LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service has issued another red flag warning for Lake and its neighboring counties due to a forecast of high winds.

The red flag warning for Lake, Colusa, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties is in effect from 12 a.m. Saturday through 6 a.m. Sunday.

A red flag warning means a combination of factors – high winds and low humidity, plus very dry vegetation – are resulting in critical fire weather conditions.

The regional forecast calls for northeast winds from 15 to 30 miles per hour, with gusts of 40 to 50 miles per hour locally, and up to 50 to 60 miles per hour in the highest peaks.

The specific Lake County forecast indicates that the south county will see the highest wind speeds, ranging into the mid 20s.

In response to the red flag event, the Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit has once again bolstered its firefighting resources.

Cal Fire said it is staffing all fire crews and bulldozers 24 hours a day and has additional personnel ready to fill command and control functions in the event of a major fire.

Cal Fire Unit Chief Shana Jones wants to remind residents creating defensible space is essential to improve your home’s chance of surviving a wildfire. To learn about what you can do to be ready visit http://www.readyforwildfire.org/Defensible-Space/.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A harmful pesticide that’s on a federal restricted list has been located in Lake County, according to Lake County health officials.

On Sept. 21, during searches conducted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office of cannabis grow sites on private property, samples of an unknown substance were obtained that were confirmed on Wednesday as US EPA severely restricted pesticides, according to the Lake County Health Services Department.

There are two sites with confirmed presence of the pesticide at very high concentrations, and three sites with specimens sent to the laboratory with results currently pending.

The known sites are in the Lower Lake area – one is on Rocky Creek Road off of Morgan Valley; the other is on Spruce Grove Road south of Lower Lake. Warning signs to avoid the areas will be posted at the entrances to the affected properties.

The pesticide confirmed is Carbofuran, which is an organophospahate, a harmful pesticide to the public and the environment.

A bird on one site was confirmed dead due to organophosphate poisoning. These chemicals can cause reproductive harm, acute poisoning, and have possible long-term effects.

Seek medical treatment if you believe you have been in contact with these chemicals or are experiencing the following symptoms: blurred vision, pinpoint pupils, tearing, excessive respiratory secretions; salivation; sweating; abdominal cramps, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea; lightheadedness; chest tightness, epigastric pain, labored breathing; cyanosis; muscle twitching; incoordination; convulsions; unconsciousness; respiratory failure; skin irritation.

The Lake County Health Services Department We will continue to notify the public until the spill has been remediated.

If you have a shallow well in the area, consider filtering your water with a granular activated carbon filter and non-ionic polymeric resin filters. Individuals can Google NSF 42, 53, and 401 point-of-use or point –of-entry filters.

For more information, contact the Lake County Health Services Department at 707-263-1090. After hours, please dial 9 to be connected.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Daylight saving time ends this Sunday, and the American Red Cross urges everyone to test their smoke alarms when turning back their clocks.

As the fall season ushers in cold weather, it also increases the risk of deadly home fires. That’s because heating equipment is the second most common cause of fatalities from home fires – which, on average, take seven lives every day in the U.S., according to the National Fire Protection Association. But working smoke alarms can double a person’s odds of survival.

“The Red Cross wants everyone to stay safe this winter,” said Trevor Riggen, CEO, American Red Cross Northern California Coastal Region. “This weekend, please take time to ‘turn and test’ to protect you and your family against the season’s life-threatening risk of home fires.” Learn more in this video.

Every eight minutes, the Red Cross responds a disaster – most often, home fires. Last year, the Northern California Coastal Region volunteers have responded to nearly 800 home fires, assisting more than 4,500 families.

This weekend, the Red Cross asks everyone to take these simple steps:

– Check smoke alarm batteries. When turning the clocks back, take a few minutes to replace the smoke alarm batteries if needed and push the test button to make sure the alarms are working. It’s also a great time to check carbon monoxide detectors.

– Install smoke alarms. If you don’t have working smoke alarms, install them. At a minimum, put one on every level of the home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas. Check local building codes for additional requirements.

– Practice an escape plan. Make sure everyone in the household knows two ways to get out of every room and how to get out of the home in less than two minutes.

