Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05), Rep. Jared Huffman (CA-02) and 38 Members of Congress from both parties wrote to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, asking it to drop its claim to funding in the settlement fund set up for survivors of the 2017 and 2018 Northern California wildfires.
The fund was established by Pacific Gas and Electric to help the thousands still rebuilding since the fires.
Thompson, Huffman, and the signers believe FEMA should not be asking to receive those funds as they are first and foremost owed to those survivors still trying to rebuild their lives.
The letter was signed by Representatives Maxine Waters (CA-43), Anna G. Eshoo (CA-18), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Brad Sherman (CA-30), Grace F. Napolitano (CA-32), Susan A. Davis (CA-53), Adam B. Schiff (CA-28), Linda T. Sánchez (CA-38), Jim Costa (CA-16), Doris O. Matsui (CA-06), Jerry McNerney (CA-09), Jackie Speier (CA-14), Tom McClintock (CA-04), Judy Chu (CA-27), John Garamendi (CA-03), Ami Bera (CA-07), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), Doug LaMalfa (CA-01), Alan Lowenthal (CA-47), Scott H. Peters (CA-52), Eric Swalwell (CA-15), Mark Takano (CA-41), Juan Vargas (CA-51), Pete Aguilar (CA-31), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Ted Lieu (CA-33), Norma J. Torres (CA-35), Salud O. Carbajal (CA-24), J. Luis Correa (CA-46), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr. (CA-39), T.J. Cox (CA-21), Mike Levin (CA-49), Katie Porter (CA-45), and Harley Rouda (CA-48), and a copy is below.
January 10, 2019
The Honorable Peter Gaynor Acting Administrator Federal Emergency Management Agency Federal Center Plaza 500 C St, SW Washington, DC 20472
Dear Acting Administrator Gaynor:
We write to you with great dismay and concern as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) moves forward with its decision to litigate claims to the settlement fund for wildfire victims established by PG&E in their ongoing bankruptcy case. We believe this decision by FEMA jeopardizes the intended purpose of the fund, which was established to provide some measure of justice and restitution to thousands of households victimized by wildfires in Northern California in 2017 and 2018.
This claim by FEMA in the federal bankruptcy court puts at risk the possibility that the thousands of families still struggling to rebuild their lives will not receive the restitution they deserve. The inequity of this situation is evident, as we are told by victims that they were reassured by FEMA that they would not face additional costs when accepting federal offers of debris removal. Not only does this reversal by FEMA betray these promises, it will serve to undermine any future effort to coordinate rebuilding and debris removal in response to future natural disasters as FEMA’s reputation as an honest and fair partner will be diminished.
This decision by FEMA has the potential to undermine FEMA’s reputation as an honest and fair partner. We ask that you reconsider your decision to pursue a claim in federal bankruptcy court, based on law and regulation, or administrative and other decisions. Additionally, we request a meeting as soon as possible to understand the reasonings behind this claim. Given the February 11th hearing scheduled in the federal bankruptcy court, time is of the essence for FEMA to reconsider this approach. We look forward to your response.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The fourth annual Martin Luther King Day Jr. and Unity Day celebration will be held in Clearlake on Monday, Jan. 20.
The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the United Methodist Church, 14521 Pearl Ave.
The celebration will include prayers and music – including African drumming – along with poetry and speeches by Aqeela Markowski and Randall Cole. Faye Porter will read Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech.
A few months ago a group of NASA exoplanet astronomers, who are in the business of discovering planets around other stars, called me into a secret meeting to tell me about a planet that had captured their interest. Because my expertise lies in modeling the climate of exoplanets, they asked me to figure out whether this new planet was habitable – a place where liquid water might exist.
These NASA colleagues, Josh Schlieder and his students Emily Gilbert, Tom Barclay and Elisa Quintana, had been studying data from TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) when they discovered what may be TESS’ first known Earth-sized planet in a zone where liquid water could exist on the surface of a terrestrial planet. This is very exciting news because this new planet is relatively close to Earth, and it may be possible to observe its atmosphere with either the James Webb Space Telescope or ground-based large telescopes.
