LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — After a rainy Wednesday and Thursday, the National Weather Service said Lake County can expect more rain ahead of the Easter holiday.
The National Weather Service’s Eureka office said “a second round of wind and gusty showers will hit the southern half of the area on Friday with cool and clearing conditions through the weekend.”
Across the region, the heavier rainfall amounts are expected in Lake and Mendocino counties. “Wind turning east through the event will generally focus rain along higher terrain and rain shadow lower elevation areas such as Clear Lake itself,” the forecast said.
In addition, the forecast calls for increasing east-southeast winds on Friday afternoon and evening, mainly focused over Mendocino and Lake counties.
Easterly winds may aid in funneling gusty winds in Lake County. Forecast models suggest wind gusts could be up to 45 miles per hour in Lake County, with the strongest winds over the higher elevations.
Lake County could see as much as 2 inches of rain on Friday, with less than a tenth of an inch expected on Saturday morning.
Conditions are forecast to begin clearing by Saturday night, with Easter Sunday expected to be mostly sunny.
Next week is supposed to remain clear and sunny, based on the forecast.
Daytime temperatures on Friday will be in the 40s, edging into the low 50s on Saturday and Sunday, before rising into the high 60s and low 70s for the rest of the week.
Nighttime conditions on Friday and Saturday will dip into the 30s before rising into the low 40s through Wednesday.
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.
NICE, Calif. — A member of Robinson Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians who got her start at the tribe’s casino has been named the casino’s general manager, a milestone for the business.
Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino announced that Elizabeth Anderson Nix is its new general manager, the first member of the tribe and the first woman to hold the role.
“I am extremely honored and humbled to accept the leadership role of general manager,” Nix said.
For over 30 years, Nix has been a noteworthy tribal leader in the gaming industry.
She is an enrolled tribal member of the Robinson Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians and began her career at Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino as a blackjack dealer in 1993.
By 2005, she became the table games manager and would remain in that role for six years before taking positions at Running Creek in Lake County and Graton Resort Casino in Sonoma County.
After four years of working in other resort properties, Nix returned home to Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino as the director of table games in 2015.
She continued her climb to the top of the leadership hierarchy and became the director of gaming operations in 2018 before being recently promoted to general manager.
In its announcement on her hire, the casino’s leadership said Nix’s table games expertise allowed Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino to maintain its dominant position as Lake County’s premier casino in California.
Under her direction, a new smoking slot lounge has been added to the bingo room to provide another environment for players who smoke.
The smoking room is less than 10% of the total gaming space at the casino resort, which allows it to provide clean air for the nonsmokers without any interference, the casino’s announcement explained.
“As a tribal member of the Robinson Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians it’s incredibly important to me as a stakeholder, but also as a leader, to step up and help lead this organization in a direction that will provide long-term viability and sustain economic development for our tribe,” said Nix.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has many great dogs waiting for new homes.
The Clearlake Animal Control website lists 44 adoptable dogs.
This week’s dogs include “Gator,” a male German shepherd mix with a tan and black coat.
Also up for adoption is “Joey,” an 8-month-old male pit bull terrier mix with a short brown coat.
There also is “Emily,” a 16-month-old female Doberman pinscher with a red and copper 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.
With the support of grassroots leaders, former state controller, Board of Equalization member and California budget director, Betty Yee on Wednesday officially launched her campaign for governor.
Citing her experience bringing accountability to government as an asset and her outsider mindset as a strength, Yee pledged to put the state back-on-track for all Californians.
She joins a field that so far includes Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former State Senate leader Toni Atkins and State Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond.
Yee served on the Board of Equalization representing the First District — which included 21 counties, among them Lake — for several years before becoming state controller. She visited Lake County in that capacity to meet with local leaders in the spring of 2010.
As state controller, Yee said she took on big corporations, righted discrimination in the state’s tax code, giving more rights to LGBTQ+ partners, and discovered over $7 billion in improper spending, translating into real impact for California’s working families.
While traveling the state, Yee was encouraged by many to use her expertise to tackle California’s affordability crisis, to lift millions of Californians and their families into the middle class.
Yee said she could no longer ignore the need for her proven leadership and experience of knowing how to get the most out of every state budget dollar to ensure California truly adds up for everyone.
“Things in California just don’t add up anymore. Families are working harder than ever, but the cost of housing, food, college, childcare, elder care, and more is moving out of our reach,” Yee said. “Together we have the grit and the power to make California add up for all of us again.”
