LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Deputies’ ability to administer Narcan saved the life of a female inmate at the Lake County Jail over the weekend.
Narcan, also known as Naloxone, is a medication used to reverse the effects of opioid drugs, including overdose.
Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the incident involving the female inmate, whose name was not released, occurred on Saturday.
Paulich said that at 2:40 p.m. Saturday jail inmates reported to a tower officer that there may be an inmate overdosing in a female dorm.
He said deputies rushed to check the status of all inmates and found a female inmate lying on her side.
The woman didn’t appear to be breathing and was blue in the face, Paulich said.
Paulich said the correctional deputies administered a dose of Narcan. They also requested jail medical staff respond as well as paramedics.
When nurses from jail medical staff arrived, Paulich said they found it necessary to administer two more doses of Narcan to the inmate.
Shortly afterward, the Narcan began to take effect and within 10 minutes the inmate began to slowly regain consciousness and was breathing on her own, Paulich said.
Paramedics from the Lakeport Fire Protection District arrived and transported the inmate to Sutter Lakeside Hospital by ambulance. Paulich said the woman was treated and later returned to the jail facility.
“We do not have the results of what she may have taken,” Paulich told Lake County News.
Deputies conducted a search of the dormitory as well as the inmates but didn’t locate any contraband. The inmates from that dorm were tested to determine if they recently used drugs, but all tests were negative, Paulich said.
Paulich said sheriff’s correctional staffers use several different methods in an attempt to keep contraband from entering the facility, but controlled substances are easy to conceal and hard to detect.
He said this was the third time Narcan has been administered at the jail in the two years the sheriff’s office has provided Narcan for use by its personnel.
Law enforcement agencies in neighboring counties also are using Narcan in medical emergencies.
In Mendocino County, the sheriff’s office began to issue Narcan to deputies in April 2019 as part of their assigned personal protective equipment due.
Since then, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has reported numerous incidents during which deputies have administered Narcan to individuals having drug-related medical emergencies.
The Mendocino Sheriff’s Office also reported that in December Narcan saved a jail inmate there. The corrections deputy who found the inmate also later needed a dose himself after having been exposed to a plastic bundle that had been in the inmate’s possession and which was found to contain fentanyl, a powerful and deadly opiate.
In Sonoma County, the sheriff’s office reported its first use of Narcan in July, when a sheriff’s deputy used it to save the life of a man who had just been arrested.
By that time, Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies had been carrying Narcan in their patrol cars for about six months, the agency reported.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office reminded the public that taking any medication or pills that have not been prescribed to you by a physician or provided to you by a pharmacist is dangerous.
Opiates such as fentanyl can be fatal with the ingestion of only 2 to 3 milligrams, Paulich said.
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.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Monday announced a new partnership of several state government agencies to establish consistent statewide standards for home and community hardening that will reduce wildfire risk, protect lives and property, and help make insurance available and affordable to residents and businesses.
Lara said the partnership includes the California Department of Insurance and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, including the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the California Public Utilities Commission.
“Hardening” refers to measures that prepare homes and communities to better survive a wildfire, such as building upgrades, defensible space and fire-resistant landscaping.
While California has existing wildfire building standards for new development as established by Cal Fire, this new partnership consisting of state wildfire, catastrophe and insurance experts will establish standards that are consistent, based in fire science, and apply to retrofits for older existing homes in order to help them seek and maintain insurance coverage, thus giving policyholders and insurance companies a shared strategy for reducing wildfire risks.
“With home and community hardening standards in place, Californians can hope to save lives and property through safer homes and increase insurance availability at the same time,” said Commissioner Lara. “Our insurance market is responding to higher wildfire risk, so safeguarding homes will assist consumers in finding and keeping their insurance. I look forward to working with Gov. Newsom and his administration on this critical mitigation effort to protect homes and communities from wildfire loss.”
“Climate change is a major contributor to the increased severity and frequency of California wildfires, and to the resulting unprecedented loss of life and property in recent years,” said Kate Gordon, director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the Governor’s Senior Policy Advisor on Climate. “Unless we take coordinated action now, these impacts will only worsen – especially in our most vulnerable communities. Identifying consistent statewide standards for home and community hardening is critical to California’s goal of reducing wildfire risk while increasing our overall resilience.”
“Development of a statewide retrofitting program that can reduce insurance loss is an important step in ensuring communities are hardened against the devastating effect of wildfire,” said State Fire Marshal Chief Mike Richwine. “Taking the necessary measures to prepare your home can help increase its chance of survival when wildfire strikes.”
