Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Speaker A: Good evening and welcome to the local news. Today is Wednesday, November 19th and I'm Nat Cardos reporting for KMUD. In tonight's news, Department of Cannabis Control issues voluntary recall of Humble Bounty Flower. Humble gives cannabis micro businesses more opportunities and Humble author Ellen D. Davidson explores resitivity techniques and forest bathing protocols in new book Sacred Forest Bathing. So stay tuned. Those stories and more. Coming up.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Redwood Community Radio acknowledges that its transmitter sites are located on the unceded territory.
[00:00:51] Speaker C: Of the Sinkyon, Wailaki, Wiatt, Wilcott and Kato people.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: We honor ancestors past, present, present and.
[00:00:58] Speaker C: Emerging and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: And physical connection these tribes have to this region.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: On November 14, the Department of Cannabis Control DCC issued a notice of voluntary recall for multiple Humble Bounty flower products due to the distributor operating without a distributor license and incomplete and incorrect regulatory compliance testing. The recall applies to the following Humble Bounty flower products Gush, Mintz, Government Oasis and Peak 112. These products were sold at dispensaries Pacific Paradise, HHM Humboldt, AF Cannabis Ganderi and PJC Wellness. KMUD contacted the DCC via email for more information as to why the products were recalled, to which they responded Quote the cannabis recall process exists to protect consumer health and plays an important role in ensuring defective or potentially unsafe products are removed from the legal market. There are two types of recalls, mandatory and voluntary. Mandatory recalls are ordered by the Department when there is an immediate and serious threat to human life or health and other remedies would cause unreasonable delay. Voluntary recalls occur when cannabis licensees identify a product as mislabeled, defective, or unsafe for consumption. In this type of recall, the licensee notifies DCC that they are initiating a recall. In both cases, the Department posts recall information on our website and sends a consumer advisory to inform licensees and consumers about the recall. Additionally, we utilize our website, collaborate with media outlets, and use social media platforms to inform consumers about the recall. DCC works with licensees to ensure the recalled cannabis products are properly handled, remediated and or disposed of end quote. On the Humble Bounty website, the recall is announced on the home page where they advise users that have purchased these products to, quote, stop using the product immediately. Check your package for the UID and batch number. If the numbers match, dispose of the product or return it to the retailer for proper disposal, end quote Part of the reason for the recall was that PJC Wellness LLC was operating without a distributor license. While DCC does not address issues related to specific licensees via email, they explained the importance of operating with a license Having a cannabis license is essential. It ensures products are being produced and sold safely and responsibly. A license demonstrates that a cannabis business is following the state's strict regulations which protect consumers by ensuring that the products that they purchase are safe. Working within the legal cannabis market means operating within a regulated system that prioritizes public health and safeguards the environment. Through programs like the Real California Cannabis Campaign, DCC educates the public on the benefits of purchasing legal cannabis and how to tell licensed retailers from unlicensed ones.
For more information about the recall, the website is recalls.cannavis.ca.gov recalls for more information on the Real California Cannabis Campaign, the website is real.canvas.ca.gov Soham Mobile Clinic will be in Shelter Cove November 21st at the RID Clubhouse and will be offering primary care services including general health and wellness exams, minor illnesses and respiratory concerns, concerns related to diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions, screening and treatment for depression or anxiety and more. The mobile clinic will have limited walk in availability and the number to make an appointment is 707-923-3921, extension number 1221. Once again, this will be on November 21 from 10am to 3:30pm at the RID clubhouse.
Humboldt County's cannabis rules now include easier permitting of small scale cannabis businesses Daniel.
[00:04:32] Speaker D: Mintz reports Small scale cannabis producers seeking more control when it comes to selling their crops are getting a boost from Humboldt County's Board of Supervisors, which has approved rule changes making it easier to do cottage industry style cannabis business.
Changes to the county's cannabis ordinance designed to allow micro businesses to broaden their activities were approved at the board's Nov. 18 meeting.
The changes redefine a micro business as a composite use, including non volatile manufacturing, distribution and retail sales.
Those would have to be related to cannabis cultivation of less than 10,000 square feet.
The changes respond to a lot of feedback from cannabis producers who believe they're often underpaid by distributors or not paid at all.
The ability to sell retail cannabis on site was discussed in this exchange between Supervisor Rex Bone and County Planner Augustus Grouchow.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Most of my complaints lately have been from distributors not paying the cultivator.
