Amid congressional debates about whether or not to extend or modify the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Program, a new Data Point from the California Policy Lab at UCLA focuses on how the extra $600 payment has helped keep California workers financially afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For more than half the Californians receiving unemployment benefits, that extra $600 has boosted their benefit amounts above the threshold for ‘Very Low Income’,” explained Till von Wachter, a co-author of the analysis, UCLA economics professor and faculty director at the California Policy Lab. “Given the low benefit amounts for those particularly hard hit by the current crisis, reducing this amount to $200 could put a lot of unemployed in serious financial difficulties.”
Among its key findings, the analysis determined that Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, or FPUC, payments have been made to Californian recipients from the start of the program to late June, totaling $26 billion.
Because lower-income workers have been the most impacted by job losses during this pandemic, it's likely most of these benefits have helped support the state's economy as these workers used this money to pay for necessary household expenses like food and rent.
The analysis also found that without the $600 FPUC payment, California’s median unemployment insurance benefit amount will drop down to $339 per week.
In comparison, California’s Median Family Income is $86,165, on a weekly basis, that equals $1,657. Without the FPUC payment, the median payment of $339 would be less than a quarter of California’s Median Family Income.
The study reported that the average actual payment in California without FPUC is $270.
While each Unemployment Insurance claimant is assigned a weekly benefit amount based on their prior earnings when they file their claim, for claimants who report income from part-time work, their benefit payment is reduced accordingly, and they receive a payment less than their WBA.
When looking at actual payments received while FPUC has been in effect, the average actual payment was $270, the difference arising to some claimants receiving reduced payments because they are working, incomplete certifications, or payments deemed ineligible for other reasons.
Average actual benefit amounts are even lower for the workers who have been most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including women workers ($253); young workers aged 20-24 ($215), Black workers ($255) and Asian workers ($263). See the Data Point for a table with demographic breakdowns.
The study also determined that the most impacted are women workers, Black workers, younger workers and lower-educated workers.
These groups have been hardest hit by COVID-19 related layoffs and will be most harmed if the $600 extension is not renewed or is reduced.
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating economic and human impact on California child care centers, forcing hundreds of them to close while others remain open at the risk of illness to both children and staff, according to a new report from the University of California, Berkeley.
Among more than 950 preschools and in-home sites surveyed by the campus’s Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, or CSCCE, fully 25 percent are closed.
Among those that remain open, enrollments have plunged, and many owners are going into debt to keep their centers open for families who depend on continued child care, said the report.
“As a result of the pandemic, in California and in the whole country, we can see that child care is critically important to our economy and to parents who have to work,” said Lea Austin, CSCCE executive director. “But as child care collapses, so many other parts of our economy will be at risk.”
Bay Area Hispano Institute for Advancement Inc., or BAHIA, is a bilingual child development center founded in 1975 in West Berkeley. It has been closed since March, and executive director Beatriz Leyva-Cutler knows how such a loss can hurt her community.
If these closures multiply, Leyva-Cutler said, “low-income families will be the hardest hit. If the parents have to work outside the home, and without child care, they risk losing their jobs, which means more risk of hunger and homelessness.
“It also means that child care workers themselves face rising insecurity,” she added. “Our centers and our child care workers are essential to the economy, but the state and federal government have only scratched the surface to meet their needs. It feels like we’re invisible.”
Health or finances? Heartbreaking choices
At full strength, California’s centers and family homes care for close to a million children, according to CSCCE. Some 34,000 licensed child care facilities employ about 120,000 teachers and staff. Most are women of color, in positions that pay poverty-level wages for work that is highly important for a young child’s development and safety.
The center conducted its first survey on the impact of COVID-19 in April. In the latest, more extensive, survey, 953 respondents detailed a system in crisis, with families and care providers required to navigate complex issues of education, economics and health.
According to the report, many providers are fearful that they or their families will be infected with the virus — and that fear drives many closures. But others feel they can’t afford to shut down.
In that climate, the challenges are stark for programs that remain open:
– Eight-five percent reported reduced enrollment, with the average number of students cut roughly in half. – Seventy-seven percent reported lost income, and significant numbers of providers reported they have missed rent or mortgage payments and used personal credit cards to cover expenses. Just over 40 percent said they have, at times, been unable to pay themselves. – Even as revenues fall, 67 percent reported higher staffing costs to meet health and safety requirements. – Eighty percent reported higher costs for sanitation and protective gear.
“This is just not going to be sustainable, long term,” said Austin. “We are seeing a collapse. It's already begun, and I suspect it’s only going to be magnified as we go forward.”
