LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — When spring begins to wane, the penstemon party kicks into high-gear with saturated colors ranging from lilac to blue to indigo to scarlet red waving on tall stalks inviting everyone to come and join in the party — you, me, hummingbirds, bees — everyone is invited to the penstemon party!
Commonly called “beardtongues” for the long and hairy tongue-like stamen located in the middle of lip-shaped flowers, there are 111 species native to California, with 14 species of penstemon in Lake County alone according to CalFlora.
These nectar-rich flowers are a favorite of bees, butterflies, moths, flies, and hummingbirds and make great additions to your garden and yard as they have a long blooming season.
Known as a “pioneer plant,” penstemon are among the first wildflowers to repopulate land that has been disturbed such as clearing to create gardens, roadside grading, erosion-exposed soils after flooding, and after wildfires which help make it ideal for planting in your own gardens here in Lake County.
Once the locally-adapted and drought tolerant native varieties have been established in your gardens/yard, penstemon will happily come back year after year if you allow the flowers to go to seed after they are done blooming.
Terre Logsdon is an environmentalist, certified master composter, and advocate for agroecology solutions to farming. An avid fan and protector of California wildflowers, plants, natural resources, and the environment, she seeks collaborative solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change. Kim Riley is retired, an avid hiker at Highland Springs, and has lived in Lake County since 1985. After 15 years of trail recovery and maintenance on the Highland Springs trails, she is now focused on native plants, including a native plant and pollinator garden on her property as well as promoting and preserving the beauty of the Highland Springs Recreation Area. Karen Sullivan has operated two nurseries to propagate and cultivate native plants and wildflowers, has lived in Kelseyville for the past 30 years, rides horses far and wide to see as many flowers as possible, and offers native plants and wildflowers for sale to the public. You can check her nursery stock here. They are collaborating on a book, Highland Springs Recreation Area: A Field Guide, which will be published in the future. In the meanwhile, please visit https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsNaturalists and https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsRecreationArea.
A new video gives viewers the sensation of standing on the Red Planet and seeing the action firsthand.
When NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took to the Martian skies on its third flight on April 25, the agency’s Perseverance rover was there to capture the historic moment.
Now NASA engineers have rendered the flight in 3D, lending dramatic depth to the flight as the helicopter ascends, hovers, then zooms laterally off-screen before returning for a pinpoint landing.
Seeing the sequence is a bit like standing on the Martian surface next to Perseverance and watching the flight firsthand.
Located on the rover’s mast, or “head,” the zoomable dual-camera Mastcam-Z imager provided the view. Along with producing images that enable the public to follow the rover’s daily discoveries, the cameras provide key data to help engineers navigate and scientists choose interesting rocks to study.
Justin Maki, an imaging scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, led the team that stitched the images into a video. The frames of the video were reprojected to optimize viewing in an anaglyph, or an image seen in 3D when viewed with color-filtered glasses (you can create your own 3D glasses in a few minutes).
Maki’s been creating 3D imaging of Mars since his days as a graduate student processing images from NASA’s Sojourner, the first Mars rover in 1997. But this is the first time he’s created actual 3D video of an aircraft flying on Mars.
“The Mastcam-Z video capability was inherited from the Mars Science Laboratory MARDI (MArs Descent Imager) camera,” Maki said. “To be reusing this capability on a new mission by acquiring 3D video of a helicopter flying above the surface of Mars is just spectacular.” The videos of the helicopter are the most extensive 3D video yet from the Mastcam-Z team.
The rover’s drivers and robotic-arm operators use a more sophisticated 3D system to understand exactly how things are positioned on Mars before planning the rover’s movements.
But, according to Maki, team members have also been viewing still 3D images for rover-drive planning.
“A helicopter flying on Mars opens a new era for Mars exploration. It’s a great demonstration of a new technology for exploration,” he added. “With each flight we open up more possibilities.”
The April 25 flight brought with it several other firsts, with Ingenuity rising 16 feet, then flying downrange 164 feet. That was a record until Ingenuity traveled 873 feet on its fourth flight, on April 30.
For its fifth flight, on May 7, Ingenuity completed its first one-way trip, traveling 423 feet, then reaching an altitude of 33 feet above its new landing field.
The flights began as a technology demonstration intended to prove that powered, controlled flight on Mars is possible. Now they will serve as an operations demonstration, exploring how aerial scouting and other functions could benefit future exploration of Mars.
More about Perseverance
Arizona State University in Tempe leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.
A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
An important question now arises: What happens if we don’t reach herd immunity? Dr. William Petri is a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Virginia who helps lead the global program to achieve herd immunity for polio as the chair of the World Health Organization’s Polio Research Committee. He answers questions here about herd immunity and COVID-19.
What is herd immunity?
Herd immunity occurs when there are enough immune people in a population that new infections stop. It means that enough people have achieved immunity to disrupt person-to-person transmission in the community, thereby protecting nonimmune people.
Immunity can result from either vaccination or prior infection. Herd immunity may exist globally, as it does with smallpox, or in a country or region. For example, the U.S. and many other countries have achieved herd immunity for polio and measles, even though global herd immunity does not yet exist.
