LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors this week will hear about the Health Services director’s plans for the coming fiscal year and hold confidential discussions regarding the recruitment for four department head jobs.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 14, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 865 3354 4962, pass code 726865. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16694449171,,86533544962#,,,,*726865#. The meeting can also be accessed via phone at 669 900 6833.
In an item scheduled for 11 a.m., the board will receive a presentation on Health Services Director Anthony Arton's Workplan for fiscal year 2024-2025.
Some of the most important work in the supervisors’ day will take place in closed session as they hold interviews and consider making appointments to fill the director jobs in the Social Services, Water Resources and Public Works departments, as well as the administrator of Special Districts.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Adopt a proclamation designating the month of May 2023 as Military Appreciation Month.
5.2: Adopt proclamation designating May 4 to 11, 2024, as National Osteogenesis Imperfecta Awareness Week in Lake County.
5.3: Adopt a proclamation designating the week of May 18 to 24, 2024, as National Safe Boating Week in Lake County.
5.4: Adopt proclamation designating May 2024 as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month in Lake County.
5.5: Approve travel to Orlando, Florida exceeding 1,500 miles for Deputy County Administrative Officer Casey Moreno to attend the Government Finance Officers Association annual conference from June 9 to 12, 2024 in an amount not to exceed $4,000.
5.6: Approve first amendment to agreement between county of Lake and 360 Junk Removal and Hauling, for nuisance abatement services, for an increase of $50,000, total amount not to exceed $100,000, for a term from Aug. 30, 2022 through June 30, 2024; and authorize the chair to sign.
5.7: Approve updates to Section 19.1 – “Acceptable Use Policy” of the “Board of Supervisors, County of Lake, CA, Policies and Procedures Manual.”
5.8: A) Approve the addition of a fixed asset titled ‘Palo Alto 1410 firewall HA Pair’ in 2023-2024 Capital Asset Listing in the amount of $93,186; and B) Approve budget transfer of $87,000 from account 001-1904-719.01-11, ‘Salaries and Wages, Permanent’ to account 001-1904-719.62-71; and C) Waive the formal bidding process due to cooperative purchasing and authorize the IT director to issue a purchase order in the amount of $93,185.88 to EPlus for a Palo Alto 1410 HA pair firewall and security services.
5.9: Adopt proclamation designating May 15, 2024 as California Peace Officers’ Memorial Day and May 12 to 18, 2024 as National Police Week in Lake County.
5.10: Adopt resolution revising the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Adopted Budget of the county of Lake by canceling reserves in Fund 266 CSA #6 Finley Water System Capital Improvement Reserve Designation, in the amount of $40,000 to make appropriations in the Budget Unit 8466, Object Code 784.18-00 Maintenance – Buildings & Improvements, for the permanent repair of the Finley Water Mainline.
5.11: Approve late travel claims for August-December 2023 and January 2024 for Long-Term Care Ombudsman Volunteer, Heather Hurn Not available Not available
5.12: Adopt proclamation designating the month of May 2024 as National Foster Care Month in Lake County.
5.13: Approve Lake County’s System Improvement Plan for the term of November 2021 to November 2025 and authorize the chair to sign.
5.14: Approve Administrative Encroachment Permit #24-07 - Temporary closure of a portion of Clear Lake near Buckingham Homes Association office from May 17 to 19, 2024 for the 2024 Buckingham Test and Tune Boat and Car Show.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:03 a.m.: Pet of the Week.
6.3, 9:04 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating May 15, 2024 as California Peace Officers’ Memorial Day and May 12 to 18, 2024 as National Police Week in Lake County.
6.4, 9:06 a.m.: Presentation of Proclamation Designating May 2024 as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month in Lake County.
6.5, 9:08 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the month of May 2024 as National Foster Care Month in Lake County.
6.6, 9:10 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating May 4 to 11, 2024, as National Osteogenesis Imperfecta Awareness Week in Lake County.
6.7, 9:12 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the week of May 18 to 24, 2024, as National Safe Boating Week in Lake County.
6.8, 9:14 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the month of May 2023 as Military Appreciation Month.
6.9, 9:30 a.m.: Consideration of the March 31, 2024, report of Lake County pooled investments.
