Data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which explored Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule earlier this week, is yielding scientific discoveries daily.

Among the findings made by the mission science team in the past day are:

– Initial data analysis has found no evidence of rings or satellites larger than one mile in diameter orbiting Ultima Thule.
– Data analysis has also not yet found any evidence of an atmosphere.
– The color of Ultima Thule matches the color of similar worlds in the Kuiper Belt, as determined by telescopic measurements.
– The two lobes of Ultima Thule – the first Kuiper Belt contact binary visited – are nearly identical in color. This matches what we know about binary systems which haven't come into contact with each other, but rather orbit around a shared point of gravity.

"The first exploration of a small Kuiper Belt object and the most distant exploration of any world in history is now history, but almost all of the data analysis lies in the future," said Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

Data transmission from New Horizons will pause for about a week while the spacecraft passes behind the sun as seen from here on Earth.

Data transmission resumes Jan. 10, starting a 20-month download of the spacecraft's remaining scientific treasures.

"Those of us on the science team can't wait to begin to start digging into that treasure trove," said Stern.

New Horizons completed the farthest flyby in history when it came within about 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) of Ultima Thule at 12:33 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, zooming past the object at more than 32,000 miles (51,000 kilometers) per hour.

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Follow the New Horizons mission on Twitter and use the hashtags #UltimaThule, #UltimaFlyby and #askNewHorizons to join the conversation. Live updates and links to mission information are also available on http://pluto.jhuapl.edu and www.nasa.gov.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department is offering a brand new service to the community.

Starting Monday, Jan. 7, the Lakeport Police Department will have a safe medication disposal collection site available at the police station at 2025 S. Main St.

The safe medication disposal safe was donated to the agency by the Rite Aid Foundation KidCents Project, which is committed to supporting the safety and well-being of children in communities.

Over the past couple of years, members of the community have asked the police department for assistance in disposing of unwanted or expired prescription or over-the-counter medications. Police officials said this donation assisted them in being able to collect the medication for proper disposal.

Examples of what Lakeport Police will accept include all over-the-counter or prescription medication in pill, tablet or capsule form, including schedule II-V controlled and non-controlled substances.

Examples of items they will not accept with this program are illegal drugs, needles, liquids, inhalers or aerosol cans.

The police department said the purpose of this program is to keep the community safe by removing unwanted or expired medications from homes or other locations and away from children.

There is no cost for community members to dispose of the described medications at the police station and they will not collect information on people disposing of them.

Medications will be accepted each business day, Monday through Thursday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Persons bringing in medications will be required to check in with a department staff member so that they can verify that only acceptable items are being placed in the container.

Additionally, all medications shall be in their original container, other suitable plastic pill container or sealed plastic freezer bag.

If the prescription medications are in the original container, it’s recommended that personal information be removed from the label.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A Lucerne man arrested in November after he was found in possession of a stolen county vehicle and a dead fox has been arrested again, this time for burglaries in Upper Lake.

William Kenneth Pimentel, 27, was taken into custody on Thursday, according to Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

At 7:30 a.m. Thursday Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responded to an address in the 2900 block of West Highway 20 in Upper Lake, Paulich said.

Paulich said residents at that location were reporting the keys to their ATVs were missing. They also reported that one of their ATVs was filled with art work and tools that did not belong to them.

The residents told the deputies that it appeared someone may be in a vacant house nearby, Paulich said.

The deputies checked the vacant house and located the sole occupant, identified as Pimentel, sleeping inside. Paulich said they also found the missing ATV keys near where Pimentel was sleeping.

Pimentel told the deputies he was on probation, but denied stealing anything, Paulich said.

While examining the property that was in the ATV, deputies developed information linking it to an address in the 4100 block of West Highway 20. Paulich said the deputies were able to make contact with residents at this address and determined there had been an unreported burglary to a barn on the property that occurred during the night.

Paulich said the victim of the burglary was able to identify the property found on the ATV as his and estimated the property was worth over $3,000.

The stolen property was returned to the owner and Pimentel was arrested and transported to the Lake County Jail where he was booked on charges of burglary and possession of stolen property, Paulich said.

Pimentel remains in custody with bail set at $50,000, according to jail records.

Pimentel had previously been booked at the Lake County Jail in November related to the theft of a county of Lake pickup, as Lake County News has reported.

