LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A new intervention specialist who will work with the Lakeport Police Department on de-escalating crisis situations and working with homeless community members has been selected.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen and Lake Family Resource Center Executive Director Lisa Morrow introduced Alicia Adams at the Lakeport City Council meeting on Nov. 16.
Adams began her new position as community crisis response specialist at the start of this month, Rasmussen said.
She is part of a program created by a partnership between Lakeport Police and the Lake Family Resource Center.
The Lakeport City Council approved the program in October and the memorandum of agreement was finalized in the weeks since then.
Although hired and trained by Lake Family Resource Center, Adams will be based at the Lakeport Police station at 2025 S. Main St.
She will be teamed primarily with Lakeport Police’s homeless liaison officer to do outreach to homeless individuals and respond to other calls — including those that involve domestic violence and sexual assault — when a crisis response is needed.
Adams has been both a volunteer and a staffer for Lake Family Resource Center since 2015, and was part of the California HOPE program the organization initiated to support Lake County residents affected by the Mendocino Complex fires.
Morrow thanked the city council for the opportunity to work with the police department on the program.
She said it was relatively smooth putting the memorandum of understanding together.
Morrow said Adams is well qualified for the position.
“I am so happy to be a part of this project,” said Adams, adding that she’s looking forward to getting to work.
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 unanimously this week to send a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission opposing a rate increase requested by Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
Board Chair Bruno Sabatier asked for the board to send the letter challenging the rate increase — which PG&E filed a request with the CPUC for on Sept. 16 — citing the negative impact on the community, as well as PG&E’s failure to follow rules imposed by the state and the company not providing a reliable power supply.
PG&E is asking for an increase totaling 4.9% for electricity and 0.2% for gas, and a nonbundled category for those not getting electricity with a rate increase of 2.3%. There is no nonbundled category for those not getting gas, which is the case for Lake County residents.
“It makes no sense to me that we only get partial service from PG&E,” said Sabatier, noting Lake County residents must use either electricity or propane, and propane isn’t cheap either.
Sabatier presented a letter for the board to consider that Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein helped him write. In addition, Sabatier included a letter he wrote personally and he asked board members to consider sending their own individual letters.
He said PG&E is requesting the increase to follow General Order 95 Section III for line maintenance and tree clearance and line construction.
Those are things that PG&E has not been following and the CPUC has not been enforcing those rules, said Sabatier, noting there is now more of an effort by PG&E to work on management and maintenance.
The utility’s other reasons for the rate increase — which is outside of its usual cycle for rate increase requests — is for public safety power shut-off and execution, which Sabatier said is due to PG&E’s inability to upgrade infrastructure.
Other reasons given for the increase request are wildfire mitigation, temporary generation to support customers and COVID-19.
In his letter and in his comments on Tuesday, Sabatier quoted an Associated Press article from Feb. 18, 2020, that said by 2024, PG&E may reach a profit of nearly $2.4 billion, up from the $454 million it realized in 2020.
“My question is, why are we doing a rate increase on a company that has failed to meet expectations and continues to go against what [the] CPUC mission statement is, which is to have a safe and reliable energy source,” said Sabatier.
He said PG&E’s energy source is not safe — pointing to the wildfires the company has caused — or reliable, noting the power outages.
He also pointed out that a judge insisted PG&E be fined $200 million for the 2018 Camp fire, that destroyed the Butte County town of Paradise. However, the CPUC waived the fine.
A judge has to agree with the rate increase, yet a judge wasn’t heard and listened to by the CPUC when it came to the fine, Sabatier said.
He referenced a report that has shown the CPUC was not the independent commission it was created to be. There has been a lot of intermingling between commission and governor’s office, with the governor controlling it, which led to the waiving of the Camp fire fine.
“I just think that the rate increase is a slap in the face to our constituents,” Sabatier said. “It doesn’t solve our problems that we’re also having with PG&E and their infrastructure.”
Sabatier said the board needed to be very direct about why the rate increase isn’t going to work for the county.
He asked the board to approve the general letter and to send their own letters. “We can go much further than just a board letter.”
Supervisor Tina Scott said she appreciated Sabatier bringing the matter to the board.
