LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Registrar of Voters office encourages Lake County schools to participate in the 2023 High School Voter Education Weeks, which take place Sept. 18 to 29.
The purpose of High School Education Weeks is to bring awareness to our young and future voters, setting them on a pathway for continued civic engagement.
Eligible students ages 16 and 17 can be civically engaged by pre-registering to vote. If students pre-register to vote, they will automatically become voters when they turn 18.
Eligible students can register to vote online at https://registertovote.ca.gov/ or at the Lake County Registrar of Voters office at 325 N. Forbes St. in Lakeport.
Registrations are also available at all Lake County Libraries and post offices. Staff will set up a booth on scheduled Farmer’s Market days including Tuesday, Sept. 29, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
By working together, we can educate and encourage our young citizens to register to vote and ensure their voices are heard when they are eligible to vote.
For additional information phone 707-263-2372 or toll-free at 888-235-6730.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Middletown Unified School District is changing its superintendent once more.
Thad Owens, who has served as the district superintendent for 18 months, is being assigned to another job for the remainder of the school year.
On Wednesday evening, the district’s board emerged from the latest of 19 closed session discussions and evaluations regarding his performance since his hire in March 2022 to announce the change in leadership. Seven of those closed sessions have happened since Aug. 9.
The board went into closed session just after 4 p.m. Wednesday.
When it convened in open session at 6 p.m., Board President Larry Allen reported that the board had taken action.
“The board moved to mutually agree with the superintendent to end his existing contract with the MUSD Board and move forward appointing him as administrator on special assignment for the duration of the 23-24 school year,” said Allen.
The vote was unanimous, Allen said.
The board also voted unanimously to appoint David Miller as interim superintendent with an intent to publish and ratify a contract with him in their next open session.
Owens was not seated at the board table as he has been in previous meetings.
This will be the third time that Miller has been appointed as an interim superintendent at district.
He is one of six people who have held the job either on a permanent or interim basis since the board released Superintendent Catherine Stone from employment in 2019.
She was followed by Heather Rantala, the then-chief business officer who acted as superintendent before the first of Miller’s interim appointments.
Miller held the position until Michael Cox was hired. Cox stayed in the job for 15 months; during his tenure, he was the subject of 10 closed session performance evaluations or discussions.
Cox was succeeded by Tim Gill, who served from October 2021 to March 2022. The board then temporarily appointed Chief Business Officer Julie Alves before Owens was hired at the start of March 2022.
At the end of Wednesday’s meeting, Board member Annette Lee asked for the request for proposals for the superintendent search to be on the board’s next meeting agenda.
Owens, a Montana native and a veteran of the U.S. Army, taught for 10 years in grades sixth through 12, and has been an elementary, middle, high school and alternative education principal.
He has been employed by Middletown Unified in the past as the Middletown High School assistant principal, Middletown High School athletic director, Middletown Middle School principal and Minnie Cannon Elementary principal.
Owens also worked as director of alternative education for Konocti Unified School District.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Following a 20-month tenure marked by numerous closed session job evaluations, a no confidence letter written by staff, and clashes with local fire chiefs and the sheriff, the Lake County Health Services director has been fired.
The termination of Jonathan Portney was announced following a closed session discussion by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The supervisors met for several hours on Tuesday, going into closed session in the afternoon.
Shortly after 5 p.m., according to the time stamp on the meeting video, the board emerged from the closed-door discussion, with Board Chair Jessica Pyska asking if there was any action taken out of closed session.
Vice Chair Moke Simon said there were two actions that needed to be taken.
First, Simon moved to terminate Portney immediately, with Supervisor Bruno Sabatier seconding and the board voting unanimously to approve the motion.
Simon then moved to appoint County Administrative Officer Susan Parker as interim Health Services director immediately, with Supervisor Michael Green seconding. That motion also was approved by a unanimous vote.
Pyska then adjourned the meeting.
The action came several hours after the Board of Supervisors hosted the swearing-in ceremony of Dr. Noemi Doohan, who was hired in August as the new Lake County Public Health officer.
Doohan’s hiring ended a long-running search to fill the state-mandated position that has been particularly challenging to fill since the retirement of Dr. Karen Tait in 2017. It’s been even more of a challenge to hire a Public Health officer during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated nationwide health emergency, which thrust public health officers into the public spotlight and the resulting political divide.
Lake County News contacted the County Administrative Office on Wednesday morning to ask if the county has a plan for going forward with a recruitment for a new Health Services director and if Dr. Doohan is expected to help with that search now that she is in place.
Early Wednesday afternoon, the County Administrative Office issued a public statement on Portney’s termination which was attributed to Pyska.
“We are grateful to Mr. Portney for his service to county residents since January of 2022, and wish him great success in the next phase of his career,” Pyska said. “No further comment will be provided, as Mr. Portney’s separation from county employment is a confidential personnel matter.”
