LOWER LAKE, Calif. — The Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association has announced that its popular “Christmas at the Ranch” Victorian Christmas celebration held each year in the historic ranch house at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park is being canceled for 2021.
AMIA has been presenting this Christmas event for more than 25 years. It features tasty Christmas baked goods, hot apple cider and coffee, and performances by local musicians singing Christmas carols and holiday songs. Santa is always present to greet children of all ages.
With long-planned repairs to the Anderson Ranch House about to commence — including painting, window repairs and foundation work — State Parks has taken advantage of the pause in indoor activities at the ranch house to remove the furniture and other historic objects contained in the ranch house for much-needed cleaning and refurbishing.
“With the ranch house disrupted by maintenance projects, and the still-lingering COVID health concerns about crowded indoor events in small spaces, we thought it prudent to cancel the event this year,” said AMIA Board Member Henry Bornstein. “We plan on resuming this event next year, when we hope to be able to gather together at the ranch house to enjoy each other’s company and holiday cheer.”
For further information, contact AMIA at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday held the fourth in a series of public hearings on the county supervisorial redistricting process, directing staff to bring back a resolution to adopt the final map.
The process takes place every 10 years following the release of the data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The county process, which redraws the five supervisorial districts, is separate from the California Citizens Redistricting Commission’s ongoing efforts to delineate new state Assembly and Senate, and congressional districts.
Consultant Margaret Long told the board that the law requires at least four public hearings be held.
The first, held during the board’s regular Aug. 31 meeting, was to explain the process. A special stand-alone meeting on Saturday, Oct. 2, focused on communities of interest, while the third, held on the evening of Nov. 2, went over the maps and resulted in a recommendation for the final map.
Long said the final map proposed from the options offered to the board is No. 6, which she said incorporates all of the changes and recommendations from the supervisors and the public.
She said the option No. 6 map meets all legal requirements, including all districts being contiguous and within a 10% population deviation.
Each district should have 13,633 residents or be within 10% of that number. Option No. 6 places the population in the five districts as follows: District 1, 13,479; District 2, 14,243; District 3, 13,875; District 4, 12,957; and District 5, 13,609.
The new district boundaries would differ from the current boundaries as follows, based on the description placed on the option No. 6 map:
• In North Lakeport, the area bounded by Highway 29, the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff and Rodman Slough would be moved from District 3 to District 4 in order to move all of the contiguous tribal lands in that area into a single district.
• A small area east of Big Canyon Road at Ettawa Springs Rd has moved from District 1 to District 5 in order to keep as much of the Cobb Area Council within a single district.
• In the city of Clearlake, the census blocks south of Lakeshore Drive have been moved from District 1 to District 2 in order to keep the central business corridor along Lakeshore Drive within a single district, and the area south of Dam Road has been moved to District 1.
• Riviera Heights subdivision west to Lakeview Estates Drive has been moved from District 4 to District 5 to keep all of “The Rivieras” communities in a single district.
• North of Kelseyville, the area bounded by Kelsey Creek, Soda Bay Road and Clear Lake State Park has been moved from District 4 to District 5.
Based on the discussion and the options Long presented, the board chose to direct staff to bring back a resolution accepting the new map and emphasizing the use of census blocks, which will save time and allow the county to meet the Dec. 15 deadline.
The county’s GIS expert, Lon Sharp — who also was part of the redistricting effort in 2011 — told the board that using the county’s 2,900 census blocks is the easiest method, explaining that he could have a list of the census blocks for each proposed district by the end of the day if needed.
County Counsel Anita Grant also supported using census blocks and suggested that the resolution should include the maps if possible. It’s the legitimate way to go, she added, and can be done clearly and efficiently.
“The map was built on census blocks so it makes perfect sense to just use census blocks,” said Board Chair Bruno Sabatier.
Sabatier agreed that a resolution is the appropriate way to move forward, and that since the board has held four hearings, it didn’t need to go through a process that included a first and second reading of the final map approval document.
With the consensus of the board, Sabatier directed staff to come back with the resolution to accept the map and thanked the staff involved, which in addition to Sharp included Deputy Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein.
All of the maps can be found on the county’s website.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to appoint a new Health Services director, an action that came nearly two months after the previous director resigned in the face of a potential termination action.
