Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Speaker A: Good evening and welcome to the local news. Today is Friday, January 23rd and I'm Nat Cardos reporting for KMUD. In tonight's news, Fortuna Council asked to close loopholes in rent control Ordinance Pesquenta Mad River Brewing, Canyon of Dreams Double IPA named in Food and Beverage magazine and Ray Hay with the sports report. So stay tuned. Those stories and more coming up.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Redwood Community Radio acknowledges that its transmitter sites are located on the unceded territory.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Of the Sinkyon, Wailaki, Wiat, Wilkut and Kato people.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: We honor ancestors past, present and emerging and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual and.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: Physical connection these tribes have to this region.
Fortuna is in the process of developing a mobile home park rent control ordinance and the City Council has fielded some initial feedback. Daniel Mintz reports.
[00:01:11] Speaker C: As an initial public comment period for a draft mobile home park rent control ordinance closes, residents of a Fortuna mobile home park said loopholes need to be closed and caps on rent increases should be tightened.
The Fortuna City Council got feedback on the draft ordinance at its Jan. 20 meeting.
The city's move toward mobile home rent control is spurred by residents of the Royal Crest Mobile Home park in Fortuna. The park's tenants have described their rent increases as unfair and beyond the annual inflation rate.
The draft ordinance caps increases to match the state's annual inflation rate, but exceptions are allowed for fair return on investment if park owners make capital improvements.
A Royal Crest resident said these so called pass through expenses could be an avenue to rent hikes.
[00:02:10] Speaker D: Too often these increases are just baked into park residents monthly invoices and the park owners bank on the park residents to forget about those increases forever pain on that increase.
So not only does the park owner recoup those costs, they also benefit from the improvements when the park is sold and they continue to collect those increases year over year even after they've recouped their costs.
So in the draft RSO instead of allowing this, we feel some measures to make it a stronger RSO is A park owner should have to get the approval of 75% of park owners prior to submission of a petition for any pass through expenses which whether capital or not, if the petition is passed, the process should include open books, ensuring appropriate expenditures, ensuring they are not overcharging and or employing personal connections and the pass through charge should go away when the project is completed and the park owners have recouped those expenses.
So essentially we're saying please don't shoot yourselves in the foot by allowing gaping loopholes.
[00:03:11] Speaker C: Another concern that mobile home park owners might raise Lot rents upon sales of mobile homes was described by Royal Crest resident Jane Lutz.
[00:03:22] Speaker E: The current draft of the rent stabilization ordinance does not have anything in it that protects park residents from the park owner increasing the lot rent when a home is sold or transferred.
The problem with that is when a house is sold, the park owner can raise the rent for the lot in unlimited amounts, which makes it unaffordable, undermining the resale value of the home.
The rule of thumb in the industry is that for every $100 the rent increases, the value of the home decreases by $10,000.
The goal of an RSO is to stabilize affordability.
Part of that is recognizing that if a potential buyer can go 3 miles north where the Humboldt County RSO applies and purchase the same home layout with a significantly cheaper lot rent, why wouldn't they?
[00:04:29] Speaker C: The process for administrating fair return on investment applications was also questioned. The ordinance says a hearing officer designated by the City manager will make a recommendation to the City Council.
A Royal Crest resident said the decision should be made by a more independent party.
[00:04:49] Speaker E: If the City Council can second guess or undermine a final decision, this means that the process is highly subject possible corruption. It also will potentially draw the process out for months.
We are requesting the RSO alteration. Assign all fair return petitions to Administrative Law Judge hearing Officer from California Office of Administrative Hearings where their decision was final determination in the matter and do not allow the City Council to make the final decision.
My final thing is I worked for 50 years and every time a corporation came in and took us over, I lost my pension because they sold out at nine, nine and a half years.
So now at the age of 73, I'm back to working because of another corporation coming in and jacking up the rents.
It's not fair, it's not right.
[00:05:53] Speaker C: Other Royal Crest residents said capping annual rent increases at the rate of inflation could be too costly to tenants in years of high inflation and there should be a process to prevent park owners from reducing services in retaliation for rent increase limits.
A draft of the proposed ordinance is posted on the city's website and preliminary public comment on it will be taken until January 30.
The comments will shape the draft, which will then go to the council for more comment and a final decision.