Has herd immunity been achieved globally for other infections?
This has happened only once on a global scale, with the eradication of smallpox in 1980. This was after a decadelong worldwide intensive vaccination campaign.
We also are also approaching global herd immunity for polio. When the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was formed in 1988 there were 125 countries with endemic polio and over 300,000 children paralyzed annually. Today, after 33 years of immunization campaigns, Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries with wild polio virus, with only two cases of paralysis due to wild poliovirus this year. So herd immunity can be achieved worldwide, but only through extraordinary efforts with global collaboration.
It seems as though the goal posts for herd immunity keep changing. Why?
Experts estimate that between 60% and 90% of the U.S. population would need to be immune for there to be herd immunity. This wide range is because there are many moving parts that determine what is needed to achieve herd immunity.
Factors influencing whether the target is 60% or 90% include how well vaccination and prior infection prevent not only illness due to COVID-19, but also infection and transmission to others. Additional considerations include the heightened transmissibility of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 and the use of measures to interrupt transmission, including face masks and social distancing. Other important factors include the duration of immunity after vaccination or infection, and environmental factors such as seasonality, population sizes and density and heterogeneity within populations in immunity.
What is the biggest barrier to herd immunity in the U.S.?
Two factors could lead to failure to achieve high enough levels of immunity: not every adult receiving the vaccine because of “vaccine hesitancy” and the likely need to vaccinate adolescents and children. The FDA cleared the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents 12 to 15 years of age on May 10, 2021, so that could help. But an added barrier is the constant pressure of reintroduction of infection from other countries where vaccination is not as readily available as in the U.S.
Achieving herd immunity to the extent of totally blocking new infections is therefore, while a laudable goal, not easily achievable. I think that for COVID-19 at this time, it will be possible only with the concerted global effort over years, similar to what led to smallpox eradication.
Why are there ‘vaccine hesitant’ individuals?
People may be vaccine hesitant for several reasons, including lack of confidence in the vaccine, the inconvenience of receiving the vaccine, or complacency – that is, thinking that if they get COVID-19 it will not be severe.
Lack of confidence includes concerns for vaccine safety or skepticism about the health care providers and public health officials administering them. Complacency reflects a personal decision that vaccination is not a priority for that individual because she or he perceives that the infection is not serious or because of competing priorities for time. Convenience issues include the availability and complexity, such as having to get two doses.
Since herd immunity will not be reached, what will our lives look like?
At least into 2022 and likely for much longer, I do not expect there will be herd immunity for COVID-19. What there will be, probably by the end of this summer in the U.S., is a new normalcy. There will be far fewer cases and deaths due to COVID-19, and there will be a removal of social distancing and year-round masking, as evidenced by the CDC’s new guidelines issued May 13, 2021, that vaccinated people do not have to wear masks in most places.
But there will be a seasonality to coronavirus infections. That means there will be less in the summer and more in the winter. We’ll also see outbreaks in regions and population subgroups that lack adequate immunity, short-lived lockdowns of cities or regions, new and more transmissible variants and a likely requirement for vaccine booster shots. We cannot let down on the research and development of treatments and new vaccines, as studies show that COVID-19 is here to stay.
Dr. Debbie-Ann Shirley is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia specializing in pediatric infectious diseases. Here she addresses some of the concerns parents may have about their teen or preteen getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
1. Does the vaccine work in adolescents?
Yes, recently released data from Pfizer-BioNTech shows that the COVID-19 vaccine seems to work really well in this age group. The COVID-19 vaccine was found to be 100% efficacious in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in an ongoing clinical trial of children in the U.S. aged 12 to 15. Adolescents made high levels of antibody in response to the vaccine, and their immune response was just as strong as what has been seen in older teens and young adults 16-25 years of age.
2. How do I know whether the vaccine is safe for my child?
So far, the COVID-19 vaccine appears to be safe and well tolerated in adolescents. All of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. have undergone rigorous study, but we don’t want to assume that children are little adults. This is why it is so important to study these vaccines just as carefully in children before health authorities could recommend use. Ongoing studies will continue to follow vaccinated children closely and robust safety monitoring will help rapidly identify rare or unexpected concerns if they emerge.
3. I thought children were low-risk – do they still need to get the vaccine?
Currently, children represent nearly one-quarter of all new reported weekly COVID-19 cases in the U.S. While serious illness from COVID-19 is rare in children, it does occur – thousands of children have been hospitalized and at least 351 children have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. Some children who get seriously ill from COVID-19 may have underlying health conditions, but not all do. Vaccination will help protect children from developing serious illness.
Additionally, since adolescents can transmit COVID-19 to others, vaccinating children may prove to be an important part of safely getting back to normal activities of life, including attending school in person, participating in team sports and spending time with friends. A large survey of school-aged children showed that children in full or partial virtual school reported lower levels of physical activity, less in-person time socializing with friends and worse mental or emotional health compared with those receiving full in-person schooling. Children are experiencing unprecedented increases in indirect adverse health and educational consequences related to the pandemic, and we need to find ways to help them get quickly and safely back to normal life. Vaccination is one of them.
