LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport City Council has taken action to make city-owned properties available for sale in response to interest from hotel developers.
At the council’s Aug. 17 meeting, Community Development Director Jenni Byers reported that the city has been approached by two hoteliers about a potential lakeside hotel project at the Dutch Harbor property, located on North Main Street next to the Lakefront Park that’s under construction.
In order to move forward on a possible sale, Byers said the city needed to declare the property surplus.
The 2.9-acre Dutch Harbor — which has long been envisioned as being used for a hotel development — was one of several properties staff identified as surplus.
The others include a 0.51-acre property next to Dutch Harbor that includes a building that was the old Natural High School; the former police station on N. Forbes Street, 0.23 acres; and an 0.80-acre portion of land not included in the Lakefront Park project.
Councilman Michael Green asked about how developable the Dutch Harbor property is.
Byers said the Lakeport Lakefront Revitalization Plan presented information on that prospect, which is why the small strip from the park is to be included.
The plan includes alternatives such as a private hotel development on the site, or commercial or waterfront development.
It also suggested the city consider adding a specific general plan policy to the land use element allowing for a possible lot line adjustment between the Dutch Harbor property and Natural High property to make the Dutch Harbor site a more developable parcel for a hotel or similar resort commercial use.
Byers said the early proposals are for a three-story hotel building.
City Manager Kevin Ingram said a 2017 hotel feasibility study identified a hotel as the highest use for Dutch Harbor, although it was undersized, at less than three acres. He said adding the other nearby property gets it closer to the needed size.
Green asked why the city didn’t analyze adding that property to Lakefront Park. Ingram said the city didn’t include the old school building or the additional shoreline frontage due to the tight time frame the city had as well as the California Environmental Quality Act requirements for the building’s demolition.
While Ingram said that property won’t necessarily be used for a hotel, it’s a matter of making it available for other potential uses. Any potential commercial use requires the city to go through the surplus process.
He said the city has done some marketing to try to attract hoteliers and they received some leads.
Councilman Michael Froio moved to adopt the resolution declaring the surplus property and directing staff to file a notice of availability with the California Department of Housing and Community Development in accordance with the Surplus Lands Act.
That law requires local governments to follow certain steps before disposition of property, including declaring it either “surplus land” or “exempt surplus land.”
Unless the land is exempt, Byers’ report said the law requires the city to give written notice of the property’s availability to any local public entity, including schools and park districts, within whose jurisdiction the property is located, as well as to housing sponsors that have notified the Department of Housing and Community Development of their interest in surplus property.
“An entity receiving notice from the agency has 60 days to notify the agency of its interest in purchasing the property, and the agency is required to negotiate in good faith for not less than 90 days with any entity that has responded. Notwithstanding the obligation to negotiate in good faith, the local agency is not required to sell or lease the property to the agency, or to do so for less than fair market value,” Byers wrote in her report.
As of early Tuesday, the Department of Housing and Community Development’s website had not been updated to show the Lakeport properties in its database.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — COVID-19 has led to the cancellation of another major community event.
The Home Wine and Beer Makers’ Festival, also known as the WineFest, a major fundraiser for the Lake County Symphony that was planned for Sept. 18 in Library Park, has been canceled.
The event also was canceled last year because of the pandemic.
WineFest organizers said it’s all about the COVID-19 threat and concerns about public safety due to the poor record of vaccinations and mask compliance in Lake County, which has been a hot spots in California.
Organizers said they made this difficult choice to protect fellow residents in Lake County, particularly the unvaccinated, which includes children under age 12.
They cited the rise of COVID-19 cases due to the more contagious Delta variant, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation that all people in high-risk areas like Lake County should continue to wear masks indoors in public places, regardless of vaccination status.
“After looking thoroughly at the statistics, we felt that even at an outdoor event like ours, the virus could be spread, since people who chose to wear a mask would have to take it off to do wine and beer tasting. I am not happy about it,” Carl Fredrickson, president of the Symphony Wine Club, explained. “A lot of hard work went into the organization of our WineFest. There was anger, disappointment and even some tears after most Wine Club members voted to cancel our WineFest for a second year.”