For KMUD News, this is Daniel Mentz.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: On January 21, tribally owned Piskento Mad River Brewing announced that their Canyon of Dreams Double India Pale Ale earned a spot in Food and Beverage magazine's winners list for 2025. Food and beverage Magazine is An online magazine resource for the food and beverage industry that's been publishing for over 20 years. The double IPA was named in their recent December issue and it isn't the first award that their Canyon of Dreams Double ipa has won. Two years ago it was recognized in the 2023 United States Beer Tasting Championship and was named the best Imperial IPA in California. KMUN News spoke with Linda Cooley, General Manager of Piskenta Mad River Brewing, for more information about this recent win.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: This is the second time that we've made this list. The last one was Maize Goddess which we created our own style indigenous ale and this one was Canyon of Dreams and it's a really big deal. Food and Beverage magazine really sets the trend for food and wine all over the world and it's a really big nod to us and the craft and the time that we put in it to let us know that we're on that level and that we're seeing and that professional light.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Piskento Mad River Brewing is a tribally owned and woman led craft brewery located in Blue Lake, Humboldt and will be celebrating their 37th anniversary this year. The brewery is recognized internationally for award winning ales like their flagship Steelhead Extra Pale Ale and their Jamaica Red Ale.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Prior to being Placekenta Mad River Brewery, it was Mad River Brewery and we're in 36 years and in the last six years we've become one of the first tribal breweries in history and taking a heritage brand and taking it to the next level. Mad River's been a Humboldt brand for its entire life and really focused on that quality core classic craft beer.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: The brewery is also a green brewery, meaning that it is zero waste and focuses on sustainable brewing practices. These practices expand from the brewing floor to their tap rooms where they minimize their waste through compostable containers and to go cups.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: Yeah, right now we are one of the grain breweries with zero waste. All of our spent grain and also our waste squid itself goes out to farmers. We have a few that come and pick it up. We are always trying to look at packaging to see what we could do there to make it more green. We're also looking at ingredients from smaller farmers that do the same thing, whether it's regenerative growth or another tribe just continuously looking to do that and then also our sustainable practices in our taproom.
[00:09:03] Speaker A: The Canyon of Dreams Double IPA is part of their California State park series and draws inspiration from Fern Canyon. The California State park series also consists of their historic State Park India Pale Ale and was started when the California State Parks reached out and proposed the idea to the brewery.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: So it really began when California State Parks was one of the first to have a relationship with tribe and co share parkland that was indigenous technically and to tell the real story and really focused. Honestly, the inspiration was Fern Canyon. When you walk in there, it feels like a dream and it feels like it's just not real. And that's how it is with the partnership with the California State Parks and Tribe. When you just think your whole life that that relationship is never going to happen and not giving up on your dreams and what believing in it. And it's the same way with any business or brewery right now. You have to be a dreamer and just not stop believing in it. Tribes have relationships with California State Parks and it really started in Northern California with our district up here and the conversation of getting the word out of what we were doing and really talking about it and bringing attention to it in California State Parks asked us if we wanted to do something like this that we could.
And of course we said yes because we're excited. Even outside of our tribal affiliation, everyone at Mad river is really dedicated to our environment and telling that story. And so we started thinking about what this would look like and making sure that each product tells a story of us working together and looking into the future.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: This is the second time that Piskenta Mad River Brewing has made the Food and Beverage editors list. The last time it happened it was for their Maize Goddess Ale Peskenta. Mad River Brewing has won two awards from the United States Beer Tasting Championship as well as an award from the World's Beer Cup. For more information on the brewery, the website is madriverbrewing.com Some wins this week for Arcata and Del Norte high schools in basketball as well as Ferndale Wildcats ending their losing streak. Here's Ray Hamill with the sports report.
[00:11:13] Speaker F: The Arcata Tigers took a big step towards defending their Big Five championship in girls basketball this week as we reached the halfway point of conference play. Hello and welcome to this week's KMUD News Sports Report. I'm Ray hamell with humboldt sports.com we'll have more on the Tigers big week in just a moment as we break down all of the big local sports stories of the week, including all the latest high school and college basketball news. Why it's been a big winter on the basketball courts for two Mendocino county schools, a look ahead to the local baseball season opener and how one HDNL school honored a local legend this week.