The California Highway Patrol officer who arrested Pimentel found fresh white spray paint over the county’s emblems on the doors, as well as recently stolen bank cards within the vehicle which had been used to withdraw a large sum of money the same morning, along with a dead fox in the pickup truck’s bed.

Paulich said Pimentel had been released pending sentencing on that November case.

Pimentel is tentatively scheduled to appear in Lake County Superior Court on Monday, based on his booking records.

 

The California Department of Water Resources on Friday announced final basin prioritization for the majority of groundwater basins in the state as required under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA.

Friday’s announcement finalizes the prioritization for 458 basins, identifying 56 basins that are required to create groundwater sustainability plans under SGMA.

For most basins, the results are a confirmation of prioritizations established in 2015.

Fifty-nine basins remain under review with final prioritization expected in late spring.

“Prioritizing groundwater basins is a critical step along the path of ensuring sustainable groundwater supplies for future generations of Californians,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “Groundwater management is a big, complicated endeavor for California, which is why DWR is investing heavily to provide local planning entities with technical assistance to be successful.”

SGMA requires local agencies throughout the state to sustainably manage groundwater basins. Basins identified as high- or medium-priority are required to adopt groundwater sustainability plans beginning in 2020.

DWR is required to reassess groundwater basin prioritizations any time it updates basin boundaries.

This prioritization for 458 basins incorporates the basin boundary modifications finalized in 2016. Prioritization is based on factors such as population, irrigated acreage, and the number of wells in the basin. Changes in prioritization generally reflect changed conditions or new information about existing conditions.

In Lake County, the state’s SGMA dashboard lists several basins, all of them very low priority except for one, the Big Valley basin, which is as medium priority.

The Lake County basins are as follows:

– Big Valley: Population, 6,344; total wells, 872; irrigated acres, 7,906.
– Burns Valley: Population, 2,691; total wells, 115; irrigated acres, 378.
– Clear Lake Cache Formation: Population, 7,960; total wells, 134; irrigated acres, 158.
– Coyote Valley: Population, 2,252; total wells, 116; irrigated acres, 1,345.
– Gravelly Valley: Population, 11; total wells, 12; irrigated acres, 0.
– High Valley: Population, 34; total wells, 26; irrigated acres, 153.
– Long Valley: Population, 194; total wells, 19; irrigated acres, 518.
– Lower Lake Valley: Population, 2,694; total wells, 57; irrigated acres, 117.
– Middle Creek: Population, 10; total wells, 11; irrigated acres, 19.
– Scotts Valley: Population, 6,548; total wells, 518; irrigated acres, 1,208.
– Upper Lake Valley: Population 2,055; total wells, 282; irrigated acres, 2,017.

None of Lake County’s groundwater basins were modified in the latest announcement, according to the state basin dashboard.

Friday’s prioritization reflects updates based on new requirements under SGMA, including adverse impacts to habitat and streamflow, adjudicated areas, critically overdrafted basins and groundwater related transfers.

Twenty-one basins were changed to “very low” because they are covered by adjudicated areas with existing governance and oversight in place. Adjudicated areas are not required to prepare groundwater sustainability plans and are instead required to submit annual reports to DWR on their groundwater management and monitoring.

Draft prioritizations were announced in May 2018. These finalizations come after a 94-day public comment period and four public meetings that resulted in 500 individual comments and related datasets leading to some revisions in basin prioritization.

At 2:43 p.m. EST on Dec. 31, while many on Earth prepared to welcome the New Year, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, 70 million miles (110 million kilometers) away, carried out a single, eight-second burn of its thrusters – and broke a space exploration record.

The spacecraft entered into orbit around the asteroid Bennu, and made Bennu the smallest object ever to be orbited by a spacecraft.

“The team continued our long string of successes by executing the orbit-insertion maneuver perfectly,” said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson. “With the navigation campaign coming to an end, we are looking forward to the scientific mapping and sample site selection phase of the mission.”

Lauretta, along with his team, spent the last day of 2018 with his feet planted on Earth, but his mind focused on space. “Entering orbit around Bennu is an amazing accomplishment that our team has been planning for years,” Lauretta said.

Inching around the asteroid at a snail’s pace, OSIRIS-REx’s first orbit marks a leap for humankind. Never before has a spacecraft from Earth circled so close to such a small space object – one with barely enough gravity to keep a vehicle in a stable orbit.