‘We were hemorrhaging money’
Holly Gold spent the early years of her career in the nonprofit sector, working with young people. But 15 years ago, Gold founded the Rockridge Little School in Oakland, and it became the focal point for her deep community involvement.
As the school expanded to additional sites and enrolled more students, it won honors and a devoted local following. She paid her staff wages and benefits far above the California average.
Gold funded her gradual expansion with tuition proceeds, but she recently tapped into her home mortgage and a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration to buy a building that needed repair. As long as the tuition funds flowed in, the numbers worked.
But then came COVID-19.
“In early March,” she recalled, “we were trying to figure out: What’s the right thing to do? How can we be open? I knew what it meant to close: complete devastation. You don’t even want to think about it. You just make decisions based on health.”
When Alameda County issued a stay-at-home order on March 15, Rockridge Little School closed.
At first, Gold continued to pay her staff their salaries and benefits. “But after a week,” she said, “we were hemorrhaging money.” She opted for layoffs, knowing that staff could get state unemployment benefits, plus the $600 weekly supplement offered under the federal CARES Act.
Weeks passed, the virus eased, and some parents urged her to reopen. Health officials signaled that, with careful management, it was safe. Gold set the date for early July and rehired some of her teachers. A number of families pledged to return.
But as the date approached, the virus surged. Some families backed out, leaving her with too many teachers. She shifted her plans, opening two sites rather than three.
Today, however, she’s in a jam: She’s behind on the rent. She owes on the SBA loan. She’s got to pay for the construction project. She received funds under the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program, and she’s taken a personal loan. Still, the school’s expenses far exceed income.
“I’m just trying to figure it out,” she said. “We have families who say they're coming back in September, so we're trying to hold tight until then.”
‘I don’t know what to expect’
At BAHIA in West Berkeley, Beatriz Leyva-Cutler has a different baseline. The school owns its main building. A second building, for school-aged students, is owned by the city of Berkeley; as long as BAHIA provides government-subsidized care to low-income families, it pays only $1 a year, plus maintenance.
There are up to 150 children in all, ages 2 to 10. Many are from working families, where parents have sectors such as construction or restaurants, while other youngsters’ parents are professionals, in fields such as architecture, law and nursing.
Leyva-Cutler has been there 40 years, and she knows BAHIA’s funds are always tight. Still, the pandemic has hit like a hurricane: The programs have been closed since March. The 30-plus teachers and staff are still employed — that was a condition of continued state aid during the pandemic. But the halls are silent, and weeds are growing on the playground.
Typically, BAHIA receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition, but those funds are gone, for now. The year’s projected $1.8 million in revenue is down to $1 million.
Leyva-Cutler, who also serves on the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education, has been working 60 hours or more every week to keep things afloat. “We've done the small business loan and the emergency disaster impact loan,” she explained. “We're refinancing one of our buildings. We have to do whatever we can to stay operational.”
There were plans to reopen on July 6. But a teacher’s husband tested positive for the virus, then her daughter, and then the teacher herself.
The center’s reopening has been pushed into August.
The urgent need for government support
The CSCCE report makes clear that, across California, many preschools and in-home care centers are facing their own versions of this crisis. But there’s a consensus that the state and federal governments need to do more.
If California’s child care system is strong, experts say, it can play a crucial role in eventual economic recovery. But if the system is crippled, recovery efforts will suffer. So will children and their families.
“This pandemic has brought to light to how important child care is,” said Leyva-Cutler. “But, unfortunately, we've gotten used to the fact that this care is undervalued and underappreciated.”
Leyva-Cutler proposes that state agencies waive some regulations, temporarily, for centers that have had positive audits in the past. Gold, meanwhile, advocates an infusion of state funding — not just for state-subsidized centers, but for private centers, too.
Austin said the state of Vermont has done something similar: a “stabilization” fund that provides support to both state-subsidized and private day care.
For now, however, Leyva-Cutler, Gold and thousands of other child care providers in California are struggling to manage their way through deep uncertainty. They’re facing a new world: more risk, smaller classes, new rules for wearing masks, social distancing and sanitation. It will be, said Gold, “a very different way of teaching.”
For many centers, economics will compound this uncertainty, testing their creativity, patience — and survival.
For young people who have grown up with the ADA, the results of this landmark legislation are part of everyday life – sometimes in ways they may not even realize.
