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Public invited to Klaus Park concept design meeting March 26
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. — Lake County Public Services staff will be on hand Wednesday evening to share with the public the progress on designing the county’s newest public park.The design concept meeting on the new John T. Klaus Park will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, in the Nylander Building, located next to the playground at Nylander Park and behind the Red & White grocery store in Clearlake Oaks.
Community members can drop in during the two-hour meeting to peruse the draft proposals for the 570-acre park, which will be located near the roundabout at Highway 20 and Highway 53 just east of Clearlake Oaks.
Aspects of the park announced so far include a trail system, cultural center, native garden, dog parks and frisbee golf.
County staff will be present to answer questions and obtain comments, which will be used to create a more finalized design.
The property was donated to the county, with the Board of Supervisors accepting the donation in November 2022. Several million dollars also accompanied the land donation in order to develop the park.
In August, the county began hosting public meetings on the project, beginning with a listening session that featured a consulting firm, Helix, which was helping to complete studies for the plan.
For more information call the Lake County Public Services Department at 707-262-1618 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or email
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Windsor, Vallejo casino projects challenged by new lawsuits
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — Two Lake County tribes are facing legal headwinds in response to the U.S. Department of Interior’s approval earlier this year of their out-of-county casino projects.The projects, proposed by the Koi Nation of Northern California and Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians of Lakeport, have faced significant opposition from other tribes and communities alike.
Now, both casino proposals — one in Windsor, the other in Vallejo — appear to be headed toward lengthy legal battles that could slow or halt them altogether as the result of lawsuits filed in federal court over the past month.
The suits fault the process to approve the casinos for failing to take into account community and tribal input, as well as glossing over environmental concerns.
The casino projects also were opposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. In August, Matthew Lee, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s senior advisor for tribal negotiations and deputy legal affairs secretary, wrote to Bryan Newland, the assistant secretary for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to urge the federal government not to approve them.
Lee’s letter raised concerns about the projects being focused “less on restoring the relevant tribes’ aboriginal homelands, and more on creating new gaming operations in desirable markets.”
Despite the governor’s opposition, at the start of January, the Department of Interior gave approval to the two projects in the waning days of the Biden administration, under Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
The agency greenlighted the projects in the face of heavy opposition both from the communities where the projects will be located and from other tribes who said the Koi and Scotts Valley were trying to get casinos well outside of their ancestral lands.
In February, four Sonoma County tribes filed lawsuits against the Department of Interior for the approval of the casino development in Windsor proposed by the Koi Nation, formerly based in Lower Lake.
The Koi Nation’s Shiloh Resort & Casino is slated to be built on 68 acres at 222 E. Shiloh Road in Windsor. It will include 2,500 gaming machines, a 400-room hotel, along with restaurants, a meeting center and spa.
On Feb. 14, Graton Rancheria filed its lawsuit, which on March 20 was consolidated with another suit it had filed for declaratory and injunctive relief against the Department of Interior in November.
Lytton Rancheria, Dry Creek Rancheria and Cloverdale Rancheria filed their joint suit against the government on Feb. 21.
Then, on Monday, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and the Kletsel Dehe Band of Wintun Indians filed a lawsuit challenging the decision by the Department of the Interior to allow the Scotts Valley Pomo to build its casino in Vallejo.
Scotts Valley’s $700 million, 400,000-square-foot mega casino complex, along with 24 homes and an administrative building, will be located on a 128-acre site near I-80 and Highway 37.
Connections to ancestral land and process
The Graton lawsuit, like those that would follow, faults the government’s procedural approach, calling it flawed.
It also claims that the government “steamrolled” important statutory protections “in their regulatory sprint” to approve the Koi Nation’s project, “regardless of applicable legal requirements.”
In the suit filed by Lytton, Dry Creek and Cloverdale, the tribes assert that the action to approve the Koi casino project was driven by personal connections. They argue it also will have huge impacts nationwide.
“Defendants’ actions depart from decades of precedent and practice that carefully scrutinized the connections between Indian tribes and the land upon which they wished to build gaming facilities. The effects of Defendants’ actions will be enormous: they set a precedent for
green-lighting casinos in virtually any location throughout the United States, no matter how tenuous an Indian Tribe’s connection to the proposed casino site may be. And, upon information and belief, that was the point of the final agency decision to approve the Koi application,” the lawsuit complaint states.
