Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

An accidental roadside discovery changed California archaeology

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Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 4d

The Spyrock site in Mendocino County offers a rare glimpse into California's earliest artistry

One turn off the highway and the timeline of California cracked open.

The California hardware store that makes chains feel soulless

Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 7d

A giant hammer marks the entrance to Pierson Building Center, a hardware store that embodies the do-it-yourself camaraderie that binds the region and whose namesake built thousands of nearby homes.

Northern California locals know this is no ordinary hardware store.

After decades of defiance, a California hippie commune is defeated

Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 11d

For years, it defied Humboldt County. Now, California's most infamous commune is cornered.

For years, it defied the county. Now, California's most infamous commune is cornered.

Looking for a squirrel, a California professor stumbled on a scientific first

Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 13d

Cal Poly Humboldt biologist Silvia Pavan discovers new marsupial species in Peru's cloud forests

A new species was hiding in Peru's Andes — until a California scientist showed up.

Manson Family's plot to expand to Northern Calif. may have ended in murder

Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 16d

A forgotten arrest and an unsolved double homicide tether Mendocino County to California's darkest cult

Northern California's fog and forests still carry Manson's shadow.

One of the most photographed houses in California forbids visitors

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Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 18d

A private club preserves Eureka's Carson Mansion, the grandest Victorian in California.

From the street, it's iconic. From the inside, it's a mystery.

A Northern California coastal town bets big on a historic inn

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Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 21d

Inside a comeback bid for a century-old inn on the Mendocino Coast.

Inside a comeback bid for a century-old inn on the California coast.

Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 24d

That’s exactly why I framed the closure as a corporate failure: because while ownership walked away, the community is still fighting to preserve local journalism. That tension — loss from the top, resilience from the ground up — is the heart of this story.

Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 24d

You’re right — nuance and recent context are part of the picture. And you’re also right that the emergence of Redwood Voice and the effort to buy the paper show the community isn’t giving up.

Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 24d

The real story here isn’t one man’s reputation. It’s that an entire county has lost its newspaper, and the people who relied on it for accountability and local reporting are the ones left paying the price.

Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 24d

If Country Media had cared about the integrity of its paper of record, they would have recognized the problems you mention and replaced leadership. That’s what responsible ownership does. Instead, they let it deteriorate and then pulled the plug.

Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 24d

I don’t disagree that Gitlan was divisive — plenty of people in Del Norte remember his baggage. But reducing the closure of a nearly 150-year-old paper to the actions of one person misses the larger truth. The Triplicate was bigger than any single editor or publisher.

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Matt LaFever @mattlafever.bsky.social · 24d

I’m gonna call bull on that analysis. Editors, of course, can be polarizing, but ownership can right that ship if they see fit. Clearly Country Media, Inc. didn’t value the Triplicate enough to do so.