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Local News 03 20 26 · KMUD News

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign.
• 0:15
  Speaker B: Good evening and welcome to the local news. Today is Friday, March 20th, and I'm Nat Cardos reporting for KMUD. In tonight's news, travel cost hikes spur more reimbursement for Humboldt Soups, a tsunami drill next week and Ray Hamill with the sports report. So stay tuned, stay tuned. Those stories and more coming up.
• 0:38
  Speaker C: Redwood Community Radio acknowledges that its transmitter sites are located on the unceded territory of the Sinkyon, Wailaki, Wiat, Wilkut and Kato people. We honor ancestors past, present and emerging and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual and physical connection these tribes have to this region.
• 1:00
  Speaker B: Next week on March 25, there will be an annual north coast tsunami drill starting at 11am across Humboldt, Mendocino and Del Norte counties. The exercise is coordinated by the county's Offices of Emergency Services, the National Weather Service in Eureka, and the Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group. The National Weather Service encourages residents in tsunami zones to participate by walking to higher ground or outside of the tsunami hazard area. If not in a tsunami zone, residents can stay where they are, but are encouraged to consider how one would respond after an earthquake resulting in major damage. Cayman News spoke with Ryan Aylward, the warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Eureka, for more information.
• 1:38
  Speaker A: Yeah, so on March 25th at 11am The National Weather Service is going to issue a monthly test. So it will issue it over the emergency alert system. It's a normal emergency alert system test. It'll say this is a test of the emergency alert system on TV and radio and local jurisdictions. So like Humboldt county, oas, Mendocino County, OAS and Del Norte will all be issuing some reverse calling messages. So if you're signed up for those systems, you may receive a message on that at that time. And the whole idea is when you receive these messages is that you act as if that trigger is like a local earthquake happening at that moment. And in that moment you need to respond properly, as if it was a very large earthquake, and then practice evacuating out of the tsunami zone. The idea is that we're practicing for an event that's a local event, a large earthquake that we feel here locally, and we have to evacuate out by foot walking to get out of the tsunami zone within as little as 10 minutes before the tsunami wave arrives. It's going to be Humboldt County, Mendocino and Del Norte county, and all three counties are participating. It's a totally voluntary thing. We really encourage people to practice if they are in a tsunami zone at that time, just to practice evacuating out of the zone, the more you practice, the more you're used to doing it. Then in the real moment, when eventually we will have a large earthquake and a tsunami threat is there, you'll just have that natural response. We do that with earthquakes, right? We do the drop cover. Hold on. Practice. We practice for fire drills. We do all of those sort of things. But we need to do the same for, you know, what are we going to do for the tsunami threat in practice. Evacuating out of the zone.
• 3:11
  Speaker B: The National Weather Service will issue a test message for the drill at 11am over weather radio, commercial radio and local TV broadcasts. There will not be a live code tsunami warning unlike previous years, meaning the message will not include the words tsunami warning. Humboldt County OES will issue a test notification through Humboldt Alert. And Mendocino County OES will issue a test notification through Mendo Alert. The National Weather Service encourages residents to check their accounts and update contact preferences prior to this drill.
