LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — It started with a love for science.
Lake County Office of Education's Learning Support Specialist Jennifer Kelly has taken science "out-of-this-world" for Lake County students with her lessons and field trips.
Kelly provides STEAM lessons through classroom visits and field trips to the Taylor Observatory.
STEAM education is an approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics as a starting point to guide student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.
STEAM projects include the solar system, robotics, Clear Lake topography and water analysis, sound, engineering and so much more.
“When you look at the three dimensions of science learning, I believe the Taylor Observatory and the science lessons help build connections across disciplines and engage students with technical and engineering practices,” said Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg.
Kelly works with students from kindergarten through the 12th grade. As the students learn the lesson, so do the teachers.
During the 2022-2023 school year, Kelly visited 78 Lake County classrooms and hosted 65 field trips to the Taylor Observatory.
Sixty-five educators from 18 Lake County schools participated in various STEAM activities.
This includes two new activities, Arduino Robotics and the Health of Clearlake.
Arduino Robotics, sponsored by the Reynolds System Inc., is taught in four to six lessons by their engineers and allows students to build robots and control them with Arduino microcontrollers.
The Health of Clear Lake includes up to nine lessons and a field trip to collect and analyze water samples from the lake.
Kelly has her Masters of Education in STEAM. She was also named California Teacher of the Year in 2011 and the Lake County Teacher of the Year in 2010 while teaching at the Middletown Unified School District.
Taylor Observatory / Norton Planetarium / STEAM Center is a facility owned by the Lake County Office of Education, located beneath the dark skies of Lake County, in Kelseyville, California.
The facility features a 36 seat classroom, a 16 inch research grade telescope under a dome, a 32 seat planetarium with a 6.2 meter (20 feet) domed ceiling and an Epsilon Model Digitarium Star Projector System.
The Crab Nebula. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, T. Temim (Princeton University). Although the Crab Nebula is one of the best-studied supernova remnants, questions about its progenitor, the nature of the explosion that created it still remain unanswered.
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope is on the case as it sleuths for any clues that remain within the supernova remnant.
Webb’s infrared sensitivity and spatial resolution are offering astronomers a more comprehensive understanding of the still-expanding scene
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has gazed at the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.
Since this energetic event was recorded in 1054 CE by 11th-century astronomers, the Crab Nebula has continued to draw attention and additional study as scientists seek to understand the conditions, behavior and after-effects of supernovae by carefully studying this relatively close example.
With Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), the game is afoot as new details are uncovered — including the first complete map of dust distribution — in the search for answers about the Crab Nebula’s origins.
At first glance the general shape of the nebula is reminiscent of the 2005 optical wavelength image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
In Webb’s infrared observation, a crisp, cage-like structure of fluffy gaseous filaments are shown in red and orange. However, in the central regions, emission from dust grains (yellow-white and green) is mapped out by Webb for the first time. The Hubble and Webb images of this object can be contrasted here.
Additional aspects of the inner workings of the Crab Nebula become more prominent and are seen in greater detail in the infrared light captured by Webb.
In particular, Webb highlights what is known as synchrotron radiation: emission produced from charged particles, like electrons, moving around magnetic field lines at relativistic speeds.
The radiation appears here as milky smoke-like material throughout the majority of the Crab Nebula’s interior.
This feature is a product of the nebula’s pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star. The pulsar’s strong magnetic fields accelerate particles to extremely high speeds and cause them to emit radiation as they wind around magnetic field lines. Though emitted across the electromagnetic spectrum, the synchrotron radiation becomes particularly vibrant in the infrared with Webb's NIRCam instrument.
To locate the Crab Nebula’s pulsar heart, trace the wisps that follow a circular ripple-like pattern in the middle to the bright white dot in the center. Further out from the core, follow the thin white ribbons of the radiation. The curvy wisps are closely grouped together, outlining the structure of the pulsar’s magnetic fields, which sculpt and shape the nebula.
At center left and right, the white material curves sharply inward from the filamentary dust cage’s edges and goes toward the neutron star’s location, as if the waist of the nebula is pinched. This abrupt slimming may be caused by the confinement of the supernova wind’s expansion by a belt of dense gas.
The wind produced by the pulsar heart continues to push the shell of gas and dust outward at a rapid pace. Notice how the filaments tend to be longer toward the upper right side of the nebula, in the same direction the pulsar is moving – not restricted by the belt of gas. Among the remnant’s interior, yellow-white and green mottled filaments form large-scale loop-like structures, which represent areas where dust grains reside.
The search for answers about the Crab Nebula’s past continues as astronomers further analyse the Webb data and consult previous observations of the nebula taken by other telescopes. Scientists will have newer Hubble data to review within the next year or so from the telescope’s reimaging of the supernova remnant. This will mark Hubble’s first look at the Crab Nebula in over 20 years, and will enable astronomers to more accurately compare Webb and Hubble’s findings.