Home Fire Campaign saves lives

Through the national Home Fire Campaign, the American Red Cross works with community partners to reduce deaths and injuries from home fires, which take more lives each year than all other natural disasters combined in the U.S. In high-risk neighborhoods here in Northern California and across the country, Red Cross volunteers and partners go door-to-door year-round to install free smoke alarms and help residents create home fire escape plans.

Since the campaign began in 2014, the American Red Cross Northern California Coastal Region has reached more than 20,000 people in across Northern California by:

– Installing more than 20,000 smoke alarms;
– Replacing nearly 1,000 smoke alarm batteries;
– Helping families make more than 6,500 home fire escape plans;
– Reaching more than 14,000 children through youth preparedness programs.

People can visit www.redcross.org/homefires to learn more about how to protect themselves and their loved ones, or visit www.soundthealarm.org/norcalcoastal to find out about smoke alarm installation events in their community.

People can also help families in need by volunteering their time or making a donation today to Red Cross Disaster Relief by visiting www.redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Donations to Disaster Relief will be used to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small.

After nine years in deep space collecting data that indicate our sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets – more planets even than stars – NASA’s Kepler space telescope has run out of fuel needed for further science operations.

NASA has decided to retire the spacecraft within its current, safe orbit, away from Earth.

Kepler leaves a legacy of more than 2,600 planet discoveries from outside our solar system, many of which could be promising places for life.

"As NASA's first planet-hunting mission, Kepler has wildly exceeded all our expectations and paved the way for our exploration and search for life in the solar system and beyond," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "Not only did it show us how many planets could be out there, it sparked an entirely new and robust field of research that has taken the science community by storm. Its discoveries have shed a new light on our place in the universe, and illuminated the tantalizing mysteries and possibilities among the stars.”

Kepler has opened our eyes to the diversity of planets that exist in our galaxy. The most recent analysis of Kepler’s discoveries concludes that 20 to 50 percent of the stars visible in the night sky are likely to have small, possibly rocky, planets similar in size to Earth, and located within the habitable zone of their parent stars.

That means they’re located at distances from their parent stars where liquid water – a vital ingredient to life as we know it – might pool on the planet surface.

The most common size of planet Kepler found doesn’t exist in our solar system – a world between the size of Earth and Neptune – and we have much to learn about these planets.

Kepler also found nature often produces jam-packed planetary systems, in some cases with so many planets orbiting close to their parent stars that our own inner solar system looks sparse by comparison.

"When we started conceiving this mission 35 years ago we didn't know of a single planet outside our solar system," said the Kepler mission's founding principal investigator, William Borucki, now retired from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. "Now that we know planets are everywhere, Kepler has set us on a new course that's full of promise for future generations to explore our galaxy."

Launched on March 6, 2009, the Kepler space telescope combined cutting-edge techniques in measuring stellar brightness with the largest digital camera outfitted for outer space observations at that time.

Originally positioned to stare continuously at 150,000 stars in one star-studded patch of the sky in the constellation Cygnus, Kepler took the first survey of planets in our galaxy and became the agency's first mission to detect Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of their stars.

"The Kepler mission was based on a very innovative design. It was an extremely clever approach to doing this kind of science," said Leslie Livesay, director for astronomy and physics at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who served as Kepler project manager during mission development. "There were definitely challenges, but Kepler had an extremely talented team of scientists and engineers who overcame them.”

Four years into the mission, after the primary mission objectives had been met, mechanical failures temporarily halted observations. The mission team was able to devise a fix, switching the spacecraft’s field of view roughly every three months.

This enabled an extended mission for the spacecraft, dubbed K2, which lasted as long as the first mission and bumped Kepler's count of surveyed stars up to more than 500,000.

The observation of so many stars has allowed scientists to better understand stellar behaviors and properties, which is critical information in studying the planets that orbit them.

New research into stars with Kepler data also is furthering other areas of astronomy, such as the history of our Milky Way galaxy and the beginning stages of exploding stars called supernovae that are used to study how fast the universe is expanding.

The data from the extended mission were also made available to the public and science community immediately, allowing discoveries to be made at an incredible pace and setting a high bar for other missions.

Scientists are expected to spend a decade or more in search of new discoveries in the treasure trove of data Kepler provided.

"We know the spacecraft's retirement isn't the end of Kepler's discoveries," said Jessie Dotson, Kepler's project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. "I'm excited about the diverse discoveries that are yet to come from our data and how future missions will build upon Kepler's results."

