LAKEPORT, Calif. – Grillers are needed to help fire up the annual “Grillin’ on the Green” event, returning this year following its cancellation in 2020 due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Grillers are invited to once again compete in the barbecue cook-off that highlights the family fun activity. Sponsors are also sought and will be recognized at the event.
The 11th annual “Grillin’ on the Green” cook-off, presented by the Westside Community Park Committee and Grillin’ on the Green Organizing Committee, is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 7, from 5 to 7:30 p.m., at Westside Community Park.
The fundraiser supporting park improvements features food, drink and entertainment for all ages.
Attendees may taste competitors’ barbecue fare, dance to live music by the LC Diamonds, and enjoy a car show featuring vintage vehicles from local car clubs. Kids may participate in children’s water activities, as well.
Local organizations, individuals and professionals battle for bragging rights each year by preparing their best barbecue recipes for attendees who then cast Peoples’ Choice votes for their favorites.
Additionally, “celebrity” judges including Sheriff Brian Martin will select their favorite grillers in various categories.
Interested grilling chefs and team representatives are urged to sign up as soon as possible. Call Cindy Ustrud at 707-349-0718. Entries are due by July 16.
Event organizers are seeking sponsors of the event and sponsors for grillers this year. Levels of sponsor recognition are $100, $300, $500 and up.
Opportunities to sponsor a Grillin’ participant are available at the rate of $500.
Major sponsors for this year’s event include Lake County Tribal Health Consortium, Community First Credit Union, Lake County News, Law Office of Mary Heare Amodio, the Ustrud-Rollins Family, the Keeling-Barnes Family Foundation and Brian Grey, DDS, MSD.
Information about the event can be found on the park’s website or on Westside Community Park’s Facebook page. Additionally, people may call Dennis Rollins, 707-349-0969, for information.
Westside Community Park is a City of Lakeport recreational facility that has been in development for more than 20 years.
The nonprofit park committee is developing the park in conjunction with the city of Lakeport, volunteers, and numerous contributions by individuals and businesses dedicated to constructing a recreational facility for the youth and adults of Lake County.
The committee maintains and operates the majority of the park.
Westside Community Park is home to the Konocti Youth Soccer League, Westshore Little League's softball league, the Lakeport team of the Ukiah Men's Soccer League and the Early Lake Lions Horseshoe League.
Improvements to the park for which the Westside Community Park Committee seeks funding include continued development of a horse park on a separate site located off State Highway 175, west of Lakeport.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors is set to discuss a lease agreement to provide a new home for the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 13, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 974 5601 1705, pass code 182315. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,97456011705#,,,,*182315#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
In an untimed item, the board will consider a lease agreement between the county and the John Allen Dye Trust of 1993 for the building at 325 N Forbes St. in Lakeport, which formerly housed a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. office.
The county is proposing to use the building for the new location of the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office.
The proposed 10-year lease would run from Aug. 1, 2021, to July 31, 2031.
County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson’s report to the board explains that both the auditor-controller and the registrar have long had a need for additional office space.
“With the approval of the Space Use Committee, the Registrar of Voters’ Office has been exploring potential spaces to house all Elections-related operations since mid-2019,” Huchingson wrote. “It is believed Elections relinquishing their existing space to the Auditor-Controller, upon moving to a more permanent location, will solve both office’s space needs.”
Huchingson said that in March, Casey Dye, on behalf of the John Allen Dye Family Trust of 1993, contacted the county, and notified them that PG&E, a longtime tenant at the site, had vacated it. She said Dye expressed interest in coming to a long-term lease agreement with the county for use of this facility, which is located across Third Street from the courthouse.
Following a collaborative process, with the Space Committee, Registrar of Voters Office and Registrar Maria Valadez, staff from Buildings and Grounds and Administration and Dye, Huchingson said they reached the lease agreement that is being presented to the board.
Huchingson said the county’s Buildings and Grounds Department will need to renovate the 2,000-square-foot building for the Registrar of Voters Office. As a result, the lease rate for the first five years of the term is capped at $1.11 per square foot for a total of $2,200 per month.
Starting with the fifth year, the owner will be eligible for increases based on 90% of the Consumer Price Index, not to exceed +2% per year. Huchingson said the agreement also provides for a renewal option at the end of the 10 year term.
“The Space Use Committee and Staff recommend your Board approve this Agreement, as presented. This will provide a highly suitable location for the Elections Office, adjacent to the Courthouse, to better serve registered voters of Lake County for many years to come. It is anticipated that the space would be ready for use by early 2022,” Huchingson wrote.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: (a) Approve purchase order previously approved for the Accela subscription renewal order form; and (b) authorize chair to sign the Accela subscription renewal order form for fiscal year 2021-22.
5.2: Adopt resolution amending Resolution No. 2021-65 establishing salaries and benefits for management employees for the Period Nov. 1, 2020, to Oct. 31, 2021.
