This young female domestic short hair cat has gold eyes and a black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 15c, ID No. 13733.
‘Foozy Ball’
“Foozy Ball” is a female domestic long hair cat with a calico coat and gold eyes.
She has been spayed.
She is in cat room kennel No. 108, ID No. 13729.
‘Buffy’
“Buffy” is a female domestic short hair with gold eyes and a black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 111, ID No. 13730.
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.
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.
First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday invite students, teens and young adults across the state to join the #CaliforniansForAll Summer of Service.
The initiative allows young Californians the opportunity to support organizations providing essential services and to receive recognition from the First Partner and California Volunteers, Office of the Governor for their commitment.
“Many young Californians have had their summer plans upended by the pandemic, and we are inviting them to turn this crisis into an opportunity,” explained Chief Service Officer Fryday. “Young Californians are an untapped resource for good and there is an urgent need for their skills and energy.”
In partnership with the Born This Way Foundation, California Association of School Councils and others, the #CaliforniansForAll Summer of Service will recruit young Californians from all backgrounds to help solve local and state issues through direct service while gaining valuable knowledge about their communities.
The immediate priority for this summer is to mobilize young volunteers to address food insecurity by providing crucial support at local food banks or food pantries.
Due to high rates of unemployment, food insecurity across many of our communities has doubled, while volunteer ranks have been depleted due to COVID-19. Most food banks accept volunteers as young as 13 as long as they are accompanied by an adult.
Other opportunities available include giving blood and delivering meals, and other youth-led initiatives like virtual mentoring and creating care packages.
“From the very first weeks of this pandemic, young people across the state have stepped up to help their neighbors and lead the way in creating a culture of me to we.” said First Partner Newsom. “As we kick off summer, I can already say I am proud of the work they have done, and I look forward to seeing what all young Californians who sign up will achieve in the months to come.”
The Born This Way Foundation, led by Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta, builds action-oriented programs and useful resources for youth to thrive and drive change in their communities. The foundation will use its social media platform to promote summer of service.
"Together, we are facing the collective trauma of a pandemic, ongoing racial inequality, and systemic reform, among a host of other global issues. Yet, in the face of these challenges, young people have shown their ability to lead with resilience, bravery, and kindness. They are organizing, raising funds, and using their talents to support community efforts," said Shadille Estepan, Communication and Outreach Manager at Born This Way Foundation. "Kindness is a service. It's up to each of us to help meet the needs of our community by supporting the organizations providing essential services."
The California Association of Student Councils and the Cal State Student Association will share the service initiative with their networks and invite young Californians to join.
"The #CaliforniansForAll Summer of Service initiative aligns with the curriculum offered in the CASC Summer Leadership Program and the hundreds of summer hours committed to volunteer training by our high school and college students. I am in full support of the effort to expand youth service across the state," said June E. Thompson, Ph.D., Executive Director of California Association of Student Councils.
"In times of uncertainty, the one thing that unifies people is a strong sense of community. Volunteering is a great opportunity for college students to come together and better our state and society," said Zahraa Khuraibet, Cal State Student Association President.
Zoomers to Boomers is a free service in which Zoomers (members of Generation-Z, born between 1995 and 2015) deliver food and necessities to immunocompromised and elderly Baby Boomers.
"We are Generation Z and we are here to help,” said Danny Goldberg, Zoomers to Boomers President.
Young Californians can volunteer at any time between now and August 31. The number of hours they commit is at their discretion and/or that of their parents. They will receive recognition based on the number of hours they serve — whether as a volunteer (10 hours), leader (50 hours) or ambassador (100 hours).
Those interested can visit www.californiavolunteers.ca.gov/summerofservice to learn more and sign up. Young Californians ages 13-17 must have a parent sign up on their behalf. Californians ages 18-25 can sign up directly with #CaliforniansForAll. In-person and virtual opportunities are available.
#CaliforniansForAll Summer of Service partner organizations include:
• Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities; • Born This Way Foundation; • Cal State Student Association; • California Association of Student Councils; • University of California Student Association; • Student Senate for California Community Colleges; • VolunteerMatch; • Zoomers to Boomers.
Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation Friday commemorating June 20 as Juneteenth in California.
He stood in support of the California Legislative Black Caucus’ call to light up the Capitol Dome in red, black and green, which took place on Friday night. These pan-African colors represent the African diaspora to enslavement in the New World.
