LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A May event is aiming to raise much-needed funds for a local organization as it pursues a mission of meeting the needs of Lake County’s mothers.
The board and staff of Mother-Wise invite the community to invite them for their “Mother’s Day Bingo” event on Friday, May 12.
The event will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Little Theater at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St. in Lakeport.
It will be a fun night of bingo, prizes, a silent auction, delicious tacos from Terped Out Kitchen, beer and wine for purchase, and the unveiling of Mother-Wise’s new logo.
Mother-Wise provides judgment-free assistance and peer group support to Lake County women experiencing depression, anxiety and bereavement.
Organizers say their critical work is needed now more than ever.
The goal for the May 12 fundraiser is to send three Mother-Wise staff members to a certification training in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.
Tickets are $45 per person and can be purchased here.
For more information or to find out how to support Mother-Wise, visit www.mother-wise.org or call 707-349-1210.
This is one of the last images ever taken by NASA’s InSight Mars lander. Captured on Dec. 11, 2022, the 1,436th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, it shows InSight’s seismometer on the Red Planet’s surface. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. A pair of quakes in 2021 sent seismic waves deep into the Red Planet’s core, giving scientists the best data yet on its size and composition.
While NASA retired its InSight Mars lander in December, the trove of data from its seismometer will be pored over for decades to come. By looking at seismic waves the instrument detected from a pair of temblors in 2021, scientists have been able to deduce that Mars’ liquid iron core is smaller and denser than previously thought.
The findings, which mark the first direct observations ever made of another planet’s core, were detailed in a paper published April 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.
Occurring on Aug. 25 and Sept. 18, 2021, the two temblors were the first identified by the InSight team to have originated on the opposite side of the planet from the lander — so-called farside quakes.
The distance proved crucial: The farther a quake happens from InSight, the deeper into the planet its seismic waves can travel before being detected.
“We needed both luck and skill to find, and then use, these quakes,” said lead author Jessica Irving, an Earth scientist at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. “Farside quakes are intrinsically harder to detect because a great deal of energy is lost or diverted away as seismic waves travel through the planet.”
Irving noted that the two quakes occurred after the mission had been operating on the Red Planet for well over a full Martian year (about two Earth years), meaning the Marsquake Service — the scientists who initially scrutinize seismographs — had already honed their skills.
It also helped that a meteoroid impact caused one of the two quakes; impacts provide a precise location and more accurate data for a seismologist to work with. (Because Mars has no tectonic plates, most marsquakes are caused by faults, or rock fractures, that form in the planet’s crust due to heat and stress.) The quakes’ size was also a factor in the detections.
“These two farside quakes were among the larger ones heard by InSight,” said Bruce Banerdt, InSight’s principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “If they hadn’t been so big, we couldn’t have detected them.”
One of the challenges in detecting these particular quakes was that they’re in a “shadow zone” — a part of the planet from which seismic waves tend to be refracted away from InSight, making it hard for a quake’s echo to reach the lander unless it is very large.
Detecting seismic waves that cross through a shadow zone is exceptionally difficult; it’s all the more impressive that the InSight team did so using just the one seismometer they had on Mars. (In contrast, many seismometers are distributed on Earth.)
“It took a lot of seismological expertise from across the InSight team to tease the signals out from the complex seismograms recorded by the lander,” Irving said.
A previous paper that offered a first glimpse of the planet’s core relied on seismic waves that reflected off its outer boundary, providing less precise data. Detecting seismic waves that actually traveled through the core allows scientists to refine their models of what the core looks like. Based on the findings documented in the new paper, about a fifth of the core is composed of elements such as sulfur, oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen.
“Determining the amount of these elements in a planetary core is important for understanding the conditions in our solar system when planets were forming and how these conditions affected the planets that formed,” said one of the paper’s co-authors, Doyeon Kim of ETH Zurich.
That was always the central goal of InSight’s mission: to study the deep interior of Mars and help scientists understand how all rocky worlds form, including Earth and its Moon.
