Daylight saving time ended on Sunday. The time change may disrupt sleep patterns and affect the ability to concentrate and safely operate a motor vehicle.
To highlight the life-threatening dangers of fatigued driving, the California Highway Patrol joins the Office of Traffic Safety, or OTS, the California Department of Transportation and the National Sleep Foundation in recognizing Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, Nov. 1 to 8, and encouraging Californians to stay alert and stay alive.
“Staying alert behind the wheel goes beyond avoiding distractions,” said CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley. “The other major contributor to driver inattention is drowsy driving. Fatigue can have a similar impairment effect as drugs or alcohol.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, being awake for at least 18 consecutive hours is the same as having a blood alcohol content of .05 percent. On average, in California, there are more than 6,000 crashes annually that are attributed to drowsy driving.
“If you’re feeling sleepy, you shouldn’t be driving,” OTS Director Barbara Rooney said. “When you ask yourself, ‘Am I OK to drive?’, the answer should factor in not only if you’ve been drinking or have taken drugs that impair, but also if you’ve had enough rest.”
“We should all remember that despite the pace of life, it’s vitally important to avoid driving when fatigued or without adequate rest,” said Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin. “Caltrans operates more than 85 Safety Roadside Rest Areas throughout the state, each providing a convenient place to rejuvenate before returning to the highway.”
Some suggested tips to avoid drowsy driving include getting at least seven hours a day, sticking to a sleep schedule, and avoiding alcohol or medications that can cause drowsiness.
Caffeinated beverages may help in the short term, but are not a substitute for sleep or rest.
Stay alert and drive without distraction not only to protect yourself but also your passengers and other motorists.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County’s Public Health officer said there have been two more deaths related to COVID-19 in the county this week, both in a Lakeport skilled nursing facility.
Dr. Gary Pace said Friday that the latest deaths were the county’s 16th and 17th.
The 16th death, reported early this week, was in a person over age 65 who lived in a senior residential facility and had chronic medical issues, he said.
On Thursday, Public Health was informed of the 17th COVID-19-related death. Pace said the individual was over 60, had chronic medical issues and was living at the same senior residential facility as the person who died earlier in the week.
Both deaths reported this week were connected to Lake County’s second outbreak at a residential facility, Pace said.
Pace noted that the outbreak has now “started to stabilize.”
Lakeport Post Acute has had 37 residents and 22 health care workers test positive for COVID-19, while Rocky Point has had 49 confirmed cases in residents and 17 in its health care staff, the state reported.
The state’s dashboard did not give the specific numbers of deaths at each facility, only saying each had less than 11.
The California Department of Public Health said that there have been 27,411 residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the 1,223 skilled nursing facilities across the state, with 21,006 health care workers also contracting the virus. Altogether, 4,705 residents and 153 health care workers associated with those facilities have died, the state said.
“Each time we receive a report of a COVID-connected death in Lake County, it is a stark and painful reminder of just how destructive this virus can be, not only to the individuals that pass away but to all of those connected to them,” said Pace.
Overall, Lake County has had well over 700 confirmed cases, although the case numbers posted by the county on Friday were not current due to technical issues.
Statewide, as of Friday night, there had been more than 928,800 confirmed cases and 17,632 deaths, according to reports posted online by the Public Health departments of California’s 58 counties.
“COVID-19 is prevalent in our communities,” said Pace. “Think about the people you know. If you are closely associated with someone working in a job that requires a lot of public contact, or direct interaction with vulnerable individuals, for example, please be vigilant in taking precautions at all times. Simple precautions can be life-saving.”
Dr. Pace is scheduled to give the Board of Supervisors an update on the local situation with the virus at 9:35 a.m. Tuesday.
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.
Sorry, Charlie Brown, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is taking a peek at what might best be described as the "Greater Pumpkin," that looks like a Halloween decoration tucked away in a patch of sky cluttered with stars.
What looks like two glowing eyes and a crooked carved smile is a snapshot of the early stages of a collision between two galaxies.
