LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The impacts of an atmospheric river are expected to continue as more rain – and snow in higher elevations – is anticipated until the middle of next week.
The main impacts of the storm were felt across Lake County and much of the rest of the state on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Locally, high winds, rain and snow led to road closures and power outages that were still being resolved on Wednesday night and into Thursday.
The National Weather Service’s Eureka office told Lake County News that it had received reports of 8 inches of snow in Kelseyville; 6 inches in Cobb; 4.5 inches in Hidden Valley Lake; 2 inches in Clearlake, the Clearlake Riviera and Spring Valley; and 1 inch in Lower Lake.
Lake County Public Works crews on Wednesday were plowing snow and clearing roads, from Lower Lake to Kelseyville to Upper Lake.
Stormy conditions are far from over.
The forecast calls for up to half an inch of rain on Thursday, along with light winds.
Rain also is expected on Friday and Saturday, and from Sunday through Tuesday. In the higher elevations, especially in the northern part of the county, snow also is in the forecast on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, conditions are forecast to be clear and sunny.
Temperatures over the next several days are anticipated to range from the high 30s to low 40s at night, and from the high 40s and low 50s during the daytime.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – An Upper Lake man has been arrested after authorities said he shot his stepmother to death during a Tuesday night argument.
Matthew Daniel Mora, 35, was arrested shortly before 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Lt. Corey Paulich said that at 5:40 p.m. Tuesday Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the 600 block of East Highway 20 in Upper Lake for a report of a gunshot victim.
When deputies arrived they found a female deceased from an apparent gunshot wound, Paulich said.
Paulich identified the shooting victim as 56-year-old Christine Mora. He said witnesses had identified Matthew Mora as Christine Mora’s stepson.
Matthew Mora fled the scene prior to deputies’ arrival, Paulich said.
Over the next several hours, deputies sought Mora, who at one point had been reported to be walking along East Highway 20, later being spotted at various locations around Upper Lake, based on radio traffic.
Scanner reports also indicated that the firearm was left behind at the scene.
Paulich said witnesses stated Matthew Mora was intoxicated and arguing with family at the residence when he shot his stepmother.
The Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit responded to the scene to continue the investigation, Paulich said.
Paulich said deputies located Mora at a local hotel and took him into custody.
Mora was booked at the Lake County Jail early Wednesday morning. He is being held on $1 million bail.
Mora was booked at the Lake County Jail on a charge of murder early Wednesday morning. He is being held on $1 million bail.
Paulich told Lake County News that the sheriff’s office’s only previous contact with Mora was for a vehicle violation in 2018.
Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 707-262-4238.
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. – The Board of Supervisors is seeking applicants to fill vacancies on the newly formed Lake County Agriculture Advisory Committee.
The purpose of this board is to focus on the county’s agricultural industry for the purposes of advising the board regarding the needs and interests of all local ag stakeholders.
Interested parties must fall under the categories of crop owner, organic farmer or ag processor.
Applications are online at www.lakecountyca.gov on the Board of Supervisors’ page or at the Lake County Courthouse, Clerk of the Board Office, Room 109, 255 North Forbes St., Lakeport.
Please note that membership on the committee is voluntary.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – On Wednesday, special districts throughout California recognized Representative John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) and Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) as their Legislators of the Year at a virtual event.
This is the first year that the California Special Districts Association, or CSDA, has chosen to recognize both a state and federal lawmaker with this distinction.
Garamendi was selected for his drafting of legislation to include special districts in future COVID-19 relief funding, as well as formally defining special districts in federal code.
Aguiar-Curry was honored for her leadership as chair of the California State Assembly Local Government Committee, consistent support of local authority measures and her efforts to coordinate with local governments throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, both lawmakers went above and beyond in their support of communities served by special districts, the association said.
There are just over 2,000 independent special districts in California. They are community formed, owned and governed local governments that serve virtually every Californian with specialized local services ranging from fire protection, water, sewer, and trash, to parks, mosquito abatement, libraries, ports, harbors, electricity, and others that cities and counties don’t always provide.