This artist’s concept shows a cutaway of Mars, along with the paths of seismic waves from two separate quakes in 2021. Detected by NASA’s InSight mission, these seismic waves were the first ever identified to enter another planet’s core. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Maryland.
The Caltrans Honor Guard at the 2022 Worker Memorial on Thursday, April 27, 2023. Photo courtesy of Caltrans. Caltrans dignitaries, employees, families and friends gathered on Thursday on the west steps of the State Capitol for the 33rd annual Workers Memorial to honor the memory of 191 roadway workers who have died in the line of duty since 1921 as well as emphasizing the need for all travelers to drive safely through work zones.
Special commemorations were paid to Ali Shabazz and Quanda McGadney, two Caltrans employees who tragically lost their lives while working in 2022.
“This is why we always say safety is Caltrans’ top priority,” said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares. “Lives are literally at stake every day, and tragically, we lost two of our devoted workers in the past year. At Caltrans, we hold a sacred duty to remember all the people who have lost their lives working with us. I ask all Californians to please slow down and move over in every work zone, every time. A life may depend on it.”
Quanda, a 51-year-old Caltrans landscape maintenance worker from Vallejo, was killed after being struck by an impaired, hit-and-run driver on the morning of June 3, 2022, while working along Interstate 80 near Vacaville.
Quanda had served the people of California for more than 18 years and joined Caltrans in 2018. She is survived by her daughter, Nairobi, and her sisters, Priscilla Stevenson and Candice McGadney.
Ali, a 48-year-old Caltrans civil engineer from Fresno, was killed on duty after his vehicle was struck late on the night of Aug. 7, 2022, while he was heading to a job site near Fresno. Shabazz joined Caltrans in 2006. He is survived by his wife, Nia, and their eight children.
The annual memorial — in addition to honoring families and allowing staff the opportunity to pay respects to their fallen colleagues — is also a reminder for drivers to “Be Work Zone Alert” and “Move Over” when they see flashing amber lights ahead, or slow down if not safe to do so.
On Thursday, Caltrans arranged 189 orange traffic cones in a diamond “caution sign” configuration, adding two additional cones during the ceremony, each bearing the name of an employee killed on the job since 1921. A black cone in the center represented all people killed while working on the state highway system, including private contractors, tow truck drivers, California Highway Patrol officers and other emergency responders.
The commemoration also included the Caltrans Honor Guard, who led the symbolic tribute. Additionally, flags flew at half-staff at the State Capitol, the Capitol Annex Swing Space and at all Caltrans facilities.
With the passage of Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, as well as the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Caltrans and local agencies now have significant additional funds to repair and maintain California’s transportation system.
The additional funding has increased the number of Caltrans employees and contractors working on the state highway system, highlighting the importance for drivers to stay vigilant and aware.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, highway construction and maintenance work is one of the most hazardous occupations in the United States. In 2021, more than 9,500 work zone collisions occurred on California highways, resulting in an estimated 2,971 injuries and 73 fatalities. Nationally, drivers and passengers account for 85 percent of people who are killed in work zones.
In 2022, Caltrans announced a new Director’s Policy on Road Safety, which commits the department to the Safe System approach and reaffirms the vision of reaching zero fatalities and serious injuries on state highways by 2050.
This policy takes steps to further a shift that began in 2020, as state transportation leaders recognized a bolder and more focused approach was necessary to combat the troubling rise in fatalities and serious injuries on California roads.
The state’s 2020-24 Strategic Highway Safety Plan — managed by Caltrans and involving more than 400 stakeholders — was updated to include the Safe System approach.
Caltrans has partnered with the California Transportation Foundation to develop two funds to benefit the families of Caltrans workers killed on the job.
The Fallen Workers Assistance and Memorial Fund helps with the initial needs a surviving family faces and the Caltrans Fallen Workers Memorial Scholarship is available to the children of these workers. For more information or to make donations, visit the California Transportation Foundation.
