LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has more new dogs, including small breeds and terriers, available for adoption.
The dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Australian shepherd, border collie, boxer, Brussels griffon, cane corso, Chihuahua, Dogo Argentino, German shepherd, husky, Labrador Retriever, pit bull terrier, pug, 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.
Those dogs and the others shown on this page at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
The shelter is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has dozens of dogs deserving of new homes.
The shelter has 39 adoptable dogs listed on its website.
This week’s dogs include “Rain,” a 3-month-old female American pit bull terrier mix with a gray and white coat.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
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 City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday night in favor of the proposal to upgrade the police department’s body-worn camera system with a five-year service contract that will cost about $100,000.
The Lakeport Police Department has been using body-worn and in-car audio/video devices, often referred to as BWC and MAV, respectively, from the company Waterguard as their vendor since 2006.
Motorola Solutions Inc. acquired the company in 2019 and will “no longer support our current system,” Police Chief Dale Stoebe said in his presentation at the council meeting.
While the police department will continue to use the current MAV, it began to review upgrade options on BWC in early 2024.
This week, Stoebe proposed to the city to engage in a five-year service contract with Motorola Solutions Inc. paid in annual installments which will cost a total of $99,892.35 over five years with a first year expense at $27,728.37.
Some of the contract benefits include 12 body-worn cameras with access to evidence library services, wireless transfer hardware, and accidental damage coverage. It also includes a refresh of all BWC devices in the third year and an $8,500 credit for turning in the department’s current Waterguard devices.
The agreement does not include any new mobile audio/video, or MAV, devices — in-car cameras in the police vehicles. MAV units can be purchased separately at about $11,000 each.
Stoebe mentioned another option they had considered but dropped, also from Motorola Solutions Inc. — the city may purchase equipment and services from the company as needed instead of entering a five-year contract. That would cost $103,077.74 for wireless transfer hardware with a year-one service subscription, plus $9,000 for each new body-worn camera.
Stoebe concluded that the five-year service contract option was “the most financially prudent option.”
Stoebe acknowledged that continuing using the current MAV and BWC equipment remains an option to save costs. “However, the lifespan of both the equipment and software is uncertain,” he said, adding that it would present “significant risks” as outdated MAV and BWC systems may result in increased legal, administrative and training costs, reduced public trust and negative impact on prosecution of criminal offenses.
Mayor poses questions about proposed contract, existing equipment
After Stoebe’s presentation, Lakeport Mayor Michael Froio asked if the department’s current MAV devices are still in good shape, out of the context that the proposed contract does not include any new MAV units.
“I believe so,” Stoebe responded, explaining that unlike the MAV that stays in the car, the BWC is the “workhorse” that wears out faster as it’s “exposed to the elements” — the heat and cold, the rains and occasional snows.
“Also they are worn by an officer conducting their work and sometimes they take a fair amount of brutality in that work,” Stoebe added. “That’s why they tend to be the ones that fail first.”
“I have a smile on my face tonight so don’t worry,” Froio said. “I like your approach that you’re looking to reuse as much of the equipment as we can.”
Froio has been a firm proponent of city staff bringing multiple bids for contracts, whether it be for equipment purchases or consulting services.
He then went on to ask why Motorola Solutions Inc. appeared to be the only bid in Stoebe’s presentation. “Should we have in the future looked at other systems?” Froio asked.
“It’s not that we have not looked at other bids,” Stoebe responded.
“We have solicited both Axon and Lenslock for bids for various elements,” Stoebe said of the two other major BWC and MAV makers besides Motorola Solutions Inc.. But those bidding prices were not included in Stoebe’s presentation.
“It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison,” Stoebe said of the technology involved. “There are just a lot of complexities in presenting multiple bids.”
Stoebe also suggested that it’s better to “stay with one platform” for all devices than to have two platforms. Since the current Waterguard MAC integrates easily with Motorola Solutions,
He said that to be the best stewards of the taxpayers money, the city should continue to use the MAV equipment until it fails. Stoebe also implied that it’s best to use the BWC from the same company rather than getting it from a separate vendor.
In response to Froio’s question, Stoebe also mentioned that Axon is the leader in the industry, which is reflected in their high bidding prices — $101,183.58 just for body cameras, another $150,651 for MAVs and they require onboard computers in the police vehicles that will incur extra costs.