“I believe in Betty because she is an inclusive leader with a steady hand at the wheel. Everyday she demonstrates the drive to do the right thing –– to lift up all Californians,” said Jefferson Coombs, community leader, social justice organizer, and education advocate. “Betty's authenticity, intersectional leadership, and vision inspires and empowers ordinary people to do extraordinary things in their communities.”
Yee’s story begins with pursuing the California Dream. Yee was born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrant parents who built a laundry and dry cleaning business from scratch in the Parkside District of San Francisco.
The second oldest of six children, Yee grew up speaking no English in the home. Her family lived in a one-room apartment behind the family’s laundry, where she shared a sofa bed with her four sisters. Throughout her primary education, Yee attended the city’s public schools wearing clothes her mother sewed to save on the cost of store-bought clothes.
Like many first-generation Californians, Yee’s parents didn’t speak English, and therefore at age 8, Yee began managing the books for the family’s laundry.
Early on, Yee learned how numbers add up, but also what the numbers meant for her family — if weekly earnings came up short, that was one less carton of milk or loaf of bread for her family. She learned when things are out of balance, too many communities are left to fend for themselves, and sometimes get left behind.
With support from her family and community, Yee went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, where she returned decades later to serve on the Cal Alumni Association board to help raise funds for much-needed scholarships.
She holds a master’s degree in public administration from Golden Gate University.
She currently serves as the vice chair of the California Democratic Party.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — With the official canvass of the March 5 primary election due to be completed next week, the Lake County Registrar of Voters issued an update on its progress to wrap up the final ballot count.
The elections office said that a total of 4,499 ballots remain to be counted. That’s about 600 fewer ballots than the total count given a week ago.
This latest total count includes 4,189 vote-by-mail ballots, 266 provisional/conditional ballots, and 44 vote-by-mail ballots that require further review for various reasons.
Once the 28-day canvass is completed, then the primary results will be considered final and official, the elections office reported.
A new law that went into effect this year, AB 63, requires that the elections office update vote results and unprocessed ballot counts at least once per week and post the updated information on its website.
For more information, visit the Lake County Registrar of Voters website or call 707-263-2372 OR toll-free at 888-235-6730.
As California’s Naloxone Distribution Project, or NDP, delivers millions of naloxone kits that have resulted in more than 247,000 reported opioid overdose reversals, on Thursday the state announced the project will now also offer fentanyl test strips to eligible organizations.
The test strips detect the presence of fentanyl, offering another tool to prevent overdoses.
“Harm reduction programs like this one are a huge part of how we better protect people, how we get them into treatment,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly. “This work is time tested. Shame isn't a solution; support and science-driven policy is.”
A critical component of California’s all-hands-on-deck approach to addressing a confluence of overdose crises, NDP has distributed more than 3,918,000 kits of naloxone, resulting in more than 247,000 reported opioid overdose reversals.
The addition of test strips to that toolkit will work to prevent overdoses in the first place — and add another opportunity to connect people with recovery support and treatment.
As part of ongoing, statewide efforts, California released the Master Plan for Tackling the Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis to support overdose prevention efforts like those announced Thursday.
Recently, the state launched Opioids.ca.gov, a one-stop-shop for Californians seeking resources around prevention and treatment, as well as information on how California is working to hold Big Pharma and drug-traffickers accountable in this crisis.
On Wednesday, the California Department of Public Health launched the “Never a Bother” campaign, a youth suicide prevention public awareness and outreach campaign for youth, young adults, and their parents, caregivers and allies.
The campaign to address youth suicide was co-created with input from California’s youth, with oversight by CDPH’s Office of Suicide Prevention.
“Young Californians are facing a mental health crisis like never before,” said CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer, Dr. Tomás J. Aragón. “While this crisis has been growing for years, the pandemic put a spotlight on the issue, especially those in marginalized and underserved communities. This campaign directly addresses this crisis with education, tools, and resources informed and co-created by diverse young people across the state."
“The ‘Never a Bother’ campaign utilizes one of the most important tools we have to address the youth mental health crisis: the voices of young people,” said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “The youth who partnered with us to create this campaign provided invaluable insight into the resources, knowledge, and support needed to best address their needs. As a mother, I am proud to see a campaign that resonates with youth and serves as a reminder to them that they are never alone and never a bother."
