Nathaniel Smith was at one time "known to every man, woman and child on the coast," according to an early account of his life. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, as a free person, he arrived in Mendocino on a whaling ship in 1851 as a young man. The Kelley House Museum is currently showing an exhibit chronicling his life, along with a timeline of historical events that affected him as a person of color.

Multiple large construction projects will cause traffic delays on Hwy 1 in Mendocino throughout this summer and next. The Jack Peters Bridge and Navarro Ridge projects bookend the central coast and will cause traffic delays for residents and tourists between the village of Mendocino and Navarro Ridge. The Elk Creek Bridge is between Elk and Manchester and will impact those going south from HWY 128 to Manchester, Point Arena, and Gualala. Robert King, Project Manager for Cal Trans provides summaries for each project and explains how they will impact Mendocino residents and tourists. The Jack Peters Bridge, Elk Creek Bridge, and Navarro Ridge projects will all be under construction for two years. The one-way traffic signals will be in place during the entire project even when construction is suspended for the winter. If you’re planning a trip to the Mendocino coast, this summer or next, you should be able to avoid the traffic delays by taking HWY 20. If you take HWY128 expect delays going north or south on HWY 1.

The Kelley House Museum put together a sold-out "Murder She Wrote" Festival to commemorate the popular mystery series starring the late Angela Lansbury. The series was partially filmed in Mendocino.

Cal Poly Humboldt remains closed after a multi-agency response to protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. In the leadup to the arrests of 32 people Monday night, local elected officials urged university leadership to exercise restraint. Lauren Schmidt of KMUD news reports.

Law enforcement from multiple agencies across the state cleared a protest at Cal Poly Humboldt on Monday, arresting between 25 and 32 people. While no instances of excessive force were reported, students, faculty and community members felt the response was excessive.Lauren Schmitt of KMUD news was on scene for more than twelve hours, documenting the event. The following is an excerpt from her hourlong broadcast.You can check out the full coverage on KMUD’s social media and website.

State-funded programs aimed at reducing recidivism have taken a hit this year, and uncertainty about the budget lingers. And the county is looking for a new contractor to provide a sober living environment to recently released inmates.The Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011 was supposed to reduce overcrowding in state prisons by placing the responsibility for adult offenders who would have gone to state prison onto the counties. That means low-level felons are now sentenced to county jails, often for lengthy terms, and supervised after their release by county probation departments. The state pays for it with realignment money, but the funding is not exactly the same every year, as Izen Locatelli, the county’s chief probation officer, reported to the Board of Supervisors last week.State-funded programs aimed at reducing recidivism have taken a hit this year, and uncertainty about the budget lingers. And the county is looking for a new contractor to provide a sober living environment to recently released inmates.The Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011 was supposed to reduce overcrowding in state prisons by placing the responsibility for adult offenders who would have gone to state prison onto the counties. That means low-level felons are now sentenced to county jails, often for lengthy terms, and supervised after their release by county probation departments. The state pays for it with realignment money, but the funding is not exactly the same every year, as Izen Locatelli, the county’s chief probation officer, reported to the Board of Supervisors last week.

Higher education officials in Ohio are reviewing race-based scholarships after last year's Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action.

An art installation called The Portal was shut down this week in New York and Dublin because of rude gestures and other bad public behavior, as NPR's Scott Simon explains.

Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism in the nation's K-12 schools has skyrocketed. These teens are working to get their attendance back on track.

At the height of the racial reckoning, a school district in Virginia voted to rename two schools that had been previously named for Confederate generals. This month, that decision was reversed.

Students arrested at Columbia University and the City College of New York spoke with NPR about their choice to risk legal and academic consequences.