Habitable zone planets
The host star of the planet that Gilbert’s team discovered is called TESS of Interest number 700, or TOI-700. Compared to the Sun, it is a small, dim star. It is 40% the size, only about 1/50 of the Sun’s brightness and is located about 100 light-years from Earth in the constellation Dorado, which is visible from our Southern Hemisphere. For comparison, the nearest star to us, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light-years away from Earth. To get a sense of these distances, if you were to travel on the fastest spacecraft (Parker Solar Probe) to reach Proxima Centauri, it would take nearly 20,000 years.
There are three planets around TOI-700: b, c and d. Planet d is Earth-size, within the star’s habitable zone and orbits TOI-700 every 37 days. My colleagues wanted me to create a climate model for Planet d using the known properties of the star and planet. Planets b and c are Earth-size and mini-Neptune-size, respectively. However, they orbit much closer to their host star, receiving 5 times and 2.6 times the starlight that our own Earth receives from the Sun. For comparison, Venus, a dry and hellishly hot world with surface temperature of approximately 860 degrees Fahrenheit, receives twice the sunlight of Earth.
Until about a decade ago, only two habitable zone planets of any size were known to astronomers: Earth and Mars. Within the last decade, however, thanks to discoveries made through both ground-based telescopes and the Kepler mission (which also looked for exoplanets from 2009 to 2019, but is now retired), astronomers have discovered about a dozen terrestrial-sized exoplanets. These are between half and two times larger than the Earth within the habitable zones of their host stars.
Despite the relatively large number of small exoplanet discoveries to date, the majority of stars are between 600 to 3,000 light-years away from Earth – too far and dim for detailed follow-up observation.
Why is liquid water important for habitability?
Unlike Kepler, TESS’ mission is to search for planets around the Sun’s nearest neighbors: those bright enough for follow-up observations.
Between April 2018 and now, TESS discovered more than 1,500 planet candidates. Most are more than twice the size of Earth with orbits of less than 10 days. Earth, of course, takes 365 days to orbit around our Sun. As a result, the planets receive significantly more heat than Earth receives from the Sun and are too hot for liquid water to exist on the surface.
Liquid water is essential for habitability. It provides a medium for chemicals to interact with each other. While it is possible for exotic life to exist at higher pressures, or hotter temperatures – like the extremophiles found near hydro-thermal vents or the microbes found half a mile beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet – those discoveries were possible because humans were able to directly probe those extreme environments. They would not have been detectable from space.
When it comes to finding life, or even habitable conditions, beyond our solar system, humans depend entirely upon remote observations. Surface liquid water may create habitable conditions that can potentially promote life. These life forms can then interact with the atmosphere above, creating remotely detectable bio-signatures that Earth-based telescopes can detect. These bio-signatures could be current Earth-like gas compositions (oxygen, ozone, methane, carbon dioxide and water vapor), or the composition of ancient Earth 2.7 billion years ago (mostly methane and carbon dioxide, and no oxygen).
We know one such planet where this has already happened: Earth. Therefore, astronomers’ goal is to find those planets that are about Earth-size, orbiting at those distances from the star where water could exist in liquid form on the surface. These planets will be our primary targets to hunt for habitable worlds and signatures of life outside our solar system.
Possible climates for planet TOI-700 d
To prove that TOI-700 d is real, Gilbert’s team needed to confirm using data from a different type of telescope. TESS detects planets when they cross in front of the star, causing a dip in the starlight. However, such dips could also be created by other sources, such as spurious instrumental noise or binary stars in the background eclipsing each other, creating false positive signals. Independent observations came from Joey Rodriguez at Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University. Rodriguez and his team confirmed the TESS detection of TOI-700 d with the Spitzer telescope, and removed any remaining doubt that it is a genuine planet.
My student Gabrielle Engelmann-Suissa and I used our modeling software to figure out what type of climate might exist on planet TOI-700 d. Because we do not yet know what kind of gases this planet may actually have in its atmosphere, we use our climate models to explore possible gas combinations that would support liquid oceans on its surface. Engelmann-Suissa, with the help of my longtime collaborator Eric Wolf, tested various scenarios including the current Earth atmosphere (77% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, remaining methane and carbon dioxide), the composition of Earth’s atmosphere 2.7 billion years ago (mostly methane and carbon dioxide) and even a Martian atmosphere (a lot of carbon dioxide) as it possibly existed 3.5 billion years ago.