Fredrickson added, “Speaking only for myself, I just wish that everyone would get vaccinated and wear a mask to protect others. This pandemic could be over by now if more people had done that. Now we may be looking at requiring ‘vaccine passports’ everywhere so we can get back to normal life.”
NORTH COAST, Calif. — A moderately sized earthquake that occurred on Saturday night in Mendocino County was the latest in a series of quakes near Talmage that Lake County residents have reported feeling over the past week.
The latest quake, measuring 3.7 in magnitude, occurred at 10:27 p.m. Saturday 2.7 miles east of Talmage and about two miles west of the Lake County line, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
It was reported at a depth of 4.3 miles, the survey said.
As of 3 a.m. Sunday, there were 165 shake reports submitted from around Lake and Mendocino counties.
That quake was located a short distance away from two others earlier in the week.
A 3.8-magnitude quake occurred near Talmage at 10:44 p.m. Thursday, also at a depth of 4.3 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The survey said 314 shake reports were submitted for that quake.
The first, and smallest, of the quakes occurred on Tuesday at 1:20 p.m. at a depth of 1.2 miles.
There were 122 shake reports submitted for that quake, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee will meet this week to continue its work on a strategic plan.
The committee, or LEDAC, will meet from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8.
The meeting is open to the public.
The meeting will be held via Zoom: Meeting ID, 830 6034 4302; pass code, 232446. Dial by your location, 669-900-6833.
Agenda items include the Lakeport Economic Development Strategic Plan. The group is meeting monthly on the second Wednesday through December to work on elements of the plan.
They also will get updates on city projects and activities from City Manager Kevin Ingram and Community Development Director Jenni Byers, and member reports.
Next month’s meeting will take place at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13.
LEDAC advocates for a strong and positive Lakeport business community and acts as a conduit between the city and the community for communicating the goals, activities and progress of Lakeport’s economic and business programs.
Members are Chair Wilda Shock and Vice Chair Denise Combs, Bonnie Darling, Candy De Los Santos, Monica Flores, Pam Harpster, Andy Lucas, Alicia Russell, Laura Sammel and Marie Schrader, with Bill Eaton as an ex officio member. City staff who are members include City Manager Kevin Ingram and Community Development Director Jenni Byers.
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.
This 3-year-old female domestic medium hair cat has a brown tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 58, ID No. LCAC-A-1029.
‘Marmalade’
“Marmalade” is a 5-year-old female domestic short hair cat with a calico and white coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 68, ID No. LCAC-A-1444.
Female domestic short hair kitten
This female domestic short hair kitten has a black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 101, ID No. LCAC-A-1504.
Domestic short hair kitten
This male domestic short hair kitten has all-black coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 101, ID No. LCAC-A-1502.
Domestic short hair kitten
A male kitten from this litter remains available for adoption.
He is in cat room kennel No. 125B, ID No. LCAC-A-1139.
Female domestic short hair
This 1-year-old female domestic short hair cat has a black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 135, ID No. LCAC-A-1133.
‘Goldie’
“Goldie” is a male domestic short hair kitten with a yellow tabby and white coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 142, ID No. LCAC-A-1442.
‘Ophir’
“Ophir” is a male domestic short hair kitten with a red and white coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 142, ID No. LCAC-A-1443.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has several dogs of mixed breeds waiting for their new families.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Australian kelpie, husky, Labrador retriever, mastiff, pit bull, rat terrier, Rhodesian Ridgeback, shepherd and terrier.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control website not listed are still “on hold”).
This 5-year-old American pit bull terrier mix has a short brindle coat.
He is in kennel No. 12, ID No. LCAC-A-1483.
Male Labrador retriever
This 2-year-old male Labrador retriever has a short black coat with white markings.
He is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-1349.
‘Oliver’
“Oliver” is a 1-year-old Australian kelpie-rat terrier mix with a short tricolor coat.
He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-1551.
‘Jim’
“Jim” is a 2-year-old pit bull terrier mix with a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-810.
Female mastiff
This 2-year-old female mastiff has a short brindle and white coat.
She weighs 102 pounds.
She is in kennel No. 24, ID No. LCAC-A-1395.
‘Rosco’
“Rosco” is 3-year-old a male Rhodesian Ridgeback-Shepherd mix with a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-1205.
Female pit bull terrier
This 4-year-old female pit bull terrier mix has a short white coat.