The suit alleges that Bryan Newland, the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs at the time of the relevant approvals, is a former attorney for Koi who, during his tenure at the Bureau of Indian affairs, “significantly broadened” the agency’s “interpretation and implementation of statutes and regulations governing Indian gaming facilities in a manner that facilitated approval of Koi’s and other tribes’ applications.”
They emphasize that the Koi’s territory is 50 miles away from the casino site, and that the tribe has no significant historical connection to Windsor.
Another point used in the suits is the Koi’s series of lawsuits against the city of Clearlake over the city’s efforts to build a new commercial center on the former Pearce Field property as well as the Burns Valley sports complex.
“In these lawsuits,” the Lytton suit notes, “Koi characterized territory near Clear Lake as ‘the area of traditional and cultural affiliation of [Koi]’” with “archaeological, cultural, and Tribal Cultural Resources.”
Vallejo casino lawsuit cites violations of federal law
The suit filed this week against the Scotts Valley tribe notes that the Vallejo location was meant for open space and contains cultural sites sacred to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.
The Yocha Dehe has fought the project for years, arguing that it will lead to desecration of its homelands and faulting the federal government for a process that it said dismissed community and other tribes’ concerns.
The lawsuit identifies fundamental violations of multiple federal laws intended to protect tribal governments, their ancestral homelands, and their people.
The two tribes also said their suit reveals that, in an effort to ensure the decision was issued during the change of presidential administrations, Department of Interior, or DOI, officials misled local tribes, refused to consult with them, and ignored their evidentiary submissions.
“It is heartbreaking that the Biden Administration chose to spend its final days approving a mega-project on our sacred Patwin homelands without ever consulting our Tribe. This has left us no choice but to pursue legal action to protect our people, our homelands, and our rights,” said Yocha Dehe Chairman Anthony Roberts. “Our filing shows how former DOI officials acted recklessly and illegally in an effort to avoid federal laws which are in place to ensure transparency, fairness and agency accountability.”
The Yocha Dehe said the 2025 decision about the Scotts Valley project represents an unexplained change of position for the United States.
The Department of Interior previously determined on three separate occasions, under presidential administrations of both political parties, that Scotts Valley lacks a significant historical connection to the city of Vallejo and is therefore prohibited from acquiring so-called “restored” gaming lands there, the Yocha Dehe said in a Monday statement.
“While the incoming presidential administration may reconsider the challenged approval — welcomed by Yocha Dehe and Kletsel Dehe — the imminent, acute harms to cultural resources on Patwin homelands, among other impacts, required the tribes to seek judicial relief in the meantime,” the tribe said in a Monday announcement.
“This is about more than a casino, it’s about protecting the integrity of the land-into-trust process and ensuring decisions are made fairly, lawfully, and based on true historical ties,” said Charlie Wright, chairman of the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation. “Our tribe has always stood firm in defense of our lands and heritage, and this case is no different. Scotts Valley has no documented cultural connection to Vallejo, and allowing this approval to stand sets an ominous precedent that undermines Tribal sovereignty and weakens the foundation of federal-tribal land policy. We fully support tribes securing land within their rightful homelands, but no tribe should be allowed to bypass established legal and historical standards. When federal agencies fail to uphold these principles, we have a duty to hold them accountable.”
In their filing on the Vallejo project, the tribes said the DOI refused to comply with clear, mandatory legal requirements, including the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106, which protects historic and sacred sites — misleading tribal, state, and other federal agencies in the process.
They also faulted the Department of Interior for cutting short the environmental review process and ignored evidence of the significant environmental consequences on local tribes and the surrounding community.
The federal defendants have 60 days to answer the complaints.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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Rain forecast to return later in the week
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — After a warm start to the first full week of spring, the National Weather Service is forecasting more rain and cooler temperatures later in the week.Forecasters said rain is expected to arrive on Wednesday night, with more chances of rain on Thursday and Friday.
There will be a break on Saturday, and then rain is forecast to return from Saturday night through Monday.
