LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Are you doing the right thing the wrong way?
That’s the question being posted by Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit in the wake of recent reports of fires caused by mowing in the heat of the day.
Cal Fire is reminding everyone that dry grasses and dry vegetation is extremely flammable.
Lawn mowers, weed-eaters, chain saws, grinders, welders, tractors and trimmers can all spark a wildland fire.
Firefighters urge residents to do their part, the right way, to keep the community fire safe.
Here’s how to do it the right way.
Mowing
Mow before 10 a.m., but never when it’s windy or excessively hot and dry. Lawn mowers are designed to mow lawns, not weeds or dry grass. Metal blades striking rocks can create sparks and start fires. Use caution.
Spark arresters
In wildland areas, spark arresters are required on all portable gasoline-powered equipment. This includes tractors, harvesters, chainsaws, weed-eaters and mowers.
• Keep the exhaust system, spark arresters and mower in proper working order and free of carbon buildup.
• Use the recommended grade of fuel and don’t top it off.
Individuals who cause fires by mowing can be held personally liable for damage to neighboring properties, and also can face citations and fines, and even jail time in some instances.
Researchers have discovered the most distant active supermassive black hole to date with the James Webb Space Telescope.
The galaxy, CEERS 1019, existed just over 570 million years after the big bang, and its black hole is less massive than any other yet identified in the early universe.
Not only that, they’ve easily “shaken out” two more black holes that are also on the smaller side, and existed 1 and 1.1 billion years after the big bang. Webb also identified eleven galaxies that existed when the universe was 470 to 675 million years old.
The evidence was provided by Webb’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science, or CEERS, Survey, led by Steven Finkelstein of the University of Texas at Austin.
The program combines Webb’s highly detailed near- and mid-infrared images and data known as spectra, all of which were used to make these discoveries.
CEERS 1019 is not only notable for how long ago it existed, but also how relatively little its black hole weighs. This black hole clocks in at about 9 million solar masses, far less than other black holes that also existed in the early universe and were detected by other telescopes.
Those behemoths typically contain more than 1 billion times the mass of the Sun — and they are easier to detect because they are much brighter. (They are actively “eating” matter, which lights up as it swirls toward the black hole.)
The black hole within CEERS 1019 is more similar to the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, which is 4.6 million times the mass of the Sun. This black hole is also not as bright as the more massive behemoths previously detected.
Though smaller, this black hole existed so much earlier that it is still difficult to explain how it formed so soon after the universe began.
Researchers have long known that smaller black holes must have existed earlier in the universe, but it wasn’t until Webb began observing that they were able to make definitive detections.
CEERS 1019 may only hold this record for a few weeks — claims about other, more distant black holes identified by Webb are currently being carefully reviewed by the astronomical community.
Webb’s data is practically overflowing with precise information that makes these confirmations so easy to pull out of the data.
“Looking at this distant object with this telescope is a lot like looking at data from black holes that exist in galaxies near our own,” said Rebecca Larson of the University of Texas at Austin, who led this discovery. “There are so many spectral lines to analyze!”
Not only could the team untangle which emissions in the spectrum are from the black hole and which are from its host galaxy, they could also pinpoint how much gas the black hole is ingesting and determine its galaxy’s star-formation rate.
The team found this galaxy is ingesting as much gas as it can while also churning out new stars. They turned to the images to explore why that might be. Visually, CEERS 1019 appears as three bright clumps, not a single circular disk.
“We’re not used to seeing so much structure in images at these distances,” said CEERS team member Jeyhan Kartaltepe of the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. “A galaxy merger could be partly responsible for fueling the activity in this galaxy’s black hole, and that could also lead to increased star formation.”
The CEERS Survey is expansive, and there is a lot more to explore.
Team member Dale Kocevski of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and the team quickly spotted another pair of small black holes in the data. The first, within galaxy CEERS 2782, was easiest to pick out. There isn’t any dust obscuring Webb’s view of it, so researchers could immediately determine when its black hole existed in the history of the universe — only 1.1 billion years after the big bang.
The second black hole, in galaxy CEERS 746, existed slightly earlier, 1 billion years after the big bang. Its bright accretion disk, a ring made up of gas and dust that encircles its supermassive black hole, is still partially clouded by dust.
“The central black hole is visible, but the presence of dust suggests it might lie within a galaxy that is also furiously pumping out stars,” Kocevski explained.
Like the one in CEERS 1019, these two black holes are also “light weights” — at least when compared to previously known supermassive black holes at these distances. They are only about 10 million times the mass of the Sun.