The entire view is nearly 109,000 light-years across, approximately the diameter of our Milky Way.
The overall pumpkin-ish color corresponds to the glow of aging red stars in two galaxies, cataloged as NGC 2292 and NGC 2293, which only have a hint of spiral structure.
Yet the smile is bluish due to newborn star clusters, spread out like pearls on a necklace, along a newly forming dusty arm. The glowing eyes are concentrations of stars around a pair of supermassive black holes.
The scattering of blue foreground stars makes the "pumpkin" look like it got all glittery for a Halloween party.
What's going on in this pumpkin-like pair?
If you mix two fried eggs together, you get something resembling scrambled eggs. The same goes for galaxy collisions throughout the universe. They lose their flattened spiral disk and the stars are scrambled into a football-shaped volume of space, forming an elliptical galaxy.
But this interacting pair is a very rare example of what may turn out to result in a bigger fried egg – the construction of a giant spiral galaxy. It may depend on the specific trajectory the colliding galaxy pair is following. The encounter scenario must be rare because there's only a handful of other examples in the universe, say astronomers.
The ghostly arm making the "smile" may be just the beginning of the process of rebuilding a spiral galaxy, say researchers. The arm embraces both galaxies. It most likely formed when interstellar gas was compressed as the two galaxies began to merge. The higher density precipitates new star formation.
The dynamic duo hides out 120 million light-years away in the constellation Canis Major, so it is seen far behind the star-filled foreground plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Therefore, it's a difficult area to pinpoint far-flung distant background galaxies from the plethora of stars seen in the field.
The galaxy pair was similar to objects tagged by the citizen-science project Galaxy Zoo, where volunteers go hunting for oddball-looking galaxies.
Astronomer William Keel, of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, included several of these in the "Gems of the Galaxy Zoos" Hubble program, which is observing several kinds of rare galaxies during short gaps between other scheduled Hubble observations. The Hubble image brought out new details of the close encounter.
Keel speculates that the ultimate destiny for this pair will be to merge into a giant luminous spiral galaxy like UGC 2885, Rubin's Galaxy, which is over twice the diameter of our Milky Way. Hubble has caught a snapshot of the groundbreaking early stages of a galactic makeover.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has four dogs that are ready to go to new homes this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Chihuahua, German Shepherd, pit bull, Rhodesian Ridgeback and Shar Pei.
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 Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm for information on visiting or adopting.
Male Chihuahua
This male Chihuahua has a short black and brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 3, ID No. 13638.
Shar Pei-Rhodesian Ridgeback
This male Shar Pei-Rhodesian Ridgeback has a short brown and black coat.
He is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 14132.
Female pit bull terrier
This female pit bull terrier has a short gray coat.
She is in kennel No. 21, ID No. 14127.
Female German Shepherd
This young female German Shepherd has a short tan coat with black markings.
She is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 14133.
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. – The Lake County Office of Education announced that David Carter is the 2019-20 Drive for Perfect Attendance Main Event and recipient of the 2020 Chevy Spark offered through the event.
Carter is currently a fourth grader at Terrace Middle School but was gifted the car based on his attendance at Lakeport Elementary School in the Lakeport Unified School District.
The main event took place virtually due to the pandemic at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15.
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg conducted the event and did the drawings of all the recipients.
“The idea behind this event is to promote school attendance for all Lake County students and to help publicize the importance of regular school attendance,” Falkenberg said.
Along with the vehicle, Carter was also gifted funding to cover auto insurance for up to one year for $2,000 and 12 $100 gas cards to help pay for fuel for a year.
The other 11 finalists also received scholarships for postsecondary education that were started by the Lake County Office of Education and matched by the Redwood Credit Union. Each scholarship varied from $100 to $600.
Each month that a student has perfect attendance, their name goes into a drawing. Each district holds a drawing to select their student representative. How many representatives are chosen in a district is dependent on the student population.
