In looking back on fire news in California over the past year, Cal Fire is sharing six important things about 2022.
Those topics are shared below.
No. 1: Reflecting on a year of progress and resilience, California experienced an 85% reduction in acres burned and a 78% reduction in structures destroyed in 2022
While Mother Nature played a critical role, strategic investments in firefighting equipment, aerial resources, fuels reduction and forest management projects, and the tireless hard work of firefighters and local communities also came together to help 2022 experience significantly fewer acres burned than in previous years.
Watch Cal Fire Director Joe Tyler in the video discuss the year’s highlights.
No. 2: A new demonstration forest and more than 2,500 acres were added statewide, furthering momentum for important forest research, restoration, and stewardship work
California's demonstration state forests help show the world how restoration, conservation and stewardship come together to provide critical research and healthy forests during the age of climate change.
Cal Fire furthered this important work this year and thank our many partners and adjacent communities that help make it happen.
No. 3: Cal Fire law enforcement officers helped stop fires before they started through a record number of arson arrests
Through the committed work of Cal Fire law enforcement officers and diligent community members, more than 160 arson arrests were made this year following extensive investigations.
With a majority of all wildfires being human-caused in California, this year's record-setting number makes a significant impact towards combatting the potential for human-caused megafires.
Since 2016, Cal Fire law enforcement officers have arrested more than 700 suspected arsonists.
No. 4: The first night flying missions hit the sky, providing California another important tool in the firefighting toolbox
Cal Fire continues to add new technology and innovative solutions to the range of firefighting tools available to us.
One of these tools, when conditions and operations allow, is the ability to attack fires at night from the air.
In the video above, see first-hand how this works and the added capacity it provides.
No. 5: Important updates were made to California’s Fire Hazard Severity Zone map, now open for public comment
After years of planning and collaboration with fire scientists, firefighters, stakeholders and local community partners, the new and updated map reflects changes in fire hazard now experienced throughout California in rural or unincorporated areas.
And there are many ways to stay informed and provide public comment. Learn more at the link below.
No. 6: Millions were distributed to California communities to strengthen partnerships, shade schoolyards and neighborhoods, and prepare for and prevent wildfire
And applications are now open for 2023. Learn more about the amazing work these grants make possible and what's available for your community.
The California Highway Patrol urges everyone to ring in 2023 responsibly by designating a sober driver.
The CHP will conduct a maximum enforcement period, or MEP, starting at 6:01 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022, continuing through 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023.
During that time, all available CHP officers will be out on patrol with a focus on removing impaired drivers.
“Every year, people’s lives are impacted forever by making the decision to get behind the wheel while under the influence,” CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray said. “Driving impaired is never worth it and certainly not the way to ring in the new year — always designate a sober driver.”
During the previous New Year’s MEP, 29 people were killed and CHP officers arrested 495 impaired drivers.
Additionally, the CHP issued over 2,300 citations for speeding and 26 citations for seat belt violations during the same time period.
To help bolster this year’s holiday traffic safety effort across state lines, the CHP will again coordinate with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and law enforcement partners from all over the Western United States.
With this year’s “Eyes on the Interstates” initiative, officers from Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho and Montana will be teaming up with the CHP to increase awareness about driving under the influence and removing impaired drivers from the roadways.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — With showers forecast through this week and next, the National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for parts of Northern California, including Lake County.
The flood watch will be in effect from 4 p.m. Thursday through 4 p.m. Saturday.
The National Weather Service said another round of rain is expected to bring an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain to low elevation locations with total amounts approaching 7 inches at higher elevations over the coming week.
Forecasters said already saturated soils will increase the risk of flooding as a result.
The forecast also calls for a potential break in the rain on Sunday, followed by “a pattern conducive to atmospheric rivers” that will continue from the middle to late next week.
The specific Lake County forecast is predicting the potential for nearly 8 inches of rain from Thursday through Saturday.
Sunday, New Year’s Day, is predicted to have patchy fog in the morning, followed by sunny conditions and no rain during the day, with temperatures in the low 50s. Sunday night is forecast to be mostly cloudy with a temperature low in the high 30s.
Showers are then forecast to return from Monday through Wednesday.
Temperatures during the day will hover in the high 40s to low 50s through next week, with nighttime temperatures ranging from the high 30s to low 40s.
From Thursday through Saturday, winds of up to 11 miles per hour also are anticipated.
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.
Tis the season to be giving. Many older adults enjoy giving money during their lifetime to family members or donations to a religious or charitable organizations.
For example, a grandparent may make a generous holiday gift of money to a needy grandchild in college or to an adult child who is struggling in-between jobs. The magnitude of such giving is usually governed by a person’s financial resources, life circumstances, and generosity.
This natural tendency to bestow gifts, at holidays and birthdays, can grind to an abrupt halt when someone becomes incapacitated, such as when a person becomes demented.
That said, anyone who wishes to continue a pattern of gifting, or otherwise provide for possible gifts, in the event of their own future incapacity, should plan ahead by including appropriate gifting provisions in their estate planning documents.
An express gifting authority can be included in a person’s trust to allow the person’s trustee to make gifts using assets inside the trust and also included in a person’s power of attorney to allow the person’s agent to gift using assets outside of the trust. Such gifting authority must be expressly stated written authorization and cannot be implied based on a person’s past behavior.
For example, a commonly used express gifting provision in a power of attorney is, “the Agent is authorized to make gifts on the Principal's behalf to the Principal's children, any of their issue, or both, to the full extent of the federal annual gift tax exclusion … and, for such purposes, to remove the Principal's assets from any revocable trust of which the Principal is a grantor.”
The foregoing authority allows the Agent the discretion to make gifts to the principal’s descendants (e.g., children and grandchildren) up to the current annual federal gift tax exclusion amount, presently $16,000, each year, per donee. The Agent may request assets from the Principal’s trust to fulfill the gifts.
