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Local News 02 19 26 · KMUD News

• 0:05
  Speaker A: Good evening and welcome to the local news. Today is Thursday, February 19th. I'm Gabriel Zucker reporting for KMUD. In tonight's news, Humboldt Maid creates digital passport for Humboldt County. Humboldt Two Feathers Native American Family Services named 2026 Leadership Award recipient by the James Irvine Foundation Humboldt home sales rebound in buyers market. Stay tuned. Those stories and more coming.
• 0:34
  Speaker B: Redwood Community Radio acknowledges that its transmitter sites are located on the unceded territory of the Sinkion, Wailaki, Wiat, Wilkot and Kato people. We honor ancestors past, present and emerging and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual and physical connection that these tribes have to this region.
• 0:53
  Speaker A: Humboldt Maid is running a Dine drink and stay in Humboldt campaign until March. This campaign uses a digital passport for users to get points for eating, drinking and shopping with local Humboldt businesses. Kayma talked with Charlene Cook, the marketing and programs director for Humboldt made and talked about the choose Humboldt Dine Drink and stay in Humboldt campaign and what it involves.
• 1:14
  Speaker C: We teamed up with a bunch of community partners like the chambers of commerce, the city of Eureka and Arcata, the county and we have a digital passport. It's an app called Vibe Map that's free to download and there are about, I think 264 participating businesses on this passport. It's the second of three that we're running and this one is all restaurants, cafes, breweries and then lodging as well as I think we've got even a distillery on there. And so what it is is people, they go to their favorite places that are participating and on the app you can check in, you can upload photos, leave tips and reviews and all those earn you badges. And the badges we raffle prize. So all the Level 2 badges, anyone who earns those goes into a raffle for gift baskets full of Humboldt made goodies and gift cards to local restaurants. And then level three, we're raffling off a staycation. So it's an overnight stay at the Front Porch Inn and a gift card to one of the restaurants in Arcata for dinner and some Dick Taylor chocolate and Braceland wine. And it's running until through March. We're having a great response. People are really loving it. I tell people it's kind of like Pokemon go for local businesses, but it's really fun and engaging. The shop, Humboldt Passport went off from November to December and we had such a great number of people participating. So we're really excited about this one.
• 2:57
  Speaker A: Cook explained. This time of year is a really slow time for the restaurant industry. This campaign is meant to drive people into local businesses.
• 3:04
  Speaker C: January, February Are historically really slow months for, you know, the restaurant industry. And here in Humboldt, we get our tourists, you know, in this spring and summer for the most part. So this is really helping to drive people into businesses, remind them about their favorite places and get them to support with an incentivized game, as you will. But we have a lot of businesses that are really struggling right now. I think it was the city of Eureka did a survey with business and you know, one in four were looking at closing their doors. So this is something that we really wanted to get going and we did the Dine and stay passport starting in January. Because January is California restaurant month. They also recognize that it's a tough time and so it's a campaign to get people in the doors of restaurants. And so we just hopped onto that and we've had a lot of good response from businesses that are having people come in and use the passport. And so we feel like it's driving business, which is our goal.
• 4:12
  Speaker A: The app is called Vibe map and can be found on the app store.
• 4:15
  Speaker C: Once they are on there, it's location based so they'll see the dine, stay and drink passport. Right at the top there's an interactive map so you can see all the businesses that are participating. There's also a list of them and so you can, you know, see what's around you that's participating, go in, you check in, like I said, leave reviews and upload photos and all those things that you points towards your badges.
• 4:41
  Speaker A: Cooks at Humboldt Maid is a nonprofit local organization focused on helping small businesses in the Redwood region and beyond. She also shared they have more plans in the coming months to help boost local businesses.
• 4:52
  Speaker C: So we are going to be doing a whole other passport called the Experience Humboldt Passport that's going to run from May to October. And you know, we're really getting excited for Friday night market this year is going to be kicking off May 22. In conjunction with Kinetics weekend, we're collaborating with them. We're really excited. We're bringing the Arteo Friday night market back again and this week we're actually getting ready to take, well next week to take a group of businesses to Expo west, the biggest natural products show in the country. I believe we have four makers that will be sampling and then we're representing 20 businesses total with display and sales catalog to help get them picked up nationally. And so we're really excited about that. And we also have a Eureka Friday night Market page at Eureka Friday Night Markets.
