Daniel Mintz

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors cut a cannabis excise tax by 85% on Monday after dozens of local farmers said they are struggling under poor market conditions.

Northern California lawmakers and trail supporters are fiercely opposing a proposal to haul coal on a railroad line that’s expected to become a 320-mile -trail for hiking and biking.

Since California legalized cannabis in 2016, many growers in Humboldt County have struggled with the transition to the legal market. The costs of production have gone up and the price they’re paid for their harvests has plummeted. Now, the county has approved the equivalent of disaster relief. JPR’s Humboldt correspondent Daniel Mintz recently spoke with JPR’s Liam Moriarty about the cannabis crisis.

Humboldt County has launched a program to build economic development support for the local cannabis industry using cannabis tax revenue. Now the county’s growers can get technical and capital assistance that was never available before. JPR’s Liam Moriarty recently spoke with Humboldt reporter Daniel Mintz about Project Trellis.

A dangerous coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly in Humboldt County, where younger people are getting sick with COVID-19 more often and more severely.

A new solar power project in Humboldt County is following a trending land use concept – mixing energy infrastructure and agriculture.

Humboldt County’s name has become a valuable brand for its main agricultural product – cannabis. But as the size of cannabis farming scales up, the clash between what state and local laws allow — and what the county’s residents and traditional cannabis growers are willing to accept — is on full display.

Humboldt County’s timber industry legacy includes abandoned mill sites that can be contaminated with dioxins. Now, a former mill site between the cities of Arcata and Blue Lake is a priority case because it’s a potential threat to the drinking water of 88,000 county residents.

For many years, trail advocates have been looking at converting the unused railroad line that runs through California’s Mendocino and Humboldt counties. And now a decision by the agency that owns the rail corridor clears the way for the northern section of a 320-mile rail-to-trail path known as the Great Redwood Trail.

A Norwegian company is proposing to use an innovative technology to address long-standing environmental objections to salmon aquaculture. If it pans out, it could be a game-changer for the region's beleaguered fin-fish aquaculture industry.