“As our state continues to grapple with catastrophic wildfires, it is important that we take proactive steps to prepare and protect our communities,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. “We look forward to working with Commissioner Lara and our partners to collaboratively strengthen California’s preparedness and mitigation efforts.”
“The CPUC welcomes this collaboration with our sister agencies on this very important issue,” said CPUC President Marybel Batjer. “We each play an important and distinct role in wildfire mitigation, community resilience, and recovery, and our work together will help ensure that Californians are aware of efforts at the state level, the assistance that is available to them, and ways they can help reduce risk.”
This partnership is the latest step to enact regulatory and administrative actions that Commissioner Lara announced on Sept. 16, 2020, using his existing regulatory authority under voter-approved Proposition 103 to protect the state’s insurance market.
Commissioner Lara held hearings on Oct. 19 and Dec. 10, 2020, to gather public input into fire mitigation and other steps to address the availability and affordability of insurance due to wildfires. Watch video of those hearings and learn more at www.insurance.ca.gov.
Last year, Gov. Newsom signed legislation to increase consumer protections for wildfire survivors, including Senate Bill 872 authored by state Sen. Bill Dodd and sponsored by Commissioner Lara, among other measures.
In his signing message for SB 872 and Assembly Bill 3012, Gov. Newsom stated that “we must do more” and directed the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, CalOES, and Cal Fire to “work with the Insurance Commissioner to evaluate and recommend ways that residents, communities and the insurance industry can work together to better mitigate wildfire risks. This work should inform the development of solutions for residents in wildfire-prone areas who continue to face the threat of policy non-renewal and rising premium costs for those policies that are available.”
This partnership is in furtherance of the governor’s signing message and to help protect residents from the increasing risk of wildfires and stabilize the insurance market.
Dodd – who formerly represented Lake County in the state Assembly and now serves all or portions of Napa, Solano, Yolo, Sonoma, Contra Costa and Sacramento counties in the California Senate – on Monday lauded the creation of the new statewide plan for home and community hardening.
“I want to thank Gov. Newsom and Commissioner Lara for following through for people who’ve endured tremendous hardship over the past several years of devastating wildfires,” Sen. Dodd said. “This has been a high priority for me and I appreciate their collaborative approach. We must deliver for Californians who deserve accessible and affordable insurance.”
The partnering agencies and departments will begin meeting this month.
Younger adults living alone were more likely than older adults living alone to report symptoms of both anxiety and depression in recent weeks, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data.
The Household Pulse Survey provides insight into the mental health and well-being of adults living alone during the Coronavirus pandemic. The survey asks two questions related to symptoms of anxiety, and two questions about symptoms of depression.
Phase 3 of the survey collects data over two-week intervals, and this article relies on publicly available data collected from Oct. 28 through Nov. 9, a time period in which the Census Bureau sent invitations to 1,035,752 households and received a total of 58,729 responses.
Among adults living alone, respondents age 65 and over reported lower rates of anxiety and depression than those in other age groups (Figure 1).
Those between ages 18 and 29 and 30 and 44 reported higher rates of anxiety and depression. The age groups were not statistically different from each other on either measure.
Respondents in the 45-64 age group reported symptoms of both anxiety and depression at rates that fell between those of the youngest and oldest respondents.
Financial stress
Economic disruptions such as a loss of income had an impact on the mental health of those living alone, as did the expectation of losing employment income in the next four weeks (Figure 2).
About half (51%) of individuals living alone who either lost or expected to lose employment income reported anxiety, compared with only about a third (32%) of those who had not experienced or expected the same type of economic disruption.
Similarly, about 44% of those who had experienced or expected lost income reported symptoms of depression, compared with about 26% of those who had not experienced or expected economic disruption.
Does health matter?
Adults living alone who reported excellent overall health had lower rates of both anxiety and depression: Only 23% reported symptoms of anxiety and 16% reported symptoms of depression (Figure 3).
On the other hand, among adults living alone who reported being in poor health, about two thirds reported symptoms of anxiety and depression (around 65% and not statistically different from each other on both measures).
It is important to emphasize that these questions and analysis do not capture causality. In other words, we do not know whether the mental health of those in good overall health was bolstered because of that good health, or whether poor mental health caused people to report lower levels of overall health.
It is likely that both are true: mental health influences overall health and vice versa.
Households with children
Overall, about 36% of all adults reported feeling anxiety in the previous week. Adults living alone and those in households with children were slightly more likely to report feeling anxious (about 38% each) than adults living in households without children (34%).
Meanwhile, about 28% of all households reported feeling depressed over the previous week.
When analyzed by specific household type, about 30% of those living alone and those in households with kids reported symptoms of depression, compared to about 26% of adults in households with other adults but without children (Figure 4).