Webb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Under an international collaboration agreement, ESA provided the telescope’s launch service, using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace. ESA also provided the workhorse spectrograph NIRSpec and 50% of the mid-infrared instrument MIRI, which was designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency.
Motorcycle-involved crashes continue to be a major concern for the California Highway Patrol.
The CHP has implemented a yearlong, federally funded program, Get Educated and Ride Safe VI, or GEARS, with the goal of increasing motorcycle safety and awareness throughout the state.
The GEARS VI goals are designed to reduce the number of motorcycle-involved crashes and crash victims.
Based on provisional data, there were 7,639 motorcycle-involved crashes, resulting in 381 deaths and 6,969 injuries, within CHP jurisdiction in federal fiscal year 2021-22 — an 8% increase from the previous year.
“Motorcycle riders are statistically more likely to be injured or killed when involved in a crash,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “The GEARS VI grant will support the Department’s efforts to improve safety for motorcycle riders and other road users through focused education and enforcement.”
During the grant period, the CHP will increase motorcycle safety activities in regions with a high number of motorcycle incidents and participate in traffic safety education campaigns.
The campaign will promote the use of U.S. Department of Transportation-compliant helmets for all riders and raise driver awareness of sharing the road with motorcyclists.
The CHP will also increase enforcement in areas with a high number of motorcycle-involved crashes, which resulted from speed, improper turns, and driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"Sissy." Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has new dogs and other dogs waiting to be adopted this fall.
The Clearlake Animal Control website lists 46 adoptable dogs.
They include “Sissy,” a 2-year-old female German shepherd mix with a tan coat. She has been spayed and is up to date on vaccinations.
Another adoptable dog is “Smak,” a male German shepherd mix with a tricolor coat.
"Smak." Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. 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.
From left to right, Joni Falkenberg, Kelseyville Unified School District Teacher of the Year; Sandi Morton, Lakeport Unified School District Teacher of the Year; Anna Sabalone, Lake County Teacher of the Year; Rachel Weidner, Konocti Unified School District Teacher of the Year; Jon Prather, Middletown Unified School District Teacher of the Year. Courtesy photo. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Educators, families and friends recently came together to honor the Lake County District Teachers of the Year.
It was a night of celebrating excellence in education.
During the reception, each Lake County District Teacher of the Year received a Congressional Recognition Award from Congressman Mike Thompson.
"These educators demonstrate a commitment to high-quality education. What they do, every day, impacts student achievement and success," Brock Falkenberg, Lake County Superintendent of Schools said. "Each award recipient is exemplary in their work ethic and is dedicated to supporting the school and students."
The district teachers of the Year include:
• Joni Falkenberg — Kelseyville Unified School District. • Rachel Weidner — Konocti Unified School District. • Sandi Morton — Lakeport Unified School District. • Jon Prather — Middletown Unified School District. • Anna Sabalone – Upper Lake Unified School District.
Along with receiving the Congressional Recognition, Lake County Teacher of the Year Anna Sabalone received a check from Community First Credit Union. Thank you to Community First Credit Union for their ongoing support of providing the Lake County Teacher of the Year with a $1,500 cash award.
Although the Lake County Teacher of the Year is chosen in May, the reception is held after the California Department of Education chooses its five California Teachers of the Year in late October.
This allows us to honor our Lake County Teacher of the Year if they were to be named California Teacher of the Year. Lake County's last California Teacher of the Year was Erica Boomer from Upper Lake High School in 2019.
The Lake County Teacher of the Year program is administered through the Lake County Office of Education and the California Department of Education. For more information about the Lake County District Teachers of the Year, please visit www.lakecoe.org/TOY.
From left to right, Giovanni Annous, Upper Lake Unified School District Superintendent; Brock Falkenberg, Lake County Superintendent of Schools; Anna Sabalone, Lake County Teacher of the Year; Annie Petrie, Upper Lake High School Principal; Sarah Anzano, Branch Manager Northern Region for Community First Credit Union. Courtesy photo.
Leah Chan Grinvald, University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Ofer Tur-Sinai, Ono Academic College
However, as cars grow “smarter,” the right to repair them is under siege.
As legalscholars, we find that the question of whether you and your local mechanic can tap into your car’s data to diagnose and repair spans issues of property rights, trade secrets, cybersecurity, data privacy and consumer rights. Policymakers are forced to navigate this complex legal landscape and ideally are aiming for a balanced approach that upholds the right to repair, while also ensuring the safety and privacy of consumers.
