LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With warm, summer weather arriving, it will be more common to see accumulations of cyanobacteria, often referred to as “blue-green algae,” along the shorelines of Clear Lake.
 
Cyanobacteria are microscopic organisms that occur naturally in many bodies of freshwater. Under certain conditions, such as high nutrient and light levels, they can reproduce rapidly, resulting in a dense growth or “bloom.”

Blooms can cause discoloration of the water or produce floating scums or mats, which tend to accumulate along shorelines.
 
In recent days, there have been reports of sightings of blooms in a few locations along the shoreline of Clearlake.
 
While most blue-green algal blooms are not harmful, some can be. Some are capable of producing algal toxins that can be harmful to humans, pets and wildlife.

Because it is impossible to tell from a visual inspection whether an algal bloom is toxic, the safest approach is to avoid all blooms. Although toxins can sometimes be present even when a bloom is not obvious, it is generally the case that the worse it looks, the greater likelihood that there could be cyanotoxins.
 
It is easy to avoid exposure to harmful toxins and still possible to enjoy recreational activities in and around the lake.

People and pets should not swim or wade through algal scums. It is always advisable to promptly shower off with fresh water after swimming in any lake or body of freshwater. Activities that generate aerosol, such as jet skiing, should be avoided in affected areas.
 
Pets are more susceptible to illness from algal toxins because they are not repulsed by the foul odors often associated with blooms that cause humans to naturally avoid them. Pets should not drink lake water during a bloom or be allowed to eat the mats (wet or dry) or lick mats and scum off their fur.
 
Never drink untreated lake water; boiling the water does not inactivate algal toxins.
 
With these simple precautions, activities in and near the lake, such as camping, picnicking, biking and hiking are safe, as is boating in unaffected areas.
 
More information about cyanobacteria can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hsb/hab/cyanobacteria_faq.pdf .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Quilt Trail project has been hanging colorful painted quilt blocks on barns, houses and other buildings around Lake County since 2010.

To date, nearly 100 blocks decorate Lake County’s highways and byways. The Lake County Quilt Trail is an “agricultural and tourism project designed to promote and celebrate our community pride.”

The Lake County Library’s free lecture series Know Lake County will feature the Lake County Quilt Trail on Saturday, May 21, at 2 p.m. at the Lakeport branch of the Lake County Library, 1425 N. High St.

Members of the Lake County Quilt Trail team will share how the project started in Lake County and how they design and paint the 8-foot by 8-foot and 4-foot by 4-foot quilt blocks.

The team will display some smaller block samples. Lake County is the first county in California to have a quilt trail.

Artists, painters, writers, carpenters and a videographer volunteer their time to create the quilt blocks. The Lake County Quilt Trail Web site is www.lakecountyquilttail.com .

Lake County’s Quilt Trail began after Marilyn Holdenried discovered quilt trails in other states and brought the idea to Lake County. This public art on barns, houses and other buildings celebrates family, farming and local history.

The Lake County Quilt Trail has been published. Lake County’s Kerrie Hershey has published Sunday Drive, a book of some of the patterns from the Lake County Quilt Trail. The quilt trail is one of the quilt trails featured in the newly-published book “Following the Barn Quilt Trail” by Suzi Parron.

Traditional quilt block names commemorate things important in the lives of the quilters – family, everyday life, politics, plants, animals and more. Quilt Trail blocks are chosen to reflect the history of the building or the family that will have the block.

Lake County PEG TV records the Know Lake County presentations for re-broadcast on PEG TV Channel 8 and on www.lakecountypegtv.org . The presentations are also available on DVD to check out from the Lake County Library.

 The Lake County Library is on the Internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and Facebook at www.facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary .

For more information about Know Lake County and other library programs call 707-263-8817.

Jan Cook works for the Lake County Library.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – More than 250 festively dressed and masked educators and community leaders gathered together for a formal dinner to celebrate the annual Early Childhood Educator of the Year Awards on Friday, May 6, at the Twin Pine Casino Event Center in Middletown.

Nine early educators were selected to receive awards from a pool of 92 nominees recognized by their peers and community leaders and the families they serve for their commitment to excellence in their profession.

The winners were evaluated based on their education, responses to interview questions, commitment to their profession and effectiveness in their roles.

Joy Swartz, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award for more than 25 years as an early educator professional, said she was flabbergasted and honored to receive the award and could not have done any of it without the support of a wonderful team of other dedicated professionals.

April Leiferman, assistant superintendent of the Lake County Office of Education, while presenting an award stated, "Kindergarten teachers know who they are on the first day of school which children had preschool because they have better social skills and academic skills than children without preschool."

In addition to Swartz, winners included the following:

– Infant/Toddler Provider of the Year: Stephanie Garcia.

– Preschool provider of the Year: Jessie Ralls.

– Family Child Care Provider of the Year: Tami Hamblen.

– Special Needs/Inclusion Provider of the Year: Alejandra Fernandez.

– Advocate of the Year: Marcy Holleran.

– Rookie of the Year: Nicole Zwinge.

– Most Inspirational: Boba Toshich.

