Jesse Running Gonzalez, 18, of Kelseyville, California, was arrested on Tuesday, March 28, for attempted murder and attempted robbery. Lake County Jail photo. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Kelseyville teenager has been arrested after authorities said he was responsible for the shooting and attempted robbery of a man in Nice.
Jesse Running Gonzalez, 18, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and booked into the Hill Road Correctional Facility on charges of conspiracy to commit attempted murder and attempted robbery.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched to the area of Sentry Market in Nice at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday for a reported gunshot victim.
Deputies arrived on scene and located an adult male victim who was suffering from a gunshot wound to the arm, the sheriff’s office reported.
Authorities said the victim was transported to a hospital where he was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
Deputies were able to locate the original scene where the shooting took place, which was in the 4400 block of Lakeview Drive in Nice, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit responded and took over the investigation, officials said.
The sheriff’s office reported that detectives were able to identify a suspect in the case and tracked him to the Lakeport area.
Late on Tuesday morning, detectives served a search warrant at a residence located on Red Feather Lane in Lakeport and gathered evidence related to the shooting, the sheriff’s office said.
It was at that time that detectives located and arrested Gonzalez, according to the sheriff’s office statement.
Gonzalez remained in custody on Tuesday night with bail set at $1 million.
Jail records show he is due to be arraigned in Lake County Superior Court on Thursday.
Detectives are asking anyone with additional information regarding this investigation to contact Det. Dean Preader by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707-262-4200.
Jonathan Blank is the new executive director for Hospice Services of Lake County and Lake Palliative Care. Photo by Karen Pavone. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Hospice Services of Lake County and Lake Palliative Care recently named Jonathan Blank as the agency’s executive director.
He has previously served in leadership roles with hospice and palliative care organizations for 17 years nationally and globally.
His leadership, experience and passion for hospice care will guide the organization to sustain and grow the quality end of life care for residents in Lake County.
“We welcome Jonathan to the Hospice Services and palliative care team,” shared David Flaig, chair of the Hospice Services of Lake County Board of Directors. “His background in agency operations and strategic planning, along with his compassionate character, will play a pivotal role as we continue to extend our quality services to families in need. Our board of directors engaged in a thoughtful process to fill this leadership role. We are excited Jonathan Blank accepted this position and are thrilled how he has demonstrated commitment to mission-focused leadership and building a strong care team.”
Blank joined the organization in February, coming from a similar position in an Arizona hospice organization.
“I am excited to have this opportunity to work with the team at Hospice Services of Lake County,” says Blank. “We have outstanding employees and volunteers with an unwavering patient-centered culture that effectively aligns with other health care providers throughout the county. I look forward to sustaining the high standard of care the agency is known for and growing services that will meet the ever-changing health care needs in our community.”
Hospice Services and Lake Palliative Care is a nonprofit health care organization serving Lake County residents for over 44 years.
The core of hospice service is to provide patient- and family-centered symptom management, ensuring the highest level of comfort.
Services are available for individuals with an anticipated life expectancy of 6 months or less and their caregivers wherever they call home.
Services are paid for 100% by Medicare, Medi-Cal and the Veterans Affairs. Many private health insurances also cover hospice care.
Palliative care provides symptom management and support of all kinds to individuals with chronic conditions who have Partnership as their primary insurance.
“Community members are encouraged to learn how our compassionate team can assist you and your loved ones. Sooner is better,” said Blank.
Call 707-263-6222 or visit Hospice Services at 1862 Parallel Drive, Lakeport.
Additional information is also available on Hospice Services of Lake County’s website, www.lakecountyhospice.org.
Janine Smith-Citron is director of development for Hospice Services of Lake County.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — An incoming storm system is expected to bring more rain plus cold temperatures and windy conditions through this week.
The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook or Lake County, along with a freeze warning in effect until 9 a.m. Monday, a wind advisory for Monday at 8 p.m. to Tuesday at 5 a.m. and a winter weather advisory from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. Thursday.
“A strong storm system will impact the region Monday through Wednesday, resulting in heavy snow occurring across the interior mountains, as well as strong gusty winds developing over exposed ridges and coastal headlands,” the forecast explained. “After Wednesday, an additional period of wet weather is forecast to develop across Northwest California next weekend.”
