Latest / KMUD News / Local News 09 19 25

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Local News 09 19 25 · KMUD News

• 0:08
  Speaker A: Good evening and welcome to the local news. Today is Friday, September 19th. I'm Sigurbjorn reporting for KMAT. In tonight's news, the death of Willets resident Nicholas Bakewell is determined to be homicide. A man is arrested for kidnapping after a reckless drive through Eureka and local entrepreneurs stand a chance to win $200,000. These stories and Ray Hamill's sports report coming up. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Department has just released a statement saying that the manner of the death of Nicholas Bakewell of Willits on June 5 has been determined to be homicide. Bakewell, age 36, became unresponsive after being restrained and handcuffed after trying to flee on foot from officers following an incident where he allegedly assaulted a driver who had offered him a right. Bakewell was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics. According to the coroner's report released this week, Bakewell's death was restraint associated asphyxiation along with type 2 myocardial ischemic injury. A myocardial ischemic injury occurs when the heart does not receive sufficient oxygen flow. Among other contributing factors to Bakewell's death were hypertensive cardiomyopathy and class 3 obesity. According to the report, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office employees involved in the incident were Deputy Jesus Lopez and Sergeant Sam Logan. Both were placed on paid administrative leave following the incident. The autopsy and toxicology report as well as the findings of the forensic pathologist have been shared with the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office. KMART will continue to monitor this story and bring you updates as it unfolds. In the early evening of last Monday, the Eureka police was notified of a reckless driver traveling at over 100 miles per hour in the southbound 101 safety corridor between Arcata and Eureka. Officers located the car on the 3300 block of Broadway and eventually stopped it on the corner of 4th and R Streets. They found a pistol loaded with a high capacity magazine in the vehicle. The driver was identified as a 35 year old male from Ann Arbor in Michigan. The EPD later discovered that shortly before they found the car, there had been a second person in it. That person, the owner of the car, later told officers that the driver had effectively detained them against their will by refusing to let them out of the car as it sped recklessly along the southbound 101. As a result, the 35 year old male has now been charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and possession of a stolen vehicle, according to Eureka police. Further details about this case are not being released to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation. For the rest of the newscast, we are going to skip around the state and the country with an assortment of stories, many of which relate to life on the north coast in a direct or indirect way. And and I use the words north coast in its widest meaning because we here at KMART know that we have listeners not only in Humboldt, Mendocino and Del north, but also Siskiyou, Trinity and all the way down to Lake County. Some of you are listening to our transmitters, others streaming us online, or even just downloading our podcasts. Regardless of how you are listening, we're happy to have you. So we're going to kick off in California at large and specifically with the state's small businesses because California has a program called scale, run by the California Office of the Small Business Advocate. It offers free business coaching and helps connect entrepreneurs to financing. Susan Potter at the Public News Service brings us this report.
• 4:42
  Speaker B: Small Businesses Drive California's Economy and the data is now in from the first year of a program that offers free business coaching. The Scale program, which stands for Success, Capital, Access and Leadership for Entrepreneurs, is a statewide initiative created by the California Office of the Small Business Advocate. Scale has helped 6,800 entrepreneurs so far. Carolina Martinez heads the Cameo Network, which helps administer the program.
• 5:10
  Speaker C: Through scale, small business owners can access one on one business coaching. They can get help at no cost, preparing loan applications and personalized support, finding the right financing products for their goals.
• 5:22
  Speaker B: Martinez notes California is home to more than 4 million small businesses that employ 7.6 million people, which represents almost half of all employees in the state. Small business owners can connect with one of 70 organizations statewide that are ready to help via the scale online portal. Amaya Harrison recently launched Sage and Silver Studios, a photography and creative space in Sacramento. She worked with two SCALE grantees, the alliance for Community Development and Working Solutions cdfi, to get her financing in place. And she has this advice.
• 5:57
  Speaker A: Although there are so many steps getting.
• 6:00
  Speaker D: Your business started, there is help out there.