A piece of outdoor fitness equipment at Lucerne Creek Park. Photo courtesy of Lake County Public Services. LUCERNE, Calif. — The Lake County Parks and Recreation Division has constructed an outdoor trail and installed multiple fitness stations at Lucerne Creek Park.
Located along the shores of Lucerne Creek, it offers an expanded recreational and fitness opportunity for Northshore residents.
Regular physical activity is a cornerstone of a healthy, well-balanced life. Outdoor adult fitness facilities are reported to be vital to realizing community health and wellness goals.
Additional facilities will soon be developed at Hammond Park in Nice and Kelseyville Community Park.
“We are working to make physical activity and exercise more available, accessible and enjoyable for all Lake County residents,” said Lake County’s Public Services Director Lars Ewing. “Our new Lucerne Creek Park facility and others already in place are a great start. More amenities are planned for the future, and we are grateful to all of the members of the public who have recently engaged in visioning activities.”
“We all know physical activity is great for overall health, brain health and reducing risk factors for disease,” said Jonathan Portney, Lake County’s Health Services director. “And research shows being outdoors may have emotional and cognitive benefits.”
For more information, contact the Public Services Department at 707-262-1618.
Lunch at Mendocino College’s 2023 Latino Student Retreat. Photo courtesy of Mendocino College.
NORTH COAST, Calif. — Mendocino College is proud to announce that it has been awarded a $2.6 million Hispanic Serving Institutions grant from the U.S. Department of Education through a highly competitive process.
The grant will support the college's ongoing efforts to enhance student success and retention, with a specific focus on supporting Latinx students.
“Mendocino College is committed to improving retention and program success for its Hispanic and minority students,” said Congressman Jared Huffman. “The METAS Project will provide research-based strategies with a focus on equity to increase academic and counseling services for success in college and careers. I’m glad to have been able to support the college in their application for this federal grant from the U.S. Dept of Education — it’s going to mean a lot to the college and the many bright minds who will benefit from the program.”
The grant will be used to fund a range of initiatives, including increasing the retention rate of first-year students, increasing the percentage of students completing core transfer courses, reducing the number of units completed by degree- or transfer-seeking students, training staff in student retention best practices, and increasing the total percentage of students completing a degree or transfer.
These initiatives will help Mendocino College continue to provide high-quality education and support to its diverse student body.
“We are incredibly grateful to receive this grant from the U.S. Department of Education, which will provide critical resources to support our efforts to improve student success and equity,” said Mendocino College President, Dr. Tim Karas. “With this funding, we will be able to strengthen our institutional systems and services to support the success of Latino students, improving retention, re-enrollment, followup and degree/transfer completion.”
Mendocino College serves two counties, including 51 towns and cities in one of the most isolated regions in California.
The average student population at Mendocino College is 6,800. While Mendocino County has a 26% Latinx population, and Lake County 22%, Latinx students at Mendocino College account for 41% of all enrollments, a 4% increase since 2012.
The HSI program supports colleges and universities that have a significant Latinx student population by providing grants to fund educational and support programs.
Mendocino College was selected for this highly competitive grant based on its demonstrated commitment to serving Latinx students and its success in advancing their academic and career goals.
“We are excited to use this grant to help our students achieve their goals and pursue their dreams,” said Dr. Karas. “Mendocino College has a long history of serving our community, and this grant will enable us to build on that legacy and continue to provide transformative educational opportunities for all of our students.”
For more information about Mendocino College and its programs and services, visit the college's website.
Mendocino College President Tim Karas as the college’s 2023 Latino Student Retreat. Photo courtesy of Mendocino College.
On Wednesday, the State Senate Education Committee passed SB 767 by Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) a bill that will make kindergarten mandatory, ensuring that all children receive critical instruction in their earliest years of learning.
Currently, kindergarten is optional, and many children enter first grade with academic disadvantages that can cause them to fall behind in school.
Senate Bill 767 will require all students to complete one year in kindergarten before they enter first grade.
