[00:00:15] Speaker A: Good evening and welcome to the local news. Today is Wednesday, March 25th, and I'm Nat Cardos reporting for KMUD. In tonight's news, campus police raid student activist Rick Toledo. Restraining order to be dismissed. One battle after another wins best picture. What's next in Supa Palooza Competition in Redway this Saturday, so stay tuned. Those stories and more coming up.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Redwood Community Radio acknowledges that its transmitter sites are located on the unceded territory of the Sinkon, Wailaki, Wiat, Wilkut and Kato people. We honor ancestors past, present and emerging, and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual and physical connection these tribes have to this region.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: An update on the case of student activist Rick Toledo, who was arrested earlier this month for his involvement with the protest occupation of the Goodwin Forum in Nelson hall east that occurred on February 27th. Last Thursday on the 19th, Cal Poly Humboldt University police arrived at Toledo's home and seized his phone, computer, gaming drives, a university issued laptop, and a legal observer body camera with a warrant. KMUN news spoke to Toledo about the incident.
[00:01:31] Speaker C: Yeah, so last Thursday I was just getting home from running errands and when I'm driving down to my parking lot, there's kind of like a hill and a little bend to get to it. It's like a lower parking lot. So I couldn't see what was going on until I came down that hill and came across that bend. And as I pulled in and came across, I just saw like what I can best describe as a swarm of police, just like maybe 10 police cars, 11 police cars, tons of police walking everywhere, looking kind of lost, holding paperwork, looking for me, you know, clearly. And so when I pulled in, they noticed me and they all start pointing at my car and come over and they showed me a warrant. They had me park my car and, you know, took me out of it and detained me, put me in handcuffs, sat me down on the curb, took my keys, and then went and searched my house and took my computer, my phone, a laptop from the school that I had on loan, a body cam I used when I was a legal observer. They're basically like just out for anything electronic that they could get their hands on. And then once they had gathered all of that, they attempted to get me to give them my passwords and passcodes, which I refused to do, told them they could talk to my attorney, and then they uncuffed me and let me go.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: Currently, Toledo is still suspended from campus. A restraining order was pursued by the California Attorney general in relation to the case, though that is expected to be dismissed and Knocked down to a stay away order.
[00:03:00] Speaker C: So, so this is all still based around their attempts at creating a criminal case. They had recommended these four outrageous felony charges to the da and now they're desperate to get any kind of evidence to try to get these like, filed and try to get them to stick. And that's, that's where this raid comes in. But, but it shows that they're already on the back foot because they tried. The school tried to launch this restraining order case as well. And you know, immediately, once they realized that I had an attorney, the ATT General for California, who represents the school, they reached out and they immediately were trying to come to an agreement. And we were able to get an agreement that really just, I mean, basically just a basic stay away order. It does not actually harm me in any way.
It essentially makes it so that this one person, Michael Moore, who is. Who I don't even know, you know, I don't know this guy. I don't have his phone number. He was at the protest and they used him as kind of like the, the basis for this restraining order attempt. And so there's a stay away order that says I can' go near this guy, which I never planned to. And then there's a, there's a part in it that says like, I can't go on campus while the conduct case is ongoing, but I already can't do that because I'm already suspended or until the interim suspension is repealed. So basically this agreement's a nothing burger, right? For me. Like, it doesn't change anything for me realistically. But it does drop the entire restraining order case.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: During this time, Toledo has been unable to attend classes and was fired from his job that he worked on campus after the protest. He has a fundraiser currently on chuffed.org which is a crowdfunding platform for exclusively nonprofits charity and to raise funds for social, environmental, and community issues and projects.
[00:04:44] Speaker C: Well, you know, I mean, it's been tough. I'm thankful for all the people who have supported me and, you know, donated to the fundraiser that we have going on, like chuff.org and, you know, that's helped a lot. Right now I'm actively fundraising, you know, for a new computer and phone and stuff, because it could be a long time before I can get that back potentially. So, you know, it's been tough and I mostly what I'm doing right now is just trying to, I guess, gain some, you know, type of normalcy again.
And also using a lot of my time to fight this and to be active about that, to be active about organizing around this and reaching out to different organizations and getting more support.
And so far, we've seen, like, just a slew of organizations, you know, across the country who have been signing onto our statement and offering support, and people, too, people from all over offering support, because we really believe that, you know, like, the public pressure, like the public support is what's going to help us to ensure that they can't get away with this repression.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Toledo's first court date related to the criminal charges he's facing, which are charges of criminal conspiracy, assault and battery, and false imprisonment, will be on April 20th. Please remember that he is presumed innocent until proven guilty in this arraignment. Charges will be read and a plea will be entered. Toledo speaks on the kind of precedent that this could set for student protesters on campus.