• 6:03
  Speaker A: Get in touch with organizations like this so that you can be set up for success.
• 6:08
  Speaker D: From the very beginning.
• 6:10
  Speaker B: Many small business owners struggle to get a startup loan. The data show that last year just over half of small businesses that applied for financing received the full amount of funding they applied for. And black and Latino entrepreneurs are rejected for funding much more often than their white counterparts. For California News Service, I'm Suzanne Potter.
• 6:30
  Speaker A: Thank you, Suzanne. SCALE is of course a statewide initiative launched by the California Office of the Small Business Advocate. Their mission is to help all California small business owners find and navigate resources, programs and regulations so they can start, manage, grow, become more resilient and thrive. That was a quote from their website. Now here, closer to home we have a similar local entity. I'm of course talking about the North Coast Small Business Development center or SBDC whose aim is to aid and educate small business owners and startups. They basically do for local entrepreneurs what scale does on a state level and like scale, theirs is a no cost help. The SBDC also have links to local funding operations like North Edge Financing, Lost Coast Ventures and other organizations that offer loans and or grants for startups. Either way you can't go wrong by flicking through the website of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate or the North Coast Small Business Development center if you are harboring a killer idea for a new business or an expansion of a current one. The local SBDC is also a part of a coalition of organization that include both Humboldt Colleges called Startup Humboldt which quote help fuel innovation and build a thriving startup ecosystem on the California north coast. And Startup Humboldt has just launched a competition which will run all winter, basically with several events that help entrepreneurs focus their ideas and get it ready for a pitch event in April next year during which $200,000 in prizes are up for grabs. There is more information@startup humboldt.org so as you can see from all this, there are opportunities both locally and statewide for development funds and guidance on how to build a successful business. It requires hard work and diligence, but the help is there and work and diligence are kind of hardwired into creating a successful operation anyway. Now if none of this interests you directly as in you are not about to launch a business with a killer new idea, or you just don't care about small business in general, then number one, I don't know why you're still listening. Maybe you're just hanging around until Ray Hamill rocks up with his sports report, in which case your prayers will be answered in a few minutes. If you are not interested in small businesses in general, keep in mind that the vast majority of businesses here on the north coast are small businesses. A lot have a fewer than 10 employees and many have fewer than five employees, making them smaller than small businesses. Effectively a micro business. According to a recent Humboldt county survey conducted by the Eureka Chamber of Commerce and others, almost half of small businesses in the county feared that they might not survive in the mid or long term. We at KMAT covered this pretty extensively last spring and early summer. You can find some of that reporting on our podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, or wherever else you may get your podcasts. The point is that the small businesses in our area are a part of the backbone of our community. Things are tight for many people, understandably, but as local business owners and county officials are keen to remind us, the money spent locally stays locally and gets funneled back into the community. Even the sales tax stays here. That's all for the time being on this subject, and we're now swinging over to the next bit of news, which has to do with the state's governor and a bill already passed in the California Legislature which would increase transparency when private equity firms buy health care companies.
• 10:41
  Speaker B: Suzanne Potter Again, advocates are pressing governor Gavin Newsom to sign a bill to increase transparency in health care mergers involving private equity firms or hedge funds. Assembly Bill 1415 would allow the state Office of Health Care Affordability to collect information from the private equity firms seeking to buy a hospital or medical group. Katie Van Dynes with the nonprofit Health Access California says right now the agency can only get data from one side of the proposed transaction.
• 11:11
  Speaker C: We really want to know the history of the private equity owner that is engaging in this merger and the specifics of what is being proposed and the potential impact for consumers and communities.
• 11:24
  Speaker B: The California Hospital association opposes the bill, arguing that it would further empower an agency that has imposed spending caps that it says hamstring hospitals ability to deliver care. The bill has already passed both houses of the Legislature. The governor has until October 12th to make his decision. Adam Zarin with the nonprofit Blood Cancer United says the data from private equity firms will give policymakers insight that can help them control costs for patients.