The forecast said that Lake County’s highest ridges — primarily in the backcountry — will experience warning level snowfall amounts.
The specific Lake County forecast calls for rain beginning on Monday night and continuing through Wednesday night.
Thursday will be clear and sunny, before chances of rain return to the forecast Friday through Sunday.
The forecast expects winds with gusts of more than 20 miles per hour on Monday evening, with wind gusts of close to 40 miles per hour expected on Tuesday night.
Daytime temperatures this week and early into next week will range from a high of 50 degrees on Monday to a low of 45 degrees on Wednesday.
Conditions at night will range from the mid to high 30s, the forecast said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
From left, Yuba Community College District chancellor finalists Dr. Beatriz Espinoza, Dr. Eugene Giovannini, Dr. Shouan Pan and Dr. Wei Zhou. Photos courtesy of Yuba Community College District. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — The search for a new chancellor for the Yuba Community College District has reached a key stage, with finalists named and public forums arranged for early April.
Yuba Community College District’s Search Committee for the next chancellor has chosen four finalists for the position.
The finalists are Dr. Beatriz Espinoza, Dr. Eugene Giovannini, Dr. Shouan Pan and Dr. Wei Zhou.
Dr. Espinoza has spent more than 30 years in higher education. She completed her undergraduate studies in psychology at UT-Pan American, her master’s and doctor’s degrees in rehabilitation psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a post-doctorate in community college leadership at the University of Texas-Austin, and served as a Kellogg Fellow with the Minority Serving Institutions higher education leadership program. Her university and community college experiences expand the roles of faculty, researcher, counselor, director, dean, vice president, vice chancellor and president/CEO across six states.
Dr. Giovannini has 14 years of experience as a community college president and six years of experience as chancellor of a multi-campus community college. In his latest position as Chancellor of Tarrant County College District, Giovannini oversaw six campuses. He also served the Maricopa County Community College District in Arizona as founding President of Maricopa Corporate College in Scottsdale, including 11 years as President of Gateway Community College in Phoenix. Giovannini earned his doctorate in Community College Education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and his Bachelor of Science in Business Education and Master of Education from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Pan has held several senior-level positions, including as chancellor of Seattle Colleges, president of Mesa Community College, provost of Broward College, South Campus, executive dean of Instruction and Student Services at Florida State College at Jacksonville. As an immigrant, Dr. Pan is deeply passionate about serving the community college mission. Dr. Pan has been actively engaged at both national and local levels, including serving on the Board of Directors for American Association of Community Colleges, League for Innovation in the Community College, National Asian Pacific Islander Council and Arizona Commission for Post-secondary Education.
Dr. Zhou is a University of California, Davis, Center for Community College Leadership and Research Wheelhouse Fellow and California Community College Inaugural CEO Leadership Academy graduate with a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin’s top-ranked doctoral program in education. He has extensive California community college administrative experience in multi-college districts and Hispanic serving institutions, serving large geographical areas including positions as dean of math, science and engineering at Evergreen Valley College, vice president for academic affairs at Copper Mountain College, vice president of instruction and interim president at Cuyamaca College, president of Crafton Hills College and assistant superintendent/vice president of academic affairs at Cerritos College.
More information about each finalist is available on the YCCD website.
As a final step in the selection process, the public, staff and students are invited to attend public forums to be held April 3 to 5 at both Yuba and Woodland Community Colleges.
The public forums will give staff, students and community members an opportunity to meet each finalist, learn about his/her/their vision for the district and answer questions.
Questions will be reviewed for appropriateness and related or similar questions will be grouped together and asked as one question.
After the completion of the forums, attendees may continue to provide feedback on each candidate using the forms located on the Chancellor Search webpage. The feedback forms must be completed by noon on Thursday, April 6.
Community input from the public forums and the feedback forms will be used by the YCCD Board of Trustees in rendering the selection of the new chancellor.
The Board of Trustees will conduct finalist interviews April 3 and 5, and anticipates hiring the new chancellor this spring.
The Board of Trustees hired search firm PPL Inc., to lead the search for a permanent chancellor and appointed the 14-member Search Committee.