I was there at the beginning. As a young deaf man in 1990, I attended the Rose Garden ADA signing ceremony. I clearly recall the sun was shining brilliantly and the joy among leaders in the disability community who had long worked to bring about this civil rights legislation.
The ADA prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, state and local government services, businesses that are public accommodations or commercial facilities and in transportation.
In many ways, I feel the most important changes brought about by the legislation relate to making it easier for deaf people to communicate. In his book “A Phone of Our Own: The Deaf Insurrection Against Ma Bell,” historian Harry Lang described the long struggle in the deaf community to gain access to the telephone. The ADA provided a huge leap forward by requiring the establishment of nationwide telecommunications relay services. This system provided telephone access 24/7 to deaf citizens who previously had relied on volunteer services with limited hours. No longer would deaf individuals be excluded from employment opportunities requiring the use of the phone. And it enabled deaf people to participate in the mainstream of the American life by being free to call for pizza or to wish a loved one happy birthday.
A more entertaining life
Title III of the ADA required that public facilities, such as hospitals, bars, shopping centers and museums – but, importantly, not movie theaters – provide access to verbal information on televisions, films or slide shows.
Stiff opposition from the motion picture and cable industry prevented the ADA from including a requirement for closed captioning in films and on cable television. However, as a concession, Congress did include a requirement for all federally funded public service announcements to be captioned.
ADA and Section 504, which guarantees accessibility and accommodations in public schools, provided educational opportunities for many deaf and hard-of-hearing students to attend college. This helped create, as educators and authors Carol Padden and Tom Humphries referred to it, a deaf middle class of community leaders and an ever-increasing number of deaf lawyers, doctors and PhDs.
As the world navigates the COVID-19 pandemic, new challenges are arising. Masks make communication difficult for those who rely on speechreading, endless Zoom meetings bring more fatigue for those who rely on visual communication, and access to health care and emergency information can be spotty.
But there are bright spots when one considers progress since passage of the ADA. Recognition of American Sign Language and the importance of ASL interpreters for access has grown tremendously over the past 30 years as deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens have sought greater inclusion in the mainsteam of American society. Captioning is used by more than 60% of students with disabilities, and 50% of those with no reported disabilities. Prior to the current employment crisis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted increased demand for sign language interpreters. Automatic speech recognition apps allow for increased interaction between deaf and hearing colleagues, classmates and friends. These advancements benefit not only the students on my campus, but at other campuses with deaf populations such as Gallaudet University and California State University, Northridge.
The ADA proclaimed accessibility as a civil right. Just as ADA-sanctioned accommodations such as sidewalk ramps originally designed to benefit those with mobility issues was a positive for families with strollers and bicycles, closed captioning designed as a service for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals now is ubiquitous on televisions, computers and smart phones in hearing households as well.
The deaf community has historically been able to work around challenges and find solutions to communication barriers. This time in our history is no different. Innovative thinkers continually find ways to advocate, modify and make current and emerging technologies work for everyone.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Sonoma County officials said a Rohnert Park Police officer is facing charges related to his alleged embezzlement from his police union.
David Sittig-Wattson, 34, Rohnert Park turned himself in on Monday afternoon, according to a report from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office’s community engagement liaison, Misti Wood.
Wood said the Rohnert Park Public Safety Officers Association previously requested that the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office start a financial crimes investigation related to the association.
Property crimes detectives conducted a thorough investigation and submitted it to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office. After reviewing the investigation, the District Attorney’s Office filed charges and issued a warrant for Sittig-Wattson’s arrest, Wood said.
Sittig-Wattson, who is the association’s former treasurer, is being charged with embezzlement over a four-year period, according to Wood’s report.
On Monday, Wood said Sittig-Wattson was booked on one felony count of grand theft by embezzlement.
Wood said Sittig-Wattson was released on $5,000 bail to appear in court at a later date.
This male gray tabby kitten has a short coat and green eyes.
He is in cat room kennel No. 108A, ID no. 13810.
Gray tabby kitten
This female gray tabby kitten has a short coat and green eyes.
She is in cat room kennel No. 108B, ID No. 13811.
Gray tabby kitten
This male gray tabby kitten has a short coat and green eyes.
He is in cat room kennel No. 111A, ID No. 13807.
Brown tabby kitten
This female brown tabby kitten has a short coat and green eyes.
She is in cat room kennel No. 111C, ID No. 13809.
Domestic short hair cat
This male domestic short hair cat has a brown tabby coat.
He has been neutered.
He is in kennel No. 138, ID No. 13701.
Brown tabby kitten
This male brown tabby kitten has a medium-length coat and gold eyes.