Pyska said the County Administrative Office’s Human Resources Division has already begun the process to recruit for Lake County’s next Health Services Director, and a job announcement will soon be available.
“As with all board-appointed director-level county roles, this recruitment will be far-reaching, in the interest of attracting the highest quality applicants. We hope to identify a director who can be a long-term fit,” Pyska said.
Referring to Doohan’s ceremonial swearing-in on Tuesday, Pyska’s statement said, “Dr. Doohan has been working hard to get acquainted with Health Services staff and programs since Sept. 1. Her medically-focused leadership will be invaluable during this time of transition.”
Pyska said Parker “looks forward to partnering with Dr. Doohan and the full Health Services team in the coming weeks.”
Her statement concluded with, “Promoting the well-being of every county resident is among our board’s highest priorities. We remain committed to continually striving to strengthen our workforce and the health and other services the county provides.”
In a response email to Lake County News late Wednesday afternoon, Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein told Lake County News added, “Dr. Doohan’s experience and professional network will be great assets as the Board of Supervisors works to identify the best possible candidate.”
At that time, Board Chair Bruno Sabatier lauded Portney for being “a highly motivated and energetic health executive that has shown great capacity in recent years as a community-based public health practitioner in San Francisco and San Mateo County.”
Portney began the job the following month, and within months issues began to arise, chief among them, his disagreements with then-Sheriff Brian Martin over the state-mandated jail medical services.
A series of emails Lake County News obtained from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office through a Public Records Act request show how the issue unfolded with Portney and Martin.
Martin reached out to Portney shortly after his arrival in January 2022 to establish communication and a relationship due to the interactions — especially over jail medical services — that Martin said had been increased due to COVID-19.
By May 23, 2022, however, there were problems. Portney asked Martin in an email that day if they could “connect regarding the future of Jail Medical.” He said his department had negotiated a six-month extension with the contractor WellPath, but after that six months ran out, Portney said there would be no more funding in his budget to support that service.
Less than an hour later, Martin replied by email, “I’d love to talk more about this and find out what happened to the funding stream. This service is not only essential, it is mandatory by law. I don’t think the decision is one to be made at our level. The contracting entity is the COUNTY OF LAKE and your department has been the administrator since 1995 when the BOS approved contracting for such services at the PH Director’s request back then.”
Martin took the matter to the Board of Supervisors at its meeting on June 7, 2022, at which time the board directed staff to come back with a six-month agreement extension.
The county issued a request for proposals in July 2022 and that December, days before Martin was set to retire, the board approved an agreement for medical services with California Forensic Medical Group in the amount of $3,947,351 for the term of Jan. 1, 2023, through Jan. 1, 2024, with an option to continue through Jan. 1, 2028.
No confidence letter from staff
Portney’s tenure continued to become increasingly turbulent.
“Over the past several months, we have been disheartened by the actions of Director Portney. He has tested our willpower and confidence in his skill and ability to adequately lead this department. Under his leadership, morale has plummeted to depths never before seen at this Agency,” the three-page letter said.
They accused Portney of poor leadership, alienating community partners including the sheriff’s office, fire departments, Social Services and Behavioral Health, and putting people in jobs for which they were not licensed.
They also wrote that Portney “did not feel that it was Health Services' responsibility to assist with the ‘Jail Medical’ Program. He didn't think he needed to be part of that and refused to sign. When it comes to Public Health, isn't a group of incarcerated individuals one of our most needy populations?”
Portney himself sent the letter to dozens of county employees, saying he had an open-door policy regarding questions and concerns.
The letter writers said they feared retaliation, and those who spoke with Lake County News said they felt targeted by Portney.
Several of those letter signers have reportedly left the Health Services Department since then. Other key staffers also have departed during his tenure.
Beginning in February, Portney began emailing Lake County News asking for removal of “all articles highlighting myself and the Health Services Department staff members,” adding, “I believe this good-faith action will be the best option for all parties involved. I appreciate your consideration, and with your support, we can continue building a robust and healthy Lake County. If you choose not to take them down… when appropriate investigative materials are available, I trust that you will update the community and the articles accordingly to reflect all findings?”
This was despite the fact that Portney had sent the letter out himself. Lake County News refused the request to remove the articles.
There also were questions that arose over Portney and the “CPH” credential he listed after his name.
CPH stands for “Certified in Public Health,” a certification given through the National Board of Public Health Examiners.
The organization’s website does not show Portney as having that certification. Earlier this year, the National Board of Public Health Examiners confirmed that he did not have the certification in response to an information request from Lake County News.
The County Administrative Office did not respond to a question about Portney’s certifications in the spring.
Issues behind the scenes
While the Board of Supervisors took no public action against Portney over the no confidence letter, and did not respond to the release of the letter, issues were clearly arising.
