MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – A suspect being sought in connection with a double homicide in Trinity County was killed Monday night in a vehicle crash in Mendocino County.

The man, whose name was not released pending notifications of family, was killed in a crash that occurred at around 7 p.m. Monday, according to a report from Mendocino Sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb.

At 6:20 p.m. Monday the Mendocino County Sheriffs Office received an agency assist “be on the look out” bulletin from Trinity County Sheriffs Department regarding a double homicide, Smallcomb said.

He said that the Trinity County Sheriff's Office advised they had an outstanding suspect – who they alleged was responsible for a double fatal stabbing – flee Trinity County at approximately 5 p.m. Sunday and a possible route of travel would be Mina Road en route to Highway 162 through Covelo.

Smallcomb said the suspect vehicle was described as a teal-colored, small four-door sedan with Oregon license plates. The suspect was described as a white male adult with a beard.

Deputies left the Willits area en route to Covelo via Highway 162. Smallcomb said that at approximately 6:45 p.m. deputies were driving on Highway 162 towards Covelo when, at approximately mile post marker 10, they parked their car so they could see the roadway and anyone traveling along its path.

Soon after parking along the road, they observed the suspect pass them and continue driving west on Highway 162, according to Smallcomb.

Deputies attempted to make a vehicle stop but Smallcomb said the suspect failed to yield and a pursuit was initiated.

Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies requested the assistance of Willits Police Department and the California Highway Patrol. Smallcomb said deputies followed the suspect at speeds ranging from 60 to 90 miles per hour.

The suspect then turned south onto Highway 101 towards Willits, with a single sheriff's unit continuing the pursuit, Smallcomb said.

Smallcomb said that at approximately mile marker 54 near Appliance Lane, which is north of Willits, the suspect lost control of his vehicle and struck a large oak tree.

Deputies responded to the wrecked vehicle along with medical personnel and observed the suspect had succumbed to injuries received from the accident, he said.

The California Highway Patrol conducted the accident investigation and Trinity County is continuing their investigation into the suspect driver's involvement with the double homicide in their county, according to Smallcomb.

He said a forensic autopsy will be conducted on the decedent later in the week, and authorities are attempting to locate the decedent's next of kin prior to releasing his name.

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NAPA COUNTY, Calif. – Downed power lines were ruled the cause of two Sunday structure fires in unincorporated Napa County.

Firefighters responded to the blazes early Sunday evening, according to Cal Fire Battalion Chief Pete Muñoa, who also serves as Napa County fire marshal.

Just after 6 p.m. Cal Fire units and the Napa County Fire Department were dispatched to power lines down at 360 Clark Way, Angwin in unincorporated Napa County, Muñoa said.

When personnel arrived at the location, they observed dark smoke emitting from the 900-square-foot residence. Muñoa said firefighters took action and opened up the ceiling in the kitchen area as well as an exterior wall to find the fire actively burning.

He said their aggressive suppression efforts confined the fire to those areas, resulting in approximately $40,000 in damage but $110,000 in property saved.

During salvage and overhaul operations a second fire was reported at 358 Clark Way, a 2,100-square-foot duplex next to the original incident, Muñoa said.

Firefighters already at the scene initiated a fire attack and discovered a fire in the wall of the middle bedroom which they quickly extinguished, he reported. Damage was estimated at $15,000 with $230,000 in property saved.

Muñoa said investigators from Cal Fire and the Napa County Fire Marshal’s Office determined both of the fires to have been caused by an electrical malfunction from the downed power lines.

The Red Cross was called in to assist the displaced residents. No injuries were reported, he said.

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In the first census of its kind, research led by UC Davis and Stanford University found that there are far fewer white sharks off central California than biologists had thought.

The study, published in the journal Biology Letters, is the first rigorous scientific estimate of white shark numbers in the northeast Pacific Ocean. It is also the best estimate among the world's three known white shark populations. The others are in Australia/New Zealand and South Africa.

The researchers went out into the Pacific Ocean in small boats to places where white sharks congregate.

