LAKEPORT, Calif. — In its ongoing effort to support patients fighting breast cancer, Sponsoring Survivorship will hold its annual walk and run fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 1.
The 26th annual event will once again be held in downtown Lakeport.
Morning registration takes place from 7 to 8:30 a.m. at the Silveira Community Center, 500 N. Main St. The registration fee is $25.
The event starts at 9 a.m., rain or shine.
Online registration is available now through Sept. 23 at the organization's website.
The Oct. 1 run and walk will be a family event, featuring raffle prizes, refreshments and a free logo T-shirt for each participant.
Founded in 1996, Sponsoring Survivorship has assisted local women and men with some of the costs associated with their struggle against breast cancer.
At the same time, they have offered support and friendship to cancer patients in what can be a lonely journey.
Sponsoring Survivorship was honored to receive a donation from The Green Heron at Concert in the Park on Friday, Aug. 19.
The Green Heron is selling hats and giving Sponsoring Survivorship a $5 donation for each hat purchased.
Sponsoring Survivorship also is holding a yard sale fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 8 a.m. to noon at Lakeport Christian Center, 455 S. Forbes St. A lot of treasures await visitors. Preregistration for the annual run and walk also will be available.
The group offered special thanks to all business and community sponsors. Donations are gratefully accepted. Nonprofit ID: 45-3321877.
For more info visit www.sponsoringsurvivorship.com, or contact Julie Kelley at 707-972-0286 or Brandi Cubbage at 432-614-7707.
NASA’s Artemis 1 mission is poised to take a key step toward returning humans to the Moon after a half-century hiatus. The mission, scheduled to launch on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, is a shakedown cruise – sans crew – for NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion Crew Capsule.
The spacecraft is scheduled to travel to the Moon, deploy some small satellites and then settle into orbit. NASA aims to practice operating the spacecraft, test the conditions crews will experience on and around the Moon, and assure everyone that the spacecraft and any occupants can safely return to Earth.
The Conversation asked Jack Burns, a professor and space scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder and former member of the Presidential Transition Team for NASA, to describe the mission, explain what the Artemis program promises to do for space exploration, and reflect on how the space program has changed in the half-century since humans last set foot on the lunar surface.
How does Artemis 1 differ from the other rockets being launched routinely?
Artemis 1 is going to be the first flight of the new Space Launch System. This is a “heavy lift” vehicle, as NASA refers to it. It will be the most powerful rocket engine ever flown to space, even more powerful than Apollo’s Saturn V system that took astronauts to the Moon in the 1960s and ‘70s.
It’s a new type of rocket system, because it has both a combination of liquid oxygen and hydrogen main engines and two strap-on solid rocket boosters derived from the space shuttle. It’s really a hybrid between the space shuttle and Apollo’s Saturn V rocket.
Testing is very important, because the Orion Crew Capsule is going to be getting a real workout. It will be in the space environment of the Moon, a high-radiation environment, for a month. And, very importantly, it will be testing the heat shield, which protects the capsule and its occupants, when it comes back to the Earth at 25,000 miles per hour. This will be the fastest capsule reentry since Apollo, so it’s very important that the heat shield function well.
This mission is also going to carry a series of small satellites that will be placed in orbit of the Moon. Those will do some useful precursor science, everything from looking further into the permanently shadowed craters where scientists think there is water to just doing more measurements of the radiation environment, seeing what the effects will be on humans for long-term exposure.
What’s the goal of the Artemis project? What’s coming up in the series of launches?
The mission is a first step toward Artemis 3, which is going to result in the first human missions to the Moon in the 21st century and the first since 1972. Artemis 1 is an uncrewed test flight.
Artemis 2, which is scheduled to launch a few years after that, will have astronauts on board. It, too, will be an orbital mission, very much like Apollo 8, which circled the Moon and came back home. The astronauts will spend a longer time orbiting the Moon and will test everything with a human crew.
And, finally, that will lead to a journey to the surface of the Moon in which Artemis 3 – sometime mid-decade – will rendezvous with the SpaceX Starship and transfer crew. Orion will remain in orbit, and the lunar Starship will take the astronauts to the surface. They will go to the south pole of the Moon to look at an area scientists haven’t explored before to investigate the water ice there.
Artemis is reminiscent of Apollo. What has changed in the past half-century?
The reason for Apollo that Kennedy envisioned initially was to beat the Soviet Union to the Moon. The administration didn’t particularly care about space travel, or about the Moon itself, but it represented an audacious goal that would clearly put America first in terms of space and technology.
