Mendocino County Today: Monday 4/21/2025

COOLER overnight temperatures with pleasant daytime highs will characterize conditions for the next few days. Strong northerly winds will ramp up in the afternoons near the coast. Unsettled weather with a chance of rain is forecasts Thursday through Saturday. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 41F under clear skies this Monday morning on the coast. Mostly sunny thru Wednesday, cloudy Thursday & a sprinkle Friday? To be seen?

DR. ONIS WILLIAM PEEBLES

Dr. Onis William Peebles 83 of Elkland, Missouri, passed away on Sunday, September 3, 2023, at Cox South Hospital in Springfield Missouri.

Onis was born in Springfield, Missouri and grew up in the Willard area, where he attended High School. Onis attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he graduated with his bachelor’s degree. After completing his undergraduate studies, Onis was accepted into the University of Missouri School of Medicine, where he obtained his Doctor of Medicine. After Medical School, he completed residency at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California specializing in Psychiatry.

After residency, Onis stayed in California and became the director of the adolescent program at Mendocino State Hospital until the facility closed in the 1970’s. Onis then attended Stanford University for specialty training before returning to practice Psychiatry in Chico, before returning to the Ukiah, California area. There his practice included work for the Mendocino County Court and for the Psychiatric Healthcare Facility in Ukiah until his retirement.

After retirement, Onis moved to Elkland, Missouri with his loving wife Carolyn. Onis loved being outdoors, and spent time in Missouri enjoying nature, observing the animals and walking through his land. He especially loved the many trees on his property, which provided habitat for many birds and other wildlife.

Onis is survived by his loving wife Carolyn Jeanne, 3 sisters, 3 nephews and several cousins.

AV UNIFIED NEWS

Dear Anderson Valley USD Families,

We hope that you were able to gather with family and enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend! Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

As a reminder, there will be no school on April 21, which is a Professional Development Day for our teachers. They will be working and planning all day!

Our calendars are getting busy during this gorgeous and eventful time of year. Additional events have been added to the list below; please check it and make note of events that you and your family plan to attend! We hope to see many, many parents and community members at Day of the Child and all our upcoming celebrations, promotions, and graduations. What a great time to celebrate our kids!

Upcoming Events

We are in the midst of enjoying Spring activities and there is still a lot to do as we head toward the end of the school year! Please mark your calendars for these upcoming events; we will continue to keep you posted about new ones.

April 21 - No School For Students (PD Day)

April 22-May 9 - CAASPP Testing at AVES (3rd-6th)

April 22, 6:00-8:00 Awards Night at AVHS

May 5, AVES TK-3 trips to the Wildflower Show

May 12-16 - CAASPP Testing at AV Jr/Sr High

May 13, Board Meeting Ribbon Cutting Event

May 22, 5:30 AVES Open House

May 30, Peachland Graduation

June 5, FFA Awards Night at AVHS

June 10, 6th Grade Promotion

June 11, 8th Grade Promotion

June 12, High School Graduation at AVHS

CAASPP Testing Is Important!

CAASPP Schedules

AVES: April 22-May 9

AV Jr/Sr High: May 12-16

Please make every effort to have your child be present at school on these dates, as make-up testing is not ideal; taking the test with their peers is the best way for your child to focus and show what they know. These scores will be used to identify students who need extra support courses in 25-26. Strong scores may also identify your child for additional, challenging coursework.

While no single test defines a student, we encourage all students to give their best effort so that we have accurate information to guide their academic journey. With your continued support at home, we can use this data to ensure every student receives the opportunities and challenges they need to thrive. Please ensure your child is at school, well rested, and ready to do their best during the CAASPP tests.

Exciting Construction News!

The new track at AVHS is going to happen! We are thrilled to announce that we received a strong bid within our budget. Cupples construction came in as our lowest bidder for the track at approximately $3,145,000. We are already working with Cupples for the AVHS project and soon the AVES kitchen, and we are happy to continue working with them! The field will be natural, rather than synthetic. This was the key factor that allowed us to get to a price within the Caltrans Clean California grant budget. We are so excited for our athletes! We will keep you posted on progress, including a groundbreaking to happen before summer!

The ribbon cutting for the AVHS project will be May 13, during the school board meeting. We changed this date to align with the board meeting; this is the FINAL date! We look forward to showing school board and community members around our beautiful new classrooms in the main wing, and also the gorgeous Science rooms that are nearly complete! Many thanks to the community for voting Yes on Measure M; it is those funds that have paid for this project.

The AVHS Science Rooms with tables and counters are nearly complete!

The gym is still under consideration by DSA but we are moving forward with plans while we wait for information about funding! We anticipate renovating our current gym. This allows us to keep the gym at its current, large size and in its current location. This decision is in line with feedback from Mr. Toohey and Mr. McNerney, our athletes, alumni, and our community. Stay tuned!

Academic Talent Search

Many thanks to Nat Corey-Moran for coordinating with Sonoma State to bring the Academic Talent Search (ATS) presentation to AVHS last night! ATS offers a variety of high quality free services and supports including guidance counseling, college tours, and application assistance. If you missed the presentation, it is not too late for your student to join! If you have any questions, please contact Nat Corey-Moran (email: natcomo@avpanthers.org, phone/text: (707) 354-3330).

Vacancy on the Board of Trustees

Saoirse Byrne has resigned from the Board due challenges around scheduling conflicts. We in AVUSD are deeply grateful to Saoirse for her leadership on the board. She has kept the importance of outdoor instruction and the building of creativity and free expression at the forefront of our conversations. Her passion for student learning and her fresh perspective have been a great benefit to the district.

If you or someone you know might be interested in joining the Board of Trustees, please review this Board of Trustees Vacancy document and let us know!

Summer School

Summer School will be June 23-July 22

8:30-12:30 / ASP 12:30-5:30 Transportation provided (bus leaves for the day at 3:00 p.m.)

AVES will provide activities including sports, crafts, science, art, and field trips. Here is the AVES Summer School flier

AV Jr High will provide fun learning activities. (More info coming soon.)

Sr High School provide credit recovery opportunities. (More info coming soon.)

We Value ALL Our Families: Immigration Support and Updates

Please find links to additional information for families below:

Mendocino County Office of Education: Immigration Resource Page

Immigration and California Families: State Immigration Website

National Immigration Law Center: “Know Your Rights” (English | Spanish | Additional Languages)

If you would like to be more involved at school, please contact your school’s principal, Mr. Ramalia at AVES or Mr. McNerney at AV Jr/Sr High, or our district superintendent, Kristin Larson Balliet. We are deeply grateful for our AVUSD families.

With respect,

Kristin Larson Balliet

Superintendent, Anderson Valley Unified School District

klarson@avpanthers.org

UKIAH HOSPICE IS STILL IN BUSINESS

After receiving many phone calls of, “Is it true? Is Hospice of Ukiah closed?”