“You’re doing a good job,” said Froio.
Stoebe also mentioned that body-worn cameras are standard in California and “definitely a hiring and retention concern.”
The Lakeport Police Department now has 12 officers including the chief, one short of full staff, Stoebe told Lake County News later in a phone call. Two more officers are going to leave the department by the end of the year, he said.
During public comment, Lakeport Police Officers’ Association President Todd Freitas spoke against a “bifurcated system.”
“As somebody that has to respond to quite literal life and death situations, me being able to touch one thing and have all my whole system work is invaluable to having critical decision making,” Freitas said.
Email Lingzi Chen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Liza Bondurant, Mississippi State University and Stephanie Somersille
To American voters, the process of electing a president and other officials may be difficult to explain and understand. For America’s math teachers, the system represents a gold mine for real-life lessons on ratios, statistics and data.
And by basing the lessons on elections, teachers can help put students on the path to becoming informed and engaged voters later in life, according to a 2020 survey of 2,232 young adults ages 18-21.
Americans don’t vote directly for the president. Instead, a group of electors vote for the candidate who wins the popular vote in that state. In most states, whoever wins the most votes wins all the state’s electors, or “electoral votes.”
Not all states have the same number of electors. Each state starts with two electoral votes, based on the two U.S. senators in each state. States receive additional electors based on the number of representatives they have in the House of Representatives, which depends on a state’s population. The number of representatives in the House, however, has been set at 435 since 1929, despite a huge and varied increase in the population. This means the number of people represented by each member of the U.S. House – the ratio of people to representative – varies considerably, as shown in a table from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Armed with this background, math teachers can use the census data on population and ratios to teach students the following math – and voting – topics.
Topic 1: Ratio
To calculate a state’s representative ratio, the number of people for every one representative, divide the population by the number of the state’s representatives in the U.S. House. In 2020, for example, Montana had two congressional representatives and a population of 1,085,407. The representative ratio was 542,704:1 – 1,085,407 divided by 2 – or 542,704 residents for each representative.
Topic 2: Minimum and maximum
In any set of numbers, the minimum is the smallest number in the set and the maximum is the largest number. For example, using the representative ratios from the 2020 census data, Montana’s ratio of 542,704:1 is the smallest – the minimum – and Delaware’s ratio of 990,837:1 is the largest, or the maximum.
Topic 3: The shape, center and spread of data
Shape means how data, such as the ratios of residents to representatives, looks on a chart or graph. Teachers can use a histogram, a kind of graph used to illustrate how data is distributed: evenly, skewed to one side, or with some numbers as outliers, at a distance from the other numbers.
The ratios can also be used to explain how to find the “center” of data, its mean or median. The mean is the average, found by adding all the numbers in the set and dividing by how many there are. For example, adding the ratios for all the states and dividing by 50. The median is the middle number when all numbers are placed in order from minimum to maximum. Simple spreadsheet formulas are available online to help students find both.
The “spread” of a set of numbers tells how much the numbers are different from the center. One measure of spread is called the range, which is the difference between the maximum and the minimum. For example, the range in representative ratios among the states is 448,133: the maximum, Delaware’s 990,837, minus the minimum, Montana’s 542,704.
When students understand how ratios – and elections – work, teachers can ask questions such as, “Montana has fewer people per representative than Delaware. Where would your vote count more?” Answer: Montana, because fewer people per representative means each vote counts more.
Topic 4: Gerrymandering
Each state is divided into districts; residents of each district vote for their state and federal representatives. Gerrymandering occurs when the borders of voting districts are drawn to favor one party at the expense of another. The political party in power often draws these district lines to make it easier for that party to win in the future.
Imagine a state has 10 representatives, and Party X gets 60% of the votes. With 60% of the votes, it seems fair that Party X should get 6 of the state’s 10 seats for representatives.
There is no rule that says the percentage of votes cast for a party in a state has to line up with the number of seats the party wins. And Party X wants more. To keep control of as many seats as possible, the politicians in Party X would like to manipulate – or gerrymander – each of 10 districts to make sure it would win 60% of the vote in each. With a majority in each district, Party X would win all 10 seats. Gerrymandering to this extreme is not always possible because districts must consist of adjoining areas, and voters who favor one party might not live in areas that can be easily connected.