But first up, it was a good week for the Arcata High girls basketball team. The Tigers welcomed the Eureka Loggers to Arcata for a pivotal Big Five showdown on Wednesday night and got the better of their rivals with a dominating 6950 win. With the victory, head coach Charlie Espinosa and his players closed out the first half of conference play 40 and they have dominated all four of their big five opponents so far, winning their games by an average of more than 25 points. The Loggers came into Wednesday's game tied for the conference league, but the loss dropped them to 3:1. Also on Wednesday night, the Del Norte girls got an important win at Fortuna, defeating the Huskies 4837 and improving to 22 in conference. The victory gives the warriors sole possession of third place in the Big 5 standings and keeps them on track to secure a place in next month's HDNL postseason Dick Nicolai Tournament. Despite three losses over the first half of conference play, the Huskies remain in the chase for a place in the Nikolai tournament and are 13 in the Big the McKinleyville Panthers, who had a midweek buy in conference play, are.04 in the Big 5. The second half of the Big 5 schedule continues on Friday night when Del Norte travels to Arcata and eureka plays at McKinleyville in Little Four girls action. Meanwhile, the St. Bernard's Crusaders continued to roll with a dominating 739 win over South Fork last weekend as they improved to 20 in conference play. Also in the Little Four, the Ferndale Wildcats ended a three game losing streak with a 5735 win hoopa, leaving both schools one on one in conference one win ahead of the 02 South Fork Cubs. Little Four action continues on Friday night with St. Bernards traveling to Hoopa and Ferndale playing at South Fork in local non conference action this week. The St. Bernard's girls hosted Arcata in a thrilling showdown on Saturday night in what has become the best girls basketball rivalry on the north coast over the past few years. The top two teams in the area served up a high scoring classic with the tigers overcoming a nine point deficit in the fourth quarter on the way to a 7674 win. The victory ended a four game losing streak to the Crusaders dating back to February of 2023, including heartbreaking defeats in the all local Division 4 NorCal championship game at College of the Redwoods two years ago as well as a narrow loss to SB in last year's Dick Nicolai Tournament championship game. The Crusaders, who bounced back with a 5941 win at McKinleyville on Tuesday, have won seven of their last eight games and are now 145 overall, while the Arcata girls have won six straight and are now 123 on the season.
In local boys basketball, meanwhile, the Arcada Tigers kept their playoff hopes alive with a much needed 6541 win at Eureka in Big 5 action on Tuesday night. Also on Tuesday, the Del Norte boys defeated Fortuna 6744 in Crescent City. Big five leaders the McKillyville Panthers had a buy in conference play on Tuesday after closing out the first half of their Big Five schedule with a dominating 6651 win over Arcata late last week. With the second half of conference play beginning late this week, The Panthers are 40 in the Big 5, followed by Del Norte, Eureka and Arcata who were all 22 and tied for second. After Tuesday's games, Fortuna is winless in conference at 04 in the Little form. Meanwhile, it looks as if no one can stop the red hot St. Bernard's Crusaders. Late last week the SB boys defeated South Fork 7041 to a 20 in conference. The Crusaders, who also had big non conference wins over del Norte and St. Vincent de Paul over the weekend, have won 15 straight games to go to 171 on the season and have not suffered defeat since December 6th. Also in the Little Four late last week, Ferndale got the better of Hoopa 6559 to leave both schools one on one in conference.
In Mendocino county, the Laytonville and Anderson Valley girls teams are enjoying good seasons. The two schools are tied for the conference lead in the Central League 2 with identical 61 records. The Laytonville girls are 123 overall and ranked an impressive number 62 out of 153 programs in the north coast section while Anderson Valley is 103 and ranked number 83 in local college basketball. It was a disappointing weekend for the Cal Poly Humboldt women's team. Late last week the Jacks were tied for the California Collegiate Athletic association lead with an 80 record, but back to back losses to Chico State on Thursday and Saturday dropped them to third in the standings, trailing Chico and Cal Poly Pomona. The Humboldt men also played back to back games against Chico and swept their biggest conference rivals to remain among the conference leaders. The Jacks are now 73 in conference play and third in the standings, trailing unbeaten conference leaders Cal State, East Bay and second placed Dominguez Hills. The Jacks also are 9 and 7 overall.
It was also a good weekend for both College of the redwoods teams. The CR men defeated Siskiyous 70:57 to go to 30 in the Golden Valley Conference, while the CR women got the better of the Eagles to go to 2:1 in conference play.