She is in kennel No. 29, ID No. LCAC-A-812.
Male husky
This 2-year-old male husky has a red and cream coat.
He is in kennel No. 32, ID No. LCAC-A-1024.
Male pit bull mix
This 2-year-old male pit bull terrier mix has a short brindle coat.
He is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-1528.
‘Ghost’
“Ghost” is a 2-year-old female husky with an all-white coat and blue eyes.
She is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-1167.
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.
California will face a significant shortfall of registered nurses over the next five years due to long-term trends that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by the UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care.
The authors estimate a current shortage of 40,567 full-time equivalent RNs, a 13.6 percent gap, that is projected to persist until 2026, according to an analysis of preliminary data from the 2020 Survey of California Registered Nurses and final data from the 2019-20 Annual RN Schools Survey.
At a time when hospitals nationwide are facing challenges in filling nursing positions, the study found that many older registered nurses in California have left the field and a large number plan on retiring or quitting within the next two years. Meanwhile unemployment among younger RNs in California has increased.
“The pandemic is accelerating a broad trend that has been building for some time,” said Joanne Spetz, PhD, co-author of the report and director of the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies (PRL-IHPS). “To address this, employers need to retain older RNs, while developing career paths for new graduates. They also need to rapidly develop and implement strategies to mitigate the potential harm of nurse shortages over the next five years.”
California currently has more than 350,000 registered nurses employed in its hospitals, clinics and other facilities, as well as more than 450,000 licensed nurses.
California nurses make up nearly 12% of all nurses employed nationwide. Among employed RNs in California, an estimated 30% are over age 55.
In 2020, 26% of registered nurses between the ages of 55 and 64 said they plan to leave the field in the next two years, up from 12% in 2018. The authors said this was most likely from burnout and the need to reduce COVID-19 exposure to at-risk family members.
At the same time, employers have been reluctant to hire less experienced RNs, possibly because of the difficulty in onboarding them during the pandemic. Demand for nurses was also reduced in some regions because of limits on elective surgeries and in-person ambulatory care.
The report, released on Sept. 6, 2021, estimates that 8,500 California RNs were seeking employment in late 2020, which would fill about 20% of the current shortfall.
California is also producing fewer nurses. Public registered nursing education programs, including city colleges and the California state system, had to decrease enrollments, skip cohorts and reduce class sizes during the pandemic, in part because of their inability to place students in clinical environments.
“These programs didn’t have the resources to pivot online or to distance within classrooms as a private school can,” Spetz said. “Policymakers need to support public nursing education programs to ensure an ongoing pipeline of nurses into the health care system.”
Fortunately, there is a record-breaking interest in the nursing profession, Spetz said. RN education enrollments are projected to surpass pre-pandemic levels during the 2022-23 academic year.
Spetz said much can also be done to retain older nurses, for example by offering them alternative roles as mentors.
“Employers need to be really thoughtful about long-term workforce development,” Spetz said. As nurses exit the workforce at a more rapid rate, employers will need to onboard new RNs. “Can you address older RNs’ burnout and keep them in the workplace part-time to help onboard the new grads?”
Co-authors of the report include Lela Chu and Lisel Blash, both of UCSF.
Rebecca Wolfson writes for the University of California, San Francisco.
Antoine Lentacker, University of California, Riverside
This litigation can serve several important goals. It can identify wrongdoers and hold them accountable. It can repair damage by compensating the victims. And it can protect the public by producing evidence regarding dangerous products and practices.
When cases are settled, however, the litigation rarely accomplishes all three goals together. Settlements deny plaintiffs their day in court and can bypass admissions of guilt or allow companies to evade public scrutiny. They frustrate and disappoint almost by design.
Frustration and disappointment have been evident in the settlement reached on Sept. 1, 2021, that ended thousands of the lawsuits filed by states, cities, counties and native tribes against Purdue Pharma. Even as Robert Drain, a federal bankruptcy judge in White Plains, New York, approved the deal he observed that it would fail to fully hold Purdue’s owners, the Sackler family, accountable for their role in the opioid crisis.