“As we celebrate Juneteenth, we must redouble our efforts to achieve justice and take on systemic racism and its devastating consequences for Black Americans,” said Gov. Newsom. “Recent demonstrations, fueling important reforms throughout the United States, are the latest contributions to building a more perfect union – where liberty and justice are indeed ‘for all.’ We remember those who have lived and died in this pursuit, and their memory inspires us to make that promise real.”
In the proclamation, Gov. Newsom detailed the history of Juneteenth and its present-day celebration.
On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger led troops into Galveston, Texas, to announce the end of the Civil War and the insidious institution of slavery.
Thousands of enslaved people in Texas – among the last to learn of their liberation – tasted hard-won freedom for the first time.
The joyous commemorations that began in Texas spread around the nation, with cities and communities in California joining in celebration of this milestone in the American journey to freedom for all.
Since 2003, the state of California has celebrated Juneteenth as a day to honor and reflect on the significant contributions of Black Americans to our nation.
“Juneteenth is Freedom Day and a cause for celebration,” said Assemblymember Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. “What is encouraging is the renewed interest in Juneteenth by young people. I think it is this moment where they recognize their power to make change. The message of Juneteenth is especially salient in the context of the current protests over ongoing and persistent brutality and inequity in the lives of Black Americans. American ideals promise equality, but have yet to fulfill that promise. By lighting the State Capitol in red, black and green, the California Legislative Black Caucus demonstrates its commitment to making that promise a reality in California.”
California State Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins called Juneteenth “one of the most significant moments in the history of the United States— the day enslaved people learned of their freedom.”
Atkins added, “Juneteenth to me marks a day of hope and the dawn of America.”
“Juneteenth was made possible by abolitionists who stood up against racism and oppression,” said California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. “Over 100 years later, Juneteenth 2020 takes place at a time when activists are still fighting for equality. The current uprisings around the country give me hope that we will celebrate Juneteenth 2021 having used our actions to further racial equality and this holiday's promise of freedom for all. Black Lives Matter.”
The California Highway Patrol will seek public input later this month as part of its assessment from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc., or CALEA, an internationally recognized nonprofit organization dedicated to improving law enforcement and public safety services.
The primary purpose of CALEA is to improve the delivery of public safety services by maintaining a comprehensive body of law enforcement standards, establishing and administering an accreditation process, and recognizing professional excellence.
The CHP, which has been accredited since 2010, is the largest state law enforcement agency in the United States to be accredited.
The CHP Academy and Communications Centers also are accredited.
As a part of this assessment, members of the public are invited to comment by calling 916-843-4398 on Tuesday, June 30, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Additionally, the public is invited to participate in a virtual public hearing on Tuesday, June 30, beginning at 1 p.m.
The virtual public hearing, which will be conducted via Webex, will give members of the public an opportunity to interact with CALEA assessors, to provide commentary about the CHP, or ask questions about the accreditation process.
To participate in the virtual public hearing, please e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. no later than Thursday, June 25, 2020, at 5 p.m.
The public’s input is one component of a three-day virtual visit in June by a team of assessors from CALEA.
During their visit, the CALEA assessors will verify the CHP’s overall compliance with a set of standards designed to ensure the Department’s policies and procedures are consistent with law enforcement industry best practices.
The assessors will remotely examine CHP Headquarters, the CHP Academy in West Sacramento, and various administrative and field commands to examine all aspects of the department’s policies, procedures, administration, operations and support services.
“We welcome the accreditation process,” said CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley, who has led the Department since 2017. “The input we receive from the public and the assessment team gives the CHP direction and helps us continuously improve. The CALEA assessment is a valuable resource for the department.”
The CALEA accreditation process is an additional avenue in which the CHP ensures it is upholding its mission of providing the highest level of safety, service and security to the people of California.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has more dogs to offer to new homes this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of cattle dog Catahoula Leopard Dog, Chihuahua, German Shepherd, pit bull and poodle.
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”).
Because the shelter in place order remains in effect, 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 Chihuahua
This male Chihuahua has a short brown and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 13754.
‘Archie’
“Archie” is a male poodle with a white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. 13384.
‘Lady’
“Lady” is a female pit bull mix with a short tan coat.
She has been spayed.
She is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 13703.