6.10, 11 a.m.: Presentation of Health Services Director Anthony Arton's Workplan for fiscal year 2024-2025.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of letter of support for Clearlake’s grant application for Lakeshore Drive Safety Enhancement Project.
7.3: Consideration of (a) letter of support to the Lake County Resource Conservation District for a request for proposal to the Governor's Office of Planning and Research for the Forest Sector Market Development Grant with the Lake County Community Risk Reduction Authority JPA as the Funded Partner; and (b) authorize county counsel to provide services and invoice the Lake County Community Risk Reduction Authority JPA for up to 25 hours of grant support.
7.4: Consideration of lease agreement between the county of Lake and Charlie Sawyer, Nancy Sawyer, Trustees of the Charles A. Sawyer and Nancy J. Sawyer Trust in the amount of $12,171 per month for five years.
7.5: Consideration of Amendment No. 1 between county of Lake and Ever Well Health Systems for adult residential support services and specialty mental health services in the amount of $125,000 for Fiscal Year 2023-24.
7.6: Consideration of resolution further amending resolution Number 2019-70 and 2019-162 to clarify the procedures used in the collection of taxes due pursuant to the Lake County Cannabis Cultivation Tax Ordinance.
ASSESSMENT HEARINGS
8.1: Consideration of withdrawal on the following assessment appeal applications: a) No. 07-2023 Charles Bellig; and b) No. 27-2022 Deborah Bakhtiari; and c) No. 28-2022 through 71-2022 Geysers; and d) No. 01-2023 through 04-2023 Ori Wheeler; and e) No. 21-2022 & 25-2022 Safeway; and f) No. 74-2022 Davita Inc.
8.2: Consideration of request by the appellant to continue the following assessment appeal applications: a) No. 06-2023 Blakely Hull; and b) 73-2022 Robert McMullen; and c) 24-2022 Tesla Energy; and d) 05-2023 Wendy Jameson.
8.3: Consideration of Stipulation for Assessment Appeal No. 22-2022 and 23-2022, Robert Coats.
CLOSED SESSION
9.1: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b) (1): Interviews for Social Services director, appointment of Social Services director.
9.2: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b) (1): Interviews for Water Resources director, appointment of Water Resources director.
9.3: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b) (1): Interviews for Public Works director, appointment of Public Works director.
9.4: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b) (1): Interviews for Special Districts administrator, appointment of Special Districts administrator.
9.5: Public employee evaluation: Information technology director.
9.6: Public employee evaluation: Child Support Services director.
9.7: Public employee evaluation: Animal Control director.
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. — In an effort to help North Coast residents kickoff National Wildfire Preparedness Month, Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire (D-North Coast) hosted his annual virtual Wildfire Preparedness and Prevention Town Hall with Cal Fire Director/Fire Chief Joe Tyler on Wednesday.
During the Town Hall, Senate Leader McGuire and Chief Tyler discussed how communities can best prepare for wildfire season, with summer approaching and temperatures on the rise.
The state of California has made record investments during the past several years to hire thousands of additional firefighters, expand the ground and aerial attack firefighting fleets, modernize emergency alert policies, manage changing landscapes through dead and dying tree and vegetation removal, and create new fire breaks surrounding communities.
“As fire season becomes longer and more extreme, we are taking big, bold action to better prevent and respond to wildfires,” Pro Tem McGuire said. “California is on the frontlines of our climate crisis and we are making historic investments to increase our firefighting resources and capabilities in every corner of the state. We have seen our communities devastated by wildfires over the years – we’ve seen lives lost, homes burned to the ground, and beloved communities forever changed. California is committed to ensuring lasting change through new fire prevention projects and that our communities are more equipped and prepared than ever before.”
Over the past eight years, the state has expanded Cal Fire ranks from 6,700 to 12,000 positions, including positioning a few hundred new Cal Fire and county firefighters in the North Bay and North Coast, and California will hire an additional 1,000 full-time Cal Fire firefighters over the next few years.
California also has expanded training facilities to bring on new firefighters and formerly incarcerated residents to enter the fire service, and expanded the number of new firefighting planes and helicopters.
And just last year, Pro Tem McGuire secured funding for new fire trucks, fire training facilities and equipment in all corners of the North Bay and North Coast.