• 5:48
  Speaker A: To learn more, visit humboldtmade.com yesterday 2 Feather Native American family Services announced that they were named as a 2026 Leadership Award recipient from the James Irvine Foundation. Nat Cardos reports.
• 6:04
  Speaker B: Yesterday, Two Feathers Native American Family Services was named as a 2026 Leadership Award recipient by the James Irvine foundation out of approximately 600 nominees. The award also comes with a $350,000 grant to help expand their culturally grounded youth mental health programs. Currently, Two Feathers serves approximately 280 youth across 12 different school districts. KMUD News spoke with Virgil Moorhead Jr. Executive Director at Two Feathers for more information about what they do.
• 6:32
  Speaker D: Yeah, so Two Feathers provides services for Native American youth ages primarily 10 to 24 in Humboldt County. A focus of our work is youth mental health. We're in a lot of schools, you know, 12 to 14 different schools locally providing mental health programming. We also offer positive youth activities such as cultural based programming, these sort of prevention based youth empowerment, positive youth development programming throughout the year. So that's the second program. And then the third program we offer is youth employment. So we have a workforce development program for both youth that are 16 to 18, as well as youth transition age youth that are 18 to 24. So those three are sort of our major programs that we offer.
• 7:26
  Speaker B: Two Feathers provides counseling, cultural programs, leadership development and community events that bring a cross section between self determined of Native American youth and mental health practices.
• 7:36
  Speaker D: You know, I think that what you gotta do when you're working with youth often is meet them where they're at and within locally and in many communities, Native communities, there's a. There's a real interest and a big part of one's identity is being Native American. And so there's a lot of interest about learning what it means to be Native, learning Native cultural traditions, practices. And so, you know, with the idea of meeting youth where they're at. Two Feathers does a lot of programming that are cultural based programming that incorporates a lot of local Native wisdom practices that often allows for Native youth to learn what it means to be a native in 2026.
• 8:20
  Speaker B: This year is the 20th anniversary of the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards, which were started in 2006 and since then have invested more than $35 million into 138 groups statewide. Out of approximately 600 nominees, Two Feathers is one of six that were selected for the award. KMUN News spoke with Amy Mathison, program manager at Two Feathers, for more on this award.
• 8:41
  Speaker E: Yeah, we were nominated for the James Irvine Foundation Award and selected from over 600 nominees who have been interviewing with the Irvine Foundation. Zilla and I would love to Meet with them and share about gathers and our program and the impact that it's having on our youth community. And after that process, know that we were selected for the award. And along with the incomes, a $350,000 grant. What will help us continue to enhance
• 9:09
  Speaker B: our program with the funds they plan to build out one of their programs, the Two Feathers Ambassador program. This program is designed to help youth develop advocacy skills as well as build work experience. Here's Moorhead with more.
• 9:23
  Speaker D: I think that, you know, a big part of what we've been doing lately is workforce development, youth leadership for young people, you know, in locally in Humboldt county, you know, there's issues around workforce within the mental health and other fields locally. And so the plan is to use a lot of this funding to help build our what is called the Two Feathers Ambassador program, which is our youth employment sort of workforce development program. And so the hope is to use some of this funding, use the sort of connections and just sort of positive components of winning a prestigious award like this to continue to build out that program, continue to offer more youth employment opportunities for native youth locally and really hopefully make the program even better than it is right now.
• 10:13
  Speaker B: The youth Ambassador program was started in 2020 and works on a small group model where six to eight students work under a mentor. During this time, they learned to engage with their culture, reach goals and learn more about their cultural identity and more.
• 10:26
  Speaker E: Our program started in 2020. It was right in the middle of the pandemic and with one youth who coming out of the juvenile justice system and we need some extra support and we saw an opportunity to get him involved free employment, but also that we saw a lot of growth in his mental health and wellness and leadership skills. And from that we just started to experience expand our youth employment in 20. Was it 2023? I think we really invested in building a logic model, Virgil and I with a consulting firm and continue to grow that program. Our program currently consists of about 40 to 50 years that we employ. It's a small group model that we have. So we have a mentor who's paired with about six to eight youth per year and they're working with those young people to help them engage in their culture, learn more about cultural ident, build their wellness and mental health and build work skill through resident building, learning about interview school snow. And then we also pair them with internships within our communities so that they're.
• 11:35
  Speaker B: Two Feathers continues to work on community advocacy projects with their youth ambassadors, including an anti stigma campaign that they are currently working on.
