Welcome to Humboldt Online!

Humboldt Online is currently a collection of blogs and other projects I am working on at the moment. Many of them deal with the area I live in near Eureka. Eureka, California is the capital of Humboldt County, situated approximately 250 miles North of San Francisco on the Northern California coast.

Humboldt Online is produced using WordPress MU publishing software and is hosted here locally. Our servers run on a combination of free software. This includes WordPress MU, the Apache web server, Ubuntu Linux Server, MySQL and a number of other GNU and free software programs. No commercial software is being used and no animals were harmed in the production of this website. :-)

William Van Hefner
President/CEO
Vantek Communications, Inc.

Carpenters Local 751 — a carpenters union out of Santa Rosa — recognized two local apprentices for their successful completion of the Hardwood Floor Layer Apprenticeship Program.

After suffering a near-death experience, the renowned Salmon in the Classroom program is officially back on. The California Department of Fish and Game sent a letter to some 33 Humboldt County classrooms recently confirming that the project has

The state has chosen Arcata as one of three pilot cities to participate in a flood emergency response improvement program because of the city’s size and location, and its approach to emergency awareness.

The Humboldt Area Foundation is offering grants for nonprofit organizations in the region that offer companion animal welfare and rescue services. The grant program brings together a collection of funds that focus on specific populations,

In response to dropping temperatures and what appears to be the recent exposure death of a Crescent City woman, Our Daily Bread Ministries has used money from their Christmas program to open an emergency shelter at the Del Norte County

The state-run Healthy Families insurance program for children announced Wednesday it will postpone a cap on enrollment, following news that the First 5 California Commission approved up to $16.

Volunteers are needed to help prepare individual tax returns through the RICHES Coalition and Redwood Community Action Agency’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program.

Since 2004, Premier Elections Solutions has known about the programming error in its software that caused almost 200 ballots to be dropped from Humboldt County’s final November election tally, but that came as news to California Secretary of

Students from Eureka High School’s Environmental and Spatial Technologies, or EAST, program have set up a trust fund for an EHS student who lost her home in a fire recently.

With the ending of a similar program earlier this year, officials from the Eureka Adult School’s new nursing aid certification course are excited to graduate its first class next month.

It’s big, versatile and nearly ready to go. County staff have been putting the final touches on the Social Services Branch’s fully-equipped RV that will bring Calworks, mental health and public health services to the far reaches of the North

Like a steelhead in high water, the renowned Salmon in the Classroom program just won’t quit. Acting on an outpouring of public support to save the hands-on classroom steelhead-rearing project, a grassroots campaign was quickly launched

Eureka High School junior Alex Crowe and his father drove 280 miles over three days in order to capture living history. A student in the Environmental and Spatial Technologies, or EAST, program, Alex was taking photographs of 12 former and

A Humboldt County program to help people stranded on the North Coast find their way home or to family saves the county general relief funds. The Transportation Assistance Program, launched in November 2006, estimates it saves up to $900 per

The state’s ongoing effort to cut its $11.2 billion deficit is threatening continued enrollment in a public health insurance program for children. Healthy Families provides health insurance for the medical, dental and vision needs for children of

Redwood Community Action Agency and the RICHES Coalition are seeking volunteers to assist with its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. The volunteers provide free, basic income tax preparation services to community members with

The Redwood Community Action Agency is launching a two-part program to help families get their maximum tax refunds while training others in preparing tax returns.

The city of Arcata is trying to bring back its Friends of the Forest program, to provide a way for residents to volunteer with the Arcata Community Forest.

The Arcata Endeavor will hold a charity event Saturday at the Bayside Grange to raise money for the organization’s work program. Executive Director John Shelter said it’s a chance for the community to directly support the “Back to

Marc Knipper knows the drill already. A Cold War-era veteran who served aboard a nuclear submarine, Knipper returned to the United States to find life more difficult than when he left.

The North Coast’s emblematic steelhead will no longer be finding their ways into classrooms in Humboldt County, as the program that brought them there hasn’t survived the state’s economic strife.

Category: Local News
Topics: Community

Volunteers are needed to help people prepare their tax returns in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program sponsored by Redwood Community Action Agency in Eureka. Sites will be located throughout Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

Category: Local News
Topics: Health

At St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, patients who have serious, chronic or terminal illnesses now have more services available to help ease their pain and improve their overall quality of life.

Category: Local News
Topics: Environment

The local offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service and the state Department of Water Resources are seeking residents in Del Norte, Trinity, Humboldt and Mendocino counties to participate in a statewide volunteer program to measure precipitation.

Category: Local News
Topics: Briefs

League of Women Voters debate programs produced by KEET-TV are re-airing extensively on Access Humboldt Channel 11 (Suddenlink) AH-11. Program schedules are available online at http://accesshumboldt.net/site/ah-11-channel-11.

Category: Local News
Topics: Education

The Kindergarten Literacy Partner program at North Coast schools will place adult volunteer partners in kindergarten classrooms at a nearby school.

A project of Eureka High School’s EAST program was chosen from among numerous peer projects to take part in a competition meant to help teach teens the value of driving safely.

Category: Local News
Topics: (none)

Cleats for Kids will be auctioning off collectibles Saturday.

Category: Local News
Topics: Education

The North Coast Small Business Development Center is set to launch its third annual business assistance program aimed at artists looking to improve the business success of their creative enterprises.

Category: Local News
Topics: Crime

Continuing Gov. Schwarzenegger’s commitment to combating gang violence, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency announced the availability of $5 million in grants to expand job training and education programs targeting youths who are involved in gangs or who are at risk of gang involvement.