“I think we need to look at the fact that they’ve been making profit for years and have not been doing the job and that’s why we’ve had the fires that we’ve had,” she said of PG&E.
Scott agreed with Sabatier that the proposed rate increase is a slap in the face to constituents, and that the county can’t afford it.
“We’ve been told that this is going to be the status quo for the next 10 years,” not just with the power shut-offs but with the outages that occur when a branch hits lines, said Supervisor Jessica Pyska.
There have been a couple hundred outages that her district has been through “and now we have to pay more.” She said she appreciated the letter and also would send her own.
Pyska was referencing a passage in the proposed board letter that pointed out that customers reliant on PG&E’s Middletown Substation experienced 205 outages from Jan. 1 to Sept. 13, with the average duration lasting 8.2 hours. Customers served by the Konocti substation experienced 155 outages in the same period, with those outages spanning an average of 11.9 hours.
Sabatier clarified during the meeting that the PG&E employees in the blue trucks do good work and that it’s the administrative staff he’s talking about when criticizing the company.
Supervisors EJ Crandell and Moke Simon also voiced their support, with Crandell planning to send a letter of his own as well.
Sabatier noted that it will be awhile before this increase request is finalized. In speaking with CPUC, he and Rothstein decided the earlier it’s in the judge’s hands the better.
“Being ahead was definitely the better way to go but it’s going to be awhile before that judgment is made,” he said.
Scott asked for the time frame, and Sabatier said the decision is expected in the spring or later.
Scott suggested sending a letter now and then sending another later to remind state officials “that we’re still here and we’re angry.”
Sabatier added, “We shouldn’t reward a company with more money when there’s absolute failures in the system.”
Crandell said he planned to take the matter to the Rural County Representatives of California in an upcoming meeting.
Simon moved to approve the letter, with Scott seconding and the board voting 5-0.
How to voice opposition
Community members wanting to register their opposition to the rate increase should address their comments to the CPUC in one of several ways.
For reference, the proceeding number is A.21-09-008.
To provide comments to the CPUC:
• Submit comments online for the proceeding here: https://apps.cpuc.ca.gov/apex/f?p=401:65:0:ADDPC:NO . • Write to them, with the proceeding number, the utility company name and any other relevant details, at California Public Utilities Commission, Public Advisor's Office, 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102. • Attend a CPUC event; or • Speak at a CPUC meeting.
For more information, call the CPUC Public Advisor’s Office at 866-849-8390, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or write to the office at 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102.
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 and the governor last week issued proclamations that declare November as Native American Heritage Month.
During the Nov. 16 board meeting, Supervisor Moke Simon — who along with Supervisor EJ Crandell is a member of a Lake County tribe — presented the Native American Heritage Month proclamation.
The proclamation notes that Lake County has been home to people for greater than 12,000 years, “and the richly diverse cultures of the seven Tribal Nations indigenous to Lake County, Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California, Koi Nation of Northern California, Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California and Elem Indian Colony, have informed every aspect of our community’s history.”
It also acknowledges, “Policies and practices of the United States and earlier colonial governments deprived Indigenous People in the State of California and Lake County, specifically, of land-holdings, liberty, even life, itself.”
On Aug. 3, 1990, President George H.W. Bush declared the month of November as National American Indian Heritage Month, with the event now commonly referred to as Native American Heritage Month.
The proclamation explained that the bill establishing Native American Heritage Month in 1990 “represented a major step in the establishment of this celebration which began in 1976 when a Cherokee/Osage Indian named Jerry C. Elliott-High Eagle authored Native American Awareness Week legislation,” which was the first historical week of recognition in the nation for Indigenous peoples.
President Ronald Reagan proclaimed Nov. 23 to 30, 1986, as “American Indian Week,” and President Barack Obama made a Presidential Proclamation on Oct. 31 of each year that each respective November would be National Native American Heritage Month, the proclamation said.
The proclamation also affirmed Lake County's commitment to protecting the sovereign rights of Indigenous tribal organizations and institutions to strengthen their own communities,” and encouraged citizens to join in recognizing the accomplishments and contributions Native Americans have made to Lake County and to salute “those who have sought to honor the important role of Tribal leadership in our County’s past, present and future.”