The committee is made up of highly-diverse members including faculty, staff, students and community members. The finalists were chosen through a rigorous process and all four interviewed with the entire Committee before the slate of finalists were identified.
Visit the YCCD website for more information about the public forums and the search process.
NORTH COAST, Calif. — A virtual town hall this week will offer community members the opportunity to hear the latest on the economy and potential impacts for the North Coast.
On Wednesday, March 29, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) and Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi will hold a Zoom town hall to discuss the state of the economy and other top-of-mind issues facing our communities.
The town hall will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Pacific time.
For the first half hour, Rep. Thompson will be joined by Mr. Zandi. For the remaining time, Rep. Thompson will answer questions on general topics.
All constituents of California’s Fourth Congressional District and members of the press are invited to attend.
RSVP to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for a Zoom link or watch live on Rep. Thompson’s Facebook page.
Thompson represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — After the Lucerne Area Town Hall waited three months to have new appointments made to its membership, the district supervisor will ask his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors to make major changes to how the town hall is structured and who can participate.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 28, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 914 4033 2898, pass code 404471. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16694449171,,91440332898#,,,,*404471#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
At 10:30 a.m., Supervisor EJ Crandell will ask the board to consider transitioning the Lucerne Area Town Hall to the Central Region Town Hall, or CeRTH, which will change its boundaries.
“As of right now the map for the MAC known as LATH consists of solely the community growth boundary of Lucerne,” Crandell wrote in an agenda item to the board. “With the implementation of CeRTH, the boundaries will include the full zip code boundaries of Lucerne. The concept is to ensure more inclusivity and engagement from the Central Region of District 3.”
Since the start of the year, Crandell has not brought forth any new appointments to the Lucerne Area Town Hall, other than Kevin Waycik, who was reappointed on Jan. 10 but died at the end of February.
Crandell has not explained his reasons to community members or to Lake County News until putting the matter on the agenda.
Crandell and the town hall’s members have been at odds since December, when he attempted to cancel a meeting at which the group planned to speak about its concerns with a plan by the Scotts Valley Pomo tribe to turn the Lucerne Hotel into a homeless housing facility.
The town hall’s leadership moved forward with a meeting in December in which they unanimously approved a resolution condemning the project at the hotel, a project for which Crandell’s wife has publicly advocated.
Since then, the town hall has continued to meet to discuss town business, but Crandell has not participated.
In other business, in untimed items, the board will consider a letter regarding Cal Fire’s State Responsibility Area Fire Hazard Severity Zones Maps and discuss the scope of the Lake County Fish & Wildlife Advisory Committee, the needs to support the population of the Clear Lake hitch and possible direction to staff.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Appoint Supervisor Bruno Sabatier as the voting delegate for the 2023 NACo Annual Conference & Exposition to be held in Austin, Texas, July 21 through 24, 2023.
5.2: Adopt resolution approving Agreement No.23-7306-0265-RA with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services for the period July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, for the amount of $ 127,629.36.
5.3: Approve Amendment No. 1 to the agreement between the county of Lake and Lisa Warner, MBA for support services for managed care for fiscal year 2022-23 in the amount of $40,000 and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.4: Approve Amendment No. 1 to the agreement between Davis Guest Home and Lake County Behavioral Health Services increasing the total compensation payable under the agreement to $310,000 for FY 2022-23 and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.5: Approve lease agreement between county of Lake and Berg Investments LP for lease of the commercial space at 13300 East Highway 20, Clearlake Oaks beginning March 1, 2023, through Feb. 29, 2028, and authorize the Behavioral Health director or their designee to sign.
5.6: ERRATUM — Approve Board of Supervisors minutes from March 7, 2023, and March 14, 2023.
5.7: Adopt resolution adopting a continuous record retention and destruction schedule for the Office of the Registrar of Voters.
5.8: Adopt proclamation of appreciation for Registrar of Voters Staff, poll workers, and county key staff on successfully conducting the June and November 2022 Elections.
5.9: Approve lease for commercial property located at 858 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport, from Feb. 1, 2023, through Feb. 28, 2024, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.10: Approve temporary reduced hours of Vital Statistics due to staffing shortages for the period of April 3, 2023, through April 7, 2023, to be closed from noon to 5 p.m. each day.