The downside of doing that is the old saying “You live by the sword, you die by the sword.” When the U.S. got to the Moon, it was basically game over. We beat the Russians. So we put some flags down and did some science experiments. But pretty quickly after Apollo 11, within a few more missions, Richard Nixon canceled the program because the political objectives had been met.
So fast-forward 50 years. This is a very different environment. We are not doing this to beat the Russians or the Chinese or anybody else, but to begin a sustainable exploration beyond Earth’s orbit.
The Artemis program is driven by a number of different goals. It includes in situ resource utilization, which means using resources at hand like water ice and lunar soil to produce food, fuel and building materials.
The program is also helping to establish a lunar and space economy, starting with entrepreneurs, because SpaceX is very much part of this first mission to the surface of the Moon. NASA doesn’t own the Starship but is buying seats to allow astronauts to go to the surface. SpaceX will then use the Starship for other purposes – to transport other payloads, private astronauts and astronauts from other countries.
Fifty years of technology development means that going to the Moon now is much less expensive and more technologically feasible, and much more sophisticated experiments are possible when you just figure the computer technology. Those 50 years of technological advancement have been a complete game-changer. Almost anybody with the financial resources can send spacecraft to the Moon now, though not necessarily with humans.
NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services contracts private companies to build uncrewed landers to go to the Moon. My colleagues and I have a radio telescope that’s going to the Moon on one of the landers in January. That just wouldn’t have been possible even 10 years ago.
What other changes does Artemis have in store?
The administration has said that in that first crewed flight, on Artemis 3, there will be at least one woman and very likely a person of color. They may be one and the same. There may be several.
I’m looking forward to seeing more of that diversity, because young kids today who are looking up at NASA can say, “Hey, there’s an astronaut who looks like me. I can do this. I can be part of the space program.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta this week announced the release of the annual Homicide in California, Crime in California, Use of Force Incident Reporting, and Juvenile Justice in California statistical reports.
The reports provide policymakers, researchers, law enforcement, and members of the public with vital statewide information on criminal justice statistics in California to support informed policy choices based on data and analysis and help protect the safety and well-being of all Californians.
While the reports are typically published in July, the recent overhaul of the state’s electronic reporting systems, as required by a federal directive to strengthen data collection capabilities nationwide, impacted data collection efforts and the timing of this year’s release of the reports.
Once fully implemented for the hundreds of reporting agencies across the state, California’s new data collection system, which was certified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this year, will significantly improve the quality and depth of the criminal justice statistical information available to all Californians, officials said.
“Good data is a cornerstone of good public policy,” said Attorney General Bonta, encouraging partners across California to read the reports released by his office.
“While crime rates remain significantly below their historical highs, property and violent crimes continue to have devastating consequences for communities across the state. Gun violence in particular remains a consistent and growing threat. In fact, in 2021, nearly three-fourths of all homicides in California involved a firearm,” he said.
Bonta added, “As we confront these ongoing challenges, we must have accountability and appropriate consequences for those who break the law. Accurate statistics and the data in the annual crime reports are a critical part of calibrating our response, ensuring policymakers and law enforcement are able to make informed decisions. At the California Department of Justice, we’re using every tool we have to prevent violence and combat crime in all its forms. Whether it’s successfully securing federal certification of our data systems or taking guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals, my office remains committed to doing our part to support safety and security for all Californians.”
Each year, the California Department of Justice, or CADOJ, publishes annual reports on various criminal justice statistics in California.
While law enforcement agencies across the state are in the process of transitioning to the new data collection system known as the California Incident-Based Reporting System, or CIBRS, the format of the information made available in this year’s reports remains consistent with previous years.
The ongoing transition to incident-based reporting will ultimately enable law enforcement agencies to collect more in-depth information about specific incidents than previously available in the legacy system that had been in use for decades.
For instance, under the legacy system, statistical data was typically collected using the “Hierarchy Rule,” i.e., only the most serious offense within a criminal incident is counted for statistical purposes.
As a result, if a robbery and a homicide occurred in the same incident, the legacy system only counts the homicide for statistical reporting purposes.
Through CIBRS, policymakers, law enforcement and members of the public will eventually have more detailed information, context, and specificity about crime in the state.
Law enforcement agencies across California are currently in the process of transitioning to CIBRS.
To date, more than 300 reporting agencies have completed the transition and are in the process of becoming certified by CADOJ.
However, there are currently several hundred agencies remaining and CADOJ continues to work with agencies across the state during this ongoing transition.