Emerging from a closed session during its special Tuesday meeting, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the hiring of Jonathan C. Portney, MPH, CPH, as the county’s new Health Services director.
“I look forward to serving the community as the Health Services director,” Portney said.
It’s his goal to do everything he can to ensure the betterment of health of all Lake County residents, Portney said. “It’s truly an honor to be here.”
The board applauded and County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson, who has served as interim Health Services director for the past two months, pumped her fist in the air.
Portney’s appointment is effective Jan. 10.
He will start at the second step on the salary scale, which is $10,993 a month, or $131,916 a year, based on the updated salary schedule the board approved in September.
“We are very excited to partner with Jonathan Portney to further our efforts to fight COVID-19, and promote the health and well-being of every Lake County resident,” said Board Chair Bruno Sabatier in a written statement issued by the county following the meeting. “Mr. Portney is a highly motivated and energetic health executive that has shown great capacity in recent years as a community-based public health practitioner in San Francisco and San Mateo County.”
The county reported that, since April of 2020, Portney has been actively engaged in pandemic response as executive director of Daly City Health Center, “ensuring quality care and services in historically complex circumstances.”
His other recent leadership experiences have included a stint from 2018 to 2020 as director of the Community Health Ambassador Program for San Francisco’s Urban Services YMCA, and a two-year term as director of the Hospital Family Resource Center and Rural Mobile Clinic for Waterloo Adventist Hospital in Sierra Leone.
His education includes receiving a master’s degree and pursuing his doctoral degree at Loma Linda University in Southern California, where emphases in his study included health technology and organizational development, program planning and health education training development, as well as treatment of respiratory disorders.
The county reported that Portney also recognizes certain population groups are more vulnerable to adverse health outcomes, due to environmental, behavioral, social and biological factors.
The diversity of contributors to people’s health is a key reason Portney emphasizes a community-focused approach to public health.
“Inclusive and participatory practices are the best way to hear the community’s voice, and for staff to foster meaningful partnerships that build community capacity and bring about community empowerment. I’m truly excited to partner with residents to promote the best possible health outcomes for Lake County,” Portney said in the written statement issued by the county.
In his new job, Portney will work with the county’s Public Health officer.
The county also has been working to hire a new, permanent Public Health officer after Dr. Gary Pace left the job on a full-time basis in the spring.
So far, that effort has not yielded a new hire, with the county in the fourth round of its recruitment.
However, Pace is continuing to provide services to the county in an interim capacity, with the most recent amendment to the agreement between he and the county approved by the board as part of its consent agenda at the Nov. 16 meeting.
That amendment extends the agreement to June 30, 2022, and will be terminated should the board hire a new full-time Public Health officer in the meantime.
On Oct. 5, the board — at Huchingson’s request — added extra items to its agenda including a closed session evaluation of Pomeroy.
Later in the meeting, after the board had emerged from closed session and the video broadcast had stopped, it added several more items to the agenda, including reestablishing the deputy Health Services director as a county classification, the appointment of Jennifer Baker to interim Deputy Health Services director effective Tuesday and the appointment of Huchingson as the interim Health Services director.
Then, on Oct. 7, an addendum was made to the agenda for a special meeting scheduled specifically for department head evaluations. That addendum read, “Public Employee Evaluation/Termination: Title: Director: Health Services Director.”
Later that same day, Sabatier acknowledged that the board had accepted Pomeroy’s resignation.
Then, on Oct. 9, Pomeroy’s husband of 24 years, Arnold, died, following a lengthy illness.
On Oct. 12, Lake County News served the county, including Sabatier and County Counsel Anita Grant, with a cure and correct demand letter due to its belief that the Board of Supervisors had violated the Ralph M. Brown Act in its handling of those extra items at the Oct. 5 meeting out of the public view. The letter requested the items be withdrawn and reagendized in order to be reconsidered at the Oct. 19 meeting.
The county did not acknowledge receipt of the letter. However, on the Oct. 19 agenda was the withdrawal of those items and actions to readopt them. The items were placed on the consent agenda, which normally is not discussed. As such, Lake County News requested the items be pulled and explained for the public’s benefit.