Three days later, on Nov. 19, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation declaring November as Native American Heritage Month in California.
“During Native American Heritage Month, we honor and celebrate the perseverance, rich diversity and excellence of all Native Americans — from the first peoples of this place to those from across the Nation who now call California home,” said Gov. Newsom. “I encourage everyone in our state to learn more about the people who first called this nation home, in the spirit of growth, healing and hope for a better future.”
Last week, the California State Archives announced a new educational resource created in partnership with the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center in honor of Native American Heritage Month, Identity and Stereotypes: Why Do Representations Matter?, now available on its website.
Officials said that, through a series of activities centered on issues of Native American stereotypes and representations in historical and current mass media, the resource invites high school students to think critically about widespread, problematic representations of Indigenous peoples.
They can also listen to contemporary Indigenous perspectives and consider solutions moving forward.
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.
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — As the deadline for California wildfires survivors to enroll in the state's Consolidated Debris Removal Program approaches, state contractors continue to make progress removing eligible debris from properties whose owners already have enrolled in the program.
To date, crews have removed burned metal, concrete ash and contaminated soil from 458 properties.
That includes properties in Lake County impacted by the August Cache fire, which occurred in Clearlake.
The state reported that 64 site assessments and 64 asbestos assessments have been completed in Lake County, with 40 asbestos abatements completed. Debris removal has been completed on 60 properties.
The 458 cleared properties represent 30% of the 1,477 properties in 10 counties participating in the full debris removal program, the state reported.
Another 212 properties are participating in the hazardous trees only element of the program.
Under the program, administered by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, or Cal OES, and the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, in collaboration with county officials, participating property owners incur no direct costs.
Property owners opt into the program by submitting a right-of-entry form, or ROE, to their county, which allows the state to begin work on their property and incur no direct costs for the removal of burned metal, concrete, ash and contaminated soil from their properties.
Interested homeowners in Alpine, El Dorado, Lake, Lassen, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity counties can still sign up for the program by Nov. 30.
Find more information about the state’s Consolidated Debris Removal Program, including contacts and county-specific ROE forms here.
The program is also now available to property owners with losses from the Hopkins fire in Mendocino County, the Washington fire in Tuolumne County, the Windy fire in Tulare County, and the French fire in Kern County. The deadline for submitting ROEs for these counties will be announced shortly. Property owners should speak with their county government to learn more about the program.
Property owners cannot start rebuilding until fire debris is removed from their properties and soil samples taken from the property meet state environmental health and safety standards.”
Officials said property owners also can do the work themselves or hire a private contractor, but the work must meet the same state standards as the State Program. If work is started by the property owner or contractor, they become ineligible for the State Program.
Steps left to complete
Before homeowners can begin rebuilding, cleared properties need additional work including:
• Separate contractors collect soil samples for verification at a laboratory that they meet state environmental health and safety standards.
• Contractors next may install erosion control measures.
• Certified arborists or professional foresters assess wildfire-damaged trees in danger of falling on the public or public infrastructure for removal by separate contractors.
• Finally, state officials inspect the property to verify all completed work meets state standards. Debris officials submit a final inspection report to local officials to approve the property for reconstruction.
Property owners can track progress on the Debris Operations Dashboard for the 2021 statewide wildfires. The dashboard is updated every hour and provides users with the ability to search by county or address.
NORTH COAST, Calif. — As registration opens for Mendocino College’s spring semester, college officials announced their plans to have more in-person classes once again as it offers a variety of educational opportunities for the community.
Officials at Mendocino College said a “safety first” mindset has been their approach when planning to return to a more normal offering of on-ground classes and student services after a long 18 months of mostly remote learning.
While the college never completely shut down, it’s announcing that many classes will be held in person in the spring.
The spring 2022 term begins Jan. 18, and will look similar to how it did pre-pandemic, with more on-ground classes.
The college will still offer a variety of online and hybrid classes for those who prefer this type of instruction or who are unable to attend on ground classes due to barriers such as full-time work or lack of transportation.