• 3:39
  Speaker A: Tsunami preparedness. The biggest thing is knowing your zone, basically. Are you in the zone or are you out of the zone? So what we encourage people to do is go to the Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group's website, you know, search Redwood Coast Tsunami Workgroup, and it'll be like the first link at the top. And on that page you'll find information about the tsunami zone across the entire region. There's a GIS map that's there and you can zoom down to your house and see if your location is in the zone. But also look at places where you work, where you recreate where you normally travel. Do you ever travel through a tsunami zone? Understanding the hazard ahead of time is really key to knowing how you're going to respond in the moment. Because if you're confused in the moment and then the big earthquake happens, where do you go? I don't know because I don't know the zone. It can really help. Preparing ahead of time. So that's the biggest thing is understanding the zone. And then the second thing is understanding that the earthquake is going to be your warning for the local event. And so that's what we're testing for, or basically drilling for on Wednesday is for a local event where the earthquake lets you know that a tsunami wave is on its way and that you have to get out of the zone within 10 minutes. You shouldn't wait for an official alert. Yeah, we're going to set off these alerts to let you know to practice the drill during a real event for a local earthquake. And there could be so much damage to the infrastructure that you may not receive that alert. So we really encourage people to use the earthquake as your warning. If you're not sure if it's a big enough earthquake, it's better to practice. When in doubt, drill it out, get out of the zone, find more information. If you had to evacuate for 10 minutes and then you find out there's no threat, it's not that big of a deal. But if you didn't evacuate and you find out a tsunami is on its way, that's a bigger risk. So we really encourage people to use the earthquake as their warning, evacuate in that moment and then get to high ground. And then the other thing, if you do live or work in a tsunami zone, is to have a go bag ready so that you can just grab that and go, you know, with water, medicine that you may need some sort of resources that you may need so that you can be safe wherever you need to go for an extended period of time. Because tsunami waves can last for 24 hours, 48 hours, and you may be outside of your home for a long period if that if it were to
• 5:46
  Speaker B: happen while you're there, knowing your zone is key during a tsunami warning. Tsunami hazard maps are available on the Redwood coast tsunami Workgroup's website, rctwg.com Humboldt EDU tsunami hazard maps Cayman News will provide a reminder a day prior to the drill on Tuesday for listeners. A majority of Humboldt county supervisors have approved and defended raising their travel reimbursements.
• 6:15
  Speaker D: Daniel Mintz reports, though public blowback to it was alluded to, increases in travel expense reimbursements to Humboldt county supervisors has gotten approval. A majority of the Board of Supervisors voted for the annual increases, which amount to 7.5% for the next fiscal year, plus an additional 5,000 annually for supervisors in larger districts. The current annual Travel allowance is $10,300 per supervisor, a level that hasn't changed in about 10 years. The increased proposal was agendized by Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, whose 2nd District is one of the larger ones. Bushnell noted her district's distance from Eureka and its size and the public pushback against reimbursement increases.
• 7:05
  Speaker E: And I know that this is always a hard discussion to have, but I don't want to keep turning in my mileage and also I've really drawn back from going on some conferences that I've wanted to because I know that my mileage often expands, exceeds that. And I so I just want to have the conversation with the board and I think it's a fair conversation. I also, you know, it gets beat up in the media, which is not fair. And, you know, likewise it happened this time with Lost Coast Outpost. They wanted to say a lot of things about it and be negative about it, but it is the work we do for the county and it is, you know, right now with gas being $6 a gallon and diesel being almost $7 a gallon, it's not an easy travel time and it hasn't been for some time.
• 7:52
  Speaker D: Bushnell later clarified that often the blowback is in the comments and sometimes the headings are not always the friendliest, but it is to capture the eye. Board Chair Mike Wilson said travel in his district, which is largely made up of Arcata in its greater area and the eureka Centric District 4 involves much less distance than districts 1, 2 and 5.
• 8:17
  Speaker C: I want to say that the differential between the districts in terms of travel budget has only grown. And what I mean by that is there are two of us that most of our population and the issues we deal with are fairly close to where we live. And I guess I want to preempt that by saying or that our travel budgets have been both in county and out of county. They just kind of mushed together. And so those supervisors with larger districts have had some pretty substantial travel parts of their travel budget that have been within the county. And there are those of us who don't have that same challenge.
• 9:00
  Speaker D: Supervisor Natalie Arroyo said, quote, this item often gets a lot of blowback, and I understand where people are coming from. But she added, there's return on investment in the form of training and meeting with officials from other counties. Supervisor Steve Madrone's District 5 is one of the larger ones, and he said he's foregone an annual allowance of $3,000 to attend the California State association of Counties Conference so that I can have the funds to be able to do my district work. Madrone noted the status of the county budget. While our costs have gone up and,
• 9:38
  Speaker F: you know, 72 cents for mileage now
• 9:40
  Speaker D: rather than 50, etc.
• 9:41
  Speaker C: Our county budget is, you know, in
• 9:43
  Speaker F: really bad shape and stuff.
• 9:45
  Speaker C: So I'm willing to live within the
• 9:47
  Speaker F: the amount that I'm currently allocated just because I know 15,000 doesn't seem like a lot of money, but every little chunk adds up. So that's my two cents.