Based on our models, we found that if the atmosphere of planet TOI-700 d contains a combination of methane or carbon dioxide or water vapor, the planet could be habitable. Now our team needs to confirm these hypotheses with the James Webb Space Telescope.
Strange new worlds and their climates
The climate simulations our NASA team has completed suggest that an Earth-like atmosphere and gas pressure isn’t adequate to support liquid water on its surface. If we put the same quantity of greenhouse gases as we have on Earth on TOI-700 d, the surface temperature on this planet would still be below freezing.
Our own atmosphere supports a liquid ocean on Earth now because our star is quite big and brighter than TOI-700. One thing is for sure: All of our teams’ modeling indicates that the climates of planets around small and dim stars like TOI-700 are very unlike what we see on our Earth.
The field of exoplanets is now in a transitional era from discovering them to characterizing their atmospheres. In the history of astronomy, new techniques enable new observations of the universe including surprises like the discovery of hot-Jupiters and mini-Neptunes, which have no equivalent in our solar system. The stage is now set to observe the atmospheres of these planets to see which ones have conditions that support life.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control’s lineup of adoptable dogs has several new members this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of bluetick coonhound, Doberman Pinscher, pit bull, Rhodesian Ridgeback, shepherd, Siberian Huskey, terrier and treeing walker coonhound.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
Female terrier
This female terrier has a short brown and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 4, ID No. 13456.
Female pit bull terrier
This young female pit bull terrier has a short tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 6, ID No. 13464.
Female Siberian Husky
This female Siberian Husky has a medium-length gray and cream coat.
She is in kennel No. 8, ID No. 13453.
‘Bruno’
“Bruno” is a male shepherd mix with a medium-length tricolor coat.
He is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 13432.
‘BamBam’
“BamBam” is a young male pit bull terrier mix with a short gray and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. 13467.
Male Doberman Pinscher
This male Doberman Pinscher has a short red and brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 13459.
‘Oso’
“Oso” is a male shepherd mix with a long black and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 3173.
Male Labrador Retriever
This male Labrador Retriever has a tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 13408.
‘Daisey’
“Daisey” is a female treeing walker coonhound/bluetick coonhound mix with a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 29, ID No. 13291.
Male pit bull terrier
This male pit bull terrier has a short blue and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 30, ID No. 13448.
‘Goofy’
“Goofy” is a young male Rhodesian Ridgeback with a short tan and black coat.
Shelter staff said this boy is great with other dogs, although he is high energy and would benefit from obedience training. He would love to go jogging every day, he is very food motivated and willing to learn new things.
Goofy has been at the shelter since Nov. 5. He was originally taken from someone in Upper Lake and found on the highway in Clearlake. If anyone has any information on his owner please contact the shelter.
He’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 13210.
Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
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.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The UC Davis School of Medicine has joined with two other universities and a regional health board in a collaborative effort to increase the number of Native Americans practicing health care.
The joint project, called Reimagine Indians into Medicine, or RISE, stands to substantially increase the total number of Native medical and health science students nationwide, which in turn can decrease health disparities and improve public health.
“The UC Davis School of Medicine is firmly committed to reducing health disparities, and one of the most successful ways to achieve that is to matriculate more students from diverse backgrounds,” said Allison Brashear, dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine. “Studies show that students who belong to underrepresented minority groups are drawn to careers in medicine where they can care for underserved populations – which also happen to have the greatest health disparities.”
The Indian Health Service has found native populations suffer disproportionately from heart disease, diabetes, alcoholism, mental health conditions, asthma, chronic liver disease and intrahepatic bile duct cancer.
Among other factors, these health disparities can be attributed to a shortage of native physicians and other health care professionals.
Practitioners with knowledge of and sensitivity to the traditions of these communities can improve the health care that is delivered.
This makes efforts like the new partnership between the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, Oregon Health & Science University, University of California Davis School of Medicine and Washington State University Health Sciences and its Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine critical.
