[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign Good evening and welcome to the local news. Today is Wednesday, April 2nd. I'm Lauren Schmidt reporting for KNUD. In tonight's news, fugitive caught after Redway traffic stop Gaza war emerges as most contentious issue at Huffman Town hall and Willett's city manager's contract terminated following closed session. Stay tuned. News on those stories and more coming right up.
A wanted man was arrested this morning in Redway following a traffic stop at the Shell gas station. Sergeant Will from the Garberville Area CHP provided an overview of the incident today.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: One of our officers, Officer Johnson, the Carville office stopped a vehicle for a vehicle violation, at which point a subject exited the passenger side of the vehicle and was immediately detained by Officer Johnson. Officer Johnson immediately recognized the individual to have outstanding warrants. The subject was booked on those warrants. In addition to those warrants, he was booked on possession of a controlled substance.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: According to our News partner Kim Kemp.com the suspect, 42 year old Anthony James Paulette, was wanted from a November 2023 violation for being in possession of a stolen vehicle.
Congressman Jared Huffman's support of military aid to Israel led to some intense critiques during a town hall event in Eureka. KMUD's Daniel Mintz reports.
[00:02:24] Speaker C: A town hall meeting hosted by North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman dealt with the actions of the Trump administration, but the loudest voices in the audience were those who accused him of being complicit in what they called genocide by supporting military aid to Israel.
Trump's bold moves are frightening people who packed the Adorney center in Eureka on March 30 to ask Huffman questions about endangered programs and agencies, deportations, apparent rule of an oligarchy and cuts to services.
Huffman opened the town hall by saying he's worried and alarmed by a federal government that's operating, quote, unlike anything I've ever seen before and failing to, quote, correct illegality and corruption.
He warned of what he described as a disturbing trend that often precedes fascism.
But he fielded accusations himself when the subject of the Gaza war was brought up. Arcata artist and activist Karpani Burns described horrific footage she'd seen of a dead Palestinian child. She asked Huffman about his sense of morality.
[00:03:42] Speaker D: I care about what's happening in Palestine. I care about the tens of thousands of people that have been murdered and I have not yet seen one move on your part to care to do something except continue with your votes for arms to Israel. You continually say they have a right to defend themselves.
They are not defending themselves. They are butchering A people and it's called genocide.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: When will you find in your morality.
[00:04:30] Speaker D: Where your human being has become disconnected to your politics?
[00:04:36] Speaker C: Huffman said he opposes the scale of Israel's military actions, but he also alluded to Israel's identity as a Jewish state that's been threatened and attacked since its creation. He described it as a difficult, divisive issue.
[00:04:53] Speaker E: I'm probably in a position where I please absolutely no one on this issue, but I do believe that the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state should exist. I support them.
And I also believe there should be a Palestinian state that has security and peace and that we should end this conflict.
And I oppose annexation, I oppose settlements, I oppose the Israeli government in so many ways that I've been very active on. But I understand it's not enough for some people. I think we will just, we will disagree on some of the tales and nuances.
[00:05:32] Speaker C: The nuances mentioned by Huffman refer to the untenable situation Israel faced after the Oct. 7 massacre. Those who disagree with the genocide accusations say collateral damage is unavoidable in a highly populated urban area and the intent of the warfare is to destroy an embedded terrorist enemy, Hamas.
Huffman said he's tried to, quote, support the Palestinian people in so many ways, which he said has upset many pro Israel people.
Members of the audience attempted to shout him down, repeating the genocide accusation, which prompted pushback.
[00:06:15] Speaker E: And I look, I'm opposing that. You do know this, right? You do know that I'm opposing those actions. I'm doing it in every way I can. But you know what?
Maybe, maybe getting thousands and thousands people not to vote for Democrats in the last election because they weren't perfect with what you want was a dumb idea.
Maybe you should have some accountability for just totally misplaced advocacy on this issue. But let's move on.
[00:06:52] Speaker C: The meeting ended on a positive note, however, with Huffman saying, government can be improved, but there are far better ways of doing it than what's happening now. In closing, he told the audience, thank you for a great conversation. We're going to have more of them in Eureka. For KMUT News, this is Daniel Mintz.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: You can watch the full town hall on our website, kmud.org which is where we've shared Access Humboldt's complete coverage of the event.
Following the town hall, KMUD News spoke with attendees to gauge their opinions on the two hour event where the representative fielded questions from the audience, starting with Eureka Police Chief Bryan Stevens.
[00:07:43] Speaker E: I think it went really well.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: I think that the few outbursts that.
[00:07:45] Speaker C: There Were, were handled by the crowd themselves and each other being accountable. And I'm glad everybody had the opportunity.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: To come out today and to hear the congressman speak and did it in a peaceful manner.
[00:07:55] Speaker A: Did law enforcement have to intervene?