If the deal holds up, it will cap 20 years of litigation against Purdue Pharma, a privately held drugmaker. The company pleaded guilty twice to federal criminal charges in connection with its marketing of OxyContin. No lawsuit against Purdue ever advanced to trial. Cases were settled out of court and records were sealed. The company continued to promote OxyContin to doctors through 2018.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Sacklers will hand over a total of $4.5 billion over nine years provided they can be released of any liability for their role in the opioid crisis. This immunity would extend to members of the family as well as to hundreds of foundations, trusts, business associates, attorneys, lobbyists, Purdue subsidiaries and other entities.
Barring a successful appeal, however, the Sacklers will still retain most of the fortune they amassed from the sales of OxyContin fully insulated against future lawsuits brought in connection with Purdue’s opioids.
Compensating the plaintiffs
The abuse of prescription opioids costs the U.S. economy $78.5 billion every year, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate. The funds pledged by the Sacklers fall far short of paying this tab. However, the deal offers a creative way to help resolve the crisis.
The centerpiece of the deal is a plan to dissolve Purdue and reestablish it as a public benefit corporation. The new entity will continue to sell some of Purdue’s signature products – including opioid painkillers, opioid substitution therapies like buprenorphine and anti-overdose medications like naloxone – and use the profits of these sales to fund addiction treatment and prevention programs.
Members of the Sackler family will have no stake in the new entity. Resuscitated as a public trust, the new Purdue will be bound to refrain from the kind of pill-pushing methods that made its fortune.
If successful, this new arrangement would show that a different way of producing and distributing drugs is possible.
Informing the public
Lawsuits against the industry have produced millions of internal company documents that shed light on the origins of the opioid catastrophe. Together with other historians, I drafted an amicus brief in 2019 that made the case for the full disclosure of all the evidence unearthed in the course of the litigation.
When 46 U.S. states reached another sweeping settlement with the tobacco industry in 1998, we explained, the companies were asked to turn over their internal documents and pay for their collection and preservation.
Posted to the internet, these documents exposed how the tobacco industry misled the public about the consequences of smoking and the nature of nicotine addiction for decades after these risks were discovered.
Overall, more than 1,000 books, research papers and articles about the impact of corporate behavior on public health were written based on this trove of evidence. The same approach, we argued, needs to be taken with the opioid industry documents.
We filed our brief just as Purdue made its opening settlement bid. The Sacklers fought long and hard to guard their secrets, concealing some of the most incriminating evidence behind claims of attorney-client privilege. They were forced to relent to get more states on board.
As a result, 30 million documents – business plans, memos, emails, meeting minutes, legal records and even deposition videos – will be turned over to archivists and made available in text-searchable form through a user-friendly portal. Purdue’s inner workings will be exposed like those of few U.S. corporations before. This will help researchers, journalists and the public better understand the causes of the opioid epidemic.
Looking ahead
By a striking quirk of timing, the court order compelling the release of the tobacco industry documents expired on Sept. 1, 2021. The yearslong effort to collect the documents obtained from the tobacco industry will wind down just as the work to bring Purdue’s documents to the public begins.
Public access to industry documents altered the course of the litigation against Big Tobacco. For decades, cigarette makers beat back lawsuits with claims that the science about the risks of smoking remained unsettled and that the companies were sincerely trying to mitigate known harms. They also held that smokers were making a choice and denied knowing anything about nicotine’s addictive potential. These defenses crumbled when the documents came to light and more plaintiffs prevailed in court.
Given the broad immunity granted to the Sacklers, the disclosure of Purdue’s opioid litigation documents may not lead to new lawsuits against them. But it might strengthen future litigation against other defendants in opioid cases.
Historians like me, public health experts, journalists, lawyers, survivors and the public need access to the evidence underpinning all of that litigation too. If only Purdue’s opioid-related documents are made public, the world would be left with a distorted picture of what caused this catastrophe.
The Sacklers, I fear, would continue to play their role as useful villains, diverting attention from the broadersystemicfailures that allowed one company to cause so much damage.
Editor’s note: The descendants of Arthur Sackler, the brother of Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, sold their stake in Purdue before the launch of OxyContin. They aren’t involved in opioid-related litigation against the company or Purdue’s related settlements.
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It’s reasonable that people who would normally chip in to alleviate suffering in any of these situations might not know how to help. The Conversation U.S. asked Patrick Rooney, an economist at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy who has studied disaster giving for decades, three questions to clear up some of the concerns that many donors might have.