• 11:52
  Speaker D: 4 in 10 cancer patients either skip or delay treatment because of high costs or medical debt. We think this bill helps address underlying cost drivers in the healthcare system.
• 12:03
  Speaker B: Blood Cancer United just released a study that found that over the last 20 years, the number of private equity acquisitions has grown by almost four times the rate of non private equity acquisitions. And according to the California Healthcare foundation, private equity acquisitions of health care providers in California totaled more than $4 billion between 2019 and 2023. For California news Service, I'm Suzanne Potter.
• 12:30
  Speaker A: Now we're going to venture out of the state to Austin, Texas, where a report shows the city of Austin could save between 2 and 4 million dollars on energy costs annually by decarbonizing municipal buildings. Frieda Ross with the Public News Service has more.
• 12:49
  Speaker E: The city of Austin could save between 2 and 4 million dollars annually in energy costs by decarbonizing its municipal buildings. That's according to a report by Texas Climate Jobs Project, the organization. Sandra Bustillo says by making minor changes, the city can reduce carbon pollution and help fight climate change.
• 13:13
  Speaker C: Installing things like solar panels or more clean energy alternatives, or installing windows that are better insulated to keep the air from going out. Adding paint that is more insulated to stop the air from coming out again, too, or getting rid of old pipes and replacing that with new ones, she says.
• 13:31
  Speaker E: Main Maintaining or replacing H Vac systems also allows buildings to emit less carbon into the atmosphere. More details from the report called Powering Public Decarbonizing Austin's Municipal Buildings for a Resilient Future will be released in a news conference Thursday at the Austin Electrical Training Alliance. The analysis of more than 100 municipal buildings found that installing solar panels could reduce carbon emissions by up to more than 9 million kg of carbon dioxide annually. Bastillo adds that retrofitting buildings in the city could also boost the local economy by creating thousands of jobs.
• 14:15
  Speaker C: As we transition to using cleaner energy sources, we believe that the labor movement and unions are at the forefront for pushing ambitious action that will create affordable energy and also good jobs.
• 14:27
  Speaker E: Earlier this year, the Austin City Council passed a resolution directing the city manager to make recommendations on locations to install solar panels. They're considering adding them to municipal buildings and parking lots. I'm Freda Ross, Texas News Service.
• 14:46
  Speaker A: When you think of decarbonization, what comes to mind? Well, trees, of course. Trees are always decarbonizing, right? It's their thing. The more trees, the better. Well, not so fast. At least not according to this report brought to us by Mike Mohan.
• 15:04
  Speaker F: When picturing a healthy planet, a never ending supply of trees might come to mind. But for South Dakota's beloved and shrinking grasslands, experts want to slow the growth of a certain type of tree, saying it's wreaking havoc on the prairies. For decades now, conservationists and researchers have been monitoring what's known as the green Glacier. It's driven by the spread of eastern red cedar trees from Texas all the way to the northern Plains. The University of Nebraska's Dirac Twidwell says one of the drawbacks of this species is their seeds can find their way across a large area in impressive fashion, overwhelming the landscape as they grow.
• 15:40
  Speaker D: We're seeing the equivalent of deforestation, but it's trees driving the displacement of our grasslands.
• 15:45
  Speaker F: South Dakota State University researchers say when these woody encroachments march across the region, native plants suffer, making it hard for them to provide wildlife habitat. Whitwell says it's also bad news for the livestock industry. Even with some urgency to confront the threat, he thinks the area needs to avoid the mistake of Southern Plains states and not chase the spread, but instead get in front of it with preventative efforts like prescribed burns. Along the southern edge of South Dakota, Tom Houseman rents out land to ranchers. At first he didn't think much of these trees popping up along the property, but he eventually realized their dense canopies were blocking out sunlight. For prairie grass to grow, grass is.
• 16:25
  Speaker D: All I have to sell, so the bigger the tree gets, the less grass I have, the fewer cattle it can maintain, and it's just worth less to anyone who wants to rent it.