Thus, in 2022, if the principal had one child and two grandchildren, the agent may gift up to $16,000 to each and $48,000 altogether. In 2023, the annual gift tax exclusion amount is $17,000.
Gifting is not to be confused with a person’s legal duties of support to a spouse or to dependent minor child(ren). A power of attorney and a trust may, and should, also provide for meeting a person’s legal duty of support during their incapacity.
However, some people provide financial support to family members which is not legally required.
For example, a parent may pay a disabled child’s living expenses. In such cases, whether such support continues if the provider becomes incapacitated depends on whether the provider’s estate planning documents provide for continued support that is not legally required.
An agent under a power of attorney and a trustee under a trust instrument are each a fiduciary (i.e., a legal representative with duties and obligations).
Any actions, including discretionary gifts, taken by an agent or trustee must agree with their legal duty and obligations as a fiduciary.
Thus, any exercise of fiduciary discretion must be reasonable, in good faith, and consistent with any instructions provided in the instrument. Thus, an Agent, or a Trustee, ordinarily should not make imprudent or unjustified gifts that might jeopardize the financial welfare of the principal or settlor.
An important exception is when the agent or trustee is expressly authorized to gift assets away in order to qualify the principal or settlor as eligible for needs-based government welfare benefits (e.g., SSI and Medi-Cal).
There are many good reasons to give during one’s lifetime. Sometimes it may be appropriate and desirable that such gifting continues even during one’s incapacity. If so, then plan ahead. Happy Holidays.
The foregoing discussion is not legal advice. Consult an 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.
State Fire Marshal Michael J. Richwine has announced his retirement from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, Office of the State Fire Marshal, after a 42-year career, including 36 years with the department.
Chief Richwine was appointed State Fire Marshal by Governor Gavin Newsom on May 15, 2020, after serving as the assistant state fire marshal from 2012 to 2018.
As state fire marshal, Chief Richwine oversaw a staff of more than 220 employees.
“Among many things, one of my proudest career achievements was leading the Office of the State Fire Marshal and overhauling the California Fire Service Training and Education System — a state fire training certification and education program — including aligning it with national training standards and national and international accreditation of the firefighter program,” said Chief Richwine. “Through this important work, we continue to find ways to innovate, set the bar high and prepare the next generation of fire professionals in California.”
Chief Richwine's total 42-year fire service career began with the Hanford Fire Department. He has since risen through the ranks and held a variety of fire prevention and training positions within the Office of the State Fire Marshal, including, fire service training specialist, deputy state fire marshal within fire and life safety, Hazardous Materials and Pipeline Safety Divisions, chief of state fire training, and chief of the Fire Engineering Division.
Chief Richwine also served as a member on Cal Fire’s Incident Management Teams for six years and holds numerous professional certifications.
“My hope for the future is that the Office of the State Fire Marshal continues its tradition of working collaboratively with its many partners and continues to communicate effectively. That is what I have preached on a regular basis — up and down and across our entire organization,” said Chief Richwine.
The mission of the State Fire Marshal is to protect life and property through the development and application of fire prevention engineering, education, and enforcement.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal supports the mission of Cal Fire by focusing on fire prevention and providing support through a wide variety of fire safety responsibilities through code development and analysis, community wildfire preparedness and mitigation, fire and life safety, fire engineering and investigations, pipeline safety and certified unified program agency, and state fire training.
During his retirement, Chief Richwine is looking forward to spending time with his wife, a retired elementary school teacher, and their children and grandchildren.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, Californians will benefit from newly created consumer protections as 11 new state laws sponsored by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara this past legislative session take effect.
The new laws address climate change, expand health access and reproductive care, preserve health protections, protect against fraud and ensure public safety.
“Protecting consumers is my number one priority,” said Commissioner Lara. “Partnership with the Legislature and Gov. Newsom is essential to my Department’s mission of bringing fairness for all in our oversight of the nation’s largest insurance market. I look forward to putting these eleven new laws into effect while taking further actions that benefit California consumers.”
New laws that start taking effect on January 1, 2023 include:
AB 2238, jointly authored by Assemblymembers Luz Rivas, Eduardo Garcia, and former Assemblymember Cristina Garcia, directs the creation of a statewide extreme heat advance warning and ranking system based on climate and health impact information by the California Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination with the Department of Insurance and the Integrated Climate Adaption and Resiliency program in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. This would be the nation’s first-ever extreme heat wave ranking system when it is finalized by January 1, 2025.
SB 852, authored by Senator Bill Dodd, authorizes the creation of Climate Resilience Districts statewide to help communities mitigate risk in advance of a disaster and promote recovery, a recommendation from the Department of Insurance’s first-ever climate insurance report that would improve access to insurance for all, so that we can better prepare ourselves from increasing climate change-related threats. CivicWell was also a co-sponsor to this measure.
AB 2134, jointly authored by Assemblymember Dr. Akilah Weber and former Assemblymember Cristina Garcia, establishes the “Reproductive Health Equity Program” to make available grants to providers who offer reproductive and sexual health care free of cost to patients with low incomes and those who lack health care coverage for reproductive health services, including consumers who come to California from other states that have decreased access to abortion care services. The grants afforded under AB 2134 are in addition to $40 million appropriated in the enacted 2022-23 State Budget to help cover these important health care services. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, NARAL Pro-Choice of California, Access Reproductive Justice, Essential Access Health, and the National Health Law Program were also co-sponsors to this measure.
AB 1823, authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, aligns the definition of student blanket policies that are purchased by colleges and universities with the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA). This alignment is necessary to ensure state regulatory oversight and that consumer protections under the ACA are also applicable to these student health policies sold through a university or college to their enrolled students, including Dreamers and refugee students.
AB 2127, authored by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, is an important follow-up measure to Commissioner Lara’s previously sponsored “Parent Healthcare Act” last year, that would clarify and strengthen notice requirements for Medicare-eligible older adults who are seeking to be added as dependents to their adult child’s individual health insurance policy or health care service plan contract.