[00:05:42] Speaker E: I mean 75 80, $100,000 out there, which is make or break.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: Basically our taxes are no so is there going to be a direct linkage?
[00:05:51] Speaker A: You know, so in order to be.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: Able to sell your product, you're going to need to modify your permit in order to allow for off site retail sales. That is part of this ordinance, essentially saying this is part of the ZCC.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: That you could be getting.
[00:06:06] Speaker D: Grouchow clarified that micro businesses will be able to deliver their own products to customers as long as they have county clearance from the tax collector pay, but a state transport license is still needed.
The changes will help cultivators add manufacturing and retail sales to their cultivation permits without requiring a more complex and costly special permit.
Non volatile extraction facilities can also be approved administratively if they don't involve customer traffic and are associated with a cultivation permit.
During a public comment period, Ross Gordon of the Humboldt County Growers alliance said cutting out the middlemen is a positive step, but others need to be taken.
[00:06:52] Speaker C: I think, you know, but this is definitely one of the top issues, if not the major issue that farmers here are facing broadly, which is trying to sell a craft product but having to go through multiple middlemen on the way to doing that distribution and retail. That means you're not necessarily controlling the quality of your product as it moves through the supply chain. It means you're not necessarily able to tell your story as it moves through the supply chain. And it means, as I think was pointed out, you may not get paid and a lot of people are in that situation. So really appreciate trying to address this issue.
Also appreciate the discussion and I think the acknowledgment of the reality, which is this is a incremental step in the right direction and one that we urge you to support and approve today. But also I think it's important to understand contextually what barriers are going to continue to exist. I think this sort of widens the opportunity to jump through a bunch of other hoops that are also going to be significant to jump through.
[00:07:44] Speaker D: Gordon said further help to small scale producers can be had on the state level, such as making it easier to sell cannabis at events, not requiring expensive insurance to transport, and not requiring video surveillance.
Planning director John Ford said his department is open to developing further changes to make cannabis production within residences easier and quote, otherwise we will just seek to interpret that as being consistent with the code.
Supervisor Natalie Arroyo vouched for extending the approach on a broader scale.
[00:08:20] Speaker F: When these issues around cottage businesses come up in general, I mean I would, I would love to see us have the opportunity to have more flexibility with people's home businesses.
I think we recognize that that's part of the business culture here and you know, from an environmental health and building perspective, this affects home bakeries the same way that it does tamale makers the same way that it does these, these micro businesses. And so I think we can continue to look at what opportunities we have to allow more flexibility and work with the state on that and make that a clear priority.
[00:09:01] Speaker D: The micro business permit changes were unanimously approved in Eureka for KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: Also at the Board of supervisors meeting, a $1.5 million loan was approved that will leverage federal funding for the Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District's hospital and clinic services. The loan will be drawn from the county's Headwaters Fund and allows the district to enter a state program, the Intergovernmental Transfer Program, that leverages federal funding for Medi Cal Services.
According to a written staff report, the county's loan is augmented by 2 million from the Humble Area foundation and 500,000 from the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission. Supervisor Michelle Bushnell linked the county loan to the district's development of a new hospital. She said the loan is very instrumental for trying to get the hospital built and we have to have a new hospital built. Without that we don't really have a community.
The loan was approved as part of the meeting's consent agenda of items considered routine Back in May of this year, Humboldt based author Ellen D. Davidson released her book Sacred Forest, which presents forest bathing as a way to reconnect with nature for healing, creativity and expanded awareness. The practice of forest bathing originated in Japan in 1982, though the practice itself has been in many Asian cultures for centuries. The practice can lower stress, blood pressure and heart rate while simultaneously boosting immune function, mood and cognitive abilities.
Kema News spoke to author Ellen D. Davidson for more information on the practice.
[00:10:28] Speaker G: Forest bathing comes from a Japanese term shinrin yoku, and they've been studying it for a long time and have discovered that spending time in forests lowers blood pressure, helps with diabetes, wound healing. It speeds up wound healing, elevates mood, decreases anxiety.
It has so many benefits and the amazing thing about it is not only does it have all these benefits, but their studies have shown that even going for a couple days, the benefits continue for the whole month and it includes things like more T cells so your immune system goes up. And of course here in Humboldt county we are blessed. We have so many forests.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: According to her website, Sacred Forest Bathing Quote explores the healing, heightened creativity and intuitive states available to us when we commune with nature. End quote. The book has also won the NYC Big Book Award for Spirituality.
