The teen, whose name was not released due to his age, was arrested for attempted murder and booked into the Mendocino County Juvenile Hall, with bail set at $250,000, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

On Sunday, June 19, at 6:30 p.m. Mendocino County Sheriff's Office deputies were contacted at the Ukiah office by a 44-year-old woman who advised them that her teenage son attempted to kill her. She brought the teen with her to the sheriff's office lobby, Smallcomb said.

During the interview with the woman, deputies learned that she had discovered her son had been acting out lately, and had stolen from her, created a fake Web account on an adult Web site and taken her vehicle without permission, Smallcomb said.

He said the victim stated she started to discipline the teen by taking away certain privileges, such as not allowing him computer use or playing sports at school.

The woman told deputies that at 7 a.m. Sunday she awoke, made a cup of coffee and spoke with friends on the phone, according to Smallcomb's report.

Smallcomb said she reported leaving her coffee on the counter for a short time before returning to drink it. The victim stated when she took a sip of the coffee she immediately knew someone had put something caustic in it because of the chemical taste it had.

The woman confronted her son but he denied any knowledge on putting anything in it. Smallcomb said the woman reported discovering open bottle of Drano nearby and determined that's what was put in her coffee.

The victim contacted the poison control center and then went to Ukiah Valley Medical Center where Smallcomb said she was treated for her injuries and released.

Later in the day, the 15-year-old male admitted pouring Drano into his mother's coffee cup because he was angry with her for taking away his sports and computer activities. Smallcomb said the male juvenile suspect stated he would either kill himself or his mother if he had the chance again.

The juvenile suspect was arrested without incident, transported and booked into the Mendocino County Juvenile Hall.

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The feathery fronds of the dill plant are best snipped with scissors, rather than chopped with a knife, to preserve its delicate flavor. Photo by Esther Oertel.

A backyard herb garden is slowly taking shape at my home.

Throughout the last month, a variety of fragrant starts have found their way into terra cotta dwellings on my deck or patio. Little by little, the garden – such as it is – is growing, both in height and breadth.

Its latest addition is a healthy little dill plant, though “little” is a relative term. Compared to the young starts of other herbs such as basil, mint or thyme, it’s fairly tall, with feathery-leaved arms waving in the breeze, looking loftily down on its shorter herbal brethren.

Some dill plants grow to an impressive height of more than five feet; however, three feet or so is a more typical size. Dill attracts bees to the garden and is often used as a magnet for beneficial insects in companion plantings with vegetables.

Dill, hearty and resilient, is known for reseeding and spreading throughout a garden.

Dill flowers are umbels, meaning many stalks emanate from a common stem, each with a flower at its tip. Together they form a large, round, flat-topped yellow bloom about six inches across.

Dill’s feathery foliage may be harvested beginning in spring and throughout the summer. The blooming season for dill is generally from July through September, and seeds are harvested when the flowers mature.

With both the foliage and seeds used in cuisine, dill leaves are sometimes called “dill weed” to differentiate it from the seeds of the plant.

Dill is native to southern Russia, western Asian (India, for example) and the Mediterranean region of southern Europe and North Africa. It’s popular as a seasoning in the cuisines of these regions, in addition to northern and central Europe (think Scandinavia and Germany), the Middle East (particularly Iran) and Southeast Asia (specifically Laos, though parts of northern Thailand and areas of Vietnam utilize it).

In Southeast Asia, dill is known in English as Laotian coriander, and is typically used with seafood in that country, such as with fish steamed in banana leaves or in seafood curries.

Similarly, in Scandinavia, dill is used to flavor gravlax, a cured salmon dish. Dill, along with salt, sugar and coarse black pepper, coat the fish as it’s curing, a process that’s done over a few days in the fridge while the salmon is wrapped and weighted. Thin slices of gravlax make a slightly sweet and salty appetizer, often paired with hearty rye bread, mustard and cucumber.

Dill, both the leaves and seeds, are used as pickling spices. Dill pickles made from cucumbers preserved in brine and dill are enjoyed throughout Europe and North America; however, dill is also used as a pickling spice in Arabic countries, where the term for dill translates as “cricket eye.”

