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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) will conduct this year’s fifth and final snow survey on May 1.
Manual surveys up and down the state will be combined with electronic readings from remote sensors to indicate the rate at which the mountain snowpack is melting into the state’s streams, reservoirs and aquifers.
The snowpack normally provides about a third of the water for California’s homes, industry and agriculture.
April 2 measurements showed that water content in the winter snowpack – often called California’s frozen reservoir – was only 55 percent of normal at the time of year when it historically is at its peak. On Thursday it was 46 percent of normal.
Above average reservoir storage is the good news for water supply this year, the agency reported.
With Lake Oroville in Butte County – the State Water Project’s principal storage reservoir – 93 percent full (113 percent of normal for the date), DWR expects to be able to deliver a not unusually low 60 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet of SWP water requested.
DWR will collect manual snowpack water content readings over the next several days.
In the interim, real-time electronic readings indicate that snowpack water content is 76 percent of normal in the northern mountain ranges, 43 percent of normal in the central Sierra, and 26 percent of normal in the southern Sierra. The statewide reading is 46 percent.
Electronic snowpack readings are available on the Internet at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/DLYSWEQ .
Electronic reservoir level readings may be found at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action .
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LUCERNE, Calif. – A vehicle crash in Lucerne Thursday evening resulted in one person being flown out to a regional trauma center and traffic being backed up along Highway 20.
The crash occurred just after 7 p.m. Thursday on Highway 20 about a quarter-mile west of Foothill Drive.
A single vehicle was reported to have rolled over, and was lying on its side, according to the California Highway Patrol. Witnesses at the scene said the vehicle was a pickup.
Initially, the crash blocked the eastbound lane of traffic, with radio reports indicating a short time later that the entire highway was blocked due to the crash.
Two people were out of the car when Northshore Fire Protection District firefighters arrived, with radio traffic indicating one of the subjects had suffered major injuries.
The REACH 6 air ambulance was called and arrived at about 7:25 p.m., landing at Lucerne Harbor Park, where a Northshore Fire ambulance had transported the patient, according to radio reports.
Ten minutes later, the helicopter lifted off, en route to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
It was reported that another subject may have been transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital by a private vehicle following the crash.
All firefighters had cleared the scene just after 8 p.m., according to radio reports.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
THIS STORY HAS BEEN UDPATED WITH ADDITIONAL DETAILS FROM THE CLEARLAKE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Concerns about two suspicious packages led to an investigation at the Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic in Clearlake Thursday, with officials determining that the packages were harmless.
The clinic, located at 15145 Lakeshore Drive, was closed at noon on Thursday in response to the concerns, according to Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen.
The clinic was surrounded with crime scene tape, the building was evacuated and the area cleared, and the road was closed while the investigation took place Thursday afternoon, according to witnesses.
Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen said the clinic received the packages through the mail and clinic staff deemed them suspicious because one was making noise.
Clearlake Police, Lake County Fire Protection District and a federal law enforcement official – who was called to the scene due to the clinic being a federal building – responded to investigate, according to Clausen.
It eventually was determined that one of the packages contained a piece of equipment with low batteries and that it as not a danger, Clausen said.
Clausen said the “all clear” was given at around 3:20 p.m.
John Jensen contributed to this report.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A line of questioning on Thursday morning has led to the potential for mistrial in the trial of two young Clearlake Oaks men for the shooting last summer that killed a child and wounded five others.
Orlando Joseph Lopez, 24, and Paul William Braden, 22, are on trial for the June 18, 2011, shooting in Clearlake that killed 4-year-old Skyler Rapp, wounded the child’s mother and her boyfriend, and three other family members and friends.
The trial, in which testimony began in late February, came to a halt during the morning session as District Attorney Don Anderson was questioning Sgt. Tim Celli of the Clearlake Police Department.
Anderson asked Celli to relate a statement Lopez had reportedly made to Celli claiming innocence but alleging that Braden was at the scene, incriminating his codefendant.
Braden's attorney, Doug Rhoades, objected, and Lopez's attorney, Stephen Carter, joined the objection.
Visiting Yolo County Judge Doris Shockley sustained the objections.
Shockley then excused the jury for the morning.
The attorneys, along with Braden and Lopez, returned after lunch for a hearing on what happens next.
The questioning appeared to violate pretrial agreements between the defense and prosecution, as well as case law evolving from People v. Aranda, a 1965 case that has given rise to protections for codefendants, and the 1968 case Bruton v. United States.
Based on case law, if two or more defendants are being charged and tried jointly in a case, statements by a codefendant to investigators or witnesses which place blame on the other codefendant are not allowed to be presented in court.
If such statements are presented, they must be redacted to remove prejudice to the codefendant. However, if there is no way to do that, then mistrial is the only other alternative.
As a result of the afternoon hearing, Rhoades and Carter are to submit their mistrial motions by Monday, April 30, with Anderson's response due Tuesday, May 1. Shockley scheduled a hearing on the mistrial motions for 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 2.
Shockley then called in the two juries, told them, “You may not be surprised” to hear issues have come up as they have done so in the past, and offering no other details excused them for the remainder of the week, ordering them to return at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 2.
The attorneys in the case said they will be prepared to offer comment after the proceedings next week.
This is the second time that the possibility of mistrial has arisen in the proceedings.
On April 5, Carter had moved for mistrial, alleging that Anderson had abused him while making an objection.
The defense and prosecution later reached agreement to having an admonishment read to the jury ordering jurors to ignore extraneous comments by the attorneys during questioning.
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