In recent years, California also has treated more than 545,000 acres of California forest lands to make them more fire safe and resilient, treated 96,500 acres of wildlands with prescribed burns, and invested millions of dollars to deploy wildfire detection cameras to areas most under threat of fire danger, which aids in response to pinpointed incident locations.
“It’s never too early to start preparing for wildfire season in California,” said Cal Fire Director/Fire Chief Joe Tyler. “By taking steps now to harden homes and create defensible space, Californians can dramatically reduce their risk of fire damage. At Cal Fire, we are deploying firefighting resources throughout the state to keep families and communities safe this upcoming fire season.”
With more than 25 percent of Californians living in areas considered at risk of very high or extreme fire threat, the need to get fire-ready is more important than ever.
Click here to see tips from Cal Fire on hardening your home, creating a defensible space and more.
NASA engineers, managers, and flight directors recently traded their cubicles and conference rooms for an ancient volcanic field in the northern Arizona desert to participate in a field geology course aimed at arming them with first-hand experience in what Artemis astronauts will do when they explore the Moon.
The two-and-a-half-day exercise for Artemis mission support teams was a condensed version of the rigorous training astronauts receive to prepare for Artemis missions to the lunar South Pole region, but shares an important purpose.
“We are building a common language and a common understanding of what it will be like to do field geology on the surface of the Moon,” said Cindy Evans, Artemis geology training lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “This is so the people who are building spacesuits, building tools, building software systems, the people who will be flight controllers, and the managers who direct and fund all of this, can all understand the interlocking parts of surface exploration.”
Small teams led by geology experts from NASA, the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey), and academia studied maps, built hypotheses about the geologic history of the area, and trekked for miles to test whether those hypotheses match reality. This field test required smashing rocks with hammers to study their mineral makeup, and carefully selecting a few to examine further after returning from the field in the same way Artemis astronauts will return samples from the Moon.
Geology studies help uncover the rich physical history of an area. Each rock type represents a process and the order of layering of those rocks reveals a story that could unlock a planet’s secrets, offering clues for how it was formed and evolved over time.
“The Moon doesn’t have an atmosphere or flowing water like we have here on Earth, and doesn’t have plate tectonics, which are processes that erase a lot of the evidence from the early Earth,” said Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist in the Exploration Systems Development Mission directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The Moon still has that evidence, so we can go to the Moon and learn lessons about our home planet that we can’t learn here on the Earth.”
In the desert, as the mission support team members practiced the fundamental methods used by geologists to study an environment, they pieced together the story of the region. The planned walking paths, known as traverses, frequently changed based on what they were finding.
Teams embraced the principle of “flexecution” — or flexible execution — a practice that could come into play as astronauts explore the lunar surface and report findings to a backroom of scientists supporting the mission in the Mission Control Center at Johnson, referred to as the science evaluation room.
“The geologists will be the science evaluation room during Artemis missions, assimilating real-time mission data to understand the observations, tracking the samples, going back to the maps that they’ve built trying to understand how all those pieces fit together on a day-by-day and traverse-by-traverse basis,” said Evans. “When the astronauts return home with the samples and with their full observations, the scientists can hit the ground running to address key science questions.”
With Artemis, NASA will study the history of the Moon and its relationship with Earth and build a blueprint for deeper space exploration.
“What we’re doing now is laying the groundwork for long-term exploration at the Moon,” Bleacher said. “Laying that groundwork will then help us explore other destinations like Mars. The Moon is a part of everything that we understand here on the Earth. It’s also an anchor point to help us understand how to interpret everything else in the solar system.”
NASA conducts field tests in locations on Earth that have lunar-like landscapes to test a variety of operations and procedures, as well as new technologies, before leaving Earth for Artemis missions on the Moon. In addition to this geology training to build a foundation for mission support teams, another team will conduct simulated moonwalks in the Arizona desert this spring with mockup spacesuits to test hardware and new capabilities, like a heads-up display using augmented reality, for future Artemis missions.
Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts – including the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut – to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before prepare for human missions to Mars for the benefit of all.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The latest report from the Lake County Association of Realtors on home sales shows that the number of homes going up for sale has risen, but home prices have softened over the past year.
