California’s most deadly wildfire is still burning

The Camp Fire roared through the town of Paradise, California and decimated everything in its path and continues to burn.

California has just experienced its deadliest-ever wildfire. The fire may not be as destructive as it was a couple of days ago, yet many Californians must now face the accumulation of toxic and hazardous smoke that plagues the very air that we breathe.

The powerful blaze has destroyed over 10,000 homes, and claimed over 70 lives, with over 1000 people still missing. The 150,000 acres that burned sent fine particles into the air which has created the danger that many in the heavily affected areas are facing. Currently these impacted areas have the worst quality rated air in the world.

Brian Mistler is the executive director of student health and well-being at Humboldt State University.

“The wildfire smoke that is filling the air is a mixture of gases and fine particles from burning trees and other plant materials,” Mistler said. “This smoke can hurt your eyes, irritate your respiratory system, and worsen chronic heart and lung diseases.”

The areas that are heavily affected by the smoke are mostly south of Butte County. The air in areas like San Rafael, Oakland, and Vacaville are considered “very unhealthy” along with the Sacramento area considered to be “hazardous” by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Young children, older adults, and those with asthma or with heart or lung conditions are heavily at risk.

The North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District uses the EPA Air Quality Index range to inform people to the quality of air they are breathing. 0-50 is considered good. 51-100 is considered moderate and requires sensitive individuals should limit outdoor use. 101-150 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups and requires those groups to reduce heavy outdoor exertion. 151-200 is considered unhealthy and sensitive groups should avoid all outdoor exertion. 201-300 is considered very unhealthy and states everyone should avoid prolonged outdoor exertion. Anything higher than 300 is considered hazardous and states everyone should avoid going outside.

Debra Harris is the North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District’s burn program coordinator. Harris said that because of winter conditions temperature inversions are affecting the disbursement of smoke across the state. These conditions are dragging the smoke from Butte County down to the bay area.

The air quality for Eureka is listed at 81, which is moderate and only those with serious health conditions should seek to limit going outdoors.

Not only is the Camp Fire in northern California affecting everyone in the state, but the Woolsey Fire in southern California has also made an impact on hurting our air quality.

Harris said that since last week, “better air” is being brought down from the northern winds.

Recent developments have once again pointed to poor management on part of PG&E as the cause of the Camp Fire. According to PG&E officials, they experienced an outage on a transmission line on the morning of Nov. 8 near the town Pulga, which is where the fire is believed to have started.

Jeffery Kane is an associate professor of fire ecology and fuels management at HSU. Kane believed more can be done to prevent devastating results from wildfire.

“The more fuel there is to burn, the more smoke you will get,” Kane said.

Fuel is regarded as what makes the fire so devastating, because like a car that burns gasoline, fire uses wood the same way. The dry conditions that California has faced also lead into making this “fuel” drier as moisture usually slows down the burning process.

“We have too much fuel in some areas, and when you have more homes surrounded by vegetation, those homes are surrounded by fuel,” Kane said.

The wind played a factor in both the northern and southern California fires. Kane added the fierce fire was a product of fierce winds and high heat. During the fires, 30 mph winds were recorded, which allowed the Camp Fire blaze to consume almost a football field every 3 seconds.

In the coming days, rain is in the forecast for California, which is a godsend for the blazing fires but there are new fears for disaster from mudslides.

“We need the rain to help with these fires,” Kane said. “But we need to build better homes, and make them fire resistant so that we do not have another blaze that turns homes into rolling dominoes.”

 

California authorizes local harm reduction services to begin operating

In 2011 Brandie Wilson lost a friend to heroin overdose. Then she lost another, and another. By 2013 she had lost six friends to overdoses and decided to do something about it.

Wilson graduated from Humboldt State University with her masters in sociology and created Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction, or HACHR. She said there was only one government-managed needle exchange run by Humboldt county. The demand exceeded their capacity.

“We have a large rural area with an extremely large drug use,” Wilson said. “There was more need than one program could handle.”

In October the state authorized HACHR to operate. They can now increase hours of operation and broaden intended outreach programs.

“It takes a lot of work to truly make a safe space for the people that come here,” Wilson said. “And they may never have known what a safe space is.”