Kindergarten offers foundational social and academic skills needed to succeed in first grade and subsequent years.
The bill also includes options for parents to enroll their children in traditional public school, charter school, homeschool, private school or even has the ability to delay their child’s kindergarten enrollment until the age of 6.
“As a public school teacher for nearly 20 years, I have witnessed the detrimental impact on young students who miss out on fundamental early education,” said Sen. Rubio. “The disparities are not only physically visible in a student’s confidence and participation in class, but are also academically measurable. The best way we can support our students, teachers and parents, is to ensure our students are prepared in class as they move up each grade level. I thank my Senate colleagues for their support and look forward to working with the Assembly and the governor to continue our efforts in closing the achievement.”
A coalition of educators, school employees and the business community support the bill.
“We know that kindergarten starts students on the right foot and sets them up for long-term success in language and literacy, math, and social and emotional learning. Mandatory kindergarten would ensure all students enter grade school at an equitable level no matter their background,” said Jeffery Freitas, president of CFT, a union of educators and classified professionals.
"Early Edge California supports SB 767, which will ensure all California children receive critical Early Learning instruction during their youngest years by requiring that they attend kindergarten prior to entering the first grade. Early Learning is essential for children's physical, intellectual, and socioemotional development and provides them with the fundamental skills and tools needed for academic success. SB 767 also promotes equity by addressing the opportunity gap, which has been heightened by school closures during the global health crisis, particularly impacting low-income, students of color. Now more than ever, kindergarten enrollment is necessary, and SB 767 will ensure all students receive critical early instruction to prevent them from falling behind," said Patricia Lozano, executive director, Early Edge California.
“The pandemic has had a negative impact on student learning, particularly amongst low-income, K-12 Latino students. School districts across the state are also experiencing drops in student enrollment. This decline is even more prevalent at the kindergarten level and disproportionately affecting low-income households. Now more than ever, kindergarten attendance is necessary to ensure all students receive critical, linguistically and culturally appropriate early instruction to prevent students from falling behind, especially for our dual language learners,” said Jan Gustafson-Corea, California Association for Bilingual Education chief executive officer.
“Mandating students to attend kindergarten prior to entering the first grade will ensure all students receive high-quality academic, social, linguistic and developmentally-appropriate learning experiences. It is important for our youngest learners, including our English learners, to be prepared for the educational environment they will encounter in elementary school which will help to narrow opportunity gaps,” said Martha Hernandez, executive director of Californians Together.
"Kindergarten is a fundamental piece of early learning. As California expands transitional kindergarten and other preschool opportunities, kindergarten becomes more important than ever in making sure all kids enter first grade ready to succeed, not only in academics, but in their social-emotional skills. In kindergarten, kids learn how to be in a classroom, how to get along with 20+ other kids, how to wait their turn, and how to problem solve – these skills are fundamental to success in first grade and beyond," said Meredith Yeh, co-president, California Kindergarten Association.
SB 767 is supported by a large number of school districts, labor partners, parents, and educational advocacy organizations. It now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Willie Nelson’s face is as iconic as his voice, his songs and his beat-up old guitar. Gary Miller/Getty Images
Willie Nelson’s unofficial theme song, “On the Road Again,” remains accurate as he turns 90 on April 29, 2023. The country music legend is on tour, with dates scheduled into October 2023.
Assessing Nelson’s legacy is challenging because there are so many Willies to assess. There is historical Willie Nelson, child of the Depression. There is iconic Willie Nelson, near embodiment of Texas myth. There is outlaw Willie Nelson, revolutionizing the country music industry. There is activist Willie Nelson, Farm Aid’s co-founder and biofuel pioneer. There is Willie Nelson the songwriter of rare and poignant gifts, and more Willie Nelsons yet to be named.