The short answer is, “No!”

Briefly: Hospice of Ukiah was created over 40 years ago by Dr. Robert Werra to provide hospice care to the Mendocino County community without charging anything for it. As the years went on, it seemed like a good idea to open a thrift shop to help the families with the possessions of their loved ones that the family wasn’t keeping. And low and behold the Thrift and Gift was opened.

The Thrift and Gift was not the initial reason for Hospice of Ukiah but quickly became an Ukiah staple. The building Thrift and Gift was renting was sold in late 2024, and the local hospice group moved out at the end of February 2025.

Without a thrift store location, being able to loan out equipment became a liability, so the Board of Directors decided it was the right business decision to end that service.

“Hospice of Ukiah, as it was initially incarnated, is still here: The nurses, assistants, social workers, and chaplain, are all in the building: 620 S. Dora Street, Suite 101. And with the continued support of our donors, we will continue to provide services to our community,” explained Brian Locatelli, Vice President of the Hospice of Ukiah Board of Directors.

“We appreciate the years of support and plan to re-open a thrift shop when we find the right space,” explained Diane Hunt LVN, Clinical Supervisor.

“Our mission is to continue supporting clients and families for end of life and palliative care,” she added.

If you still have questions or concerns, please give Office Manager Kim Shepard a call at (707) 462-4038, and she will do her best to answer or address any questions or concerns.

(L-R): Brandan Moroni LVN, nurse coordinator; Diane Hunt LVN, Clinical Supervisor; Teresa Etter LVN, nurse coordinator; Hope Moroni RN, MSN, nurse coordinator; Shelley Stickles LVN, nurse coordinator; Ashley Crippes CNA, nursing assistant. (Photo by Kim Shepard, Ukiah Hospice Office Manager)

Hospice care is a specialized type of care focused on providing comfort and support for people with a terminal illness, typically with a prognosis of six months or less to live if the illness runs its natural course. It aims to improve quality of life by managing pain and symptoms, and offering emotional, psychological, and spiritual support to both the patient and their family.

Personnel: Care Team for Hospice of Ukiah: Diane Hunt, LVN; Clinical Supervisor, Susan Bridge-Mount, LMFT; Social Worker, A.V., Ashley Crippes, CNA; Nursing Assistant, Teresa Etter, LVN; Nurse Coordinator, Kay Lieberknecht; Chaplain, Grief Counselor, Brandan Moroni, LVN; Nurse Coordinator, Hope Moroni, RN; Nurse Coordinator (Per Diem), Judy Nelson, RN; Nurse Coordinator, A.V., Cristina Simpson, MSW; Social Worker, Shelley Stickels, LVN; Nurse Coordinator. Volunteer Medical Advisors: Dr. Joann Rosenfeld, Dr. Jay Joseph.

Hospice of Ukiah Board of Directors: Kimberly Smith – President, Brian Locatelli; Vice President, Dr. Jay Joseph; Treasurer, Susan Bridge-Mount; Secretary, Mark Davis, and Kerry Randall.

(Carole Hester)

IVAN MANZO’S MANY SERVICES

My name is Ivan Manzo and I have worked as a maintenance man for the Stanford Inn. I'm now starting to take on additional jobs on the Mendocino Coast and possibly inland depending on your location.

Below are some of the types of work that I'm able to do. I have my own tools, truck, trailer, riding mower, etc. I’m a responsible and dependable worker with local references.

If you need my help, please contact me at 707/272-5830 (phone, text) or you can email me at: Edgarmanzo1@outlook.com

Available for: Weed-eating, Gardening, Pruning, Yard clean-up, Light carpentry, Simpler plumbing, Sheet rock work, Vinyl floor installation, Painting, Fencing, Mowing, Dump Runsk and more.

Thank you,

Ivan

ED NOTES: SPORTS NOTES

A FRIEND gave me a box seat ticket to a Saturday day game between the Giants and the Dodgers, a box seat in section 101, deep in the right field corner near the visitor's bullpen.

A few steps away from the Will Call window I took a close look at this unexpected blessing and read that the seat had cost $136. Better not wave this baby around, I thought. Someone might snatch it out of my palsied hand and sprint off to Scalper Land with it.

$136? This must mean free drinks and all the negative food value items you can eat. But then I remembered that the Giants maintain a “flexible pricing system,” meaning that they jack up ticket prices for those games that people are especially keen to see. The flex policy flexes downward for games people don't want to see.

My seat was five rows up from the visitor's bullpen. It was a seat like any other, and it came with no freebies. No sooner had I settled in than I had to duck a screaming line drive that ricocheted around the empty seats behind me until it was finally grabbed by a tattooed man dressed like a small boy in a Giant's jersey and a pair of pants that ended just below his knees. He carried his own baseball glove.

The left handed hitters were drilling lots of batting practice foul balls right at us. I'd forgotten how hard major league ballplayers can hit a baseball. I once saw Orlando Cepeda hit one so hard it knuckled all the way to the left field wall. I haven't owned a baseball glove in years, but I could have used one that Saturday, imagining myself jumping up and snagging one from the tattooed 'tard in the short pants.

There was also an unsuccessfully tattooed cop standing behind the bullpen, or maybe his right arm was beginning to age and his tats were all running together. As it was, he looked like a leper. I suppose he was positioned there to keep drunks from rushing the field, but at these prices the people seated around me were a sedate mix of the middle-aged-to-elderly with a few grandkids who constantly chirped, “I wanna wanna wanna wanna, Daddeeeee!”

Four sixty-ish women in front of me got steadily drunker, taking turns for the trek to the liquor stand, laughing uproariously at the mildly lewd hip thrusts of Lou Seal, the Giants mascot, and constant ballpark reminder of how infantilized the population of our fine, fat land has become. I yearned for the Candlestick days when fans so often assaulted Krazy Krab, the Giants had to retire him for the safety of the guy inside the costume.

The ballpark demographic has changed from rowdy to well behaved, but then the ballpark has also changed from post-industrial Candlestick to gizmo-corporate AT&T with thousands of seats now occupied by non-fans who get their tickets as part of their signing bonuses down the street at Cubicle.com in China Basin. Candlestick was often wayyyyy outtahand, but how can you knock fans with the aesthetic good sense to pelt a cartoon character with beer bottles?

That day, Giants manager Bochy probably lost the game 3-2 when he let pitcher Matt Cain hit with two outs and the bases loaded, and Cain, who struck out, was pulled anyway the next inning, and the seagulls swooped down on the tons of garbage left in the stands by the departing gourmands, and off we went out onto the street and into the cool sunshine on the water, a great mass of sated Americans moving like shoals of landlocked Belugas, homeward bound.