Lessons on gerrymandering can vary by grade level. For example, elementary students can get hands-on experience manipulating borders with the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival “puzzles” tool. The puzzle, which can be tied to lessons about shapes, percents and area, allows children to change boundaries on a graph to increase or decrease the number of yellow or green squares – representing voters – in each “district.” There are fewer green squares than yellow squares in each puzzle. Students win when they successfully gerrymander, changing the borders so the green voters are in the majority in most, or all, of the districts.
High school students, who already understand the basics of gerrymandering, can use a tool called Districtr to draw real voting districts. The site uses actual data about where voters live and which political party won in which area. Using this tool, students cannot only try to gerrymander districts, they can also try to create districts that are more fairly balanced. After trying to draw their own “fair” districts, students might be interested in some states’ use of independent groups to draw fairer district lines.
By using elections as a learning tool, students can gain a better understanding of ratios, means and range, and they might also start thinking about what they can do to improve the process.
The California Department of Public Health, or CDPH, reports a total of 13 human bird flu cases have been confirmed in California.
All 13 cases are Central Valley individuals who had direct contact with infected dairy cattle and were confirmed after additional testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.
Beginning next week, CDPH will report newly confirmed cases on its bird flu website. The website will be updated three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Given the amount of exposure individuals with bird flu infections have with infected cows, evidence continues to suggest only animal-to-human spread of the virus in California.
Additionally, based on CDC’s genomic sequencing of three California bird flu cases, there is no evidence to suggest an increased ability for the virus to infect or spread between people and no known reduced susceptibility to antiviral medications.
All individuals have experienced mild symptoms, including eye redness or discharge (conjunctivitis), and have been treated according to CDC guidance. None of the individuals have been hospitalized.
While the risk to the general public remains low, additional, sporadic human cases of bird flu are expected to be identified and confirmed in California among individuals who have regular contact with infected dairy cattle.
CDPH continues to work closely with local health jurisdictions to identify, track, test, confirm, and treat possible and confirmed human cases of bird flu.
Additional Information on bird flu
Risk remains low: The risk to the general public remains low, but people who interact with infected animals, like dairy or poultry farm workers, are at higher risk of getting bird flu. CDPH recommends that personal protective equipment, or PPE, such as eye protection (face shields or safety goggles), respirators (N95 masks), and gloves be worn by anyone working with animals or materials that are infected or potentially infected with the bird flu virus. Wearing PPE helps prevent infection. Please see CDPH’s Worker Protection from Bird Flu for full PPE guidance.
Pasteurized milk and dairy products continue to be safe to consume, as pasteurization is fully effective at inactivating the bird flu virus. As an added precaution, and according to longstanding state and federal requirements, milk from sick cows is not permitted in the public milk supply.
What CDPH is doing: CDPH has helped coordinate and support outreach to dairy producers and farm workers on preventive measures that have helped keep human cases low in other states with bird flu outbreaks. CDPH continues to support local health departments in distributing PPE from state and federal stockpiles directly to affected dairy farms, farmworker organizations, poultry farm workers, those who handle raw dairy products, and slaughterhouse workers. To protect California farm workers from bird flu, during the last four months CDPH has distributed more than 400,000 respirators, 1.4 million gloves, 170,000 goggles and face shields, and 168,000 bouffant caps.
In addition, CDPH is working closely with local public health laboratories and local health departments to provide health checks for exposed individuals and ensure testing and treatment are available when needed. As one of the 14 states with infected dairy herds, California also received 5,000 additional doses of seasonal flu vaccine for farm workers from the CDC. Those doses will go to local health departments with the highest number of dairy farms.
CDPH has been tracking bird flu and making preparations for a possible human infection since the state’s first detection in poultry in 2022. CDPH partners closely with the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) on a broad approach to protect human and animal health. CDPH and the CDC use both human and wastewater surveillance tools to detect and monitor for bird flu, and work closely with local health departments to prepare, prevent, and lessen its impact on human health.
What Californians can do: People exposed to infected animals should monitor for the following symptoms for 10 days after their last exposure: eye redness (conjunctivitis), cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue, trouble breathing, and fever. If they start to feel sick, they should immediately isolate, notify their local public health department, and work with public health and health care providers to get timely testing and treatment.