It’s become common practice for the Board of Supervisors to conduct performance evaluations of its appointed department heads once a year. For those in the first year of employment, one or possibly two more evaluations may take place. However, if evaluations happen more frequently than that, it is usually a sign of an approaching employment separation.
From the start of his employment to May 2, Portney had eight closed session evaluations with the board. One of them took place on Dec. 6, the day after the date of the no confidence letter.
Northshore Fire Chief Mike Ciancio and Lakeport Fire Chief Patrick Reitz took issue with Portney after he issued a news release about the staffing of those two fire agencies that the chiefs said was inaccurate, and which suggested they were not responding to emergency calls. Ciancio told his board during a meeting that the news release was filled with “lies.”
At the start of May, after another closed session evaluation of Portney, Reitz was prepared to take a no-confidence letter against Portney to the fire district board. Reitz ended up pulling the letter from the agenda, but said he was prepared to bring it back in the future.
On Aug. 1, Portney began another series of requests to Lake County News, sent from his work email after 9 p.m., claiming that articles contained false information about him and again referring to the no confidence vote. He said a firm hired by the county had found he was a victim of harassment, and that the articles were providing a platform for what he alleged was continued harassment.
He said removing the articles about the no confidence matter was in the “best interest of my emotional and mental wellbeing.” Lake County News again refused to take down the articles.
After May 2, there were no other job evaluations of Portney listed on the supervisors’ agenda. However, on May 23, June 13 and Aug. 15 there were closed session discussions titled “Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release” with no reportable action noted.
On Tuesday’s agenda, the board came out of a fourth closed session discussion item titled “Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release” to announce Portney’s termination.
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.
Prakash Nagarkatti, University of South Carolina and Mitzi Nagarkatti, University of South Carolina
The CDC’s broad recommendation comes one day after the Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna’s and Pfizer’s updated mRNA vaccines that target a previously dominant variant of the omicron family called XBB.1.5. The updated shots will be available to the public within days.
The Conversation asked Prakash Nagarkatti and Mitzi Nagarkatti, a husband and wife team of immunologists from the University of South Carolina, to weigh in on how the new vaccines might stand up against the latest COVID-19 variants that are swirling across the globe.
1. How are the new vaccines different from the previous?
When the first vaccine against COVID-19 was rolled out in December 2020, it was designed as a monovalent vaccine, meaning that it was formulated against only the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. That vaccine, as well as the updated ones, target the spike protein, which the virus uses to infect our cells and cause the disease.
That design made sense before the virus began mutating into a complex family tree of variants and sublineages. But as the virus structure shifted over time, the antibodies produced in response to the original vaccine became less effective against the new variants.
Unfortunately, XBB.1.5 is no longer the dominant strain in the U.S.; it has been displaced by other variants from the XBB lineage, thereby raising concerns about the potential efficacy of the new shot. As of mid-September, the dominant variants nationwide are EG.5, also known as Eris, followed by FL.1.5.1 – called Fornax – and XBB.1.16.6.
The CDC recommended that everyone ages 6 months old and up should get an updated COVID-19 vaccine so that they can be better protected against developing serious outcomes from COVID-19, including hospitalization. The agency noted that people who received the 2022-2023 bivalent COVID-19 shot “saw greater protection against illness and hospitalization than those who did not.”
Most Americans will be able to get the newly formulated vaccine at no cost, according to the CDC.
The FDA approved a single shot of the updated vaccine for anyone ages 5 and older – regardless of whether they were previously vaccinated or not. The agency also approved unvaccinated individuals 6 months to 4 years of age to receive three doses of the updated Pfizer vaccine or two doses of the updated Moderna vaccine.
For most people, doctors recommend getting both the COVID-19 and flu shots before the end of October.
3. How effective could the updated shot be against the latest variants?
Based on its current assessment, the CDC indicates that the BA.2.86 variant may be able to cause infection even in people who have been previously vaccinated or those who have had COVID-19 infection in the past. But the CDC says it still expects the updated fall 2023 booster shot to be effective at reducing severe disease and hospitalization.
Moderna reported in August 2023 that the new monovalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccine gave a “significant boost” in antibodies that are protective against two of the currently circulating variants: EG.5 – which is responsible for most cases in the U.S. as of mid-September – and FL.1.5.1. Then, in early September, Moderna announced that its most recent data from human trials showed an 8.7-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies against the newest variant, BA.2.86, following vaccination with the updated shot.
Similarly, new pre-clinical data from Pfizer shows that its version of the new mRNA vaccine produced antibodies that were effective at neutralizing the XBB.1.5, BA.2.86 and EG.5.1 variants.
This early research suggests that the new mRNA vaccines – although developed specifically against XBB.1.5 – are still effective against some of the most prevalent variants.
Novavax, which specializes in traditional protein-based vaccines, also announced in August that its updated COVID-19 vaccine directed against the XBB variant produced a broad neutralizing antibody response against key variants in animal studies. However, the company does not yet have data on its vaccine’s performance against two other key variants, FL.1.5.1 and BA.2.86. The Novavax vaccine has not yet gone up for FDA review, but its approval is also expected within months.