5.3: Approve Amendment No. 2 to 2019 Agreement with Tetra Tech Inc., for Sulphur, Pawnee and Mendocino Complex wildfires structural burn debris removal insurance cost recovery and invoicing in Lake County, with compensation not to exceed $492,425 for an extended term ending Nov. 25, 2021, to add Clayton and LNU Lightning Complex collections and authorize the chair to sign.
5.4: Approve memorandum of understanding between the California Counties Foundation Inc., and Mendocino County and Lake County to host a series of CSAC Institute courses in Ukiah and authorize the chair to sign.
5.5: Approve amendment to the County of Lake COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Worksite Protocol.
5.6: Approve leave of absence request for Social Services employee Eunice Rivera from July 12, 2021, through Jan. 1, 2022, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.7: Adopt proclamation recognizing Melissa Fulton for her years of service to Lake County.
5.8: (a) Approve amendment to policy regarding response to official citizen complaints including retitling to “Policy Regarding Response to Official Constituent Complaints”; and (b) authorize the county administrative officer to seek the signatures of department heads to ensure compliance with the amended policy.
5.9: Approve agreement between county of Lake and Behavioral Health Services as lead agency of the Lake County Continuum of Care and North Coast Opportunities for fiscal year 2021-25 in an amount not to exceed $207,585 and authorize the chair to sign.
5.10: Approve first amendment to the agreement between county of Lake and Hinderliter, De Llamas and Associates for sales tax audit and information services and authorize the chair to sign.
5.11: Approve amendment four to the agreement between the county of Lake and the Kelseyville Motel for COVID-19 emergency isolation housing and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.12: Approve amendment five to the agreement between the county of Lake and Evan Bloom, MD, MPH, to assist the Lake County Public Health officer during the COVID-19 crisis response and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.13: Approve annual renewal of veterans subvention certificate of compliance and Medi-Cal Cost Avoidance Program certificate of compliance and authorize the board chair to sign certificates.
5.14: Adopt the resolution authorizing the Public Services director to sign the notice of completion for work performed under the agreement with Westech Roofing Inc. for the Hill Road Correctional Facility Phase II Reroof Project.
5.15: Adopt resolution authorizing the Public Works director to sign the notice of completion for the rehabilitation of Big Canyon Road Project.
5.16: (a) Adopt resolution approving the Lake County Sheriff's Office to apply for State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation Off-Highway Vehicle Grant funds and authorize the Lake County sheriff/coroner or his designee to sign the project agreement and (b) consideration of a delegation of authority to Lake County Sheriff/Coroner Brian Martin or his designee to execute the attached project agreement, Number G19-03-64-L01 and to act as the county’s agent in the negotiation, execution, and submittal of all related documents, including amendments to the project agreement and requests for payments.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:06 a.m.: Consideration of update on COVID-19 epidemiology.
6.3, 9:20 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation recognizing Melissa Fulton for her years of service to Lake County.
6.4, 9:30 a.m.: Public hearing, sitting concurrently as Clearlake Keys CSA#1, #2, #6, #13, #20, #21- Board of Supervisors, Kelseyville County Waterworks District #3 and Lake County Sanitation District Board of Directors), consideration of (a) resolution confirming collections of annual lighting fees; (b) resolution confirming collections of delinquent water fees; (c) resolution confirming collections of delinquent water and sewer fees; and (d) resolution of delinquent sewer fees for Lake County Sanitation District.
6.5, 9:40 a.m.: A) Presentation on county facilities energy conservation measures program; and b) consideration of agreement for a preliminary energy audit.
6.6, 10:10 a.m.: Presentation of Big Valley Groundwater Basin Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and implementation.
6.7, 10:25 a.m.: CivicSpark Fellows presentation: The Clear Lake Shoreline Assessment and Inventory Project for the Lake County Water Resources Department.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of lease agreement between the county of Lake and John Allen Dye Trust of 1993 for the Premises Located at 325 N Forbes St, Lakeport, for use as Office of the Registrar of Voters/Elections, for a 10-year term from Aug. 1, 2021, to July 31, 2031.
7.3: (a) Consideration to waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) Consideration of Agreement between the County of Lake and I.D.E.A. Consulting for development and implementation of an organized delivery system for substance use disorder services for fiscal year 2021-22 for a contract maximum of $50,000 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
7.4: (a) Consideration to waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) consideration of agreement between the county of Lake and North Valley Behavioral Health LLC for fiscal year 2021-22 for a contract maximum of $400,000 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
7.5: (a) Consideration to waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods and/or services; and (b) consideration of agreement between county of Lake and High Country Security for commercial fire alarm installation and monitoring at 14092 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake for fiscal years 2019-20 and 2020-21 for a contract maximum of $28,366.70 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
7.6: (a) Consideration to waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) consideration of agreement between the county of Lake and Mountain Valley Family and Child Services for specialty mental health services for fiscal year 2021-22 in the amount of $44,700 and to authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
7.7: (a) Consideration to waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) consideration of agreement between the county of Lake and Willow Glen Care Center for adult residential support services and specialty mental health services for fiscal year 2021-22 for a contract maximum of $100,000 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
7.8: (a) Consideration to waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) consideration of agreement between the county of Lake and Hilltop Recovery Services for substance use disorder residential services for fiscal year 2021-22, for a contract maximum of $199,100.00 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
7.9: Consideration of the following advisory board appointments: Mental Health Advisory Board.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b)(1): (a) Interviews of Public Health officer; (b) appointment of Public Health officer.