AB 2568, authored by former Assemblymember Ken Cooley, creates a ”safe harbor” by stating that an individual or firm providing insurance or related services to a state legal cannabis business does not commit a crime under California law solely for providing that insurance or related service.
SB 972, authored by Senator Lena Gonzalez, brings thousands of entrepreneurial sidewalk food vendors into a more equitable and well-regulated food economy by updating the “Safe Sidewalk Vending Act,” which Commissioner Lara authored in 2018 as a member of the California State Senate to end the criminalization of sidewalk vending. Inclusive Action for the City, Public Counsel, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Community Power Collective, and the Western Center on Law and Poverty – all part of the California Street Vendor Campaign – were also co-sponsors to this measure.
SB 1040, authored by Senator Susan Rubio, authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to order restitution from persons who sell insurance without the necessary license from the Department of Insurance, including “extended vehicle warranties” sold illegally through robocalls and misappropriation of consumers’ and businesses’ premiums, among other insurance scams.
SB 1242, authored by the Senate Committee on Insurance, bolsters anti-insurance fraud efforts essential to protecting consumers from unnecessary economic loss by further clarifying agent-broker anti-fraud education requirements as well as the process by which alleged fraud is reported to the Department of Insurance, in addition to other consumer protection proposals.
New laws that start taking effect in July 2023 include:
AB 2205, authored by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, requires health insurers and health plans offering coverage through Covered California to report annually to the Department of Insurance and the Department of Managed Health Care the total amount of abortion funds. This new law will require transparency and disclosure from health carriers to regulators regarding the amount of separate abortion premium payments that are being collected from policyholders and distributed as claims. As we consider options available for payment of abortion services, this new law will help regulators and policymakers identify available funds to support abortion patients in California. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California and the National Health Law Program were also co-sponsors of this measure.
AB 2043, authored by Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer Sr., requires all bail fugitive recovery agents, commonly known as “bounty hunters,” to be licensed by the Department of Insurance to ensure that appropriate education and training requirements are met prior to licensure and that all applicants successfully pass fingerprint-based background checks, obtain an appointment from a licensed bail agent or surety insurer, and maintain a minimum $1 million liability insurance policy so that harmed consumers have an avenue to collect damages.
In addition to these new laws, in October, Commissioner Lara enforced the nation’s first wildfire safety regulation to help drive down the cost of insurance for Californians at risk of wildfires, further protecting vulnerable consumers across the state. Commissioner Lara’s regulation is the first in the nation requiring insurance companies to provide discounts to consumers under the Safer from Wildfires framework created by the Department of Insurance in partnership with state emergency preparedness agencies.
The regulation is now state law and enshrined in the California Code of Regulations. Under the new regulation, insurance companies are required to make new rate filings including wildfire safety discounts and comply with new transparency measures starting in April 2023.
Cameras on the Surface Water and Ocean Topography spacecraft captured the antennas for its main science instrument unfurling in orbit.
But before it can do that, the satellite would need to unfold its large mast and antenna panels (see above) after successfully deploying the solar panel arrays that power the spacecraft. The mission monitors and controls the satellite using telemetry data, but it also equipped spacecraft with four customized commercial cameras to record the action.
The solar arrays fully deployed shortly after launch, taking about 10 minutes.
The antennas successfully deployed over four days, a process that was completed on Dec. 22. The two cameras focused on the KaRIn antennas captured the mast extending out from the spacecraft and locking in place but stopped short of capturing the antennas being fully deployed (a milestone the team confirmed with telemetry data.)
Thirty-three feet apart, at either end of the mast, the two antennas belong to the groundbreaking Ka-band Radar Interferometer, or KaRIn, instrument.
Designed to capture precise measurements of the height of water in Earth’s freshwater bodies and the ocean, KaRIn will see eddies, currents, and other ocean features less than 13 miles across.
It will also collect data on lakes and reservoirs larger than 15 acres and rivers wider than 330 feet across.
KaRIn will do this by bouncing radar pulses off the surface of water on Earth and receiving the signals with both of those antennas, collecting data along a swath that’s 30 miles wide on either side of the satellite.
The data SWOT provides will help researchers and decision-makers address some of the most pressing climate questions of our time and help communities prepare for a warming world.
More about the mission
SWOT was jointly developed by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales, or CNES, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency, or CSA, and the UK Space Agency.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, leads the U.S. component of the project.
For the flight system payload, NASA is providing the KaRIn instrument, a GPS science receiver, a laser retroreflector, a two-beam microwave radiometer, and NASA instrument operations.
CNES is providing the Doppler Orbitography and Radioposition Integrated by Satellite system, the dual frequency Poseidon altimeter (developed by Thales Alenia Space), the KaRIn radio-frequency subsystem (together with Thales Alenia Space and with support from the UK Space Agency), the satellite platform, and ground operations.
CSA is providing the KaRIn high-power transmitter assembly. NASA is providing the launch vehicle and the agency’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, is managing the associated launch services.
Many of the companies promising “net-zero” emissions to protect the climate are relying on vast swaths of forests and what are known as carbon offsets to meet that goal.
On paper, carbon offsets appear to balance out a company’s carbon emissions: The company pays to protect trees, which absorb carbon dioxide from the air. The company can then claim the absorbed carbon dioxide as an offset that reduces its net impact on the climate.
However, our new satellite analysis reveals what researchers have suspected for years: Forest offsets might not actually be doing much for the climate.
You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, here.
When we looked at satellite tracking of carbon levels and logging activity in California forests, we found that carbon isn’t increasing in the state’s 37 offset project sites any more than in other areas, and timber companies aren’t logging less than they did before.
The findings send a pretty grim message about efforts to control climate change, and they add to a growing list of concerns about forest offsets. Studies have already shown that projects are often overcredited at the beginning and might not last as long as expected. In this case we’re finding a bigger issue: a lack of real climate benefit over the 10 years of the program so far.