It is important to keep in mind that while all three vaccines have been shown to trigger antibodies that can neutralize most of the currently circulating variants, it is unclear whether the vaccines will be able to effectively prevent COVID-19 infection in humans. Such clinical studies are time-consuming, so given the urgency and speed needed to develop vaccines against the ever-changing COVID-19 variants, vaccine manufacturers rely on antibody levels as an indicator of protection.
4. Is there a ‘right’ time to get the new vaccine?
Antibodies produced after a COVID-19 infection or vaccination last for about six months, and then their levels start declining. This is called “waning immunity.”
About a year after getting a COVID-19 infection or vaccination, only a small fraction of antibodies can be detected. This is why health care providers recommend getting another shot if a year has passed since you were vaccinated or had an active infection.
However, taking two different vaccines at the same time could cause more side effects, such as fever, aches and pain. This is especially the case for people who have experienced such side effects in the past after taking the COVID-19 and flu vaccines separately.
5. Should some people wait for the updated Novavax vaccine?
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use the more recent vaccine technology based on mRNA, which instructs the body to produce a protein from a small portion of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The immune system responds by producing antibodies.
In contrast, the Novavax vaccine relies on a more traditional approach to vaccine production, injecting the viral protein directly into the body to stimulate antibody production. So while the two vaccine types use different pathways to trigger antibodies against the virus, the end result is the same.
The CDC has reported rare cases of myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle, following vaccination with the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines. However, the same is true of the Novavax vaccine. So all three vaccines carry this very rare risk.
Although some people may have a preference for the traditional protein-based vaccine by Novavax, those who are at higher risk of catching COVID-19 should not wait for the approval of the Novavax vaccine to get their shot.
New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has revealed that U.S. drug overdose deaths reached a new high in 2023 – and deaths from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids also reached a new high.
In response to this alarming news, Families Against Fentanyl, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers of illicit fentanyl, is calling for President Joe Biden to establish a White House Task Force dedicated to the nation’s illicit fentanyl and overdose crisis.
The CDC estimates that more than 111,000 Americans died from a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending in April — and more than 77,000 of those deaths involved fentanyl and other synthetic opioids other than methadone.
“This is alarming news and it should serve as a wake-up call to our leaders in Washington that more must be done — fast! We are calling on President Biden to immediately convene a White House task force dedicated to the overdose and fentanyl crisis that is taking so many American lives,” said Families Against Fentanyl founder Jim Rauh, who lost his son to illicit fentanyl poisoning in 2015.
“For thousands of families across this country, this is a matter of life or death. We need someone in the West Wing who is accountable directly to the President for leading the government’s response to this crisis. We need regular public briefings and real-time data. Americans deserve to know what is being done to save lives, and what is being done to uncover and stop the international manufacturers and traffickers of illicit fentanyl. This is the number one killer of our nation’s young adults. It is killing more and more children each year. There is nothing more valuable than our people. From one father to another, I’m urging President Biden to establish a White House task force immediately and demand emergency action," added Rauh.
In December 2021, Families Against Fentanyl released its groundbreaking finding that fentanyl was the No. 1 cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45.
Fentanyl continues to be the No. 1 cause of death of Americans 18 to 45 and the new data from the CDC show deaths are continuing to increase.
Families Against Fentanyl has brought together thousands of families and bipartisan leaders calling for innovative action to stop drug-related deaths and save other families from the nightmare of losing a loved one to fentanyl poisoning.
More than 78,000 people have signed on to FAF’s petition calling for the US to designate illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.
Bipartisan leaders including former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and former CIA Director John Brennan joined with Families Against Fentanyl to warn of the threat posed by illicit fentanyl and urged President Biden to designate illicit fentanyl and its analogues as weapons of mass destruction.
Families Against Fentanyl is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the illicit fentanyl crisis and advocating for federal action.
The organization was founded by James Rauh of Akron, Ohio after his son was killed by fentanyl poisoning in 2015.
Families Against Fentanyl has become a leading voice for fentanyl awareness, bringing together thousands of families and producing research cited by leaders across the United States and around the world.
Anthony Ray Hopper. Photo courtesy of the Clearlake Police Department. CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Clearlake Police Department is asking for the community’s help to locate a missing teenager.
Anthony Ray Hopper, 17, was last seen on Tuesday in the area of Lower Lake High School.
He is described as a white male juvenile with medium length dirty blond hair and blue eyes.
He is 5 feet, 4 inches tall, and weighs 120 pounds.
He was last seen wearing black sweatshirt and blue washed out jeans with holes.
If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, please contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251, Extension 1.
“Cedar.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has two new dogs among the canines waiting for go to new homes this week.
The Clearlake Animal Control website continues to list 32 dogs for adoption.