Wilson started emailing everyone she knew involved with drug policy and was awarded a grant to start an organization. HACHR has been at its current location in Eureka for 18 months, and Wilson said they service between 90-150 people a week. She said there are groups against their services but the controversy elevates their work.

“At least it has the entire community talking about an issue that has been shoved in the shadows the past 40 years,” Wilson said.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, there are more than 115 people in the U.S. that die from opioid overdose every day. An estimated 2 million people suffer from substance abuse disorders related to opiates.

According to California Public Health Department data, from 2014-2016 Humboldt County had the second highest rate of overdose deaths in California’s 58 counties.

Avert, one of the leading global information and education organizations on HIV and AIDs, states harm reduction programs aim to prevent the spread of infections and viruses by providing easy access to sterile needles.

According to Avert, worldwide benefits of harm reduction services have been proven with countries like Switzerland, the UK, and Australia reducing the number of new HIV infections among intravenous drug users to zero.

“We have the highest rate of hepatitis C on the west coast,” Wilson said.

The program coordinator for HACHR is Jessica Smith. Smith earned her masters in sociology at HSU and started working in 2017. She oversees the building and volunteers, helps build programs and does training out in the community with safe injection.

“Brandie came to one of my classes and made me cry, so I wanted to try it out,” Smith said. “I’ve been here ever since.”

Smith said harm reduction was a term that was thrown around, but she didn’t know what it was until working at HACHR. Smith said she feels connected to the work she does because her mother had a history with substance abuse. Smith said the community shares with each other and sincerely look out after each other’s safety, and and the work at HACHR is rewarding every day.

“I get to step back and be very genuine with other people,” Smith said.

Harm reduction programs like HACHR rely on volunteer based work to help them stay operating. Angelica Flores-Cruz, a senior in sociology and CRGS at HSU, volunteers twice a week with HACHR. She has been with HACHR since last spring semester and said her eyes have opened to other fields to work in when she graduates.

“It has gotten me to think about marginalized groups, that’s what I study a lot in classes,” Flores-Cruz said.

Flores-Cruz said her favorite part at HACHR is working in the exchange room, where she distributes clean syringes, snorting and fentanyl testing kits, and cleaning supplies. At first, work was intimidating for Flores-Cruz because she never had experience with drugs, but she said it was easy to get comfortable.

Flores-Cruz said the people that use HACHR services are misjudged and forced to go through systemic barriers due to poverty. In the exchange room, Flores-Cruz said she enjoys listening to people who simply just need to vent and talk to feel better. Flores-Cruz said she will use what she learned at HACHR and spread the ideas when she moves back to Long Beach after graduating.

“It may seem small spending four hours rolling cotton but really it’s big,” Flores-Cruz said.

 

Brennen Duck took an oath to defend this country from all enemies foreign and domestic.

“And right now our president is acting as a domestic enemy,” Duck said.

Duck, an Arcata community member, joined more than 20 people at Humboldt State University’s quad on Nov. 8 to protest against Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general.

This protest was part of a nationwide protest organized by Common Cause, a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. They are concerned that Whitaker will interfere with special counsel Robert Mueller’s more than one-year-long investigation on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Former Attorney General Jeffrey Sessions, who Trump had fired hours after the 2018 mid-term elections, recused himself from Muller’s investigation. That means that Sessions was unable to make any executive decisions on the investigation. Now that Sessions is gone, Whitaker has the power to end the investigation.

Protesters are especially worried Whitaker will interrupt the investigation because he had previously written an op-ed condemning it. The protesters with Common Cause demanded that Whitaker also recuse himself from the investigation so that Mueller can continue his investigation without any interference.

“It’s really hard to imagine that they’re getting away with being corrupt when [Whitaker] made statements opposing the investigation,” protester Joan Dixon said. “It’s quite devious.”

Political science junior Alex Fallman took the helm of the protest and relayed a speech to the group of protesters given to him by Humboldt Congressman Jared Huffman.

Fallman read Huffman’s letter on his support for the protesters and made a call to action demanding that Whitaker recuse himself from the investigation.

After being at the quad for 15 minutes the group of protesters then traveled to Arcata Plaza. Fallman said there were speakers in Eureka and Arcata Plaza at the same time.

“I’m a little disappointed in turnout,” protester Kyla Hock said. “It’s ok though, it’s a good movement to support.”

