LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has many dogs of all ages waiting to get their new start with a loving family.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Anatolian shepherd, Australian cattle dog, Australian Kelpie, border collie, German shepherd, Great Pyrenees, husky, Labrador retriever, shepherd and pit bull.
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.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
Male pit bull terrier
This 1-year-old male pit bull terrier has a short white and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-2821.
Female shepherd mix
This 7-year-old female shepherd mix has a tricolor coat.
She was in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-2792.
‘Jingo’
“Jingo” is a 3-year-old male Labrador retriever with a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 12, ID No. LCAC-A-2636.
Female Labrador retriever
This 4-year-old female Labrador retriever has a short black coat.
She is in kennel No. 14, ID No. LCAC-A-2694.
Australian cattle dog
This 3-year-old male Australian cattle dog has a black coat with tan markings.
He is in kennel No. 16, ID No. LCAC-A-3131.
Male border collie
This young male border collie has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 17, ID No. LCAC-A-3207.
‘Max’
“Max” is a 4-year-old male Australian Kelpie mix with a black and tan coat with white markings.
She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-2852.
Female German shepherd
This 2-year-old female German shepherd has a black coat.
She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-2844.
Female shepherd mix
This 1-year-old female shepherd mix has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-2843.
Male pit bull terrier
This 3-year-old male pit bull terrier has a short tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 21, ID No. LCAC-A-2948.
‘Kimber’
“Kimber” is a 1-year-old female pit bull terrier with a short red and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 22, ID No. LCAC-A-2957.
‘Barney’
“Barney” is a 3-year-old male retriever with a brown and black coat with white markings.
He is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-2856.
‘Blue’
“Blue” is a 4-year-old female husky with a gray and white coat, and blue eyes.
She is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-2816.
Anatolian shepherd-Great Pyrenees
This 2-year-old male Anatolian shepherd-Great Pyrenees has a short white coat.
He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-2536.
Female border collie
This young female border collie mix has a short brindle and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-3209.
Male Doberman pinscher mix pup
This male Doberman pinscher mix puppy has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-3210.
Female pit bull terrier
This 2-year-old female pit bull terrier has a short black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-3085.
Male Australian cattle dog
This 3-year-old male Australian cattle dog has a short black, tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-3130.
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.
An attorney owes the duties of competence, communication, confidentiality, loyalty and nondiscrimination to a client.
These duties require special attention and care by the attorney when representing clients with diminished capacity.
Recently the California State Bar issued formal Opinion No. 2021-207 (the “Opinion”) to examine four ethics issues when an attorney represents a client with diminished capacity.
First, “a lawyer has a duty to maintain, insofar as reasonably possible, a normal attorney-client relationship, as reflected in the rules relating to competence, communication, confidentiality, loyalty and nondiscrimination.”
A lawyer must first apply the presumption that the client has capacity to engage in the legal activity.
Capacity is evaluated on a “decision by decision basis” and the lawyer’s duty of competence may require the lawyer “taking measures to enhance the client’s ability to make and communicate an effective decision.”
Some decisions require more capacity than other decisions.
For example, “the attorney may adjust the interview environment, communicate more slowly, spend more time, and meet the client when he or she is more lucid.” The attorney may have the client’s trusted family members help the client’s communication and understanding.
Nonetheless, the client must still have sufficient capacity. Even with support a lawyer must recognize that, “ … the client may be unable to make a legally effective decision, …, or that diminished capacity will result in a decision that does not serve the client’s interest or exposes them to harm that the client cannot understand or prevent.”
For example, out of loyalty to the client, a lawyer should decline to modify a client’s estate planning when, “Lawyer’s reasonable belief is that Client lacks the capacity to make a decision reflecting Client’s interest and that Client’s preferred course would expose Client to the risk of exploitation.”
Second, a lawyer has an obligation to make judgments or decisions relating to the client’s capacity. “A lawyer may assist a client whose testamentary capacity appears to be borderline, including by taking steps to preserve evidence that would support a finding of capacity.” With the client’s consent, a lawyer may involve a, “ … professional with an understanding of the cognitive and emotional issues involved in determining the client’ capacity and how the attorney-client relationship should be adjusted to reflect them.”
Third, a lawyer may sometimes have authority to take some protective actions on behalf of a client with diminished capacity.
The opinion states that, “ … absent a final judicial determination of incapacity, a lawyer’s reasonable belief that a client is incapacitated should not by itself terminate the lawyer’s authority to take protective action in the client’s best interest if such action is within the scope of the representation. Moreover, whether the lawyer has authority to take protective action involves the lawyer’s duty of loyalty, ‘to protect the client in every possible way.’”