In the interim, in order to help ensure the annual criminal justice reports remain complete and accurate to the fullest extent possible, CADOJ continues to accept data in both the legacy and CIBRS formats.
The information made available in this year’s reports is a combination of data collected under both reporting methods. The attorney general encourages researchers, academics, and all members of the public to analyze the data and use it to help inform public discourse on the state’s criminal justice system.
Key findings from each of the four reports released today and a brief description of their contents are available below:
Homicide in California 2021 provides information about the crime of homicide, including demographic data of victims, persons arrested for homicide, persons sentenced to death, peace officers feloniously killed in the line of duty, and justifiable homicides. Some of the key findings include:
• The total number of reported homicides in the state increased 7.2% year-to-year from 2,202 in 2020 to 2,361 in 2021, remaining significantly below California’s historical high of 4,095 homicides in 1993; • In 2021, 75% of homicides, where the weapon was identified, involved a firearm. Firearms continue to be the most common weapon used in homicides; • Among California’s counties with populations of 100,000 or more, Kern (13.7), Merced (9.5), and Tulare (8.8) were the counties that experienced the highest homicide rates and Placer (1), San Luis Obispo (0.7), and Marin (0.4) experienced the lowest homicide rates. Napa and Shasta counties reported they had zero homicides; • Among homicides where the victim’s relationship to the suspect was identified, females (35.6%) were more likely than males (6.4%) to be killed by their spouse, parent, or child; and There was a 2.9% decrease in homicide arrests from 1,597 in 2020 to 1,550 in 2021, remaining above the 10-year average of 1,478.2 homicide arrests per year.
Crime in California 2021 presents statewide statistics for reported crimes, arrests, dispositions of adult felony arrests, adult probation, criminal justice personnel, civilians’ complaints against peace officers, domestic violence-related calls for assistance, anti-reproductive-rights crimes, and law enforcement officers killed or assaulted.
Some of the key findings include:
• The violent crime rate — i.e., the number of violent crimes per 100,000 people — increased 6.7% from 437 in 2020 to 466.2 in 2021, remaining significantly below California’s historical high of 1,103.9 in 1992; • The property crime rate increased 3% from 2,114.4 in 2020 to 2,178.4 in 2021, remaining near last year’s historical low and significantly below California’s historical high of 6,880.6 in 1980; The total arrest rate decreased 7.3% from 2,812.3 in 2020 to 2,606.3 in 2021, continuing an ongoing year-to-year downward trend that began in 2004 when the total arrest rate was 5,385.5; • In 2021, the total number of adults on active probation reached its lowest level since 1980 at 151,414; and • The total number of full-time criminal justice personnel — including law enforcement, prosecutors, investigators, public defenders, and probation officers — decreased 2.7% from 153,883 in 2020 to 149,688 in 2021, falling slightly below the 10-year average of 151,909.8.
Use of Force Incident Reporting 2021 presents a summary overview of use of force and discharge-of-firearm incidents involving a peace officer, as defined in California Government Code section 12525.2.
Some of the key findings include:
• In 2021, there were 628 incidents that involved the use of force resulting in serious bodily injury or death of a civilian or officer, or the discharge of a firearm.
Of those incidents:
• 47.8% occurred during a call for service; • 19.7% occurred while either a crime was in progress or while officers were investigating suspicious persons or circumstances; and • 15.4% resulted from a vehicle, bike, or pedestrian stop;
In 2021, 660 civilians were involved in incidents that involved the discharge of a firearm or use of force resulting in serious bodily injury or death.
Of those civilians:
• 50.6% were Hispanic; • 25.5% were white; and • 16.7% were Black; and
In 2021, 1,462 officers were involved in incidents that involved the discharge of a firearm or use of force resulting in serious bodily injury or death.
Of those officers:
• 83.8% were not injured; • 15.9% were injured; and • 0.3% died.
Juvenile Justice in California 2021 provides insight into the juvenile justice process by reporting the number of arrests, referrals to probation departments, petitions filed, and dispositions for juveniles tried in juvenile and adult courts.
Some of the key findings include:
• Of the 31,370 referrals of juveniles to probation, 92.5% were referred by law enforcement; • Of the 19,355 juvenile arrests: • 47.2% were for a felony offense; • 46.5% were for a misdemeanor offense; and • 6.3% were for a status offense;
Of those same juveniles:
• 77.2% were referred to probation; • 16% were counseled and released; and • 6.8% were turned over to another agency; • Of the 17,413 juvenile cases that were formally handled by a juvenile court, 55.3% resulted in juveniles being made wards of the court; and • Of the 52 juvenile cases tried in adult court, 67.3% resulted in a conviction.