As a Texas music historian, I find that Nelson’s legacy also challenges appraisal because the concept assumes closure, a pastness, while the man at 90 still seems to be active everywhere. The LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas recently announced the Willie Nelson Endowment Uplifting Rural Communities. Nelson is headlining a star-studded tribute concert weekend in honor of his 90th birthday at the Hollywood Bowl on April 29 and 30, 2023. And the country outlaw is a current nominee for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
While Nelson’s story is vast, it can be distilled down to this: He sprang from the Texas cotton fields and earned his spurs in the state’s dance halls before becoming one of Nashville’s signature songwriters in the 1960s. He then returned to Texas a prodigal son, fostering Austin’s musical ascent and, as the story goes, brokering a peace between the warring rednecks and hippies. He redefined country music’s image and industry through the outlaw revolt of the 1970s. He catapulted to pop stardom in the 1980s but always went out on the road making music with his friends, night after night.
From Texas to Nashville and back
The cover of the songbook Willie Nelson wrote at age 12.Courtesy of The Wittliff Collections., CC BY-NC-ND
Born on April 29, 1933, in a small town between Waco and Dallas, Nelson and his sister Bobbie took to music at a young age. Nelson joined his first band at 10 and was a songwriter by 12. We know this in part from a curious artifact in the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University. Nelson’s first songbook has all the doodles of a child’s arts and crafts project. The songs inside, though – “Hangover Blues,” “Faded Love and Wasted Dream,” “I Guess I Was Born to Be Blue” – speak to honky-tonk themes far beyond Nelson’s years.
He spent the next years chasing the life in those songs, hitting the road as an itinerant performer. Like most aspiring country artists, Nelson ended up in Nashville. In 1961, he joined Ray Price’s band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Price had been a roommate of Hank Williams Sr.‘s, and the Cherokee Cowboys built on Williams’ legacy, at various times including not just Nelson but also his pals Johnny Bush, Johnny Paycheck and Roger Miller.
Nelson moved from success to success as a songwriter, with Ray Price singing “Night Life,” Faron Young singing “Hello Walls” and Patsy Cline singing “Crazy.” He likely would have made it to the Country Music Hall of Fame with this early songwriting alone. He did record, but Nelson’s flamenco guitar, jazzy phrasing and eccentric lyricism did not fit the mold of 1960s Nashville. Facing personal and professional challenges that culminated in his house’s burning down, Nelson left Tennessee for Texas by decade’s end.
There had already been inklings of the countercultural turn that came next. Willie had a soulful cover of the Beatles’ “Yesterday” on a 1966 live album. In 1971, his resonant voice opened “Yesterday’s Wine,” before any music began, with a New Age declaration:
“There is great confusion on Earth,” Nelson mused, “and the power that is has concluded the following: Perfect man has visited Earth already, and his voice was heard; the voice of imperfect man must now be made manifest. And I have been selected as the most likely candidate.”
This was not Chet Atkins’ country music. The qualities that made this imperfect man a Nashville outsider transformed him into the most prominent symbol for a new cosmic cowboy style that was coming together in Austin venues like the Armadillo World Headquarters and events like Nelson’s own annual Fourth of July Picnic, which is scheduled for its 50th anniversary on July 4, 2023.
Willie Nelson’s classic band came into shape while gigging in Texas with sister Bobbie on piano, Mickey Raphael on harmonica, Bee Spears on bass, Jody Payne on guitar and Paul English on drums. They were a family band – in the country sense like the Carter Family – but also in the hippie sense, a roving carnival akin to Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters. The group’s sound mixed traditional country with the improvisations of psychedelia and jazz. You can hear the crackling combination in live performances from the period, including the pilot episode of the long-running PBS television program “Austin City Limits.”
Rise of the outlaws
Nelson’s albums from the 1970s blazed new paths for country music. Nelson secured complete creative control for his album “Red-Headed Stranger,” released in 1975, and its success struck a blow in support of artists’ independence from the constraints of the country music industry in Nashville, a rebellion that took further root with “Wanted! The Outlaws” the following year. That album – a collaboration with Tompall Glaser, Jessie Colter and frequent partner Waylon Jennings – named a movement.