[00:11:26] Speaker G: Sacred Forest Bathing came out in May with Inner Traditions and that book was inspired because I started hanging out in the redwoods a lot, mainly up at Prairie Creek, but various old growth places and at the time I had been sick for a long time with fibromyalgia and insomnia and just didn't feel great. Caught every cold that came down the pike. And this was before all the science came out about the healing benefits of forest bathing and nature therapy, which are now proven. But anyway, I started spending all this time in the forest and it was so inspiring that eventually some years into it I many years into it, this book came out and it's a weave of memoir and wild animal encounters and mythology and science about the trees and a little bit of mysticism.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: Other books that Davidson has written include Miracle Forest, Wind Princess, Justina Albertina and more. Her other recent book, Miracle Forest, is a bilingual children's book that follows the true story of the sustainable community founded by Paolo Lugari.
[00:12:35] Speaker G: The Miracle Forest is about sustainable community in Colombia that miraculously managed to restore rainforests in this completely spontaneous and unexpected way and that book took a long time to create. It's such children's picture book. It's available at the Humboldt County Office of Education Library for the ape in the area and it's bilingual, Spanish, English and was illustrated by a local artist, Carolyn Raleigh Halsing, who is one of the co owners at Redwood Roots Farm.
[00:13:12] Speaker A: For more information about Davidson and her books, the website is ellendddavidson.com in state news Pesticides use in schools Increasing agricultural communities call for protections from carcinogens KPFA's Kennedy Coelho reports pesticides are being sprayed.
[00:13:30] Speaker H: Near schools in California's agricultural communities. That's according to air monitors located in schools across the state where 80% of samples were found to contain pesticides, according to a report by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.
These schools were in Santa Maria, Oxnard, Shafter and Watsonville, all of which are majority Latino towns, with the schools having between 87 to 99% Latino enrollment. The group California's for Pesticide Reform held a virtual news conference connecting communities that held rallies in Fresno, Oxnard and Watsonville. They all called for greater protections against pesticides, specifically 13 dichloropropine. 1 3D is a fumigant and current regulations allow for exposures 14 times higher than the lifetime cancer risk threshold established by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Oscar Ramos, a second grade teacher in Watsonville, said children are being poisoned and they need to be protected.
[00:14:35] Speaker E: We must stop attacking and sacrificing our school children and farm worker communities.
As adults, as grown ups, as teachers, as parents, as human beings, we're supposed to protect our children.
Let's protect them from these invisible but truly harmful pesticides at the Fresno rally.
[00:14:57] Speaker H: Rocio Madrigal, an organizer for the Central California Environmental Justice Network, spoke about pesticide use in the city. Despite Fresno not being one of the cities included on the California Department of Pesticide Regulation report. Madrigal said that her organization is conducting its own study in the city. She said that initial results show that pesticides, including 1.3D have been detected in the neighboring town of Westpark, showing how these chemicals travel. Madrigal called DPR rules that create only a quarter mile buffer between application sites and schools racist, saying they disproportionately affect Latino communities.
[00:15:41] Speaker E: West park is home to a school where 90% of the students are Latinos. It is also home to Latino elders who spend hours outdoors taking care of their yards, sometimes after decades of being farm laborers and being exposed at their place of work. Also, we demand that the lives of all Californians are protected and treated the same.
[00:16:04] Speaker H: Speakers emphasized that these regulations affect Latino communities and they said these regulations need to be stricter. Organizers called for the state to phase out fumigants entirely and to increase the quarter mile buffer zone to at least one full mile around all schools and daycare sites. Reporter Bo Bo Raja Gopal of the San Luis Obispo New Times asked why the DPR does not have stronger regulations on 13D, CPR Co Director Jane Selen responded that the DPR maintains that its use is essential.
[00:16:41] Speaker E: We have year round crops and we have year round strawberry crops, year round other crops and that fumigation allows that kind of rapid turnaround and industrialization of agriculture.
And I think there really is a genuine fear that agriculture is so reliant on fumigation that if they were to further restrict would be, you know, difficult to continue business as usual.
[00:17:07] Speaker H: A spokesperson from the DPR says they are committed to protecting public health and the environment through science based regulation of pesticide use, saying we recognize the concerns raised by community members and advocacy groups and take them seriously, end quote. The department says it's working on stronger regulations including an enhanced buffer zone that if approved, will go into effect January 2026. For KPFA news, I'm Kennedy Cuello.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: In national news, Congress overwhelmingly passes Epstein Files Transparency act after Trump drops opposition. KPFA's Christopher Martinez reports Lawmakers and President.