Before retiring the spacecraft, scientists pushed Kepler to its full potential, successfully completing multiple observation campaigns and downloading valuable science data even after initial warnings of low fuel.

The latest data, from Campaign 19, will complement the data from NASA’s newest planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, launched in April.

TESS builds on Kepler's foundation with fresh batches of data in its search of planets orbiting some 200,000 of the brightest and nearest stars to the Earth, worlds that can later be explored for signs of life by missions, such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley manages the Kepler and K2 missions for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado, operates the flight system with support from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit https://www.nasa.gov/kepler.

COBB, Calif. – In Lake County, most people know someone who has lost a home in a fire.

However, the other side of that loss is the positive impact of a successful rebuild.

The Guzman family of Cobb is the newest Lake County family to celebrate the completion of the rebuilding of their home.

Rogelio and Maria Guzman are very pleased to finally be back on their property and in a home they can call their own.

At the recent dedication of his new home, Mr. Guzman had tears in his eyes as he thanked those in attendance.

“We have been waiting for three years and now we feel like we have come back to life, we are very happy. God Bless all the volunteers and everyone involved,” he said.

Their home was completed with help from a CalHome loan with 0-percent interest and no payment necessary for 30 years.

Hope City provided construction volunteers to do the labor and Hammers For Hope provided the grant, administered by North Coast Opportunities, or NCO.

To rebuild a community, one home at a time, help from multiple sources is needed.

“Thanks to the expertise of Hope City and Hammers For Hope, collectively we are able to help survivors return home. This funding is available to many individuals. It doesn’t matter if you are building a manufactured home, or a traditional home. Even if you only need a partial loan to close a gap in financing, CalHome Loans can help Lake County rebuild,” said NCO Executive Director Patty Bruder.

The CalHome Loan Program is funded through the California Department of Housing and Community Development, or HCD.

The program targets low-to moderate-income households who owned or rented a home destroyed by the recent fires.

Approximately $1 million in CalHome loans are expected to be awarded to eligible borrowers in Lake County by the end of 2018.

Funds are still available to help other residents. Individuals who have lost their home to a wildfire are encouraged to apply.

“Nothing is more satisfying than seeing a family successfully return to their home that was once lost. Hammers For Hope remains committed to helping people rebuild their homes,” adds Hammers for Hope Board President Rob Brown. “We hope that others who are in need of housing will apply for CalHome loans and continue to rebuild.”

Funding is still available for 0-percent interest loans and no payment necessary for 30 years through the CalHome Loan Program and Hammers For Hope.

If you would like more information about CalHome Loans, and to see if you qualify, please call Jon Kennedy at 707-489-4647 or email him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If you have lost your home to any of the recent fires, help is available, please contact Team Lake County case management and Peggy O’Day at 707-994-2910 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Veteran homelessness in Lake County, California and across the United States is continuing to decline according to a new national estimate released by U.S. Housing and Urban Development.

HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report finds the total number of reported veterans experiencing homelessness in 2018 decreased 5.4 percent since last year, falling to nearly half of the number of homeless veterans reported in 2010.

In announcing the latest annual estimate, HUD Secretary Ben Carson and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert Wilkie noted that local communities are reporting reductions in the number of veterans in their shelter systems and on their streets.

Each year, thousands of local communities around the country conduct one-night ‘Point-in-Time’ estimates of the number of persons experiencing homelessness – in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs and in unsheltered locations.

This year’s estimate finds 37,878 veterans experienced homelessness in January 2018, compared to 40,020 reported in January 2017. HUD estimates among the total number of reported veterans experiencing homelessness in 2018, 23,312 veterans were found in sheltered settings while volunteers counted 14,566 veterans living in places not meant for human habitation.

HUD also reports a nearly 10 percent decline among female veterans experiencing homelessness. In January 2018, local communities reported 3,219 homeless female veterans compared to 3,571 one year earlier.

The report shows that Lake County has seen a 47.8-percent drop in homeless veterans in 2018 compared to 2017. The number of homeless veterans in 2018 was put at 12, compared to 23 in 2017.

Neighboring Mendocino County has seen a 50-percent drop and California a 5.2-percent drop in homeless veterans, the report showed.

