KELSEYVILLE, Calif. — National nonprofit Wreaths Across America announced that the Kelseyville Cemetery has once again joined in the mission to “Remember, Honor, Teach” as an official location for 2022.
Wreaths Across America started as a simple gesture of thanks that has grown into a national movement of dedicated volunteers and communities coming together to not only remember the nation’s fallen and honor their service, but to teach the next generation about the sacrifices made for us to live freely.
This year, there will be more than 3,100 participating locations placing veterans’ wreaths on National Wreaths Across America Day — at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17 — with more than two million volunteers coming together.
The goal for The Kelseyville Cemetery is to raise enough funds to place 519 sponsored veterans’ wreaths on the headstones of all the local heroes laid to rest there, to ensure that the individuals who served to protect the freedoms of our country never be forgotten and to bring the community together in patriotic commemoration.
Girl Scout Troop 10145 and 10490 have been working diligently all year long to raise sponsorships for the wreaths.
Both Girl Scout Troops 10145 and 10490 along with Blue Heron and Big Valley 4-H will be facilitating the brief ceremony and placing wreaths on veterans graves.
Organizers invite the community to join them from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, to remember and honor our local heroes.
The ceremony is free and open to the public.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to support the Wreaths Across America initiative at Kelseyville Cemetery where we take pride in honoring our Veterans and teaching our youth the value and cost of our freedom,” said event coordinator Allison Panella.
Those interested in volunteering for Wreaths Across America or sponsoring a wreath for the Kelseyville Cemetery are invited to visit this site for more information.
If you live on or near Clear Lake, get your drinking water from the lake, use the lake for recreation or business, or just care about water quality and quantity issues, then you will want to know about the Blue Ribbon Committee and the projects the committee is funding, so you understand the future of water resources in Lake County. If you are just a concerned community member, or have an interest in natural resources, this committee — and the upcoming open house — will be of interest to you too.
As a lake lover, and with my day job working on water resource programs and projects, I am thankful for the Blue Ribbon Committee. The Blue Ribbon Committee has been essential in bringing much needed research, planning, and financial resources to the local lake community. Additionally, the monthly subcommittee and quarterly meetings have been a gathering place for much needed information, technology, and education, to those working on lake projects and in water resource research and management.
Lake County News has several articles covering the Blue Ribbon Committee, see the Search results for all Blue Ribbon Committee Lake County News Articles.
As Lady of the Lake, I first covered the Blue Ribbon Committee in a previous two-part columns, you can find them here:
Previous Lady of the Lake columns cover the formation, purpose, and the 2018-2021 lake and watershed projects that were approved and awarded for funding (~ $5.4 Million). Funding for proposed projects comes from two places; Prop 68 Implementation fund and the Governors General Fund Allocation. Previously approved 2021 projects were funded with about $3M of Prop 68 funds and the rest from General Funds. All project funds are administered by the California Natural Resources Agency or CNRA.
The Blue Ribbon Committee is charged with allocating funding to support projects that will lead to improvements to Clear Lake ecology and economy. These projects start as proposals, brought to the Technical or Socio Economic Sub Committees (of the Blue Ribbon Committee) by any organization that is capable of executing the project.
Proposals can include activities that improve water quality, create or restore habitat, provide or enhance natural resource community education, or anything of a similar nature that can demonstrate that it will lead to an improvement for Clear Lake or the plant, animal, or human communities that depend on the lake.
There is no restriction on the type of organizations that can bring forth a proposal, however the more local and collaborative the organization, and the proposed project itself, the more likely it will receive approval for advancement to the Blue Ribbon Committee at large from the individual sub-committees. The organization of course needs to also be able to enter into and execute a contract agreement with the CNRA.
Upcoming events
You have a chance to learn about the Blue Ribbon Committee at an open house showcasing some of the Committee’s exciting projects to increase the health of Clear Lake and its communities on Dec. 13 from 3:30 to 6 p.m. at the Clearlake Senior Center, located at 3245 Bowers Ave in the City of Clearlake. Seating is limited, so please reserve your space by registering online here: https://bit.ly/BRC_Events. Additional information is provided in the flier below. Questions? Contact Sam Magill at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. On site registration will be open at 3 p.m.
If you are unable to attend in person, but would like to join us for the opening presentation, please click on this link to register for the webinar.