They lured the sharks into photo range using a seal-shaped decoy on a fishing line. From 321 photographs of the uniquely jagged edges of white sharks’ dorsal fins, they identified 131 individual sharks.

From these data they used statistical methods to estimate that there are 219 adult and sub-adult white sharks in the region.

White sharks are classed as sub-adults when they reach about 8 to 9 feet in length and their dietary focus shifts from eating fish to mostly marine mammals. They are adults when they reach sexual maturity — for males, that is about 13 feet long; for females, it is about 15 feet.

“This low number was a real surprise,” said UC Davis doctoral student Taylor Chapple, the study's lead author. “It’s lower than we expected, and also substantially smaller than populations of other large marine predators, such as killer whales and polar bears. However, this estimate only represents a single point in time; further research will tell us if this number represents a healthy, viable population, or one critically in danger of collapse, or something in between.”

“We’ve found that these white sharks return to the same regions of the coast year after year,” said study co-author Barbara Block, a Stanford University marine biologist and a leading expert on sharks, tunas and billfishes. “It is this fact that makes it possible to estimate their numbers. Our goal is to keep track of our ocean predators.”

Satellite tagging studies have demonstrated that white sharks in the northeast Pacific make annual migrations from coastal areas in Central California and Guadalupe Island, Mexico, out to the Hawaiian Islands or to the “White Shark Café,” a region of the open ocean between the Baja Peninsula and Hawaii where white sharks have been found to congregate — and then they return to the coastal areas.

In addition to Block and Chapple (who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Germany), the study’s co-authors are Loo Botsford, professor, and Peter Klimley, adjunct associate professor, both of the UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology; postdoctoral researcher Salvador Jorgensen of Stanford University, who is now a research scientist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium; researcher Scot Anderson of Point Reyes National Seashore; and graduate student Paul Kanive of Montana State University in Bozeman.

The research was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Fisheries through the Partnership for Education in Marine Resource and Ecosystem Management (PEMREM) and the NOAA Fisheries/Sea Grant Fellowship Program; the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; the National Park Service’s Pacific Coast Science and Learning Center; Monterey Bay Aquarium; UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory; and Patricia King, a member of the Point Reyes National Seashore Association.

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UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Efforts are under way to contain the water escaping from a leaking levee in the Middle Creek area while officials assess how to repair the damage.

The 1950s-era levee is located off of Reclamation Road – between Nice and Upper Lake – and along a section of Rodman Slough on Clear Lake.

Lake County Water Resources Director Scott De Leon said he received a report at around 9:30 a.m. Monday that the levee was leaking.

The leak is located at the site of two large pipes that stretch from a nearby pump station through the levee and into the Rodman Slough. De Leon said the leak was next to the larger pipe.

“The water's gotten in alongside of the pipe,” and formed a channel for the leak, said De Leon.

When he arrived on scene at around 10 a.m., De Leon estimated that about 100 gallons of water a minute was escaping the hole that had developed in the levee.

The Lake County Office of Emergency Services had arranged the help of two California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation hand crews, which were on scene and working to fill an estimated 3,000 sandbags.

Working with the crews were three local residents who volunteered their help, among them Philip Rooney and son Matthew, both nearly waist-deep in cold water, placing the sandbags.

Volunteers and two California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation hand crews work to create a secondary containment area to capture water escaping through a breach in a levee in the Middle Creek area along the Rodman Slough in Lake County, Calif., on Monday, March 14, 2011. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.

The levee is maintained by the California Department of Water Resources. An advance team of three Department of Water Resources officials arrived shortly before 2 p.m., and said a flood fight specialist with the department was en route to assess the damage.

Although the National Weather Service in Sacramento issued a flash flood warning that was in effect until Tuesday morning, officials at the scene were not expecting widespread flooding.

However, voluntary evacuations were in effect for six homes in the area based on the recommendation of the Office of Emergency Services, De Leon said.

Hand crew members toss sandbags to each other while creating the containment area on the breached levee along the Rodman Slough in Lake County, Calif., on Monday, March 14, 2011. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.