• 16:35
  Speaker F: Housman now works with the Mid Missouri Prescribed Burn association to encourage other landowners to be more proactive about keeping these trees off their property. He says it's something absentee landlords should be especially mindful of. Twidwell says it's not just open grasslands at risk. Noting red cedars create problems for urban areas too, like Sioux Falls, by potentially fueling dangerous wildfires, harming wetlands and curbing groundwater supplies. He says the consequences are far reaching.
• 17:04
  Speaker D: You see impacts that affect every citizen, not just what's affecting somebody's individual ranch.
• 17:09
  Speaker F: This is Mike Moen for Greater Dakota News Service.
• 17:12
  Speaker A: We're sticking with Mike Moen and staying with the theme of agriculture, but but hopping over to Minnesota, where a university lab has a long history of shaping innovation in food production through its research program.
• 17:27
  Speaker F: The current struggles seen by US Farmers raise questions about the future of food production. Minnesota researchers are helping the agricultural community adapt to trends, including working with emerging farmers seeking out a prosperous future. Those independent farms are being celebrated at this weekend's Farm Aid concert, with Minneapolis serving as the host site for the event's 40th anniversary. At the same time, national polling highlights farmers concerns about labor shortages, extreme weather and shifting consumer demands. At the University of Minnesota's Food Science and Nutrition pilot plant, manager Mitchell Maher says amid the ebbs and flows, food producers need a testing ground.
• 18:05
  Speaker D: The early work that we were doing there was a lot of work on soy and then it's shifted and there's been a bunch of work on like sunflower, something that doesn't have the allergen. There's always a shift in what's new and how do you process and make a value out of some of these products.
• 18:19
  Speaker F: The pilot plant works with big companies like Minnesota based General Mills as they tinker with new ingredients or look to reduce waste. But Maher points to successful outcomes with regional startups, too, including farms specializing in artisanal cheeses. He says it's hard for those smaller operations to make money in the early going, and the plant gives them flexibility to perfect their products before branching out. Industry tracking firms say an aging farmer population and changes in immigration policy put pressure on farms and other food producers to attract skilled labor. Maher says the teaching side of their center helps create the next wave of agricultural talent and visionaries who can help overcome hurdles.
• 19:00
  Speaker D: A lot of our undergrads that work for us end up getting jobs with the companies that come here and do research. They'll call me up and you know, you got any seniors graduating this year? We're looking for an intern or we're looking for, you know, we got a full time opening come up.
• 19:13
  Speaker F: He suggests those opportunities are timely given the tough job market for college graduates right now. The pilot plant covers all its costs through its programs, consultation and food industry services, and its public sales of its cheese and ice cream help with the operating budget. In addition to several awareness and educational events with the University this week, FarmAid is sourcing ice cream from the used dairy lab. This is Mike Moen for Minnesota News Connection. Find our trust indicators@publicnewsservice.org now just on.
• 19:44
  Speaker A: Farm 8, mentioned there in Mike Mohan's report. It starts at 9:30am Pacific and will be streamed live on farmaid.org the concert has one big act after another well into the evening and is headlined by old regulars like Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, as well as spring chickens like Steve Earle and John Mellencamp. What a feast for lovers of country and folk this is going to be. Now we're going back to the Dakotas, the north one this time with a story we here on the California north coast can relate to, namely cutting edge healthcare being hard to access In North Dakota, mobile MRI units are helping improve residents health and saving hospitals money Ross Brown from the Public News Service's yonder.
• 20:36
  Speaker G: Report A mobile MRI unit that makes weekly visits is bringing a huge improvement.
• 20:42
  Speaker E: To the health care of one small North Dakota town.
• 20:45
  Speaker G: The 1400 residents of Bowman would otherwise have to drive 40 minutes to reach the kind of expensive medical equipment that local health care providers can't afford. Southwest Healthcare Services CEO Dennis Gebel says independent rural hospitals are now joining clinically.
• 21:02
  Speaker E: Integrated networks to to share resources, group.
• 21:05
  Speaker D: Purchasing greater volumes, lower pricing and just learning from each other how to do things using best practice kind of as a guy really helps each individual community.