This week’s dogs include a puppy named “Cedar.”
He is a standard smooth-haired dachshund mix with a brown and copper-colored coat.
“Josie.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. There also is “Josie,” a 3 and a half year old Labrador retriever mix. She has a black coat with white markings, and she has been spayed.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
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.
On Thursday, the California Legislature passed two key bills to modernize the state’s behavioral health care system.
The bills dedicate billions of dollars to new behavioral health housing, create new accountability and transparency, and provide much needed funding for key behavioral health infrastructure and workforce across the state.
With the passage of these two bills, California voters will now have the opportunity in March 2024 to vote to modernize the mental health system.
These reforms re-focus billions of dollars in existing funds to prioritize Californians with the deepest needs, living in encampments, or suffering the worst substance use issues.
The bond also will provide funding to build new behavioral health beds and housing, helping treat more than 100,000 people every year.
“I was deeply moved by the personal stories that so many legislators have shared, showing how many of us have been touched by the mental health crisis. I want to thank the Legislature, Democrats and Republicans alike, who voted in favor of these critical reforms — particularly Sen. Eggman, Assemblymembers Irwin and Wood, and a special thank you to Mayor Steinberg,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said. “These measures represent a key part of the solution to our homelessness crisis, and improving mental health for kids and families. Now, it will be up to voters to ratify the most significant changes to California’s mental health system in more than 50 years.”
Senate Bill 326 (Eggman, D-Stockton) modernizes the Mental Health Services Act to address today’s behavioral health system and demand for services.
These reforms expand services to include treatment for those with substance use disorders, prioritize care for those with the most serious mental illness, provide ongoing resources for housing and workforce, and continue investments in prevention, early intervention, and innovative pilot programs.
This bill reforms our system of care to prioritize what Californians need today with new and increased accountability for real results for all families and communities.
Assembly Bill 531 (Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks) includes a $6.38 billion general obligation bond to build 10,000 new treatment beds and supportive housing units to help serve more than 100,000 people annually.
This investment would be the single largest expansion of California’s behavioral health treatment and residential settings in the state’s history, creating new, dedicated housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness who have behavioral health needs, with a dedicated investment to serve veterans.
These settings will provide Californians experiencing behavioral health conditions a place to stay while safely stabilizing, healing and receiving ongoing support.
Included in the bond is a $1 billion set aside specifically for veterans’ housing.
Thursday’s final votes come after months of engagement with stakeholders across the state: people and families with lived experience, health care professionals, children and youth groups, veterans organizations, schools and school administrators, businesses, labor leaders, mental health and equity advocates, first responders, and local officials.
These conversations strengthened Gov. Newsom’s proposed transformation, bringing more organizations on board with supporting this historic and much needed modernization.
Newsom has until Oct. 14 to take action on the legislation. Once signed by the governor, this modernization of the state’s mental health services system and accompanying bond will head to Californians voters for approval.
Senate Bill 326 and Assembly Bill 531 will appear jointly on the March 2024 ballot as Proposition 1.
“I am so grateful for the support of my Senate and Assembly colleagues in approving SB 326 and AB 531 and for the leadership and effort Gov. Newsom has demonstrated on reforming our behavioral health care system,” said Sen. Susan Eggman, the author of SB 326 and Senate Health Committee chair.
“Together these bills provide a critically needed overhaul to the landmark Mental Health Services Act and infuse desperately needed resources into our behavioral health care continuum,” Eggman said. “The governor made a commitment to get this done this year and today the Governor and the Legislature delivered on that commitment. We have a behavioral health crisis playing out on our streets. With this package, Californians now will have the chance to voice their support for a new direction with a vote for safer communities and a more coherent, functional and humane approach to community-based behavioral health care.”
“Getting veterans experiencing homelessness off the streets has long been a priority for California, but getting some of our most vulnerable veterans into needed treatment for behavioral health challenges will be transformative,” said Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, author of AB 531.
“One of the only groups that has seen a recent significant decline in percent of homelessness are veterans, thanks primarily to the very successful Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention program,” Irwin said. “By placing a renewed focus on existing programs like Homekey and the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure program, AB 531 and SB 326 will provide housing and treatment services to veterans that focus on serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Funding and expanding this program is the right thing to do, and I look forward to working with the governor and veterans organizations to put these important advances before the voters.”
“Change is hard, but it is inevitable. The behavioral health challenges we faced 20 years ago are not the same ones we face today,” said Assembly Health Committee Chair Jim Wood. “Despite the passionate efforts of our dedicated public health, mental health and social services partners – we need to adapt. The tragic reality is playing out every day on our streets, in our schools, in rural communities and our largest cities – out in the open and behind closed doors. Senator Eggman and Governor Newsom have ensured that SB 326 addresses our changing world and pays heed to both the housing and behavioral health services that too many Californians desperately need.”
