CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department is investigating a motorized bicycle crash on Saturday that resulted in a man being seriously injured.

Sgt. Rodd Joseph said that just after 2:30 p.m. Saturday officers responded to the area of the 14400 block of Lakeshore Drive on a report of a traffic collision with injuries.

Joseph said officers found an adult male adult lying in the road, suffering from major head trauma.

Witnesses on scene told officers that the man was riding a gas-powered bicycle eastbound on the south shoulder of Lakeshore Drive when he suddenly lost control and crashed, Joseph said.

No other vehicles were involved in the collision, according to Joseph’s report.

Joseph said the bicycle rider – whose name so far has not been released – was transported via ambulance to Adventist Health Hospital Clear Lake, at which point medical personnel were planning to transfer him to an out-of-county trauma center when he was stable.

Upon inspection of the gas-powered bicycle, it appears that the bicycle suffered a mechanical failure which led to the wreck, Joseph said.

Anyone who may have witnessed the collision or has any other information is urged to contact Officer Mauricio Barreto at 707-994-8251, Extension 324, or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is attempting to locate a man who on Saturday stole a vehicle from bail bond agents who were attempting to apprehend him, which resulted in the agents shooting at him as he fled.

Gregory Crumpler, 40, is wanted in Mendocino County for charges related to drug sales. Crumpler had also absconded after bail had previously been posted related to those charges, according to Lt. Corey Paulich.

On Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the 17000 block of Morgan Valley Road in Lower Lake, Paulich said.

Paulich said bail bond agents with Greg Padilla Bail Bonds, based out of Sacramento, reported they had fired shots at a fugitive who they were trying to apprehend.

When deputies arrived they contacted the bail agents, who told the deputies they were trying to take Crumpler into custody, Paulich said.

The bail agents told deputies Crumpler fled when they attempted to apprehend him. Paulich said Crumpler was able to gain access to one of the bail agent’s vehicles and began to flee the area in that vehicle.

Bail agents fired several shots at Crumpler as he was fleeing in the vehicle, Paulich said.

Paulich said deputies were able to locate the vehicle in the area of Oak Haven Road, approximately three miles from the location of the shooting incident.

An extensive search was conducted with the assistance of State Parks and the Napa County Sheriff’s Office, but Crumpler was not located, Paulich reported.

Paulich said Major Crimes detectives responded to the scene and took over the investigation.

Anyone with information regarding Crumpler’s whereabouts is asked to contact Sheriff’s Central Dispatch at 707-263-2690.

Once the investigation is completed the case will be forwarded to the Lake County District Attorney’s Office for review, Paulich said.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The community is invited to the third annual Unity Day Celebration in Clearlake on Monday.

The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Clearlake United Methodist Church, 14521 Pearl Ave.

Praises of Zion Baptist Church and the Clearlake United Methodist Church are hosting Unity Day, a celebration in honor of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“For we are all created equal and should come together as a community to end prejudice and inequality for all people regardless of ethnicity, gender identification, economic status, education level or social status,” organizers said.

There will be speeches, musical presentations, poems, and other activities to celebrate the messages of unity and peace in our community.

Some people just seem to have all the luck.

James Marshall wasn’t one of them. Never had been, either.

If these things can be said to have a beginning, and aren’t just deeply imbedded in a person at birth, James Marshall’s bad luck began when his father died.

James was in his early 20s, a fragile time in a young man’s life, when the decisions he makes have ramifications for his future prosperity and happiness. When other young men were starting out on their own, with a clean slate, James suddenly found himself the proud owner of a heap of debt from his dearly departed father.

With few alternatives available to him, James did what every down-on-his-luck young man did – he set out west.

“West” at that time was Ohio and the other Midwestern states. Over the next few years, James Marshall saw a little bit of all of them. For a time, his luck appeared to have changed when he built a nice homestead on a small plot of land on the Missouri River. He planted corn, built fence posts and even had a respectable little home. To complete this picture of domestic bliss, James fell in love. His paramour was aptly named – I’m not kidding you – Missouri Green.

But, Bad Fortune was not going to let her favorite victim get away that easily. In no time at all, James contracted an illness that most doctors at the time called the “fever and ague,” but that is more commonly known today as malaria.

