Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Welcome to the KMUD News. I'm your news Director, April Lewis and I'm glad to be with you for this broadcast.
In this episode we have stories on a large funding request by the Mendocino Sheriff to combat illegal cannabis and the City of Fortuna debates its future.
But first we'll do a catch up on local happenings and alerts. This is KMUD News, Starting off with news from the United States Coast Guard A Coast Guard Air Station Humboldt Bay helicopter crew rescued a 13 year old boy stranded on a cliff at Sumag State park on Monday evening at 7:51pm Coast Guard sector Humboldt Bay watchstanders received a report from a California State Parks lifeguard that a teen was stranded on a cliff ledge on the south side of agate beach approximately 200ft above the shoreline. Teen had been climbing recreationally and was unable to descend. California State Parks personnel remained on scene while local fire and rescue units responded.
Sector Humboldt Bay assumed coordination of the rescue and launched a helicopter crew. The aircraft arrived on scene, coordinated with ground responders and safely hoisted the teen from the cliff. Due to limited landing areas within the park, the helicopter transported the teen to Air Station Humboldt Bay. No injuries were reported.
The teen was later reunited with his parents through coordination between Cal Fire and California State Parks.
From Caltrans District 1 travelers along Route 36 west of Grizzly Creek Redwood State park in Humboldt county should continue to expect weekday Traffic holds between 9am and 5pm plus work this coming Saturday, July 25, while slide stabilization efforts continue during active work windows on weekdays, holds may last up to one hour with with traffic released at the top of each hour.
This Saturday, a helicopter will be placing additional wire mesh near the top of the slide. Travelers should expect delays of up to 45 minutes during helicopter operations.
Spider excavators continue moving material down the slope with excavation now about 2/3 complete. Helicopter crews are installing additional wire mesh to further stabilize the hillside as work progresses.
Travelers should also plan ahead this Friday and Saturday as increased traffic is expected due to the Fortuna Auto Expo from the Humboldt Sheriff's Department.
The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office is releasing information regarding two separate drowning incidents that occurred in the Trinity river within a couple days of each other and is reminding residents and visitors to use caution while recreating in and around local waterways.
The first drowning case was in Hoopa on July 16 at approximately 11:43am Humboldt County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Campbell Creek area of the Trinity river in Hoopa following a report of a drowning due to the responding deputy's geographic location at the time of the call and the potential for a delayed response. Deputies requested assistance from the Hoopa Tribal Police Department whose personnel were located closer to the incident.
Upon arrival, Hoopa Tribal Police officers located and recovered the victim from the river using their patrol boat with assistance from Hoopa ambulance personnel and Hoopa Volunteer Fire Department paramedics.
Rescue personnel immediately initiated life saving efforts including cpr. However, the victim was pronounced deceased at the scene.
According to witnesses, the victim entered the river and walked into chest deep water before being overcome by the current and swept underwater.
The second recent Trinity river drowning was in Willow Creek on July 18th at approximately 1:32pm Humboldt County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Trinity river just north of Burwood Lane in Willow Creek following reports that a female tubing on the river had gone underwater after her tube overturned in the strong current.
The female was wearing a life vest. However, the vest became entangled on a tree branch trapping her underwater and preventing her from resurfacing.
Nearby friends were eventually able to free her from the branch.
The female was located unconscious and bystanders immediately began performing CPR until deputies arrived and assumed life saving efforts.
Medical personnel responded and continued extensive life saving measures including CPR and advanced medical treatment.
Despite these efforts, the female was pronounced deceased.
Autopsies have been scheduled for this week for both cases and toxicology results are pending.
The identities of the deceased are being withheld at this time pending the completion of next of kin notifications.
Also from the Humboldt Sheriff in the Benbow area of Southern Humboldt.
On July 16, the Humboldt County Drug Task Force, assisted by the Humboldt County Sheriff's office and CHP served a search warrant in the 3700 block of Red Rock Road in Benbow. The search warrant targeted 42 year old Christina Babuda as part of a month long investigation into the suspected distribution of narcotics throughout southern Humboldt and Humboldt County.
During service of the search warrant, a Fortuna Police Department K9 was alerted to the presence of narcotics in several areas of the residence.
A subsequent search resulted in seizure of the following Approximately 14 and a half ounces of cocaine, approximately 14.6 ounces of DMT Approximately 3.4 ounces of ketamine Approximately 74 grams of psilocybin mushrooms Approximately 33.4 grams of MDMA, approximately 34 ketamine K pops, 35 mushroom infused chocolate bars 192 mushroom infused gummies 5 vials of LSD 9 functional firearms, a large quantity of ammunition, about $77,000 in US currency Several gold bars with an estimated value of $116,000.
Quite the list.