 

By Alex Harris and Sebastian Lindner

Voters share their thoughts on the Nov. 6 election.

Where do I go, what do I do, or who do I vote for? These were questions pondered by perspective voters who showed up or thought about voting in the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

Many who lined up at polling stations or mailed in absentee ballot votes were first time voters. HSU student Yesnia Celis  said she sees this vote as empowering.

“I feel like it’s really important and it’s like a really crazy and emotional experience for me,” Celis siad

Celis is not only a first time voter but also represents many who do not have the privilege to vote. She frames this as her reason for voting on Nov. 6 and why she votes in general.

“My reasoning (for voting), was that I have friends who are immigrants,” Celis said. “They do not have a say in this, so I am representing them.”

Similar to Celis’s intent, HSU senior Maddy Tervet believes she is voting for something greater than herself. Tervet also said this is a big turn-around from the last election

“There is a lot at stake with this election because of all the turmoil after the last,” Tervet said. “I think it’s a time where we’re seeing more people interested in voting and in politics.”

Victor Ahumad, a senior psychology major at HSU, also took some solace in the voter turnout.

“I’m excited to see a huge rise in this year’s voter turnout,” Ahumad said.

Although many had their own reasons to show up to the polls not everyone had the resources to make it there. The North Coast People’s Alliance, saw this problem and decided to help, in the form of a voter van. The voter van took people to and from the elections office in Eureka from HSU’s library circle.

Tamara McFarland, a volunteer van driver from the North Coast People’s Alliance, said many were ecstatic to see this resource on campus.

“Everyone was so happy they were giving us high fives and thumbs ups,” McFarland said.

Although some resources were provided for people to attend the elections, some like McFarland felt as though all voters were not 100 percent prepared for the elections.

“I think especially the propositions were confusing,” McFarland said. “But there has been some good conversation (between students) happening on the bus.”

Some were not as lucky as those who had these conversations and thusly felt woefully unprepared. Humboldt State student Atalia Cohen, said even when her friends had an election party the night before to research some of the candidates and propositions, they all still felt confused.

“I did not feel at all prepared,” Cohen said.

Although Cohen felt like her vote was important, she explained that she did not receive a sample ballot through the mail or any information even though she was supposed to be an absentee voter.

“I never received anything in the mail,” Cohen said. “I feel like it was even difficult to read all the information that was even presented online because it’s made to actually make you feel confused.”

Though some felt confused or mislead on what to vote for, many still believed in the importance of their vote.

Humboldt State students and friends Ashley Martinez and Vanessa Echevarria were sparked to go to the polls. Martinez voted in order to combat some of the politics that she saw as toxic in her hometown of Inglewood, California.

“Our mayor has been raising the rent in the city, along with pushing for the new (NFL) stadium being constructed which we don’t want,” Martinez said.

Martinez and Echevarria are apart of a large group of people who were either convinced to vote by friends or something that was affecting them personally.

“Ashley said to me, ‘quit complaining and go do something about it, go vote,’” Echevarria said. “So, I decided to go out and do something about it.”

This page was updated with results on Nov. 7 at 3:55 p.m.

Some results may not reflect the final results for a few days or weeks due to mail-in ballots being accounted for. Final tally will be determined around December.

Measure H:

The county voted 73.66% yes, 26.44% no

Measure H is a tax that increases the cost of hotel taxes by 10% for those who wish for occupancy at any hotel located at blue lake. The funds will go to the city’s general fund, with an predicted annual revenue of $19,000.

 

Measure I:

The county voted 48.10% yes, 51.90% no

Measure I is a tax increase for the city of Eureka, it would increase the city’s sales tax by %0.25 in order to fund local roads for 20 years. The predicted annual revenue would be $2.2 million

Measure J:

The county voted 48.10% yes, 51.90% no

Measure J is to continue a tax increase for the city of Rio Del, it would maintain the 1% city sales tax until December 2024. The predicted revenue would be $245,000 annually, with the purpose to fund general city purposes.

Measure K:

The county vote voted 51.56% yes, 48.44% no

Measure K is a county initiative that would make Humboldt county a ‘sanctuary county’, meaning that local law enforcement agencies cannot work with ICE to detain illegal immigrants from the Humboldt county.