8.2: Public employee evaluation: Title: Interim Community Development director.
8.3: Conference with legal counsel: existing litigation pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1) — Flesch v. County of Lake, et al.
8.4: Conference with legal counsel: existing litigation pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1) — City of Clearlake v. County of Lake, et al.
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. — Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it will use aircraft to determine the cause of a power outage impacting parts of southern Lake County that began on Saturday evening and which the company said could leave a large number of residents without power until late Sunday night.
The situation is particularly concerning as an excessive heat warning for Lake County is set to continue through early Monday morning, with daytime highs on Sunday expected to once again surpass the century mark.
PG&E reported that the power outage affecting 816 customer accounts in and around Hidden Valley Lake and the area of Spruce Grove Road began at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
In posts on social media, community members reported the outage, which left them without a way to cool off their homes. One resident reported it was about 106 degrees when the power went out.
Other posts asked people to check on their elderly neighbors.
A PG&E representative told Lake County News late Saturday night that due to terrain, crews could not walk the area to investigate what had caused the outage.
PG&E plans to bring in a helicopter on Sunday morning in order to find the issue and restore power to the impacted customers.
The company’s website said power was not expected to be restored until 11:30 p.m. Sunday.
The PG&E representative could not say if the outage would in fact last that long and said the company had not notified the county of Lake about the situation.
She then referred Lake County News to the county website where facilities where community members can get out of the heat are listed.
However, a check of that list — which Lake County News had published earlier in the week — showed none of those facilities will be open on Sunday.
Late Saturday night, Lake County News reached out to Board of Supervisors Chair Bruno Sabatier, who confirmed PG&E had not notified county leadership about the outage or its potential to continue another 24 hours.
He said he contacted Supervisor Moke Simon and County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson about possibly needing to open up a cooling center if the outage isn’t resolved earlier than Sunday night.
Additional information about the outage and possible assistance for south county residents will be published as it becomes available.
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. — Pacific Gas and Electric said it has determined the causes of two separate power outages that impacted south county communities over the weekend.
The outages, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, occurred during the midst of the latest heat wave, as Lake County News has reported.
The first outage, which began at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, impacted 885 customer accounts in Hidden Valley Lake, Middletown and Lower Lake, said PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras.
“Several PG&E ‘troublemen’ were dispatched to the area where a fault was detected on the line, on Old Spruce Grove Road, east of Highway 29,” said Contreras. “They inspected the area several times but the cause of the fault was not found.”
She said that, due to the high fire threat rating on Saturday, PG&E wanted to ensure the line was 100% inspected before re-energizing it.
Crews also used a helicopter early Sunday morning to inspect the line to ensure debris or vegetation was not on the line, she said.
Contreras said power was completely restored to all of the impacted customers by 9 a.m. Sunday.
“We thank everyone for their patience and for their understanding, especially during the high temperatures, as we wanted to ensure the line in this high fire-threat area was safe to re-energize,” she said.
The second outage began at about 5:19 p.m. Sunday, said Contreras.
She said power was disrupted again to about 540 customers just in the Hidden Valley Lake area for about three hours.
“Crews were checking that Spruce Grove Road area again and they did find the cause to be impacted electrical equipment. I can say this outage was heat-related,” Contreras said.
She said the repairs were made and power was restored by 9:21 p.m. Sunday.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Clearlake Police Chief Andrew White to the State 911 Advisory Board.
The Governor’s Office announced White’s appointment to the board on Friday.
“Grateful for the opportunity to help shape the future of 9-1-1 in California as one of the Governor’s appointees to the State 911 Advisory Board,” White said in a Friday Facebook post.
California Government Code established the board, which has 10 members, including two at the recommendation of the California Police Chiefs Association, a group to which White belongs.
That was who nominated and supported White’s appointment, according to his Facebook post.
White, 36, has served as the Clearlake Police chief since 2018, and over the past year also has done double-duty as the city’s finance director.
White’s resume includes working as an instructor and scenario evaluator at Napa Valley College since 2007.
He also served as police commander for the Suisun City Police Department from 2015 to 2018. In that agency, he served in multiple positions from 2002 to 2015, including as a cadet, officer and sergeant, according to the governor’s announcement.
White was principal engineer at Cohero from 2013 to 2015 and was a dispatcher at the Napa Police Department from 2002 to 2004.
State statute requires that State 911 Advisory Board members should have at least two years of experience as a Public Safety Answering Point manager or county coordinator.
White also meets that requirement after having led the Clearlake Police Department through the Public Safety Answering Point application process, which the state approved in October 2018 and which was implemented in September 2019.
The only other Public Safety Answering Point in Lake County is the sheriff’s office.
The State 911 Advisory Board meets quarterly.
This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. White is a Republican, the Governor’s Office reported.
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.
