LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Authorities said a Hidden Valley Lake woman died on Thursday in a solo-vehicle crash along Highway 29.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office identified the victim of the crash as Dorothy Maxine Tarelli, 52.
Sheriff’s spokesperson Lauren Berlinn said positive identification of Tarelli is pending pathology results.
The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office reported that at 2:18 p.m. Thursday it received a call of a crash with a vehicle down an embankment on Highway 29 south of Bradford Road near Middletown.
When CHP officers arrived on scene, they determined that it was a solo vehicle wreck involving a 2003 Toyota.
The CHP said Tarelli was traveling southbound on Highway 29 when she “failed to maintain the roadway,” resulting in the Toyota going off the road’s west edge and hitting two trees before rolling over.
Tarelli’s Toyota came to rest down an embankment at the edge of St. Helena Creek, the CHP said.
The CHP said Tarelli, who was using her seat belt, died of her injuries at the scene.
Traffic at the time was minimal and not impacted due to the crash scene being located off the highway, the CHP said.
This crash is still under investigation by CHP’s Clear Lake Area office.
Anyone who has any further details regarding this crash is asked to contact Officer Mahorney at the CHP’s Clear Lake Area office, telephone 707-279-0103.
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.
Morgan Polikoff, University of Southern California
The National Commission on Excellence in Education’s release of a report titled “A Nation at Risk” in 1983 was a pivotal point in the history of American education. The report used dire language, lamenting that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”
Using Cold War language, the report also famously stated: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”
The report ushered in four decades of ambitious education reforms at the state and federal levels. Those reforms included landmark policy shifts like George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, Barack Obama’s Race to the Top program and major state reforms in areas including teacher quality, school choice and test-based accountability for schools and teachers. But what is the legacy of “A Nation at Risk” 40 years after its publication? And what are the implications for school reform in the coming years?
As a scholar of education who specializes in standards-based reform and accountability, I believe important lessons can be learned about American education by examining what has taken place since the release of the report. Here are three:
1. Education reform has improved outcomes, but progress has slowed or reversed in the past decade
The U.S. has had major challenges with educational performance that long predate “A Nation at Risk.” One is that too many students are not mastering grade-level material. Another is that not enough are enrolling in and completing college given the benefits of college to individuals and society. Additionally, large gaps exist in both of those areas based on race and ethnicity and income.
Since the report, students from all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups have continuously made achievement gains, and gaps have narrowed considerably since the 1970s – especially in the early grades. Yet low levels of achievement and gaps in achievement remain. For instance, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 34% of fourth graders scored below the “basic” level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, meaning they weren’t reading at grade level. Since COVID-19, national assessment results in reading and math indicate the pandemic erased two decades of achievement gains; for instance, in eighth grade math the number of students scoring below basic increased from 31% in 2019 to 38% in 2022.
2. The reforms did not address the root causes of the problems
The report spurred four decades of intense reform led by states and the federal government. But these reforms have largely not addressed the major causes of poor educational performance – poverty and other factors outside of school, as well as highly decentralized educational systems that thwart meaningful school improvement.
While schools can help lessen these disparities in school readiness between more and less advantaged children, the report failed to look beyond schools for solutions to problems that stem from social inequality.
The narrow view of “A Nation at Risk” is notable because the widely accepted wisdom of the time, especially among Republicans, and going back to the 1966 Coleman Report, was that schools aren’t a primary driver of inequality. After all, the Coleman Report found that differences in school resources, like money and books, didn’t account for differences in student achievement between more and less advantaged children.
Even the education efforts since the report have not been able to address the structural barriers in U.S. education to large-scale improvement. For instance, in a recent book I show that state and federal policies over the past 30 years that focus on improving schools through better and clearer standards have only modestly improved teaching.
A big part of why standards and other education reforms have failed has to do with the fact that school systems in the U.S. are remarkably decentralized. About 13,000 school districts and their individual teachers exercise substantial control over what actually happens in classrooms. The inability of policymakers at higher levels – such as states or the federal government – to meaningfully change school practice partially explains why other major reforms have failed to achieve real results. Examples include the Obama administration’s US$7 billion school turnaround plan and teacher evaluation reforms. In a more centralized system, policies enacted at the state and federal levels could be implemented as intended; that is rarely the case in U.S. education.
3. The political coalitions that brought reform have fallen apart
As on other topics, Americans are highly polarized on education policy. From “A Nation at Risk” through even much of the Obama administration, many aspects of the education reform agenda had bipartisan agreement. Governors of both parties came together to enact standards and testing reforms that set expectations for student learning and measured student progress against those expectations in the 1980s and 1990s. Congress voted overwhelmingly for the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, calling for more rigorous standards and more frequent testing to drive educational improvement.
And some versions of school choice – especially charter schools – were supported by Republican and Democratic administrations in Washington and nationwide. Even the now-controversial Common Core standards, which aimed to create consistent expectations for student learning in math and English nationwide, were originally bipartisan. That is, they were created and endorsed by leaders from both parties.
And expanding choice programs continue to drive down public school enrollment in states across the nation. Over a million students have been lost from public schools, and private school enrollment has increased 4% since the onset of COVID-19.