The collaboration is supported by a nearly $1 million, five-year grant from IHS’s Indians Into Medicine Program, as well as more than $1 million in financial and in-kind contributions from project partners.
“This initiative will allow the UC Davis School of Medicine to help identify, prepare, enroll and train a greater number of Native American students, each of whom is likely to make a tangible difference in achieving health equity in their home communities where health disparities continue to persist,” Brashear said.
The project will build on the early success of the OHSU Wy’east Post-Baccalaureate Pathway, a 10-month program that offers citizens of federally recognized tribes a pathway to improve their academic skills and be successful in the medical school admissions process. UC Davis School of Medicine and WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine will join Wy’east, with the three medical schools collectively admitting 18 students to the pathway. Upon successful completion of Wy’east, students will receive conditional acceptance from the medical schools.
Fewer than 1 percent of all working U.S. physicians are Native American. Just 44 of the 21,863 enrolled medical students nationwide this year identified as Native American alone, including two at UC Davis. If all 18 Wy'east students go on to study medicine, they could increase the total number of Natives enrolled in U.S. medical schools by about 40 percent.
Another key aspect of the joint project is creating summer academies, six-week enrichment programs in biomedical sciences and MCAT exam preparation for undergraduate or recently graduated native students wanting to attend medical school.
Project partners will also expand the pre-existing Pacific Northwest American Indian/Alaska Native Medical School Applicant Workshop, which helps the region’s Native students prepare to apply for medical school.
Finally, the four partners also will encourage native youth and adolescents to pursue medical careers through targeted digital and social media outreach, as well as hands-on health profession enrichment activities.
Native youth can text the keyword HEALER to 97779 to receive weekly text messages that include role-model videos, resources, tips and ideas to help them navigate the steps involved in becoming a healer.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The forecast for snow across the region held true on Thursday, with a winter storm turning parts of Lake County winter white.
Forecasters had expected snow in elevations above 2,000 feet, but on Thursday even some lower elevations had a light layer of white.
As a result, much of Lake County woke up on Thursday to the wintriest of scenes – with snowfall across much of the county and a white cloak of snow on the top of Mount Konocti and the surrounding mountaintops.
In some areas, like the Northshore, snow quickly turned to slush by morning, but in areas like Lakeport and Kelseyville, a thin layer of snow remained later in the day before finally melting away. Cobb and the mountains near Middletown had more snow, as is common for those areas during winter storms.
The day also was punctuated by rainfall and dramatic clouds over Clear Lake, where birds like pelicans are gathering in large numbers.
Conditions are forecast to be partly sunny on Friday, before chances of rain return on Saturday. Sunday is anticipated to be mostly cloudy.
The National Weather Service said another winter storm system is forecast to move into the region as early as Monday afternoon, bringing with it chances of showers for much of next week.
Daytime temperatures will hover in the 40s before rising to the low 50s later next week. Nighttime temperatures will hover in the 30s.
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.
At around 1 a.m. local standard time on April 29, 2017, a fireball flew over Kyoto, Japan.
Compared to other fireballs spotted from Earth, it was relatively bright and slow. Now, scientists have determined not only what the fireball was, but also where it came from.
"We uncovered the fireball's true identity," said Toshihiro Kasuga, paper author and visiting scientist at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and Kyoto Sangyo University. "It has a similar orbit to that of the near-Earth asteroid 2003 YT1, which is likely its parent body."
2003 YT1, a binary asteroid first detected in 2003, appears to have been active in the past, meaning it fissured and released dust particles, such as the one responsible for the 2017 fireball. It does not currently show any activity, though, according to Kasuga.
However, the researchers found that the orbit, estimated radiant point, velocity and appearance date of the 2017 fireball are all consistent with dust particles that originated from 2003 YT1.
"The potential break-up of the rock could be dangerous to life on Earth," Kasuga said. "The parent body 2003 YT1 could break up, and those resulting asteroids could hit the Earth in the next 10 million years or so, especially because 2003 YT1 has a dust production mechanism."
The researchers found that this dust production mechanism, or the asteroid's likelihood of releasing dust and rock particles, stems from its rotational instability in a process called the YORP effect.
