UKIAH, Calif. – A local man was the victim of an early morning stabbing on Monday, and Mendocino County officials are trying to locate a suspect in the case.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb said 34-year-old James Blesio of Nice was the victim of the alleged attack.

Smallcomb said that around 1 a.m. Monday Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Ukiah Valley Medical Center regarding a stabbing victim.

When the deputies arrived at the hospital they contacted Blesio in the emergency room. Smallcomb said medical personnel were attending to a stab wound to the center of Blesio's chest.

Blesio told deputies that he was at the dam area of Lake Mendocino talking with two friends at around midnight on Monday morning when he saw a Hispanic male subject walking near the bathrooms of the dam. Smallcomb said Blesio recounted calling out to the subject, who he thought he knew.

The suspect allegedly approached Blesio and stabbed him in the chest. Smallcomb said Blesio fell to the ground and the Hispanic male left the area. Afterward, Blesio's two friends took him to the Ukiah Valley Medical Center emergency room.

Smallcomb said Blesio became uncooperative during the interview and it is unknown exactly where the crime occurred. Both the north and south side of Lake Mendocino were searched for evidence, but nothing was located.

The suspect was not identified or located, Smallcomb added.

Blesio later was transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for further treatment of his injuries, Smallcomb said.

Anyone with any information on the stabbing is requested to contact Deputy Troy Furman of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at 707-463-4086.

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SACRAMENTO – In the wake of the release of Gov. Jerry's Brown's proposed new budget, which seeks to eliminate redevelopment agencies statewide, the State Controller's Office said Monday it is launching a review of 18 such agencies to obtain facts on redevelopment funds are used and the extent to which they comply with laws governing their activities.

“The heated debate over whether RDAs are the engines of local economic and job growth or are simply scams providing windfalls to political cronies at the expense of public services has largely been based on anecdotal evidence,” Chiang said. “As lawmakers deliberate the governor’s proposal to close RDAs and divert those funds to local schools and public safety agencies, I believe it is important to provide factual, empirical information about how these agencies perform and what they bring to the communities they serve.”

There are a reported 425 redevelopment agencies statewide, located both in counties and cities. In lake County, there are three – in each in the cities of Lakeport and Clearlake, and the county's redevelopment agency that encompasses much of the Northshore, from Upper Lake to Clearlake Oaks.

The 18 RDAs selected by the State Controller's Office for the reviews represent urban, suburban and rural communities. They are geographically diverse and represent a mix of varying populations.

The reviews will look at, among other things, how the RDAs define a “blighted” area, whether they are appropriately paying for low- and moderate-income housing as required by law, whether they are accurately “passing through” payments to schools within their community, and how much RDA officials, board members and employees are being compensated for their services.

The chosen RDAs are:

• Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Jose (Santa Clara County)

• Redevelopment Agency for the County of Riverside

• Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (Los Angeles County)

• Richmond Redevelopment Agency (Contra Costa County)

• Redevelopment Agency of the County of Sacramento

• Redevelopment Agency of the City of Pittsburg (Contra Costa County)

• Redevelopment Agency of the City of Fremont (Alameda County)

• Pasadena Community Development Commission (Los Angeles County)

• Redevelopment Agency of the City of Fresno (Fresno County)

• City of Palm Desert Redevelopment Agency (Riverside County)

• Placentia Redevelopment Agency (Orange County)

• Parlier Redevelopment Agency (Fresno County)

• Hercules Redevelopment Agency (Contra Costa County)

• Anderson Redevelopment Agency (Shasta County)

• Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Citrus Heights (Sacramento County)

• Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Calexico (Imperial County)

• Community Development Agency of the City of Coronado (San Diego County)

• City of Desert Hot Springs Redevelopment Agency (Riverside County)

To assist lawmakers in their budget debates, the reviews will be completed in early March, Chiang's office reported.

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UKIAH, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office is investigating the robbery of a Ukiah market that occurred Sunday afternoon.

The incident occurred at around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, according to a report from Sgt. James Van Hagen.

Van Hagen said deputies were dispatched at 2:40 p.m. to the Handy Market, located at 800 Lake Mendocino Drive in Ukiah, regarding a report of an armed robbery that had just occurred.

When deputies arrived they learned that the store employee was robbed by three subjects, one of whom brandished a weapon at the employee and demanded the cash from the register, Van Hagen said.

The suspect forcefully removed an undetermined amount of cash from the register and stole the employee's cell phone so he could not call 911. Van Hagen said the three suspects then fled the area in two separate vehicles.

As deputies continued to investigate the robbery California Highway Patrol officers were following one of the suspect vehicles in the area of Talmage and Old River roads in Talmage. Van Hagen said CHP attempted to initiate a traffic stop on the suspect vehicle but it refused to stop and it fled south along Old River Road.

He said CHP chased the vehicle at a slow rate of speed until the suspect vehicle finally stopped at Highway 175 in Hopland.

The suspect, 19-year-old Jeremaih Carlos Reyes, was arrested without incident, Van Hagen said.

During a search of Reyes, CHP officers located currency and a cell phone that was stolen from the Handy Market during the robbery. Van Hagen said Reyes was transported and booked into the Mendocino County Jail, with his bail is set at $75,000.

Anyone with information as to the identity of the two suspects please contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at 707-463-4411.

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SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Water Resources, which is preparing to conduct its second snow survey of the year later this week, said that while it's been a dry January the state's critical snowpack remains above average.

DWR will conduct its second manual snow survey of the winter on the morning of Friday, Jan. 28, at Phillips Station on Highway 50 near Lake Tahoe.