Over the month of March 2024, a total of 69 single family homes were sold through the multiple listing service, compared to 55 in February and 82 sold a year ago during the month of March 2023. These include traditionally built “stick-built” houses as well as manufactured homes on land.
There were 12 sales of mobile homes in parks in March, compared to two sold in February and compared to 17 sold in March last year.
For bare land (lots and acreage) 24 were sold in March, compared to 27 sold in February, and also 27 were sold during that time period the previous year in March 2023.
There are 354 “stick built” and manufactured homes on the market right now. If the rate of sales stays the same at 69 homes sold per month, there are currently 5.13 months of inventory on the market. That means that if no new homes are brought to the market for sale, in 5.13 months, all of these homes would be sold and there would be no homes available for sale.
Less than six months of inventory is generally considered to be a “sellers’ market” while more than six months of inventory is often called a “buyers’ market.”
April’s inventory is lower than February 2024, when there were 6.1 months of inventory available. Agents are currently reporting an uptick in buyers wanting to see homes and write offers on properties.
The total percentage of homes bought for all cash in March: 22% (compared to 35% for February and 27% for a year ago in March 2023); 49% were financed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (“conventional loans”) compared to 38% for February and 44% for March 2023; 12% were financed by FHA (compared to 16% in February and 11% in March 2023); 4% were financed by the VA or CalVet (compared to 2% in February and 5% for March 2023); 12% had other financing such as private loans, USDA, or seller financed notes (compared to 9% in February, and compared to 10% for March 2023).
One of the closed sales in March was reported as an assumable loan that was assumed by the buyer.
The homes in March sold at an average of 97% of the asking price at the time the property went under contract, but an average of 92% when compared to the original asking price when the property first came on the market.
This means that the asking home prices had been reduced from their original list prices before an offer was accepted.
In February, homes sold for 93.1% of the asking price at the time the property went under contract, and 87% of the original asking price.
A year ago in March, homes were selling at 97% of the asking price at the time the property went under contract and at 90% when compared to the original asking price.
The average time on the market for residential properties in March was 79 days, compared to 54 days in February and 43 days a year ago in March 2023.
The median sale price of a single family home in Lake County in March was $300,000, which is higher than the $275,000 median sale price for February but lower than the median sale price a year ago of $324,500 during March 2023.
This would indicate that in March, the higher priced homes were selling in greater numbers to bring the median sale price up compared to February.
The median asking price of homes on the market right now is $397,000, which is higher than February’s median price of $370,000.
This would indicate that more higher priced homes are hitting the market compared to lower priced homes.
An extensive CO2 monitoring network set up around the San Francisco Bay Area by an atmospheric chemist from the University of California, Berkeley, has recorded the first evidence that the adoption of electric vehicles is measurably lowering the area's carbon emissions.
The network of sensors, most of them in the East Bay, is the brainchild of Ronald Cohen, UC Berkeley professor of chemistry, who envisions inexpensive, publicly funded pollution and carbon dioxide monitors widely distributed around urban areas to pinpoint emission sources and the neighborhoods most affected.
An estimated 70% of global CO2 emissions come from cities, yet few urban areas have granular data about where those emissions originate.
In 2012, Cohen began setting up a Bay Area sensing network that has now grown to more than 80 stations, including seven in San Francisco, that stretches from Sonoma County through Vallejo and down to San Leandro.
Between 2018 and 2022, 57 of the sensors in the Berkeley Environmental Air Quality and CO2 Network, or BEACO2N, recorded a small but steady decrease in CO2 emissions — about 1.8% annually — that translates to a 2.6% yearly drop in vehicle emission rates.
Looking at California data for electric vehicle adoption — which is very high in the Bay Area — Cohen and graduate student Naomi Asimow concluded that the decrease was due to passenger vehicle electrification.
“That's 2.6% less CO2 per mile driven each year,” said Asimow, who is in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science.
The study, Cohen said, shows the utility of an urban network for monitoring and managing federal, state and city mandates for CO2 reduction.
“We show from atmospheric measurements that adoption of electric vehicles is working, that it's having the intended effect on CO2 emissions,” Cohen said.
This good news is tempered by the fact that, to meet California and Bay Area carbon reduction goals, the yearly decrease needs to be much greater.