Understanding telematics and right to repair
Until recently, repairing a car involved connecting to its standard on-board diagnostics port to retrieve diagnostic data. The ability for independent repair shops – not just those authorized by the manufacturer – to access this information was protected by a state law in Massachusetts, approved by voters on Nov. 6, 2012, and by a nationwide memorandum of understanding between major car manufacturers and the repair industry signed on Jan. 15, 2014.
However, with the rise of telematics systems, which combine computing with telecommunications, these dynamics are shifting. Unlike the standardized onboard diagnostics ports, telematics systems vary across car manufacturers. These systems are often protected by digital locks, and circumventing these locks could be considered a violation of copyright law. The telematics systems also encrypt the diagnostic data before transmitting it to the manufacturer.
This reduces the accessibility of telematics information, potentially locking out independent repair shops and jeopardizing consumer choice – a lack of choice that can lead to increased costs for consumers.
Also, these telematics systems fall outside the scope of the original Massachusetts legislation and the nationwide memorandum of understanding. Recognizing the pivotal role diagnostic data plays in vehicle maintenance and repair, 75% of Massachusetts voters approved a ballot initiative on Nov. 3, 2020, to amend the state’s repair legislation. The amendment aims to ensure that the switch to telematics does not curtail an effective right to repair vehicles.
Specifically, the new law requires manufacturers selling telematics-equipped vehicles from the 2022 model year onward to provide car owners and their chosen repair shops access to the vehicle’s mechanical data through an interoperable, standardized and open-access telematics platform. Access should also encompass the ability to relay commands to components of the vehicle, if necessary, for maintenance, diagnostics and repair. Voters in Maine overwhelmingly approved a similar measure on Nov. 7, 2023.
However, the Massachusetts law was the subject of a lawsuit in federal court shortly after voters approved it in 2020, and it was suspended until June 1, 2023.
Repairing cars today is as much about data as it is nuts and bolts, but increasingly, carmakers are locking that data away from car owners and independent repair shops.Nenad Stojkovic/Flickr, CC BY
Safety and privacy concerns
While the amendment makes significant strides toward creating a level playing field in vehicle maintenance and repair, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and car manufacturers have raised concerns about the legislation.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s main concern revolves around cybersecurity vulnerabilities with potential ramifications for vehicle safety, particularly the amendment’s provision for two-way access. A hacker could potentially take control of a car’s critical systems like accelerator, brakes and steering. Consequently, the agency recommended that car manufacturers not adhere to the law.
A related argument is that Massachusetts law is preempted by federal law. This forms the basis of a lawsuit filed in November 2020 by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation against Massachusetts’ attorney general.
The manufacturers assert that abiding by the state law would inevitably put them in breach of federal statutes and regulations, such as the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. This lawsuit was pending as of press time, although the Massachusetts attorney general declared the law effective as of June 1, 2023.
Critics also emphasize the privacy concerns associated with open access to telematics systems. Granting third-party access could expose personal details, especially real-time location data. Advocacy groups warn that this information might be used as a tracking tool by potential abusers and others aiming to exploit people.
Recent developments
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Massachusetts’ attorney general appear to have reached a consensus on alterations to the law, and the administration has dropped its recommendation that manufacturers disregard the law.
The primary adjustment would mean a telematics platform would be in compliance with the right to repair law if it were accessible within close proximity to the vehicle – for example, via Bluetooth. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed that this would be safer and align with federal law.
However, repair advocates have criticized this change as unduly restrictive. They argue that it gives authorized car dealers an unfair advantage over independent repair shops because the manufacturers allow the dealers to access the data remotely.
A new federal bill, the REPAIR Act, was recently introduced in the House, seeking to require vehicle manufacturers to provide access to in-vehicle diagnostic data, including telematics. This bill’s first hearing occurred on Sept. 27, 2023, and the bill passed out of subcommittee on Nov. 2.
Consumer Reports is among the organizations that support right-to-repair legislation.
Who owns your car’s data?
One issue left unresolved by the legislation is the ownership of vehicle data. A vehicle generates all sorts of data as it operates, including location, diagnostic, driving behavior, and even usage patterns of in-car systems – for example, which apps you use and for how long.
In recent years, the question of data ownership has gained prominence. In 2015, Congress legislated that the data stored in event data recorders belongs to the vehicle owner. This was a significant step in acknowledging the vehicle owner’s right over specific datasets. However, the broader issue of data ownership in today’s connected cars remains unresolved.
Whether data should be subject to property rights is a matter of debate. If deemed property, it seems logical to award these rights to the vehicle owner because the vehicle creates the data while used by the owner. However, through contractual terms and digital locks, manufacturers effectively secure control over the data.