In addition to Lake County Water Resources and Lake County Office of Emergency Services, Northshore Supervisor Denise Rushing, Northshore Fire Chief Jim Robbins and Deputy Chief Pat Brown, Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells, and Robinson Rancheria Tribal Police were on scene to monitor the situation.

More state and local officials continued to arrive throughout the afternoon, bringing with them more sandbags and equipment.

De Leon sent Water Resources Engineer Tom Smythe to get a pump to help take some of the pressure off of the leak.

Rushing, who left the site at about 3 p.m., was concerned about the amount of water still escaping the levee.

Water also was coming through the sandbags. “There is a risk that they might not hold,” she said, noting that the teams of emergency responders were continuing to work on the levee.

Lt. Dave Perry of the Office of Emergency Services said area residents with questions about the levee break can call the sheriff's main office at 707-262-4200.

Lake County News will continue to follow the situation as it develops. Watch this site, Facebook and Twitter for updates.

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Meyer lemons have a delicate flavor, and seem available for only a short time in the year. Photo by Esther Oertel.

I had an entirely different subject on which I was going to expound this weekend; however, a recent trip to my local market changed all that.

There, in my line of sight as I entered the doors, was a pile of local Meyer lemons. I long for these year round, making it a cause for celebration whenever they’re available.

Maybe it’s me, but it feels like their season is here for just a few minutes each year, and I try to take advantage of every second of it.

Meyer lemons have a more delicate flavor than typical supermarket lemons, which is why I love them so much. They’re not as hardy in terms of shelf life, so – at least in my neck of the woods – they make a brief appearance when local growers have them available, which, depending on the characteristics of the season, can be any time between December and March.

Trees can produce year round, but the majority of the crop arrives in winter. If you have a Meyer lemon tree, or a generous neighbor with one, you are blessed indeed.

The Meyer lemon originated in China and is thought to be a cross between a true lemon and either a Mandarin or common orange.

They were introduced to the U.S. in 1908 by Frank Meyer, an agricultural explorer who was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; hence the name Meyer lemon.

The fruit is yellower and rounder than a true lemon, even leaning toward a pale orange tone in some cases. Their flesh is sweeter and less acidic than the Lisbon or Eureka lemons commonly found in stores.

Though they’ve been cultivated in the U.S. since just after the turn of the last century, it wasn’t until the California cuisine revolution (beginning in the 1970s and inspired by such chefs as Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley) that they became popular in cuisine. Martha Stewart further popularized them through her use of them in recipes.

The more acidic cousins of Meyer lemons work better in some recipes. Hollandaise sauce, for example, doesn’t contain enough of its characteristic tartness if Meyer lemons are used. However, other than a few exceptions, I prefer the gentleness of Meyer lemons in almost every culinary application.

One of my favorite things to do when they’re in season is make lemon curd, a fruit spread that’s popular in the United Kingdom. Traditionally used on scones, breads and cookies, it can also be a base for lemon meringue pie or a filling for tarts.

Jars of homemade lemon curd make fantastic Christmas gifts, but I recommend making double batches so some will survive enthusiastic tasting during the cooking process.

I made my first homemade batch a couple of years ago in preparation for an English tea culinary class and have been addicted to its sweet-tart creamy goodness since then.

It contains just four ingredients – butter, sugar, eggs and lemon (using both the fresh juice and zest) – but don’t be fooled by its simplicity.

The gentle tartness from Meyer lemons, sweetness from sugar, and richness from butter and eggs combines to form a pleasingly balanced taste. And the plethora of zest adds nice texture.

Meyer lemons are a wonderful match for Moroccan cuisine, where they’re used in chicken and lamb dishes, salads and desserts.

Lemons are quite popular in Morocco, where, among other things, they’re pickled (preserved in salt) as a means to keep them without refrigeration.

Many Moroccan recipes call for such preserved lemons, which add an intense salty-tangy taste to traditional dishes there.

Lemon zest, garlic and fresh parsley are the three components needed to make gremolata, a condiment that originated in Italy. Photo by Esther Oertel.