• 11:43
  Speaker E: We've got some really exciting projects that our youth are working on right now. So each year our youth ambassadors within their small groups, we call them our pods, they work on community advocacy projects where they identify an issue that they deeply care about in their community and they design a project to help positively impact that issue. And so we have quite a few projects that our youth are working on right now. One is an anti stigma campaign for the Elsa's community. So we have a group of youth that really, really care about this community and want to highlight on the issues that they face, but also how they are a part of our community and an important part. So they're creating buttons and posters and then we'll be doing events around that where we'll be handing out and then handing out hygiene kits and food with to the House of Community in collaboration with St. Vincent de Paul. So we're really excited about that on April 25th. And then we also what is doing a kind of an interview process with elders. So they're interviewing elderly out there experience and mental health and how culture has been central and important part of our elders healing and mental health and sharing what that like for them and their lives and impart that knowledge on this next generation.
• 13:06
  Speaker B: For more information about Two Feathers Native American Family Services, the website is Two Feathers nafs.org this is Nat Cardos with KMUN News.
• 13:19
  Speaker A: Although affected by inflation along with the rest of the state, Humboldt's housing market is recovering from a recent drop in sales. Daniel Mintz reports.
• 13:27
  Speaker F: An online presentation on the local housing market shows Humboldt's home sales hit a low Point in 2023 but are climbing back up again in what's described as a very normal, healthy, balanced market. Realtor Anneliese von Borstel, who chairs the Humboldt association of Realtors Government Relations Committee, gave a detailed presentation on the county's housing market at the February 18 Community Economic Resilience Consortium meeting. Using data from national, state and county sources, von Borstel described a local market that dropped from a 2021 peak into a valley two years later from which it's now emerging. She said it reflects statewide trends.
• 14:13
  Speaker G: The number of sales in California fell nearly 23% in 2022 and fell another 25% in 2023. In 2024, sales were up slightly above 4% and climbed another 7% in 2025. And as you can see, we experienced that diploma in the total number of sales in Humboldt county since 2021. In 2023 we had 1004 sales, but that trend's already Beginning to reverse a few factors that have resulted in the lower number of sales over the past few years. Low inventory, higher interest rates, inflation, and of course, consumer sentiment. So lower inventory is due in part to higher interest rates and this mortgage lock in effect. So, like, who do you know that has a mortgage rate that's 3% right now, and are they willing to just leave that 3% behind to buy a different property?
• 15:08
  Speaker F: Von Borstel said local home prices have outpaced the state's inflation, which rose about 28% in the last six years, while Humboldt's housing prices have increased 31% during that time. She added that recent housing market changes, quote, aren't very drastic, especially when compared to crashes like the one seen in 2008 when only 876 homes were sold in Humboldt. On housing affordability, 30% of Humboldt's households could afford to buy a home as of the last quarter of 2025, with a median home price of $413,000. That's an improvement from the last quarter of 2024 at 22%. Von Borstel said Humboldt, quote, sits approximately in the middle of the state when it comes to housing affordability. Von Borstel also discussed effects of the cannabis economy downturn in southern Humboldt.
• 16:08
  Speaker G: Back in 2017, we were seeing southern Humboldt at a peak and residential properties were selling for more than anywhere else in Humboldt. But very quickly we see that inverted in 2020. It fell below all other markets with a bit of a climb in 2021, but taking a more obvious dive now in 2025. But Southern Humboldt actually had more number of sales last year. It's gone up 63% from 2023. There's a lot of foreclosures in southern Humboldt right now. Land values are being affected by that as well as the flood of property that are coming onto the market. It's driving up competition for sellers. Unfortunately, it's a little bit of a race to the bottom right now down there. Folks buying up these properties seem to be cash buyers without any clear intentions for the properties. Just kind of a desire to own and hold real estate for now.
• 17:04
  Speaker F: Overall, Von Borsel said the pendulum has been swinging in recent years, but, quote, a pretty healthy balanced market is seen with current supply demand levels with prices flattening and interest rates dropping. Von Borstel said a buyer's market is emerging in 2026.
• 17:23
  Speaker G: It does look to me like we're having a pretty strong start to the year. Humboldt had 79 closings in January. Compare that with last January we had just 53, so that's an increase of 50%. Median days on the market is down to 27. In December, the median days on the market was 35, and last January it was 45. So that increase in the number of sales and the decrease in time on the market has led to an absorption rate that is the lowest it's been since March of 2023. Despite the increase in demand, median sold prices are down about 6% compared with last January and down 11.5% from December's median sold price. So the lower prices and a sold to list ratio of about 92% feels really positive for buyers right now. So it could be a really good time to jump on an opportunity that arises.