“Never a Bother” was created with input from more than 400 youth from diverse communities across the state, as well as the Youth Advisory Board and 34 youth-serving community-based organizations and tribal entities from across California.
With support from The Center at Sierra Health Foundation, all of these groups are working hand-in-hand on youth suicide prevention initiatives.
Insights from in-depth research, focus groups, and listening sessions were also incorporated into all aspects of the “Never a Bother” campaign concept and strategy.
Suicide was the second leading cause of death among youth ages 10 to 25 years in California between 2018 and 2022, with youth ages 10 to 18 experiencing a more than 20% increase in suicide rates from 2019 to 2020.
The “Never a Bother” concept was chosen by youth due to the inviting and welcoming look and feel of the campaign, which includes approachable icons and language.
The campaign resonates with youth as it validates their feelings of not wanting to be a burden to others. It speaks to their need to know that they are never a bother, that no problem is too small, and that it is important to check in with one another before, during, and after a crisis.
“As we continue to prioritize the future of our youth and their mental health, California continues to invest in a significant, multi-year overhaul of our mental health system,” added Dr. Aragón. “This campaign focuses on really listening to our young people and putting resources in the hands of those who need them most."
The multilayered “Never a Bother” campaign will use traditional advertising, social media content, and community outreach strategies to reach young people across California up to age 25.
The campaign focuses on youth populations disproportionately impacted by suicide, who may also face more systemic barriers to resources and support. An additional focus includes youth who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+, have experienced mental health and/or substance use challenges, and/or have been impacted by the foster care system.
The “Never a Bother” Campaign will:
• Increase knowledge and awareness of suicide warning signs, crisis lines, and other sources of support among youth, young adults, and their caregivers. • Help young people ask for help, know that they deserve help, and they are not a “bother,” and communicate that they are not alone in supporting themselves or a friend before, during, and after a crisis. • Support young people reaching out for help, for themselves or for a friend. • Strengthen parents and caregivers’ abilities to recognize warning signs of suicide and intervene.
Suicide is a complex problem requiring collaborative solutions at multiple levels, including individuals, families, schools, and communities.
Suicide prevention can only be effective when everyone is part of the solution, including:
• Learning how you can support yourself, a friend, or a youth in your care before, during, and after a crisis. • Telling a friend or young person in your care that they are never a bother and encourage them to reach out for help when they need it. • If you are experiencing thoughts of suicide, you are not alone. Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (24/7). Trained professionals can reconnect you with your reasons to keep going and show you ways to cope with difficult days.
The "Never a Bother" campaign is the latest endeavor of Governor Gavin Newsom’s Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health and the California Health and Human Services Agency’s Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, or CYBHI.
In line with the Master Plan and CYBHI, the campaign continues the state’s effort to increase awareness of suicide prevention and mental health resources, build life-saving intervention skills, and promote help-seeking behavior.
On Tuesday, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) and Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) led a letter signed by 16 members of the California Congressional delegation to California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Busching Reynolds expressing their concerns over high fixed charge proposals under consideration in the CPUC’s Income Graduated Fixed Charge, or IGFC, proceedings.
As utility bills continue to rise in California, Reps. Levin and Thompson, and their colleagues asked the CPUC to avoid implementing a high fixed charge that could impede progress on our climate goals or increase electricity costs for low-and middle- income families.
A fixed charge is a fixed fee that ratepayers will have to pay every month, regardless of how much electricity they use or try to conserve.
“We are concerned that a high fixed charge could undercut investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency that Congress intended to encourage with the Inflation Reduction Act,” explained the letter. “We are further concerned that a high fixed charge could increase the electricity bills of millions of Californians, especially those who live in small homes, condos and apartments. Such setbacks could harm our progress on federal and state clean energy, climate, and equity goals.
“Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act to make electrification, energy efficiency improvements, and distributed energy resources more affordable for Americans. These measures will help to bring down utility bills, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and combat climate change,” the letter continued. “We are concerned that imposing a high fixed charge could make it substantially more difficult for families to realize cost savings from electrifying their homes, improving their energy efficiency, or installing distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar.”
The full letter is below.
Dear Commissioner Reynolds,
We write to express concern about the Income Graduated Fixed Charge (IGFC) proceeding at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). We are concerned that a high fixed charge could undercut investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency that Congress intended to encourage with the Inflation Reduction Act. We are further concerned that a high fixed charge could increase the electricity bills of millions of Californians, especially those who live in small homes, condos and apartments. Such setbacks could harm our progress on federal and state clean energy, climate, and equity goals.