“Rep. Garamendi has long been an advocate in helping special districts, and particularly water agencies, fulfill their mission of delivering reliable resources to our communities,” said Cary Keaton, general manager for the Solano Irrigation District.
“Cecilia understands the natural resource challenges people in her district face. She has been consistently supportive of our work to provide our communities with technical assistance to improve forest health, watersheds and agricultural sustainability,” said Heather Nichols, executive director of the Yolo County Resource Conservation District.
On June 1, Garamendi introduced H.R. 7073, the “Special Districts Provide Essential Services Act.”
The legislation specifically includes special districts in COVID-19 relief funding. Special districts were excluded from direct access to Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act funding for state and local governments.
This bill is also the first legislation to propose a codified definition of special districts in federal law, the lack of which had been a reason for their previous exclusion.
In the 116th Congress, 43 members of Congress cosponsored H.R. 7073, and it received the support of a national coalition of more than 80 organizations. A bipartisan U.S. Senate bill, S. 4308, was later introduced in companion with Representative Garamendi’s legislation.
The Special Districts Provide Essential Services Act will be reintroduced early in the 117th Congress as part of ongoing efforts for districts to gain access to critical relief funding. If communities served by special districts ultimately secure relief funding, it will be, in large part, thanks to Garamendi’s leadership, the association reported.
In presenting CSDA’s Legislator of the Year award to Representative Garamendi, Ryan Clausnitzer, president of CSDA’s Board of Directors said, “We are so fortunate to have a member of Congress who understands the value that special districts bring to a community and is willing to advocate for their equitable access to funding for all communities.”
“I am honored to be the first Member of Congress to receive CSDA’s Legislator of the Year Award,” said Garamendi. “We must support all of California’s communities and the front-line workers who deliver our essential services by working to secure COVID-19 relief for state and local governments including special districts.”
The association said Aguiar-Curry has a strong understanding of the challenges faced by special districts and other local governments. She has long guarded against overly burdensome mandates that make it harder for local governments to do their jobs.
They also credited her for advocating in favor of improving local governments’ ability to fund new housing and infrastructure.
In 2020, as the pandemic broke, she convened representatives from CSDA, League of California Cities, California State Association of Counties and rural counties through regular conference calls. These calls provided a venue for associations to discuss COVID-19 response measures, communicate with state agencies, and relay the critical needs of their members.
“Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry’s guidance throughout her tenure in the Assembly and most recently during the pandemic has made a difference in the communities our special districts serve. Our members and their residents are better off for her leadership,” said Neil McCormick, CSDA’s chief executive officer.
In her acceptance, Aguiar-Curry said, “I’m honored for this recognition and gratified to be able to help my local government colleagues during these times of crisis. As Chair of the Assembly Local Government Committee, and a former Mayor and Councilmember, it is important to me to help shape policy empowering local government leaders with the flexibility they need to continue to provide essential services to Californians in rural and urban communities alike.”
CSDA invites the public to get to know the special district leaders from the over 2,000 special districts throughout the state who provide essential services to local communities. For more information visit www.districtsmakethedifference.org.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A major winter storm descended across Lake County and the North Coast region on Tuesday, bringing heavy rain, snow and high winds, and leading to road closures and power outages.
The National Weather Service has an active winter storm warning in effect for Lake County through noon on Wednesday, along with a hazardous weather outlook due to the storm, which began to pick up during the afternoon and early evening on Tuesday.
Snow was reported in various parts of the county, from Clearlake to Clearlake Oaks, Cobb, Lakeport, Kelseyville and Upper Lake.
The California Highway Patrol reported numerous road hazards due to snow and stranded vehicles, downed trees and power lines on Tuesday.
Shortly after 4 p.m., the CHP said chains were necessary on Highway 175 over Cobb, from Socrates Mine Road to Red Hills Road.
Early in the evening, multiple vehicles were reported to be stuck in the snow on the Glasgow Grade near Lower Lake, with at least one vehicle struck in a ditch. A Caltrans snow plow was dispatched to the scene.
Just after 6:30 p.m., radio traffic reported that 40 to 50 vehicles on the grade remained at a standstill due to the snow.