Now, the spacecraft will circle Bennu about a mile (1.75 kilometers) from its center, closer than any other spacecraft has come to its celestial object of study. (Previously the closest orbit of a planetary body was in May 2016, when the Rosetta spacecraft orbited about four miles (seven kilometers) from the center of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko).

The comfortable distance is necessary to keep the spacecraft locked to Bennu, which has a gravity force only 5-millionths as strong as Earth’s. The spacecraft is scheduled to orbit Bennu through mid-February at a leisurely 62 hours per orbit.

Now that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is closer to Bennu, physical details about the asteroid will leap into sharper focus, and the spacecraft’s tour of this rubble pile of primordial debris will become increasingly detailed and focused.

“Our orbit design is highly dependent on Bennu’s physical properties, such as its mass and gravity field, which we didn’t know before we arrived,” said OSIRIS-REx’s flight dynamics system manager Mike Moreau, who is based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“Up until now, we had to account for a wide variety of possible scenarios in our computer simulations to make sure we could safely navigate the spacecraft so close to Bennu. As the team learned more about the asteroid, we incorporated new information to hone in on the final orbit design,” he said.

The simulations have played a critical role. The OSIRIS-REx mission, after all, was designed based on complex computer programs that predicted — quite accurately, as it turns out — the properties of Bennu and how the spacecraft’s trajectory would behave.

This diligent preparation allowed the team to navigate the vehicle safely to Bennu in December and put some questions to rest (there are, indeed, signs of ancient water preserved in Bennu’s rocks) and to fly over its poles and equator in a preliminary survey that led to some surprises (Bennu has many large boulders).

Having completed the preliminary survey of Bennu with a flyby of its south pole on December 16, the spacecraft moved to a safe 31 miles (50 kilometers) away from the asteroid to give the navigation team a chance to regroup and prepare for orbit insertion.

Next, Lockheed Martin engineers programmed the spacecraft to begin moving back to a position about nine miles (15 kilometers) over Bennu’s north pole to prepare for three burns of its thrusters over the course of 10 days that would place the spacecraft into orbit.

Even though OSIRIS-REx is in the most stable orbit possible, Bennu’s gravitational pull is so tenuous that keeping the spacecraft safe will require occasional adjustments, said Dan Wibben, OSIRIS-REx maneuver and trajectory design lead at KinetX Aerospace in Simi Valley, California.

“The gravity of Bennu is so small, forces like solar radiation and thermal pressure from Bennu’s surface become much more relevant and can push the spacecraft around in its orbit much more than if it were orbiting around Earth or Mars, where gravity is by far the most dominant force,” he said.

The OSIRIS-REx navigation team will use “trim” maneuvers to slightly thrust the spacecraft in one direction or another to correct its orbit and counter these small forces. If the spacecraft drifts away from Bennu, or some other problem forces it into safe mode, it has been programmed to fly away from the asteroid to stay safe from impact.

“It’s simple logic: always burn toward the Sun if something goes wrong,” said Coralie Adam, OSIRIS-REx lead optical navigation engineer at KinetX. Engineers can navigate the spacecraft back into orbit if it drifts away, Adam said, though that’s unlikely to happen.

The navigation and spacecraft operations teams are focused on the first orbital phase. Their primary goal is to transition away from star-based navigation, which allowed the team to locate the spacecraft based on pictures of the star formations around it taken by the cameras onboard.

Navigators use methods like this since there is no GPS in deep space and we can’t see the spacecraft from Earth-based telescopes. From this point forward, though, the OSIRIS-REx team will rely on landmarks on Bennu’s surface to track OSIRIS-REx, a more precise technique that will ultimately guide them to a sample-collection site clear of boulders and large rocks, said Adam.

“After conducting a global imaging and mapping campaign during our recent preliminary survey phase, the science team has created 3-D models of Bennu’s terrain that we’re going to begin using for navigation around the asteroid,” she said.

Another critical objective of this orbital phase, Adam said, is to get a better handle on Bennu’s mass and gravity, features that will influence the planning of the rest of the mission, notably the short touchdown on the surface for sample collection in 2020.

In the case of Bennu, scientists can only measure these features by getting OSIRIS-REx very close to the surface to see how its trajectory bends from Bennu’s gravitational pull.