CDPH recommends that all Californians — especially workers at risk for exposure to bird flu — receive a seasonal flu vaccine. Although the seasonal flu vaccine will not protect against bird flu, it can decrease the risk of being infected with both viruses at the same time and reduce the chance of severe illness from seasonal flu.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — As winds picked up across Lake County and much of the region, Pacific Gas and Electric on Thursday night proactively cut power to an estimated 20,000 Northern California customers as part of an effort to reduce wildfire danger.
The wind event that prompted the public safety power shutoff entered PG&E’s service area early Thursday afternoon and is expected to exit the area as late as Saturday afternoon.
The company said that it reduced the scope of its power shutoff from nearly 30,000 customers in 33 counties to 20,000 customers in 24 counties due to improving weather conditions.
Originally, 168 Lake County customers were supposed to be included. However, on Thursday, PG&E said that number had grown to 1,088 customers.
The shutoff had been prompted due to a forecast of high winds and low humidity. Conditions improved on Wednesday morning thanks to rainfall in the Northern and Central Sierras.
As a result, PG&E said it removed nine counties and more than 10,000 customers from the scope of this PSPS event. Counties removed from the scope of this event include Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, San Luis Obispo, Sierra, and Tuolumne.
PG&E has opened two community resource centers, at Live Oaks Senior Center, 12502 Foothill Blvd. in Clearlake Oaks, and at Hidden Valley Lake Association, 19305 Donkey Hill Road. They will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the outage. Available resources will include ADA-accessible restrooms and washing stations; blankets, snacks and water; device charging; small medical device charging; seating; and wi-fi.
For a full list of available CRCs, visit this website.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
In a teleconference with reporters on Tuesday, representatives from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, and the international Solar Cycle Prediction Panel announced that the Sun has reached its solar maximum period, which could continue for the next year.
The solar cycle is a natural cycle the Sun goes through as it transitions between low and high magnetic activity. Roughly every 11 years, at the height of the solar cycle, the Sun’s magnetic poles flip — on Earth, that’d be like the North and South poles swapping places every decade — and the Sun transitions from being calm to an active and stormy state.
NASA and NOAA track sunspots to determine and predict the progress of the solar cycle — and ultimately, solar activity. Sunspots are cooler regions on the Sun caused by a concentration of magnetic field lines. Sunspots are the visible component of active regions, areas of intense and complex magnetic fields on the Sun that are the source of solar eruptions.
“During solar maximum, the number of sunspots, and therefore, the amount of solar activity, increases,” said Jamie Favors, director, Space Weather Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This increase in activity provides an exciting opportunity to learn about our closest star — but also causes real effects at Earth and throughout our solar system.”
Solar activity strongly influences conditions in space known as space weather. This can affect satellites and astronauts in space, as well as communications and navigation systems — such as radio and GPS — and power grids on Earth. When the Sun is most active, space weather events become more frequent. Solar activity has led to increased aurora visibility and impacts on satellites and infrastructure in recent months.
During May 2024, a barrage of large solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) launched clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields toward Earth, creating the strongest geomagnetic storm at Earth in two decades — and possibly among the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years.
“This announcement doesn’t mean that this is the peak of solar activity we’ll see this solar cycle,” said Elsayed Talaat, director of space weather operations at NOAA. “While the Sun has reached the solar maximum period, the month that solar activity peaks on the Sun will not be identified for months or years.”
Scientists will not be able to determine the exact peak of this solar maximum period for many months because it’s only identifiable after they’ve tracked a consistent decline in solar activity after that peak. However, scientists have identified that the last two years on the Sun have been part of this active phase of the solar cycle, due to the consistently high number of sunspots during this period. Scientists anticipate that the maximum phase will last another year or so before the Sun enters the declining phase, which leads back to solar minimum. Since 1989, the Solar Cycle Prediction Panel — an international panel of experts sponsored by NASA and NOAA — has worked together to make their prediction for the next solar cycle.
Solar cycles have been tracked by astronomers since Galileo first observed sunspots in the 1600s. Each solar cycle is different — some cycles peak for larger and shorter amounts of time, and others have smaller peaks that last longer.
“Solar Cycle 25 sunspot activity has slightly exceeded expectations,” said Lisa Upton, co-chair of the Solar Cycle Prediction Panel and lead scientist at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “However, despite seeing a few large storms, they aren’t larger than what we might expect during the maximum phase of the cycle.”