• 9:57
  Speaker D: With Madrone voting against, the board voted to increase the current $10,300 level by 7.5% for the fiscal year beginning July 1, with increases of 2.5% in subsequent years. That's the across the board increase with the larger district supervisors reimbursed up to 5,000 more per year en Eureka. For KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz
• 10:25
  Speaker B: and here's Ray Hamel with the sports report.
• 10:28
  Speaker F: The Big 5 and Little 4 MVPs and all league teams have been announced in basketball. Hello and welcome. Welcome to this week's KMWOOD News Sports Report. I'm Ray Hamill with humboldtsports.com we'll have more on the MVPs and all league selections for all 18 HTNL teams 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 baseball and softball news and why it's been an impressive start to the spring season for the Ferndale Wildcats. In particular, all the latest college baseball news, results from the opening round of the HDNL boys golf season and news of a record setting weekend for one local high school track and field athlete. But first up, the HDNL has announced the Big 5 and Little 4 MVPs and all league teams. In basketball, the talented St. Bernard's duo of Liam Dyer and Samantha Sundberg have been named MVPs of the Little Four, while McKinleyville's Henry Turner and Arcata's Tay Wolfert have been named MVPs of the Big Five. Dyer is a conference MVP for the second straight year after helping to lead the St. Bernard's boys to a 244 season including an undefeated league campaign. The senior shooting guard averaged 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists a game, including a career night at Arcata on the last day of January when he scored a career high 52 points. Sundberg was just as impressive for the SB girls, averaging 13.7 points and 7.9 rebounds a game and shooting 34% from three point range. The SB girls finished the year 239 and reached the quarterfinals of the NorCal Division 3 playoffs. In the Big Five. Turner led the McKinleyville Panthers to an historic season that included a first ever outright conference title and a Dick Nikolai Tournament championship. The senior averaged A team high 14.5 points and 5.9 rebounds a game while leading the team to an overall record of 19:9. Arcada's Tay Wolfert was just as impressive as the Tigers also secured a Big 5 and Nikolai tournament championship double. Tay averaged a team best 17.7 points a game as well as 5.7 rebounds and four steals a game. Her twin sister May Wolford was also included on the All League team along with fellow Tiger Mia Cueto. Eureka's Tiara Mauluga and Nashia Williams Del Norte's J. Lee Keeling and Kansas Coulson. Fortuna's Kalia Parkinson and McKinnyville's Liddy Battalocci each also were named to the Big 5 girls all league team. Mckinleyville's Neil Moon and Bodie Douglas joined Turner on the Big Five BUL boys All League team along with Eureka's Xavier De La Rosa and Ryder Mitchell, Arcata's Luke Lemke and Jack Lew, Del Norte's Damien Escalera and Ty Blue and Fortuna's Kai Hawthorne. Dyer's teammates Carson Costa and Garrett Shanahan each also were named to the Little Four Boys All League team along with Hoopas Malachi McCoy and Brian Richards, Ferndale's Tanner Pigeon and Prescott Langer and South Fork's Sean Schmidt. The Little Fork girls All League team also included St Bernard's Carly Baum and CJ Figas, Ferndale's Tinley Pigeon and Madison Gossie, Hoopas, Wakel Blake and Vooonship ecor and South Fork's Carolyn Warwick. In local high school baseball this week, the McKinleyville Panthers stretched their unbeaten start to the new season to seven straight games with a pair of wins at the Montgomery Tournament in Santa Rosa on Tuesday, including a wild 2723 victory over the host school. The unbeaten run, however, would end in the tournament championship game on Wednesday when they fell 161 to Ukiah. The Panthers are now 71 in the season while the Ukiah Wildcats improved to 6 3. The Arcata Tigers, meanwhile, enjoyed back to back wins to go to 2 and 4. The Arcata boys defeated Kelseyville 42 on Saturday and followed that with a 60 win over Middletown on Thursday. The St. Bernards boys were also in action this past week, traveling to Washington to compete the Ephrata Tournament and winning both of their games there to go to 3 0. The Crusaders defeated Ephrata 62 and followed that with a 60 win over Quincy. The Ferndale Wildcats, meanwhile, have been one of the