[00:17:49] Speaker I: Trump have struggled for months over the so called Epstein files documents related to the late convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein. But when a bill to release the files finally came up for a vote on the House floor Tuesday, it wasn't even close.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: The yeas are 427.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: The nays are 1, 2/3 being in the affirmative.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: The rules are suspended.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: The bill is passed.
[00:18:14] Speaker I: The vote marks the culmination of a months long effort that has overcome opposition from President Trump and Republican leadership.
[00:18:21] Speaker E: Trump.
[00:18:21] Speaker I: Trump had dismissed the Epstein files as a Democratic hoax while also saying the files had information damaging to Democrats. He's claimed he had no knowledge of Epstein's sexual trafficking of children despite a drumbeat of embarrassing revelations like a suggestive birthday card sent to Epstein that Trump claims is fake and a statement by Epstein that Trump knew about the girls. But momentum built around a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the files. Trump reversed his opposition last weekend when it became clear it had the votes to pass. His message on social media said it's time to move on from this Democrat hoax perpetrated by radical left lunatics. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene was one of the Republicans who had supported a discharge petition despite pressure from Trump. She says the issue has, in her words, ripped MAGA apart. She spoke at a news conference with victims of Epstein shortly before the vote.
[00:19:19] Speaker E: And he called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition.
Let me tell you what a traitor is.
A traitor is a is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves.
A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America and Americans like the women standing behind me.
[00:19:45] Speaker I: The Epstein files Transparency act directs the Attorney General to release unclassified records and documents related to Epstein, his former associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of trafficking young girls to him and other individuals named or referenced in connection to Epstein's criminal activities.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who had attempted to block a vote on the measure of ended up voting for it, but not without criticism. He called it a political show vote.
[00:20:15] Speaker A: And in a desperate attempt, they're trying to somehow tie President Trump to the scandal. President Trump has nothing to do with it. He has said himself he has nothing to hide.
[00:20:25] Speaker I: The measure next went to the Senate, where it was quickly approved with no opposition. Speaker Johnson had said he hoped the measure would be amended in the Senate, but Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a co sponsor of the House resolution, had some advice for the Senate.
[00:20:40] Speaker D: Don't muck it up in the Senate.
[00:20:42] Speaker I: Don't get too cute.
[00:20:43] Speaker A: We're all paying attention.
[00:20:45] Speaker I: President Trump now says he'll sign the measure into law when it reaches his desk. But some Democrats remain skeptical. Shortly before the vote, California Democrat Ted Lieu told reporters the President does not want these files out and one reason we know that is the president can order these files to be released right now.
Reporting for Pacifica Radio News, kpfa, I'm Christopher Martinez.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: SF Senator Weiner introduces no Kings act to hold officials accountable for rights violations. KPFA's Caitlin Clift reports.
[00:21:22] Speaker H: Senator Scott Wiener has announced Senate Bill 747, which he has dubbed the no Kings Act.
The measure aims to hold federal, state and local officials accountable for violations of constitutional rights.
Senator Weiner says this act is different from protections previously in place.
[00:21:43] Speaker C: Right now we have a federal administration, the Trump administration, that is completely lawless. They are violating people's constitutional rights 365 days a year, and they keep losing and keep court.
But people who are harmed, like, for example, people who are racially profiled and taken away and held with no legal basis, they have no way of suing. They have no effective remedy because it's almost impossible to sue a federal agent or official under federal law. So we have a state civil rights law, the Bain act, where state and local officials can be sued for violating the Constitution.
We are strengthening that law and making clear that under that civil rights law, you can sue federal agents and officials if they violate the U.S. constitution.
[00:22:35] Speaker H: Under the no Kings act, individuals can seek remedies for violations of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments.
Specifically, it would allow Californians to sue officers who are found to have willfully violated these rights, including but not limited to, free speech protections against unlawful searches and excessive force.
Senator Weiner, who is running for former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's seat, has made it clear that the measure was a response to the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement.
[00:23:12] Speaker C: We're doing what we can to support Californians, including immigrant communities, including trans people, who are being targeted.
And we have a responsibility to do that, and we're going to continue to do it. We are not going to just roll over as Donald Trump and his thugs try to take over our state and try to tear communities apart.