The most powerful flare of the solar cycle so far was an X9.0 on Oct. 3 (X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength).
NOAA anticipates additional solar and geomagnetic storms during the current solar maximum period, leading to opportunities to spot auroras over the next several months, as well as potential technology impacts. Additionally, though less frequent, scientists often see fairly significant storms during the declining phase of the solar cycle.
NASA and NOAA are preparing for the future of space weather research and prediction. In December 2024, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission will make its closest-ever approach to the Sun, beating its own record of closest human-made object to the Sun. This will be the first of three planned approaches for Parker at this distance, helping researchers to understand space weather right at the source.
NASA is launching several missions over the next year that will help us better understand space weather and its impacts across the solar system.
Space weather predictions are critical for supporting the spacecraft and astronauts of NASA’s Artemis campaign. Surveying this space environment is a vital part of understanding and mitigating astronaut exposure to space radiation.
NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. To see how space weather can affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts.
Abbey Interrante writes for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
A decedent’s child is his or her heir, along with any surviving spouse/registered domestic partner, and as an heir may — or may not — be entitled to a portion of their deceased parent’s estate.
California law does not require a parent to include a child as a beneficiary under the parent’s estate planning.
However, in the absence of effective estate planning (that is, without executing a valid will, trust and death beneficiary forms) a child may be entitled to a portion of the deceased parent’s estate.
Estate planning documents, of course, may alter that situation. An omitted child may then choose to litigate whether they are entitled to a share of the estate.
A disinheritance clause is included in an attorney drafted will and a trust instrument to show the decedent’s intention to exclude any unintended surviving heirs, including children, from inheriting under the decedent’s will or trust.
A general disinheritance provision is legally sufficient to disinherit any heirs, even though the heirs’ names are not specifically mentioned as being disinherited (Rallo v. O’Brien (2020), 52 CA5th 997).
California law, however, does provide certain protections for surviving children who are omitted in a will or trust, but provides for much stronger protection for those omitted children who were born or adopted after the execution (signing) of the will or trust; unless such instrument was later updated after the child’s birth. That is, after born and adopted omitted children are generally entitled, unless an exception applies, to receive a share in the decedent’s estate (section 21620 of the Probate Code).
This is why people are advised to update their estate planning after the birth or adoption of a child to specifically provide for or disinherit such children.
Children who were already alive when the decedent executed their estate planning documents, however, only receive some minimal protection in California. That narrow protection only applies, “… if the decedent failed to provide for a living child solely because the decedent believed the child to be dead or was unaware of the birth, then the child shall receive a share in the estate … (Section 61622 Probate Code).”
Recently, in Carla Montgomery versus Benita Williams, the Fourth Appellate District on Aug. 24, 2024, ruled in a case where the decedent’s will only benefited the decedent’s two children from his two marriages but did not include his four other biological children, including one child, the plaintiff Carla Montgomery, whom the decedent did not even know he had fathered when he signed his will. The court found that Carla had failed to show that her biological father had failed to provide for Carla “solely because …. [the father] was unaware of her birth.”
Even though the will did not include a “Disinheritance Clause,” the court strictly interpreted section 62622.
Looking at the facts, the court held that, “Benjamin’s omission of four known pretermitted children and his naming as beneficiaries only the two children resulting from his marriage shows his intent that only those two children should receive a share of his estate.”
Regardless of whether an omitted child was born before or was born after the decedent executed the testamentary documents, an omitted child will not receive an inheritance if any of the following apply: (1) the decedent’s failure to include the child was intentional and apparent from the testamentary instrument; (2) the decedent left substantially all of their estate to the other parent of the omitted child; and (3) the decedent otherwise provided for the omitted child outside of the estate passing under the testamentary instrument and the decedent’s intention for such other gift(s) to be in lieu of an inheritance under the testamentary instrument is shown by statements of the decedent, evident from the amount of the transfer, or otherwise evident (Section 61621 Probate Code).
The foregoing each requires a facts and circumstances analysis which may lead to litigation.
The foregoing is not legal advice. Anyone confronting the issues addressed should consult with a qualified attorney.
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.
Distracted driving, especially among teens, is a rising concern that demands urgent attention.
To tackle this issue, the California Highway Patrol is launching a yearlong campaign to curb distractions behind the wheel for young drivers.