4. What side effects might I expect for my child?
Nonsevere side effects may be experienced following vaccination. The most commonly reported side effects have been pain and swelling at the injection site. Other common side effects include tiredness and headache. Similar to young adults, some adolescents have experienced fever, chills, muscle aches and joint pain, which may be more common after the second dose. These effects are short-lived, however, and most resolve within one to two days.
Some adolescents may faint when receiving an injection. If this is a concern for your child, let your vaccine administration site know ahead of time – your child can be given the vaccine while they’re seated or lying down to avoid injuries from falling.
5. Have there been any severe reactions among children?
No serious adverse events related to vaccination were reported in the Pfizer-BioNTech clinical trial. Serious allergic reactions have rarely been reported in older people. Anyone with a known severe or immediate allergy to the vaccine or any component of the vaccine should not get the vaccine. If your child has a history of any severe allergic reactions or any type of immediate allergic reaction to a vaccine or injectable therapy, let the vaccine site administrator know so that your child can be monitored for at least 30 minutes after getting the vaccine.
Parents should talk to a trusted health care provider or allergist if they have specific questions about the possibility of an allergic reaction in their child.
6. When will a COVID-19 vaccine be authorized for children younger than 12 years?
COVID-19 vaccine makers have begun or are planning to begin testing COVID-19 vaccines in younger children. As more information becomes available, the authorized age recommendations may change. Children ages 2-11 years old could potentially be eligible as early as the end of this year.
7. If I’ve been vaccinated but my child hasn’t, could I still give the virus to them?
The COVID-19 vaccines do not contain live COVID-19 virus, so they cannot cause COVID-19. Rather, getting vaccinated will help protect both you and your children from COVID-19. Studies have shown that vaccinated pregnant and lactating mothers can pass protective immunity on to their young infants across the placenta and in breast milk – one more benefit of vaccination.
Though researchers are still learning how well the vaccine can help prevent spread, vaccination is still an important way to limit infecting people who are not yet eligible for the vaccine, like younger children.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May budget revision released on Friday includes continued funding and support for rehabilitating Clear Lake.
Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry announced the governor’s renewed commitment to research on and revitalization of Clear Lake through the Blue Ribbon Committee established by her AB 707.
Newsom’s focus on climate change includes $371 million from the general fund to be used over two years “to facilitate groundwater recharge and capture of flood flows by repairing canals damaged by subsidence, support the state cost-share of critical federal urban flood risk reduction projects, and advance detailed, watershed-scale studies of likely climate effects to give local water managers better data for local decision-making, including rehabilitation strategies at Clear Lake,” the budget summary explained.
“Clear Lake is a beautiful and valuable natural resource in Northern California. The regional economy and the well-being of Lake County’s residents and wildlife depend on its health,” Aguiar-Curry said.
“Sec. Wade Crowfoot and the members of the committee have done amazing work during the past few years to propose several initiatives to rehabilitate the lake and lakeshore. The governor's commitment to the recommendations by our Blue Ribbon Committee and my request to the Assembly Budget Committee will usher in the next phase of research and projects,” Aguiar-Curry said.
In addition to continuing to generate data on lake quality and health, the funding will support projects to restore indigenous plant populations, provide fish passage, rehabilitate or remove dilapidated shoreline structures, and remove acres of invasive shoreline vegetation that prevent access to the lake, restrict water flows and provide breeding grounds for West Nile-carrying mosquitoes.
Members of the Blue Ribbon Committee were outlined in AB 707 and include significant participation from local officials, Lake County tribal nations, local experts and community members.
Aguiar-Curry represents the Fourth Assembly District, which includes all of Lake and Napa Counties, parts of Colusa, Solano and Sonoma counties, and all of Yolo County except West Sacramento.
In California, administering a deceased person’s estate often requires a petition to the superior court in the proper county (venue).
Let us discuss how to determine the proper county and who has standing to file a petition.
We consider the petition for probate, the petition for succession to property in a small estate, the affidavit for real property in a small estate, and the petition regarding the administration of a decedent’s living trust.
In California, a petition to open probate of a deceased resident’s estate must be filed in the superior court of the county where a decedent was domiciled, regardless of where they died. A person is domiciled in the county where they usually reside, i.e., their permanent residence.
Thus, the place indicated on the decedent’s California death certificate as the decedent’s “usual residence” determines the proper venue (county).
If the decedent was not a California resident then the petition should be filed with the superior court in the county where the decedent’s property is situated.
A court order issued in a California probate does not apply to real property located outside California.
If a California resident dies owning real property outside of California, then the probate laws applicable in that state or country apply. Real estate located within the United States held in a living trust still avoids probate anywhere.
A petition for probate may be filed by any interested person at any time after the decedent’s death, including a creditor of the decedent’s estate.
A person who is named as executor in a decedent’s will has first priority (right) to be appointed as the personal representative of the decedent’s estate.