“I want to assure everyone that Mendocino College continues to have the safety and well-being of our campus community as our guiding principles,” said Superintendent/President Tim Karas. “The college will be increasing the slate of in-person classes in the spring, and restoring many activities, events, and opportunities that allow our students to enjoy learning, campus life, and community engagement. The past year and a half has been challenging, but we can get through these tough times with patience and kindness.”
In order to keep the community and campus safe, beginning January 2022, the college will require all students and staff to show proof of being fully vaccinated before coming to campus. Those who do not show proof of vaccination will have to provide negative COVID-19 test results on a weekly basis.
A new mobile app called Mendo Mobile allows students, staff and visitors to submit this information quickly, securely and efficiently.
In addition to vaccine and testing requirements, the college’s plan to return to on-ground teaching, learning and services has included implementing several measures to assure campus safety such as:
• All employees, students and guests are required to wear masks while indoors on campus. • Districtwide air filters replaced with fresh MERV 13 filters for greater air filtration. • Reprogramming of building automation systems to maximize fresh air flow as much as possible. • Bipolar Ionization systems installed in all compatible HVAC systems. • Strategic deployment of supplemental air purification systems. • Updating restroom facilities with touchless fixtures. • Addition of custodial staff to provide enhanced daytime cleaning. • Providing hand sanitizing stations at all building entrances. • Providing masks and disinfectant wipes in all offices and classrooms. • Recruiting an official director of COVID-19 response to oversee district compliance with all health mandates put in place by local, state, and federal officials.
Mendocino College encourages eligible employees and students to sign up for vaccination opportunities and has offered $100 gift card incentives for those that do. Vaccines are now available to anyone 12 and over and can be scheduled through the MyTurn website at https://myturn.ca.gov.
Open registration for the spring 2022 semester has begun and students can view the full schedule online at www.mendocino.edu.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Rotary Club of Clearlake is preparing to present its 28th annual community Christmas dinner next month.
The group will host the dinner and celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Burns Valley School.
For the past 27 years, the Rotary Club of Clearlake has prepared a complete and healthy warm meal, plus dessert, for all who have attended, and also had Santa on hand to meet with the children.
In 2019, 1,300 people enjoyed the club’s Christmas dinner.
This year, due to COVID-19 health guidelines, the celebration will be enjoyed in a new, safe format.
Volunteers will prepare, package and hand deliver meals. Most attendees will receive takeout meals via the option to drive up in their vehicles. There will be a walk up option for those who require it. Parking will be very limited.
Meals will be provided while food supplies last or until 2 p.m., whichever comes first.
The club offered its gratitude to Foods, Etc. for contributing all the food and packaging supplies for our event this year.
The Meals on Wheels program delivers meals to 200 registered recipients in the Clearlake area. All food and packaging supplies for 200 meals will be provided to the Meals on Wheels program as part of the celebration.
The Meals on Wheels team will deliver the meals to the recipients on Dec. 11. This extra warm meal of ham and all the fixings, along with pumpkin pie, is a special holiday treat.
Historically, Santa Claus and his elves have visited with about 600 children, taking the time to ask each child about their special Christmas wish. Children also received a souvenir photo with Santa, a toy, and a candy cane to take home with them.
This year Santa will be on a fire engine to wave hello. Elves will hand out toys and candy canes to cars as they proceed down the event route.
Traditionally, the Rotary Warm for the Winter event featuring All Things Warm has happened simultaneously with the celebration event.
Due to countywide health restrictions related to COVID-19, the club reported that it is unable to offer the Warm for the Winter program this year.
Dr. Paula Dhanda and Worldwide Healing Hands volunteers will be returning this year to hand out health items.
“The Rotary Club of Clearlake loves and appreciates the community we serve. Although it looks and feels a little different this year, we are extremely excited and happy that we are still able to bring this event to you, our community,” the club said in a statement. “Keep an eye out for more information as we continue to work toward a healthier and happier community!”
The average American’s everyday interactions with energy sources are limited. They range from turning appliances on or off, to commuting, to paying utility bills.
The connections between those acts and rising global temperatures may seem distant.
However, individuals hold many keys to unlocking solutions to climate change – the biggest challenge our species currently faces – which is perhaps why the fossil fuel industry spent decades misleading and misinforming the public about it.