When the asteroid is warmed by the Sun, the energy results in a small thrust, which can produce a corresponding recoil, depending on the gravitational pull and other physical variables. The recoil can twist the asteroid, introducing a rotational change.
The change can be at physical odds with the gravity and/or other forces, and force the asteroid to physically break – even just a little, a process which produces dust.
"The released particles can enter Earth's atmosphere and appear as fireballs, which is exactly what happened in 2017," said Kasuga.
According to Kasuga, that particular fireball was not a threat to Earth, as it was estimated to only be a few centimeters in size. Something so small would burn up before it reached the surface.
"The 2017 fireball and its parent asteroid gave us a behind-the-scenes look at meteors," said Kasuga. "Next, we plan to further research predictions for potentially hazardous objects approaching the Earth. Meteor science can be a powerful asset for taking advanced steps towards planetary defense."
Other contributors include Mikiya Sato, Masayoshi Ueda, and Yasunori Fujiwara, all of the Nippon Meteor Society. Chie Tsuchiya and Jun-Ichi Watanabe, both of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, also co-authored the paper.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced new members to serve on the state’s regional Judicial Selection Advisory Committees, or JSACs, which provide preliminary, non-partisan feedback on candidates and help promote a diverse and inclusive nomination process for California’s judiciary.
The governor on Friday named Administrative Presiding Justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal Mary J. Greenwood to serve on the Bay Area Judicial Selection Advisory Committee; Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office head deputy-supervisor Irene G. Nunez and Greene, Broillet & Wheeler partner Christine D. Spagnoli to the Los Angeles Judicial Selection Advisory Committee; and former Presiding Judge of the San Diego County Superior Court Peter Deddeh to the San Diego Judicial Selection Advisory Committee.
In keeping with his commitment to increase transparency in government, the Governor last year announced the creation of eight Judicial Selection Advisory Committees – representing the Bay Area, Central Coast, Central Valley, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Northern California, Orange and San Diego regions – comprised of attorneys and judges who live and work in the regions. For the first time in California history, the individuals who provide important feedback on judicial candidates for nomination and appointment are known to the public.
Committee members convene at the request of Judicial Appointments Secretary Justice Martin Jenkins (Ret.) to provide feedback on candidates’ legal acumen, work ethic, temperament and demonstrated commitment to public service.
They review all candidates before forwarding their names to the governor for review.
All feedback from the JSACs is advisory in nature only, and is considered by the Governor’s Office in combination with evaluations provided by the State Bar of California and county and affinity bar associations.
The JSACs are comprised of attorneys and judges, selected by the Judicial Appointments Secretary, who are in good standing with the State Bar of California and are diverse with respect to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender, as well as substantive legal practice areas.
In identifying potential committee members, the judicial appointments secretary considers suggestions from members of California state and local bar organizations and California affinity bar organizations.
A complete list of committee members, by region, can be found here.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office announced that Capt. Norm Taylor has graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy, or FBINA.
Taylor graduated as part of class No. 278 on Dec. 20 in Quantico, Virginia.
The FBINA is held at the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia. This is the same facility where the FBI trains its new special agents and intelligence analysts.
The FBINA is the world’s premier law enforcement executive development and leadership program. Internationally known for its academic excellence, the FBINA offers 11 weeks of advanced communication, leadership, and fitness training.
Participants must have proven records as professionals within their agencies to attend. On average, these officers have 21 years of law enforcement experience and usually return to their agencies to serve in executive level positions.
Capt. Taylor was among 258 men and women from 49 states, the District of Columbia, 37 countries, four military organizations and six federal civilian organizations.
FBI Director Christopher Asher Wray presented Captain Taylor with his certificate at the ceremony.
FBI Academy instructors, special agents, and other staff with advanced degrees provide the training. Many instructors are recognized internationally in their fields.
Since 1972, FBINA students have been able to earn undergraduate and graduate credits from the University of Virginia, which accredits many of the courses offered.
A total of 52, 540 graduates have completed the FBI National Academy since it began in 1935.
Captain Taylor joins Undersheriff Chris Macedo (class No. 199, 1999) as the Lake County Sheriff’s Office’s only currently employed FBINA graduate.
