Latest news with #JaredHuffman
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Skull found on California beach three decades ago connected to missing teacher
A human skull discovered on a California beach in 1993 has been identified as belonging to a beloved schoolteacher who vanished without a trace in 1987. The decades-old case breakthrough came after advanced DNA testing matched the skull to 48-year-old Kay Josephine Medin through a sample provided by her daughter. The identification was made possible by the forensic genealogy firm Othram, which specializes in solving cold cases using DNA analysis, KRCR reported. 'This week, Josephine Medin's loved ones got the answers they've needed for 32 years since her disappearance. I hope this discovery helps them find peace and closure,' US Representative Jared Huffman wrote on X. Medin, a teacher at Hyampom School, was last seen on August 3, 1987, when her husband, Nickolas Medin, returned home from a work trip to find her missing. Her purse and other 'personal property' were found at the residence, suggesting she had intended to return. However, despite extensive searches by local volunteers in the rugged terrain surrounding their home, there was no sign of the missing schoolteacher. Several months later, in November 1987, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) received an anonymous package containing some of Medin's skeletal remains. The package also included an anonymous letter directing investigators to additional remains near Ammon Ridge Road in eastern Humboldt County - about 45 miles from her home. In February of 1993, the Fortuna Police Department contacted the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office to report the discovery of a woman's partial human skull found on the beach near Trinidad Head - about 100 miles from Medin's home. Pictured: Trinidad Beach in Humboldt County, California The remains were positively identified through dental records, but the cause of her death remained undetermined and no suspects were arrested. A death certificate was later issued for Medin in 1988, however, she remained listed as a missing person as there was not a complete body recovery. Years later, in February of 1993, the Fortuna Police Department contacted the HCSO to report the discovery of a woman's partial human skull found on the beach near Trinidad Head - about 100 miles from Medin's home. The mysterious skull however remained unidentified until recent DNA testing confirmed its identity. The circumstances of how the beloved teacher's remains were dispersed over such a wide area remain unclear, and her death has since been considered a homicide. Authorities have stated that Medin's husband, who reported her missing, is not considered a suspect, as he died in 2018. The case was only reopened after Huffman secured federal funding to help clear a backlog of unidentified remains cases. Using these funds, the HCSO submitted the mysterious skull to Othram's lab in The Woodlands, Texas, to determine if DNA testing could yield new information. Several months later, Othram provided investigators with new leads, including the possible identity of the skull's owner. The discovery led to a follow-up investigation and the identification of a potential relative. The California Department of Justice compared the relative's DNA to the profile developed from the skull, confirming it belonged to Kay Josephine Medin - also known as Kay Adams at the time she was reported missing in 1987, according to Investigators continue to seek answers in the hopes of uncovering the truth behind Medin's disappearance and death. Anyone with information is urged to contact Humboldt County Investigator Mike Fridley at 707-441-3024.
Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
How did the House spend this morning? Changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Representative Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, called the bill 'deeply unserious' multiple times throughout the more than hour long debate. 'This majority keeps replacing science with slogans, governance with grievance, and policy making with cheap performance art,' Huffman said. 'The truth is, this bill won't fix a single problem. It does absolutely nothing to help the Gulf Coast. It won't create a single job. It's not going to fix our climate crisis. It's just dumb. The only thing this bill will do is waste time and your taxpayer dollars to stroke the ego of a guy who Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up While Greene and Republican Representative Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, championed the bill on the House floor, Fox News reported, Still, Advertisement Greene defended the bill on the House floor as an important step to building up American pride. At one point, she compared renaming the gulf to the pride a parent takes in naming their child. Advertisement 'Names matter, and the Democrats know that parents take a lot of time when they think about what to name a child that they're happy to welcome in the world, because they have pride,' she said. 'As we rename the gulf, the Gulf of America, we are also taking pride in those waters.' Greene, at one point, falsely asserted that the United States owns the gulf. 'This is such an important thing to do for the American people,' she said. 'They deserve pride in the waters that we own.' In reality, the American, Mexican, and Cuban governments each Rep. Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, started his debate time with an attempt at humor. 'Live from Washington DC, this is Saturday Night Live!' he said, in a riff on the famous opening of the sketch comedy show. 'You can't make this up. ...Republicans think this juvenile legislation is the best use of this house's time. This is the only thing we're doing today, folks. What a sick joke.' Julian E.J. Sorapuru can be reached at
E&E News
06-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
What to expect during the big Natural Resources markup
House Natural Resources Republicans are aiming to advance their part of the GOP's tax, energy and national security megabill Tuesday. And while committee Democrats are powerless to stop it, they plan to make the process as painful as possible. The Democrats, led by ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), plan to launch a bombardment of more than 100 amendments to the bill during the full committee markup, according to an aide granted anonymity to speak on the plans. Huffman has called the bill 'worse than anything I could have imagined.' The amendments will span a wide breadth of the bill, aiming to strike controversial permitting provisions, block new oil and gas leasing and safeguard public lands. Advertisement While most or all will fail, the markup will offer an opportunity for the Democrats to pick apart the Republican bill that holds the keys to President Donald Trump's domestic agenda and his promises to 'drill, baby, drill.'
