Monthly Archives: January 2026

Community News

Job Listing: Redwood Voice Youth Media & Journalism Intern

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Program Description

The Youth Media & Journalism Intern Program provides young people with hands-on experience in journalism, storytelling, and digital media. Interns learn how to research, write, interview, and produce media content while developing communication, teamwork, and critical-thinking skills. The program emphasizes ethical journalism, youth voice, community engagement and promotes accurate information across all platforms and all media formats.

Applicants should send resumes to heather.p.kfug@gmail.com.

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Community News, Youth

Job Listing: Redwood Voice Producer

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Position Description

The Media Producer & Youth Media Mentor supports youth development through hands-on media creation and instruction. This role combines content production with mentoring and teaching youth participants skills in video, audio, and digital editing across multiple media formats. 

Send resumes to Executive Director Heather Polen at heather.p.kfug@gmail.com.

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Articles, Community News, Youth

Junior Livestock Auction Purchasers Say Bandon-Based Butcher Let Their Meat Spoil; State Officials Say They’re Working To ‘Make Buyers Whole’

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Thumbnail photo: One of the hog exhibits youth raised to show to judges at the 2025 Del Norte County Fair. | Photo by Heather Polen

At least one person says she wants her money back after she and her husband purchased a steer from the Del Norte County Fair’s Junior Livestock Auction in August only to be told not to eat the meat when she received it two months later.

Patty and Harry Adams successfully bid on a steer a local Future Farmers of America youth raised, paying $17,665 for the animal. They sent it to Bussmann Mobile Ranch Butchering in Bandon, one of two butchers the fairgrounds offered to auction participants for processing.

“You bid, you buy, you pay and then the fair makes the arrangements as far as transportation with each butcher. We just walked away knowing our animal was going up to the butcher and was going to be processed,” Patty Adams told Redwood Voice Community News of the livestock auction which was held on Aug. 2 this year. “But usually you’re communicated with from the butcher or the processor within that month. I thought it was weird that I hadn’t heard from someone by the end of August.”

Continue reading Junior Livestock Auction Purchasers Say Bandon-Based Butcher Let Their Meat Spoil; State Officials Say They’re Working To ‘Make Buyers Whole’ →
Articles, Environment

DN Fire Safe Council Coordinator Presents ‘Broad Landscape Style’ Wildfire Mitigation Strategy

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Thumbnail photo: The Del Norte Fire Safe Council hosted a prescribed burn workshop in March 2025 aimed at helping residents learn how to harden their home against wildfire. | File photo by Ethan Caudill-Derego

Noting that staffing capacity within the U.S. Forest Service is a challenge when it comes to wildfire mitigation, Aaron Babcock outlined a “broad landscape style” approach that stretches from the Klamath River in the south to the Oregon border in the north.

The Smith-to-Klamath Shared Stewardship Initiative would focus on state, federal, local and tribal partnerships within Del Norte County who are ready to “help perform the stuff that needs to be done as far as wildfire mitigation,” the Del Norte Fire Safe Council county coordinator told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. 

The “stuff” includes about 30,000 acres of shaded fuel breaks with 9,500 acres centered around communities impacted by wildfire, Babcock said. The initiative also aims to conduct prescribed burns on about 100,000 acres, he said.

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Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government

Del Norte County BOS Roundup, Jan. 13, 2026

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Thumbnail photos: District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short and District 2 Supervisor Joey Borges. Borges and Short will serve another year as chair and vice chair of the Board of Supervisors.

Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

Borges, Short ‘Keep It Going’: District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey ended the long pause that followed Chris Howard’s nomination of Joey Borges for another year as Board chairman.

Howard, who represents Del Norte County District 3, praised Borges’ efficiency in running county meetings, saying he’s done a “wonderful job” over the past 12 months. Though she has yet to serve in the chair position since she first took her seat in 2021, Starkey said she couldn’t think of a reason why Borges shouldn’t continue in the role. Her initial plan was to nominate District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short to the chair position since he’s been the vice chair for the past year, but decided to second Howard’s original motion.

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Activism, Articles, Local Government

Del Norte Fair Board Calls For Review Of Its ‘First Amendment Expression’ Policy; Rally Set For MLK Day

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Fairgrounds CEO Kim Floyd sent this map to Del Norte Democratic Committee Chairman Kevin Hendrick ahead of a rally in April asking that demonstrators park in the north parking lot.