5.11: Waive competitive bidding per 38.2(3) and approve amendment to agreement between the county of Lake and Tyler Technologies to provide case management software and associated services for the period of April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, for an amount not to exceed $46,880 for the first year, $57,474 for the second year, and $72,498 for the third year, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.12: Sitting as the Lake County Sanitation District Board of Directors, a) waive the competitive bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 2-38.4 Cooperative Purchases; b) authorize Special Districts Administrator/assistant purchasing agent to issue a purchase order not to exceed $130,000 to U-Rock Utility Equipment for the purchase of a Portable Rovver X Basic System; c) Approve budget transfer allocating money from object code 63.05 to 62.74.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:07 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation of appreciation for Registrar of Voters staff, poll workers, and county key staff on successfully conducting the June and November 2022.
6.3, 9:30 a.m.: a) Consideration of overview of Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians and Lake County Watershed Protection Districts Adobe Creek Managed Flow Strategy Project being submitted under the Office of Planning and Research’s 2022-2023 Adaptation Planning Grant Program; and b) review and consideration of letter of support from the Board of Directors of the Watershed Protection District for the proposed project.
6.4, 10:30 a.m.: Consideration of Municipal Advisory Committee (MAC) transition of the Lucerne Area Town Hall (LATH), initially known as (MRTH) Middle Region Town Hall; to (CeRTH) Central Region Town Hall.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of a letter documenting written comments in response to Cal Fire’s State Responsibility Area (SRA) Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ) Maps.
7.3: Consideration of consistency of the scope of the Lake County Fish & Wildlife Advisory Committee with needs to support the population of the chi/Clear Lake hitch, and possible direction to staff.
7.4: Consideration of the county of Lake acting as lead agency on a grant application to provide funding for the Lake County Risk Reduction Authority, Lake County Resource Conservation District, Lake County Fire Safe Council, and the Lake County Office of Climate Resiliency as well as funding to implement four hazard mitigation actions from the county of Lake’s 2018 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan.
7.5: Consideration of agreement between the county of Lake and Redwood Community Services Inc. for supportive employment and supportive education program services for fiscal years 2023-2026 for $408,282.
7.6: Consideration of the following advisory board appointments: Child Care Planning Council, Emergency Medical Care Committee, Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee and Mental Health Board.
7.7: Consideration of updated advisory board application.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9 (d)(1) – FERC Project No. 77, Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project.
8.2: Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9(d)(1): In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation MDL No. 2804/Case No. 17-MD-2804.
8.3: Public employee evaluation: Information Technology Director Shane French.
8.4: Public employee evaluation: Health Services Director Jonathan Portney.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
In the wake of Monday’s tragic mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee that took the lives of three children and three adults, Congressman Mike Thompson is renewing his call for universal background checks.
“Congress has the power to help save lives and reduce gun violence. The shooting in Nashville is an horrific tragedy that is going to leave a lasting impact on the students, teachers, staff, and the entire Covenant School community. It does not have to be like this, we can act and pass legislation to save lives,” said Thompson (CA-04), chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.
“When will Republican leadership have the guts to stand up to the gun lobby and join us in passing reforms that will help keep our kids safe in school and save lives? Let’s put my Bipartisan Background Checks Act up for a vote and get it to President Biden. This legislation will reduce gun violence, and if my colleagues truly care about protecting American children, this is an easy step for them to take,” Thompson said.
Thompson and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) reintroduced the Bipartisan Background Checks Act on Feb. 1, 2023.
Chairman Thompson has introduced background check legislation every Congress since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting which killed 20 children and six adult staff members.
The Bipartisan Background Checks Act was first introduced in the 116th Congress by Rep. Thompson and was passed in the House by a vote of 240-190, and again passed in the 117th Congress and passed the House by a vote of 227-203.
The bill languished in the Senate due to the filibuster.
Thompson represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
Yurok Firefighter Faith Tracy, a Yurok citizen, performs a cultural burn on the Yurok Reservation in Northern California. Photo by Matt Mais/Yurok Tribe. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — A program that aims to bring more diversity into the firefighting profession is seeking Native American women trainees.
Through the Yurok Tribe’s partnership with Redwood National Park, the Yurok Fire Department was selected to train four female firefighters for the National Park Service’s forward-looking Women in Fire Program.