The illness sapped him of his strength, blurred his vision and – most painful of all – robbed him of his dearest Missouri Green. She didn’t die; she just fell in love with a doctor (probably the same one treating our poor James).

Despondent at love lost and at the recommendation from a doctor that he travel to more arid climates, James headed even farther west.

In the spring of 1845, our lovelorn hero arrived in the Willamette Valley, hoping to finally rid himself of his broken heart and the damp air of the Missouri bottomlands. We don’t know if he succeeded in getting rid of the first, but the weather in Oregon made it impossible to escape the second.

So, James headed south, where he heard the weather was more amenable to those suffering from the fever and ague. After a difficult journey over the Siskiyou Mountains, James Marshall arrived at the doorstep of Sutter’s Fort in the Sacramento Valley.

By now, James probably looked like a stray dog that hadn’t eaten a proper meal his whole life. Lucky for him, he was in Mexican California – a land almost bereft of skilled labor. Beggars can’t be choosers, as the saying goes, and so the proprietor of the fort – John Sutter himself – had no choice but to welcome the new arrival as a potential source of labor.

Having recovered some of his strength from the ague, James showed his new benefactor that he was at least skilled enough to handle most ordinary tasks required of a frontier settlement. Happy with the results, John Sutter helped James arrange a mortgage to purchase two leagues of land nearby. Settling into his new homestead, James began growing a herd of cattle to augment what income he received from Sutter. And so, James’ luck looked to be turning.

Looks can be deceiving.

In no time at all, a war broke out between the land of his birth and the country of his current residence. Struck by a surprising amount of patriotism, James joined up to fight for America against Mexico and soon found himself a private in Captain Fremont’s little army.

Over the next several months, he learned the monotony of most war: lots of walking and little fighting. In March of 1847, James was discharged in San Diego, and faced a long haul to get back to his home along the Sacramento.

When he finally got back to Sutter’s Fort, he found that in his absence, someone had stolen his cattle, which were more valuable than the land he owned. Without the cattle, he wasn’t able to make his mortgage payments and – you guessed it – James Marshall lost his land.

Finding himself back at square one, he turned once more to the only source of good luck in his life: John Sutter. As it turned out, Mr. Sutter had plans to build a sawmill somewhere along the American River in hopes of capitalizing on the potential wave of settlement following California’s entrance into the United States.

James agreed to scout out a location for such a mill and, when found, to oversee the construction of it.

On Jan. 24, 1848, James Marshall’s luck looked like it had finally turned. Early that morning, while walking out of his cabin in preparation for the day’s work, a few sparkles along the riverbed caught his eye.

Curious, this man who had for so long suffered the attentions of Bad Fortune, bent down and picked up the key to his potential future prosperity – GOLD! And so started the California Gold Rush.

If some people are just born lucky, then the opposite must also be true. James Marshall is case in point. Because even being the very person to kick off the greatest rush for gold in world history wasn’t enough to shake Bad Fortune from his trail.

After his initial discovery, James joined the rest of humanity and set up a gold mining claim, hoping to strike it rich. He did not. In fact, he dumped all his worldly possessions into the scheme. The result, as you can by now imagine, was no surprise.

James Marshall died in 1885 penniless and, but for the pension the state of California had given him in recognition of his role in the Gold Rush, nearly homeless. Some people just seem to have all the luck.

Antone Pierucci is curator of history at the Riverside County Park and Open Space District and a freelance writer whose work has been featured in such magazines as Archaeology and Wild West as well as regional California newspapers.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has another eclectic mix of dogs needing homes in its kennels this week.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Australian Shepherd, beagle, boxer, bullmastiff, German Shepherd, husky, Labrador Retriever, pit bull, shepherd and terrier.

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.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

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”).

Male Australian Shepherd

This male Australian Shepherd has a medium-length brown coat.

He’s in kennel No. 5, ID No. 11639.

Female shepherd

This female shepherd has a medium-length black and brown coat.

She’s in kennel No. 7a, ID No. 11602.

Female chocolate Labrador Retriever

This female chocolate Labrador Retriever has a short coat.