The question of ownership aside, the crux of the matter for right to repair is guaranteed access for vehicle owners to their vehicles’ data.
A way forward
While concerns surrounding the Massachusetts legislation have merit, we believe they should not overshadow the need to preserve a competitive space in the auto repair sector and preserve the right to repair. This matters not only for safeguarding consumers’ autonomy and ensuring competitive pricing, but also for minimizing environmental waste from prematurely discarded vehicles and parts.
The hope is that policymakers and the industry can strike a balance: upholding the right to repair without compromising safety and privacy. One possibility is developing tools that segregate sensitive personal information from mechanical data.
Ultimately, a successful implementation of the new law in Massachusetts may pave the way for a renewed nationwide memorandum of understanding, capturing the essence of the original memorandum of understanding and preserving the right to repair cars in the face of rapidly advancing technologies.
The family of Samuel Lawrence, one of 10 people to die in Georgia’s Fulton County Jail in 2023, is fighting for answers and accountability.
“I got to think about him every day of my life and I don’t know when the pain stops,” Lawrence’s father, Frank Richardson, told a local TV station in October 2023. “I pray to God that he touches that jail and puts people in place to help the other ones that are left behind.”
Shortly before his death, Lawrence, 34, had filed a complaint about jail conditions, alleging that he was brutally beaten and isolated, with insufficient food and water.
But Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat largely blamed the jail’s “outbreak of violence” on “the long-standing, dangerous overcrowding and the crumbling walls of the facility.”
In order to “save lives,” Labat said, his county would be requesting a “replacement jail.”
The Georgia sheriff is among many law enforcement officials to claim that people like Samuel Lawrence would be safer if communities reduced overcrowding by building new jails or enhancing existing ones.
But recent research my colleague Weiwei Chen and I published on escalating jail mortality rates nationwide calls into question that rationale.
In an article published in the June 2023 issue of Health Affairs, we examined relationships between jail conditions and jail deaths, analyzing factors such as percent of jail capacity occupied, admission and discharge rates and population demographics.
Among the variables that appeared to be most significantly related to jail mortality were turnover rate – the number of people admitted to and discharged from a facility relative to its average population – as well as the percentage of Black people in the jail population.
Data on how many people die while incarcerated is notoriously inaccessible and often unreliable. Still, available reports on jail deaths from the Bureau of Justice Statistics offer some perspective.
In 2019, overall jail death rates were below the adjusted national average of 339 per 100,000, but leading up to that year, they had steeply increased. Between 2000 and 2019, jail mortality rose by 11%, from 151 per 100,000 to 167 per 100,000.
People hold banners with the names of people who have died in Rikers Island jail during a rally on July 11, 2023, in New York City.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
To conduct what epidemiologist Homer Venters referred to as an “apples-to-apples comparison” of circumstances and deaths in multiple jails during a period of escalating mortality, we relied on a combination of datasets.
For information about facility deaths, we turned to statistics compiled by Reuters news agency reporters, who submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain mortality data from the largest jails across the U.S.
Our data on jail conditions – such as annual admissions and releases, facility capacities and demographics – came from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ census and annual survey of jails.
Ultimately, we assessed mortality rates and conditions in approximately 450 U.S. jails between 2008 and 2019.
Some of our most robust findings about jail deaths had to do with two factors: turnover rate – the sum of weekly admissions and releases divided by average daily population – and demographics.
In the jails we examined, average turnover was 67% (slightly above the national average of 53%). Relatively high turnover rates, we found, were associated with higher death rates overall, as well as due to suicide, drugs and alcohol, and homicide.
In addition to revealing a relationship between turnover rate and mortality, our research showed that the presence of greater proportions of non-Hispanic Black people in populations of relatively large jails was associated with more deaths due to illness.
Race-based differences in illness-related deaths could be due to a variety of factors, including populationwide health disparities in the U.S.
Reliance on jails
Our findings about both turnover and racial disparities should be considered alongside the broader context of jail incarceration in the United States.
Roughly 4.9 million people are arrested and jailed each year, some of them multiple times. Overall, there were approximately 10.3 million admissions to more than 3,000 U.S. jails in 2019.
People in jails have been found to be “significantly poorer” than people outside of jails, and more than 30 percent of those who are detained remain incarcerated because they cannot afford to pay bail.
Research has shown that the cash bail system – a key driver of high jail turnover – “punishes the poor” by ensuring that they are more likely to be detained than their wealthier counterparts for the same crime. A reliance on cash bail also reportedly increases recidivism and undermines public safety.
Beyond incarceration
Our study suggests that ongoing initiatives geared at reducing incarceration – and by extension, jail turnover – could help achieve Sheriff Labat’s goal of saving lives.
