Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign Good evening and welcome to the local news. Today is Tuesday, February 4th. I'm Lauren Schmidt reporting for KMUD. In tonight's news, winter weather advisory and flood watch lifted healthcare forum highlights systemic faults and mushroom hunter recounts frightening night in Caspar Woods. Stay tuned. News on those stories and more coming right up the north coast saw winter weather warnings, advisories and flood watches this afternoon. However, all have since expired. As of news time. Zahira Villis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Eureka shared this update for our listeners.
[00:01:15] Right now the heaviest rainfall already moved away of the area. So any flood or water over the roads and over the area is receding. The river flow warning that was out for the Eel River Fern Bridge is already canceled. The river there, the water is receding as well. It's below the flow stage right now. We are expecting this continued lowering with showers moving through the area this evening and continuing overnight.
[00:01:52] For late this evening and overnight it will be a colder temperature over the area. So this will enhance or lower the snow level across the area and this will bring the chance for a small hail especially for areas north of Arcata. For the coastal areas and for the interior, Snow down to 1000ft to 1500ft possible. So yeah, we continue we are expecting to continue to see these rain and snow showers overnight continuing tomorrow across the area. So for Wednesday it's possible will be a warming and the snow level rise to 2,000ft by Wednesday afternoon. We're expecting 3 to 6 inches of snow over the locally higher or locally higher amounts in the higher elevations as well. So right now there's no advisory over Humboldt area at this moment.
[00:03:03] For an up to the minute weather forecast you can visit weather.gove as of news time, all major highways in Humboldt county have reopened including Highway 36 and Highway 299. However, in Mendocino County, Highway 1 remains fully closed north of Point arena from Lighthouse Road to the Garcia river bridge. Route 128 is fully closed from the Route 1 junction to just west of Navarro.
[00:03:37] Route 175 is fully closed in Hopland from the Highway 101 junction to McDowell street and Route 271 in northern Mendocino is fully closed Near Big Bend Lodge. There is no estimated time of reopening. Motorists are encouraged to check conditions before traveling. On the Caltrans website. The that's quickmap dot dot dot ca dot gov you can also follow Caltrans District 1 on social media.
[00:04:13] Humboldt County Healthcare and the challenges it faces were explored In a forum hosted by a County supervisor, KMUD's Daniel Mintz reports. A forum on attracting and keeping medical professionals in Humboldt county featured a panel whose members framed local healthcare struggles in the context of greater systemic failure.
[00:04:37] The nation's approach to healthcare figured prominently in a January 27 forum organized and hosted by 4th District County Supervisor Natalie Arroyo. Audience attendance was on an RSVP basis, but the forum was live streamed. It offered perspectives on the status of county health care from eight hospital and medical facility managers.
[00:05:01] Posing questions from audience members, Arroyo asked the panelists what the points of pain are in providing local health care. A systemic malaise was described. Matthew Rees, CEO of the Southern Humboldt Community Health Care District, highlighted reimbursement, inadequacy, Medicare, medi Cal financing and payment structures and other things are kind of ridiculous. When a medi cal person comes in my ER, I get about 15% of my cost.
[00:05:38] That's my cost. That's not of my charges. I get 15% of my cost. And I've got a state report that I file, a 951 that I file with the state every year. So the state's well aware that they're paying me 15% of my costs. They haven't given hospitals an increase in over 13 years and they expect us to meet the seismic requirements. They expect us to meet the new minimum wage for health care workers, $25 an hour. They expect all these things to just happen magically without any reimbursement to us.
[00:06:14] And so that's a real struggle that we have. Noting the struggles of patients, County Health Officer Dr. Candy Stockton said frustration is so understandable because as a person receiving health care, it sucks sometimes to be stuck within the system that we're in. Drawing applause, she said, there are, quote, no easy answers to this. But I would say that the pain point really fundamentally is that we won't treat health care like it's a human right in this country, in spite of the fact that that's what we all want for ourselves and our community and our families.
[00:06:50] Seth Witmer, CEO of Redwoods Rural Health center, talked about the challenges and the rewards of healthcare work. It's just that healthcare is incredibly complex. It's not easy and it's hard to communicate that to people. And when people are frustrated with it, it's like, look, this is healthcare working exactly as we've designed it to be.