The result of these trends is that the reform consensus that brought about a broadly national approach to education reform is splintering into red state and blue state versions. I expect red state reform will likely emphasize school choice and a back-to-basics curriculum focused on reading, math and the avoidance of controversial topics. I expect blue state reform will likely emphasize whole-child supports like mental health, social-emotional learning and curriculum that is intended to reflect the culture of the nation’s increasingly diverse student body.
The problems raised in “A Nation at Risk” remain as important as they were in 1983. In my view, national leaders need to continue to improve educational opportunity and performance for America’s schoolchildren. Improved education benefits individuals – those with college degrees have longer life expectancies, higher earnings and wealth and even more happiness than those with a high school degree or lower. Education also benefits societies, leading to greater economic growth. But 40 years after the report, policymakers don’t seem to have learned the lesson that schools alone won’t solve the nation’s educational problems. And if that’s true, the nation remains at risk.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to major changes in employment for all types of U.S. workers, but these changes looked different for women and men.
Some employees transitioned to remote or hybrid work, while essential workers faced hazardous conditions in the workplace. Many workers had to adjust their schedules or leave their jobs. And sudden shifts in demand for goods and services led to fluctuations in employment across different occupations, leading to different changes for men and women.
Overall, full-time, year-round employment declined by 4.4 million workers from 2019 to 2021, according to the Census Bureau’s 2019 and 2021 American Community Survey’s Women and Men’s Detailed Occupations and Median Earnings Tables.
Men lost more of these jobs than women but continued to outnumber women in the labor force. Women’s losses were concentrated in service and retail sales occupations, while men’s were distributed across a broader range of occupations, including construction, transportation, service and sales.
Some occupations grew during the pandemic. Both men and women’s job gains were mostly in the broad category of management, business, science and arts occupations in which men were paid 26% more than women, on average.
In recognition of Equal Pay Day on March 14 and Women’s History Month, this article examines differences in occupational employment shifts for women and men during the COVID pandemic.
Different occupations for women and men
Despite reduced occupational segregation over time, women and men continue to be separated in different kinds of work and receive unequal pay.
Men are much more likely to work in natural resources, construction and maintenance, as well as production, transportation and material moving occupations. And women are more likely to work in: sales and office; service; and management, business, science and arts occupations.
This segregation means that changes in the labor market affect men and women differently.
Between 2019 and 2021, the number of women working full-time, year-round declined 3.4%, and men’s employment declined 4.1%.
Figure 1 shows the total change in employment for all occupations and where these changes were concentrated for men and women. Only one major occupation group (management, business, science and arts) saw employment gains; the other four categories experienced dips for both men and women.
Women’s job losses were concentrated in service occupations (a decline of 1.4 million workers) and sales and office occupations (a decline of around 839,000 workers). Men’s losses were more evenly distributed across the occupational categories.
Declines for women, mostly service and retail
When looking at detailed occupations, the numbers highlight specific kinds of jobs that declined and grew for women between 2019 and 2021.
Service occupations were among those with major declines in women’s employment, including:
• Maids and housekeeping cleaners (an occupation that was 83% women in 2021) declined 31% among women. • Occupations related to food service – waiters/waitresses and cooks (68% and 41% women, respectively) – also saw significant declines for women (39% and 22%, respectively). • Hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists (90% women) declined 35% among women. • Nursing assistants (88% women), many of whom were employed in nursing care facilities, decreased 15% among women. • Child care workers (94% women) declined 23% among women, as many day care and child care centers closed during the pandemic.
Women retail workers were also heavily affected. Cashiers, retail salespersons, and supervisors of retail workers all decreased from 2019 to 2021.
Service and retail sales occupations tend to involve face-to-face work, and many of the organizations that employed these workers closed or experienced reduced demand during the pandemic. These workers also tend to earn significantly less than the median earnings among all full-time, year-round workers ($54,339 in 2021).
While women’s overall employment numbers decreased, some occupations expanded from 2019 to 2021. Many were in management, business, science and arts – occupations that tend to pay more than the median earnings for all workers.
Examples include elementary and middle school teachers (median earnings $55,272 among women), project management specialists ($88,411), and financial managers ($72,352).
Many of these occupations likely allowed remote work and flexible schedules, making it easier for both men and women to accommodate pandemic-related health and family needs.
How men fared
Men’s decreases in employment were more spread out across four occupational groups: service occupations; sales and office occupations; natural resources, construction and maintenance occupations; and production, transportation and material moving occupations.
Among jobs with steep declines: cooks, carpenters, truck drivers and retail salespersons (Figure 3). Men’s earnings in these occupations tended to pay less than the median across all workers.
Men saw increases in highly paid jobs like software developers and engineers (median earnings of $122,738 and $104,517, respectively, for men in 2021) and low-paid occupations like couriers/messengers and stockers/order fillers (median earnings of $40,384 and $31,648, respectively, for men).
Like women, most gains were in management, business, science and arts occupations, though the specific occupations with the biggest increases differed for men and women.
Continued disparities between men and women
Although men lost more jobs than women from 2019 to 2021, they continued to outnumber women among full-time, year-round paid workers: 61.7 million compared to 47.8 million.
In addition, men continued to earn more than women overall and in many of the occupations that grew during the pandemic. For example, among business operations specialists, an occupation that experienced large employment increases for both men and women, women’s median earnings were $60,982, compared to men’s $80,204.