“It is a huge privilege to train these firefighters for the Women in Fire Program,” said Yurok Fire Chief Rod Mendes, who has trained hundreds of firefighters. “We look forward to providing four Native American women the skills and experience they need to acquire good-paying jobs with tribal, federal or state wildland fire departments.”
"It is the goal of this program to recruit, train, and offer exposure to multiple aspects of wildland fire in addition to exposure to the planning and implementation of prescribed fire projects,” said Redwood National Park Fire Management Officer Rick Young.
“After completion of this program the participants will not only be able to compete for a career in wildland fire as a crewperson, but hopefully be inspired to continue on to become future leaders in the fire service,” said Young. “I’m excited to partner with the Yurok Tribe in this effort and I hope to expand the program in the coming years, creating more opportunities for a large segment of our community that is currently underrepresented within the fire service."
With $100,000 from the National Park Service, or NPS, the Yurok Fire Department is recruiting four Native American women to participate in the paid program.
Once hired, the Yurok Fire Department will put the women through an intensive wildland fire training academy focused on the fundamentals of wildland firefighting.
Based out of the department’s headquarters on the Yurok Reservation, the comprehensive training will consist of classroom instruction and hands-on skill-building exercises.
The classroom part of the course will cover a wide variety of topics, such as wildland fire behavior, firefighting tactics and the Incident Command System, as well as communications, fire line safety and situational awareness.
In the field, the four trainees will perform exercises with many different forms of firefighting equipment, ranging from fire pumps to chainsaws. They will also learn to work as a team.
The in-depth training will prepare program participants to pass the written and physical tests required to receive an interagency-certified Incident Qualifications Card, or Red Card, and a Firefighter 2 credential, which will qualify them to land firefighting jobs anywhere in the United States.
After they complete the training and certification process, the four women will work out of the Yurok fire house in Tulley Creek. On a daily basis, the firefighters will be assigned duties and respond to calls for service as members of the Yurok fire crew until the end of the 2023 fire season.
Their duties may include fighting local forest fires, participating in cultural burns on tribal lands and managing woodland fuels to protect elders’ homes.
The female firefighters will also spend stints with Redwood National Park and US Forest Service fire crews, which will further expand their skill sets.
The Yurok Fire Department is the first tribal firefighting organization to administer the transformational Women in Fire Program in California.
The National Park Service launched the program in 2021 in an effort to make its workforce more resilient and encourage more females to pursue leadership positions within the male-dominated profession. Women currently make up just 12% of the federal wildland fire workforce.
Yurok Fire Chief Rod Mendes will oversee the Women in Fire Program training, which will be based out of the Yurok fire house. The four female Native American trainees will become credentialed wildland firefighters. Photo by Matt Mais/Yurok Tribe.
The Yurok Tribe and the park service recognize that diversity drives innovation, which is needed now more than ever before as the land managers confront climate change, drought and longer, more severe fire seasons.
Prior to partnering with the Yurok Fire Department, NPS implemented Women in Fire Programs with conservation corps in multiple states.
The Yurok Fire Department is an all-risk, all-hazard organization that focuses on fire detection, prevention and suppression in conjunction with traditional and conventional fuels management. The chartered tribal agency fights wildfires in the local area and across the US.
In addition to extinguishing fires, the Yurok crew conducts cultural burns to moderate forest fuel loads, improve wildlife habitat and increase access to traditional basket-weaving materials on tribal lands. When they are not contending with fires or performing controlled burns, the Yurok crew works on projects that reduce fire risk on the reservation.
The Yurok Fire Department is led by Chief Rod Mendes. Chief Mendes has more than 35 years of fire officer leadership experience, including lengthy terms as a district fire management officer for the Klamath National Forest and as the Chief of Fire and Office of Emergency Services for the Hoopa Valley Tribe, and over 20 years with Inter-agency Incident Management teams. He is also a governor-appointed member of California’s Homeland Security Advisory Committee.
Chief Mendes will design and oversee the Women in Fire Program training.
“I can say from experience Chief Mendes is a tremendous resource for new firefighters, especially those who want to climb the ranks. The park service couldn’t have selected a better mentor for participants in the Women in Fire Program,” said Yurok Firefighter and Yurok citizen Faith Tracy.