At the conclusion of the investigation, the suspect was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on the following charges, possession of a controlled substance for sale, transportation of controlled substances, having a residence where narcotics are used or sold, and possession of controlled substances while armed.
Next from cdfw, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is seeking data and public comments on a petition to list the southern resident killer whale under the California Endangered Species Act.
Southern resident killer whale is a distinct population segment of killer whale found along the Pacific coast between southeast Alaska and Point Sur, California.
Southern resident killer whales primarily eat fish, mostly chinook salmon. Unlike their more common mammal eating cousins, the transient killer whale, there are three pods or social groups of southern resident killer whale, the J, K and L pods.
While all three pods spend most of their time in the Salish Sea of northern Washington and southern British Columbia, the K and L pods have been documented within California waters, primarily during the winter months.
Key threats to the southern resident killer whales include malnutrition due to reduced prey abundance, vessel noise and disturbance, exposure to chemical contaminants and the combined effect of these stressors.
On November 25th of 2025, the Orca Conservancy submitted a petition to the California Fish and Game Commission to list the southern resident killer whale as as an endangered species.
The Commission published findings of its decision to make the species a candidate for listing as an endangered species on July 10, 2026 and as such, southern resident killer whale now received the same legal protection afforded to an endangered or threatened species.
As of July 10, CDFW has 12 months to conduct a status review that will inform the Commission's final decision on whether to list the southern resident killer whale as threatened or endangered under the cesa.
As part of the status review process, CDFW is soliciting information regarding the species, ecology, genetics, life history, distribution, abundance, habitat, the degree and immediacy of threats to its reproduction or survival, the adequacy of existing management, and recommendations for the management of the species.
CDFW respectfully requests that data and comments be submitted before September 10 to allow sufficient time to evaluate this information during the status review period.
You can submit comments and general information on the petitioned action to CDFW's marine region by emailing marine cesarildlife.ca.gov and include Southern resident killer whale in the subject line from the Eureka Police Department On July 21, at approximately 10:56pm Officers with the Eureka Police Department responded to the 1800 block of Broadway for the report of an injury traffic collision.
Upon arrival, officers located involved vehicles and a pedestrian.
The pedestrian had major injuries and was transported to a local hospital as standard protocol. Personnel from EPD's Criminal Investigations Unit and Major Injury Team responded to conduct the investigation.
During the investigation, a witness was contacted.
Here are the currently known facts about the collision.
The 41 year old male pedestrian had been involved in an altercation with another male on Fairfield and called the Eureka Police Dispatch Center.
While speaking with the dispatcher and despite instructed not to do so, the pedestrian stated he was walking into the roadway.
The pedestrian then walked westbound across Broadway south of the West Wabash intersection while north and southbound traffic on Broadway had a green light.
While crossing in the southbound lanes of Broadway, the pedestrian was struck by an oncoming vehicle. DUI was determined not to be a factor and alcohol or impairments for the pedestrian is not currently known.
The incident remains under active investigation. Anyone who witnessed the collision or has information that may assist investigators is urged to contact EPD's Criminal Investigations Unit at 707-441-4300 and up next our main stories. This is KMUD News.
The Mendocino Sheriff is asking for more funding and positions to be filled due to claims of increased illegal marijuana grows and human trafficking. KMUD News reports Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall is making claims about an uptick in illegal cannabis tied to human trafficking activity that many Humboldt county residents have heard for years from Sheriff William Honsel. Sheriff Matt Kendall is utilizing claims about cannabis and human trafficking to attain more funds for his department, both from Prop 64 and directly from the county of Mendocino. At the latest Mendocino Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, July 21, Sheriff Kendall made specific points about Mendocino county seeing a serious uptick in crime due to illegal cannabis and that his department needs more staffing to combat the issue. The Sheriff is asking for at least $500,000 more per year to better staff his department.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: We're requesting to fill more positions for the Sheriff's office. Currently we're dealing with some pretty violent crime and whatnot that you guys probably have seen in the paper.
More homicides, more issues and we're running short on personnel. We have currently eight personnel out on injury. Several of those folks we don't believe are going to make it back due to the type of injuries that they have. We have a few that we need to dual fill those positions because I just don't think that we're going to see him back to work. We also have some injuries that we will have our folks back. But we've got one subject who, you know, broke a bone. We have to wait for that bone to heal. We've got a subject who had some pretty serious tendon damage during an arrest, things like that.
So right now we're dealing with some pretty serious crime because the illicit marijuana has blown up again in Mendocino county, particularly in the north, it has gotten completely out of control. We have transnational drug trafficking organizations that are working in our areas. We're dealing with homicides, we're dealing with things like that, including human trafficking. So we're going to have to start hiring up again.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: While there was a recent case of a Covalo woman murdered at an illegal cannabis farm, recent busts have mostly focused on eradication of illegal grow sites.