Measure L:

The county voted 66.39% yes, 33.61% no

Measure L is a bond that would allow Cutten school district to sell up to $4,000,000 in bonds, it would need %55 of the vote in order to pass the ballot. The intention of the ballot is to fund improvements to the school such as constructions, school safety, and improvements on technology for educational purposes.

Measure M:

The county voted 37.84% yes, 63.16% no

Measure M is an initiative to prevent any modification or removal of the statue of president McKinley on the Arcata Plaza. After a vote from the Arcata city council voted 4-1 for the removal of the statue, measure M was launched with many residences signatures to allow for the voters to have a say on whether the statue should be removed.

Measure N:

The county vote 69.27% yes, 30.73% no

Measure N would allow for the Northern Humboldt Union High School District to issue and sell up to $24.0 million in bonds in an aggregate principal amount with an interest rate not exceeding the legal amount. NHUHSD would also need to provide financing for specific types of school projects that the money would be used for. This would allow, but not limited to, repairing broken parts of the school’s infrastructure, allow to expand school facilities, and modernize classroom’s.

Measure O:

The county voted 71.94% yes, 28.06% no

Measure O would continue with the tax increase that was voted in 2014 by a rate of %0.5, the funds from measure O would be used for general county purposes. The predicted annual rate with the passing of the measure would generate $12 million.

 

Sourced from Humboldtgov.org

There are currently 97.2 percent precincts reporting. Here are the proposition results for California.

Information sourced from https://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/ballot-measures

Proposition 1 Bonds Issues $4 billion in bonds for housing programs and veterans’ home loans.

Proposition 2 Bonds Authorizes state to use revenue from millionaire’s tax for $2 billion in bonds for homelessness prevention housing

Proposition 3 Bonds Issues $8.877 billion in bonds for water-related infrastructure and environmental projects

Proposition 4 Bonds Issues $1.5 billion in bonds for children’s hospitals

Proposition 5 Taxes Revises process for homebuyers who are age 55 or older or severely disabled to transfer their tax assessments

Proposition 6 Taxes Repeals 2017’s fuel tax and vehicle fee increases and requires public vote on future increases

Proposition 7 Time Authorizes legislature to provide for permanent daylight saving time if federal government allows

Proposition 8 Healthcare Requires dialysis clinics to issue refunds for revenue above a certain amount

Proposition 10 Housing Allows local governments to regulate rent on any type of housing

Proposition 11 Labor Allow ambulance providers to require workers to remain on call during breaks paid

Proposition 12 Animals Bans sale of meat from animals confined in spaces below specific sizes

Election result updates for the House of Representatives and Senate

This post was last updated on Tue. Nov. 6 at 11:43 pm.

 

28 seats not called.

 

 

 

5 seats not called.

2 Independent Winners: Bernie Sanders in Vermont

Angus King in Maine

 

Information being sourced from the New York Times, CNN and NPR. 

Election Day is upon us, here are some of the important measures on the ballot

Today is Election Day for the Midterm 2018 session. A number of measures are up for vote locally but two of them have been hotly debated.

Measure K, if passed, would prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with any federal immigration officials or immigration detainers. The measure would also protect undocumented residents from being arrested at their home between the hours of 12 a.m. to 8 a.m., from being arrested near a school, hospital or other medical facilities.

Measure M, if voted down, would allow the City of Arcata to remove the McKinley statue in the Arcata Plaza. The statue has been at the center of a number of debates at City Council meetings, and nationwide, and was even recently vandalized.

On the ballot for the statewide ballot are a number of propositions. California propositions one, two, three, and four all deal with the issuing of bond money for a variety of projects. These include housing for veterans, the homeless, water-related infrastructure and children’s hospitals.

The most popular propositions are six, seven, and 10. Propositions six deals with repealing the 2017 fuel tax, and has recently brought Governor Jerry Brown out to campaign for keeping the tax in place. Proposition seven would allow Californians to do away with daylight saving time. Proposition 10 would allow local governments to implement rent control as they see fit. Proposition 10 has been wavering in its popularity as of recently with a defeat looking like quite the possibility.

According to realclearpolitics.com there are 38 congressional seat races that are labeled as “toss up.” They have gathered polling data from the New York Times, Siena College and University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies polls and offer the results on their web page. Some of the “toss up” races are in California.

