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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Upper Lake High School is asking for the community’s help in raising funds to send its Academic Decathlon team to the state competition this month.
The team, which won the Lake County competition Feb. 4, needs about $3,000 to attend the California Academic Decathlon, according to Upper Lake High Superintendent/Principal Pat Iaccino.
The California Academic Decathlon takes place March 15-18 in Sacramento. This year’s topic is “The Age of Empire.”
Upper Lake has been a longtime powerhouse in the Academic Decathlon competition.
Upper Lake Coach Anna Sabalone and Assistant Coach Angel Hayenga are now preparing their team for the big competition.
Winning team members are Jaqueline Estrada, Jordan Austin, Shayla Wyman, Byron Garcia, Christine Randall, Carlos Valencia, Oscar Nieves, Farhad Hussain, Justine Moran, Jamie Maddock and Krista Coleman.
Iaccino said community members wanting to contribute can contact the high school at 707-275-2338.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County's senior centers are once again working together to raise money for important nutrition programs for seniors.
Last year Lake County senior centers participated in “March for Meals” to raise funds for their Meals on Wheels programs.
The 2011 March for Meals effort raised more than $30,000, according to a report from the centers.
This year the local senior centers are hoping to exceed that amount so that the vital services they provide that bring independence and hope to homebound seniors can continue.
With many challenges like the rising cost of gasoline and food prices, as well as a growing senior population in need of their services, senior centers are working hard to make up the difference.
Hundreds of volunteers come to the senior centers every day to prepare and serve meals, deliver meals to the homebound, run thrift stores and provide outreach services to the thousands of seniors in the community.
The month of March has been designated to bring awareness to the community of the many services that the centers provide, and give an opportunity for everyone to help.
Each senior center is running its own March for Meals campaign and need the community to help in this effort.
Bringing a sponsorship packet to places of employment, family, church or any other group to help raise money can make a world of difference to the efforts of local senior centers.
Senior centers with meals programs can be contacted at the following phone numbers, or by stopping by Middletown, 707-987-3113; Highlands Senior Center in Clearlake, 707-994-3051; Live Oak Senior Center in Clearlake Oaks, 707-998-1950; Lucerne, 707-274-8779; and Lakeport, 707-263-4218.
More information can be found online at www.lcseniors.com .
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
SACRAMENTO – Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey have, for the first time, demonstrated how aquifer composition can affect how excessive levels of phosphorous – an essential nutrient contained in fertilizers – can be carried from fertilized agricultural fields via groundwater to streams and waterways.
This finding will allow for more informed management of agriculture, ecosystem and human water needs, according to the agency.
Nutrient transport from agricultural fields, including nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, is one of the most serious environmental problems throughout the world because it can cause adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems and/or drinking water supplies, USGS reported.
Excess phosphorus can stimulate algal growth in streams and lakes, which can lead to decreased levels of dissolved oxygen resulting in the death of sensitive organisms including fish, or can cause changes in the types of algae that are present. Some forms of algae can also release toxins that can negatively impact human health.
“While the widespread use of fertilizer has increased crop yields, excessive application is not only wasteful, but it can also be harmful to water quality, fish, and human health,” said USGS director Marcia McNutt. “New USGS science demonstrates how and when excess phosphorous is moving underground from fields to streams, and what underground conditions can mitigate nutrient transport.”
Researchers examined phosphorus quantities and movement in soils, and groundwater in five agricultural settings across the United States, including California, Washington, Nebraska, Indiana and Maryland.
Sites were chosen to represent common variations in soil geochemistry, climate, irrigation usage and cropping systems found across the nation, allowing for the first time, a comparison of factors that contribute to phosphorus movement in shallow aquifers.
The study included assessment of a variety of agricultural practices, so that factors contributing to phosphorus movement via groundwater could be compared.
“Until now, studies of phosphorus transport to streams have been focused on surface-water pathways because it was previously assumed that phosphorus does not dissolve into soil water and is not mobilized to groundwater,” explained USGS researcher Joseph Domagalski. “Farmers and resource managers can use the study information to better manage the application of fertilizer on agricultural fields and minimize phosphorus contamination in downstream water bodies.”
The study examines how iron and other elements present in particles in an aquifer can immobilize phosphorus and remove it from groundwater.
Under the right conditions, such as in the Maryland site, these processes completely limit phosphorus movement in groundwater. However, if aquifer particles are continually exposed to excess phosphorus and become saturated, the excess phosphorus will eventually be transported to a discharge zone, such as a stream.
Using this information, resource managers can evaluate what types of aquifer systems are more likely to transport phosphorus into surface water bodies.
The study also shows that inexpensive soil tests, routinely employed to estimate fertilizer requirements, can be used on deeper soil samples to evaluate the potential for downward movement of phosphorus below the plant rooting depth in agricultural areas.
The potential for groundwater transport of phosphorus can be evaluated with basic geochemical information, such as measurements of pH, dissolved oxygen, and dissolved phosphorus in samples of shallow ground water.
The study of agricultural chemicals is one of several priority topics currently being addressed by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program.
More information about the study is available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3004/ and in the Journal of Hydrology, “Subsurface transport of orthophosphate in five agricultural watersheds,” http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169411005403.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Thursday released annual applicant and appointee data for his administration’s first year of judicial appointments.
Under SB 56, signed in 2006, the governor is required to disclose aggregate statewide demographic data provided by all judicial applicants relative to ethnicity and gender each year by March 1.
In 2011, there were a total of 768 judicial appointment applicants, the Governor's Office reported.
Women accounted for 32 percent of the applicant pool and 33 percent of Governor Brown’s judicial appointments, according to the report.
Nearly one-third of the applicant pool identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African-American, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or other/unknown, and more than half (53 percent) of Gov. Brown’s appointees were from these groups.
Governor Brown’s judicial appointees included a number of notable minority judges, including Goodwin Liu, appointed to the California Supreme Court; Kathleen O’Leary, the first female presiding justice in the history of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three; and Raquel Marquez, the first Latina judge in the history of the Riverside County Superior Court.
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