The Open House on Dec. 13 will feature some of the in-progress 2020 / 2021 funded projects and organizations:
County of Lake Water Resources Department and Watershed Protection District • Clear Lake Dilapidated Structure Abatement Project • Stormwater, Trash Remediation, and Illicit Discharge Project • Clear Lake Ambient Monthly Monitoring Program • Clear Lake Community Outreach Survey: Perspectives and Attitudes
Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Environmental Department • Kelsey Creek Fish Ladder Restoration • Tule Restoration & Primrose removal Project
U.S. Geological Survey • Mercury Modeling and Clear Lake Tributary modeling & monitoring
UC Davis • Piloting Environmental Education Resources (UCD Center for Regional Change) • Citizen and Community Science (UCD Center for Regional Change) • In-Lake Modeling and Monitoring (UCD Tahoe Environmental Research Center)
Seigler Springs Community Redevelopment Association • Cobb Mountain Watershed Education Project
Upcoming projects and how to be involved
Below is a list of the 2022 approved projects, and their organization sponsor, approved for funding in 2023. These projects collectively equal about $6.3M, but source of funding for each project (Prop 68 or General Fund) is still being finalized. These projects were proposed, refined, and approved by the Blue Ribbon Committee in 2022.
In-Lake Mercury Modeling — USGS Airborne Electromagnetic Survey of Lake County Groundwater Basins — County of Lake Water Resources Department Scotts Valley Aquifer Evaluation — Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians of California Environmental Education Pathways Program — Mendocino Community College EcoCultural Prescribed Fire & Tule Restoration — Tribal EcoRestortion Alliance Hypolimnetic Oxygenation Pilot Project- Oaks Arm -UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center Adobe Creek Hydrology and Groundwater Monitoring — Big Valley Rancheria EPA Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems and Wetland Restoration Analysis and Implementation — Big Valley EPA Big Valley HAB and Bank Erosion Pilot Project — Big Valley Rancheria EPA Web-Based Clearinghouse for Data / Citizen Science App — Big Valley Rancheria EPA
If you want to know more about these projects, and past projects, or meet some of the individuals from the organizations conducting this breadth of work to improve the lake,you can attend the monthly sub-committee meetings, as well as the Dec. 13 Open House. Regular meetings for the Blue Ribbon Committee are still being held remotely via zoom, and facilitated by the Sacramento State Consensus and Collaboration Program.
You can sign up for notices and updates from the Blue Ribbon Committee from their Listserv here.
At any time you wish to know more about the committee, or inquire about submitting a proposal, contact the committee facilitator, Sam Magill at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Consensus and Collaboration Program, College of Continuing Education — Sacramento State, 304 S Street, Sacramento, CA 95811.
In addition, should you have specific questions about a project or proposal that is a product of the Blue Ribbon Committee, you can write to me, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I can provide you with the correct contact information or I can spotlight a project in my column. I do serve on the technical subcommittee and have attended all but one of the quarterly Blue Ribbon Committee meetings since they started being held in 2018.
Sincerely,
Lady of the Lake
You can now hear from the Lady on the Lake on local radio, KPFZ 88.1, the last Sunday of every month, during the “Lake County Fire Recovery” and “What’s Next” weekly shows between 2 to 4 p.m.
Angela De Palma-Dow is a limnologist (limnology = study of fresh inland waters) who lives and works in Lake County. Born in Northern California, she has a Master of Science from Michigan State University. She is a Certified Lake Manager from the North American Lake Management Society, or NALMS, and she is the current president/chair of the California chapter of the Society for Freshwater Science. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Habematolel Pomo tribe of Upper Lake has made a substantial donation to increase the Northshore Fire Protection District’s ability to respond to fires.
The tribe has donated $662,000 to Northshore Fire.
The contribution is a part of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake’s ongoing commitment to local communities and residents in the region.
“The Northshore Fire Protection District thanks the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake for their financial support in developing the newly organized Northshore Fire Fuels Crew,” said Northshore Fire Protection District Chief Mike Ciancio.
“The Habematolel has always been a huge supporter of the local community and with the latest financial support we were able to employ 11 new members full time with health insurance and retirement benefits,” Ciancio said.
In addition to funding personnel, Northshore Fire used the donation to fund equipment.
That equipment includes two F-350 crew cab utility trucks, one F-350 crew supervisor truck with skid mount pump unit, one Mobark chipper with a trailer, six chainsaws, two pole saws and 11 sets of wildland fire personal protective equipment.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The National Weather Service said a weather system moving across Northern California is expected to bring rain, colder temperatures and frost, and some low-elevation snow this week.