It's unclear what data Mendocino Sheriff Matt Kendall has to claim that illicit marijuana has blown in Mendocino County.
Jason Cadillo, an administrative captain for the Mendocino Sheriff's Department then spoke to the Mendocino Board of Supervisors on specific department staffing needs and the involvement of funds from Prop 64.
[00:14:02] Speaker C: Our hope is for the board to continue to work with us to get our numbers up so that we can provide the level of service that the county deserves. And with that being said, We've had Prop 64 with the hard work of Lieutenant Aaron Clark as well as Megan Zaid from our financial Services Bureau, they were able to put us in a position where we received this funding from Prop 64, which will cover full two full time positions which would equate to about just a little bit less than $500,000 in savings over a five year period or actually fund those two positions at a $500,000 cost over the course of the next five years.
One of our key needs at this point is at our supervisor level. First line supervisor for the sheriff's office would be a sergeant position.
The sheriff mentioned we, we are down first line supervisors in two sectors, which is critical.
County Council I'm sure could attest is very critical for the sheriff's office to ensure that we have proper supervision of all our personnel. Right now we are going on at least two shifts without first line supervisors, which is requiring our lieutenants who are tasked all over the board right now, not only acting as deputy sheriffs but are acting as supervisors, reviewing reports, the day to day operations of the jail at the supervisor level and being tasked with their managerial responsibilities. So we're stretched very thin.
[00:15:31] Speaker A: Mendocino Supervisor John hascheck then asked Captain Jason Cadillo how the Prop 64 funds will be specifically used.
[00:15:40] Speaker D: So with the Prop 64 money, what will be the duties of those the two deputies I assume will be used with that grant money and that will be just for illegal marijuana eradication or what? What's the purpose of that?
[00:15:58] Speaker C: No. So they will backfill. The purpose would be backfilling the assignment of two new investigators and part of their duties would be illicit marijuana grows. But with illicit marijuana grows comes the violence that's associated the homicide. So in general they become generalized investigators that may have a special specialty in the marijuana realm as well as with the human trafficking entity of it.
[00:16:24] Speaker D: Okay, so it's overall correct.
[00:16:26] Speaker C: It's an overall community safety investigator.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Unfortunately, no other questions were asked of the Mendocino Sheriff's Department by the Board of Supervisors.
Specifically, it is still unclear why the department believes in the current cannabis marketplace that illegal cannabis grows supposedly tied to human trafficking are growing in an exponential way.
Whether this is simply a ploy for better funding by the Mendocino Sheriff's Office or a real crime issue in Mendocino county remains to be seen.
Reporting for kmud, I'm April Lewis.
Public participation played a key role in Fortuna's effort to align its decisions with community priorities. Daniel Mintz reports.
[00:17:19] Speaker E: Described by its city manager as an exciting moment, Fortuna has a new plan that defines community priorities and will shape the city's decision making.
Adopted by the City council at its July 20 meeting, the Strategic Plan 2026-2036 outlines priorities, goals and measurable objectives, while related general plan recommendations set forth policy level direction for land use, housing and economic development, said City Manager Amy Nilsen.
The Strategic Plan is the product of community engagement with six planning workshops and surveying carried out from November 2025 to April 2026.
A listening campaign that tapped community feedback preceded it.
Nilsen described the process leading up to the strategic plan and how the plan will be used.
[00:18:16] Speaker F: The engagement process was very deliberate. It was designed to build co ownership between staff, your council and the community before asking people to set priorities. And that's what we worked through during those workshops that we held on the evening and the weekend.
This process produced the strategic plan, which is again a working guide for staff and council used in decisions, particularly budgeting and resource allocation priorities in the strategic plan structure, near term commitments and longer term direction and performance tracking. This is designed as a list living document and so we get to amend it at any point in time and in the future, Roughly in about a year to 18 months, we will have a workshop retreat where we'll look at this document and we'll decide and we'll look at the progress that we're making and we'll look to also see if we need to make any amendments to this document.
[00:19:10] Speaker E: Nilsen also talked about how the general plan recommendations respond to community concerns.
[00:19:17] Speaker F: This is a document for the general plan consulting team, and it's a public facing document that is readable. It focuses on targeted updates, particularly zoning and municipal code reform and economic development. And there is a particular focus on, in the general plan recommendations on youth and family consideration. Because that's a lot of what we heard throughout this entire process is that families want, want their children to stay here, they want their grandchildren to stay here. So there's a lot of consideration for families.
[00:19:49] Speaker E: A related priority is economic development, which emerged independently as the most urgent priority. Named first or near first by community members, council members, the immigrant focus group, and the teen focus group alike, the plan states.
According to the plan, other community priorities include young people's needs and pedestrian safety issues.