• 21:13
  Speaker G: Subalo Health helps build the networks. That company's CEO Nathan White says. They use value based contracts which reimburse providers based on the quality of care and patients outcomes.
• 21:25
  Speaker D: Being able to open up those new revenue opportunities is sort of a half of the pie in improving your revenue position.
• 21:32
  Speaker A: The first ever New York Indigenous Fashion Week took place last week, showcasing the best of the best in Native fashion. The event ran at the same time as the New York Fashion Week itself, which is now in its 83rd year. This year, Jamie Okuma became the first ever Native designer to be featured at the main event. Carl Landuro at the National Native News.
• 21:56
  Speaker H: Has more Jamie Okuma, Shoshone Bannack Wailack and a member of the La Jolla Band of Indians, is known for her intricate beadwork and clothing designs. At New York Fashion Week, Okuma showcased pieces adorned with graphics of dentalium shells, flowers, elk teeth and butterflies. The models walked in dresses made of silk, bamboo and cotton. Okuma is the very first Native American designer to be included in New York Fashion Week. Nearby, the inaugural Indigenous New York Fashion Week was hosted by Relative Arts, an indigenous fashion community space. The show featured 25 Indigenous artists from all over the world. Kinsale Drake, who is Dine and the founder of the Indian Girls Book Club, modeled for the Runway.
• 22:40
  Speaker C: The energy was just something that was so exciting and buzzy and it felt like you can't erase us. We're here and now we're also in New York on Lenape land.
• 22:53
  Speaker H: Drake points out how Fashion Week has long included tribal designs.
• 22:58
  Speaker C: We saw recently a rise of Americana or Western fashion which derives from these Southwest aesthetics that are indigenous.
• 23:06
  Speaker H: Details about the next Indigenous New York Fashion Week are still to come. For National Native News, I'm Carol Ann Duro.
• 23:13
  Speaker A: And now, finally, it's time for Ray Hamel, who has been waiting at the changeover zone for us to hand him the bus and bring us over the finish line. Take it away, Ray.
• 23:26
  Speaker G: The Ferndale Wildcats continue their impressive start to the new high school football season with another dominating win over the weekend. And they weren't the only local team to impress. Hello and welcome to this week's KMWOOD News Sports Report. I'm Ray hamill with humble sports.com we'll have more on the High Flying Cats in just a moment as we take a look at all of the big local sports stories of the week, including all the latest high school and college football news, as well as some boys and girls soccer, some volleyball updates, and why this weekend will be a big one for local motorsports fans, but first up, it was another busy weekend for the local high school football teams, including the Ferndale Wildcats, who won big against Fall river in their home opener. The Cats followed A season opening 57. 0 win at Fort Bragg with a 620 win over Fall river and they have now outscored their first two opponents 119 0. Ferndale is firing on all cylinders right now and has been dominating its opponents on offense, defense and special teams. The Wildcats will try to keep their fast start going on Friday night when they make the short trip to Fortuna to play the Huskies in the annual Milk can rivalry game. The Huskies lost their second straight game last weekend, falling 26 to 12 at Ukiah and dropping to 02 on the season. The Huskies started the stronger of the two teams and enjoyed the better of exchanges in the opening half. They led 126 at the break, but Ukiah made some critical adjustments at halftime and outscored Fortuna 200 over the final two quarters to take the victory. Also in action last weekend, Arcata quarterback Luka lemke accounted for four of his team's touchdowns in a 3327 win over Del Norte in a highly entertaining showdown. The win lifted the Tigers to 11 while the loss was the first of the season for Del Norte which dropped to 2 1. The South Fork Cubs got their season started two weeks later than most of the HDNL schools, welcoming happy camp to Miranda and running out to a dominating 628 win in eight player football. The Cubs will play a second straight home game on Friday night when they welcome one of the hottest teams in the state to Southern Humboldt. Hayfork will head to South Fork, riding a remarkable 28 game winning streak, a run that included perfect seasons in 2023 and 2024. The Timberjacks