She already has been spayed and shelter staff said she’s good with other dogs.

She’s in kennel No. 12, ID No. 11644.

‘Dino’

“Dino” is a male pit bull with a short blue coat.

He’s in kennel No. 14, ID No. 11647.

‘Truely’

“Truely” is a female pit bull with a short white and tan coat.

She’s in kennel No. 15, ID No. 11645.

Male boxer-pit bull

This male boxer-pit bull terrier has a short black and white coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 17, ID No. 11614.

‘Tank’

“Tank” is a male pit bull terrier with a short brown brindle coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 21, ID No. 7002.

Male bullmastiff

This male bullmastiff has a short brindle coat.

He already has been neutered.

Shelter staff said he is great with other dogs but needs leash manners.

He’s in kennel No. 25, ID No. 11656.

‘Graham’

“Graham” is a male yellow Labrador Retriever.

Shelter staff said he is great with other dogs.

He’s in kennel No. 26, ID No. 11653.

‘Bella’

“Bella” is a young female beagle-terrier mix with a medium-length black and brown coat.

She already has been spayed.

Shelter staff said she is good with other dogs, but needs training and socialization with new people. She’s not recommended for a home with young children.

Bella is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 11648.

‘Smokey’

“Smokey” is a male pit bull terrier with a short fawn and white coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 28a, ID No. 11646.

‘Kaiah’

“Kaiah” is a female husky with a medium-length black and white coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 30, ID No. 11622.

Male shepherd

This young male shepherd has a short tan coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 32, ID No. 11655.

Male German Shepherd

This male German Shepherd has a medium-length tricolor coat.

He’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 11564.

Male German Shepherd

This male German Shepherd as a medium-length black and tan coat.

He has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 34, ID No. 11605.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm.

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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.

LUCERNE, Calif. – The Lucerne Town Hall Council held its first meeting of the year on Wednesday, Jan. 9.

Community members gathered at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center for the evening meeting.

The full video of the meeting can be seen above.

One of the last acts of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft before its death plunge into Saturn’s hydrogen and helium atmosphere was to coast between the planet and its rings and let them tug it around, essentially acting as a gravity probe.

Precise measurements of Cassini’s final trajectory have now allowed scientists to make the first accurate estimate of the amount of material in the planet’s rings, weighing them based on the strength of their gravitational pull.

That estimate – about 40 percent of the mass of Saturn’s moon Mimas, which itself is 2,000 times smaller than Earth’s moon – tells them that the rings are relatively recent, having originated less than 100 million years ago and perhaps as recently as 10 million years ago.

Their young age puts to rest a long-running argument among planetary scientists. Some thought that the rings formed along with the planet 4.5 billion years ago from icy debris remaining in orbit after the formation of the solar system.

Others thought the rings were very young and that Saturn had, at some point, captured an object from the Kuiper belt or a comet and gradually reduced it to orbiting rubble.

The new mass estimate is based on a measurement of how much the flight path of Cassini was deflected by the gravity of the rings when the spacecraft flew between the planet and the rings on its final set of orbits in September 2017.

Initially, however, the deflection did not match predictions based on models of the planet and rings. Only when the team accounted for strong flowing winds very deep in Saturn's atmosphere – something impossible to observe from space – did the measurements make sense, allowing them to calculate the mass of the rings.

“The first time I looked at the data I didn't believe it, because I trusted our models and it took a while to sink in that there was some effect that changed the gravity field that we had not considered,” said Burkhard Militzer, a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, who models planetary interiors. “That turned out to be massive flows in the atmosphere at least 9,000 kilometers deep around the equatorial region. We thought preliminarily that these clouds were like clouds on Earth, which are confined to a thin layer and contain almost no mass. But on Saturn they are really massive.”

They also calculated that the surface clouds at Saturn’s equator rotate 4 percent faster than the layer 9,000 kilometers (about 6,000 miles) deep. That deeper layer takes 9 minutes longer to rotate than do the cloud tops at the equator, which go around the planet once every 10 hours, 33 minutes.

"The discovery of deeply rotating layers is a surprising revelation about the internal structure of the planet," said Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "The question is what causes the more rapidly rotating part of the atmosphere to go so deep and what does that tell us about Saturn’s interior."