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – On Feb. 1, entries for the 37th annual Catfish Derby will begin to be accepted.
That’s one of the messages derby volunteers will be broadcasting at the International Sportsmen's Expo in Sacramento.
California’s largest outdoor exposition hosts more than 600 exhibitors drawing outdoor sports enthusiasts from throughout the country and beyond.
The expo runs from Jan. 16 to 19.
As in years past, derby volunteers will be traveling to Sacramento to represent the derby and Lake County in general at the Lake County Chamber of Commerce booth.
“The Catfish Derby is the largest of its kind west of the Mississippi, a feature we highlight with the folks that visit our booth,” said Jim Jonas, one of the derby volunteers who represented Lake County at the chamber booth last year.
“We get to talk with lots of anglers. Some, like the returning bass and catfish anglers, know Clear Lake well, he said, and many drop in when they see our sign to reminisce about visits they remember from their youth. But the best part is the excitement that builds when we encounter folks who have yet to experience the bounty of our lake. We talk it up and watch the interest build,” Jonas said.
In addition to Jonas, other derby volunteers will be on hand to promote Lake County, distribute the information rich Lake County Destinations Magazine and hand out sign up information for the derby.
Clearlake Oaks resident Dennis Locke, who is again leading the derby effort, said he expects in the neighborhood of 900 to 1,000 catfishing devotees this year.
“Last year the rain kept some people home, but interestingly enough it was our local numbers that were down, not the out-of-towners,” Locke said.
People like last year’s first-place winner, Ricardo Palayo, who took home $4,000 in prize money for his 27.29-pound catch, said he would definitely be back – rain or shine.
Others, regulars from places as far away as Hood River, Oregon, have attended the derby for many years.
Last year “Team Hood Cats,” a three-generation group, won the Spirit of Lake County award, proclaiming they would return, this time with four generations of catfishing enthusiasts.
Locke said we look forward to seeing them and others, like the Ocheltree family and their friends. “Scarlett, one of the Ocheltree children, landed the largest fish in the 2018 Catfish Derby. They come back year after year,” Locke said.
About 35 percent of the participants are locals. “Of course we love the ongoing participation from our locals. Last year, in the 10 years and under kids division, 7-year-old Blake Re of Nice won $100 for his 22.82-pound catfish. Other locals have made the derby a family tradition, like Mike and Barbara Higman whose family has been fishing in the derby for years,” Locke said.
The Clearlake Oaks-Glenhaven Business Association sponsors the derby.
“It’s our signature fundraiser,” said Camille Gouldberg, president of the association. “Last year we donated $30,000 back to our community; this year’s derby will assure that we can continue to support our schools and sports teams and the many local programs that help our communities thrive.”
“While the majority of our volunteers come from the Oaks and nearby Glenhaven and Clearlake, we have volunteers that live all around the lake that come to help out and enjoy the festivities,” said Locke.
This year, the derby will begin on Friday, May 15, and conclude on Sunday, May 17, with an awards ceremony and barbecue. The Clearlake Oaks Fire Station will again serve as derby headquarters.
Entries will be accepted by mail or in person at Limit Out Bait and Tackle, Clearlake Oaks or Lakeport Bait and Tackle, Lakeport. Entries will also be accepted in person at Derby headquarters beginning at noon on Thursday, May 14.
Locke noted that the entry fees are increasing this year to help offset increasing costs associated with the derby.
“We haven’t increased derby fees in 15 years. This year we felt it was necessary in order to continue a quality event,” he said.
Adult entries are $50, up $10 from last year if received by 11 p.m. Thursday, May 14. Entries received after will be $60. Children’s entries have not been increased and are still $10 every day.
“We have also increased our first prize award in the adult division from $4,000 to $5,000,” Locke said. “As important as the awards are, it’s the camaraderie that builds with each passing year that makes the Annual Catfish Derby a success.”
Locke also said the derby committee and all the volunteers are looking forward to another great event.
To sign up, volunteer or for more information call 707-596-0248 or visit the derby website at www.clearlakeoaks.org/derby.
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019, or the SECURE Act of 2019, is, from a taxpayer’s perspective, both “good news” and “bad news.”