Preserved lemons are sometimes sold in specialty stores, where they can be very expensive. I once bought a jar for close to $7 which contained only two preserved lemons. (Foolish, yes, but I needed them for a class.)

They can be made cheaply and easily at home, a perfect use for the wonderful Meyer lemons available seasonally. It takes time for the flavor to develop, but the effort is well worth it.

You’ll need sterilized glass jars, lemons, salt (additive-free kosher salt is recommended), time, and lots of patience.

Wash the lemons and make four deep lengthwise cuts that divide it into four sections while keeping the lemon whole. (It should be attached at the end.)

Pack the cuts generously with salt. Put a couple tablespoons of salt in the bottom of a glass jar and pack the lemons in layers, spreading a thin layer of salt between each layer of lemons.

Push the lemons down firmly to pack them tightly and to express some of their juice. Finish with a final layer of salt.

Cover the jar tightly and leave at room temperature for a few days, monitoring the level of liquid in the jar. Because the salt draws out their juices, the lemons should be submerged after a few days. If they’re not, add more lemon juice.

They should be ready to eat within a few weeks and will keep for up to a year. The flavor develops as they age; in fact, they should be heavenly by the sixth month.

They don’t require refrigeration, but I store them there after the first few weeks.

In addition to using preserved lemons in Moroccan food, wedges of them may be tossed into the cooking water of rice or couscous in place of salt, paper thin slices of them can garnish a pizza, and their flavor can enhance grain salads or tomato dishes.

Lemon is often paired with lavender, and Meyer lemons make an especially pleasant match. Lavender scones may be topped with lemon curd, for example, or lavender-infused syrup may be used to sweeten lemonade.

The time to preserve or use Meyer lemons is the moment you see them available at your local grocer, farmers’ market, or tree. If nothing else, zest and juice them immediately.

The juice may be frozen in ice cube trays and then stored in zipper sealed bags in the freezer until used.

The thin, yellow outer skin – also known as the zest – may be grated and left to dry on sheets of waxed paper. Once dried, it may be stored, like the juice cubes, in the freezer in zipper sealed bags.

Lemon butter may be made by blending fresh juice and zest with softened butter at room temperature, either by hand or in a food processor.

Use immediately, store in the fridge, or freeze by making lemon-butter logs. (This is done by rolling the butter into logs in waxed paper and storing in freezer bags, either whole or sliced into medallions.)

Or simply enjoy these fragrant lemons now, as they are, squeezed over a piece of fish or lightly steamed vegetables, with honey in tea, or baked into muffins, breads, or cakes.

Whatever you do, breathe deeply of their sweet scent and enjoy these fleeting moments when Meyer lemons abound.

Today’s recipe is gremolata (sometimes spelled gremolada), a bright and lively condiment made with parsley, garlic, and lemon zest that originated in Italy. It’s traditionally served as a garnish for a braised veal shank dish native to Milan known as osso buco, but is delicious on many foods, including fish, poultry, pasta, vegetables and roasted potatoes.

Gremolata always includes grated lemon peel, but beyond that there is considerable variation. The most common recipes include parsley and garlic; however, mint, anchovies, rosemary, or sage may sometimes be added.

Here is my version, which may be used to garnish any dish to which you’d like to add a burst of citrusy flavor. It’s especially good for lightening up hearty, heavy dishes. Enjoy!

Gremolata

¼ cup finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Grated zest of one fresh lemon

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl an hour or so before you plan to serve it so the flavors combine nicely. It’s best made fresh and will keep up to a day in the fridge.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The annual year in review for the local watershed groups is always a fun, informative evening, and this year’s event will be no exception.

Mark your calendar for Thursday, March 24, and join local watershed groups at the Lower Lake School House Museum, 16435 Morgan Valley Road in Lower Lake.

The doors will open at 6 p.m., with the event beginning immediately following the potluck.

Bring a dish that's ready to be shared with your friends and neighbors, and be prepared to honor the volunteers who work to make your communities and watersheds a better place to live.

Greg Dills, district manager and watershed coordinator for the East Lake and West Lake Resource Conservation Districts will show highlights of activities by the watershed groups in the Upper Cache Creek Watershed.