About a half hour later, eight vehicles were reported to be stuck at Point Lakeview Road and Sunrise Drive near Lower Lake, with county roads staff working to respond.
Conditions had become so serious that just before 7 p.m. the Clearlake Police Department sent out a Nixle alert that said, “Due to the weather, please stay inside. If travel is necessary, please drive slowly and safely.”
Downed lines were reported just before 6:30 p.m. at 40th and Moss avenues in Clearlake and at Highway 175 and Adams Springs Road in Cobb shortly after 7:30 p.m.
A PG&E wind map at 8 p.m. showed high wind speeds around the county, including 41 mile per hour gusts near Nice and 31 miles per hour on Emerford Road in the Cobb area
Just before 9 p.m., the CHP reported that there were multiple vehicles stuck in the snow on both sides of the Lake and Mendocino County line along Highway 20 west of Witter Springs Road.
The Clearlake Police Department at 10:40 p.m. issued an alert asking that people avoid the area of 18th, 40th and Davis avenues due to hazardous conditions from the weather. “Some or all roads may be impassable,” the department said.
At 11:15 p.m., the police department reported a tree was down in the roadway at Old Highway 53 and Davis Avenue.
There also were reports on Tuesday of trees falling on several houses around the county.
The National Weather Service said winds with gusts of up to 45 miles per hour were expected to continue until about 12 a.m. Wednesday, and early Wednesday the wind map showed winds had dropped substantially from the peak speeds recorded on Tuesday night, with some areas in the single digits.
Conditions on Highway 29 between Lower Lake and Kelseyville, where dozens of vehicles had been reported stranded on Tuesday evening, led to a road closure that continued into early Wednesday.
At 2:15 a.m., the CHP said the roadway was closed from Highway 29 and 53 in Lower Lake to Highway 29 at Kit’s Corner in Kelseyville. There was no estimated time of reopening early Wednesday.
During the course of the night there were numerous reports of power outages around Lake County.
As of 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, nearly 2,800 PG&E customers combined were without power in Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Cobb, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Loch Lomond, Lower Lake and Upper Lake.
Weather stations in the National Weather Service’s network showed that Lower Lake and Middletown received more than an inch and a half of rain on Tuesday, while Upper Lake and parts of Cobb recorded more than 1.3 inches.
Heavy snow is expected through Wednesday morning in the area of 1,500 to 2,500 feet in elevation, based on the forecast.
Forecasters are predicting between 4 to 10 inches of snow in higher elevations and 2 to 3 inches of rain, particularly in southern Lake County.
Additional rain also is expected across Lake County from Wednesday through Monday, the National Weather Service 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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service said a “significant” storm system is on its way to Northern California, bringing with it the expectation of rain into next week and the potential for snow in higher elevations across the North Coast region.
Forecasters issued a winter storm warning that will be in effect from 2 p.m. Tuesday through noon on Wednesday.
It warns of a strong and cold storm system that will move across the region, bringing heavy snow above the 1,500-foot elevation level, along with wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour.
More specifically, the forecast calls for snowfall above the 2,500- to 3,000-foot elevation level in both Lake and Mendocino counties.
The National Weather Service has issued an additional winter weather advisory above 2,500 feet for southern Lake County to account for more minor snow accumulations along Highway 175.
Additional rain and snow is expected into the weekend, with the forecast calling for rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches in lower elevations just through Thursday.
The specific Lake County forecast calls for rain and snow after 10 a.m. Tuesday, with little or no snow accumulation and wind gusts of above 20 miles per hour.
On Tuesday night, rain is expected to be heavy, with between 1 and 2 inches in the forecast. Winds are forecast to be nearly 40 miles per hour in some higher elevations.
Up to an inch of rain is anticipated over the course of Wednesday during the day and at night, with more than a quarter of an inch possible on Thursday.
Chances of rain are forecast from Friday through Monday.
Temperatures overnight Tuesday were forecast to be in the mid-20s, with nighttime temperatures in the 30s and the high 40s through the end of the week, and daytime temperatures expected to edge into the low 50s early next week.