[00:06:13] Speaker C: They're saying, the president, that protesting is not welcome on campus, that they're going to crack down, that they're going to use fear tactics. They're going to try to make you miserable and ruin your life if you speak out against them. It's extremely repressive, extremely just. Just horrific way to approach this type of a thing. And the other thing is, like, you know, I think they really hope to stick some charges on this thing, right? Because if they can do that, then they can set a legal precedent as well that protesting is punishable by law.
And so then they would be able to much, much more easily navigate that in the legal landscape, because there'd be some kind of precedent for it in this case. So I think it's really, really important that it's pushed back on by everybody, because it doesn't even matter, like, what you think of the protest in question. Like, what's at stake here is, like, our right to prot campus. And so, you know, I'm glad to see so much support and so many people standing against us right now. But, you know, I hope to see even more because this is a really big deal. You know, this could give them even more power to repress people. And it's already, you know, got the capability to create, like, a chilling effect for student activism on campus. And that's not okay. You know, that should never happen. Like, people should feel comfortable to speak their minds and to be able to assemble and protest when there's things that are happening that, you know, aren't right.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: Cayman News will continue to provide updates on this case as it develops.
On Friday, March 27, the Mattol Restoration Council will be conducting a prescribed burn on the south side of Prosper Ridge in Petrolia. The Property is about 4.8 miles southwest of downtown Petrolia and approximately 8 acres will be burned in the understory of a mostly Douglas fir forest. Engines will be coming from Petrolia Volunteer Fire Department, Honeydew Volunteer Fire Company, Mid Klamath Watershed Council and Big Chico Ecological Reserve, as well as Cal Fire. Ignitions will start around 11am and locals in Petrolia may see some smoke up on the ridge. Patrol resources will be on the scene until no smoke is visible for about 48 hours and will continue to monitor through the following days. The Mattol Restoration Council advises people not to report this prescribed burn. For more information, questions can be directed to Ali Atoll the Oscars were held on the 15th and one battle after another, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and had quite a bit of it filmed here in Humboldt county, took home six awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing and Best Casting. Despite all of the awards, the movie is also considered a bit of a box office flop, grossing at $210 million worldwide, 72 million domestic against the needed 300 million plus to break even. The Humboldt Del Norte Film Commission worked with production for longer than filming in just January of 2024. Talks of filming the movie in Humboldt actually began much earlier than that in 2019. Cable News spoke with Cassandra Hesseltine, Film Commissioner for Humboldt and Del Norte counties, for more about the experience.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: They filmed for 11 days. They were here for much more than that. Our first meeting was in 2019 of April, so pre pandemic and then that was our first like meeting them in person and then, you know, we had some zoom calls and things during the pandemic and then as soon as we could get back to scouting and looking for the locations, we did. So I think it was as early as 2021 I was scouting with Paul Thomas Anderson with a mask on so nobody realized this famous director was walking through their house. It was pretty, pretty hilarious and you know, so it was amazing to have years of working with these guys off and on when they were available to come and check out the locations and then, and then once they knew they got greenlit, they were going to film. You know, it was 247 working with these guys, but great bunch of people, everyone from the producers to PTA to the location team, which is who we mostly work with, and it was just amazing. And they were really great at including us. They leaned on us like they should. You know, some productions don't do that, but these guys really took advantage of that In a good way. And so which allowed us to really be part of the process and help them out like we, you know, like we offer. But not everyone picks us up on that. So it was quite the experience. You know, there was I think 45 days in our row that I did not have a break. And when I say I didn't have a break, I worked like 12, 14 hour days for 45 days in a row there when they were, when they really moved in, up until they moved out, you know, from January to February.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: So One Battle After Another is now the second movie to be filmed in Humboldt county and win an Oscar. The first being 1983 Star Return of the Jedi. With all the new eyes on Humboldt county and what all the film commission did, working with the production of One Battle, Heseltine hopes that this will add not only draw for tourism but for other film projects to come to the
[00:11:00] Speaker B: area as well as first and foremost, obviously we hope that it continues to give us a good reputation to be a place to film at. You know, we want productions to go, wow, okay, you handled all that, you know, what else can we do with you? You know, so we hope that that happens because when productions from out of the area come, they spend a lot of money and they hire vendors and crew and, you know, and then they leave, you know, so it's great. The second thing that I hope it does is also bring some tourism, you know, I hope that people take advantage of like the New York Times article that came out where they did a tour of showing you where all the places that they filmed at in California, as well as I believe AAA is going to have an article like that. I'm hoping maybe Visit California will do something like that, you know, that people will do more tourist type activities throughout California and definitely obviously come to Humboldt for that. So that's more outside money that happens, you know. And you know, I just hope for locals that it's pride in having a movie that went this far, you know, within the industry and that they feel like, you know, they got bragging and you know, it's fun for us to say we have the film sites for Return of the Jedi, you know, and some for ET and you know, different Jurassic Park, Lost World, now we can add One Battle, you know, on there as well. And it's the only other movie besides Star Return of the Jedi that's won Oscars that we've been part of. So, you know, I just hope it kind of helps people feel a little good, you know, that we had something that Cool. In film history, not only does having
[00:12:26] Speaker A: big budget movies filmed up here make Humboldt look great for tourism, it can also boost the economy.