Dills will also present information about the activities and projects of the county's resource conservation districts.

Friends and neighbors of volunteers from the Big Valley Watershed Council, Chi Council for the Clear Lake hitch, Lower Lake Watershed Council, Middle Creek CRMP, Nice Watershed Council, and Scotts Creek Watershed Council are especially encouraged to attend.

A Volunteer of the Year Award will be presented to an outstanding member from the active watershed groups.

The West Lake Resource Conservation District will also be presenting their annual Partner of the Year Award.

A special treat this year will be a presentation by the Tribe’s ongoing work they're doing to help preserve the Clear Lake hitch.

The evening is one of celebration for the work the watershed groups do throughout the year, and is being hosted by the Lower Lake Watershed Council.

Each year the public is invited to attend the event to learn more about the contributions these ambitious volunteers make to their communities.

There's been a recent focus on illegal dumping activities, and various concerns are being expressed regarding the health of the watersheds in Lake County.

Be a part of what your community can do to help with these issues – join a watershed group.

For more information about these organizations, please visit www.lakecountyrcds.org.

There will be good food, great volunteers and caring members of the community… the perfect combination for a successful annual meeting.

For more information, contact Greg Dills, 707-263-4180, Extension 102.

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Matthew William Bronsert, 41, of Clearlake, Calif., was arrested early on Sunday, March 13, 2011, after leading a police officer and a sheriff's deputy on a high speed chase. Lake County Jail photo.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Clearlake man was arrested early Sunday morning after leading a Clearlake Police officer and a sheriff's deputy on a high speed chase, reaching speeds of more than 100 miles per hour.

Arrested was Matthew William Bronsert, 41, according to the report from Clearlake Police Sgt. Tim Hobbs.

Hobbs reported that at 1:50 a.m. Sunday Clearlake Police Officer Travis Lenz – who had observed Bronsert driving at a high rate of speed on Lakeshore Drive near Old Highway 53 – attempted to conduct a traffic stop on Bronsert's 1986 Honda hatchback at the intersection of Highway 53 and Lakeshore Drive.

Hobbs said Bronsert failed to pull over and evaded Lenz for approximately 14 miles at times reaching speeds over 100 miles per hour.

Bronsert drove to Clearlake Oaks then returned to the city of Clearlake on Sulphur Bank Drive, then traveled through the Clearlake Park area and ended up driving into a field on Eastlake Drive Extension,

Hobbs said.

Hobbs said Bronsert then rammed his vehicle into a marked Lake County Sheriff’s Office Patrol vehicle, which had joined the pursuit at Country Club and 16th Street in Clearlake.

The deputy used the patrol vehicle to make a forcible stop of Bronsert’s vehicle and Bronsert was taken into custody, according to Hobbs.

Hobbs said that after he was medically treated, Bronsert was booked into the Lake County Jail for felony evading and assault with a deadly weapon against the Lake County Sheriff’s deputy, a misdemeanor bench warrant and misdemeanor driving with a suspended driver’s license.

Bail was set at $25,000, according to jail records. Bronsert remained in custody late Sunday.

The only passenger in the vehicle, Angelina Fayette Ketchum, 34, of Clearlake, had exited the vehicle at the intersection of Highway 53 and Highway 20 as Bronsert was driving towards Clearlake Oaks, Hobbs said.

Ketchum was later located and arrested for public intoxication while walking down Highway 53. Bail was set at $1,000. Jail records indicated she was released later on Sunday.

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The orbit of the Southern Delta Aquarid meteor (red) was a good match to that of the parent comet (blue).

Stand out under the stars for more than half an hour on a clear night and you'll likely see a few of the meteors produced by the onslaught. But where does all this stuff come from? Surprisingly, the answer is not well known.

Now NASA is deploying a network of smart cameras across the United States to answer the question,

What's hitting Earth?

Did that meteor you saw blazing through the sky last night come from the asteroid belt? Was it created in a comet's death throes? Or was it a piece of space junk meeting a fiery demise?