The root of the English word for dill is not quite as colorful, though it has a practical meaning. It comes from the Norse word “dilla,” which means “to lull,” appropriate because of its calming effect on the muscles, particularly those of the digestive tract. It’s been used for centuries in teas and other remedies as a curative for digestive problems.

This baby dill - purchased in a local market - may be used to flavor a variety of dishes and is compatible with a wide range of foods, from beets to salmon to eggs to potatoes to cucumbers and tomatoes. Photo by Esther Oertel.

In India, dill is used in “mukhwas,” an after-meal digestive aid, and in medieval Europe, Charlemagne is said to have made dill seeds available on his banquet tables as a carminative (an anti-flatulence agent) for his guests. Gripe water, a remedy for colicky babies, has dill seed as an ingredient.

The ancient Greeks considered dill a sign of wealth, even burning the oil to display status.

Hippocrates, a physician in that society, recommended dill for cleaning the mouth. His recipe reads more like an after dinner drink than a cleanser, however: “Clean teeth with a ball of wool dipped in honey and rinse with 1 teaspoon of dill seed boiled in 1/2 cup of white wine.”

Whenever possible, use fresh dill leaves, rather than dried, as the flavor and fragrance of the fresh, feathery fronds are superior. Because the flavor of fresh dill breaks down in cooking, add it at the last minute. It is recommended that dill be snipped with scissors, rather than chopped with a knife, to preserve its delicate flavor.

Fresh dill should be stored in the fridge, either with its stems placed in water or wrapped in a damp paper towel. Dill can be frozen, either whole or chopped, in an airtight container. Some people keep whole dill fronds in zipper locked bags in the freezer, pulling them out to snip off just enough dill for a recipe and then returning them to the freezer.

Dried dill seeds will stay fresh for about six months if kept in an airtight container (preferably glass) in a cool, dry, dark place.

Both the seeds and leaves contain calcium, iron and manganese; in fact, a tablespoon of dill seeds contains as much calcium as one-third of a cup of milk. Dill is considered a good source of fiber.

Dill has anti-bacterial properties due to the volatile oil present in the plant. As well, the activity of its volatile oils qualify it as a “chemoprotective” food (much like parsley) that can help neutralize particular types of carcinogens, such as smoke from charcoal grills, cigarettes and the like.

In addition to pickling, dill seeds are used to flavor breads, like the caraway seeds to which they’re often compared. The seeds have a stronger flavor than the leaves.

Fresh dill leaves make a wonderful sauce for fish or asparagus when combined with mayonnaise, yogurt or sour cream and flavored with fresh lemon juice.

Dill is a main flavor component of beet borscht, Russia’s signature soup and a favorite in Eastern European countries. I especially love borscht served hot with a dollop of thick Greek yogurt or sour cream and freshly-snipped dill.

Fresh dill adds brightness to scrambled eggs, omelets, egg salads and stuffed eggs. I like using it in sandwiches, such as with tuna or fresh garden tomatoes.

Cucumbers and dill are made for each other, as are dill and tomatoes. When these companionable vegetables are pulled from summer gardens, make a salad, simply dressed with olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar and fresh dill.

Combining cucumber, yogurt and fresh dill makes for a cooling summer salad. When the cucumber is diced finely, an Indian- or Greek-inspired dip or sauce is created.

You may be wondering why I didn’t mention dill and potatoes, another classic combo, especially in cold potato salads. Perhaps you could say I saved the best for last.

I made a red potato salad with dill this evening for dinner, and I made note of the proportions of each component so I could fashion it into a recipe for you. My version of this classic salad, simple yet tasty, is below. Enjoy!

Dilled red potato salad

2 pounds or more small red potatoes

3-4 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced

Approximately ¼ cup snipped fresh dill (or less to taste)

½ cup sour cream

½ cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash potatoes and remove eyes. (Do not peel.) Cut them into bite sized pieces and cook until just tender in salted, boiling water. Drain and plunge into ice water bath to stop cooking process.

Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, vinegar, dill and scallions and blend well. Adjust seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Drain potatoes and put in a serving bowl. Pour sour cream dressing over them, gently folding potatoes into dressing to coat all pieces well.

Makes six to eight servings.

Recipe by Esther Oertel.