Thumbnail photo: Nearly 1,000 demonstrators showed up for the No Kings Rally at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds in October. | Photo by Heather Polen

Three months after the No Kings Rally brought nearly 1,000 demonstrators to their front yard, officials at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds are calling for a review of its First Amendment Expression policy.

At a meeting of the 41st District Agriculture Association Board of Directors on Monday, Board President Kara Miller said she wanted to make sure demonstrators aren’t disturbing businesses or people renting buildings on fairgrounds property. 

Meanwhile, 41st DAA CEO Kim Floyd said she wanted to make sure the fair is protected from liability. She pointed to a confrontation that she said occurred during the No Kings Rally in October between someone who had pulled into the parking lot and a demonstrator.

Continue reading Del Norte Fair Board Calls For Review Of Its ‘First Amendment Expression’ Policy; Rally Set For MLK Day →
Articles, Education, Youth

DNUSD Workshop Series Aimed At Giving Parents Tools to Advocate For Their Special Needs Children

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Del Norte Unified is launching a new workshop series that urges parents to not only advocate for their special needs child, but be a voice for special education issues at a regional level.

DNUSD’s six-week IEP Empowerment Series starts Feb. 5, Special Education Executive Director Jennifer Armington told Redwood Voice Community News. Its goal is for DNUSD to offer a place where parents can air their concerns about special education issues as well as to arm them with information they need to advocate for their children, she said.

A larger goal is to get parents involved in DNUSD’s Collaborating on Meaningful Parent Advocacy for Student Success, or COMPASS, group. One or two parents involved in that group can then bring Del Norte-specific concerns to the committee advising the Humboldt-Del Norte Special Education Local Plan Area.

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Articles, Education, Health

DNUSD To Add Vape Sensors To Crescent Elk Middle School Restrooms; VP Says School Staff Have Confiscated 30 to 40 E-Cigs This Year

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Thumbnail photo by Lindsay Fox via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License

A steady increase in vaping over about three years at Crescent Elk Middle School prompted its vice principal to propose using a combination of environmental sensors and cameras to catch students who might be partaking.

Lucas O’Laughlin, who is also the dean of students, said he and Principal Paige Swan have collected 30-to-40 e-cigarette devices this year. They’re either confiscated from a student who’s been caught or a student found them and turned them in, he said.

The proliferation of vaping has also caused damage to Crescent Elk’s restrooms, O’Laughlin told the Del Norte Unified School District Board of Trustees on Thursday.

Continue reading DNUSD To Add Vape Sensors To Crescent Elk Middle School Restrooms; VP Says School Staff Have Confiscated 30 to 40 E-Cigs This Year →
Articles, Education, Infrastructure

DNUSD Recap for Jan. 8, 2026: Facilities Plan, Salary Increases, New Bell System

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Among the items discussed at Thursday’s Del Norte Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting:

Facilities master plan: Trustees approved a $177,000 contract with Studio W, a Sacramento-based architect firm, to develop a five-year facilities master plan.

DNUSD sent a request for qualification to six different architectural firms, receiving responses from three of them, Facilities and Maintenance Director Josh McCubbin told trustees. Of the three, a committee consisting of McCubbin, Jeff Napier and Greg Bowen, the former and current assistant superintendents of business, decided that Studio W best fits DNUSD’s needs.

Continue reading DNUSD Recap for Jan. 8, 2026: Facilities Plan, Salary Increases, New Bell System →
Articles, Local Government

‘LA Times’ Lists Del Norte Fair Among Others Plagued With Scandal After State Audit Raises Nepotism, Credit Card Misuse Concerns

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Thumbnail photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

A month after the Los Angeles Times listed the Del Norte County Fairgrounds as one of 26 fairs in California struggling with misfortune CEO Kim Floyd offered minimal information on how things would change in the future.

In her Dec. 11 rundown, the Times reporter Jessica Garrison cited a state audit from 2019 that found that Del Norte County fair officials improperly spent more than $1,200 on alcohol in violation of state rules and allowed a manager to employ a close family member. 

Garrison also cited a state audit from 2025 that found additional violations of the state’s nepotism policy as well as $34,637 in credit card charges without receipts. The audit cited $11,903 in credit card charges for food and drink without receipts.

Continue reading ‘LA Times’ Lists Del Norte Fair Among Others Plagued With Scandal After State Audit Raises Nepotism, Credit Card Misuse Concerns →