However, before an attorney takes protective action, the lawyer must consider his or her duties of confidentiality and loyalty to the client.
Generally speaking, a lawyer needs the client’s informed consent to disclose confidential information. “If the client lacks the capacity to give such consent, is unavailable, or declines to give such consent, the lawyer may not make such disclosures.”
For example, “if a lawyer is able to contact Client directly, and if Client, notwithstanding the cognitive deficits …, can give informed consent, Lawyer may not be able to disclose confidential information to concerned relatives or other authorities.”
Fourth, a lawyer may obtain a client’s advanced consent to the lawyer's disclosure of confidential information, “if the client’s future diminished capacity exposes the client to harm that could be prevented by such disclosure.”
Such advanced consent requires a sufficiently comprehensive explanation to the client of the conditions for disclosure, the factual scenario contemplated, and the benefits and the risks involved with disclosure. Such consent must be revocable at any time.
Representing clients with diminished capacity often involve areas of law and facts that are unclear.
An attorney whose “judgments are informed and disinterested [i.e unbiased] … should not be viewed as unethical simply because subsequent events proved them to have been mistaken.”
The foregoing is a brief summary of a twenty page legal opinion and 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.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The city of Lakeport reported Thursday that it removed a large homeless camp on the south side of Safeway.
The Lakeport Police Department and Public Works staff removed the site, which was located on city-owned property known as the Ninth Street extension, which is an unimproved road right of way.
Officials said this location has been a regular site of camps and a concern for surrounding residential and commercial property owners for numerous reasons including safety, sanitary conditions and fire danger.
Police said they surveyed the property and contacted the occupants numerous times in efforts to mitigate the situation.
Lakeport Police’s embedded crisis responder from Lake Family Resource Center worked with occupants to offer resources from the many agencies working on homelessness in Lake County. In this situation, one offer included housing and a job.
On March 9, by direction of the chief of police, the property was ordered vacated, with written notices posted and personally served on occupants, giving them sufficient time to remove their belongings. These notices and removal times are required by federal court case law decisions.
Over the past two weeks, numerous other follow-up contacts were made at the camp and persons were notified the removal would start this morning, officials said.
When police arrived at 8 a.m. Thursday, they located only one occupant in the camp. That occupant was offered — and accepted — resources to be transported to a local homeless shelter and to be further provided with other resources on Friday.
Numerous public works and police staff proceeded to clean the camp and rehabilitate the area over the next nine hours. This work included hauling off 15 yards of trash and fire fuel reduction. Numerous complaints involved the use of cooking and warming fires in this high fire danger area.
Police said they also safeguarded, removed and stored a pickup bed load of personal property which had value to the occupants. This safeguarding and property storage is also required by federal court case law decisions as well as being the morally appropriate action to take, officials said.
Authorities said the removal of homeless camps can be complex and when they take this action they want to be sure that the problem will not just move down the street to the next neighborhood or business district.
“For this reason we are very persistent with offering resources and assistance with connecting people to programs including those for housing, behavioral health and drug and alcohol addiction,” the police department reported. “The most significant reasons we see people being in a homeless situation are behavioral health and substance abuse problems.”
Police said many of the people causing issues for neighborhoods and businesses are people who refuse assistance because they do not want to recognize or change their conditions.
Additionally, many of the tools police have used to have to deal with misdemeanor criminal behavior have been removed by voter or legislative initiatives.
Much of this kind of criminal behavior is the very thing affecting the lives of the residents and business owners and generally making people feel unsafe or hesitant to use their public spaces or even being able to run their business, police said.
“It is sometimes difficult for us to address this bad behavior but we want the community to know we continue to work hard every day to keep Lakeport safe. Please continue to contact us with your concerns,” police said in the Thursday report.
Arctic sea ice appeared to have hit its annual maximum extent on Feb. 25 after growing through the fall and winter.
This year’s wintertime extent is the 10th-lowest in the satellite record maintained by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, one of NASA’s Distributed Active Archive Centers.
Arctic sea ice extent peaked at 5.75 million square miles and is roughly 297,300 square miles below the 1981-2010 average maximum — equivalent to missing an area of ice slightly larger than Texas and Maine combined. This maximum ties with 2015 as the third earliest on record.
Sea ice waxes and wanes with the seasons every year. In the Arctic, it reaches its maximum extent around March after growing through the colder months, and shrinks to its minimum extent in September after melting through the warmer months. In the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctic sea ice follows an opposite cycle.