1. How long will donors give after disasters?
Generally, not long enough.
Given all of the disasters affecting the United States and the entire world at the same time, it’s reasonable for many people who want to donate to be unsure about what they should do. Whether you prefer to focus on the short run or the long run, I think it makes sense to donate now, but not necessarily to the most recent need that has come to your attention.
In the short run, refugees from Afghanistan and displaced people from Haiti, Louisiana and elsewhere all need “hots and cots” – disaster-speak for hot meals and somewhere to sleep.
In the long run, their needs will differ, but grow in terms of their significance and costs. Wherever refugees settle down, most families will need housing and their breadwinners will need jobs. Before becoming gainfully employed, many of those workers will require training and education.
Following these disasters, roads, bridges, utilities, schools and other infrastructure will need to be rebuilt, and people could take a long time to rebuild their lives. That’s why efforts to help with recovery need your help now and will need more help later this year, next year and possibly for a much longer period of time.
In studying disaster giving, my colleagues and I have generally found, with few exceptions, that roughly half of all the money raised through donations tends to be donated within the first four to six weeks after disasters. By the fifth or sixth month, donations usually slow to a trickle even as needs continue.
2. Do people who donate after disasters give less to their favorite causes?
Ample evidence indicates that this doesn’t usually happen.
My colleagues and I researched U.S. donations to causes tied to 9/11 disaster relief, as well as giving to other charities before and after the 2001 terrorist attacks. We found no evidence that giving related to 9/11 diminished support for other charities.
A team of philanthropy researchers has studied disaster relief giving in the United Kingdom using data garnered from more than 100,000 donors over a five-year period. They also found that disaster relief giving does not displace giving to other charities.
My IUPUI colleagues, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the philanthropy research group Candid collaborated on a survey of 1,243 households about their giving in 2017 and 2018. About 30% made donations annually that were tied to at least one disaster. Only 8% of these donors said that disaster giving led them to cut back on what they gave to other charities.
In other words, donors who support causes linked to disasters keep on supporting their local food pantry, favorite animal shelter, alma mater, congregation and other usual causes. And they generally do this in the same amounts as in other years.
However, things could be different this time around. There’s no precedent for so many disasters occurring simultaneously during a pandemic.
3. Did 9/11 change how people give?
Yes.
The estimated US$2.8 billion that Americans gave to causes related to the harm caused by the terrorists attacks marked the beginning of new patterns in disaster philanthropy that persist today.
Unfortunately, this trend has created the temptation for abuse and fraud: Misleading websites can amass donations intended for urgent needs that instead line the pockets of people who don’t need the money. While the actual dollar amounts lost to fraud is unknowable, philanthropy scholars do not believe they represent a large share of the billions of dollars raised annually for disaster relief.
To avoid scammers, I recommend giving directly to reputable, well-established charities with experience in disaster relief and recovery. Also watch out for sound-alike and look-alike fraudulent names – such as branding that resembles a familiar charity but isn’t connected to that trusted organization.
What has not changed is the need for giving that lasts years rather than months following a major disaster. For example, I see the devastation in the wake of Haiti’s 2021 earthquake as a graphic reminder that many of the infrastructure needs from the 2010 earthquake remain unmet despite the $13.5 billion in government and private aid spent in its aftermath – amid chronic mismanagement and even abuse.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport City Council this week will hear a pitch from a nonprofit which wants to house its operations in the city’s historic Carnegie Library and will hold a workshop to discuss issues related to homelessness.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The council chambers will be open to the public for the meeting. In accordance with updated guidelines from the state of California and revised Cal OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards, persons who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 are required to wear a face covering at this meeting.
If you cannot attend in person, and would like to speak on an agenda item, you can access the Zoom meeting remotely at this link or join by phone by calling toll-free 669-900-9128 or 346-248-7799.
The webinar ID is 973 6820 1787, access code is 477973; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To give the City Clerk adequate time to print out comments for consideration at the meeting, please submit written comments before 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 7.
Indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that are read to the council will be subject to the three minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council before the meeting.