Willie Nelson’s band performed on the pilot episode of ‘Austin City Limits’ on Oct. 17, 1974.
Outlaw country was in part a marketing move for country artists who wore their hair long, leaned into rock’s grit or wore biker leather. On another level, though, Nelson and Jennings lodged a successful critique of industry practices for country artists who wanted to use their own bands in the studio, have a greater say in the material they recorded, and be regarded as serious artists rather than simply the label’s hired help.
The outlaw years took Willie to a new class of stardom. He made films with Robert Redford and duetted with Julio Iglesias.
There were twists in the path, though. In 1990, the outlaw image turned literal in a high-profile dustup with the IRS. The loss of his son Billy the next year was a much more harrowing setback. Through it all, he kept on the road, kept recording and stuck with family, community and song.
Advocate and elder statesman
It was, perhaps, these ups and downs that made Nelson a prominent advocate for others.
He held the door open for the sorts of folks who had traditionally had a hard time breaking into country music. He has consistently showcased artists and issues from just outside the bounds of traditional country, from early support for Black artist Charlie Pride and benefits for the United Farm Workers in the 1970s to his recording of the gay-themed “Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other” in 2006. More recently, in a moment when country music’s gatekeepers have not been generous with women artists, Nelson has championed new voices like Kacey Musgraves, Margo Price and Allison Russell.
William Barber and Willie Nelson shared the podium during The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival on July 31, 2021, in Austin, Texas.Rick Kern/Getty Images for MoveOn
Nelson has been an elder statesman for a very long time, but he has chosen to stay in the thick of things, even as the wheels on the bus begin to slow. Members of the Family Band that traveled so many miles with him have been exiting the stage of late: Bee Spears died in 2011, Jody Payne in 2013, Paul English in 2020 and sister Bobbie in 2022. Nelson’s sons Lukas and Mikah have often joined the band in the meantime, as has Paul’s brother Billy English.
Things change, seasons pass, but there is continuity, too, in Nelson’s world.
He reminds us that eccentricity is among the most traditional of country music’s verities. In a single concert, the joking wink to mortality of “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” can share the set with a rousing gospel closer, Nelson singing “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” or “I’ll Fly Away” as he points skyward, imploring the audience to join in on what he calls “the big finish.”
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The annual burn ban in Lake County starts on Monday, May 1, to address concerns over both fire hazard and air quality.
The burn restriction applies to all areas in Lake County.
All burn permits expire on April 30.
The burn ban includes all open green waste burning, though exemptions are possible for agricultural operations, essential control burns for fire hazard reduction projects, public safety burns and others.
The annual burn ban was first implemented in 1986 in response to weather conditions that often create extreme fire danger and poor air quality.
Officials said a managed approach incorporating fire and air agency concerns has been implemented and improved upon for many years.
The ban allows a quick fire agency response to all fires observed from May 1 on, as they are all assumed to be uncontrolled fires unless specifically authorized by an exemption permit.
This successful program is one of the primary reasons Lake County has superior and healthful air quality.
To obtain an exemption permit to burn after May 1, contact the Lake County Air Quality Management District at 707-263-7000 for details.
District office hours are Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Appointments may be requested any time Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Anyone responsible for open burning during the ban without an exemption permit may be subject to citation, fines and fire agency response costs to extinguish the fire.
Help reduce the danger and losses caused by uncontrolled fires, and protect Lake County’s clean air.
“Public cooperation is greatly appreciated and results in a safer and more healthful environment for us all,” the Lake County Air Quality Management District reported.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — While California’s jobless rate remained unchanged in March, Lake County experienced a minor improvement in its unemployment rate.
The California Employment Development Department’s latest report on joblessness showed that Lake County’s March unemployment rate was 6.3%, down from 6.4% in February but up from the rate reported in March 2022, 5.2%.
At the same time, the statewide rate remained at 4.4%, compared to 4.5% in March 2022.