To estimate sea ice extent, satellite sensors gather sea ice data that are processed into daily images, each image grid cell spanning an area of roughly 15 miles by 15 miles (25 kilometers by 25 kilometers). Scientists then use these images to estimate the extent of the ocean where sea ice covers at least 15% of the water.
Since satellites began reliably tracking sea ice in 1979, maximum extents in the Arctic have declined at a pace of about 13% per decade, with minimum extents declining at about 2.7% per decade.
These trends are linked to warming caused by human activities such as emitting carbon dioxide, which traps heat in the atmosphere and causes temperatures to rise. NASA’s analysis also shows the Arctic is warming about three times faster than other regions.
This February, Antarctic sea ice dropped to a record-low minimum extent. But unlike in the Arctic, this sea ice has shown irregular ups and downs mainly because of the geographical features that surround it. Winds and ocean currents specifically linked to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica have a strong influence on sea ice extent.
Sea ice in the Arctic is surrounded by land, whereas sea ice in the Antarctic is surrounded only by ocean and can thus spread out more freely. Overall, the Antarctic sea ice record shows a slightly upward — but nearly flat — trend or increase.
Gains in Antarctic sea ice are not large enough to offset the losses of the Arctic. The ice in both regions helps regulate global temperatures. Even if Antarctic gains balanced sea ice levels globally, Arctic sea ice losses could still contribute to further regional and global warming.
Roberto Molar Candanosa works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Michael Jaffe, Mississippi State University and Tracy Jaffe, Mississippi State University
Otis was our bighearted bloodhound, whom we loved dearly. He had an active life playing with our three other dogs and going for long walks every morning and evening with us. But when he was 8 years old, his lifestyle completely changed. He experienced a knee injury that required surgery, and he later developed osteoarthritis from that injury.
As facultymembers at the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine, we see approximately 100 dogs and cats in our hospital daily. Our job is to diagnose and treat medical conditions these animals are experiencing, and when necessary, perform surgery on patients whose condition is severe.
Like Otis, many of our patients suffer from canine osteoarthritis – the most common orthopedic disorder that we see in our clinic. More than 20% of dogs over the age of 1 in North America are thought to be affected by osteoarthritis. Common activities like going for long walks, running and playing often become more difficult for dogs with this condition.
How can you tell if your dog has arthritis?
Common signs of canine osteoarthritis include stiffness after rest, difficulty getting up, limping or avoiding the use of one leg. Arthritic dogs may also be less active, or reluctant to use stairs or get in or out of a vehicle. For pets with arthritis, just going for a walk or playing in the yard can result in joint pain and muscle soreness.
As in people, arthritis is a degenerative process defined as inflammation of a joint. It can occur in both young and old dogs, though it is more common as dogs age. Sometimes, as in Otis’ case, arthritis develops following an injury. It can impact all components of the joint, but the cartilage – the connective tissue covering the bones where a joint is formed – is the most affected.
Unfortunately, canine arthritis cannot be cured. Instead, the goal of treatment of arthritis in dogs is to reduce inflammation and increase comfort to improve a dog’s quality of life regardless of age.
What causes arthritis in pets?
Arthritis develops in pets because of age-related changes in the joint similar to that which occurs in people. Pets that are very active may be prone to mild injuries that can later develop into arthritic joints as they get older.
When arthritis is suspected, a veterinarian can confirm it, often through X-rays of the affected joint. Once the condition is diagnosed, a veterinarian will then come up with a treatment plan for each patient.
Veterinarians generally prefer nonsurgical treatment. Although surgical options exist, including joint replacement, most dogs can be successfully managed through a combination of approaches including weight management, exercise, joint supplements, prescription anti-inflammatory medications – or NSAIDs – and physical therapy.
Here’s how each of these works to help arthritic dogs stay healthy and active.
Weight management
Weight management is an essential aspect of managing arthritis in pets. When a pet is less physically active, it may lose some muscle mass and gain weight in the form of body fat. Coupled with arthritis, this reduction in muscle tone and added weight places additional pressure on already achy joints.
Cutting back on a few treats and carefully monitoring calorie intake will go a long way in helping your dog shed a few pounds and reduce its discomfort. As in people, weight loss doesn’t happen overnight. Ask for guidance from your veterinarian.
Exercise
Exercise is another important aspect of maintaining healthy joints and keeping weight controlled. Low-impact exercises such as leash walks, swimming and light running are valuable as long as your dog does not overdo it.