Militzer also was able to calculate that the rocky core of the planet must be between 15 and 18 times the mass of Earth, which is similar to earlier estimates.

The team, led by Luciano Iess at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, reported their results today in the journal Science.

Did rings come from icy comet?

Earlier estimates of the mass of Saturn’s rings – between one-half and one-third the mass of Mimas – came from studying the density waves that travel around the rocky, icy rings.

These waves are caused by the planet’s 62 satellites, including Mimas, which creates the so-called Cassini division between the two largest rings, A and B.

Mimas is smooth and round, 246 kilometers in diameter. It has a big impact crater that makes it resemble the Death Star from the Star Wars movies.

“People didn't trust the wave measurements because there might be particles in the rings that are massive but are not participating in the waves,” Militzer said. “We always suspected there was some hidden mass that we could not see in the waves.”

Luckily, as Cassini approached the end of its life, NASA programmed it to perform 22 dives between the planet and the rings to probe Saturn's gravity field. Earth-based radio telescopes measured the spacecraft’s velocity to within a fraction of a millimeter per second.

The new ring mass value is in the range of earlier estimates and allows the researchers to determine their age.

These age calculations, led by Philip Nicholson of Cornell University and Iess, built on a connection that scientists had previously made between the mass of the rings and their age. Lower mass points to a younger age, because the rings are initially made of ice and are bright but over time become contaminated and darkened by interplanetary debris.

“These measurements were only possible because Cassini flew so close to the surface in its final hours,” Militzer said. “It was a classic, spectacular way to end the mission.”

Other co-authors are Sean Wahl of UC Berkeley, Y. Kaspi and E. Galanti of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, D. Durante, P. Racioppa and M.J. Mariani of Sapienza University, A. Anabtawi of JPL, W. Hubbard of the University of Arizona, Tucson, and P. Tortora and M. Zannoni of the University of Bologna in Italy.

Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.

BERKELEY, Calif. – In 2014, plant biologists with the California Department of Agriculture reported an alarming discovery: native wildflowers and herbs, grown in nurseries and then planted in ecological restoration sites around California, were infected with Phytophthora tentaculata, a deadly exotic plant pathogen that causes root and stem rot.

While ecologists have long been wary of exotic plant pathogens borne on imported ornamental plants, this was the first time in California that these microorganisms had been found in native plants used in restoration efforts.

Their presence in restoration sites raised the frightening possibility that ecological restoration, rather than returning disturbed sites to their natural beauty, may actually be introducing deadly plant pathogens, such as those related to Sudden Oak Death, into the wild.

New work by a UC Berkeley team in the College of Natural Resources shows for the first time just how widespread and deadly the threat of pathogens from restoration nurseries may be.

The team surveyed five native plant nurseries in Northern California and found that four harbored exotic, or non-native, Phytophthora pathogens.

Strains of the pathogens from native plant nurseries were shown to be at times more aggressive than strains found in the wild, and some of them are rapidly developing resistance to the fungicides that can be used to control them, the researchers found.

Working with restoration nurseries around the state, the researchers showed that new management techniques, coupled with new methods for detecting pathogens, can help these nurseries limit the spread of exotic pathogens.

“Some of these restoration projects cost tens of millions of dollars, but of course their actual value is much higher, because of the wealth of services healthy natural ecosystems provide, including supporting animal and plant biodiversity, providing good water and air quality, and enjoyable recreation sites,” said Matteo Garbelotto, cooperative extension specialist and adjunct professor of environmental science, policy and management at UC Berkeley.

“Such services are highly diminished in ecosystems affected by exotic plant diseases, while water runoff and erosion, the establishment of exotic plants and animals, and even hotter wildfires may increase in conjunction with disease outbreaks in natural ecosystems,” Garbelotto said.

Pathogens evolve to outwit fungicides

Bacteria that make humans sick are constantly evolving to resist the antibiotics designed to fight them, and resistance to fungicides has been documented in microbes causing diseases in agricultural plants.

Garbelotto and his team wanted to know if the widespread use of fungicides in in native and ornamental plant nurseries could also accelerate the development of fungicide-resistance in plant pathogens.