Under council business, the council is to hear a presentation from the Clear Lake Environmental Research Center, or CLERC, and discuss the appropriateness of the reuse of the Carnegie Library building for CLERC offices, a laboratory and a public environmental resources center.
The staff report from City Manager Kevin Ingram includes no written report or proposal from CLERC.
Ingram said CLERC recently contacted city staff to discuss the possible location of offices and laboratory space within the city of Lakeport, a site meeting was held and “it became clear that the overall mission of CLERC was a potential match for the reuse of the Lakeport Carnegie Library building.”
Ingram’s report notes that the city has installed an elevator/lift, remodeled existing restrooms and performed some minor exterior alterations to make the site compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility standards, and replaced the central heating and air conditioning unit.
“Over time the second-floor ceiling has continued to deteriorate. The current fiscal year budget includes funding for the repair of the ceiling and replacement of lighting on the second floor. This remains the last major barrier to the reuse of the second story interior space,” Ingram wrote in his report.
In other business, there will be a special workshop during which staff will update the council on homelessness and mental health programs and discuss available opportunities in addressing the issue.
As part of that discussion, the council will consider its response to the grand jury report’s section entitled “Homeless — Not Hopeless.”
Also on Tuesday, the council will be introduced to new Public Works employees Todd Starkovich, and Connie Warthen; direct the city’s voting delegate to the 2021 League of California Cities Annual Conference on how to vote on two resolutions related to sales tax and funding for the California Public Utilities Commission to inspect railroad lines for illegal dumping, graffiti and homeless encampments along railroad rights of way.
The council also will adopt a proposed resolution to amend the original State Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act application to include Program Income to be used for commercial kitchen upgrades at the Silveira Community Center; consider adopting a resolution to submit an application to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for funding under the Competitive Permanent Local Housing Allocation Program; approve a resolution to submit an application to the Small Community Drought Relief Program for the replacement of a city well; and adoption of the Pension and Reserve Policy, amendments to the Investment Policy and the proposed resolution confirming the issuance of pension obligation bonds and related documents.
On the consent agenda — items usually accepted as a slate on one vote — are ordinances; minutes of the regular council meeting on Aug. 3 and the special meeting on Aug. 10; approval for event application 2021-004, amended to request reserved parking on Third Street, for the 2021 Home Amateur Winemakers WineFest on Sept. 18 (this event has been canceled); adoption of resolution accepting construction of the Community Center Kitchen Remodel Project by Bridges Construction and authorize the filing of the notice of completion; adoption of resolution accepting construction of the 2021 Sewer Main Rehabilitation Project by Ghilotti Construction Co. and authorize the filing of the notice of completion; and adoption of a resolution approving the Compensation and Benefits Program for the city of Lakeport Unrepresented Employees for the period of July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2024.
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.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — Thanks to a generous literacy student, I found myself with a big bag of fresh tomatillos the other day.
They were just perfect — small, bright spheres of green covered with brownish papery husks. As a fan of salsa verde, this was pretty exciting for me.
The happy little fruits stared at me from the bag and my mind raced with ideas for their use. I’d turn some of them into salsa verde, of course, but other ideas popped up, too, like cooking them with a big batch of pinto beans for a vegetarian version of chili verde.
As it happened, I had limited time to put these plans into action, so I offered them to my son. This ended up being a great decision because he worked his magic to turn them into the best salsa verde I’ve ever tasted! It had a rich, smoky flavor, yet maintained the signature tartness expected from tomatillos.
I can let you in on the secret to his success in the recipe below. But first, a bit about this sassy little fruit.
Despite its name, which means “little tomato” in Spanish, tomatillos are not, in fact, little tomatoes. They’re members of the nightshade family like the tomato, so you might call them cousins, but they’re a species distinct from them.
The Cape gooseberry, which also grows encased in a thin husk, is another nightshade relative of the tomatillo.
Like many members of this family, parts of the plant are toxic. In the case of the tomatillo, the stems, leaves and husk are poisonous and should be avoided.
Other names for the tomatillo include husk tomato, Mexican husk tomato or, in Mexico, tomato verde. In Spain they’re known by a variety of names, my favorite being farolito, which translates to little lantern. Because of their papery husks, they do remind me of the paper lanterns strung everywhere during Chinese New Year celebrations.