[00:07:16] And that's the unfortunate story and none of us can really fix that. And that's the other unfortunate bit of the story, right? But we, we all love what we do, you know, I love what I do. It is so much fun because I love helping people and I love seeing the positive change that I am able to affect, which is the culture. But can I really change healthcare?
[00:07:45] Not really. I can't change the payment system, right. I can't change how it's structured throughout the country, but I can make a small positive impact. Tori Starr, CEO of Open Door Community Health Centers, said due to the financial realities, quote, we get forced to actually do things that may not necessarily be in the best interest of delivering care. And he added, quote, we have a byzantine system of reimbursement in America and that is not conducive to delivering good care. But later in the forum, the panelists expressed positive takes on Humboldt County's health care and its future. While appreciative of what she described as the positive spin, Arroyo tempered it. Hopefully it's uplifting to people to hear that you're all working together and there's a regional approach and there's some of these collaboration strategies. And I also want to acknowledge, I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that a lot of people are tuning in today, are going to watch this footage or are here today because they've had a lot of difficulty and you all have had a lot of difficulty in interviewing each of you. I've heard the part that's less rosy and even sounded at times sort of like desperate to get your head above water. So I don't want to be cavalier about that, I guess. I don't think we are. I appreciate that we're trying to close on a high note and just want to kind of acknowledge to all of you and to the community that we're hearing a lot of serious challenges for people in our community where they're just not getting what they need. Arroyo said she's, quote, committed to continuing the conversation. And another forum is planned for KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz.
[00:09:26] February is Black Liberation Month, a preferred term over Black History Month to emphasize the ongoing struggle for black freedom, justice and self determination, rather than solely reflecting on past achievements.
[00:09:42] While Black History Month highlights historical figures and milestones, Black Liberation Month centers present day activism, systemic change, and the continuous fight against oppression. Throughout this month, Cayman News will highlight community members making a positive impact in our region. And tonight we hear from the Eureka Chapter of the naacp.
[00:10:08] My name is Sharon Blank. I am the first vice president of the Eureka naacp. I've also been a community member here in Humboldt for nine years. The NAACP Is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United states. Founded in 1909, its mission is to ensure political, educational, social and economic equality for all people and to eliminate race based discrimination. The NAACP worked through advocacy, Legal action, Community engagement and policy initiatives to promote civil rights and social justice. The local unit of the Eureka NAACP was established in 1952 here in Humboldt. The national NAACP was actually established by a group of people with all kinds of identities. There were Jewish people, there were black people, There were white people, there were Christians that all came together around 1909. It was established as a response to the lynchings that were happening in our country Commonly at the time.
[00:11:22] With over 2,200 branches across the United States in all 50 states. Local NAACP chapters address civil rights issues within their communities. And the group says it welcomes anyone who supports civil rights. One of the things that I need to say, because people regularly ask me, Is that people who do not identify as black can also be part of the naacp. And anyone can join and anyone can bring their skills to the whole group. To help support the civil rights of citizens and community members in the country, and particularly here in Humboldt, the Eureka chapter of the NAACP has several active programs supporting the community. One of the most impactful is their legal redress committee, which provides direct assistance to community members by addressing complaints, Offering advocacy and connecting individuals with legal resources. The local chapter runs Educators for equity, an online group for Humboldt county educators dedicated to fostering equity in education.
[00:12:37] The chapter also partners with local groups for community celebrations like black liberation month. What people can do during this month that would be helpful and uplifting and starting with really basic things like learning that black history month started as black history day, Then black history week and then Black History month, and then now is Black Liberation month and what all those different things mean. I also think focusing locally is really important. Finding out who the black people are that are leaders throughout Humboldt county In different industries and different areas. Lift up black community members within your own organizations and get to know more people. People that identify as black in this community and that are already doing all kinds of work in this community and have been.
[00:13:30] With the recent change in federal leadership, Many perceive recent executive orders as a rollback of civil rights protections. This has weighed heavily on many leaders, Particularly in the bipoc community. Addressing those concerns, the NAACP vice president stated the following. I think that, and I'm speaking for myself here, I think that it was really clear that we were going to be where we are right now. I think anyone who is surprised about where we are right now, you know, hasn't really been paying attention or is maybe just simply new to these conversations and ideas. And we all start where we are. So start where you are. Don't stay there. The things I do, the places I'm in, the partnerships I have, and the work that I do doesn't change regardless of who's in the presidency. Identifying one's own privilege and power and places of influence and then stepping into those places and doing good work is what all of us can do. It's important to partner with other individuals and organizations because all this work should be done in groups.