The Homicide in California report is available here. The Crime in California report is available here.
The Use of Force Incident Reporting report is available here.
The Juvenile Justice in California report is available here.
The underlying data associated with the annual reports is available on OpenJustice here.
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
MATHER, Calif. — Highlighting the state’s commitment to innovative solutions to tackle climate-induced natural disasters, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the California Military Department have announced the creation of the first all-hazards military fire engine strike team.
Known as Team Blaze, it will be operated by the State Guard of the Military Department.
Cal OES is assigning a Type VI strike team of wildland-style fire engines to the State Military Department to enhance California's Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid fleet.
Each with a capacity to carry a four-person crew, these engines are in addition to the military department’s existing Task Force Rattlesnake hand crew program consisting of soldiers and airmen.
Since the start of operations in 2019, Task Force Rattlesnake has cut, cleared and treated at-risk wildfire project areas in central and northern parts of California.
"We have always valued the California Military Departments partnership during times of need, especially during wildfires or other natural disasters. These new engines will not only add to their capabilities, but also help augment our state's wildfire and rescue resources more broadly," said Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci.
The States Military Department maintains a firefighting program at their military bases, with trained personnel providing fire fighting prevention, mitigation and protection services to California and military bases and camps.
"We are proud to collaborate with Cal OES to ensure there's another fleet of fire engines and expert staff at the ready. This Strike Team builds upon the state's response efforts during times of need," said California Military Department Major General Matthew P. Beevers.
From responding to wildfires in rural settings, to protecting structures in urban areas and performing urban search and rescue operations, these engines are outfitted to support a variety of emergency situations.
For example, type VI engines can carry a four-person crew, get into tight areas, carry 300 gallons of water and quickly attack fires.
These engines add to the already robust California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System fleet of more than 270 fire engines across 60 local partners statewide that can respond to incidents of all types.
Cal OES facilitates the California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System, which currently moves local government resources across the state in support of all-risk emergency response on behalf of local, state, and federal government fire organizations.
Cal OES assigns local government fire agencies with fire apparatus to maintain surge capacity during day-to-day duties and major events/emergencies.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The 38th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day will take place Saturday, Sept. 17, and Lake County will once again be taking part.
The cleanup will be held from 9 a.m. to noon that day.
The check-in locations in Lake County will be:
• Lucerne Harbor Park; • Rodan Slough Park, Nice; • Library Park, Lakeport; • Highland Springs Recreation Area, Lakeport; • Konocti CrossFit, Kelseyville; and • Austin Park Beach, Clearlake.
While COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted in many locations around the state, the health and safety of our volunteers remains a top priority.
Please do not attend the cleanup if you have recently tested positive for COVID-19 or are experiencing any symptoms of COVID.
For those who are busy that day, they can still participate in the Coastal Cleanup by cleaning up neighborhoods, parks and local areas anytime during the month of September.
Trash from inland areas flows downstream to the coast, so cleaning up neighborhood trash prevents marine debris.
Gather cleanup supplies from home, download the CleanSwell app (to count your trash, and to have your trash counted!), and clean on your own time.
All cleanups that take place during September will count toward the event’s statewide goals.
To learn more about the Coastal Cleanup and its history, visit the state’s event website.
For more information about the local effort, contact Lake County Water Resources at 707-263-2344 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., follow the department on Facebook, @lakecountywater.
Administering a decedent’s probate or trust estate can involve unforeseen challenges.
Let us consider two probate scenarios where title to real property that belonged to the decedent was nonetheless titled outside of the decedent’s name and presented a challenge as to how to title the real property into the estate.
Also, let us consider a trust administration scenario where title was left out of the trust.
Consider a probate where the decedent, years prior to his death, was supposed to receive title from his then wife to all real property belonging to them as joint tenants as part of their divorce agreement.
The wife signed an interspousal deed to real property in Lake County that she believed transferred all the property to her husband.
Years later, during the probate, she learned that the mobile home on the real property and the adjoining five acres parcel were not included on the interspousal deed.
Here a possible solution is to petition the court, under section 850 of the Probate Code, for an order to reform the deed to include the adjoining five acres.
Reformation is an allowed equitable (fairness) approach to the problem that applies when there is a written agreement that does not properly express the prior mutual agreement between the parties.