The forecast calls for light rain across low elevation areas and light snow across high mountainous terrain through Monday, with cold temperatures developing on Tuesday morning, when widespread frost is expected.
The National Weather Service said a multi-inch rainfall event is forecast to occur across northwest California Wednesday evening through Thursday evening.
Conditions on Thursday could lead to snow levels falling below the 2,000-foot elevation level for a time.
Rain is forecast to decrease Thursday night through Friday afternoon.
The Lake County forecast calls for frost early on Monday and Tuesday mornings, and chances of rain from Wednesday through Sunday. Up to three quarters of an inch of rain could fall on Wednesday.
There also is the chance for both rain and snow in higher elevations on Friday night.
Temperatures this week are forecast to be in the low 40s to high 40s during the days and into the low 30s at night.
Winds of up to 13 miles per hour also are in the forecast for Monday.
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. — Lake County Animal Care and Control is offering several dogs at a discounted adoption rate this week.
“We have quite a few dogs that have been here for 20+ days. These dogs have had little interest for adoption,” the agency reported on its Facebook page.
“In order to help find these dogs new homes for the holidays, we are reducing the adoptions fees down to $30 total to take them home,” Animal Care and Control said in its post.
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.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278, visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting, or go to the shelter at 4949 Helbush Drive in Lakeport to fill out an application.
The following dogs are available for the $30 fee.
Female pit bull terrier
This 9-month-old female pit bull terrier has a short gray coat.
She is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-4213.
‘Arlo’
“Arlo” is a 3-year-old male basset hound-Labrador retriever mix with a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 9, ID No. LCAC-A-4164.
Female Labrador retriever
This 3-month-old female Labrador retriever has a short black coat.
She is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4162.
Male Labrador retriever
This 2-year-old male Labrador retriever has a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 14, ID No. LCAC-A-4112.
Male pit bull terrier puppy
This 3-month-old pit bull terrier puppy has a short white coat with gray markings.
He is in kennel No. 23c, ID No. LCAC-A-4120.
Female pit bull
This 1 and a half year old female pit bull has a short brown coat with white markings.
She is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-4217.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control continues to offer dozens of dogs to new homes.
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.
The following dogs are available for adoption. New additions are at the top.
‘Aoki’
“Aoki” is a male Siberian husky mix with a white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50905477.
‘Athena’
“Athena” is a female American pit bull mix terrier with a short brindle coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49934476.
‘Babs’
“Babs” is a female Labrador retriever mix with a short black coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49505856.
‘Bruce’
“Bruce” is a 2-year-old American pit bull mix with a short gray coat with white markings.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50684304.
‘Buster’
“Buster” is a male pit bull mix with a short tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50762164.
‘Domino’
“Domino” is a male terrier mix with a short white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50815541.
‘Eros’
“Eros” is a male Rottweiler mix with a short black and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50754504.
‘Foxie’
“Foxie” is a female German shepherd with a red, black and white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49702845.
‘Goliath’
“Goliah” is a male Rottweiler mix with a short black and tan coat.
He is dog No. 50754509.
‘Hakuna’
“Hakuna” is a male shepherd mix with a tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50176912.
‘Herman’
“Herman” is a 7-year-old male American pit bull terrier mix with a brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51236411.
‘Hondo’
“Hondo” is a male Alaskan husky mix with a buff coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s dog No. 50227693.
‘Jack’
“Jack” is a 9-month-old male terrier mix with a short black and brindle coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50992658.
‘Little Boy’
“Little Boy” is a male American pit bull terrier mix with a short tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50075256.
‘Luciano’
“Luciano” is a male Siberian husky mix with a short black and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50596272.
‘Mamba’
“Mamba” is a male Siberian husky mix with a gray and cream-colored coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49520569.
‘Matata’
“Matata” is male shepherd mix with a tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50176912.
‘Maya’
“Maya” is a female German shepherd with a black and tan coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 50428151.
‘Mikey’
“Mikey” is a male German shepherd mix with a short brown and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51012855.
‘Molly’
“Molly” is a female Samoyed mix with a long white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 50933031.
‘Paige’
“Paige” is a female American pit bull mix with a short brown coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 51194668.
‘Poppa’
“Poppa” is a 3-year-old male American pit bull terrier mix with a short red and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50773597.
