CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Planning Commission will meet on Tuesday to discuss a sign permit and a commercial cannabis project.

The meeting will take place beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

On the agenda is a public hearing to approve a use permit to allow a change in the height of the existing pylon sign located at 15910 Dam Road from 30 feet to 35 feet to allow additional signage for potential businesses.

The project is proposed by the Carrington Co., the firm that owns the former Ray’s Food Place store, where Big 5 Sporting Goods and Tractor Supply stores are set to open later this year. The property where the sign is located is owned by Robert Rodde, according to the staff report.

Also on the agenda is a public hearing to approve use permits for a commercial cannabis business that will include manufacturing and distribution.

The operation, to be located in a 2,825-square-foot portion of a warehouse at 2395 Ogulin Canyon Road, is proposed by Clearlake Growth Fund I LLC, Growth Fund II Inc. and Clearlake Growth Fund III Inc.

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.

In the stillness of the night, the lonely outcropping of adobe walls and wood palisades huddled together, the white plaster of what remained of the old mission buildings reflecting the light of the moon.

The scene would almost look peaceful, if it weren’t for the lumps of crumpled bodies lying under the sage and coyote brush outside the walls.

For nearly two weeks, hundreds of men had expended their last reserve of strength, exhaled their final breath and now lay where they had fallen, too close to the enemy fortifications to be retrieved by their comrades.

Now, arranged in four columns of attack, the over 2,000 soldados of General Santa Anna prepared themselves for another assault. For the final assault, it was hoped, against the Alamo.


Ever since winning its own freedom from Spain in 1821, Mexico had grappled with the difficulty of managing its extensive northernmost territories.

During Spanish control, the lands that would become California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas had primarily served as an unoccupied bulwark against competing French, British and then American expansion.

By 1820, only the Apache and Comanche tribes populated the northeastern section of this land, because so few Mexicans wanted to risk life among the wild country.

In time, the new government of the Republic of Mexico faced a problem, a similar one America was then grappling with: land only becomes a national asset when it is settled and therefore taxable.

Before then, land is just a liability and a drain on the coffers – a place to maintain at all costs lest another country snatch it from you, but one rampant with dangerous natives and impassible to all but an armed group of soldiers.

Previously, Spain had solved this problem by encouraging Anglo-Americans to settle in upper Louisiana (St. Louis, Missouri today) and become Spanish citizens.

When she won her independence, Mexico copied her former oppressor and opened vast stretches of its northern territories to those Americans who wished to settle and integrate into Mexican society.

The government facilitated settlement by offering contracts to specific men, who were then charged with bringing in American families for settlement in designated colonies.

These selected men were called empresarios. The most influential of these would be Moses Austin and his son Stephen Fuller Austin, after whom the city in today’s Texas is named.

For their part, Americans immigrated to Mexican Texas for several reasons, not the least being that America and Mexico didn’t have an extradition treaty for debtors.

A good number of these intrepid American settlers were actually Mississippi valley farmers who had defaulted on their loans and sought greener (and prison-free) pastures in a new land. Other immigrants settled in Texas as a gamble that America would soon buy eastern Texas from Mexico. By 1830, empresarios like the Austins had settled over 1,000 American families in designated colonies.

To encourage American immigration, Mexico exempted these new settlers from certain tariffs and allowed slaveholding settlers to keep their slaves, even though the Mexican government had banned slavery in 1829. These incentives proved wildly popular.

Too popular, actually.

By the early 1830s, so many Americans had taken advantage of the incentives that the Mexican government became concerned of being overwhelmed in foreigners.

A failed rebellion of American settlers in 1830, known as the Fredonian Rebellion, excited further fears among Mexican officials. Many American settlers actually rode alongside the Mexican army to assist in putting down this rebellion, something they wished to forget a few years later in the middle of their own fight for independence.

Over the next few years, the system began to break down as speculators won contracts for new settlements and began selling shares to businessmen in Boston and New York.

This was not only illegal, but contrary to the whole spirit of the law. The Republic’s fears gave birth to the April 6, 1830, law that prohibited the immigration of Americans unless they held a passport for one of two state-approved colonies, including the Austin colony.

The colonists that already lived in Mexican Texas, some 6,000 or more, looked askance at this attempt to stem the tide of – as far as they were concerned – good American families.

They were downright afraid of another matter: all of those tax exemption incentives they were given when they first arrived were approaching their end date.

The settlers held conventions to draft and send demands for reform to the central Mexican government in 1832 and 1833.