[00:07:57] Speaker B: No, we didn't intervene in anything.
[00:07:58] Speaker C: It was mainly the people sitting around.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: Those that are having the outbursts, kind.
[00:08:01] Speaker C: Of trying to calm them down and.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: Was self resolving their own issues.
[00:08:05] Speaker E: So it was nice to see.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: And you know, as a chief and also as a citizen of this country, you know, what did you think of Congressman Huffman's town hall?
[00:08:14] Speaker B: I like to see our politicians out.
[00:08:16] Speaker C: And engaging with folks and I'll leave it at that.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: We then spoke with members of the crowd including Yvonne Hendricks with the Southern Humboldt Chamber of Commerce.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: I was impressed with the turnout. I would love to see a few younger folks here. The dialogue and the conversation was great.
[00:08:36] Speaker E: The questions were well thought out.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: So I enjoyed it. I'm glad to have been here.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Petrolia Fire Chief Chris Gilda spoke during the town hall asking Congressman Huffman how he will protect fema, fire grants and the National Fire Academy and whether he can advocate for departments that serve federal lands like the King Range. Congressman Huffman responded stating that he strongly opposed efforts to defund FEMA and criticized what he described as politically motivated attacks on federal agencies. He emphasized FEMA's critical role in disaster response, especially amid worsening climate driven events, and pledged to defend and improve the agency. He acknowledged that fire grants and other funding have been caught up in budget freezes and said he would advocate on a case by case basis to secure needed support, though he noted the current political climate makes it challenging. We asked Chief Gilda to share his thoughts on the representative's response.
[00:09:48] Speaker E: I think he kind of picked the hot button issue and spoke on fema. It would have been nice to get a little bit of information on how he feels about agencies responding to federal lands, which is something that Petrolia and a lot of the Southern Humboldt departments do. But on the whole he, he definitely, he answered the question. He sees the issue.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Arcata's mayor was also in attendance.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: My name is Alex Stillman and I'm currently the mayor of Arcata. We rotate every year and so this is my rotation inn and I was really happy that Jared was here. We really appreciate everything he's been able to do for us in our counties up and down the coast and, and for Arcata and he's been really good. We've been working on the interchange for Sunset and so I had some information instead of standing up no one's going to care about the Sunset Interchange. They're more interested in other things that I gave it to staff. But I really appreciate him.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: We were hearing from a lot of people how the federal cuts are impacting people in their personal life and in their communities. Are you seeing that in Arcata we.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Happen to have one of our buildings, Fish and Wildlife. They were in negotiations on their lease and they were told by that that they were going to probably terminate that and everybody in that building would have to leave. But the other thing is that the current administration has told everyone you can't work from home anymore, you have to work in your offices.
So there's a lot of discussion about that happening and it would be detrimental to our communities because everybody has some kind of a mortgage or they have to pay their rent or they have a car payment, they have to buy food, they have children in school, et cetera. And it doesn't make any sense for such a rural area like us that has so many environmental forests, etc. To have that happen to us. And we're far away from other places. And, and just as our congressman spoke, we can't drive miles and miles. I mean, people are doing it now for medical because they can't always get the medical they need. And I know there were people wanting to come and ask him about how can we have more doctors here. But that's an issue that we have to deal with ourselves and it's not something that Congress is going to be able to bring doctors here.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: Members of the Humboldt Committee for Peace and justice have been holding silent vigils outside of Congressman Huffman's Eureka headquarters and at the Humboldt County Courthouse. They are advocating for an arms embargo on Israel and a permanent ceasefire. The group has held each rally for 2 hours and 12 minutes, symbolizing 1/2 second for every child killed between October 2023 and 2024. At a recent demonstration, members held signs calling on Congressman Huffman to vote against funding weapons of war. One sign read, quote, Congressman Huffman, 18,000 dead children is not self defense. Close quote.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: Bonnie BlackBerry. I was here as a citizen and human being.
I came here partly to hear what Huffman had to say, but I wanted to hold up a sign and remind.
[00:13:24] Speaker C: People of the war crimes and genocide.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: That is happening to the people of Palestine in Gaza and the west bank, because our country is supporting them. At Huffman, he voted for the last time for weapons for Israel. So that's. And saying that Israel has the right to self defense.
My name is Robi Tenorio and I came today because I have always really appreciated and respected and been grateful for Congressman Huffman work as our Congressman. I think he's been right on almost every issue. But his vote for funding Israel with more weapons has enabled Netanyahu a genocide. And I'm deeply, deeply disappointed in his continued stand that Israel needed these weapons for self defense.
We're talking 50,000 people and over 18,000 children are dead because of these weapons. And my tax dollars are funding that. And I'm just so sad.
[00:14:53] Speaker C: I'm Jane Lapiner.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: One of my primary reasons for coming was to ask him about the discrepancy.