“We owe it to our veterans to make certain they have a place to call home,” said HUD Secretary Carson. “We’ve made great strides in our efforts to end veteran homelessness, but we still have a lot of work to do to ensure those who wore our nation’s uniform have access to stable housing.”

“The reduction in homelessness among veterans announced today shows that the strategies we are using to help the most vulnerable veterans become stably housed are working,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “This is good news for all Veterans.”

“In Home, Together, the new federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness, we redouble our commitment to ending homelessness among Veterans and among all Americans,” said Matthew Doherty, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. “Working together at the federal, state and local level, we can and will continue to make progress until all Americans have a stable home from which they can pursue opportunity.”

Officials said the decrease in veteran homelessness can largely be attributed to the effectiveness of the HUD-VA Supportive Housing, or HUD-VASH, Program, which combines permanent HUD rental assistance with case management and clinical services provided by the VA.

HUD-VASH is complemented by a continuum of VA programs that use modern tools and technology to identify the most vulnerable Veterans and rapidly connect them to the appropriate interventions to become and remain stably housed.

Last year alone, more than 4,000 veterans, many experiencing chronic forms of homelessness, found permanent housing and critically needed support services through the HUD-VASH program.

An additional 50,000 veterans found permanent housing and supportive services through VA’s continuum of homeless programs.

To date, 64 local communities and three states have declared an effective end to veteran homelessness, creating systems to ensure that a veteran’s homelessness is rare, brief and one-time.

HUD and VA have a wide range of programs that prevent and end homelessness among veterans, including health care, housing solutions, job training and education. More information about VA’s homeless programs is available at www.VA.gov/homeless.

More information about HUD’s program is available here.

Veterans who are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless should contact their local VA Medical Center and ask to speak to a homeless coordinator or call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 1-877-4AID-VET.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Ten Lake County residents are facing prosecution after being cited by the state on suspicion of being unlicensed contractors.

Over the past three years, upwards of 2,000 homes have been destroyed in different parts of Lake County by no less than eight devastating wildfires.

A lot of attention has focused on protecting fire survivors from being victimized by unlicensed or unscrupulous contractors trying to take advantage of people during the rebuilding process.

But, that doesn’t mean folks not directly affected by wildfires should let down their guard when hiring someone for home improvement work. On October 23, 2018, the Contractors State License Board, or CSLB, partnered with the Lake County District Attorney’s Office to conduct an undercover sting operation targeting suspected unlicensed contractors near the fire zones.

During the one-day operation, in a home near Copsey Creek, CSLB investigators invited suspected unlicensed contractors to provide bids for home improvement jobs ranging from painting, tree removal or trimming, to building a deck.

Ten people showed-up and provided undercover investigators bids that ranged from $800 to $4,000, well in excess of the $500 threshold (labor and/or materials) above which a state-issued contractor license is necessary.

As a result, these suspects were cited and could be charged with a misdemeanor count of contracting without a license (Business and Professions Code (BPC) section 7028). The penalty for a first-conviction includes up to six months in jail and/or up to $5,000 in fines.

Five of the suspects may also face a misdemeanor charge for illegal advertising (BPC §7027.1). Unlicensed contractors can only advertise if the ad states that they are not a state-licensed contractor, and the type of jobs advertised for are worth less than $500.

Those cited are:

– Jorge Manuel Vieira Sr., Clearlake; license classification – painting and decorating contractor; charge, contracting without a license;

– Jose Angel Gonzalez-Castro, Nice; license classification – tree service contractor; charges, contracting without a license, illegal advertising;

– Salvador Estrada, Upper Lake; license classification – tree service contractor; charges, contracting without a license, illegal advertising;

– Elijah Wesley Forrey, Clearlake; license classification – tree service contractor; charge, contracting without a license.

– Dave Edward Elliston Sr., Upper Lake; license classification – painting and decorating contractor; charge, contracting without a license.

– Ronald Dean Ridley Sr., Clearlake Oaks; license classification – painting and decorating contractor; charge, contracting without a license.

– Shane Lee Boyd, Nice; license classification – tree service contractor; charge, contracting without a license.

– Jesus Tecpoyot Pantaleon, Finley; license classification – siding and decking contractor; charges, contracting without a license, illegal advertising.