In this case, the both spouses agreed that all real properties would go to the husband, but the interspousal deed itself excluded the adjoining five acres and the mobile home.
With the surviving ex-spouse’s written declaration it made sense to file an 850 petition to reform the old interspousal deed to include the missing assets.
Next, consider a probate where the decedent co-owned a lot with two other deceased owners of record.
The probate estate could not sell the property without either unifying all ownership in the probate estate itself or without the other deceased co-owner’s heirs getting on title to the real property and participating in the sale as co-owners.
Fortunately, the successors in interest to the other deceased owners were agreeable to assign their inheritance rights to the personal representative of the probate estate.
With the assignments and declaration by surviving heirs confirming that neither deceased co-owner’s estate was probated it becomes possible to use an 850 petition by the personal representative for an order that the property belongs to the probate estate based on the assignments and the circumstances.
As illustrated, section 850 of the Probate Code provides a useful procedural remedy for a personal representative of a decedent’s estate to pursue claims to assets that are either possessed or titled in the name of someone else.
Without the cooperation of that “someone else” or the successors in interest, the section 850 petition will likely result in controversy and possibly even litigation. With the cooperation, however, a section 850 petition can provide a useful remedy to solve knotty problems.
Lastly, consider a decedent who died with a trust while owning real property outside the trust. If there is a good argument that the decedent intended the property to have been transferred to the trust but failed to do so, then an 850 petition pursuant to the case of Estate of Heggstad, 16 Cal. App. 4th, 943 (1993) case may be the solution.
For example, if the decedent took title out of the trust as part of a refinancing then there would be a clear argument that the failure to retitle the house back into the trust was unintentional.
The foregoing is a brief discussion of a much wider and more complex subject. It is not legal advice and does not substitute for consultation with an attorney before proceeding.
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.
Steven Pressman, The New School and Robert H. Scott III, Monmouth University
The U.S. government will likely report in September 2022 that for 2021 its most accurate measure of child poverty was the lowest on record. This was due, in large part, to generous government benefits. Our research suggests child poverty in 2021 would have been even lower had the government made it easier for families to receive these benefits.
One way the federal government responded to the economic upheaval that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic was to boost the money Americans got as benefits – and to distribute those benefits to people who didn’t previously get them.
Researchthatwe and other economists have conducted indicates that the share of American children living in poverty fell even further in 2021. One key policy change brought about this decline: The government temporarily expanded the child tax credit, boosting the incomes of nearly all families with children.
We have determined, however, that child poverty would have plunged much more had the government done a better job ensuring that all who qualified got the credit.
The supplemental poverty measure has been consistently lower for children than the official poverty rate since its launch in 2011.
One reason for this is the child tax credit. It began in 1998, with a maximum possible credit of $400 per child. The amount families could get was limited by the income taxes they owed. Since low-income families either don’t pay any income taxes or owe very little, this did them little good. Subsequent reform measures increased both the amount of the credit and made some of this benefit available to families that paid no income tax.
A large federal spending package enacted in 2021 increased the credit further and made it available to all but the wealthiest families with children. Between July 2021 and June 2022, most received up to $3,600 for each child under 6 and as much as $3,000 for kids between the ages of 6 and 17. The Internal Revenue Service distributed half this money in monthly payments between July and December 2021, and the rest at tax time in 2022.
A Columbia University research team that tracks child poverty rates on a monthly basis calculated that the child tax credit expansion reduced child poverty by about 29% in December 2021 compared with what it would have been without the credit. That would translate into 3 million fewer children in poverty.
If confirmed, that would be an extremely positive result. But we estimate that the child poverty rate could have fallen even further had the government ensured that more eligible families received the expanded child tax credit last year.
As we recently explained in the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, an academic publication, we reviewed detailed 2019 data to estimate what would have happened to child poverty that year had all eligible families received the 2021 tax credit expansion. We found that child poverty would have declined an additional 9 percentage points from what the Columbia team estimated for December, or 38%.
We believe the best explanation for this gap is that many low-income families didn’t file a tax return in 2019 or 2020 because they didn’t owe federal income taxes. To get monthly child tax credits from the IRS, these families needed to file a return.
Alternatively, families could log in to the IRS website and apply for the child tax credit. That was hard to do for many low-income people who lacked internet access.
Lack of awareness
Surveys by a Washington University in St. Louis research team support our theory. It found that 29% of low- and moderate-income Americans knew little or nothing about the child tax credit expansion – or even that they were eligible to receive it.