“Researchers have long known that there must be lower mass black holes in the early universe. Webb is the first observatory that can capture them so clearly,” Kocevski added. “Now we think that lower mass black holes might be all over the place, waiting to be discovered.”
Before Webb, all three black holes were too faint to be detected. “With other telescopes, these targets look like ordinary star-forming galaxies, not active supermassive black holes,” Finkelstein added.
Webb’s sensitive spectra also allowed these researchers to measure precise distances to, and therefore the ages of, galaxies in the early universe. Team members Pablo Arrabal Haro of NSF's NOIRLab and Seiji Fujimoto of the University of Texas at Austin identified 11 galaxies that existed 470 to 675 million years after the big bang. Not only are they extremely distant, the fact that so many bright galaxies were detected is notable. Researchers theorized that Webb would detect fewer galaxies than are being found at these distances. “I am overwhelmed by the amount of highly detailed spectra of remote galaxies Webb returned,” Arrabal Haro said. “These data are absolutely incredible.”
These galaxies are rapidly forming stars, but are not yet as chemically enriched as galaxies that are much closer to home. “Webb was the first to detect some of these galaxies,” explained Fujimoto. “This set, along with other distant galaxies we may identify in the future, might change our understanding of star formation and galaxy evolution throughout cosmic history,” he added.
These are only the first groundbreaking findings from the CEERS survey. “Until now, research about objects in the early universe was largely theoretical,” Finkelstein said. “With Webb, not only can we see black holes and galaxies at extreme distances, we can now start to accurately measure them. That’s the tremendous power of this telescope.”
In the future, it’s possible Webb’s data may also be used to explain how early black holes formed, revising researchers’ models of how black holes grew and evolved in the first several hundred million years of the universe’s history.
Several initial papers about CEERS Survey data have been accepted by The Astrophysical Journal Letters: “A CEERS Discovery of an Accreting Supermassive Black Hole 570 Myr after the Big Bang: Identifying a Progenitor of Massive z > 6 Quasars,” led by Larson, “Hidden Little Monsters: Spectroscopic Identification of Low-Mass, Broad-Line AGN at z > 5 with CEERS,” led by Kocevski, “Spectroscopic confirmation of CEERS NIRCam-selected galaxies at z≃8−10,” led by Arrabal Haro, and “CEERS Spectroscopic Confirmation of NIRCam-Selected z ≳ 8 Galaxy Candidates with JWST/NIRSpec: Initial Characterization of their Properties,” led by Fujimoto.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
Sanya Carley, University of Pennsylvania and David Konisky, Indiana University
Millions of Americans have already been sweltering through heat waves this summer, and forecasters warn of hot months ahead. July 3 and 4, 2023, were two of the hottest days, and possibly the hottest, on satellite record globally.
For people who struggle to afford air conditioning, the rising need for cooling is a growing crisis.
An alarming number of Americans risk losing access to utility service altogether because they can’t pay their bills. Energy utility providers shut off electricity to at least 3 million customers in 2022 who had missed a bill payment. Over 30% of these disconnections happened in the three summer months, during a year that was the fifth hottest on record.
In some cases, the loss of service lasted for just a few hours. But in others, people went without electricity for days or weeks while scrambling to find enough money to restore service, often only to face disconnection again.
As researchers who study energy justice and energy insecurity, we believe the United States is in the midst of a disconnection crisis. We started tracking these disconnections utility by utility around the country, and we believe that the crisis will only get worse as the impacts of climate change become more widespread and more severe. In our view, it is time government agencies and utilities start treating household energy security as a national priority.
1 in 4 households face energy insecurity
Americans tend to think about the loss of electricity as something infrequent and temporary. For most, it is a rare inconvenience stemming from a heat wave or storm.
But for millions of U.S. households, the risk of losing power is a constant concern. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 1 in 4 American households experience some form of energy insecurity each year, with no appreciable improvement over the past decade.
For many low-income households, the risk of a power shut-off reoccurs month after month. In a recent study, we found that over the course of a single year, half of all households whose power was disconnected dealt with disconnections multiple times as they struggled to pay their bills.
Energy insecurity like this is especially common among low-income Americans, people of color, families with young children, individuals who rely on electronic medical devices or those living in poor housing conditions. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that Black and Hispanic households were three and four times, respectively, more likely to lose service than white households.