[00:23:36] Speaker H: SB747 is sponsored by Protect Democracy, United Prosecutors Alliance Action, and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice.
Reporting for KPFA News, I'm Caitlin Clift.
[00:23:52] Speaker A: In National Native News, Brian Bull reads today's headlines.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: This is National Native News. I'm Brian Bull, sitting in Frantonia Gonzalez. For decades, starting in 1907, indigenous women and women of color across the country were sterilized without their informed consent.
Last week, a coalition of women's reproductive rights advocates called on New Mexico legislators to create a commission to investigate the abuses. KUNM's Jeanette Didios has More numerous reports.
[00:24:21] Speaker F: Show sterilizations peaked in the 1960s through the late 70s.
That's when upwards of 70,000 Indigenous women were forced or coerced into sterilization procedures by the Indian Health Service and contracted physicians, including those at the University of New Mexico.
By the mid-1970s, at least 25% of indigenous women of childbearing age had been sterilized.
Executive Director of Indigenous Women Rising, Rachel Lorenzo from the Mescalero Apache in Laguna Pueblo says she was a target of coercion.
[00:24:56] Speaker E: Doctors refused to take out my IUD.
[00:24:59] Speaker F: Despite the fact the copper IUD, which is called ParaGard, made me bleed for 10 months. And four different doctors refused to take.
[00:25:05] Speaker E: It out because it was working the way it was supposed to.
[00:25:08] Speaker F: And they said I was too young.
[00:25:10] Speaker E: At 22 to have another baby.
[00:25:12] Speaker F: The proposed joint memorial would establish a memorial to victims, but also a truth and Reconciliation Commission that would make New Mexico the first US State to formally investigate and acknowledge the violations done to Indigenous women. Democratic State Senator Linda Lopez agreed that the legislature needs to acknowledge the role New Mexico played in this history.
[00:25:34] Speaker E: It wasn't us who are here in the roundhouse at this point in time, and yes, it was maybe another governmental entity, but Madam Chair, I think those of us who are elected have a responsibility to say this should never have happened, this will not happen, and that we apologize.
[00:25:49] Speaker F: Democratic State Representative Michelle Paulina Beta says there also needs to be more resources for educating youth about reproductive care. New Mexico currently doesn't have a law on forced sterilization.
For national Native News, I'm Jeanette Dios.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: The Native Vote was center stage Tuesday morning at the National Congress of American Indians annual Convention in Seattle. Panelists discuss various barriers facing Native voters in efforts to protect Native voting rights.
Matthew Campbell, deputy director at the Native American Rights Fund, was on the panel. He says the state and the Native votes across the country has its ups and downs.
Typically, a voter might choose to only vote in the presidential election every four years. But I think it's really critical to remember that if we elect candidates of our choice in the state legislature for the school boards, you know, every single race really can make a difference in our lives.
You know, if we elect people that lift up and fight for tribal sovereignty at the state level, that's really important.
And, and if we elect people that are aware about our culture and our tradition at the school board level, that's also really important. Janie Parish is the executive director of Arizona Native Vote. She says work on Native voting issues takes place year round and not just during big election years like presidential or midterms.
[00:27:11] Speaker E: Like many issues, whether it's tribal sovereignty, climate, education, there are people constantly working on these issues, whether that's on advocacy side or lobbying or policy. It's the same thing with civic engagement and voting and elections.
[00:27:28] Speaker B: Parrish is a panelist on civic engagement in Indian country Wednesday afternoon voting is just one of the many issues attendees of the NCEI annual convention are focusing on. Organizers say this year's convention is seeing record numbers with 2500 people registered.
This is National Native News. I'm Brian Bull in the KLCC studios of Eugene, Oregon.
[00:27:55] Speaker E: Native Voice one, the Native American Radio network.
[00:28:05] Speaker A: That's all for tonight's broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our engineer, Larry Lashley, and thanks to our Daniel Mintz, Kennedy Coelho, Christopher Martinez, Caitlin Clift and Brian Bowell. KMO News is online and you can find us on kmud.org and now streaming on most podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, where you can download our stories and newscasts for offline listening during your rural commutes. You can also follow us on social media. If you have questions or suggestions, you can give us a call at 707-923-2605 or send an email to newsmud.org Redwood Community Radio, Inc. Is funded by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at PressForward News. Reporting for KMUD, I'm Nat Cardis.