They primarily wanted two things: an extension on the tariff exemptions granted to them in the 1820s, and the right to create their own state.

Having been given land, the American settlers now wanted a home and the autonomy to make it. Unfortunately, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

As the Texans worked to negotiate with the government, the newly elected president began a power grab. His name was Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

As a rule, dictators don’t relinquish power, least of all to newcomers. The Texans’ entreaties fell on deaf ears, and the situation deteriorated. It turned into open war in October of 1835.

So it was that in the new year of 1836, the Texans armed themselves for war.

Their defense rested on a triangle of cities. On the west was San Antonio, on the south was San Patricio, and on the northeast was La Bahía (Goliad).

Militarily speaking, San Antonio shouldn’t have been Santa Anna’s target, since the door to eastern Texas, home to most of the American settlements, was through Goliad.

But it was to San Antonio, and its 180 Texan defenders, that Santa Anna marched his army of some 2,000.

On Feb. 23, his advanced companies reached the front gate of the town’s fort, the old Mission of San Antonio de Valero, known locally as the Alamo.


Almost two weeks would drag on, bogging down Santa Anna’s army and wasting resources and men.

The final assault took several hours. In reality, though, all but an hour and a half of that was spent inching quietly toward the unsuspecting defenders. The actual fighting lasted less than two hours.

At sunbreak on March 6, all the Texan defenders lay dead, there to keep company the 600 soldados who also lost their lives. All of this in a needless assault on an inconsequential fort.

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.

LUCERNE, Calif. – A joint meeting of all three town hall advisory councils within District 3 is scheduled for Friday, March 16.

The meeting will take place beginnings at 6 p.m. at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center, 3985 Country Club Drive.

The purpose of the joint town hall is to take public input and explore possible solutions to the problems of trash in District 3 neighborhoods and the backcountry.

One method could be universal garbage collection services such as used in the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport.

County staff will be on hand and there will be time for questions and answers with staff and Supervisor Jim Steele, who represents the Northshore.

“Complaints about trash problems in neighborhoods and in the backcountry are among the most persistent complaints I receive; only 40 percent of District 3 residents have their garbage picked up,” said Steele.

“This is an important meeting to obtain community feedback on whether we should require that all households maintain garbage collection services or explore other solutions,” he added.

This meeting is in lieu of the regular March meetings for the councils.

The three town hall advisory councils in District 3 will resume their regular meeting schedules in April.

For more information about town hall meetings in District 3 watch for announcements or contact Supervisor Jim Steele at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

You can also find town hall meeting dates and updates on Facebook at North Shore Town Halls, Lake County District 3.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – It is still a great time to support your library.

In November, the Friends of the Lake County Library announced a fundraiser with the goal of raising $10,000 by Jan. 31.

The Friends want to raise $5,000 in donations which they will match, thereby having $10,000 to donate to the library for the purchase of books and materials.

At the end of January, the Friends were just over halfway to their goal. So it was decided at a recent meeting to extend the deadline of the fundraiser until March 31.

State funding for libraries over the last several years has been at an all-time low, leaving the Lake County Library to rely on the funding it receives from the small portion of county property taxes dedicated to the library.

Over the years, the Friends organization has worked to raise money to supplement the library budget with membership drives, book sales and donations.

With the loss of state funding and the pressure on property taxes due to recent fires, this mission has become more critical and led to this fundraising idea.

With its branches in Clearlake (Redbud), Middletown, Upper Lake and Lakeport, our county library system is a community asset that enriches the entire county.

Along with our parks, schools, museums, arts organizations and local media, the library system provides the educational opportunities and cultural enjoyment that make Lake County a place that we all want to live.

To help the Friends make this a successful fundraiser mail checks made payable to the Friends of the Lake County Library (a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization) to 1425 N. High St., Lakeport, CA 95453.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has a number of new dogs this week available immediately to new homes.

The dogs offered adoption this week include mixes of border collie, German Shepherd, golden retriever, greyhound, husky, Labrador Retriever, pit bull, Rottweiler, Schipperke 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”).

Terrier-Schipperke mix

This male terrier-Schipperke mix has a medium-length tan coat.

He’s in kennel No. 3, ID No. 9534.

Husky mix

This male husky mix has a medium-length black and brindle coat.

He’s in kennel No. 5, ID No. 9532.

Female border collie

This female border collie has a short black and white coat.

She’s in kennel No. 6a, ID No. 9533.

‘Brisa’

“Brisa” is a female German Shepherd mix.