But we also see ways to fix the problem.
How forest carbon offsets work
Forest carbon offsets work like this: Trees capture carbon dioxide from the air and use it to build mass, effectively locking the carbon away in their wood for the life of the tree.
In California, landowners can receive carbon credits for keeping carbon stocks above a minimum required “baseline” level. Third-party verifiers help the landowners take inventory by manually measuring a sample of trees. So far, this process has only involved measuring carbon levels relative to baseline and has not leveraged the emerging satellite technologies that we explored.
Forest owners can then sell the carbon credits to private companies, with the idea that they have protected trees that would otherwise be cut down. These include large oil and gas companies that use offsets to meet up to 8% of their state-mandated reductions in emissions.
It’s clear that offsets are playing a large and growing role in climate policy, from the individual to the international level. In our view, they need to be backed by the best available science.
Satellites offer a more complete record than on-the-ground reports collected at offset projects. That allowed us to assess all of California since 1986.
Carbon isn’t being added to these projects faster than before the projects began or faster than in non-offset areas.
Many of the projects are owned and operated by large timber companies, which manage to meet requirements for offset credits by keeping carbon above the minimum baseline level. However, these lands have been heavily harvested and continue to be harvested.
In some regions, projects are being put on lands with lower-value tree species that aren’t at risk from logging. For example, at one large timber company in the redwood forests of northwestern California, the offset project is only 4% redwood, compared with 25% redwood on the rest of the company’s property. Instead, the offset project’s area is overgrown with tanoak, which is not marketable timber and doesn’t need to be protected from logging.
How California can fix its offset program
Our research points to a set of recommendations for California to improve its offsets protocols.
One recommendation is to begin using satellite data to monitor forests and confirm that they are indeed being managed to protect or store more carbon. For example, it could help foresters create more realistic baselines to compare offsets against. Publicly available satellite data is improving and can help make carbon offsetting more transparent and reliable.
California can also avoid putting offset projects on lands that are already being conserved. We found several projects owned by conservation groups on land that already had low harvest rates.
Additionally, California could improve its offset contract protocols to make sure landowners can’t withdraw from an offset program in the future and cut down those trees. Currently there is a penalty for doing so, but it might not be high enough. Landowners may be able to begin a project, receive a huge profit from the initial credits, cut down the trees in 20 to 30 years, pay back their credits plus penalty, and still come out ahead if inflation exceeds the liability.
Ironically, while intended to help mitigate climate change, forest offsets are also vulnerable to it – particularly in wildfire-prone California. Research suggests that California is hugely underestimating the climate risks to forest offset projects in the state.
The state protocol requires only 2% or 4% of carbon credits be set aside in an insurance pool against wildfires, even though multiple projects have been damaged by recent fires. When wildfires occur, the lost carbon can be accounted for by the insurance pool. However, the pool may soon be depleted as yearly burned area increases in a warming climate. The insurance pool must be large enough to cover the worsening droughts, wildfires and disease and beetle infestations.
Considering our findings around the challenges of forest carbon offsets, focusing on other options, such as investing in solar and electrification projects in low-income urban areas, may provide more cost-effective, reliable and just outcomes.
Without improvements to the current system, we may be underestimating our net emissions, contributing to the profits of large emitters and landowners and distracting from the real solutions of transitioning to a clean-energy economy.
Everyone knows that sleep is critical for growing children and their mental and physical health. Regular, high-quality sleep habits help children consolidate memory and learn better. A lack of sleep contributes to childhood depression, anxiety and even risk of suicide, along with physical health problems, including risk of injury. The challenge is making sure kids log those valuable zzz’s.
There are three main components of high-quality sleep for children. First, they need enough total hours – sleep duration. Sleep quality is important, too – sleeping soundly during the night with few disruptions or awakenings. And, finally, there’s sleep timing – essentially, a consistent schedule, with bedtime and risetime about the same across the whole week.
Even when you know how important good sleep is, it’s easy for sleep duration, quality and timing to get knocked off track. It can happen for infrequent reasons, such as the pleasant chaos of a holiday, or the disturbances that accompany pandemic life. Healthy sleep habits are hard to maintain for everyday mundane reasons, too, such as parent-child disagreement, busy schedules and older children’s leisurely weekend behavior. But there are ways for families to get sleep back on course.
As a child development researcher and family therapist, I study parenting and family behaviors that create healthy environments for children’s sleep patterns. In particular, I help parents to develop consistent and nurturing routines. Sleep patterns are set early, and parents play an important role in nurturing children’s perspectives and attitudes. Here’s the overarching advice I share with families, no matter the age of their kids.
1. Set and model family values about sleep
Children are observant learners. They pay very careful attention to both the spoken and unspoken rules of their clan.
To get everyone in the household sleeping well, sleep can’t be something that only children must care about, while adults who have freedom and power joke about their own unhealthy habits. If sleep seems like punishment, rather than the gift for health that it is, children will be likely to resist it.
Adults need to talk the talk and walk the walk that sleep is a priority for everyone in the family. Be a role model. If you’ve fallen into a habit of binge-watching TV into the wee hours, for instance, work on reining that in. Use positive language about your own sleep. Pay attention to what you say, and what you communicate through your own habits, reinforcing that it’s important to the whole family to get sleep and have energy for the next day. Don’t make the mistake of discussing bedtime as a chance for adults to get distance from the kids.
2. Know your child
Remember, every kid is unique, so don’t expect one-size-fits-all sleep advice to work universally. A child’s temperament plays a significant role in the duration, quality and timing of their sleep. For instance, a feistier child may not adapt as quickly to a sleep schedule over the first year. And temperament is a pretty stable part of who your child is and will continue to be.
A parent’s job is to keep encouraging routines and setting limits – but with ongoing warmth and sensitivity about the characteristics of the one-of-a-kind child you have.