Six of the closest congressional races to watch in California will be Districts 10, 25, 39, 45, 48, 49 and 50. The 50th district is currently represented by Duncan Hunter. Hunter was recently indicted on a number of charges including conspiracy and the mishandling of campaign funds. The polls have Hunter up three points, but with the indictments weighing heavy on the incumbent’s conscious and the voters’ minds, his future is up in the air.

Some of the candidates to pay attention to across the nation will be Karen Handle, Steve King, Greg Gianforte, Peter King, and Dave Brat. All of these candidates are Republicans running in areas where Trump won the 2016 presidential election, but are polling at unusually low numbers for incumbent candidates.

Handle beat John Ossoff in a closely watched special election in June 2017, and is running in Georgia where early voter turnout is soaring. Steve King of Iowa has recently lost funding from a number of big name donors. Gianforte infamously body slammed a reporter and Dave Brat was a tea party insurgent who took down a long standing incumbent in 2014.

Other races to pay close attention to are the Senate race in Texas between Beto O’Rourke and Ted Cruz, the Florida governor race between Ron DeSantis and Andrew Gillum, and the Georgia governor race between Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams. If Abrams wins the governor race, she will be the nation’s first black female governor.

Look for local live coverage on our Twitter and Instagram feed @hsulumberjack

 

Jacks fall short of winning last home game ever

The Humboldt State Lumberjacks lost the overtime coin flip and started with the ball, with pressure to make it to the end zone. The offense stalled, and third string senior quarterback Brenden Davis was flagged for intentional grounding. The 15-yard penalty and loss of down forced senior kicker Jose “Pepe” Morales to attempt a 37-yard-kick. He missed the crucial overtime kick.

Possession flipped and Azusa Pacific ran eight plays for 29 yards setting up their kicker Jacob Hall for the game-winning 13-yard field goal.

Quarterback Brenden Davis finished with 68 yards and completed 60 percent of his passes. Three quarterbacks handled snaps after starter Joey Sweeney left the game with a potential head injury.

“Senior year, last game at the Redwood Bowl, I got an opportunity and I was ready,” Davis said. “We didn’t get the win. Mistakes were made but the effort was there on every play and I believe we closed this thing out right.”

The loss pushed the lumberjacks to 1-8 overall and 1-6 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

The opening drive was quickly halted when Azusa Pacific intercepted Sweeney’s pass down the sideline. Azusa led a 10 play, 43-yard march into the end zone. The four minute drive was capped off by a three-yard run by Azusa running back Aaron Baltazar.

The Jacks were shut out in the first quarter but came alive in the second, finding the end zone twice. Head coach Damaro Wheeler decided to go for it on 4th and goal, trusting the offense.

Quarterback Sweeney read the defense and handed the ball off to senior running back Tyree Marzetta who jumped into the end zone. The Jacks first touchdown drive lasted 17 plays with an exciting fourth down finish. Marzetta carried the ball a season-high 24 times and has had four touchdowns in the last three games.

“When there was anything available in the run game I tried to do my part and contribute,” Marzetta said. “Shoutout to our offense, the offensive line, receivers, and our third string quarterback Brenden Davis. His back was against the wall and he didn’t fold.”

Sweeney was thrown to the turf by two Azusa Pacific defenders in the second quarter on a 3rd down play and left with an apparent head injury. Second string quarterback Andrew Tingstad replaced Sweeney and found the end zone from 8 eight yards out on a designed quarterback keep with 45 seconds left in the half.

Tingstad was also injured on a two-yard run play in the third quarter and did not return to the field.

Coach Wheeler thought the injuries were unfortunate but believed in the preparation of the team through practices and film, especially for his quarterbacks.

“Next man up,” Wheeler said. “He [Brenden Davis] wasn’t nervous and the moment wasn’t too big for him, [going forward] we have to game plan for him.”

The second half was all defense as both teams did not allow the other to run into the end zone. The Jacks defense was led by linebacker Demetrick Watts, who recorded a team-high 13 tackles. On a fourth down play with 6:37 left, Watts laid a hit on the Azusa Pacific running back and stopped their drive, giving the ball back to Humboldt’s offense.

Two other linebackers, Moses Finau and Connor Cox, both dished out big hits and brought down Azusa Pacific’s quarterback Tyrone Williams Jr. The play of the day was made in the secondary, when redshirt sophomore safety Adam Herrera intercepted WIlliams Jr. and took it back 32 yards into Azusa’s territory to give the Jacks a shot to win..