How will you know how much movement is too much? In general, walks and jogs should be of a distance, time or intensity such that your dog comes home from that activity still feeling comfortable. That means that if your four-legged companion leads you at the beginning of your walk, it should still be able to stay ahead of you at the walk’s end.
If your pet trudges behind you as you are nearing home, it may be because it is starting to feel tired and its joints are hurting. The signals dogs send their humans are important to monitor so that owners know when to cut back on the length or intensity of a walk or run.
It is possible to overdo the activity of an arthritic pet and cause discomfort. Just as we might not want to go right back to the gym the day after a hard workout, a pet may not be ready to exercise right away either. Rest is the best remedy for sore muscles. A good day or two of rest, sometimes even longer for an arthritic pet, may be necessary between intense periods of exercise. The key to knowing if your pet is ready to go again is if it can rise from a resting position easily and doesn’t appear slow or sore.
Joint supplements
Just as in people, joint supplements are available for pets with arthritis. These products, such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, provide nutrients and building blocks for healthy joint function. Essential fatty acids, like those found in fish oils for dogs, can also help prevent some inflammation in arthritic pets. Some owners give up on joint supplements because they do not see dramatic improvement in their pets right away. However, these products work internally, just like the multivitamins people take, and their benefits may be gradual and subtle.
Other treatments such as polysulfated glycosaminoglycan injections, also known as Adequan, may be used to prevent further worsening of osteoarthritis early in the course of the disease.
NSAIDs
Anti-inflammatory drugs may be prescribed by a veterinarian when a dog has significant joint pain from chronic inflammation. These medications effectively reduce discomfort but may have negative side effects, such as kidney or liver damage, that may limit long-term use. However, they can effectively keep a patient comfortable as long as a veterinarian carefully monitors their use.
Rehab or physical therapy
Canine rehabilitation and physical therapy specialists work with dogs that are arthritic or out of condition to improve limb function, rebuild muscle and assist in weight management. Specific exercises for arthritic pets, such as little jumps known as “cavalettis,” may be tailored to enhance limb movement while providing comfort. Helping an arthritic dog’s ability to move around better will allow it to exercise more and improve its muscle tone while assisting in weight loss.
Healthy joints, happy pets
Helping older or arthritic pets keep their joints healthy and their bodies in good condition can let them enjoy walks and playtime throughout the duration of their lives. Even pets with advanced arthritis can maintain a good quality of life and stay active with the help of a veterinarian and good treatment plan.
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Sadly, we lost Otis a few years ago at the age of 11. But for the three years following his surgery, we were able to manage his arthritis and maintain his comfort with a combination of weight management, exercise, NSAIDs, essential fatty acids and joint supplements. He was able to get back to the activities he loved and play with our other three dogs. It warmed our hearts to see his quality of life return to a happy, healthy one for his remaining years.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control’s seven adoptable dogs come from a variety of breeds.
The City of Clearlake Animal Association also is seeking fosters for the animals waiting to be adopted.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
The following dogs are available for adoption.
‘Terry’
“Terry” is a male shepherd mix with a short brindle coat.
He is dog No. 48443693.
‘Snowball’
“Snowball” is a male American Staffordshire mix terrier with a white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49159168.
‘Fritz’
“Fritz” is a male Australian shepherd mix with a black and white coat.
He is dog No. 49278179.
‘Ebenezer’
“Ebenezer” is a male American pit bull terrier mix with a short tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 49191651.
‘Chai’
“Chai” is a female Alaskan husky mix with a gray and white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49279552.
‘Bear’
“Bear” is a male Labrador retriever-American pit bull mix with a short charcoal and fawn coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 48443153.
‘Andy’
“Andy” is a male American pit bull mix with a short gray and white coat.
He is dog No. 48995415.
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. — A Friday report showed that California created 20% of the nation’s jobs in February while decreasing the unemployment rate, with Lake County also showing a drop in joblessness and reporting hundreds of new jobs.
The state’s unemployment rate for February was 5.4%, down from the revised rate of 5.7% in January, with employers adding 138,100 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy, according to data released by the California Employment Development Department.
The Employment Development Department said California’s 138,100 new jobs in February far outpaced every other state, and it was 60,300 more jobs than the next closest state of Texas and 87,100 more jobs than Florida.
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said the nationwide jobless rate in February was 3.8%, down from 4% in January and 6.2% in February 2021.
In Lake County in February, the jobless rate was 5.9%, down from an adjusted rate of 6.8% in January, according to the data. The February 2021 rate was 9.2%.
In February, almost all of Lake County’s job sectors added jobs, led by total farm, which was up by 39.4% percent, or 260 jobs, followed by a 12.5% increase in the information sector and 11.1% for wholesale trade.