This initiative coincides with National Teen Driver Safety Week, Oct. 20 to 26, 2024.
Tragically, motor vehicle crashes continue to be the leading cause of death for teens in the United States.
With over 800,000 licensed teenage drivers in California alone, thousands of these young drivers are involved in deadly or injury-causing crashes each year.
From Oct. 1, 2021, through the end of September 2022,195 teenagers were involved in a crash related to inattention.
Supported by a specialized grant, the CHP’s Teen Distracted Driving initiative focuses on fostering safe, attentive driving habits in young drivers, aiming to prevent these teens from becoming another grim statistic.
“Teens face an even greater risk of crashing due to the lethal combination of inexperience and distraction, which can lead to lifelong consequences,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “The CHP is committed to raising awareness among teen drivers through a combination of education and enforcement, ensuring they understand the critical importance of giving their full attention to driving.”
Common distractions that affect a person’s driving ability include external visual distractions, interaction with passengers or pets, cellular telephones (hands-free and handheld), eating, smoking, personal grooming, reading, radio, electronic equipment, etc. These secondary tasks reduce the driver’s attention from the primary task of driving.
The Teen Distracted Driving program features an educational component. CHP officers and traffic safety advocates engage in school and community events across the state.
Special enforcement efforts targeting distracted driving will take place during National Teen Driver Safety Week in October and National Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A housing project for formerly incarcerated individuals will be the subject of a public meeting to be held next week.
The Lake County Probation Department and Rural Communities Housing Development Corp., or RCHDC, will hold the community meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 23.
It will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes Street, Lakeport.
The Board of Supervisors gave the go-ahead to the project in August.
The Lake County Probation Department reported the project is needed for “justice-involved individuals to deal with the large amount of this population that are homeless in Lake County following incarceration.”
Chief Probation Officer Wendy Mondrans told Lake County News that the project has a cost of over $24 million and will be a new build, not a retrofit of an existing building.
At the Oct. 23 meeting, topics will include the housing project plan, potential locations for it and the resources that will be available for individuals who will be housed in the project.
Mondrans will be at the meeting, as will Ryan LaRue, chief executive officer for RCHDC. The organization also is building an apartment complex for Behavioral Health clients and low-income families on Collier Avenue in Nice.
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.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes have identified a supermassive black hole that has torn apart one star and is now using that stellar wreckage to pummel another star or smaller black hole, as described in our latest press release.
This research helps connect two cosmic mysteries and provides information about the environment around some of the bigger types of black holes.
This artist’s illustration shows a disk of material (red, orange, and yellow) that was created after a supermassive black hole (depicted on the right) tore apart a star through intense tidal forces. Over the course of a few years, this disk expanded outward until it intersected with another object — either a star or a small black hole — that is also in orbit around the giant black hole. Each time this object crashes into the disk, it sends out a burst of X-rays detected by Chandra. The inset shows Chandra data (purple) and an optical image of the source from Pan-STARRS (red, green, and blue).
In 2019, an optical telescope in California noticed a burst of light that astronomers later categorized as a “tidal disruption event”, or TDE. These are cases where black holes tear stars apart if they get too close through their powerful tidal forces. Astronomers gave this TDE the name of AT2019qiz.
Meanwhile, scientists were also tracking instances of another type of cosmic phenomena occasionally observed across the Universe. These were brief and regular bursts of X-rays that were near supermassive black holes. Astronomers named these events “quasi-periodic eruptions,” or QPEs.
This latest study gives scientists evidence that TDEs and QPEs are likely connected. The researchers think that QPEs arise when an object smashes into the disk left behind after the TDE. While there may be other explanations, the authors of the study propose this is the source of at least some QPEs.
In 2023, astronomers used both Chandra and Hubble to simultaneously study the debris left behind after the tidal disruption had ended. The Chandra data were obtained during three different observations, each separated by about 4 to 5 hours. The total exposure of about 14 hours of Chandra time revealed only a weak signal in the first and last chunk, but a very strong signal in the middle observation.
From there, the researchers used NASA’s Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) to look frequently at AT2019qiz for repeated X-ray bursts. The NICER data showed that AT2019qiz erupts roughly every 48 hours. Observations from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and India’s AstroSat telescope cemented the finding.