During the short period that the crew was up here, approximately $2.1 million was spent directly into the community on film related aspects.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: The 2.1 is the direct dollars that they spend on all film related aspects. So their locations, their hotel, local, gas, local. You know, it's all local spending that they spent to make it happen.
Then you times that by $2.95 and that's the multiplier you use. And so it felt more like 6.2 million because that includes like a crew of 200 going out to eat every night. They don't get dinner usually on set, so they have to go out to eat or, you know, do something. That way they have a day off, you know, they have other spendings that happen, and then the money circulates within the economy three times before it leaves.
Another person actually from a radio station had actually mentioned to me that they were aware of a lot of locals going out to eat because everybody was on the lookout for Leonardo DiCaprio. So we even had more money going into, you know, restaurants in January because everybody was looking for them. So, you know, that was the amazing part. Not only was did it feel more like 6.2, but it was in January when businesses are having their normally their lowest sales and the hardest month of the year for them. So that was pretty cool. When the money came in on the
[00:13:47] Speaker A: night of the Oscars, the humble Del Norte film commission had an Oscar party where they got to watch one battle win after years of work.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Yeah, watching, watching one battle win. I mean, the moment the word one came out of Nicole Kidman's mouth, we all started screaming and jumping and just couldn't even believe it. And I, of course, started crying because I'm a crybaby. But I, you know, it was an emotional moment for me because, you know, I've worked in film for 25 years. I've always wanted to work in film my whole life. And to be part of film history, you know, our part, you know, as a location and helping, it just. It was magic. And to be in a room where everybody cared, you know, I might like a certain movie other years, you know, but not everybody's on the same team. And in that one moment, when that one announcement came out, you know, we were all celebrating. In that moment, we were all synced together. So that was. That was pretty magical, I have to say.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: Coming up next for the Humboldt Film Commission, it's the Forest Moon Festival, which will be from May 28th to the 31st. There is also currently an exhibit at their museum in Old Town Eureka. For more information, the website is hdnfc.org On Saturday, March 28, the third annual Supapalooza Soup Competition will be held at the Meteill Community center in Redwood.
This competition invites folks to bring a soup and compete for a fee or to come and eat unlimited soup for $10. KMUN News spoke with Elena Worley, Office manager at the meteal Community center, for more information on the event.
[00:15:16] Speaker D: So Supapalooza, we're going into our third year and we have to give a big thank you to Christy Augustine, who started this event when she was a board member.
So we're continuing it on. We usually like to do it a little bit more into wintertime, but scheduling things happen. So Supapalooza is soup competition.
So people enter. They pay $25 to enter and then the day of the event it's a tasting and a showcasing of the soups and then we have prizes for Summer Arts Fair tickets for best soup and for best theme. So putting a theme as part of the party for the event and we're going to have a little bit of music by Phoenix and then people get to come pay $10 and they can do a tasting of all the and then they get to vote on who's the best soup is.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: The cost to compete is $25 and to attend it's $10. There are two categories that could be one best soup and best theme. The event runs from 2pm to 6pm with a loading time of noon. For those who are competing to sign up, contact the Meteill community
[email protected] they'll
[00:16:28] Speaker D: be at the hall at the Meteill Community Center. If people want to sign up, they still have time to sign up. It'd be nice to know a little bit ahead of time that they're coming in. People will setting up probably around noon, then it'll go till six. We might have a little bit of concessions if people want to have something else for tasting with the soup. But the soup is really filling so you really don't need much more. We might be doing some merchandise sales and selling some memberships, but it's really just a community event to bring some people together on a Saturday and just enjoy each other's company and eat soup.