Switching gears Believe it or not, the local baseball season gets underway this weekend. College of the Redwoods and Mendocino College will get the new season started with a three game series in Ukiah, including a double header of action on Saturday with game one set for 11am and rounding out another busy week in local sports, Saint Bernards honored a former player and coach before the school's boys basketball game against Del Norte on Saturday.
The Crusaders named their new court coach Robbie Court, after Bob Robertson, a longtime Saint Bernards coach and booster who also enjoyed a successful run as coach of the Arcata boys team, which included a trip to the NORCAL championship game in 1997. And that's this week's KMUD News Sports Report. Until next time, I'm Ray hamill with humboldt sports.com.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: Turning to Mendocino Due to a recent change in California law, superior courts will be assuming responsibility for hearing juvenile infraction cases. We spoke with the court executive officer for Mendocino County Courts for more information on this shift.
Starting February 1st, Mendocino Superior Court will begin to process juvenile traffic and non traffic infractions. Typically this work is done by the probation department's juvenile division, but a change in state law now requires the court to take on the workload. This change doesn't only affect Mendocino courts, but courts all over California. K1 News spoke with Kim Turner, court Executive officer for Mendocino County Superior Court, for more information.
[00:18:47] Speaker G: Yes, so for many, many years and this is all over California, juvenile probation departments have handled juvenile infractions. So these would be for traffic matters like moving violations and non traffic matters like, you know, smoking or petty theft or whatever it may be anything written as an infraction. The juvenile probation departments over the years have largely handled those cases and over time some of the counties have made arrangements for juvenile probation transfer that work to the court. In Mendocino county that did not happen. But then there was a change in the law that actually requires that the courts take on the adjudicative function for, you know, juvenile infraction cases. So effective this February 1st, we will be taking that over from the juvenile probation department.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: When juveniles are cited for infraction violations, they receive a notice from the court scheduling them for a hearing in front of the court's presiding Juvenile Judge, Carly Dolan. These hearings are mandatory and require a parent or legal guardian to accompany the minor and can be attended over zoom. This shift in responsibility doesn't affect the workload of the court as they've been given proper time to prepare in advance. Here's Turner with more.
[00:19:57] Speaker G: It doesn't really affect it very much. We looked at the last several years of data from the juvenile probation department. They're hearing 250 to 300 juvenile infraction cases a year. So the workload is pretty minimal. It's five or six cases a week over 52 weeks. And so when we tried to put this program together, we're actually going to be calendaring these juvenile cases once a week on Monday afternoons at 3:30 so that the juveniles don't have to miss any school time or whatever. And we're going to calendar five or six cases a week, and that should take care of the entire volume of the infractions.
So we've been communicating with the law enforcement agencies because now when they write citations in the field, whether it's a traffic stop or some other kind of infraction citation, they will be citing the juvenile to appear at the court and won't give them a promise to appear date. They will simply tell them that the court will be in touch and then the law enforcement agencies will give us those citations.
And we will determine what day they're going to be on calendar and send a notice to the juvenile and the juvenile's parents or guardian. And then the parents and guardian and or guardian have to attend with the juvenile. The juvenile has to come with an adult to the hearing, but they can't appear remotely. They can appear via zoom, Especially in Mendocino county where public transportation is pretty, you know, minimal and the county is large and rural. Having a zoom option is, I think, really important to make sure the juveniles and their parents can attend these hearings.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: If juveniles plead guilty or no contest on traffic infractions, the court refers juveniles to either the Start Smart program or traffic violator school. The court partners with the California Highway Patrol for their Start Smart program, which is a traffic safety program taught by a CHP officer. If juveniles successfully complete the traffic violator school, the violation will not appear on the juvenile's driving record. If the infraction is not traffic related, the court will direct the juvenile to community service, work or other orders that the court deems would help the juvenile understand the consequences of breaking the law.
[00:21:58] Speaker G: You know, I want to stress that if they agree to go to traffic violator school and complete that, they can have that conviction suppressed on their driving record, which is very important for juveniles, because, as you know, they're in a higher, you know, insurance premium bracket and all the rest of it. So, you know, traffic violator school is one of the things that we try to encourage. And also this program called Start Smart, which is offered by the California Highway Patrol, they once a month have a Start Smart program that the juveniles can attend to. Just learn, you know, better driving habits, rules of the road, you know, that kind of thing, you know, to just try and reinforce really good conduct when driving a car.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: The Mendocino Superior Court will offer alternatives to paying the fine associated with the violation if the parent or juvenile has a financial hardship. For more information about this shift, the website is Mendocino Courts Cat in National Native News Antonio Gonzalez reads today's headlines.