The ultraviolet data from Hubble, obtained at the same time as the Chandra observations, allowed the scientists to determine the size of the disk around the supermassive black hole. They found that the disk had become large enough that if any object was orbiting the black hole and took about a week or less to complete an orbit, it would collide with the disk and cause eruptions.
This result has implications for searching for more quasi-periodic eruptions associated with tidal disruptions. Finding more of these would allow astronomers to measure the prevalence and distances of objects in close orbits around supermassive black holes. Some of these may be excellent targets for the planned future gravitational wave observatories.
The paper describing these results appears in the October 9, 2024 issue of the journal Nature. The first author of the paper is Matt Nicholl (Queen’s University Belfast in Ireland) and the full list of authors can be found in the paper, which is available online at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.02181
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
The 67 million Americans eligible for Medicare make an important decision every October: Should they make changes in their Medicare health insurance plans for the next calendar year?
The decision is complicated. Medicare has an enormous variety of coverage options, with large and varying implications for people’s health and finances, both as beneficiaries and taxpayers. And the decision is consequential – some choices lock beneficiaries out of traditional Medicare.
Beneficiaries choose an insurance plan when they turn 65 or become eligible based on qualifying chronic conditions or disabilities. After the initial sign-up, most beneficiaries can make changes only during the open enrollment period each fall.
The 2024 open enrollment period, which runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, marks an opportunity to reassess options. Given the complicated nature of Medicare and the scarcity of unbiased advisers, however, finding reliable information and understanding the options available can be challenging.
We are health carepolicy experts who study Medicare, and even we find it complicated. One of us recently helped a relative enroll in Medicare for the first time. She’s healthy, has access to health insurance through her employer and doesn’t regularly take prescription drugs. Even in this straightforward scenario, the number of choices were overwhelming.
The stakes of these choices are even higher for people managing multiple chronic conditions. There is help available for beneficiaries, but we have found that there is considerable room for improvement – especially in making help available for everyone who needs it.
The choice is complex, especially when you are signing up for the first time and if you are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. Insurers often engage in aggressive and sometimes deceptive advertising and outreach through brokers and agents. Choose unbiased resources to guide you through the process, like www.shiphelp.org. Make sure to start before your 65th birthday for initial sign-up, look out for yearly plan changes, and start well before the Dec. 7 deadline for any plan changes.
2 paths with many decisions
Within Medicare, beneficiaries have a choice between two very different programs. They can enroll in either traditional Medicare, which is administered by the government, or one of the Medicare Advantage plans offered by private insurance companies.
Within each program are dozens of further choices.
Traditional Medicare is a nationally uniform cost-sharing plan for medical services that allows people to choose their providers for most types of medical care, usually without prior authorization. Deductibles for 2024 are US$1,632 for hospital costs and $240 for outpatient and medical costs. Patients also have to chip in starting on Day 61 for a hospital stay and Day 21 for a skilled nursing facility stay. This percentage is known as coinsurance. After the yearly deductible, Medicare pays 80% of outpatient and medical costs, leaving the person with a 20% copayment. Traditional Medicare’s basic plan, known as Part A and Part B, also has no out-of-pocket maximum.
People enrolled in traditional Medicare can also purchase supplemental coverage from a private insurance company, known as Part D, for drugs. And they can purchase supplemental coverage, known as Medigap, to lower or eliminate their deductibles, coinsurance and copayments, cap costs for Parts A and B, and add an emergency foreign travel benefit.
The Medicare Advantage program allows private insurers to bundle everything together and offers many enrollment options. Compared with traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans typically offer lower out-of-pocket costs. They often bundle supplemental coverage for hearing, vision and dental, which is not part of traditional Medicare.
Different Medicare Advantage plans have varying and large impacts on enrollee health, including dramatic differences in mortality rates. Researchers found a 16% difference per year between the best and worst Medicare Advantage plans, meaning that for every 100 people in the worst plans who die within a year, they would expect only 84 people to die within that year if all had been enrolled in the best plans instead. They also found plans that cost more had lower mortality rates, but plans that had higher federal quality ratings – known as “star ratings” – did not necessarily have lower mortality rates.
