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Local News 04 22 26 · KMUD News

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign.
• 0:11
  Speaker B: Welcome to your KMUD Local News. I'm your host, April Lewis, and I'm glad to be with you for this broadcast. I want to emphasize that there is still time to give for our membership drive that lasts through today, April 22nd. We are currently at around $40,000 raised as of this broadcast and our stated goal is to raise $60,000 to keep our station going. We need your help. Please call 707-923-3911 or go to kmud.org to donate. We'll start off with the rundown of today's top stories, followed by in depth reporting from our news team. Tonight we'll have in depth coverage on the City of Fortuna going through the expensive process of updating its general plan. And later in the broadcast, we'll have an interview with local filmmaker Sarah Lassli on a new documentary funded by a Guggenheim fellowship. But first, the rundown. This is KMUD News. Starting off with an announcement from the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District. They are aware that some customers are experiencing cloudy red or brown tap water and want to assure the public that your water is safe to drink. The temporary discoloration is a result of a pressure surge that occurred in one of the district's transmission pipelines. Pressure surges system, sometimes called water hammer events, can occur when flow conditions in a pipeline change rapidly, such as during a pump start or stop valve operation or abrupt demand change. The resulting hydraulic force can temporarily disturb sediment and mineral deposits that naturally accumulate on the interior walls of water mains over time. When this material is dislodged and carried into the distribution system, it it causes the red, brown or rusty appearance that some customers are seeing. The discoloration is caused by iron and manganese, naturally occurring minerals present in all water systems. While the appearance and taste may be temporarily unpleasant, the water meets all state and federal drinking water standards and does not pose a health risk. Avoid running hot water or doing laundry until the water clears at your tap, as discolored water may stain fabrics and leave deposits in water heaters. If water starts to clear at your tap, run it for an additional two to three minutes to ensure fresh water has fully flushed your service line. District operations staff are actively monitoring water quality throughout the affected area and are conducting system flushing operations with local water providers to clear the pipeline and distribution system as quickly as possible. They are working to restore normal water appearance as soon as it is safe to do so and will provide updates if conditions change. Customers with questions or ongoing concerns about their water quality may contact the Humboldt Bay Municipal water District at 707-822-2918. In state news, there is a debate tonight, April 22, between the major candidates for the governor of California. The debate is being held at the studios of San francisco television station CRON4. This marks the first major debate between candidates since former U.S. representative Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race after multiple accusations of sexual assault. The debate will last from 7 to 8:30pm with the last 30 minutes only available on streaming. The debate will be available from Quran 4 and on KTLA.com along with live streaming on YouTube from both channels. Those who miss the debate can watch it later on YouTube or on social media channels of CRON4 and KTLA. Once posted. With mail in ballots set to go out next month for the June 2 primary election, it's a good time to tune into the governor's race. Two Republican Party candidates, Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton, will be paired with four Democratic Party U.S. house Rep. Katie Porter, billionaire Tom Steyer, former Health Secretary Xavier Becerra and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. We'll update you on our next newscast with audio and analysis from this pivotal debate for California's next governor. Cal Fire has announced that effective at 6am on May 1, 2026, all hazard reduction burning will a permit in the counties of Humboldt and del Norte. Cal Fire burn permits must now be obtained online at burnpermit.fire.ca.gov Applicants can access the website to obtain a burn permit, which involves watching a short educational video and submitting an application. The process provides the necessary information needed to conduct the burn safely while minimizing the chance for fire escape. Permits must be in possession either by a printed copy or digitally. Permits are valid beginning May 1st of each year and require annual renewal. Permits are also issued free of charge. For further information regarding residential burning or other fire safety tips, visit your local Cal fire Station or visit readyforwildfire.org April 22 is is Earth Day first celebrated on April 22, 1970, with the date chosen to maximize student involvement during the Vietnam era of campus activism. The original date fell on a weekday between spring break and final exams for university students. Many see Earth Day as tracing back to the origins of the modern environmental movement. According to earthday.org, the slogan for this year's event