She has a medium-length black and tan coat, and already has been altered.

She is very sweet.

Brisa is in kennel No. 7, ID No. 9527.

‘Rowdy’

“Rowdy” is a female greyhound-Labrador Retriever mix.

She has a short black coat with white markings, and already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 8, ID No. 9523.

Male Labrador Retriever

This male Labrador Retriever has a short black coat.

He’s in kennel No. 9, ID No. 9546.

Male golden retriever

This adult male golden retriever has a medium-length golden coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in quarantine kennel No. 19, ID No. 9302.

‘Baby’

“Baby” is a female pit bull terrier with a short fawn coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 23, ID No. 9501.

Female pit bull

This young female pit bull has a short blue and fawn coat.

She is in kennel No. 26, ID No. 9465.

Male pit bull

This male pit bull has a short blue and white coat.

Shelter staff said he is super sweet and bubbly.

He’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 9480.

‘BamBam’

“BamBam” is a male Rottweiler mix.

He has a short tricolor coat.

He’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 9517.

‘Kali’

“Kali” is a female pit bull with a short red coat.

She’s in kennel No. 34, ID No. 9516.

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.

From the ground, the dance of the northern lights, or aurora borealis, can look peaceful. But those shimmering sheets of colored lights are the product of violent collisions between Earth’s atmosphere and particles from the Sun.

The beautiful lights are just the visible product of these collisions – the kinetic and thermal energy released, invisible to the naked eye, are no less important.

Understanding the contribution that aurora make to the total amount of energy that enters and leaves Earth’s geospace system – referred to as auroral forcing – is one of the major goals of the NASA-funded Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment, or AZURE.

The more we learn about auroras, the more we understand about the fundamental processes that drive near-Earth space – a region that is increasingly part of the human domain, home not only to astronauts but also communications and GPS signals that can affect those of us on the ground on a daily basis.

AZURE is the first of eight sounding rocket missions launching over the next two years as part of an international collaboration of scientists known as The Grand Challenge Initiative – Cusp.

These missions will launch from the Andøya and Svalbard rocket ranges in Norway to study the processes occurring inside the Earth’s polar cusp – where the planet’s magnetic field lines bend down into the atmosphere and allow particles from space to intermingle with those of Earthly origin – and nearby auroral oval, which AZURE will focus on.

AZURE will study the flow of particles in the ionosphere, the electrically charged layer of the atmosphere that acts as Earth’s interface to space, focusing specifically on the E and F regions.

The E region – so-named by early radio pioneers that discovered the region was electrically charged, and so could reflect radio waves – lies between 56 to 93 miles above Earth’s surface. The F region resides just above it, between 93 to 310 miles altitude.

The E and F regions contain free electrons that have been ejected from their atoms by the energizing input of the Sun’s rays, a process called photoionization.

After nightfall, without the energizing input of the Sun to keep them separated, electrons recombine with the positively charged ions they left behind, lowering the regions’ overall electron density. The daily cycle of ionization and recombination makes the E and F regions especially turbulent and complex.

AZURE will focus specifically on measuring the vertical winds in these regions, which create a tumultuous particle soup that re-distributes the energy, momentum and chemical constituents of the atmosphere.

Existing wind measurements from ground-based instruments show evidence of significant structure at scales between 6 miles and 60 miles wide in both the charged particle drifts and the neutral winds.

But so far, the in-situ scientific measurements of winds have been limited to a small set of altitudes – and already those measurements don’t fit with what we would have predicted.

To better understand the forces at play, in early March the AZURE team will launch two sounding rockets near-simultaneously from the Andøya Space Center in Norway.

Waiting to launch until the conditions are just right, the rockets will fly up into space, making measurements of the atmospheric density and temperature with instruments on the rockets and deploying visible tracers, trimethyl aluminum and a barium/strontium mixture, which ionizes when exposed to sunlight.

These mixtures create colorful clouds that allow researchers to track the flow of neutral and charged particles, respectively. The tracers will be released at altitudes 71 to 155 miles high and pose no hazard to residents in the region.

By tracking the movement of these colorful clouds via ground-based photography and triangulating their moment-by-moment position in three dimensions, AZURE will provide valuable data on the vertical and horizontal flow of particles in two key regions of the ionosphere over a range of different altitudes.