Specifically, 78% of those surveyed who did not file a 2020 tax return didn’t know much about the credit. Furthermore, some journalists found that the IRS website people must use to apply for benefits when they didn’t file a tax return was not user-friendly, and no Spanish version was available.
These findings suggest that expanding the child tax credit can greatly reduce child poverty. They also point to the need for increased outreach efforts to ensure that all low-income Americans can obtain the benefits for which they are eligible.
We will learn more when the Census Bureau releases its 2021 poverty statistics in September 2022. Based on our estimates and those of other research teams, we expect to see that the child tax credit expansion led to a further sharp decline in the the supplemental poverty rate for children.
If that’s the case, there should be loud calls for this benefit to be restored on a permanent basis.
In September 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state had prioritized 100 high-profile encampment sites on state land to clear.
One year later, California has cleared an average of 100 encampments per month with a total of 1,262 cleared sites, removing 1,213 tons of trash — enough to fill 22 Olympic-size swimming pools.
To highlight the successful state efforts, Gov. Newsom joined Caltrans cleanup efforts at an encampment on I-10 in Los Angeles Thursday. During his administration, the governor has helped clean up several encampments across the state.
“Leaving people on the streets and our highways is dangerous and inhumane. It’s unacceptable,” said Gov. Newsom. “California is investing billions of dollars to house thousands of people and clean up our communities and streets. Our efforts are a model for the nation, and more importantly, we’re getting people off the streets and into the housing and services they deserve.”
Newsom’s office said that when he became governor, California lacked money, coordination and accountability in tackling the state’s homelessness crisis.
Three years later, Newsom’s office said the state has become a national leader, investing $14.7 billion towards homelessness with a coordinated statewide approach focusing on encampment resolution and housing through the Homekey program.
California has provided housing or shelter to more than 67,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic and 55,000 housing units have been or are in the process of being deployed.
The budget Gov. Newsom signed earlier this year includes $700 million for encampment resolution grants with $350 million earmarked for assisting those living on state right-of-way property.
Some of the 1,262 encampments closed by Caltrans during the past 12 months include:
Bay Area – In May, Caltrans closed an encampment along State Route 77 near the High Street offramp in Oakland, collecting 1,600 cubic yards of trash, the most of any single encampment in the state. Throughout the nine Bay Area counties, Caltrans closed 283 encampments and collected more than 14,668 cubic yards of trash.
Los Angeles – In April, Caltrans closed an encampment along Interstate 105 near the Central Avenue offramp, collecting 1,250 cubic yards of trash, the most of any single encampment in Southern California. Caltrans closed 321 encampments and collected more than 33,546 cubic yards of trash throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
San Diego – Caltrans closed 281 encampments and collected more than 2,678 cubic yards of trash throughout San Diego and Imperial counties.
Central Coast – Caltrans closed 161 encampments and collected more than 6,672 cubic yards of trash throughout Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties. This includes an encampment the department closed along Highway 1 near the Ocean Street onramp in Santa Cruz from which Caltrans collected more than 1,000 cubic yards of trash.
Sacramento and the Central Valley – Caltrans closed 121 encampments and collected more than 11,192 cubic yards of trash throughout the Central Valley between Butte County in the north and Kern County to the south. This includes 40 encampments in Sacramento County in which the department collected a total of more than 3,078 cubic yards of trash.
North Coast – Caltrans closed 56 encampments and collected more than 1,176 cubic yards of trash throughout Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Lake counties.
Orange County – Caltrans closed 22 encampments and collected more than 1,721 cubic yards of trash.
Scientists got a surprise when NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover began examining rocks on the floor of Jezero Crater in spring of 2021: Because the crater held a lake billions of years ago, they had expected to find sedimentary rock, which would have formed when sand and mud settled in a once-watery environment. Instead, they discovered the floor was made of two types of igneous rock – one that formed deep underground from magma, the other from volcanic activity at the surface.
The findings are described in four new papers published Thursday, Aug. 25. In Science, one offers an overview of Perseverance’s exploration of the crater floor before it arrived at Jezero’s ancient river delta in April 2022; a second study in the same journal details distinctive rocks that appear to have formed from a thick body of magma.
The other two papers, published in Science Advances, detail the unique ways that Perseverance’s rock-vaporizing laser and ground-penetrating radar established that igneous rocks cover the crater floor.
Rock of ages
Igneous rocks are excellent timekeepers: Crystals within them record details about the precise moment they formed.