most impressive local teams in the area early in the new season. Over the weekend, the Wildcats traveled to compete in the Maxwell Tournament and won all three of their games there, including a thrilling 9 to 8 win over the host school in the championship game. The Cats trailed 07 going into the sixth inning but would outscore their opponents 9 to 1 over the final two innings to take the victory and the tournament championship. Senior Tanner Pigeon was named Tournament MVP for Ferndale. The Ferndale boys followed that with a doubleheader sweep at Hayfork on Tuesday to go to 7 0. The Ferndale Wildcats are also enjoying a good start to the new softball season with junior pitcher Olivia Gosse leading the way. The Cats opened with a 131 win over Willows on Friday and followed that with a 32 win over Lower Lake on Saturday. They improved to 40 with a doubleheader sweep at Hayfork on Tuesday, winning both of those games by identical 220 scores. The Hoopa and Arcata girls traveled to compete at the Trinity Tournament over the weekend. The warriors finished 2:2 in tournament play, including wins over Etna and Weed, while the Tigers won their opening four games in the tournament to reach the final, where they fell 9 to 2 to Durham. Three of their four wins were shutouts as the Tigers outscored their five opponents by a combined 3914 and improved to 4. 2 on the season. The Eureka Lagers traveled to Palo Cedro over the weekend and split a doubleheader, falling 5 to 1 to Foothill before beating University Prep 62 for the team's first win in two years. The Fortuna girls are off to an impressive start after sweeping Willows in a doubleheader on Saturday by scores of 151 and 22 0. The Huskies improved to 5 0. In local college baseball, College of the Redwoods got its first conference win at Siskiyous over the weekend. The Corsairs dropped their first two games against the Eagles 107 and 132 before taking the series finale 128 Sierra's now 3. 21 overall and 1. 10 in conference in local high school boys golf. Meanwhile, it was a competitive start to the new league season at the Redwood Empire Golf and Country Club in Fortuna on Monday with five different schools represented in the top six. Arcata senior Risen Miller had the low score of the day with a round of 78 to lead the Tigers to the team win. League action continues next Thursday at Beaupre in Mckinleyville. And rounding out another busy week in local sports, it was a particularly good week for Arcata senior Skyler Kahlenberg. Kahlenberg traveled to compete at the Jim Crowhurst Track Extravaganza in Ukiah and set a new school record in the discus with a throw of 167ft, 6 inches, breaking a record that had stood for 51 years. And that's this week's KMUD News Sports Report. Until next time, I'm Ray Hamill with humboldtsports.com
• 17:43
  Speaker B: in state news conservation groups work to save Chuckwalla National Monument Public News Service's Suzanne Potter reports a judge is
• 17:52
  Speaker G: allowing local and statewide conservation groups to intervene in a lawsuit in order to defend Chuckwalla National Monument. An off road group based in Idaho, and a miner from Michigan have sued the U.S. department of the Interior seeking to strip protections from the national monument, located in the desert mountains 80 miles east of Palm Springs. Colin Barrows is with the nonprofit Cactus to Cloud Institute in La Quinta, one of the interveners in the lawsuit. He says Chuckwalla is significant to 13 tribal nations.
• 18:22
  Speaker H: There's a lot of World War II and mining history in the area, and then rare species that have found nowhere else on Earth. You've got endangered desert tortoises, bighorn sheep, hundreds of species, plants and animals.
• 18:32
  Speaker G: President Joe Biden used the Antiquities act to confer national monument status on Chuckwalla weeks before leaving office. The area includes the Oricopia Mountains, which means plentiful gold. But locals say there's very little gold to be found there. The name was just a long ago marketing ploy to attract residents and minors. Barrows says the Trump administration's focus on extracting commercial value from public lands is
• 18:56
  Speaker H: misguided morally and financially. There's much more value in protecting public lands for recreation access, for clean air and water tribal values than there is in stripping of whatever minerals might be there and then having it be a wasteland forever after, he adds.