“When I get to work each morning and power up my computer, there's an email waiting with answers,” said William Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. “And I don't have to lift a finger, except to click my mouse button."

Groups of smart cameras in the new meteor network triangulate the fireballs' paths, and special software uses the data to compute their orbits and email Cooke his morning message.

“If someone calls me and asks 'What was that?' I'll be able to tell them. We'll have a record of every big meteoroid that enters the atmosphere over the certain parts of the U.S. Nothing will burn up in those skies without me knowing about it!”

In other U.S. meteor networks, someone has to manually look at all the cameras' data and calculate the orbits – a painstaking process.

“With our network, our computers do it for us – and fast,” said Cooke.

The network's first three cameras, each about the size of a gumball machine, are already up and running. Cooke's team will soon have 15 cameras deployed east of the Mississippi River, with plans to expand nationwide. Cooke is actively seeking schools, science centers, and planetaria willing to host his cameras. Criteria are listed in the notes at the end of this story.

In addition to tracking fireballs and their orbits, Cooke's system gives him other valuable information.

“It provides data on meteor speed as a function of size – and this is critical to calibrating the models we use in designing spacecraft.”

Meteorite hunters will reap benefits too. By determining a bright fireball's trajectory through the atmosphere, the network's software can calculate whether it will plunge to Earth and pinpoint the impact location fairly precisely.

“And when we collect the meteorite chunks, we'll know their source. I could be holding a piece of Vesta in my hand. It would be like a free sample return mission!”

Opportunities like that, however, will be rare.

NASA's Smart Meteor Network is catching more than fireballs. In this movie, a bird stops to rest on one of the cameras in Georgia. Apparently, spiders like the cameras, too.

“Most meteorites fall in the ocean, lakes, forests, farmer's fields, or the Antarctic,” said Rhiannon Blaauw, who assists Cooke. “And the majority of those meteorites will never be found. But our system will help us track down more of them.”

All cameras in the network send their fireball information to Cooke and to a public Web site, http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov.

Teachers can contact Cooke at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request teacher workshop slides containing suggestions for classroom use of the data. Students can learn to plot fireball orbits and speeds, where the objects hit the ground, how high in the atmosphere the fireballs burn up, etc.

Cooke gives this advice to students and others who want to try meteor watching on their own:

“Go out on a clear night, lie flat on your back, and look straight up. It will take 30 to 40 minutes for your eyes to become light adapted, so be patient. By looking straight up, you may catch meteor streaks with your peripheral vision too. You don't need any special equipment – just your eyes.”

One more thing – don't forget to check the Web site to find out what you saw!

Dauna Coulter works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Twenty-two year old rookie Kyla Durham from Lake County finished 11^th in the 2011 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race last month.

She covered the 1,000 miles between Whitehorse, Yukon to Fairbanks, Alaska in 13 days 1 hour and 53 minutes, crossing the finish line on Friday, Feb. 18, at 1:05 p.m.

She and her nine-dog team from Wild and Free Mushing were all in fine spirits.

Thirteen days earlier and back in Whitehorse, Clyde, one of Durham’s lead dogs, couldn’t wait to get

started, chewed his tug line, and took off on his own seconds before Durham’s start. Durham had him back in harness and pulling with the team 300 yards down the trail.

She started with 14 dogs, many of them under two years, but left five dogs with her handler at check points along the way.

Dogs that sprain a wrist, catch a virus or turn out just not to have it in them get a ride to the end of the race.

Although dogs can be dropped from the race team, no dogs can be added during the race.

This was an unusual year and 12 of the 25 mushers did not finish the race, including several of those thought to have a good chance of winning.

The weather was a big factor, but Durham and others at the back of the pack missed the worst of the storm that hit the front runners.

When asked if she was nervous about heading out into the storm that had caused several mushers to scratch from the race, Durham responded that she preferred “delusional happiness” to worrying.

Durham was running a team of young dogs, training them up for Brent Sass, fellow musher, and owner of Wild and Free Mushing.

Sass was there when Durham arrived at the finish line as was her mother, visiting from Northern California to see her daughter living her dream and finishing her first Yukon Quest.