Electronic readings indicate that snowpack water content has changed little this month, so far gaining only about an inch since Jan. 1, the agency said.

The water content is 79 percent of the April 1 seasonal average, which DWR said compares to an average reading of 55 percent taken on Tuesday.

January has been unusually dry after the heavy storms of October, November and December, recording only about 13 percent of average precipitation for the month, DWR reported.

“Our always-changing weather reminds us that we must always practice conservation,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin.

“We’re still optimistic we will have a good water supply year, but we’re only halfway through the winter and still face uncertainty about delivery restrictions as well as the weather,” Cowin added.

DWR estimated it will be able to deliver 60 percent of requested State Water Project (SWP) water this year. The estimate will be adjusted as hydrologic and regulatory conditions continue to develop.

In 2010, the SWP delivered 50 percent of a requested 4,172,126 acre-feet, up from a record-low initial projection of 5 percent due to lingering effects of the 2007-2009 drought. Deliveries were 60 percent of requests in 2007, 35 percent in 2008, and 40 percent in 2009.

The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years due to pumping restrictions to protect threatened and endangered fish – was in 2006, the agency reported.

The SWP delivers water to more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland.

DWR said the mountain snowpack provides approximately one-third of the water for California’s households, industry and farms as it slowly melts into streams and reservoirs.

Manual surveys are conducted up and down the state’s mountain ranges on or about the first of January, February, March, April and May. The manual surveys supplement and provide accuracy checks to real-time electronic readings as the snowpack builds, then melts in early spring and summer. April 1 is when snowpack water content normally is at its peak before the spring runoff.

California’s reservoirs are fed both by rain and snowpack runoff.

Most of the state’s major reservoirs are above normal storage levels for the date, the agency said.

Lake Oroville in Butte County, the SWP’s principal reservoir, is 102 percent of average for the date, which DWR said puts the reservoir at 67 percent of capacity. Remaining winter weather will determine whether it fills to its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity.

Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 112 percent of average, or 76 percent of capacity, DWR said.

Statewide snowpack readings are available on the Internet at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/DLYSWEQElectronic . Reservoir level readings may be found at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action .

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Stars of Lake County Awards Program is seeking nominations for its 2011 awards, and winners will join a lengthy and impressive list of people who have worked hard to make their community a better place.

The deadline for the 2011 Stars of Lake County Community Awards is Friday, Jan. 28, 5 p.m., or must be postmarked by January 28.

Nomination forms are available on the Lake County Chamber of Commerce Web site at www.lakecochamber.com or by calling the office at 707-263-5092.

Chamber Chief Executive Officer Melissa Fulton said that in the award program's 13 years it has honored 260 people, plus hundreds more nominees.

In February 1998, the Lake County Chamber of Commerce held the inaugural Stars of Lake County Community Awards Program. “We began with about a dozen categories which have now grown to 21,” Fulton said.

The concept was to bring recognition to people, organizations and businesses who work to make Lake County a better place to live, work and play, she explained.

She said it's a misconception that the awards program is a popularity contest. “As you read through the list, it’s obvious that the bulk of the recipients are not names you see in the news,” she said. “The recipients are entities who go about working to improve our quality of life, to care for others in our communities, who go out of their way to make life better in Lake County.”

Fulton said so many people tell the chamber how amazed they are when nominated.

The process includes submission of a nomination – anyone can write one, said Fulton – which is then reviewed by chamber staff, which looks at whether or not more detail is required.

Each nominee receives a letter notifying them they have been nominated, giving them information about the dinner and tickets; they are asked to provide a photo or come to our office so we may take a photo. Photos are used to create a video which is played during the reception and dinner at Stars.

The chamber staff compiles the nominations into a book, copies if which are supplied to every member of the Stars Selection Committee, comprised of people from all around the county, chosen because they know their community.

Fulton said the selection committee has approximately one week to read all the nominations, then they are brought together for a four- to five-hour meeting where they discuss all the nominees in every category.

The committee then casts secret ballots which are collected, tallied and noted for the awards to be created, Fulton explained. She said only three people know who the recipients are until the evening of the awards when they are announced.

The discussion of the selection committee can sometimes reveal details that were not included in the nominations and that information is also taken into consideration prior to the voting.

The list of winners follows.