• 18:24
  Speaker F: Humboldt's population level isn't driving demand. Van Borstel said The County's population has dropped 3% from the 2020 Census and Eureka's population is down by 4%. For KMUD news, this is Daniel Mintz.
• 18:42
  Speaker A: In national news, Israel prepares to indict west bank settlers in killing a Palestinian peace activist known for documentary film. KPFA's Lauren Schmidt reports.
• 18:52
  Speaker H: The life here is not alive anymore. Honestly, it's not alive. It's just like you are ready for,
• 18:59
  Speaker C: you know, like something gonna happen and
• 19:01
  Speaker H: you don't know when.
• 19:02
  Speaker I: That was Palestinian peace activist Aura Hatalin speaking to Al Jazeera just one day before he was shot and killed in the occupied west bank by a known Israeli settler with a history of violence, one who had previously been sanctioned by the United States until those sanctions were lifted by President Donald Trump. Outa was a teacher and community organizer. He was one of the filmmakers behind the Oscar winning film no Other Land, which documents life under Israeli occupation, filmed in Owda's community where settlers have been trying to occupy and where he would be killed. Jewish Voice for Peace reported that Israeli settlers entered out of village with a bulldozer attempting to demolish the remaining homes. Witnesses say he and his relatives tried to stop the destruction when a settler opened fire. Outa was shot in the chest and later died from his injuries. Injuries. His cousin, a witness to the attack, spoke to Al Jazeera.
• 20:12
  Speaker F: You know, he's arrived to the place
• 20:15
  Speaker J: and starting shooting immediately to the people. There's a lot of people there and he started shooting everyone there.
• 20:24
  Speaker I: The Israeli newspaper Haaretz confirmed the incident and named the shooter as Yenan Levi, a settler who had previously faced sanctions, sanctions under the Biden administration for repeated violence against Palestinians. Aura was a friend to many in the Bay Area, including Mohammed Sheikh with the Arab Resource and organizing center action.
• 20:49
  Speaker J: The loss of Qade hits close to home for those of us in the bay. Was a beloved human rights defender. He was a teacher who taught English, a writer and a Palestinian father. He's from Sefer Yatta, an area where both Israeli occupation forces and settlers regularly raid and attack Palestinians their homes and their land on a daily basis.
• 21:12
  Speaker I: Seth Morrison, the spokesperson with the Bay area chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace announced that heavily armed Israeli soldiers attacked out of memorial service, expelling mourners and the international press from the village with stun grenades.
• 21:30
  Speaker J: The Israeli government sent in police to take down the traditional mourning tent that out his family had erected. That they have refused to return his body and they have stated that they will not allow him to be buried in their own village of Umma Kah.
• 22:00
  Speaker I: Jewish Voice for peace says it demands justice for their friend Ouda Hatelin.
• 22:06
  Speaker J: We are appalled and extend our sympathy to out his family and his entire community. However, I think what's important is that this is one piece of all the terrible things that Israel is doing. You know, from the genocide in Gaza to the ethnic cleansing going on in the occupied West Bank. Israel is out to destroy the Palestinian people. And as Jews, we cannot and will not accept that.
• 22:48
  Speaker I: Traveled to San Francisco to begin an interfaith speaking tour, but u. S. Authorities detained and deported him without explanation. He returned to the west bank only to be killed shortly afterward. Sheik says Donald Trump is culpable for his murder.
• 23:08
  Speaker J: Absolutely. I mean directly. The Trump administration denied him entry. And it was the Trump administration that lifted the sanctions against the settlers who murdered him. And even beyond that, the Trump administration has continued to arm and fund the Israeli occupation. This Israeli genocide that is contributing not just to the murder of Odeh. There's been over a thousand Palestinians that have been killed in the West Bank.
• 23:38
  Speaker I: Jewish Voice for peace says the responsibility doesn't end with Trump.
• 23:44
  Speaker J: Both Joe Biden and all the members of Congress who have voted year after year to give money, arms, protection to the state of Israel, they're all culpable.
• 24:00
  Speaker I: All who knew him say they will remember delicious meals, his boisterous laughter even in the face of unimaginable oppression, and his great love and tenderness towards his young sons.