is Our Power, Our Planet. Earth Day is an illustration of the power of collective action, and events take place across the country marking its passing. Events consist of anything from community cleanups, tree planting and educational teach ins to large scale international events like Earth Day. Tokyo, California, for its part, announced three new state parks to mark the holiday. This marks the largest expansion of state parks in decades. Proposed California state parks include Feather river in Yuba County, San Joaquin River Parkway in the Fresno area, and Dust Bowl Camp in Bakersfield. The proposed Feather River State park in Yuba county would span over 2,000 acres, while the Dust bowl site outside Bakersfield pays reverence at a former labor camp. The camp was a federal relief camp for migrants during the Dust bowl of the 1930s. The migrants were seeking work in California. Three structures still remain from the camp, a post office, community hall and library. The third park absorbs the existing San Joaquin River Parkway into the state park system. Recent legislation eased restrictions on the California Department of Parks and Recreation, allowing the department to purchase more land. Governor Newsom, during remarks on Sycamore island along the San Joaquin river, stated, there wasn't much happening in this space. We were frankly dealing with the existing space and deferred maintenance and this constant dialectic about the fact that we shouldn't be focused on expansion. Finally, we've moved away from that scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. That's what we're celebrating here today. The State Parks Forward Initiative is actively in the process of purchasing additional land for state parks. The initiative states a goal of adding 30,000 acres to the system by 2030. This month, park officials announced 453 acres were being added to Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve in Mendocino County. A quick update on the situation in Iran According to the Associated Press, Iran's Revolutionary Guard has fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz today, including capturing two vessels and bringing them back to Iran. This comes after President Trump stated on Tuesday that the ceasefire was extended indefinitely. The president also stated that the US Would continue to blockade Iranian ports, setting the stage for further conflict. In response, oil prices now sit at over $101 per barrel, according to the Brent Crude Index as of press time. For comparison, last week the index had per barrel costs below $90. Pricing at the Chevron and Redway sits at $6.45 for regular fuel and $7.65 for diesel. Lastly, a bit of breaking local news. There was a serious accident involving an elderly motorcyclist on Alderpoint Road today, April 22nd. Here is a report from California Highway Patrol Sergeant Barrett Barnwell.
• 9:45
  Speaker C: So yeah, we got a call when we showed up on scene. Highway Patrol was the first one there, provided stabilization for medical until the ambulance arrived and then it appears to have been an elderly gentleman from senior Alder Point area was on a dual sport motorcycle traveling westbound on Alder Point Road, Arthur Road and we're not sure if he lost control or if he had maybe a possible medical emergency and he ended up going off the south roadway edge under the shoulder where the bike was laid down and he was ejected and we don't know the extent of his injuries. He was wearing a helmet and other additional safety gear. Garbo Redway Volunteer Fire Department ambulance I think Cal Fire was there too. So then he was flown out by Reach.
• 10:37
  Speaker B: The status of the motorcyclist is currently unknown, although his injuries were serious enough to merit an air ambulance taking off from the Garberville Airport to an out of area hospital and now to in depth reporting from our news team. Fortuna is about to launch the expensive but essential process of updating its general plan. Daniel Mintz reports.
• 11:24
  Speaker D: Fortuna is spending close to $1 million for assistance with drafting a state mandated planning document, the General Plan Update, that will map future development. An $846,000 professional services contract with the PlanWest Partners consulting firm was approved by the Fortuna City council at its April 20 meeting. The city's current General Plan and its Environmental impact report, or EIR, were adopted in 2010, charting development through 2030. The general plan update will cover another 30 year planning window to 2060. The contract with PlanWest will be paid out through use of the city's reserve funds. City Manager Amy Nilsen said the city is already familiar with PlanWest's work and the Arcata based firm is close by.
• 12:19
  Speaker E: We also have worked with PlanWest in the past. They have done the mill site specific plan for us. They've also been our contract planner. We when we didn't have a senior planner community development director. So the City of Fortuna has a long standing work relationship with PlanWest partners. They're also local and it actually does keep the cost down because travel from an out of state agency can be expensive. We also appreciate in person meetings in Fortuna and so having a lot of teams meetings or zoom meetings isn't necessarily something that we like to see appreciate particularly when you're doing a general plan update.