To apply for the Women in Fire Program on the Yurok Reservation, please fill out the Yurok Tribe employment application, which can be found here.
Middletown Art Center staff members Ruth Richards, Kilak Malicay and Wayla Brown lay out pieces for the “Eagle & Condor” ceramic mural cocreated by people across Lake County, California. Courtesy photo. MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — The Middletown Art Center has received a major grant award for a new project focused on the Latinx community.
The $188,744 grant from the California Natural Resources Agency and California Cultural and Historical Endowment will fund the center’s “Raíces Hermosas — Gorgeous Roots” project.
The Middletown Art Center, or MAC, designed “Raíces Hermosas” to uplift and connect the Latinx community, both seen and hidden, to the center to the community at large through art, culturally focused events and art making.
“We have to build trust with our Latinx community so that they feel welcome at all decision-making tables,” said Zabdy Neria, a MAC Board director, Konocti Unified School Board trustee and behavioral health practitioner who initiated the project. “Through the shared language of art, music and dance, we can instill the message that they (we) belong.”
At the center of the Raíces Hermosas project is a curated exhibit of contemporary expressions of Latinx culture, roots, and issues by local and regional Latinx artists.
Project activities include guided school field trips to the gallery and art studio during the exhibit for 3,600 Lake County students as well as pre/post visit curriculum, weekend artmaking workshops and cultural events at MAC, and community-engaged artmaking at festivals.
“We are excited to share this project with the people of Lake County! It raises awareness, has a robust education component, and brings us together. It also brings funding for jobs into our local economy during the year-long grant period,” said MAC’s Executive and Artistic Director Lisa Kaplan. “We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the local economy and community in a meaningful way and look forward to welcoming people from across Lake County and beyond to MAC.”
Right now, the MAC is seeking bilingual project coordination support. You can learn more about this job opportunity on MAC’s website.
“This funding will support projects across the state that lift up history and culture that has been underrepresented in the past and enable more people to learn these remarkable stories,” said California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot.
This grant award, while a significant amount, is entirely dedicated to the Raíces Hermosas project, meaning, MAC must continue its regular fundraising activities and relies on community support for regular operations.
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a bill signing on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. Photo courtesy of the Governor’s Office. On Tuesday, surrounded by legislators and community leaders in the rotunda of the California State Capitol, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation to implement the strongest state-level oversight and accountability measures on Big Oil in the nation.
Newsom’s office said the move brings transparency to California’s oil and gas industry, shining new light on the corporations that have for decades operated in the shadows while ripping families off and raking in record profits.
It is the latest instance in which the Governor’s Office said he has successfully taken on the historically powerful industry for putting profits over people.
Last year, Gov. Newsom signed legislation adding new reporting requirements to oil refiners, as well as a law protecting neighborhoods and schools from oil drilling.
“With this legislation, we’re ending the oil industry’s days of operating in the shadows. California took on Big Oil and won. We’re not only protecting families, we’re also loosening the vice grip Big Oil has had on our politics for the last 100 years,” Newsom said.
Authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), co-sponsored by Attorney General Rob Bonta and approved by a supermajority in both the Senate and Assembly, SBx1-2 creates a dedicated, day-in and day-out, independent watchdog to root out price gouging by oil companies and authorizes the California Energy Commission, or CEC, to create a penalty to hold the industry accountable.
The law will go into effect on June 26, the 91st day after the end of the special session.
“I am proud of my colleagues for passing this first-in-the-nation protection against price gouging by Big Oil,” said Skinner. “Californians faced outrageously high gas prices last year, prices that strained family budgets an extra $600 or more a month. In calling for immediate action, Governor Newsom responded decisively in proposing SBX 1-2, the strongest, most effective transparency and oversight measure in the nation. This landmark law will allow us to hold oil companies accountable if they pad their profits at the expense of hardworking families. With SBX 1-2, California has sent a clear message to the oil industry: Open your books and prove you’re not price gouging, otherwise Big Oil will pay the price — not consumers.”
When the law’s new transparency and oversight requirements go into effect at the end of June, the state will begin receiving more information than ever before, including last year when it appeared that oil producers suppressed supply to drive up prices and rake in record profits.