At that time, Sabatier asked Huchingson to explain the situation. She said the board had emerged from closed session on Oct. 5 at 5:15 p.m. and announced its action from closed session.
As a result, she said they needed to add the extra items. All of that was done after support staff had left for the day, and they couldn’t restart the Granicus and Zoom programs.
“On the advice of counsel, it was recommended that we bring it back to you when the public can comment on it, if they wish to,” Huchingson said.
Grant noted, “Everyone realized immediately after that evening that these steps should be taken and so this has been in the works since the very next morning, just in case anybody has any questions in that regard.”
She apologized to the board for how it had been handled. “The important thing going forward is it’s very clear, transparent and visible to the public with this item.”
Sabatier said communications had begun the same night as the Oct. 5 meeting and that it was taken up again on that day to clear it up.
Since then, Huchingson served as the interim director, the latest in a series of interim director posts — including for the Registrar of Voters Office and Community Development — that the supervisors have given her when an issue has arisen with a department head vacancy.
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. – Recent rains and cooler temperatures across the region have lowered the threat of wildfires, allowing Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit to transition out of peak fire season.
The transition is effective Monday, Dec. 28, at 8 a.m. in Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Colusa, Yolo, and Solano counties.
That’s nearly a month earlier than the transition took place last year.
It’s the latest fire season transition over the past decade, which has seen the fire season extend further into the late fall and early winter months.
Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones reminded residents that safe residential pile burning of forest residue by landowners is a crucial tool in reducing fire hazards.
State, federal and local land management and fire agencies will also be utilizing this same window of opportunity to conduct prescribed burns aimed at improving forest health on private and public lands.
Cal Fire will continue to maintain staffing to meet any potential threat, as well as maintaining the ability to strategically move resources to areas that remain at a higher threat level.
Cal Fire also will continue to monitor weather conditions closely and still has the ability to increase staffing should weather conditions change or if there is a need to support wildfires or other emergencies in other areas of the state.
The 2020 fire season has been a very active year, even more so than in 2019. Statewide, Cal Fire and firefighters from many local agencies responded to over 8,000 wildfires within the State Responsibility Area that burned over 1.4 million acres.
In the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, Cal Fire responded to over 600 wildfires that charred over 434,000 acres.
During the cooler winter months, Cal Fire will continue to actively focus efforts on fire prevention and fuels treatment activities as guided by the state’s Strategic Fire Plan and localized unit fire plans.
These will be done through public education, prescribed burns and various types of fuel reduction projects. These activities are aimed at reducing the impacts of large, damaging wildfires, public safety and improving overall forest health.
Residents are urged to still take precautions outdoors in order to prevent sparking a wildfire. A leading cause of wildfires this time of year is from escaped landscape debris burning. Before you burn, ensure it is a permissive burn day by contacting the local air quality district and then make sure you have any and all required burn permits.
During burning, make sure that piles of landscape debris are no larger than 4 feet in diameter, provide a 10-foot clearance down to bare mineral soil around the burn pile and ensure that a responsible adult is in attendance at all times with a water source and a shovel.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Kelseyville man arrested four years ago after a standoff with authorities has been arrested again, this time on new charges involving threats.
Joshua Caleb “Buck” Brown, 48, was taken into custody shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday.
Lauren Berlinn, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office’s new public information and community outreach officer, said the agency served the search/arrest warrant Wednesday morning at the Brown property in Kelseyville.
“Mr. Brown was taken into custody without incident, was booked at the jail on the charges related to the warrant. The warrant was a result of an investigation of elder abuse and criminal threats,” Berlinn said.
Brown was booked shortly after 8 a.m. on charges including a felony charge of threatening a crime with intent to terrorize, and a misdemeanor arrest warrant. His bail was set at $115,000, according to booking records.
Berlinn said the sheriff’s office’s SWAT team was part of the warrant service “due to previous contacts with Mr. Brown.”
In August of 2017, an armed Brown confronted law enforcement officers, Caltrans workers and then-Supervisor Rob Brown as k-rail was being installed near an illegal road access that he had made near his property between Cruickshank Road and Cole Creek Road on Highway 29, as Lake County News has reported.
A manhunt of several hours involving SWAT teams from Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties followed, with Buck Brown surrendering on the evening of the same day the incident occurred.