– Ronny Raymond Waddell, Lakeport; license classification – painting and decorating contractor; charges, contracting without a license, illegal advertising.

– Robert John Rudolph, Kelseyville; license classification – siding and decking contractor; charges, contracting without a license, illegal advertising.

“Consumers should be sure to take some simple steps before hiring anyone to work in or around their home,” said CSLB Registrar David Fogt. “The fastest way is to make sure they have a state license, and to check the license status using CSLB’s Instant License Check. Homeowners should also use CSLB’s Find My Licensed Contractor feature to download and/or print a list of qualified licensed contractors in their area."

CSLB will now forward the cases to the Lake County District Attorney’s Office with a recommendation for the criminal filings listed below.

All suspects were ordered to appear in court on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 8:15 a.m. at the Lake County Superior Court, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

All suspects are presumed innocent until their individual case is resolved.

CSLB conducts an average of one sting each week around the state to protect consumers, help level the playing field for legitimate contractors, and to curb the underground economy. Visit CSLB’s Web site for more tips on how to hire a licensed contractor.

The Contractors State License Board operates under the umbrella of the California Department of Consumer Affairs. CSLB licenses and regulates over 280,000 contractors in California and is regarded as one of the leading consumer protection agencies in the United States. In fiscal year 2017-18, CSLB helped recover more than $50 million in ordered restitution for consumers.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Library now offers Creativebug, a new free digital resource that lets library patrons use their library cards to access classes in sewing, quilting, art and design, jewelry, cooking, music and more.

Creativebug’s video library has more than 1,000 high quality online art and craft classes and adds new classes every day.

The Creativebug access is located on the library Web site, http://library.lakecountyca.gov, under “Resources.”

You can watch classes on Creativebug anytime, anywhere, in the library, on your home computer or on a phone or tablet.

Once you sign up for a free Creativebug account with your library card you can view or review any class as often as you like.

You can download or print out the patterns, instructions and recipes that accompany the classes.

Classes range from a few minutes in length to about an hour.

Creatirvebug offers many classes for both beginning and advanced crafters and artists. In the art and design category alone beginners can find an abundance of choices.

Budding artists can have fun with the “Creative Boot Camp: 6 Exercises to Spark Artistic Discovery” in easy painting, drawing, and collage projects. The “Daily Drawing Challenge” guides students through drawing patterns with brush tip pens. Other beginning art classes cover composition, perspective and creative doodling.

Creativebug seeks out the best, most engaging teachers for their classes. Their expert instructors have been featured in Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, O Magazine and other publications.

Funding for Creativebug comes from a grant through a pilot program from the California State Library and the Center for Childhood Creativity at the Bay Area Discovery Museum.

The Lake County Library is one of 10 libraries across California that have received grants to create community-driven makerspaces through this program.

Jan Cook is a library technician with the Lake County Library.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Congressmen John Garamendi and Mike Thompson visited Lakeport on Wednesday to hold a town hall focused on updating local veterans on services available to them and legislative efforts.

The two members of Congress, who between them represent Lake County in the House of Representatives, hosted the hour-and-a-half-long event attended by about 60 people at the Lakeport Veterans Museum at 875 11th St.

Joining them on a panel were Dedrick Waterford of the Oakland Veterans Administration Regional Headquarters, Mary Ann Nihart of the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center and Nancy Mitchell of the Lake County Veterans Service Office.

On the topic of veteran-related legislation, Thompson, a Vietnam veteran and co-founder and co-chair of the Veterans Caucus, explained that the Mission Act Congress passed to help better consolidate and deliver services for veterans had widespread support but, he added, the “rub” is that it doesn’t have not enough money.

One of his current projects is a bill to have the Department of Veterans Affairs take over the historic veterans cemetery at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo.

He said 800 veterans are buried there, including three who received the Congressional Medal of Honor. In addition, the daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law of Francis Scott Key – the author of the lyrics of “The Star Spangled Banner” – are interred there.

Garamendi, who is co-authoring that cemetery bill, noted the increase in funding the VA has had in recent years due to the wars.

He said they knew of the tremendous need for veterans, noting the very high per-capita veterans in population in Lake County, believed to be the biggest in the state.

“Both Mike and I care deeply about the veterans in our district,” Garamendi said.

