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Local News 05 20 26 · KMUD News

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign.
• 0:06
  Speaker B: Welcome to the KMUD News. I'm your news Director, April Lewis, and I'm glad to be with you for this broadcast. On this episode, we'll have in depth coverage of animal abuse at Miranda's Rescue Fortuna adopting new environmental policy and a Congressional hearing on water management in the west, including for the Klamath River. But first, a rundown of today's top stories and headlines. This is KMUD News. Starting off in Redway, Crews for the Redway Community Services District had to call in California Highway Patrol officers this morning for protection after unsafe conditions occurred at a work site on Redway Drive fixing a broken water line. General Manager Cody Cox relayed information that the call was due to reckless drivers and aggressive behavior directed at workers fixing a leak. It should go without saying, but it is never okay to be aggressive towards or endanger workers attempting to fix our infrastructure. They are merely trying to do their jobs. We'll be following up with Cody on what happened today. And for a general update from the Redway Community Services District, this work in Redway is unrelated to the construction on Redwood Drive between Redway and Garberville, which is expected to back up traffic through the end of next week. Also in Humboldt County, Humboldt Mead is proud to announce the return of of the Eureka Friday Night market kicking off May 22nd in Old Town. In partnership with the City of Eureka and the North Coast Growers Association, Friday Night Market continues to grow as one of Humboldt County's most beloved community events, celebrating local creativity, supporting small businesses and bringing people together week after week. This year, the market is bigger and better than ever with thoughtful updates designed to enhance both the visitor experience and opportunities for the incredible community that makes this event so special. At the heart of the Friday Night Market are more than 150 local vendors, a vibrant mix of farmers, food producers, artists, makers and small businesses. From handmade goods and locally grown produce to prepared foods and specialty products, the market offers a true snapshot of Humboldt's creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. Next news from Cypress Grove on closing their goat Dairy in McKinleyville Cypress Grove today announced plans to transition away from company owned dairy operations following a strategic review of the long term sustainability of commercial goat dairying and Humboldt County. Cypress Grove established its dairy operation in 2011 during a period of significant uncertainty within the regional goat milk supply chain. At the time, reliable access to high quality goat milk had become increasingly constrained as local dairies exited the industry and regional infrastructure. Weekend Building a company owned dairy was viewed as a necessary investment to help secure milk supply and support future growth. The company is emphasizing that the decision to close the dairy was not driven by operational shortcomings, but rather by the long term structural economics of commercial goat dairying in Humboldt County. The company also noted that the business landscape has evolved considerably since since the dairy was established. Through the broader Emmy network, Cypress Grove now has access to one of the most established goat milk networks in the United States. The company claims that they will continue to produce their cheeses in Humboldt county with the same commitment to craftsmanship, consistency and quality that has defined the brand for decades. But the milk will now come from other locations outside of Humboldt County. And now to our main stories. This is KMUD News. We finally have an update on the situation involving a search warrant carried out on May 1st at Miranda's rescue. We warning the following story is graphic and involves severe animal abuse, KMUD News reports Miranda's rescue in Fortuna has been a hot topic of discussion ever since a search warrant by the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department was served on May 1. The animal rescue had a number of contracts with neighboring cities paused and social media had has been ablaze with various comments, pieces of evidence and arguments over the longtime animal shelter provider. You'll first hear audio from a concerned citizen at the May 19 Rio del City Council meeting who relayed both concern for animal welfare and a call for government accountability.