However, the right to be appointed personal representative may be held to be waived if the person does not file a petition for probate within 30 days of learning of the decedent’s death.
When a decedent dies with a small estate — i.e., the gross value of the decedent’s real and personal property in California is collectively under $166,250 — a small estate procedure can be utilized to transfer property.
If the gross value of all the decedent’s real property in California is under $55,425 then (six months after the death) the person, or persons, claiming to be the successor in interest to the decedent’s real property of small value can file an affidavit regarding real property in a small estate in the superior court of the county where the decedent was domiciled.
A certified copy of the court filed affidavit must then be filed with the County Recorder in the county where the decedent owned the real property (which may be a different county from the court).
If the decedent’s small estate includes real property in California exceeding $55,425 in total value then a petition to determine succession to real and personal property can be filed in the county where the decedent was domiciled at time of death.
Such a petition must be signed and filed by the person(s) claiming to succeed to the decedent’s interest(s) in real and personal property in California.
Unlike probate, a living trust is usually privately administered without court supervision. Sometimes, however, a court petition is still needed, such as, but not limited to the following situations: when a trustee needs to be appointed, the trustee needs instructions or the trustee needs to ascertain what assets belong to the trust.
A court petition concerning the administration of a trust can be filed either by the trustee or by a trust beneficiary. The proper county in which to file the trust petition is the county where the trustee resides or does business.
The foregoing discussion regarding proper venue and standing is not legal advice. Consult an attorney if confronting any of the foregoing issues.
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, California. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.
BERKELEY — Forests’ ability to survive and adapt to the disruptions wrought by climate change may depend, in part, on the eddies and swirls of global wind currents, suggests a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.
Unlike animals, the trees that make up our planet’s forests can’t uproot and find new terrain if conditions get tough. Instead, many trees produce seeds and pollen that are designed to be carried away by the wind, an adaptation that helps them colonize new territories and maximize how far they can spread their genes.
The new study compared global wind patterns with previously published genetic data of nearly 100 tree and shrub species collected from forests around the world, finding significant correlations between wind speed and direction and genetic diversity throughout our planet’s forests.
The findings are the first to show that wind may not only influence the spread of an individual tree or species’ genes, but it can also help shape genetic diversity and direct the flow of gene variants across entire forests and landscapes.
Understanding how genetic variants move throughout a species range will become increasingly important as climate change alters the conditions of local habitats, the researchers say.
“How trees move and how plants move, in general, is a big area of uncertainty in plant ecology because it's hard to study plant movements directly — they happen as a result small, rare movements of seeds and pollen,” said study lead author Matthew Kling, a postdoctoral researcher in integrative biology at UC Berkeley. “However, to predict how species distributions, and plant ecology, in general, will respond to climate change, we need to understand how these species are going to be able to move long distances to track the movement of natural resources and climate conditions over time.”
While animals, birds and insects can also disperse pollen and seeds, wind’s strong directionality makes it particularly important for understanding how different tree species will respond to climate change, said study senior author David Ackerly, a professor and dean of UC Berkeley’s Rausser College of Natural Resources.
“As the world warms, many plants and animals will need to move to places with suitable habitat in the future to survive,” Ackerly said. “Wind dispersal has a particularly interesting connection to climate change because wind can either push the genes or organisms in the right direction, toward more suitable habitat, or in the opposite direction. It may be the only terrestrial dispersal vector that can be aligned with or against the direction of climate change.”
Any way the wind blows
Despite the fickle nature of daily weather conditions, large-scale global wind patterns are largely determined by Earth’s shape, rotation and the locations of the continents, and are believed to be relatively stable over millennial timescales. These wind patterns are not likely to be dramatically altered by climate change, Kling said.
To examine whether these global prevailing winds have shaped the genetic diversity of modern-day forests, Kling compared current planetary wind models — compiled from 30 years of global wind data — with genetic data from 72 publications covering 97 tree and shrub species and 1,940 plant populations worldwide.
Kling’s analysis revealed three key ways that global wind patterns are shaping forests’ genetic diversity.
First, tree populations that are connected by stronger wind currents tend to be more genetically similar than tree populations that are not as connected.
Second, tree populations that are more downwind, or farther in the direction that the wind blows, tend to have more genetic diversity in general.
Finally, genetic variants are more likely to disperse in the direction of the wind.
Though these patterns can only be statistically validated by looking at many populations of trees throughout the world, they can sometimes be evident when examining the genetic diversity of a single tree species across its habitat range, Kling said.
For example, the island scrub oak, or Quercus pacifica, is native to the Channel Islands in Southern California, where prevailing winds tend to blow to the southeast.
Kling’s analysis showed that scrub oak populations on islands that are connected by higher wind speeds are more genetically similar to each other.
Genetic variants also appear to have dispersed more frequently to the islands in the southward and eastward directions than the reverse, leading to greater genetic diversity to the south and east.
Kling hopes that recognizing these patterns will help conservationists and ecologists better understand how well tree and plant species in different regions of the globe will adapt to a warming world.