– Phoenix Award: Jules Stout.

The awards ceremony is unique in that it recognizes the significant contribution that early childhood educators offer to young children ages 0-5 to prepare them to be successful in school and in life.

An early childhood educator is a person who works with young children and their families, from birth to kindergarten, in nursery schools, childcare centers, preschools and other education settings.

Professional early childhood educators assess children's developmental needs, plan programs and environments for play and activities in healthy, safe and nurturing environments.

The educators maintain healthy emotional and social learning contexts for children and report to parents on the children's developmental progress. Children who have benefited from early childhood education are frequently found to possess better social skills and show a significant increase in readiness when they begin attending school.

The Early Childhood Educator of the Year Awards is an initiative of the Lake County Child Care Planning Council of the Lake County Office of Education.

“Many of these educators have dedicated decades to their profession, in the face of dramatic budget cuts and statewide funding priorities that work in opposition to consistent, quality care,” said Lake County Child Care Planning Council Coordinator Colleen Campbell. “Their education, in many cases, equals that of the K-12 educator, and this program provides a forum to recognize that commitment and the important work they do.”

For more photos and information about the awards visit the council's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Lake-County-Child-Care-Planning-Council-172608049468414/?fref=ts .

For more information about the awards or the work that LPC does for parents and children ages 0-5, contact Colleen Campbell at 707-262-4162 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 11:51 a.m. Pacific Time Wednesday, May 11, about 261 miles southwest of Long Beach, Calif., with more than 3,700 pounds of NASA cargo, science and technology demonstration samples from the International Space Station.

The Dragon spacecraft will be taken by ship to Long Beach where some cargo will be removed and returned to NASA, and then be prepared for shipment to SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas, for processing.

A variety of technology and biology studies conducted in the unique microgravity environment of the space station returned aboard the commercial resupply spacecraft, including research in the burgeoning field of nanotechnology.

The Microchannel Diffusion study, for example, examined how microparticles interact with each other and their delivery channel in the absence of gravitational forces.

In this one-of-a-kind laboratory, researchers were able to observe nanoscale behaviors at slightly larger scales – knowledge which may have implications for advancements in particle filtration, space exploration and drug delivery technologies.

CASIS Protein Crystal Growth 4 also has applications in medicine – specifically, drug design and development.

Growing protein crystals in microgravity can avoid some of the obstacles inherent to protein crystallization on Earth, such as sedimentation.

One investigation explored the effect of microgravity on the co-crystallization of a membrane protein with a medically-relevant compound in order to determine its three-dimensional structure.

This will enable scientists to use “designer” compounds to chemically target and inhibit an important human biological pathway thought to be responsible for several types of cancer.

The spacecraft also returned to Earth the final batch of human research samples from former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly’s historic one-year mission.

These samples will be analyzed for studies such as Biochemical Profile, Cardio Ox, Fluid Shifts, Microbiome, Salivary Markers and the Twins Study.

Additional samples taken on the ground, as Kelly continues to support these studies, will provide insights relevant for NASA’s Journey to Mars as the agency learns more about how the human body adjusts to weightlessness, isolation, radiation and the stress of long-duration spaceflight.

The spacesuit worn by NASA astronaut Tim Kopra during a January spacewalk also was returned for additional analysis by engineers on the ground, as NASA continues to investigate the source of water that caused and early end to the spacewalk after Kopra reported a small water bubble inside his helmet.

Dragon currently is the only station resupply spacecraft able to return a significant amount of cargo to Earth.

The spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida April 8, and arrived at the space station April 10, carrying almost 7,000 pounds of supplies and scientific cargo on the company’s eighth NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. (May 12, 2016) – In the aftermath of the Valley fire, considered the third most damaging fire in the history of California, Lake County Supervisor Rob Brown met with the homeowner associations in the Rivieras to discuss fire hazard mitigation for the 2016 fire season.

The results from those meetings included the creation of a partnership between the county and the homeowners' associations of Riviera Heights, Clearlake Riviera and Riviera West.

“It was agreed that the county would assist those communities by giving abatement notices to the worst of the offenders, and provide abatement if necessary. The property owners need to get that thick underbrush cleared up before something as devastating as the Valley fire happens in their community,” said Brown.

In April, Lake County Community Development Code Enforcement tagged 47 properties in the Riviera Heights, Clearlake Riviera and Riviera West with notices of nuisance and orders to abate.

“The owners of a handful of properties abated their lots after receiving the notices, but there are many more lots that still need to be cleared,” said interim Community Development Director Scott De Leon.

Code Enforcement plans to begin abatement before the end of May for those properties that have not responded to the notices.

“If the owner does not abate the property, the county will do it. A lien for the cost of the abatement will then be attached to the property, with the owner responsible for covering those costs,” added De Leon.

“This needs to gone done as soon as possible,” said Brown. “The warmer the weather gets, the greater the chance that the tools used for that abatement could spark a new fire in the dried brush.”

Currently the Community Development Department is looking for contractors to submit bids for the clearing of those properties.

