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Space News: A taste of solar maximum
Forecasters say Solar Max is due in the year 2013. When it arrives, the peak of 11-year sunspot cycle will bring more solar flares, more coronal mass ejections, more geomagnetic storms and more auroras than we have experienced in quite some time.
On the weekend of July 14, sky watchers around the world got a taste of things to come.
It was mid-Saturday in North America when a coronal mass ejection or “CME” crashed into Earth’s magnetic field and triggered the most sustained display of auroras in years.
For more than 36 hours, magnetic storms circled Earth’s poles. Northern Lights spilled across the Canadian border into the United States as far south as California, Colorado, Kansas and Arkansas.
In the southern hemisphere, skies turned red over Tasmania and New Zealand, while the aurora australis pirouetted around the South Pole.
The source of the CME was giant sunspot AR1520, a seething nest of tangled magnetism more than 15 times wider than Earth itself.
On July 12, the sunspot’s magnetic field erupted, producing an X-class solar flare and hurling a billion tons of electrified plasma toward our planet.
NASA’s twin STEREO probes and the European Space Agency’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory monitored the CME as it billowed away from the sun.
Using those data, analysts at NOAA and NASA successfully predicted the cloud’s arrival time. It would take almost two full days for the CME to cross the 93 million mile void between Earth and sun.
The CME’s impact sharply compressed Earth’s magnetosphere, briefly exposing geosynchronous satellites to solar wind plasma.
The shaking of Earth’s magnetic field caused compass needles to swing – just a little – and prompted electrical currents to flow through the soil at high latitudes. Fortunately, the strike did no harm; satellites survived and power grids stayed online.
Next came the light show. As the CME’s wake washed across Earth, the polar regions of our planet lit up like a Christmas tree.
Red, green, blue and purple auroras capped both ends of the planet, glowing, dancing, and ultimately spreading to places where auroras are seldom seen.
In Arkansas, for instance, “there was a faint glow off and on for most of the night,” reports Brad Emfinger from a little town called Ozark. “Around 3 a.m. there was an outburst of red and purple plainly visible to the naked eye.”
In Pawnee Grasslands, Colorado, photographer Robert Arn saw the Northern Lights for the first time ever: “As soon as I stepped out of the car, the sky looked like it was on fire. Then the Moon, Venus and Jupiter rose together in the east. To see the conjunction and the auroras side-by-side was incredible!”
Meanwhile at the other end of the planet, “auroras were going crazy over the South Pole,” reported Robert Schwarz at the Amundsen-Scott south pole research station “We enjoyed the show under crystal clear skies with an air temperature of minus 105 degrees F.”
In Ashland, Wisconsin, on the other hand, John Welling watched the show in his shirt sleeves: “Tonight was absolutely the best with a comfortable temperature of +78 degrees F and Northern Lights dancing overhead. The X-flare definitely lived up to the hype.”
From one end of the planet to the other, spanning more than 90 degrees of combined north-south latitude, 183 degrees of temperature, and 360 degrees of longitude, this was truly a global space weather event.
And it was just a taste of things to come.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
REGIONAL: Governor signs gaming compact with Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Governor Brown and the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians have agreed to an amended tribal-state gaming compact between the state of California and the tribe.
The tribe operates Coyote Valley Casino in Redwood Valley, in neighboring Mendocino County.
The compact is designed to address fiscal challenges the tribe has faced and to meet the requirements of federal law that the tribe be the primary beneficiary of its gaming operation, the Governor’s Office reported.
The amended compact will help the tribe to continue funding programs in local communities that mitigate the impact of gaming activities and address gambling addiction.
It includes provisions to protect employees and patrons as well as measures that the tribe must take to protect the environment during the construction and operation of gaming facilities.
The compact includes a provision allowing the operation of a maximum of 1,250 slot machines.
Up to 15 percent of the casino's net win from these machines will go to local communities as well as gambling mitigation and regulatory activities.
The compact requires regular audits of gaming operations and supersedes the 2004 compact between the tribe and the state of California.
The 221-page compact can be seen below.