‘Rascal’
“Rascal” is a male shepherd mix with a black and brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50806384.
‘Reese’
“Reese” is a female German Shepherd with a black and an coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 50884542.
‘Sadie’
“Sadie” is a female German shepherd mix with a black and tan coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49802563.
‘Snowball’
“Snowball is a 1 and a half year old male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a short white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49159168.
‘Terry’
“Terry” is a handsome male shepherd mix with a short brindle coat.
He gets along with other dogs, including small ones, and enjoys toys. He also likes water, playing fetch and keep away.
Staff said he is now getting some training to help him build confidence.
He is dog No. 48443693.
‘Trike’
“Trike” is a male border collie-Australian shepherd mix with a black and white coat and blue eyes.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51029972.
‘Willie’
“Willie” is a male German shepherd mix with a black and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50596003.
‘Zeus’
“Zeus” is a male Samoyed mix with a long white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50933068.
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.
Eric Hittinger, Rochester Institute of Technology; Eric Williams, Rochester Institute of Technology; Qing Miao, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Tiruwork B. Tibebu, Rochester Institute of Technology
The planet is heating up as greenhouse gas emissions rise, contributing to extreme heat waves and once-unimaginableflooding. Yet despite the risks, countries’ policies are not ontrack to keep global warming in check.
The problem isn’t a lack of technology. The International Energy Agency recently released a detailed analysis of the clean energy technology needed to lower greenhouse gas emissions to net zero globally by 2050. What’s needed, the IEA says, is significant government support to boost solar and wind power, electric vehicles, heat pumps and a variety of other technologies for a rapid energy transition.
One politically popular tool for providing that government support is the subsidy. The U.S. government’s new Inflation Reduction Act is a multibillion-dollar example, packed with financial incentives to encourage people to buy electric vehicles, solar panels and more.
But just how big do governments’ clean energy subsidies need to be to meet their goals, and how long are they needed?
Our research points to three important answers for any government considering clean energy subsidies – and for citizens keeping an eye on their progress.
Why subsidize at all?
An obvious first question is: Why should governments subsidize clean energy at all?
Reducing emissions helps to lower both public health costs and damage from climate change, which justifies government spending. Reports have estimated that the U.S. spends US$820 billion a year just on health costs associated with air pollution and climate change. Globally, the World Health Organization estimated that the costs reached $5.1 trillion in 2018. Taxing and regulating polluting industries can also cut emissions, but carrots are often more politically popular than sticks.
A less obvious reason for subsidies is that government support can help a new and initially expensive technology become competitive in the market.
Governments have been central to the development of many technologies that are pervasive today, including microchips, the internet, solar panels and GPS. Microchips were fantastically expensive when first developed in the 1950s. Demand from the U.S. military and NASA, which could pay the high price, fueled the growth of the industry, and costs eventually dropped enough that they’re now found in everything from cars to toasters.
Government support has also helped to bring down the cost of solar power. Rooftop solar system costs fell 64% from 2010 to 2020 in the U.S. because cells became more efficient and higher volumes drove prices down.
How much money?
So, subsidies can work, but what’s the right amount?
Too low, and a subsidy has no effect. Giving everyone a coupon for $1 off an electric car won’t change anyone’s buying plans. But subsidies can also be set too high.
The government doesn’t need to spend money persuading consumers who already plan to buy an electric car and can afford one, yet studies show clean energy subsidies disproportionately go to richer people. When people who would have purchased the item anyway receive subsidies, they’re known as “free riders.”
The ideal subsidy attracts new buyers while avoiding free riders and overspending on people who are already convinced. The subsidy can only work when it convinces a previously uninterested consumer to buy a product.
How long should subsidies last?
Timing is also important when thinking about the size of subsidies. When a promising technology is new and expensive, free riders are less of an issue. A large subsidy may be needed to attract even a few buyers, build out the emerging market and support the industry’s growth.
Solar power is a good example: In 2005, solar was several times more expensive than traditional electricity sources. Subsidies, like the 30% Investment Tax Credit established that year, helped lower the cost, and today’s solar is about one-tenth the price and cost-competitive with other electricity sources.
Once a clean technology is competitive, subsidies can still play an important role in speeding up the energy transition, but at a lower level than in the past.
In our research on residential solar panels, we estimate that the ideal subsidy for rooftop solar should have been initially higher than the actual federal tax credit but fall more quickly, declining to zero after 14 years from its start date.