He has been neutered.
He is in kennel No. 147A, ID No. 13779.
Tortie kitten
This female kitten has a medium-length tortie coat and gold eyes.
She has been spayed. She is in kennel No. 147B, ID No. 13780.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has new dogs needing their own families this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Anatolian Shepherd, Belgian Malinois, chow chow, pit bull and shepherd.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm for information on visiting or adopting.
Male Anatolian Shepherd
This male Anatolian Shepherd has a medium-length black coat with white markings.
He has been neutered.
He is in kennel No. 13, ID No. 13803.
Male pit bull terrier
This male pit bull terrier has a black coat.
He is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 13772.
Shepherd mix
This female shepherd mix has a brindle and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 13776.
‘Mugsy’
“Mugsy” is a male pit bull terrier with a short tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. 13797.
Female Belgian Malinois
This female Belgian Malinois Shepherd has a short black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 31, ID No. 13793.
Male chow chow
This male chow chow has a medium-length black coat.
He is in kennel No. 33, ID No. 13795.
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.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors is set to consider an agreement with a nonprofit organization that is proposing to run a temporary COVID-19 shelter for the homeless.
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 28.
The supervisors will meet in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport, for a hybrid meeting format which also will include the opportunity for community members to continue to participate virtually.
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, please join the Zoom meeting by clicking this link at 9 a.m. The meeting ID is 942 2859 6865, password 185629.
To submit a written comment on any agenda item 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.
In an untimed item, the supervisors will consider an agreement between the county of Lake and Elijah House for temporary COVID-19 homeless shelter operations for a contract maximum of $234,550.
For several months, a COVID-19 homeless shelter has been operated by Hope Harbor at 2150 S. Main St. in Lakeport.
With that organization winding down its operations and the building itself reported to not be available past the end of July, the county last month issued a request for proposals seeking an organization to take over shelter operations in a portion of the former juvenile hall facility in north Lakeport.
The proposed contract said that Elijah House, based in Oroville, will operate the center from July 30 through Sept. 30.
Also on Tuesday’s agenda, at 9:02 a.m., Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace will update the board on the local COVID-19 situation.
At 1 p.m., the board will hold an economic development workshop with county department heads.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meetings on May 28, June 9 and July 7, 2020.
5.2: Second reading, consider and approve Guenoc Valley Mixed Use Planned Development Project (AM 18-04; DA 18-01, GPAP 18-01; RZ 18-01 & RZ 20-01; GPD 18-01; SD 18-01, SD 20-01, UP 18-49 and UP 20-02).
5.3: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and the county of Tehama to house juvenile wards for the period from April 1, 2020, through March 31, 2022, for an amount not to exceed $380,000 annually; and authorize the chair to sign.
5.4: Approve Task Order No. 1 with MGE for on-call construction management services for various HBP-Funded Bridge Projects in Lake County in the amount of $302,248.98 and authorize the chair to sign.
5.5: (a) Waive the formal bidding process, per Ordinance #2406, Purchasing Code 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) approve agreement between the county of Lake and Helico Sonoma Helicopters for Fiscal Year 2020/21 in the amount of $50,000 and authorize the chair to sign.
5.6: Approve submission of the FY20 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program Application in the amount of $12,898, to provide funding for an extra help employee to assist with forensic processing and data collection services; and authorize the chair to sign all grant documents.
5.7: Approve contract between the county of Lake and Lake Transit Authority for local public transportation services in the amount of $45,600, from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.8: Adopt resolution authorizing Special Districts administrator to sign and submit all award documents, certifications, and assurances required for a funding agreement for Prop 1 Integrated Regional Water Management Implementation Grant funds in the amount of $4,758,552.
5.9: Sitting as the Lake County Sanitation District Board of Directors, adopt resolution revising the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Adopted Budget of the County of Lake by canceling O & M Reserves in the amount of $49,085 for Lands End/South Lakeport Sewer to make appropriations in Budget Unit 8351, Object Code 783.23-80 to pay for increased administration costs.
TIMED ITEMS
6.1, 9:01 a.m.: Public input.
6.2, 9:02 a.m.: Consideration of Update on COVID-19.
6.3, 10 a.m.: Consideration of the complaint of Ms. Bridget McQueen, owner of Lakeshore Estates Mobile Home Park.
6.4, 1 p.m.: Economic development workshop with county department heads.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of agreement between the county of Lake and Elijah House for temporary COVID-19 homeless shelter operations for a contract maximum of $234,550.