I’m an assistant professor of geography and environmental studies at Texas State University. My research explores how geography affects the complex relationships between societies, energy and contemporary environmental challenges. I’ve found that the human element is critical for developing creative, effective and sustainable solutions to climate challenges.
These actions combined could bridge the “emissions gap”: the significant difference between the greenhouse gas emissions expected globally and how much they need to drop in the next few decades to avoid catastrophic climate change.
Climate change is outracing government action
People have worked for decades to slow climate change by altering national energy policies. Several states, for example, have renewable portfolio standards for utilities that require them to increase their use of renewable energy.
But 30 years of evidence from international climate talks suggests that even when nations commit on paper to reducing emissions, they seldom achieve those cuts.
So if government, technology or geoengineering aren’t good answers, what are?
Citizen action
Pledges, goals and targets for shifting from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources are only as good as the efforts by utilities and governments to reach them. Citizen participation and action have proved effective at compelling decision-makers to act. For example, scholars studying the economic, political and social dynamics that led five U.S. municipalities to adopt 100% renewable energy found that grassroots citizen advocacy was one of the key factors that drove the change.
According to the Sierra Club, through citizen-driven action, over 180 cities, more than 10 counties and eight U.S. states have made commitments to transitioning to 100% renewable energy. Consequently, over 100 million U.S residents already live in a community with a 100% renewable energy target.
Citizens have also been taking collective action at the ballot box. For example, in 2019, after New York City voters elected a more climate conscious City Council, the city enacted an ambitious emissions reduction law, and has since begun to enforce it. Also in 2019, after voters similarly shook up the state legislature, New York state enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Among the nation’s strongest climate change laws, New York’s measure mandates that the state shift to 100% renewable energy by 2040 and that its emissions from all sources drop 40% by 2040 and 85% by 2050.
Consumer demand
How and where people spend their money can also influence corporate behavior. Companies and utilities are changing their products and production practices as consumers increasingly demand that they produce ecologically sustainable products and lower their carbon footprints. Scholars have documented that consumer boycotts negatively affect the wealth of a corporation’s shareholders – which in turn can create pressure for a firm to change in response.
Google put its global economic might behind climate solutions when it announced in 2019 that it would support the growth of renewable energy resources by making solar and wind energy deals worth US$2 billion.
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One drawback to consumer demand-driven action is that it’s often unclear how to hold these firms accountable for their promises. Recently, two impact investing experts suggested in Vox that since around 137 million Americans own stock in publicly traded companies, they could use their collective power as shareholders to make sure companies follow through.
Shifting household energy behavior
A substantial body of research shows that small changes to everyday behaviors can significantly reduce energy demand. This may be the biggest way individuals and families can contribute to lowering fossil fuel consumption and reducing carbon emissions.
These steps include weatherization and using energy-efficient appliances, as well as energy efficiency measures such as turning down thermostats, washing laundry with cold water and air-drying it rather than using a dryer.
So since most governments aren’t acting quickly enough, and many technology and geoengineering solutions are still unproven or come with high risks, emission reduction goals won’t be achieved without incorporating additional strategies.
The evidence is clear that these strategies should include millions of average people factoring climate change into their everyday activities regarding their communities, purchases and personal energy use.
As the environmentalist Bill McKibben wrote in 2006 about dealing with climate change, “There are no silver bullets, only silver buckshot.”
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has a big group of dogs that would be thankful to be adopted.
The City of Clearlake Animal Association also is seeking fosters for the animals waiting to be adopted.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
The newest dogs are listed at the top of the following list.
‘Andy’
“Andy” is a male American pit bull mix with a short gray and white coat.
He is dog No. 48995415.
‘Arnold’
“Arnold” is a male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a short brindle coat with white markings.
He is dog No. 49029348.
‘Bear’
“Bear” is a male Labrador retriever-American pit bull mix with a short charcoal and fawn coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 48443153.
‘Bella’
“Bella” is a female American pit bull mix with a short gray brindle coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 48448381.
‘Levi’
“Levi” is a male golden retriever-Labrador retriever mix.
He has a short golden coat.
He is dog No. 48975687.