“The Orbital A phase will help improve our detailed models for Bennu’s gravity field, thermal properties, orientation, and spin rate,” said Wibben. “This, in turn, will allow us to refine our trajectory designs for the even more challenging flight activities we will perform in 2019.”

The Dec. 31 maneuver to place the spacecraft into orbit about Bennu is the first of many exciting navigation activities planned for the mission. The OSIRIS-REx team will resume science operations in late February.

At that point, the spacecraft will perform a series of close flybys of Bennu for several months to take high-resolution images of every square inch of the asteroid to help select a sampling site.

During the summer of 2020, the spacecraft will briefly touch the surface of Bennu to retrieve a sample. The OSIRIS-REx mission is scheduled to deliver the sample to Earth in September 2023.

Goddard provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx.

Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator, and the University of Arizona also leads the science team and the mission’s science observation planning and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the spacecraft and is providing flight operations.

Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Lonnie Shekhtman is a science writer for NASA.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for Lake County and other parts of Northern California this weekend due to an impending storm.

The winter storm watch is in effect from 4 a.m. Saturday to noon on Sunday.

The forecast said a strong storm is expected to bring hazardous winter driving conditions to portions of the coast range and the Northern Sierra Nevada and mountains of western Plumas County starting Saturday morning.

The agency said a winter storm watch means there is potential for significant snow and blowing snow that may impact travel.

The National Weather Service’s Sacramento office said the impending storm is expected to be one of this winter’s coldest.

For most of Lake County, the weekend forecast calls primarily for rain, beginning on Friday night and then continuing until Thursday.

However, northern Lake County could see snow from Friday night through Sunday morning, based on the forecast.

Snow accumulations of 4 to 8 inches down to 3500 feet are expected, with localized amounts up to 24 inches higher elevations possible, the National Weather Service said.

Through the coming week, daytime temperatures are expected to peak in the low 50s, with nighttime temperatures down to the low 40s, according to the specific Lake County 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.

Lake County’s two members of Congress were sworn in on Thursday as part of the 116th Congress.

Congressman John Garamendi (California Third District), who represents the northern half of Lake County, and Congressman Mike Thompson (California Fifth District), who represents the southern portion of Lake County, took their oaths and looked forward to the work ahead.

“I am thankful to my constituents in Solano, Sacramento, Yolo, Sutter, Yuba, Colusa, Glenn and Lake counties for the privilege of representing them in the 116th Congress. Today, as I took my oath of office, I was reminded of the awesome responsibility I have to ‘create a more perfect union,’ to act in all ways consistent with the Constitution, to advance economic and social opportunities for all Americans, to protect our home, the Earth, from the destruction of climate change, and to secure the safety of our country from domestic and foreign threats,” Garamendi said upon leaving the House Chamber,” Garamendi said.

“As my Democratic colleagues and I assume our responsibilities as the majority party in the U.S. House of Representatives, we are determined to carry out the programs and policies on which we campaigned. Restore good paying middle class jobs with a robust infrastructure program, address climate change, guarantee quality and affordable health care to every American regardless of pre-existing conditions, enact tough anti-corruption laws, and make sure everyone has a good education to ensure they have the skills to succeed, all the while maintaining a strong military to address the many threats that confront our nation,” Garamendi said.

“Sadly, the first task facing our new Congress will be to negotiate an end to President Trump’s government shutdown. I want to secure our borders and curb illegal immigration. President Trump seems to just demand a ‘wall.’ Everyone knows that a wall alone will not solve illegal immigration and the multitude of issues in our out-of-date immigration laws. So today, the first day of the new 116th Congress, I joined my Democratic colleagues to fund all federal agencies through the remainder of this fiscal year (September 30) except the Department of Homeland Security, which we would fund until February 8 to create time for bipartisan negotiations on border security and immigration reform. Democrats are working to get your government back in operation and allow time for negotiations on the wall to continue,” he continued.

“Yes, I’m excited by the challenge and the work ahead, but I know that I can only succeed in meeting the challenge with the continued support and advice of my constituents,” he said.

Garamendi asked constituents to take the time to contact me through his Web site at http://garamendi.house.gov.

Thompson celebrated the historic majority’s priorities for the coming session.

“Across our district and our nation, the people sent a message at the ballot box in November – they wanted a new Congress that would actually work for them. Today, the new, historic Democratic majority delivered. I am honored to stand with the most diverse group of colleagues ever and honored that we are taking a stand to repair our democracy and bring integrity back to Congress,” he said.