When you’re exhausted and struggling with a child’s behavior, it can be hard to stay positive. My recommendation is to use the daytime hours wisely as investment in your relationship. Be proactive about noticing the good in your kid. Remind yourself that your child is their own person, learning in lots of ways throughout the day, and that child development is a marathon, not a sprint, for positive change. Sleep regressions or other sleep difficulties, like night awakening or changes in sleep habits, are opportunities for growth, not punishment.
By laying this groundwork, it becomes easier to tap into a positive and respectful attitude during times of stress. Remind yourself that change over time is more important than control over a given moment. After all, strained parent-child relationships can actually lead to continuing sleep and behavioral problems in young children.
3. Aim for consistency, with some flexibility
In my practice, I see two common – but opposite – mistakes that parents make around sleep.
First, many parents let go of rules and boundaries altogether. Often this happens as a result of what children bring to the equation: personal temperament or age-related phenomena. For instance, the peak in behavioral aggression that can come in toddlerhood or the shift in sleep timing that comes in adolescence can cause some parents to just throw in the towel and give up.
Alternatively, other parents become rigid. They see conflict around sleep as a struggle for power that the adult must win.
I argue that balance is key. Parents should adopt a consistent approach that fits with the sleep values they’ve been clear about all along. But they must also remain flexible to help children adapt routines to their own unique needs.
For example, all children at all ages should have a regular bedtime and risetime. However, parents may be open to a collaborative plan with older children about what those times should be, or attending to patterns and cues from younger children, working on a reasonable compromise that takes into account the needs of the individual child. Parents’ message about the importance of sleep should never waiver.
4. Manage household issues that influence sleep
Research shows that certain problems outside the bedroom create immediate and long-term risk for children’s sleep quality. These include exposure to second-hand smoke, excessive or evening-timed blue light exposure from screens and conflict in the home. Dealing with these factors will likely pay dividends when it comes to your kids getting a good night’s sleep.
Good sleep hygiene is a family affair. It’s never too late to nudge habits in a good direction and recommit to everyone getting the rest they need. Your child’s sleep habits can be a critical building block of lifelong wellness.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — Three years after Lakeport’s Kmart closed, the building that once housed the retail giant is poised to get new life and new tenants.
At its last meeting of 2022 on Dec. 14, the Lakeport Planning Commission approved Upward Architects’ application for a use permit and an architectural and design review for a new commercial project at the building, located at 2019 S. Main St.
The commission’s approval will allow Upward Architects to renovate and subdivide the 90,852-square-foot building into three lease spaces, two of which will be occupied by Marshalls and Tractor Supply Co.
Upward Architects, a Tempe, Arizona-based commercial architecture firm, submitted the project’s land use application in September.
The owner of the 8.59-acre property is Ken Simons of Simons Real Estate Group Inc. in Moorpark, California, the land use application showed.
During the Dec. 14 meeting, City Manager Kevin Ingram noted that for the city, the project is “the biggest thing we’ve got going.”
Kmart closed the store at the end of 2019 after operating it there since the early 1990s and despite the fact that it was reported to be one of the struggling company’s top 25 performing stores in the country.
The store had been a major sales tax generator for the city of Lakeport. Since its closure the city has worked to fill the void.
The city has been helped by The Retail Coach, a company it had hired in July 2019 to help recruit retailers, before word of the Kmart closure became public.
At the Nov. 1 Lakeport City Council meeting, during which the council extended the contract with The Retail Coach, it received an update on the company’s efforts, which included a report on plans for the former Kmart building.
Austin Farmer of The Retail Coach told the council at that meeting that they had received two letters of intent from retailers for the redevelopment of the Kmart property.
Farmer didn’t identify the two retailers at that point, but at the Planning Commission meeting and in the application from Upward Architects, it was confirmed that Marshalls and Tractor Supply Co. are the retailers.
Marshalls is a department store which has offerings including clothing, shoes, cosmetics, accessories, gifts and home décor.
Tractor Supply Co. offers equipment, tools, food for pets and livestock, and housewares. This will be Lake County’s second Tractor Supply.
The other is located in Clearlake in the Walmart shopping center on Dam Road, in a building that formerly was the location for Ray’s Food Place, which closed in late 2016. That building was renovated and now, in addition to Tractor Supply, it houses Big 5 and a new Department of Motor Vehicles office.
Commission gets report on project, votes to support it
During the Planning Commission’s half-hour meeting on Dec. 14, Chairman Mark Mitchell recused himself from the discussion and the vote because he is involved in the project.
City Associate Planner Victor Fernandez explained that the project application calls for Tractor Supply Co. to occupy the southern portion of the building, which consists of 30,981 square feet.
In addition to the indoor section of the building, Tractor Supply also will have outdoor sales of large equipment and outdoor sidewalk sales.
The project includes expansion of the 21,977-square-foot outdoor fenced area — which had been Kmart’s outdoor garden section — for Tractor Supply’s use.
The plans also call for increasing the building’s height from 29 feet to 32 feet. Fernandez said the maximum height within the city’s C-2 commercial zoning is 35 feet.
Fernandez said it’s anticipated that Marshalls will occupy the northern portion of the building, which is about 24,000 square feet.
The 36,005 square foot middle section of the building will be for a future tenant which is unknown at this time, Fernandez said.
Lakeport planning staff analyzed the project and determined that it’s compliant with the city’s general plan and that it’s exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, under a section which allows improvements to existing facilities, Fernandez said.
The staff report noted that the existing site layout would remain “mostly unchanged” except for the expansion of Tractor Supply’s fenced outdoor area and some minor parking space modifications to allow for semi truck access.
Fernandez said the project’s site plan will eliminate a small amount of parking due to those modifications.
However, he reviewed the parking requirements under the city’s most restrictive guidelines that require one space for 250 square feet of building space.
That would equal 364 parking spaces for the entire project and the three leased spaces. Even with the loss of some parking spaces, Fernandez said the project would have more than enough parking, with 471 total parking stalls.
