LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Nearly 250 guests joined Adventist Health Clear Lake’s Development Council in celebration of the second annual Benefit Gala at Boatique Winery on Nov. 9.
The Benefit Gala is the single largest fundraising event the hospital holds.
This year, the generosity of paddle-raise donors, event sponsors and silent auction bidders helped Adventist Health raised a grand total of $167,750.
These funds will support two selected programs, Adventist Clear Lake Healthy Kids and the Live Well Institute, which will touch the lives of thousands of Lake County women and children and transform the health of many.
Guests, including Gold Sponsors Laurie and Doug Dohring, Dr. Edward Gabriel, Madi Mount, David and Denise Santos and the Redbud Health Care District, were welcomed on the red carpet to an evening of exquisite dining, passionate presentations and delightful entertainment.
At the start of the evening’s program there was a moment of silence in remembrance of the one-year anniversary of the Camp fire. Lake County first responders represented by Lake County Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Charlie Diener were honored with a standing ovation followed by a poignant vocal performance of “God Bless America” by Keith Cordis of Barron Cordia Management.
Following this, David Santos, president of Adventist Health Clear Lake painted a picture of his vision to strengthen collaboration with community organizations and create a healthier future for Lake County.
He encouraged attendees to partner with the Adventist Health in raising community awareness and philanthropic support to advance women’s and children’s health initiatives.
Auctioneer Ellen Toscano spurred the crowd to donate from $100 to $25,000 to achieve the night’s grand total in support of two projects; Adventist Health and Clear Lake Healthy Kids and expansion of the hospital’s Live Initiative. The evening was capped off with “after-glow” dancing to the music of the Funky Dozen.
Adventist Health and Clear Lake Healthy Kids will be a new touring education and outreach program for kids in Lake County.
Based on a model created by Rideout Healthy Kids, an Adventist Health-sponsored touring performance group in Yuba-Sutter, the program will use music, dance and comedy to teach important life building skills including healthy diet, exercise, positive image and treatment of oneself and others.
The Live Well Institute is home to Live Well, a one-of-a-kind program grounded in proven methods to help patients achieve optimal health.
Expansion of the program is planned to include specific services for women’s heart health, the No. 1 killer of women, causing one in three deaths each year.
Through this expansion, the program will focus on deepening our education around prevention and early diagnosis for cardiac disease for women.
“Women are the heart of our families and communities” said David Santos, president of Adventist Health Clear Lake. “Heart disease is rampant in Lake County. We want to address and educate the women in our communities because they are often misdiagnosed.”
“The Development Council of Adventist Health Clear Lake will continue to provide philanthropic support of new and innovative lifestyle medicine programs” said Ben Hill, manager, Development Council. “These new programs will help to transform the health of Lake County residents. Adventist Health Healthy Kids and the Live Well Institute will benefit thousands of Lake County women and children and will be adopted by households and families countywide.”
Adventist Health Clear Lake’s Development Council continues to work for the growth of programs that improve the health of Lake County residents.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has a selection this week of mostly big dogs ready to be in new homes for the holidays.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Australian Shepherd, border collie, bluetick coonhound, cattle dog, Chihuahua, corgi, Doberman Pinscher, McNab, pit bull, Rhodesian Ridgeback 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”).
Male Doberman Pinscher
This male Doberman Pinscher has a short black and brown coat.
He’s in kennel No. 18, ID No. 13284.
‘Patsy’
“Patsy” is a female treeing walker coonhound/bluetick coonhound mix with a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 20, ID No. 13290.
‘Max’
“Max” is a male pit bull terrier with a short tan and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 23, ID No. 13173.
‘Freckles’
“Freckles” is a male McNab-border collie mix with a medium-length black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 24, ID No. 13299.
‘Max’
“Max” is a male treeing walker coonhound/bluetick coonhound mix with a short tricolor coat.
He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. 13289.
Chihuahua-corgi mix
This male Chihuahua-corgi mix has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. 13274.
‘Hazel’
“Hazel” is a female cattle dog with a medium-length tricolor coat.
She has been spayed.
She’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 13255.
Male Australian Shepherd
This male Australian Shepherd has a long black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 13250.
‘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.
‘Lucy’
“Lucy” is a female pit bull terrier with a short brindle coat and cropped ears.
She has been spayed.
She’s in kennel No. 30, ID No. 13263.
‘Goofy’
“Goofy” is a male Rhodesian Ridgeback with a short tan and black coat.
He’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 13210.
‘Tatum’
“Tatum” is a male pit bull terrier with a short gray and white coat.
He’s in kennel No. 34, ID No. 13172.
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.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Authorities have arrested Kelseyville High School’s music teacher for having a relationship with a female student.
Cory Michael Cunningham, 38, of Kelseyville, was arrested on Friday night, according to Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The Kelseyville Unified School District is taking its own action in the case, according to Assistant Superintendent Tim Gill.
“We’re initiating an internal investigation immediately,” Gill told Lake County News on Saturday. “That will be a separate process than the investigation by the sheriff’s department.”
Gill added that, due to the circumstances, he couldn’t offer further comment on either investigation.
Paulich said that at 9:30 p.m. Friday, Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responded to Kelseyville High School for a report of a teacher possibly having an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old female student.
At the school, deputies contacted Cunningham, who Paulich said admitted to having an intimate relationship with the female student for the past several months.