Waterford said the Oakland VA Regional Headquarters has 320 employees that serve 44 of California’s 58 counties.

While they provide assistance to 152,000 veterans in that area, there are actually 800,000 veterans in those 44 counties, Waterford said.

In 2014, the Oakland VA Regional Headquarters was distributing $164 million a month in benefits, a number now up to $215 million a month, or about $2 billion to those 44 counties, Waterford said.

In Lake County, Waterford said 1,800 vets are receiving a total of approximately $2,566,362 a month. He added that he knows there has to be more than 1,800 veterans in Lake County, and so he asked people to let veterans know about the benefits.

He also reported during the discussion that the VA backlog had been reduced from 700,000 claims to 70,000 claims.

Nihart described the ongoing staffing challenges the VA has, particularly for its rural clinics. That’s why she wrote a grant for increasing telehealth primary care. That allows them to back up the clinics and offer 55 specialties via telehealth, which can be done locally and save vets a trip to the Bay Area.

Nihart, who also works in the Office of Veterans Experience, said they also want feedback to improve services, and during the later portion of the meeting she would field questions and offer to do follow up on veterans’ individual health-related issues.

Mitchell, who has worked in the local Veterans Service Office for 12 years, said she isn’t herself a veteran. However, she’s found her work with veterans to be the most rewarding job.

She encouraged veterans to come in and see her if they have issues or even just to check on the latest developments in benefits that could assist them.

During the question and answer session, the panelists heard about concerns regarding continuity of care, the need for funding for the Toxic Exposure Act, the fact that Vietnam era veterans continue to have to fight to get help for Agent Orange poisoning, whether there was consideration of reestablishing the draft (Thompson said there has been, but it hasn’t gone anywhere), and doing more research on the benefits of cannabis for health problems and pain management as part of a response to the opioid crisis.

They also were asked about what can be done to help homeless veterans. While there are vouchers available in some areas to pay for housing, all of the panelists said finding available housing has been the challenge.

Thompson encouraged anyone who knows of a homeless veteran to contact his office. Last year, he and his staff were able to help a veteran who had been homeless for 10 years in Sonoma County due to a medical issue.

After connecting the man to the available resources through the VA, his life was turned around. Today, that formerly homeless veteran has a job, a house and a wife, Thompson said.

Thompson added, “The VA can deliver and it can be life-changing.”

Another question came from a farmer from Woodland who had come to ask the members of Congress about what is being done about climate change, adding that everyone needs to come together in a World War II-style mobilization.

Thompson said he believes the biggest problem facing us as a people is addressing climate change.

He said the military forces and the intelligence community are working on it. “The problem is in Congress,” he said.

There is a Climate Solutions Caucus that meets and seeks to engage members of all political persuasions on the issue, Thompson said.

“It’s not a hoax,” and not something to take lightly, Thompson said of climate change.

While America may be doing more than other countries to address climate change, “We’re America, we always do more than other countries,” he said.

Explaining the issues in Congress, Garamendi said the annual National Defense Authorization had an amendment added to it that would keep the military from doing anything about climate change. That was removed before the final version was passed.

He said the military has continually worked on climate change-related issues, noting the Navy is particularly concerned about its ports.

After the town hall – the fifth on veterans issues that they’ve held – Garamendi and Thompson stayed to speak to veterans before heading out to other meetings in the district.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Association of Realtors reported that September sales in Lake County varied from the statewide numbers.

The number of sales recorded both in the county and the state were down from the previous month, but Lake County’s median price for the month increased while the statewide median decreased, the association reported.

The Lake County September median sales price was $281,500, which was up 7.24 percent over the August median of $262,500. On a year-over-year basis the August median was up 20 percent over the August 2017 median price of $234,450.

There were 61 sales of single-family residences in September which was a 30.7 percent decline from the 88 sales recorded in August. On a year-over-year basis there was a decline of 29 percent. The number of sales in September 2017 was 86.

“There are a number of factors that are contributing to the market,” stated Melissa Chapman, LCAOR’s 2018 president. “Interest rates have been on the rise and the continued price increases have made affordability more of an issue causing some buyers to go to the sidelines.”