To see Kyla Durham in action, visit the following links:

http://s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy324/auntreen/Yukon%20Quest%202011%20%20Kyla%20Durham%20start/?action=view&current=MVI_4390.mp4 .

http://www.youtube.com/TheYukonQuest#p/u/3/r7P7Aoz4Oz8 .

http://www.facebook.com/YukonQuest#!/video/video.php?v=726275222375&oid=49609734489&comments .

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Freedom of Information Audits and Government Transparency from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.

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The Obama administration is only about halfway toward its promise of improving Freedom of Information responsiveness among federal agencies, according to the new Knight Open Government Survey by the National Security Archive, released Sunday for Sunshine Week.

On his first day in office in January 2009, President Barack Obama issued a presidential memorandum instructing federal agencies to “usher in a new era of open government.”

In March 2010, however, the 2010 Knight Open Government Survey found that only 13 out of 90 agencies had actually made concrete changes in their FOIA procedures.

The resulting national headlines sparked a new White House call to all agencies to show concrete change.

This year, the 2011 Knight Open Government Survey found that a few more than half of the federal agencies have complied – up from 13 to 49.

“At this rate, the president’s first term in office may be over by the time federal agencies do what he asked them to do on his first day in office,” said Eric Newton, senior adviser to the president at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which funded the study. “Freedom of information laws exist to help all of us get the information we need for this open society to function. Yet government at all levels seems to have a great deal of trouble obeying its own transparency laws.”

Modeled after the California Sunshine Survey and subsequent state “FOI Audits,” the archive’s series of Knight Open Government Surveys, started in 2002, use open government laws to determine whether or not agencies are obeying those same laws.

Recommendations from previous Knight Open Government Surveys led directly to laws and executive orders which have: set explicit customer service guidelines, mandated FOIA backlog reduction, assigned individualized FOIA tracking numbers, forced agencies to report the average number of days needed to process requests and revealed the (often embarrassing) ages of the oldest pending FOIA requests.

“The Obama administration told us last year that one year was too short a time to show real change,” said Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive. “This year’s Knight Survey reveals a glass half full of open government, and some persisting deep problems, including FOIA requests marooned for years in never-ending referrals among agencies.”

The 2011 Knight Open Government Survey team filed FOIA requests with the 90 federal agencies that have chief FOIA officers, asking for copies of concrete changes in their FOIA regulations, manuals, training materials, or processing guidance as a result of the “Day One” Obama memorandum, and the March 2010 White House memorandum from then-Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and White House Counsel Bob Bauer.

The Emanuel-Bauer memo told agencies to 1) update all FOIA material, and 2) assess whether FOIA resources were adequate.

Several agencies demonstrated significant changes in their processes, major upgrades to their Web postings on FOIA, and improved responsiveness to requesters.

But others showed no change as of yet, or failed even to respond in a timely fashion to the Knight Survey requests.

In one egregious case, the U.S. Postal Service stated it had “no responsive records.” It said it had never received the Emanuel-Bauer memo asking for progress to be shown in response to President Obama’s first-day call for openness.

“Perhaps the Postal Service lost that memo in the mail,” commented Nate Jones, the Archive’s FOIA coordinator who managed the Knight Survey requests.

He noted that 18 agencies are still working on the request after 117 business days when the law requires 20, and that four agencies did not even acknowledge receiving the Archive’s FOIA request despite numerous calls and faxes.

“That indifference toward FOIA shows just how far some agencies lag behind implementing the law that President Obama called ‘a profound national commitment to ensuring an open government.’”

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The late Russell Rustici, a Lake County cattle rancher who had a scientist’s drive to understand the rangelands that were his livelihood, has left about $9.5 million to the University of California, Davis, to support research and outreach efforts addressing problems that face California cattle producers and rangelands.

Rustici’s gift establishes the Russell L. Rustici Rangeland and Cattle Research Endowment in the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The endowment will support applied research in water quality, rangeland ecology, animal health and other areas of importance to ranchers and residents across the state.