“The state of California has set this goal for net zero emissions by 2045, and the goal is for 85% of the reduction to come from actual reduction of emissions, as opposed to direct removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. What we report is around half as fast as we need to go to get to net zero emissions by 2045,” Asimow said.
“We're at 1.8% per year today. To get to the state's goal, we would need 3.7%,” Cohen added. “So it's not crazy higher than where we are; we're almost half of the way to that goal. But we have to sustain that for another 20 years.”
The results emphasize the urgent need for accelerated actions to reduce CO2 in order to achieve the ambitious zero emission targets that cities seek, he said.
Asimow, Cohen and their colleagues published their findings online today, April 4, in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
How to monitor climate goals
One impetus for the study was to see whether the BEACO2N network could detect any downward trend in vehicle emissions since the state set goals for greenhouse gas reduction and the electric vehicle market has blossomed.
“We were curious if our data would show us our progress toward meeting California's emissions goals,” Asimow said.
Typically, CO2 emissions are estimated from known sources of carbon: how much gas is used in heating and, for vehicles, the fuel efficiency of registered vehicles in an area and overall fuel consumption.
Asimow and Cohen noted that this "bottom-up" method for estimating carbon dioxide emissions did not predict the small but significant downward trend in CO2 emissions.
The UC Berkeley team's estimates combined direct CO2 measurements with meteorological data to calculate ground-level emissions — an approach using atmospheric observations that did pick up the modest downturn in CO2 levels.
The researchers employed a Bayesian statistical analysis that started with estimates based on economic data, but they revised them based on their network's measured CO2 concentrations and a meteorological model to predict where the emissions originated.
Cohen argues that his sensors are inexpensive enough — less than $10,000 per sensor, versus 20 times as much for pollution monitoring stations operated by the Environmental Protection Agency — that major cities could afford to install a network to get a more granular view of unhealthy areas and sources of pollution.
The network sensors also measure five critical air pollutants: carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides (NO and NO2), ozone and particulates (PM 2.5).
Los Angeles, California; Providence, Rhode Island; and Glasgow, Scotland, have already adopted Cohen's sensors to create their own pollution monitoring networks.
"We show that you can make observations and measure changes due to policies of all kinds in a cost-effective and relatively rapid way," Cohen said. "The network involves about half a million dollars' worth of equipment — a one-time investment — and a person per year thinking about it. One of our goals is to demonstrate, both on the CO2 and the air quality side of what we do, that this is cost-effective and translatable and easily accessible to the public in a way that nothing else is."
In the future, satellites could monitor carbon dioxide levels across wide areas and with more granularity, but those satellites are not yet available, Cohen said.
"The optimal solution will be some combination of space-based assets and ground-based measurements," he said.
Asimow was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (1752814). Former Miller Postdoctoral Fellow Alexander Turner, now at the University of Washington in Seattle, also contributed to the research.
Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A solar storm is bringing Lake County a special treat this weekend.
Overnight, the aurora borealis was visible in Lake County’s sky.
The light show was faintly visible to the naked eye, but showed up more clearly with use of photography.
An extreme geomagnetic storm is causing the auroras to be more widely visible across the globe.
Based on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, aurora activity was expected to peak early Saturday morning but could continue to be visible through Sunday.
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.
The Richard Paddock Blacksmith Shop will celebrate its grand opening on Sunday, May 19, 2024. Courtesy photo. KELSEYVILLE, Calif. — A year-long project to build a historically accurate working blacksmith shop will mark its official grand opening this weekend.
The Lake County Historical Society will hold its annual member's picnic in the oak grove at the Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum beginning at noon on Sunday, May 19.
This year, the picnic will feature the opening of the museum's blacksmith shop with demonstrations.
The working blacksmith shop was the vision of Greg Dills, past museum executive director and longtime Ely Museum supporter.
Volunteers began on the building in 2018.
The project is the culmination of six years of effort, hundreds of hours of volunteer work and thousands of dollars in donations of money and materials.
Ely Museum supporters have spent years working on the blacksmith shop. Courtesy photo.
Many of those donations came from Elizabeth Paddock. The shop is named in honor of her late husband.