• 5:40
  Speaker A: Greetings council members and Mayor Garnes. My name is Jake Carmona. Some of you might have known my grandparents who lived in Rio Del for decades, my grandmother Janine Carmona and my grandfather Marcel Carmona who supported the Rio Del Library and they both love this town. I moved back to Rio Del beginning of this year to be closer to family and a small town case. And one of the things that I like most about this county and this city is our love for animals and dogs in particular. As the evidence about the allegations of the horrific cruelty from Miranda's rescue continues to come out, I am heartbroken and I am angry. I think about all the dogs who trusted first responders and our citizens in Rio Del to do what we thought was help take them for help at Miranda's rescue, which bills itself as a no kill shelter. These dogs depended on us and we let them down. And I do not take an innocent animal's trust lightly. And to find out that there is clear evidence of a mass grave at Miranda's rescue, I've been unable to think about anything else but what dogs taken from our town are in that grave. This is Malou. She might be there right now. My understanding is that The Ridel City contract with Miranda's is now paused. I haven't seen a statement by you all about how you'll be proceeding with this contract or getting potential restitution for our taxpayers for the breach of that contract and potentially the monthly fees as well. But I'm asking you today for real accountability in action. And there are some suggestions that I have. Number one is a public accounting of the complaints that City council or others may have heard about the rescue, your oversight reports, site visit reports and anything that details what due diligence was done and what oversight there was at the city contract with a rescue. And I want to know what you knew and what you did. And I want to know how many dogs that came from Rio del are in that mass grave. And I want their pictures and information so that we can have a memorial for them and so that we can grieve together as a community and take responsibility. What I've heard is that many people knew about or suspected these issues for years. I saw that there was a complaint, several complaints to the IRS back in 2023. Did you all know about these? I want to know. I've heard from local volunteers at the rescue who have had concerns for years. This was clearly an open secret.
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  Speaker B: After this statement, the Rio del City Council passed a motion unanimously, 4 to 0 to bring forward the Miranda's Rescue issue at their next scheduled meeting. In breaking news today, an affidavit for the Miranda's rescue search warrant uncovered shocking evidence that of repeated and consistent animal abuse. The Humboldt Sheriff's Office removed the bodies of eight dead dogs as evidence during their search. The affidavit also uncovered testimony alleging neighbors admitted to trespassing onto the Miranda's rescue property and digging up dogs from a mass grave. Testimony also alleged video evidence of Shannon Miranda using using a tractor to move dead dogs into a large hole. Miranda's rescue had previously been accepting dogs from shelters all over California. The main alleged conspiracy is that Miranda's Rescue was accepting payment for these animals to be transferred and then killing them in an illegal cash scheme. One shelter in Oakland told the Humboldt Sheriff's Department that they would pay Miranda's rescue from 400 to $1,000 per animal transfer to the Fortuna area shelter. In the past year alone, Miranda's Rescue received over 600 dogs in payments amounting to about $510,000 in revenue. Shannon Miranda also apparently lied directly to sheriff's deputies claiming that his was a no kill shelter while also admitting to having more animals than his permit allows. Six of the dogs the Humboldt Sheriff's Department took were microchipped, with one specifically being sent from the Oakland shelter on May 1. The day of the search warrant, that shelter was still told by Shannon Miranda that the dead dog in sheriff's custody had been adopted. Police reports from two years ago also had similar allegations of dogs being put down for payment. KMUD News has reached out to Miranda's rescue repeatedly since May 1, but we cannot get a response from the shelter. The case against Miranda's rescue remains under investigation by the Humboldt Sheriff's Major Crimes Division. We'd also like to hear directly from those in the community involved with this case. You can give us a call at 707-923-2605 or email newsama.org reporting for KMUD, I'm April Lewis. Adopting a greenhouse emissions plan led by the county Fortuna City Council was briefed on what the plan entails and how the city has taken on some measures of its own. Daniel Mintz reports.
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  Speaker C: Fortuna has agreed to do its part in a countywide effort to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions, and its head planner has highlighted what the city's already done. Adopted at the May 18th Fortuna City Council meeting, Humboldt County's Regional Climate Action Plan, or rcap, targets the emissions of various transportation and development activities and has 12 strategies for limiting them. They include the cornerstone measure of creating an intergovernmental regional climate coalition, a variety of measures to reduce vehicle use and encourage use of electric vehicles, and decarbonization of of new construction. The overall quest is to keep the county's emissions on track to meet the state's 2030 and 2045 targets with an ultimate goal of carbon neutrality. Senior planner Katie Schmidt said the RCAP quote serves as a planning framework to help meet those requirements. Schmidt described the plan and how Fortuna has taken action so far.