IT WAS THE GREAT DAY IN 2014 when I biked over to Hippy Hill in Golden Gate Park to watch the 4-20 festivities. April 20 at 4:20pm derived from pioneer stoners at San Rafael High School meeting at 4:20 to furtively fire up some ditch weed. Today's marijuana, developed right here in Mendocino County, is a lot stronger. On April 20th, America's stoners all light up at once in mass celebration of a drug that makes them slow and, they say, happy. I expected something like a few hundred ancient flower children shaking their cadaverous booties with maybe the perennially annoying Wavy Gravy gumming some peace and love platitudes, but what I found was, well, put it this way — the hippies of '67 look positively wholesome put alongside this crew. If the event had been advertised as Thug Fest 2014 we would have had some truth in advertising. Lots of gangstas and no hippies of the traditional tie-dyed doofus type, only acres of tough guys and hard-eyed women very unlike the ones who married dear old dad. The entire area between Hippie Hill and the Children's Playground was wall-to-wall criminal intent. A cloud of pot and grill smoke hung over the park. Every other person seemed to have an apparatus that boomed out celebrations of murder. “You lost, Pops?,” a kid asked me, and it belatedly occurred to me that in my khakis and button down blue shirt I was definitely odd man out. The scene was, for sure, more than mildly disconcerting, and when I saw a large white guy, maybe 40, shirtless, obviously a veteran of many hours on a prison weight pile, his skin festooned with jail tats and a big White Pride announcement scrawled across his back, when I saw this guy, a maniacal grin on his face, wade into the multi-ethnic gang-bangers, I knew the love drug had failed to work its magic on him, and that bad things were about to happen in Golden Gate Park, the City’s sylvan retreat, urban respite of forest and meadow, natural solace amidst the din and clamor of city life, and I was glad to get on my bike and head home.

TWO DAYS LATER, the Chron's comment line was mostly a lot of huffing and puffing about “hippies” having left The City with a huge clean-up bill for a trashed park, and isn't it just like the hypocrites to talk about how much they love Mother Earth then leave tons of trash in our trampled park? But this thing was not a hippie event, and Marx himself never could have foreseen how many and how fearsome the lumpen had become.

THE 2025 LEGENDARY BOONVILLE BEER FESTIVAL

May 10th the Beer Abides! Taps Open 1pm-5pm!

Beer Fest is back in less than a month, and the vibe is strong this year, so snag your tickets today! Tickets are $60 in advance or $70 at the gate (if we don’t sell out first, and like, sometimes we do, man).

An epic lineup awaits! So many favorites will be pouring – Russian River Brewing, Stumptown, Almanac… too many to list them all! And some incredible cideries featured this year as well – there’s something for everyone!

Get ready to groove with Rising Signs, Blue Luke, the Adam Manus Band, and the Mark Weston Band – good vibes and better tunes all afternoon long (and no Eagles)!

And of course, lots of great food to keep you fueled up all day – Fairall’s Farm, Slam Dunk Pizza, Spiro’s Gyros, Dutch Girl Desserts, Reggae Rasta, Curry Xpress, The Alley Grill, Tastebudz, and Turtle Island Tacos!

Pre-game with us the night before at the Brewery from 5pm to 8pm with the Scott Forbes Band – and stay late after the Beer Fest winds down, for a 6pm to 9pm afterparty with Warehouse 21! Six big bands plus the Firkin Tappers!

So put on your best bathrobe, relax a little, and come enjoy a cold beverage with us! This Beer Fest really ties the year together.

https://avbc.com/boonville-beer-fest/

A BEER FEST HISTORY

Legend has it that the event now known as the Boonville Beer Fest traces its roots back to the early 1990s. The Anderson Valley was lush following the spring rains. The creeks were full, the pine boughs glowed green and the valley floor was speckled with wildflowers of unimaginable variety.

Barkley sat on a stump on the ridge high above the brewery, Boont in hand, antlers on head, surveying his kingdom. For all the beauty a melancholic feeling tugged at his fur; something was missing. His was a lonely palace in the redwoods.

So he did what any mythical half-bear half-deer would do: he invited the entire beer world over to his pad to throw a few back and dosey doe 'til the wee hours.

In the beginning it was a humbly intimate affair. But as the legend of the antlered bear and his springtime shindig grew so did the festival, gradually swelling to become one of the biggest beer festivals in the country, drawing brewers and beer drinkers from around the world.

Now in its 27th year and having donated over $1.7m to local charities, Barkley and his Beer Fest are a little longer in the tooth, but they've only gotten better with age. So if you see Barkley at Beer Fest, make sure and give him a hug. Just make sure you don't have a seltzer in your hand when you do. He, uh, he doesn't like those.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, April 20, 2025

OMAR CRUZ-PEREZ, 31, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. DUI.

SIRAJO DASIN, 44, Dublin/Ukiah. DUI.

CORINNE ELY, 47, Oroville/Ukiah. Elder abuse without great bodily harm or death, burglary tools, paraphernalial, unspecified offense.

DARIUS FEAGIN, 34, Martinez/Ukiah. Metal knuckles.

DANIEL HEATH, 44, Ukiah. Disobeying court order, failure to appear, probation revocation, resisting.

MERCEDEZ HOAGLEN-LOCKART, 27, Ukiah. Domestic abuse.

RICHARD HODGE JR., 27, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

MICHAEL KUBAS, 45, Willits. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

GEORGIA MILLSAP, 23, Willits. Disobeying court order.

JAVIER MORALES-VILLAFANIA, 23, Fort Bragg. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

COURT BLOCKS DELTA TUNNEL DRILLING ONCE AGAIN

by Dan Bacher

In the latest legal battle in the fight to stop the Delta Tunnel, a Sacramento judge has rejected another attempt by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to lift an injunction that blocks DWR from conducting geotechnical investigations that DWR claims are essential to planning for the proposed Delta Conveyance Project (DCP).…

https://www.elkgrovedailynews.com/court-blocks-delta-tunnel-drilling-once-again

FOLKS MINGLE EASY IN THESE PARTS

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

We were standing in the lobby waiting in the popcorn line, and we noticed a smartly dressed black teenager in front of us.

She wore familiar teen couture: distressed jeans so tight she’ll need a spatula to get them off, and a t-shirt featuring a rock band that hasn’t recorded, or maybe even been alive, since she was born.

From our left came another teenager, this one blonde and wearing the same uniform. She hurried to her friend: “Oh my God!” she laughed. “Oh My…” as she fumbled with her smart phone. She draped her right arm around her black pal’s shoulders and, heads together, they started laughing at the pictures.

It was some other teen, a boy, who was either Way Kewl or totally inept, and they just kept laughing and scrolling and gasping for air. Me, I’ve never had such fun in a popcorn line.

Wife Trophy said, softly, “Not something you’d see in Ukiah.”

“Or Oakland,” I said. “Or LA.”

It was just two kids sharing laughs, but the fact they were black and white illustrates something I’ve noticed repeatedly since we arrived in North Carolina: People mingle easy down here.