Editor’s note: This week we’re pleased to debut a new informational column on the health of Clear Lake. The new “Lady of the Lake” column is written by Angela De Palma-Dow, a scientist, certified limnologist and staffer at Lake County Water Resources (It should be noted, she’s writing these columns on her own time, not county time, and the views expressed are her own). Her goal is to answer questions from community members about Clear Lake. Email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Dear Lady of the Lake,
We have a family property on the lake in Soda Bay and the water in the lake there is really gross, it’s weedy, it smells, and I have heard that the algae growing on the top is toxic? We have children and dogs. What is going on and what do we do?
— Concerned in Soda Bay
Dear Concerned,
Thank you for asking this question, I am glad you are paying attention to the lake and you are noticing that the conditions have changed.
What you are seeing happens in the hot, summer months and sometimes into fall in many places around Clear Lake. There are three things you are seeing in the water that can contribute to the picture you described.
One: aquatic plants (or macrophytes) grow in the water, some are rooted in the lake sediments at the bottom and some are not rooted, and are free-floating.
Two: Green algae are microscopic plants (sometimes called phytoplankton) that are the primary fish food in the lake. Clear Lake is very green — that is from the green algae and that is why we have a world class fishery and people come from all over to catch record-sized fish in the lake.
Three: Cyanobacteria, sometimes called blue-green algae, but it’s not really an algae, is a bacteria that lives in the water and sometimes can look and act just like green algae.
Cyanobacteria is NOT a preferred food source for fish. Sometimes when cyanobacteria populations grow in great numbers (called blooms) they can produce toxins that can cause public health hazards, traditionally referred to as harmful algal blooms, or HABs.
All three of these things you might be seeing need three main things to live and reproduce. They need light, warm temperatures and food — from nutrients in the water.
During the summer the days are longer, so there is plenty of light throughout any given day. Macrophytes, algae and cyanobacteria all conduct photosynthesis, meaning they turn sunlight energy and carbon in the air into both oxygen and food energy or starch to grow.
Also during the summer, the air and water temperatures can be very, very warm (right now as I write this, the evening temperature is 97 degrees Fahrenheit — so pretty warm).
Lastly, all plants need some type of nutrition or food to fuel basic metabolic processes like growing and reproducing.
For macrophytes, algae and cyanobacteria, the three main nutrients they rely on for growth are carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. Carbon and nitrogen are very abundant in the atmosphere and water, carbon in the form of CO2 and nitrogen in the form of N2 (gas) and any animal or plant waste or breakdown product in the water.
Phosphorus is least common, therefore phosphorus is the main driver of growth, because it’s normally least available, so it’s what limits growth of macrophytes, algae and cyanobacteria.
Now, in your bay, you are seeing what we call “the perfect storm.” There is abundant light, warm temperature and plentiful food nutrients.
During the summer phosphorus is most abundant in the water column compared with the rest of the year.
Normally phosphorus is bound in the sediments at the bottom of the lake, but during the spring and summer months, the lake is really active. Animals dig in the sediment bottom, winds mix up the sediments into the water column, and people even boat around and stir up sediments and shorelines through wave action.
Also, rooted macrophytes will absorb phosphorus from the sediment into their tissues through their roots and stems.
All this activity has effectively moved phosphorus into the water column where it is eaten by green algae and cyanobacteria.
As the temperatures get warmer and the days longer, more and more growth of macrophytes, green algae and cyanobacteria occurs and as the algae and cyanobacteria in the water column die, there are new cells waiting to eat the nutrients they released before it settles back into the sediment.
You are seeing this feedback loop of very productive growth happening in your bay. The conditions of this “perfect storm” are just right to promote growth of all three of these things, and will probably continue until something happens to break the cycle, like we get a really strong cold wind that prevents the growth of the algae and cyanobacteria (but can also stir up new nutrients from the bottom) or we get cold air and water temperatures or we received a large amount of rain to dilute the water.
If you are thinking that this list of things are unlikely in the summer in Lake County, you are probably right, especially as we head into another heat wave and continue this drought.
The smell you are noticing is from the dying of the macrophytes at the surface of the water where it’s really hot, and the matting and dying of the cyanobacteria.
Once the plants and cyanobacteria cells die, they eventually do get reabsorbed and recycled into the rest of the lake — but a majority of their mass goes to feed the next generation of cyanobacteria and green algae, and the cycle repeats itself. All summer long.
What can you do? Unfortunately, not much. I know you don’t want to hear that, but there really isn’t anything anyone can do to stop the process or stop the growth of algae or cyanobacteria.
This process is literally mother nature perfection — these organisms have been on the earth for millions of years, and in Clear Lake for hundreds of thousands.
People cannot control the light or water temperature, and while local and state agencies are working to remediate or reduce the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen in the lake, this process takes years and years and is very expensive.
There is nothing currently “chemically” approved that can be put in the lake that would safely “fix” the problem, no matter what Youtube claims.
There are short-term band-aid solutions, like watering down the algae mats, or breaking them up with a jet-ski or airboat, but those are all labor intensive and take gasoline energy and only provide a short-lived solution that might last a day. These types of activities also break up algae and cyanobacteria cells, releasing nutrients and feeding surrounding cells.