During public comment, Rick Sander, an architect with Upward Architects and senior project manager, said the only “asterisk” on the project as proposed is that there are unknowns about the middle section of the store that doesn’t yet have a tenant.
Sander said it’s possible that center space could be divided, but it’s only a discussion at this point and it’s unknown as to what stores might go in there. Once they know, they will return to talk to the city.
Fernandez said such a modification to divide the building’s center section would consist of interior remodeling and wouldn’t increase square footage so the city would be able to do that modification to the plan with a building permit application.
If the exterior facade changed, Fernandez said the plan might need to go through a modification, adding it would be a “fairly standard” process.
The commission unanimously passed three separate motions for a categorical exemption to CEQA, approval of architectural and design review and the use permit.
Sander asked about next steps, and Fernandez said he would contact him the following morning regarding the approval letter and the project conditions agreement.
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. — In its last meeting of the year, the Board of Supervisors voted to give its members a 40% hike that will go into effect in March if not challenged by referendum.
The raise amounts to an annual increase to the supervisors’ base salaries of more than $25,500, or an additional $2,100 a month.
The board had previously discussed the proposal in November and had voted to bring it back, at the latest, by Jan. 23.
However, it came before Christmas, on Dec. 20.
Earlier in the meeting, in a 3-2 vote, the board denied a request by the Behavioral Health Services Department to offer an advanced step request for a highly qualified senior substance abuse counselor candidate in a difficult-to-fill position, a matter raised during the board raise discussion. Human Resources staff raised questions about equity and process.
The ordinance that implements the supervisorial pay raise will require a second reading, expected to take place on Jan. 10, the board’s first meeting of 2023.
The ordinance the board approved ties supervisors’ raises to the salaries of Superior Court judges, a move that county staff favored instead of tying the raises to 60% of elected department head salaries as it was meant to “mitigate the appearance of a conflict of your Board approving raises for themselves,” according to County Administrative Officer Susan Parker’s written report in the November discussion.
However, county officials and board members have had to admit that they are still involved with setting their own salaries by taking action to set it in one way or another.
Going forward, board members will now get 38.6% of Superior Court judges salaries, which change on an annual basis — and sometimes more often due to salary adjustments — through a state calculation process.
The board’s packet contained a memo to the board with typos in the proposed amounts — stating that it would be 28%, not 38%, of Superior Court judges’ salaries as had been discussed in November — mistakes which were repeated in the draft ordinance.
Despite those errors, acknowledged by Parker, the board did not hold the matter over in order to give the public a chance to comment on the corrections made to the ordinance. A corrected version of the ordinance was later posted on the county’s website but Parker’s report was not updated and the typos remained in place afterward.
Changes to Superior Court judges’ salaries
When Parker first presented the proposal for that raise to the board at the start of November, she suggested giving the board 38.6% of the salaries of Superior Court judges, which as of July 1 totaled $229,125 annually.
The numbers she shared in November proposed a scenario that raised the annual pay for a supervisor from a base pay of $63,714 — with an additional $2,400 for the chair — to $88,483.20 annually, a 38.8%-percent increase from the current salary level, with the chair to receive an additional 5%, or $4,472.
However, since then, Superior Court judges have received a pay increase.
A Dec. 1 letter from the California Department of Human Resources, which the Judicial Council of California provided to Lake County News, stated that judicial salaries have been adjusted back to July 1 due to bargaining units receiving increases.
That adjustment raises the new annual salary for Superior Court judges by almost $2,000 dollars per year, from $229,125 to $231,174.
That means that the supervisors’ new salary will not be $88,483.20, as Parker had originally reported, but $89,233.16.
Moving from a base salary of $63,714 to $89,233.16 annually is a 40% jump for the supervisors.
The California Department of Human Resources told Lake County News that the calculation for Superior Court judges’ salaries is completed on a fiscal year basis and has not been finalized yet for 2023-24.
“Since the calculations are based on the average percentage salary increase for each fiscal year, we typically need to wait for collective bargaining to conclude to determine the applicable percentage for that fiscal year,” the agency said in a statement to Lake County News.
Supervisorial raises the latest result of class and comp study
The County Administrative Office presented the salary increase for the board in the context of its 2019 classification and compensation study.
In the fall of 2020 and 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, the board approved $21 million in raises based on that study, but had so far held off on raising its own member salaries.
The classification and compensation study showed that the Board of Supervisors’ salaries actually were 1.6% above the “base salary median” when compared to 12 other counties.
However, when asked by Lake County News about that on Dec. 20, administrative staff dismissed that comparison, saying it wasn’t “apples to apples” with other boards and that some of those other boards only showed up for meetings, unlike, they said, the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
The ordinance the board approved also states Lake County’s supervisors are now “full time.”
County staff said that they had held the matter over to make sure that funding was available.
Assistant County Administrative Officer Stephen Carter said the first payments of property tax had come through, and staff believed revenue was strong enough to support the raises.
The staff report explained, “The fiscal year 2022-23 currently has secured property taxes revenue budgeted to be $18,446,080 which means during the midyear budget staff will be requesting to increase the revenue projected by $342,170.23 that would cover the proposed increase of $165,847 for the BOS.”
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said he was all for moving forward but he cautioned the board about the action.
He wanted to tie board salaries to 60% of elected department heads’ pay, which Parker said had been the formula before the county’s implementation of the classification and compensation study.
By the numbers, the difference between the two proposals for determining board salaries would have been minor. If using the 60% of elected department heads salary calculation, it would have amounted to a 37% raise, increasing board salaries to $87,573.60.
However, Sabatier believed that option would have insulated the board from criticism. He said he was concerned about what county staff would say when supervisors get raises at times when staffers don’t because of the more changeable judicial salary basis. He raised that issue in the context of the board talking a lot about staff morale.
Supervisor Jessica Pyska responded by saying the board had discussed the pay raise several times and neither way is perfect.