[00:14:46] None of this work should be done alone, in isolation.
[00:14:49] And it's an opportunity to make stronger the relationships in the organizations that already exist. We in Humboldt county seem to really lean into creating new things, new organizations, new structures. And there are existing organizations and structures and individuals that have been doing this work. Now it's an opportunity to join them with our time, with our resources, with learning, support what already exists, because there are people that have been doing this work a very long time.
[00:15:24] In closing, she shares how the broader community can honor Black Liberation Month. Go to celebrations.
[00:15:33] You know, again, I think Black Humboldt is one of our more visible groups in the community, as well as hc Black Music and Arts association and Eureka naacp. Join those groups if you can, donate, if you can, you know, make yourself available for meetings if that's something that you can do. Also, there's all these events and celebrations throughout the year that need BOMB volunteers. Volunteer for that, join there, find what already exists and join those groups. I think remembering that we're supposed to do all this work together in groups, it's not for any one person to carry the weight of any situation. Taking care of yourself, deciding what that looks like, allowing yourself to experience joy even when things are really hard, and joy challenging, celebrating each other and stepping forward into your own power and stepping into those places where we have privilege and make a difference in the places that you can. That's all any of us are being asked to do here. And it's a tremendous. It's a tremendous thing.
[00:16:50] Again, that was Sharon Blank, the first vice president of the Eureka chapter of the NAACP, speaking to KDED News for our Black Liberation Month series. Stay tuned throughout February to hear from other black leaders in our community.
[00:17:10] Taxpayers Against Genocide has filed a lawsuit against two Northern California Congress members, including North Coast Representative Jared Huffman, over their votes to continue US funding In Israel, despite the war's high civilian casualty rate. In Gaza, KMUD's Kelly Lincoln dives deep into the lawsuit and looks at Congressman Huffman's response, which he shared on KeyTV's headline Humboldt with James Falk in this report.
[00:17:44] On December 19, a group calling themselves Taxpayers Against Genocide, comprised of Taxpayers from 10 Northern California counties in the congressional districts of Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson, filed a class action lawsuit against the Congress members because, according to their claim, Huffman and Thompson have violated federal and international laws which has caused them as taxpayers to become complicit in a genocide. The suit was filed yesterday, Thursday, December 19th, in the United States District Court, the San Francisco Division. Afterwards, the plaintiffs held a press conference outside the courthouse. One of the organizers expressed the energy of the people behind this action. Welcome everybody. It's been amazing to get to this spot. It's been fast, it's been exciting, and we're here and we're not going away. And this is going to spread all over 10 counties joined together.
[00:18:44] 10 counties.
[00:18:46] Dean Eugene Royer is the lead attorney for Taxpayers Against Genocide. Royer described the case he has filed. We are focused on a number of laws that have been violated because of the use of the tax dollars in this fashion. One is the International Human Rights Convention Against Torture, which specifically prohibits complicity of genocide. And that's exactly what we're alleging here. The tax dollars are being taken from our class members, our clients, and being funneled to the Israeli military and then being used to carry out the atrocities in Gaza. There is the Leahy Law, which prohibits aid to foreign security forces that have committed gross violations of human rights. The author of that law can Senator Leahy has come out publicly and said, in fact, his law has been violated because of what's going on in Gaza. And then there's a conventional arms transfer policy that prohibits U.S. weapons transfers at risk, facilitating or otherwise contributing to violations of human rights or international law. Again, we think it's clear that that's what's going on here. These are all federal laws. In his filing, Royer relies on the case Flast v. Cohen, 1968, in which the Supreme Court acknowledged that taxpayers have a cause of action when lawmakers fund programs that violate the Constitution. In Flast, it was spending on religious schools, which is a constitutional issue in this case Connally et al. V. Huffman and Thompson filed yesterday. The litigants will seek to expand that finding to now include international law and statutory violations related to foreign policy. Because this case involves foreign policy, it also forces the plaintiffs to overcome the political question doctrine, which puts some disputes outside of the court's judicial authority. Because the Questions involve matters that are inherently political, not legal in nature. Meanwhile, the litigants still have to get through the standing hurdle. At the press conference, several of the listed class members describe the harm they have suffered. A Palestinian American man gave a very tearful expression of the harm he is undergoing.
