top professor told a Fort Bragg audience last Friday. San Francisco State Professor Jonathon Stillman presented figures that showed the pH balance of ocean waters…
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Rising ocean acidity a threat to marine life
Rising acidity of ocean waters will wipe out the world”s coral reefs and could devastate crab, scallops and other creatures that build shells from calcium compounds in ocean waters, a top professor told a Fort Bragg audience last Friday. San Francisco State Professor Jonathon Stillman presented figures that showed the pH balance of ocean waters…
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MLPAI”s division of local group protested
Controversy continues over the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative”s staff dividing the Regional Stakeholders Group in half, apparently despite objections of a majority of group members. Jim Burns, a Noyo Harbor Commissioner, resigned the RSG last week, citing the strong-handed control and division of the group as one reason. The cities of Point Arena and…
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Million people tell Obama no” whale hunting
Whales can still inspire people to action like no other issue, Casson Trenor of Greenpeace told a packed house at Town Hall on Sunday. More than one million people have contacted the Obama administration to dissuade U.S. cooperation with an International Whaling Commission (IWC) effort to allow legal whaling to resume, Trenor said. While encouraging…
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Fort Bragg schools cut six
The Fort Bragg Unified School District last Thursday voted to layoff six people in an effort to bridge a $500,000 budget deficit. The governor”s May Revise budget came out the next day, which Superintendent Don Armstrong said didn”t contain any pleasant surprises for the district. The schools laid off two office assistants, who each work…
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MLPAI reverses photography ban
The Marine Life Protection Act Initiative has reversed its ban on photography and filming at work sessions, following news coverage that called the legality of that ban into question. After the April 21 arrest of David Gurney of Fort Bragg over photo and public speaking bans, the Sacramento Bee, KZYX Radio, Independent Coast Observer and…
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Attorneys say MLPAI public meeting bans are illegal
The Marine Life Protection Act Initiative (MLPAI) has violated California law by banning filming and photography at meetings and by forbidding any public input at a meeting last week, two top public access attorneys say. The pre-stated ban on public comment at an April 21 Regional Stakeholders Group meeting led to the arrest of Fort…
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Noyo Food Forest”s Earth Day growing faster than garden weeds
In four years, Noyo Food Forest”s Earth Day has gone from a garden party to one of the busiest events on the festival-rich Mendocino Coast. Noyo Food Forest Executive Director Susan Lightfoot remembers the blessing circle and digging party of 2007, attended by about 50 people. That increased to 750 people in 2008, 1,500 in…
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Sportfishing opens, early salmon arrivals delight locals
Valerie Seal treated herself to a salmon fishing outing on her day off, April 16, which might not seem like headline news at first. One twist in this tale is that Seal”s day job is working as the deckhand on the fishing boat the Telestar. Another is she”s the only woman in a business where…
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Sportfishing opens, early salmon arrivals delight locals
Valerie Seal treated herself to a salmon fishing outing on her day off, April 16, which might not seem like headline news at first. One twist in this tale is that Seal”s day job is working as the deckhand on the fishing boat the Telestar. Another is she”s the only woman in a business where…
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