If there was a magic, effective solution, it would have already been in place and it would be used in lakes all over the country that suffer from this same situation like along Lake Erie and multiple lakes in Florida.
Stay safe! Even with all this, you and your family can stay safe. Make sure to monitor conditions of the lake, and any water body, before you go into the water. If the water looks like pea soup, is bright green, slimy or like paint, then stay out of the water.
Streams can also have cyanobacteria, but it can be growing in clumps or strands along the bottom, or benthic, portion of the stream.
For Clear Lake there is a comprehensive cyanobacteria monitoring program managed by Big Valley EPA and other tribal partners.
They have a website where they post their monitoring results on a map every two weeks — https://www.bvrancheria.com/clearlakecyanotoxins — and they post results on their Facebook page called “Clear Lake Water Quality.”
Red pins mean DANGER levels have been found and it’s recommended to not go into the water in that area. Orange pins mean WARNING, and yellow mean CAUTION. Green pins mean no cyanobacteria toxins have been detected in the sampled water from that area.
However, conditions can change daily in the summer, so use your judgement to keep you and your family safe.
Also know that public health trigger levels (caution, warning, danger) are based on adult human bodies and not children or pets, so even if there is a caution level (yellow pin) in an area where you wanted to go swimming, children and pets could be more sensitive and you should really think about looking for another location to enjoy the lake.
For pets especially, because they will unknowingly drink water while swimming and lick their fur when they get out of the water, be extra cautious and remember, when in doubt, just keep them out!
In case pets do go into the water, you should rinse or wash them down with clean, non-lake water as soon as possible.
It’s going to be a long, hot and sunny summer, it’s up to each of us to stay safe and recreate responsibly.
— Sincerely, the Lady of the Lake
Additional resources to help you learn about cyanobacteria, as well as green algae and macrophytes
Upcoming public learning opportunities about cyanobacteria include the Lake Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, July 20, the Clearlake City Council meeting on Thursday, July 15 and the Lakeport City Council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 3 (board and council meeting agenda items are subject to change, check relevant city and county websites for the most current information).
Angela De Palma-Dow is a limnologist (limnology = study of fresh inland waters) who lives and works in Lake County. She has a Masters of Science from Michigan State University. She is a Certified Lake Manager from the North American Lake Management Society, or NALMS, and she is the current president/chair of the California chapter of the Society for Freshwater Science. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed SB 129, legislation that reflects the majority of the 2021-22 state budget agreement.
This budget includes the biggest economic recovery package in California’s history — a $100 billion California Comeback Plan.
The California Comeback Plan focuses on providing relief to those that need it most and major investments to address the state’s most persistent challenges.
The plan provides immediate cash relief to middle class families and businesses hit hardest by the pandemic, creating the biggest state tax rebate in American history and the largest small business relief package in the nation.
“Harnessing the largest surplus in state history, we’re making transformative investments across the board that will help bring all our communities roaring back from the pandemic – and pay dividends for generations to come,” said Gov. Newsom. “Through this comprehensive plan, the state is taking on the inequities laid bare by the pandemic, expanding our support for Californians facing the greatest hardships, increasing opportunity for every child, confronting homelessness head-on and doubling down on our work to build resilience against the climate change impacts that threaten California’s future. I thank Pro Tem Atkins, Speaker Rendon and both houses of the Legislature for their incredible partnership in meeting the unprecedented challenge and opportunity of this moment.”
Fueled by a resurgent economy, a surge in state revenues and additional federal recovery funds, the $75.7 billion surplus reflected in the California Comeback Plan stands in stark contrast to the $54.3 billion budget shortfall estimated just over a year ago.
The budget is built on a strong fiscal foundation that includes over $25 billion in reserves, pays off educational deferrals and continues to pay down long-term retirement debts.
It also appropriately prioritizes one-time spending over ongoing, allocating 85 percent of discretionary funds to one-time spending.
Gov. Newsom believes California can’t go back to normal, because normal was never good enough.
In directly confronting our most stubborn challenges, the California Comeback Plan accelerates the state’s recovery by:
— Providing immediate relief to Californians hit hardest by the pandemic. — Confronting homelessness and the housing affordability crisis. — Transforming public schools into gateways of opportunity. — Bolstering wildfire resilience and tackling climate change. — Building the infrastructure of the next century.
Newsom’s office said California can now seize this once-in-a-lifetime moment to address long-standing challenges that threaten our state’s future and ensure every California family — regardless of their race or zip code — can thrive.
Immediate relief for california’s families and small businesses
Two out of every three Californians get Golden State Stimulus checks: The plan creates the biggest state tax rebate in American history, expanding direct payments to middle class families for a total of $12 billion in stimulus payments that will go directly to middle class Californians and families. Nearly two thirds of Californians will now qualify for a stimulus check of $600. Qualified families with kids will receive an additional $500.