Michael Green, the board’s newest member, touched on public perception and said the county has stretched the limits of the classification and compensation study.
He pointed to the board’s action to deny Behavioral Health’s request to give Denise Newman a step five placement as a substance abuse counselor, because the lower step the county was offering was more than a dollar an hour less than she’s making. The request was turned down despite the fact that staff said she would be able to bill at a rate that would cover her pay.
Green had noted during the discussion about Newman’s proposed hire that he would take a hit to the integrity of the classification and compensation study due to the need for the position and her qualifications — which included more than 20 years of experience, which staff said was more than five times the minimum qualifications as outlined in the job description.
Human Resources Director Pam Samac told the board that county staff is planning to begin new discussions about classifications in January.
The board voted 3-2 to deny the step request — Moke Simon, Pyska and Sabatier voting yes, and Green and Board Chair EJ Crandell voting no.
During the board raise discussion, Green said being a supervisor is definitely a step up in responsibility and scope of work and tying it to the judges’ salaries makes sense, as he said the board is not going to get out of the controversy.
He would offer both motions needed to approve the action, including waiving the reading of the corrected ordinance and reading it in title only, which was approved 4-1, with Sabatier voting no, and advancing the corrected ordinance for the second reading at the Jan. 10 meeting, which the board approved 5-0.
County Counsel Anita Grant said the ordinance will not go into effect until 60 days after its anticipated second passage on Jan. 10, putting its implementation date at around March 10.
While most county ordinances go into effect 30 days after passage, certain ordinances — including those involving supervisorial pay — have a 60-day period after final passage before becoming effective.
That is, if they are not challenged by a referendum.
Before the ordinance goes into effect in March, county residents who oppose the raise could stop it by submitting qualified signatures totaling 10% of the entire votes cast in Lake County for all candidates in the last gubernatorial election, which was in November.
In Lake County, votes for governor in November totaled 20,131 votes, according to the final election results provided by the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office. That means, 2,013 verified signatures would be required for a referendum effort to succeed.
The last successful referendum in the unincorporated county was in 2014 in response to a marijuana cultivation ordinance passed by the board.
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. — In order to meet state and federal policies, Lake County’s law enforcement agencies are in various states of transition to new radio equipment that allows for encryption.
It’s a move that California’s law enforcement agencies — estimated at about 500 — are faced with making, although based on information from the State Legislature only about a quarter of those have moved to the new and expensive radio systems.
Press and First Amendment organizations have pushed back, although bills introduced in the State Legislature that would have altered or turned back the project have failed to advance.
Encryption is a process of modifying radio traffic in order to enable it to become secure. A typical police scanner would not be able to pick up or monitor encrypted radio traffic.
However, the new rules will not impact fire or other emergency traffic, and since the changes have gone into effect, much of Lake County’s scanner traffic has remained available on traditional scanners, both on and offline.
The encryption requirements come from the California Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Criminal Justice Information Services Security Policy.
The California Attorney General’s Office, which includes the Department of Justice, told Lake County News that it is not directly monitoring the hundreds of law enforcement agencies operating across the state with regards to meeting this requirement, and that it’s up to those agencies to comply.
The Clearlake Police Department has already completed the transition, with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Lakeport Police Department in the process.
The California Attorney General’s Office issued an information bulletin October 2020 to all agencies that subscribe to the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, or CLETS, explaining the rules regarding radio transmission of protected data.
In that bulletin, California Justice Information Services Division Chief Joe Dominic said all law enforcement and criminal justice agencies subscribing to CLETS, must adhere to CLETS policies, procedures and practices and the FBI’s CJIS in order to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the data.
Dominic said access to certain criminal justice information and personally identifiable information must be limited to authorized personnel, and the transmission of that information must be encrypted.
He referred to the CLETS Policies, Practices and Procedures regulations, which say that any information from CLETS is confidential and for official use only. “Access is defined as the ability to hear or view any information provided through the CLETS.”
The personally identifiable information the state’s directives apply to include “information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as an individual’s first name, or first initial, and last name in combination with any one or more specific data elements, such as Social security number, passport number, military ID number, and any other unique ID numbers issued on a government document.
“The most common data elements encountered during field operations include a driver's license number or ID number,” the bulletin said.
The Attorney General’s Office said compliance with the requirements was possible through two options: encryption of radio traffic or establishing policies to restrict dissemination of specific information to protect restricted database information and combinations of named and data elements that meet the definition of personally identifiable information.
Agencies approach the move
Not all agencies are being required to go to encryption.
“Since the California Highway Patrol (CHP) uses low-band radios for communication, and that technology is older and does not support digital encryption, the CHP has no plans on this topic,” CHP spokesperson Jaime Coffee told Lake County News. Coffee has since left the CHP.
An October 2020 CHP memo updated departmental policy and procedures for the use of unencrypted radio channels related to the protection of Criminal Justice Information obtained from the Criminal Justice Information System databases and Personally Identifiable Information.
That memo included directions to use computers, tablets or terminals to perform records checks whenever possible; only enough information to complete the request should be given over the radio in a single continuous transmission, with further information sent over computers or tablets; limiting of address information on the air; providing address, date of birth and physical descriptors over the air only when requested; and providing only enough information to broadcast to aid in identifying and/or locating a potential suspect when an officer or the public safety are in jeopardy.
That memo also noted that the CHP does not allow Criminal History System or Criminal Offender Record Information to be transmitted over the radio. “Dispatch and field personnel shall continue to follow procedures outlined in Highway Patrol Manual (HPM).”
In Lake County, the Clearlake Police Department led off the encryption conversion effort.
Andrew White, Clearlake Police’s chief who left for Martinez earlier this month, said in an interview before his departure that Clearlake Police went live with encryption at the end of September 2021.
He estimated that the department’s overall radio infrastructure and upgrades cost a total of about $150,000, with that amount including the process of getting radios compliant with the encryption technology at about $75,000. Repeater upgrades had already been completed.