Tomatillos are native to Mexico and parts of Central America. There’s evidence that they were cultivated in Mexico in pre-Columbian times, since at least 800 B.C., where they were eaten by the Aztecs and Mayans.
They’re still mostly associated with Mexican and Central American cuisine. (Think of delicious, tangy green salsa or the brightly flavored sauce served over pork or chicken enchiladas.)
Like tomatoes or cucumbers with internal seeds, they’re botanically considered a fruit, though in practice they’re used in savory cuisine like a vegetable.
Typically golf ball sized (though this can vary), each fruit has a thin husk that dries and recedes when they’re ripe. Depending on the variety, they can ripen to varying shades of yellow, red, or purple, just like their tomato cousins.
Tomatillos are most often harvested prior to maturity when bright apple green with a just-burst husk. This is when their tangy flavor is in full force and they still have their signature acidic edge. The flavor mellows as the fruit matures.
Heat-loving tomatillos have been cultivated in the U. S. since 1863. In California, they’re grown commercially on the central coast as well as in the Central Valley. Depending on the warmth of their location, harvesting can begin as early as late May and last through November.
If you’re in the market for tomatillos, look for those that have a husk that’s dry and not shriveled or damp. The husk should cover the fruit and be somewhat tight, though open at the end. This indicates that the tomatillos were picked just before ripening.
In addition, the fruit should be firm without much give, with no brown or soft spots, and be a vivid shade of green like a Granny Smith apple.
When you get them home, decide how long it will take you to use them. If right away, there’s no need to refrigerate, as they’ll store well on the counter for two to three days.
If you’d like to keep them around longer, place them in a partially open paper bag and store them in the refrigerator, where they’ll keep for two to three weeks.
Once the husks are removed, the sticky, protective residue on their skin will be revealed, and you’ll need to wash that off before working with them.
They’re really quite versatile and can be used in a variety of ways. Like tomatoes, the skin and seeds are edible and there’s no need to peel or seed them.
Despite the way they look and their relationship with tomatoes, tomatillos are too acidic to be subbed in recipes that feature green tomatoes.
Use them raw if you want to keep their flavor bright and to play up their bracing acidity. Raw tomatillos can be a component of ceviche, for example, or used in a salad with tomatoes, corn and avocado.
Raw tomatillos can also be used in vinaigrette dressings to provide additional brightness and acidity.
When tomatillos are cooked, their acidity is mellowed a bit (though they’ll still have that tang) and a subtle sweetness is brought out. This is particularly true when they’re roasted. Cooking of course softens them, and it mutes the color, as well.
There are a variety of ways to cook them.
Blanching tomatillos in boiling water for five minutes or so mellows the flavor and softens them for crushing or pureeing.
They can be fire roasted under the broiler, on the grill, or even with a propane torch. If using this method, be sure the heat is high to avoid mushyness before they’ve had a chance to char. The blackened skins will add smoky flavor to your dish.
They can be dry roasted with low heat for 20 to 30 minutes in the oven or in a cast iron pan on the stove. Turn them occasionally while they’re cooking.
They can be added directly to the pot to simmer with soups like pozole verde or braised with chicken or pork for stews like chili verde. They can be cooked with beans to add flavor and tang, or grilled with onions to make an accompaniment for steak or other hearty foods.
Or they can be smoked, which is what my son did to make his epic salsa verde. His recipe is below.
But before we go, here’s an interesting fact. A fossilized tomatillo was found in the Patagonia region of South America that dated to 52 million years ago. I wonder what that would taste like in a salsa?
Bob’s Salsa Verde
6 or more cups tomatillos 3 jalapeno peppers 3 serrano peppers 2 pasilla peppers 2 bulbs (not cloves) of garlic Olive oil Red onion, roughly chopped Cilantro, one bunch, leaves only Juice of one lime About ¼ cup red wine vinegar Salt to taste
Smoke the peppers, tomatillos and garlic in an electric or wood smoker on low heat — about 250 to 275 degrees Fahrenheit — for 1 to 1 ¼ hours, until soft and smoky. Notes: Bob used a wood smoker fueled by oak and cherry logs. The tomatillos should be placed in a pan for smoking so the juices can be retained for the salsa. Garlic bulb tops should be cut off, then rubbed with oil and wrapped in aluminum foil for roasting.