We examined differences in mental health by racial and ethnic groups for those living alone but the results were generally inconclusive and are therefore not included here.
The Household Pulse Survey asks four questions about mental health over the previous seven days, two relating to symptoms of anxiety and two relating to symptoms of depression.
These questions are collected in partnership with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). This analysis follows an approach outlined by NCHS, which categorizes individuals based on how frequently they reported feeling anxious or depressed, consistent with diagnoses of generalized anxiety disorder or major depressive disorder.
Household Pulse Survey data include Household Pulse Survey tables, Technical Documentation and Public Use File, or PUF, microdata.
Thom File is a sociologist in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division. Matthew Marlay is a sociologist and demographer in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Area Town Hall will meet this week to discuss items including Middletown’s stop signs and rescheduling the group’s monthly meetings.
MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb.11, via Zoom. The meeting is open to the public.
To join the Zoom meeting click on this link; the meeting ID is 935 1671 5770. Call in at 888-788-0099.
At 7:10 p.m., the group will discuss and vote on a proposal to change the MATH meeting to the third of the month.
MATH also will host a discussion on stop signs in Middletown.
There also will be opportunities for public input and discussion of items to place on the March 11 agenda.
The MATH Board includes Co-Chairs Rosemary Córdova and Monica Rosenthal, Secretary Lisa Kaplan, and Ken Gonzales and Paul Baker.
MATH – established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 – is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.
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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.
Since December, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and wildlife rehabilitation centers have been inundated with calls from residents who are finding sick or dead finches at bird feeders.
Most reports have come from locations on California’s Central Coast, the San Francisco Bay Area and Sierra Nevada communities.
CDFW’s Wildlife Investigations Laboratory has evaluated birds from several locations and determined the cause of illness to be salmonellosis, a disease caused by salmonella bacteria.
Pine siskins, a species of finch that winters in California, are the primary species affected by the outbreak. The disease has also been reported in smaller numbers of lesser goldfinches and American goldfinches.
“Salmonellosis occurs periodically in pine siskins in some winters throughout their range. When large numbers of pine siskins congregate, the disease can spread rapidly causing high mortality. Most birds die within 24 hours of infection,” said CDFW Senior Environmental Scientist Krysta Rogers, an avian disease specialist.
Birds become infected with salmonella when they ingest food, water or come into contact with objects – such as bird feeders, perches soil – contaminated with feces from an infected bird.
Sick birds often appear weak, have labored breathing, and may sit for prolonged periods with fluffed or ruffled feathers.
Salmonellosis is almost exclusively reported from locations with bird feeders where birds congregate.
Residents can help reduce disease transmission by removing bird feeders and bird baths. Allowing birds to feed on natural seeds rather than at bird feeders reduces contact between birds and helps slow spread of the disease.
Residents can report dead birds to CDFW’s Wildlife Investigations Laboratory using the mortality reporting form, which helps biologists monitor the outbreak.
Disposable gloves should be worn and hands should be thoroughly washed after disposing of dead birds, and handling of bird feeders and bird baths.
In my laboratory I study the molecular structure of RNA viruses – like the one that causes COVID-19 – and how they replicate and multiply in the host. As the virus infects more people and the pandemic spreads, SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve. This process of evolution is constant and it allows the virus to sample its environment and select changes that make it grow more efficiently. Thus, it is important to monitor viruses for such new mutations that could make them more deadly, more transmissible or both.
RNA viruses evolve quickly
The genetic material of all viruses is encoded in either DNA or RNA; one interesting feature of RNA viruses is that they change much more rapidly than DNA viruses. Every time they make a copy of their genes they make one or a few mistakes. This is expected to occur many times within the body of an individual who is infected with COVID-19.
One might think that making a mistake in your genetic information is bad – after all, that’s the basis for genetic diseases in humans. For an RNA virus, a single change in its genome may render it “dead.” That’s not too bad if inside an infected human cell you’re making thousands of copies and a few are no longer useful.
However, some genomes may pick up a change that is beneficial for the survival of the virus: Maybe the change allows the virus to evade an antibody – a protein that the immune system produces to catch viruses – or an antiviral drug. Another beneficial change may allow the virus to infect a different type of cell or even a different species of animal. This is likely the pathway that allowed SARS-CoV-2 to move from bats into humans.
Any change that gives the virus’s descendants a competitive growth advantage will be favored – “selected” – and begin to outgrow the original parent virus. SARS-CoV-2 is demonstrating this feature now with new variants arising that have enhanced growth properties. Understanding the nature of these changes in the genome will provide scientists with guidance to develop countermeasures. This is the classic cat-and-mouse scenario.