Despite there being no change in the state rate, the Employment Development Department said the state’s employers added 8,700 nonfarm payroll jobs in March.
California payroll jobs totaled 19,371,100 in March 2023, up 32,700 from February 2023 and up 151,200 from March of last year, the report said.
The Employment Development Department said that since the current economic expansion began in April 2020, California has gained 3,049,800 jobs, which works out to a monthly average of 84,717 jobs gained over that time.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nationwide unemployment rate in March was 3.5%, down from 3.6% in February, which was the same rate in March of 2022.
Lake County trends
With the weather turning warmer and crops growing, Lake County’s workforce showed an increase of 22.7% in total farm jobs — which equates to 200 jobs — which also is a 13.7% year-over increase, a trend also seen statewide.
For total nonfarm jobs, there was a 0.4% increase in March over February, but it was down by 1.7% in a year-over comparison.
Employment subcategories showing gains included financial activities, 3.3%; government, 2.1%; personal and professional services, 1.4%; and private education and health services, 0.4%.
Losses were reported in other services, -1.9%; leisure and hospitality, -1.7%; goods producing, -0.9%; and trade, transportation and utilities, -0.3%.
Lake County’s unemployment rate last month earned it the No. 35 ranking statewide among the state’s 58 counties.
San Mateo had California’s lowest unemployment rate, 1.9%. On the other end of the spectrum, Colusa County had the highest, 19.2%.
In addition to Colusa, Lake’s other neighboring county jobless rates and ranks were: Glenn, 7.1%, No. 43; Mendocino, 5.3%, No. 27; Napa and Sonoma, tied at 3.6%, No. 7; and Yolo, 5.1%, No. 26.
Statewide picture
The report showed that the number of jobs in the agriculture industry statewide increased from February by 10,500 to a total of 434,900 jobs in March.
The agricultural industry had 17,000 more farm jobs in March 2023 than it did in March a year ago, the Employment Development Department said.
The report showed that the number of Californians employed in March was 18,511,400, an increase of 14,700 persons from February’s total of 18,496,700 and also up 128,600 from the employment total in March.
At the same time, the report showed the number of unemployed Californians was 859,600 in March, an increase of 17,900 over the month and also up 22,500 in comparison to March 2022.
Total nonfarm jobs in California’s 11 major industries totaled 17,967,800 in March — a net gain of 8,700 from February. This followed a downward revised (-10,500) month-over gain of 21,800 jobs in February, the report said.
In a year-over comparison, total nonfarm jobs increased by 432,100 — a 2.5% increase — from March 2022 to March 2023 compared to the U.S. annual gain of 4,145,000 jobs, a 2.7% increase.
Six of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in March with private education and health services (+7,000) leading the way with notable gains in offices of dentists, home health care services and hospitals, the Employment Development Department said.
Government (+6,900) enjoyed the second-strongest month-over gain as jobs were added in all three of its sub sectors with the strongest gains coming in local government education, according to the report.
Construction, which lost 8,200 jobs, suffered the largest reduction in month-over employment with much of its losses coming in the specialty trade contractors and construction of buildings subsectors, the report said.
The state said additional losses came in the highway, street, and bridge construction and residential building construction, among others.
Extreme weather and flooding likely played a role in the sector’s month-over decline as atmospheric rivers hit California during the survey week, the Employment Development Department said.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, the Employment Development Department said there were 414,119 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the March 2023 sample week. That compares to 380,768 people in February and 398,638 people in March 2022.
Concurrently, the agency reported that 46,792 initial claims were processed in the March 2023 sample week, which was a month-over increase of 6,209 claims from February and also a year-over increase of 7,607 claims from March 2022.
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.
Dennis Fordham. Courtesy photo. When doing estate planning, a person should give consideration to how future repayment of debts owed to them and also debts owed by them will impact the inheritances to be received by their intended death beneficiaries.
First, debts in a person’s estate are payable from the decedent’s assets in the course of administering their probate estate or administering their living trust estate.