Industry knows that the new independent watchdog division will be closely monitoring them and will refer any violation of law — including industry misconduct or market manipulation — to the attorney general for prosecution.
“Record high retail gas prices — and record-breaking profits for Big Oil — hurt those who can least afford it most of all. For too long, Californians have been left in the dark when it comes to the practices of the gas industry. And while oil companies have been lining their pockets, many Californians are struggling to make ends meet. I proudly stand with the Governor as he signs into law our co-sponsored bill to bring accountability and transparency to the gas industry. Together, we are fighting to even the scales for California consumers and take this burden off their shoulders,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“This bill provides important tools to help Californians get the answers we deserve about oil company profits and price gouging,” said Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego). “Through the leadership of Senators Skinner, Bradford, Limón, and McGuire, and our colleagues in the Assembly and the Administration, these new reforms are strong on transparency and accountability. That’s a big part of what it will take to stop any wrongdoing and protect California consumers.”
“This landmark reform makes California the first state in the nation to authorize a windfall profits cap on oil refiners so that they can no longer gouge consumers at the pump,” said Jamie Court, president, Consumer Watchdog. “Combined with unprecedented transparency measures and a new watchdog bureau, this price gouging penalty will prevent Californians from enduring the price spikes and profits spikes that have plagued the gasoline market last year. Gov. Newsom has balanced the scales on behalf of millions of Californians who no longer will have to choose between $6 per gallon gas and putting food on their tables.”
In the rotunda of the California State Capitol, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation holding Big Oil accountable on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. Photo courtesy of the Governor’s Office.
Grace Melo, Texas A&M University; Pourya Valizadeh, Texas A&M University, and Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr., Texas A&M University
We looked specifically at kids whose families were participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – commonly known as SNAP – the government program that helps low-income Americans afford food.
The government began to boost SNAP benefits in early 2020 to help offset pandemic-driven food insecurity for participating families, which now number around 41 million.
To learn whether these extra benefits affected children’s mental and emotional health, we analyzed five years of data collected by the National Survey of Children’s Health on 30,748 low-income families with children aged 6 to 17 years. The data, which included both families who were and were not getting SNAP benefits, covered the four years prior to the pandemic, as well as 2020.
Among the 8,680 families getting SNAP benefits during this period, 38% had at least one child with problems such as doctor-diagnosed mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral health issues – including anxiety and depression.
To assess whether the temporarily expanded benefits had an impact on these children, we conducted a “difference in differences” analysis: We compared data regarding children whose families enrolled in the SNAP program over time with children whose families didn’t get those benefits. In addition, we considered the potential influence of several factors that could play a role, such as parents’ mental health.
We found that children in families getting SNAP benefits in 2020 did not generally experience any change in their mental or emotional health compared to prior years, despite the heavy stress of the pandemic.
While 2020’s extra SNAP benefits protected children’s mental and emotional health, they did not improve it. This suggests that actually reducing food insecurity for low-income families would have required additional steps.
We are now studying the effects of pandemic-related changes to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as WIC.
We are looking at, for example, how expanding WIC benefits to cover canned, frozen and dried fruits and vegetables in addition to fresh produce has affected the low-income families’ purchasing behavior. Our team for this research also includes public health and nutrition scholars Alexandra MacMillan Uribe and Elizabeth Racine,
What is not known
When we did our study, data from the years after 2020 wasn’t yet available, so we couldn’t investigate the potential impact of subsequent pandemic-related changes to SNAP benefits. Notably, in 2021, the federal government increased maximum benefit levels by 15% and extended the extra $95 or more in monthly food assistance for the lowest-income households.
When Silicon Valley and Signature banks failed in early March 2023, government regulators rushed in to guarantee deposits and protect bank customers. Under current banking regulations, though, there was no obligation for the government to step in.
Now, both Democratic and Republican politicians are making pronouncements about whether bipartisan-backed deregulation in 2018 led to the banks’ collapse and whether the banking industry needs more government intervention.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and U.S. Rep. Katie Porter of California, both Democrats, introduced a bill on March 15, 2023, to restore stiff banking regulations that they maintain would have prevented the practices that led to the recent bank collapses. But some Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky, say lax government policy that included overspending – which Barr says, fueled inflation, as well as long-term low interest rates – not deregulation, was behind the banks’ failures.