• 12:56
  Speaker D: Nilsen described the complexity of general plan work, hence the cost and she said the city is expected to get some help with paying for it.
• 13:06
  Speaker E: There's many pieces to a general plan, everything from environmental justice to and it governs land use so there's just a lot of elements, transportation, conservation, noise, open space. So there's a lot required and if we don't have a general plan, we lose our land use authority in the City of Fortuna, and that's not necessarily something that we want to see happen. I should also add that in addition, because we have our senior planner, Katie Schmidt, she did apply to the California Community Development Block Grant Program and we do estimate that we will probably have about 250,000 in CDBG dollars that will offset the cost of the general plan update.
• 13:51
  Speaker D: Asked about the timeframe for completing the update, Nielsen said work on gathering data and document review will begin immediately, followed by a series of citywide outreach and workshops. The first phase of public outreach will continue through next month, but the public scoping process will span a year, leading to drafting and more public comment on the update's various land use chapters and its eir. Nilsen said the goal is to complete the update by the end of 2027. Council member Tammy Trent related her own experience with the city's current general plan and said hiring a consultant is a must.
• 14:32
  Speaker F: I worked on this document 20 years ago when I was on the planning commission the last time it was updated. It's a very detailed document, a very time consuming document, and it goes through the plan planning Commission before it comes here. There's a lot of different sections of it that you have to work on. It's also one of those unfunded mandates from the state if we have, if we have to get it done on time, otherwise we get big penalties. So it, and it was, we did have a I hired it out last time too, had some help on it. It's just too complicated of a document to try to do it all within house house when you have such a small city and very limited staff.
• 15:14
  Speaker D: Vanessa Blodgett of PlanWest said the firm is really looking forward to working with the council and the community and staff to move this forward. And she described zoning code updates as where the rubber hits the road on defining future development. The contract for the update and its EIR was unanimously approved. For KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz.
• 15:52
  Speaker B: Sarah Laslie, an associate professor of film at Cal Poly Humboldt, discussed her journey to receiving a Guggenheim fellowship for her project Muckrackers, a mix between a documentary and a musical about waste management in Humboldt County. KMUD's Gabriel Zucker reports.
• 16:12
  Speaker A: Cal Poly Humboldt filmmaker Sarah Lasley has spent the last 20 years building a body of experimental community driven work. This spring, that long arc of creative practice reached a new milestone. Lastly, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the most prestigious honors available to mid career Artists. The fellowship will support her newest and most ambitious project yet, Muckrakers, a hybrid documentary musical about waste labor and rural resilience in Humboldt County. Lastly says the recognition arrives at a moment when the project finally demands real resources.
• 16:46
  Speaker F: The process to get there is two decades of work, but, you know, the. I had never applied for a Guggenheim Fellowship before. It's for mid career artists, and I think it's always kind of confusing to figure out when that is. You know, there's like a moment where you're kind of like, oh, is this the, is this the middle?
• 17:06
  Speaker A: Lastly, says she never applied before because of her work. Intentionally handmade, low budget and experimental never require the kind of funding the fellowship provides.
• 17:16
  Speaker F: A lot of my work has always been like, super, no budget, kind of intentionally like, handmade. I'm interested in where the hand falls apart and this kind of like, desire to lift something with limited means to a greater potential.
• 17:30
  Speaker A: But Muckrakers is different and it needs a real budget.
• 17:33
  Speaker F: We've been working on this project, Muckrakers, which is a documentary about waste management in Humboldt county that then morphs halfway through into a giant community musical. And so when you're taking on a musical, you have a lot of people and you have to pay them and feed them and rehearse them.
• 17:51
  Speaker A: Lastly says that's when she realized she needed to apply for the Guggenheim Fellowship.
• 17:56
  Speaker F: We knew that this project would have a need to have a proper budget. And that was when I decided to apply for the Guggenheim Fellowship. But this is a, it's a tough year to apply for that fellowship because as we know, all the grants, the big, big grants have been cut at the higher end. So it means everyone kind of trickles down. And this is, you know, pretty major grant cycle anyway. So, yeah, it was, it felt like a really long shot. And I'm still kind of in shock
• 18:23
  Speaker A: that it came through before the Guggenheim Fellowship. Lastly built her films through a patchwork of internal grants and community support.