I’ve never lived anywhere that wasn’t essentially and de facto segregated. Cleveland was split right down the middle: the east side was black and the west side and most suburbs were white.

Ukiah had a sizable black population the Reverend Jim Jones brought to town and then dragged from town in the 1970s.

My older brother has lived in South Carolina half a century; he tells me there is no such thing as a small city, big city or any city in between that is not integrated in the Carolinas.

So in the smallish town where Trophy and I have landed there are teenage girls of different races hugging and laughing. I dig it.

Interracial couples are so common around here they don’t draw a glance. My neighborhood in the Historic District is sprinkled with minorities: across the street live two black women, down the street are Mexican-American families with lots of children and 75 or so guests celebrating a catered Quincienera in the front yard last weekend. Jolly good music, dancing in the street.

In a nicer neighborhood than ours a few blocks west some of the most imposing and expensive old houses have multiple stories, swimming pools, circular driveways and black families.

And the neighbors just get along, in part because they’ve grown up together and have all gone to the same schools, and in part because their parents and their children have grown up together and have all gone to the same schools. It’s relaxed, cheerful and chatty.

The corner grocery store has mostly black employees and customers. Fun lines. Old black ladies inspect your tomatillos and papayas at the checkout line and ask “Now what y’all gonna do with those things there?” The banter begins.

So no one is surprised (except me a little bit) when a pair of cute teenage girls (besties maybe) jostle one another like puppies in the lobby of the downtown movie theater.

Dick’s Bar Lives On

Last week’s report that Dick’s Bar was closing turns out to be an exaggeration. My mistake.

Instead it is being sold, and presumably will remain the only interesting place to visit in the marvelous village of Mendocino. Let’s drink to that.

Waste Fraud Abuse Forever!

Protests across the land broke out a couple weeks back because everyone on the left fears government will shrink, federal employees will be laid off and taxes could even be reduced. The sky could also fall.

The reason our dim but lovable progressives believe these sorts of paranoid fantasies is that they get news from Democratic operatives employed at MSNBC, ABC, the San Francisco Chronicle and the other usual sources.

These newsfronts tell us Social Security is finished, guide dogs for the blind are no more and veterans will soon be left at freeway off ramps to rely on the kindness of passing motorists.

These are the same phony sources that lied to us about Trump and Russia-gate, lied to us about Hunter’s laptop, lied about cocaine in the White House, lied from start to finish about the enfeebled patient in the Oval office, and a hundred other lies. The New York Times is currently working on a three-part Stormy Daniels update.

But yeah, go ahead and believe Elon Musk is stupid, Trump is Hitler, and that trimming bloated federal agencies is a threat to “Our Democracy.”

AMID LOOMING TARIFFS, FOLDING NEWSPAPERS AND UNPAID INVOICES, A HUMBOLDT COUNTY PRINTING PRESS STRUGGLES FOR SURVIVAL

by Ryan Burns

When Western Web came to Humboldt County in 2005, it did so quietly — furtively, even. The state-of-the-art printing plant, assembled with brand new equipment inside a cavernous old mill building on the Samoa Peninsula, was established for the sole purpose of publishing the Eureka Reporter, an upstart daily newspaper founded by Robin P. Arkley II in order to challenge the Times-Standard.

Arkley, Eureka’s brash and well-connected commercial real estate magnate, set off a fiercely fought, if short-lived, old-fashioned newspaper war with Humboldt County’s 150-year-old daily. As a 2006 SFGate story recounted, the Times-Standard had “seemingly incurred Arkley’s considerable wrath when it failed to endorse his wife Cherie’s failed bid for Eureka mayor in 2002, a race Cherie Arkley lost by fewer than 50 votes.” (Arkley denied that this slight was his motivation for starting the paper.)

I got hired at the Times-Standard in the midst of this newspaper war, and the competition between the dueling dailies was invigorating. The news coverage at both publications benefited from the rivalry, and the two editorial staffs were robust, especially by today’s industry standards.

But there was no competition when it came to the quality of the actual papers — meaning the physical newsprint and ink. The reporters and photographers at the Times-Standard would pick up a copy of the Eureka Reporter (it was free) and jealously thumb through its pages, which were thicker and whiter — resulting in richer, sharper images — than those running our own work. Back then, the T-S was printed in-house, on equipment that was much older than the fancy new machines across the bay at Western Web.

About that name: Why would a printing plant go by the online-sounding, geographically vague moniker of Western Web? They chose the name “in order to sneak up on potential customers out of our area without the burden of explaining why it made sense to print in Eureka,” the company explains on its website.

Arkley encouraged Western Web President Steve Jackson to go out and recruit commercial clients to subsidize the cost of printing the Eureka Reporter, and he did so. The company’s first customer, signed in 2005, was the North Coast Journal. It was soon followed by other newspapers, including the Arcata Eye, the McKinleyville Press, the Ferndale Enterprise, the Humboldt Independent and Cal Poly Humboldt’s student newspapers, the Lumberjack and El Leñador.

Western Web also prints tour guides, banners and glossy magazines such as J. the Jewish News of Northern California (distributed biweekly in the Bay Area), Latitude 38 (a sailing publication), and, until this month, a variety of special publications from the North Coast Journal, such as the Humboldt Insider, My Humboldt Life and its annual Wedding Guide.

In a recent interview, Jackson recalled the company’s optimistic early days. Prior to coming to Humboldt County he’d been working at Grant Printing in San Francisco. Arkley’s company, Security National, brought Jackson up to consult on selecting a building and buying equipment for the new press, and eventually Arkley asked if he’d be interested in running the place. He’d grown up in the tiny Trinity County community of Douglas City, so coming to Humboldt appealed to him on a personal level. And the professional opportunity was too good to pass up.

“This was a chance to build my own plant from the ground up, and I took it,” Jackson said.

But 20 years later, does it still make sense to print in Eureka? Printing presses have been closing at a rapid clip across the country in recent years. Since 2005, more than 3,300 newspapers have ceased publication. Locally that includes the Eureka Reporter, which shut down during the 2008 financial crisis; the McKinleyville Press and Arcata Eye, which merged to become a single publication, the Mad River Union, in 2013; and, most recently, the SoHum-based Independent, which published its final issue last summer.

Worse yet for Western Web, three weeks ago its oldest and largest customer, the North Coast Journal, left, choosing to have its papers and various other publications printed out of the area. In an April 3 letter to readers headlined “The Price of Print,” Journal owner and publisher Melissa Sanderson cited skyrocketing print costs and said, “When we received notice that possible tariffs on Canadian paper would further increase our printing bill, we explored every possible solution, negotiating with Western Web, evaluating alternative options and considering cost-cutting measures.”