“Populations in different portions of a species range have evolved over time to be well-adapted to the climate in that specific part of the range, and as climate changes, they can become out of sync with those conditions,” Kling said. “Understanding how quickly genetic variants from elsewhere in the species range can get where they are needed is important for understanding how quickly the species will respond to climate change, and how vulnerable, versus resilient, a given population might be.”
This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Kara Manke writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Culinary Arts/Baking & Pastry Program at Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College is hosting its open house enrollment event, Culinary Round-Up, for anyone interested in pursuing a career in the culinary industry.
The Culinary Round-Up at the college will be on Tuesday, May 25, from 3 to 6 p.m., and will offer in-person tours of the state-of-the-art teaching kitchen lab.
Chef instructors will be available for questions with food samplings in this open house enrollment ice breaker event.
This is a historical time for the hospitality, culinary and tourism industries, which are in need of staffing.
There has never been such a great demand for the services they offer and need to fill the long-vacated positions due to the pandemic.
Great opportunities are rapidly developing in these sectors granting anyone a variety of careers to pursue from hospitality to kitchen management.
Culinary students at the college can earn a Certificate of Achievement in Culinary Arts and Baking in addition to a Culinary Arts Associates in Arts Degree.
Bring a guest, grab a bite and have a culinary tour at the campus located at 15880 Dam Road Extension in Clearlake.
Anyone interested in this event is encouraged to come.
Please RSVP by contacting the Culinary Arts Department at 707-995-4175 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
It’s a maxim drilled into us at a young age: “Always eat your veggies!”
For astronauts on the International Space Station, heeding this well-known advice is both essential and challenging.
Health and nutrition are vital to mission objectives, but how do you ensure astronauts get fresh produce to eat when living off the planet?
One solution involves astronauts growing vegetables for themselves. On the station, plants such as the mizuna mustard greens seen above are grown under LED lighting and watered in plant “pillows” — special bags that contain seed and fertilizer. These plants and their pillows are housed in a unique botany facility called the Vegetable Production System, or Veggie.
Growing fresh vegetables in space offers benefits beyond providing a source of nutrition to crew members, explained Dr. Gioia Massa, project scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Here on Earth, pandemic-induced isolation has led people to take up baking or gardening. Could developing a space-faring green thumb also help astronauts ease their sense of confinement and isolation?
NASA’s Human Research Program, or HRP, has given Massa and her team of researchers the task of finding out.
To learn more, Massa’s group is asking astronauts who currently cultivate vegetables on the station to each complete a survey about their space-gardening experiences. For example, crew members who grow mizuna mustards take the survey two to three times for the month-long growth cycle of the plant.
Questions on the survey help gauge how space-gardening affects astronauts’ moods.
For example: Was gardening engaging, demanding, or meaningful? Did it impact the passage of time, performance of mission tasks, or relationships with crew members? Did gardening enhance their connection to Earth, desire to harvest or consume the plants, or food consumption in general? How effective was gardening as a source of sensory stimulation for sight, touch, smell and taste?
When the vegetables are ready to eat, the astronauts also complete a sensory assessment. They rate the flavor, color, appearance, aroma, texture, and taste of the produce to see whether the labor over their veggies proved fruitful as a supplement to prepackaged space food.
Thus far, seven astronauts have completed the survey. Massa hopes to survey a total of 24 astronauts before the study is complete.
Initial results show that some participants loved working with the plants during their leisure time, spending many hours caring for them during their mission, while others preferred different activities. Despite the variability, no one viewed their work with the plants as meaningless, and all valued the utility of growing plants in space.
Astronauts’ feedback will help NASA better design food systems for future space missions. “We are learning what crops to grow to help supplement the diet, which activities should be automated or remotely operated, and which should have options for crew involvement,” explained Massa. “Different growth systems and different space missions will have different solutions to these questions.”
HRP, along with the Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, provides funding for Veggie and related investigations.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has more dogs this week, including shepherds, terriers and huskies.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Belgian Malinois, chihuahua, corgi, dachshund, German Shepherd, husky, pit bull, Rottweiler and Scottish Terrier.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control website not listed are still “on hold”).
“Abigail” is a young female pit bull terrier with a short tan and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 14552.
Male Belgian Malinois
This young male Belgian Malinois has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. 14521.
Chihuahua-Dachshund mix
This male Chihuahua-Dachshund mix has a short tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 21, ID No. 14553.
Female pit bull terrier
This female pit bull terrier has a short blue and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 14486.
Corgi-shepherd mix
This male corgi-shepherd mix has a short brown and brindle coat.
He is in kennel No. 23, ID No. 14561.
Female pit bull terrier
This female pit bull terrier has a short black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 24, ID No. 14536.
‘Ella’
“Ella” is a female German Shepherd with a medium-length tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 25, ID No. 14510.
Female pit bull terrier
This female pit bull terrier has a short red and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 26, ID No. 14550.
Rottweiler-pit bull mix
This female Rottweiler-pit bull mix has a short black coat.
She has been spayed.
She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 14551.