[00:17:08] Speaker A: First prize wins four tickets to the Summer Arts and Music Festival, which will be held at the Southern Humboldt Community Park June 20th to the 21st second prize wins two tickets and third wins merchandise from the Meteill Community Center. Here's Worley with what she's looking forward to at this year's Supapalooza.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: Ooh.
[00:17:24] Speaker D: The variety of soups and eating soup, delicious. You get actually really full just on a little bit because you get a little taste and then you're going to all these soups. You get actually really full and you have your lunch.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: For more information, the website is meteel.org in national news, Trump claims Iran nuke agreement and mysterious gifts from Iran while sending more troops to region. KPFA's Christopher Martinez reports.
[00:17:53] Speaker E: The self described President of peace and his ceremonially titled Secretary of War give an update on Operation Epic Fury, whatever that is supposed to be.
[00:18:04] Speaker F: This, as I call it, military operation. People don't like me using the word war, but so I won't. But the Democrats go to war.
[00:18:11] Speaker E: President Donald Trump made some big announcements about the war, but some of them were a little hard to really make out. For one thing, he claimed a deal with Iran is imminent and spoke of a mysterious gift.
[00:18:23] Speaker F: They're going to make a deal. They're going to make a deal. They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They gave us a presentation and the president arrived today and it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money.
And I'm not going to tell you what that president is, but it was a very significant prize.
[00:18:45] Speaker E: He said the gift is oil and gas related.
[00:18:49] Speaker F: What it showed me is that we're dealing with the right people because, you know, you don't know because the leadership was killed. All guys, Khomeini, all gone, as the expression goes, the past supreme leader, without
[00:19:01] Speaker E: giving much more by way of specifics, he made a point of saying the gift was not nuclear related. But he had another announcement that was nuclear related.
[00:19:10] Speaker F: They're not going to have a nuclear weapon. And we're talking about that.
I don't want to say in advance, but they've agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that.
[00:19:19] Speaker E: Trump also claimed victory on another front.
Regime change.
[00:19:23] Speaker F: We killed all their leadership and then they met to choose new leaders and we killed all of them.
And now we have a new group and we can easily do that. But let's see how they turn out. It's. We have really regime change. You know, this is a change in the regime because the leaders are all very different than the ones that we started off with that created all those problems.
[00:19:48] Speaker E: In fact, Trump did little short of proclaiming, mission accomplished.
[00:19:52] Speaker F: We've won this. This war has been won.
The only one that likes to keep it going is the fake news. I mean, the New York Times. You read the New York Times, it's like, we're not winning a war where they have no navy and they have no air force and they have no nothing, and we literally have planes flying over Tehran and other parts of their country.
They can't do a thing about it.
[00:20:14] Speaker E: Trump also boasted of destroying Iran's navy in three days, coupling that with a joke about his Defense secretary, Pete Hesitz.
[00:20:21] Speaker F: In fact, I was a little upset with Pete. I said, why didn't you save the ships? We could have used them, right? He said, it's more fun shooting them down.
[00:20:28] Speaker E: For his part, Secretary Hegseth boasted that the US Campaign alongside Israel was, in his words, one for the history books.
[00:20:36] Speaker F: That's because we have a President of the United States that when he sends his war fighters out to fight, he unties their hands to actually go out and close with and destroy the enemy as viciously as possible from moment one. And that's why we see ourselves as part of this negotiation as well.
We negotiate with bombs.
[00:20:53] Speaker E: Trump's talk of agreements with Iran and an imminent deal is a bit difficult to square with the progress of the war. For example, with Trump sending more troops to the region and attacks still ramping up. Iran has denied its negotiating with the US While iron Egypt, Pakistan and Gulf Arab nations are in the early stages of piecing together talks. Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, was asked by a reporter whether Israel would take part in talks with Iran first.
[00:21:20] Speaker F: I'm not familiar with our participation in such talks. It's important to note that we continue with the operation as we speak. Israel and the U.S. we continue to target military target targets in Iran, and we'll continue to do that.
[00:21:36] Speaker E: Trump's talk of victory negotiations, a gift from Iran and an imminent deal, comes against a backdrop of escalation. The US is reportedly preparing to deploy the 82nd Airborne to the region. Iran's top military command says it will fight until complete victory, and missiles continue to fly from all sides. French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iran's president to engage in good fight faith negotiations to de escalate, while France's armed forces chief, Fabien Mandon said the US Decided to intervene without notifying France, adding that he was, in his words, surprised by an American ally who remains an ally, but who was less and less predictable and doesn't even bother to inform us when it decides to engage in military operations.
Meanwhile, Pope Leo xiv, the first American population pope, continues his calls for peace.