Man of the Year

1999 Frank Cammarata

2000 George McQueen

2000 John Tomkins

2001 Jim McMurray

2002 Mike Gayeski

2003 Kenny Parlet

2004 Howard Chase

2005 Kendall Fults

2006 Dennis Rollins

2007 John Norcio

2008 Dave Fesmire

2009 Willie Sapeta

2010 Tom Hewlett, DDS

Woman of the Year

1999 Judi Pollace

2000 Nancy Ruzicka

2001 Dana Kearney

2002 Debbie Nordell

2003 Marie Steele

2004 Karen Hansen

2005 Jeri Spittler

2006 Kelly Mather

2007 Dr. Louise Nan

2008 Ginny Craven

2009 Georgina Lehne

2010 Cheri Johnson

Large Business

1998 Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa

1999 Cinema 5

2000 Outrageous Waters

2001 Shore Line Realty

2002 Foods, Etc.

2003 Lake Community Bank

2004 Private Harvest

2005 Jonas Oil

2006 Kelseyville Lumber

2007 Piedmont Lumber & Nursery

2008 Shannon Ridge Winery

2009 Umpqua Bank

2010 Lakeport Grocery Outlet

Small Business

1998 Dart Couriers

1998 Northlake Medical Pharmacy

1999 Hillside Honda/Yamaha

2000 Ployez Winery

2001 Material Solutions, Inc.

2002 Edgewater Resort

2003 Judy's Junction Family Restaurant

2004 Calistoga Press

2005 Clearlake Florist

2006 Big "O" Tire

2007 Strong Financial Network

2008 Kerrie's Quilting

2009 Solo Flight Academy International

2010 A & B Collision

New Business

2005 Rob Roy Golf Club

2006 Blue Wing Saloon & Café

2007 Aero Airport Shuttle & Charter Service

2008 Wild About Books

2009 Harbor Artists Village

2010 LuLu's Ice Cream & Desserts

Agriculture

1998 Myron & Marilyn Holdenreid

1999 Madeline Lyons

2000 Toni Scully

2001 Bob Roumiguiere

2002 David Tuttle

2003 Eric Seely

2004 Chuck March

2005 Alexander Suchan

2006 Kelseyville Pear Festival

2007 Jim Fetzer, Ceago Vinegarden

2008 CA Women for Ag & Lake County Farm Bureau

2009 Lake County Community Co-Op

2010 Renker Farms

Youth Advocate

1998 John & Pat Norcio

1999 Judi Graham

2000 Jeff & Donelle McCallister

2001 Tom Aiken

2002 "Volunteer" Ray Starks

2002 "Professional" Nick Biondo

2003 "Volunteer" Dave McGrath

2003 "Professional" Susan Cordell

2004 "Volunteer" David Lane

2004 "Professional" John Berry

2005 "Volunteer" Elaine Mansell

2005 "Professional" Mark Conrad

2006 "Volunteer" Andi Skelton

2006 "Professional" Carle' High School Staff

2007 "Volunteer" Roy & Charlotte Disney

2007 "Professional" Mike Stempe

2008 "Volunteer" Helen Finch

2008 "Professional" Adam Garcia

2009 "Volunteer" Shel Bush

2009 "Professional" Anna Santana

2010 "Volunteer" Darren Brookshire

2010 "Professional" Jill Hoeffer

Bo Tipton Award / Student

1998 Jared Holly

1999 Bonnie Ryan

2000 Anne Marie Montero

2001 Tricia Fettig

2002 Brittany Mills

2003 Nicole Hellwege

2004 Quincey-Kaye Butler

2005 Michelle Wells

2006 Eric Clow

2007 "Male" Jorel Allegro

2007 "Female" Lauren Nixon

2008 "Male" Erik Jameson

2008 "Female" Krista Collins

2009 "Male" Anthony Tavares

2009 "Female" Alma Martinez

2010 "Male" Benjamin Mullin

2010 "Female" Cylinda Neidenbach

Art Person of the Year

2002 Rebecca Robinson

2003 The Lake County Arts Council

2004 "Amateur" Cody Rose

2004 "Professional" Rolf Kriken

2005 "Amateur" Michelle John-Smith

2005 "Professional" Bob Minenna

2006 "Amateur" Saundra Combs

2006 "Professional" Karen Turcotte

2007 "Amateur" Cindy Car

2007 "Professional" Caroline Greenlee

2008 "Amateur" Shelby Posada

2008 "Professional" Ron Keas

2009 "Amateur" Patsy Mitchell

2009 "Professional" Gail Salituri

2010 "Amateur" Bert Hutt

2010 "Professional" No Award

Volunteer of the Year

1998 Ellen Sylar

1999 Sue Evans

2000 Arlene Carter

2001 Carl Shauger

2002 Nancy & Grant Cary

2003 Carl Webb

2004 Vicki Ellsworth

2005 Bob Kiel

2006 Jerry and Mary Ann McQueen

2007 Margaret Medeiros

2008 William Barrows & Connie Miller

2009 Bill and Carolyn Tobin

2010 Denise Johnson

Year Humanitarian of the Year

1998 Art Thompson

1999 Bernie Edwards

2000 Mary Borjon

2001 Ilene Dumont

2001 June Wilcox

2002 Steve Brooks

2003 Joy Swetnam

2004 Debbie White

2005 Kathy Porovich

2006 Hedy Montoya

2007 Dr. Tony Veletto

2008 Susie Wiloth

2009 Faith Hornby

2010 Debra Rodrigue

Year Senior of the Year

1998 Jack Devine

1999 Bonnie Trumble

2000 Walter Robinson

2001 Virginia Martin

2002 Beverly Bergstrom

2003 Mae Nahmias

2004 Jo Rodriguez

2005 Howard Stuckey

2006 Marilyn Johnson

2007 Shari Koch

2008 Floyd Surber

2009 Treva Ryan

2010 Jean Welch

Best Idea of the Year

1998 Lake County Summerfest

1999 Outrageous Waters

2000 Westside Community Park

2001 Lake County Passion Play

2002 Lake County Sheriff's Citizen's Academy

2003 Pearl Harbor Memorial, Lakeport Rotary Project

2004 Lakeside Wellness Foundation

2005 Wine Country Carriage Classic

2006 Arnna-Marie Egan – Shirts Off Our Back

2007 Blue Grass Festival

2008 Team DUI

2009 "Ageless Dream Day" – Orchard Park

2010 Woody's Café

Organization of the Year

1998 Boy's & Girl's Club

1999 Business Outreach & Response Team (BORT)

2000 Clearlake Performing Arts

2001 "Non-Profit" Sutter Lakeside Community Services

2001 "Volunteer" Lake County Revitalization

2002 "Non-Profit" DAAC

2002 "Volunteer" Kelseyville K-Corp

2003 "Non-Profit" Lake County Community Action Agency

2003 "Volunteer" Lakeport Sea Scouts, Ship Genesis #191

2004 "Non-Profit" Habitat For Humanity, Lake County

2004 "Volunteer" Lake County Wildlife Rescue Center

2005 "Non-Profit" Hospice Services of Lake County

2005 "Volunteer" United Veteran's Council of Lake County

2006 "Non-Profit" RCHCD-Rural Communities Housing Dev. Corp.