072712 Coyote Valley Amended CompactDeputies testify in trial of man accused of killing neighbor over sex offender registration
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Thursday several current and former sheriff's deputies testified to responding to the scene of a 2007 stabbing in which a man allegedly killed his neighbor because he mistakenly had concluded that he was a child molester.
Ivan Garcia Oliver, 34, is charged with murder, burglary, elder abuse and several special allegations for the killing of 67-year-old Michael Dodele on Nov. 20, 2007.
Oliver is alleged to have stabbed Dodele 60 times in his trailer at Western Hills Mobile Home Park in Lakeport, where Dodele had moved a short time before after being released from serving about 20 years in prison for raping a woman.
The prosecution alleges that Oliver misunderstood Dodele's sex offender registration information on the state's Megan's Law Web site and believed Dodele had served prison time for child molestation.
Oliver's defense attorney, Stephen Carter, has argued that Oliver was concerned about his 4-year-old son, and when he went to confront Dodele on that November morning a fight ensued and Dodele died as a result.
First on the stand on Thursday was Tom Andrews, who at the time was a deputy sheriff with more than 20 years' experience.
Andrews was dispatched to the mobile home park on the report of suspicious circumstances, with a male with bleeding hands said to be near space 19, Dodele's trailer. He was the first to arrive on scene, and he encountered Oliver near his own home, across from Dodele’s.
According to his testimony, Andrews asked Oliver the location of space 19. Oliver told him it was at the back of the park, but Andrews noticed that the space to his right was marked 19. When he pointed that out to Oliver, Oliver said the spaces were incorrectly marked. Oliver's hands did not appear to be covered with blood, Andrews said.
Andrews drove around the park, concluded he originally had been at the right place and went back to the trailer. He could see the trailer's sliding glass door was open, and so he went to the yard gate and announced himself.
He went to the door, pushed the blinds aside, and noticed what appeared to be blood on the floor, leading from the living room area to the left toward the kitchen, and down the hallway to the back of the trailer.
Andrews said he waited until Deputy Cynthia Radoumis arrived to cover him, and then they made their way down the hallway, following a blood trail that went into the bathroom, the door of which was closed.
Rather than go into the bathroom, Andrews said he continued into the back bedroom, where he could see a body on the floor, at the foot of a bed.
Dodele was found lying on his right side, in the fetal position, fully dressed. Andrews said he had no pulse but was warm to the touch. Paramedics arrived and confirmed he was dead. Andrews then requested that the sheriff's detectives bureau respond.
Andrews interviewed Israel Bojorquez, who had seen Oliver coming out of Dodele's trailer and reported being assaulted by Oliver earlier that morning.
When Andrews went to Oliver's home, he saw blood smears on the front of the residence and on a vehicle parked directly in front of it. A short time later, then-Sgt. Chris Macedo and several investigators arrived and took over the crime scene.
Deputies did a forced entry on Oliver’s home. Andrews followed several other deputies into the home, guns drawn, and took Oliver into custody.
Paramedic Jonelle Grandi also briefly testified about responding to the scene and finding Dodele with no pulse or heart activity.
She recalled that “there was blood all over the place.”
The investigation at the scene
Brian Martin, a former Lake County Sheriff’s lieutenant, arrived at the scene after Andrews did and participated in the forced entry at Oliver’s home.
Initially, deputies handcuffed both Oliver and his girlfriend. Martin said Oliver had blood on him, and Martin said deputies didn’t know if the couple were injured or involved with the murder.
“They were handcuffed for their safety and for our safety,” Martin said.
He said deputies searched Oliver’s bedroom and found a cell phone between the box spring and mattress. Martin contacted Dodele’s sister, who gave Martin her brother’s cell phone number. When he dialed the number, the cell phone that had been found under the mattress rang, and showed Martin’s phone number.
“That convinced us at that time that it was his cell phone,” Martin said.
Det. Corey Paulich, the case’s lead investigator, had found the window screen in Oliver’s bathroom pushed out and blood on the window sill. Paulich then asked Martin to search on the east side of Oliver’s residence, and in the backyard Martin found two folding knives – one silver and one black.