Overall, Lake County added 430 jobs in February, the Employment Development Department reported.
California has now regained 87.2% — or 2,405,900 — of the 2,758,900 nonfarm jobs lost during March and April of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since January 2021, California has created more than 1.3 million jobs, the state reported.
“These latest numbers show that California is continuing to drive our nation’s job growth,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “We’re doing it by promoting more pathways to opportunity and embracing the diversity, creativity, innovation, and determination that breeds success — building a California for all.”
Of the 678,000 jobs the nation gained in February, California accounted for 20.4% of them. The state’s year-over job growth of 6.8% also outpaced the nation’s rate of 4.6%.
The report showed that California has enjoyed month-over gains in nonfarm jobs in 12 of the past 13 months, averaging roughly 101,700 jobs gained per month over that time.
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.
The count of confirmed exoplanets just ticked past the 5,000 mark, representing a 30-year journey of discovery led by NASA space telescopes.
Not so long ago, we lived in a universe with only a small number of known planets, all of them orbiting our Sun. But a new raft of discoveries marks a scientific high point: More than 5,000 planets are now confirmed to exist beyond our solar system.
The planetary odometer turned on March 21, with the latest batch of 65 exoplanets — planets outside our immediate solar family — added to the NASA Exoplanet Archive.
The archive records exoplanet discoveries that appear in peer-reviewed, scientific papers, and that have been confirmed using multiple detection methods or by analytical techniques.
The 5,000-plus planets found so far include small, rocky worlds like Earth, gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, and “hot Jupiters” in scorchingly close orbits around their stars.
There are “super-Earths,” which are possible rocky worlds bigger than our own, and “mini-Neptunes,” smaller versions of our system’s Neptune.
Add to the mix planets orbiting two stars at once and planets stubbornly orbiting the collapsed remnants of dead stars.
“It’s not just a number,” said Jessie Christiansen, science lead for the archive and a research scientist with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech in Pasadena. “Each one of them is a new world, a brand-new planet. I get excited about everyone because we don’t know anything about them.”
We do know this: Our galaxy likely holds hundreds of billions of such planets. The steady drumbeat of discovery began in 1992 with strange new worlds orbiting an even stranger star. It was a type of neutron star known as a pulsar, a rapidly spinning stellar corpse that pulses with millisecond bursts of searing radiation. Measuring slight changes in the timing of the pulses allowed scientists to reveal planets in orbit around the pulsar.
Finding just three planets around this spinning star essentially opened the floodgates, said Alexander Wolszczan, the lead author on the paper that, 30 years ago, unveiled the first planets to be confirmed outside our solar system.
“If you can find planets around a neutron star, planets have to be basically everywhere,” Wolszczan said. “The planet production process has to be very robust.”
Wolszczan, who still searches for exoplanets as a professor at Penn State, says we’re opening an era of discovery that will go beyond simply adding new planets to the list. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, launched in 2018, continues to make new exoplanet discoveries.
But soon powerful next-generation telescopes and their highly sensitive instruments, starting with the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope, will capture light from the atmospheres of exoplanets, reading which gasses are present to potentially identify telltale signs of habitable conditions.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, expected to launch in 2027, will make new exoplanet discoveries using a variety of methods. The European Space Agency mission ARIEL, launching in 2029, will observe exoplanet atmospheres; a piece of NASA technology aboard, called CASE, will help zero in on exoplanet clouds and hazes.
“To my thinking, it is inevitable that we’ll find some kind of life somewhere — most likely of some primitive kind,” Wolszczan said. The close connection between the chemistry of life on Earth and chemistry found throughout the universe, as well as the detection of widespread organic molecules, suggests detection of life itself is only a matter of time, he added.
How to find other worlds
The picture didn’t always look so bright. The first planet detected around a Sun-like star, in 1995, turned out to be a hot Jupiter: a gas giant about half the mass of our own Jupiter in an extremely close, four-day orbit around its star. A year on this planet, in other words, lasts only four days.
More such planets appeared in the data from ground-based telescopes once astronomers learned to recognize them — first dozens, then hundreds.
They were found using the “wobble” method: tracking slight back-and-forth motions of a star, caused by gravitational tugs from orbiting planets. But still, nothing looked likely to be habitable.
Finding small, rocky worlds more like our own required the next big leap in exoplanet-hunting technology: the “transit” method.
