SUSANVILLE, Calif. – The Bureau of Land Management has announced opening of the North Eagle Lake and Pit River campgrounds and the Hobo Camp Day Use area in northeast California for the warm weather recreation season. The campgrounds open Wednesday, May 1; Hobo Camp opens Wednesday, May 17.

The North Eagle Lake Campground northwest of Susanville has 20 developed campsites available on a first-come, first-served basis. The campground has potable water and sites that can accommodate RVs up to 35 feet long. The fee is $8 per night. A camp host is on site.

Also at the north shore of Eagle Lake, the BLM offers Eagle Lake shoreline camping at the undeveloped Rocky Point East and Rocky Point West areas. There are no facilities or services, and the sites are best for fully self-contained camping. There are no fees, but donations are accepted. The sites are open all year, weather permitting. There are information boards and vault toilets at Rocky Point East.

The Pit River Campground, near the community of Fall River Mills in eastern Shasta County, offers eight campsites, a group campsite, a kayak launch facility and a fishing pier for those with disabilities. The fee is $8 nightly and $12 per night for the group campsite. A camp host is on site.

At Hobo Camp, the main vehicle gate off South Street on Hobo Camp Road at the west edge of Susanville will be open daily from 8 a.m. to a half-hour after sunset through the season. Exceptions are Saturday, May 17, and Saturday, May 24, when the gate will open at 5 a.m. to allow early fishing access for the Lassen County Junior Fishing Derby and for the opening day of the California stream fishing season, respectively.

Hobo Camp is also accessible to walkers, bicyclists and horseback riders using the Bizz Johnson Trail from the Susanville Railroad Depot Visitor Center and trailheads on Lassen Street and Miller Road in Susanville. It offers picnic tables, grilling grates and fire rings, open space for outdoor games, toilets and parking areas in a pine grove setting. There is parking for large vehicles and trailers, including horse trailers. A host is on site. There are no fees.

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Election Law

Who won election to top North Carolina court? Case belongs in state court, for now, 4th Circuit says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 5, 2025, 3:03 pm CST

A federal court shouldn’t decide lawsuits over a contested election for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, at least not yet, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia, ruled Tuesday.

The 4th Circuit ruled in consolidated appeals stemming from the race between the Democratic incumbent, Justice Allison Riggs, and her Republican challenger, North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin.

Law360, the Associated Press, the New York Times and the News & Observer have coverage, while How Appealing linked to the per curiam, unpublished Feb. 4 opinion.

Riggs leads by 734 votes, but Griffin is questioning the counting of about 66,000 ballots, according to the AP. Griffin wants to throw out ballots in which voters did not prove identity with a driver’s license or partial Social Security number when they registered to vote. He is also seeking to toss overseas ballots, including those cast by voters who didn’t produce a photo ID with their absentee ballots.

Riggs and the North Carolina State Board of Elections wanted two cases filed by Griffin transferred to federal court.

“While Riggs and the State Board of Elections argued that his case implicated national election laws,” the News & Observer reports, “Griffin argued that it should be left to the jurisdiction of North Carolina courts—where Republican judges predominate.”

The New York Times reports that the case has “unsettled election experts and government watchdogs across the country, who say that overturning the election would undermine democracy and provide a blueprint for doing it again in the future.”

Judges on the 4th Circuit panel were Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush; Judge Marvin Quattlebaum Jr., an appointee of President Donald Trump; and Judge Toby J. Heytens, an appointee of former President Joe Biden.

One case filed by Griffin asked the North Carolina Supreme Court to stop the elections board from counting challenged ballots. Another asked the superior court in Wake County, North Carolina, to review the elections board’s rulings against him.

The 4th Circuit ruled that Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II was correct when he refused to assert federal jurisdiction. But Myers, a judge in the Eastern District of North Carolina, should have based his decision on the Pullman doctrine, the 4th Circuit said. That doctrine can be applied when there are unclear issues of state law that once resolved could moot federal constitutional issues.

Under the doctrine, the federal court retains jurisdiction of the federal constitutional claims, while state court issues are addressed in state court.

The 4th Circuit provided an example of how the federal case could become moot. If the elections board prevailed on state law issues, the resolution of federal claims may not be necessary, the appeals court said.

Another section of the opinion addressed Griffin’s writ of prohibition filed with the North Carolina Supreme Court, which dismissed the application Jan. 22. That sent the case back to state court in Wake County.

Because the appeal had asked the 4th Circuit to retrieve the case from the North Carolina Supreme Court, the issue is moot, the 4th Circuit said.

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