“Nearly 20 years ago, I authored proposition 63, California’s Mental Health Services Act, to help address the most serious consequences of untreated mental illness,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, the original MHSA author.
“It has done much good but can do so much more. Simply put, more of these precious resources need to be spent on a uniform set of services and strategies that address the immense suffering of people living with mental Illness who are also homeless, in and out of the criminal justice system, and having little or no chance of living full and productive lives. Thank you to Governor Newsom and Senator Eggman for championing these reforms and to the Legislature for acting quickly to place them on the 2024 ballot,” Steinberg said.
“From a diverse coalition of statewide advocacy groups and business and labor leaders to mayors and county leaders and children’s groups, people and organizations reacted positively to this historic and transformative modernization proposal throughout the legislative process,” the Governor’s Office said.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Woodland Community College and Yuba College are reporting an increase in enrollments and educational opportunities in high-demand occupations.
Woodland Community College and Yuba College play a critical role in the regional economy, providing pathways for transfer to four-year higher educational institutions and ensuring there continue to be highly trained students available to enter our regional workforce.
Both colleges offer robust transfer and Career and Technical, or CTE, programs including degrees and certificates in administration of justice, agriculture, business, culinary arts, early childhood education, nursing, psychology and veterinary technology.
To support students in achieving their educational goals and to encourage enrollment, Yuba Community College District awarded over $17 million dollars of financial aid during the last academic year.
This financial support is critical for students. A recent College Scorecard analysis notes, “YCCD institution’s strong combination of graduation rate performance in the face of elevated student poverty rates, as well as their ability to prepare graduates who can earn disproportionately high wages for their home counties, illustrates these intuition’s contributions to economic mobility in northern California.”
Statewide California Community Colleges experienced a steep decline in enrollment during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, losing approximately 300,000 students or an 18% drop in enrollment.
YCCD colleges also experienced a similar decline, dropping 19% from 2019-2020 pre-pandemic enrollments.
To address the decline, Woodland Community College and Yuba College, implemented a number of strategies to increase enrollments including, increased marketing, outreach, and engagement, expanded dual enrollment offerings, focused outreach to older students who have some college or an interest in upskilling, targeted reengagement to students who departed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and updated scheduling processes to better align program needs and student demand.
The Yuba Community College District said the work began to positively impact enrollments during the fall 2022 semester, which was the first semester the district began to see an increase in enrollments.
Preliminary fall 2023 enrollment data indicates that the positive enrollment trend is continuing with an 8% increase in year-over-year enrollments.
Both Yuba College and Woodland Community College offer a variety of late-start classes in face-to-face and online modalities for anyone interested in taking classes this fall.
This map depicts global temperature anomalies for meteorological summer in 2023 (June, July, and August). It shows how much warmer or cooler different regions of Earth were compared to the baseline average from 1951 to 1980. Credits: NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin. Summer of 2023 was Earth’s hottest since global records began in 1880, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, or GISS, in New York.
The months of June, July, and August combined were 0.41 degrees Fahrenheit (0.23 degrees Celsius) warmer than any other summer in NASA’s record, and 2.1 degrees F (1.2 C) warmer than the average summer between 1951 and 1980. August alone was 2.2 F (1.2 C) warmer than the average. June through August is considered meteorological summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
This record comes as exceptional heat swept across much of the world, exacerbating deadly wildfires in Canada and Hawaii, and searing heat waves in South America, Japan, Europe, and the U.S., while likely contributing to severe rainfall in Italy, Greece, and Central Europe.
“Summer 2023’s record-setting temperatures aren’t just a set of numbers — they result in dire real-world consequences. From sweltering temperatures in Arizona and across the country, to wildfires across Canada, and extreme flooding in Europe and Asia, extreme weather is threatening lives and livelihoods around the world,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The impacts of climate change are a threat to our planet and future generations, threats that NASA and the Biden-Harris Administration are tackling head on.”
NASA assembles its temperature record, known as GISTEMP, from surface air temperature data acquired by tens of thousands of meteorological stations, as well as sea surface temperature data from ship- and buoy-based instruments. This raw data is analyzed using methods that account for the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and for urban heating effects that could skew the calculations.
The analysis calculates temperature anomalies rather than absolute temperature. A temperature anomaly shows how far the temperature has departed from the 1951 to 1980 base average.
“Exceptionally high sea surface temperatures, fueled in part by the return of El Niño, were largely responsible for the summer’s record warmth,” said Josh Willis, climate scientist and oceanographer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon characterized by warmer than normal sea surface temperatures (and higher sea levels) in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
The record-setting summer of 2023 continues a long-term trend of warming. Scientific observations and analyses made over decades by NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other international institutions have shown this warming has been driven primarily by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, natural El Niño events in the Pacific pump extra warmth into the global atmosphere and often correlate with the warmest years on record.