Catahoula Leopard Dog
This young female Catahoula Leopard Dog has a short white coat with black spots.
She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 13752.
Catahoula Leopard Dog
This young male Catahoula Leopard Dog has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 13753.
Male German Shepherd
This young male German Shepherd has a fully brown and black coat.
He is in kennel No. 31, ID No. 13706.
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 annual Catfish Derby, the biggest derby of its kind west of the Mississippi, has been canceled for 2020.
Organizers had postponed the event from its originally scheduled dates of May 15 to 17, resetting it for Aug. 21 to 23.
“When COVID-19 shelter in place orders were issued in March, we postponed the event to August,” said event chairman, Dennis Locke. “At the time we hoped that by late summer things would be back to normal. We now understand that events drawing large crowds of the size we get for the derby are not likely to be approved any time soon. We had to let applicants know one way or the other.”
Additionally, the Derby Planning Committee had to make other decisions related to issuing refunds, returning advertising income, and deciding how to deal with various upfront costs associated with hosting the large event.
“It was a tough call, we had done a lot of upfront work, but the writing was on the wall,” Locke said.
The planning committee, including several members of the Clearlake Oaks-Glenhaven Business Association – which sponsors the derby each year – agreed that canceling was the only logical decision.
Camille Gouldberg, president of the business association, explained that the annual Catfish Derby is the signature fund-raising event of the association, with all proceeds going right back into the community.
“These sad circumstances have a ripple effect. We won’t have as much money to support our local school activities, our senior center, and other worthy activities we traditionally support. We’re disappointed, but not deterred,” Gouldberg said.
The Catfish Derby supports the local economy in a number of ways, from boosting sales at bait and tackle shops to coffee houses, restaurants, hotels, resorts, casinos, wine tasting rooms and more.
Known as the biggest Catfish Derby west of the Mississippi, this year’s derby would have marked 37 years.
For many – locals and out of towners – the event has become a highly anticipated and cherished family tradition. Last year, despite heavy rains, the event drew a crowd of more than 1,000 people.
“The derby energizes our little town and draws volunteers from all over Lake County to both join in on the festivities and make sure we put on the best Derby experience possible,” Locke said. “It’s a family affair and we will definitely miss our friends from near and far.”
“It’s important to thank everyone that helped get ready for this year, especially Dennis Locke, who, as in previous years, has poured his heart and soul into organizing the event,” Gouldberg said.
As for Locke, he said canceling the derby was the right thing to do. “The uncertainty in the county’s COVID-19 reopening progress for large events and our continuing concern for the health and safety of derby participants and county residents made our decision for us,” he said. “Not to worry, we’ll be back.”
The 2021 Catfish Derby has been scheduled for May 14 to 16. Pre-registered derby contestants, sponsors and advertisers have been notified of the cancelation.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Public Health has confirmed another positive case of COVID-19 in a county resident.
The latest case brings Lake County’s case total to 35. Of those, two are active and 33 are recovered, and there are no current hospitalizations, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard.
There were no details made available on Saturday about the case.
This is the third positive case reported over the past week.
Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace reported that the 33rd and 34th cases, identified last Sunday and Monday, respectively, were not related but were tied to out-of-county cases.
The 34th case had recently attended some social gatherings, and investigations and contact tracing are ongoing, but there are presently no signs of concern regarding community transmission, Pace said.
The 31st and 32nd cases, identified week before last, were members of the same household, Pace reported.
As of Saturday, Public Health said 3,898 of Lake County’s more than 64,000 residents have been tested, with 211 test results still pending.
Public Health departments statewide reported more than 174,000 COVID-19 cases and nearly 5,500 deaths as of Saturday night.
Case totals for neighboring counties are Colusa, seven; Glenn, 42; Mendocino, 54; Napa, 224; Sonoma, 835; and Yolo, 321.
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.
Several years ago, planetary scientist Lynnae Quick began to wonder whether any of the more than 4,000 known exoplanets, or planets beyond our solar system, might resemble some of the watery moons around Jupiter and Saturn.
Though some of these moons don’t have atmospheres and are covered in ice, they are still among the top targets in NASA’s search for life beyond Earth. Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa, which scientists classify as “ocean worlds,” are good examples.