“One great value of the igneous rocks we collected is that they will tell us about when the lake was present in Jezero. We know it was there more recently than the igneous crater floor rocks formed,” said Ken Farley of Caltech, Perseverance’s project scientist and the lead author of the first of the new Science papers. “This will address some major questions: When was Mars’ climate conducive to lakes and rivers on the planet’s surface, and when did it change to the very cold and dry conditions we see today?”
Perseverance took this close-up of a rock target nicknamed “Foux” using its WATSON camera on July 11, 2021, the 139th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The area within the camera is roughly 1.4 by 1 inches (3.5 centimeters by 2.6 centimeters).
However, because of how it forms, igneous rock isn’t ideal for preserving the potential signs of ancient microscopic life Perseverance is searching for. In contrast, determining the age of sedimentary rock can be challenging, particularly when it contains rock fragments that formed at different times before the rock sediment was deposited.
But sedimentary rock often forms in watery environments suitable for life and is better at preserving ancient signs of life.
That’s why the sediment-rich river delta Perseverance has been exploring since April 2022 has been so tantalizing to scientists.
The rover has begun drilling and collecting core samples of sedimentary rocks there so that the Mars Sample Return campaign could potentially return them to Earth to be studied by powerful lab equipment too large to bring to Mars.
Mysterious magma-formed rocks
A second paper published in Science solves a longstanding mystery on Mars. Years ago, Mars orbiters spotted a rock formation filled with the mineral olivine.
Measuring roughly 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometers) – nearly the size of South Carolina – this formation extends from the inside edge of Jezero Crater into the surrounding region.
Scientists have offered various theories why olivine is so plentiful over such a large area of the surface, including meteorite impacts, volcanic eruptions, and sedimentary processes. Another theory is that the olivine formed deep underground from slowly cooling magma – molten rock – before being exposed over time by erosion.
Yang Liu of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and her co-authors have determined that last explanation is the most likely. Perseverance abraded a rock to reveal its composition; studying the exposed patch, the scientists homed in on the olivine’s large grain size, along with the rock’s chemistry and texture.
Using Perseverance’s Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry, or PIXL, they determined the olivine grains in the area measure 1 to 3 millimeters – much larger than would be expected for olivine that formed in rapidly cooling lava at the planet’s surface.
“This large crystal size and its uniform composition in a specific rock texture require a very slow-cooling environment,” Liu said. “So, most likely, this magma in Jezero wasn’t erupting on the surface.”
Unique science tools
The two Science Advances papers detail the findings of science instruments that helped establish that igneous rocks cover the crater floor.
The instruments include Perseverance’s SuperCam laser and a ground-penetrating radar called RIMFAX (Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment).
SuperCam is equipped with rock-vaporizing laser that can zap a target as small as a pencil tip from up to 20 feet (7 meters) away. It studies the resulting vapor using a visible-light spectrometer to determine a rock’s chemical composition.
SuperCam zapped 1,450 points during Perseverance’s first 10 months on Mars, helping scientists arrive at their conclusion about igneous rocks on the crater floor.
In addition, SuperCam used near-infrared light – it’s the first instrument on Mars with that capability – to find that water altered minerals in the crater floor rocks. However, the alterations weren’t pervasive throughout the crater floor, according to the combination of laser and infrared observations.
“SuperCam’s data suggests that either these rock layers were isolated from Jezero’s lake water or that the lake existed for a limited duration,” said Roger Wiens, SuperCam’s principal investigator at Purdue University and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
RIMFAX marks another first: Mars orbiters carry ground-penetrating radars, but no spacecraft on the surface of Mars have before Perseverance. Being on the surface, RIMFAX can provide unparalleled detail, and surveyed the crater floor as deep as 50 feet (15 meters).
Its high-resolution “radargrams” show rock layers unexpectedly inclined up to 15 degrees underground. Understanding how these rock layers are ordered can help scientists build a timeline of Jezero Crater’s formation.
“As the first such instrument to operate on the surface of Mars, RIMFAX has demonstrated the potential value of a ground-penetrating radar as a tool for subsurface exploration,” said Svein-Erik Hamran, RIMFAX’s principal investigator at the University of Oslo in Norway.
The science team is excited by what they’ve found so far, but they’re even more excited about the science that lies ahead.
More about the mission
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has several new dogs available for adoption this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Australian cattle dog, German shepherd, Great Pyrenees, hound, husky, Labrador retriever, pit bull, Rottweiler, shepherd and treeing walker coonhound.
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.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
Female pit bull terrier
This 2-year-old female pit bull terrier has a black and white coat.