In an infected patient there are hundreds of millions of individual virus particles. If you were to go in and pick out one virus at a time in this patient, you would find a range of mutations or variants in the mix. It’s a question of which ones have a growth advantage – that is, which ones can evolve because they are better than the original virus. Those are the ones that are going to become successful during the pandemic.
Of the mutations that have been detected, is one of particular concern?
Any single variant or change in the virus is probably not that problematic. A single change in the spike protein – which is the region of the virus that attaches to human cells – is probably not going to be a big threat as the medical community rolls out the vaccines.
The current vaccines induce the immune system to produce antibodies that recognize and target the spike protein on the virus, which is essential for invading human cells. Scientists have observed the accumulation of multiple changes in the spike protein in the South African variant.
These changes allows SARS-CoV-2, for example, to attach more tightly to the ACE2 receptor and enter human cells more efficiently, according to preliminary unpublished studies. Those alterations could enable the virus to infect cells more easily and enhance its transmissibility. With multiple changes in the spike protein, the vaccines may no longer produce a strong immune response against these new variant viruses. That’s a double whammy: a less effective vaccine and a more robust virus.
Right now, the public doesn’t need to be concerned about the current vaccines. The leading vaccine manufacturers are monitoring how well their vaccines control these new variants and are ready to tweak the vaccine design to ensure that they will protect against these emerging variants. Moderna, for example, has stated that it will adjust the second or booster injection to more closely match the sequence of the South African variant. We’ll have to just wait and see, as more people receive vaccinations, whether the transmission rates will drop.
Why is lowering transmission key?
A drop in transmission rates means fewer infections. Less virus replication leads to fewer opportunities for the virus to evolve in humans. With less opportunity to mutate, the evolution of the virus slows and there is a lower risk of new variants.
The medical community needs to make a big push and get as many people vaccinated and thus protected as possible. If not, the virus will continue to grow in large numbers of people and produce new variants.
I don’t think we’ve seen clear evidence that these viruses are more pathogenic, which means more deadly. But they may be transmitted faster or more efficiently. That means that more people will be infected, which translates into more people who will be hospitalized.
The South African variant, known as 501.V2, has multiple mutations in the gene that encodes the spike protein. These mutations help the virus evade an antibody response.
Antibodies have exquisite precision for their target, and if the target changes shape slightly, as with this variant – which virologists call an escape mutant – the antibody can no longer bind tightly, as it loses its power to protect.
Why do we need to monitor for mutations?
We want to make sure that the diagnostic tests are detecting all of the viruses. If there are mutations in the virus’s genetic material, an antibody or PCR test may not be able to detect it as efficiently or at all.
To be sure that the vaccine is going to be effective, researchers need to know if the virus is evolving and escaping the antibodies that were triggered via the vaccine.
Another reason that monitoring for new variants is important is that people who’ve been infected might be infected again if the virus has mutated and their immune system can’t recognize it and shut it down.
The best way to look for emerging variants in the population is to do random sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 viruses from patient samples across diverse genetic backgrounds and geographical locations.
The more sequencing data researchers collect, the better vaccine developers will be able to respond in advance of major changes in the virus population. Many research centers around the U.S. and the world are ramping up their sequencing capabilities to accomplish this.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Monday, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. filed a proposal with the California Public Utilities Commission in which the company outlined its plans to continue efforts to reduce wildfire risk and use new technologies that increase situational awareness.
The company said the ongoing strategy detailed in its 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan is meant to help keep customers and communities safe by enhancing its Community Wildfire Safety Program.
It is subject to public review and approval by the CPUC. Customers and communities can follow the proceeding and offer comments through the CPUC website.
The Community Wildfire Safety Program, which PG&E launched in March 2018 – five months after fires caused by its equipment tore through the North Bay, including Lake County – is designed to address the growing threat of severe weather and wildfires across PG&E’s 70,000-square-mile service area that stretches across Northern and Central California.
“The last few years have demonstrated how California’s wildfire season continues to grow longer and more devastating. We are continuing to evolve to meet the challenging conditions to more effectively reduce wildfire risk,” said Sumeet Singh, senior vice president and chief risk officer. “We are accountable to our customers and our communities that we are privileged to serve. The safety actions and programs outlined in our Wildfire Mitigation Plan provide details for our continued commitment to the critical work of providing safe and reliable service.”