“Plumes of water erupt from Europa and Enceladus, so we can tell that these bodies have subsurface oceans beneath their ice shells, and they have energy that drives the plumes, which are two requirements for life as we know it,” says Quick, a NASA planetary scientist who specializes in volcanism and ocean worlds. “So if we’re thinking about these places as being possibly habitable, maybe bigger versions of them in other planetary systems are habitable too.”
Quick, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, decided to explore whether — hypothetically — there are planets similar to Europa and Enceladus in the Milky Way galaxy. And, could they, too, be geologically active enough to shoot plumes through their surfaces that could one day be detected by telescopes.
Through a mathematical analysis of several dozen exoplanets, including planets in the nearby TRAPPIST-1 system, Quick and her colleagues learned something significant: More than a quarter of the exoplanets they studied could be ocean worlds, with a majority possibly harboring oceans beneath layers of surface ice, similar to Europa and Enceladus. Additionally, many of these planets could be releasing more energy than Europa and Enceladus.
Scientists may one day be able to test Quick’s predictions by measuring the heat emitted from an exoplanet or by detecting volcanic or cryovolcanic (liquid or vapor instead of molten rock) eruptions in the wavelengths of light emitted by molecules in a planet’s atmosphere.
For now, scientists cannot see many exoplanets in any detail. Alas, they are too far away and too drowned out by the light of their stars.
But by considering the only information available — exoplanet sizes, masses and distances from their stars — scientists like Quick and her colleagues can tap mathematical models and our understanding of the solar system to try to imagine the conditions that could be shaping exoplanets into livable worlds or not.
While the assumptions that go into these mathematical models are educated guesses, they can help scientists narrow the list of promising exoplanets to search for conditions favorable to life so that NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope or other space missions can follow up.
“Future missions to look for signs of life beyond the solar system are focused on planets like ours that have a global biosphere that’s so abundant it’s changing the chemistry of the whole atmosphere,” says Aki Roberge, a NASA Goddard astrophysicist who collaborated with Quick on this analysis. “But in the solar system, icy moons with oceans, which are far from the heat of the Sun, still have shown that they have the features we think are required for life.”
To look for possible ocean worlds, Quick’s team selected 53 exoplanets with sizes most similar to Earth, though they could have up to eight times more mass. Scientists assume planets of this size are more solid than gaseous and, thus, more likely to support liquid water on or below their surfaces.
At least 30 more planets that fit these parameters have been discovered since Quick and her colleagues began their study in 2017, but they were not included in the analysis, which was published on June 18 in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
With their Earth-size planets identified, Quick and her team sought to determine how much energy each one could be generating and releasing as heat. The team considered two primary sources of heat.
The first, radiogenic heat, is generated over billions of years by the slow decay of radioactive materials in a planet’s mantle and crust. That rate of decay depends on a planet’s age and the mass of its mantle. Other scientists already had determined these relationships for Earth-size planets.
So, Quick and her team applied the decay rate to their list of 53 planets, assuming each one is the same age as its star and that its mantle takes up the same proportion of the planet’s volume as Earth’s mantle does.
Next, the researchers calculated heat produced by something else: tidal force, which is energy generated from the gravitational tugging when one object orbits another. Planets in stretched out, or elliptical, orbits shift the distance between themselves and their stars as they circle them. This leads to changes in the gravitational force between the two objects and causes the planet to stretch, thereby generating heat. Eventually, the heat is lost to space through the surface.
One exit route for the heat is through volcanoes or cryovolcanoes. Another route is through tectonics, which is a geological process responsible for the movement of the outermost rocky or icy layer of a planet or moon. Whichever way the heat is discharged, knowing how much of it a planet pushes out is important because it could make or break habitability.
For instance, too much volcanic activity can turn a livable world into a molten nightmare. But too little activity can shut down the release of gases that make up an atmosphere, leaving a cold, barren surface. Just the right amount supports a livable, wet planet like Earth, or a possibly livable moon like Europa.
In the next decade, NASA’s Europa Clipper will explore the surface and subsurface of Europa and provide insights about the environment beneath the surface. The more scientists can learn about Europa and other potentially habitable moons of our solar system, the better they’ll be able to understand similar worlds around other stars — which may be plentiful, according to today’s findings.
"Forthcoming missions will give us a chance to see whether ocean moons in our solar system could support life,” says Quick, who is a science team member on both the Clipper mission and the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan. “If we find chemical signatures of life, we can try to look for similar signs at interstellar distances.”