Along with existing financial constraints, people are facing rising electricity rates in many areas, rising inflation and higher temperatures that require cooling. Some also face a history of redlining and poor city planning that has concentrated certain populations in less efficient homes. Taken together, the crisis is apparent.
Coping strategies can put health at risk
We have found that over half of all low-income households engage in some coping strategies, and most of them find they need multiple strategies at once.
They might leave the air conditioner off in summer, allowing the heat to reach uncomfortable and potentially unsafe temperatures to reduce costs. Or they might forgo food or medicine to pay their energy bills, or strategically pay down one bill rather than another, known as “bill balancing.” Others turn to payday loans that might help temporarily but ultimately put them in deeper debt. In our research, we have found that the most common coping strategies are also the most risky.
Once people fall behind on their bills, they are at risk of being disconnected by their utility providers.
The loss of critical energy services may mean that affected people cannot keep their homes cool – or warm during the winter months – or food refrigerated during any season. Shut-offs may mean that people with illnesses or disabilities cannot keep medicines refrigerated or medical devices charged. And during times of extreme cold or heat, the loss of energy utility services can have deadly consequences.
Where disconnection rates are highest
Our research team recently launched the Utility Disconnections Dashboard in which we track utility disconnections in all places where data is available.
In recent years, more states have required regulated utilities across the country to disclose the number of customers they disconnect. However, state regulations only apply to the utilities that they regulate. Public utilities and cooperatives, which serve over 20% of U.S. electricity customers, often aren’t covered. That leaves massive gaps in understanding of the full magnitude of the problem.
The data we do have reveals that disconnection rates soar during the summer months and are typically highest in the Southeast – the same states that were baking under a heat dome in June and July 2023.
Places with particularly high disconnection rates include Alabama, where the city of Dothan’s municipal utility has disconnected an average of 5% of its customers, and Florida, where the city of Tallahassee has a disconnection rate of over 4%.
Large investor-owned utilities in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Indiana also top the charts in disconnections, with average rates near 1%.
Only 19 states restrict summer shut-offs
State public utility commissions place certain restrictions on the circumstances when utilities can disconnect customers, but summer heat is often overlooked.
All but a handful of states limit utilities from shutting off customers during winter months or on extremely cold days. Most have at least some medical exemptions.
Yet, the majority of states do not place any limits on utility disconnections during summer months or on very hot days. Only 19 states have such summer protections, which typically take the form of designating time periods or temperatures when customers cannot be disconnected from their service. We believe this is untenable in an era of climate change, as more parts of the country will increasingly experience excessive-heat days.
These state-level policies provide a baseline of protection. We learned during the COVID-19 pandemic that moratoriums that prohibit utility disconnections can alleviate energy insecurity by establishing a strong mandate against disconnections.
But these policies are highly variable across the country and particularly insufficient during hot summer months. Moreover, customer protections can be difficult for people to find and understand, since the language can be overly convoluted and confusing, placing additional an burden on already vulnerable Americans to discover for themselves how they can avoid losing service.
Better rules and a new mindset on right to energy
As we see it, the U.S. needs more robust customer protections, with states, if not the federal government, mandating better disclosure of when and where disconnections occur to identify any systemic biases.
Most of all, we believe Americans need a collective change in mindset about energy access. That should start with a principle that all people should have access to critical energy services and that utilities should only shut off service to customers as a last resort, especially during health-compromising weather events. The country cannot wait for deadly heat waves to prove how important it is to protect American households.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has a shelter full of dogs waiting to be adopted by new families.
The Clearlake Animal Control website continues to list 35 dogs for adoption.
This week’s dogs include “Ivy,” a female Labrador retriever mix with a short fawn coat.
“Doc” is a male pit bull terrier-Rottweiler mix with a short black coat.
“Kubota” is a 4 and a half year old male German shepherd mix with a short tan and white coat.
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.
REDWOOD VALLEY, Calif. — On Thursday, tribal leaders, local law enforcement and lawmakers gathered to learn how a new tool — the Feather Alert — will work to help law enforcement quickly notify the public about missing Native Americans and enlist their aid.
The law, AB 1314, which took effect in January was authored by Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino).
Assemblymembers Ramos and Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) and representatives from the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Justice and local and tribal law enforcement participated in a roundtable discussion about when and how the alert is activated.
In April, the Round Valley Indian Tribes who participated in Thursday’s event, declared a state of emergency after two of their members were found murdered. The Yurok Tribe issued a similar declaration last year.
Between 1999 and 2019, homicide was the third-leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. On reservations, the homicide rate for Native American women is 10 times the national average.