“Whether you are attending school virtually or attending school physically, attendance has been shown to be the number one factor in student success,” Falkenberg said.
The Drive 4 Perfect Attendance is sponsored by the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, in partnership with Mazzei Chevrolet and the Redwood Credit Union. It was also administered by the Lake County Office of Education to help promote school attendance for students in Lake County public schools.
The contest began on Aug. 10, 2019. It was scheduled to end on June 15, 2020, at 3 p.m. However, due to COVID-19, it ran through the month of February.
LUCERNE, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said a Lucerne man reported missing earlier this week has been located.
Lt. Corey Paulich said Timothy Michael Monte Jr., 32, was located on Friday and is safe.
His family had told Lake County News that Monte did not return home on Monday, Oct. 19, following a trip to the Clearlake Walmart.
Two days later, the gray Lexus that belongs to his girlfriend, which he had driven to Clearlake, was returned to the Lucerne home he shares with his girlfriend and grandmother.
Paulich said he was reported missing to the sheriff’s office this past Monday.
Monte’s family members were in Lake County on Friday to post fliers about his disappearance.
Paulich told Lake County News he did not have further details about how and where Monte was located, and as of Friday evening family members also didn’t have additional information.
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.
James Mortimer, The Open University and Mahesh Anand, The Open University
The Moon was for a long time considered to be bone dry, with analyses of returned lunar samples from the Apollo missions showing only trace amounts of water. These traces were in fact believed to be due to contamination on Earth. But over the past two decades, re-analyses of lunar samples, observations by spacecraft missions, and theoretical modelling have proved this initial assessment to be wrong.
“Water” has since been detected inside the minerals in lunar rocks. Water ice has also been discovered to be mixed in with lunar dust grains in cold, permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles.
But scientists haven’t been sure how much of this water is present as “molecular water” – made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen (H2O). Now two new studies published in Nature Astronomy provide an answer, while also giving an idea of how and where to extract it.
Water and more water
The term water isn’t just used for molecular water, but also also for detections of hydrogen (H) and hydroxyl (OH). Although H and OH could be combined by astronauts to form molecular water at the lunar surface, it is important to know in what form these compounds are present initially. That’s because this will have an impact on their stability and location under lunar surface conditions, and the effort required to extract them. Molecular water, if present as water ice, would be easier to extract than hydroxyl locked in rocks.
The presence of water on the Moon is scientifically interesting; its distribution and form can help address some profound questions. For example, how did water and other volatile substances arrive at the inner Solar System in the first place? Was it produced there or brought there by asteroids or meteorites? Knowing more about the specific compound could help us find out.
Understanding how much water is present, and its location, is also incredibly useful for planning human missions to the Moon and beyond. Water represents a key resource that can be used for life-support purposes – but it can also be split apart into its constituent elements and put to other uses. Oxygen could replenish air supplies, or be used in simple chemical reactions at the lunar surface to extract other useful resources from the regolith (soil composed of small grains). Water could also be used as rocket fuel in the form of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
This means that the Moon has great potential to become a refuelling base for space missions further into the Solar System or beyond. Its lower gravity and lack of atmosphere means it would require less fuel to launch from there than from Earth. So when space agencies talk of in-situresource utilisation at the Moon, water is front and centre of their plans, making the new papers extremely exciting.
New research
Instruments on board various spacecraft have previously measured “reflectance spectra” (light broken down by wavelength) from the Moon. These detect light coming from a surface to measure how much energy it reflects at a specific wavelength. This will differ based on what the surface consists of. Because it has water, the Moon’s surface absorbs light at 3𝜇m wavelengths (0.000003 metres). However, absorptions at this wavelength cannot distinguish between molecular water and hydroxyl compounds.
Using the NASA/DLR Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) telescope, flown at 43,000 feet, the team behind one of the new papers observed sunlit sections of the Moon’s surface in wavelengths of 5-8𝜇m. H2O results in a characteristic peak in the spectrum at 6𝜇m, and by comparing a near-equatorial area as a baseline (thought to have almost no water) with an area near the south pole, this study reports the first unequivocal observations of molecular water under ambient conditions at the lunar surface at an abundance of 100-400 parts per million.