[00:20:50] During these 440 days, I've witnessed Israel destroy my history. And I've seen, I've watched as they desecrated burial grounds and dug up remains of fathers and mothers and grandparents, all so that the refugees have nothing to come home to. Another woman described the horrors that are keeping her awake at night. This white phosphorus burns people to death. It burns right down to the bone. You can't put it out with water. And thousands of people have now burnt to death because of the white phosphorus that we're sending to Israel that they rained down on the inhabitants of Gaza. She spoke of the visceral feelings she has thinking about the parents of starving children. How terrible it must be for a Palestinian mother to have a child screaming from hunger. And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. That's what's happening today. Palestinian mothers have their children. They probably don't scream because they're too weak. Weak. So they cry and then they whimper and then they die from starvation. KMED News had not aired this story earlier because we had not received a response from Congressman Huffman. But last week on January 31, was interviewed by James Falk on Keat TV's headline Humble about his plan for resistance against the White House moves to centralize authority into the executive branch of the federal government. At the end of that interview, Falk asked Huffman whether ordinary people should begin publicly protesting the White House actions. Huffman used that question as an opportunity to respond to pro Palestinian protesters against himself and to the lawsuit. I'm going to just be a little provocative and give an example of the ceasefire activists.
[00:22:55] They have been coming at me hard because they think I should absolutely go all out in blocking all funding to Israel. And they're not satisfied that I've been pushing my disagreements with Netanyahu and with Israeli policy in ways that are different than what they want. And they think fighting with me about it and suing me about it and doing all these things is productive. It makes them feel better because we're all appalled by the tragedy that has unfolded in Gaza. I would suggest that's been pretty highly misplaced energy and activism because while we fought with each other about that and while the Democratic Party was undermined pretty significantly in the last election by that internal fight by people saying, oh, to hell with the Harris Biden folks, they didn't do enough for us. We're going to sit on the couch and sit this one out and not support them. Well, congratulations. You just got a Trump administration that just called on 2 million Palestinians to be forcibly removed from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan and basically greenlighting Israeli annexation of the west bank and everything else. So holy cow, is it important that we have a little intelligence and prioritization in the way we engage? And misplaced passion can really distract and sideline and even do damage. So I hope we don't have time for that in this fight to save our democracy. And this is Kelly Lincoln reporting for kmud.
[00:24:34] Turning to Mendocino, a mushroom hunter recounts their frightening night in the Caspar woods which led to the deployment of the Mendocino search and Rescue Team. KZYX's Frank Hartzell reports.
[00:24:50] Exactly a week ago today, Fort Bragg resident Linda Doerr decided to spend the last few hours of the day mushroom hunting in the Casper Woods.
[00:24:57] She went with a friend and her daughter.
[00:25:00] As the last light faded, she saw some hedgehog mushrooms.
[00:25:04] She went to pick them and she stumbled as she fell. She hit her head hard enough to black out. And when she awoke, it was dark. She could hear people calling her name, but they couldn't hear her calling back. Then the sound of searchers faded and Dor found herself alone. Here's the interview she did with independent journalist Frank Hartzell about what it was like to spend Monday night alone in the forest.
[00:25:29] We're just out exploring. I like to do that. I always go with somebody, almost always that has been here all their life, you know, or most of their life. So they're more aware and they pick mushrooms more often than I do. They do that for, you know, a living, I guess you'd say, to make their extra money. I do it for fun. I do it because I like to eat mushrooms and I just like to go. And you just. The forest is a beautiful place. Chanterelles are my favorite there, y'all. I love them, too. I had some of those and I had some of the biggest. The reason I got off the path and lug behind them was I saw these huge sweet tooths. Oh, I mean, they were like this big. And I filled my whole basket up with them. I fell through the the trees, you know, and. But when I fell. But Ed, evidently that's when I smacked my forehead and that's what put me out. It was dusk, I guess, and we were coming out of the woods. And we all knew where we were going.