“It gets too easy to cite these staggering statistics,” Ramos said. “I am gratified that the governor approved this bill to help stop the violence afflicting California’s Native American communities. The Feather Alert will aid law enforcement and families in getting the word out quickly when a Native individual is missing or endangered by alerting the public in a broad and effective manner. Creating an alert or advisory system was a top recommendation from tribal leaders last year for dealing with the disproportionate number of missing Native Americans, particularly women and girls.” Ramos also noted that California, the state with the greatest population of Native Americans in the nation, is also among the states with the highest rates of reported cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, or MMIWP,
Wood observed, “I am here today to celebrate the implementation of the Feather Alert notification system. One life of a missing and murdered indigenous person is too many, and my hope is that immediate distribution of their missing status will help us solve these tragic occurrences and return people to their communities. Their lives are meaningful to me and they deserve our support.”
Diana Billy-Elliott, ASW, Vice Chairwoman of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians stated, “This is an important first step to addressing the MMIWP emergency response. The faster the notifications go out the quicker the response to save lives occurs. Without this alert there is valuable time lost, and we can't afford any lost time when it comes to the lives of our Indigenous People.”
Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall said, “Mendocino County has long faced issues of communication for numerous reasons including the rural and geographically challenging areas our communities are in. Effective communications and strong partnerships with our communities will help us move forward with positive outcomes in our investigations. Providing information to the public in a timely manner strengthens partnerships with our communities and allows all of us to work together with a goal of public safety. The Feather Alert System will begin a process which helps bridge these gaps we have seen in the past.”
Feather Alert criteria
To activate the Feather Alert, the following criteria that must be met:
• Missing person is an indigenous woman or an indigenous person. • Investigating law enforcement agency has utilized available local and tribal resources. • Local law enforcement agency determines that the person has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstance. • Local law enforcement agency believes that the person is in danger because of age, health, mental or physical disability, or environment or weather conditions, that the person is in the company of a potentially dangerous person, or that there are other factors indicating that the person may be in peril. • Information is available that, if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the missing person.
A report by the Sovereign Bodies Institute indicated only 9% of murders of indigenous women in California have ever been solved.
At a May 4 hearing of the Select Committee on Native American Affairs, which Ramos chaired, tribal leaders urged legislators to take more urgent action to stem the tide of unsolved cases and provide more immediate support when suspected abductions or other acts of violence occur against California Indian people who suffer a disproportionate number of those crimes.
Among other recommendations, witnesses at the hearing called for more immediate notification to the public and enlisting the aid of news outlets to help locate possible victims.
This year, California joined Washington State and Colorado in enacting similar notification systems.
Other California public alert systems
In California, the Feather Alert joins these other special notifications overseen by the CHP:
• The AMBER Alert, which stands for America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response is used when children age 17 or younger have been abducted. It has been in use since 2002. • The Blue Alert, approved in 2011, notifies the public when a suspect in the assault or killing of a police officer remains at large and the search is active. • The Silver Alert, used when elderly, developmentally or cognitively-impaired persons are missing and are determined to be at-risk. Adopted as the top priority of the California Senior Legislature in October 2011, it was enacted through SB 1047, legislation introduced by state Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara) and Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana). The bill was approved in 2012 and went into effect in 2013.
The general endangered missing advisory is used when an individual is missing under unexplained or suspicious, and is believed to be in danger due to issues with age, physical and mental health issues, weather, being with a potentially dangerous person or other circumstances.
New research indicates that the pathogen causing snake fungal disease, or SFD, is occurring in more locations and impacting more snakes in California than previously known.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Snake Fungal Disease project is conducting a three-year study of SFD in California.
In the first year of statewide surveillance, scientists discovered new cases of the fungal pathogen.
“Early results of our study are in, and they paint a different picture than what we understood before. Prior to this project, we had only two instances of the pathogen in California,” said CDFW Scientific Aid Raquel Elander.
CDFW’s Snake Fungal Disease project is funded by a State Wildlife Grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and undertaken in collaboration with the Wildlife Epidemiology Lab at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and partners in the wildlife rehabilitation and herpetological communities.
The study was initiated after CDFW confirmed the first two detections of SFD in California in 2019.
Those detections were found in a California kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae) and an invasive Florida banded watersnake (Nerodia fasciata pictiventris).
To date, the fungal pathogen that causes SFD, Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, has been detected in seven additional species from two families, Viperidae and Colubridae.
The detections were found in common, threatened, endangered and non-native species.