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.
Timothy Callaghan, Texas A&M University and Matt Motta, Oklahoma State University
Today, more Americans hope to receive a COVID-19 vaccine than current vaccine supply will allow. Consequently, although President Joe Biden’s initial promise to dole out 100 million vaccine doses in 100 days would require a ramp-up in vaccine allocation, some consider the promise to be insufficient to meet current levels of demand and put the pandemic’s spread into decline.
The current mismatch between vaccine demand and supply, however, may be short-lived. Despite concernsaboutlagging vaccine allocation for front-line health care workers and other vulnerable groups, health experts are optimistic that public demand for a COVID-19 vaccine will remain high in coming months as more vaccine doses become available.
While it is clear that many political leaders expect public demand for a coronavirus vaccine to be strong, whether or not expectations can live up to reality is an open question. In fact, there is some evidence to suggest instead that large segments of both the public and health care workers do not intend to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Figuring out whether or not some people are less likely to get vaccinated – and their reasons for not getting vaccinated – can help political leaders and health professionals better anticipate vaccine demand. If some social, political and other demographic groups are more (or less) likely to intend to get vaccinated than others, demand for a vaccine may be higher (or lower) in vaccine distribution networks that primarily service vaccine-hesitant groups.
Additionally, understanding why some individuals are more likely to refuse vaccination than others can help inform health communication efforts to increase vaccine uptake. For example, if some Americans intend to refuse to get vaccinated due to concerns that the vaccine is not safe, health communicators can target these groups with easy-to-understand information about how scientists determined that the vaccine is safe.
In a recent peer-reviewed study, we provide important insight into what public demand for a coronavirus vaccine could actually look like, once most Americans have the opportunity to get vaccinated. Just as important, we detail reasons certain Americans do not intend to get vaccinated.
Some Americans more likely to get vaccinated
We studied Americans’ COVID-19 vaccination intentions in a large, demographically representative online survey of 5,009 U.S. adults, conducted in June 2020. We measured vaccination intentions by asking respondents whether or not they would pursue getting vaccinated for the coronavirus if a COVID-19 vaccine became available.
Our study found that almost a third (31.1%) of respondents did not intend to pursue vaccination. This is concerning, given that recent epidemiological estimates suggest that up to 70% of Americans must become immune to COVID-19 in order to put the pandemic’s spread into decline.
We also found strong differences in vaccination intention between key demographic groups. Notably, we found that 35.7% of women (vs. 26.3% of men), 42.9% of Black people (vs. 28.6% of white people), and 37.8% of conservatives (vs. 33.4% of independents and 24.1% of liberals) intended to forgo vaccination.
Why will some people refuse a COVID-19 vaccine?
Our study provides new insights into the reasons that some Americans do not intend to get vaccinated against COVID-19. We found that concerns about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine were the most consistent reasons for forgoing vaccination. We also found that portions of the American public did not intend to pursue vaccination because they lack health insurance, lack the financial resources they believe they need to be vaccinated or because they have already had COVID-19.
Our study also found considerable evidence that the reasons for not vaccinating were not the same for everyone. For example, women were more likely than men to say they would forgo vaccination due to concerns about safety and effectiveness. Additionally, we found that Black people were more likely to skip vaccination than white people due to perceived safety and effectiveness issues as well as concerns related to the cost of vaccinating and a lack of health insurance.
Together, our findings point to two key takeaways as the U.S. pushes to rapidly vaccinate its population against COVID-19. First, political leaders and public health experts need to recognize that what appears to be considerable public demand for the COVID-19 vaccine right now may be more modest in the coming months, as more Americans have the opportunity to get vaccinated. In its place, experts will be faced with the new challenge of convincing hesitant groups to get vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity and end the pandemic.
Second, our results demonstrate that in these efforts to vaccinate the hesitant, a one-size-fits-all approach to health communications will be insufficient. While health communications aimed at emphasizing the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine will be important, for some groups, it will be just as important to emphasize that Americans can be vaccinated against COVID-19 for free, regardless of insurance status. Developing these communications and identifying appropriate messengers to deliver this information will be vital to stopping the pandemic.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors received a more hopeful report from county health officials on Tuesday about improving conditions with regard to COVID-19, but the supervisors still decided to keep their chambers closed to in-person participation during meetings for another week.