In the 1800s, every town in Lake County had a blacksmith shop. Without the blacksmith's wares, there would be no transportation (wagons and horse equipment), no houses (nails, hinges, etc.), no farm equipment, and very little infrastructure (roads, communication, etc.). The blacksmith shop was the hardware store of the period.
The Ely Museum is bringing a working Lake County Blacksmith Shop back to life as a window into the past.
Come out to the Historical Society Member's Picnic and watch blacksmithing in action. The picnic is free to members and $10 per person for non-members, but free if you become a member at the gate. They provide barbecue burgers and dogs, water, ice tea and coffee.
The rest is potluck style, so bring a dish to share. There will be sodas, beer and wine to buy.
The Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum is located at 9921 Soda Bay Road, just off Highway 29 between Kit's Corner and the Riviera Market.
The Kemp and Tocher blacksmith shop in Middletown, California. Courtesy photo.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has many dogs waiting for new homes this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Alaskan husky, Anatolian shepherd, Chesapeake Bay retriever, Chihuahua, German shepherd, hound, Labrador Retriever, pit bull terrier, Rottweiler and terrier.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
Those dogs and the others shown on this page 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.
The shelter is located at 4949 Helbush 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.
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg gives Jenni Ingram, band teacher for Terrace Middle School and Clear Lake High School, a plaque honoring her as the 2024 Lake County Teacher of the Year on Friday, May 10, 2024. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Office of Education. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Jenni Ingram, band teacher at Clear Lake High School and Terrace Middle School, has been named Lake County Teacher of the Year for 2024.
“Jenni Ingram's passion, leadership, and commitment to educational excellence not only inspires her students but also her colleagues and community members," said Liesl Hendrix, principal of Clear Lake High School. “She is a true role model whose influence extends far beyond the classroom.”
Ingram received notification of the honor on Friday, May 10, during Teacher Appreciation Week.
Her students and colleagues gathered at Clear Lake High School, where she was presented with the Teacher of the Year plaque and flowers.
Ingram was chosen as the Lakeport Unified School District Teacher of the Year in March.
In late April, Ingram participated in an interview at the Lake County Office of Education. She was chosen from a group of four other Lake County District Teachers of the Year to represent Lake County at the California Teacher of the Year competition this fall.
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg acknowledged the fantastic work of each Lake County teacher. “Each and every one [teacher] works diligently to foster a thriving learning environment for students. Their empathy, courage, and support are exemplary.”
Other District Teachers of the Year include:
• Heather Koschik — Kelseyville Unified School District; • Jenny Johnson — Konocti Unified School District; • Angela Stevenson — Middletown Unified School District; • Mara Hesterberg — Upper Lake Unified School District.
With 16 years of service in the district, Ingram has been pivotal in nurturing the musical talents of students ranging from eager middle school beginners to ambitious upper-class teenagers.
At the heart of Ingram's teaching philosophy is her commitment to creating a supportive and inclusive atmosphere that respects the individuality of each student. Her approach is tailored to meet diverse learning styles, abilities, and backgrounds, ensuring that all students receive the personalized support and resources they need to succeed.
“Music is for everyone,” Ingram said. “Music opens doors to emotional and academic growth for every student. It is more than just learning an instrument, it's about building confidence, empathy, and resilience, which are essential for success in all areas of life.”
Her classroom is more than a learning space; it is a sanctuary where students feel safe, supported, and valued. Here, they are encouraged to express themselves and explore music without fear of judgment.
“Mrs. Ingram’s influence goes beyond the classroom and even beyond the district. She collaborates with band instructors across Lake County, enhancing the musical education of students throughout our community. Her commitment to sharing best practices and resources with fellow educators ensures a high standard of musical instruction and enriches the learning experiences of all band students,” Hendrix said.
Members of the interview panel included: Rebecca Walker, deputy superintendent of schools; Anna Sabalone, Lake County Teacher of the Year 2023; Jennifer Kelly, former Lake County and California Teacher of the Year; Alan Siegel, former Lake County and California Teacher of the Year; and Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg.
Lake County has had three California Teachers of the Year in the last 18 years. Erica Boomer from Upper Lake Unified School District was named a California Teacher of the Year 2019. Jennifer Kelly from the Middletown Unified School District received the honor in 2011, and Alan Siegel from Konocti Unified School District received the honor in 2005.