Jackson said there was more to it than that — namely, a months-long dispute about the Journal’s unpaid invoices. By the end of last month, the Journal’s balance sheet — which includes tallies for sub-customers such as the Ferndale Enterprise, the Fortuna Chamber of Commerce and Murphy’s markets — was $120,377.91. (Sanderson disputes that figure and notes that much of it was not yet due, per the terms of their agreement. More on that below.)

On top of that, Jackson said, the Humboldt Independent owed Western Web about $50,000 when it shut down, a debt he doesn’t intend to try to collect.

“I worked with them for a long time,” he said. “They fell behind every week for months on end. … I said I can’t keep doing it, and they decided to stop publishing. I know that newspapers are on the way out — printed newspapers — but it really hurt.”

Western Web also prints the Trinity Journal, and Jackson said that publication has also fallen behind on its bills.

“I grew up in Trinity County … . That’s where I learned about newspapers,” he said. “I was reading the Trinity Journal when I was a kid; it got delivered to our house. I really enjoyed printing them the last 20 years.”

But he said Western Web’s finances have reached the point where the business simply can’t carry this level of unpaid debt for months on end. On a recent trip to San Francisco, Jackson stopped by the offices of J. (the Jewish news magazine) and told them that his company is in a very difficult spot.

“I encouraged them to explore other options [for printing],” he said.

A few moments later, Jackson quietly remarked, “Our closure is inevitable.” However, he quickly backpedaled, saying, “I haven’t given up.”

But he’s worried about having to cut some production staff due to the reduced work volume. He’s worried about the Trump administration’s 25 percent additional tariffs on Canadian goods, since much of the newsprint Western Web buys comes Canadian-grown trees. (“Canada’s where all the trees are,” he said.) He worries about the future of his employees, many of whom have been working with him for decades but are not set up for retirement. And he worries about all the local publications that still rely on Western Web. What will they do if it closes?

“I’m just tired,” he said. “I don’t have the energy to fight back. But I still haven’t given up.”

The North Coast Journal situation

The Journal’s fallout with Western Web had been building for more than a year, but it came to a head at a meeting on March 17. Jackson had notified all of Western Web’s large customers that he’d soon have to increase prices due to tariffs, though he had not yet done so. (Nor has he to date, he told the Outpost.)

At the March 17 meeting, which took place at Western Web, Sanderson told Jackson and Western Web Production Manager Mike Morris that she’d gotten a quote from another printer for roughly half the cost of what Western Web was charging, according to Jackson. He was somewhat incredulous, given that most commercial printers offer pretty comparable rates, but he told Sanderson something along the lines of, “If you truly have a price that is half, you should take it.”

She did. Eleven days later, she emailed Jackson to thank him and the team at Western Web for their dedication, craftsmanship and many years of service to the Journal but said they’d no longer be using the local company for their weekly newspaper jobs.

For the sake of disclosure I should note that I worked at the North Coast Journal from 2008-2013, under previous publisher Judy Hodgson, who co-owned the paper with Carolyn Fernandez. During my time at the T-S and the NCJ I worked with several of the Journal’s current staff members, including News Editor Thadeus Greenson, Arts & Features Editor Jennifer Fumiko Cahill and Digital Editor Kimberly Wear, whom I consider colleagues or even friends, though we don’t hang out socially.

Sanderson declined to be interviewed in person or over the phone for this story, but she agreed to answer questions via email. The only question she didn’t answer was where the Journal is now being published. Asked why she didn’t want to disclose that information she replied, “It isn’t necessary.”

Both Jackson and Sanderson expressed bitterness about the breakup. Jackson forwarded the Outpost some emails from the past two years and said he simply couldn’t carry $120,000 in debt on the Journal’s behalf for months on end.

Sanderson, meanwhile, said the Journal was operating with Western Web under the same terms it had operated under for years, adhering to an arrangement that predated her purchase of the Journal on April 1, 2021. The higher debt balance was a byproduct of a dramatic increase in printing volume from the Journal, she said. Under her ownership, the company had expanded its special publications, such as My Humboldt Life, purchased the Ferndale Enterprise and picked up contract work with outside organizations such as the Fortuna Chamber.

“[W]e do upwards of half a million dollars’ worth of business with Western Web annually, depending on the year, always carrying a balance since before my time,” Sanderson said. And the Journal always pays what it owes, she said.

At 70 years old, Jackson has suffered a variety of health issues in recent years, including a burst appendix that required him to be placed in an induced coma, as well as Parkinson’s, which he’s had for more than a dozen years. He’s the person in charge of keeping track of Western Web’s accounts receivable, but due to his health he’s had periods of absence.

In July of 2023, following one of these periods, Jackson sent Sanderson an email with the subject line “Alms for the poor.”

“You have been great about paying on time and I appreciate it,” Jackson wrote to Sanderson, “but costs keep going up and I am facing a cash flow crisis at the end of this month due to overlapping paper and ink orders. I could really use your help in catching up your account as much as possible. I show you have $69,172.78 balance on your account.”

The Journal’s longstanding arrangement with Western Web was for “net 60” payment terms, meaning its bills were due 60 days after the invoice date. Technically, Jackson said, the terms of the deal were actually “net 30” (bills due after 30 days) but longstanding practice had been to allow up to 60 days for repayment.

In response to that July 2023 email, Sanderson said she’d make sure a payment was headed to Western Web the following Monday, though she added, “I can’t keep printing with the bills so high. It’s increased by over 40% since I bought the paper and I have to relook at stuff. This print expense is almost as much as my payroll now.”

According to Jackson, Western Web has only implemented one rate increase for the Journal — a seven percent hike in 2022. The 40 percent increase cited by Sanderson was mostly a reflection of increased printing volume, he said.

The billing dispute resumed early this year and quickly got testy. In a Feb. 11 email, Jackson told Sanderson that the Journal’s balance now exceeded $113,000, some of which was more than 60 days old.

“After promising to catch up when we last spoke, you have fallen further behind,” Jackson wrote.

He also said Western Web needed to implement a change. The Journal is printed on 24-inch newsprint. However, all of the other print jobs Western Web runs during that time slot use 22-inch paper.

“Our cash flow situation is so severe we cannot afford to carry inventories for both sizes,” Jackson wrote in his email. For the Journal to keep publishing at Western Web, it would need to make all future issues smaller. The tone of his email was civil but terse. “I know it is terrible out there, but I have no other options,” he said.

In her reply, Sanderson again noted how much more volume she’s doing with Western Web, adding that the paper’s printing bills now accounted for more than a third of the Journal’s budget.

“You will have to work with me over the next few months otherwise, I may have to take drastic measures and remove some print products from the community,” Sanderson wrote. In a follow-up email she said, “We are paying you as fast as we can.”

Interviewed via phone last week, Jackson said he’s frustrated by how the Journal left. Sanderson’s email delivering the news was sent after 4 p.m. on a Friday, when his staff had already placed materials on the press to print the paper the following Tuesday. And he has lots of leftover paper and ink that he purchased to publish future issues.