“Things are looking a little better than they have in the last several weeks,” Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace told the board.
Sarah Marikos, the county’s epidemiologist, said California’s 14-day positivity rate has declined since the start of the year. “It’s telling us that the virus is decreasing throughout the state.”
She said the state’s case curve is starting to go down. California also is at the top of the curve and trending downward as far as hospitalizations, but it’s still a significantly higher number than in the summer.
Over the previous seven days, Lake County has had six to eight of its eight intensive care unit beds occupied, with between 43 to 71 percent of the patients having COVID-19. Patient numbers over the previous three days had been the lowest seen in some time, she said.
Marikos said the number of deaths is still increasing, with more than 37,000 Californians having died so far of COVID-19.
In Lake County, of the 32 deaths so far, 64 percent were age 70 and older, 27 percent were 60 to 69 years of age, and 9 percent were under age 60, Marikos said.
In the last seven days the county had identified 93 new cases, compared to 300 the previous week, she explained. About 83 new cases had been reported this week.
Marikos said the county has seen a slight increase in cases among children from birth to age 14, and a slight decrease in cases in those age 65 and older, trends she’s continuing to watch.
Pace said he’s hoping that the county is starting to see a positive turn. He also pointed out that intensive care unit capacity in the Bay Area is starting to loosen up, which is beneficial for Lake County since that’s where patients tend to be transported for higher levels of care.
He explained that with the officials lifting regional stay at home orders for the rest of the state, they are getting back to where Lake County has been all along, as it is part of the Northern California region that’s not dropped below the 15-percent ICU availability that triggered the stay at home orders.
Pace said there are a couple of different COVID-19 variants that are showing up in Lake County and in California. So far, they don’t know whether the variants are more contagious or have a more serious impact on people.
Marikos said epidemiologists are watching as the variants become increasingly prevalent around the state to gauge if they are in fact more infectious or contagious and how that will affect ICU capacity.
“Basically the variant is a little bit of a curveball,” Pace said. “We don't know exactly what it's going to mean for us down the road but it’s definitely something we’re all watching.”
He acknowledged that he’s seeing a lot of questions about the vaccine. “It’s a very confusing situation.”
Pace said people can call the 211 information line for updates and visit the Lake County Public Health website vaccine page.
He said the county continues to receive a small amount of vaccine, averaging 400 doses a week, although this week they received an 800-dose allocation. They’re working to distribute the doses quickly in order of tiers set out by the state.
Public appointments are not available and he encouraged people to contact their health care providers for information on when they can receive the vaccine. He asked that people no longer contact senior centers, which have been overwhelmed with calls.
He estimated that about 3,000 Lake County residents have received the vaccine so far, which is just under 5 percent of the population. Referring to infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci’s estimated vaccination rate needed in order to get herd immunity – which Fauci has said is about 90 percent – Pace said it would take Lake County 20 months if it continues to receive the same dose amounts.
Supervisor Jessica Pyska pointed out that the nation’s estimated number of vaccinations so far is at about 3 percent, close to Lake County’s rate.
Pyska asked Pace about masking and if everyone should be using N95 masks if possible. He said N95 masks are the most effective.
While urging people to avoid being out in public as much as possible – explaining that they’re likely to encounter the virus out in the community – he said wearing an N95 mask offers much more protection than a surgical mask, and surgical masks offer much more protection than no masks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is starting to come out with recommendations on double masking as double masking is believed to have increased protection, Pace said.
He suggested avoiding stores during the busy hours and waiting until March or April to pursue other activities in the community.
Pyska asked about the coming fire season and the ability of community members to be able to be out to safely do cleanup and vegetation management.
Pace said that with some precautions, being outdoors for such work “is pretty darn safe.”
During the discussion, Pace said Lake County needs to fall below 42 new cases a week to have current restrictions eased. He estimated that could happen by the end of February.