Some communities, for example, have successfully limited the use of cash bail. Others have enhanced community-based services that address mental illness, drug use and homelessness without involving police, so jails are less likely to be sites of first resort for people with complex needs.
A year before Samuel Lawrence died, a report from the ACLU suggested that by adopting at least some of the above measures, Fulton County could “reduce its jail population significantly.”
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Authorities are investigating the fatal Thursday afternoon shooting by sheriff’s deputies of a man believed to have committed a stabbing in Lakeport.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has so far not disclosed the name of the man who was shot as the investigation is still in its preliminary stages.
Lauren Berlinn, the sheriff’s office’s public information officer, said that deputies responded to the 100 block of Dixon Drive in Lakeport due to reports of an assault with a knife by a male subject.
Berlinn said deputies arrived on scene and contacted the subject who at that point had a firearm.
She said multiple attempts were made by the deputies to defuse and de-escalate the situation; however, the subject refused to comply.
Shots were fired and medical personnel responded. Berlinn said the subject was pronounced dead at the scene.
Berlinn said the Lake County Sheriff’s Office was on scene Thursday afternoon and cooperating with the Lake County District Attorney’s Office to conduct the investigation into this incident.
The Lake County District Attorney’s Office is the lead investigating agency per Lake County’s Critical Incident Protocol, Berlinn said.
Berlinn said the information provided on Thursday afternoon was based on a preliminary and ongoing investigation, which continues to evolve as investigators interview witnesses, review physical and electronic records, and analyze forensic evidence.
“The department’s understanding of the facts and circumstances may change as additional evidence is collected and analyzed,” Berlinn said.
A $400,000 federal grant will help the California Highway Patrol Native-Tribal Traffic Education Program build and strengthen the Department’s relationship with Northern California’s Native American communities.
The grant will support the Tribal Traffic Education Program, or TTEP — the CHP’s first grant-funded safety program specifically focused on reaching Native American communities — with funding for traffic safety education to drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists on and near California’s tribal lands.
With a population of nearly 720,000, California is home to more Native Americans/Alaskan Natives than any other state.
There are 109 federally recognized tribes, each with its own unique culture, history and practices.
The program strives to improve service and public trust in tribal communities by implementing many of the lifesaving traffic safety programs the CHP has to offer.
“We are excited to extend our traffic safety initiatives to tribes and Native American residents within our communities,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “The program’s primary goal is to save lives through education, while proactively building and maintaining relationships with California’s diverse tribal communities.”
CHP personnel involved in TTEP serve as resources to Native American/Alaska Native communities and tribes by sharing traffic safety information, conducting traffic safety presentations, and participating in community outreach and tribal cultural events.
The CHP has set a goal of conducting 125 tribal traffic safety presentations and other community outreach activities within the CHP’s Northern, Golden Gate, and Valley Divisions each grant cycle, with the intent of expanding the program statewide.
Program topics will include seat belt safety, proper use of child safety seats, dangers of driving under the influence, pedestrian and bicycle education, defensive driving techniques, distracted driving, teen/parent driving safety, driver license requirements, and other educational subjects.
Traffic safety presentations will be conducted at schools, public health fairs, tribal events, and other activities.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
On Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs released the National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, the largest national analysis of veteran suicides through 2021, the latest year for which there is data.
The report shows that 6,392 veterans died by suicide in 2021, which is 114 more than in 2020.
The number of non-veteran suicides also increased to 40,020 deaths in 2021, which is 2,000 more than in 2020.
Officials said that 2021 was the first full year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to greater financial strain, housing instability, anxiety and depression levels, and barriers to health care — all of which are known to be associated with increased risk of suicide for veterans and non-veterans alike.
There was also an increase in firearm availability in 2021, which is proven to increase both the risk of suicide and the risk of dying during a suicide attempt.
Ending veteran suicide is VA’s top clinical priority and a key part of President Biden’s Unity Agenda.
Since 2021, VA has worked aggressively to expand support for veterans in crisis, including offering no-cost health care to veterans in suicidal crisis at VA or non-VA facilities; launching the 988 (then press 1) to help veterans connect more quickly with caring, qualified responders through the Veterans Crisis Line; partnering with community-based suicide prevention organizations to provide veterans with on-the-ground support; expanding firearm suicide prevention efforts; and encouraging veterans to reach out for help through a national Veteran suicide prevention awareness campaign.
These steps have led to more than 33,000 veterans getting free emergency health care, a 12.1% increase in use of the Veterans Crisis Line, more than 3.5 million visits to VA’s support website, and more.
Moving forward, VA and the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to work urgently to end Veteran suicide through a public health approach that combines both community-based and clinically based strategies to save lives.
