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CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control’s roundup of dogs this week includes canines of many breeds and sizes waiting for new homes.
The shelter has 50 adoptable dogs listed on its website.
This week’s dogs include “Oreo,” a 4-year-old male mixed breed dog with a beige, white and black coat.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Scientists using observations from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory have discovered, for the first time, the signal from a pair of monster black holes disrupting a cloud of gas in the center of a galaxy.
“It’s a very weird event, called AT 2021hdr, that keeps recurring every few months,” said Lorena Hernández-García, an astrophysicist at the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, the Millennium Nucleus on Transversal Research and Technology to Explore Supermassive Black Holes, and University of Valparaíso in Chile. “We think that a gas cloud engulfed the black holes. As they orbit each other, the black holes interact with the cloud, perturbing and consuming its gas. This produces an oscillating pattern in the light from the system.”
A paper about AT 2021hdr, led by Hernández-García, was published Nov. 13 in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
The dual black holes are in the center of a galaxy called 2MASX J21240027+3409114, located 1 billion light-years away in the northern constellation Cygnus. The pair are about 16 billion miles (26 billion kilometers) apart, close enough that light only takes a day to travel between them. Together they contain 40 million times the Sun’s mass.
Scientists estimate the black holes complete an orbit every 130 days and will collide and merge in approximately 70,000 years.
AT 2021hdr was first spotted in March 2021 by the Caltech-led ZTF (Zwicky Transient Facility) at the Palomar Observatory in California. It was flagged as a potentially interesting source by Automatic Learning for the Rapid Classification of Events, or ALeRCE.
This multidisciplinary team combines artificial intelligence tools with human expertise to report events in the night sky to the astronomical community using the mountains of data collected by survey programs like ZTF.
“Although this flare was originally thought to be a supernova, outbursts in 2022 made us think of other explanations,” said co-author Alejandra Muñoz-Arancibia, an ALeRCE team member and astrophysicist at the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics and the Center for Mathematical Modeling at the University of Chile. “Each subsequent event has helped us refine our model of what’s going on in the system.”
Since the first flare, ZTF has detected outbursts from AT 2021hdr every 60 to 90 days.
Hernández-García and her team have been observing the source with Swift since November 2022. Swift helped them determine that the binary produces oscillations in ultraviolet and X-ray light on the same time scales as ZTF sees them in the visible range.
The researchers conducted a Goldilocks-type elimination of different models to explain what they saw in the data.
Initially, they thought the signal could be the byproduct of normal activity in the galactic center. Then they considered whether a tidal disruption event — the destruction of a star that wandered too close to one of the black holes — could be the cause.
Finally, they settled on another possibility, the tidal disruption of a gas cloud, one that was bigger than the binary itself. When the cloud encountered the black holes, gravity ripped it apart, forming filaments around the pair, and friction started to heat it. The gas got particularly dense and hot close to the black holes. As the binary orbits, the complex interplay of forces ejects some of the gas from the system on each rotation. These interactions produce the fluctuating light Swift and ZTF observe.
Hernández-García and her team plan to continue observations of AT 2021hdr to better understand the system and improve their models. They’re also interested in studying its home galaxy, which is currently merging with another one nearby — an event first reported in their paper.
“As Swift approaches its 20th anniversary, it’s incredible to see all the new science it’s still helping the community accomplish,” said S. Bradley Cenko, Swift’s principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “There’s still so much it has left to teach us about our ever-changing cosmos.”
NASA’s missions are part of a growing, worldwide network watching for changes in the sky to solve mysteries of how the universe works.
Goddard manages the Swift mission in collaboration with Penn State, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and Northrop Grumman Space Systems in Dulles, Virginia. Other partners include the University of Leicester and Mullard Space Science Laboratory in the United Kingdom, Brera Observatory in Italy, and the Italian Space Agency.
Jeanette Kazmierczak works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Registrar of Voters Office reported Thursday on the progress being made to complete the count of unprocessed ballots from the presidential election.
The elections office has 28 days to complete the official canvass for the Nov. 5 election, which means the full tally must be complete by Dec. 3. The Secretary of State’s Office will certify results on Dec. 13.
Until the results are certified, the general election results aren’t final, the Registrar of Voters Office reported.
The first count the elections office issued on unprocessed ballots two days after the election put the total at 19,021 ballots, including 17,445 vote-by-mail ballots, 1,453 provisional/conditional ballots and 123 vote-by-mail ballots that require further review for various reasons.
The updated unprocessed ballot count the registrar issued on Thursday totaled 18,952, including 17,247 vote-by-mail ballots and 1,453 provisional/conditional ballots.
Additionally, the number of vote-by-mail ballots requiring review grew from 123 to 252, the elections office reported.
The Secretary of State’s Office reported that, as of Thursday evening, 14,599,593 ballots had been processed statewide.
Ballots still to be counted in California’s 58 counties total 1,513,597.