Positive cases were detected from skin swab samples collected between July 2021 and October 2022 from 10 counties throughout the Sacramento Valley, San Francisco Bay Area and the San Diego area.
Skin swabs collected from the following species tested positive for presence of the pathogen: Northern Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus oreganus), Western yellow-bellied racer (Coluber constrictor mormon), Pacific gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer catenifer), Valley gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi), giant gartersnake (T. gigas), San Francisco gartersnake (T. sirtalis tetrataenia) and a non-native milksnake (L. triangulatum). Ophidiomyces ophidiicola was also detected on additional California kingsnakes.
Detections and prevention
Since 2008, SFD has been detected in free-ranging and captive snakes from more than 30 species worldwide.
Signs of SFD infections may appear as scabs, crusty or flaking scales, open wounds or severe facial swelling and may result in death.
Snakes may carry the fungus without showing signs of infection. In California, not all individuals infected with the fungus had visible signs of SFD, suggesting some snakes may have been asymptomatic carriers or were detected with mild or early-stage infections due to the comprehensive surveillance plan as part of this project.
Ophidiomyces ophidiicola can be transmitted via snake-to-snake contact or from a contaminated environment to a snake.
There is no evidence that SFD can be transmitted to humans. However, it is possible for humans to transmit the fungus to snakes while handling them or from moving fungal contaminated soil and organic debris with footwear.
To reduce the risk of transmission:
• Do not handle free-ranging snakes. • Individuals possessing a fishing license for the capture of snakes are encouraged to disinfect their hands using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wear disposable nitrile gloves which should be changed between animals. • Footwear and any object that contacts the snake or its environment should also be disinfected between snakes or sites using a 10 percent bleach solution with a minimum exposure time of five minutes to effectively kill the fungus. • Ophidiomyces ophidiicola has also been detected on captive snakes. If a pet snake escapes or is intentionally released into the wild, the fungus and SFD can be introduced and can cause harm to native snakes.
Fiber might just be the key to healthy weight management – and nature packages it in perfectly balanced ratios with carbs when you eat them as whole foods. Think unprocessed fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds. Research suggests that carbohydrates are meant to come packaged in nature-balanced ratios of total carbohydrates to fiber. In fact, certain types of fiber affect how completely your body absorbs carbohydrates and tells your cells how to process them once they are absorbed.
Fiber slows the absorption of sugar in your gut. It also orchestrates the fundamental biology that recent blockbuster weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic tap into, but in a natural way. Your microbiome transforms fiber into signals that stimulate the gut hormones that are the natural forms of these drugs. These in turn regulate how rapidly your stomach empties, how tightly your blood sugar levels are controlled and even how hungry you feel.
It’s as if unprocessed carbohydrates naturally come wrapped and packaged with their own instruction manual for your body on how to digest them.
Unfortunately, most Americans get the majority of their carbohydrates stripped of their natural fibers. Modern processed grains like white rice and white flour as well as many ultraprocessed foods like some sugary breakfast cereals, packaged snacks and juices have removed these fibers. They essentially come unwrapped and without instructions for the body on how much it should absorb and how it should process them. In fact, only 5% of Americans eat the recommended amount of carbohydrates with enough of their natural packaging intact. Guidelines recommend at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day from food.
One popular approach to mitigating some of the ill health effects of low fiber and high refined carbohydrates has been to limit carbohydrate intake. Such approaches include the low-carb, keto, paleo and Atkins diets. Each diet is a variation on a similar theme of limiting carbohydrates to varying amounts in different ways.
There is scientific backing to the benefits of some of these diets. Research shows that limiting carbohydrates induces ketosis, a biological process that frees energy from fat reserves during starvation and prolonged exercise. Low-carbohydrate diets can also help people lose weight and lead to improvements in blood pressure and inflammation.
That said, some keto diets may have negative effects on gut health. It is also unknown how they may affect heart health, some forms of cancer and other conditions in the long term.
Even more confusing, research shows that people with diets high in plant-sourced carbohydrates, like the Mediterranean diet, tend to lead the longest and healthiest lives. How can this be reconciled with studies that suggest that low-carbohydrate diets can benefit metabolic health?
Is a carb a carb?
The answer may have to do with the types of carbohydrates that studies are evaluating. Limiting simple sugars and refined carbohydrates may improve certain aspects of metabolic health, as these are some of the most easily digested and absorbed calories. But a more sustainable and comprehensive way of improving health may be increasing the percentage of unprocessed, more complex and slowly absorbed carbohydrates that come with their natural packages and instructions intact – those that have fiber.