The “good news” includes helping small employers establish 401(k) retirement plans and allowing more employees to save for retirement.
The “bad news” is that the new tax law eliminates the much-loved income tax deferral – called, “stretch out” – enjoyed by non-spousal death beneficiaries who inherit individual retirement accounts, or IRAs, and 401(k) retirement plans on or after Jan. 1, 2020.
That is, the new SECURE act of 2019 applies to IRAs and 401(k)s where the owner dies on or after Jan. 1, 2020.
Thus, the longstanding “stretch out” tax deferral rules continue for IRA’s and 401(k)’s inherited before 2020.
Under the new law, most nonspousal death beneficiaries are required to receive full distribution of the inherited IRA within 10 years of the owner’s death.
Thus, non-spousal beneficiaries generally cannot “stretch out” the “required minimum distributions,” or RMDs, to themselves from the inherited IRA over their own lifetimes.
Stretch-out of the inherited IRA allows younger beneficiaries with long actuarial life expectancies to receive much smaller annual RMDs; both reducing annual income taxes owed on RMDs and allowing the continued accumulation of tax-free growth inside the inherited IRA.
The new 10-year rule allows certain flexibility and tax planning: The distributions could occur as ten annual payments or as one lump sum payment in the 10th year.
Certain designated death beneficiaries, however, are excepted from the 10-year rule: The IRA owner’s surviving spouse, a beneficiary who is not more than 10 years younger than the owner, and the deceased owner’s minor, disabled or ill child.
Surviving spouses who are death beneficiaries continue to be able to “roll over” their deceased spouse’s IRA or 401(k) into their own IRA, as if she had funded the “roll over” account with her own earnings.
Accordingly, the surviving spouse does not have to commence annual RMDs until he or she reaches the required beginning date, or RBD. The RBD is now increased to age 72. A modest improvement from 70 ½ years old.
However, the new 10-year rule may motivate some married couples with multiple retirement accounts to leave some retirement accounts to their children and not the surviving spouse. That way their children commence the ten year period on some accounts at the first spouse’s death and not on all accounts at the death of the surviving spouse.
Losing “stretch out” deferral of RMDs is particularly troublesome if the designated death beneficiary is a so-called “conduit trust.”
Conduit trusts require all annual RMDs to be paid each year either to or for the benefit of the trust beneficiary and are drafted in contemplation of the annual RMDs received by the trust being “stretched out” over the beneficiary’s lifetime; a period usually greater than 10 years. Thus allowing the inherited IRA to last longer and be spent more appropriately by the trustee.
With full payout occurring within 10 years of the owner’s death, some conduit trusts, where possible, can be modified into so-called accumulation trusts. Accumulation trusts – as the name suggests – allow the trustee to accumulate (rather than distribute) the annual RMDs received by the trustee from the inherited IRA.
Like all trusts, however, accumulation trusts suffer from the big disadvantages: Trusts are taxed at the highest marginal tax rate once their undistributed net taxable income reaches $12,750 (2019); one reason why conduit trusts were used.
A possible solution is to convert traditional IRAs into Roth IRAs – whose distributions are nontaxable income to the beneficiary.
The IRS needs to issue regulations to implement the SECURE Act of 2019. These IRS regulations will provide important details and thus allow further planning opportunities.
Anyone concerned about the foregoing issues should discuss them with a qualified financial advisor and/or tax professional.
Attorney Dennis A. Fordham is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Authorities are trying to locate a missing man and are asking for the community’s help in providing leads.
Walter Leland Stuart Jr., 55, was last seen by family in Solano County on Dec. 19, according to the Lakeport Police Department.
The Lakeport Police Department said it is conducting a followup investigation, in conjunction with the Fairfield Police Department, in order to locate Stuart.
Police said that in the days leading up to Christmas, Stuart had been in contact with family members via telephone but has not had any contact with them since then.
Authorities have information that he may have returned to the Lake County area, including the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport.
Stuart is a white male with brown hair and blue eyes. He is 6 feet tall and weighs 160 pounds.
If anyone has information regarding his whereabouts, contact the Lakeport Police Department immediately at 707-263-5491.