The Lake County Teacher of the Year program is administered through the Lake County Office of Education and the California Department of Education. For more information about Jenni Ingram and the Lake County District Teachers of the Year, please visit lakecoe.org/TOY.
Jenni Ingram, band teacher for Terrace Middle School and Clear Lake High School, received flowers for being named Lake County Teacher of the Year during her celebration at the Clear Lake High School as Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg looked on on Friday, May 10, 2024. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Office of Education.
In most American families led by couples, both parents are in the workforce. Almost three-quarters of American mothers with children under 18 work. At the same time, nearly 1 in 4 U.S. children are being raised by single moms.
Around the world, however, most employed women automatically get paid maternity leave. And in most wealthy countries, they also have access to affordable child care.
These holes in the U.S. safety net are a problem for many reasons, including one I’ve been researching with my colleagues for years: Paid parental leave and child care help women stay in the workforce and earn higher wages over time. This lack of parental leave and child care may explain why the U.S. is no longer a leader in women’s workforce participation.
Maternity leave
The U.S. is one of a handful of countries worldwide that doesn’t mandate paid maternity leave. The others are Papua New Guinea and some small Pacific island nations.
Paid maternity leave, which typically lasts at least three months, needs to be designed thoughtfully. When women can and do take 15 months or more off after having a baby, as they may in a few countries, long leaves can limit mothers’ work experience and lead to discrimination.
Denmark offers what I think is a strong example of a national policy.
There, moms get almost 22 weeks of paid maternity leave and dads get two weeks of paid paternity leave. On top of that, mothers can take another 19 weeks and fathers can take another 11 weeks of paid parental leave. This policy, which includes additional flexibility, grants parents both the time and resources necessary to care for children, without “mommy tracking” mothers.
Child care
In many wealthy countries, child care and preschool are considered a mainstay of the educational system. But in the U.S., only about two-thirds of all children between the ages of 3 and 6 are getting publicly supported child care of any kind, including kindergarten, versus nearly all of the kids that age in France.
High-quality early childhood education programs are associated with many excellent outcomes for children from lower-income families, including higher rates of educational attainment, employment and wages.
In other words, when governments invest in child care and maternity leave, it fosters a more productive, healthy and creative workforce.
This article, originally published April 19, 2018, was updated on May 10, 2024, with more recent data.
While on the road, you’re probably thinking more about your destination than the pavement you’re driving over. But building roads requires a host of engineering feats, from developing the right pavement materials to using heavy equipment to lay them down. The better they’re built, the longer roads last and the fewer construction delays drivers have to endure.
Asphalt binder is refined from crude oil. From crude oil, refiners first extract gasoline, kerosene and oil, and what remains at the bottom becomes the asphalt. Portland cement is manufactured using several different ingredients, including limestone, sand, clay, silica and alumina.
Engineers compact the mixture of asphalt binder and aggregates together at an elevated temperature, about 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius), which glues the aggregates together into the final product, called asphalt concrete.
Hydration bonds the cement to the aggregates to make the product, called Portland cement concrete, stronger. With this process, there’s no external heating involved.
Pavement structure
Asphalt concrete’s pavement structure typically has three main layers: the base layer, the intermediate layer and the surface layer.
The layers that make up pavement.Mansour Solaimanian
Engineers call the existing ground where the pavement goes the subgrade. On top of the subgrade goes a new layer of unbound soil and stone, where the aggregates aren’t glued together. This is called the subbase, or unbound aggregate base.
The base layer can be either stones packed together without any binding agent or a combination of stone and asphalt binder.
Once road builders make the base, it is time to build the asphalt concrete layers: the base layer, the intermediate layer and the surface layer. All these layers contain the aggregates – the pieces of rock and sand – glued together with the asphalt binder in some way.
Engineers determine how many layers to build and how thick to make each layer by figuring out how much traffic will drive over the road. The more traffic, the thicker the pavement needs to be. For example, on interstate highways, the depth of the layers combined could be 20 inches (51 centimeters) or more.
The asphalt concrete base layer is placed and compacted by a paver.Mansour Solaimanian
Building a strong road
The road builders place the material on the road with an asphalt paving machine called a paver. An operator runs the paver, which takes the materials from a truck and places them on the road. After that, heavy-duty rollers compact it down, make it strong and get it ready for vehicles.