Their research was spurred in part by their discovery of a new strain of the Sudden Oak Death pathogen in Oregon forests that is highly tolerant of a fungicide commonly known as phosphite, one of the main weapons used against plant parasites in the wild because its application does not cause any known negative environmental side effects.

Together with a group of New Zealand researchers, they decided to study fungicide resistance of Phytophthora – a genus of plant pathogens that can case lethal cankers and root rot – to two important fungicides, including phosphite.

The researchers gathered numerous samples of Phytophthora from 11 species present both in forests and plant nurseries. They then tested the sensitivity to phosphite of multiple individuals per species.

While most of the species tested were overall still sensitive to phosphite, strains of four species were able to resist the effects of the chemical, the researchers report in PLOS ONE. These include Phytophthora ramorum, the parasite behind Sudden Oak Death in North America and Sudden Larch Death in Europe, and Phytophthora crassamura, a species first discovered recently by the same UC Berkeley researchers in native plant nurseries and restoration sites in California.

Some strains within each of these four species, although genetically almost identical to strains still susceptible to phosphite, were resistant to it. The presence of chemical tolerance or chemical sensitivity when comparing nearly genetically identical strains suggests that the development of resistance occurred relatively recently, perhaps in response to the widespread use of phosphites in native and ornamental nurseries, Garbelotto said.

“These pathogens can be literally flooded with these chemicals in plant production facilities, and at the beginning of the study, we hypothesized that in such predicaments these pathogens would be forced to evolve resistance” Garbelotto said. “Indeed, our hypothesis was correct, and we found that some of them evolved the ability to tolerate exposure to phosphite.”

While phosphite can still help to spur a plant’s immune system, this may not be enough to quell the spread of the disease, Garbelotto said.

“By pressuring these pathogens to evolve resistance to phosphites, we are effectively taking out phosphite as a potential tool to manage these disease outbreaks,” Garbelotto said. “Furthermore, the ability to quickly develop tolerance to a fungicide may be an indication these pathogens can adapt quickly to new environments. Thus, they may become formidable invasive organisms, infesting larger swaths of natural areas and causing significant disease and mortality of essential native flora.”

A widespread – but reparable – problem

Since the first discovery of Phytophthora in California restoration sites, research by the UC Berkeley team and others have traced the deaths of wild trees and plants back to strains of the pathogen originating in native plant nurseries, rather than strains already found in the wild.

However, few studies have documented just how prevalent the problem is.

In a recent study published in the journal Plant Pathology, UC Berkeley researchers examined 203 individual plants across five restoration nurseries in California and found that 55 of the plants were infected with Phytophthora.

“We were able to prove that this is a widespread problem in California,” Garbelotto said. “Most of the stock that they used is infested, and the levels were very high. For some species more than 50 percent of the plants we tested were infected.”

The team then worked with the infected nurseries to implement new best management practices to try to limit the spread of disease without the use of phosphite or of other fungicides. These simple guidelines, which included more careful management of water runoff and soil to reduce cross contamination, reduced the prevalence of disease to nearly zero a year after implementation.

“We were able to prove that after a year of following the guidelines, those facilities were clear of pathogens, and other facilities that did not follow the guidelines still had the pathogens,” Garbelotto said. “As a result of these findings, people are now putting a lot of money and effort into making sure that the plants are clean, by following similar guidelines and by making sure that no fungicides are used to avoid the development of resistance.”

Co-authors on the PLOS ONE study are Shannon Hunter of the University of Waikato in New Zealand and Nari Williams, Rebecca McDougal and Peter Scott of Forest Protection in New Zealand. Co-authors on the Plant Pathology study are L. Sims of UC Berkeley and S. Tjosvold and D. Chambers of the University of California Cooperative Extension.

This research was supported by the Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases Strategic Initiative of the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources; and by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service (Region 5).

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department is urging citizens to be aware that scammers are targeting the 707 area code with fraudulent Social Security calls.

As part of the con, scammers try to convince you to give up personal information, like Social Security numbers and bank account numbers, over the phone.

Alternately, a caller claims to be from “SSA headquarters” and asks you to confirm personal information, such as an SSN, "new" Medicare number, address and date of birth.