“We were replacing radios already,” he said, explaining they were able to leverage the work they already were doing so that they were able to turn on encryption with relatively minimal effort. He said the equipment includes standard Motorola radios.
Radio traffic is encrypted one way, from dispatch, in accordance with the requirements of the California Department of Justice and FBI’s CJIS Security Policy, White said.
He explained that the encryption is to safeguard sensitive information, including personal identifying information, or PII, that originates from the various local, state and federal law enforcement databases.
“While numerous regulations have been implemented to safeguard PII held in databases by public and private entities, it has flowed rather freely across unencrypted law enforcement radio,” he said.
“The implementation of encryption is not a simple feat, especially in rural areas like Lake County with challenging topography and where existing radio systems were analog systems, not capable of supporting encryption. Additionally, implementing encryption creates new challenges for radio interoperability with mutual aid agencies,” White explained.
He added, “Locally, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Clearlake Police Department and Lakeport Police Department have closely coordinated the roll out of encryption for law enforcement in Lake County to ensure seamless communication between all agencies, including consideration of communication with fire agencies. The use of encryption does present challenges for real-time monitoring particularly by journalists who are often the first to share breaking news impacting public safety.”
White said there are no plans for encryption of fire department radio traffic. “Given that major incidents often involve a dual response of police and fire, it is not anticipated that the encryption will severely hamper public awareness that would have otherwise been obtainable via listening to the police radio via a scanner.”
At the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Lt. Gavin Wells said the agency has finalized installing the encryption enabled radios in its patrol vehicles in accordance with the requirements of the California Department of Justice and FBI’s CJIS Security Policy.
“At this time the cost of the encryption project is roughly $300,000,” Wells said.
Wells said that work for patrol radios, as well as portable radios, was completed in 2020 and 2021.
The sheriff’s office will not be encrypting its primary traffic like Clearlake Police has, only information from CLETS and CJAS, Wells said.
Wells said another aspect of the project is upgrading the agency’s mountain top repeater sites and the radios in Central Dispatch to be able to function in analog mode or digital mode with encryption and to install new dispatch radios that are encryption enabled.
He didn’t have an estimated time frame for the completion of the work on the repeater due to the complexity of the project and working with outside vendors and their time frames. Wells confirmed this week that the work is still underway.
He said the county of Lake has a contract with the county of Mendocino for tech services and repeater installation. The radios on all of the repeaters are now being replaced so that they are the same.
There are five Lake County Sheriff’s Office repeaters for the primary radio channel, Wells said.
A sixth repeater is in the build out process but it won’t initially be capable of encryption use, but will instead be used for the Mendocino National Forest area, he said.
Wells said there also is an additional repeater for the Sheriff’s Marine Patrol.
Outside of those law enforcement repeaters, Wells said the sheriff’s office maintains four repeaters as part of the RedNet fire channel.
Dispatch also is being upgraded. “That is going to be the last piece of the puzzle,” Wells said.
He said they have the equipment and are waiting to install it, but that it needs to integrate into the dispatch radio console.
The Lakeport Police Department also is working to make its transition to encryption equipment.
At its Oct. 5, 2021, meeting, the Lakeport City Council unanimously approved spending $320,000 to purchase encrypted radios for the police and public works departments. Of that amount, $200,000 goes to police and $120,000 to public works.
By August, Rasmussen said the Lakeport Police Department had completed 90% of the installation of the vehicle and base station radios and had started to use the portable radios but had not fully transitioned.
Rasmussen said the equipment being used so far is not yet encrypted. “That will not happen until the county is fully ready for that,” he said, referring to the repeater upgrades Wells had noted are still underway.
“Our new radios are great so far and have many more advanced features than the old,” Rasmussen said.
Legislation responds to rules but fails to advance
For decades, police and fire scanner traffic have been an important source for journalists and community members in following emergencies and crime response.
Radio encryption has raised legal and transparency issues for a number of organizations dedicated to protecting the First Amendment and representing journalists.
White said some early adopter agencies of encryption allowed access to encrypted communications by journalists, but DOJ regulations were determined to preclude that practice.
In February 2019, Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) AB 1555 was introduced to provide access to encrypted law enforcement radio communications to a duly authorized representative of any news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network, upon request.”
The bill received support from groups like the California Newspaper Publishers Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, but law enforcement organizations opposed it.
As a result, two months after its introduction, Gloria pulled the bill, saying it required more work, according to news reports.
Then, in February, Sen. Josh Becker, whose 13th Senate District comprises most of San Mateo County and the northern part of Santa Clara County, introduced SB 1000, regarding radio communications.
The Legislative Counsel’s Digest said Becker’s bill would have required a law enforcement agency, including the California Highway Patrol, municipal police departments, county sheriff’s departments, specified local law enforcement agencies, and specified university and college police departments, to ensure public access to the radio communications no later than Jan. 1, 2024.
“This bill would also require those law enforcement agencies to ensure that any criminal justice information or personally identifiable information obtained through CLETS is not broadcast in a manner that is accessible to the public, as specified,” the digest said.
The bill was making its way through the Legislature although it was hitting headwinds due to law enforcement agencies’ concerns about impacts, including costs.
It was sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where it was held in committee and under submission on Aug. 11. That meant it wouldn’t advance.
Becker said in a tweet after the hearing that the Legislation “missed a chance to ensure police transparency & accountability. Without this fix, many agencies will continue to encrypt vital radio communications, cutting off almost 90 yrs of public & press access to critical public safety info. I’ll continue to fight to restore access.”
He also urged law enforcement to follow the model used by other agencies, including the CHP, to use alternatives to full encryption.
“Even if it had become law we really had no concerns as our original plan, before the bill ever became a possibility, was to use them the way the bill proposed — that is not everything would have been encrypted. I know the plans have varied by agency throughout the state,” Rasmussen said of the bill.
So far, there’s been no word about plans for new legislation to be introduced regarding encryption.
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.