That includes:
• 157,952 vote-by-mail ballots received after election day. The Secretary of State’s Office said vote-by-mail ballots that are mailed must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by a county election office no later than seven days after Election Day in order to be counted.
• 70,371 provisional ballots.
• 331,842 conditional voter registration ballots.
• 44,644 ballots classified as “other.” “This category includes unprocessed ballots that are damaged or could not be machine-read and need to be remade, and ballots diverted by optical scanners for further review,” the Secretary of State’s Office reported.
In addition, the state reported that there are 132,612 ballots left to cure, which refers to the process of addressing errors that led to a ballot’s rejection.
Editor’s note: On Friday, the Registrar of Voters Office issued a revised ballot count. This article has been revised to reflect those numbers.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, and on Bluesky, @erlarson.bsky.social. Find Lake County News on the following platforms: Facebook, @LakeCoNews; X, @LakeCoNews; Threads, @lakeconews, and on Bluesky, @lakeconews.bsky.social.
The elections office has 28 days to complete the official canvass for the Nov. 5 election, which means the full tally must be complete by Dec. 3. The Secretary of State’s Office will certify results on Dec. 13.
Until the results are certified, the general election results aren’t final, the Registrar of Voters Office reported.
The first count the elections office issued on unprocessed ballots two days after the election put the total at 19,021 ballots, including 17,445 vote-by-mail ballots, 1,453 provisional/conditional ballots and 123 vote-by-mail ballots that require further review for various reasons.
The updated unprocessed ballot count the registrar issued on Thursday totaled 18,952, including 17,247 vote-by-mail ballots and 1,453 provisional/conditional ballots.
Additionally, the number of vote-by-mail ballots requiring review grew from 123 to 252, the elections office reported.
The Secretary of State’s Office reported that, as of Thursday evening, 14,599,593 ballots had been processed statewide.
Ballots still to be counted in California’s 58 counties total 1,513,597.
That includes:
• 157,952 vote-by-mail ballots received after election day. The Secretary of State’s Office said vote-by-mail ballots that are mailed must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by a county election office no later than seven days after Election Day in order to be counted.
• 70,371 provisional ballots.
• 331,842 conditional voter registration ballots.
• 44,644 ballots classified as “other.” “This category includes unprocessed ballots that are damaged or could not be machine-read and need to be remade, and ballots diverted by optical scanners for further review,” the Secretary of State’s Office reported.
In addition, the state reported that there are 132,612 ballots left to cure, which refers to the process of addressing errors that led to a ballot’s rejection.
Editor’s note: On Friday, the Registrar of Voters Office issued a revised ballot count. This article has been revised to reflect those numbers.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, or ABC, said it has awarded a $3.73 million grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety to help curb underage drinking and educate licensees about alcoholic beverage laws.
Grant funding will also support 27 local law enforcement agencies with up to $40,000 each to combat alcohol related harm within their communities through ABC education and enforcement programs.
That’s added to 26 agencies that received awards last year, including the Lakeport Police Department.
“ABC is grateful for the continued partnership and support from OTS and NHTSA,” said ABC Director Joseph McCullough. “The resources provided to us through this grant will help reduce youth access to alcohol and increase safety in communities throughout California.”
The grant will run through the end of September 2025. ABC programs funded through the grant include minor decoy and shoulder tap operations, fake identification enforcement, compliance checks involving alcohol delivery services, designated special events where alcohol is served, underage retail theft, maximum holiday enforcement, Informed Merchants Preventing Alcohol-Related Crime Tendency inspections, Licensee Education on Alcohol and Drug trainings and Target Responsibility for Alcohol-Connected Emergencies investigations.
The local law enforcement agencies who have been selected by ABC to receive grant funding for 2024-25 are as follows.
Alhambra Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
Anaheim Police Department (Orange Co)
Arvin Police Department (Kern Co)
Blythe Police Department (Riverside Co)
Buena Park Police Department (Orange Co)
Capitola Police Department (Santa Cruz Co)
Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office (Contra Costa Co)
Corona Police Department (Riverside Co)
Davis Police Department (Yolo Co)
El Centro Police Department (Imperial Co)
Emeryville Police Department (Alameda Co)
Kings County Sheriff’s Office (Kings Co)
Lodi Police Department (San Joaquin Co)
Manteca Police Department (San Joaquin Co)
Menifee Police Department (Riverside Co)
National City Police Department (San Diego Co)
Oakland Police Department (Alameda Co)
Pomona Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
San Jose Police Department (Santa Clara Co)
San Pablo Police Department (Contra Costa Co)
Simi Valley Police Department (Ventura Co)
South Lake Tahoe Police Department (El Dorado Co)
Stockton Police Department (San Joaquin Co)
Sutter Creek Police Department (Amador Co)
Tulare Sheriff’s Office (Tulare Co)
Westminster Police Department (Orange Co)
Windsor Police Department (Sonoma Co)
Last year’s grant recipients included the following agencies.