Shelter staff said she is a gentle girl with a loving personality who came into the shelter needing some tender loving care.
She is in kennel No. 9, ID No. LCAC-A-3856.
Male pit bull terrier
This 1-year-old male pit bull terrier has a gray and white coat.
Shelter staff said he is a playful young dog who does well on a leash and loves fetch. He will benefit from training.
He is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-3855.
Male Rottweiler-shepherd mix
This male Rottweiler-shepherd mix puppy has a short black and tan coat.
“This little pup is shy when meeting new people, but with the right toy and some TLC he warms up and shows some true puppy spirit,” shelter staff reported.
He is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-3851.
Female Australian cattle dog
This 1-year-old female Australian cattle dog has a short black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 17, ID No. LCAC-A-3920.
Female hound mix
This 1-year-old female hound mix has a short brown and white coat.
Shelter staff said she loves to be around people and will show you the true meaning of a lap dog. She enjoys toys and walks well with a leash.
He is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-3766.
Female treeing walker coonhound
This young female treeing walker coonhound has a short black brindle coat.
She is in kennel No. 22, ID No. LCAC-A-3776.
Male husky
This 2-year-old male husky has a black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-3919.
Female German shepherd
This 1-year-old female German shepherd has a short black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 24, ID No. LCAC-A-3780.
Male German shepherd
This 2-year-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
Shelter staff called him a “handsome sweet dude who is motivated by treats and does well walking on a leash.
He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-3870.
Male German shepherd
This 3-year-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-3929.
Female husky
This 1-year-old female husky has a cream and black coat.
She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-3893.
Female Great Pyrenees
This 4-month-old female Great Pyrenees has a short white and gray coat.
She is in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-3790.
Male German shepherd
This 1-year-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-3930.
Female Great Pyrenees
This young female Great Pyrenees has a short white coat.
She is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-3789.
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 has nearly two dozen dogs waiting to meet new families.
The City of Clearlake Animal Association also is seeking fosters for the animals waiting to be adopted.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
The following dogs are available for adoption. New additions are at the top.
‘Sparkles’
“Sparkles” is a female terrier mix with a short brindle coat.
Shehas been spayed.
She is dog No. 50592729.
‘Andy’
“Andy” is a male American pit bull mix with a short gray and white coat.
He is dog No. 48995415.
‘Bear’
“Bear” is a male Labrador retriever-American pit bull mix with a short charcoal and fawn coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 48443153.
‘Betsy’
“Betsy” is a female American pit bull mix with a short white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 50236145.
‘Bluey’
“Bluey” is a male retriever mix with a short black coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50552999.
‘Big Phil’
“Big Phil” is a 13-year-old male American pit bull terrier mix with a blue coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49951647.
‘Colt’
“Colt” is a male Rhodesian Ridgeback mix with a short rust and black coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49812106.
‘Groucho’
“Groucho” is a male Chihuahua-miniature pinscher mix with a short tricolor coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49651597.
‘Hakuna’
“Hakuna” is a male shepherd mix with a tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50176912.
‘Kubota’
“Kubota” is a male German shepherd mix with a short tan and black coat.
He has been neutered.
Kubota is dog No. 50184421.
‘Luna’
“Luna” is an 8-month-old Labrador retriever-terrier mix with a black and white coat.
She is dog No. 50339254.
‘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.
‘Newman’
“Newman” is a 1-year-old male American pit bull terrier mix with a black and white coat.
He has been neutered.
Newman is dog No. 49057809.
‘Sadie’
“Sadie” is a female German shepherd mix with a black and tan coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49802563.
‘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.
‘Tiramisu’
“Tiramisu” is a female Alaskan husky mix with a short brown and cream coat.
She is dog No. 49652833.
‘Willie’
“Willie” is a male German shepherd mix with a black and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50596003.
‘Ziggy’
“Ziggy” is a male American pit bull terrier mix with a short gray and white coat.
He has been neutered.
Ziggy is dog No. 50146247
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. — An Upper Lake man who authorities said assaulted a woman earlier this month is in custody.
Arturo Pedro Gutierrez, 62, turned himself in to authorities in Mendocino County, Lauren Berlinn, spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, told Lake County News on Friday afternoon.
The sheriff’s office had been seeking to take Gutierrez, a registered sex offender, into custody for the Aug. 18 assault.
Earlier this week, a $500,000 warrant was for Gutierrez’s arrest, as Lake County News has reported.
Berlinn said Gutierrez will be transported to the Hill Road Correctional Facility in Lakeport.
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.