San Francisco Chronicle
27-04-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Secluded Bay Area beach town getting post office back after residents' ‘monumental effort'
The secluded West Marin beach town of Bolinas is finally getting its post office back, marking the culmination of a more than two-year-long fight to restore services. The U.S. Postal Service announced Friday that it would resume operations in Bolinas, an unincorporated township 20 miles northwest of San Francisco, by early fall after the completion of 'all necessary construction.' The Postal Service said in a statement that it 'sincerely appreciates its customers and thanks them for their patience as efforts are made to reopen the location back in the Bolinas community.' The anticipated reopening follows a rigorous campaign by residents to save the post office. They launched an online petition, persuaded Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, to lobby U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, marched in local parades and performed Postal Service-themed songs and poems at community rallies. John Borg, one of the Bolinas residents who spearheaded the campaign to reclaim the community's post office, called it a 'monumental effort,' driven by residents without much political representation. 'Being just a small town with volunteer activists working on it, we didn't have necessarily have a lot of juice with the Postal Service,' Borg said. 'So the town is extremely happy. … This is a new chapter.' Originally established in 1863 when Bolinas was a popular lodging outpost, the post office temporarily shuttered in March 2023 amid a dispute over the lease. The post office was located in a commercial space at 20 Brighton Ave. for more than 60 years until a disagreement over asbestos in the building sparked a sudden lease termination by the Postal Service. Only a small portion of the artsy coastal community's roughly 1,500 residents receive home mail delivery, which means that for the past two years hundreds of residents have been forced to make long journeys to retrieve their mail and packages. Services were temporarily relocated to Olema, a 40-minute round trip from Bolinas, and then later to Stinson Beach, which cut the trek roughly in half. For residents of Bolinas, which for decades has been a place for hippies, artists and surfers to escape into nature, the post office served as a cherished gathering spot and a critical lifeline, especially for elderly locals who depended on it for their medications. 'When a main meeting place like the post office goes away, it really kind of chips away at the soul of the town, and it creates a void in our downtown,' Borg said. 'People are having to go to other post office to get their mail, so they're going to do their grocery shopping there, and there's a lot of residual implications of the closure.' Borg and other Bolinas residents spent the first year of the closure working on a plan to establish a temporary post office in a Bolinas parking lot. They consulted with postal experts, created architectural designs and developed budgets, but their proposal was rejected by the Postal Service, according to Borg. So instead, they went to the post office's longtime landlord and brought the two parties back together for another round of negotiations. After President Donald Trump got elected and his administration began making significant government cuts, many residents lost hope. Yet Borg and other activists remained steadfast. 'It's been a long time coming,' Borg said, 'but we were able to persevere.'
San Francisco Chronicle
26-04-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Secluded Bay Area beach town getting its post office back after a yearslong fight
The secluded West Marin beach town of Bolinas is finally getting its post office back, marking the culmination of a more than two-year-long fight to restore services. The U.S. Postal Service announced Friday that it would resume operations in Bolinas, an unincorporated township 20 miles northwest of San Francisco, by early fall after the completion of 'all necessary construction.' The anticipated reopening follows a rigorous campaign by residents to save the post office. They launched an online petition, persuaded Rep. Jared Huffman to lobby U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, marched in local parades and performed Postal Service-themed songs and poems at community rallies. Originally established in 1863 when Bolinas was a popular lodging outpost, the post office temporarily shuttered in March 2023 amid a dispute over the lease. The post office was located in a commercial space at 20 Brighton Ave. for more than 60 years until a disagreement over asbestos in the building sparked a sudden lease termination by the Postal Service. Only a small portion of the artsy coastal community's roughly 1,500 residents receive home mail delivery, which means that for the past two years hundreds of residents have been forced to make long journeys to retrieve their mail and packages. Services were temporarily relocated to Olema, a 40-minute round trip from Bolinas, and then later to Stinson Beach, which cut the trek roughly in half. For residents of Bolinas, which for decades has been a place for hippies, artists and surfers to escape into nature, the post office served as a cherished gathering spot and a critical lifeline, especially for elderly locals who depended on it for their medications. In a statement, the Postal Service said it 'sincerely appreciates its customers and thanks them for their patience as efforts are made to reopen the location back in the Bolinas community.'