Cunningham denied ever having sexual intercourse with the student, Paulich said.
Deputies arrested Cunningham, who Paulich said was booked at the Lake County Jail on charges of sending lewd material to a minor, genital penetration by foreign object, annoying or molesting a child, willful cruelty to a child, and destroying or concealing evidence.
Cunningham remained in custody on Saturday with bail set at $75,000. Jail records indicate he is to be arraigned in Lake County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Gill said Cunningham has been placed on administrative leave and was notified of that action. That’s a standard district response due to the criminal nature of the charges.
Adding to the sensitive and complex nature of the case is the fact that Cunningham is married to the niece of district Superintendent Dave McQueen, and so Gill has been delegated to respond to questions about the case because of that family connection.
However, McQueen did speak to the situation in a statement released by the district earlier on Saturday, explaining that Kelseyville Unified’s first priority is to safeguard students.
“We will inform KHS students this week that their teacher will remain out of the classroom until this matter is resolved, and we have put our counselors on notice in case any students need extra support,” McQueen said.
“This is a legal matter, so we are collaborating with our legal counsel and local law enforcement,” McQueen said. “We understand that people are curious about the details of the case; however, we will not share information that may jeopardize the legal investigation or compromise anyone’s right to privacy and/or due process.”
McQueen said Kelseyville is a small, close-knit community and having a teacher arrested on such allegations can bring up a range of difficult emotions for students and the community.
“Rumors and public speculation are not helpful and can be harmful,” McQueen said.
Cunningham became Kelseyville High School’s full-time music teacher in August 2018, Gill said.
In that capacity, he introduced a mariachi band, and traveled with smaller high school music groups – such as the jazz band and choir – to out-of-county events, according to a district website post.
He also continued to perform as a musician himself, according to the district website and social media posts.
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 California Department of Public Health, in collaboration with local health departments, is reminding the public and health care providers that Valley fever cases typically peak in the fall.
Since 2014, there has been a steady increase in the number of Valley fever cases in California. In 2018, more than 7,500 Valley fever cases were confirmed, and early case counts for 2019 indicate that Valley fever activity remains high.
As of Nov. 19, more than 7,000 likely cases have been reported. Incidence is particularly high in the Central Valley and Central Coast regions of California, including Kern, San Luis Obispo, Kings, Fresno, Tulare, Monterey and Merced counties.
“People who live, work, or travel in areas where Valley fever is common are at higher risk of getting infected, especially if they work outdoors or participate in activities where soil is disturbed,” said Dr. Sonia Angell, state public health officer and CDPH director. “If you have symptoms that include cough, fever, or difficulty breathing for more than a week, we encourage you to talk to a health care provider.”
A person can help reduce the risk of infection by avoiding breathing in dirt or dust in areas where Valley fever is common.
In these areas, when it is windy outside and the air is dusty, stay inside and keep windows and doors closed. While driving, keep car windows closed and use recirculating air conditioning, if available.
If individuals must be outdoors, they should consider wearing a properly fitted mask (such as an N95 respirator mask) when the air is dusty, and avoid disturbing the soil whenever possible.
Valley fever, also known as coccidioidomycosis, or “cocci”, is caused by breathing in the spores of a fungus that grows in the soil and dirt in certain areas of California.
The fungal spores, which are too small to see, can be present in dust that gets into the air when it is windy or when soil is disturbed, such as through digging during construction.
This fungus usually infects the lungs and can cause respiratory symptoms including cough, fever, chest pain and tiredness.
In most people, the infection will go away on its own, but anyone who has these symptoms for more than a week should see a doctor or health care provider.
While anyone can get Valley fever, those most at-risk for severe disease include people 60 years or older, people who are African American or Filipino, pregnant women, and people with diabetes or conditions that weaken the immune system.
Employers with employees working outdoors should train workers about Valley fever symptoms and take steps to limit workers' exposure to dust, such as watering down soil before digging.
The state of California is taking action to raise awareness about Valley fever by allocating $2 million in the 2018-2019 budget to plan, develop, launch and evaluate a Valley Fever Awareness campaign that CDPH will launch in the coming months.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has also approved a bill to require construction employers engaging in specific work activities in counties where Valley fever is endemic to provide awareness training about Valley fever to their employees.
For additional information on Valley fever, please visit CDPH’s Valley fever website.
These large sums make it evident that Americans put great value on the lives of their pets. Yet how much value? We set out to find an answer for the pet Americans are particularly fond of: their dogs.
We did so by using an experimental survey design that has been used to establish the value of human lives and many other “priceless” things. Ultimately, we concluded that the value is of the average dog is about $10,000. While some may chuckle at our research, we believe it holds important implications for human medicine, health and well-being.
The path to monetizing Bowser
Starting in the 1920s, the federal government initiated efforts to rationalize its decision-making processes by more systematically accounting for potential costs and benefits of public interventions. While the Flood Control Act of 1936 codified these developments, the Roosevelt administrations sought to expand the range of impacts accounted for in these cost-benefit analyses to shape public policy.
Analysts quickly ran into a daunting problem: How should they incorporate the value of goods and services that are not readily traded in the marketplace into their estimates? The valuation of human life serves as perhaps the most controversial such estimate.
But how do you value the invaluable?
What will people pay?