Proponents of the IGFC rightly state that electricity bills are quickly becoming a major burden on household incomes. However, we worry that their proposed solution – to impose a high monthly fixed charge regardless of how much electricity households use – is not the best tool to keep costs down and meet our climate goals.
California has long been a leader in energy efficiency and conservation measures. Known as the Rosenfeld curve, California’s per capita electricity consumption has stayed nearly flat since the 1970s thanks to these efforts. Imposing a high fixed charge may undercut these decades of progress by forcing people to pay their utility company before they even turn on the light switch.
Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act to make electrification, energy efficiency improvements, and distributed energy resources more affordable for Americans. These measures will help to bring down utility bills, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and combat climate change. We are concerned that imposing a high fixed charge could make it substantially more difficult for families to realize cost savings from electrifying their homes, improving their energy efficiency, or installing distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar.
Proponents of the IGFC claim that a high fixed charge will accelerate electrification. However, we are concerned that these proposals may slow, not hasten, the fight against climate change. Modeling has found that proposals before the CPUC could lead to greater adoption of high-efficiency gas appliances instead of electrification, like electric vehicles and heat pumps, that we desperately need to decarbonize our grid.
Proponents of the IGFC also claim that it will reduce the overall electric bills of lower-income families and that it will reduce the cost of each unit of electricity. However, it could also impose the highest monthly fixed charges in the United States—fees that customers would have to pay regardless of their energy usage. The current average monthly fixed charge across U.S. investor-owned utilities is $11 per month. Proposals under consideration include monthly fixed charges as high as $128 for some families. Even $33 per month would distinguish California as having a monthly fixed charge three times the national average. And there is little to stop utilities from continuing to increase electric rates once they secure the highest fixed charges in the country.
Many lower- and middle-class Californians would see their overall bills increase under a high fixed charge proposal. For example, under the Joint Investor-Owned Utilities’ proposal, a single parent with one child living in a small apartment in the expensive San Diego area earning just $40,000 per year would be forced to pay a new fixed charge of $73 each month—regardless of how much they try to reduce their energy usage. This person could be one of the millions of Californians unduly harmed by this proposal.
We believe that a policy change of this magnitude requires thorough vetting and analysis. We urge the CPUC to ensure that any proposal it ultimately pursues neither inadvertently and disproportionately increases energy costs for low- and middle-income California families, nor slows down our efforts to address climate change through energy efficiency, conservation, or distributed energy resources. We encourage the Commission to fully consider any alternatives to lower California’s unacceptably high electric bills and reduce the energy burdens of low-income families, fixed-income seniors, and those who do their part to conserve electricity, while keeping in line with our climate goals.
Thank you for your consideration of our concerns.
Allan Steigleman, University of Florida and Elizabeth M. Hofmeister, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Cataract surgery is one of the most popular and commonly performed procedures in the world. The vast majority of patients have excellent outcomes with few complications.
Over 90% of patients have 20/20 vision with glasses after surgery, although those with other eye conditions may not do as well, including those with glaucoma, a progressive disease typically associated with elevated pressure within the eye; diabetic retinopathy, which ultimately can cause leakage in the retinal tissues; and macular degeneration, a disease that is typically related to age.
We like to compare a cataract with the frosted glass of a bathroom window, where light can be transmitted but details cannot. Or when turbulence from a storm causes normally clear water in the ocean to become murky. In much the same way, the eye’s once transparent lens becomes cloudy.
About the surgery
Cataract surgery removes the clouded lens of the eye and replaces it with a new, clear lens to restore your vision. Most patients report the procedure is painless.
It’s typically an elective surgery that is performed on an outpatient basis. The patient is often awake, under local anesthesia, with sedation similar to that used for dental procedures. We like to say patients receive the equivalent of three margaritas in their IV.
Numbing drops are then applied to the eye’s surface, along with an anesthetic inside the eye. Patients with claustrophobia, or movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, may not be suitable candidates for awake surgeries and require general anesthesia.
Before surgery, patients receive dilating drops to make the pupil as large as possible. The surgeon makes a tiny incision, usually with a small pointed scalpel, between the clear and white part of the eye to gain access to the lens capsule, a thin membrane similar in thickness to a plastic produce bag at the grocery store.