Astronomer William Borucki came up with the idea of attaching extremely sensitive light detectors to a telescope, then launching it into space. The telescope would stare for years at a field of more than 170,000 stars, searching for tiny dips in starlight when a planet crossed a star’s face.
That idea was realized in the Kepler Space Telescope.
Borucki, principal investigator of the now-retired Kepler mission, says its launch in 2009 opened a new window on the universe.
“I get a real feeling of satisfaction, and really of awe at what’s out there,” he said. “None of us expected this enormous variety of planetary systems and stars. It’s just amazing.”
As oil and gas companies continue to rake in record profits, Gov. Gavin Newsom this week unveiled the details of his proposal to deliver $11 billion in relief to Californians facing record-high gas prices.
“We’re taking immediate action to get money directly into the pockets of Californians who are facing higher gas prices as a direct result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” said Newsom. “But this package is also focused on protecting people from volatile gas prices, and advancing clean transportation — providing three months of free public transportation, fast-tracking electric vehicle incentives and charging stations, and new funding for local biking and walking projects.”
The Governor’s proposal calls for $9 billion in tax refunds to Californians in the form of $400 direct payments per vehicle, capped at two vehicles. This package also provides $2 billion in broader relief including:
• $750 million in incentive grants to transit and rail agencies to provide free transit for Californians for three months. As a result, roughly three million Californians per day who take the bus, subway, or light rail won’t have to pay a fare every time they ride. • Up to $600 million to pause a part of the sales tax rate on diesel for one year. • $523 million to pause the inflationary adjustment to gas and diesel excise tax rates.
The package also calls for $500 million in active transportation for projects that promote biking and walking throughout the state.
Additionally, this proposal fast-tracks a $1.75 billion portion of the Governor’s historic $10 billion ZEV package to further reduce the state’s dependence on oil and save Californians money, including the investments in more ZEV passenger vehicles and building more charging infrastructure throughout the state — especially in low-income communities.
The tax refund will take the form of $400 debit cards for registered vehicle owners, and individuals will be eligible to receive up to two payments. An average California driver spends approximately $300 in gasoline excise tax over a year.
The proposal provides up to two $400 rebates per vehicle, for owners to support families with more than one vehicle in use. Eligibility will be based on vehicle registration, not tax records, in order to include seniors who receive Social Security Disability income and low-income nontax filers.
The governor’s proposal does not have an income cap in order to include all Californians who are facing higher prices due to the cost of oil.
The Newsom administration will meet with the Legislature to negotiate the details of the proposal in the coming days. Once approved through the Legislature, the first payments could begin as soon as July.
Gov. Newsom has allocated billions of dollars in direct relief to Californians over the past two years, including $12 billion in direct checks through the Golden State Stimulus, $5.2 billion in rent relief, and $2 billion in utility relief.
Since 2019, the Administration and Legislature have added significant expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit, including expanding the credit to taxpayers with ITINs, expanding the credit to every Californian working full time at minimum wage, and adding the Young Child Tax Credit.
Additionally, the governor’s historic $37.6 billion climate package provides the resources needed to forge an oil-free future and bolster the state’s clean energy economy.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s Konocti Christian Academy is gearing up to host its 15th annual Lake County Renaissance Faire fundraiser.
The event will take place on Saturday, May 7, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lake County Fairgrounds.
The faire takes a walk back in time to the Renaissance era with costume, theater, games, activities, food and song. Guests will enjoy Shakespearean plays presented by nearly 100 KCA students.
“Each year our children and faculty pour a great deal of love and effort into planning the Renaissance Faire Fundraiser. The event has become a great point of pride for our school, and we are excited to share it again with our community,” KCA Principal Meredith Wiser explained.
The Renaissance Faire fundraiser includes music, live and silent auction, booths, feasting fit for a king, activities for the entire family, live performances and so much more.
Ticket prices range from $10 to $45 and sponsorships are available. To purchase tickets, become a sponsor or to make a donation, visit Eventbrite, KCA’s Facebook page, or at KCA by calling 707-262-1522.
Konocti Christian Academy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and donations are tax-deductible.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A parent and education professional was appointed on Thursday night to fill the most recent vacancy on the Middletown Unified School District Board.
At the end of a two-hour meeting, the board voted unanimously to appoint Chris Ochs to fill the seat vacated by Misha Grothe.
Ochs and wife, Heather, live in Hidden Valley Lake and have two children who also attend Middletown Unified schools. He was lauded by supporters as an involved parent and dedicated volunteer.
In his professional life, Ochs — whose last name is pronounced “Oaks” — is the director of facilities, maintenance and operations for Calistoga Joint Unified School District, where he has handled bonds and $47 million in master plan projects.