Initially, analysts solved this conundrum by relying on a human capital focus – that is, estimating individuals’ future productivity and income. Naturally this introduced large discrepancies into analyses based on individuals and populations affected. It also posited one particularly vexing challenge with regard to one group who did not “earn” a paycheck: housewives.
To account for these limitations, researchers began to rely on contingent valuation, that is their willingness to pay for certain goods. This consumer-based approach assigns monetary values to small changes in risk that are then aggregated across populations. Values developed in this way are commonly referred to as “shadow prices.”
Based on willingness-to-pay approaches, researchers have developed a wide variety of these shadow prices.
Yet conspicuously missing from the list has been Americans’ best friend.
From priceless … to $10,000?
So how much is a dog’s life worth? To most dog lovers, including ourselves, the answer is obvious: They are priceless. As true as this answer may be, it provides little guidance on how to value the effect of private and public decisions on our four-legged companions.
To provide an answer, we designed and fielded a large, nationally representative survey of dog owners. We used stated preferences of individuals to assess how much they are willing to pay to obtain small reductions in mortality risk for their dogs.
Of course, our findings also provide a starting point for compensation in tort cases resulting from injuries and deaths of dogs. As currently adjudicated, compensation is solely based on the market value of the dog. Naturally, this severely limits compensation for many dog owners, particularly those whose dogs are not purebred. Our findings illustrate that compensation for owners should be much higher to account for the loss of companionship and associated emotional distress.
Finally, like the baby presented to King Solomon, dogs cannot be split in half. Today, most states still treat dogs merely as property. Particularly, in messy divorces, custody battles over dogs can quickly escalate and turn nasty. Our estimates offer a reasonable reference point to make divorce settlements less contentious, at least when it comes to four-legged companions.
Of course, neither the method of cost-benefit analysis nor the underlying developments of shadow prices are without their limitations. Yet, what are the alternatives?
We argue that cost-benefit and policy analyses, when done and utilized appropriately, provide needed insights into complex policy issues. This particularly holds in times marred by excessive partisan wrangling and misinformation.
Moreover, shadow prices allow analysts to incorporate costs and benefits into their analyses for societal groups that often remain unrepresented in the political discourse.
Perhaps most importantly, with governments at all levels facing resource limitations, every policy choice made always entails forgone alternatives. Accounting for costs and benefits, to the best of our abilities, thus offers our best chance to use our limited public resources wisely.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The seats for three supervisorial districts will be on the ballot next year, and the fields of candidates are now being finalized.
Cathy Saderlund, Lake County’s auditor-controller/county clerk who is temporarily acting as interim registrar of voters, reported on local candidates who have filed to run for districts 1, 4 and 5 on the Board of Supervisors in 2020.
Saderlund emphasized that the list of candidates she released to Lake County News on Friday – the last day of the filing period for declarations of candidacy, nomination papers and candidates’ statements – remains unofficial.
“Candidate paperwork was being received up until 5 p.m. today and review and verification will continue,” she said on Friday evening.
Submitting paperwork to run in District 1 are Julia Mary Bono, a businesswoman, minister and scientist, and first-term incumbent Jose “Moke” Simon III, both of Middletown.
In District 4, Chris Almind, a water/operating engineer, has entered the race and will challenge first-term incumbent Tina Scott. Both are from Lakeport
For District 5, candidates are Kevin Ahajanian of Cobb; retired pharmacist Bill Kearney of Kelseyville; Jessica Pyska, an educator from Cobb; and Lily Woll, an English as a second language and Spanish teacher, from Kelseyville.
Longtime District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown has not filed to run for reelection. Brown has said repeatedly in recent years he didn’t intend to seek another term.
Because Brown hasn’t filed nomination papers, the elections calendar includes a five-day nomination extension period during which any qualified person other than the incumbent may file. That period ends on Dec 11.
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 moment the summer heat subsides, my thoughts turn to soup. The big stockpot comes off the shelf and onto the stove at the first hint of cool weather. Fall’s shorter days and winter’s dampness lead me to seek such therapeutic liquid succor.
This is especially true today, with the drumbeat of rain on our metal roof and a blanket of gray turning noon to dusk.
Soup is one of my favorite meals; nothing comforts more than a steaming bowl, especially when paired with a hunk of warm, crusty bread.
I even long for soup during hot Lake County summers, when cool soups such as gazpacho or those made with fruit or cucumber are whipped up in a food processor.
There’s just something wonderful about marrying flavors and ingredients together in one pot, whether cool or hot.
My husband once told me that Walmart sales records reveal an uptick in the purchase of strawberry Pop Tarts when hurricanes threaten landfall. As a consequence, the chain stocks plenty of them in the paths of such storms.
Fruity pastry must be considered comforting when rainy danger threatens, at least in those areas.
As much as I love sweets, when a storm lurks on the horizon, I long to have a big batch of homemade soup at hand.
Soup transcends time, culture and location, with nearly every civilization having a form of it. Evidence for the existence of soup extends as far back as 6,000 B.C. The invention of early waterproof containers, most likely in the form of clay vessels or pouches made of animal skins, made it possible to heat water, spawning primitive soups.
It was the sale of soup for medicinal purposes by street vendors in Paris that led to today’s restaurant industry. A highly concentrated, warm liquid was sold as an antidote to physical exhaustion. A Parisian entrepreneur opened a shop in 1765 to sell the restorative liquid, which prompted the use of the word “restaurant,” meaning “something restoring,” to describe the business.