This capsule is suspended by small fibers called zonules, which are arranged like the springs that suspend a trampoline from a frame. The surgeon then creates a small opening in the capsule, called a capsulotomy, to gain access to the cataract. The cataract is then broken into smaller parts so they are removable through the small incision.
This is similar to a tiny jackhammer, breaking the large lens into smaller pieces for removal. That sounds scary, but it’s painless. Ultrasound emulsifies the lens and vacuum power then aspirates it from the eye.
Serious complications, such as postoperative infection, bleeding in the eye or a postoperative retinal detachment are rare; they occur in approximately 1 in 1,000 cases. But even in many of these situations, appropriate management can salvage useful vision.
Capsular complications deserve additional discussion. According to some studies, they occur in up to 2% of cases. If a hole or tear of the posterior capsule is encountered during cataract surgery, the clear gel in the vitreous – the back chamber of the eye – may be displaced into the front chamber of the eye.
If that happens, the gel must be removed at the time of the cataract surgery. This will reduce the likelihood of additional postoperative complications, but those who have the procedure, known as a vitrectomy, have an increased risk for additional complications, including postoperative infections and postoperative swelling.
After the surgery
Patients usually go home right after the procedure. Most surgery centers require that the patient have someone drive them home, more for the anesthesia rather than the surgery. Patients begin applying postoperative drops that same day and must wear an eye shield at bedtime for a few weeks after surgery.
Patients should keep the eye clean and avoid exposure to dust, debris and water. They should try not to bend over and should avoid heavy lifting or straining in the first week or so after surgery. Lifting or straining can cause a surge of blood pressure to the face and eye. Known as a choroidal hemorrhage, it can lead to bleeding into the wall of the eye and be devastating to vision.
Things that cause only moderate increases in heart rate such as walking are OK. Routine postoperative examinations are usually completed the day after surgery, about a week after surgery and about a month after surgery.
A choice of lens
The plastic lens used to replace the cataract, or intraocular lens, requires careful sizing for optimal results and a nuanced discussion between patient and surgeon.
Early intraocular lens technologies were monofocal, and most patients with these lenses chose distance correction and used reading glasses for near tasks. This is still the preferred approach for approximately 90% of patients having cataract surgery today.
Recent advances have led to intraocular lenses that offer multifocality – the opportunity to have near as well as distance vision, without glasses. Some multifocal lenses are even in the trifocal category, which includes distance, near, and intermediate vision, the latter of which in recent years has become very important for computer and phone use.
Most patients with these advanced technology multifocal lenses are happy with them. However, a small percentage of patients with multifocal lenses can be so bothered by visual disturbances – notably night glare and halos around light sources in the dark – that they request removal of the multifocal lens to exchange it for a standard intraocular lens. These exchanges are a reasonable option for such situations and offer relief for most affected patients.
Determining who’s an ideal candidate for a multifocal intraocular lens is an area of active research. Most clinicians would recommend against such a lens for a patient with a detail-oriented personality. Such patients tend to fixate on the shortcomings of these lenses despite their potential advantages.
As with many technologies, current generation advanced technology intraocular lenses are much better than their predecessors. Future offerings are likely to offer improved vision and fewer side effects than those available today.
But these newer lenses are often not reimbursed by insurance companies and often entail substantial out-of-pocket costs for patients.
Deciding on what type of lens is best for you can be complicated. Fortunately, except in unusual circumstances, such as when a cataract develops after trauma to the eye, there is seldom a hurry for adult cataract surgery.
In the U.S., wildland firefighters are able to stop about 98% of all wildfires before the fires have burned even 100 acres. That may seem comforting, but decades of quickly suppressing fires has had unintended consequences.
However, fuel accumulation isn’t the only consequence of fire suppression.
Fire suppression also disproportionately reduces certain types of fire. In a new study, my colleagues and I show how this effect, known as the suppression bias, compounds the impacts of fuel accumulation and climate change.
What happened to all the low-intensity fires?
Most wildfires are low-intensity. They ignite when conditions aren’t too dry or windy, and they can often be quickly extinguished.
The 2% of fires that escape suppression are those that are more extreme and much harder to fight. They account for about 98% of the burned area in a typical year.
In our study, we used a fire modeling simulation to explore the effects of the fire suppression bias and see how they compared to the effects of global warming and fuel accumulation alone.
Fuel accumulation and global warming both inherently make fires more severe. But over thousands of simulated fires, we found that allowing forests to burn only under the very worst conditions increased fire severity by the same amount as more than a century’s worth of fuel accumulation or 21st-century climate change.