“I’m still paying off bills from the North Coast Journal and yet I have no income at all [from them] since March 21,” the last time Western Web received a check, he said. “They’ve just ignored us since.”

Sanderson, meanwhile, said Jackson didn’t budge when she told him about the printing deal she could get elsewhere. (Jackson said he asked to see a copy of that quote but Sanderson never provided one.)

“Steve made no effort to negotiate a more competitive price and said, ‘If you can get that price, go with my blessing.’ I took him at his word … ,” she said. “If WW had been able to partner with a paper producer that could come close to the estimates we got elsewhere, we’d still be printing in Samoa.”

She also reiterated that the Journal will pay what it owes to Western Web in the coming weeks, per the longstanding agreement.

Western Web buys its newsprint from Inland Empire Paper Company in Spokane, Wash. That company maintains and harvests its own forests here in the U.S., but still, about half of Western Web’s newsprint stock — and all of its glossy paper — comes from trees grown in Canada.

Jackson said Western Web has an energy-efficient arrangement with Inland Empire, hauling its paper supply down here to the press in Samoa and then sending back the press’s waste — trimmed borders, scraps, etc. — to be converted into recycled paper.

The Future Of Newspapers

Over the course of two phone conversations, Jackson’s general demeanor was of pained resignation. He recalled seeing last year’s April Fools’ edition of LoCO Pollz, which joked that the Lost Coast Outpost would soon launch a daily printed edition.

“It should have made me cry,” he said. “It was a joke but it’s also the reality. It’s crazy to open a newspaper now.”

He allowed that some alternative newsweeklies are still thriving, though he noted that once-vibrant ones, like the Sacramento News & Review and its sister publications in Chico and Reno, are gone.

Sanderson maintains her faith in print. “[O]therwise I wouldn’t have bought two newspapers and the Insider and started the My Humboldt Life publication,” she said. “But thriving requires adaptation in terms of things like printing costs and focusing on the needs of readers and advertisers that aren’t being met elsewhere.”

She also said that the Journal recently reduced its circulation by almost 14 percent, decreasing from 18,000 issues per week to 15,500. The Journal is also moving its offices from an upstairs spot in the heart of Old Town to a building near the corner of Fifth and J streets, across from the Humboldt County Courthouse.

Jackson reiterated that he hasn’t given up on Western Web, though he has tried and failed to find a buyer for the business.

“If I close the doors, I’m not sure I can sell the equipment for anything other than scrap metal,” he said. The Times-Standard dismantled its printing press five years ago, sending most of its components to the junkyard.

“I’m doing the best I can,” Jackson said. “I just have to do it until it’s over.”

(LostCoastOutpost.com)

WARRIORS WIN GAME 1 as Stephen Curry calmly repulses Rockets’ rally

by Sam Gordon

HOUSTON – The lead for the Golden State Warriors had whittled from 23 to four against the Houston Rockets in the first game of their best-of-seven series Sunday in the Western Conference playoffs.

A roaring Toyota Center crowd, mostly clad in red, had watched the Rockets scrap and fight on the offensive backboards and with defensive pressure.

An inbounds play called from Curry to run around a screen from the backcourt to the frontcourt, receive a pass from Brandin Podziemski – and step into a 34-footer. Bucket.

“He’s done it time and time again,” teammate Jimmy Butler said. “It’s not just in a playoff game since I’ve been here. The shots he takes and makes are absolutely incredible.”

With a black splint covering his sprained right thumb, Curry cooked the Rockets again for 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range, in a 95-85 Golden State win. Butler added 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals for the Warriors, who got 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists from Podziemski.

Moses Moody added a clutch 3-pointer and point-of-attack defense with Podziemski and Gary Payton II that held Houston’s starting backcourt – Fred VanVleet and Jalen Green – to 7-of-34 shooting.

Golden State stymied Houston’s offense with physical, swarming, cohesive defense that clogged the lane and encouraged 3-pointers. The Rockets ranked 21st in 3-point shooting and made only 6 of 29 against the Warriors, shooting 39.1% from the field with 17 turnovers for 25 points.

Big man Alperen Sengün scored a team-high 26 for Houston. The Rockets led the NBA in rebounding and won the backboards 52-36, including 22 offensive rebounds for 22 second-chance points.

For naught.

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry scores against Houston Rockets’ Tari Eason and Jalen Green in 1st quarter during Game 1 of First Round of NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle)

Game 2 is Wednesday at Toyota Center.

Said small-ball center Draymond Green: “That’s their style of play. They rough you up. They grab. They hold. They crash the boards. Very, extremely physical team. You’ve got to give them credit. They do a great job of it, so, we’ve just got to make sure we’re prepared for that coming into every game. That’s who they are. It is what it is. Every team’s got an M.O. That’s theirs. You’ve got to do what you’ve got do to try to beat them.”

That’s what the Warriors did with Curry in the three regular-season matchups he played, holding the four-time champion guard to 16.3 points on 36.4% shooting. They pressured him with rangy defenders – notably second-year standout Amen Thompson – and with faceguards, blitzes, double teams and traps.

The last meeting, two weeks ago, doubled as one of the worst showings of his all-time great career: 1-of-10 shooting with four turnovers and three points in a 106-96 loss.

To prepare for Sunday’s showdown in Houston, he reviewed the replays.

“One, we were a little bit fresher (tonight) than we were that game,” Curry said, referencing that April 6 game being Golden State’s third in four nights. “And even as bad as we felt like we played that game, it was still a one- or two-possession game in the fourth (quarter). So, that gave me a lot of confidence if we could get off to a better start, if I could get going a little earlier, we’d be able to make our presence felt.

“And that’s kind of how it played out.”

Working against aggression again amid crisp ball movement and off-ball screens, Curry missed his first three 3-pointers, adjusting to the physical play. Picturesque picks would open the space he needed to drive for his first field goal.

Seven consecutive field goals, two of them from distance, would follow – along with a 47-34 halftime lead.

“It’s kind of hard to simulate that playoff energy and intensity and speed and their physicality and athleticism,” Curry said, having followed his first layup with three straight layups. “Started getting to the basket a little bit, taking their pressure and taking what was there. Obviously, I made some tough ones from outside. But you don’t dwell on tough starts.”

A cutting layup via Butler started Curry’s second-half scoring and propelled the eventual 23-point lead. A contested triple a couple minutes later wowed his teammates and stunned the crowd.

Opposite Houston’s Jalen Green in isolation, Curry faked his dribble as the shot clock dribble before veering toward a congested corner and setting his feet for a fallaway jumper. With Green in his jersey, he lofted a high-arcing rainbow through the net – bringing owner Joe Lacob to his feet behind him.

“For him to know that ball is going in and for everybody, probably in the building, maybe even the world to know that ball is going in, it’s incredible,” Butler said. “I’m a fan, as everybody else is. He just made big shot after big shot.”