Esther Oertel, the “Veggie Girl,” is a culinary coach and educator and is passionate about local produce. Oertel teaches culinary classes at Chic Le Chef in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif., and The Kitchen Gallery in Lakeport, Calif., and gives private cooking lessons. She welcomes your questions and comments; e-mail her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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This dilled red potato salad is flavored with fresh dill and scallions and is dressed very simply to allow those flavors to shine. Photo by Esther Oertel.

Caltrans reported on Friday that the project is under way along Highway 53, stretching from 40^th Avenue to Highway 20.

Crews will repave roughly four miles of highway, widen the highway shoulders, add and extend turn pockets at intersections, and install lighting at intersections, according to Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie.

One of the project's main components will be in the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Highway 53 and Olympic Drive, Frisbie said. The signal will replace temporary stop signs placed there last spring.

The stoplight project – which had, at one point, looked as if it would be delayed – has been moved up, according to Frisbie.

“We have also modified the contractor's schedule to focus on widening and paving the south section near Olympic Drive first so we can install the signal this fall, instead of next fall,” he said.

Frisbie said the project's purpose is to bring that section of Highway 53 up to current design standards and enhance safety for all highway users – motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.

He said work is anticipated to be completed by fall 2012.

Work hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., weekdays. Frisbie said one-way traffic control will be in effect, and motorists should anticipate 10-minute delays.

For the most current road information on all state highways, call 1-800-427-7623 (1-800-GAS-ROAD) or visit www.dot.ca.gov.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

On Monday, the unit will staff a fire engine at each of its 20 fire stations, as well as three bulldozers, 11 fire crews and one helicopter.

The Sonoma Air Attack Base will be opened for reloading air tankers. On July 1, one air tactical plane and two air tankers will arrive at the air attack base to begin the 2011 fire season.

The Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit will enter into the peak staffing period on Monday, July 4, with all firefighting equipment staffed and ready for emergency response.

At peak staffing the unit has a total of 31 wildland fire engines, six bulldozers, 11 fire crews, one helicopter, two air tankers and one air tactical plane.

To meet the staffing needs for fire season, the Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit augments its permanent workforce with approximately 200 seasonal firefighters.

Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief Tim Streblow reminds residents while maintaining their defensible space to use caution when mowing.

Each year mowing and equipment caused fires rank in the top five fire causes for the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit.

Chief Streblow urges residents to mow early in the day to avoid high temperatures and windy conditions. Ensure your mower is set at a height high enough to avoid hitting rocks with the blade. Most mowing caused fires result from a spark cast into dry grass when the blade strikes a rock.

For more information on defensible space and safe practices for mowing residents can go to Cal Fire's Web site at www.fire.ca.gov or contact their nearest Cal Fire facility.

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ATLANTA – A steady reduction in overall cancer death rates translates to the avoidance of about 898,000 deaths from cancer between 1990 and 2007, according to the latest statistics from the American Cancer Society.

“The nearly 900,000 cancer deaths avoided over a 17-year period stand in stark contrast to the repeated claim that cancer death rates have not budged,” said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society and its advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). “Nonetheless, we refuse to be satisfied, and are committed to doing whatever it takes, not only to ensure cancer death rates continue to drop, but to accelerate the decline.”

However, the report, “Cancer Statistics 2011,” and its companion consumer publication “Cancer Facts & Figures 2011” find that progress has not benefited all segments of the population equally.

A special section of the report finds cancer death rates for individuals with the least education are more than twice those of the most educated and that closing that gap could have prevented 37 percent – or 60,370 – of the premature cancer deaths that occurred in 2007 in people ages 25-64 years.

Each year, the American Cancer Society estimates the numbers of new cancer cases and deaths expected in the United States in the current year and compiles the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival based on incidence data from the National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, and mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

A total of 1,596,670 new cancer cases and 571,950 deaths from cancer are projected to occur in the U.S. In 2011.

Overall cancer incidence rates were stable in men in the most recent time period after decreasing by 1.9 percent per year from 2001 to 2005; in women, incidence rates have been declining by 0.6 percent annually since 1998.

Overall cancer death rates, which have been dropping since the early 1990s, continued to decrease in all racial/ethnic groups in both men and women since 1998 with the exception of American Indian/Alaska Native women, among whom rates were stable.