“I listened to coach,” Herrera said. “He said if the dig comes, to look for the post and the quarterback threw it straight to me. I was taking it to the crib and nowhere but the crib. I wanted to hit that open field.”

The Jacks didn’t come away with a victory but the fans cheered and gave a standing ovation to HSU’s last football team. After the game, quarterback Brenden Davis and running back Tyree Marzetta talked about how much the team meant to them and how honored they felt to have a community that never failed to come out and support.

“It’s a real home field advantage out here, we couldn’t ask for a better fan base,” Davis said.

“It’s emotional for me. I’ve never been a part of a team like this. I’m grateful to be a Lumberjack,” Marzetta said. “It’s sad it’s over because I love this place and I appreciate Humboldt for all it is.”

 

Coast Guard suspends search for Humboldt State student lost at sea

On Oct. 29 Humboldt State freshman Keymaan Stringer from Los Angeles, was swept away by a sneaker wave around 4:30 p.m. at the North Jetty in Eureka. Stringer has not been found.

The U.S. Coast Guard and a variety of other first responders were notified of the incident around 4:32 p.m. on Oct. 29 and then searched for Stringer. According to the Coast Guard News’ release the search for Stringer was suspended around 9:50 a.m. on Oct. 30.

“The Coast Guard and partner agencies searched approximately 160 square-nautical miles for 16 hours in a continuous effort to locate the man.”

Singer’s family has created a Go Fund Me campaign for the search and recovery of Stringer in response to the U.S. Coast Guard suspended search.

For those in need of support Humboldt State University Counseling & Psychological Services at 707.826.3236 As for staff and faculty who may need support there’s the Employee Assistance Program at 707.443.7358.

 

 

Local artist brings rehabilitation programs of creativity to Pelican Bay

Julie McNiel began her career teaching drawing classes at College of the Redwoods. Today, she has a new set of students she instructs in visual arts, inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison in California.

McNiel said she learned about local artists teaching inmates at Pelican Bay in 2003 and thought it was an amazing idea. That idea followed her for a decade.

In 2014, she was referred to the William James Association by her colleague from the College of the Redwoods’ art department. She was offered an artist’s contract to teach at Pelican Bay.

“I look at the prison in a completely different way now,” McNiel said.

McNiel is now the leading artist for the Arts in Corrections program. As lead artist, she acts as the liaison between the artists, the prison, and the William James Association, making sure there is communication between them.

“Creativity is everywhere, especially in prison,” McNiel said. “This program allows opportunity for those on the inside.”

The William James Association started the Arts in Corrections program in 1977 in with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations and the California Arts Council. The program is now in all 35 California prisons.

According to their website, their philosophy behind creating the art program is “based (on) the belief that participation in the artistic process significantly affects a person’s self-esteem and general outlook on the world.”

“Going through art classes, they’re more likely to attend other programs like GED and enroll in college,” McNiel said.

McNiel said the program lost all its funding because of the 2008 budget crisis. A pilot program was proposed in 2014 and has been expanding ever since.

McNiel said when the art program started, there were only three artists teaching one workshop. McNiel said there are now art classes every day of the week.

Including McNiel, there are five contracted artists: Janessa Johnsrude and Zuzka Sabata with Dell’Arte International, Cecelia Holland who teaches creative writing, and Dale Morgan who teaches guitar.

“There has been an overwhelming experience of people saying these programs are very much needed,” McNiel said,

The co-founder of the Dell’Arte Prison Project, Janessa Johnsrude, leads a physical theater ensemble at Pelican Bay. She said they teach awareness to body, availability to change and adaptation, and responsiveness in present moment.

Johnsrude said the prison environment isn’t conducive to be open with emotions, thoughts and feelings, but bringing in theater gives an outlet for performing.

“If you give them a chance to grow they will,” Johnsrude said.

Johnsrude teaches five different classes twice a week. In the two and half years she has been at Pelican Bay, she said she has seen significant changes in her students, and by participating, they are investing in something positive.

“The data available for those participating in arts programs shows it reduces recidivism,” Johnsrude said.