By starting the subsidy about 20% higher, our models found that it would have boosted production faster, which would cut costs faster and reduce the need for high future subsidies.
Should subsidies eventually disappear?
It makes sense for subsidies to disappear altogether once a technology is sufficiently cost-competitive. However, even if a technology is competitive, it might be worth further subsidy if the speed of adoption is important.
The argument for continuing a subsidy depends on whether the additional adoption it stimulates is cost-effective in reducing emissions. Wind power is cheaper than fossil fuel power in many parts of the country. Even so, we found that continuing subsidies for wind power would lead to valuable emission benefits.
That said, sometimes subsidies stick around when they shouldn’t.
Fossil fuels have been heavily subsidized for decades, despite their harm to human health, the environment and the climate, all of which raise public costs. Governments globally spent almost $700 billion on fossil fuel subsidies in 2021. The U.S. government, in recent years, has spent more on renewable energy tax credits than fossil fuels, which is a promising transition of government support.
Global impact
While the U.S. was the focus of our solar subsidy research, this way of thinking – balancing the costs and benefits of subsidies – can be applied in other nations to design better subsidies for clean energy technologies.
The subsidy is just one policy tool, but it is an important one for both stimulating early-stage technologies and accelerating deployment of more competitive options. As the world attempts the fastest energy transition in history, today’s energy subsidy decisions will affect its ability to succeed.
As the holiday season approaches, the Office of Traffic Safety and Caltrans want to make sure you are prepared to travel safely. Between holiday shopping, festive outings, and gathering with loved ones — there are several opportunities to Go Safely this season.
Even as the days get cooler and shorter, it seems our calendars are busier than ever.
To make sure you make it to all your holiday gatherings safely, it is important to plan ahead before you get behind the wheel.
Drowsy, impaired, and distracted driving are deadly — but they are also preventable.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, estimates that in 2020, 633 people lost their lives to drowsy driving.
Studies have shown that drowsy driving can impair your ability to drive in the same way that drinking and driving does.
The best way to prevent drowsy driving is to recognize the signs. Yawning, daydreaming, missing an exit, and drifting from a lane are all signs that you need to pull over safely and rest up. Even a quick 30-minute nap can do wonders to refresh you before the next leg of your trip.
It is important to get enough sleep, take a break every two hours or 100 miles, and avoid alcohol or medications that can make you sleepy.
While you prepare for your celebrations this season, remember to prepare your holiday safety plan as well.
Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a deadly choice, so plan accordingly. Designate a sober driver or schedule a ride-share to get you home safe and sound.
If you are hosting a party, don’t let your friends or family drive impaired. Ensure that all guests have a designated sober driver or alternative, sober transportation to get them safely to their destinations.
If you are driving and suspect that another driver may be driving impaired, call 911. You could save a life.
It can be easy to get caught up in our busy holiday schedules, but make sure you also take the time to limit your distractions while driving. Silence your cellphone and concentrate on the road as driving conditions tend to worsen in the winter months.
When texting behind the wheel, the amount of time your eyes are off the road averages five seconds. When driving at an approximate speed of 55 miles per hour, you could essentially cover the length of a football field, blindfolded.
The text can wait until you safely arrive at your destination — silence your phone and focus on the road.
Though it seems we are constantly on the go during the holidays, take some time to remember your safety plan:
• Rest up. Don’t drive drowsy and take breaks from driving every two hours or 100 miles. • If your celebrations include drinking, designate a sober driver, and never let your friends or family drive under the influence. If you see a drunken driver on the road, call 911. • Limit your distractions, silence your phone, and focus on getting to and from your destination safely.
Drowsy, impaired, and distracted driving are all preventable. Make sure you’re prepared so we can all Go Safely this holiday season.
For many, a manufactured/mobile home is home. What happens when a California resident dies owning a manufactured or mobile home situated in California?
If the manufactured or mobile home is situated on a permanent foundation and a form 433A filed with the county recorder then the manufactured or mobile home and the land are real property. It is administered like any other real property asset owned by a decedent.
That is, how the real property is titled, the appraised gross value of the decedent’s estate, the decedent’s will or trust, if any, whether there is a surviving spouse/registered domestic partner, are each considered, when relevant, to determine who inherits the real property and whether a probate, or other approach, is required.