• 19:12
  Speaker G: The off highway vehicle paths that crisscross the monument are maintained by staff when they wash out during periodic flash floods. Other groups intervening in the lawsuit include the Conservation Lands foundation, the National Parks Conservation association and the Sierra Club. For California News Service, I'm Suzanne Potter. Find our trust indicators@publicnewservice.org
• 19:35
  Speaker B: in national news. Pentagon asking for 200 billion for Iran war Secretary of Defense Hegseth says we're not afraid to kill anybody. KPFA's Christopher Martinez reports.
• 19:46
  Speaker I: The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Pentagon will ask Congress for $200 billion to fund the war on Iran. On Thursday, President Donald Trump confirmed that during a meeting with Japan's prime minister, where he boasted of the effectiveness of American weapons against Iranian rockets.
• 20:03
  Speaker J: It's a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy.
• 20:06
  Speaker I: Top Trump also tried to put to rest reports that he's considering sending ground troops to Iran, although his answer to a reporter's question may not be totally reassuring.
• 20:16
  Speaker J: No, I'm not putting troops anywhere.
• 20:20
  Speaker D: If I were, is there a little wouldn't tell you.
• 20:22
  Speaker I: Other top officials continue to boast of military successes on the battlefield while downplaying some of the big questions. General Dan Kane, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of staff gave an update on the war.
• 20:33
  Speaker J: US CENTCOM remains on plan to achieve our military objectives and remain unrelenting in our pursuit of Iranian missile capabilities, UAV capabilities, and their navy and, as the secretary said, their industrial base. Each day we continue to attack deeper into Iranian territory.
• 20:53
  Speaker I: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also spoke at the briefing.
• 20:56
  Speaker K: The best defense is a good offense, and so we're not afraid to go after and kill anybody. And we have a lot of them.
• 21:03
  Speaker I: Hegseth supported the Pentagon's request for more funding for the war, although the exact amount could get a bit slippery.
• 21:10
  Speaker K: As far as $200 billion, I think that number could move. Obviously it takes money to kill bad guys. So we're going back to Congress and folks there to ensure that we're properly funded for what's been done, for what we may have to do in the future.
• 21:28
  Speaker I: As for another of the big questions about Trump's war, when it ends, Hegseth was even less specific.
• 21:34
  Speaker K: It will be at the president's choosing, ultimately, where we say, hey, we've achieved what we need to on behalf of the American people to ensure our security. So no time set on that, but we're very much on track.
• 21:45
  Speaker I: Democratic lawmakers are generally voicing opposition to the war. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is predicting that Democrats will bring back a war powers resolution to rein in Trump's power, despite a similar measure recently failing to pass when a handful of Democrats joined Republicans to vote it down.
• 22:03
  Speaker J: And I expect strong Democratic support for that war powers resolution, including amongst some who previously may have voted against it earlier in this war. And all we'll need is a few Republicans to join us so we can stand up for the American people who are overwhelmingly opposed to Donald Trump's reckless war of choice.
• 22:29
  Speaker I: Other Democrats continue to speak out. Democrat Jim Hines of Connecticut raised his concerns at a house hearing on three threats to the U.S. sometimes this moment
• 22:39
  Speaker F: feels a little bit like that old Billy Joel song. We didn't start the fire. North Korea, Red China, war in Ukraine, Greenland, Cuba, terrorism, burning drug boats, and of course, the massive fire that we did start. Our latest Middle Eastern war. Where to begin? Our national elections are about seven months away, and plenty of Americans are worried that President Trump may indeed, as he said, take control.
• 23:04
  Speaker I: Reporting for Pacifica Radio News, kpfa, I'm Christopher Martinez.
• 23:10
  Speaker B: In National Native News, Antonio Gonzalez reads today's headlines.
• 23:14
  Speaker L: This is National Native News. I'm Antonio Gonzalez. After overcoming a cringeworthy confirmation hearing over his combative past comments, US Senator Mark Wayne Mullen's nomination to be the next Homeland Security secretary cleared a key committee vote. Correspondent Matt Laszlo reports on the bipartisan relationships he's built over his decade in Washington.