7.3: Sitting as Lake County Sanitation District, consideration of Change Order No. 1 with Mercer Fraser Co. for Anderson Springs Sewer Project, for an increase of $23,688 and a revised contract amount of $1,950,683 and authorize board chair to execute.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Conference with legal counsel: Existing Litigation pursuant to Gov. Code section 54956.9 (d)(1) – John, et al. v. County of Lake, et al.
8.2: Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code section 54956.9(d)(1) – Ugorji 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.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – I've been a fan of vegetable gardening since I was a kid when I marveled at the plump, red juiciness of my mom's homegrown tomatoes grown under the kitchen window.
When I was invited into my childhood friend's family garden, it just seemed magical that you could get something for nothing, as it appeared to my young eyes.
There in that little plot of rich soil was something for all of the senses. The scent of mint drifted in the air as I wandered their garden's rows, as did the spicy fragrance of carnation, lavender and penstemon.
When I was asked to help pick their golden lemon cucumbers I was surprised at the prickly skin of that strange vegetable!
Her garden also acquainted me with other novel-to-me veggies such as squash in all of their strange and delightful forms, white radishes and potatoes that were purple!
In my house, we usually ate green beans and spinach from a can, and when artichokes or corn were in season we had farm-fresh versions of those staples.
As any gardener or farmer, for that matter, can tell you, there is always something that needs to be done whether it is hoeing, weeding, thinning, transplanting or watering.
Gardening becomes a fine balancing act where you want to attract the right critters, and discourage the damaging or destructive ones.
I enjoy planting sunflowers, salvia and other pollinator-attractors, and companion plantings using marigolds to discourage bean beetles.
My motto is “something for everyone,” so that if a gopher outmaneuvers me by snaking under my raised beds somehow, or the goldfinches snack on my tender greens, my M.O. is to plant enough for all of us.
A critter-proof fence is always a necessity in order to keep out the deer, raccoons, rabbits and other hungry neighbors. Done and done.
Just when I thought I had covered all bases I began to notice the mulch had been pushed aside in several of the raised beds and holes dug into the damp soil.
Hmmm, I thought. Squirrels? But they never bothered my garden in the past, usually sticking to acorns and other typical squirrel food. Whatever it was that was digging in the garden was not disturbing the plants, but merely the mulch and soil surrounding the plants.
As I patted down the mini-excavations and replaced the mulch I decided to position a critter-cam in the garden to solve the mystery.
Then, mystery solved – it was a fox! A gray fox! Maybe he'd been looking for the little tree frogs I'd seen in the more damp areas of the garden.
I'd seen foxes around the area throughout the years and even witnessed them pouncing on a plethora of frogs one year, but had forgotten they were so adept at climbing as well as squeezing through such small openings.
These beautiful creatures, speckled gray on top with reddish colors underneath, usually dine on small birds, animals and insects along with the occasional nibble of fruit.
Gray foxes are not often seen during the daylight hours, as they are snug in their burrows or hollow trees.
Gray foxes are members of the Canidae family and are one of only two members with the ability to climb trees and, I'm surmising, my garden fence.
The other member with climbing ability is the Asian raccoon dog which, of course, we do not have here in California.
A gray fox has specially adapted claws to help him hook onto a tree's bark in the wild.
Fossil evidence found in Arizona supplies proof that foxes have been around for millions of years.
The male fox is called a tod, or dog and a group of foxes is known as an earth, leash or skulk.
There are native red foxes that populate the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Mountains and they are a threatened species.
The non-native red fox is an introduced species that poses a threat to certain ecosystems since they are highly adaptable. The red foxes were brought here for fur farming and hunting in the past.
The gray fox gestation phase is close to 53 days, and a litter may range from one to seven kits or pups.
If you happen to hear a “yipping, barking” sound, you just may have heard a fox.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, freelance writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.”
At 2:58 p.m. PDT July 19, the United Arab Emirates successfully launched an interplanetary probe — the first by any country in the Arab world — thanks, in part, to science collaboration, training and instrument components provided by the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory.
The Emirates Mars Mission’s Hope Probe is scheduled to arrive at Mars in February 2021 and spend two years orbiting the “red planet,” providing an unprecedented global view of the Martian atmosphere. It will also give scientists greater insight into how our Earth may have evolved and enable greatly improved weather forecasting to help support future human missions to Mars.