“With background warming and marine heat waves that have been creeping up on us for decades, this El Niño shot us over the hump for setting all kinds of records,” Willis said. “The heat waves that we experience now are longer, they’re hotter, and they’re more punishing. The atmosphere can also hold more water now, and when it’s hot and humid, it’s even harder for the human body to regulate its temperature.”
Willis and other scientists expect to see the biggest impacts of El Niño in February, March, and April 2024. El Niño is associated with the weakening of easterly trade winds and the movement of warm water from the western Pacific toward the western coast of the Americas. The phenomenon can have widespread effects, often bringing cooler, wetter conditions to the U.S. Southwest and drought to countries in the western Pacific, such as Indonesia and Australia.
“Unfortunately, climate change is happening. Things that we said would come to pass are coming to pass,” said Gavin Schmidt, climate scientist and director of GISS. “And it will get worse if we continue to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.”
NASA’s full temperature data set and the complete methodology used for the temperature calculation and its uncertainties are available online.
GISS is a NASA laboratory managed by the Earth Sciences Division of the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The laboratory is affiliated with Columbia University’s Earth Institute and School of Engineering and Applied Science in New York.
This chart shows the meteorological summer (June, July, and August) temperature anomalies each year since 1880. The warmer-than-usual summer in 2023 continues a long-term trend of warming, driven primarily by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Credits: NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin.
Almost like aftershocks, questions about earthquake prediction tend to follow disasters like the one that occurred Sept. 8, 2023, in Morocco. Could advance notice have prevented some of the devastation? Unfortunately, useful predictions are still in the realm of science fiction.
University of Washington professor of seismology and geohazards Harold Tobin heads the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. He explains the differences between predicting and forecasting earthquakes, as well as early warning systems that are currently in place in some areas.
Can scientists predict a particular earthquake?
In short, no. Science has not yet found a way to make actionable earthquake predictions. A useful prediction would specify a time, a place and a magnitude – and all of these would need to be fairly specific, with enough advance notice to be worthwhile.
For example, if I predict that California will have an earthquake in 2023, that would certainly come true, but it’s not useful because California has many small earthquakes every day. Or imagine I predict a magnitude 8 or greater earthquake will strike in the Pacific Northwest. That is almost certainly true but doesn’t specify when, so it’s not helpful new information.
Earthquakes happen because the slow and steady motions of tectonic plates cause stresses to build up along faults in the Earth’s crust. Faults are not really lines, but planes extending down miles into the ground. Friction due to the enormous pressure from the weight of all the overlying rock holds these cracks together.
An earthquake starts in some small spot on the fault where the stress overcomes the friction. The two sides slip past each other, with the rupture spreading out at a mile or two per second. The grinding of the two sides against each other on the fault plane sends out waves of motion of the rock in every direction. Like the ripples in a pond after you drop in a stone, it’s those waves that make the ground shake and cause damage.
Most earthquakes strike without warning because the faults are stuck – locked up and stationary despite the strain of the moving plates around them, and therefore silent until that rupture begins. Seismologists have not yet found any reliable signal to measure before that initial break.
What about the likelihood of a quake in one area?
On the other hand, earthquake science today has come a long way in what I’ll call forecasting as opposed to prediction.
Seismologists can measure the movement of the plates with millimeter-scale precision using GPS technology and other means, and detect the places where stress is building up. Scientists know about the recorded history of past earthquakes and can even infer farther back in time using the methods of paleoseismology: the geologically preserved evidence of past quakes.
Putting all this information together allows us to recognize areas where conditions are ripe for a fault to break. These forecasts are expressed as the likelihood of an earthquake of a given size or greater in a region over a period of decades into the future. For example, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the odds of a magnitude 6.7 or greater quake in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next 30 years is 72%.
Only about 1 in 20 damaging earthquakes have foreshocks – smaller quakes that precede a larger one in the same place. By definition they aren’t foreshocks, though, until a bigger one follows. The inability to recognize whether an earthquake in isolation is a foreshock is a big part of why useful prediction still eludes us.
These observations suggest perhaps there really are precursory signals for at least some huge quakes. Maybe the sheer size of the ensuing quake made otherwise imperceptible changes in the region of the fault prior to the main event more detectable. We don’t know, because so few of these greater than magnitude 8 earthquakes happen. Scientists don’t have a lot of examples to go on that would let us test hypotheses with statistical methods.
In fact, while earthquake scientists all agree that we can’t predict quakes today, there are now essentially two camps: In one view, earthquakes are the result of complex cascades of tiny effects – a sensitive chain reaction of sorts that starts with the proverbial butterfly wing flapping deep within a fault – so they’re inherently unpredictable and will always remain so. On the other hand, some geophysicists believe we may one day unlock the key to prediction, if we can just find the right signals to measure and gain enough experience.
How do early warning systems work?