He is due to be arraigned in Lake County Superior Court on Thursday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday had been set to discuss sending a letter to the state over concerns about the safety of requiring students and referees to wear masks during indoor competitions, but updated guidance from the state led to the board taking no action.
Board Chair Bruno Sabatier had agendized the discussion last week, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, after he said county school officials asked for support to address the indoor masking requirements.
The agenda was posted on Nov. 24, Sabatier said. Later the same day, CDPH posted its updated guidance.
Sabatier said he had spoken on Monday with Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg, who said the matter is now up to the individual school districts to make the decisions.
Sabatier said the county also had received an email from all county school superintendents to the state about the masking requirements and had planned to join with them in the request for reconsideration, but it is now unnecessary due to the state’s updated guidance.
“The matter is no longer relevant in my opinion,” he said.
Sabatier noted that the new guidance includes wording that allows the option of not masking.
The guidance also appears to be contradictory.
In one paragraph, it states, “Masks are required indoors at all times when participants are not actively practicing, conditioning, competing, or performing.”
It then goes on to say that masks must be worn during such activities.
The guidance states: “When actively practicing, conditioning, or competing in indoor sports, masks are required by participants even during heavy exertion, as practicable. If masks are not worn due to heavy exertion, it is strongly recommended that individuals undergo screening testing at least once weekly. An FDA-approved antigen test, PCR test, or pooled PCR test is acceptable for evaluation of an individual's COVID-19 status.”
While the guidance emphasizes the need to wear masks indoors, Sabatier noted that it includes the words, “as practicable,” which appears to allow an alternative.
The new CDPH guidance on extracurricular activities from Nov. 24 is published below.
16. School-Based Extracurricular Activities
The requirements and recommendations in this guidance apply to all extracurricular activities that are operated or supervised by schools, and all activities that occur on a school site, whether or not they occur during school hours, including, but not limited to, sports, band, chorus, and clubs.
Activities may be performed outdoors without masks. Indoor mask use remains a critical layer in protecting against COVID-19 infection and transmission, including during sports, music, and related activities. Accordingly:
• Masks are required indoors at all times for teachers, referees, officials, coaches, and other support staff. • Masks are required indoors for all spectators and observers. • Masks are required indoors at all times when participants are not actively practicing, conditioning, competing, or performing. Masks are also required indoors while on the sidelines, in team meetings, and within locker rooms and weight rooms. • When actively practicing, conditioning, or competing in indoor sports, masks are required by participants even during heavy exertion, as practicable. If masks are not worn due to heavy exertion, it is strongly recommended that individuals undergo screening testing at least once weekly. An FDA-approved antigen test, PCR test, or pooled PCR test is acceptable for evaluation of an individual's COVID-19 status. • Individuals using instruments indoors that cannot be played with a mask (e.g., wind instruments) may perform if bell coverings are used when playing wind instruments AND a minimum of 3 feet of physical distancing is maintained between participants. Modified masking may be considered in addition to, but not in place of, bell covers. If bell covers are not used, it is strongly recommended that individuals undergo screening testing at least once weekly. An FDA-approved antigen test, PCR test, or pooled PCR test is acceptable for evaluation of an individual's COVID-19 status.
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.
A new variant named omicron (B.1.1.529) was reported by researchers in South Africa on Nov. 24, 2021, and designated a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization two days later. Omicron is very unusual in that it is by far the most heavily mutated variant yet of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The omicron variant has 50 mutations overall, with 32 mutations on the spike protein alone. The spike protein – which forms protruding knobs on the outside of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – helps the virus adhere to cells so that it can gain entry. It is also the protein that all three vaccines currently available in the U.S. use to induce protective antibodies. For comparison, the delta variant has nine mutations. The larger number of mutations in the omicron variant may mean that it could be more transmissible and/or better at evading immune protection – a prospect that is very concerning.
I am a virologist who studies emerging and zoonotic viruses to better understand how new epidemic or pandemic viruses emerge. My research group has been studying various aspects of the COVID-19 virus, including its spillover into animals.
Why do new SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to emerge?
While the unusually high number of mutations in the omicron variant is surprising, the emergence of yet another SARS-CoV-2 variant is not unexpected.