• 18:31
  Speaker F: The premise of it was that I was going to make it with 30 of my students. It was just going to be me and 30 students. And in order for that project to happen, I knew I needed funding to pay all of the students. So that was when I started like, you know, applying for internal grants through the university. Got an IRFSA grant, which is the Emeritus Retired Faculty and Staff association, got an RSCA grant through the SPF foundation, and was able to kind of pool internal resources to fund that project.
• 19:02
  Speaker A: That same model helped launch Muckrakers with support from the Dean's Office, the Humboldt Area foundation, and Canvas community collaborations. Lastly's background is in experimental film and video art, and she's never been interested in traditional narrative rules.
• 19:17
  Speaker F: I've never approached narrative with convention in mind. Like, that's not even. That's like, not even a priority of mine at all. I like to use convention and I like to use like, cinematic structure and cinematic devices as a way to like, pull people into something that feels familiar and then to kind of flip the ground so that suddenly they're confronted with something that's maybe a bit uncomfortable.
• 19:43
  Speaker A: Her practice, what she calls experimental documentary, uses metafiction, disruption and emotional tension to push audiences toward reflection.
• 19:52
  Speaker F: I believe that change occurs at the point where discomfort outweighs risk, where you really feel like you're able to sort of step over the discomfort and like, make a change. And so, you know, that's. That's something that I keep in mind as like an ethos.
• 20:06
  Speaker A: Muckrakers continues that tradition, but with a new focus. The real lives of Humboldt County's waste workers.
• 20:13
  Speaker F: We're working with subject matter that is true. This, like, the nature of waste management in Humboldt County. The stories of actual, like, waste workers who are dealing with the muck all day, like managing and moving and processing the waste that we as consumers or customers, you know, we like to throw things away and pretend they're invisible. And I'm mapping that onto this, like, greater sort of socio cultural way that we throw away working class people and their labor.
• 20:43
  Speaker A: The title comes from a surprising mix of sources. A 1917 religious text, Zora Neale Hurston and Teddy Roosevelt.
• 20:51
  Speaker F: The concept of the muck, yes. Comes from the. The Pilgrim's Promise, which was a text written in, I think it's 1917. And it was actually something that Dean Jeff Crane, who's a historian, mentioned to me when I was talking about the muck. You know, I was thinking of Their Eyes are Watching. God has like a reference to the muck as well. And. And so Jeff Crane was the one who was like, oh, you should look into like, you know, this. This text, the Pilgrim's Promise, which the man with the muck rake in that text was sort of so diligent in his job of like, raking the muck that he's judged in the text for not like, having kind of larger religious spiritual awareness. And, you know, there's that peace and how we want to kind of redeem that figure by saying, like, well, yeah, he does have that spiritual awareness, but he's burdened by this, like, labor that someone has to do, you know, so we're kind of redeeming that figure. But then it was also a play on the sensational journalism label of Muckraker, and, you know, Teddy Roosevelt's speech in that regard. And just thinking of, like, you know, this, like, uprising of voices, you know, in the community as a kind of parallel to Muckraker journalism that was trying to sort of unearth, you know, these working conditions. So I think we just kind of felt that it, like, triangulated in a nice way and it looks really good in a death metal font.
• 22:17
  Speaker A: But the most surprising element of Muckrakers may be its music and the unlikely path to working with world famous music producers on the film.
• 22:24
  Speaker F: I got into the Ann Arbor Film Festival, which is this, like, incredibly prestigious, like, Oscar qualifying festival, the oldest experimental festival in the US and the guy who drives the van is this producer, Chris Peters. And we're driving around and he's like, oh, what film was yours? And I was like, oh, welcome to the enclave. He's like, oh, that was my favorite film. It's like, if you ever want me and my boy Mike to score something, we'd love to. And he tells me Mike's name, and I'm like, oh, I know Mike. Like, he wrote all the Insane Clown Posse songs from the 90s that I grew up with. Two years later, I followed up and I was like, all right, we have this idea. This, like, this dump musical. And they were both on board immediately. It was. It was really kind of kismet.