The word soup has origins in the practice of soaking bread in broth, “suppa” in Latin. From this root comes the French word “soupe,” as well as the English word “sop,” a piece of bread used to soak up soup or stew.
A rich stock, made from simmering meat, bones, or vegetables in water, is the secret to a good soup. Fish stock should only be boiled 30 to 45 minutes, but most other stocks take much longer to make, from three to eight hours, depending on the base.
Mirepoix, a combination of onions, carrots, and celery, contributes flavor to stock, along with various herbs and other aromatics.
Fund blanc, or white stock, is made with raw bones, most commonly chicken, and fund brun, or brown stock, is made using bones that have been roasted to add flavor and color.
Vegetable stock may be made using all manner of vegetables. Cooking water from vegetables made throughout the week may be saved in the fridge and used as the stock base.
If you’re not interested in making your own stock, don’t despair, as quality premade stocks are available at most supermarkets.
Soups are traditionally divided into two categories, clear and thick. Clear soups include broth (known as bouillon in French) and consommé, a complex soup that has gone through a clarifying process. Consommé tends to gel somewhat when cool.
Thick soups are classified based on the thickener, such as starch, cream, eggs, grains or butter. Types of thick soups include purees, bisques and cream soups.
After a long season of dry heat, soup weather has arrived in earnest. In anticipation of the months of happy soup-making ahead of us, below are five favorite soups from recipes that I’ve developed over the years.
A Spanish proverb says, “Of soup and love, the first is best.” While I disagree that food trumps love, a good bowl of soup can certainly inspire it.
Be warmed and comforted, sip with pleasure, and most of all, enjoy.
Smokey roasted carrot soup
White beans thicken the soup without compromising the warm flavor of smoked paprika.
Ingredients
2 pounds carrots (about 5-1/2 cups raw, which becomes 4 cups roasted) 2 large shallots Tablespoon olive or grape seed oil Teaspoon kosher or sea salt Freshly ground black pepper to taste 1-1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika Quart vegetable or chicken stock About ½ of a 15-ounce can of white beans
Procedure
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Peel and cut carrots into uniform pieces, about 1 inch in length.
Roughly chop the shallots
In a two-quart bowl, toss carrots in the oil until all are glossy.
Add salt, pepper, and smoked paprika, tossing to combine evenly.
Turn carrots onto a baking sheet and mix in shallots.
Roast mixture in oven until tender and somewhat browned, about 25 minutes or more. (Stir halfway through for even cooking.)
Heat stock on stove in a four-quart saucepan; add carrot mixture.
Simmer for 10 minutes or so, and then add beans.
Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender (recommended), a food processor, or a blender.
If desired, add more beans until desired thickness is achieved.
Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary.
Ladle into bowls and garnish as desired with fresh herbs such as parsley or dill.
Makes about 8 servings.
French onion soup
I cry copiously when chopping onions! I’ve tried many methods of avoiding burning tears but the time I wore my son’s snorkeling mask while I processed them was the only thing that truly worked.
Ingredients
10 onions (any combination of types) 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups white wine Quart vegetable or beef stock 1 and ¼ cups apple cider Bouquet garni (thyme sprigs, bay leaf, and parsley tied with kitchen string) Kosher salt Ground black pepper Splash of Cognac or brandy (optional) 1 cup Fontina or Gruyere cheese, grated Croutons (recipe follows)
Procedure
Finely slice onions into half-moon shapes. (For quicker processing, a food processor with the slicing attachment may be used.)
Heat olive oil in a large wide-bottomed pot.
Add a layer of onions to pot and sprinkle with a little salt. Repeat until all onions and salt are in the pot.
Allow onions to sweat down for 15 to 20 minutes before stirring. After that, stir occasionally until onions are dark mahogany in color and reduced to approximately two cups. This will take about 45 minutes to an hour.
Add enough wine to cover the onions and turn heat to high, reducing the wine to a syrupy consistency.
Add broth, apple cider, bouquet garni, and brandy, if using. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
Ladle soup into bowls. Top each with a crouton, and then top with grated cheese.
Place bowls on a baking sheet and broil in oven until cheese is golden and bubbly, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Brush bread slices with olive oil (or toss with oil in a bowl until pieces are coated) and toast in oven until golden brown.
If desired, rub with a garlic clove after toasting.
‘Be kind to your heart’ vichyssoise
Classic vichyssoise includes butter and heavy cream; this is a lighter version. For a less rustic soup, you may peel the potatoes. Vichyssoise can be served warm or cold.
Ingredients
6 leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced into thin rounds and thoroughly cleaned 6 cups red potatoes (about 8 medium), with some skin left on (optional), diced 4 to 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil Quart vegetable broth 1 teaspoon sea salt ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper ½ cup Russian-style plain yogurt (and additional for garnish if serving cold, optional) Fresh herbs of your choice for garnish (such as parsley, dill, tarragon or thyme)
Procedure
Sauté leeks in olive oil in large soup pot until tender, about five minutes.
Add vegetable broth, potatoes, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Turn down heat, cover pot and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and allow soup to cool for a few minutes before pureeing with an immersion blender (preferred) or a food processor. (If using a food processor, you may have to process it in batches.)
Add yogurt and blend.
Serve soup warm or chill for several hours or overnight and serve cold. If serving cold, garnish with a dollop of yogurt.