Through natural selection, random mutations accumulate in any virus. This process is sped up in RNA viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. If and when a set of mutations provides a survival advantage to a variant over its predecessors, the variant will out-compete all other existing virus variants.
Does the omicron variant’s greater number of mutations mean it is more dangerous and transmissible than delta? We simply don’t know yet. The conditions that led to the emergence of the variant are not yet clear, but what is clear is that the shear number and configuration of mutations in omicron is unusual.
One possible explanation for how viral variants with multiple mutations emerge is through prolonged infection in a patient whose immune system is suppressed – a situation that can lead to rapid viral evolution. Researchers have hypothesized that some of the earlier SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as the alpha variant, may have stemmed from a persistently infected patient. However, the unusual constellation and numerous mutations in the omicron variant make it very different from all other SARS-CoV-2 strains, which raises questions about how it came about.
Another possible source of variants could be through animal hosts. The virus that causes COVID-19 can infect several animal species, including mink, tigers, lions, cats and dogs. In a study that is not yet peer-reviewed, an international team that I lead recently reported widespread infection by SARS-CoV-2 in free-living and captive white-tailed deer in the U.S. Therefore, we also cannot rule out the possibility that the omicron variant emerged in an animal host through rapid evolution.
How the delta variant became dominant worldwide
Delta is between 40% and 60% more transmissible than the alpha variant and nearly twice as transmissible as the original SARS-CoV-2 virus first identified in China. The delta variant’s heightened transmissibility is the primary reason why researchers believe it was able to out-compete other variants to become the dominant strain.
A key factor in viral fitness is its replication rate – or how quickly a virus can make more copies of itself. The delta variant replicates faster than previous SARS-CoV-2 variants, and a not-yet-peer-reviewed study estimated that it produces 1,000 times more virus particles than its predecessors.
In addition, people infected with the delta variant are making and shedding more virus, which is another potential mechanism for its increased ability to spread. Research suggests that a possible explanation for the delta variant’s heightened ability to replicate is that mutations in the spike protein led to more efficient binding of the spike protein to its host, via the ACE-2 receptor.
Studies also show that people infected with the delta variant have a higher risk of being hospitalized compared to those infected with the original SARS-CoV-2 and early variants. One particular mutation on the spike protein of the delta variant – the P681R mutation – is thought to be a key contributor to its improved ability to enter cells and to cause more severe disease.
Will omicron replace delta?
It is too early to say if the omicron variant is fitter than delta or if it will become dominant. Omicron shares some mutations with the delta variant but also possesses others that are quite different. But one of the reasons why we in the research community are particularly concerned is that the omicron variant has 10 mutations in the receptor-binding domain – the part of the spike protein that interacts with the ACE-2 receptor and mediates entry into cells – compared with just two for the delta variant.
Suppose the combination of all the mutations in omicron makes it either more transmissible or better at immune evasion than delta. In that case, we could see the spread of this variant globally. However, it is also possible that the unusually high number of mutations could be detrimental to the virus and make it unstable.
It is highly likely that the omicron variant is not the endgame and that more SARS-CoV-2 variants will emerge. As SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread among humans, natural selection and adaptation will result in more variants that could plausibly be more transmissible than delta.
We know from influenza viruses that the process of viral adaptation never ends. Lower vaccination rates among many countries means that there are still a lot of susceptible hosts out there for the virus, and that it will continue to circulate and mutate as long as it can spread. The emergence of the omicron variant is yet another reminder of the urgency to vaccinate to stop the further spread and evolution of SARS-CoV-2.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The governor has reappointed a Kelseyville resident to serve on the North Coastal Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Greg Giusti, 66, was reappointed to the North Coastal Regional Water Quality Control Board, where he has served since 2013, the Governor’s Office reported.
Giusti is the former director adviser of forests and wildland ecology for the Lake County University of California, Cooperative Extension from 1985 to 2017. He now serves as adviser emeritus for the UCCE.
He also was agricultural biologist at the San Mateo County Department of Agriculture from 1981 to 1985 and chief biologist at the Marine Ecological Institute from 1978 to 1981.
Giusti has been a registered Professional Forester since 2013.
He earned a Master of Arts degree in Ecology and Systematic Biology from San Francisco State University.