“They need to have insurance – at least liability and workers comp – for the County to be able to contract with them,” said Jeri Driver of the Lake County Building and Safety Department.

All weed/brush abatement businesses that fulfill those requirements are encouraged to contact Driver at 707-263-2511 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before May 20 to get a bid packet.

“I really don’t think Lake County could handle going through another fire like the Valley fire,” added Brown. “These lots have got to get cleared.”

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County community organizer Nils Palsson has filed as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Fifth Congressional District.

The district includes all of Napa County and parts of Lake, Sonoma, Solano and Contra Costa counties.

Running as a “Berniecrat” – a progressive Democrat aligned with the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders – Palsson, 30, represents a platform of social, racial, environmental and economic justice for all, with an emphasis on getting money out of politics and restoring our democracy.

“Big money has taken over politics,” he said. “I am running for this office because we, the people, deserve a voice in government.”

Palsson takes no campaign contributions from corporations or lobbyists.

“As an outsider to the political establishment, I bring a much-needed fresh outlook. I take no Super-PAC contributions. My clear allegiance is to our people and planet: to Main Street, not Wall Street,” he said.

Palsson, 30, was recently elected to be a pledged delegate for Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this July. Palsson was second overall vote-getter at the district-wide Democratic Caucus held in Napa on May 1.

Endorsements for Palsson’s campaign include the national group Elect Bernie Thinkers, along with a growing list of community members and working people from around the district.

When he filed his declaration of candidacy on March 11, Palsson was the only candidate to turn in more than the bare minimum of 40-50 nomination signatures. He gathered hundreds from around the district, showing grassroots support for his campaign.

Running in a four-way primary on June 7, in which the top two candidates advance to the November election regardless of party, Palsson hopes to be the one to challenge the nine-term, 18-year incumbent Mike Thompson, also a Democrat.

“We live in a progressive district,” Palsson said. “I believe the people here are ready to see our true values and needs represented in Congress.”

He added that, if voters were to follow the money and see where Thompson’s campaign contributions actually come from, voters would overwhelmingly support a challenger to the status quo.

Palsson supports a constitutional amendment to end what he refers to as “the disastrous Citizens United ruling” and establish that corporations are not people, and that campaign contributions do not constitute free speech.

“The reason we’re not getting so many of our needs met – from education and health care, to a fair economy and a real response to global warming – is because there is a corrupt system of money in politics that we urgently need to address if we truly want to thrive,” he said.

Father to a 3-year-old, Palsson said parental concerns are a driving force behind his run for Congress. “The climate crisis is very real, and harmful practices like fracking are polluting our groundwater. The status quo is failing our children and grandchildren, failing future generations.”

He added, “Unlike most of the Democrats and Republicans in Congress, including our incumbent, I do not accept money from the fossil fuel industry. I will work to ensure that all our children inherit a healthy planet, a strong economy, and a just society.”

Born in San Francisco and educated at New York University, Palsson moved to Lake County in 2010. He has served as a high school history teacher, a radio host at KPFZ Lake County Community Radio, and a community organizer for local resilience and social justice.

After five years of grassroots organizing as co-founder of the Transition Lake County, Palsson was hired in 2015 to be communications and special projects coordinator at the Sonoma-based nonprofit Transition US, national hub of a global “transition movement” toward healthier, more sustainable and empowered communities.

He was displaced during the Valley fire last September. Although the fire didn’t consume his home, Palsson was ultimately displaced by the fire this April, when his landlords chose to sell the home he was renting in the burn zone.

“I am just like the rest of the people in my district,” Palsson said. “I’m dealing directly with challenges like student debt and the housing crisis. I know how it feels to be a working-class parent – and I am ready to represent the working-class people of this district in Congress.”

More information about his campaign is available at www.NilsforCongress.com .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College's Culinary Club is presenting the Future Chefs of Lake County Competition Friday evening beginning at 6 p.m.

The competition can be watched live in the stream above.

Two of Culinary Arts Instructor Robert Cabreros' talented student chefs are competing for scholarships. The winner will receive $1,000, with the runner up to receive $500.

Host Weston Seifert will be the commentator, introducing the competitors and judges, and giving viewers the play-by-play during the cooking portion.

During the cook-off those attending in Aromas Café will be treated with a live view of the event as well as a flight of wine and hors d’oeuvres.

The event is sponsored by the Lake County Wine Alliance, with livestreaming by Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – “Rosie” is a dog in need of a home immediately.

She's been waiting at Lake County Animal Care and Control since April 7, and is now being listed as “urgent.”

The female boxer-pit bull mix has a short brown brindle coat with white markings.

Also, she has a big personality and a lot of energy.

Shelter staff said Rosie is great with other dogs her size, and allows handling of mouth, ears, paws and tail. She has no issues with food aggression. Her ideal home would have no small dogs or cats.

Rosie enjoys playing ball, walks well on a leash and knows basic commands.

She loves children and has lived with small children in her previous home, staff said.

Rosie described as happy, playful and energetic. She already been spayed so her adoption fee is lower.

She's in kennel No. 32, ID No. 4670.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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.