While many Medicare Advantage plans boast about their supplemental benefits , such as vision and dental coverage, it’s often difficult to understand how generous this supplemental coverage is. For instance, while most Medicare Advantage plans offer supplemental dental benefits, cost-sharing and coverage can vary. Some plans don’t cover services such as extractions and endodontics, which includes root canals. Most plans that cover these more extensive dental services require some combination of coinsurance, copayments and annual limits.
Even when information is fully available, mistakes are likely.
At 65, when most beneficiaries first enroll in Medicare, federal regulations guarantee that anyone can get Medigap coverage. During this initial sign-up, beneficiaries can’t be charged a higher premium based on their health.
Older Americans who enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan but then want to switch back to traditional Medicare after more than a year has passed lose that guarantee. This can effectively lock them out of enrolling in supplemental Medigap insurance, making the initial decision a one-way street.
For the initial sign-up, Medigap plans are “guaranteed issue,” meaning the plan must cover preexisting health conditions without a waiting period and must allow anyone to enroll, regardless of health. They also must be “community rated,” meaning that the cost of a plan can’t rise because of age or illness, although it can go up due to other factors such as inflation.
People who enroll in traditional Medicare and a supplemental Medigap plan at 65 can expect to continue paying community-rated premiums as long as they remain enrolled, regardless of what happens to their health.
In most states, however, people who switch from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare don’t have as many protections. Most state regulations permit plans to deny coverage, impose waiting periods or charge higher Medigap premiums based on their expected health costs. Only Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New York guarantee that people can get Medigap plans after the initial sign-up period.
Deceptive advertising
Information about Medicare coverage and assistance choosing a plan is available but varies in quality and completeness. Older Americans are bombarded with ads for Medicare Advantage plans that they may not be eligible for and that include misleading statements about benefits.
A November 2022 report from the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance found deceptive and aggressive sales and marketing tactics, including mailed brochures that implied government endorsement, telemarketers who called up to 20 times a day, and salespeople who approached older adults in the grocery store to ask about their insurance coverage.
The Department of Health and Human Services tightened rules for 2024, requiring third-party marketers to include federal resources about Medicare, including the website and toll-free phone number, and limiting the number of contacts from marketers.
Although the government has the authority to review marketing materials, enforcement is partially dependent on whether complaints are filed. Complaints can be filed with the federal government’s Senior Medicare Patrol, a federally funded program that prevents and addresses unethical Medicare activities.
Nearly one-third of Medicare beneficiaries seek information from an insurance broker. Brokers sell health insurance plans from multiple companies. However, because they receive payment from plans in exchange for sales, and because they are unlikely to sell every option, a plan recommended by a broker may not meet a person’s needs.
Help is out there − but falls short
An alternative source of information is the federal government. It offers three sources of information to assist people with choosing one of these plans: 1-800-Medicare, medicare.gov and the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, also known as SHIP.
Telephone SHIP services are available nationally, but one of us and our colleagues have found that in-person SHIP services are not available in some areas. We tabulated areas by ZIP code in 27 states and found that although more than half of the locations had a SHIP site within the county, areas without a SHIP site included a larger proportion of people with low incomes.
Virtual services are an option that’s particularly useful in rural areas and for people with limited mobility or little access to transportation, but they require online access. Virtual and in-person services, where both a beneficiary and a counselor can look at the same computer screen, are especially useful for looking through complex coverage options.
As one SHIP coordinator noted, many people are not aware of all their coverage options. For instance, one beneficiary told a coordinator, “I’ve been on Medicaid and I’m aging out of Medicaid. And I don’t have a lot of money. And now I have to pay for my insurance?” As it turned out, the beneficiary was eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare because of their income, and so had to pay less than they thought.
The interviews made clear that many people are not aware that Medicare Advantage ads and insurance brokers may be biased. One counselor said, “There’s a lot of backing (beneficiaries) off the ledge, if you will, thanks to those TV commercials.”
Many SHIP staff counselors said they would benefit from additional training on coverage options, including for people who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. The SHIP program relies heavily on volunteers, and there is often greater demand for services than the available volunteers can offer. Additional counselors would help meet needs for complex coverage decisions.
The key to making a good Medicare coverage decision is to use the help available and weigh your costs, access to health providers, current health and medication needs, and also consider how your health and medication needs might change as time goes on.
This article is part of an occasional series examining the U.S. Medicare system.
This story has been updated to remove a graphic that contained incorrect information about SHIP locations, and to correct the date of the open enrollment period.