2006 "Volunteer" Lake County Animal Services

2007 "Non-Profit" Meals On Wheels

2007 "Volunteer" Free Kitchen Project

2008 "Non-Profit" Lakeside Dental Clinic

2008 "Volunteer" Sponsoring Survivorship

2009 "Non-Profit" People Services, Inc.

2009 "Volunteer" Operation Tango Mike

2010 "Non-Profit" Mt. Konocti Facilitation

2010 "Volunteer" Lake County AARP Tax Preparers

Local Hero of the Year

1999 Steve Sprague

2000 Clattie Mandeville

2001 Sarah Focose

2002 Dr. Arthur Bikangaga

2003 Joy Gabriel

2004 Fred Wendt

2005 Mary Alice Glenn

2006 Derek Woodcock, R.J. Hudson, Lindsey Hamner, Dannille Hamner, Taylor Butler, Quincey Butler, Tyler Brin, James Beall, Sloan Reynolds

2007 Sgt. Mike Hermann

2008 Javier Batres

2009 Walt Foster

2010 No Award

Lifetime Achievement

1998 Alden Jones

1999 Baird Anton

1999 Dr. Donald Browning

2000 Richard Freeborn

2001 David Borjon

2002 Marian Geoble

2003 Donald Ellis

2004 Carl Braito

2005 May Noble

2006 Edgar Hill

2007 "Male" Bill Cornelison

2007 "Female" Thelma Dangel

2008 "Male" Don Emerson

2008 "Female" Joan Holman

2008 "Couple" Robert & Nadine Strauss

2009 "Male" Father Philip Ryan

2009 "Female" Eva Johnson

2010 Mildred Pickersgill

Spirit of Lake County

2001 Tony Jack

2002 Lucille Hill

2003 Hardester's Market & Hardware

2004 James Dougan

2005 Peter Windrem

2006 Brad Gatton

2007 David Neft

2008 Kacey Tallman

2009 Duane Furman

2010 Harry Graves

Parents of the Year

1998 Michael & Diana Lunas

1999 Guy & Kim Tipton

Benefactor

1998 Orville Magoon

1999 James Soper

2000 Lake County Wine Alliance

Business Leader

1998 Bill Brunetti

Environmental

2006 Redbud Audubon Society

2007 Frank Meisenbach

2008 Val & Tom Nixon

2009 Leona Butts

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These jewel-like olives await pressing at the Kelseyville Olive Mill in Kelseyville, Calif., in November 2011. Photo by Esther Oertel.

On a beautiful fall day in late November of last year, I spent an amazing afternoon at the Kelseyville Olive Mill to witness an olive pressing.

The olives, ripe little jewels that they are, wooed me from their bins as they awaited a crushing fate, their metamorphosis into the rich, tasty oil that tickles our taste buds and promotes good health. I thank them for their sacrifice.

Lake County is home to a growing number of boutique olive oil producers, and I’d encourage you to treat your palate to oils crafted in our own backyard.

While some olive growers have their own press (The Villa Barone near Hidden Valley Lake, for one), chances are good that the olives in the local oil you enjoy were pressed at the Kelseyville Olive Mill. Olives for many lake county growers are pressed there, as well as olives from Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties. The day I visited, olives from Ceago del Lago’s orchards in Nice were being pressed. Ceago’s oil won the People’s Choice Award at last year’s Kelseyville Olive Festival.

Olives on the tree at Kelseyville Olive Mill in Kelseyville, Calif. Photo by Esther Oertel.

I’ve been waiting for just the right time to share the best of the more than 200 photos I took that day, and a weekend trip to see my sister’s new baby provided the right excuse.

While I’m savoring my new nephew, I hope you’ll enjoy this photo essay of a day in the life of an olive press.

I’ll leave you with my recipe for mixed olive risotto presented at my 2009 “All About Olives” culinary class. It highlights both olives and olive oil, and I was certainly in the mood for it after sorting through all those olive photos! If you can get your hands on a Meyer lemon, I’d recommend using its gentle zest for this recipe; otherwise, any lemon will do. Enjoy.

The olive press room at the Kelseyville Olive Mill is where all the action takes place. Photo by Esther Oertel.

Risotto with mixed olive medley

4 cups chicken stock

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large leek, well cleaned, green and white portions thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup Arborio rice

1 cup high-quality mixed pitted olives (such as Kalamata), quartered

Grated zest of ½ lemon

½ cup Asiago cheese, grated

½ cup prosciutto, diced, OR ½ cup Feta cheese, crumbled, OR 4 slices crisp bacon, crumbled

Bring broth to boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat so that broth stays at a constant gentle simmer.

In a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil. Add leeks and cook five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and rice; cook one minute, stirring frequently.

Using a large ladle, transfer about one cup of the simmering broth to the rice mixture. Cook until most of the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Continue adding broth, one ladleful at a time, until rice is slightly firm to the bite, 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally and keeping the rice mixture at a constant simmer.