However, if the manufactured or mobile home is not on a permanent foundation, it is not part of the land and is personal property.
In California, manufactured homes and mobile homes are generally titled and registered with the California Department of Housing Community Development, or HCD.
Some smaller units are titled with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Like real property, manufactured or mobile homes can be titled individually, jointly or in trust. Again, title plays an important part in who inherits and how they inherit.
Importantly, California law excludes the gross value of a manufactured or mobile home from the gross value of the decedent’s probate estate to determine whether a probate is required.
If the total value of the decedent’s real and personal property located in California is below the current $184,500 probate threshold then no probate administration is required for a “small estate.”
Sometimes the decedent’s primary assets are the decedent’s manufactured or mobile home and its lot, unless the manufactured home is on rented land, e.g., a mobile home park where rent is paid.
Moreover, with small estates, if the appraised gross value of all the decedent’s real property holdings in California is under $55,425 (for decedent’s dying after April 1, 2022) then the decedent can record an affidavit re real property of small value and death certificate with the county recorder to change title to the lot.
Otherwise, a “petition to determine succession to real and personal property” in a small estate can be used to change title to the lot and any other real property owned by the decedent with a small estate.
With respect to the manufactured / mobile home, the decedent’s beneficiaries/heirs often sell the manufactured home and the lot to the same buyer in a single sale. If so, the decedent’s beneficiaries/heirs will only have to retitle the real property into their name (often by way of the affidavit approach) before they can sell it.
The beneficiaries/heirs can give the title company handling the sale an affidavit of small estate to claim the net proceeds in escrow with the title company attributable to the sale of the manufactured or mobile home, without the names of the beneficiaries or heirs ever appearing on title with HCD.
This approach saves the beneficiaries/heirs the expense, time and aggravation associated with retitling of manufactured/mobile homes with HCD.
Anyone owning a manufactured or mobile home that is not on a permanent foundation should keep its original certificate of title and registration in a safe location known and available to their beneficiaries/heirs.
This saves retitling fees when the manufactured home is retitled into the name of a buyer or into the name of a beneficiary / heir who keeps the asset.
Typically, a California resident who owns a manufactured or mobile home titled with HCD has a small estate and so can rely on a will for estate planning. Bank and brokerage accounts can be removed from any probate estate by titling them as pay on death and transfer on death accounts, as relevant.
Doing so is often sufficient to ensure a small estate for someone who owns a manufactured or mobile home and its lot, and no other real property.
The foregoing is not legal advice. Anyone confronting the issues discussed above should consult an attorney for guidance.
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.
The following cats at the shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Male domestic shorthair
This 3-year-old male domestic shorthair cat has an orange tabby coat.
“This guy can be shy at first, but once he knows that you are all about the pets, he will roll right over and start his purr machine. He has a unique curly tail which he flicks around when curious,” shelter staff said.
He is in cat room kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4021.
Male domestic shorthair
This 8-year-old male domestic shorthair cat has an orange tabby coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 47, ID No. LCAC-A-4319.
‘Sampson’
“Sampson” is a male domestic shorthair with a black coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 77, ID No. LCAC-A-4317.
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.
Just as NASA’s Mars rovers rely on robust wheels to roam the Red Planet and conduct science, some orbiters rely on wheels, too — in this case, reaction wheels — to stay pointed in the right direction.
Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California recently installed four reaction wheels on Europa Clipper, which will rely on them during its journey at Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
When NASA’s spacecraft heads through deep space, slips into orbit around Jupiter, and collects science observations while flying dozens of times by Europa, the wheels rotate the orbiter so that its antennas can communicate with Earth and its science instruments, including cameras, can stay oriented.
Two feet wide and made of steel, aluminum, and titanium, the wheels spin rapidly to create torque that causes the orbiter to rotate in the opposite direction. Isaac Newton’s third law of motion also applies in deep space and explains the underlying phenomenon: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The reaction wheels cause the spacecraft to react to the spinning action of the wheels.
Here’s one way to visualize how reaction wheels work: Imagine you are sitting in a swivel chair and lift your feet off the floor so that you are free to rotate. If you jerk your torso in one direction, the chair and your legs will rotate the opposite direction.
The reaction wheels work the same way: As the reaction wheel’s motor accelerates the metal wheel in one direction, the spacecraft experiences an acceleration in the opposite direction.