In an interview with Martin, Oliver’s girlfriend identified the silver knife as Oliver’s but couldn’t identify the second knife as his. She said he had three knives altogether.
Martin took Oliver to Sutter Lakeside for a blood test in order to collect DNA and to test for drugs. Later he checked the Megan’s Law Web site and printed out Dodele’s entry.
Another witness on Thursday was Lt. Brian Kenner, who was a detective at the time of the murder, and assisted with the forced entry into Oliver’s residence.
He said he saw blood on Oliver’s hands and on the floor of his home. After they went into the residence, he saw Oliver lying on his kitchen floor, handcuffed and secured. Kenner stood by to keep an eye on Oliver, who he said appeared agitated.
“He was asking us why we came into his house, what we were doing there,” Kenner said.
While Kenner was there with him, Oliver spontaneously said, “I just got to tell you, I did this shit.”
Oliver told Kenner that he was minding his own business, and alleged that Dodele tried to hurt his son.
Kenner recalled Oliver having a cut on his right hand, in the web between the thumb and index finger.
He went with Oliver when he was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for treatment of his hand injury. A doctor asked Oliver several times how he hurt his hand. Each time Oliver told the doctor he did it while shaving, Kenner said.
While he was at the scene, Kenner prepared a diagram of the home, which included documentation of what investigators believed was blood spatter on the bedroom wall. He also removed a hot water knob covered with blood from Dodele’s bathroom and cut out some bathroom flooring to preserve a footprint.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Friday in Lake County Superior Court Department 3.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Historic building at Third and Main joins the Lake County Quilt Trail
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – “Courthouse Steps” is a geometric quilt block design recently added to the Lake County Quilt Trail.
It is located facing south on the historic Lunas Building, 306 N. Main St., Lakeport. GPS location: N39°02’38” W122°54’54”
Other LCQT installations along Main Street are LeMoyne Star, 401 N. Main; Three Cheers, 275 S. Main, on the Soper Reese Community Theatre; Double Wedding Ring, 675 N. Main on the Lakeport English Inn Bed and Breakfast; and just off Main Street is County Fair, 401 Martin on the Phil Lewis Hall at the County Fairgrounds.
Courthouse Steps was selected by longtime Lakeport resident, Darlene Jane Lunas. The gold and yellow represent the sunshine of Lake County and the blue colors represent Clear Lake, the largest natural lake in California.
The building is owned by Lunas and Bill Feeney. For the last 25 years Lunas’ son, Michael Lunas, has used the building as his law office. The building is only one block away from the Lakeport Courthouse.
The original wooden structure was built on this site in 1859 by Mr. A. Levy and was called the Pioneer Store. Dry goods, shoes, clothes, and groceries were all available for sale.
The following article was taken from the August 7, 1876, “Lake-Democrat” (provided by Darlene Lunas).
A. Levy’s New Brick
On Monday next, Mr. Levy will remove his old store on the corner of Main and Third, and place it next to Mr. Cully’s fruit store, in order to make room for the laying of the foundation of his new brick building. The building is to be two stories in height with a front of twenty-eight feet, and running back towards the lake eighty feet. The upper story is intended for a hall, and the lower for a store, his increasing business demanding a safer and more commodious room.
Next week fire will be put to the kiln of brick and be burned for this building at the brick yard and by the first of November, Main Street will be able to boast of an additional fire proof building. The iron doors, shutters, rods, etc., are all on the ground, and no hindrance is expected in the work of rapidly pushing the building to completion. Its cost will be something over $5,500. Mr. Romulus Kennedy has the contract for the wood work.
According to Lunas, “This building survived the 1906 earthquake with only small damage to the side of the building. Eventually the stairs were moved from the right to the left side to provide roadway access to the post office. When telephones came in, the main switchboard was in this building, and in later years it was occupied by the Odd Fellows.”
Phase III of LCQT will be completed by the end of fall 2012. Each one is unique and meaningful to the donors, building owners, as well as the all-volunteer team that created them.
For more information, go to www.lakecountyquilttrail.com or visit Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Lake-County-Quilt-Trail/187014251326163 .