“There is nothing more important to VA than preventing veteran suicide — nothing,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough. “One veteran suicide will always be too many, and we at VA will use every tool to our disposal to prevent these tragedies and save veterans’ lives.”
“We will do everything in our power to learn from this report and use its findings to help us save lives,” said VA undersecretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, M.D. “It will take all of us — working together — to end veteran suicide, and we will not rest until that goal becomes a reality.”
Before 2021, veteran suicide had decreased two years in a row — from 6,718 veteran suicides in 2018 to 6,278 in 2020. Learn more information about VA’s comprehensive, nationwide efforts to prevent veteran suicide.
This report is based on verified data from the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Defense, and it meets the quality standards of a peer-reviewed publication.
In the interest of full transparency, VA releases yearly reports detailing how we come to the conclusions in the Annual Suicide Prevention Report.
For more detailed information about veteran suicide in 2021, view the full report. For additional veteran suicide mortality data, see the report’s accompanying state data sheets.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — During its annual visit to Lake County last week, the Yuba Community College Board encountered a room filled with concerned residents — current and former students and faculty, and community members — who came to advocate for preserving and building up the district’s Lake County Campus.
The Nov. 9 meeting was marked by an evening of pointed candor, demands for truthfulness and transparency, and an appeal for partnership.
The Yuba Community College District Board, which governs Yuba Community College and Woodland Community College, annually holds one meeting in Lake County, whose Clearlake campus is aligned with Woodland.
Staff say the Lake County meetings typically tend to be the best attended of the year, and that was the case last Thursday evening, when nearly 100 community leaders, students and staff came to the three-and-a-half-hour-long meeting to voice their concerns about the campus’ future.
The overwhelming majority of the more than two dozen speakers told the board at the over a two-hour public comment period of their growing concerns about how the campus’ staff has been allowed to dwindle, with important positions not replaced, while key services for students like the library and the student center are allocated few resources and the bookstore is now nonexistent, and counseling services have been drastically reduced.
“We have lost so many staff here it’s ridiculous. It’s like a ghost town,” said student and Success Center staffer Laura Jean Bevan.
While some of the campus’ issues were attributed to the ongoing fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, speakers indicated the campus’ challenges predated the pandemic, which has only made things worse with its driving down of enrollment.
One former student said the main campus in Woodland has been suffocating the Clearlake campus. Another pointed to the elimination of the LEARN program, meant to help remedial learners, and a lack of marketing of services and classes as more blows to the campus.
Others asked the board to recognize the campus’ unique community, which meets the needs of its students in a very special way. It’s a place, they said, where students have felt safe and valued.
A speaker shared her journey from being homeless and the victim of domestic violence to studying at the campus, which she said saved her life. Today she’s employed and working at the Hope Center.
At the same time, those who spoke to the board pointed to disparities in resource allocation — while positions are disappearing in Lake County, they are increasing at Woodland Community College’s main campus. However, it also has been reported that the Colusa County center is being starved of resources.
Kevin Reynolds, vice president of Reynolds Systems, which employs 100 people, said one of their biggest challenges is recruiting, and how education can help local businesses stay alive.
One of the former students who spoke, Ami Landrum, said what is being taken away from the campus is detrimental to the whole community.
Still other concerns focused on the campus’ lack of a strategic plan.
These concerns matched what Dr. Shouan Pan, the district’s new chancellor, heard from staff and community leaders at an Oct. 23 listening session also attended by Lake County News.
Afterward, Trustee Doug Harris, a former campus faculty member who now represents Lake County on the board, said he had never seen anything like it, with so many people coming forward to explain, point by point, their concerns.
Just a year ago, at the campus’ 50th anniversary event, staff, students and supporters highlighted how the educational opportunities it has afforded have had an immensely positive impact on the community.
Those raising the alarm to the board last Thursday were united in their concerns that Lake County could end up ultimately losing the campus.
Ed Robey, a former Clearlake City Council member and retired county supervisor who once was an adjunct professor at the college, said the community needs a viable, sustainable community college.
“We’re at a tipping point, and it’s up to you guys to decide which way we tip,” Robey told the board.
Robey was one of several speakers who asked the board to be honest with the community and not let the campus die on the vine.
Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora said they’re seeing the campus be squeezed at every corner.
“The only result that you can expect from that continual squeezing is the concerns that you’re hearing,” Flora said.
Pamela Bening-Hale, a former student at the college who now sits on the Konocti Unified School Board, put it more bluntly.
“Shame on you,” she told the board, adding that she hadn’t realized what was being taken away from Lake County’s students.
Notable speakers make their arguments
Notable among the speakers were the number of former students who have since gone on to become community leaders and professionals, all of them emphasizing the difference their education at the Lake County Campus made.