When Webb launches, scientists will try to detect chemical signatures in the atmospheres of some of the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, which is 39 light years away in the constellation Aquarius. In 2017, astronomers announced that this system has seven Earth-size planets. Some have suggested that some of these planets could be watery, and Quick’s estimates support this idea. According to her team’s calculations, TRAPPIST-1 e, f, g and h could be ocean worlds, which would put them among the 14 ocean worlds the scientists identified in this study.
The researchers predicted that these exoplanets have oceans by considering the surface temperatures of each one. This information is revealed by the amount of stellar radiation each planet reflects into space. Quick’s team also took into account each planet’s density and the estimated amount of internal heating it generates compared to Earth.
“If we see that a planet’s density is lower than Earth’s, that’s an indication that there might be more water there and not as much rock and iron,” Quick says. And if the planet’s temperature allows for liquid water, you’ve got an ocean world.
“But if a planet’s surface temperature is less than 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius), where water is frozen,” Quick says, “then we have an icy ocean world, and the densities for those planets are even lower.”
Other scientists who participated in this analysis with Quick and Roberge are Amy Barr Mlinar from the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and Matthew M. Hedman from the University of Idaho in Moscow.
Lonnie Shekhtman works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Julian Agyeman, Tufts University and Kofi Boone, North Carolina State University
Underlying the recent unrest sweeping U.S. cities over police brutality is a fundamental inequity in wealth, land and power that has circumscribed black lives since the end of slavery in the U.S.
The “40 acres and a mule” promised to formerly enslaved Africans never came to pass. There was no redistribution of land, no reparations for the wealth extracted from stolen land by stolen labor.
June 19 is celebrated by black Americans as Juneteenth, marking the date in 1865 that former slaves were informed of their freedom, albeit two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Coming this year at a time of protest over the continued police killing of black people, it provides an opportunity to look back at how black Americans were deprived of land ownership and the economic power that it brings. An expanded concept of the “black commons” – based on shared economic, cultural and digital resources as well as land – could act as one means of redress. As professors in urban planning and landscape architecture, our research suggests that such a concept could be a part of undoing the racist legacy of chattel slavery by encouraging economic development and creating communal wealth.
Land grab
The proportion of the United States under black ownership has actually shrunk over the last 100 years or so.
In a 1998 report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ascribed this decline to a long and “well-documented” history of discrimination against black farmers, ranging from New Deal and USDA discriminatory practices dating from the 1930s to 1950s-era exclusion from legal, title and loan resources.
Discriminatory practices have also affected who owns property as well as land. In 2017, the racial homeownership gap was at its highest level for 50 years, with 79.1% of white Americans owning a home compared to 41.8% of black Americans. This gap is even larger than it was when racist housing practices such as redlining, which denied black residents mortgages to buy, or loans to renovate, property were legal.
The lack of ownership is crucial to understanding the crippling economic disparity that has hollowed out the black middle class and continues to plague black America – making it harder to accrue wealth and pass it on to future generations.
A 2017 report found that the median net worth for non-immigrant black American households in the greater Boston region was just US$8, but for whites it was $247,500. This was due to “general housing and lending discrimination through restrictive covenants, redlining and other lending practices.”
Nationally, between 1983 and 2013, median black household wealth decreased by 75% to $1,700 while median white household wealth increased 14% to $116,800.
Freedom farms
Land ownership today could look very different. The idea of collective ownership has a long history in the United States. Even during slavery, a piece of ground was granted by slave masters for enslaved African subsistence farming. The Jamaican social theorist Sylvia Wynter called this land “the plot.”
Wynter has explained how that these parcels of land were transformed into communal areas where slaves could establish their own social order, sustain traditional African folklore and foodways – growing yams, cassava and sweet potatoes. Plots were often called “yam grounds,” so important was this staple food.
The connection between food, land, power and cultural survival was subversive in its nature. By appropriating physical space to support collective growing practices within the brutal constraints of slavery, black people also demonstrated the need for common, shared mental space to enable their survival and resistance. Herbalism, medicine and midwifery, and other African American healing practices were seen as acts of resistance that were “intimately tied to religion and community,” according to historian Sharla M. Fett.
With the end of slavery, these plots disappeared.