• 24:13
  Speaker J: The best way to honor out his memory is to be in the streets to work for true freedom for Palestine.
• 24:26
  Speaker I: For Pacifica, I'm Lauren Schmidt.
• 24:30
  Speaker A: In national Native News, Antonia Gonzalez reads today's headlines.
• 24:35
  Speaker G: This is National Native News. I'm Antonia Gonzalez. The New Mexico office of Broadband Access and Expansion has announced more than $900 million in investments towards broadband infrastructure with the help of both federal and state support. Some of the funds will go to the Navajo Nation. KUNM's Jeanette Didios has more.
• 24:55
  Speaker H: Among the 17 projects announced, the Navajo Nation was awarded $111 million. That's the largest single supported project from the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, also known as beat. Sonia Nez manages the Navajo Nation Broadband Office. She says the project will affect 11,000 households across New Mexico's portion of the Navajo Nation. She also says an effort to bring broadband to the community like this has never been done before. Telehealth education across the whole spectrum lifts the people up to a new level where there was no connectivity before, but now they will have connectivity at the home. And so it just opens a whole door of opportunity for the people, businesses, entrepreneurship, education across the whole spectrum. Nez says tribal members continue to face challenges without broadband. So without Internet connection, for example, to get a college education, you have to go off the reservation, you have to go to the cities, you know, so this will give them opportunity to have school right there at home and then not have to leave the nation, you know. Nez says the BEAD program will help more homes have broadband service. She also says the Navajo Nation is working to establish establish broadband in all chapter houses and install 5G towers for mobile Internet. For national Native news, I'm Jeanette Didios.
• 26:15
  Speaker G: Kipnuk was one of the western Alaska villages hit hardest by the remnants of a typhoon in October. Residents are voting on whether they want to rebuild their community or relocate to higher ground. The Alaska Desk's Ayol Naniden reports.
• 26:31
  Speaker H: Raina Paul sits in an Anchorage office, scrolling through a spreadsheet filled with hundreds of names of Kipnik Trib. Just like on A's, Paul is in charge of the village's voting process. Over the next several days, she and her team will call every single adult tribal member that's about 900 people and ask them do they want to rebuild the village in its current location or move to higher ground.
• 26:56
  Speaker E: It's very important for us to find out what the tribal members from Kipnik want.
• 27:02
  Speaker H: Last fall's disastrous winds and flooding destroyed homes and infrastructure and contaminated land and water. Most of Kipnik's residents remain evacuated, including Paul. She says she wants the future Kipnik to be safe.
• 27:16
  Speaker E: We love our community. We miss our community.
• 27:20
  Speaker H: We're doing it for our future generations
• 27:23
  Speaker E: to come because they might not know what to do when this happens again. I think we're just going to be hit with many, many storm events.
• 27:34
  Speaker H: The first community meeting about whether to relocate happened about a week ago. The decision to start voting followed swiftly. Cheryl Musgrove directs the Climate Justice Program under the Alaska Institute for Justice. She says the village needs to act fast to make the most of both the short construction season and the available funding for disaster recovery.
• 27:54
  Speaker E: They don't have decades. They need to do it immediately. So that's my hope is that they can show other communities that are going
• 28:01
  Speaker C: to to be faced with this in
• 28:02
  Speaker E: the future that you can rebuild someplace
• 28:05
  Speaker C: else if that's what they decide on
• 28:08
  Speaker E: a short timeline as the disaster recovery process.
• 28:11
  Speaker H: Right now, Kipnik leadership is looking at two sites for relocation. Both spots are located on higher ground. During the voting process, Paul and her team of four are also asking residents if they want to suggest any other sites in Anchorage. I'm Alona Knighton.
• 28:28
  Speaker G: And I'm Antonia Gonzalez,
• 28:46
  Speaker F: Native Voice one,
• 28:48
  Speaker H: the Native American Radio Network.
• 28:54
  Speaker A: That's all for tonight's broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our engineer, Dennis Moore, and thanks to our reporters, Nat Cardos, Daniel Mintz, Lauren Schmidt and Antonio Gonzales. KMUD News is online. 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 any questions or suggestions, you can give us a call at 707-923-2605 or send an email to newsemud.org Redwood Community Radio, Inc. Is funded by PressForward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at PressForward News. Reporting for KMUD, I'm Gabriel Zuckerberg.