This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $250 per diem. Giusti is registered without party preference.
The Governor’s Office also reported that Santa Rosa resident Valerie Quinto, 37, also was reappointed to the North Coastal Regional Water Quality Control Board. She’s served on the board since 2014.
Quinto has been executive director at the Sonoma Resource Conservation District since 2017, where she was program director from 2012 to 2017. She held several positions at Sotoyome Resource Conservation District between 2009 and 2012 including project coordinator and conservation project manager.
How can a culinary degree help an aspiring chef spice up future earnings?
The expected annual salary for a chef one year after culinary school is about $37,588, according to the Census Bureau’s Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes, or PSEO, Explorer tool. Salaries rise to $47,711 in five years and $52,941 10 years after culinary college.
With the holidays fast approaching and the popularity of reality television cooking shows, food is at the forefront of the country’s cultural landscape — and perhaps so is interest in prospective culinary careers.
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released an infographic that features data on annual earnings of associate degree holders in the culinary, entertainment and personal services industries, using graduates from the Arapahoe Community College of Colorado as an example.
Details from the infographic were derived from the interactive tool, which allows prospective students and parents to search statistics on earnings and employment outcomes of graduates of select post-secondary institutions in the United States.
PSEO is an experimental data product that highlights employment and earnings outcomes for college and university graduates.
By matching university transcript data with a national database of jobs, PSEO traces graduate movements from postsecondary institution, degree level and degree major to employment by industry and geographic labor markets.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, employment in food preparation and service-related fields is expected to grow by 20% from 2020 to 2030, gaining about 2.3 million jobs over the next decade. Median annual pay for food preparation and serving-related occupations was $25,500 in May 2020.
Aspiring chefs can use the PSEO Explorer to find out which industry sector of employment Culinary, Entertainment, and Personal Services graduates are choosing. They can glean information on geographical dispersion, too.
Nearly 53% of culinary graduates from Arapaho Community College entered other service industries; about 13% went into health care and social assistance, and 6% went to manufacturing.
As of October 2021, the PSEO dataset includes 534 institutions from 17 states — Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The PSEO Explorer allows users to explore data previously reported in an America Counts Story.
Earlene K. P. Dowell is a program analyst in the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal-Employer Household Dynamic Program, Center for Economic Studies.
Editor’s note: For those seeking a culinary degree in Lake County, Woodland Community College’s Lake County Campus has a well-known program led by Chef Robert Cabreros. Find out more here.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The pilot of a small gyrocopter died on Thursday after crashing near Lakeport.
Initial radio reports of the crash came in shortly after 11:15 a.m. from near Konocti Vista Casino Resort.
Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft — initially described as a helicopter or glider — directly east of Soda Bay Road toward the lake. They reported it going down somewhere between the casino and South Main Street in Lakeport.
Sheriff Brian Martin confirmed to Lake County News that the aircraft appeared to be a gyrocopter, a small type of rotorcraft.
Firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol responded, with a CHP helicopter helping conduct the search. Incident command was established at Konocti Vista Casino’s dock.
Radio traffic indicated deputies and firefighters were challenged with reaching the crash site, and searching through tules described as 12 feet high.
The CHP helicopter cleared the scene just before 12:15 p.m. after being unable to locate the gyrocopter.
Minutes later, a sheriff’s deputy reported finding the downed craft in the tules, with one person dead inside, according to radio traffic.
Sheriff Martin said the crash scene was about a mile out from shore and they were working on logistics to reach it.
Incident command traffic said the site could only be reached by foot or by helicopter, although an airboat later was reported to be responding.
The sheriff’s office has notified the Federal Aviation Administration about the crash, Martin said.
More information 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.
On Wednesday, just days after state officials had said they were closely monitoring the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, the first confirmed case of the variant to appear in the United States was found in California.
The California Department of Public Health said it and the San Francisco Department of Public Health have confirmed the case.
The University of California, San Francisco identified the case through its sequencing capabilities.
Now, the state of California is increasing COVID-19 testing at airports for arrivals from countries identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to detect and prevent the spread of the new variant.
On Monday, State Public Health Officer and Director of the California Department of Public Health Dr. Tomás J. Aragón reported on the efforts to monitor B.1.1.529, or Omicron, which the World Health Organization has labeled a “variant of concern.”