PG&E said its new plan focuses on key areas including reducing wildfire potential by inspecting and repairing equipment, conducting enhanced vegetation management, and investing in grid technology and system hardening; improving situational awareness by installing weather stations and high-definition cameras throughout PG&E’s service area, investing in PG&E’s Wildfire Safety Operations Center that monitors high-fire threat areas in real time, and investing in meteorology to monitor weather conditions; and continuing to make the PSPS program better and build on the improvements from the 2020 program by upgrading the electric system to ensure PSPS is a last resort and improving support for impacted customers and communities when PSPS is necessary.
In Lake County, upgrades that PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras said are part of the plan include the building of two new microgrids, one in Lucerne and one in Middletown.
Contreras pointed out that PG&E’s efforts to continue to improve the PSPS program also impacted Lake County, where far fewer customers were impacted by proactive power shutoffs in 2020 than in 2019.
As of the end of 2020, Lake County had 30 weather stations and seven cameras installed and being used by PG&E to monitor conditions. Contreras said 12 of those weather stations were installed in 2020.
PG&E said the forecasted cost of wildfire mitigation programs described in the plan is about $3 billion each year for two years – 2021 and 2022.
The costs reflect what the company said is its best estimate of the costs for the proposed programs as of Feb. 5. Actual costs may vary substantially depending on actual conditions and requirements.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors this week will consider accepting the donation of land for a new Northshore park and discuss whether to continue limiting the county’s in-person services to the public.
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, and will be available to the public virtually only. The meeting can be watched live on Channel 8, online at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx and on the county’s Facebook page. Accompanying board documents, the agenda and archived board meeting videos also are available at that link.
To participate in real-time, join the Zoom meeting by clicking this link at 9 a.m. The meeting ID is 968 6101 7739, password 659362. The meeting also can be accessed via on tap mobile at +16699006833,,96861017739#,,,,*659362# US (San Jose).
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and passcode information above.
Chromebook devices are also available at the Lakeport and Clearlake Library branches, which will open early on Tuesday. Chromebooks can be checked out for three hours for use on the library premises and contactless pickup is available. The Lakeport Library Branch can be reached at 707-263-8817, and Clearlake at 707-994-5115.
WiFi is accessible in the parking lot of each County Library Branch, so residents can park at these locations to use WiFi on borrowed or personal devices, by connecting to the “Lake County Library” network (no password) anytime from 7a.m. to 8 p.m. To submit a written comment on any agenda item please visit https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx and click on the eComment feature linked to the meeting date. If a comment is submitted after the meeting begins, it may not be read during the meeting but will become a part of the record.
On Tuesday, the board will consider a resolution accepting a 620-acre bequest to the county from the John T. Klaus 1994 Trust for the creation of a park along East Highway 20 in Clearlake Oaks.
The proposal was first taken to the board in July, as Lake County News has reported.
The trust also includes dedicated financial resources. Public Services Director Lars Ewing’s July report to the board said the trustee had reported assets including bank accounts totaling approximately $1.5 million, appraisal values of properties owned by the trust and not yet sold amounting to approximately $650,000, and recurring annual lease income of approximately $127,000 from a property in Livermore that has been leased to an oil change business for more than 20 years.
Conditions on the donation include naming the park “John T. Klaus Park,” with one-third of the land on the rear of the property to be reserved as a refuge for wildlife and the rest of the park to be developed for sporting and athletic activities for youth.
In other business, the board will review a resolution from last month authorizing temporary reduction of in-person services to the public due to COVID-19 pandemic conditions and also will review its temporary closure of the Board of Supervisors chambers for in-person meetings.
Also on Tuesday, the board will get its weekly update from Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace at 9:06 a.m.
The full meeting follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve letter of opposition to SB 55 and authorize the chair to sign.
5.2: Consideration of amendment to the County of Lake Covid-19 Public Health Emergency Worksite Protocol.
5.3: (a) Waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) approve the agreement between the county of Lake and Redwood Community Services Inc. for the Lake County WRAP Program, Foster Care Program, and Intensive Services Foster Care Program for Specialty Mental Health Services for Fiscal Year 2020-21 for coverage of services provided during Fiscal Year 2019-20 for a contract maximum of $44,623.66 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
5.4: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meeting Jan. 5, 2021.
5.5: Approve the continuation of a local health emergency related to the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) as proclaimed by the Lake County Public Health officer.
5.6: Approve the continuation of resolution ratifying the declaration of local health emergency and order prohibiting the endangerment of the community through the unsafe removal, transport, and disposal of fire debris for the LNU Complex wildfire.
5.7: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to the Mendocino Complex Fire incident (River and Ranch fires)
5.8: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to the Pawnee Fire incident.
5.9: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to COVID-19.