Stir in olives and prosciutto; heat through. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Grate lemon zest into risotto and stir to combine. (You may wish to add ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted or packed in oil, and/or ½ cup artichoke hearts, roughly chopped. They should be added along with the prosciutto.)

Esther Oertel, the “Veggie Girl,” is a culinary coach and educator and is passionate about local produce. Oertel teaches culinary classes at Chic Le Chef in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif., and The Kitchen Gallery in Lakeport, Calif., and gives private cooking lessons. She welcomes your questions and comments; e-mail her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Bins of olives from Pina Napa Valley are being off loaded for pressing at the Kelseyville Olive Mill. Photo by Esther Oertel.

This impressive skyscraper of bins, each full of olives ready for pressing, is just a portion of what

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The holiday season saw a worsening of unemployment rates across Lake County and California, according to the state's latest report on unemployment.

The Employment Development Department said in a Friday report that Lake County's unemployment rose from an adjusted rate of 18.8 percent in November to 19.1 percent in December, mirroring the overall rising state unemployment figures, which went from 12.3 percent in November to 12.5 percent last month.

At the same time, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said that nationwide the employment picture improved, with the unemployment rate dropping to 9.4 percent from November's 9.8 percent rate and 9.9 percent in December 2009.

Lake County's December 2009 unemployment rate was 18.2 percent, according to state records.

Lake was ranked No. 50 among the state's 58 counties for unemployment. In December it had a labor force composed of 24,710 members, of which 4,720 were unemployed. That's compared to the November labor force statistics of 24,800 people in the labor force and 4,660 without jobs.

Having the lowest unemployment in December was Marin, at 7.9 percent, contrasted with the state's highest unemployment, found in Imperial County, where 28.3 percent of the labor force is jobless.

Lake's neighboring counties registered the following unemployment rates and statewide ranks in December: Colusa, 25.2 percent, No. 57; Glenn, 17 percent, No. 44; Yolo, 14.3 percent, No. 33; Mendocino, 11.6 percent, No. 19; Napa, 10.6 percent, No. 12; and Sonoma, 10 percent, No. 9.

Within Lake County itself, Upper Lake had the lowest unemployment in December at 10.2 percent, and Clearlake Oaks had the highest, with 27.9 percent.

The following unemployment rates were reported for other areas of the county, from highest to lowest: Nice, 27.4 percent; city of Clearlake, 26.9 percent; Lucerne, 20.1 percent; Kelseyville, 19.4 percent; Middletown, 19.3 percent; city of Lakeport, 18.5 percent; Cobb, 17.2 percent; Lower Lake, 16.1 percent; Hidden Valley Lake, 15.9 percent; and north Lakeport, 15.2 percent.

California's job gains way down in December

The Employment Development Department uses two separate surveys to make its report: a federal survey of 5,500 California households while a survey of 42,000 California businesses measures jobs in the economy.

The former survey shows estimated the number of Californians holding jobs in December was 15,946,000, a decrease of 25,000 from November, but up 78,000 from the employment total in December 2009.

That data also revealed that the number of people unemployed in California was 2,269,000 – up by 3,000 over the month, and up by 35,000 compared with December of last year.

The latter survey revealed nonfarm jobs in California totaled 13,897,100 in December, an increase of 4,900 jobs over the month, following a 30,500-job gain in November.

The year-over-year change – December 2009 to December 2010 – showed an increase of 87,500 jobs, up 0.6 percent, the report said.

The Employment Development Department also reported that there were 599,221 people receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits during the December survey week, compared with 600,196 last month and 792,764 last year.

At the same time, new claims for unemployment insurance were 87,289 in December 2010, compared with 72,768 in November and 80,873 in December of last year, the agency reported.

The report showed that seven categories – manufacturing; information; financial activities; professional and business services; educational and health services; leisure and hospitality; and other services – added jobs over the month, gaining 33,700 jobs. Leisure and hospitality posted the largest increase over the month, adding 9,300 jobs.

Four categories – mining and logging; construction; trade, transportation and utilities; and government – reported job declines this month, down 28,800 jobs, the state reported. Government posted the largest decline over the month, down by 15,400 jobs.

The Employment Development Department said seven industry divisions – manufacturing; information; financial activities; professional and business services; educational and health services; leisure and hospitality; and other services – posted job gains over the year, adding 146,700 jobs.

Of those seven divisions, professional and business services recorded the largest increase over the year on both a numerical and percentage basis, up 66,900 jobs – a 3.3-percent increase.

The reports said that the mining and logging category recorded no change over the year.

Three categories – construction; trade, transportation and utilities; and government – posted job declines over the year, down 59,200 jobs, the agency reported.

The Employment Development Department also reported that construction employment showed the largest decline over the year on both a numerical and percentage basis, down by 32,900 jobs, a 5.8 percent decline.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

Dr. Paula Dhanda of Kelseyville, Calif., cares for a sick child in Haiti during a recent trip to provide medical care to the people of that country. The child was able to recover from a life-threatening condition thanks to the care he received. Photo courtesy of Dr. Paula Dhanda.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A local doctor who led a medical team on a journey to Haiti will share her experiences in a special event in February.

Dr. Paula Dhanda will speak at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, at The Saw Shop Gallery Bistro, 3825 Main St., Kelseyville.

She and her team invite the community to join them for this free gathering to learn more about their experiences in Haiti and about other local and global missions that are being planned.

Dr. Dhanda led a nine-member medical team to provide desperately needed medical care to the people of Haiti.

The team consisted of four physicians, a nurse practitioner, three nurses and a medical assistant.