“Russell Rustici's bequest will assure the long-term health of rangelands and cattle ranching in California,” said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “His gifts will allow our researchers to solve ecosystem problems facing ranchers and help improve the quality of life for generations to come. Russell clearly understood how private donors can support our land-grant mission of solving society's problems.”

Rustici, who died in October 2008, fulfilled a lifelong dream to become a cattle rancher in Lake County after working many years in produce distribution.

As he became immersed in ranching, he sought to better understand the science behind rangeland and cattle management.

His bequest follows years of philanthropy in support of research at UC Davis.

In 2008, he gave $1.2 million to establish two endowed positions at the university: the Russell L. Rustici Endowed Chair in Rangeland Watershed Science and the Russell L. Rustici Endowed Specialist in Cooperative Extension in Rangeland Watershed Science.

The endowed chair position, held by Randy Dahlgren, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, is devoted to research that examines water quality, nutrient cycling and hydrology on rangeland watershed.

The endowed extension position, held by Cooperative Extension rangeland management specialist Kenneth Tate, is focused on helping livestock producers manage rangelands in ways that simultaneously improve both water quality and ranch profitability.

Rustici’s total gifts to UC Davis are expected to exceed $10.8 million once his estate has been fully distributed.

He is among the top 10 donors to The Campaign for UC Davis, which seeks to raise $1 billion by 2014 for expanding the university’s capacity to meet the world’s challenges and educate future leaders.

Rustici also has a park in Lower Lake named after him, and left a generous bequest to Carlé Continuation High School in Lower Lake, Calif.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A two-day enforcement sweep conducted by the Lake County Gang Task Force this week has resulted in a total of 17 arrests and the seizure of suspected methamphetamine.

On March 8 and 9, the Lake County Gang Task Force conducted more than 50 probation or parole searches in unincorporated county communities and the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport, according to a report from Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

The operation targeted validated gang members, known drug dealers and convicted sex registrants. Bauman said 14 of the total arrests included felony charges and the other three were classified as misdemeanors.

Arrests made during the two-day operation also resulted in nine parole violations, the execution of eight outstanding arrest warrants and two Immigration and Naturalization holds, Bauman said.

Arrests made during the two day operation included:

• Angel Rodriquez Jr., 33, for violation of parole;

• Steven Michael Pruitt, 25, for a misdemeanor warrant and possession of narcotics paraphernalia;

• Samuel William Rhea, 30, for a misdemeanor warrant;

• Paul Martinez, 40, for violation of parole;

• Javier Gonzalez Alvarez, 27, for possession of concentrated cannabis;

• Alejandro Jose Lopez, 29, for a misdemeanor warrant;

• Ronald Melvin Lebrun, 38, for a felony warrant and a misdemeanor warrant;

• Kelvin Lee Simpson, 44, for violation of parole;

• Cesario Angelo Jacobo, 35, for violation of parole;

• Doffus Lomack Gallon, 42, for violation of parole;

• Jose Matilde Vega, 25, for an immigration hold;

• Ivan Montalvo Vargas, 24, for possession of a controlled substance for sales, possession of marijuana for sales, a felony warrant and an immigration hold;

• John Girllmo Marquez, 46, for possession of a controlled substance for sales and a felony warrant;

• Joseph Robert Garcia, 37, for violation of parole;

• Charlene Marie Carver, 24, for violation of parole and felon in possession of tear gas;

• Thomatra Eugene Lyons, 32, for violation of parole;

• Dwayne Lenor Yiggins, 33, for violation of parole.

The Lake County Gang Task Force consists of members from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the Clearlake Police Department, the Lakeport Police Department, the Lake County Probation Department and the Lake County District Attorney’s Office.

This week’s operation was assisted by members of the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force, the Sheriff’s Narcotics Detection K-9 teams, California State Parole and the Department of Homeland Security.

Bauman said the Lake County Sheriff’s Office considered the two-day enforcement sweep a complete

success and attributed that success to the coordinated and cooperative effort of all the agencies that were involved.

Sheriff Frank Rivero expressed his deepest appreciation to the dedicated law enforcement professionals that participated in this operation and helped make Lake County a safer place to live.

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