Gusting winds also are in the forecast on Wednesday and Thursday, with wind speeds of up to 20 miles per hour.
Forecasters said higher gusts of closer to 30 miles per hour also are possible in Lake County during that time period.
Daytime temperatures will range from the low 50s to low 60s, dropping into the high 30s and low 40s at night.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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California kindergarten immunization rates remain higher than national average
The California Department of Public Health, or CDPH, has released its annual report on vaccination rates for California students.The 2023-2024 CDPH Kindergarten Immunization Assessment report shows that California immunization rates for kindergarten students remain higher than the national average.
While measles outbreaks are occurring in many parts of the world, including the United States (Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma), California continues to report more than 95% measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) coverage among kindergarteners.
The state has maintained this level of vaccination — the level necessary to prevent community spread — for nearly a decade.
"California’s immunization requirements for schools are helping protect children and communities from vaccine-preventable diseases,” said CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer, Dr. Erica Pan. “With recent outbreaks of measles in other states, we can’t stress enough how important it is to stay current with vaccinations. Sadly, the consequences of not getting vaccinated can result in severe illness and even death."
Recent measles cases and the importance of vaccinations: Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that can be particularly dangerous for infants and young children.
Measles begins with a fever that lasts for a couple of days, followed by a cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis (pink eye), and a rash.
The best way to protect against measles is to get the MMR vaccine, and the vaccine is safe and effective at preventing measles, mumps, and rubella.
Measles cases have been increasing in the U.S. with 378 confirmed cases in 18 states in 2025 as of March 20.
The majority of U.S. cases have come from a major outbreak in Texas and New Mexico, primarily affecting unvaccinated children who had not received the MMR vaccine.
Vaccination rates in the most impacted county in these outbreaks have been reported as low as 82%. Two deaths have occurred as the result of these outbreaks — one in New Mexico and one in Texas.
To date, CDPH has reported eight confirmed measles cases in California in 2025. All of these cases are linked to international travel to countries with current measles outbreaks. CDPH encourages people visiting areas where measles outbreaks are occurring to plan ahead and get vaccinated before traveling as it takes two to three weeks after getting the MMR vaccine to develop optimal protection.
About the report: The 2023-24 CDPH Kindergarten Immunization Assessment report showed that MMR vaccination rates have remained stable in California.
The report found a minor increase in vaccination rates among private school students, from 95.3% to 95.8%, and a minor decrease among public school students, from 96.6% to 96.2% Importantly, MMR coverage among California kindergarteners statewide has exceeded 95% since at least 2016-2017. Ninety-five percent is an approximate threshold necessary to prevent the transmission of measles.
Overall, the report finds California kindergarten immunization rates remain higher than national averages reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Immunization rates vary across the state, however, and children in schools and regions with lower rates are at higher risk of contracting and transmitting vaccine preventable diseases, such as measles. Efforts to monitor, support and increase immunizations to protect students should continue in all communities.
Key findings from the 2023-2024 report include:
• In 2023-2024, 99% of public schools and 88% of private schools reported student immunization status.
• 94% of kindergarten students received all required immunizations in 2023-2024, compared to 94% in 2022-2023 and 93% in 2020-2021.
• In the 2023-2024 school year, only 0.1% of reported kindergarten students had medical exemptions, the lowest rate since 2015-2016.
• California vaccination completion rates among kindergarteners remain high and exceed nationwide rates in the U.S.
Scheduling an MMR vaccine: Everyone 12 months and older should receive two MMR doses. Babies 6 to 11 months are recommended to get one dose of MMR vaccine before traveling internationally or domestically to areas with known outbreaks.
If you are not sure you are vaccinated against measles, check your CA Digital Vaccine Record or ask your healthcare provider. If you have no record of measles vaccine, you should get vaccinated, especially if you are traveling internationally.
MMR vaccines are covered for most people through their health insurance plans, including Medi-Cal and regular health care providers. Schedule a vaccine appointment by visiting MyTurn.ca.gov, or contacting your local pharmacy or health care provider. People having difficulty obtaining vaccines can contact their health care provider or local health department for help finding a place to get immunized.
Additional fesources: CDPH offers additional measles information on its website, as well as a measles toolkit with flyers, social media assets, and more.
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