In addition to bond oversight, his experience with grant writing was cited as a key factor weighing in favor of his selection.
He was one of three candidates interviewed during the special Thursday night meeting at Middletown High School. The two other candidates were Hank Lescher and Collyn Vargo-Criglar.
During the meeting, community members called for an end to the divisiveness that has plagued the district over the past year, particularly over matters related to the district’s following state COVID-19 mandates such as requiring masking.
Grothe’s resignation was the third from the board in just over four months’ time. Her term was set to expire on Dec. 9.
She resigned on March 3, the same day that the board voted to select Thad Owens as the district’s fourth superintendent in less than two and a half years.
Owens’ hire followed the abrupt resignation two days earlier of Tim Gill, who had served as superintendent for just four months.
On Wednesday night, the Konocti Unified School Board voted to hire Gill as its new director of curriculum and instruction.
Owens, who previously worked for Middletown Unified and most recently had worked for Konocti Unified, also had been a Middletown Unified board member until November, when he resigned without giving a reason. That followed the October resignation of LaTrease Walker, who left over COVID-19 mandates.
In December, the board interviewed 10 candidates for those seats, with Ochs among that group.
At that time, the board appointed Annette Lee to fill Walker’s seat and Allison Berlogar to fill the seats as provisional appointments.
However, a group that included Walker targeted Lee’s provisional appointment over her support — at her first meeting as a board member in December — of modifying a proposed resolution advocating the state against imposing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
The special election has been consolidated with the state’s June primary. Bryan Pullman and Charise Reynolds are on the ballot to seek that seat.
A member of the group who targeted Lee urged the board instead to select Lescher, who during his response to questions called the COVID-19 vaccine “an experimental vaccine.”
Statements during the Thursday night special meeting from Ochs’ supporters raised concerns that his appointment also would be challenged.
Candidates answer questions, majority of speakers support Ochs
The three candidates drew numbers to determine their order, which was Lescher, Vargo-Criglar and Ochs.
They were asked a round of questions regarding priorities, the district’s strengths and the candidates’ qualifications.
Ochs said he wanted to make sure district policies are up to date. He explained that school board members have the ability to improve the environment for students, faculty and staff, and that they need to be able to listen with an open mind. Ultimately, board members are just ordinary people, with their own ideas, experiences and goals.
“It’s key for a board member to be open to differing ideas and willing to consider those in the decisions they make, because as a board member, you’re not an individual, you’re a representative of the community and what they want to see for the school district,” Ochs said.
Ochs said it’s important to advocate for the needs of all students — noting that first grade is just as important as eighth, and musicians are just as important as quarterbacks.
His praise for the district included its working with Woodland Community College to allow high school students to have dual enrollment for free, which prepares them for the transition to higher learning.
Ochs also lauded agriculture and vocational training classes, which prepare students for high paying jobs, and the district’s robust athletics program.
His goals included seeing the district restore the music program back to the elementary school, referencing Konocti Unified’s recent success in receiving an elementary music program grant.
He also noted his experience in handling millions of dollars of bond funding for projects at Calistoga Joint Unified.
Following the interviews, Owens lauded the three candidates and noted that there are some very qualified people in the community.
After the questioning session by the board, community members also were allowed to weigh in on the candidates.
Lescher received a large amount of support from friends and family, including members of his church, Jesus Christ Fellowship.
However, Ochs received the most support by a two-to-one margin over Lescher from those who spoke or submitted correspondence to the board.
Among those supporting Ochs was Cobb resident and parent Justine Schneider, who said she has watched with increasing alarm what is happening in the district. She said the district has lost good people and money for the special election is being bled away from the children.
When Gill resigned, Schneider said she and other parents realized the level of harassment and pressure being brought to bear on teachers and administrators.
Schneider said she wants her children to go to a district that functions, for teachers to be supported, and for administrators to be able to do their job without constant interruptions and ongoing harassment.
“I want a board that is not ground zero for a fight that just cannot be won here,” she said.
She cited Ochs’ experience with bonds, adding he is a politically neutral person.
Parent and business owner Dan Tyrrell thanked the three candidates for sticking their necks out, and said that, speaking on behalf of his two children, he was very concerned about the divisions in the community and how it will impact children’s access to quality education.
Noting that the state will not care if people disagree with its policies, he endorsed Ochs for the board seat.
Allisun Moore, an educator in the Middletown Unified district for 29 years, also supported Ochs.