African American and Hispanic men showed the largest annual decreases in cancer death rates during this time period, 2.6 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Lung cancer death rates showed a significant decline in women after continuously increasing since the 1930s.

Other highlights of the report include:

– Among men, cancers of the prostate, lung and bronchus, and colorectum account for more than half (about 52%) of all newly diagnosed cancers. Prostate cancer alone accounts for 29 percent (240,890) of incident cases.

– The three most commonly diagnosed types of cancer among women in 2011 are breast, lung and bronchus, and colorectum, accounting for about 53 percent of estimated cancer cases in women. Breast cancer alone is expected to account for 30 percent (230,480) of all new cancer cases among women.

– The lifetime probability of being diagnosed with an invasive cancer is higher for men than women.

– It is estimated that about 571,950 Americans will die from cancer.

– Cancers of the lung and bronchus, prostate, and colorectum in men, and cancers of the lung and bronchus, breast, and colorectum in women continue to be the most common causes of cancer death.

– Lung cancer is expected to account for 26% of all cancer deaths among women.

– The lung cancer mortality rate in women has finally begun to decline, more than a decade later than the decline began in men. The lag in lung cancer trends in women compared with men reflects a later uptake of cigarette smoking in women, among whom smoking peaked about 20 years later than in men.

– Recent rapid declines in colorectal cancer incidence rates largely reflect increases in screening that can detect and remove precancerous growths.

– The overall cancer death rate decreased by 1.9 percent per year from 2001-2007 in males and by 1.5 percent in females from 2002-2007, greater declines than those seen in the 1990s.

– Between 1990-91 and 2007, cancer death rates decreased by 22.2 percent in men and by 13.9 percent in women.

– Mortality rates have continued to decrease for colorectum, female breast and prostate cancer.

– Among men, the reduction in death rates for lung, prostate and colorectal cancers account for nearly 80 percent of the total decrease in the cancer death rate, while among women, a reduction in death rates for breast and colorectal cancers account for almost 60 percent of the decrease.

The reports feature a special section on the impact of eliminating disparities on cancer deaths. Level of education is often used as a marker of socioeconomic status.

In 2007, cancer death rates in the least educated segment of the population were 2.6 times higher than those in the most educated. This disparity was largest for lung cancer, for which the death rate was five times higher in the least educated than for the most educated.

Differences in lung cancer death rates reflect the striking gradient in smoking prevalence by level of education; 31 percent of men with 12 or fewer years of education are current smokers, compared to 12 percent of college graduates and 5 percent of men with graduate degrees.

The special section also estimated the numbers of potential premature cancer deaths that could be avoided in the absence of socioeconomic and/or racial disparities.

If all adults ages 25 to 64 in the United States in 2007 had the cancer death rate of the most educated non-Hispanic whites, 37 percent – or 60,370 out of 164,190 – premature cancer deaths could potentially have been avoided.

For African Americans, closing the gap between death rates among the most and least educated could potentially avert twice as many premature cancer deaths as eliminating racial disparities between blacks and whites, underscoring the preponderance of poverty in cancer disparities across all segments of the population.

The annual reports have become critical tools for scientists, public health experts, and policymakers in assessing the current burden of cancer. These estimates are some of the most widely quoted cancer statistics in the world.

The Society’s leading team of epidemiologic researchers, in collaboration with scientists from the National Cancer Institute, compiles and analyzes incidence and mortality data to estimate the number of new cancer cases and deaths for the current year nationwide and in individual states.

The expected numbers of new cancer cases and cancer deaths should be interpreted with caution because these estimates are based on statistical models and may vary considerably from year to year, the American Cancer Society said.

Not all changes in cancer trends can be captured by modeling techniques and sometimes the model may be too sensitive to recent trends, resulting in over- or under-estimates.

For these reasons, the estimates should not be compared from year-to-year to determine trends; age-standardized cancer incidence and death rates are the best way to monitor changes in cancer occurrence and death.

Despite these limitations, the American Cancer Society’s estimates of the number of new cancer cases and deaths in the current year provide reasonably accurate estimates of the burden of new cancer cases and deaths in the United States.

Such estimates will assist in continuing efforts to reduce the public health burden of cancer, the group said.