The bottom line: overall, employment declined between 2019 and 2021. But the nature of the changes differed and inequalities persisted between men and women.
The full extent of the impact of the pandemic on employment is still unknown, but the ACS data provide a snapshot of the disparate changes to the labor market for women and men.
Ananda Martin-Caughey is a sociologist in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The working relationship between Lake County’s fire agencies and the Health Services department took another step back this week after the county’s health department head issued a news release about the staffing levels of the Northshore and Lakeport fire districts that the chiefs said is inaccurate.
On Wednesday, Health Services Director Jonathan Portney issued the news release — which later was edited — stating that his department “is fully committed to ensuring public safety in light of the current challenges faced by the Northshore Fire Protection District (NFPD) and Lakeport Fire Protection District (LFPD) in providing adequate emergency medical services (EMS) coverage expressed by the Northshore Fire Protection District.”
Northshore Fire Chief Mike Ciancio said on Thursday during a special district board meeting to discuss staffing — which had been called on Monday, and not in response to Portney’s statement — that a lot of what was in the news release were “lies, that are not true.”
Lakeport Fire Chief Patrick Reitz on Thursday likewise was critical of Portney and the Health Services Department for making the statement without having discussed it beforehand with him or his agency, explaining that it didn’t accurately portray fire department functions.
“Not only have they not talked to us, they didn’t even CC my department with a copy of the news release,” Reitz told Lake County News, explaining that he found out about it when a member of the community gave him the news release.
Portney’s statement said, “the County of Lake Health Services Department is working with partners and other relevant stakeholders to address these shortages and ensure that the community receives the necessary medical care in emergencies.”
“How can they say that when they haven’t reached out and had those discussions with their partner agencies and his peers?” Reitz said.
Since the statement’s release, neither Ciancio nor Reitz has had any contact with Portney, leading them to wonder just which partners and stakeholders he’s actually working with. Both have spoken with county officials to register their concerns about the action on Portney’s part.
The news release also suggests that the districts aren’t responding to emergency calls, which Reitz said isn’t true.
“I am not sure what they are trying to insinuate here, other than I don't appreciate it,” Reitz said.
Portney’s news release was posted on the department’s Facebook page. Lake County News did not receive a copy of it through the normal news release distribution.
Portney and Health Services public information officer Dwight Coddington did not respond to questions emailed to them on Thursday afternoon by Lake County News regarding the statement and its distribution.
The first paragraph of the original version of the statement, which can be seen below, said the challenges in providing adequate medical services coverage had been “expressed by Chief Paul Duncan & Chief Mike Ciancio.”
Duncan works for Cal Fire, not the local districts.
“You have a director who doesn’t even recognize the partner agencies or his peers with those partner agencies,” said Reitz of Portney.
Reitz said Portney’s press statement confuses the 911 emergency medical services, or EMS, system with the system that relates to interfacility transports, lumping the two together when they are separate functions. It also asserts that such transports are the responsibility of fire departments, when they’re really the responsibility of the hospitals.
“There is a huge difference between the 911 EMS system and the interfacility transport system and the laws and the regulations that govern both,” said Reitz.
Ciancio and Reitz said Thursday that all of Lake County’s fire districts are challenged with hiring and retention now, but that no emergencies or sudden changes have occurred in their current operations as Portney’s news release suggests.
Ciancio said operations now are as they have been for the last 18 months, with the district running about 3,800 calls a year.
Of Northshore’s 19 paid positions, 13 are filled to cover one of the largest fire districts in the state, at 357 square miles, and covering 44 miles of Highway 20. Reitz said he has a total of 10 positions.
Meanwhile, emergency 911 response “is not an issue,” said Reitz.
Timing of the statement
The timing of Portney’s news release suggests it’s in response to two recent actions taken separately by Ciancio and Reitz.
Ciancio — who had a meeting last year similar to the one on Thursday to discuss the district’s ongoing hiring challenges — said that, keeping in mind the fragile EMS system and being mindful that no one can afford extra work, he’s been working on a plan for the future in an effort to keep positions filled.
He said he’s not short on ambulances, but increasingly it's hard to keep medics, as they can go to other counties and draw six-figure salaries, an issue he can’t easily remedy due to the district having had two failed tax measures on the ballot. Still, his agency runs two ambulances a day and has had help from a volunteer medic.
Ciancio said he discussed his recruitment and retention ideas at a recent meeting that included only the county’s fire chiefs. Less than 24 hours later, he said Portney was requesting that North Coast EMS monitor daily ambulance providers.
The result is that this week — “all of a sudden,” Ciancio said — Health Services became interested in knowing the availability of emergency ambulances in the county.
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” said Ciancio, who thinks Portney reacted to the secondhand information about that staffing discussion at the chiefs meeting, since the last time the chiefs had a discussion with Portney was in September.
Portney’s statement said the Lake Health Services Department “acknowledges the alert raised by the NFPD about the inadequate coverage of paramedics on the North Shore of the County, as well as how these difficulties will impact Sutter Lakeside Hospital in arranging inter-facility transfers for patients requiring a higher level of care due to the unavailability of air-based resources during adverse weather conditions.”
It also noted, “Health Services Director Jonathan Portney has requested continuous updates on staffing levels and is actively engaging with North Coast EMS, which oversees and ensures adequate services provision (per ordinances) to ensure better communication and coordination.
“The LCHD [Lake County Health Department] is also exploring various solutions to overcome the current challenges, including seeking private support to provide emergency medical services and bolstering the EMS infrastructure. County of Lake Health Services is offering their full support,” it said.
The statement noted that “updates and solutions regarding the ongoing efforts to resolve the EMS shortage and improve emergency response services will be provided during an upcoming Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting.”
Emergency services versus interfacility transports
Emergency ambulances and transport services appear to be an overarching issue at the heart of the matter between Health Services and the fire chiefs.
Ciancio and Reitz said that interfacility transports, which include “priority one” calls for ambulances, are the responsibility of the hospitals, not the fire departments. Such services aren’t even covered in the local fire ordinances or in the fire district taxes paid by Lake County property owners.
Speaking for his side of the lake, Reitz said Sutter Lakeside Hospital cannot get reliable interfacility transport from private ambulance companies, a problem that’s exacerbated when there are weather events or a lack of air resources to move critical patients.
Availability of private ambulance companies is a longtime problem in Lake County which is why more than 15 years ago fire departments had stepped up to try to help fill the breach when an ambulance provider pulled out.
Reitz said the fire districts have wanted to meet with Health Services to try to find solutions.
He said he and his peers in the chiefs association, other partner organizations and agencies, have wanted a seat at the table to work toward a meaningful solution for ambulance services, “and it just hasn’t happened.”
Increasingly, with the districts needing to focus more on taking care of their residents, they’ve been stepping back from interfacility transports, which can take ambulances out of circulation for several hours depending on where they have to go — such as Santa Rosa, San Francisco and Sacramento.
“Is that really fair to our taxpayers when our taxpayers pay for 911 response?” Reitz asked.
Case in point: Reitz, whose district only has one ambulance, said that a few weeks ago Lakeport Fire got a call at 3:50 a.m. for a priority one out of county ambulance transport. He said that despite not wanting to accept the transport, the district did so; he explained that wasn’t the time to raise the issues with resources, when a person needed medical assistance.
Within 10 minutes of accepting it, they had a call in their district that required an ambulance and at that point didn’t have one, meaning that Kelseyville Fire had to cover them.
Reitz said hardly a day goes by when mutual aid isn’t activated in Lake County to respond to calls, as in the case with Kelseyville responding to help Lakeport. “We constantly are crossing borders and backing each other up.”
Two weeks ago he sent an email to county officials about that early morning ambulance call, explaining he didn’t appreciate having to strip his district of its only ambulance to address a situation that is the hospital’s responsibility. Nothing came of that outreach, he said.
On Monday, Reitz sent out a memo explaining that Lakeport Fire was not taking any more priority one calls for interfacility transport indefinitely due to staffing and equipment issues.
Health Services also didn’t respond directly to that email, but Portney’s statement followed two days later.
Ciancio and Reitz said they’ve had few interactions with Portney, who began his job at the start of 2022.
Ciancio said he’s talked to Portney twice in that time, including once last year when Ciancio brought up the issues with ambulance transport. He pointed out that the Board of Supervisors had directed Portney to fix the county’s nearly 20-year-old ambulance ordinance, but that hasn’t happened.
Reitz, who joined Lakeport Fire in November, said he’s spoken once to Portney since his arrival and that they agreed to work together. He said he gave Portney his ideas about addressing the ambulance situation and that while Portney indicated interest, he hasn’t spoken to him about it since.
“When they don’t even come to the table, how are we supposed to address this?” Reitz said.
Ciancio said he’s spoken about the situation with Portney with two members of the Board of Supervisors — EJ Crandell, who represents District 3 and was at the special Thursday afternoon meeting, and Bruno Sabatier, who represents the Clearlake area in District 2 and is one of the board’s members on the North Coast Emergency Medical Service Committee.
Rietz said he did not want to disclose the county officials he spoke to about the matter.
The situation with Portney’s public statement about Lakeport and Northshore followed by roughly two weeks a discussion at the Board of Supervisors in which the Lake County Fire Chief’s Association submitted a letter against the need to spent $20,000 to hire Mike Marsh EMS Consulting for ambulance strike team support through the Regional Disaster Management Services Association.
Under the contract, Marsh’s work included a number of tasks related to interfacility transport and monitoring of the system operations of moving patients from Lake to other counties.
“We feel the County of Lake should not be financially responsible for the request of those resources when it is clearly the responsibility of the sending facilities to arrange transportation for their patients,” the chiefs association letter said.
The letter said the services Marsh was to complete also were redundant with work the chiefs association already is doing, and that the money would be best spent to extend an EMS liaison position held by a current employee.
Despite those concerns, the board unanimously approved spending realignment funds to pay Marsh’s contract.
“He is not what Public Health needs, unfortunately. He is not,” Ciancio said of Marsh.
Ciancio added that when he brings up Marsh in other EMS circles, “they just say good luck with that one.”
A rocky tenure
In addition to the issues with the county’s fire departments, Portney’s 15-month tenure has not been smooth.
In that time, he’s been the focus of seven closed session performance evaluations — the most recent one on Tuesday — with the Board of Supervisors. That’s more than any other county department head, who usually are evaluated once or twice a year. More frequent closed-door evaluations have historically been a precursor to a department head’s departure.
He clashed with former Sheriff Brian Martin over the jail medical program. Health Services has been involved in that program for decades but last year Portney didn’t issue a request for proposals for the program and stated his belief that his department shouldn’t be involved. The supervisors formed an ad hoc committee to address the situation and later approved a six-month medical services contract extension in June and a new four-year, $3.9 million contract with California Forensic Medical Group in December.
Portney also has come under fire for turnover in key positions and for hiring as director of nursing an individual without the required public health nursing credentials, and he’s been criticized for hiring consultants like Marsh based on personal friendships.
In December, nine Health Services staff signed a letter of no confidence against Portney, blaming him for plummeting morale and for alienating community partners including fire departments, the sheriff’s office, Social Services and Behavioral Health, as Lake County News has reported.
That letter signaled all was not right between Health Services and the fire departments.
“This department has a long history of cooperation with law enforcement and fire departments. Our County's State of Emergencies with Destructive Wildland Fires, COVID, PSPS etc, over the last 5-6 years, had built a team of cooperation, respect, and ‘Doing the Right Thing’ for the safety of all county residents. Director Portney has all but destroyed these relationships,” the letter said.
Portney himself circulated that letter to dozens of county staff and said that it was submitted to the Board of Supervisors by Cal Fire Chief Paul Duncan, who he had incorrectly named in his original Wednesday statement on the fire department staffing.
On Feb. 17, more than two months after Lake County News published an article about the letter of no confidence, Portney contacted the publication to ask that it take down “all articles highlighting myself and the Health Services Department staff members.”
He added, “I believe this good-faith action will be the best option for all parties involved. I appreciate your consideration, and with your support, we can continue building a robust and healthy Lake County. If you choose not to take them down… when appropriate investigative materials are available, I trust that you will update the community and the articles accordingly to reflect all findings?”
When Lake County News asked what purpose would be served by this action and precisely how that would contribute to a “robust and healthy” Lake County, Portney didn’t respond to the question.
Portney’s statements
The full revised version of Portney’s news release is below, along with an image of the earlier version. · Health Services Department Ensures Commitment to Public Safety Amid EMS Shortage
LAKE COUNTY, CA (March 29, 2023) — The Lake County Health Services Department is fully committed to ensuring public safety in light of the current challenges faced by the Northshore Fire Protection District (NFPD) and Lakeport Fire Protection District (LFPD) in providing adequate emergency medical services (EMS) coverage expressed by the Northshore Fire Protection District.
The County of Lake Health Services Department acknowledges the alert raised by the NFPD about the inadequate coverage of paramedics on the North Shore of the County, as well as how these difficulties will impact Sutter Lakeside Hospital in arranging inter-facility transfers for patients requiring a higher level of care due to the unavailability of air-based resources during adverse weather conditions.
In response to these concerns, the County of Lake Health Services Department is working with partners and other relevant stakeholders to address these shortages and ensure that the community receives the necessary medical care in emergencies.
Health Services Director Jonathan Portney has requested continuous updates on staffing levels and is actively engaging with North Coast EMS, which oversees and ensures adequate services provision (per ordinances) to ensure better communication and coordination.
The LCHD is also exploring various solutions to overcome the current challenges, including seeking private support to provide emergency medical services and bolstering the EMS infrastructure. County of Lake Health Services is offering their full support.
The Health Services Department is committed to addressing this critical situation and ensuring the well-being and safety of our community. Updates and solutions regarding the ongoing efforts to resolve the EMS shortage and improve emergency response services will be provided during an upcoming Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting.
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. — Middletown Art Center is seeking artists interested in being a part of a unique opportunity to revitalize the beloved EcoArts Sculpture Walk and being paid to do it.
The 15th installation will focus on responding to Lake County’s cultural landscape.
Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment.
Collectively, cultural landscapes are works of art, narratives of culture, and expressions of regional identity. They invite us to draw the focus of conservation from the protection of past fabric toward the management of future change. It can be a vehicle for people-centered approaches, which support a sense of belonging and participation.
Work should inquire into and acknowledge the history of place, take a deep look at the present, and/or envision a healthy future for us and the ecosystems we are a part of.
This year, and moving forward, the center’s intention is to utilize the platform of the outdoor exhibit to dialogue with nature while recognizing the inherent healing that can happen by making art in nature with community.
The organization especially encourages works that bring awareness to social justice and environmental issues and concepts.
Artists are invited (but not required) to facilitate community engaged artmaking projects that amplify voices that might not otherwise be heard; or host a workshop in which the artist shares skills and receives support in completing work.
Pieces can be permanent, temporary or constructed to return to the earth. Working with materials found at the park and other natural materials is preferred. Please see Installation criteria and learn more at Middletownartcenter.org/ecoarts. All submissions will be juried.
Please apply by April 15 for consideration for permanent installations. Seasonal installation applications accepted until April 24.
Installation and community art making activities may begin late June and preferably extend through August.
Because permanent pieces may take longer, the deadline for permanent pieces extends to Sept. 1 or thereafter as needed.
Funding opportunities range from $300 to $6,000 depending on the piece and contingent upon grant approval.
For more details and application visit the Middletown Art Center’s website.
Questions? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with subject line “Sculpture Walk” or call the MAC at 707-809-8118.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Kelseyville teenager has been arrested after authorities said he was responsible for the shooting and attempted robbery of a man in Nice.
Jesse Running Gonzalez, 18, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and booked into the Hill Road Correctional Facility on charges of conspiracy to commit attempted murder and attempted robbery.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched to the area of Sentry Market in Nice at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday for a reported gunshot victim.
Deputies arrived on scene and located an adult male victim who was suffering from a gunshot wound to the arm, the sheriff’s office reported.
Authorities said the victim was transported to a hospital where he was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
Deputies were able to locate the original scene where the shooting took place, which was in the 4400 block of Lakeview Drive in Nice, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit responded and took over the investigation, officials said.
The sheriff’s office reported that detectives were able to identify a suspect in the case and tracked him to the Lakeport area.
Late on Tuesday morning, detectives served a search warrant at a residence located on Red Feather Lane in Lakeport and gathered evidence related to the shooting, the sheriff’s office said.
It was at that time that detectives located and arrested Gonzalez, according to the sheriff’s office statement.
Gonzalez remained in custody on Tuesday night with bail set at $1 million.
Jail records show he is due to be arraigned in Lake County Superior Court on Thursday.
Detectives are asking anyone with additional information regarding this investigation to contact Det. Dean Preader by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707-262-4200.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has more new puppies and dogs for adoption this week.
More than 30 dogs are waiting for new homes.
They include “Susie,” a 5-month-old female Labrador retriever mix puppy, and “Keilani,” a 3-and-a-half-year-old female German shepherd mix.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
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.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — Next week, the Lakeport City Council will receive a report on an outreach program to city businesses.
The Business Walk program in Lakeport is designed to familiarize the business community with the city and other resources available to them.
City staff and members of the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee, or LEDAC, contact local owners and managers, providing them with the opportunity to speak with representatives about issues of concern.
The goal is to help local businesses thrive and grow.
Last fall, 16 teams of staff and volunteers, totaling 29 individuals, surveyed 115 businesses in 16 areas of the city.
Findings from the visit have been compiled by LEDAC and will be presented to the Lakeport City Council at its meeting on April 4.
The city’s economic development strategic plan identified annual in-person visits as an important element in the support and retention of existing local businesses.
The walks were put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic and were resumed to engage with and hear from the business community.
“Respondents were satisfied with business life in Lakeport, describing it as a laid-back, friendly, cooperative environment” in which to do business,” said Denise Combs, chair of the Business Walk Subcommittee.
“Significant challenges have changed since the last survey in 2019, with worries about lack of business declining considerably while the inability to find competent staff has more than doubled, reflecting national trends,” said Pam Harpster, another subcommittee member.
The report contains recommendations to the Council for action items to address specific findings.
The public is encouraged to attend the meeting in person at City Hall at 6 p.m. or via https://www.cityoflakeport.com/agendas_and_minutes/index.php.
LEDAC is an advocate for a strong and positive Lakeport business community, and serves as a conduit between the City and the community for communicating the goals, activities and progress of Lakeport’s economic and business programs.
The committee meets bimonthly on the second Wednesday, 7:30 to 9 a.m. All meetings are open to the public.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — The search for a new chancellor for the Yuba Community College District has reached a key stage, with finalists named and public forums arranged for early April.
Yuba Community College District’s Search Committee for the next chancellor has chosen four finalists for the position.
The finalists are Dr. Beatriz Espinoza, Dr. Eugene Giovannini, Dr. Shouan Pan and Dr. Wei Zhou.
Dr. Espinoza has spent more than 30 years in higher education. She completed her undergraduate studies in psychology at UT-Pan American, her master’s and doctor’s degrees in rehabilitation psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a post-doctorate in community college leadership at the University of Texas-Austin, and served as a Kellogg Fellow with the Minority Serving Institutions higher education leadership program. Her university and community college experiences expand the roles of faculty, researcher, counselor, director, dean, vice president, vice chancellor and president/CEO across six states.
Dr. Giovannini has 14 years of experience as a community college president and six years of experience as chancellor of a multi-campus community college. In his latest position as Chancellor of Tarrant County College District, Giovannini oversaw six campuses. He also served the Maricopa County Community College District in Arizona as founding President of Maricopa Corporate College in Scottsdale, including 11 years as President of Gateway Community College in Phoenix. Giovannini earned his doctorate in Community College Education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and his Bachelor of Science in Business Education and Master of Education from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Pan has held several senior-level positions, including as chancellor of Seattle Colleges, president of Mesa Community College, provost of Broward College, South Campus, executive dean of Instruction and Student Services at Florida State College at Jacksonville. As an immigrant, Dr. Pan is deeply passionate about serving the community college mission. Dr. Pan has been actively engaged at both national and local levels, including serving on the Board of Directors for American Association of Community Colleges, League for Innovation in the Community College, National Asian Pacific Islander Council and Arizona Commission for Post-secondary Education.
Dr. Zhou is a University of California, Davis, Center for Community College Leadership and Research Wheelhouse Fellow and California Community College Inaugural CEO Leadership Academy graduate with a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin’s top-ranked doctoral program in education. He has extensive California community college administrative experience in multi-college districts and Hispanic serving institutions, serving large geographical areas including positions as dean of math, science and engineering at Evergreen Valley College, vice president for academic affairs at Copper Mountain College, vice president of instruction and interim president at Cuyamaca College, president of Crafton Hills College and assistant superintendent/vice president of academic affairs at Cerritos College.
More information about each finalist is available on the YCCD website.
As a final step in the selection process, the public, staff and students are invited to attend public forums to be held April 3 to 5 at both Yuba and Woodland Community Colleges.
The public forums will give staff, students and community members an opportunity to meet each finalist, learn about his/her/their vision for the district and answer questions.
Questions will be reviewed for appropriateness and related or similar questions will be grouped together and asked as one question.
After the completion of the forums, attendees may continue to provide feedback on each candidate using the forms located on the Chancellor Search webpage. The feedback forms must be completed by noon on Thursday, April 6.
Community input from the public forums and the feedback forms will be used by the YCCD Board of Trustees in rendering the selection of the new chancellor.
The Board of Trustees will conduct finalist interviews April 3 and 5, and anticipates hiring the new chancellor this spring.
The Board of Trustees hired search firm PPL Inc., to lead the search for a permanent chancellor and appointed the 14-member Search Committee.
The committee is made up of highly-diverse members including faculty, staff, students and community members. The finalists were chosen through a rigorous process and all four interviewed with the entire Committee before the slate of finalists were identified.
Visit the YCCD website for more information about the public forums and the search process.
A new UC San Francisco-led study brings scientists closer to understanding the causes of a mysterious rash of cases of acute severe hepatitis that began appearing in otherwise healthy children after COVID-19 lockdowns eased in the United States and 34 other countries in the spring of 2022.
Pediatric hepatitis is rare, and doctors were alarmed when they started seeing outbreaks of severe unexplained hepatitis. There have been about 1,000 cases to date; 50 of these children needed liver transplants and at least 22 have died.
In the study, publishing on March 30 in Nature, researchers linked the disease to co-infections from multiple common viruses, in particular a strain of adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2). AAVs are not known to cause hepatitis on their own. They need “helper” viruses, such as adenoviruses that cause colds and flus, to replicate in the liver.
Once they returned to school, children were more susceptible to infections with these common pathogens. The study suggests that for a small subset of these children, getting more than one infection at the same time may have made them more vulnerable to severe hepatitis.
“We were surprised by the fact that the infections we detected in these children were caused not by an unusual, emerging virus, but by common childhood viral pathogens,” said Charles Chiu, MD, PhD, professor of laboratory medicine and medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, director of the UCSF Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, and senior author of the paper.
“That’s what led us to speculate that the timing of the outbreak was probably related to the really unusual situations we were going through with COVID-19 related school and daycare closures and social restrictions,” Chiu said. “It may have been an unintended consequence of what we have experienced during the last two-to-three years of the pandemic.”
By August 2022, clusters of cases were reported in 35 countries, including the U. S., where 358 cases were under investigation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched an investigation into the causes.
Testing for viruses
To conduct the study, which was backed by the CDC, researchers used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) along with various metagenomic sequencing and molecular-testing methods to examine plasma, whole blood, nasal swab and stool samples from 16 pediatric cases in six states – Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and South Dakota – from Oct. 1, 2021, to May 22, 2022. The specimens were compared with 113 control samples.
In genotyping the 14 available blood samples, adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) was detected in 93% of the cases and human adenoviruses (HAdVs) were found in all the cases; a specific type of adenovirus linked to gastroenteritis (HAdV-41) was found in 11 cases. Additional co-infections with Epstein-Barr, herpes and enterovirus were found in 85.7% of cases.
Chiu noted the results mirrored the findings of two concurrent studies conducted in the United Kingdom, which identified the same AAV2 strain. All three studies identified co-infections from multiple viruses, and 75% of the children in the U.S. study had three or four viral infections.
Since AAVs are not considered pathogenic on their own, a direct causal link with the severe acute hepatitis has yet to be established. The study notes, however, that children may be especially vulnerable to more severe hepatitis triggered by co-infections. While infections from adeno-associated viruses can occur at any age, the peak is typically between 1 and 5 years old, and the median age of the affected children in the study was 3 years old.
The clusters of acute severe hepatitis in children have recently waned, but Chiu said the best way to protect children from this unlikely outcome is by washing hands frequently and staying home when sick.
Authors: In addition to Chiu, authors include Venice Servellita, BS/CLS, Alicia Sotomayor Gonzalez, PhD, of UCSF, and Daryl Lamson of the New York State Department of Public Health. Please see the study for additional authors.
Funding: The study was funded in part by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (contracts 75D30121C12641 and 75D30121C10991 C.Y.C.) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) (contract 75A50122C00022), and the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant R61HD105618 C.Y.C. and C.A.R.). Additional funding was awarded under Agreement No. HSHQDC-15-C-00064 to Battelle National Biodefense Institute by the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate, for the management and operation of the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center.
Victoria Colliver writes for UC San Francisco.
Lucas Berenbrok, University of Pittsburgh; Janice L. Pringle, University of Pittsburgh, and Joni Carroll, University of Pittsburgh
On March 29, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Narcan for over-the-counter sale. Narcan is the 4-milligram nasal spray version of naloxone, a medication that can quickly counteract an opioid overdose.