California has established a public-private partnership through the California SARS-CoV-2 Whole Genome Sequencing Initiative called COVIDNet to provide the state with genomic sequencing to help understand and control the spread of COVID-19.
Health officials are using that surveillance system to monitor the variant’s presence and progress through the state.
CDPH said the state is doubling down on “vaccination and booster efforts to ensure that all Californians have access to safe, effective, and free vaccines that can prevent serious illness and death.”
Members of the public are urged to get vaccinated and boosted, wear masks in indoor settings, get tested if they have symptoms and stay home if they are sick.
Travelers who have been in South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia or Zimbabwe within the last 14 days must follow CDC recommendations to get tested three to five days after arrival, quarantine for seven days even if testing negative and isolate for 10 days if COVID-19 symptoms develop.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric reported that it is testing artificial intelligence and machine-learning capabilities in its growing network of high-definition cameras across Northern and Central California to see how it can enhance fire-watch and response capabilities.
The company said that this year, in collaboration with ALERTWildfire, it has installed 138 new HD cameras across high fire-threat districts, in accordance with its 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan.
Of those 138 cameras, 46 of them are included in the new artificial intelligence, or AI, testing program in partnership with Alchera and ALERTWildfire.
A similar pilot was conducted with Pano through participation in EPRI’s 2021 Incubatenergy Labs Challenge. PG&E began installing HD cameras in 2018, as part of its Community Wildfire Safety Program.
As of Oct. 31, 487 cameras are now in operation, 45 of them are in Lake, Mendocino and Humboldt counties. None of them are in the new AI test program.
In Lake County, 10 cameras have been installed. In 2019, cameras were installed on Mount Konocti, two each on Buckingham Peak, Cobb Mountain and Cow Mountain, with the most recent two cameras installed on Walker Ridge in January.
“Even with the two significant rainstorms in October and November, we are still in a historic drought and California, along with other western states, continue to experience an increase in wildfire risk and a longer wildfire season. We are using every new tool and technology at our disposal to improve situational awareness and intelligence to help mitigate and prevent wildfires, including this new AI capability,” said Sumeet Singh, PG&E chief risk officer. “Every bit of data and intelligence that comes to us could potentially save a life.”
PG&E said the pilot program is already demonstrating the AI’s potential to reduce fire size expansion.
On Aug. 4, PG&E’s Howell Mountain 1 camera located in Placer County and equipped with Alchera’s AI software, spotted smoke one minute before the actual fire dispatch and several minutes sooner than the manual movement of the camera. That smoke ended up becoming the River Fire. This is one example of many noted during both pilots confirming the value of early fire detection technology.
The expert staff in the company’s Wildfire Safety Operations Center, or WSOC, outside agencies and first responders use the fire-watch cameras to monitor, detect, assess for threats and respond to wildfires.
The AI test programs include PG&E determining a way to get the new data to the right people quickly and effectively. The quicker the data is received, the more rapidly first responders and PG&E can confirm fires and move the right resources to the right place.
“The software analyzes the video feed and if it thinks it sees smoke, we receive an alert via email and text, telling us it just detected smoke. Our analysts then pinpoint where the smoke is coming from and determine if it’s a car fire, dumpster fire, or even a vegetation fire. Based on the location, we can assess for threat to the public or PG&E facilities,” said Eric Sutphin, supervisor at PG&E’s WSOC who’s in charge of the camera installations. “The AI filters out a significant number of false positives, for example, ruling out dust, fog or haze.”
Sutphin explained that the recent installation of the AI test software with its machine-learning capabilities means the WSOC team is getting smarter over time with more experience and more data gathered.
“We know the cameras are doing well at spotting wisps of smoke from long distances. We plan to assess our initial implementation, continue to gather the data, and develop a plan for using this leading-edge technology on a more expanded basis,” he said.
The cameras provide 360-degree views with pan, tilt and zoom capabilities and can be viewed by anyone through the ALERTWildfire Network at www.alertwildfire.org.
By the end of 2022, the company plans to have approximately 600 cameras installed, providing an ability to see in real-time more than 90% of the high fire-risk areas it serves.