‘Luscious’
“Luscious” is a male pit bull terrier mix with a short gray coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 48757611.
‘Maria’
“Maria” is a female Shar-Pei mix with a short tan coat.
She is dog No. 49047315.
‘Mitzi’
“Mitzi” is a female Australian cattle dog mix with a medium-length black and white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 48443306.
‘Nala’
“Nala” is a 1-year-old female German shepherd mix.
She has a medium-length black and tan coat.
She is dog No. 48289638.
‘Sassy’
“Sassy” is a female American pit bull mix with a short black coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 48443128.
‘Tanisha’
“Tanisha” is a female Australian cattle dog mix with a short red and white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 48443302.
‘Terry’
“Terry” is a male shepherd mix with a short brindle coat.
He is dog No. 48443693.
‘Turk’
“Turk” is a male chocolate Labrador retriever mix.
He is dog No. 48911836.
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.
Peter C. Mancall, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving in New England. Remembered and retold as an allegory for perseverance and cooperation, the story of that first Thanksgiving has become an important part of how Americans think about the founding of their country.
But what happened four months later, starting in March 1622 about 600 miles south of Plymouth, is, I believe, far more reflective of the country’s origins – a story not of peaceful coexistence but of distrust, displacement and repression.
The conquest and colonization of New England mattered, of course. But the Pilgrims’ experience in the early 1620s tells us less about the colonial era than events along Chesapeake Bay, where the English had established Jamestown in 1607.
A compelling origin story
The Pilgrims etched their place in the nation’s history long ago as plucky survivors who persevered despite difficult conditions. Ill-prepared for the New England winter of 1620 to 1621, they benefited when a terrible epidemic raged among the Indigenous peoples of the region from 1616 to 1619, which reduced competition for resources.
Having endured a winter in which perhaps one-half of the migrants succumbed, the survivors welcomed the fall harvest of 1621. They survived because local Wampanoags had taught them how to grow corn, the most important crop in much of eastern North America. That November, the Pilgrims and Wampanoags shared a three-day feast.
In 1623, Pilgrims in Plymouth declared a day to thank their God for bringing rain when it looked like their corn crop might wither in a brutal drought. They likely celebrated it in late July. In 1777, in the midst of the Revolutionary War, the members of the Continental Congress declared a day of Thanksgiving for Dec. 18. The Pilgrims didn’t even get a mention.
In the 19th century, however, annual Thanksgiving holidays became linked to New England, largely as a result of campaigns to make the Plymouth experience one of the nation’s origin stories. Promoters of this narrative identified the Mayflower Compact as the starting point for representative government and praised the religious freedom they saw in New England – at least for Americans of European ancestry.
But the events in Plymouth in 1621 that came to be enshrined in the national narrative were not typical.
A more revealing incident took place in Virginia in 1622.
Since 1607, English migrants had maintained a small community in Jamestown, where colonists struggled mightily to survive. Unable to figure out how to find fresh water, they drank from the James River, even during the summer months when the water level dropped and turned the river into a swamp. The bacteria they consumed from doing so caused typhoid fever and dysentery.
Despite a death rate that reached 50% in some years, the English decided to stay. Their investment paid off in the mid-1610s when an enterprising colonist named John Rolfe planted West Indian tobacco seeds in the region’s fertile soil. The industry soon boomed.
But economic success did not mean the colony would thrive. Initial English survival in Virginia depended on the good graces of the local Indigenous population. By 1607, Wahunsonacock, the leader of an alliance of Natives called Tsenacomoco, had spent a generation forming a confederation of roughly 30 distinct communities along tributaries of Chesapeake Bay. The English called him Powhatan and labeled his followers the Powhatans.
Wahunsonacock could have likely prevented the English from establishing their community at Jamestown; after all, the Powhatans controlled most of the resources in the region. In 1608, when the newcomers were near starvation, the Powhatans provided them with food. Wahunsonacock also spared Captain John Smith’s life after his people captured the Englishman.
Wahunsonacock’s actions revealed his strategic thinking. Rather than see the newcomers as all-powerful, he likely believed the English would become a subordinate community under his control. After a war from 1609 to 1614 between English and Powhatans, Wahunsonacock and his allies agreed to peace and coexistence.