Many of these calls are “robocalls” or automated calls. In one robocall version of the scam, an automated recording declares that your Social Security number “has been suspended for suspicion of illegal activity,” and advises to contact a specific phone number immediately.

The robocall or caller may also warn that if you don’t call back, your assets or benefits will be frozen until your alleged issue is resolved.

“We want to warn the public to be cautious and to avoid providing information such as your Social Security number or bank account numbers to unknown persons over the phone or internet unless you are certain of who is receiving it,” said Clearlake City Manager Greg Folsom. “I and several other city staff members recently received calls from these scammers and they can sound fairly legitimate as they threaten to cut off your benefits.”

Clearlake Police Chief Andrew White added, “Be aware of suspicious calls from unknown sources, and when in doubt, contact the official entity to verify the legitimacy of the call.”

The Social Security Administration advises that if you receive a suspicious call from someone alleging to be from that agency, report that information to the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General at 800-269-0271.

Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-05) announced that two amendments he offered to H.R. 268, the Disaster Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2019, passed the House on Wednesday afternoon.

The first amendment would increase funding by $50 million for the Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Fund, or CDF, program to assist with unmet recovery needs from the 2017 fires.

The second amendment would allow emergency funding in the underlying bill to be used to assist grapegrowers whose crops were damaged by smoke from the 2018 wildfires.

“People who have survived devastating disasters, like the fires our district has endured over the last several years, deserve to know their government is fighting to help them recover. That’s why I was proud that my amendments to provide critical disaster relief passed the House today,” said Thompson. “These amendments will provide for increased funding to meet outstanding needs after the 2017 fires in our community and assist our agriculture community. My fight continues to secure every federal dollar and resource to help our community rebuild.”

The underlying disaster bill to which Thompson’s amendments were offered now heads to the Senate for consideration.

You can click here to read Thompson’s amendment regarding increased CDF funding and you can click here to read Thompson’s amendment regarding damaged crops.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Caltrans urges motorists to be prepared and use caution when driving this winter.

Taking action and being proactive can help reduce the risk of injury and even death on the highways during the upcoming storm.

Operators of vehicles must use their best judgment in all types of weather.

Before traveling, Caltrans recommends checking weather and road conditions. Caltrans QuickMap is an online resource with real-time traffic flow information, chain control alerts, and closure information. It is available at http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/ or as a Google and Apple app. Motorists can also call 511 or the Caltrans Highway Information Network at 1-800-427-7623 for travel information.

Live traffic cameras can also be useful to check conditions before traveling and are available at http://www.dot.ca.gov/video/ .

Winter driving tips:

– Reduce your speed to match driving conditions and allow more time to reach your destination. – Know that bridges and ramps may be more slippery than the roadway.
– Keep your fuel tank full. Bad weather may cause long delays or closures.
– Turn on your headlights to see and be seen. Be observant and maintain a safe distance behind snow removal equipment. Do not pass snow plows unless directed to do so.
– When driving in fog, reduce your speed and use headlights on low-beam along with fog lights. – Stay to the right along the white edge line and never stop in the road. If visibility is not adequate, pull off of the roadway when safe to do so.
– Do not drive through flooded areas. Safely turn around and find another route.
– If you start sliding on snow or ice, slowly take your foot off the gas pedal and steer in the direction you wish to travel. Do not lock your brakes. Pump the brakes if needed, or apply steady pressure if your vehicle is equipped with anti-lock brakes.
– Don’t use cruise control.
– Avoid in-car distractions while driving.
– If you are stalled, activate your hazard signals and stay with your vehicle. Conserve fuel by periodically turning your engine on and off while maintaining warmth, but be aware of possible exhaust and carbon monoxide issues.
– If you approach an emergency, maintenance, or any other vehicle stopped on the side of the road, move over when safe to do so or slow down.

Be prepared. The following actions can help prevent vehicle failures and help if you become stranded:

– Winterize your vehicle. Make sure your brakes, windshield wipers, heater/defroster, and exhaust system are in good working order. Make sure fluids are topped-off, especially windshield washer fluid.
– Make sure your tires are properly inflated and always carry tire chains.
– Pack an emergency kit in your vehicle with the following items: flashlight, blankets, extra clothing, water, snacks, towel, gloves, ice scraper, shovel, broom, sand, and carry a spare key on your person in case you lock yourself out of your vehicle.