He said, I want to renew the appeal for a ceasefire to work for peace, but not with weapons, rather through dialogue. Reporting for Pacifica Radio News kpfa, I'm Christopher Martinez.
[00:22:52] Speaker A: In National Native News, Antonia Gonzalez reads today's headlines.
[00:22:56] Speaker G: This is National Native News. I'm Antonia Gonzalez. President Trump swore in Mark wayne Mullen as U.S. secretary of Homeland Security at the White House on Tuesday. The president talked about Mullen serving in the House and Senate, mentioning that Mullen's Native American and has worked on tribal issues. Here are some of Trump's remarks from
[00:23:13] Speaker F: C Span Mark Wayne has also been a fantastic advocate for a cherished tribal communities. He's now the first member of the Cherokee Nation ever to serve as a member of the Cabinet. I didn't know all these things.
I would have picked him faster if I had known. I would have made a quicker decision.
[00:23:32] Speaker G: Here's Mullen.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: I made this very clear that I don't care what color your state is. I don't care if you're red or you're blue.
At the end of the day, my job is to be secretary of Homeland
[00:23:41] Speaker B: and to protect everybody the same.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: And we will do that.
I'll fight every single day.
[00:23:46] Speaker G: After Mullen's confirmation this week, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. Congratulated him and wished him success in his new role. The predominantly indigenous community of Kaktovic and Northern Alaska hosted a regional basketball tournament last month in a new gym that was finally rebuilt years after the old one burned down. The Alaska Dusk's Ayolena Knightham reports. For at least one family, the new gym significance was bigger than basketball.
[00:24:14] Speaker H: The Cactovic High School girls basketball team is playing against Point Lay. It's the one A North Slope regional championship, and the Cactovic Lady Rams are down by a couple of points. Senior Maya Aishana hears her mom yelling,
[00:24:27] Speaker A: that did something to me that like, snap.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: I have five minutes left. I can do this.
[00:24:32] Speaker H: The Cocteauc Lady Rams did not win the game, but Aishana says the moment was still special. The community's gym and school burned down six years ago. The new gym was finally finished in December. The tournament was the first big event the community held there.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Our crowd, just hearing them cheer for
[00:24:50] Speaker H: us made me so happy, aishana says. Not having a place to play sports for so long, the students often practiced outside.
[00:24:57] Speaker B: It was kind of difficult because polar
[00:24:59] Speaker C: bears and the wind and the coldness
[00:25:01] Speaker A: but like also all our players were like kind of rusty shooting because we
[00:25:05] Speaker B: had nowhere to shoot.
[00:25:06] Speaker H: Several students left the school. Maya Aishana's brother was one student. Maya's mother is Stephanie Aishana.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: He missed the gym so much, she says.
[00:25:14] Speaker H: The family lost a hunter to help during the subsistence season. Stephanie Aishana says the community used the facility for funerals, Thanksgiving feasts and other gatherings.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: It was the heartbeat of our community and we totally lost that.
[00:25:28] Speaker H: Maya Aishana was a part of the group of students who advocated for the construction of the new gym. They wrote letters to municipal leadership and held a silent protest.
[00:25:37] Speaker C: We just had to act because us
[00:25:40] Speaker B: students had to have somewhere to play.
[00:25:43] Speaker H: Now that they have the new facility, Aishana says she already feels the difference.
The weekend tournament also proved that the new facility is more than a place to practice and play. More than a hundred people also took refuge there during a major storm over the same weekend. Now that the basketball tournament is over, adults and students regularly go there to play and exercise. And in a few months, Maya Aishana's class will be the first to graduate in the new facility. Her mom says she will make sure that her son will attend his sister's ceremony as well. With reporting from cocteauvik, I am Alena Nydin.
[00:26:18] Speaker G: The Indian Nations Gaming and Governance Program at the William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV and the Tribal Leadership Council announced Tuesday the establishment of the Tribal Leadership Council Endowment. According to the council, it's the first endowed scholarship established by a Native American nonprofit organization in law school's history. The scholarship will be awarded to tribal citizens of federally recognized tribes pursuing a JD Degree at the school and in the program. The first scholarship will be awarded when the endowment is fully matured.
I'm Antonia Gonzalez,
[00:26:56] Speaker F: Native voice one, the native american radio network.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: That's all for tonight's broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our engineer, Larry Lashley, and thanks to our reporters Christopher Martinez 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 News at kmud.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: Org.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: Redwood Community Radio, Inc. Is funded by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at PressForward News. Reporting for KMUD, I'm Nat Cardos.