By spring 1622, Opechancanough had had enough. On March 22, he and his allies launched a surprise attack. By day’s end, they had killed 347 of the English. They might have killed more except that one Powhatan who had converted to Christianity had warned some of the English, which gave them the time to escape.
Within months, news of the violence spread in England. Edward Waterhouse, the colony’s secretary, detailed the “barbarous Massacre” in a short pamphlet. A few years later, an engraver in Frankfurt captured Europeans’ fears of Native Americans in a haunting illustration for a translation of Waterhouse’s book.
Waterhouse wrote of those who died “under the bloudy and barbarous hands of that perfidious and inhumane people.” He reported that the victors had desecrated English corpses. He called them “savages” and resorted to common European descriptions of “wyld Naked Natives.” He vowed revenge.
The Powhatans’ orchestrated attack anticipated other Indigenous rebellions against aggressive European colonizers in 17th-century North America.
The English response, too, fit a pattern: Any sign of resistance by “pagans,” as Waterhouse labeled the Powhatans, needed to be suppressed to advance Europeans’ desire to convert Native Americans to Christianity, claim Indigenous lands, and satisfy European customers clamoring for goods produced in America.
It was this dynamic – not the one of fellowship found in Plymouth in 1621 – that would go on to define the relationship between Native Americans and European settlers for over two centuries.
Before the end of the century, violence erupted in New England too, erasing the positive legacy of the feast of 1621. By 1675, simmering tensions exploded in a war that stretched across the region. On a per capita basis, it was among the deadliest conflicts in American history.
Today’s Thanksgiving – with school kids’ construction paper turkeys and narrative of camaraderie and cooperation between the colonists and Indigenous Americans – obscures the more tragic legacy of the early 17th century.
Watch as eight stars skirt a black hole one million times the mass of the sun in these supercomputer simulations.
As they approach, all are stretched and deformed by the black hole’s gravity. Some are completely pulled apart into a long stream of gas, a cataclysmic phenomenon called a tidal disruption event.
Others are only partially disrupted, retaining some of their mass and returning to their normal shapes after their horrific encounters.
These simulations, led by Taeho Ryu, a fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany, are the first to combine the physical effects of Einstein’s general theory of relativity with realistic stellar density models.
The virtual stars range from about one-tenth to 10 times the sun’s mass.
The division between stars that fully disrupt and those that endure isn’t simply related to mass. Instead, survival depends more on the star’s density.
Ryu and his team also investigated how other characteristics, such as different black hole masses and stellar close approaches, affect tidal disruption events.
The results will help astronomers estimate how often full tidal disruptions occur in the universe and will aid them in building more accurate pictures of these calamitous cosmic occurrences.
Jeanette Kazmierczak is with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
For the past 20 years, I have been engaged in efforts to end the opioid epidemic, as a public health official, researcher and clinician. And for every one of those years I have looked on as the number of deaths from drug overdoses has set a new record high.
Yet even knowing that trend I was surprised by the latest tally from the CDC showing that for the first time ever, the number of Americans who fatally overdosed over the course of a year surpassed 100,000. In a 12-month period ending at the end of April 2021, some 100,306 died in the U.S., up 28.5% over the same period a year earlier.
The soaring death toll has been fueled by a much more dangerous black market opioid supply. Illicitly synthesized fentanyl – a potent and inexpensive opioid that has driven the rise in overdoses since it emerged in 2014 – is increasingly replacing heroin. Fentanyl and fentanyl analogs were responsible for almost two-thirds of the overdose deaths recorded in the 12 months period ending in April 2021.
It is especially tragic that these deaths are mainly occurring in people with a disease – opioid addiction – that is both preventable and treatable. Most heroin users want to avoid fentanyl. But increasingly, the heroin they seek is mixed with fentanyl or what they purchase is just fentanyl without any heroin in the mix.
While the spread of fentanyl is the primary cause of the spike in overdose deaths, the coronavirus pandemic also made the crisis worse.
Before the COVID-19 health crisis, the skyrocketing increase in fentanyl-related overdose deaths in America was mainly affecting the eastern half of the U.S., and hit especially hard in urban areas like Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City. A possible reason behind this was that in the eastern half of the U.S., heroin has mainly been available in powder form rather than the black tar heroin more common in the West. It is easier to mix fentanyl with powdered heroin.