She noted that the district’s leadership has been “bumpy at best” over the past few years, pointing to the repeated changes in board members and superintendents. Over the last year, the district has had three superintendents and seven different board members — and still needed to fill two vacancies. Moore said she’s never seen anything like it.
“Middletown is a district in need of consistency and stability, and I believe Chris Ochs can bring that to us,” she said.
Annette Lee, the provisional board member whose appointment was challenged, read into the record a letter from Jennifer Hanson, a Lakeport Unified School Board member.
Hanson recounted how Lakeport Unified had gone through extremely difficult times four years ago. “I know that you never thought it would be this difficult.”
She said having a board member with bond management experience would be a windfall. She then quoted LaTrease Walker’s own statement to Lake County News on that point: “It's time to rebuild our district. In the 2018 election our district was granted a $42 million bond to modernize and grow our sites. In order to execute the projects we need someone with bond knowledge.”
When Board Chair Larry Allen asked for a nomination, he went to Berlogar first. After noting it was a very tough decision, Berlogar said, “It’s time to get back to the business of educating our students,” and added that Ochs was her choice.
Her motion was seconded by Trustee Zoi Bracisco.
Allen, a retired teacher who worked for the district for 35 years, said that during his time there many people had said they should hire someone to write grants, but they never did. With Ochs, they now have that chance to have someone with grant writing experience, and Allen also voiced his support before calling for the vote, which was unanimous to appoint Ochs.
The board urged Lescher and Vargo-Criglar to stay involved and to run for the board.
Owens then called Ochs forward and administered the oath of office to him. Ochs took his seat at the board table, with his first vote as a trustee being to adjourn the meeting.
After the meeting, he shook hands with fellow board members and community members.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake was among 16 counties included in a state of emergency issued on Wednesday in response to the fall storms that did damage across the region.
Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency in the counties of Amador, Butte, Contra Costa, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Placer, Plumas, San Francisco, Solano, Sonoma and Trinity to support their ongoing recovery from severe October storms that caused widespread damage to roads and other infrastructure.
The proclamation directs Caltrans to request immediate federal assistance for highway repairs or reconstruction, among other provisions.
At the end of October, an atmospheric river dropped several inches of rain in Lake County, which also led to downed trees and power lines, and some mudslides and boulders in local roadways.
The text of the proclamation is published below.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
PROCLAMATION OF A STATE OF EMERGENCY
WHEREAS beginning on or about October 21, 2021, and continuing for approximately one week, a series of strong Atmospheric River storm systems struck California; and
WHEREAS these storms resulted in record-breaking rainfall and resulted in flooding, erosion, and debris flows; and
WHEREAS these storms caused widespread damage to roads and other infrastructure across significant portions of the state; and
WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8558(b), I find that conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist due to these storms; and
WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8558(b), I find that the conditions caused by these storms, by reason of their magnitude and combined impact, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single local government and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to appropriately respond; and
WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8625(c), I find that local authority is inadequate to cope with the magnitude of the damage caused by these storms; and
WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8571, I find that strict compliance with various statutes and regulations specified in this Order would prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of these storms.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, in accordance with the authority vested in me by the State Constitution and statutes, including the California Emergency Services Act, and in particular, Government Code section 8625,
HEREBY PROCLAIM A STATE OF EMERGENCY to exist in Amador, Butte, Contra Costa, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Placer, Plumas, San Francisco, Solano, Sonoma, and Trinity counties due to these storms.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
1. All agencies of the state government utilize and employ state personnel, equipment, and facilities for the performance of any and all activities consistent with the direction of the Office of Emergency Services and the State Emergency Plan. Also, all residents are to obey the direction of emergency officials with regard to this emergency in order to protect their safety.
2. The Office of Emergency Services shall provide assistance to Glenn, Marin, and Trinity counties, if appropriate, under the authority of the California Disaster Assistance Act, Government Code section 8680 et seq., and California Code of Regulations, Title 19, section 2900 et seq.
3. The California Department of Transportation shall formally request immediate assistance through the Federal Highway Administration's Emergency Relief Program, United States Code, Title 23, section 125, in order to obtain federal assistance for highway repairs or reconstruction.
4. The restrictions set forth in Penal Code section 396, which are automatically triggered upon proclamation of a state of emergency, are suspended, and no such restrictions are imposed, with respect to this 2021 event.
I FURTHER DIRECT that as soon as hereafter possible, this Proclamation be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and that widespread publicity and notice be given of this proclamation.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 23rd day of March 2022.
GAVIN NEWSOM Governor of California
ATTEST: SHIRLEY N. WEBER, PH.D. Secretary of State