Garnish warm or cold soup with chopped fresh herbs of your choice.
Makes about eight servings.
Spicy Mexican bean soup with chili-garlic crostini
This soup is easy to make and is warm and hearty on a cold winter’s day!
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil 1 purple onion, diced ½ red pepper, diced * ½ green pepper, diced * 3 – 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped Quart vegetable stock (homemade or otherwise) 2 – 15-ounce cans black beans ** 1 – 15-ounce can light kidney beans ** 1 – 15-ounce can corn kernels 1 – 6-ounce can tomato paste 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 2 teaspoons cumin 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes ½ cup roughly chopped cilantro (plus more for garnish, if desired) Salt to taste, if desired Toasted pumpkin seeds or diced avocado for garnish, if desired
*Use any combination of colored bell peppers; the more colors, the merrier!
**Any combination of similar beans may be used, even 3 cans of one type. (If one type is used, black beans are recommended.)
Procedure
Sauté onion and peppers in olive oil in large soup pot over medium-high heat until just tender.
Add garlic and sauté about a minute more.
Add vegetable broth, beans and corn. Once the broth comes to a boil, reduce heat to low to simmer.
Mix in tomato paste; add vinegar, cumin and pepper flakes.
Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed.
Allow to simmer for at least 10 and up to 30 minutes until flavors blend and soup has thickened.
Add cilantro and simmer a few minutes more.
Ladle into bowls and add desired garnishes.
Serve with chili-garlic crostini. (Recipe follows.)
Makes six to eight servings.
Chili-garlic crostini
About 1 cup olive oil 3 cloves garlic 1 – 2 teaspoons dried chili flakes 1 French bread baguette, sliced
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Press garlic cloves with flat of knife so they are crushed.
Warm olive oil on stove; add garlic and pepper flakes and cook a minute or so more (not long).
Remove oil from heat and allow it to rest for a bit. The longer it sits, the stronger the flavor.
Strain oil into a squeeze bottle or bowl and drizzle or brush oil on each baguette slice.
Arrange slices on a baking sheet and bake in oven until golden brown. Watch carefully; it takes only a few minutes.
Mushroom bisque with sherry
I am a huge mushroom fan and love the way their flavor is complimented by the addition of sherry. Olive oil may be subbed for butter and cream may be eliminated for a lighter (and vegan) version.
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (or olive oil) ¼ cup all-purpose flour ¾ cup minced shallots or onions 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 1 – ½ pounds fresh mixed mushrooms, cleaned and sliced ¼ inch thick 6 cups vegetable or chicken stock (or 4 cups, plus 2 cups water) 2 – ¼ teaspoon kosher salt ¾ cup dry sherry (not “cooking sherry”) 1/3 cup cream (optional)
For garnish:
½ cup finely chopped toasted walnuts (procedure follows)
Procedure
Melt butter (or oil, if using instead) in a large stock pot over medium-low heat. When melted, stir in flour and cook for a minute or so.
Add onions and sauté, stirring, for one or two minutes, then stir in garlic, thyme, and nutmeg and cook until fragrant, about one minute.
Add sliced mushrooms, stir to blend, and increase heat to medium. Add stock, sherry, and salt.
Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, until the mushrooms are tender, about 15 minutes.
When mushrooms are tender, puree soup using a hand-held immersion blender, a food processor, or a standing blender. (If using either of the latter two, puree the soup in batches. If using a standing blender, be sure to hold the lid tight with a towel to keep contents inside.)
If desired, soup may be strained through a medium-mesh strainer, using a ladle to help push it through. (This is an optional step.)
Once soup is pureed (and strained, if taking that step), add cream (if using) and stir to blend. If needed, gently heat soup to desired temperature.
Serve with a sprinkling of toasted walnuts.
Makes six generous or eight small servings
Note: When using a blender to puree hot soups, remove liquid from the heat and allow it to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender and fill it no more than halfway. Release one corner of the lid, which prevents the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth.
Original recipes are by Esther Oertel.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa, Calif. She lives in Middletown, Calif.
In August 2018, NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched to space, soon becoming the closest-ever spacecraft to the sun.
With cutting-edge scientific instruments to measure the environment around the spacecraft, Parker Solar Probe has completed three of 24 planned passes through never-before-explored parts of the sun's atmosphere, the corona.
On Dec. 4, 2019, four new papers in the journal Nature describe what scientists have learned from this unprecedented exploration of our star — and what they look forward to learning next.
These findings reveal new information about the behavior of the material and particles that speed away from the sun, bringing scientists closer to answering fundamental questions about the physics of our star.
In the quest to protect astronauts and technology in space, the information Parker has uncovered about how the sun constantly ejects material and energy will help scientists re-write the models we use to understand and predict the space weather around our planet and understand the process by which stars are created and evolve.
“This first data from Parker reveals our star, the sun, in new and surprising ways,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Observing the sun up close rather than from a much greater distance is giving us an unprecedented view into important solar phenomena and how they affect us on Earth, and gives us new insights relevant to the understanding of active stars across galaxies. It’s just the beginning of an incredibly exciting time for heliophysics with Parker at the vanguard of new discoveries.”
Though it may seem placid to us here on Earth, the sun is anything but quiet. Our star is magnetically active, unleashing powerful bursts of light, deluges of particles moving near the speed of light and billion-ton clouds of magnetized material.