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  Speaker D: The goals, strategies and measures. The plan organizes these into major sectors like transportation, energy and buildings, and it includes both direct reduction measures and supporting actions while allowing flexibility for local implementation. Ways that the city of Fortuna is leading by example is the police department building is fully electrified. We've installed battery storage across city facilities. We've installed electric vehicle chargers at Rohner park and downtown. We have also installed solar powered street lighting on 12th street and implemented lighting and energy efficiency upgrades through our CEA and PGE programs. These are some of the ways that we can meet the RCAP goals in a sort of a natural fashion while
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  Speaker B: saving the city money to meet emissions
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  Speaker C: reduction goals, the county and cities will have to consider the biggest source of greenhouse gas output. The plan finds that 73% of total emissions come from on road vehicles and Schmidt said, quote, long travel distances between cities is a factor. Use of natural gas for heating in buildings accounts for 13% of the county's emissions. She continued, planning for emissions reduction is progressively becoming market driven and Schmidt described how that figures into the plan's implementation.
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  Speaker D: So the implementation is designed to be phased over time. It prioritizes actions that are ready to go while integrating existing plans and relying on partnerships and folks funding and easy ways that we can implement various measures. Other ways that are happening throughout the state and within Fortuna are the building codes are moving towards electrification ready requirements, market trends and technology adoptions are taking place with electric vehicle uptake, heat pump installations, the addition of solar and more battery storage as well as capital projects for transportation improvements, facility upgrades and then state regulations are moving in that direction as well. So those will be naturally market driven for new construction. And then there are additional grant funded programs and partnerships with regional initiatives, pilot projects and demonstration efforts.
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  Speaker C: In this question and answer exchange with Council member Abe Stephens, Schmidt talked about how the RCAPS measures are left up to cities to implement.
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  Speaker B: Are there any specific kind of new
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  Speaker E: requirements this will place onto people building new homes?
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  Speaker D: The RCAP itself does not place any specific requirements. So if the city were to adopt any ordinances that required more stringent requirements for the buildings that would come to council, the RCAP is following along just slightly ahead of the what our state building codes are requiring anyway. So but the plan itself does not require anything additional. They're goals that we are going to try to meet and the market itself is already driving a lot of that with new construction.
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  Speaker C: Adoption of the plan was unanimously approved. Also at the meeting, the Council approved changes in fees for the fiscal year that begins July 1st. Finance Director Aaron Felmley said the fee increases reflect rising operational costs that have been pressuring the city's budget for KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz.
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  Speaker B: A congressional hearing today, May 20th laid bare operational issues with the Department of Interiors Bureau of Reclamation and its impacts, including for the Klamath River. KMUD News reports the United States Bureau of Reclamation and its Federal Reclamation program is one of the Department of the Interior's most impactful programs. Since its start in 1902, it has completely reshaped the American west with a responsibility for managing water, farm, irrigation and power generation across 17 Western states. It is also responsible for building and maintaining hundreds of dams and reservoirs across the West. But the Interior Department and its programs have been gutted in recent years, both because of Trump's so called big beautiful bill and because of a severe lack of staff. With hundreds of positions still left open. Today, Wednesday, May 20, a congressional hearing was held titled the Federal Reclamation Program's Next Century. Many topics were discussed, but we'll focus on issues impacting the program's performance and current impacts to Klamath Lake and the Klamath River. We'll begin with our local congressman, Democrat Jared Huffman, who explains some of the reclamation program's achievements and why past performance is not being upheld by the current program.
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  Speaker E: Congress created what became the Bureau of reclamation in 1902 at a time when the future of the west depended on serious public investment in water infrastructure. And throughout the 20th century, that investment paid off with development of dams, canals, reservoirs, hydropower facilities that helped establish cities, sustain agricultural lands and deliver reliable power and water to millions. We still rely on that infrastructure today. But now much of the west is facing a full blown water crisis. The Colorado river is under extraordinary stress. Reservoirs are shrinking, snowpack is declining. Infrastructure is aging. New strategies and technologies are emerging if we choose to invest in them. What I don't hear us talking about right now is the fact that projects are stalled because the Bureau of Reclamation is operating on a skeleton crew. I hear this from water managers around the West. There aren't people there to answer. The pH slows a project down, like having no one home at an office of the Bureau of Reclamation. So while, you know, the broken record always brings us back to the statutes, the more obvious and immediate fix, if we care about immediate relief for communities that are suffering through this water crisis would be having a fully staffed and functioning federal partner on water management in the West. So I want to ask you about the fiscal 27 budget. The administration's response to this moment is a 22% cut to reclamation and eliminating, again, I'll say eliminating, completely zeroing out the Water Smart program, one of the most successful and broadly supported drought resilience programs we have response to.