5.10: Approve the continuation of a local emergency in Lake County in response to the LNU Lightning Complex wildfire event.
5.11: Approve an agreement between the county of Lake and Califa for the provision, installation and maintenance of advanced network (data) services, for the period from July 1, 2021, until June 30, 2022, for an amount not to exceed $50,000 annually; and authorize the chair to sign.
5.12: Approve contract between county of Lake and Lake County Office of Education for community based child abuse prevention services from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2024, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.13: Approve contract between the county of Lake and Lake Family Resource Center for Cal-Learn services in the amount of $50,000 from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, and authorize the chair to sign.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:06 a.m.: Consideration of update on COVID-19.
6.3, 10 a.m.: Consideration of (a) resolution amending Resolution No. 2020-133 to amend the FY 2020-21 Adopted Budget by Adjusting Reserves, Fund Balance Carry Over, Revenues, and Appropriations; and (b) Resolution Amending Resolution 2020-134 to Amend the Position Allocations for FY 2020-21 to conform to the mid-year budget adjustments.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Review of Resolution No. 2021-11 authorizing temporary reduction of in-person delivery of county services to the public due to COVID-19 pandemic conditions.
7.3: Reconsideration of temporary closure of the Board of Supervisors chambers for in-person meetings.
7.4: Consideration of the following advisory board appointments: Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee.
7.5: Consideration of resolution accepting bequest of real property and funds from The John T. Klaus 1994 Trust to the county of Lake.
7.6: Consideration of an Ordinance Amending Chapter 25 – Floodplain Management of the Lake County Code.
7.7: Consideration of Change Order No. Two for Clayton Creek Road at Clayton Creek Bridge Replacement Project, Federal Project No. BRLO-5914(077); Bid No. 20-10.
7.8: Consideration of agreement between the county of Lake and the California State Franchise Tax Board for FY 2020-2023; and authorize the Treasurer-Tax Collector to sign.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9(d)(1): Center for Biological Diversity v. County of Lake, et al.
8.2: Conference with legal counsel: Existing Litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9(d)(1): California Native Plant Society v. County of Lake, et al.
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. – We all learned about the four taste categories in school – sweet, salty, bitter and sour. It turns out there’s a fifth category – umami, which denotes a delightfully rich and savory flavor, one that can’t be categorized within the other four.
When compared to how long the theory of the four basic tastes has been around (Democritus, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, added the fourth category, bitter), umami is a relative newcomer. It wasn’t until 2002, when researchers discovered receptors on the human tongue specific to it, that it became universally accepted. (Well, almost universally accepted; there are some detractors.)
It can be a bit difficult to pin down umami. Some describe it as full-bodied and meaty, similar to a richly flavored, well reduced broth.
It’s more than just a flavor, however; it’s also a sensation. Umami coats the tongue, gives a sense of mouth fullness, and has a long-lasting, complex and balanced taste.
It is said that umami has three distinct characteristics: the taste spreads across the tongue, it lasts longer than other tastes, and it provides a mouth-watering sensation.
Think seared meat, aged cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, seafood, green tea, walnuts, and fermented things like soy sauce and kimchi. It’s a diverse grouping, isn’t it?
But what is umami exactly?
To answer this question, we have to go back more than 100 years – to Japan in 1908, when a Tokyo University chemist, Kikunae Ikeda, proposed its existence.
It came about through his enjoyment of a bowl of dashi, a classic Japanese stock made from seaweed. As Ikeda sipped his soup, he recognized that what he was tasting was beyond category. He later wrote that he knew that what he was tasting was “common to tomatoes, cheese, and meat, but … not one of the four known tastes.”
He wanted to discover whether the flavor he was experiencing was a biologically determined taste for something he couldn’t quite pin down.
In his lab, Ikeda examined the molecular structure of a key component of the broth, a variety of seaweed known as kombu (or kelp to us). He determined that one substance, an amino acid known as glutamic acid, was responsible for the intense and pleasurable flavor he experienced.
He named the taste umami, derived from umai, the Japanese word for delicious. The Japanese characters for delicious and taste form the word in that language, and umami can best be translated to English as deliciousness or even yumminess.
The more recent taste research mentioned above has since confirmed that the molecular compounds in glutamic acid – glutamates – bind to specific tongue receptors to create some pretty amazing flavor magic.
Though “meaty” is one descriptor of umami, the flavor is found in food sourced from both animals and plants. Any food in which glutamic acid occurs naturally (or after cooking, aging, or fermentation) is considered umami.