All this activity affects our planet, injecting damaging particles into the space where our satellites and astronauts fly, disrupting communications and navigation signals, and even – when intense – triggering power outages. It’s been happening for the sun's entire 5-billion-year lifetime, and will continue to shape the destinies of Earth and the other planets in our solar system into the future.
“The sun has fascinated humanity for our entire existence,” said Nour E. Raouafi, project scientist for Parker Solar Probe at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, which built and manages the mission for NASA. “We’ve learned a great deal about our star in the past several decades, but we really needed a mission like Parker Solar Probe to go into the sun’s atmosphere. It’s only there that we can really learn the details of these complex solar processes. And what we’ve learned in just these three solar orbits alone has changed a lot of what we know about the sun.”
What happens on the sun is critical to understanding how it shapes the space around us. Most of the material that escapes the sun is part of the solar wind, a continual outflow of solar material that bathes the entire solar system. This ionized gas, called plasma, carries with it the sun's magnetic field, stretching it out through the solar system in a giant bubble that spans more than 10 billion miles.
The dynamic solar wind
Observed near Earth, the solar wind is a relatively uniform flow of plasma, with occasional turbulent tumbles. But by that point it’s traveled over ninety million miles – and the signatures of the sun's exact mechanisms for heating and accelerating the solar wind are wiped out.
Closer to the solar wind's source, Parker Solar Probe saw a much different picture: a complicated, active system.
“The complexity was mind-blowing when we first started looking at the data,” said Stuart Bale, the University of California, Berkeley, lead for Parker Solar Probe’s FIELDS instrument suite, which studies the scale and shape of electric and magnetic fields. “Now, I’ve gotten used to it. But when I show colleagues for the first time, they’re just blown away.”
From Parker’s vantage point 15 million miles from the sun, Bale explained, the solar wind is much more impulsive and unstable than what we see near Earth.
Like the sun itself, the solar wind is made up of plasma, where negatively charged electrons have separated from positively charged ions, creating a sea of free-floating particles with individual electric charge.
These free-floating particles mean plasma carries electric and magnetic fields, and changes in the plasma often make marks on those fields.
The FIELDS instruments surveyed the state of the solar wind by measuring and carefully analyzing how the electric and magnetic fields around the spacecraft changed over time, along with measuring waves in the nearby plasma.
These measurements showed quick reversals in the magnetic field and sudden, faster-moving jets of material – all characteristics that make the solar wind more turbulent. These details are key to understanding how the wind disperses energy as it flows away from the sun and throughout the solar system.
One type of event in particular drew the eye of the science teams: flips in the direction of the magnetic field, which flows out from the sun, embedded in the solar wind.
These reversals – dubbed "switchbacks" – last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes as they flow over Parker Solar Probe.
During a switchback, the magnetic field whips back on itself until it is pointed almost directly back at the sun. Together, FIELDS and SWEAP, the solar wind instrument suite led by the University of Michigan and managed by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, measured clusters of switchbacks throughout Parker Solar Probe's first two flybys.
“Waves have been seen in the solar wind from the start of the space age, and we assumed that closer to the sun the waves would get stronger, but we were not expecting to see them organize into these coherent structured velocity spikes," said Justin Kasper, principal investigator for SWEAP – short for Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons – at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "We are detecting remnants of structures from the sun being hurled into space and violently changing the organization of the flows and magnetic field. This will dramatically change our theories for how the corona and solar wind are being heated.”
The exact source of the switchbacks isn't yet understood, but Parker Solar Probe's measurements have allowed scientists to narrow down the possibilities.
Among the many particles that perpetually stream from the sun are a constant beam of fast-moving electrons, which ride along the sun’s magnetic field lines out into the solar system.
These electrons always flow strictly along the shape of the field lines moving out from the sun, regardless of whether the north pole of the magnetic field in that particular region is pointing towards or away from the sun.
But Parker Solar Probe measured this flow of electrons going in the opposite direction, flipping back towards the sun – showing that the magnetic field itself must be bending back towards the sun, rather than Parker Solar Probe merely encountering a different magnetic field line from the sun that points in the opposite direction.
This suggests that the switchbacks are kinks in the magnetic field — localized disturbances traveling away from the sun, rather than a change in the magnetic field as it emerges from the sun.
Parker Solar Probe's observations of the switchbacks suggest that these events will grow even more common as the spacecraft gets closer to the sun.
The mission's next solar encounter on Jan. 29, 2020, will carry the spacecraft nearer to the sun than ever before, and may shed new light on this process. Not only does such information help change our understanding of what causes the solar wind and space weather around us, it also helps us understand a fundamental process of how stars work and how they release energy into their environment.
The rotating solar wind
Some of Parker Solar Probe's measurements are bringing scientists closer to answers to decades-old questions. One such question is about how, exactly, the solar wind flows out from the sun.
Near Earth, we see the solar wind flowing almost radially – meaning it's streaming directly from the sun, straight out in all directions. But the sun rotates as it releases the solar wind; before it breaks free, the solar wind was spinning along with it.
This is a bit like children riding on a playground park carousel – the atmosphere rotates with the sun much like the outer part of the carousel rotates, but the farther you go from the center, the faster you are moving in space. A child on the edge might jump off and would, at that point, move in a straight line outward, rather than continue rotating.
In a similar way, there's some point between the sun and Earth, the solar wind transitions from rotating along with the sun to flowing directly outwards, or radially, like we see from Earth.