Such measurements are critical if we are to truly understand the effects of the mysterious yet beautiful aurora. The results will be key to a better understanding of the effects of auroral forcing on the atmosphere, including how and where the auroral energy is deposited.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – State officials this week denied parole to a Mendocino County man convicted of torturing his ex-girlfriend by setting her on fire in 2001.

The California Board of Parole Hearings denied parole for the fifth time to Gregory Patrick Beck, 55, at a six-hour hearing on Tuesday at Soledad Correctional Training Facility.

The parole board denied Beck's bid for release based on his continuing evasiveness, his minimizing of what he did and his "need to come to terms with the truth,” according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.

Beck was convicted in 2002 of gravely injuring Sherry Carlton, age 32 at the time of the attack, by means of torture, assault with caustic chemicals and corporal injury on a cohabitant.

In 2001 Carlton had moved out of the home she shared with Beck. The two had been together for 12 years and had a child.

When she went back to the home they had shared to pick up some of her belongings, Beck soaked her with lighter fluid and set her on fire, refused to give her help then tried to cover up his crime in order to make it look like a barbecue-related accident.

The case was prosecuted by then-Deputy District Attorney Rick Martin, who in 2005 became a Lake County Superior Court judge.

At trial, Martin presented evidence including Carlton’s 911 phone call in which she told the dispatcher that Beck “sprayed lighter fluid all over me” and that he tried to murder her.

Carlton was left disfigured, unable to walk, speak or care for herself. She remained in a Lake County care facility until her death in March 2016.

Her parents, Phyllis Kline and Jeffrey Carlton, attended the Tuesday hearing. Kline said she also was accompanied by a cousin who acted as her support person.

Kline went armed with 150 signatures on paper petitions and approximately 51,272 signatures in an online petition against Beck’s release: https://www.thepetitionsite.com/328/208/588/refuse-parole-to-convicted-torturer-gregory-patrick-beck-cdc-t61119/.

“We were very anxious,” Kline told Lake County News.

She credited Mendocino County Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Norman, who attended the hearing to argue against Beck’s release, and the parole commissioners for their work.

“They were so thorough, professional, and possessed an incredible insight of Beck's issues,” said Kline, who has called Beck “absolutely evil.”

Kline recognized the prison staff for their understanding and caring for her and her family throughout the seven hours they were at the prison.

Beck has been refused parole before due to the board concluding that he has failed to take responsibility for the attack and has not succeeded in the rehabilitation process.

Norman said the parole board ruled it will be another five years before Beck is eligible for another hearing.

"We wished it had been another 10 years but we are satisfied the board saw Beck still hasn't accepted the horrific crime he committed,” Norman 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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Book to Action, the Lake County Library’s community-wide reading program, will feature “Braving the Wilderness: the Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone” by Breneì Brown.

Free copies of “Braving the Wilderness” and the Book to Action event calendar will be available to pick up at all Lake County Library branches beginning March 6.

The Book to Action discussions and events will happen in April.

Lake County Library is one of 20 libraries across the state that won the Book to Action grant from the California Center for the Book. This is the third year that Lake County has done this program.

The California Center for the Book is a program of the California Library Association, supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

Book to Action is an exciting program that builds on the classic book club concept by creating a dynamic series of events.

Along with discussing an engaging book on a current topic, libraries across the state will be hosting events that help people put their new-found knowledge into action by collaborating on a community service project or civic engagement activity related to the book’s topic

The book was chosen because it is a down-to-earth guide to achieving a healthy connection with one’s community.

JoAnn Saccato, local author and mindfulness teacher, is helping to develop the Book to Action events.

On the selection of the this book she said, “At this crucial time when our public conversation is rife with increasing polarization, discord and unrest, meaningful conversation around the vital issues we grapple with as a community and nation is desperately needed to find peaceful, lasting solutions.”

In “Braving the Wilderness,” Brown redefines what it means to belong in an age of increased polarization.

Using research, storytelling and her own personal stories, Brown changes the cultural conversation while mapping a clear path to achieving a sense of what she calls true belonging.

“Author Breneì Brown offers us an opportunity to forge an authentic and meaningful path to these solutions that brings dignity, civility, authenticity and bravery back to the town square,” Saccato said. “Brown argues that we're in a ‘spiritual crisis of disconnection’ and invites us to not only dig deeper and embrace our own sacred truth, but to courageously bring that truth to community – even if we stand alone in it.”

Lake County’s Book to Action events will begin with book discussions at each of the library branches on April 7 at 2 p.m. Lakeport Library is located at 1425 N. High St., Redbud Library at 14785 Burns Valley Road in Clearlake, Middletown Library at 21256 Washington St and Upper Lake Library at 310 Second St.