The suppression bias also changes the way plants and animals interact with fire.
By removing low-intensity fires, humans may be changing the course of evolution. Without exposure to low-intensity fires, species can lose traits crucial for surviving and recovering from such events.
In contrast, low-intensity fires free up space and resources for new growth, while still retaining living trees and other biological legacies that support seedlings in their vulnerable initial years.
By quickly putting out low-intensity fires and allowing only extreme fires to burn, conventional suppression reduces the opportunities for climate-adapted plants to establish and help ecosystems adjust to changes like global warming.
Suppression makes burned area increase faster
As the climate becomes hotter and drier, more area is burning in wildfires. If suppression removes fire, it should help slow this increase, right?
In fact, we found it does just the opposite.
We found that while conventional suppression led to less total area burning, the yearly burned area increased more than three times faster under conventional suppression than under less aggressive suppression efforts. The amount of area burned doubled every 14 years with conventional fire suppression under simulated climate change, instead of every 44 years when low- and moderate-intensity fires were allowed to burn. That raises concerns for how quickly people and ecosystems will have to adapt to extreme fires in the future.
The fact that the amount of area burned is increasing is undoubtedly driven by climate change. But our study shows that the rate of this increase may also be a result of conventional fire management.
The near total suppression of fires over the last century means that even a little additional fire in a more fire-prone future can create big changes. As climate change continues to fuel more fires, the relative increase in area burned will be much bigger.
To address the wildfire crisis, fire managers can be less aggressive in suppressing low- and moderate-intensity fires when it is safe to do so. They can also increase the use of prescribed fire and cultural burning to clear away brush and other fuel for fires.
These low-intensity fires will not only reduce the risk of future extreme fires, but they also will create conditions that favor the establishment of species better suited to the changing climate, thereby helping ecosystems adapt to global warming.
Coexisting with wildfire requires developing technologies and approaches that enable the safe management of wildfires under moderate burning conditions. Our study shows that this may be just as necessary as other interventions, such as reducing the number of fires unintentionally started by human activities and mitigating climate change.
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (CA-02) and Adam Schiff (CA-30) introduced the Tribal Community Protection Act, legislation to address the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, or MMIP, on tribal lands by encouraging record sharing between tribal and state/local law enforcement.
Of the missing persons included in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs, 3.5% were identified as American Indian and Alaska Native — more than three times their percentage of the U.S. population.
Complicated jurisdictional overlaps between federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies exacerbate the problem.
“The tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People is an epidemic, and jurisdictional red tape and communication breakdowns fuel this crisis. Tribes in my district have been putting in the hard work to protect their people and lead on this issue — by which I am tremendously proud of and inspired — but they can’t do it alone,” said Rep. Huffman. “My bill with Rep. Schiff will help bridge the gap between tribes and local law enforcement so they can work together to keep tribal communities safe.”
“The violence facing our Indigenous communities, particularly women and girls, is a crisis we cannot ignore,” said Rep. Schiff. “With the complex nature of government-to-government relationships, sometimes this violence against women and Indigenous people can fall through the cracks, or lead to delays and inaction. Our bill aims to bridge this gap by promoting cooperation and information sharing between tribal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. This will not only save lives but also help keep our tribal communities safe and ensure that those who break the law are held to account.”
“Tribal communities continue to face the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people every day. Common sense reforms to support and prevent the disappearance of our people from their communities are vital to help end this crisis. Rep. Schiff’s and Rep. Huffman's bill is one of those common sense solutions which promotes information sharing between states and localities with Tribes. The National Indian Health Board is proud to support this bill which works to address the ongoing crisis of our missing and murdered Indigenous people,” said Chief William Smith, chairman of the National Indian Health Board.
The Tribal Community Protection Act would create a funding incentive through Byrne Justice Assistance Grants to states and localities that both submit written notification to tribes about restraining orders and temporary restraining orders so that they can be enforced by tribal law enforcement on tribal land, and accept and enforce tribal restraining orders and temporary restraining orders, in turn.
The Tribal Community Protection Act is supported by the National Congress of American Indians, National Council of Urban Indian Health, National Indian Health Board, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, and the Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition.
The Tribal Community Protection Act is co-sponsored by Representatives Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Raul Ruiz (CA-25), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Joyce Beatty (OH-03) and Dina Titus (NV-01).