Also included in the plan is an illustrative compass, which Nilsen described as, quote, a graphic tool representing the city's guiding principles.
Councilmember Abe Stephens said the strategic plan's language could be more specific, and he noted what he described as a missing piece.
[00:20:33] Speaker G: I have some hesitations with the strategic plan.
I think, as Amy pointed out, is a living document. So I don't know that I want to stand in the way of it because it serves an important purpose. But I do fear that the compass is a little vague.
It kind of feels like it's got too many feel good buzzwords and is not specific enough to be a useful tool to use on a kind of an important basis. But I guess time will tell. And then the other thing that I also kind of have some concerns with is when it comes to all the budget considerations, it seemed like the strategic plan is really focused on revenue growth, but I didn't really see where it talked about city staff and the council focusing on trying to be more efficient and save money where we can. So I think that should be as we amended or updated in the future. I would like to see that, you know, some emphasis on us trying to be more thrifty with the funds we have. And that I think should be part of our kind of guiding principles or whatever, not necessarily just revenue growth.
[00:21:41] Speaker E: The plan and the general plan recommendations were adopted in a unanimous vote.
Also at the meeting, Nilsen announced that Fortuna Police Chief Matt Eberhardt is leaving his post at the end of the year.
The announcement came as the council approved the hiring freeze exception for the police chief position.
Nilsen said, we will be sad to see our police chief, Matt Eberhardt, go for KMUD News. This is Daniel Mintz.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: Kaiser nurses protest a plan to replace some clinicians with AI KPFA reports.
[00:22:26] Speaker H: Kaiser nurses and therapists rallied at San Francisco City hall today protesting Kaiser's growing use of artificial intelligence in mental health care. The company has new contract proposals on the table that would replace licensed clinicians with AI and outside contractors. Supervisor Cheyenne Chen opened the meeting.
[00:22:45] Speaker F: I specifically want to call out that
[00:22:47] Speaker I: I have heard allegations that Kaiser is using AI, or machine learning to replace clinical judgment. I find this absolutely unacceptable.
The idea that we would allow AI to provide clinical treatment or triage for patients is shocking.
[00:23:05] Speaker H: The hearing follows a complaint filed July 20 by the National Union of Healthcare Workers with the California Department of Managed healthcare and the U.S. department of Labor. NUHW alleges that Kaiser's online E visit tool is making important triage decisions, like whether a patient patient needs an urgent appointment without a licensed clinician's review.
Benjamin Eichert is the policy director of the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
[00:23:32] Speaker J: In its Southern California contract with NUHW members signed last year, Kaiser agreed that the use of new technologies, including AI, quote, is not to replace but to assist bargaining unit employees in providing safe, therapeutic and effective patient care and support support. But now Kaiser is refusing to agree to that language. In Northern California, just as it has begun replacing therapists with technology to triage patients seeking care to mask its intentions, Kaiser's promoting an AI committee. But the committee would have no power at all. Kaiser could veto the union's appointments to it and ignore the committee's recommendations.
[00:24:10] Speaker H: Dr. Jasmine Smith of the national association of Social Workers raised concerns about bias
[00:24:16] Speaker I: in the technology itself, a 2022 study, and found that a machine learning system algorithm caused black patients to experience 33% longer wait times because it relied on factors that were closely tied to race. And More recently, in 2024, a systemic review found that racial disparities in healthcare AI are driven by biased data sets, historical inequities, algorithm design and the way these systems are implemented.
[00:24:43] Speaker H: Kaiser therapist Tiana Loy says AI screening has also taken something away. Patients used to be able to ask for a say in who treats them.
[00:24:52] Speaker I: Now that Kaiser uses telephone operators and AI algorithms to screen patients, there is no method for them to request preferences in a therapist that may influence treatment, such as cultural background or gender identity. I've had LGBTQ patients tell me they've waited forever to find a clinician with my background and that they were going to forego treatment if they did not come to someone like me. When patients are essentially told, here is your option, take it or leave it, that is not ethical and that is not good clinical care. Not at all.
[00:25:24] Speaker H: The union says Kaiser has paid out more than $230 million in state and federal penalties over the past three years for failing to provide timely mental health care. Despite reporting more than $9 billion in profit in 2025, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors invited Kaiser to send a representative to explain its practices, but Kaiser declined. Mediation between Kaiser and the union is set to begin in August. Reporting for KPFA Radio, I'm Anetta Felix.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: That's all for our news broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our rotation of broadcast engineers Dennis Moore, Katie Phillips, Bianna Federico, Michael McCaskill, Larry Lashley and Javier Rodriguez.
Also thanks to our reporter for this broadcast, Daniel Mintz.
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We honor ancestors past, present and emerging acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual and physical connection that these tribes have to the region.
I'm April Lewis. Stay tuned in it.