[00:15:01] Speaker C: Between voting for arms for Israel and saying that he's fighting as hard as he can for a ceasefire. And I didn't get to ask my question, but quite a few people did, which I was very happy to see. And I feel like I would have been happy if he could have said, I regret my vote, I wish I hadn't done it, and next time I'm not going to vote for it, instead of next time, I don't know what.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: I'm going to do.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Political commentator and K mud talk show host Dave Frank was recently appointed as a California Democratic delegate by assembly member Chris Rogers. And we asked him to share a recap of the meeting overall.
[00:15:56] Speaker E: For Representative Huffman, it was a successful event in the sense that he represented himself as, you know, thoughtful, knowledgeable, and even though a lot of what was covered was somewhat controversial, he was able to, I guess, be respectable and represent his position in a way that carried himself well. I think that, you know, he's not going to please everybody all the time. But what I had mentioned to the last person that I spoke with about this is that I think the big takeaway for me was that he said, I'm a representative, I have my lane. And although most people might think that there's an immense amount of power in the Congress, the US Congress, he shared with us that there are limitations to what they can do. They have limited tools and they have limited access to the levers of power, especially in the minority. But again, what I think was really important to highlight is that he said that the power is in the people. And so what we end up needing is he said, I'm not an expert in community organizing and I'm not an expert in communications. And so we need citizens to step up, figure out, you know, assess their values, figure out their policy priorities, and come up with a plan to mobilize and address the issues of most concern to them. And I Think that, to me, that was a really great takeaway because, you know, I think I took some notes. There's about 18 topics that he covered. No matter what your priorities are, whether it was, you know, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, whether it was offshore wind farms, whether it was climate change, whether, you know, specific things related to mental health or, you know, Gaza and Israel, any of the things that he mentioned. What he was saying is he only has limited powers to do what he can do. And what he needs is the people to step up and say their piece. And he. He committed, you know, he committed to being with us. Now, I know some people say I don't really roll with the Democrats. Some people say within the Democratic Party, there are progressives like Bernie and aoc, and then there are sort of establishment corporate types like pretty much everybody else. I consider him mostly a moderate, and that's just my take on it. But most importantly, I think what he said was, the world's complicated.
The one thing I didn't mention now is Trump, right? So the existential threat to many of the institutions and many of the sort of democratically accepted principles, policies, and priorities that we've got in our country, what he's saying is we realize that they're in jeopardy. We realize that this is under threat. We realize that something has to be done.
So far, the administration has not ignored a direct court order from the Supreme Court. And his claim, Hoffman's claim, was that the administration also has not ignored a final order from any court. I've heard lots of people say, yeah, we are in an authoritarian crisis. And so we are in this authoritarian crisis. It has not escalated to a constitutional crisis yet, but we are flirting with it. Yeah. So this is. This is semantics. And similarly, you know, when. When people talk about the problem in Israel and Palestine, collective punishment is an international war crime. If people want to use the definition of genocide and debate that. He didn't seem, Huffman didn't seem he wanted to embrace the word genocide, but he did say, I understand. So not to blur the issue here, but like, it's. We've got a multifaceted cluster going on right now, and he's saying he has to focus like a laser beam on the things that Congress can do. And I think that the positive takeaway here is that we as citizens need to focus on the things that we can do.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: Again, you can find a link to the full town hall at kmud.org KMUD News also livestreamed the event on our Instagram page. Just searchmudnews turning to Mendocino Willett's city manager's contract terminated following closed sessions. KZYX's Elise Cox reports the city of.
[00:20:01] Speaker D: Willits is parting ways with its city manager. The announcement came late Friday following a closed session of the Willits City Council to evaluate City Manager Brian Bender's job performance.
After the meeting, Mayor Larry Stransky made a brief statement during the public portion of the meeting, but he offered few details.
Soon after Bender's city email went quiet, an automated response read, as of March 28th at 7pm I will no longer be serving as the city manager for Willits. It directed future inquiries to Assistant City Manager Kathy Moorhead.
Vice Mayor Matthew Alaniz described the decision.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: As a mutual agreement regarding the separation agreement. It was effective March 28 and beyond that, I would just say that it was mutually agreed upon and worked out over several times to make sure that all parties were satisfied with the result.
[00:21:00] Speaker D: And did the city manager sign the.
[00:21:02] Speaker C: Separation agreement without hesitation?
[00:21:06] Speaker B: We all parties agreed that the best move forward would to sign this separation agreement, which I believe will be made public here, pretty sure should be public information.
[00:21:20] Speaker D: Others described a dissatisfied faction of the electorate who had voted in two new council people, including Alanis. While hiring a city manager and managing their performance is one of the primary duties of any City Council, former council members questioned whether the new council members were treating Bender fairly. Here's former Willits Mayor Madge Strong speaking at a council meeting in January.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: Another rumor I've heard is that there's some dissatisfaction with our city manager and having served on Council for 12 years under quite a few different city managers, I want to say that I have utmost respect for Brian Bender's term of office here. He's accomplished a tremendous amount.