All vehicles, including those with four-wheel drive or snow tires, should carry chains when traveling in snowy weather. Highway signs and QuickMap will indicate when chains are required, and drivers must stop and install chains. Motorists should pull off the roadway completely to install chains. If you need help, chain installers may be available to assist for a fee.

Please note, chain installers are not Caltrans employees. They are independent business people who are licensed to install chains. Once chains are installed, obey the speed limit of 25 or 30 miles per hour, posted at various locations.

Chain control information:

R-1: Chains, traction devices or snow tires with proper tread depth of 6/32” are required on the drive axle of all vehicles except four-wheel/all-wheel drive vehicles.

R-2: Chains or traction devices are required on all vehicles except four-wheel/all-wheel drive vehicles with snow-tread tires on all four wheels. (NOTE: Four-wheel/all-wheel drive vehicles must carry traction devices in chain control areas.)

R-3: Chains or traction devices are required on all vehicles, no exceptions. (NOTE: R-1 and R-2 are the most common chain controls. The highway will usually be closed before an R-3 control is imposed).

For more information on winter driving, chain controls, and additional resources, visit http://www.dot.ca.gov/cttravel/winter.html.

Caltrans’ “Weathering the Storm” winter driving tips brochure is available at http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/winter_driving2015.pdf.

The moon is a fundamental part of Earth’s past and future – an off-world location that may hold valuable resources to support space activity and scientific treasures that may tell us more about our own planet.

Americans first walked on its surface almost 50 years ago, but the next wave of lunar exploration will be fundamentally different.

Through an innovative combination of missions involving commercial and international partners, NASA’s robotic lunar surface missions will begin as early as 2020, focus on scientific understanding of lunar resources, and prepare the lunar surface for a sustained human presence, to include the use of lunar oxygen and hydrogen for future lunar vehicles.

The lunar surface will also serve as a crucial training ground and technology demonstration test site where we will prepare for future human missions to Mars and other destinations.

Since the beginning of its mission, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has imaged objects impacting the surface of the moon.

Such observations are of interest scientifically since they allow NASA to test and constrain models used to understand how water and other volatiles may be transported to the permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles.

In the coming months, the first Israeli spacecraft will land on the Moon, and partnership with NASA has helped make this possible.

NASA will not only help with observations from LRO and communications support during the mission, but has also developed a laser retroreflector that will fly onboard the Israeli lander.

This past month, NASA held discussions with the China National Space Administration, or CNSA, to explore the possibility of observing a signature of the landing plume of their lunar lander, Chang’e 4, using LRO’s LAMP instrument.

For a number of reasons, NASA was not able to phase LRO’s orbit to be at the optimal location during the landing, however NASA was still interested in possibly detecting the plume well after the landing. Science gathered about how lunar dust is ejected upwards during a spacecraft’s landing could inform future missions and how they arrive on the lunar surface.

Since the Chinese landing, LRO instruments have been collecting data that are currently being analyzed.

LRO is expected to image the Chang’e 4 landing site on Jan. 31 in a manner similar to what was done on Chang’e 3.

NASA and CNSA have agreed that any significant findings resulting from this coordination activity will be shared with the global research community at the 56th session of the Scientific and Technology Subcommittee meeting of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space meeting in Vienna, Austria, Feb. 11 to 22.

All NASA data associated with this activity are publicly available. In accordance with Administration and Congressional guidance, NASA’s cooperation with China is transparent, reciprocal and mutually beneficial.

On the commercial side, NASA announced in November that nine U.S. companies are now eligible to bid on NASA delivery services to the lunar surface. These companies will develop and build robotic landers that will carry NASA and other customer’s payloads to the lunar surface.

As NASA works toward its plan to sustainably return to the Moon, it will be critical to collaborate with both commercial and international partners along the way. This approach will enable human expansion across the solar system and bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities.

To learn more, visit www.nasa.gov/moon-to-mars .