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Cancer Statistics 2011

In commemoration of the 150^th anniversary of the founding of Lake County this year, Lake County News is publishing a series of historical stories about the county, its people and places. In this week's story, excerpted from the files of historian Henry Mauldin, the arrival of the Reeves family is recounted.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Elijah Reeves was born in Kentucky in 1821, and crossed the plains in 1848.

He was one of the first white men to see Lake County when he traveled through with a group of Spaniards. He thought it was so beautiful he returned to Illinois to bring his wife and family back to California.

They left Mt. Sterling, Illinois in May of 1853, and joined a wagon train of 150 wagons. He served as a scout, spending most of his time ahead of the train, searching for water and pasture.

Martha Caroline Lamphier Reeves was born in Holland on March 5, 1825.

Her father worked as a shipbuilder. While Martha was still a young girl, he packed up his family and moved to New York. They eventually settled in Illinois, where she met and married Elijah.

As they crossed the plains, Martha told incredible tales, including how she attempted to lighten the load of their wagon by walking almost the whole way to California while pregnant.

When they arrived in Shasta, Calif., they didn’t even have time to find a house, as her son William was born under an oak tree, with quilts hung from limbs to provide privacy.

The family spent the winter in Shasta working the lead mines. Elijah would not move his family again until the spring of 1854, when they traveled 12 days by way of Howell Mountain and Pope Valley to Lake County (which was then part of Napa County).

They arrived to find a lovely lake, surrounded by meadows of clover and tall grass.

A large settlement of Pomo Indians were living very near where Kelseyville is today. They followed Kelsey Creek down into Big Valley and took up 160 acres about one mile from the lake and two and a a half miles from Kelseyville. They were the first white family to settle in Big Valley.

The only other settlers in this region were the Hammacks in Lower Lake, and a group of cattlemen, Robert Gaddy, Press Rickabaugh, Steve Tuck and Ad Benson – all bachelors.

On Aug. 30, 1855, in a cabin Elijah had built of oak logs, the first white settler was born in Lake County. His name was George Washington Reeves. He was followed by nine more children, with a total of 14 brothers and sisters, of which 11 survived.

Elijah Reeves died on March 7, 1872, and is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Kelseyville. His wife Martha died Oct. 9, 1898, and is buried in the Kelseyville Cemetery. George Washington Reeves passed away March 18, 1915, at the age of 60.

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Firefighters are continuing to monitor a fire that broke out in a railroad tunnel near Cloverdale, Calif., on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. Photo courtesy of the Cloverdale Fire Protection District and Cal Fire.

CLOVERDALE, Calif. – Firefighters are continuing to monitor a fire that broke out in a Sonoma County railroad tunnel earlier this week.

The Cloverdale Fire Protection District and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) responded to a fire involving an abandoned railroad tunnel shortly after 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

The tunnel is located along the Russian River, north of Cloverdale, near the Sonoma-Mendocino county line.

Firefighters found a fire involving the wood structure supporting the tunnel and were able to extinguish the fire on the southern end of the tunnel structure. However, officials reported that firefighters were unable to enter the tunnel to fully extinguish the fire due to the damaged wood structure and potential of collapse.

The firefighters reportedly observed wood and other material falling from the tunnel’s roof and walls. Cal Fire said the wood structure appears to be mainly untreated redwood timbers.

The owner of the tunnel, the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Co., was notified of the fire. Northwestern personnel have remained at the tunnel since Wednesday night, summoning water tenders and bulldozers to combat the fire, and sealing the ends of the tunnel, using bulldozers to pile dire, according to Cal Fire's report.

Cal Fire said smoke may remain visible to passing motorists on Highway 101 and residents of the area. The tunnel structure is expected to continue to burn for at least a week until it is smothered by the lack of fresh air.

The tunnel has not been used since railroad services stopped more than 10 years ago, Cal Fire said. The tunnel is 1,800 feet long and was originally built in 1898. It was refurbished in 1969.

Cal Fire said firefighters are ready to respond if the fire spreads to the surrounding vegetation.

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A bulldozer uses dirt to seal the north end of the railroad tunnel where a fire broke out near Cloverdale, Calif., on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. Photo courtesy of the Cloverdale Fire Protection District and Cal Fire.