Exactly where the solar wind transitions from a rotational flow to a perfectly radial flow has implications for how the sun sheds energy. Finding that point may help us better understand the lifecycle of other stars or the formation of protoplanetary disks, the dense disks of gas and dust around young stars that eventually coalesce into planets.
Now, for the first time – rather than just seeing that straight flow that we see near Earth – Parker Solar Probe was able to observe the solar wind while it was still rotating. It's as if Parker Solar Probe got a view of the whirling carousel directly for the first time, not just the children jumping off it.
Parker Solar Probe's solar wind instrument detected rotation starting more than 20 million miles from the sun, and as Parker approached its perihelion point, the speed of the rotation increased. The strength of the circulation was stronger than many scientists had predicted, but it also transitioned more quickly than predicted to an outward flow, which is what helps mask these effects from where we usually sit, about 93 million miles from the sun.
“The large rotational flow of the solar wind seen during the first encounters has been a real surprise," said Kasper. "While we hoped to eventually see rotational motion closer to the sun, the high speeds we are seeing in these first encounters is nearly ten times larger than predicted by the standard models."
Dust near the sun
Another question approaching an answer is the elusive dust-free zone. Our solar system is awash in dust – the cosmic crumbs of collisions that formed planets, asteroids, comets and other celestial bodies billions of years ago.
Scientists have long suspected that, close to the sun, this dust would be heated to high temperatures by powerful sunlight, turning it into a gas and creating a dust-free region around the sun. But no one had ever observed it.
For the first time, Parker Solar Probe's imagers saw the cosmic dust begin to thin out. Because WISPR – Parker Solar Probe's imaging instrument, led by the Naval Research Lab – looks out the side of the spacecraft, it can see wide swaths of the corona and solar wind, including regions closer to the sun.
These images show dust starting to thin a little over 7 million miles from the sun, and this decrease in dust continues steadily to the current limits of WISPR's measurements at a little over 4 million miles from the sun.
"This dust-free zone was predicted decades ago, but has never been seen before," said Russ Howard, principal investigator for the WISPR suite — short for Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe — at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. "We are now seeing what's happening to the dust near the sun."
At the rate of thinning, scientists expect to see a truly dust-free zone starting a little more than 2-3 million miles from the sun – meaning Parker Solar Probe could observe the dust-free zone as early as 2020, when its sixth flyby of the sun will carry it closer to our star than ever before.
Putting space weather under a microscope
Parker Solar Probe's measurements have given us a new perspective on two types of space weather events: energetic particle storms and coronal mass ejections.
Tiny particles – both electrons and ions – are accelerated by solar activity, creating storms of energetic particles. Events on the sun can send these particles rocketing out into the solar system at nearly the speed of light, meaning they reach Earth in under half an hour and can impact other worlds on similarly short time scales.
These particles carry a lot of energy, so they can damage spacecraft electronics and even endanger astronauts, especially those in deep space, outside the protection of Earth's magnetic field – and the short warning time for such particles makes them difficult to avoid.
Understanding exactly how these particles are accelerated to such high speeds is crucial. But even though they zip to Earth in as little as a few minutes, that's still enough time for the particles to lose the signatures of the processes that accelerated them in the first place.
By whipping around the sun at just a few million miles away, Parker Solar Probe can measure these particles just after they've left the sun, shedding new light on how they are released.
Already, Parker Solar Probe's ISʘIS instruments, led by Princeton University, have measured several never-before-seen energetic particle events – events so small that all trace of them is lost before they reach Earth or any of our near-Earth satellites.
These instruments have also measured a rare type of particle burst with a particularly high number of heavier elements – suggesting that both types of events may be more common than scientists previously thought.
"It’s amazing – even at solar minimum conditions, the sun produces many more tiny energetic particle events than we ever thought," said David McComas, principal investigator for the Integrated Science Investigation of the sun suite, or ISʘIS, at Princeton University in New Jersey. "These measurements will help us unravel the sources, acceleration, and transport of solar energetic particles and ultimately better protect satellites and astronauts in the future."
Data from the WISPR instruments also provided unprecedented detail on structures in the corona and solar wind – including coronal mass ejections, billion-ton clouds of solar material that the sun sends hurtling out into the solar system.
CMEs can trigger a range of effects on Earth and other worlds, from sparking auroras to inducing electric currents that can damage power grids and pipelines. WISPR's unique perspective, looking alongside such events as they travel away from the sun, has already shed new light on the range of events our star can unleash.
"Since Parker Solar Probe was matching the sun's rotation, we could watch the outflow of material for days and see the evolution of structures," said Howard. "Observations near Earth have made us think that fine structures in the corona segue into a smooth flow, and we're finding out that's not true. This will help us do better modeling of how events travel between the sun and Earth."
As Parker Solar Probe continues on its journey, it will make 21 more close approaches to the sun at progressively closer distances, culminating in three orbits a mere 3.83 million miles from the solar surface.
“The sun is the only star we can examine this closely,” said Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “Getting data at the source is already revolutionizing our understanding of our own star and stars across the universe. Our little spacecraft is soldiering through brutal conditions to send home startling and exciting revelations.”
Sarah Frazier works for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
PG&E Corp. and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. have agreed to a settlement with the Official Committee of Tort Claimants, or TCC, and with firms representing individual claimants who sustained losses from the 2017 Northern California Wildfires and 2018 Camp fire.