Largest statewide renter assistance program in the country: Under the governor’s plan, California is offering the strongest renter assistance package of any state in America. The plan provides a total of $5.2 billion to help low-income renters and landlords, covering 100% of back-rent and all prospective rent for several months into the future. The plan also includes $2 billion for past-due water and utility bills and more money than ever for tenant legal assistance.
Largest small businesses relief program in the nation: The plan invests an additional $1.5 billion for a total of $4 billion in direct grants to California’s small businesses — on top of $6.2 billion in tax relief — putting more money directly into the pockets of hundreds of thousands of small business owners and helping them re-hire workers displaced by the pandemic. The plan also creates a $120 million California Competes Tax Credit grant program to incentivize businesses to relocate to the state.
Confronting homelessness and the housing affordability crisis
Confronting homelessness at historic levels: The Comeback Plan invests roughly $12 billion over two years to tackle the homelessness crisis, the largest such investment in state history. The multi-pronged approach will help tens of thousands of people get off the streets or avoid homelessness altogether through the creation of 42,000 new homeless housing units, including housing options for people with severe mental health challenges. These investments include:
Expanding Homekey and rebuilding California’s mental health system: The plan includes almost $6 billion to add 42,000 new housing units through Homekey — California’s groundbreaking national model for homeless housing. $2.2 billion of this investment is dedicated to housing for people with the most acute mental health needs and those needing conservatorships. Governor Newsom’s investment is the biggest expansion in decades in terms of clinically enhanced behavioral health housing.
Humane encampment strategy: The California Comeback Plan includes targeted programs and grants to local governments to move people out of unsafe, unhealthy encampments and into safer, more stable housing.
Cleaning California’s streets: In addition to the investments addressing homelessness, the governor’s plan includes $1.1 billion to clean up the streets of California by partnering with local governments to pick up trash and beautify downtowns, freeways and neighborhoods across California. The program is expected to generate up to 11,000 jobs over three years.
More funding for new affordable housing than ever before: The California Comeback Plan tackles housing affordability head-on: it will put over $3 billion into building more affordable housing for low-income families and creates homeownership opportunities to help restore the California Dream.
Transforming public schools into gateways of opportunity
Transforming schools into gateways of opportunity: Under the California Comeback Plan, the state will invest more than ever before in our public schools. Public schools in low-income neighborhoods will be able to fundamentally transform into the kind of complete campus every parent would want for their child: smaller class sizes, before- and after-school instruction, sports and arts, personalized tutoring, nurses and counselors and free school nutrition – paired with new preventative behavioral health services for every kid in California.
Finally achieving universal Pre-K: Under the governor’s plan, California will finally achieve universal pre-school, providing high-quality, free transitional kindergarten to all four-year-olds in California, regardless of income or immigrations status. The plan also adds 200,000 subsidized child care slots over the next several years -- increasing access and bringing down the cost of child care for many.
College savings accounts for 3.7 million children: The California Comeback Plan creates college savings accounts for 3.7 million low-income children in public school, making college more attainable than ever before.
Making higher education more accessible than ever before: The governor’s plan will make college more affordable and accessible than ever before by increasing in-state tuition slots for Californians that want to attend a CSU or UC school, expanding financial aid systems for middle-class students and driving down the cost of attending college, cutting student housing costs and reducing the cost of textbooks.
Bolstering wildfire resilience and taking nation-leading climate action
Doing more than ever before to combat and prepare for wildfires: The governor’s plan will make the single largest investment in wildfire and emergency preparedness in our state’s history — investing more than $2 billion. The plan includes purchasing new firefighting equipment like airplanes and helicopters, as well as investments in land and forest management projects that save lives and protect communities.
Nation-leading climate action: Climate change is here, and California is leading the nation in tackling it head-on. The California Comeback Plan includes a $3.9 billion package to hit fast-forward on our zero-emissions vehicle goals, leading to cleaner air for future generations. In addition, the administration continues work with the Legislature to allocate $3.7 billion over three years that will better prepare the state for extreme heat and sea level rise and address environmental justice priorities that support the low-income and disadvantaged communities bearing the brunt of climate change impacts.
Building the infrastructure of the next century
Water resilience and drought response: Climate change is making droughts more common and more severe. The governor’s plan invests $5.1 billion over four years in drought support, water supply and natural habitat restoration projects around the state to build climate resilience in the face of more extreme cycles of wet and dry conditions.
Working to build a 22nd century electric grid: The administration continues work with the Legislature to build a cleaner, more resilient and reliable 22nd century electric grid amid record-breaking temperatures driven by climate change.
Expanding broadband access: It’s time to stop talking about closing the digital divide and finally do it. Through a $6 billion investment, more Californians will be able to access broadband coverage through the construction of an open access middle mile and last mile projects that connect unserved households in remote areas to the middle mile.
In addition, the administration continues work with the Legislature to advance investments to build a modernized and sustainable transportation system, including funding for the state’s public transportation system and high-speed rail.
The budget and related budget-implementing legislation signed by the governor on MOnday include:
AB 141 by the Committee on Budget – Budget Act of 2021: Department of Cannabis Control: licensure: safety and quality assurance.