Asked by a community member about the county’s plan for ramping up if more vaccine becomes available, County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson said, “It’s a work in progress. We recognize the need. We’re working very closely with Dr. Pace to prepare for putting those resources in place.”
However, Huchingson said they don’t yet have specific numbers because the flow of vaccines to Lake County has so far not been consistent.
In response to questions from Board Chair Bruno Sabatier about the numbers of residents needing to be vaccinated, Pace explained that herd immunity only works if people are vaccinated. If 40 percent of the population declines vaccination the county won’t get to herd immunity.
In related news, the board reached consensus on Tuesday to continue to keep the board chambers closed for in-person participation by the public for the time being due to the COVID-19 case rate and in response to staff’s input last week about wanting less interaction in order to protect against the virus.
The chamber closures are being reviewed weekly.
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. – On Monday, the California Employment Development Department provided an update on its efforts to get unemployment benefits to those struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic while stopping a multibillion-dollar wave of fraud against the unemployment system that has increased over the past year.
Investigations across the state – including in Lake County – have uncovered tens of thousands of cases of unemployment benefit fraud that state officials are estimating total at least $11 billion, and could be as much as $30 billion.
In November, the California District Attorneys Association wrote to Gov. Gavin Newsom to ask him to become personally involved “in halting what appears to be the most significant fraud on taxpayer funds in California history.”
The group reported that district attorneys and federal prosecutors, along with local, state and federal law enforcement, “have discovered that there is rampant and large-scale pandemic unemployment assistance fraud occurring in our communities, in the jails and in state and federal prison.”
The Lake County District Attorney’s Office has confirmed to Lake County News that it is investigating numerous EDD fraud cases that emanated from the Lake County Jail.
In its Monday report, the EDD said that between March 2020 and January 16, 2021, it processed 19.5 million claims and paid out $114 billion in unemployment benefits.
EDD confirmed that 9.7 percent of payments – or more than $11 billion – have been made to fraudulent claims.
It also identified that up to an additional 17 percent of payments – totaling $19 billion – made during this time have been made to potentially fraudulent claims. The EDD said these claims are under investigation.
The state said the estimates it provided on Monday “are likely to shift as new claims come in and as older claims that have been flagged as suspicious are either validated or confirmed as fraudulent.”
EDD estimated that the department’s existing fraud screening measures and new security protections put into place last fall prevented up to $60 billion in payments to fraudulent claims.
“EDD is now working with some of the country’s most successful fraud prevention businesses and law enforcement agencies to protect the state’s unemployment benefit system,” said California Labor and Workforce Development Agency Secretary Julie Su. “We know that many Californians are waiting on payments, and EDD is working quickly to validate their claims and get their benefits to them.”
EDD said it experienced more than five times as many unemployment claims in 2020 than in 2010, the worst full year of the Great Recession, and processed as many claims within the first eight weeks of the pandemic shut down as it did during all of 2010.
Nationally, unemployment systems paid more than $500 billion to unemployment benefits in 2020, according to a draft report by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.
The EDD said California processed a record amount of unemployment benefit claims in 2020, primarily driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. “This flood of activity provided a window of opportunity for thieves.
California has been hit hard by fraud from international and national crime syndicates particularly targeting the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, program.
“EDD was clearly under-prepared for the type and magnitude of criminal attacks and the sheer quantity of claims,” said Rita Saenz, the state’s new EDD director, who Gov. Newsom appointed in December. “We are focused on making the changes necessary to provide benefits to eligible Californians as quickly as possible and stopping fraud before it enters the system.”
Nationally, 35 percent of unemployment applications are fraudulent, according to ID.me.
The U.S. Department of Labor said California’s PUA program was particularly susceptible to fraud because it did not require income or employment verification upfront and allowed claimants to back-date their claim to February.
As of Monday, the EDD estimated that roughly 95 percent of the known fraudulent payments in California were made to PUA claims. The remaining 5 percent is associated with California’s existing Unemployment Insurance, or UI, program.