One real breakthrough today is that scientists have developed earthquake early warning systems like the USGS ShakeAlert now operating in California, Oregon and Washington state. These systems can send out an alert to residents’ mobile devices and to operators of critical machinery, including utilities, hospitals, trains and so on, providing warning of anywhere from a few seconds to more than a minute before shaking begins.
This sounds like earthquake prediction, but it is not. Earthquake early warning relies on networks of seismometers that detect the very beginning of an earthquake on a fault and automatically calculate its location and magnitude before the damaging waves have spread very far. The sensing, calculating and data transfer all happen near the speed of light, while the seismic waves move more slowly. That time difference is what allows early warning.
For example, if an earthquake begins off the coast of Washington state beneath the ocean, coastal stations can detect it, and cities like Portland and Seattle could get tens of seconds of warning time. People may well get enough time to take a life safety action like “Drop, Cover and Hold On” – as long as they are sufficiently far away from the fault itself.
What complications would predicting bring?
While earthquake prediction has often been referred to as the “holy grail” of seismology, it actually would present some real dilemmas if ever developed.
First of all, earthquakes are so infrequent that any early methods will inevitably be of uncertain accuracy. In the face of that uncertainty, who will make the call to take a major action, such as evacuating an entire city or region? How long should people stay away if a quake doesn’t materialize? How many times before it’s a boy-who-cried-wolf situation and the public stops heeding the orders? How do officials balance the known risks from the chaos of mass evacuation against the risk from the shaking itself? The idea that prediction technology will emerge fully formed and reliable is a mirage.
It is often said in the field of seismology that earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do. Scientists are already good enough today at forecasting earthquake hazards that the best course of action is to redouble efforts to construct or retrofit buildings, bridges and other infrastructure so they’re safe and resilient in the event of ground shaking in any area known to be at risk from large future quakes. These precautions will pay off in lives and property saved far more than a hoped-for means of earthquake prediction, at least for the foreseeable future.
This is an updated version of an article originally published on Feb. 15, 2023.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The key to making sure that you and your family safely and successfully respond to a natural disaster or emergency is to prepare before it happens.
That’s the reason September’s National Preparedness Month exists.
That’s why Pacific Gas and Electric Co. teamed up with the Placer Hills Fire Department to put one local family to the test.
In this video, released in 2021 and just as relevant today, a Sierra foothills family is put through a simulated wildfire evacuation to demonstrate how being prepared can help bring calm to the chaos.
“You think you’re ready, but are you? It’s scary,” said Michelle Childers, who participated in the disaster readiness drill with her husband Justin and their two children.
PG&E urges all our customers to assess how prepared your family, home and community are for a natural disaster or other emergency, and to take the necessary actions to be ready.
In addition to the video, PG&E’s Safety Action Center website provides the following valuable resources:
• Take a quiz to find out if you know what to pack in an emergency kit; • Learn how to prepare a kit with six easy steps; • Create an emergency plan; • Learn how to create defensible space around your home; • Watch a special video series: 7 Saturdays to a more fire resistant home.
An ‘eye-opening’ experience
For the Childers family, firefighters gave them just 10 minutes to get what they would need, as is often the case in a real evacuation, and leave their home.
“My first instinct was birth certificates, passports, IDs, keys, wallets, because those are the things we’re going to need immediately (if evacuated) to get a hotel, to rebuild. My second initial response was mementos, pictures,” said Justin.
“I’ve never experienced this, I know what I was thinking, but I paused,” said Michelle, describing the first seconds after the knock at the door. “I got a couple of changes of clothes for each of us, got some snacks that I know the kids would eat, and some mementos.”
Although the family did not have go-bags ready during the drill, they grabbed essentials: important documents, changes of clothes and some food.
“I thought they did a really good job,” said Battalion Chief Matt Slusher with the Placer Hills Fire Department. “They worked well together. But what if one of you was not home at the time of an evacuation? What would you prioritize? For example, the kids—if you had to be away for 72 hours, their homework, the things that are important to them because their lives are going to be turned upside down, how do you maintain a level of normalcy?”
“I was motionless,” said Michelle, who is an elementary school teacher. “You need to have a go-bag, container with food and water for 72 hours. This was eye-opening.”
“This life-like emergency drill was a great reminder for all of us to plan what we would do before any kind of natural disaster or other emergency, and to practice how we would respond. It’s muscle memory. You have to practice it to perfect it,” said Joe Wilson, PG&E’s Vice President, North Valley & Sierra Region.
How customers can prepare
Here are some simple guidelines to prepare for an emergency.
• Build or restock your emergency kit with flashlights, fresh batteries, first-aid supplies and cash. • Keep face masks and hand sanitizer in your emergency kit. • Identify backup charging methods for phones and keep printed copies of emergency numbers. • Plan for medical needs like medications that require refrigeration or devices that need power. • Keep in mind family members who are elderly, younger children and pets. • Update your contact information online or by calling PG&E at 1-866-743-6589 during normal business hours so you can receive Public Safety Power Shutoff alerts.
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