These natural carbohydrates can be found in whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. They come in ratios of total carbohydrate to fiber that rarely exceed 10-to-1 and are often 5-to-1 or lower. Eating mostly whole foods is a simple way to ensure you’re consuming quality carbohydrates with the right ratios.
But who doesn’t like to have a big bowl of pasta or cake with ice cream on occasion? Focusing on packaged processed foods that maintain carb-to-fiber ratios of at least as low as 10-to-1 or ideally 5-to-1 can help you make the best choices when picking more processed foods at the store. Take a look at the nutrition facts label and simply divide total carbohydrates by dietary fiber.
On occasions when you’re eating out or celebrating someone’s birthday, consider taking a fiber supplement with your meal. One pilot study found that a supplement containing a blend of fibers decreased the blood sugar spike – an increase in glucose levels in the blood that if too high can damage the body over time – after a meal in healthy individuals by roughly 30%.
Listen to your body
While almost all fiber is generally good for health in most people, not all fiber affects the body in the same way. Consuming a range of different types of fiber generally helps ensure a diverse microbiome, which is linked to gut and overall health.
But certain medical conditions might preclude consuming certain types of fiber. For example, some people can be particularly sensitive to one class of fiber called FODMAPS – fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols – that are more readily fermented in the upper part of the gut and can contribute to symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome like bloating and diarrhea. High-FODMAP foods include many processed foods that contain inulin, garlic powder and onion powder, as well as whole foods including those in the onion family, dairy products, some fruits and vegetables.
Listen to how your body responds to different high-fiber foods. Start low and go slow as you reintroduce foods like beans, seeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables to your diet. If you have trouble increasing your fiber intake, talk with your health care provider.
Tools like this online calculator I’ve created can also help you find the highest-quality foods with healthy fiber and other nutrient ratios. It can also show you what proportions of fiber to add back to sugary foods to help achieve healthy ratios.
I wouldn’t endorse eating sweets all the time, but as my three daughters like to remind me, it’s important to enjoy yourself every once in a while. And when you do, consider putting the carbs back in their fiber wrappers. It’s hard to improve upon nature’s design.
UPDATE: The Clearlake Police Department reported on Friday afternoon that Anthony Hopper has been located.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Clearlake Police Department is working to locate a missing boy.
Anthony Hopper, 16, was last seen leaving his home on 30th Avenue in Clearlake at around 4:50 p.m. Thursday, the Clearlake Police Department said.
Hopper is described as a white male, 5 feet 4 inches tall, between 120 and 140 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray shirt and blue jeans.
If you have any information about Hopper’s whereabouts please contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251. Extension 1.
The California Highway Patrol said the results of its Independence Day Maximum Enforcement Period are a sobering reminder of the consequences resulting from unsafe driving behaviors.
Sixty-eight people were killed in crashes throughout the state during the Independence Day Maximum Enforcement Period, or MEP, which began at 6:01 p.m. on Friday, June 30, and concluded at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4.
Nearly half of the total number of vehicle occupants who died within CHP jurisdiction were not wearing a seat belt, the CHP said.
With unsafe speed being the number one contributor to crashes in California, the CHP placed a special emphasis on its enforcement during the recent MEP.
CHP officers issued more than 9,700 speed citations throughout the long Independence Day weekend.
Additionally, the CHP said impaired drivers were removed from California’s roadways at an alarming rate during the holiday enforcement effort.
CHP officers made 1,224 arrests for driving under the influence, which is an average of one DUI arrest every five minutes.
“The results of this MEP are concerning and reinforce the need for responsible behavior behind the wheel,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “All of these deaths were preventable, and the loved ones they leave behind will be forever impacted. Traffic safety is everyone’s responsibility, and these statistics show us how much work there is still to be done. The CHP is committed to making California’s roadways safer for all who use them.”
To help protect those who are traveling on California’s roadways during the holidays, the CHP implements six MEPs per year.
The next MEP is scheduled for Labor Day weekend.
Throughout the holiday weekend, all available uniformed members of the CHP will be on patrol to enhance public safety, deter unsafe driving behavior, and, when necessary, take appropriate enforcement action.
“Keep yourself and others who are on the road safe by buckling up, driving at a speed safe for conditions, avoid distractions behind the wheel, and always designating a sober driver,” the CHP said in its report on the MEP.