• 23:07
  Speaker A: What followed was a whirlwind of studio sessions, lyric writing, and community rehearsals.
• 23:12
  Speaker F: We spent three days in the studio, and I'm in a studio with all these, like, platinum albums on the walls. It was, like, very humbling. And, you know, we, for three days, kind of just like, workshopped all this music that then was like, like a 12 minute assembly. I took it back to Humboldt and. And I started kind of cutting it up. And I had to write the lyrics and the melodies for it, which is funny because I don't do. I'm not a musician and I don't do that. And it was at the end of the time in Detroit where I was like, okay, what's next? And they're like, you go write all the lyrics. I was like, I don't know how to do that. And they were like, oh, you'll figure it out. So I spent the last three months writing lyrics and music.
• 23:55
  Speaker A: The project will culminate in a massive community recording session at Cal Poly Humboldt this May. For Lastly, Muckrakers is the largest skill project she has ever attempted.
• 24:05
  Speaker F: This is definitely the largest budget project that I've ever had by far. Now, Nicola, luckily, has worked on much, much bigger budget projects in her producing career. She's, you know, she's not scared about the budget. I'm terrified.
• 24:22
  Speaker A: Now she's coordinating dozens of performers, set builders, musicians, and community members.
• 24:29
  Speaker F: Every night after 9 a. After 9pm I'm like, oh, I can't do this. I get so terrified. But then in the morning, I'm like, no, you're gonna do this. You're gonna do this.
• 24:39
  Speaker A: What keeps lastly going is the thrill of the unknown.
• 24:42
  Speaker F: There's this kind of question mark of, like, what will happen when we bring all these people together? And I think that's the most exciting and interesting part for me. And I have to kind of keep focusing on, like, the science experiment of making art in this way and, like, how it will surprise me. And that's incredible.
• 24:59
  Speaker A: The fellowship means the film can finally move into production. The timeline is ambitious. Recording music in May, shooting the documentary, and building the trash mound through summer. Filming in the fall, post production in 2027, followed by a rural screening tour across the north coast for lastly. The Fellowship is not just support for a film. It's recognition that rural stories deserve national attention.
• 25:23
  Speaker F: I'm really grateful, and I guess I'll just say the thing that shocked me the most and made me the most, like, optimistic is that a major institution like the Guggenheim would see a small rural project like this and feel like it deserves this, like, massive institutional support.
• 25:40
  Speaker A: Filmmaker Sarah Lashley's project Muckrakers is now officially underway, with community rehearsals happening this spring and production continuing through the year. You can follow updates@sarahlasli.com For KMUD news, I'm Gabriel Zucker.
• 25:57
  Speaker B: That's all for our news broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our engineer and thanks to our reporters Daniel Mintz and Gabriel Zucker. KMUD News is online. You can find us on kmud.org, and now streaming on podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can download our stories and newscasts for offline listening. You can also follow us on social mediamudnews, including Facebook and Instagram. Do you have issues important to you that deserve more attention? Are there stories we're missing or that you're curious about? You can give us a call at 707-923-2605 or send an email to newsema.org I'd also like to remind folks before the end of our broadcast that our spring membership drive is almost over, please click the green donate button on kmud.org or call 707-923-3911. Your donations keep our local news on the air and we need your help. For just $120 you can get a family membership that entitles you and one other person to vote directly for our board members. We encourage folks to do this on a recurring basis to stay involved with our station and community. Again, that number to donate is 707-923-3911. Redwood Community Radio Incorporated is funded by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at PressForward News. Redwood Community Radio acknowledges that its transmitter sites are located on the unceded territory of the Cinqueon, Wailaki, Wiatt, Wilcote and Kato people. We honor ancestors past, past, present and emerging and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual and physical connection that these tribes have to this region. Reporting for kmud, I'm April Lewis. Stay tuned in.