SB 129 by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) – Budget Act of 2021. A line-item veto can be found here.
SB 139 by the Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review – Golden State Stimulus II: Golden State Stimulus.
SB 146 by the Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review – Correctional facilities.
SB 151 by the Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review – Economic development.
SB 158 by the Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review – Hazardous waste.
This female Siamese mix has a short coat and blue eyes.
She is 2 years old.
She is in cat room kennel No. 68, ID No. LCAC-A-963.
Male domestic shorthair kitten
This male yellow tabby kitten has a short coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 70b, ID No. LCAC-A-987.
Male domestic shorthair kitten
This male yellow tabby kitten has a short coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 70d, ID No. LCAC-A-989.
‘Furball’
“Furball” is a 6-year-old female domestic longhair cat with a brown tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 84, ID No. LCAC-A-969.
Domestic medium hair kitten
This male domestic medium hair kitten has a yellow tabby coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 103a, ID No. LCAC-A-965.
Female domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic shorthair kitten has a gray tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 103d, ID No. 968.
Domestic shorthair kitten
This male domestic shorthair kitten has a yellow tabby coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 103e, ID No. LCAC-A-959.
Male domestic shorthair
This male domestic shorthair has a gray and white coat.
He is 1-year-old and weighs nearly 6 pounds.
He is in cat room kennel No. 120, ID No. LCAC-A-874.
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. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has many dogs of various breeds waiting for new homes this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of boxer, Chihuahua, husky, pit bull, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Rottweiler and shepherd.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control website not listed are still “on hold”).
“Dash” is a 2-year-old female Rhodesian Ridgeback mix with a short tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-1183.
Male pit bull
This young male American pit bull has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-1028.
‘Hype’
“Hype” is a 5-year-old female boxer mix with a short red and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-974.
‘Jim’
“Jim” is a 2-year-old pit bull terrier mix with a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-810.
‘Luna’
“Luna” is a 3-year-old female pit bull terrier mix with a short red coat.
She is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-1078.
‘Tinker’
“Tinker” is a 4-year-old Chihuahua with a short tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 26a, ID No. 1074.
Rottweiler-pit bull mix
This 1-year-old female Rottweiler-pit bull mix has a short black coat.
She has been spayed.
She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-731.
‘Brutus’
“Brutus” is a 5-year-old male pit bull terrier with a short gray and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-670.
Female pit bull terrier
This 4-year-old female pit bull terrier mix has a short white coat.
She is in kennel No. 29, ID No. LCAC-A-812.
‘Apollo’
“Apollo” is a 2-year-old male husky mix with a medium-length red and white coat and blue eyes.
He is in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-783.
Male husky
This 2-year-old male husky has a medium-length red and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 32, ID No. LCAC-A-1024.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Clearlake Police Department said it has located some of the fire hose and other equipment reported stolen from the Lake County Fire Protection District earlier this month and arrested a local woman in connection to the case.
On June 21, a fire was reported in the area of Wilkinson Avenue and Dam Road. Lake County Fire Protection District personnel responded and eventually extinguished the fire which grew to about 25 acres in size. This fire led to the evacuation of nearby homes which were threatened.
The Lake County Fire Protection District was able to extinguish the fire and remained in the area for several days, as Lake County News has reported.
Sgt. Ryan Peterson said that after the fire incident, Fire Chief Willie Sapeta contacted the Clearlake Police Department and reported that approximately 4,000 feet of wildland fire hose along with fixtures, nozzles, connectors and other fire equipment had been stolen during the incident.
Chief Sapeta said that after the fire was extinguished, fire personnel left fire hose connected in the area to assist if there was a flareup from the fire. This is a common practice which allows fire personnel to quickly get to a flareup without having to unravel hose and make connections.
Since the theft, 1,100 feet of the hose and some of the connectors had been located piled in the area, Peterson said.
On Saturday, a five-acre fire was reported in the area of Dam Road and Lake Street. The cause of that fire is still under investigation.
Radio traffic indicated some of the hose was found, Sapeta told Lake County News that only a few lengths of the hose was found at that time.
On Sunday, Peterson said Officer Chris Kelleher was conducting followup regarding the theft in the area of the 16100 block of Dam Road when he observed some of the stolen hose on a property and contacted the resident, Rebecca Moresi, 31.
Peterson said Moresi admitted to going into the fire zone and taking the hose along with connectors.
Moresi told Kelleher that she has a pump on her property and she was going to use the items for her personal use, Peterson said.
Peterson said Kelleher placed Moresi under arrest on probable cause for taking the equipment.
Due to the Lake County Superior Court’s emergency bail schedule, Moresi was issued a signed promise to appear with a later court date, Peterson said.
The stolen equipment — which included 400 feet of hose, a connector and nozzle — was collected and turned over to the fire department, Peterson reported.
Peterson said the Clearlake Police Department is continuing the investigation and attempting to locate the remainder of the stolen equipment.
Anyone with information regarding the theft or location of the stolen property is asked to contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The lights went back on Sunday morning for residents of an area of southern Lake County which had been without power since the previous night.