are 30 this year. Also in action last week, the St. Bernards Crusaders improved to 30 with a second straight shutout victory. St. Bernards welcomed the Hoopa warriors to Crusader Field for their homecoming game and cruised to a 440 win with all 44 of their points coming in the opening half. One of the highlight plays of the day was a 51 yard field goal by St. Bernard senior Tyler Heinrichs. The Crusaders will try to keep their impressive start going when they travel to Santa Rosa to play Montgomery on Friday night in their final pre conference game. Mckinleyville and Eureka had buys last week, but both teams will be back in action this weekend with the 1 and 1 Panthers playing at University Prep on Friday night and the one in one Loggers traveling to Nevada on Saturday afternoon. Also this weekend, Del Norte will try to get back to winning ways at Skyline High in Oakland on Friday night, while Arcata will head to petaluma to play St. Vincent de Paul on Saturday night. The Hoopa warriors, who dropped to 1 and 2 after last week's loss, will finally play their home opener when they host Trinity on the Saturday night in Mendocino County. Willets improved to 20 last week with a dominating 540 win over Upper Lake, while Fort Bragg dropped to 0 3, losing 410 to Clear Lake. It was the second straight shutout loss for the Timberwolves, who will try to get their first win of the year when they host Kelseyville on Friday night. The Wolverines will also be in action under the Friday night lights and will try to make it three straight wins to start the season when they host Healdsburg. The Ukiah Wildcats, who are 21 after rallying to beat Fortuna, will host Chico on Saturday night. Potter Valley won its season opener last weekend, defeating Roseland University Prep 266 and the Bearcats will try to make it two straight wins when they travel to play Sweat on Friday in local college football. Meanwhile, a tough start to life in the national division continued for College of the Redwoods last weekend. After making the switch from the American Division to the more competitive National Division this year, the Corsairs dropped their third straight game to begin the new era last week. Although there were some notable signs of improvement. SIOR hosted Diablo Valley College at the Redwood bowl in arcata and lost 54 28. The game was still well in the balance late in the third quarter, but the visitors finished strong to help seal the victory while the CR defense struggled to contain a Diablo Valley offense. That's CR head coach Jason White, described as probably the best his team has faced since the program was reinstated a little over three years ago. The team offense had by far its most impressive performance of the season so far. Redwoods will try to secure its first win this Saturday at College of the Sequoias in a game that kicks off early at 11am in local high school girls soccer. Meanwhile, the Big Four and Little Four teams began conference play this week and it was a good start for the Ferndale Wildcats. The cats traveled to Saint Bernards and won 21 with Madison Gossie breaking a late tie and netting the winning goal just 16 minutes from time. Also in the little four, defending conference champs Del Norte opened with a 40 win over South Fork in Crescent City. In the big four, Eureka won 21 at Arcata and Fortuna beat McKinleyville 70 in HDNL boys soccer on Wednesday. Fortuna and arcata both improved to 20 in league play. Caden Loads scored late to lift the huskies to a 32 win over Del Norte, while Arcata won 140 at Saint Bernards. McKinleyville also won, defeating Eureka 21 to go to 11 and dropping the Loggers to 02 in league. In Big 5 volleyball the Eureka girls won an exciting conference opener against Arcata on Wednesday night, rallying from a two to one deficit to win in five sets. It was the Loggers first win over their big five rivals since September 2022. And rounding out a busy week of local sports action, the Redwood Acres Raceway will host the final racing night of the season on Saturday, with the Knights action getting underway at 5pm and that's this week's KAYMUD News Sports Report until next time. I'm Ray hamel with humboldt sports.com that's.
• 30:06
  Speaker A: It from us at Cayman News today and this week. We'll be back on Monday at 6 o' clock with Nat Cardos at the helm. Thanks to our engineer for making sure this newscast reaches your ears and thanks to our reporters Suzanne Potter, Mike Moen, Ross Brown, Carolan Duro and of course, Ray Hamel. I'm Sarah Bjorn wishing you a wonderful weekend.