The mission is led by Emirati engineers and scientists, with significant sharing of expertise and technical knowledge by colleagues at UC Berkeley and three other U.S. institutions — the University of Colorado at Boulder, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University — jump-starting an interplanetary space program in a nation that, until now, had produced only Earth observation satellites. The Hope Probe was launched from a site on Tanegashima, an island in Japan, aboard a Japanese H-IIA rocket.
An hour and a half after launch, the solar panels deployed and the probe was officially on its way to Mars. “The launch has been a success,” said a relieved Robert Lillis, SSL associate director for planetary science and the UC Berkeley lead for the Mars mission, who monitored the launch from California.
In the five years before launch, the Space Sciences Laboratory, or SSL, hosted 10 undergraduate students — five women and five men — for a summer research experience in space science in which they analyzed data and simulations of the Martian upper atmosphere.
The SSL also provided mentorship in master’s degree-level research via weekly Skype meetings with Emirati engineers as part of the mission’s Science Apprentices Program.
The SSL scientists also visited United Arab Emirates, or UAE, universities and girls’ and boys’ schools, many in rural/desert regions, to encourage interest in science.
“With the Mars mission, the Emirates is trying to inspire young people to go into technical fields, as part of a larger vision for a post-oil world,” said Lillis. “The government has invested heavily in education, especially women's education, to lay the groundwork for a future in which entrepreneurs, inventors and ideas — not oil — are funding their economy.”
Overall, about one-third of the 150 Emirati scientists and engineers on the mission team are women, while women make up about 80 percent of the science team, according to a recent article in the New York Times. The team’s average age is 27.
“Working on this unique international partnership has been such a rewarding experience,” Lillis said. “I’ve witnessed firsthand the drive, professionalism, curiosity and ambition of the UAE team; not only their excellent engineers, but the several science apprentices and summer undergraduate interns we have had the privilege of working with at Berkeley these last five summers.”
An eye-opening experience
One of the students Lillis and his SSL team worked with was Maryam Al Hosani, now a senior majoring in computer engineering in the UAE at the American University of Sharjah, in Abu Dhabi.
"My experience as part of the REU program at UC Berkeley was insightful, educational and, most importantly, memorable,” she wrote in an email. “I learnt so much about the many tools and databases used in studying the Martian atmosphere and the data collection techniques used in planetary science. One of the many things I enjoyed in California were the conversations I had with the people I met there. The diversity in culture, beliefs and ideologies was truly eye-opening."
Al Hosani’s work at SSL contributed to the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer, or EMUS, one of three instruments aboard the Hope Probe. It was a collaboration between SSL and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado.
"The UAE team set out to inspire Emirati youth,” said Sasha Courtade, an SSL systems engineer. “In doing so, they’ve also inspired those of us who had the pleasure of collaborating with them. The team started with an ambitious goal and aggressive timeline to launch and remained optimistic and dedicated every step of the way."
During Khalid Al Awar’s summer as a student doing research at SSL, he analyzed data from two instruments onboard the MAVEN space probe currently orbiting Mars with instruments built at SSL. The MAVEN, like the Hope Probe, is helping scientists understand the evolution of the thin atmosphere of Mars, which may once have had a thicker atmosphere and perhaps flowing water.
“The efforts serve a more holistic purpose of understanding why gas is escaping the Mars atmosphere and how this has affected its climate evolution,” Al Awar wrote in an email. “Beyond desk work, I got to observe how space is a collaborative journey between scientists and engineers from different cultures and backgrounds, all aimed towards the betterment of mankind and unlocking new possibilities. It became very clear to me that space agencies from all over the world collaborate with each other and share more openly than any other field I have seen.”
Al Awar, who graduated in 2017 from Khalifa University, is currently working as business development lead at Astrolabs, a capability building academy and network of collaborative coworking communities in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Other summer interns came from United Arab Emirates University; American University of Sharjah; Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi; and the Abu Dhabi campuses of both Paris-Sorbonne University and New York University (NYU).
‘Hope’ for Arab world
The spacecraft, which is about the size of a small car with two solar panels, was built and tested at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in collaboration with Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, or MBRSC, in Dubai, one of the UAE’s seven emirates.
The mission, which cost several hundred million dollars, was named Hope (“al amal” in Arabic) to send a message of optimism to millions of young Arabs, according to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai for whom MBRSC is named.
The EMUS instrument (codeveloped by SSL) will provide a unique view of the upper layers of the Martian atmosphere, Lillis said. These upper layers are known as the thermosphere — the region between 100 and 200 kilometers’ altitude, where particles still collide frequently with each other — and the exosphere, a region above 200 kilometers where collisions are rare and particles can escape Mars’ gravity.