“Make no mistake – this Congress will continue to make history. From working to prevent gun violence to strengthening protections for people with pre-existing conditions, we will take action the American people have been demanding.”

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – On Thursday, the California Department of Water Resources conducted the first Phillips Station snow survey of 2019.

The manual survey recorded 25.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 9 inches, which is 80 percent of average for this location.

Statewide, the Sierra snowpack is 67 percent of average. The results confirm that despite early winter storms, Sierra water content is below average for this time of year.

“The last few years have shown how variable California’s climate truly is and what a profound impact climate change has on our water resources,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “California’s significant weather variability means we can go from historic drought to record rainfall, with nothing in between. Climate change will continue to exacerbate the extremes, creating additional challenges for maintaining water supply reliability and the need for innovative solutions.”

Climate change has also shifted the balance of rain and snow, with rain falling at higher elevations than in the past.

DWR’s manual snow surveys, combined with our electronic snow sensors and emerging technology, enable successful runoff forecasts and water resource management.

“About two-thirds of California’s annual rainfall occurs December through March. Total precipitation so far this water year, which began Oct. 1, has been below average,” said DWR State Climatologist Michael Anderson. “We still have three wet season months ahead of us, so there’s time for the snowpack to build and improve before it begins to melt, which usually starts happening around April 1.”

On average, the snowpack supplies about 30 percent of California’s water needs as it melts in the spring and early summer.

The greater the snowpack water content, the greater the likelihood California’s reservoirs will receive ample runoff as the snowpack melts to meet the state’s water demand in the summer and fall.

DWR has conducted manual snow surveys at Phillips Station since 1964, recording both depth and snow water equivalent. Snow water equivalent is the depth of water that theoretically would result if the entire snowpack melted instantaneously. That measurement allows for a more accurate forecast of spring runoff.

DWR conducts five snow surveys each winter – near the first of January, February, March, April and May – at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada just off Highway 50 near Sierra-at-Tahoe.

The Phillips snow course is one of hundreds that will be surveyed manually throughout the winter.

Manual measurements augment the electronic readings from about 100 snow pillows in the Sierra Nevada that provide a current snapshot of the water content in the snowpack.

Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. swore in Justice Joshua Groban to the California Supreme Court on Thursday in Sacramento, at a ceremony joined by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and other judicial and state officials.

"I see the great work of the court, of taking the utter complexity and making it as clear, as simple and as just as humanly possible. It’s a high calling, and Josh, I think you’re eminently equipped," said Gov. Brown at Thursday’s ceremony.

Justice Groban’s nomination to the court was unanimously confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments on December 21, 2018.

As senior advisor to the governor, Groban, 45, of Los Angeles, oversaw the appointment of 644 judges throughout the state since 2011. These appointments have been lauded as the most diverse in the state’s history.

Groban also advised the governor in high-profile litigation and policy issues involving education, the judiciary, criminal justice, national security and constitutional interpretation.

He was legal counsel for the Jerry Brown for Governor Campaign in 2010 and an attorney at Munger, Tolles and Olson LLP from 2005 to 2010 and at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP from 1999 to 2005.

Groban served as a law clerk for the Honorable William C. Conner at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York from 1998 to 1999.

He has been a lecturer in state appellate practice at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law since 2015.

Groban earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, where he graduated cum laude and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University, where he graduated with honors and distinction.

Gov. Brown on Thursday also released the final applicant and appointee data for the administration's judicial appointments. Since taking office in 2011, Gov. Brown has appointed 644 judges, including 193 from 2018 to January 2, 2019.

Last year, women accounted for more than half of Gov. Brown’s judicial appointees and nearly 6 percent of all appointees identified themselves as LGBT. Forty-one percent of all appointees identified themselves as non-white or other/unknown.

Over the last eight years, 44 percent of all judicial appointees were women and nearly 6 percent identified themselves as LGBT. Nearly 40 percent of all the governor’s judicial appointees identified themselves as non-white or other/unknown.