Johnsrude said the students come to escape the humdrum of incarceration, and by doing that, they discover something unexpected in the theater program. In her classes, students work on writing components, monologues, actor training, course work in play and theatrical form in ensemble.

“The main goal is offer a space for people in Pelican Bay to express themselves,” Johnsrude said.

Dell’Arte Prison Project’s other co-founder, Zuzka Sabata, said the Arts in Corrections program became the ideal model after choosing a selection of professionals and creating a positive impact. She said the participation helps people cope with being incarcerated and leads to having less behavior problems while in the system.

“The arts program has become the model exemplified across the country,” Sabata said.

Sabata said the challenges of the program is facilitating support within the prison for rehabilitation. It isn’t a clear system with new programs to help the staff organize themselves. Sometimes staff may be willing to facilitate, but their superiors may not be.

She also said there are negative responses from the community that reflect the ignorance of the positive impact the program brings due to social prejudices. Sabata said too many people have the idea that a mistake makes someone permanently a bad person, and that isn’t the case.

“If we don’t acknowledge the stigmas attached to incarcerated individuals it is more challenging to shift from incarceration to a free person,” Sabata said.

Humboldt State University holds its Second Annual Safety Week

This week marks the second annual Safety Week held on the Humboldt State University Campus.

Put on by the Risk Management and Safety Services at HSU, this week is to further inform and engage students about safety both on and off campus. Safety Week’s kick off date starts Oct. 29 through Nov. 2.

This year’s safety week will include a total of eight events held throughout the HSU campus. Prior to this year’s safety week there were only seven events listed. This year, two new events are offered to students: concussion and traumatic brain injury, along with a stress management seminar.

Kimberley Comet, Director of Risk Management and Safety Services at HSU hopes to obtain more student participation than last year’s Safety Week.

“Last year’s Safety week was impactful, but did not get enough participation,” Comet said. “With the addition of these two new events, we hope to get students further educated and interested with on and off campus safety.”

The concussion and traumatic brain injury presentation will highlight signs and symptoms of concussions, along with best practices for recovery and return to activity. There’s also a discussion of short and long-term consequences of mismanaging concussions. The stress management seminar will discuss sources of stress, stress responses, and have the chance to practice stress management tools.

In addition to the two new events added, disaster preparedness for the Disaster Service Worker, fire safety and portable extinguisher use, biomechanics, bloodborne pathogens training, home hazards, disaster preparedness 101, and active shooter events will be available for students to attend.

Before attending the week’s events, students must register prior to attending the event to reserve seating.

For every student that attends an event, a punch card will be provided and stamped. Those who gets their punch card stamped three times will enter a raffle and have the chance to win an emergency safety kit.

For more information go to: training.humboldt.edu or call 707-826-5711.

Graduation initiative gives students a choice on how money will be spent

Humboldt State University’s Student Success Alliance is sitting on base funding of $1.4 million from the Graduation Initiative 2025. Created by the California State University, G.I. 2025’s purpose is to increase graduation rates in the CSU system.

On Oct. 25, HSU Associated Students held a forum asking for student’s input on how the $1.4 million should be spent.

AS graduate representative Maddie Halloran said she attended the forum to give a better understanding on what the G.I. 2025 is.

“The GI 2025 is distributed and allocated to 23 CSU’s,” Halloran said. “The money can be used for many things, like to fund programs here at HSU.”

The forum began with a presentation of what the G.I. 2025 was, and ended with a discussion from students and faculty deciding what the remaining $1.4 million will be used on.

There were six categories the money can be distributed toward: academic preparation, enrollment management, student engagement and well-being, financial support, data-driven decision making and academic barriers.

AS president Jazmin Sandoval, spoke with students and faculty during the discussion panel to ask which aspect should be funded.

“Personally I’m more passionate in funding ‘Student Engagement and Well-Being,’” Sandoval said. “I think it’s important for students to be more outgoing especially for an isolated area like Humboldt. It’s a basic need.”

During the discussion panel of the forum, many ideas were presented for where the $1.4 million should be spent. One of which was informing students of what programs are available for students, as students don’t know that there are programs for students interests.

HSU student Nico Smith V was very pleased with the discussion panel.

“Having this out reach is needed,” Smith said. “There should be a bigger turnout for something like this, but this panel is a step of the right direction.”