This is several orders of magnitude too large for most of the water to be adsorbed onto regolith grain surfaces. Instead, the authors suggest that the water they have observed must be locked up inside glass formed by tiny meteorites impacting and melting already hydrated regolith grains. Alternatively, it could be present in voids between grain boundaries, which would make it easier to extract. Where exactly this water is sited would be of extreme interest for future explorers as it would dictate the processes and energy required to extract it.
Luckily, the other paper used new theoretical models, based on temperature data and higher resolution images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, to refine predictions of where conditions are right for molecular water to be trapped as ice.
Previous research has shown already that there are such kilometres-wide “cold traps” in permanently shadowed areas near the poles, where water ice may be present. Evidence from orbiting spacecraft, however, was inconclusive about this being molecular water or hydroxyl. The new study finds that there are also abundant small cold traps where conditions permit water ice to accumulate – on the scale of centimetres or decimetres. In fact, such traps should be hundreds to thousands of times more numerous than larger cold traps.
The team calculates that 0.1% of the total lunar surface is cold enough to trap water as ice, and that the majority of these icy cold traps are at high latitudes (> 80°). This is particularly near to the lunar south pole, narrowing down the choice of future landing sites with the highest chance of finding trapped water ice. However, it is important to realise that the two studies investigated areas at different latitudes (55°-75°S vs >80°S) and therefore cannot be compared directly.
Nevertheless, these latest discoveries further enhance our understanding of the history of water on our nearest neighbour. They will undoubtedly strengthen plans for a return to the Moon. Instruments such as the European Space Agency’s (PROSPECT payload on Luna 27) will be able to make measurements on the Moon to “ground-truth” these tantalising glimpses of the wealth of information yet to be discovered.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – It’s once again time to turn the clocks back.
Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1.
It began this year on March 7, a week and a half before Lake County and the rest of the state began to a shelter in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each year, daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
All but two states – Arizona and Hawaii – observe it. The US territories of American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands don’t observe it.
In California, voters originally approved daylight saving time in 1949. However, in November 2018, the state’s voters supported Proposition 7 which would end it.
Both the California Legislature and Congress must take action to finalize the change and there has been no headway on that part of the process.
Cal Fire urges Californians to use daylight saving time as a reminder to make important home safety checks, like checking smoke alarms and replacing their batteries.
The agency said that approximately two-thirds of home fire deaths occur in homes without working smoke alarms.
Most of those deadly fires occur at night, which is why Cal Fire it’s essential that every home has working smoke alarms to provide an early warning.
Working smoke alarms increase the chance of surviving a home fire by 50 percent, Cal Fire said.
For more information about smoke alarms visit Cal Fire’s website or contact your local fire department.
LUCERNE, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the family of a missing Lucerne man are asking for the community’s help in locating him.
Timothy “Mike” Michael Monte Jr., 32, was last seen by family members at the Lucerne home he shared with his grandmother, girlfriend and children on Monday, Oct. 19.
His family said Monte, a local DJ, left Lucerne to travel to the Clearlake Walmart at around 8 p.m. that day. He did not return.
Monte was reported to be driving a gray Lexus that belongs to his girlfriend.
That vehicle showed up at his grandmother’s home two days after he was last seen – on Wednesday, Oct. 21. His family said the key was broken off in the ignition.
Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said Monte was reported missing to the agency this week, on Monday, a week after he was last seen.
Family members said they will be in Lake County on Friday to post fliers in an effort to locate him.
His family also is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to locating Monte.
Monte’s family described him as being Black and Mexican, 6 feet 2 inches tall and 210 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.
He has several tattoos, including praying hands on his left shoulder, the name “Francis” on the left side of his chest and a grim reaper on his right shoulder. Family members said he also has a scar on his forehead hairline.