Interim Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen said in an early Sunday morning statement that his officers were dispatched to a “shots fired” call in the 14000 block of Lakeshore Drive at about 10:50 p.m. Saturday. Radio reports indicated the closest cross street to the shooting site was Kabal Street.

Clausen said when officers arrived at the scene they discovered several victims with apparent gunshot wounds.

One of the victims later died, according to Clausen, while three others were flown to out-of-county hospitals for treatment of their injuries.

A family member posted on Lake County News' Facebook page that the shooting victim who died was a 4-year-old child, with his mother, father and another relative also wounded.

Radio reports had indicated that at least one suspect in the shooting had been detained near the scene shortly afterward.

The suspects, based on Facebook posts by family and friends of the victims, were said to be a group of young Clearlake men with Norteno gang affiliations.

However, Clausen did not release the names of the victims or the alleged suspects early Sunday, noting that more information would be released as soon as police were able to do so.

There also has been reports posted on the Lake County News Facebook page that police officers had possibly been hurt in the incident, but Sgt. Tom Clements told Lake County News early Sunday that no officers had been injured.

During the night Clearlake Police Department officers secured multiple scenes in preparation of issuance of search warrants, and were assisted in the investigation by the Lake County District Attorney’s Investigation Unit, Clausen said.

The Clearlake Police Department also received assistance from other agencies around the county as the night unfolded.

The California Highway Patrol sent officers to the area, and sheriff's deputies were called in to help back up the police in responding to other calls, based on radio traffic.

Likewise, Lake County Fire Protection District, based in Clearlake, was assisted by medic units from Northshore Fire, Kelseyville Fire and Cal Fire's South Lake County units in responding to transport victims from the scene to St. Helena Hospital Clearlake as well as to a helicopter landing zone at Ray's Food Place on Dam Road.

For several hours following the shootings REACH and Cal Star helicopters came and went from the city in order to transport the victims to hospitals around the region, including Santa Rosa Memorial and UC Davis Medical Center.

Police are asking anyone with information about the case to contact Sgt. Clements at 707-994-8251. Callers may remain anonymous.

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This is an artist's impression of a growing supermassive black hole located in the early Universe, showing a disk of gas rotating around the central object that generates copious amounts of radiation. This gas is destined to be consumed by the black hole. The black hole's mass is less than one hundredth of the mass it will have when the Universe reaches its present day age of about 13.7 billion years. Image credit: NASA/CXC/A.Hobart.

Using the deepest X-ray image ever taken, astronomers found the first direct evidence that massive black holes were common in the early universe.

This discovery from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that very young black holes grew more aggressively than previously thought, in tandem with the growth of their host galaxies.

By pointing Chandra at a patch of sky for more than six weeks, astronomers obtained what is known as the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS).

When combined with very deep optical and infrared images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the new Chandra data allowed astronomers to search for black holes in 200 distant galaxies, from when the universe was between about 800 million to 950 million years old.

“Until now, we had no idea what the black holes in these early galaxies were doing, or if they even existed,” said Ezequiel Treister of the University of Hawaii, lead author of the study appearing in the June 16 issue of the journal Nature. “Now we know they are there, and they are growing like gangbusters.”

The super-sized growth means that the black holes in the CDFS are less extreme versions of quasars – very luminous, rare objects powered by material falling onto supermassive black holes.

However, the sources in the CDFS are about a hundred times fainter and the black holes are about a thousand times less massive than the ones in quasars.

The observations found that between 30 and 100 percent of the distant galaxies contain growing supermassive black holes.

Extrapolating these results from the small observed field to the full sky, there are at least 30 million supermassive black holes in the early universe. This is a factor of 10,000 larger than the estimated number of quasars in the early universe.

“It appears we've found a whole new population of baby black holes,” said co-author Kevin Schawinski of Yale University. “We think these babies will grow by a factor of about a hundred or a thousand, eventually becoming like the giant black holes we see today almost 13 billion years later.”

This artist's impression shows a very young galaxy located in the early Universe less than one billion years after the Big Bang. The distorted appearance of the galaxy is caused by the large number of mergers occurring at this early epoch, and the blue regions mark where star formation is occurring at a high rate. The core of the galaxy is embedded within heavy veils of dust and gas. A cut-out from the core shows that this dust and gas is hiding very bright radiation from the very center of the galaxy, produced by a rapidly growing supermassive black hole. Image credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss.