The governor's judicial appointees have included a number of notable firsts:

- Jim Humes, the first openly gay justice ever appointed to the California Court of Appeal;

- Kathleen O'Leary, the first woman presiding justice ever appointed to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three;

- Rupa Goswami, the first South Asian American woman judge ever appointed in California;

- Paul Lo, the first Hmong American judge ever appointed in the country;

- Halim Dhanidina, the first Muslim justice and the first South Asian American justice in the history of the California Courts of Appeal. Justice Dhanidina was also the first Muslim judge ever appointed in California;

- Joginder Dhillon, the first Sikh judge ever appointed to the Sacramento County Superior Court;

- Richard T. Fields, the first African-American man appointed to the Fourth District Court of Appeal;

- Gabriel P. Sanchez, the first male Latino justice ever appointed to the First District Court of Appeal;

- Monique S. Langhorne, the first African-American judge ever appointed to the Napa County Superior Court;

- Amarra A. Lee, the first African-American woman judge ever appointed to the San Mateo County Superior Court;

- Therese M. Stewart, the first openly lesbian justice ever appointed to the California Court of Appeal;

- Audra Ibarra, the first Filipino-American ever appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court and the first Filipino-American woman to serve as a superior court judge in the Bay Area;

- Carin T. Fujisaki, the first Asian-Pacific Islander woman justice ever appointed to the First District Court of Appeal;

- Alicia R. Ekland, the first woman judge ever appointed to the Glenn County Superior Court;

- Gregory A. Pulskamp, the first Muslim judge ever appointed to the Kern County Superior Court;

- Firdaus F. Dordi, the first Zoroastrian judge ever appointed in California;

- Michael W. Jones, the first Latino judge ever appointed to the Placer County Superior Court;

- Jesus A. Rodriguez, the first male Latino judge ever appointed to the Butte County Superior Court;

- Ruth Bermudez Montenegro, the first Latina judge ever appointed to the Imperial County Superior Court;

- Elia M. Ortiz, the first Latina judge ever appointed to the Napa County Superior Court;

- Yvette Durant, the first woman judge ever appointed to the Sierra County Superior Court;

- Nahal Iravani-Sani, the first Iranian-American judge ever appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court;

- Eumi K. Lee, the first Korean-American judge ever appointed to the Alameda County Superior Court;

- Roger C. Chan, the first Korean-American judge ever appointed to the San Francisco County Superior Court;

- Sonny S. Sandhu, the first Asian-Pacific Islander judge ever appointed to the Stanislaus County Superior Court;

- Dorothy C. Kim, the first Korean American justice in the history of the California Courts of Appeal;

- Vedica Puri, the first South Asian American judge ever appointed to the San Francisco County Superior Court;

- Shama H. Mesiwala, the first South Asian American judge ever appointed to the Sacramento County Superior Court;

- Somnath Raj Chatterjee, the first South Asian American judge ever appointed to the Alameda County Superior Court;

- Benjamin T. Reyes, the first Filipino-American judge ever appointed to the Contra Costa County Superior Court;

- Godofredo (O.G.) Magno, the first Filipino-American judge ever appointed to the Riverside County Superior Court;

- Winston S. Keh, the first Filipino-American judge ever appointed to the San Bernardino County Superior Court;

- Todd D. Irby, the first African-American judge ever appointed to the Placer County Superior Court;

- Gloria J. Cannon, the first African-American judge ever appointed to the Kern County Superior Court;

- Marco D. Nunez, the first openly gay judge ever appointed to the Imperial County Superior Court;

- Sonia Cortés, the first Latino judge ever appointed to the Yolo County Superior Court;

- Marsha G. Slough, the first openly gay justice in the history of the Fourth District Court of Appeal;

- Luis A. Lavin, the first openly gay justice ever appointed to the Second District Court of Appeal;

- Ferdinand P. Inumerable, the first Asian-Pacific Islander judge ever appointed to the Ventura County Superior Court;

- Von T. Nguyen Deroian, the first Asian-Pacific Islander judge ever appointed to the Santa Barbara County Superior Court;

- Lily L. Sinfield the first Asian-Pacific Islander woman judge ever appointed to the San Bernardino County Superior Court;

- Susanne S. Cho, the first Asian-Pacific Islander woman judge ever appointed to the Riverside County Superior Court;

- Truc T. Do, the first Vietnamese-American judge ever appointed to the San Diego County Superior Court;

- M. Bruce Smith, the first African-American justice ever appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal;

- Sunshine Sykes, the first American Indian judge ever appointed to the Riverside County Superior Court;

- Sunil Kulkarni, the first South Asian American judge ever appointed in Northern California;

- Miguel Marquez, the first Latino justice ever appointed to the Sixth District Court of Appeal;

- Rosendo Peña, the first Latino justice ever appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal;

- Chris Doehle, the first woman judge ever appointed to the Del Norte County Superior Court;

- Kimberly Colwell, the first openly lesbian judge ever appointed to the Alameda County Superior Court;

- Mark Andrew Talamantes, the first Latino judge ever appointed to the Marin County Superior Court; and

- Raquel Marquez, the first Latina judge ever appointed to the Riverside County Superior Court.