For a strong and durable road, engineers first pick the best subgrade, or place on top of which to build pavement. If the subgrade is too weak, the road might crack and fail – even if the pavement uses the best materials.
Engineers compact the subgrade before the paving process.Mansour Solaimanian
First, the road builders use rollers to pack the subgrade down. Once they’ve compacted the subgrade, they place the stone aggregates directly on top of the subgrade and compact them down. This aggregate base on the subgrade provides a sturdy foundation for the asphalt layers.
If the road builders do not use the right materials, or do not put them together correctly, or do not design the pavement structure for the expected traffic, then the road can crack, rut and fail.
Cracking occurs either at extremely low temperatures or from heavy trucks and buses repeatedly driving over the road. Rutting, which refers to noticeable impressions in the road’s surface, occurs mostly during summer heat under heavy trucks or at road intersections.
Potholes are a big road problem you’ve probably seen before. They often show up in the spring after water trapped in the pavement freezes over winter and then melts in spring. This melting process weakens the road, making it more breakable. Then, when vehicles drive over it, they can create potholes.
The road may crack over time and with repeated use.Mansour SolaimanianRutting, like the indent at this intersection, happens when the road is exposed to standing vehicles.Mansour Solaimanian
Before the road gets built, the materials undergo testing in a laboratory to make sure they can stand the loads from traffic and environment.
Lab testing of the road materials includes wheel tracking under water to make sure the materials hold up.Mansour Solaimanian
Engineers in the lab expose the pavement materials to both freezing and very hot temperatures to make sure they can withstand any weather. They also expose the pavement materials to water to make sure the materials will not fall apart if it rains or floods.
At the Penn State pavement laboratory, my team is testing asphalt mixtures to which we’ve added substances called modifiers. These include special polymers and fibers that could make the road stronger.
The next time you’re on the road, remember that it takes a good amount of engineering and tremendous teamwork to create that smooth pavement surface you drive on.
The 106 members of the California Highway Patrol Academy’s latest cadet class are sworn in at their graduation ceremony on Friday, May 10, 2024. Photos courtesy of the CHP. The newest members of the California Highway Patrol were sworn in on Friday during a graduation ceremony at the CHP Academy in West Sacramento.
The 106 officers are part of the CHP’s multiyear recruiting campaign to fill 1,000 vacant officer positions by hiring qualified individuals from California’s diverse communities.
“These men and women have chosen to dedicate themselves to a career in public service. They have completed several months of rigorous training at the CHP Academy to prepare them to serve the people of California,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “While this job is one of the most difficult things they will do in their entire life, it is also the most rewarding thing that they will do, and we are proud to have them as part of the CHP family.”
The swearing-in ceremony for the new officers marks the completion of a challenging 26-week journey at the CHP Academy.
They will report to one of the 103 CHP Area offices throughout the state to begin serving the people of California.
At the CHP Academy, cadet training starts with nobility in policing, leadership, professionalism and ethics, and cultural diversity.
Additionally, cadets receive instruction on mental illness response and crisis intervention techniques.
The CHP Academy graduating cadets at their graduation ceremony on Friday, May 10, 2024. Photos courtesy of the CHP.
Training also covers vehicle patrol, crash investigation, first aid, and the apprehension of suspected violators, including those who drive under the influence.
Cadets also receive training in traffic control, report writing, recovery of stolen vehicles, assisting the motoring public, issuing citations, emergency scene management and various codes, including the California Vehicle Code, Penal Code, and Health and Safety Code.
The CHP has seen an outpouring interest in joining the ranks since the onset of a multiyear recruitment campaign in June 2022.
In the first four months of 2024, the CHP received more than 7,600 cadet applications — a more than 100% increase from the same period in 2022.
To accommodate the surge of interest, the CHP has been holding three Academy classes simultaneously for the first time in the Department’s history.
The next cadet graduation from the CHP Academy is scheduled for July 12.
For more information about a life-changing career with the CHP, visit the agency’s website and register for our online hiring seminar at 6:30 p.m. on May 22.
The CHP Academy graduating cadets at their graduation ceremony on Friday, May 10, 2024. Photos courtesy of the CHP.