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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), who represents Lake County in the state Senate, isn’t pleased with the Department of Finance, State Public Works Board and State Department of Parks and Recreation’s plans to solicit concession agreements from private organizations, including for-profits that will undermine efforts by local nonprofits to keep parks open.
In a letter dated Jan. 5, the Department of Finance started the clock on a 20-day notification letter outlining a plan by the Department of Parks and Recreation to the State Public Works Board to consider seeking and approving agreements to operate 11 state parks currently slated for closure.
The State Public Works Board is scheduled to hear the matter at a meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, in State Capitol Room 3191 in Sacramento. The agenda released for the meeting does not say which 11 state parks it will discuss regarding concessions.
Evans is a non-voting legislative appointee to the Board but received no notification of the plan or agenda.
“It’s like they’re offering our State Parks up for sale to the highest bidder,” said Evans, who has six of the 11 parks in her district.
“To learn that Parks is soliciting bids from for-profit private entities for concessions while they negotiate with local nonprofits to keep parks as a community treasures is horrifying,” Evans said. “Local nonprofits will not be able to manage parks if their largest source of revenue is given away to concessionaires.”
According to the Department of Finance’s 20 Day Notification Letter, concessionaires would pay the state up to 3 percent of their revenues, which Evans called “a pittance.”
She said those revenues should be the best source of revenues to keep all State Parks open.
“If this is all the state would receive, it’s a gift of public resources to private entities,” Evans said.
As a result, Evans said local nonprofits, in many cases, could not compete with well-funded private organizations. Further, some of these agreements would be “bundled” to include multiple parks. The process would size-out locals who could operate one or two parks, but not several, effectively eliminating them from competing for contracts.
Currently, locals would be required to put 100 percent of their revenues back into the parks they operate, Evans said.
“It’s a big step toward privatization of a public resource that has taken California 147 years to build,” said Evans. “Any proposal that would undercut local nonprofits and favor private businesses is not acceptable. What’s the next proposal, the Walmart State Park and Recreation System? How does this plan make our parks self-sustaining?”
Evans has been an ardent critic of the park closures, particularly the lack of a legally defensible process used to create the list of 70 parks due to close July 1, 2012.
Recently, she called upon the governor for stronger park leadership, including park protections, stemming from a December 2011 poll by park managers that found most believed the system lacked leadership to protect parks.
She has announced that she will be introducing legislation to review the current closure criteria and examine opportunities for alternative funding.
Based on the board agenda for this week, Evans has requested the item removed to deter further damage to public confidence in park management.
If the item remains, she will be present at the meeting and invites all interested parties to join her in opposing the concession item.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Amidst the winter’s dry conditions a fire broke out on a hillside above Clearlake Oaks late Monday morning.
The fire, first dispatched shortly before noon, occurred near Mountain View Drive, according to Northshore Fire Deputy Chief Pat Brown.
He said firefighters had the fire contained at between three to four acres within 45 minutes of arrival.
Brown said a large contingent of resources were brought in because of the potential threat to four nearby homes.
“It ran the hill pretty fast,” he said, noting the dry conditions.
Northshore Fire sent in four engines and a water tender; Lake County Fire sent a mutual aid engine; and Cal Fire sent a bulldozer, a helicopter, an engine, a hand crew and a battalion chief, Brown said.
Firefighters put down 2,000 feet of hose in order to get the fire contained, according to Brown.
Shortly after 2 p.m. Brown estimated mop up on the hillside would continue for several more hours.
He said the fire’s cause is under investigation, but he was able to pinpoint its origin to an area on the hillside, off of the roadway.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A beautiful variety of personable cats are in the county’s animal shelter and available for adoption immediately.
Flame point Siamese, a “torbie” and tabbies in a variety of colors are awaiting a chance for a new place to call home.
Cats that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed and microchipped 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 there, hoping you'll choose them.
The following cats at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Masked lady
This gold-eyed lady with the partial mask is 2 years old.
She is a domestic long hair mix with calico and white coloring.
She is in cat room kennel No. 3b, ID No. 31400.
Gray lad
This gray male tabby is 3 years old.
He is a domestic long hair with green eyes.
Shelter staff said he is neutered.
Find him in cat room kennel No. 45, ID No. 31398.
Black and white girl
This female domestic short hair has a black and white coat.
She has brown eyes. Her age was not available.
Find her in cat room kennel No. 34, ID No. 31405.
Male flame point Siamese
This male Siamese mix has flame point coloring.
He has a short coat. His age was not available.
He is in cat room kennel No. 6a, ID No. 31370.
Flame point male Siamese
Also available is this second male flame point Siamese mix.
He is a domestic short hair mix.
Find him in cat room kennel No. 6b, ID No. 31371.
Lynx point Siamese and pal
The male lynx point Siamese (at left) and his all-black friend are estimated to be 7 months old.
Both are domestic short hair mixes. The Siamese cat has blue eyes. Neither are neutered.
Shelter staff said the Siamese is very sweet with other cats and dogs.
Look for them in kennel No. 12 in the cat room, reference No. 31306.
Mittens
Mittens is a 7-month-old gray tabby.
He is a domestic short hair mix with green eyes. He is not neutered.
Shelter staff said Mittens is a surrendered kitty. He is very sweet and playful and would do great in any type of home.
He is in cat room kennel No. 16, ID No. 31121.
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- Written by: Dr. Tony Phillips
Forty light years from Earth, a rocky world named "55 Cancri e" circles perilously close to a stellar inferno.
Completing one orbit in only 18 hours, the alien planet is 26 times closer to its parent star than Mercury is to the Sun.
If Earth were in the same position, the soil beneath our feet would heat up to about 3,200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Researchers have long thought that 55 Cancri e must be a wasteland of parched rock.
Now they’re thinking again.
New observations by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope suggest that 55 Cancri e may be wetter and weirder than anyone imagined.
Spitzer recently measured the extraordinarily small amount of light 55 Cancri e blocks when it crosses in front of its star.
These transits occur every 18 hours, giving researchers repeated opportunities to gather the data they need to estimate the width, volume and density of the planet.
According to the new observations, 55 Cancri e has a mass 7.8 times and a radius just over twice that of Earth.
Those properties place 55 Cancri e in the "super-Earth" class of exoplanets, a few dozen of which have been found. Only a handful of known super-Earths, however, cross the face of their stars as viewed from our vantage point in the cosmos, so 55 Cancri e is better understood than most.
When 55 Cancri e was discovered in 2004, initial estimates of its size and mass were consistent with a dense planet of solid rock.
Spitzer data suggest otherwise: About a fifth of the planet's mass must be made of light elements and compounds – including water. Given the intense heat and high pressure these materials likely experience, researchers think the compounds likely exist in a "supercritical" fluid state.
A supercritical fluid is a high-pressure, high-temperature state of matter best described as a liquid-like gas, and a marvelous solvent.
Water becomes supercritical in some steam turbines – and it tends to dissolve the tips of the turbine blades.
Supercritical carbon dioxide is used to remove caffeine from coffee beans, and sometimes to dry-clean clothes. Liquid-fueled rocket propellant is also supercritical when it emerges from the tail of a spaceship.
On 55 Cancri e, this stuff may be literally oozing – or is it steaming? – out of the rocks.
With supercritical solvents rising from the planet’s surface, a star of terrifying proportions filling much of the daytime sky, and whole years rushing past in a matter of hours, 55 Cancri e teaches a valuable lesson: Just because a planet is similar in size to Earth does not mean the planet is like Earth.
It’s something to rethink about.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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