Houston’s offensive rebounding and defense helped it close the 23-point gap and pull within three midway through the fourth quarter. But Curry’s 34-footer extended the lead to seven.

So did Moody’s with 2:23 to play.

The Warriors have won a game on the road with in 29 of 30 series with Curry and Green, who toppled the Rockets in four playoff matchups (2015, ’16, ’18, ’19) at the apex of Golden State’s dynastic run. The last playoff game Curry played in Houston – Game 6 of the Westen Conference semifinals – he scored 33 in the second half of a closeout game.

“Overall,” Green said, pausing in reflection, “Steph Curry usually finds a way.”

(sfchronicle.com)

FANS OF CONTROVERSIAL S.F. FOUNTAIN FEAR EMBARCADERO PLAZA MAKEOVER PUTS IT ‘IN DANGER’

by Sam Whiting

With its prime spot on Embarcadero Plaza across from San Francisco’s Ferry Building, the hulking 40-foot-tall, 710-ton Vaillancourt Fountain is hard to miss — which is why its absence from recent renderings of the plaza’s planned $30 million-plus makeover has set off alarm bells among its defenders.

More than half a century after its debut, the fountain continues to polarize San Francisco — largely reviled by critics who consider it an ugly and outdated relic, but beloved by enthusiasts who appreciate its Brutalist aesthetic and by skateboarders who revere it as one of the most influential skate spots in the world.

The city has so far been mum on the fate of the public sculpture by Canadian artist Armand Vaillancourt, surrounded by a sunken red brick plaza designed by Lawrence Halprin, but an unlikely alliance of landscape architects, architectural historians and street skateboarders is mobilizing preemptively to keep it right where it is.

“I love it because it was a big bold statement when it was built and it is unique to San Francisco,” said landscape architect Petra Marar, who recently stood in the wind gazing at the massive fountain as if she were in front of the Great Pyramids in Egypt. “Give the fountain a chance.”

Preservationists maintain that the fountain can be incorporated into the new park. All it needs, they say, is to add water — which has not been done since last June due to mechanical failure of the pump system. There are no plans to repair it because the cost is estimated at $3 million.

“Turn the fountain on, and let people access it,” said Marar, the secretary of the Northern California chapter of Docomomo US, a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving buildings and sites that reflect the Modern Movement.

The group has launched a webpage to gather support for preservation of the fountain and reactivation of its water system. Docomomo has also sent an open letter to the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, though the Embarcadero Plaza project is not yet on any commission meeting agenda.

According to park department officials, the fountain’s absence from park renderings does not mean a decision has been made to remove it. Its fate, they said, is still to be determined.

“There is no final design for the renovation of Embarcadero Plaza that either retains or removes the fountain or the bricks,” said park department spokesperson Daniel Montes. “We’re in the early stages of planning and design, working closely with the community and partners to shape the future of the plaza.”

The redesign and renovation project, announced in November, is a partnership between the Recreation and Park Department and BXP, which owns the four Embarcadero Center office buildings east of the plaza.

BXP declined to comment, but renderings have been circulated and Marar cannot find the red brick plaza or the concrete fountain anywhere in the drawings.

“I’m reacting to the rendering, which is sort of a prompt,” she said. “We don’t know their intent, but we do know it is in danger.”

Docomomo, short for Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement, has 800 people on a mailing list in Northern California and 2,000 Instagram followers. Some of them came together for a brick rubbing event Friday evening, to draw attention to their advocacy for the fountain.

“Those bricks are where the history of modern skateboarding was invented,” said Ted Barrow, a Docomomo board member, skateboarder and art historian. He plans to record the brick markings with all their divots and scratches onto paper and mail them around to skaters to try to build support for the preservation cause.

The plaza’s red bricks, stairs and ledges were the proving ground for modern skateboarding in the 1990s. Subsequent design changes to the plaza diminished it as a magnet for skaters, but Barrow has started a petition at Change.org seeking to preserve the fountain perimeter and some of the brick surface, and to ensure space is provided for skateboarders in the new design. So far it has drawn more than 6,500 signatures.

“If we are talking about the history of modern street skating in San Francisco, it starts at the Embarcadero Plaza with the fountain as a backdrop,” he said.

Separately, the Cultural Landscape Foundation, an education and advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., has designated Embarcadero Plaza as a “threatened nationally significant cultural landscape” and is advocating for it to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“This is a seminal work of landscape architecture in the City of San Francisco and is the equivalent of a Diebenkorn or Thiebaud painting,” said Charles Birnbaum, president and CEO of the foundation. “To destroy the plaza would be an act of vandalism.”

There are already five projects by Halprin on the National Register, but none in the city where he worked for 60 years before his death in 2009 at age 93. He designed the grounds at Ghirardelli Square, Levi’s Plaza, Letterman Digital Arts Center and the redesigned Stern Grove, among other projects.

The current Embarcadero Plaza plan and designs “have not taken into account the historic nature of the work that is there,” said Andrew Sullivan, a San Francisco landscape architect who worked in Halprin’s office. “As far as I know, there has not been any conversation about the value of the plaza and the fountain and the historic context that it represents.”

The fountain belongs to the Civic Art Collection, and any decision regarding its future will be subject to review by the San Francisco Arts Commission and its Visual Arts Committee. There will be at least one public hearing, and the skateboard coalition will have its say.

“It’s important to preserve a place that has such a universally recognized central position in skateboarding history,” said Barrow, who is the host of “This Old Ledge,” a YouTube skateboard show produced by Thrasher magazine. The pilot episode was filmed at Embarcadero Plaza.

“If you are a skateboarder coming to San Francisco from anywhere around the world, that’s the first place you will visit,” Barrow said. “It’s like the Colosseum in Rome.”

As the centerpiece of what was originally called Justin Herman Plaza, the fountain was constructed in 1971 when the elevated Embarcadero Freeway roared right by it. The water gushing through its pipes at 30,000 gallons a minute was intended to drown out the traffic noise.

The public art has been criticized ever since it was completed. Chronicle columnist Allen Temko suggested it looked like the deposit of a dog with square intestines. U2 frontman Bono famously defaced it with spray paint during a free lunchtime concert in 1987, as the crowd cheered. However, then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein came to its defense, and Bono faced a graffiti charge — later dismissed.

The Embarcadero Freeway was severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and demolished two years later. But the Vaillancourt Fountain endures.

“We understand that it is controversial and people hate it,” said Camila Baum, an Oakland social worker and Docomomo member who grew up in San Francisco making pilgrimages to the fountain. “It’s the avant garde, and that’s what Vaillancourt intended it as.”

Vaillancourt is 95 and still creating in Montreal. According to his son, he is planning to come to San Francisco and meet with the art commission, BXP or others deciding the future of his namesake work.