Under SB 56 and SB 182, the Governor is required to disclose aggregate statewide demographic data provided by all judicial applicants by March 1.

California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, or RIPA, has released its second annual report.

This year’s report builds on the foundation established by last year’s report for identifying and addressing racial and identity profiling in California.

The board is made up of 19 members coming from diverse backgrounds, including law enforcement, religious organizations, academia, community organizations and youth advocacy groups.

In this year’s report, the board aims to enhance the transparency of the stop data collection process by providing the public with detailed information on how this data is collected and submitted, and how enforcement agencies ensure the integrity of the data.

The report also provides recommendations that can be adopted by law enforcement agencies to enhance their policies, procedures, and trainings on topics that intersect with bias and racial and identity profiling. Additionally, the report includes an analysis of civilian complaints and use of force data collected in 2017.

"As the representative of the California State Sheriffs’ Association, we are committed as law enforcement leaders to work collectively with all members of our community regardless of race, religion, orientation and other demographics," said Kings County Sheriff Dave Robinson, Co-Chair of the RIPA Board and Designee of the President of the California State Sheriffs’ Association. "My participation on the RIPA Board has been uplifting and enlightening. As an association, we look forward to our continued strong relationships with our communities, while working towards strengthening them in those areas that are identified through this report and future reports."

“Our approach to implementing RIPA has been methodical and persistent,” said Executive Director of Alliance San Diego Andrea Guerrero. “The RIPA Advisory Board has engaged in tough conversations about problems and solutions, informed by the experiences of community members and law enforcement officers, and guided by experts and academics. We are determined to increase public safety for all Californians, and together we will, engaging in a process that generates actionable information that leads to meaningful results.”

“It is clear that the RIPA Board is committed to improving our communities,” said Attorney General Becerra. “The Board’s recommendations will help make our law enforcement agencies more transparent and promote critical steps to enhance, and in some cases, repair the public trust. I applaud the Board’s efforts to continue fostering trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. We look forward to continuing this important work to make all California communities safer.”

The following information is included in this year’s report:

– Detailed information on how the stop data is collected and submitted and how the California Department of Justice and law enforcement agencies ensure the integrity of this data.
– Best practice recommendations for agencies drafting policies, procedures, and trainings regarding civilian complaints and racial and identity profiling.
– Data on civilian complaints, including complaints alleging racial and identity profiling. The data provides a snapshot of 9,459 complaints reported by 453 agencies. The data is broken down by agency, type of complaint, and demographic details.
– Data reported to the California Department of Justice by law enforcement agencies on use of force incidents. The data provides a snapshot of 707 complaints broken down by agency, type of complaint, and demographic details.

California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 requires nearly all California law enforcement agencies to collect, maintain, and analyze demographic data on all detentions and searches.

The RIPA Board was formed in July 2016 as part of this Act, to shepherd this data collection and provide public reports.

The California Legislature charged the board with an ambitious purpose – to eliminate racial and identity profiling and improve diversity and racial and identity sensitivity in law enforcement.

By unifying a diverse group of individuals from across different sectors – law enforcement, civil and human rights organizations, community groups, and academia – in a shared cause, the RIPA Board aims to improve law enforcement-community relations in California through collaboration, transparency, and accountability.

For additional information on the RIPA Board and for the datasets related to the report, please visit https://oag.ca.gov/ab953.

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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – With the South Lake County Fire Protection District’s Measure L fire tax passing in the November election, officials are planning their next steps as they prepare to enact the new tax.

Measure L needed a supermajority vote of at least 66.7 percent to pass on the November ballot. It received a 67.9 percent “yes” vote to a 32 percent “no” vote.

It assesses up to $10 per benefit unit, ranging from 16 units for vacant land of under an acre to 20 units for a single family dwelling, and up to 250 units for commercial buildings of 10,000 square feet and above.