Power had been off for 816 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customer accounts in and around Hidden Valley Lake and Spruce Grove Road beginning at 5:30 p.m.
PG&E said the power was restored at approximately 8:49 a.m. Sunday.
That was more than 12 hours earlier than the company had anticipated being able to restore power. On its website on Saturday night, PG&E said power might not be restored until 11:30 p.m. Sunday.
A company official said they were sending out a helicopter on Sunday morning to look for the cause of the outage due to crews not being able to walk the terrain.
PG&E did not immediately report the outage’s cause.
The outage was of special concern, coming in the midst of another heat wave, with temperatures topping 100 degrees and no county facilities open on Sunday where community members could cool off.
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.
Plastic is the most common type of debris floating in the world’s oceans. Waves and sunlight break much of it down into smaller particles called microplastics – fragments less than 5 millimeters across, roughly the size of a sesame seed.
To understand how microplastic pollution is affecting the ocean, scientists need to know how much is there and where it is accumulating. Most data on microplastic concentrations comes from commercial and research ships that tow plankton nets – long, cone-shaped nets with very fine mesh designed for collecting marine microorganisms.
But net trawling can sample only small areas and may be underestimating true plastic concentrations. Except in the North Atlantic and North Pacific gyres – large zones where ocean currents rotate, collecting floating debris – scientists have done very little sampling for microplastics. And there is scant information about how these particles’ concentrations vary over time.
To address these questions, University of Michigan research assistant Madeline Evans and I developed a new way to detect microplastic concentrations from space using NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System. CYGNSS is a network of eight microsatellites that was launched in 2016 to help scientists predict hurricanes by analyzing tropical wind speeds. They measure how wind roughens the ocean’s surface – an indicator that we realized could also be used to detect and track large quantities of microplastics.
Looking for smooth zones
Annual global production of plastic has increased every year since the 1950s, reaching 359 million metric tons in 2018. Much of it ends up in open, uncontrolled landfills, where it can wash into river drainage zones and ultimately into the world’s oceans.
Researchers first documented plastic debris in the oceans in the 1970s. Today, it accounts for an estimated 80% to 85% of marine litter.
The radars on CYGNSS satellites are designed to measure winds over the ocean indirectly by measuring how they roughen the water’s surface. We knew that when there is a lot of material floating in the water, winds don’t roughen it as much. So we tried computing how much smoother measurements indicated the surface was than it should have been if winds of the same speed were blowing across clear water.
This anomaly – the “missing roughness” – turns out to be highly correlated with the concentration of microplastics near the ocean surface. Put another way, areas where surface waters appear to be unusually smooth frequently contain high concentrations of microplastics. The smoothness could be caused by the microplastics themselves, or possibly by something else that’s associated with them.
By combining all the measurements made by CYGNSS satellites as they orbit around the world, we can create global time-lapse images of ocean microplastic concentrations. Our images readily identify the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and secondary regions of high microplastic concentration in the North Atlantic and the southern oceans.
Tracking microplastic flows over time
Since CYGNSS tracks wind speeds constantly, it lets us see how microplastic concentrations change over time. By animating a year’s worth of images, we revealed seasonal variations that were not previously known.
We found that global microplastic concentrations tend to peak in the North Atlantic and Pacific during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer months. June and July, for example, are the peak months for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Concentrations in the Southern Hemisphere peak during its summer months of January and February. Lower concentrations during the winter in both hemispheres are likely due to a combination of stronger currents that break up microplastic plumes and increased vertical mixing – the exchange between surface and deeper water – that transports some of the microplastic down below the surface.
This approach can also target smaller regions over shorter periods of time. For example, we examined episodic outflow events from the mouths of the China’s Yangtze and Qiantang rivers where they empty into the East China Sea. These events may have been associated with increases in industrial production activity, or with increases in the rate at which managers allowed the rivers to flow through dams.
Better targeting for cleanups
Our research has several potential uses. Private organizations, such as The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit in The Netherlands, and Clewat, a Finnish company specializing in clean technology, use specially outfitted ships to collect, recycle and dispose of marine litter and debris. We have begun conversations with both groups and hope eventually to help them deploy their fleets more effectively.
Our spaceborne imagery may also be used to validate and improve numerical prediction models that attempt to track how microplastics move through the oceans using ocean circulation patterns. Scholars are developing several such models.
While the ocean roughness anomalies that we observed correlate strongly with microplastic concentrations, our estimates of concentration are based on the correlations that we observed, not on a known physical relationship between floating microplastics and ocean roughness. It could be that the roughness anomalies are caused by something else that is also correlated with the presence of microplastics.
One possibility is surfactants on the ocean surface. These liquid chemical compounds, which are widely used in detergents and other products, move through the oceans in ways similar to microplastics, and they also have a damping effect on wind-driven ocean roughening.
Further study is needed to identify how the smooth areas that we identified occur, and if they are caused indirectly by surfactants, to better understand exactly how their transport mechanisms are related to those of microplastics. But I hope this research can be part of a fundamental change in tracking and managing microplastic pollution.
[The Conversation’s science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories.Weekly on Wednesdays.]