They partnered with Haitian health care workers as well as international doctors, nurses, pharmacists, EMTs and physical therapists at Project Medishare, the only critical care hospital in the country.

During their two week mission they worked excruciatingly long hours performing numerous surgeries, caring for babies and children in intensive care, and seeing hundreds of patients in the clinic.

The physical and emotional toll on those who provide care in places like Haiti is immense.

“An important part of our mission is to provide training to the local staff but we really all learned from each other,” Dhanda said.

During their stay in Haiti, Dr. Dhanda and her volunteer team witnessed the increased tension and anger caused by the presidential election. Rioting in the streets and gunshots could be heard outside of the hospital.

The volunteers were protected by armed guards outside their sleeping quarters as well as at the hospital gates, and for their safety they were advised not to leave the hospital compound.

The Haitian staff at the clinic expressed gratitude to the volunteers for choosing to stay during this difficult time.

As the international community and news media lost interest in Haiti's plight to favor reporting on areas of the globe, Haiti has progressively received less aid both in the way of volunteers and donations.

One year after the earthquake that devastated Haiti's capital, only 5 percent of the rubble has been removed.

More than 3,000 people have died from the ongoing cholera epidemic and one million people are still living in tents.

Dr. Dhanda expressed her hope for a country that has touched her heart. “I have great admiration for the resilience of the Haitian people who have endured so much hardship and yet continue to be strong and hopeful.”

She added, “I am uplifted by the outpouring of good will and generosity of this community. Global and local missions would not be possible without this vital support.”

In addition to the expense of travel, the volunteers paid for vaccinations, prophylactic medications for malaria, and donated to Project Medishare to cover the cost of food and housing.

Other urgently needed medical supplies that were donated included morphine, antibiotics and surgical supplies, including sutures, surgical packs and gloves.

In order to help fund future needed medical aid trips such as the one to Haiti, Dr. Dhanda has created a personal skin care line offering free skin consultations along with highly effective product solutions to common problems such as wrinkles, acne, dry skin and fine lines. One hundred percent of all sales profits go to fund future mission work.

For more information please call Dr. Dhanda’s office at 707-279-8733 or visit her blog www.drpauladhanda.com .

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Technicians and engineers inside a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., prepare to install SAM into the mission's Mars rover, Curiosity. Image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech.

PASADENA, Calif. – Paul Mahaffy, the scientist in charge of the largest instrument on NASA's next Mars rover, watched through glass as clean-room workers installed it into the rover.

The specific work planned for this instrument on Mars requires more all-covering protective garb for these specialized workers than was needed for the building of NASA's earlier Mars rovers.

The instrument is Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

At the carefully selected landing site for the Mars rover named Curiosity, one of SAM's key jobs will be to check for carbon-containing compounds called organic molecules, which are among the building blocks of life on Earth.

The clean-room suits worn by Curiosity's builders at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are just part of the care being taken to keep biological material from Earth from showing up in results from SAM.

Organic chemicals consist of carbon and hydrogen and, in many cases, additional elements. They can exist without life, but life as we know it cannot exist without them.

SAM can detect a fainter trace of organics and identify a wider variety of them than any instrument yet sent to Mars. It also can provide information about other ingredients of life and clues to past environments.

Researchers will use SAM and nine other science instruments on Curiosity to study whether one of the most intriguing areas on Mars has offered environmental conditions favorable for life and favorable for preserving evidence about whether life has ever existed there.

NASA will launch Curiosity from Florida between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011, as part of the Mars Science Laboratory mission's spacecraft.

The spacecraft will deliver the rover to the Martian surface in August 2012. The mission plan is to operate Curiosity on Mars for two years.

This schematic illustration shows major components of the microwave-oven-size instrument, which was installed into the mission's rover, Curiosity, in January 2011. Image credit NASA.

“If we don't find any organics, that's useful information,” said Mahaffy, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. “That would mean the best place to look for evidence about life on Mars may not be near the surface. It may push us to look deeper.”

It would also aid understanding of the environmental conditions that remove organics.

“If we do find detectable organics, that would be an encouraging sign that the immediate environment in the rocks we're sampling is preserving these clues,” he said. “Then we would use the tools we have to try to determine where the organics may have come from.”

Organics delivered by meteorites without involvement of biology come with more random chemical structures than the patterns seen in mixtures of organic chemicals produced by organisms.

Mahaffy paused in describing what SAM will do on Mars while engineers and technicians lowered the instrument into its position inside Curiosity this month.

A veteran of using earlier spacecraft instruments to study planetary atmospheres, he has coordinated work of hundreds of people in several states and Europe to develop, build and test SAM after NASA selected his team's proposal for it in 2004.

“It has been a long haul getting to this point,” he said. “We've taken a set of experiments that would occupy a good portion of a room on Earth and put them into that box the size of a microwave oven.”

SAM has three laboratory tools for analyzing chemistry. The tools will examine gases from the Martian atmosphere, as well as gases that ovens and solvents pull from powdered rock and soil samples.

Curiosity's robotic arm will deliver the powdered samples to an inlet funnel. SAM's ovens will heat most samples to about 1,000 degrees Celsius (about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit).

One tool, a mass spectrometer, identifies gases by the molecular weight and electrical charge of their ionized states. It will check for several elements important for life as we know it, including nitrogen, phosphorous, sulfur, oxygen and carbon.

Another tool, a laser spectrometer, uses absorption of light at specific wavelengths to measure concentrations of selected chemicals, such as methane and water vapor. It also identifies the proportions of different isotopes in those gases.