By comparison, in 2019, fraud accounted for about 6 percent of California’s total UI payments, the EDD said.
California has become one of the first five states to implement ID.me to prevent fraud in the unemployment system, said Blake Hall, CEO of ID.me.
Hall said the fraud targeting PUA programs is a national problem, calling it a crisis that “transcends any one state.”
On Monday, Hall said 21 states are either live with ID.me or in the final stages of implementation, noting that the program is blocking about $1 billion in fraud per week across the states it serves.
“The fraud rate for new claims is at least 35 percent and over ten times what we see at federal agencies,” Hall said.
The Newsom administration has come under fire due to the fraud issue. However, on Monday, the EDD maintained that last summer Newsom had set up a task force led by California’s Office of Emergency Services and law enforcement agencies to investigate fraud.
The agency said that beginning in October it instituted secure measures to verify claimants’ identity through the ID.me program to increase both claim efficiency and fraud detection, and expanded its contract with security firm Thomson Reuters to provide industry best practices to identify fraud.
In a legislative approach to ending the fraud, last month, State Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) introduced a bill to mandate that EDD make it a standard practice to regularly cross check unemployment claims against records in state prisons.
Grove, who accused Newsom’s administration of allowing fraud to run rampant in state prisons, also at that time delivered a letter supporting the California District Attorneys Association letter to the governor weeks earlier, and demanded that Newsom provide them adequate resources to investigate and prosecute EDD fraud cases.
Grove’s bill, SB 39, was introduced in the State Senate on Dec. 7. It cites an estimated 35,000 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims that were filed on behalf of inmates between March and August of 2020, noting that half of those claims were paid despite the individuals being ineligible under current law.
State Senate records show that the bill has been sent to committee to be referred for assignment.
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. – Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Wednesday night that hundreds of its crews are continuing their work to restore power following what’s being called one of the strongest winter storms to hit California in years.
The storm battered the state with heavy rain, high winds and snow, including several inches of snow that the National Weather Service reported fell in Lake County.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, PG&E said 575,000 of its customers across the state had lost power due to the winds, rain and snow.
Of those, 434,000 – or 75 percent – had power restored with approximately 141,000 customers still out of power as of shortly before 7 p.m., PG&E reported.
The hardest-hit areas with the most remaining outages on Wednesday night included the Sacramento and Stockton regions as well as parts of Humboldt and Mendocino counties.
The company said more than 400 crews and nearly 500 electric troublemen and inspectors are working on restoration.
In some locations, PG&E said its crews have been using snowcats – described as truck-size tracked vehicles – to gain access to infrastructure in locations where snow is the deepest.
In Lake County, 5,822 PG&E customers had been impacted as of 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to company spokeswoman Deanna Contreras.
“With this type of storm that brings prolonged days of rain, several days of high winds and snow in the higher elevations, we do see the outages are caused by trees or tree limbs falling into power lines. In the areas of snow, the snow weighs down trees into the lines,” she said.
The areas with the largest impacts on customers were Clearlake, Cobb, Clearlake Oaks and Kelseyville, Contreras said.
At 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Contreras told Lake County News that fewer than 1,900 customers remained without power in the county.
“We are working safely and as quickly as possible to restore power to at least 60 of the customers currently impacted in Upper Lake,” where Contreras said there are a total of 244 customers who remain affected by the outage.
PG&E’s in-house meteorologists reported that maximum wind gusts during the storm included 80 mile per hour gusts recorded at weather stations on Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County and Pelato Peak in Kern County.
Wind gusts for Lake County were in the 40s on Tuesday night, based on the company’s wind map.
As this storm is predicted to be the first of a series of storms through this weekend, PG&E reminded its customers to stay safe, be prepared and have an emergency plan.
The latest information on outages and preparedness can be found on PG&E’s website.
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. – The Lake County Superior Court said it has received another emergency order allowing for further delay of trials through late February due to COVID-19.
In response to the local COVID-19 case rate, court officials said they submitted a request for emergency relief under Government Code section 68115(a)(10), which addresses judicial emergencies.