When glutamate breaks down, such as when a piece of meat is cooked, cheese is aged, or a tomato is ripened in the sun, it becomes L-glutamate, which creates the taste sensation that is umami. The more concentrated the flavor (think slow-smoked meats, dried tomatoes, caramelization from roasting vegetables, or reduced stocks), the more intense the umami flavor.
While cooking typically brings out umami flavor, some foods, like corn and peas, are packed with umami when fresh.
Humans have long enjoyed the benefits of umami. More than 3,000 years ago, Greeks and Romans boosted the flavor of their food by using a fermented condiment made from anchovies (much like we use ketchup), and soy sauce has long been used to enhance food in Japan.
Auguste Escoffier, the famed French chef of the late 1800s who changed the course of cuisine, perfected the use of umami in the veal stock he created. He was known to say that a savory fifth taste was the secret to his success.
Many researchers now believe that humans developed a taste for umami because it signals the presence of protein, just as a sweet taste alerts us to needed calories and bitter or sour can warn us of possible toxins. Interestingly, human breast milk is high in umami.
The reason we crave things like cheeseburgers with ketchup or pizza with cheese is because of the umami flavor bomb that the combined ingredients create. Layering on other umami-rich foods like caramelized onions, grilled mushrooms or smoked meats like bacon creates even more flavor intensity.
If you’re an advocate of plant-based cooking like me, utilizing umami-rich foods like tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, caramelized onions, roasted winter squashes or nuts adds a satisfying “meaty” quality to foods.
And yes, if you recognized a similarity in the name, monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the chemical basis for umami flavor. Once the flavor source was isolated, Professor Ikeda marketed it as a product named Ajinomoto, which means “essence of flavor” in Japanese.
Today’s recipe is an appetizer packed full of umami that comes from mushrooms and shaved parmesan cheese. The use of dried mushrooms is optional; however, I recommend using them to kick up the level of umami flavor.
Mushroom Medley on Garlic Toasts
If you have access to wild mushrooms, use them in this dish. Otherwise, purchase a variety of fresh mushrooms at your local market, such as button, shiitake, cremini and baby portabella.
3 pounds mixed fresh mushrooms, cleaned and stemmed 3 ounces dried mushrooms (optional) ¼ cup olive oil 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots ¼ cup vegetable broth or white wine 2 tablespoons brandy 2 tablespoons sweet butter or olive oil ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 sprigs fresh rosemary 3 sprigs fresh thyme ¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley Toasted baguette slices rubbed with fresh garlic Shaved parmesan cheese, about 1 ¼ ounces
Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
Slice fresh mushrooms ¼ inch thick.
Soak dried mushrooms, if using, in a bowl of hot water until tender, about 10 minutes. Rinse and squeeze to dry.
Heat a 12-inch ovenproof skillet until very hot. Add olive oil and fresh mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, over high heat until mushrooms release their liquid, about 10 minutes.
Add the shallots, garlic, and rehydrated mushrooms, if using, and cook until liquid has evaporated.
Add broth or wine, brandy, butter or olive oil, salt, pepper, and the sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme.
Transfer skillet to the oven and roast, stirring twice, for 30 minutes. Stir in chopped parsley.
Serve warm on the garlic toasts and garnish with shaved Parmesan cheese.
Recipe by Esther Oertel.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. She lives in Middletown.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Clearlake Planning Commission this week will consider a proposal for a new drive-thru bakery and coffee shop proposed for the city.
The commission will meet virtually beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9.
Submit comments and questions in writing for commission consideration by sending them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Identify the subject you wish to comment on in your email’s subject line.
To give the planning commission adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit written comments prior to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9.
The meet will be broadcast live on the Youtube channels for the city of Clearlake or Lake County PEG TV.
On the agenda is a public hearing to adopt a resolution to approve a use permit application for the operation of a drive-thru baker and coffee shop using existing facilities at 15090 Olympic Drive, and finding the project exempt from environmental review.
Pascal Hue De Laroque is applying to open the business at the former location of Classy Cakes, which operated there until July 2017, according to the staff report from Senior Planner Mark Roberts.
“While the proposed business plan utilizes the existing site facilities it should be noted that sit-down dining (indoor or outdoor) is not included at this time and has been excluded from the project analysis,” Roberts wrote in his report.
“The application does involve some minor renovations, including the installation of a drive through window on the west side of the building and new signage. Current tenant improvements involve upgrading the exterior lighting fixtures, trimming the overgrowth off the entryway tree, and installing a brand-new security system (with generous coverage of traffic on Olympic Drive), as well as various other aesthetic improvements,” he said.
Roberts said the proposed project is located within the Mixed Use Zoning District and is designated mixed use by the general plan land use map.