Isotopes are variants of the same element with different atomic weights, such as carbon-13 and carbon-12, or oxygen-18 and oxygen-16.

Ratios of isotopes can be signatures of planetary processes. For example, Mars once had a much denser atmosphere than it does today, and if the loss occurred at the top of the atmosphere, the process would favor increased concentration of heavier isotopes in the retained, modern atmosphere.

Methane is an organic molecule. Observations from Mars orbit and from Earth in recent years have suggested transient methane in Mars' atmosphere, which would mean methane is being actively added and subtracted at Mars.

With SAM's laser spectrometer, researchers will check to confirm whether methane is present, monitor any changes in concentration, and look for clues about whether Mars methane is produced by biological activity or by processes that do not require life. JPL provided SAM's laser spectrometer.

SAM's third analytical tool, a gas chromatograph, separates different gases from a mixture to aid identification. It does some identification itself and also feeds the separated fractions to the mass spectrometer and the laser spectrometer.

Technicians and engineers position SAM above the mission's Mars rover, Curiosity, for installing the instrument. Image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech.

France's space agency, Centre National d'Études Spatiales, provided support to the French researchers who developed SAM's gas chromatograph.

NASA's investigation of organics on Mars began with the twin Viking landers in 1976. Science goals of more recent Mars missions have tracked a “follow the water” theme, finding multiple lines of evidence for liquid water – another prerequisite for life – in Mars' past.

The Mars Science Laboratory mission will seek more information about those wet environments, while the capabilities of its SAM instrument add a trailblazing “follow the carbon” aspect and information about how well ancient environments may be preserved.

The original reports from Viking came up negative for organics. How, then, might Curiosity find any? Mahaffy describes three possibilities.

The first is about locations. Mars is diverse, not uniform. Copious information gained from Mars orbiters in recent years is enabling the choice of a landing site with favorable attributes, such as exposures of clay and sulfate minerals good at entrapping organic chemicals.

Mobility helps too, especially with the aid of high-resolution geologic mapping generated from orbital observations.

The stationary Viking landers could examine only what their arms could reach. Curiosity can use mapped geologic context as a guide in its mobile search for organics and other clues about habitable environments.

Additionally, SAM will be able to analyze samples from interiors of rocks drilled into by Curiosity, rather than being restricted to soil samples, as Viking was.

Second, SAM has improved sensitivity, with a capability to detect less than one part-per-billion of an organic compound, over a wider mass range of molecules and after heating samples to a higher temperature.

Third, a lower-heat method using solvents to pull organics from some SAM samples can check a hypothesis that a reactive chemical recently discovered in Martian soil may have masked organics in soil samples baked during Viking tests.

The lower-heat process also allows searching for specific classes of organics with known importance to life on Earth. For example, it can identify amino acids, the chain links of proteins. Other clues from SAM could also be hints about whether organics on Mars – if detected at all – come from biological processes or without biology, such as from meteorites.

Certain carbon-isotope ratios in organics compared with the ratio in Mars' atmosphere could suggest meteorite origin. Patterns in the number of carbon atoms in organic molecules could be a clue.

Researchers will check for a mixture of organics with chains of carbon atoms to see if the mix is predominated either by chains with an even number of carbon atoms or with an odd number.

That kind of pattern, rather than a random blend, would be typical of biological assembly of carbon chains from repetitious subunits.

“Even if we see a signature such as mostly even-numbered chains in a mix of organics, we would be hesitant to make any definitive statements about life, but that would certainly indicate that our landing site would be a good place to come back to,” Mahaffy said.

A future mission could bring a sample back to Earth for more extensive analysis with all the methods available on Earth.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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Bishop Robert Francis Vasa, 59, has been appointed by the Vatican to oversee California's Diocese of Santa Rosa. He will take up residence in the diocese on Friday, March 4, 2011. Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – On Monday the Vatican appointed a new bishop to head up the Diocese of Santa Rosa.

Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Robert Francis Vasa, 59, of Baker, Oregon, as coadjutor bishop – or designated successor of the current bishop – for the Santa Rosa diocese, which also includes Lake County.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, DC on Monday by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Vasa will succeed Bishop Daniel F. Walsh, 73, who has served as Santa Rosa's bishop since May 2000, according to the Diocese of Santa Rosa Web site.

A coadjutor bishop is the designated successor of the current bishop of the diocese, church officials said. He assists the current bishop, who remains at the head of the diocese, in the various aspects of pastoral and spiritual leadership of the people.

Under church law, all bishops must submit their letter of resignation when they reach age 75, or earlier if circumstances indicate it, the Diocese of Santa Rosa reported. Once that resignation is accepted by the Holy Father, Bishop Vasa will automatically become bishop without any formal ceremony of installation.

Bishop Walsh, who had requested the assistance of a coadjutor, expressed his pleasure with the appointment.

“I am happy to learn of Bishop Vasa’s assignment to the Diocese of Santa Rosa, and look forward to introducing him to our parishioners and working in partnership to lay the foundation for our diocesan future,” Walsh said.

Walsh's tenure has been marked by several cases of alleged sexual abuse by priest. Critics have accused Walsh and the diocese of protecting abusive priests, a charge he has denied in statements to the region's media.

California Catholic Daily has said Vasa is “among most orthodox prelates in US,” while the Catholic Sentinel reported that Vasa has worked to uphold Catholic teachings, criticized pro-choice politicians and removed the Catholic identity of St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, Ore., where sterilizations were performed.