Corona Police Department (Riverside Co)
Costa Mesa Police Department (Orange Co)
Davis Police Department (Yolo Co)
Emeryville Police Department (Alameda Co)
Escondido Police Department (San Diego Co)
Folsom Police Department (Sacramento Co)
Gardena Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
Hermosa Beach Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
Hollister Police Department (San Benito Co)
Lakeport Police Department (Lake Co)
Milpitas Police Department (Santa Clara Co)
National City Police Department (San Diego Co)
Oxnard Police Department (Ventura Co)
Pasadena Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
Pomona Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
Redlands Police Department (San Bernardino County)
Rio Del Police Department (Humboldt Co)
Riverside County Sheriff’s Office - Lake Elsinore Station (Riverside Co)
San Jose Police Department (Santa Clara Co)
San Luis Obispo Police Department (San Luis Obispo Co)
Sanger Police Department (Fresno Co)
Santa Maria Police Department (Santa Barbara Co)
Soledad Police Department (Monterey Co)
Tulare County Sheriff’s Office (Tulare Co)
Turlock Police Department (Stanislaus Co)
Westminster Police Department (Orange Co)
Editor’s note: ABC issued an update on Friday that said that while Lakeport Police’s grant was among the recent grantees, it was not from the most recent group, which was not in the original press report. This story has been updated accordingly.
Grant funding will also support 27 local law enforcement agencies with up to $40,000 each to combat alcohol related harm within their communities through ABC education and enforcement programs.
That’s added to 26 agencies that received awards last year, including the Lakeport Police Department.
“ABC is grateful for the continued partnership and support from OTS and NHTSA,” said ABC Director Joseph McCullough. “The resources provided to us through this grant will help reduce youth access to alcohol and increase safety in communities throughout California.”
The grant will run through the end of September 2025. ABC programs funded through the grant include minor decoy and shoulder tap operations, fake identification enforcement, compliance checks involving alcohol delivery services, designated special events where alcohol is served, underage retail theft, maximum holiday enforcement, Informed Merchants Preventing Alcohol-Related Crime Tendency inspections, Licensee Education on Alcohol and Drug trainings and Target Responsibility for Alcohol-Connected Emergencies investigations.
The local law enforcement agencies who have been selected by ABC to receive grant funding for 2024-25 are as follows.
Alhambra Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
Anaheim Police Department (Orange Co)
Arvin Police Department (Kern Co)
Blythe Police Department (Riverside Co)
Buena Park Police Department (Orange Co)
Capitola Police Department (Santa Cruz Co)
Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office (Contra Costa Co)
Corona Police Department (Riverside Co)
Davis Police Department (Yolo Co)
El Centro Police Department (Imperial Co)
Emeryville Police Department (Alameda Co)
Kings County Sheriff’s Office (Kings Co)
Lodi Police Department (San Joaquin Co)
Manteca Police Department (San Joaquin Co)
Menifee Police Department (Riverside Co)
National City Police Department (San Diego Co)
Oakland Police Department (Alameda Co)
Pomona Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
San Jose Police Department (Santa Clara Co)
San Pablo Police Department (Contra Costa Co)
Simi Valley Police Department (Ventura Co)
South Lake Tahoe Police Department (El Dorado Co)
Stockton Police Department (San Joaquin Co)
Sutter Creek Police Department (Amador Co)
Tulare Sheriff’s Office (Tulare Co)
Westminster Police Department (Orange Co)
Windsor Police Department (Sonoma Co)
Last year’s grant recipients included the following agencies.
Corona Police Department (Riverside Co)
Costa Mesa Police Department (Orange Co)
Davis Police Department (Yolo Co)
Emeryville Police Department (Alameda Co)
Escondido Police Department (San Diego Co)
Folsom Police Department (Sacramento Co)
Gardena Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
Hermosa Beach Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
Hollister Police Department (San Benito Co)
Lakeport Police Department (Lake Co)
Milpitas Police Department (Santa Clara Co)
National City Police Department (San Diego Co)
Oxnard Police Department (Ventura Co)
Pasadena Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
Pomona Police Department (Los Angeles Co)
Redlands Police Department (San Bernardino County)
Rio Del Police Department (Humboldt Co)
Riverside County Sheriff’s Office - Lake Elsinore Station (Riverside Co)
San Jose Police Department (Santa Clara Co)
San Luis Obispo Police Department (San Luis Obispo Co)
Sanger Police Department (Fresno Co)
Santa Maria Police Department (Santa Barbara Co)
Soledad Police Department (Monterey Co)
Tulare County Sheriff’s Office (Tulare Co)
Turlock Police Department (Stanislaus Co)
Westminster Police Department (Orange Co)
Editor’s note: ABC issued an update on Friday that said that while Lakeport Police’s grant was among the recent grantees, it was not from the most recent group, which was not in the original press report. This story has been updated accordingly.
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