On Tuesday, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye authorized the Lake County Superior Court to extend statutory deadlines in criminal trials under Penal Code section 1382, by no more than 30 days.
Jury trials had been set to start again at the end of January. However, as a result of the Tuesday order, no jury trial will take place before Feb. 23, court officials said.
County residents who have received a jury summons for any date prior to Feb. 23 are not required to appear, the court reported.
This is the sixth emergency order the state has approved for the Lake County Superior Court to allow for the adjustment of court operations during the pandemic, as Lake County News has reported.
Trials had been stopped from March through late summer, when trials resumed.
However, at the start of December, after Lake County moved into the purple, or highest tier, on the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the court sought an emergency order putting off trials through the end of that month and moved much of the rest of its hearings online.
At the end of December, the court received another order approving putting off trials until the end of January, with Tuesday’s order bringing the closures up to nearly three months in length.
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Officials with the California Department of Public Health on Monday ended the regional stay at home order, lifting the order for all regions statewide, including the three regions that had still been under the order – San Joaquin Valley, Bay Area and Southern California.
Four-week ICU capacity projections for these three regions are above 15 percent, the threshold that allows regions to exit the order. The Sacramento Region exited the order on Jan. 12 and the Northern California region, which includes Lake County, never entered the order.
State officials said this action allows all counties statewide to return to the rules and framework of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy and color-coded tiers that indicate which activities and businesses are open based on local case rates and test positivity.
The majority of the counties are in the strictest, or purple tier. Tier updates are provided weekly on Tuesdays. Individual counties could choose to impose stricter rules.
Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace said the action offers “no change for us.”
He said that Lake and the northern counties have had fewer restrictions than the southern areas.
Pace said Lake County remains in the purple tier.
“Californians heard the urgent message to stay home as much as possible and accepted that challenge to slow the surge and save lives,” said Dr. Tomás Aragón, CDPH director and state public health officer. “Together, we changed our activities knowing our short-term sacrifices would lead to longer-term gains. COVID-19 is still here and still deadly, so our work is not over, but it’s important to recognize our collective actions saved lives and we are turning a critical corner.”
While there are positive signs that the virus is spreading at a slower rate across the state, the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. It is still critical that Californians continue to wear masks when they leave their homes, maintain physical distance of at least 6 feet, wash their hands frequently, avoid gatherings and mixing with other households, follow all state and local health department guidance and get the vaccine when it’s their turn.
The state, in collaboration with local health departments and health care facilities statewide, took a long list of actions to support California’s hospitals and slow the surge in cases and hospitalizations.
The Regional Stay at Home Order urged Californians to stay home except for essential activities, which helped lower disease transmission levels and reduce burden on the hospital system.
California deployed more than 4,100 medical professionals to facilities across the state to ease the burden on frontline health care workers.
The state provided assistance within hospitals in the form of personal protective equipment, ventilators and help with oxygen supply.
California also helped hospitals expand their capacity by opening 16 alternate care sites, lower-acuity facilities where COVID-19 patients get a bridge from hospital to home as they are recovering.
Public health leaders implemented a statewide order to make it easier to transfer patients from over-crowded hospitals to those with more space and staff.
The administration of vaccines to health care workers has meant that fewer health care workers are falling ill to the virus, which helps keep staffing levels more stable.
“California is slowly starting to emerge from the most dangerous surge of this pandemic yet, which is the light at the end of the tunnel we’ve been hoping for,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. “Seven weeks ago, our hospitals and front-line medical workers were stretched to their limits, but Californians heard the urgent message to stay home when possible and our surge after the December holidays did not overwhelm the health care system to the degree we had feared.”
Nearly all the counties exiting the Regional Stay at Home Order today are in the Purple or widespread (most restrictive) tier. Services and activities, such as outdoor dining and personal services, may resume immediately with required modifications, subject to any additional restrictions required by local jurisdictions. See the county map to find the status of activities open in each county.
Because case rates remain high across most of the state, the state’s Hospital Surge Order remains in place to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. The Limited Stay at Home Order, which limits non-essential activities between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., expires with the Regional Stay At Home Order ending.