People can be unaware and lax about updating their estate planning, both when major life events occur and also after time, as life incrementally creeps up over the years; the second shortcoming leaves people with misplaced confidence in old estate planning documents that are outdated as the law and/or the estate planning goals materially changed.
Let us discuss some possible life scenarios within different generational contexts where they often occur.
Naturally, this discussion involves generalizations and assumptions; individual situations may vary.
When a minor becomes an adult they are often unaware that their parents no longer have the legal authority to control their health, property and legal affairs.
As adults they now need a power of attorney and an advanced health care directive to protect them in the event of an incapacity; otherwise a court supervised conservatorship may become necessary.
Since Jan. 1, 2023, California also recognizes supported decision-making which may enhance the capacity of a disabled person with borderline understanding to enable them to sign estate planning documents, including a supported decision-making agreement itself.
Furthermore, when young people get married and when they have children their estate planning goals expand to protect not only themselves but also their dependents.
Specifically, this includes transferring their real property into a living trust to both avoid probate and to control assets for the benefit of their dependents.
It also means updating death beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance policies accordingly.
Next, a middle aged person needs to consider updates if and when they get divorced or remarried, adopt children or raise stepchildren.
Specifically, a middle aged person in a second marriage is often concerned about preserving the separate property character of assets they earned or inherited before marriage.
They may also be concerned about balancing how their estate plan provides for their new spouse and their own children from before the second marriage, often a careful balancing act.
In second marriages, a married person may want a trust just for their own separate property assets to avoid commingling separate assets with community property assets acquired in the second marriage.
The separate property trust may provide some support for the surviving spouse, including, for example, lifetime use of a residence and also protect their children’s inheritances.
A second trust may be used to hold community property assets if the couple acquires a residence together that will benefit the surviving spouse.
Also, a middle aged person with a disabled dependent child (e.g., developmentally disabled) will consider how best to protect their children if and when they are no longer able to do so themselves.
They may consider placing assets into a special needs trust that will supplement and preserve any needs based government benefits received by the child.
An elderly person needs updates to their estate plan if and when their spouse dies and/or if a child unfortunately were to predecease them.
Also, they will need updates when they sell their real property and move into an assisted living, skilled nursing or other dependent care situation.
A person who has sold their real property may also no longer need a living trust and may, depending on the situation, prefer to avoid any post-death administration of their estate, including a trust administration.
They can do so using pay on death bank accounts and transfer on death beneficiary forms to brokerage investment and retirement accounts.
The elderly person may still need a will (usually), a power of attorney, advanced health care directive, and (nowadays) possibly a supported decision-making agreement.
Too often people neglect to administer and/or to update their estate planning (such as after the death of a spouse).
Anyone whose life situation has substantially changed, or more than 5 years has elapsed since when they last did estate planning, may want to revisit their estate planning arrangements.
The foregoing raises a variety of concerns. It is neither exhaustive nor legal advice. Consult an estate planning attorney for guidance.
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.
California is taking the first step towards creating a more affordable and accessible supply of Naloxone nasal products — through the broader CalRx Initiative — a vital tool in combating the opioid epidemic.
Under the CalRx Naloxone Access Initiative — unveiled by Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this year — the state will allocate $30 million to support a partner, or partners, in developing, manufacturing, procuring and/or distributing a naloxone nasal product under the CalRx label.
“One more fatal overdose is one too many. California is tackling the opioid epidemic from all sides," said Gov. Newsom. "Naloxone is, quite literally, a lifesaver — so we are making it more accessible and affordable for anyone who needs it."
Naloxone is an essential medication used to reverse opioid overdoses and save lives. Access to this medication is expected to improve with the recent approval by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration of Narcan, 4 milligram naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray product for over-the-counter use.
However, California recognizes that this development may not sufficiently address the needs of those who are most vulnerable, such as low-income, uninsured, or underinsured individuals and their families.
A more affordable version of this medication is critical to making naloxone more accessible in communities across California.
“California is committed to leveraging its purchasing power by fostering partnerships that can address the affordability and availability of naloxone nasal products,” said California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. “By reducing barriers and increasing accessibility, this initiative will play a significant role in combating the devastating impact of the opioid epidemic in California. To put it simply, this will help save lives.”
The Department of Health Care Services created the Naloxone Distribution Project, or NDP, in 2018 to combat opioid overdose-related deaths in California through the provision of free naloxone.
As of June 25, 2023, the NDP has distributed more than 2.6 million naloxone kits, resulting in more than 181,665 reported overdose reversals.