Anyone with information about Monte is asked to contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Office at 707-263-2690.
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.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – On Friday 77 new California Highway Patrol officers – including a Hidden Valley Lake man – were sworn in during an unprecedented socially distant graduation ceremony at the CHP Academy.
The graduating class begins their new career with more hands-on experience than any class in academy history, the CHP reported.
Among this year’s graduates is Kyle Nelson of Hidden Valley Lake.
Officer Nelson graduated from Windsor High School in 2004. Prior to attending the CHP Academy, he worked as a senior technician for Viavi Solutions in Santa Rosa.
As concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic intensified, the CHP closed its live-in academy in West Sacramento on March 20.
All cadets were sent home and assigned to work in CHP Area offices located as close to their residences as practicable.
Prior to leaving, the seven women and 70 men of Cadet Training Class, or CTC, III-19, who started Oct. 21, 2019, had completed 23 weeks of their 29-week training at the academy.
During the six months spent working in CHP Area offices throughout the state, cadets had an unprecedented opportunity to observe a wide variety of activities and tasks, enhancing their classroom work.
On ride-alongs with officers, they experienced a CHP officer’s shift in the field and learned first-hand how to complete crash reports and assist the public.
They also learned the administrative side of the job – filing reports, answering the phone, and performing general tasks that may be unfamiliar to many officers.
The CHP said Nelson spent six months working in the Clear Lake Area office in Kelseyville.
On Sept. 14, all members of CTC III-19 who left in March returned to the academy for their final weeks of training with enhanced health and safety protocols.
“We are all so proud of this class,” CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “These cadets faced the uncertainty of the pandemic with resolve and returned to the Academy energized about their new careers, benefiting from a wealth of real-life experience that no other cadets have had.”
At the CHP Academy, cadet training starts with nobility in policing, leadership, professionalism and ethics, and cultural diversity. Training also includes mental illness response and crisis intervention techniques.
Cadet instruction covers patrol operations, crash investigation, first aid, and the arrest of suspected violators, including those who drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The cadets also receive training in traffic control, report writing, recovery of stolen vehicles, assisting the motoring public, issuing citations, emergency scene management, and knowledge of various codes including the Vehicle Code, Penal Code, and Health and Safety Code.
Upon graduation, the cadets are assigned to CHP Area offices throughout the state.
The CHP said Nelson has been assigned to the Napa Area office.
SOUTHERN LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and its Office of Emergency Services reported that a test of the south Lake County warning siren system will take place on Monday, Nov. 2.
The test will begin at 11 a.m.
The sirens are located in the Loch Lomond, Cobb Mountain, Anderson Springs and Middletown areas.
This test is being conducted to assure the functionality of the warning sirens. During the test, additional messaging will be sent out as a reminder.
Should there be an active response to local fires in progress, the test will be canceled and will be scheduled for the following month.
The sheriff’s office encourages community members to make sure their email addresses are entered into the LakeCoAlerts system.
Visit the website and sign into your account, or establish a new account to receive notifications.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said that a dozen additional inmates at the Lake County Jail have tested positive for COVID-19.
Lt. Corey Paulich said a number of inmates at the Lake County Jail who are all housed in a single unit have been undergoing an isolation period after they were exposed to an inmate who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus on Oct. 12.
On Oct. 22, the sheriff’s office learned that a second inmate in that same housing unit also tested positive, Paulich said.
Then, on Thursday, Paulich said the sheriff’s office learned that 12 additional inmates from that same housing unit have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Including these 12 current cases, there have been 19 total cases of COVID-19 at the Lake County Jail, Paulich said.
Paulich said medical staff will be closely monitoring the isolated inmates and conducting the testing protocols recommended by Public Health. This includes the testing of staff and inmates as they work to contain the virus.
He said the sheriff's office continues to provide masks to inmates, employ comprehensive regular cleaning and to disinfect common areas in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the jail.