Assets passing directly to a beneficiary without any administration (e.g., life insurance, joint tenancy assets, and Pay on Death (“POD”) and Transfer on Death (“TOD”) accounts) are not typically subject to repaying a decedent’s unsecured debts.
Thus, estate planning should consider how a person’s debt is repaid. One approach is to purchase life insurance made payable to the trust estate.
Second, a person may specifically gift real property that is subject to repaying an outstanding debt (e.g., a mortgage).
Should the beneficiary who receives the residence take it subject to repaying the secured debt or should other assets within the estate repay the debt, and so reduce the balance of the estate for distribution elsewhere.
The desired approach should be expressly stated; otherwise, the general (default) rule is that any secured debt goes with the gift. That may or may not be what is intended by the person making the gift.
Third, parents and children may loan money between themselves; typically from parent to child.
Such intra (within) family debts merit the parent’s attention when doing their estate planning. Parents may loan money to a child to pay higher education costs, to purchase a house or to start a business.
At the parent’s death, should any unpaid balance be repaid by the child to the parent’s estate or should the child’s debt be forgiven? The desired approach should be stated expressly in the will or trust, as relevant
If the parent wants the unpaid balance to be repaid, then the debt obligation (e.g., promissory note) and its payment history (ledger) both need to be in writing and be kept up to date. The debt can be assigned to the parents’ trust and be enforced by the successor trustee (during the parent’s incapacity or at death).
At death, the unpaid balance would need to be added back into the value of the trust estate in order to arrive at the gross value of the estate needed to compute each share of the total estate (i.e., including the unpaid debt).
Typically, the unpaid balance is then subtracted from the debtor’s share as an advance.
Children may also be owed money from a parent, e.g., the child provides a parent with at-home personal care services or lends money to cover a parent’s costs of living. If so, the debt and its repayment history should be in writing and kept up to date.
Also, it may help if the parent’s living trust acknowledges the parent’s debt to the child and that the debt will be paid from the proceeds of the parent’s estate (e.g., sale of home) prior to the division of the parent’s remaining estate amongst the parent’s death beneficiaries.
The foregoing is a brief discussion of some issues to be considered where debts impact a person’s estate planning. For legal guidance consult a qualified attorney.
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.
“Snow White.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control’s adoptable canines include several new arrivals and many others that continue to wait for their new homes.
Twenty-eight dogs are waiting at the shelter to meet their new families.
They include “Snow White,” a 2-year-old miniature smooth-haired dachshund mix that shelter staff describe as “the happiest little girl in the world,” whose tail is always wagging.
Also available is “Henry,” a 3-year-old pit bull mix with a red and white coat.
Shelter staff describe Henry — a staff and volunteer favorite — as “sweet as pie.” He also loves to give hugs, adores people, is good on leash, and enjoys long walks.
“Henry.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. 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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Probation Department has received a $220,638 grant to establish a mobile probation service center.
The grant will facilitate purchase of a vehicle to provide unhoused Probation Department clients access to all services, including remote court appearances, probation programs, check-ins with their officers, and access to service providers and partner agencies.
The Probation team will use this tool to reduce technical violations and decrease recidivism.
“Currently, approximately 25% of those on high-risk probation in Lake County are unhoused,” said Chief Probation Officer Wendy Mondfrans. “The mobile service center will allow us to more effectively work with partners to meet the needs of those we serve, and help them successfully complete probation. This will support critical public safety priorities, while ensuring more equitable access to available supports.”
Funding for the mobile service center stems from Assembly Bill 178, which established a competitive grant program to allow county probation departments to purchase vehicles and telecommunications and other associated equipment to assist those on probation, with particular emphasis on supporting unhoused individuals struggling to meet probation requirements.
“We are very excited to better serve people on probation and Lake County’s communities with our mobile service center, and grateful for the state of California’s support,” said Mondfrans.
Questions can be directed to the Probation Department at 707-262-4285.
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