The events continue with a screening of the Breneì Brown’s TED Talk “The Power of Vulnerability” on April 14 at 2 p.m. at the Lakeport Library.

Saccato will lead a free workshop and discussion of “Braving the Wilderness” on April 21 at 2 p.m. at Lakeport Library.

This workshop will be a discussion around each of the four strategies put forth by Brown, namely: “People are hard to hate close up. Move in.” “Speak truth to BS. Be civil.” “Hold hands. With strangers.” “Strong back. Soft front. Wild heart.”

It will encourage conversation around the validity and value of Brown's ideas as a strategy to return to passionate and respectful civil discourse.

The workshop agenda will set ground rules around safety and civility, then take each topic separately.

Saccato’s workshop will take the work as a whole as a turning point to invite participation in the "Hold hands. With strangers" community conversation on March 28 at 2 p.m. at Lakeport Library. The conversation is the final event in the 2018 Book to Action program.

The Lake County Library is on the internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and http://library.lakecountyca.gov, and Facebook at www.facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary.

For more information call the library at 707-263-8817.

Jan Cook is a technician with the Lake County Library.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Jaden Bussard of the Blue Heron 4-H Club in Lakeport was selected as a medalist for the California State Record Book Competition for the 2016-17 program year.

Each year, 4-H youth complete record books to highlight all they have done for the past year in 4-H and the community.

This is Bussard’s fifth year in 4-H and he participates in advanced rabbits, poultry, outdoor adventure, cooking, leadership and community service projects.

Bussard, 17, is actively involved in both his 4-H club and the community. He is the Youth 4-H Council Representative, teen leader of his rabbit project, and has served as both president and vice-president of his club.

He also participates in many community service activities throughout the year, including Wreaths Across America, Veterans Day Ceremony, and the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast.

The 4-H Youth Development is a program of the University of California Cooperative Extension.

For more information on the 4-H program contact U.C. Cooperative Extension, 883 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport, telephone 707-263-6838.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College presents Women’s History Month on Wednesday, March 7.

The event will take place from noon to 1 p.m. in room 210-211 next to Aromas Café. The campus is located at 15880 Dam Road Extension in Clearlake.

This year’s event will feature five powerful speakers who will elaborate on their choice of careers.

Each speaker will have equal time to discuss why they chose their career, what hurdles they may or may not have had to overcome and what advice they would give to anyone choosing to enter in this field of work.

The guest speakers are Tina Scott (politician), Denise Loustalot (business owner), Stephanie Green (police officer), Dr. Paula Dhanda (doctor) and Judy Conard (lawyer).

The speakers were chosen due to their leadership in the community outside of their careers and being part of a career that is still dominated by men.

The event is available free to the entire community.

If you bring an appetite, you will have the chance to purchase delicious food from Aromas Café’s women-chef inspired menu.

At the end of the event, attendees will have a chance to ask questions to the panelists.

The goal of the event is to uplift and inspire women on campus and in the community to follow their dreams and have a better understanding of a few different career choices.

Be informed, be inspired, be empowered. Join Lake County Campus as they celebrate Women’s History Month.

For more information, call 707-995-7900.

An international team of scientists has used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study the atmosphere of the hot exoplanet WASP-39b.

By combining this new data with older data they created the most complete study yet of an exoplanet atmosphere.

The atmospheric composition of WASP-39b hints that the formation processes of exoplanets can be very different from those of our own Solar System giants.

Investigating exoplanet atmospheres can provide new insight into how and where planets form around a star.

“We need to look outward to help us understand our own Solar System,” explained lead investigator Hannah Wakeford from the University of Exeter in the UK and the Space Telescope Science Institute in the USA.

Therefore the British-American team combined the capabilities of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope with those of other ground- and space-based telescopes for a detailed study of the exoplanet WASP-39b. They have produced the most complete spectrum of an exoplanet’s atmosphere possible with present-day technology.

WASP-39b is orbiting a Sun-like star, about 700 light-years from Earth. The exoplanet is classified as a “Hot-Saturn,” reflecting both its mass being similar to the planet Saturn in our own Solar System and its proximity to its parent star.

This study found that the two planets, despite having a similar mass, are profoundly different in many ways.

Not only is WASP-39b not known to have a ring system, it also has a puffy atmosphere that is free of high-altitude clouds. This characteristic allowed Hubble to peer deep into its atmosphere.