Without those reaction wheels, Europa Clipper wouldn’t be able to do its science investigations when it arrives at the Jupiter system in 2030 after its 2024 launch. Scientists believe Europa harbors a vast internal ocean that may have conditions suitable for supporting life.
The spacecraft will gather data on the moon’s atmosphere, surface, and interior — information that will help scientists learn more about the ocean, the ice crust, and potential plumes that may be venting subsurface water into space.
During its orbits around Jupiter, Europa Clipper will rely on reaction wheels to help it perform thousands of turns, or “slews.” Although the spacecraft could perform some of those maneuvers with thrusters, its thrusters need fuel — a finite resource aboard the orbiter. The reaction wheels will run on electricity provided by the spacecraft’s vast solar arrays.
The trade-off is that the reaction wheels work slowly. Europa Clipper’s reaction wheels will take about 90 minutes to rotate the craft 180 degrees — a movement so gradual that, from a distance, it would be imperceptible to the human eye. The rotation of the spacecraft will be three times slower than the minute hand on a clock.
Also, they can wear out over time. It happened on NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, requiring engineers to figure out how to rotate using thrusters with the available fuel.
To address this, engineers have installed four wheels on Europa Clipper even though only three are needed to maneuver. They alternate which three wheels are in operation to even the wear. That leaves them with a “spare” wheel if one of the others fails.
Installing the wheels was one of the most recent steps of the phase known as assembly, test, and launch operations. Science instruments continue to arrive at JPL to be added to the spacecraft.
Next, a variety of tests will be conducted, as the spacecraft moves toward its October 2024 launch period. After traveling over 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers), Europa Clipper will be set to begin unlocking the secrets of this icy world.
Missions such as Europa Clipper contribute to the field of astrobiology, the interdisciplinary research field that studies the conditions of distant worlds that could harbor life as we know it.
While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will conduct a detailed exploration of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon, with its subsurface ocean, has the capability to support life.
Understanding Europa’s habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet.
In a tale of cosmic proportions, the region is being transformed by the massive stars that live and die within it.
A new image combining previously released data from three telescopes shows a region that includes the Orion Nebula, named after the mighty hunter from Greek mythology who was felled by a scorpion’s sting. But the story of how this dusty region came to be is just as dramatic.
The Orion Nebula is located in the constellation Orion, which takes the appearance of a hunter raising a club and shield at an unseen target.
Three stars in a line are together known as Orion’s belt; the region shown in the image aligns with another series of stars perpendicular to the belt, known as Orion’s sword. If you could see it in the sky, the region would appear about the size of the full moon.
Two enormous caverns that dominate the cloud were carved out by giant stars (unseen in this image) that can release up to a million times more light than our Sun.
All that radiation breaks apart dust grains there, helping to create the pair of cavities. Much of the remaining dust is swept away by winds from stars or when the stars die explosive deaths as supernovae.
The blue light in these areas indicates warm dust. Observed in infrared light – a range of wavelengths outside what human eyes can detect – the views were provided by NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, which now operates under the moniker NEOWISE. Spitzer and WISE were both managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Around the edge of the two cavernous regions, the dust that appears green is slightly cooler. Red indicates cold dust that reaches temperatures of about minus 440 Fahrenheit (minus 260 Celsius).
The red and green light shows data from the now-retired Herschel Space Telescope, a European Space Agency observatory that captured wavelengths of light in the far-infrared and microwave ranges, where cold dust radiates.
Herschel’s large mirror provided high-resolution views of these clouds, which are full of contours, nooks, and crannies. The cold dust appears mostly on the outskirts of the dust cloud, away from the regions where stars form.
In between the two hollow regions are orange filaments where dust condenses and forms new stars. Over time, these filaments may produce new giant stars that will once again reshape the region.
JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, managed Spitzer mission operations for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington until the spacecraft was retired in 2020. Science operations were conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at IPAC at Caltech. Spacecraft operations were based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. The Spitzer data archive is housed at the Infrared Science Archive at IPAC at Caltech.
More information about NASA’s Spitzer mission is here.
Launched in 2009, the WISE spacecraft was placed into hibernation in 2011 after completing its primary mission.
In September 2013, NASA reactivated the spacecraft with the primary goal of scanning for near-Earth objects, or NEOs, and the mission and spacecraft were renamed NEOWISE.
The mission was selected competitively under NASA’s Explorers Program managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NEOWISE is a project of JPL and the University of Arizona and is supported by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.