‘Brutus’
“Brutus” is a male pit bull terrier with a short gray and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 14507.
‘Apollo’
“Apollo” is a male husky mix with a medium-length red and white coat and blue eyes.
He is in kennel No. 31, ID No. 14569.
‘Ghost’
“Ghost” is as male husky mix with a white coat and blue eyes.
He has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 32, ID No. 14563.
‘Bonnie Blue’
“Bonnie Blue” is a female Scottish Terrier with a long tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 34, ID No. 14560.
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 Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday presented his $100 billion California Comeback Plan, the biggest economic recovery package in California history.
The governor’s plan outlines comprehensive strategies and major investments in key areas so that California can come roaring back from the pandemic.
The California Comeback Plan has one goal: hit fast forward on our state’s recovery by directly confronting California’s most stubborn challenges:
— Providing immediate relief for those hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic; — Confronting the homelessness and housing affordability crisis; — Transforming public schools into gateways for opportunity; — Building infrastructure for the next century; — Combating wildfires and tackling climate change.
“Every Californian has been impacted by this pandemic, and the sacrifices we’ve all made this past year have resulted in a historic surplus — I’m here to announce that we’re investing it in you,” said Gov. Newsom. “California’s economic recovery will leave nobody behind, that's why we’re implementing the nation’s largest state tax rebate and small business relief programs in history, on top of unprecedented investments we’re making to address California’s most persistent challenges. This is a jump-start for our local economies, and it’s how we’ll bring California roaring back.”
The California Comeback Plan outlines comprehensive strategies and major investments in the following five areas of focus.
Immediate relief for California’s families and small businesses
Two out of every three Californians to get Golden State Stimulus checks: The plan will create the biggest state tax rebate in American history, including an additional $8.1 billion in stimulus checks — for a total of nearly $12 billion — that will go directly to middle class Californians and families. Nearly two-thirds of Californians will now qualify for a stimulus check of $600. Qualified families with dependents, including families without resident status, will be eligible for an additional $500.
Largest small businesses relief program in the nation: The pan invests an additional $1.5 billion for a total of $4 billion in direct grants to California’s small businesses — on top of a massive $6.2 billion tax cut — putting more money directly into the pockets of hundreds of thousands of small business owners and helping them re-hire workers displaced by the pandemic.
Largest statewide renter assistance package in the country: Under Gov. Newsom’s Plan, California will offer the strongest renter assistance package of any state in America. The plan will provide a total of $5.2 billion to help low-income renters pay 100 percent of their back-rent, and all of their rent for several months into the future. The plan also includes $2 billion for past-due utility bills and more money than ever for tenant legal assistance.
Creating opportunity for Californians who lost their jobs: The plan provides $1 billion in new grants to workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic, giving California’s workforce critically-needed opportunities to earn and learn, go back to school, or start their own business. It also includes Universal Basic Income pilot programs.
Confronting homelessness and the housing affordability crisis
Confronting homelessness at historic levels: The governor’s plan will invest $12 billion to tackle the homelessness crisis, helping more than 65,000 people get off the streets or avoid homelessness altogether. The plan reaches the most vulnerable by rebuilding the behavioral health housing system that has been dismantled over decades. It also comes with new accountability measures to ensure local governments are spending the money effectively.
Ending family homelessness: Under the governor’s plan, California will seek to achieve functional zero on family homelessness within five years through a new $3.5 billion investment in homeless prevention, rental support through CalWORKs and new housing opportunities for people at risk of homelessness.
46,000 new homeless housing units — the biggest increase in California history: The California Comeback Plan includes massive expansions of Homekey — California’s groundbreaking national model for homeless housing. The package will unlock more than 46,000 new homeless housing units, including nearly 5,000 new affordable homes for people at risk of or exiting homelessness.
Encampment strategy: The California Comeback Plan includes targeted programs and grants to local governments to move people out of unsafe, unhealthy encampments and into safer, more stable housing.
Clean California’s streets: The governor’s plan calls for partnering with local governments to clean litter, commission public art and revitalize downtowns, freeways and neighborhoods across California.
More funding for new affordable housing than ever before: The California Comeback Plan tackles housing affordability head-on: it will put $3.5 billion into building more affordable housing for low-income families and create homeownership opportunities to help restore the California Dream.
Transforming public schools into gateways for opportunity
Transforming schools into gateways to opportunity: Under the governor’s plan, public schools in low-income neighborhoods can fundamentally transform into the kind of complete campus every parent would want for their child — with before- and after-school instruction, sports and arts, personalized tutoring, nurses and counselors and nutrition — paired with new preventative behavioral health services for every kid in California.
Finally achieve universal Pre-K: Under the governor’s plan, California will finally achieve universal pre-school, providing high-quality, free transitional kindergarten to all four-year-olds in California. The California Comeback Plan also adds 100,000 child care slots to support caregivers.
3.7 million kids get college savings accounts: The California Comeback Plan creates child savings accounts for 3.7 million low-income children in public school for higher education or to start their own business, making college more attainable than ever before.