By dissecting starlight filtering through the planet’s atmosphere the team found clear evidence for atmospheric water vapor. In fact, WASP-39b has three times as much water as Saturn does.

Although the researchers had predicted they would see water vapour, they were surprised by the amount that they found.

This surprise, combined with the water abundance allowed to infer the presence of large amount of heavier elements in the atmosphere.

This in turn suggests that the planet was bombarded by a lot of icy material which gathered in its atmosphere. This kind of bombardment would only be possible if WASP-39b formed much further away from its host star than it is right now.

“WASP-39b shows exoplanets are full of surprises and can have very different compositions than those of our Solar System,” says co-author David Sing from the University of Exeter, UK.

The analysis of the atmospheric composition and the current position of the planet indicate that WASP-39b most likely underwent an interesting inward migration, making an epic journey across its planetary system. “Exoplanets are showing us that planet formation is more complicated and more confusing than we thought it was,” said Wakeford. “And that’s fantastic!”

Having made its incredible inward journey WASP-39b is now eight times closer to its parent star, WASP-39, than Mercury is to the Sun and it takes only four days to complete an orbit. The planet is also tidally locked, meaning it always shows the same side to its star.

Wakeford and her team measured the temperature of WASP-39b to be a scorching 750 degrees Celsius. Although only one side of the planet faces its parent star, powerful winds transport heat from the bright side around the planet, keeping the dark side almost as hot.

“Hopefully this diversity we see in exoplanets will help us figure out all the different ways a planet can form and evolve,” explained David Sing.

Looking ahead, the team wants to use the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope — scheduled to launch in 2019 – to capture an even more complete spectrum of the atmosphere of WASP-39b.

James Webb will be able to collect data about the planet’s atmospheric carbon, which absorbs light of longer wavelengths than Hubble can see. Wakeford concludes: “By calculating the amount of carbon and oxygen in the atmosphere, we can learn even more about where and how this planet formed.”

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County’s fires districts reported that, as of 7:30 a.m. Thursday, all fire and emergency medical service dispatching in Lake County transitioned from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Central Dispatch and is now being provided by Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Emergency Command Center in St. Helena.

The districts said local communities will not see any change in service from their local responding agencies and should continue to call 911 for all life-threatening emergencies.

The decision to contract for dispatch services with Cal Fire was made by the Lake County Fire Chiefs to streamline emergency dispatching and response.

With this change, all fire agencies within Lake County are now dispatched from a single center on one frequency.

Additionally, with the move to Cal Fire for dispatch, Lake County will be able to implement enhancements such as emergency medical dispatching, enabling the dispatcher to send the closest appropriate resources and provide pre-arrival instructions to the caller in critical medical emergencies.

The chiefs said these improvements will increase fire and emergency medical service efficiency in responding to emergencies throughout Lake County and ultimately will better serve the needs of the public.

Local fire districts have fielded calls from concerned citizens about this change.

In turn, the chiefs said that community members can rest assured that Cal Fire is not new to Lake County or fire/emergency medical service dispatching; in fact the St. Helena Emergency Command Center has been dispatching certain fire and emergency medical resources in Lake County for decades.

As a result, fire officials said Cal Fire dispatchers have local knowledge of the county and several Cal Fire dispatchers even live in Lake County.

Throughout California Cal Fire operates 21 regional emergency command centers, providing dispatching services to 140 fire agencies including in neighboring Mendocino and Napa counties.

Each emergency command centers receives reports of emergencies from a variety of sources (911 calls, alarm company activations, etc.), assigns resources based on pre-planned response criteria, coordinates interagency incident activities, supports the incident as needed, provides internal/external information, and documents the activity.

This command and control service is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by highly trained fire professionals, including a battalion chief, fire captains and communications operators who function using computer aided dispatch software.

The Lake County Fire Chiefs Association reminds everyone to always call 911 if they have an emergency and local fire districts will respond as they always have.

Should anyone have specific concerns or questions, please contact your local fire district:

– Lakeport Fire Protection District: 707-263-4396.
– Northshore Fire Protection District (serving Clearlake Oaks, Nice, Lucerne, Upper Lake): 707-274-3100.
– Lake County Fire Protection District (serving Clearlake and Lower Lake): 707-994-2170.
– Kelseyville Fire Protection District (serving Kelseyville, Buckingham and the Rivieras): 707-279-4268.
– South Lake Fire Protection District (serving Middletown, Cobb and Hidden Valley Lake): 707-987-3089.