COVID-19 resulted in less cross-national traffic, which made it harder to smuggle illegal drugs across borders. Border restrictions make it harder to move bulkier drugs, resulting in smugglers’ increased reliance on fentanyl – which is more potent and easier to transport in small quantities and as pills, making it easier to traffic by mail. This may have helped fentanyl spread to areas that escaped the earlier surge in fentanyl deaths.
Opioid-addicted individuals seeking prescription opioids instead of heroin have also been affected, because counterfeit pills made with fentanyl have become more common. This may explain why public health officials in Seattle and elsewhere are reporting many fatalities resulting from use of counterfeit pills.
More than anything else, what drives opioid-addicted individuals to continue using is that without opioids they will experience severe symptoms of withdrawal. Treatment, especially with buprenorphine and methadone, has to be easy to access or addicted individuals will continue using heroin, prescription opioids or illict fentanyl to stave off withdrawal. Some treatment centers innovated in the face of lockdowns, for example, by allowing more patients to take methadone unsupervised at home, but this may not have been enough to offset the disruption to treatment services.
In the past, one slip might not be the end of the world for someone in recovery. But given the extraordinarily dangerous black market opioid supply, any slip can result in death.
State officials said a gray wolf that traveled from northern Oregon to Kern County has been found dead, with the cause of death believed to be trauma from being struck by a vehicle.
On Nov. 10, the wolf known as OR93 was found dead near Interstate 5 near the town of Lebec, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported.
Following a full investigation and necropsy, CDFW said it has determined that the wolf died from trauma consistent with vehicular strike and does not suspect foul play.
On the afternoon of Nov. 10, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife received a phone call from a truck driver who witnessed the deceased wolf along a dirt trail near a frontage road running parallel to I-5.
A CDFW warden responded to the scene to collect the carcass, which was quickly identified as OR93 because of its collar.
The carcass was transported to the Wildlife Health Laboratory in Rancho Cordova, where a complete necropsy was performed.
The wolf had significant tissue trauma to the left rear leg and a dislocated knee as well as soft tissue trauma to the abdomen. The injuries were deemed to be caused by a vehicle strike.
Young gray wolves can disperse very long distances from their natal area and OR93 is no exception.
Before his demise, he was documented traveling the farthest south in California since wolves returned to the state, which is historically wolf habitat.
The last documented wolf that far south was captured in San Bernardino County in 1922.
OR93 was a male wolf born in 2019. He dispersed from the White River pack in northern Oregon.
When his collar was providing information, he was tracked entering Modoc County on Jan. 30. After briefly returning to Oregon, he reentered Modoc County on Feb. 4.
On Feb. 24, he entered Alpine County after passing through portions of Lassen, Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Amador and Calaveras counties.
On Feb. 25, he entered Mono County. In mid-March, he was in western Tuolumne County. By late March he was in Fresno County, and then entered San Benito County after crossing Highway 99 and Interstate 5.
He was in Monterey County on April 1 and his last collar transmission was from San Luis Obispo County on April 5.
Through April 5 he had traveled at least 935 air miles in California, a minimum average of 16 air miles per day.
CDFW said the public should be aware that the wolf population continues to grow in California and to know the difference between wolves and coyotes.
Though gray wolves are generally much bigger than coyotes, they can sometimes be misidentified.
CDFW encouraged the public to review this wolf identification page which provides tips for differentiating between wolves, coyotes and dogs.
Gray wolves are listed as endangered pursuant to California’s Endangered Species Act, or CESA.
It is unlawful to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap or capture gray wolves. Anyone who believes they have seen a wolf in California can report it to CDFW here.
Gray wolves pose very little safety risk to humans. CDFW is working to monitor and conserve California’s small wolf population and is collaborating with livestock producers and diverse stakeholders to minimize wolf-livestock conflicts.
Gray wolf management in California is guided by CESA as well as CDFW’s Conservation Plan for Gray Wolves in California, finalized in 2016.
More information is available on CDFW’s wolf webpage.