In dispute are requirements in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that were rolled back in 2018. Dodd-Frank put in place financial regulatory changes in response to the 2008 global financial meltdown. The legislation included among its requirements one that banks with US$50 billion in assets be subject to strict standards. Some lawmakers, including Porter and Warren, say those requirements should have remained intact.
The Conversation asked Gerard W. Comizio, a law professor, former Wall Street attorney and former senior Treasury Department official, to explain some of the problems that spurred Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and another bank to fail.
What caused Silicon Valley, Signature and a third bank, Silvergate, to fail?
Significant withdrawals at all three banks caused cash crises that could not be addressed by selling assets, such as bank notes and bonds. In the case of all three banks, sales of their assets would have triggered significant additional losses, since their portfolios were worth less than they paid for them and interest rates were rising.
While some aspects of each failure were different, there were common elements, and a certain level of Murphy’s law – the idea that if something can go wrong, it will. In the case of these banks, everything went wrong.
In the last three months of 2022, Silvergate had a record $1 billion loss, due to heavy lending to troubled and failed crypto trading exchanges. And its interest rate-sensitive securities portfolio became kindling for the current crisis.
Bond prices plunged, creating billions of dollars in paper losses for Silicon Valley Bank, popularly known as SVB.
To shore up its cash assets, in the face of increasing customer withdrawals, SVB sold $21 billion in bonds at a $1.8 billion loss.
Former Sen. Chris Dodd speaks at a news conference on July 21, 2015, to mark the fifth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images
Which regulations from the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act were designed to prevent banking failures?
Section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act adopted so-called “enhanced prudential regulation” rules for all banking organizations with more than $50 billion in assets, designating them as “systemically important financial institutions,” popularly known by the term “too big to fail.” These standards were designed to be more stringent than those applied to smaller banks. Lawmakers believed the larger institutions posed far greater risk to the financial stability of the U.S.
These stricter rules required, among other things, that the banks deemed too big to fail periodically update for the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. a comprehensive resolution plan. Dubbed the Living Will, that plan details a company’s plans for a “rapid and orderly” dissolution of the bank in the event it is failing or has already failed. In addition, these too-big-to-fail banks had a requirement to periodically assess their risk under a variety of market conditions, including rises in interest rates and risk hedging strategies. The rules also said designated banks had significantly higher capital requirements.
No longer required to adhere to those key provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, the failed banks did not. Arguably, the provisions could have saved them.
Why weren’t the banks subject to those regulations?
In 2018, Congress, in a bipartisan vote, with the support of then-President Donald Trump’s administration, all of the federal banking agencies and the banking industry, passed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. It amended the Dodd-Frank Act to substantially reduce the number of banks subject to the more stringent regulation by raising the threshold at which banks posed potential systemic risk, from $50 billion up to $250 billion.
President Trump after signing the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act bill on May 24, 2018.Win McNamee via Getty Images
If the Dodd-Frank Act had remained intact, would the banks have failed?
There are a number of arguments as to whether these failures could have been prevented and addressed faster if the Dodd-Frank standards had still been in place. These standards were arguably designed to specifically prevent and address the type of circumstances that triggered these recent bank failures: multiple failures and contagion in the financial system, market panic, deposit runs and liquidity crisis.
For example, abiding by Living Wills and stress testing would have identified problems far earlier and potentially required these banks to address a number of potential red flags that constituted higher risk, such as:
Interest rate risk in the banks’ securities portfolio investments, and the consequences of liquidating those investments at a significant loss in the event of a cash crisis;
Lack of interest rate risk hedging strategies;
Excessive uninsured deposits that posed a risk to the bank if customers withdrew their money en masse; and
The need to hold higher-than-normal levels of money to address their risks.
Ironically, in taking steps to provide unprecedented deposit insurance coverage to uninsured deposits at these banks, the U.S. Treasury, the Fed and the FDIC issued a joint statement on March 12 that they were invoking the systemic risk exception which allowed them to replace depositors’ money, even though the law was changed in 2018 to make clear banks of their size no longer posed systemic risk.