Vasa will become the sixth bishop of the 11,711-square-mile Diocese of Santa Rosa, which includes Sonoma, Lake, Humboldt, Mendocino and Napa counties.

He will oversee 101 priests, 35 deacons and 87 members of various religious orders, the Vatican reported.

Church officials said the diocese has a population of 909,361 people, of whom 169,567, or 18.6 percent, are Catholic, the

A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Vasa studied for the priesthood at St. Thomas Seminary in Denver and Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas, and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lincoln on May 22, 1976.

Bishop Vasa holds a master’s of divinity from Holy Trinity Seminary and a Canon Law Licentiate from the Gregorian University in Rome.

He served the Diocese of Lincoln in various positions, including chancellor, judicial vicar and vicar general.

In 1995 Pope John Paul II named him a “Prelate of Honor” with the title of “Monsignor.”

Vasa was appointed in November 1999 as bishop of Baker, where the diocese covers more than 66,000 square miles and has a reported 40,000 Catholics.

At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Vasa is a member of the Catholic Home Missions Subcommittee and also serves on the Task Force on Health Care.

Bishop Vasa will take up residence in the diocese on March 4.

A Mass of reception and welcome for Bishop Vasa will be celebrated at St. Eugene’s Cathedral, Santa Rosa, at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, March 6.

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In 2010, global temperatures continued to rise. A new analysis from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies shows that 2010 tied with 2005 as the warmest year on record, and was part of the warmest decade on record. Credit: NASA/Earth Observatory/Robert Simmon.

WASHINGTON, DC – Global surface temperatures in 2010 tied 2005 as the warmest on record, according to an analysis released by researchers at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

The two years differed by less than 0.018 degrees Fahrenheit. The difference is smaller than the uncertainty in comparing the temperatures of recent years, putting them into a statistical tie.

In the new analysis, the next warmest years are 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2009, which are statistically tied for third warmest year. The GISS records begin in 1880.

The analysis found 2010 approximately 1.34 F warmer than the average global surface temperature from 1951 to 1980.

To measure climate change, scientists look at long-term trends. The temperature trend, including data from 2010, shows the climate has warmed by approximately 0.36 F per decade since the late 1970s.

“If the warming trend continues, as is expected, if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the 2010 record will not stand for long,” said James Hansen, the director of GISS.

The analysis produced at GISS is compiled from weather data from more than 1000 meteorological stations around the world, satellite observations of sea surface temperature and Antarctic research station measurements.

A computer program uses the data to calculate temperature anomalies – the difference between surface temperature in a given month and the average temperature for the same period during 1951 to 1980. This three-decade period acts as a baseline for the analysis.

The resulting temperature record closely matches others independently produced by the Met Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center.

The record temperature in 2010 is particularly noteworthy, because the last half of the year was marked by a transition to strong La Niña conditions, which bring cool sea surface temperatures to the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

“Global temperature is rising as fast in the past decade as in the prior two decades, despite year-to-year fluctuations associated with the El Niño-La Niña cycle of tropical ocean temperature,” Hansen and colleagues reported in the Dec. 14, 2010, issue of Reviews of Geophysics.

A chilly spell also struck this winter across northern Europe. The event may have been influenced by the decline of Arctic sea ice and could be linked to warming temperatures at more northern latitudes.

Arctic sea ice acts like a blanket, insulating the atmosphere from the ocean's heat. Take away that blanket, and the heat can escape into the atmosphere, increasing local surface temperatures. Regions in northeast Canada were more than 18 degrees warmer than normal in December.

The loss of sea ice may also be driving Arctic air into the middle latitudes. Winter weather patterns are notoriously chaotic, and the GISS analysis finds seven of the last 10 European winters warmer than the average from 1951 to 1980.

The unusual cold in the past two winters has caused scientists to begin to speculate about a potential connection to sea ice changes.

“One possibility is that the heat source due to open water in Hudson Bay affected Arctic wind patterns, with a seesaw pattern that has Arctic air downstream pouring into Europe,” Hansen said.

For more information about GISS's surface temperature record, visit

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/ .

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NICE, Calif. — The seventh-annual Festival of Tulips will be held Saturday, March 26, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Tulip Hill Winery in Nice.

The event will feature wine, food, and entertainment set amid the winery’s gardens that bloom each year with 30,000 tulips imported from Holland.

Admission to the Festival of Tulips includes a Tulip Hill wine glass for unlimited tastings, sumptuous hors d’oeuvres from several upscale Lake County restaurants, live music, winery tours, barrel tastings, demonstrations and more.

During the event, tours of the winery include the crush pad, the cellar, and the bottling room. Special deals on wine and wine-related products will be offered during the festival.

Tulip Hill Winery opened in 2004 on the site where the Bartlett Springs Water Bottling Plant once operated.

The first owners of Bartlett Springs began bottling mineral water as early as the 1870s, claiming the water cured many ailments.

Revered in Europe as well as the United States, the famous plant drew thousands of tourists to Lake County in the 1800s, and after changing hands over the years, closed down in the late 20th century.

It wasn’t until the Brown family arrived that the historic site would once again have a purpose – this time for the production of wine.

In addition to its winery and tasting room in Nice, Tulip Hill Winery operates a second tasting room in Rancho Mirage, near Palm Springs in Southern California.

Tickets to the Festival of Tulips are $40 per person in advance and may be purchased online; or $45 at the door.

Tulip Hill Winery is located at 4900 Bartlett Springs Road, Nice. For more information, call 707-274-9373 or visit www.tuliphillwinery.com .

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