“He has always been willing to defend the fate of the fountain,” said Alexis Vaillancourt, reached by phone in Quebec. “This is not the first time that there has been talk about demolishing it, but it is still there after more than 50 years.”

(SF Chronicle)

GIANTS LOSE AS NINTH-INNING IMPLOSION COSTS JUSTIN VERLANDER HIS FIRST S.F. WIN

by Susan Slusser

Sunday was shaping up to be super for two new Giants, with Justin Verlander poised for his first win with San Francisco and Sam Huff the hitting hero with his first homer.

Instead, one of the most reliable returners, closer Ryan Walker, frittered away a three-run lead in the ninth, blowing his first save opportunity of the season, and the Giants lost 5-4 in rapid, stunning fashion.

"It sucks, Verlander deserved the win with what he did today," said Walker, who matched his career high four runs allowed. "To be the guy who gives it up isn't fun, especially for a guy like him."

With that, San Francisco dropped its first road series. Until Walker’s rough day, the team had been poised to go undefeated in its first five road series for the first time since 1975.

It all started with a debatable ball-four call to Mike Trout, on a pitch that appeared to be at the top of the zone but well within it. "Not as big a deal when we're up by three," Walker said. "It didn't faze me, honestly."

"You never want to walk the first batter," Huff said, adding that home plate umpire Laz Diaz "just didn't like it, and maybe he'd called it a couple of times before that, but it's where the game goes sometimes. You have to forget about it, but it's tough, it's frustrating."

Jorge Soler, the former Giant, followed with a single, and Logan O’Hoppe added another before Walker hit Zach Neto to send in one run.

"I couldn't command the slider, to be honest, and had to stick with the slider," Walker said. "Hitting Neto didn't help my case at all. Some days you just don't have good stuff, unfortunately."

Joe Adell then won the game by ripping a bases-clearing double down the left-field line. Though the relay from Willy Adames nearly got Neto at the plate, the safe call was upheld on replay.

"It was really close," Huff said. 'I tried to put a tag on him but he got his hand in there at the last second. Good throw, good relay, bang bang, just unlucky."

Los Angeles Angels shortstop Zach Neto (9) beats the tag of San Francisco Giants catcher Sam Huff (23) to score the winning run during the ninth inning of a baseball game Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. Credit: AP/Wally Skalij

The meltdown hurt the Giants all the more because Verlander had turned in his best start since signing a one-year, $15 million deal with San Francisco. The 42-year-old allowed just one run, Neto’s homer in the fifth and also got some solid to spectacular defense behind him: Jung Hoo Lee’s diving catch in the sixth on Luis Rengifo’s rapidly sinking liner was play of the day. "Awesome," Verlander said. "Obviously getting the leadoff guy there really changes the whole dynamtic, so I was very thankful."

Verlander, working with Huff for the first time in the regular season, was on the same page with him immediately, retiring the first nine men he faced. Ward led off the fourth with a double, but Verlander avoided the one big inning that has bit him his past three starts — even though he walked two in the inning, loading the bases, he struck out the side, getting O’Hoppe to end the threat as a large contingent of Giants fans roared. "The game is on the line there," Verlander said. "It felt great to get out of that."

He was still throwing 97 mph in the sixth inning — his 97.4 mph fastball to strike out Trout in the sixth was his hardest strikeout pitch since 2023, per Sarah Langs, and his fastball averaged 94.8 mph, a skosh up from his season average of 94.5. He threw 30 fastballs Sunday, and got nine swings-and-misses, four called strikes and 16 foul balls with it. "I just attacked," Verlander said. "A lot of the balls that weren't hit hard were outs and when that happens, it's a little easier to work through a lineup."

"He looked really good," Huff said. "I think he has been looking really good, he'd just had some unfortunate luck, and today he was awesome, it's something good to build on, get him going."

Not to be overlooked: Huff also worked well with Camilo Doval, who turned in his fourth consecutive scoreless outing after three rough ones had left his ERA over 5.00. He walked Nole Schanuel to open the seventh, struck out Neto and got Adell to hit into a double play, no fuss, no muss. Tyler Rogers worked a scoreless eighth to lower his ERA to 0.79.

Another important development for the Giants: Adames, who drove in the deciding run the previous night, added two more RBIs Sunday with singles in the fifth and eighth. Still, the Giants might have been in a less precarious spot in the late going had they cashed in a few more; they were 2-for-8 with men in scoring position and left 11 on.

(SF Chronicle)

KEEP IT CLASSY, MR. PRESIDENT

ED NOTE: Coming from anybody else, Trump's Easter message would be a sure sign of early stage dementia, right up there with his insane statement that Haitian immigrants are eating America's household pets. Biden was obviously ga-ga during all four years of his tenure, but he was never this ga-ga.

TRUMP'S WAR ON SCIENCE

Editor,

I am a 65-year-old physician and scientist. The focus of my research is finding the causes of inherited blindness and developing treatments, including gene therapies, to preserve the vision of affected patients. Our field is making great progress toward that goal, and it is thrilling to see patients’ vision improve after treatment.

My research team recently made an important discovery that could accelerate finding treatments for inherited blindness. I plan to stop seeing patients in June so I can focus solely on this research, but I may not be able to because our lab depends on funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Senior scientists like me are doing our best work now, and our careers — and the next groundbreaking innovations — are in jeopardy. Losing this cohort will deprive younger scientists of the mentors they need and the rest of the world of their discoveries. This kind of wanton destruction of decades of investment and progress is not efficient; it is actually wasteful.

Eric Pierce

Belmont, Massachusetts

In 1898, Jennie Bauter's brothel in Jerome, Arizona, stood as a prominent establishment in the mining town, with Jennie herself pictured on the balcony in a black dress at the center of the image. This building, which was her second on the site, was destroyed by fire in the same year. The first building had also burned down a year earlier in 1897. Despite these setbacks, Jennie rebuilt, and the third structure, which she constructed, still stands today, serving as a reminder of the business she built.

Jennie Bauter’s brothel was an integral part of Jerome’s social and economic life, offering services to the miners and other workers in the area. At the height of her success, she became one of the wealthiest women in the Arizona Territory, a remarkable feat considering the time and the nature of her business. Her entrepreneurial spirit and resilience in the face of adversity made her a notable figure in the history of the town, and she gained a reputation for both her business acumen and her role in the local community.

Tragically, Jennie Bauter’s life was cut short when she was murdered in 1905. Despite her violent death, her legacy lived on, not only through the brothel that remained part of Jerome’s history but also in the story of a woman who defied the odds to become one of the wealthiest individuals in a largely male-dominated frontier society. The building that still stands today stands as a silent witness to the life and times of Jennie Bauter, a woman whose name became entwined with the history of Jerome.

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH

There’s something happening here

What it is ain’t exactly clear

There’s a man with a gun over there

Telling me I got to beware

I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound