LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Fire Protection District responded to two structure fires on Sunday, one of which is under investigation due to it resulting in a fatality.
Clearlake Police Chief Andrew White said the fatal fire occurred at Leisure Time Mobile Home Park.
He said it looked like a kitchen fire that got out of control.
A 72-year-old man died in the fire, White said.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that next of kin had not yet been identified, so the man’s name could not be released.
Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta said the Leisure Time fire was dispatched at 10:14 a.m. Sunday in a fifth wheel trailer that was being used as a residence.
“We were on scene fairly quick,” he said.
During the fire’s dispatch, Sapeta said a possible entrapment was reported.
Firefighters arrived on scene and quickly knocked down the fire before finding the victim who had died inside, Sapeta said.
Sapeta said the fire was contained to the RV where it started.
He said the investigation is pending and not expected to be completed until later this week.
On Sunday evening, a fire was reported at a residence in the 3200 block of Old Highway 53 in Clearlake, Sapeta said.
He said the home’s residents had left hot ashes from the barbecue on the porch.
The fire did a fair amount of damage to the porch, and Sapeta said firefighters had to pull down half the ceiling to get to the rafters, where the fire had been burning for awhile.
Overall, Sapeta called it a “pretty amazing save,” with the structure not destroyed.
While earlier in the day there had been some tragedy, firefighters got a big win not just in saving the home in the second incident but helping to protect both the human inhabitants and their pets.
The home’s residents included two beautiful Rottweilers who Sapeta said were probably the friendliest dogs he’s met, and one of those dogs’ three puppies.
“All the puppies were saved with no resuscitation needed,” said Sapeta, noting the healthy Rottweiler-pit bull mix pups look like they’re going to grow up big — they already have paws the size of cupcakes.
Up until this weekend, the district hadn’t seen much fire action recently, Sapeta said. “It’s been quiet for us for almost three weeks.”
On Monday the district also responded as mutual aid to Clearlake Oaks for an RV fire that extended into a structure on Beryl Way, Sapeta said.
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.
Public schools have been serving all students free meals since the COVID-19 pandemic first disrupted K-12 education. In March 2022, Congress rejected calls to keep up the federal funding required to sustain that practice and left that money out of a US$1.5 trillion spending package that President Joe Biden signed into law on March 11, 2022. We asked food policy expert Marlene Schwartz to explain why free meals make a difference and what will happen next.
How did the COVID-19 pandemic initially affect the school lunch program?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal government’s National School Lunch Program, quickly granted waivers to increase program flexibility and accommodate the challenges of the pandemic.
These waivers, which have been renewed several times, were critically important for school food service programs as the programs abruptly shifted away from serving meals in cafeterias and designed new distribution models to continue to feed students. Many school meal staff across the country created grab-and-go meals that families could pick up, which was particularly important in the spring of 2020 and the following school year. Another major change, which has continued during the 2021-2022 school year, is that school systems are able to serve meals to all students at no cost.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 30 million lunches were served every school day to K-12 students through the National School Lunch Program. Schools provided roughly three-quarters of those meals at reduced rates or no cost at all – with the federal government reimbursing a portion of the cost of those meals.
The price of a school lunch for families without free or reduced-cost meals varies. In 2017, full-price lunches tended to run between $2.50 and $2.75 apiece.
Are all public school students still getting free meals?
Yes. However, that will no doubt change once the latest waiver expires on June 30, 2022.
This means that next fall, most schools will have to resume the old three-tiered system where some families don’t pay at all, some receive discounted lunches, and others must pay full price.
Two states will buck that trend. California and Maine will continue providing universal school meals after the federal waiver ends due to measures their state legislators passed and governors signed into law during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the federal level, more than a dozen senators and roughly 50 members of the House of Representatives backed proposed legislation in 2021 that would permanently make school lunch free for all students, regardless of their income. There is significant support for this idea among advocates, but the future of this type of federal legislation remains to be seen.
What are the advantages of making school meals free to everyone?
In my view, the biggest advantage to universal school meals is that more students actually eat nutritious school meals. Following the regulations that emerged from the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, the nutritional quality of school meals improved significantly, and a recent study found that schools typically provide the healthiest foods that children eat all day.
There are important logistical benefits to universal school meals. Families don’t have to fill out any paperwork to establish their eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. And cafeteria staff can focus on serving the meals if they don’t need to track payments.
What’s wrong with charging some students for lunch again?
You have to look at the costs and benefits of the big picture. Universal school meals provide significant benefits to the school community as a whole – most notably, reductions in food insecurity and improvements in student diet quality. I believe these benefits are far greater than the marginal cost of providing free meals to students who would otherwise pay.
Ideally, the federal government will reconsider this issue and support universal school meals.
If that does not happen, advocates, policymakers and researchers will be watching what happens in California and Maine. We will be able to compare what happens in these states versus those that do not continue to provide all students with free meals. My hope is that this information will inform future decisions about implementing universal school meals for all students nationally.
[Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.Sign up today.]
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Why do flocks of birds swoop and swirl together in the sky? – Artie W., age 9, Astoria, New York
A shape-shifting flock of thousands of starlings, called a murmuration, is amazing to see. As many as 750,000 birds join together in flight. The birds spread out and come together. The flock splits apart and fuses together again. Murmurations constantly change direction, flying up a few hundred meters, then zooming down to almost crash to the ground. They look like swirling blobs, making teardrops, figure eights, columns and other shapes. A murmuration can move fast – starlings fly up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour).
The European or common starling, like many birds, forms groups called flocks when foraging for food or migrating. But a murmuration is different. This special kind of flock is named for the sound of a low murmur it makes from thousands of wingbeats and soft flight calls.
Murmurations form about an hour before sunset in fall, winter and early spring, when the birds are near where they’ll sleep. After maybe 45 minutes of this spectacular aerial display, the birds all at once drop down into their roost for the night.
Scientists think a murmuration is a visual invitation to attract other starlings to join a group night roost. One theory is that spending the night together keeps the starlings warmer as they share their body heat. It might also reduce the chance an individual bird would be eaten overnight by a predator such as an owl or marten.
This dilution effect might be part of the reason murmurations happen: The more starlings in the flock, the lower the risk to any one bird of being the one that gets snagged by a predator. Predators are more likely to catch the nearest prey, so the swirling of a murmuration could happen as individual birds try to move toward the safer middle of the crowd. Scientists call this the selfish herd effect.
Of course, the more birds in a flock, the more eyes and ears to detect the predator before it’s too late.
Over 3,000 citizen scientist volunteers reported spotting murmurations in a recent study. A third of them saw a raptor attack the murmuration. That observation suggests that murmurations do form to help protect the birds from predators – but it’s also possible a huge murmuration would be what attracted a hawk, for instance, in the first place.
How do starlings coordinate their behavior?
Murmurations have no leader and follow no plan. Instead, scientists believe movements are coordinated by starlings observing what others around them are doing. Birds in the middle can see through the flock on all sides to its edge and beyond. Somehow they keep track of how the flock is moving as a whole and adjust accordingly.
To learn what’s happening inside murmurations, some researchers film them using many cameras at the same time. Then they use computer programs to track the movements of individual starlings and create 3D models of the flock.
The videos reveal that the birds are not as densely packed as they might appear from the ground; there is room to maneuver. Starlings are closer to their side neighbors than those in front or behind. Starlings on the edge frequently move deeper into the flock.
Mathematicians and computer scientists try to create virtual murmurations using rules that birds might follow in a flock – like moving in the same direction as their neighbor, staying close and not colliding. From these simulations, it seems that each bird must keep track of seven neighbors and adjust based on what they’re doing to keep the murmuration from falling apart in a chaotic mess. And they do all this while flying as fast as they can.
Large schools of fish can appear to behave like murmurations, as do groups of some swarming insects, including honeybees. All these synchronized movements can happen so fast within flocks, herds, swarms and schools that some scientists once thought it required animal ESP!
Biologists, mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists and engineers are all working to figure out how animals carry out these displays. Curiosity drives this research, of course. But it may also have practical applications too, like helping develop autonomous vehicles that can travel in tight formation and work in coordinated groups without colliding.
Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.
And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors will take up the topic of recruiting a new administrative officer when it meets this week.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 22, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 989 1903 5810, pass code 995795. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,98919035810#,,,,*995795#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
In an untimed item, the board will consider a recruitment strategy for county administrative officers.
County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson announced on Thursday that she will resign, effective April 29.
Huchingson said she is retiring after six years in the job.
In a new and untimed item, Animal Care and Control will introduce the pet of the week.
The board on Tuesday also will present a proclamation at 9:07 a.m. designating the month of March 2022 as March for Meals Month.
At 9:15 a.m., the board will host the presentation of the Employee Service Awards.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve the nomination of Supervisor Sabatier to serve on the Economic Mobility Leadership Network.
5.2: Approve revisions to Exhibit A of the Uniform and Clothing Purchase Policy.
5.3: Adopt proclamation designating March 22, 2022, as National Agriculture Day.
5.4: Approve Amendment No.1 to the FY 2021-22 agreement between county of Lake and Ever Well Health Systems for a new contract maximum of $101,700.00 and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.5: Approve the extended use of county juvenile hall facility for a temporary support shelter targeting Lake County’s chronically homeless population through June 30, 2022.
5.6: Approve Board of Supervisors meeting minutes for March 1 and 11, 2022.
5.7: Approve continuation of resolution authorizing teleconference meetings during a state of emergency that continues to exist.
5.8: Adopt resolution approving the Amendment 2 to Agreement No. 18G30117 between the secretary of state and the county of Lake for voting systems replacement funds.
5.9: Approve Continuation of a local health emergency by the Lake County health officer for the Cache fire.
5.10: Approve continuation of a local health emergency related to the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) as proclaimed by the Lake County Public Health officer.
5.11: Approve continuation of a local health emergency and order prohibiting the endangerment of the community through the unsafe removal, transport, and disposal of fire debris for the LNU Complex wildfire.
5.12: Approve continuation of a local emergency in Lake County in response to the LNU Lightning Complex wildfire event.
5.13: Approve continuation of a local emergency due to COVID-19.
5.14: Approve continuation of an emergency declaration for drought conditions not available.
5.15: Approve continuation of a local emergency by the Lake County sheriff/OES director for the Cache fire.
5.16: Approve the purchase of two sport utility vehicles, and authorize the Public Works director/assistant purchasing agent to issue a purchase order through the statewide bid contract to Downtown Ford in the amount of $66,598.16.
5.17: Approve a purchase order for the purchase of a bottom dump trailer for county road maintenance in the amount of $64,954.75, and authorize the Public Works director/assistant purchasing agent to sign the purchase order.
5.18: Authorize the chairman to sign the FY21 Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant certifications and assurances and financial capability questionnaire.
5.19: Adopt proclamation designating the month of March 2022 as March for Meals Month.
TIMED ITEMS
6.3, 9:07 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating March 22, 2022, as National Agriculture Day.
6.4, 9:08 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the month of March 2022 as March for Meals Month.
6.5, 9:15 a.m.: Presentation of Employee Service Awards.
6.6, 9:30 a.m.: Hearing on account and proposed assessment for 11450 E State Hwy 20, Clearlake Oaks.
UNTIMED ITEMS
Pet of the Week.
7.2: Consideration of recruitment strategy for county administrative officer.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Public employee evaluation: Social Services Department Director Crystal Markytan.
8.2: Public employee evaluation: Registrar of Voters Maria Valadez.
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 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has issued its U.S. Spring Outlook and for the second year in a row, forecasters predict prolonged, persistent drought in the West where below-average precipitation is most likely.
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center — part of the National Weather Service — is also forecasting above-average temperatures for most of the U.S. from the Desert Southwest to the East Coast and north through the Midwest to the Canadian border from April to June.
“NOAA’s Spring Outlook helps build a more weather and climate ready nation by informing local decision makers and emergency managers of this spring’s hazardous weather, such as extreme drought,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “NOAA’s seasonal outlooks provide advanced warning of the conditions to come, enabling communities to make preparations that boost their resilience to these hazards.”
Spring Outlook for drought, temperature and precipitation
“Severe to exceptional drought has persisted in some areas of the West since the summer of 2020 and drought has expanded to the southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley,” said Jon Gottschalck, chief, Operational Prediction Branch, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. “With nearly 60% of the continental U.S. experiencing minor to exceptional drought conditions, this is the largest drought coverage we’ve seen in the U.S. since 2013.”
Short-term drought recently developed in a region stretching from North Carolina southward through parts of Florida.
Dry conditions will bring an elevated risk of wildfires across the Southwest and southern Plains and north to the Central Plains, especially when high winds are present. Drought conditions in the Southwest are unlikely to improve until the late summer monsoon rainfall begins.
More than half of the U.S. is predicted to experience above-average temperatures this spring, with the greatest chances in the Southern Rockies and Southern Plains. Below-average temperatures are most likely in the Pacific Northwest and southeast Alaska.
Above-average precipitation is most likely in portions of the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic and the west coast of Alaska, while below-average precipitation is forecast for portions of the Central Great Basin, Southwest, Central and Southern Rockies and Central and Southern Plains, eastward to the Central Gulf Coast.
Spring flood risk
There is a minor-to-moderate flood risk throughout much of the eastern half of continental U.S., including the Southeast, Tennessee Valley, lower Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley, and portions of the Great Lakes, upper Mississippi Valley, and middle Mississippi Valley. An above-normal ice breakup and flood potential is also present in Alaska.
“Due to late fall and winter precipitation, which saturated soils and increased streamflows, major flood risk potential is expected for the Red River of the North in North Dakota and moderate flood potential for the James River in South Dakota,” said Ed Clark, director, NOAA’s National Water Center.
Spring snowmelt in the western U.S. is unlikely to cause flooding.
NOAA’s National Hydrologic Assessment evaluates a number of factors, including current conditions of snowpack, drought, soil saturation levels, frost depth, streamflow and precipitation.
For detailed hydrologic conditions and forecasts, go to water.weather.gov.
Following the completion of critical mirror alignment steps, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team expects that Webb’s optical performance will be able to meet or exceed the science goals the observatory was built to achieve.
On March 11, the Webb team completed the stage of alignment known as “fine phasing.” At this key stage in the commissioning of Webb’s Optical Telescope Element, every optical parameter that has been checked and tested is performing at, or above, expectations.
The team also found no critical issues and no measurable contamination or blockages to Webb’s optical path. The observatory is able to successfully gather light from distant objects and deliver it to its instruments without issue.
While the purpose of this image was to focus on the bright star at the center for alignment evaluation, Webb's optics and NIRCam are so sensitive that the galaxies and stars seen in the background show up.
Although there are months to go before Webb ultimately delivers its new view of the cosmos, achieving this milestone means the team is confident that Webb’s first-of-its-kind optical system is working as well as possible.
“More than 20 years ago, the Webb team set out to build the most powerful telescope that anyone has ever put in space and came up with an audacious optical design to meet demanding science goals,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “Today we can say that design is going to deliver.”
While some of the largest ground-based telescopes on Earth use segmented primary mirrors, Webb is the first telescope in space to use such a design. The 21-foot, 4-inch (6.5-meter) primary mirror — much too big to fit inside a rocket fairing — is made up of 18 hexagonal, beryllium mirror segments.
It had to be folded up for launch and then unfolded in space before each mirror was adjusted — to within nanometers — to form a single mirror surface.
“In addition to enabling the incredible science that Webb will achieve, the teams that designed, built, tested, launched, and now operate this observatory have pioneered a new way to build space telescopes,” said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
With the fine phasing stage of the telescope’s alignment complete, the team has now fully aligned Webb’s primary imager, the Near-Infrared Camera, to the observatory’s mirrors.
“We have fully aligned and focused the telescope on a star, and the performance is beating specifications. We are excited about what this means for science,” said Ritva Keski-Kuha, deputy optical telescope element manager for Webb at NASA Goddard. “We now know we have built the right telescope.”
Over the next six weeks, the team will proceed through the remaining alignment steps before final science instrument preparations.
The team will further align the telescope to include the Near-Infrared Spectrograph, Mid-Infrared Instrument, and Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph. In this phase of the process, an algorithm will evaluate the performance of each instrument and then calculate the final corrections needed to achieve a well-aligned telescope across all science instruments.
Following this, Webb’s final alignment step will begin, and the team will adjust any small, residual positioning errors in the mirror segments.
The team is on track to conclude all aspects of Optical Telescope Element alignment by early May, if not sooner, before moving on to approximately two months of science instrument preparations. Webb’s first full-resolution imagery and science data will be released in the summer.
Webb is the world's premier space science observatory and once fully operational, will help solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners at ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Bruno Sabatier is running for a second term as District 2 supervisor for the county of Lake.
The Lake County Registrar of Voters confirmed that Sabatier will run for his second term unopposed.
The election will be held on June 7, as part of the statewide primary.
Between 2015 and 2018, Sabatier served as a Clearlake City Council member, helping Clearlake progress on many of its issues.
During his first term, beginning in 2019, he said he has continued those efforts as a member of the Board of Supervisors by utilizing the strategies and successes that he has learned along the way.
He has not only represented District 2, but he said he continues to collaborate in order to provide and support initiatives in other districts as well.
The past four years have not come without its obstacles to overcome. Cannabis, COVID, drought, and a decrease in consequences toward petty crimes have been some of the major obstacles to deal with, he said.
Sabatier said he works to tackle problems head on and provides information to better understand the problem while also providing solutions on how to resolve or break through these obstacles.
For cannabis, Sabatier said he not only provided greater support for expanding the industry’s footprint within the county, but he also drafted resolutions enhancing the environmental review and neighbor notification process before obtaining an early activation.
In 2020, after reviewing the applications being processed and noticing their infringement on traditional and historical ag areas, he drafted the Farmland Protection Zone banning outdoor cannabis from the areas and clarifying future traditional farmland protections.
Following the rules set up for the industry is important to him as well, as he said he has worked with staff to shut down a couple of legal operations in his own district that were not in compliance after receiving complaints from the community.
Due to the drought and the increased number of water trucks, especially related to cannabis farms both legal and illegal, Sabatier drafted a resolution making water haulers accountable for delivering water illegally to any cannabis grows.
He also drafted a resolution requiring that all projects going before the Planning Commission provide a hydrology report considering the cumulative impacts to neighboring properties and that all applicants provide a proposed drought management plan for their projects.
During the onset of COVID-19, many Lake County businesses were forced to close. Sabatier drafted many letters for the board’s approval to send to the Governor’s Office requesting that businesses be released from the closures set in place.
When state contracts, assisting the county with COVID mitigation, were not forthcoming or were being breached, Sabatier said he reached out to the state and advocated for the resources that Lake County needed, eventually receiving what Lake County was promised during the pandemic.
With state criminal law reducing the convictions and consequences for petty crime, Sabatier said it has become apparent to him that code enforcement could provide assistance in cleaning up our communities where law enforcement’s capabilities had been reduced.
He has advocated for increased code enforcement staffing throughout his first term and proposed the Road Map Task Force in February 2021.
The task force was approved by the board and provided a $1 million budget to clean up the Clearlake Oaks area in District 3. Ensuring a safe and clean environment in our communities is paramount to Sabatier’s agenda for a better tomorrow.
Sabatier said he works with other supervisors to enable success. The Road Map Task Force is one example of wanting to see the county succeed in other areas, not just District 2.
With two dedicated law enforcement and two dedicated code enforcement officers, the quality of life in Clearlake Oaks has the potential to increase with efforts being made to entice investors to come and invest in vacant commercial lots and develop more opportunities for jobs and economic growth.
In District 4, he proposed to meet with Supervisor Tina Scott and other department heads to discuss the former juvenile hall facility being transitioned into an emergency homeless shelter. He said the new Elijah House has been critical to the county’s pandemic response with many who were homeless now having transitioned out of the shelter and into their own homes.
While providing support in other districts, Sabatier said his true passion still lies with the city of Clearlake, and he continues to enjoy strong relationships with the current council and city staff.
He is working with county groups such as the Rural Arts Initiative to bring in new murals and art sculptures in the city, and the Bureau of Land Management and Cal Fire to help protect the city from future fires.
Sabatier said he is always looking for ways to compliment the work being done by the city with his own initiatives. Currently, after receiving approval from the board, he is working on a new upgraded concrete skatepark for Austin Park.
So what’s next in the next four years? What are the key items that Sabatier wants to focus on?
When prompted with these questions, Sabatier responds with, “We need to build economic sustainability with the new revenues that we’ve created mixed with a safer and cleaner environment to bring in new investors.”
He wants to continue focusing on the success of the Road Map Task Force in hopes that in two years it will be carbon copied into another area of Lake County.
He plans to focus on food sustainability within the county as most of the agricultural crops are not grown for food purposes.
He wants to focus on the illegal cannabis market and make them accountable for their unfair business practice, evasion of taxes, and their environmental crimes.
If you’ve been following the Board of Supervisors meetings, you will know that Sabatier reads everything that is provided to him. Oftentimes, he will pull consent agenda items just to fix a dollar amount that didn’t match or to ask follow-up questions.
“I have worked hard these past three years to learn as much as I could as quickly as I could by being present and active. When reelected, you can expect the same level of work ethic that I have shown since day one,” he said.
Sabatier has many more ideas and plans for the upcoming years. If you’d like to hear more about them, you can reach him at 707-695-0834 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
NORTH COAST, Calif. — Mendocino College has received $188 thousand in grants to support students’ access to basic needs such as food, housing, transportation, health care and education.
Assembly Bill 132, the Postsecondary Education Trailer Bill, provides $100 million in one-time funding to help California community colleges provide comprehensive basic needs services to reduce equity and achievement gaps among traditionally underrepresented student populations across California.
According to the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, before the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 50% of California community college students faced food insecurity, 60% faced housing insecurity and 19% faced homelessness within the past year.
A mid-pandemic survey, administered by the Student Senate for California Community Colleges indicated the pandemic exacerbated students’ basic needs insecurity: 67% of students reported higher levels of mental health distress and 40% reported dealing with a loss of income resulting in their inability to pay for housing expenses.
These needs, when unmet, easily and often lead to student crises and, without timely and significant intervention at an individual level, frequently leave students in extraordinarily difficult positions.
Often these students are forced into unfortunate and unnecessary choices, to address their crisis or to continue enrolling in classes to complete their educational journeys.
“Students shouldn’t have to worry about being able to afford their next meal,” said Janelle Meyers, Director of community relations and communication. “They cannot properly focus on their academics if they’re struggling with meeting their basic needs. The Basic Needs Department serves as a hub where students can feel safe and comfortable asking for resources that keep them moving towards their educational goals.”
To better support Mendocino College students, the Basic Needs Department will:
• Increase student access to nutritious and sufficient food. • Connect students to resources to find safe, secure and adequate housing. • Promote sustained mental and physical well-being and social-emotional support. • Provide connections to affordable transportation assistance. • Supply resources for personal hygiene care. • Offer emergency funds. • Deliver access to affordable and reliable internet access as well as technology devices.
Mendocino College has already begun laying the groundwork for a successful Basic Needs Department by:
• Adding staff capacity by creating a Basic Needs Liaison role to an office or team. • Working closely with internal student support programs such as Financial Aid, Counseling, CalFresh Outreach, the college Food Pantry, and local community resources to ensure access to support in real-time. • Establish clear pathways with instructions on navigating services to reduce barriers to accessing services. • Creating an inviting webpage as a one-stop-shop for students experiencing challenges meeting their basic needs.
To learn more about the Mendocino College Basic Needs Department, visit www.mendocino.edu/basic-needs.
If you are part of a local organization that can offer basic needs assistance to Mendocino College students and would like to be added to the resource list, please contact Naoto Horiguchi at 707-467-1081.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — A new playground recently opened at Westside Community Park.
This project is the dream of the Lakeport Lions Club and is named the “Lakeport Lions Legacy Playground” in recognition of the group’s vision and support.
The development of the playground was overseen and fundraised by the Westside Community Park Committee, or WCPC.
This $154,000 project was started with substantial seed money from the Lakeport Lions Club.
Additional contributions were received from the Ustrud-Rollins Family, Lake County Tribal Health Consortium, the Habematolel Band of Pomos and Susan King, along with dozens of cash and in-kind contributions from individuals and local small businesses.
The Lakeport Public Works Department partnered with the WCPC to provide trees, planting them and setting up the irrigation system, as well as offering technical assistance throughout the project’s development.
The new playground is seeing daily use by families and their children.
In addition to its daily use, the playground will provide a play space for siblings of children participating in sports leagues run by the Konocti Youth Soccer League and the Westshore Little League at the Westside Community Park.
The playground is in and open to children from around the county. Children have been playing there every day since it opened.
The Westside Community Park Committee would like to complete the landscaping started with support of the Lakeport Public Works Department.
However, funds raised for the development of the playground have been utilized and the WCPC is soliciting donations to add a grass area adjacent to the lion bench and hardscape on the other sides of the play structure area.
Tax-deductible donations to support the completion of the playground can be made to the Westside Community Park Committee, 1350 Berry St., Lakeport, CA 95453.
KRISTIN KERNS-D’AMORE, JOEY MARSHALL AND BRIAN MCKENZIE
The COVID-19 pandemic did not stop a decline in the nation’s mover rate which in 2021 was at a new historical low over more than seven decades, according to the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC). The 2021 mover rate was less than half what it was in 1948.
In 2021, 8.4% of people lived in a different residence one year ago, down from 9.3% in 2020.
In the CPS ASEC, migration is measured as having a different residence one year prior to being interviewed from February to April. For example, 2021 CPS ASEC migration estimates captured people who changed residences from early 2020 to early 2021.
The 2020 and 2021 CPS ASEC migration estimates reflect different time periods relative to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2021 data, most possible moving days occurred during the pandemic, while in the 2020 data, most possible moving days occurred before the pandemic.
Moving slowdown
A falling mover rate is nothing new, and the pandemic did not disrupt this decline.
Over the past five years, both the annual mover rate and number of movers fell (from the previous year) in 2018, 2020, and 2021. (Neither the mover rate nor the number of movers changed statistically in 2017 or 2019). The number of movers declined in 2018, 2020, and 2021 despite continued U.S. population growth.
The 2021 mover rate decline is even more dramatic when compared to what it was more than seven decades ago.
In 1948, the first year the CPS collected this information, the mover rate was 20.2%, more than twice the 2021 mover rate (8.4%). The 2021 mover rate was lower than all prior mover rates from 1948 to 2020, marking a new historical low.
Aspects of migration stable between 2017 and 2021
Even as the mover rate declined in recent years, other aspects of migration remained relatively stable, including types of moves, the main reason for moving and migration between regions.
In recent years, movers did not typically cross state or even county lines. In 2021, less than one-fifth moved from one state to another, while more than half moved within the same county. This was also the case in 2017 through 2020.
Nearly half of all movers in 2021 cited housing-related reasons for moving, which were also the most prevalent reasons given for moves from 2017 to 2021.
The next most prevalent reasons for moving in those years were family-related reasons, job-related reasons and, lastly, other reasons.
Moving across regions
Across the four regions, net population changes associated with migration did not happen consistently or in the same direction in recent years.
In 2021, the South gained people from migration between regions, about 253,000, while the Northeast lost people, about 227,000. The Midwest and West did not experience statistically significant gains or losses.
In addition, the South experienced net internal gains in 2018 through 2020, and the Northeast also experienced net internal losses in 2017 through 2020.
Including movers from abroad, the South experienced net gains each year from 2017 through 2021 and the Northeast experienced a net loss in 2021.
Changes in migration from 2020 to 2021
The pandemic did not disrupt a decline in the national mover rate but it may have affected migration in other ways.
The relative share of movers crossing state lines increased from 2020 to 2021. At the same time, the share of movers from abroad declined, which may be related to international travel restrictions during the pandemic.
The relative share of movers indicating housing-related reasons increased from 2020 to 2021. At the same time, the share moving for job-related reasons declined, which may be linked to economic and workplace disruptions during the pandemic.
About the CPS ASEC migration estimates
The CPS ASEC migration estimates are among persons at least one year of age and living in the United States (50 states and District of Columbia). Movers from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Island Areas are counted as movers from abroad. As of 2020, there were changes to the survey’s reason for moving categories.
COVID-19-related changes to survey operations and nonresponse may have influenced 2020 and 2021 estimates.
More CPS ASEC migration estimates are available in our historical tables, historical graphs and annual detailed tables.
Definitions and more information about confidentiality protection, sampling error, and nonsampling error are available on the full CPS ASEC Technical Documentation page.
Kristin Kerns-D’Amore is a survey statistician in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division. Joey Marshall is a survey statistician in the Census Bureau’s Center for Economic Studies. Brian McKenzie is a branch chief in the Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has more new dogs available for adoption this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Anatolian shepherd, Australian cattle dog, Australian Kelpie, Chihuahua, German shepherd, Great Pyrenees, husky, Jack Russell terrier, Labrador retriever, shepherd and pit bull.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
Male husky mix
This 3-year-old male husky mix has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 6, ID No. LCAC-A-3152.
Male pit bull terrier
This 1-year-old male pit bull terrier has a short white and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-2821.
Female shepherd mix
This 5-year-old female shepherd mix has a tricolor coat.
She was in kennel No. 9, ID No. LCAC-A-2793.
Female shepherd mix
This 7-year-old female shepherd mix has a tricolor coat.
She was in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-2792.
‘Annie’
“Annie” is a 1-year-old female Jack Russell terrier with a short white coat with brown markings.
She is in kennel No. 11, ID No. LCAC-A-3090.
‘Jingo’
“Jingo” is a 3-year-old male Labrador retriever with a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 12, ID No. LCAC-A-2636.
Male Chihuahua
This 3-year-old male Chihuahua has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 13a, ID No. LCAC-A-2992.
Male Chihuahua
This 2-year-old male Chihuahua has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 13b, ID No. LCAC-A-2993.
Female Labrador retriever
This 4-year-old female Labrador retriever has a short black coat.
She is in kennel No. 14, ID No. LCAC-A-2694.
Australian cattle dog
This 3-year-old male Australian cattle dog has a black coat with tan markings.
He is in kennel No. 16, ID No. LCAC-A-3131.
‘Max’
“Max” is a 4-year-old male Australian Kelpie mix with a black and tan coat with white markings.
She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-2852.
Female German shepherd
This 2-year-old female German shepherd has a black coat.
She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-2844.
Female shepherd mix
This 1-year-old female shepherd mix has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-2843.
Male pit bull terrier
This 3-year-old male pit bull terrier has a short tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 21, ID No. LCAC-A-2948.
‘Barney’
“Barney” is a 3-year-old male retriever with a brown and black coat with white markings.
He is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-2856.
‘Blue’
“Blue” is a 4-year-old female husky with a gray and white coat, and blue eyes.
She is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-2816.
Anatolian shepherd-Great Pyrenees
This 2-year-old male Anatolian shepherd-Great Pyrenees has a short white coat.
He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-2536.
Female pit bull terrier
This 2-year-old female pit bull terrier has a short black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-3085.
Male Australian cattle dog
This 3-year-old male Australian cattle dog has a short black, tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-3130.
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. — A Lake County woman with experience in government and business said she is running for the job of county assessor-recorder.
Hannah Lee will challenge incumbent Richard Ford in the June primary.
Lee said part of the reason she’s running is due to the urging of professional acquaintances, business owners and friends.
Lee said her decision to run for assessor-recorder is also influenced by a powerful sense of duty to serve the public efficiently, timely and with utmost respect.
“What I commonly hear is that service is slow, office availability for title companies has been limited for several years, and communication is lacking. These issues impact people directly. Backlogs in assessments, and delays in real estate closings, result in a loss of revenues for the County. I see many opportunities to improve direct services to the public,” Lee said.
The assessor-recorder is responsible for assessing property values for taxation purposes and the security, recording of and access to, legal documents.
The office works hand in hand with the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office, the Auditor-Controller’s Office, the Board of Supervisors and other agencies. Communication is essential.
Everyone who files, or has a need to access, legal documents or who owns property — a home or a business — private or commercial, will at some point interact with the Assessor-Recorder’s Office, which affects the public directly.
As a local business owner and deputy public guardian, Lee said she understands that leadership must be responsive to the needs of its customers.
One priority Lee said she will immediately implement is an open-door policy. “It’s important to be receptive to the concerns and input of those who interact with the assessor-recorder. My door will be open.”
High on her long priority list of actions needed include faster turnaround times for accessing legal documents; expanded office hours for title companies to record legal documents; regular and clear communication to constituents — especially about pending changes that impact pocketbooks; fair assessments of property values; eliminating backlogs that can impact revenue streams to the county; instituting electronic recording; modernizing the office; and modifying or eliminating unnecessarily restrictive policies and practices. These will be major changes.
Referring to recent changes of property values resulting in tax increases, Lee said: “I work with people of meager means — people who can ill afford costly surprises to their finances. Surprises in tax bills can be an extreme burden and a shock to those on limited or fixed incomes. People need to be given time to plan for increases, time to adjust personal budgets, and time to seek assistance from families, friends, and support agencies when the costs are too much to bear.”
Most people understand that change needed for years could not happen overnight, but many, it seems, have lost patience.
“I don’t presume to have all the answers, but I bring a unique perspective to government leadership — new energy and a fresh look is certain to reveal opportunities for improvement,” said Lee.
Formerly an analyst in Adult Services, Lee was tasked with conducting efficiency studies, writing policies and procedures, streamlining and automating processes, and making recommendations to managers for improvements to daily operations.
Currently, as a business owner, she supervises employees and is accountable for product delivery, customer service and the financial stability of the business.
Also, as a deputy public guardian, Lee works with a team and is responsible to the courts for her own performance as well as that of her team.
Lee holds a Bachelor of Science degree in management and psychology, and associates degrees in business administration and tax preparation.
She said she understands the regulatory and human side of management and will bring this combined outlook to the job.
The public is invited to join Lee at her campaign kickoff event on Friday, March 25, from 5 to 7 p.m. at 125 N. Main St. in Lakeport. Refreshments will be served.
Lee will take questions and welcomes the opportunity to get input on how the assessor-recorder can better meet the needs of the public.
For more information, visit www.hannahleeforassessorrecorder.com and her campaign Facebook page, Hannah Lee for Assessor-Recorder. She can also be reached by phone at 707-350-3647.