The EMUS will track how matter and energy move within and between these regions, monitoring key gases like oxygen, hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
Such data are necessary to understand how the connections within and between the upper and lower atmospheres drive atmospheric escape. This escape has helped to shape Mars’ evolution from a warm, episodically wet world in the ancient past to the cold, dry planet we see today. Unique to Hope is its orbit, which enables near-complete daily and geographic coverage, providing a weather-satellite style view of all layers of the Martian atmosphere from the surface to space.
In addition to EMUS, the Hope orbiter includes a multi-band camera, the Emirates eXploration Imager, or EXI, and an infrared spectrometer, the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS).
The EXI is capable of taking high resolution images and will measure properties of water, ice, dust, aerosols and ozone in Mars’ atmosphere. It was developed at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in collaboration with MBRSC.
The EMIRS will provide a unique view of the lower and middle atmosphere of the planet, measuring the distribution of dust particles and ice clouds, while tracking the movement of water vapor and heat through the atmosphere. It was developed at Arizona State University, in collaboration with MBRSC.
Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Planning Commission this week will hold public hearings on updates to the city’s zoning ordinance, a proposed property sale and a potential land acquisition.
The commission will meet virtually beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 28.
Submit comments and questions in writing for commission consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit the Town Hall site and submit written comments there. Identify the subject you wish to comment on in your email’s subject line or in your Town Hall submission.
To give the planning commission adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit written comments prior to 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 28.
The meet will be broadcast live on the Lake County PEG TV Youtube channel.
On the agenda are three separate public hearings.
The first public hearing is to consider amendments to the city’s zoning ordinance regarding the zoning map, along with the proposed adoption of new design review procedures and new design standards.
The commission also will hold a public hearing to determine if the proposed sale of a 21-acre property at 2185 Ogulin Canyon Road is consistent with the city’s general plan and exempt from environmental review.
In the last hearing, city staff will ask the commission to determine the proposed general plan consistency for the conveyance of a 0.110-acre property at 16034 26th Ave. owned by the Marin County Superior Court to the city.
Tuesday’s meeting also will include reports from City Manager Alan Flora and the commissioners.
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.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Expanding its services to residents of Lake County, Lake Family Resource Center announced that it will now be overseeing operations of the Lakeport Senior Center.
“Seniors comprise almost 25 percent of Lake County’s overall population,” said Executive Director Lisa Morrow. “While undertaking such an expansion of services in the midst of a pandemic certainly presents its challenges, we are excited to now be serving this important section of our community – especially during these challenging times.”
During pandemic restrictions, the Senior Center Wellness program continues with classes such as Tai Chi offered via Zoom.
Meals on Wheels is still serving the Northshore and has expanded its services to also include those who previously joined the senior center for onsite dining.
Seniors interested in Wellness Zoom classes or those wanting to sign up for meal delivery should call the senior center at 707-263-4218 or Lake Family Resource Center at 707-279-0563.
The Meals on Wheels Thrift Store located in Lakeport is open. New thrift store hours will be Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Once it’s safe to do so, Lake Family Resource Center looks forward to reopening the Activities Center for group meals, a variety of wellness classes and workshops and other gatherings.
Lake Family Resource Center officials said they also look forward to adding robust programming and services to reach out to and engage seniors in a variety of ways.
“We not only look forward to continuing current programming, we’re excited about exploring additional programming. We envision support groups, more wellness activities as well as home visits for the seniors of Lake County,” said Morrow.
She also wants to engage seniors as volunteers to rock infants and provide comfort to the youngest of the clients served by Lake Family Resource Center.
“With the addition of the senior population to our clients, we are now extremely well-rounded, serving every facet of our community from Pre-K through gray,” Morrow said. “This gives us an outstanding opportunity to enrich the lives of many community members of every age group.”
The Lakeport Senior Center will remain its own separate nonprofit organization with Lake Family Resource Center managing its operations and administration through a contract.
Denise Johnson, a lifetime resident of Lake County, will be the senior center’s director of operations. Johnson has been with Lake Family Resource Center for almost four years, functioning as the housing services coordinator, a program she herself developed.
Prior to joining the Lake Family Resource Center, Johnson was employed by the District Attorney’s Office as a victim services advocate for elders experiencing abuse.
Lake Family Resource Center has been serving Lake County families since 1995 to achieve safe, sustainable, healthy families and community. A 501c3 nonprofit organization, most services are provided at no cost and are funded through government grants and community donations.
Before this expansion with the Lakeport Senior Center, Lake Family Resource Center served approximately 1,400 families and 4,500 individuals each year.