He, I think, does so with honesty and respect for people in the community.
And city managers do not grow on trees.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: They are a rare commodity. I think we have great fortune in.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: Having a very competent and diligent city manager right now. He's probably the best city manager I have worked with and if there are areas of dissatisfaction, I think those are legitimate to take up. But don't throw out the baby with the bath water.
[00:22:42] Speaker D: Others echoed that sentiment. Former Mayor Sabrina Rodriguez said Bender received a favorable performance review just last year.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: Anytime there's an annual evaluation done, you reach out to, whether it be other employees, you have metrics where you measure their performance and and you discuss it and then you give a written and a verbal evaluation to the city manager. The City Council reported out in 2024. I want to say it was like late February, maybe early March. We reported out that we unanimously gave the Willett city manager a favorable evaluation and then I served the full year of 2024, except for the last few weeks, and had myself and other council members still been there, we would have given him, based on our our experience and exchange with him, we would have given him an evaluation at the beginning of the year. But since we weren't there, the new council three out of five were in the position of evaluating the city manager essentially based on maybe information that they didn't have because they weren't the sitting council.
And so that's been a concern that a new council would quickly come to a conclusion on the performance of a city manager. Having not been privy to whatever direction the council may have given the city manager. Because the city manager acts on the council's behalf, they didn't give any additional details, nor did they state how much it was going to cost to end this contract.
[00:24:42] Speaker D: In addition to paying severance, the city will have to hire an executive search firm. While Rodriguez says finding a qualified candidate won't be easy, she also acknowledges that Bender's tenure wasn't without controversy. In August of last year, the union representing the Willits Police Department took an emergency vote of no confidence in Bender following his decision to terminate a probationary employee and request the resignation of then Police Chief Fabian Lizarraga.
More turmoil followed when former officer Natalie Higley filed a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment by a superior in retaliation from the department. The city settled with Higley for $2.25 million this past February. In a separate incident, Bender's decision to open competitive bidding for city facility repairs sparked friction with residents who preferred hiring a local contractor.
Rodriguez says she worries the city may have dismissed Bender without cause, leaving taxpayers on the hook. Under both California labor law and federal protections for older workers, severance agreements come with strict review periods. It's common for employees to take full advantage of these review periods, and even if they do decide to sign an agreement right away, the law gives them seven days to change their minds. For KZYX News, I'm Elise Cox.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: In state news, a series of so called hands off protests targeting Trump administration policies are planned for this Saturday across California and the nation. Suzanne Potter reports.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: More than 1,000 protests against the policies of President Donald Trump are set for this Saturday across the country, with 117 planned in California alone. The so called hands off protests are sponsored by a coalition of dozens of civil rights, environmental, education, social justice and labor groups. Hunter Dunn is with a grassroots group called 5051 SoCal, which stands for 50 Protests in 50 States. One movement we oppose executive overreach, including.
[00:27:04] Speaker E: Pardon, abuse, the institution of Project 2025.
[00:27:07] Speaker B: Policies and mass deportations by ICE.
[00:27:10] Speaker E: We also oppose the use of the unitary executive theory to justify ignoring the.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: Trump has said his policies are intended to save money, fight crime and support the domestic oil and gas industry. The rallies in downtown LA and Sacramento are expected to draw huge crowds for this national day of action. People can put in their zip code to find the closest event at handsoff2025.com Dunn says large scale protests over a sustained period will slow down the Trump administration's priorities and motivate people to make their voices heard at the polls going forward.
[00:27:45] Speaker D: In 2026 and 2028, all the people.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: That are in the streets, they will vote in pro democracy candidates that are.
[00:27:51] Speaker D: In favor of affordable housing, universal health.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: Care and workers rights.
[00:27:55] Speaker D: Any policies that actually make a difference.
[00:27:57] Speaker E: In the lives of the average American.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: Some of the groups involved in the protests include the Women's March, Physicians for social responsibility, Indivisible, MoveOn.org, human Rights Campaign, AFL CIO and the league of Conservation Voters. For California News Service, I'm Suzanne Potter. Find our trust
[email protected] a hands off.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: Protest will take place in eureka this Saturday, April 5th at the courthouse located at 825 Fifth Street. It'll take place from 12 to 2pm for more information, you can visit handsoff2025.com.
[00:28:39] Speaker B: Foreign.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: That'S all for tonight's broadcast. Thank you for listening. Thanks to our engineer, Larry Lashley, and thanks to our reporters. KeyMod News is online. You can find us on kmun.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 commute. Reporting for KMUD in Redway, I'm Lauren Schmidt.
[00:29:30] Speaker B: SA.