• 23:37
  Speaker M: Contrary to the tough guy you may have seen on your screen picking fights with union bosses or Senate committee chairs, Senator Mullen has lots of fans in Congress. New Mexico Democratic Senator Ben Ray Lujan serves with Mullen on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.
• 23:52
  Speaker J: While I may have some policy disagreements with Senator Mullen, Mark Spark, that's who he is, you know, so I don't know that there's any out of sorts there. It's just, that's just who he is.
• 24:01
  Speaker M: Lujan says Mullen's been a key ally on the other side of the aisle in today's divided Washington.
• 24:06
  Speaker J: Not just, you know, Democrat, Republican, he's been a member that tribal leaders have sought out to support different efforts.
• 24:12
  Speaker M: While Mullen's Cherokee Nation he stepped into a 137 year long fight last year and played a pivotal role in helping North Carolina's Lumbee tribe gain full federal recognition over protests from other tribes. North Carolina Republican Senator Ted Budd says Mullen was pivotal.
• 24:31
  Speaker J: He thought that the opposition by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina was incorrect. And so as an enrolled Cherokee, he supported the Lumbees and it's always appreciated.
• 24:41
  Speaker M: Kansas Democratic Congresswoman Cherise Davids is an enrolled member of the Ho Chunk Nation. For her first two terms, she overlapped with Mullen in the US House. Besides the two both being former MMA fighters, David says Mullen and her put partisan differences aside and worked together for Indian Country.
• 24:59
  Speaker N: When he was in the House, we worked on quite a few tribal related things including trying to stabilize icwa Indian Child Welfare act and then also on like foster programs and that kind of stuff. So we've been able to work together.
• 25:13
  Speaker M: Masked ICE agents may garner the national headline, but David says she's watching to see how Mullen handles the other parts of the sweeping Homeland Security Agency that outgoing Secretary Christy Noem neglected.
• 25:25
  Speaker N: I'm hopeful that he will be much better in terms of leading the department. Of course there's hot button issues, but when you think about FEMA and the importance of FEMA functioning of our TSA folks.
• 25:39
  Speaker M: For national Native news, I'm Matt Laszlo in Washington.
• 25:42
  Speaker L: The Bureau of Indian Education is offering a career pathway for tribal students looking at wildland firefighting jobs. KJZ's Gabriel Pietrazio has more high schoolers
• 25:53
  Speaker O: across six Bie Run schools are participating, including Northwest High School in Shiprock on the Navajo nation.
• 26:02
  Speaker F: This just happened to occur organically.
• 26:05
  Speaker O: Carmelia Bicenti is Dannette and chief academic officer for the Bureau of Indian Education. She credits President Trump executive order on expanding educational freedom. They're also pitching the curriculum to colleges.
• 26:21
  Speaker F: We are trying to somewhat steer them towards being stewards of our lands.
• 26:27
  Speaker H: That doesn't always happen.
• 26:29
  Speaker O: Gar Fischer's with the BIA Division of Wildland Fire Management. He says they're teaching coursework about leadership, fire suppression and FEMA readiness. Once done, students put their training to the test during a field day.
• 26:45
  Speaker F: They get to put the gear on how it feels.
• 26:47
  Speaker A: They get to look like a firefighter.
• 26:50
  Speaker O: That equipment is expensive, says Bisenti, which is why the BIE is buying it now. For National Native News, I'm Gabriel Pietrazio.
• 27:00
  Speaker L: And I'm Antonia Gonzalez,
• 27:08
  Speaker F: Native voice one,
• 27:09
  Speaker J: the native american radio network.
• 27:18
  Speaker B: That's all for tonight's broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our engineer, Michael McCaskill, and thanks to our reporters, Daniel Mintz, Ray Hamel, Suzanne Potter, Christopher Martinez and Antonia Gonzalez. KMUD News is online and you can find us on kmud.org and now streaming on most podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, where you can download our stories and newscasts for offline listening during your rural commutes. You can also follow us on social media. If you have questions or suggestions, you can give us a call at 707-923-2605 or send an email to newsmud.org Redwood Community Radio, Inc. Is funded by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more@pressforward.net News reporting for KMUD, I'm Nat Cardos.