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  Speaker B: Representative Huffman's remarks were given by Acting Reclamation Commissioner Scott Cameron, who who did not share the same concerns.
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  Speaker E: Let me start off by saying we, from very beginning of this administration, we've been particularly concerned about being able to maintain our relationships, particularly with our water and power user customers. And as there have been staffing changes at the Bureau over the last year and a half or so, we have done everything we possibly could to protect the positions that were associated with water and power delivery.
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  Speaker B: Later in the hearing, Jared Huffman again pressed Cameron on the large number of staffing vacancies currently at the Bureau of Reclamation.
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  Speaker E: But I do want to just ask if you could confirm the current staffing level at Reclamation and the total reduction in since the start of this administration, and also whether you're seeking to fill any of those vacancies. We are definitely seeking to fill vacancies. We have some. I've forgotten the exact number. We've got something in the order of 100 vacancy announcements out on the street. And we are prioritizing the areas in the country where we think we have the biggest problems right now, the Colorado and California being among them.
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  Speaker B: After the discussion on current operational issues at the Bureau of Reclamation, Representative Cliff Benz, a Republican from Oregon's 2nd congressional district, relayed concerns, including litigation over Klamath Lake and how its water supply is currently managed, with a response, again from Acting Reclamation Commissioner Scott Cameron.
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  Speaker E: Lots of Bureau of Reclamation issues in my district back in Oregon, the Klamath being one of them, and I know that you were, or the agency was recently sued by various folks that are unhappy with the approach the agency has taken when it comes to stored water in Klamath Lake. And so I'm just curious at this particular point where what. Where that lawsuit is and what the agency's thought is about, if you can comment where that litigation might go. As you know better than I do, the Klamath system is very complex. There are lots of different stakeholder groups. There are lots of different structures. There are multiple Indian tribes for which the department has a trust responsibility. And we've got endangered species in the mix as well. This last year, nature was kind to us and there was ample water in the Klamath system. In the coming year, it looks like nature is being much stingier. So there are going to be a lot of people who are a lot unhappier this coming year than they were in the last year. We're constantly in touch with the stakeholders in the Klamath Basin. And I'm pleased, for instance, that with salmon having found themselves in places where they haven't been for many years, our colleagues in the National Marine Fisheries Service have been able to make sure there's no regulatory impact under the ESA if salmon stray into places where they haven't been for an extended period of time. So we're doing what we can to work with all the stakeholders to forge a path forward. But ultimately we're at the mercy of Mother Nature.
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  Speaker B: The litigation being referenced is in response to the Bureau of Reclamation's 2026 Klamath Project Annual Operations Plan. Many environmental groups and Native American advocates oppose the current plan and structure being utilized by the Bureau. They argue that current policies illegally favor agriculture contracts over preserving water supplies for endangered salmon and Native tribes. Current litigation by Earthjustice is moving for the entire 2026 Klamath Annual Operations Plan to be thrown out, with a Hearing scheduled for June 10th. Reporting for KMUD, I'm April Lewis. Want to be part of Creating the News KMUD News is looking for a new Assistant News Director to help create our nightly news broadcasts and public affairs content. This is a hybrid work position requiring in person work weekly at our studios in Redway. The Assistant Director will double both as a reporter, creating their own stories while assisting the News Director with running their department. Department tasks include emails, story leads, working with our team of freelancers, and being part of the KMUD Emergency Response Team. This is a highly versatile role and will likely grow over time. It's a 32 hour position with opportunity to expand. The pay scale is $18 to $22 per hour. If interested, please send a cover letter and resume to aprilema.org those currently working as journalists for any medium will be highly considered. You can also view this job listing on our website. That's all for our news broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our rotation of broadcast engineers Michael McCaskill, Dennis Marr, Katie Phillips, Bianna Frederico, Larry Lashley and Javier Rodriguez. Also thanks to our reporter for this broadcast, Daniel Mintz. 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 Redwood Community Radio Incorporated is funded by President Press 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 Sikyon, Wailaki, Wiat, Wilcott and Kato people. We honor ancestors past, present and emerging, and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual and physical connection that these tribes have to the region. I'm April Lewis. Stay tuned in.