The FDA’s greenlighting of over-the-counter naloxone means that it will be available for purchase without a prescription at more than 60,000 pharmacies nationwide. That means that, for 90% of Americans, naloxone nasal spray will be accessible at a pharmacy within 5 miles from home. It will also likely be available at gas stations, supermarkets and convenience stores. The transition from prescription to over-the-counter status is expected to take a few months.
We think that making naloxone available over the counter is an essential step in reducing deaths due to overdose and destigmatizing opioid use disorder. Over-the-counter access to naloxone will permit more people to carry and administer it to help others who are overdosing. Moreover, increasing naloxone’s over-the-counter availability will convey the message that risks associated with substance use disorder warrant a pervasive intervention much as with other illnesses.
Naloxone reverses overdose from prescription opioids like fentanyl, oxycodone and hydrocodone and recreational opioids like heroin. Naloxone works by competitively binding to the same receptors in the central nervous system that opioids bind to for euphoric effects. When naloxone is administered and reaches these receptors, it can block the euphoric effects of opioids and reverse respiratory depression when opioid overdose occurs.
There are two common ways to administer naloxone. One is through the prepackaged nasal sprays, such as Narcan and Kloxxado or generic versions of the drug. The other method is via auto-injectors, like ZIMHI, which deliver naloxone through injection, similar to the way epinephrine is delivered by an EpiPen as an emergency treatment for life-threatening allergic reactions.
The FDA will review a second over-the-counter application for naloxone auto-injectors at a later date. Although no interaction with a health care provider will be needed to purchase over-the-counter naloxone, when naloxone is purchased at a pharmacy, a knowledgeable pharmacist will be able to help people choose a product and explain instructions for use.
Research shows that when people who are likely to witness or respond to opioid overdoses have naloxone, they can save patients’ lives. This also includes bystanders as well as first responders like police officers and paramedics.
But until now, people in those situations could intervene only if they were carrying prescription naloxone or knew where to retrieve it quickly. Friends and family of people who use opioids are often given prescriptions for naloxone for emergency use. Over-the-counter naloxone will help make the drug more accessible to members of the general public.
Reducing stigma and saving lives
Naloxone is a safe medication with minimal side effects. It works only for those with opioids in their system, and it’s unlikely to cause harm if given by mistake to someone who’s not actively overdosing on opioids.
Since approximately 40% of overdoses occur in the presence of someone else, we believe public access to naloxone is extremely important. People may wish to have naloxone on hand if someone they know is at an increased risk for opioid overdose, including people who have opioid use disorder or people who take high amounts of prescribed opioid medications.
Community centers and recreational facilities may also keep naloxone on hand, similar to the placement of automated external defibrillators in public spaces for emergency use when someone has a heart attack.
There’s a long-held public stigma that suggests addiction is a moral failing rather than a chronic yet treatable health condition. Those who request naloxone or who have an opioid use disorder experience stigma and often aren’t comfortable disclosing their drug use to others, or seeking medical treatment. Removing naloxone’s prescription requirements by making it over the counter could decrease the stigma experienced by individuals since they no longer must request it from a health care provider or behind the pharmacy counter.
In addition, we encourage health care providers and members of the general public to use less stigmatizing language when discussing addiction.
Questionable accessibility
Often, medications switched from prescription to over the counter are not covered by insurance. It remains unclear if this will be the case with Narcan. If so, the costs will shift to the patient, highlighting the reason continued support of programs that offer naloxone free of charge remains important.
What’s more, over-the-counter access could paradoxically cause a decrease in the drug’s availability. A rise in purchases could make it harder to buy naloxone if manufacturer supply does not keep up with increased consumer demand. The U.S. experienced such shortages of over-the-counter drugs in late 2022 during the nationwide surges in flu, respiratory syncytial virus and COVID-19.
Federal and state governments could lessen these potential barriers by subsidizing the cost of over-the-counter naloxone and working with drug manufacturers to provide production incentives to meet public demand.
The effects of nationwide access to over-the-counter naloxone on opioid-related deaths remain to be seen, but making this medication more widely available is an important next step in our nation’s response to the opioid crisis.
In the wake of Monday’s tragic mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee that took the lives of three children and three adults, Congressman Mike Thompson is renewing his call for universal background checks.
“Congress has the power to help save lives and reduce gun violence. The shooting in Nashville is an horrific tragedy that is going to leave a lasting impact on the students, teachers, staff, and the entire Covenant School community. It does not have to be like this, we can act and pass legislation to save lives,” said Thompson (CA-04), chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.
“When will Republican leadership have the guts to stand up to the gun lobby and join us in passing reforms that will help keep our kids safe in school and save lives? Let’s put my Bipartisan Background Checks Act up for a vote and get it to President Biden. This legislation will reduce gun violence, and if my colleagues truly care about protecting American children, this is an easy step for them to take,” Thompson said.
Thompson and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) reintroduced the Bipartisan Background Checks Act on Feb. 1, 2023.
Chairman Thompson has introduced background check legislation every Congress since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting which killed 20 children and six adult staff members.
The Bipartisan Background Checks Act was first introduced in the 116th Congress by Rep. Thompson and was passed in the House by a vote of 240-190, and again passed in the 117th Congress and passed the House by a vote of 227-203.
The bill languished in the Senate due to the filibuster.
Thompson represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.