[00:22:57] Speaker H: This is NATIONAL Native News. I'm Antonia Gonzalez. A bipartisan bill signed into law last year is now giving Native Americans residing in Arizona the option to update their state issued identification to show their tribal affiliation. As KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrazzio reports, it comes at a time when indigenous peoples are being swept up in immigration raids, including Peter Yazzie, a Navajo man recently detained by ICE agents in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
[00:23:27] Speaker I: This new marker is akin to getting an organ donor or veteran insignia on any form of id, including a driver's license. To do so, applicants need to prove that they're enrolled in a tribe by submitting a CIB, or Certificate of Indian Blood. And so far, the Arizona Department of Transportation has gotten more than than 1600 requests for the designation. That idea of streamlining legal documents came from Navajo Democratic State Representative Myron Sosi.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: Instead of having to dig out all your cards to show that you are.
[00:24:01] Speaker I: Native American and had nothing to do.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: With ice, that wasn't the purpose. But I'm hearing from constituents saying I feel safer now.
[00:24:10] Speaker I: And it's something. Thomas Cody, executive director of the Navajo Nation's Division for Child and Family Services, is encouraging his Dinette urban relatives to.
[00:24:20] Speaker F: Seek out it's unfortunate that we have to have on our ID that we're Native Americans. We shouldn't. But I'm glad that the state of Arizona, Governor Hobbs, is taking an extra step.
[00:24:31] Speaker I: His deputy director, Solansta Jim, thinks this service is much needed, not just for Navajos living in the Grand Canyon state.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: Because we are the largest Native American tribe, you'll find a Navajo tribal member anywhere in the United States.
[00:24:49] Speaker I: That's why Sosi is working with neighboring Utah and New Mexico state lawmakers to adopt his legislation, aiming to help cover more of Indian country, including the rest of his sprawling 27,000 square mile reservation. For National Native News I'm Gabriel Pietrazio.
[00:25:07] Speaker H: The federal government is reviewing the business program that benefits Alaska Native corporations and tribes. In a video posted on X last week, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegsa said his department will review the eight Business Development Program. That program falls under the Small Business Administration and supports businesses owned by socially disadvantaged individuals or tribes. Hegsa said in the video that the 8 program promotes diversity, equity and inclusion framework and race based contracting. In the program, the federal government sets aside contracting opportunities for disadvantaged small businesses. Alaska Native corporations rely heavily on federal contracts often received through aa. Data from the Federal Reserve bank of Minneapolis shows that it's their primary source of revenue and most of those contracts come from the US Department of Defense. Quentin Carroll is executive director of the Native American Contractors association and originally from Utqiavik.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: Native participation in the SBA8 program is not a DEI initiative.
[00:26:06] Speaker H: Carol says the program fulfills long standing federal trust and treaty obligations to tribes, Alaska Native corporations and Native Hawaiian organizations. Hegseth ordered a line by line review of sole source eight contracts that are more than $20 million. He said in the social media video that the department will get rid of contracts that don't make the country's military more lethal. Hexa said the department will make sure that businesses getting a contract are the ones actually doing the work. He claimed that often small businesses receive the contract, take a fee and pass it to a giant consulting firm. However, Carroll says Native federal contractors have been partners of the Defense Department. He added that Native contractors also support the elimination of fraud and waste within the program.
I'm Antonia Gonzalez.
[00:26:57] Speaker B: Native voice one, the.
[00:26:59] Speaker F: Native american radio network.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: That's all for tonight's broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our engineer Biana Federico, and thanks to our reporters Daniel Mintz, Ray Hamel and Antonio Gonzalez. KMUD News is online and you can find us on kmud.org and now streaming on most podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, where you can download our stories and newscasts for offline listening during your rural commutes. You can also follow us on social media. If you have questions or suggestions, you can give us a call at 707-923-2605 or send an email to newsmud.org Redwood Community Radio, Inc. Is funded by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at pressforward.
Reporting for kmud, I'm Nat Cardos.