The settlement agreement, announced Friday night, is valued at approximately $13.5 billion and has the support of the TCC.
Officials said the settlement will resolve all claims arising from those fires, including the 2017 Tubbs fire, as well as all claims arising from the 2015 Butte fire and 2016 Ghost Ship fire in Oakland. PG&E does not admit fault in the Tubbs fire or Ghost Ship fire.
The settlement is subject to a number of conditions and is to be implemented pursuant to PG&E’s Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization, which is subject to confirmation by the bankruptcy court in accordance with the provisions of the bankruptcy code.
Bankruptcy court approval of the settlement agreement would put PG&E on a sustainable path forward to emerge from Chapter 11 by the June 30, 2020, deadline to participate in the state of California’s go-forward wildfire fund.
“From the beginning of the Chapter 11 process, getting wildfire victims fairly compensated, especially the individuals, has been our primary goal. We want to help our customers, our neighbors and our friends in those impacted areas recover and rebuild after these tragic wildfires,” CEO and President of PG&E Corp. Bill Johnson said in a Friday night statement released by the company.
“We appreciate all the hard work by many stakeholders that went into reaching this agreement. With this important milestone now accomplished, we are focused on emerging from Chapter 11 as the utility of the future that our customers and communities expect and deserve,” Johnson said.
Johnson said there have been many calls for PG&E to change in recent years. “PG&E’s leadership team has heard those calls for change, and we realize we need to do even more to be a different company now and in the future. We will continue to make the needed changes to re-earn the trust and respect of our customers, our stakeholders and the public. We recognize we need to deliver safe and reliable energy service every single day – we’re determined to do just that.”
Johnson said the company shares the state’s focus on helping mitigate the risk of future wildfires and it will continue to do everything it can to help reduce those risks across its system.
This new agreement is the third major settlement that PG&E has achieved in its Chapter 11 case.
PG&E previously reached settlements with two other major groups of wildfire claim holders, including a $1 billion settlement in June with cities, counties and other public entities – which included the city of Clearlake and the county of Lake, which had filed suit over the 2017 Sulphur fire – and an $11 billion agreement with insurance companies and other entities that have already paid insurance coverage for claims relating to the 2017 and 2018 wildfires.
With all major wildfire claims now on a path to be resolved and the total amount of wildfire liabilities determined, PG&E said ti will now amend and finalize its reorganization plan, which will satisfy all wildfire claims in accordance with Assembly Bill 1054 (AB 1054) and otherwise comply with all requirements of the bankruptcy code.
The company remains on track to obtain regulatory approval and bankruptcy court confirmation of its plan in advance of the June 30, 2020, statutory deadline set by AB 1054 for participation in the state’s go-forward wildfire fund.
In addition, PG&E has received over $12 billion of equity backstop commitments to support the settlement and its plan.
KELSEYVILLE, Calf. – The Board of Supervisors and the city councils of Clearlake and Lakeport, along with their staffs, will meet for a special meeting on Monday, Dec. 9.
The workshop will be held beginning at 9 a.m. in the Kelseyville Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 5340 Third St.
In 2018, the county and cities adopted a Lake County Economic Development Strategy.
The Monday workshop will provide an update on the Lake County Economic Development Strategy and cross-jurisdictional efforts to develop a Lake County Broadband Master Plan and a dig once ordinance.
The public is invited to attend.
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.
UPPER LAKE, Calif. -- The Upper Lake Holiday Light Parade has been cancelled.
According to the Northshore Business Association the parade has been cancelled due to health and safety concerns. On the NSBA FaceBook page the Association cites "severe weather".
An email about the cancellation from Debbie Hablutzel of the NSBA did not suggest that the entire event had been cancelled.
In addition to the parade, events including holiday music, caroling, a special appearance by Santa, and the tree lighting are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m..
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Recent rains and cooler temperatures across the region have lowered the threat of wildfires, allowing Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit to transition out of peak fire season effective Monday, Dec. 9, at 8 a.m. in Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Solano, Yolo and Colusa counties.
Cal Fire will continue to maintain staffing to meet any potential threat, as well as maintaining the ability to strategically move resources to areas that remain at a higher threat level.
Cal fire also will continue to monitor weather conditions closely and still has the ability to increase staffing should weather conditions change or if there is a need to support wildfires or other emergencies in other areas of the state.
Statewide, CAL FIRE and firefighters from many local agencies responded to more than 5,641 wildfires within the State Responsibility Area that burned nearly 128,831 acres.
In the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, Cal Fire responded to 177 wildfires that charred 80,916 acres.
During the cooler winter months, Cal Fire will continue to actively focus efforts on fire prevention and fuels treatment activities as guided by the state’s strategic fire plan and localized unit fire plans. These will be done through public education, prescribed burns and various types of fuel reduction.
These activities are aimed at reducing the impacts of large, damaging wildfires and improving overall forest health.
Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones reminds residents to still take precautions outdoors in order to prevent sparking a wildfire.
Before you burn, ensure it is a permissive burn day by contacting your local air quality district and then make sure you have any and all required burn permits.
During burning, make sure that piles of landscape debris are no larger than four feet in diameter, provide a 10-foot clearance down to bare mineral soil around the burn pile and ensure that a responsible adult is in attendance at all times with a water source and a shovel.