[00:26:26] And, you know, the last they saw me, I was right behind them. And then when they turned around, I was nowhere. So there were like two logs and you fell between? No, there was a bunch where they pushed a bunch of trees over. Okay. And so I was just walking across and just fell through. I couldn't tell. It was dark when I came to, so I couldn't tell how big of an area I was in. I mean, because you couldn't see your hand. I just kept trying to get out of this hole anyway. And therefore I was bruising my knees up because I could almost get there and then I'd slide. And I could almost get there and I'd slide. I could hear them hollering for me, but they could not hear me. And when I finally got out, then there was no voices. I could hear nothing. And it was so dark you couldn't see it. I was trying to move around and I was. So I knew that I was still on some type of hillside. I just didn't know how far down it was because I really didn't know.
[00:27:17] So I sat there grounded into the side of the hill with my heels and my shoes and just hunkered down under my sweatshirt. And that's where I stayed until daylight. And tell me how you kept your hands warm. I put them in my hoodie behind. I pulled my sleeves as far over my fingers and our hands as I could get them and tucked them in behind my hoodie between my hair and my neck. And that's how my hands stayed warm.
[00:27:41] And every time I heard any noise, I'd start hollering, get away from here, you know. Did you hear noises? Oh, I heard all kinds of noises, but, you know, like something walking in the grass or in the leaves. When it got daylight, I could not. I couldn't get my bearings. I didn't know which way I was coming from or anything else at that point. It's just because of. Just. I don't know if I. I don't know. I just can't really answer that question about why I didn't know. I just didn't know. I didn't because I. Well, for one reason, I didn't know which way I fell from. You know, all I knew is I fell in through those trees.
[00:28:15] So anyway, I could hear traffic, so I knew I wasn't that far. And, you know, when you're down in a ravine like thing, it's kind of hard to tell which way it's coming from. You get up and you're you're self tries your. Your ears kind of playing tricks on you. One time it'll sound like it's from over here, the other time will sound like it's from over here, just depending on which way you're facing in how.
[00:28:36] So anyway, I made it back up and I kept trying to follow this noise. And there's a few times it was. Seemed like it was getting farther away, so I'd stop and I came upon this like, platform where they loaded wood trucks or something back in the day. Well, they still had tape on the trees. So this is what the forestry commission, I guess, has been doing for fire lines and stuff like that.
[00:29:01] So I thought to myself, well, these tapes, they came in here somehow and they said they had to go out one way or the other. So I started walking the perimeter until it was really like right close. And then I started walking toward it and walking toward it. And I was on this side of the ravine, you know, down pretty deep, but I saw a little sliver of silver go by. So I knew that was the road. That was the car, you know, that was a car. So I'm thinking, okay, I'm feeling really good. Then I got some energy. I'm scooting on across this ravine and back up the other side. And I made it to the road. And when I made it to the road, my body just felt like it could collapse. I mean, it just felt like I made it, you know, And I was listening. I couldn't tell if I was going toward Mendocino or coming toward Fort Ben brag on 409. But I knew I was on 409 because I'd seen that fire department the day before.
[00:29:54] So I could hear cars coming. So I just kind of patiently waited, you know, and as I could hear them getting closer and starting to come around the edge of the curve, they stopped, they pulled, you know, they said I was pretty weary because my feet hurt so bad, they were so cold. And there was a lady, a real nice lady, and she. And she said, honey, what is your name? And I told her, and she said, we have been looking for you all night.
[00:30:18] Some mushroom hunters get lost every year and have spent as much as three days in the woods, sometimes with nobody back home aware or calling the sheriff's department till the very end. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Department does not have separate statistics that would show how many people are lost in the woods each year, said spokesman Quincy Cromer. He said when someone goes missing in a search and rescue operation is launched, press releases are generated. The sheriff's Department has averaged more than 50 search and rescue deployments over the past decade, Cromer pointed out. This is almost one per calendar week. He said numbers have fallen in the last few years, but still average over 30 deployments per year. That's Frank Hartzell reporting for KZYX News.
[00:31:03] You can read more of Frank Hartzell's reporting at Mendocinocoast News.
[00:31:12] That's all for tonight's broadcast. Thank you for listening. Thanks to our engineer, Katie Phillips, and thanks to our reporters, Daniel Mintz, Kelly Lincoln, Elise Cox and Frank Hartzell. Reporting from our studio in Redway, I'm Lauren Schmidt.