They included District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier, who also worked as an outreach and engagement specialist at the campus; Zabdy Neria, a Lake County Office of Education child therapist and Konocti Unified School District Board member; Pamela Bening-Hale, who also serves on the Konocti Unified Board; Tim Gill, assistant superintendent of educational services; Kim Cole, tribal administrator for Middletown Rancheria; Randall Cole, Kim Cole’s husband, a counselor and motivational speaker; Clearlake Mayor Russell Perdock; Kevin Thompson, clinic manager at the Lake County Tribal Health Consortium’s new Clearlake clinic; and Rob Reil, who now heads up the Lower Lake High School Culinary Program.
Then there were the former instructors who passionately appealed for help for the school, including Harris, Robey, Shannon Gunier, Dr. Harry Lyons and Peggy Alexander.
Those former students and instructors were joined by Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg; Clearlake City Councilman Dirk Slooten; Joan Mingori, a business owner and retired Konocti Unified career counselor and board member; and City Manager Alan Flora.
Sabatier, who called the meeting attendance “amazing,” offered statistics outlining the different economic realities for Lake and Yolo counties, explaining that getting people to sign up for college in Woodland and Yolo County may be more natural than in Clearlake and Lake County.
He asked the board to look at expenditures per student, asserting that Lake County’s students should be valued as much as students at other campuses.
Sabatier pointed to the need to pay staff more to retain them, and to keep lines of communication open with local government.
“No longer in Lake County do we say it is what it is or it is good enough,” and that standards need to be raised, expectations set and people held accountable.
“I’m looking for partnership, I’m looking for leadership, I’m looking for us to serve together to make our community a better place,” said Sabatier.
Gunier called her 10 years as an adjunct faculty member “my heart job,” recalling how well people worked together.
She said if you want to see success in action, attend a campus graduation ceremony.
However, Gunier, like other former staff members, said staff is declining, which has been brought on in part by lack of support from the Woodland Community College administration.
“Their efforts seem to be marginal at best,” said Gunier, pointing to lack of a strategic plan and adding, “Our staff has been left out of the decision making process.”
That’s led to important positions being eliminated. When staff raises concerns about that, Gunier said they are being met with a condescending and dismissive attitude.
She blamed it on the campus’ realignment with Woodland in 2015, suggesting the best thing to do is to let Lake County’s campus run autonomously, under the auspices of the California Community Colleges system, or to come up with a shared strategic plan to deal with dropping attendance and loss of staff.
“We have the power to turn it around,” she said.
Falkenberg pointed out that the Yuba Community College District serves all or part of eight counties, a huge geographical area with many diverse and unique needs and desires.
“Clearlake is unique as well,” he said, explaining that fewer than 80% of Clearlake residents have a high school diploma and only 40% have attempted college courses, significantly different statistics from the state, from Woodland and Davis.
One third of Lake County’s workforce leaves the county each day, primarily for Sonoma, Napa and Mendo counties — in that order, Falkenberg said. The majority of those commuters live in the south county, in the college’s district. As a result, connections to the Sacramento Valley, where the main campus is located, is limited.
He asked for leadership focused on Lake County and the Clearlake campus, noting there is a difference between leadership and management, as leadership means engaging with people.
“I ask, I think we all ask, that the college focus on being leaders in Lake County,” Falkenberg said.
Falkenberg also asked for them to come with a can-do attitude to meet the community’s needs, and not expect the community to meet the college’s needs.
Ignoring the needs of the living — and the dead
Dr. Lyons, who taught biology at the campus for 29 years before his 2016 retirement, said he keeps track of his colleagues, and he now sees signs of unsustainability. He pointed to the campus library being mostly closed, a nonexistent bookstore, and a computer lab where the lights are off and students have no access.
In 2016, there were 11 full-time faculty at the Lake County Campus; now there are six. At the same time, the main Woodland Campus’ staff has grown from 27 to 37, a 37% increase compared to Lake County’s 45% decrease, Lyons said.
Lyons said that, as a scientist, “data without context is troublesome,” explaining that even with COVID-19 and the impact on Lake County of damaging wildfires, the Lake County Campus’ experience is still substantially different from Woodland’s.
He said Lake is the ninth poorest county in California. “Poverty is nothing to be proud of but it is nothing to be ashamed of either,” he said, pointing out that none of the seven other counties the district serves are on that list of the poorest counties.
Lyons also asked them to get a full-time biology instructor, explaining that there are ethical and biological requirements for the management of the cadavers that the campus uses in its biological studies.
He had worked to bring cadavers — and the learning opportunities they offer to students — to the campus. Yet, with no biology professor now in place, there are concerns the cadavers are not being protected and cared for properly.