A population of young black holes in the early universe had been predicted, but not yet observed. Detailed calculations show that the total amount of black hole growth observed by this team is about a hundred times higher than recent estimates.

Because these black holes are nearly all enshrouded in thick clouds of gas and dust, optical telescopes frequently cannot detect them. However, the high energies of X-ray light can penetrate these veils, allowing the black holes inside to be studied.

Physicists studying black holes want to know more how the first supermassive black holes were formed and how they grow. Although evidence for parallel growth of black holes and galaxies has been established at closer distances, the new Chandra results show that this connection starts earlier than previously thought, perhaps right from the origin of both.

“Most astronomers think in the present-day universe, black holes and galaxies are somehow symbiotic in how they grow,” said Priya Natarajan, a co-author from Yale University. “We have shown that this codependent relationship has existed from very early times.”

It has been suggested that early black holes would play an important role in clearing away the cosmic “fog” of neutral, or uncharged, hydrogen that pervaded the early universe when temperatures cooled down after the Big Bang.

However, the Chandra study shows that blankets of dust and gas stop ultraviolet radiation generated by the black holes from traveling outwards to perform this “reionization.” Therefore, stars and not growing black holes are likely to have cleared this fog at cosmic dawn.

Chandra is capable of detecting extremely faint objects at vast distances, but these black holes are so obscured that relatively few photons can escape and hence they could not be individually detected. Instead, the team used a technique that relied on Chandra’s ability to accurately determine the direction from which the X-rays came to add up all the X-ray counts near the positions of distant galaxies and find a statistically significant signal.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.

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The reserved life estate is an example. You retain the use of the property during the remainder of your lifetime while giving the property away. Let’s examine the life estate.

One may transfer his or her real property (while alive) and keep the right to use, live-in and rent the same property for the rest of one’s lifetime. The gift is completed (irrevocable) when made. And so, like any other lifetime gift, avoids probate at one’s death.

While alive, the life estate owner remains responsible for the property’s upkeep and paying the real property taxes. The grantee who takes subject to the reserved life estate, i.e., the “remainderman,” has a vested legal ownership right.

If the remainderman predeceases the life tenant then that vested ownership remains part of his or her estate, or part of a living trust estate if conveyed by the remainderman into a probate avoidance living trust, and passes to his or her heirs or beneficiaries.

No reassessment of real property taxes occurs during the life tenant’s life. If the remainderman is a surviving child or spouse then the applicable exclusion prevents subsequent reassessment for property taxes.

Nowadays, the life estate has lost much of its usefulness and appeal due to the advantages of the living trust. But, in certain situations the life estate can provide a better solution.

Most importantly, under current law, a person receiving Medi-Cal can transfer his or her home subject to a retained life estate. Doing so will avoid Medi-Cal estate recovery against the transferred home after death, under present law.

When the life estate terminates Medi-Cal cannot recover against the home because ownership was transferred during life; typically to the surviving children.

If one knows, as close to an absolute certainty as is humanly possible, that he or she will continue to live in his or her residence till death; that he or she will not change his or her mind about who should inherit the house; that he or she will not need to tap into an equity line of credit on the house, or a reverse mortgage, to supplement his or her income; and that transferring ownership outright to the intended beneficiaries will not have negative implications for them in the future; then transferring the home subject to a retained life estate may be desirable as a simpler and less costly solution than the living trust.

Unfortunately, such absolute certainty is seldom possible.

Typically, the living trust approach is far superior to the retained life estate because of its flexibility. The trust approach is much more flexible and forgiving because a living trust allows the following major options (not found in the retained life estate approach): selling the home if necessary or desirable (e.g., relocating); using the equity in the residence to live-on; and changing who inherits the house, and under what terms, as family circumstances evolve.

In sum, under existing law, the reserved life estate is sometimes relevant as an important Medi-Cal planning tool, but it is not typically a desirable estate planning tool, given the flexibility of the living trust.

The decision to use any estate planning approach requires careful examination of one’s own particular circumstances and objectives.

This should be done in consultation with a qualified estate planning attorney who can evaluate and advise as to different available options, and who can properly implement any chosen solution.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 55 First St., Lakeport, California. Dennis can be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 707-263-3235.

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