Drive down costs of college attendance: The governor’s plan will make college more affordable and accessible than ever before by driving down the cost of attendance, including drastically cutting the cost of student housing and working to reduce the cost of textbooks.
Building the infrastructure of the next century
Broadband for all: Taking on the digital divide, Gov. Newsom’s plan advances the state’s work toward universal broadband with a $7 billion investment to expand broadband infrastructure and to increase access and achieve affordability. The plan will help build out a statewide middle mile network for improved access in underserved regions, including rural areas, and allows local governments and Tribes to access last mile funding, which connects broadband to the home.
Creating a modern transportation system: The California Comeback Plan includes a $11 billion investment to build a modernized and sustainable transportation system for the next century — roads, bridges, high-speed rail, ports and public transportation, including projects for the 2028 Olympics.
Combating wildfires and tackling climate change
Doing more than ever before to fight and combat wildfires: Governor Newsom’s Plan will make the single largest investment in wildfire preparedness in our state’s history — $2 billion in emergency preparedness investments. It includes purchasing new firefighting equipment like airplanes and helicopters, as well as investments in land and forest management projects that save lives.
Nation-leading climate action: California is leading the nation in tackling climate change head-on, including a $3.2 billion package to accelerate California’s zero-emission vehicle goals, leading to cleaner air for future generations. It also includes a $1.3 billion investment to prepare for extreme heat, sea level rise and environmental justice priorities like oil well capping, toxic site clean-up and pollution control.
Drought response: Climate change is making droughts more common and more severe. The California Comeback Plan invests $5.1 billion in drought support, water supply and natural landscape projects around the state as well as an additional $1 billion in direct aid for Californians who have past-due water bills.
Building a 22nd century electric grid: Amid record-breaking temperatures driven by climate change, California’s electricity grid will continue to be stressed more and more every year. The California Comeback Plan will help the state build a cleaner, resilient and reliable 22nd century electric grid.
The California Comeback Plan expands our recovery efforts to reach more people, with bigger benefits. It will extend the Golden State Stimulus to middle class families, creating the biggest state tax rebate in American history. It also creates the largest small business relief package in the nation, prioritizing the state’s recovery efforts and giving money directly back to California’s small businesses.
Fueled by a resurgent economy, a surge in state revenues and additional federal recovery funds, the $75.7 billion surplus reflected in the California Comeback Plan stands in stark contrast to the $54.3 billion budget shortfall estimated just 12 months ago.
Gov. Newsom’s California Comeback Plan seizes this once-in-a-lifetime moment to address long-standing challenges by taking on threats to our state’s future and ensuring every California family — regardless of their race or zip code — can thrive.
Additional details on the Governor’s Plan can be found at www.ebudget.ca.gov .
Lake County’s legislators respond to plan
Lake County’s members of the California Legislature both responded to the governor’s May revise budget plan on Friday.
“We are living in unprecedented times — coming out of a worldwide pandemic that has impacted our most vulnerable communities the hardest. And, California is coming back stronger than ever before. We’re bringing forward bold and innovative solutions to California’s biggest challenges,” said Sen. Mike McGuire.
“The Golden State has witnessed record devastation wrought by the worst wildfire seasons in history over the past decade. Today’s proposed budget reflects desperately needed funding on fire prevention and response, helping to keep millions of Californians safe. This budget includes a $1.24 billion investment, building on past years’ funding, in forest health, fire response and making our communities more fire safe,” he said.
“Our state is also taking action to combat the homelessness crisis with a $12 billion housing and services plan. Rural California has some of the highest rates of homelessness in the state. It’s unacceptable. So far this year, hundreds of additional permanent housing units were funded by the state and have been permanently secured in the North Bay and North Coast this year. Over 6,000 units were secured across the Golden State. And we will build an additional 46,000 permanent and supportive housing units for homeless residents starting in the second half of 2021 through 2022.
“And we all know that none of these investments matter if we don’t massively increase funding for our public schools, prioritizing our students and teachers which means we’re prioritizing our future. This proposed budget includes $20 billion to transform our public schools with new investments in after school programs, student mental and physical health, enrichment programs, universal meals and universal Transitional Kindergarten. This is how we change lives and build a more equitable California.
“And, we’re paying down debt. Making billions in payments to reduce our pension liability and lowering future expenses for California taxpayers.
“Now, I look forward to working to get this deal done and across the finish line in the coming few weeks,” McGuire said.
Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry celebrated the governor’s historic commitment to internet connectivity with a $7 bill investment in broadband and Clear Lake.
Under the broadband proposal, existing Caltrans networks will be leveraged to build open-access broadband infrastructure as roads and underground utilities are constructed. This will maximize funds and ensure a quick and efficient deployment of modern, durable, high-speed internet infrastructure.
Funds will also be made available to assist local governments and tribes building their own broadband infrastructure, and to help increase access to high quality broadband service in rural areas.
Aguiar-Curry’s AB 14 Internet for All Act lays the policy framework for the governor’s proposal to connect all Californians and expand eligibility to local and tribal governments.