The principles of collective land ownership evolved in post-slavery black America. It was central to civil rights organizer Fannie Lou Hamer’s Freedom Farms, a cooperative model designed to deliver economic justice to the poorest black farmers in the American South.
In Hamer’s view, the fight for justice in the face of oppression required a measure of independence that could be achieved through owning land and providing resources for the community.
This idea of a black commons as a means of economic empowerment formed a focus of W.E.B. DuBois’ 1907 “Economic Co-operation Among Negro Americans.” DuBois believed that the extreme segregation of the Jim Crow era made it necessary to ground economic empowerment in the cultural bonds between black people and that this could be achieved through cooperative ownership.
Credit unions and co-ops
The accumulation of wealth was not the only desired consequence of a black commons.
In 1967, social critic Harold Cruse argued for a “new institutionalism” that would create a “new dynamic synthesis of politics, economics, and culture.” In his view, economic ventures needed to be grounded in the greater aspirations of black communities – politically, culturally and economically. This could be achieved through a black commons.
As the political economist Jessica Gordon Nembhardhas noted in reference to black credit unions and mutual aid funds, “African Americans, as well as other people of color and low-income people, have benefited greatly from cooperative ownership and democratic economic participation throughout the nation’s history.”
The nonprofit Schumacher Center for a New Economics is working to rejuvenate the idea of black commons. In a 2018 statement, the center proposed to adopt a community land trust structure “to serve as a national vehicle to amass purchased and gifted lands in a black commons with the specific purpose of facilitating low-cost access for black Americans hitherto without such access.”
The disproportionate effects of the coronavirus pandemic and unrest over police brutality have highlighted deeply embedded structural racism. Organizations such as Black Lives Matter and the Movement for Black Lives are demonstrating a renewed vigor around collective action and a blueprint for how this can be achieved in a digital age. At the same time, black Americans are also forging a cultural commons through events such as DJ D-Nice’s Club Quarantine – a hugely popular online dance party. Club Quarantine’s success indicates the potential for using online platforms to facilitate community building, pointing toward future economic cooperation.
That’s what organizations like Urban Patch are trying to do. The nonprofit group uses crowdsourced funding to build community spaces in inner city areas of Indianapolis and encourage collective economic development that echoes the black commons of years past.
The long history of racism in the United States has held back black Americans for generations. But the current soul searching over this legacy is also an unrivaled opportunity to look again at the idea of collective black action and ownership, using it to create a community and economy that goes beyond just ownership of land for wealth’s sake.
If you had to choose, which would you rather have: a healthy father or a good father?
Studies suggest men often choose being a good father over being healthy.
Becoming a father is a major milestone in the life of a man, often shifting the way he thinks from being “me focused” to “we focused.” But fatherhood can also shift how men perceive their health. Our research has found that fathers can view health not in terms of going to the doctor or eating vegetables but how they hold a job, provide for their family, protect and teach their children, and belong to a community or social network.
As founder and director of the Center for Research on Men’s Health at Vanderbilt University and as a postdoctoral fellow from Meharry Medical College, we study why men live shorter lives than women, male attitudes about fatherhood, how to help men engage in healthier behavior – as well as what can be done to reduce men’s risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Work, sex and health
Working with men to try to get them to be more physically active, eat healthier and maintain a healthy weight, we found that for many, their own physical and mental health is not high on their list of priorities. Men, we found, treat their bodies as tools to do a job. Health is not always important or something they pay much attention to until poor health gets in the way of their ability to go to work, have sex or do something else important to them. These roles and responsibilities are often the ways they define themselves as men and how others in their lives define their worth.
While many aspects of gender roles have changed, we have found that many men still recognize they are often defined as good or successful if they have paid employment that is enough to take care of their children and other responsibilities. Fathers generally aspire to be able to look after their children, spouse, partner or other loved ones. That may mean less sleep, longer hours at work and less free time for hobbies and exercise.
Wanting to be a great dad can motivate men to push themselves to work longer and harder than they may have thought possible, but these choices can come at a cost, particularly if they also are not making time to take care of themselves.
We have seen evidence of despair, such as depressive symptoms, having thoughts of suicide, heavy drinking and marijuana use, among adults in their 20s and 30s. These behaviors tend to be higher in men during the time when they tend to become fathers for the first time. Consistent with this pattern, unintentional injuries and suicide are leading causes of death for men across racial and ethnic groups in their 20s and 30s. This is not the case for women.