CalRx represents a groundbreaking solution for addressing drug affordability. Originally announced in January 2019 in Gov. Newsom’s first Executive Order and later signed into law in the California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020 (Pan, Senate Bill 852, Chapter 207, Statutes of 2020),
CalRx empowers California to contract for the development, production, and distribution of generic drugs at low cost and to make them available across the country. The state will target prescription drugs where the pharmaceutical market has failed to lower drug costs, even when a generic or biosimilar medication is available.
Compared to traditional procurement of prescription drugs, CalRx seeks deep, mutually beneficial partnerships with companies and non-profit organizations that share the state’s goals.
Earlier this year, Gov. Newsom announced CalRx was in the process of bringing to market affordable and accessible insulin generics under the CalRx label that will be available to Californians and people across the country.
The funds provided by the state can support research and development, including clinical studies, manufacturing process development, regulatory submissions, FDA approval, and distribution of naloxone nasal products.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — County officials will be leading a series of public meetings and conducting outreach to help thousands of Lake County residents navigate reinstated requirements for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
During the COVID-19 public health emergency, the federal government temporarily waived Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program requirements for annual eligibility redeterminations.
As a result, Medi-Cal members kept their health coverage continuously during the public health emergency.
However, now those eligibility requirements are back in effect, according to Lake County Social Services.
Starting with redeterminations due in June 2023, counties are required to start processing redeterminations and taking appropriate actions following regulation.
Lake County Social Services reported that all active Medi-Cal customers will undergo a redetermination over the next 12 months and while they will try to auto renew as many customers as they can, it is not always possible.
Lake County has 37,542 active individuals receiving Medi-Cal benefits and the majority of them will have to complete a redetermination. It averages to around 3,128 per month.
County officials need the help of those covered by Medi-Cal to ensure they and their families remain covered.
If you have not already, please ensure that your contact information is correct with the Social Services Department and check your mail often. You will receive a redetermination packet in the mail 60 days prior to the due date and it must be returned in time to avoid any lapse in coverage.
The redetermination packet may look overwhelming as it is quite large, but most of the paperwork you receive will be educational materials. The only forms you must return to the county are the ones that ask you about your contact information, household, income and property.
To make it even easier, it will come with a prepaid return envelope that is already addressed; just complete the forms, sign and date, stuff the envelope and make sure the Lake County Social Services mailing address is visible through the window.
To aid the community in this effort and to make sure the county is available to help Medi-Cal recipients, the county has staffed a new counter service unit at its office at 15975 Anderson Ranch Parkway in Lower Lake. The office is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
There will be both English and Spanish speakers available in person. If you have a different primary language, translators are available by phone.
For those who may not be able to make it into the office, there also will be numerous outreach events staffed with Social Services employees ready to help.
Here is the scheduled listing of outreach events for July 2023:
• Thursday, July 6, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Ave.
• Thursday, July 6, 5 to 7 p.m.: The Warming Center, 1111 Whalen Way, Lakeport.
• Friday, July 7, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Lucerne Senior Center, 3985 Country Club Drive.
• Friday, July 7, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Middletown Senior Center, 21256 Washington St.
• Friday, July 7, 5 to 7 p.m.: Middletown Farmers Market, 21249 Washington St.
• Thursday, July 13, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Ave.
• Thursday, July 13, 5 to 7 p.m.: The Warming Center, 1111 Whalen Way, Lakeport.
• Friday, July 14, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Lucerne Senior Center, 3985 Country Club Drive.
• Friday, July 14, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Middletown Senior Center, 21256 Washington St.
• Tuesday, July 18, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Clearlake Senior Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.
• Tuesday, July 18, 5 to 7 p.m.: The Warming Center, 1111 Whalen Way, Lakeport.
• Thursday, July 20, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Ave.
• Thursday, July 20, 5 to 7 p.m.: The Warming Center, 1111 Whalen Way, Lakeport.
• Friday, July 21, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Lucerne Senior Center, 3985 Country Club Drive.
• Friday, July 21, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Middletown Senior Center, 21256 Washington St.
• Thursday, July 27, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Ave.
• Thursday, July 27, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Kelseyville Senior Center, 5245 Third St.
• Friday, July 28, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Lucerne Senior Center, 3985 Country Club Drive.
• Friday, July 28, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Middletown Senior Center, 21256 Washington St.
Ways to complete your redetermination on your own:
• Mail it in: P.O. Box 9000, Lower Lake, CA 95457.
• Drop it off: 15975 Anderson Ranch Parkway, Lower Lake.