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- Written by: Lake County News reports
SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Wednesday appointed Juan Felipe Herrera to the position of California Poet Laureate.
Herrera, 63, is the author of 28 books and currently serves as the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.
He was a professor and chair of Chicano and Latin American Studies at California State University, Fresno, from 1990 to 2004 and a teaching assistant fellow at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa from 1988 to 1990.
Herrera’s work has received wide critical acclaim including numerous national and international awards.
In a 2008 review of his work, Stephen Burt of the New York Times wrote, “All life, all art, involves boundaries, if only those of birth and death. Some poets keep us conscious of those boundaries; others, like Herrera, discover their powers by defying them. Many poets since the 1960s have dreamed of a new hybrid art, part oral, part written, part English, part something else: an art grounded in ethnic identity, fueled by collective pride, yet irreducibly individual too. Many poets have tried to create such an art: Herrera is one of the first to succeed.”
Upon his receipt of the PEN Beyond Margins Award in 2009, the University of Arizona Press wrote, “For nearly four decades Juan Felipe Herrera has documented his experience as a Chicano in the United States and Latin America through stunning, memorable poetry that is both personal and universal in its impact, themes, and approach. Often political, never fainthearted, his career has been marked by tremendous virtuosity and a unique sensibility for uncovering the unknown and the unexpected.”
The son of migrant workers from Mexico, Herrera earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, a master of arts in social anthropology from Stanford University and a master of fine arts from the University of Iowa.
He was elected to the Board of Chancellors for the Academy of American Poets in 2011, was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry in 2010 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry in 2009.
This position requires Senate confirmation, and the California Arts Council provides an annual stipend. Herrera is a Democrat.
To read Herrera's poem, “Let Me Tell You What A Poem Brings,” visit www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/183577 .
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Habematolel Pomo’s Running Creek Casino in Upper Lake is moving through the construction phase, and in preparation for the casino’s opening later this year the tribe is looking for new employees.
Running Creek Casino is set to host two job fairs in Lake County later this month in conjunction with Lake One-Stop Inc. Business & Employment Services.
“We’re incredibly pleased with the progress of the construction project,” said Tribal Chairperson Sherry Treppa. “We’re right on track to open around Memorial Day. We’re also excited about starting the hiring process and bringing some new jobs to Lake County and the surrounding area.”
The casino will provide Lake County with more than 145 local jobs, including table games dealers, slot reps, cage personnel, food and beverage, security, surveillance and administrative staff.
The first job fair is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, March 24, in Lakeport at Lake One-Stop, 55 First St.
The second is scheduled for Saturday, March 31, at 10 a.m. at the Odd Fellows Hall, 9480 Main St., Upper Lake.
“As I see the casino structure go up I’m reminded of the significance of this site,” said Treppa.
She said the surrounding foothills were the tribe's former reservation – 564 acres in total – which was lost when the Habematolel Pomo were congressionally terminated in the 1950s with the passage of the California Rancheria Act.
“The tribe's federal recognition was restored in 1983, but we were landless,” Treppa explained. “Our efforts to restore our land base were fraught with obstacles. The tribe persevered nonetheless, and in 2008 we managed to have 11.24 acres received into trust.”
She added, “This casino project is allowing our tribe to take a positive step towards self-reliance while becoming a positive contributor to the economic success of Lake County. That’s something to be proud of for all of our members.”
A listing of available jobs and application forms will also be posted soon on www.runningcreekcasino.com .
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
A bill to rescue California’s world-renowned state parks jointly authored by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) and Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) cleared its first hurdle today, garnering unanimous bipartisan support from the Assembly’s Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.
Chesbro and Huffman presented the bill, AB 1589, at a hearing of the committee Tuesday.
“The California State Parks Stewardship Act of 2012 is ground-breaking legislation that will reform how California funds and manages its state parks,” Chesbro said. “There is no more important resource to the North Coast than its state parks. They are essential to the economies of local communities throughout the First Assembly District. AB 1589 will create lasting security for the California State Parks system and it will save the state money in the long-term.”
Key provisions of AB 1589 include:
- Encourages formation of a state compact that guarantees an ongoing level of state funding for operations and maintenance of state parks.
- Creates a State Park Enterprise Fund to be used for construction and installation of modern revenue and fee collection equipment and technologies to increase park visitation and revenues.
- Produces a California State Park environmental license plate that individual vehicle owners could purchase and have the fees go towards support of state parks.
- Provides the option for taxpayers to voluntarily purchase an annual state park access pass when they file their state tax returns.
- Requires the Department of Parks and Recreation to be more transparent on how it evaluates and selects specific parks for closure, and places a cap of 25 state park units on the number of park closures allowed from 2012 to 2016 without legislative approval.
“The enthusiastic bipartisan support AB 1589 received in today’s committee hearing is very encouraging,” Chesbro said. “We can’t allow our state parks to go feral and leave them vulnerable to vandalism, illegal marijuana grows and homeless encampments.”
AB 1589 is also jointly authored by Assemblymembers Roger Dickinson, Mike Gatto and Kevin Jeffries.
The bill now goes to the Assembly’s Committee on Revenue and Taxation.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Officials with the city of Clearlake are investigating a suspicious device brought to the police department.
City Administrator Joan Phillipe said in an email that on Tuesday morning a suspicious device was brought “in a non-threatening manner” to the Clearlake Police station, which is located in Clearlake City Hall at 14050 Olympic Drive.
“As a precaution while a determination is being made as to exactly what the device is, a portion of the City Hall parking lot and access to the building has been taped off to public access,” Phillipe wrote.
She said police will offer more information to the community as soon as it's available.