Peggy Alexander, who retired in 2018 after teaching 28 years, said she watched it grow from a tiny campus to a thriving location at the time she retired.
Alexander said when you take an already lean institution and cut it more, it puts limits on the local administration’s ability.
“You starve the institution. You wrong our campus and our community,” she said, and violate your mission. But, she added, the board has the power to do otherwise.
Slooten, as he had been in the listening session with Dr. Pan weeks earlier, was emphatic about the need to preserve the campus.
“Woodland should not decide what is good for Lake County. Period,” Slooten said.
Too many programs and staff positions have been cut by Woodland, he said. “That has to stop, now.”
The Lake County Campus is vital for providing much-needed programs for economic and personal development, said Slooten, who asked for a commitment from the board that they will pay attention to this campus. “It is that important to us.”
Rob Reil said he felt at home the minute he met Culinary Arts instructor Robert Cabreros, who taught him to be kind to others, to have perspective and to always move forward.
Riel, who now teaches those same skills at Lower Lake High School, said that when his students think about a four year campus, their brains explode, but the Lake County Campus provides them with opportunities.
He advocated for dual enrollment — with high school students able to get college credit. “This is the hill that I will die on.”
Randall Cole called the campus “an artery to our community,” and that taking away its funding is like taking away the runaway from an airplane. “You can’t take off.”
Pointing to the dozens of concerned Lake County residents, Cole added, “Please hear our community. Look at this room.”
Harris got up from his seat at the board table to go to the podium, receiving a round of applause as he did so.
Formerly a faculty member who taught at the campus for 23 years, Harris said, “My observation is that this campus has been subject to an administration by attrition more than anything else.”
He said that process by the Woodland administration began in 2016 with the realignment, “and has been gathering speed ever since.”
They have no counselors, no position covering engagement and recruitment for high school students — which is the biggest component out of community colleges’ recent climb out of enrollment decline — and have had a policy of canceling classes two weeks before the semester, despite the fact that many students add classes at the last minute. He added that he’s pleased to hear that the cancellation policy is being revised.
Harris said the community won’t accept a result with the Lake County Campus similar to what has happened with the Colusa Center. Colusa County educators recently told him, in his capacity as a board member, “We thought you had forgotten us.”
He ended by turning to the audience and said, “Thank you all for showing up.”
A need to focus on local high schools students
Joan Mingori, who had been a career counselor at Lower Lake High School, said that the campus has suffered as the college administration has killed off dual enrollment classes.
She recalled bringing hundreds of students to the college and working with counselors to get them financial aid and to complete enrollment. All of that went away with the student outreach programs.
Mingori questioned how poorer students can manage to study effectively without the library and resource center.
“I’m angry. I’m angry at all of you,” she told the board. She added, “We had a viable campus here and you really have let it go.”
Lake County Chief Deputy Probation Officer Meredith Noyer spoke about an October event in which 40 agencies came to the college campus to offer support to individuals on probation supervision as part of giving them new opportunities. She said those individuals referred by probation felt support and hope.
Flora said the city of Clearlake has been renting a building on campus for their staff as the City Hall renovations move forward.
He said it’s been interesting to be on campus and see what’s going on. “It hasn’t put my mind at ease. It’s made me more concerned.”
Former Campus Dean Ingrid Larsen — who left for another job in September after less than a year in the position — told Flora a few times that it was very sad that the city supports the campus more than the college leadership.
Flora said there is a tremendous amount of need, and the situation boils down to two options: either change course and invest in the campus or be honest with the community that they’re going to squeeze it to death.
Speaking for the city, Flora said, “We’re committed to transforming this community.”
Tim Gill of Konocti Unified spoke about the 10 career pathways at Lower Lake High School, in which are enrolled about 700 students. There’s a total of 1,100 high school students not far away, between Lower Lake and Middletown High schools, but the pathways are meant to take those students elsewhere.
He noted how Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta and Adventist Health Clear Lake President Colleen Assavapisitkul asked to have the college add an emergency response pathway. Woodland Community College said no, Mendocino College said yes.
Gill, who took classes at the campus and had been an adjunct faculty member there, told the board, “You guys need to invest in us.”
Board President Juan Delgado thanked everyone for coming to the meeting. “You are showing that you really are for this facility.”
Later in the meeting, as it was nearing its end, new Trustee Rita Andrews told community members that they were heard, and that she would be thinking about what was said that night for a long time.
Board member Jesse Ortiz said he wanted an analysis of the Lake County Campus and resources and where the college is at in the budget.
“It's only fair. We spent two hours listening to this community,” Ortiz said, asking them to take some time and put it on an upcoming agenda. “I think it’s just the right thing to do.”
Sabatier, sitting in the back of the room, gave the board a thumbs-up.
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.
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