By age 45, heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death for all groups of men. These chronic diseases can be prevented, to some degree, by not smoking, eating healthier foods and drinking less alcohol. Also, improving sleep, sitting less and moving more are important behaviors for good health.
Rather than trying to restart these behaviors after taking a break from them for a number of years, studies have found that it is important to help men keep healthy behaviors a part of their lives as they age.
As men age, they may not make deliberate choices to engage in less healthy behavior, but they may just do so because their lives and environments make unhealthy choices easier than healthy ones. Policymakers have to think about how to make it easier to make healthy choices in men’s daily lives and to incorporate health into the time fathers spend with children and family or at work. Men don’t have equal access to healthy foods or the same opportunities to go to the doctor, be physically active or earn a living wage, and yet, if asked, they all want to be healthy and have a positive influence on their children and families.
Where does making time for their own mental and physical health fit into dads’ busy, stressful lives? We have found that it will be different for every father, but loved ones have to help them find a way. Based on our research, we believe that families, particularly women in men’s lives, can play an important role in encouraging fathers to eat healthier and take better care of their health.
Wives in particular often provide emotional support, offer advice, facilitate men going to the doctor and promote healthy behavior. Wives, daughters and other women in fathers’ lives are important sources of information about men’s health, and they often play a key role in helping fathers and other men better understand and cope with stress.
As we celebrate fathers, it is important to recognize that fathers, generally speaking, may not place health at the top of their priorities. Many fathers gladly sacrifice to see their children happy, safe and successful. The problem is that if fathers think only about these goals, their own health can often suffer.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Authorities have made an arrest in connection to a Saturday afternoon vegetation fire along Highway 20 east of Clearlake Oaks.
The Mule fire was initially dispatched at around 2:10 p.m. on Highway 20, nearly four miles west of Walker Ridge Road, east of Clearlake Oaks.
“There was a suspect apprehended,” Will Powers, a Cal Fire public information officer, confirmed to Lake County News.
Air resources arriving at the scene said the fire initially was about an acre and making a run uphill. Within a few minutes, it was reported to be about five acres and making a hard push uphill toward structures.
However, firefighters were able to hold the fire’s advance, with one small spot fire reported outside of the lines just after 3 p.m.
At about 3:15 p.m., one person was reported to be in custody with prevention officers from Cal Fire later asked to respond to the Lake County Jail.
Sheriff Brian Martin told Lake County News that deputies took a Hispanic male adult into custody at the scene.
Martin said there was a seven-minute standoff before the arrest as the man tried to hold off deputies with a knife in the middle of Highway 20.
He added that there was a language barrier between deputies and the man, who was transported to the Lake County Jail.
Martin said early Saturday evening that he did not yet have any additional details about the arrest.
Powers said the Mule fire had burned six acres. Late on Sunday afternoon it was reported to be 50 percent contained.
“They’ll be out there for a while,” Powers said of firefighters, who are constructing line and mopping up.
He said Cal Fire is the lead agency on the fire, with local fire agencies also involved. Radio traffic indicated that including Northshore, Lake County and Kelseyville all were dispatched.
Powers said the California Highway Patrol was on scene to assist with one-way traffic control in the area.
Shortly before 7:20 p.m., Powers reported that the fire was fully contained at 7.35 acres.
Another small fire, dispatched just before 3 p.m. in the 1200 block of Highway 20 near Van Sleeper Road in Upper Lake, involved a trailer load of hay that firefighters quickly contained.
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 National Weather Service said Lake County will see hotter temperatures over the coming week.
While the agency issued an excessive heat watch for much of the neighboring Sacramento Valley – where temperatures will be well over the century mark – conditions will be slightly cooler in Lake County.
The detailed Lake County forecast calls for daytime temperatures in the 90s over the weekend, with the south county’s forecast being closer to the century mark. Nighttime temperatures will rise into the lost 60s for the weekend.
Winds of up to 10 miles per hour also are in the weekend forecast, with calm winds expected on Monday.
On Monday and Tuesday, the forecast calls for temperatures at or close to the 100-degree mark. The Middletown area is expected to have a daytime high of about 101 degrees.
From Wednesday through Friday, daytime temperatures will hover in the high 90s while nighttime temperatures will continue to be in the low 60s, based on the forecast.
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.