Conventional loans accounted for 42.6 percent of the sales, with FHA loans being used in 14.75 percent of the transactions and VA loans being utilized in 8.2 percent of the deals. Cash was used to finance 21.3 percent of the sales.

On a statewide level the California Association of Realtors reported that existing, single-family home sales totaled 382,550 in September on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, down 4.3 percent from August and down 12.4 percent from September 2017.

September’s median home price for the state was $578,850, down 2.9 percent from August but up 4.2 percent from September 2017.

Inventory levels reached their highest level in 31 months, with the Unsold Inventory Index reaching 4.2 months in September. In Lake County inventory levels were at 7.0 months.

The 30-year, fixed-mortgage interest rates averaged 4.63 percent in September, up from 4.55 percent in August and up from 3.81 percent in September 2017, according to Freddie Mac. The five-year, adjustable mortgage interest rate edged higher in September to an average of 3.94 percent up from 3.87 percent in August and up from 3.16 percent in September 2017.


LAKE COUNTY NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

September 2018
Median price: $281,500
Units sold: 61
Median days to sell: 58

August 2018
Median price: $262,500
Units sold: 88
Median days to sell: 40

September 2017
Median price: $234,450
Units sold: 86
Median days to sell: 47

MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. – The Mendocino National Forest entered into agreements in 2017 on a project with the Mendocino County Blacktail Association and the Mule Deer Foundation in a 600-acre area that has been the focus of wildlife habitat improvement and hazardous fuels reduction as funds were available.

As a result of this partnership, 170 acres of thinning were accomplished with contributions by partners and agency funds.

The forest identified a need to improve watershed and wildlife habitat conditions and to protect resources by minimizing the risk of a large, destructive wildfire in the area of Atchison Campground near the Black Butte Wild and Scenic River on the Covelo Ranger District.

In the project area, oaks were being encroached upon by conifers and the crowded conditions resulted in the hardwoods being more susceptible to insects, disease and severe wildfire occurrence.

Large portions of the project area fall within key winter and summer deer ranges and oaks play an important part for deer where acorns provide food in late summer, fall and early winter. Browsing on oak leaves and twigs is also very important for deer in early spring when the new growth emerges.

Work on the project included mechanically thinning conifer and mixed hardwood trees less than 10 inches in diameter and leaving tree spacing up to 25 feet. The thinning left the biggest and most desirable trees – trees that are free from disease and insects.

The mechanical treatments on the Baseball Wildlife Habitat Improvement and Fuels Reduction project were completed in late 2018. The next step will be to conduct prescribed fires in the area.

Fuels Specialist Hinda Darner said, “We share common goals with the Mendocino County Blacktail Association and Mule Deer Foundation to improve forest health, enhance wildlife habitat, increase recreation and hunter opportunities and decrease the risk of destructive wildfires. These shared goals contributed to the success of this project. We look forward to future forest health improvement projects with our partners.”

The Baseball Wildlife Habitat Improvement and Fuels Reduction project of the USDA Forest Service, Mendocino National Forest, is voluntarily funded in part by the Mendocino County Blacktail Association and the Mule Deer Foundation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced $26.6 million in funding to 87 tribes in California to invest in environmental programs and water infrastructure.

EPA made the announcement at the Pacific Southwest Region’s 26th Annual Tribal/EPA Conference held in San Francisco this week, hosted by the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians.

“This vital funding helps tribes provide safe drinking water to their communities and maintain important environmental programs,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Mike Stoker. “These grants have significant impacts on the environment and quality of life on tribal lands.”

EPA awarded $22.1 million to tribes in California to fund projects on water quality monitoring, watershed protection and restoration, water and energy efficiency, and wastewater recycling and treatment.

Tribes in California will also use EPA funding to clean up open dumps, develop programs to monitor, protect and improve air quality, and build public awareness of these efforts.

Another $4.5 million will fund Indian Health Service support of tribal drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, plant operator training and technical assistance.

Two of the projects funded are in Lake County.

The Big Valley Rancheria will use $173,000 to install corrosion control treatment at its public water system to address elevated levels of lead and copper at 38 tribal homes.

The Middletown Rancheria Community will use $547,050 to extend sewer line service connections to the Lake County Sanitation District, removing 40 aging septic systems.

EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region is home to 148 tribal nations and contains half of all tribal lands nationwide.