For more information about the center and its services, call 707-279-0563 or visit its website.
Unemployment benefits that support workers out of a job or working reduced hours in this historic pandemic have now reached a total of approximately $50 billion paid since March.
Just last week alone, the California Employment Development Department paid $4.1 billion in benefits, about $3.5 billion more than the highest week of the Great Recession – $542 million in February 2010.
In addition, the EDD has processed a total of 8.7 million claims in the last four and a half months between the regular Unemployment Insurance program, extensions, and the separate Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, program – more than the entire highest year of the recession (8.1 million in 2010).
Status of unemployment benefits as $600 federal stimulus payments end
The extra $600 federal stimulus payments are known as Pandemic Additional Compensation, or PAC, in California.
Unless the federal government takes action to extend the PAC payments that the EDD automatically adds to regular Unemployment Insurance, or UI, plus extension and PUA benefits, the extra boost on benefits will no longer be available for any weeks of unemployment or reduced hours for weeks from July 26 on.
Weeks of unemployment up through July 25 will still be eligible for the extra $600, even if the associated UI, extension or PUA benefits for weeks between March 29 and July 25 are processed later.
• Maximum weekly benefit amounts: Claimants certifying for benefits for next week and beyond will only receive the maximum weekly benefit amount they qualify for on their regular UI, extension, or PUA claim. Those weekly amounts range from $40 - $450 a week for regular UI and from $167 - $450 for PUA, depending on income earned previously.
• Extension benefits for regular UI: If an individual runs out of their up to 26 weeks of benefits available on their regular UI claim, another up to 13 weeks of benefits is available on the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or PEUC, extension provided by the federal government until the end of the year. If an individual runs out of PEUC benefits, up to another 20 weeks of benefits are available on a FED-ED extension if the individual meets eligibility requirements. The EDD is sweeping the system daily to identify these individuals and proactively file an extension claim where possible. Claimants will be sent notices in the mail as well as provided updates on their UI Online accounts. See Top FAQs of the Week for more information on the extensions and how EDD is proactively assisting claimants.
• Text message alerts: To help keep customers informed on when either a PEUC extension or a FED-ED extension has been filed on their behalf, the EDD is also sending them SMS text messages. Since mid-May, the EDD has sent more than 6 million text messages to our customers. Texts are also sent for other developments including when a claim is processed in our system, when a first benefit payment is issued, when documents are required to verify a claimant’s identity, and when an identity has been verified.
• Extended Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits: State legislation (AB 103) helped maximize federal unemployment support available through this pandemic, allowing another seven weeks of benefits to be added to PUA for eligible self-employed individuals and others who don’t qualify for a regular UI claim. The EDD is working to complete programming needed to increase the maximum PUA benefits available from 39 weeks to up to 46 weeks until the PUA program sunsets at the end of the year. Since May 20, the EDD has been increasing an initial minimum PUA benefit amount of $167 if there is enough in reported 2019 income to support that increase. Some claims take more time because they require complex recomputations, and the EDD has redirected additional staff to help complete these re-computations required to increase the PUA benefit amounts as quickly as possible.
School closures and eligibility for UI benefits
Working parents or guardians may be eligible for unemployment benefits if their child’s school is shut down or offering distance learning only and parents have to miss work to care for their child.
These individuals can apply for UI benefits through UI Online and our EDD representatives will determine eligibility on a case-by-case basis by potentially scheduling a phone interview for more information if needed.
• If a parent or guardian quits a job, the EDD is required by law to determine if the individual had “good cause” for doing so before determining potential eligibility for UI benefits. Generally, an individual must continue to remain able and available to work in order to be eligible for benefit payments. But individuals could qualify for benefits if, for example, there are no other options for child care available.
• If an employer has temporarily allowed a parent or guardian to work less than full-time hours due to a child care situation, those individuals could be considered eligible for reduced unemployment benefits. That would all depend on the amount of the individual’s weekly earnings and whether he or she meets all other eligibility requirements.
The first $25 or 25 percent of wages, whichever is the greater amount, is not counted as wages earned and will not be reduced from a UI weekly benefit amount. For example, if the individual earned $100 in a week, the Department would not count $25 as wages and would only deduct $75 from the weekly benefit amount. For someone who has a weekly benefit amount of $450, the individual would be paid a reduced amount of $375.
• In the event that an individual is not eligible for regular UI benefits and they have primary caregiving responsibility for a child who is unable to attend school as a direct result of COVID-19, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits may be available.