Place the smoked peppers, tomatillos and garlic (without skins) in a blender or food processor and puree on the pulse setting with the red onion, cilantro, lime juice and vinegar. Notes: Garlic bulbs can be squeezed to release the smoked garlic cloves inside. Be sure to add the tomatillo juice in the pan to the puree, as well.
Add salt to taste, a pinch or so. Bob thinks the pinch he added is about half a teaspoon. Start with a quarter teaspoon, taste, and add more if needed.
Store in glass jars with lids in the refrigerator, where it should stay fresh for about two weeks.
Note that salsa verde can become a little gelatinous when cold. This can be remedied by bringing to room temperature or heating for a few seconds in the microwave.
Use as you would any salsa verde - over enchiladas, to flavor soups or stews, atop meats and vegetables, with chips. For a treat, mix it with guacamole for a flavorful dip!
Recipe by Bob 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. She lives in Middletown, California.
The study of active asteroids is a relatively new field of solar system science, focusing on objects that have asteroid-like orbits but look more like comets, with visual characteristics such as tails.
Because finding an active asteroid is such a rare event, fewer than 30 of these solar system bodies have been found since 1949, so there is still much for scientists to learn about them.
Roughly only one out of 10,000 asteroids are classified as active asteroids, so an enormous number of observations will be needed over the span of many years to yield a larger sample for study.
Through funding from a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program award in 2018, doctoral student Colin Orion Chandler in Northern Arizona University’s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science just launched an ambitious new project, Active Asteroids, which is designed to engage volunteers in the search for more of these enigmatic objects.
The highly competitive and prestigious program, awarded to only 15 percent of the more than 2,000 yearly applicants, provides three years of funding for Chandler’s research.
“With the generous help of Citizen Scientists,” said Chandler, project founder and principal investigator, “we hope to quadruple the number of known active asteroids and encourage study of an ambiguous population of solar system objects, knowledge of which is currently hampered due to a very small sample size.”
The implications of finding more active asteroids for science and engineering are far-reaching, including:
— Helping to answer key unsolved questions about how much water was delivered to Earth after it formed, and where that water originated.
— Advising searches for life about where water—a prerequisite for life as we understand it—is found, both in our own solar system and other star systems, too.
— Informing spaceflight engineers seeking more practical, inexpensive and environmentally responsible sources of fuel, air and water.
— Appraising volatile availability for prospective asteroid mining efforts and sample-return missions.
In preparation for the launch, Chandler, an NAU Presidential Fellow, conducted the beta review phase of the project, enlisting the help of more than 200 volunteers, who completed 4,798 classifications of 295 objects.
“I am very, very excited the project is finally launching,” he said. “The project has been years in the making, from selection by the NSF until this launch. Even during the preparations for the project launch, we have made several important discoveries, including discovering a new active object and uncovering information about several previously known objects. These discoveries have led to three publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, with another one in the works right now.”
As part of the testing phase, the team noticed an unusual "smudge" kept showing up around one particular object.
The object was a Centaur, an icy body with an orbit between Jupiter and Neptune. The team carried out follow-up observations with other telescopes and discovered the object was active, one of only about 20 active Centaurs discovered since 1929, and published their findings in the Astrophysical Journal Letters (see related article).
Although it will depend on the number of volunteers participating and how quickly they complete classifications, the duration of the project could be up to one year.
Chandler hopes to recruit thousands of volunteers to participate. No previous astronomy experience is needed; training is provided online through the Zooniverse platform where the project is housed.
“We need to examine 5,000 square degrees of the sky in the Southern Hemisphere, which means there are many — more than 10 million — asteroid images to classify!” he said.
Co-founders of the project are Jay Kueny of Lowell Observatory and the University of Arizona, who began collaborating with Colin in creating the project when he was a senior at NAU — and who has since then also received a GRFP award from the NSF — and NAU associate professor Chad Trujillo, who serves as the project's Chief Science Advisor. Other contributors are graduate students Annika Gustaffson and William Oldroyd.
The project’s Science Advisory Board consists of several eminent scientists, including Henry Hsieh of the Planetary Science Institute, NAU professor David Trilling, NAU assistant professor Tyler Robinson and NAU assistant professor Michael Gowanlock.