Jim Comisky, president of the South Lake County Fire Protection District Board of Directors and himself a retired firefighter, said Measure L will appear on tax bills in the next tax cycle, at the end of 2019.

“We won’t see the money for almost a year,” he said.

Comisky said Measure L is estimated to generate $1.795 million annually.

No formal argument was filed against Measure L, with opposition to the tax coming from community members who questioned the need for more money at a time when the south county is continuing to rebuild from wildland fires including the 2015 Valley fire, one of the most destructive in state history.

However, district officials maintained that they had no choice if they were to maintain services.

Comisky said the district has a $1.3 million shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year, which the tax is meant to address.

He said the issues that led to the funding shortfall are twofold.

First, the district lost 1,958 structures in the Valley fire. Of that number, only 400 have been rebuilt, which Comisky said has had a huge impact on property tax. He said rebuilding is continuing, but many people have walked away, either building or buying elsewhere.

However, he said the biggest hit they took was the significant increase of more than $1 million annually in the cost for a contract the district currently has with Cal Fire to staff stations. Before the increase that contract totaled about $2.4 million annually.

When the minimum wage went up, Cal Fire had to raise seasonal wildland firefighters’ pay, Comisky said. “It was a domino effect.”

It was the first significant raise Cal Fire firefighters had had in years. “The costs for our contract had to reflect that,” Comisky explained.

He said the district had only half of what it needed to pay for the contract. “We very much value this relationship with Cal Fire.”

State Sen. Mike McGuire had helped secure $2 million annually from the state to cover the Cal Fire contract through 2018, but once those funds ran out, the district needed to pursue the fire tax.

Comisky said he cares about paramedics and ambulances being able to respond to help community members when needed. He said he doesn't care if his home burns down. “I can’t rebuild my family.”

He said the district is working with the county and also has hired an attorney specifically to handle issues related to the measure and to produce a document to guide the district as it moves forward. They also plan to educate taxpayers about what comes next.

Besides the measure, Comisky said the district will continue to explore more ways to deliver services to the community.

He said he’s talked with different fire chiefs and is looking at regional cooperation.

“We’re going to continue to have those discussions,” he said.

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.

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On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court denied a police union’s last-minute petition to change a new police transparency law, rejecting the union’s effort to make the law – Senate Bill 1421 – apply only to records created after Jan. 1, 2019.

SB 1421, authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), requires that certain personnel records and records relating to specified incidents, complaints and investigations involving peace officers and custodial officers to be made available for public inspection pursuant to the California Public Records Act – a sweeping change in California law.

In a one-sentence order issued Wednesday, the California Supreme Court rejected a petition filed on Dec. 18 by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Employees’ Benefit Association.

The First Amendment Coalition, or FAC, led a coalition of media groups in opposing the union’s effort, filing papers on Dec. 28 urging the court to deny the effort to gut the law.

“This is a great result for transparency and for the public,” said FAC Executive Director David Snyder. “We’re grateful the Supreme Court saw through the union’s Hail Mary effort to weaken this law, which will allow broad public access to police misconduct files.”

The union had asked the high court to rule that the bill, signed into law in September, applies only to records created after Jan. 1 – the bill’s effective date. That came after the county of San Bernardino stated in a Dec. 13 letter that it intended to retroactively apply the legislation’s amendments to personnel records, according to a union announcement when it filed the petition.

The union said the release of such records before the bill’s effective date would cause irreparable harm to the statutory and constitutional rights of its members, as peace officers’ personnel records received legal protection prior to SB 1421.

The Peace Officers Research Association of California, or PORAC, raised issue with the bill previously, saying its mandates are broad, and that it creates confusion and uncertainty in the administrative disciplinary process.

PORAC said the information that will be released because of this bill is already available to defendants in an action against the department through the “Pitchess” System that has been in law for 50 years, and through discovery, and raised concern that, should information about law enforcement discipline be publicized, a wave of habeas corpus petitions from convicted criminals would follow.

Joining FAC in the effort to oppose the union’s petition were the Los Angeles Times, KQED and the California News Publishers Association.

See the briefing filed by FAC here. See here for the petition filed by the police union.

The union employed Rains Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver P.C. to file the legal challenge on behalf of its members. FAC and the media coalition are represented in this matter by James Chadwick and Tenaya Rodewald of the Sheppard Mullin law firm.