“This is truly an historic day for our State and a bold proposal to address the gap in access to reliable and affordable internet for all Californians,” said Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters). “People across our state, especially in small towns and rural areas like those in my district, have struggled to take advantage of the digital economy. The pandemic has made painfully obvious that a lack of connectivity prevents access to equitable opportunities for our people — education and job training, telehealth, small businesses’ expanding to online consumers. I want to thank the Governor for his incredible commitment to connecting California, and so many of my colleagues who joined me in this yearslong mission, including Senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), to make the dream of Internet for All a reality.”
Aguiar-Curry also announced the governor’s renewed commitment to research on and revitalization of Clear Lake through the Blue Ribbon Committee established by her AB 707.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A group of district attorneys from across California are joining forces to challenge new emergency state regulations that could expand good conduct credits to the majority of state prison inmates.
Forty-one elected district attorneys — including Lake County District Attorney Susan Krones — filed a petition with California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Kathleen Alliso to request the repeal of temporary emergency regulations awarding additional good conduct credits to more than 76,000 state prison inmates, or nearly 80 percent of the state’s prison population.
The district attorneys said in their announcement that the regulations were passed under a claim of an emergency and first made public on Friday April 30, at 3 p.m. The regulations went into effect on Saturday, May 1.
They said the regulations would result in the early release of some of California's most violent criminals including those that committed murder, rape, child molestation and arson.
In adopting the new rules, and claiming an emergency, Allison said the regulations were necessary to comply with “the direction outlined in the Governor's Budget Summary" presented a year ago on May 14, 2020, the district attorneys said.
“By invoking an emergency, the traditional regulatory scheme and transparent public comment period was bypassed,” the group noted in their announcement.
“Modifying these credit awards without any public input is disrespectful to the victims of these most serious crimes and to crime victims everywhere. It also creates a serious risk to public safety. The public should be able to weigh in on this important proposal that is going to impact our community and other communities throughout the state of California,” said Krones.
CDCR Press Secretary Dana Simas told Lake County News that the change was approved in the 2020-21 state budget. In the public safety portion of the budget, it notes that while the changes are estimated to save $2.7 million in the state general fund in the current fiscal year.
The district attorneys filed an administrative law petition on Thursday that they said is the first step in seeking a formal court order declaring the regulations unlawful.
If the emergency regulations are nullified by a court, CDCR would be forced to pass the regulations in the traditional manner, requiring the State's Office of Administrative Law to provide greater transparency and allow for public input.
Krones told Lake County News that she has not gotten a specific number of how many inmates from Lake County could be impacted by the changes.
“They only give us very short notice about who they are releasing early and under the current regulations we can’t even object,” she said.
Over the last several months, Krones said her office has seen an average of about five prison inmates who came from Lake County being released per month by CDCR, an increase from pre-pandemic levels.
Krones said the number of prison inmate releases have “definitely increased” in comparison to the time period of January to April 2020.
“With the new regulations it will increase even more,” she said.
An explanation of the good conduct credits plan
Previously, violent offenders would receive 20 percent credit, or one day of credit for every four days served. That will now go to 33.3 percent, or one day of credit for every two days served.
For nonviolent second- and third-strikers, credits would rise from 33.3 percent to 50 percent, or one day of credit for every day served.
In a written statement released to Lake County News, CDCR said the changes are not an early release program and do not result in the automatic release of any incarcerated individual.
“Under statute, incarcerated individuals are able to receive credits for good behavior and participation in rehabilitation programs. Proposition 57, which voters overwhelmingly approved in 2016 and upheld in November, gave the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation the authority to submit regulations to provide additional opportunities for incarcerated people to receive these good conduct credits,” the agency said.
CDCR said it submitted the regulations to increase the rate at which incarcerated people can receive good conduct credits. The changes were approved in the 2020-21 state budget.
The regulations are still subject to final approval, and CDCR said the regulatory process allows for public input.
“This effort incentivizes incarcerated individuals to have sustained good behavior and encourages them to participate in rehabilitative and educational programs, which can help reduce recidivism to make our communities safer. Our department’s focus is on a person’s rehabilitation and accountability in a manner that is consistent with public safety,” the agency said.
CDCR offered a breakdown of inmates who would be eligible, noting county-by-county numbers were not available.
The agency anticipates approximately 63,282 violent offenders would be impacted by the May 1 good conduct credit increase from 20 to 33.3 percent.
Of those prisoners, 27,430 are non-strike determinately sentenced offenders, 13,447 are second strikers, 2,814 are third strikers and 19,591 are sentenced to an indeterminate or life term with the possibility of parole, CDCR said.
CDCR said the good conduct credit increase from 33.3 to 50 percent would impact another 10,077 nonviolent second strikers and 2,871 nonviolent third strikers.
The CDCR’s Division of Correctional Policy Research and Internal Oversight said in its weekly report that there are 96,495 individuals in custody or under its supervision, down by 20,619 since last year.
That in-custody total excludes nearly 51,000 parolees, more than 13,000 in other jurisdictions or populations, and the 6,719 parolees at large.
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