The city’s zoning code determines drive-thrus – which are defined as a “special use” – are allowable use upon securing a use permit, Roberts said.
“It is recognized that these facilities, by their very nature, have some objectionable characteristics, such as noise, idling vehicles and traffic conflicts. In order to protect and preserve public health, safety and welfare, special regulation review of these uses is necessary,” he said.
The commission’s members are Chair Kathryn Davis, Vice Chair Robert Coker and commissioners Lisa Wilson, Erin McCarrick and Fawn Williams.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lakeport Planning Commission will honor one of its former members and consider its goals and those for the city’s planning department when it gathers this week.
The commission will meet via webinar beginning at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10.
Please indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that read to the council will be subject to the three minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council prior to the meeting.
On the agenda is a presentation to Ken Wicks Jr., who served for several years on the commission. His term ended in December.
Also on Tuesday, Community Development Director Jenni Byers will have a discussion with the commission regarding the Planning Department and planning commission’s goals and work program.
Planning division goals include update the housing element, the general plan’s safety and conservation elements, submittal of Community Development Block Grant applications, completion of the Citywide General Plan Amendment and Zone Change inconsistency mapping review started in 2017, implementation of the Lakeport Lakefront Revitalization Plan recommendations, completion of a general plan annual progress report and right-of-way improvements, among other items on a lengthy list in her report.
Participation in many community science programs has skyrocketed during COVID-19 lockdowns, with some programs reporting record numbers of contributors. We believe these efforts can help to offset data losses from the shutdown of formal monitoring activities.
Why is uninterrupted monitoring important?
Regular, long-term tracking of phenomena such as plant and animal abundance, composition and activity is critical for understanding change. It enables researchers to see the impacts of natural disturbance events, such as wildfires, and human activities, such as construction and development. Long-term studies offer insights into patterns and processes that can’t be derived from shorter studies, and help experts make better predictions about the future.
Interruptions in monitoring make it harder to accurately assess changes. If those disruptions coincide with extreme events, such as a major hurricane, experts miss opportunities to understand the full impacts of those events.
Community science is a strong complement to formal research. By engaging willing volunteers, community programs yield much more data and cover larger areas than professional scientists can achieve on their own.
Community science programs also benefit participants. Joining a community science program can make people more science-literate and help pull back the curtain on how scientific work is done. It also deepens their sense of place and increases their understanding and appreciation for the plants and animals they monitor. We have frequently heard from our participants that making observations has enabled them to see and experience much more in places they know well, and to enjoy those places all the more.
Community science to the rescue
As offices and schools closed in the spring of 2020, many Americans turned to community science programs in search of stimulating and meaningful activities for children and adults alike. And despite COVID-19 restrictions, volunteer data collectors have persisted through the pandemic.
In a recent analysis of activity in biodiversity-themed community science programs during COVID-19 lockdowns, we found that participation generally held steady or increased in the spring of 2020. Two popular programs, iNaturalist and eBird, both grew. Participation in Nature’s Notebook and eButterfly declined slightly, though volunteers still logged many critical observations. What’s more, community science volunteers in these programs and others have kept at it even as lockdowns have relaxed.
How good is community data?
One common question about community science projects is whether data collected by volunteers is reliable. This is a valid concern, since many program participants are not formally trained as scientists.
Organizations that run community science programs typically go to great lengths to ensure data quality. To avoid recording erroneous observations, project leaders provide extensive training and support materials. They also construct data entry apps so that volunteers can’t mistakenly input dates in the future, and flag inconsistent reports for review. Several biodiversity-themed programs, including iNaturalist, eBird and eButterfly, engage expert reviewers to evaluate and verify reports.
According to a 2018 review by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, on average, volunteer contributors yield reliable data points about 75% of the time. For some programs, such as Nature’s Notebook and eBird, accuracy is over 90%.
How to get involved
Your observations can help fill critical gaps that COVID-19 closures have created. Contributions to iNaturalist, eBird, eButterfly or Nature’s Notebook are welcome any time of the year, but spring is an ideal time to contribute observations to biodiversity-themed programs to help document plant and animal response to changing seasonal conditions. For example, participants in Nature’s Notebook will help document whether springtime plant and animal activity is early amid the ongoing effects of climate change.
The 2021 City Nature Challenge, an effort using iNaturalist to document urban biodiversity in brief, focused events, will run in late April and early May in cities worldwide. Another event, Global Big Day – a single day focused on celebrating and recording birds worldwide – is scheduled for May 8. Even if you’ve never thought of yourself as a scientist, you can help scientists collect data that expand our understanding of the Earth and how it works.