According to the Humboldt Student Success Plan created in 2016, CSU’s want to increase the amount of graduation by 2025. With six year graduation rates increasing by 56 percent, four-year graduation rates increasing by 30 percent, two-year transfer student graduation rates increasing by 38 percent , and four-year transfer student graduation rates increasing by 79 percent.

HSU has until Nov. 15 to inform the CSU board of trustees on how they will spent G.I. 2025 money and how they’ll spend it in the future.

Lisa Castellino, Associate Vice President of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, presented data showing that HSU is on the right track of increasing the graduation rate each year. However she points out that there is still an issue of closing the ‘equity gap.’

“It’s not acceptable that students coming from lower income homes have a lower chance in graduating than those coming from higher income homes,” Casellino said.

This issue means a lot to Sandoval.

“The CSU’s are accepting more diverse students but those students are not graduating,” Sandoval said. “This is a problem that needs to be fixed.”

Centro Del Pueblo holds forum between Sheriff and community

Humboldt County’s Sheriff William Honsal remained the only one who openly opposed Measure K after leading advocates held an open forum to discuss immigration and public safety.

“If you pass Measure K it will give a false sense of security,” Honsal said.

Elizabeth Phillips of Centro Del Pueblo, a non-profit organization that first proposed the idea of a sanctuary measure for Humboldt County, mediated the forum of five panelists on Oct. 24.

Some of the panelists included the author of Measure K, Erik Kirk, as well as Humboldt State University students Anayeli Auza and Monica Garcia. The community audience and panelists support the ballot measure, with the exception of Honsal.

“There’s a large number of community members who need safety,” Phillips said. “People need sanctuary to live.”

Phillips said the forum with Honsal was needed because the media was publishing misleading information about Measure K. She said California’s state sanctuary law, SB 54, and Measure K are portrayed as the same in the media.

The County Administrations Office reported false information involving costs of Measure K and The Times Standard has since had to make corrections on their misreporting of Measure K.

Phillips said in the heart of true political debate and policy change, they wanted community members to be able to ask the sheriff questions.

“We thought an open forum would be great way to bridge communication,” Phillips said.

Throughout the forum Honsal said Measure K would protect violent criminals and restrict the level of security.

However Kirk, the lawyer who wrote the measure, said that nowhere in the writing does it prevent law enforcement from arresting criminals.

Kirk said the measure would actually encourage the undocumented community to reach out to law enforcement involving crimes committed. Kirk said Measure K isn’t just about immigration policy, its about values.

“Immigration Laws are basically a form of Jim Crow laws,” Kirk said.

Kirk said if passed, Measure K will be the first immigration measure passed by ballot and not legislation. Kirk said the measure is to keep criminal law enforcement separate from immigration. He said being an immigrant doesn’t make you a criminal and the measure will help people on a local level. He said the more that sanctuary measures pass, the more federal government will pay attention to them. Kirk said Humboldt County could be the first of many for passing such a historical measure.

“We want continuity,” Kirk said. “Measure K will build trust.”

Honsal said the Sheriff’s department doesn’t communicate with anybody but violent felons when involving undocumented citizens and they don’t communicate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement upfront. He then contradicted his statement by saying certain situations are reserved for working with ICE agents such as drug trafficking.

Kirk argued if the crime involves drugs then why doesn’t the sheriff work with the DEA instead of calling ICE. Kirk said if a citizen is arrested and serves their time they return home but for the same crime an undocumented citizen will get an extra punishment from ICE. Kirk said the sheriff is not a judge or jury.

“Deportation is not a solution, just a punishment,” Kirk said.

Scholars Without Borders student peer mentor Christina Molina Ceja said coming from a family of immigrants you see this issue differently. She said Honsal’s comments didn’t seem genuine and appeared scripted.

Ceja said if he had more engagement with the community he could have created a healthier space for dialogue. Despite the sheriff’s decision to oppose Measure K, Ceja said she has witnessed an increase of support for Measure K.

“This is a big topic and a lot more people are for it compared to a month ago,” Ceja said.

Phillips said we shouldn’t wait until people are half-decimated to bring policy change. The 6,000 signatures needed to get Measure K on the ballot has greatly increased in support. Phillips said policy comes with little steps where people want change and feelings of the community are all out in the open.

“We need heart, we need soul,” Phillips said. “That is what will change America for the better.”