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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The Tooth Travelers Mobile Dental Program, serving Central and Northern California, will be in Clearlake on Monday, Dec. 6, and Tuesday, Dec. 7.
They will provide free dental services to the residents of Clearlake Apartments, an affordable housing community located at 7145 Old Highway 53 No. 73 Clearlake, CA 95422, with sponsorship provided by Highland Property Development and Hearthstone Housing Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
The mobile dental program includes a fully-equipped mobile unit with two dental operatories, providing a wide range of both preventive and restorative services.
They work in partnership with community health care providers, governmental organizations, private businesses and community service organizations to bring quality dental health care to where it’s most needed.
The nonprofit's partners include community health centers, affordable housing groups, state and county children's programs, homeless collaboratives, veteran's groups, skilled nursing facilities, and other community service agencies and organizations.
The Tooth Travelers Mobile Dental Program is staffed with California licensed dentists, registered dental assistants, dental assistants and support staff with more than 80 years of cumulative experience in oral health.
Oral health and hygiene education, including proper brushing and flossing techniques; preventive services: teeth cleaning, fluoride varnish applications, sealants; treatment includes dental examinations, x-rays, fillings, extractions and selective endodontic procedures.
For more information, visit http://toothtravelers.org/Tooth_Travelers/HOME.html .
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The Warm for the Winter program, led by Clearlake Vice Mayor Joyce Overton, is once again gathering warm clothes, food, blankets, tents and monetary donations.
Overton said that they will hand out the items at the Clearlake Rotary Christmas dinner at Burns Valley School on Saturday, Dec. 11.
She said that she is particularly looking for children's coats, as she has plenty for adults.
Overton said coats do not have to be new, but must be clean and in good shape.
She's also having a food drive, as food banks this year are short.
If someone cannot come to the giveaway, they can call Overton to arrange a dropoff.
For more information, call Overton at 707-350-2898.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The general rate case decision will allow the corporation to raise rates in its 24 California districts. That will add $25.44 million to annual gross revenues beginning Jan. 1, 2011, and an additional $8 million in rate relief that may be obtained after completion of certain capital projects, according to a statement from Cal Water.
The document included a settlement between Cal Water and the CPUC's Division of Ratepayer Advocates that also allows Cal Water to file for smaller increases in the second and third years of the three-year rate case cycle, 2012 and 2013, respectively.
“We believe the decision is balanced and will help ensure that we have adequate resources to continue to provide a reliable supply of high-quality water while providing a reasonable return to stockholders for capital they invest in our water systems,” said Cal Water President and Chief Executive Officer Peter C. Nelson.
Cal Water owns the water system in the Northshore town of Lucerne, which is included in the company's Redwood Valley District. The company previously reported it has 1,279 customers in Lucerne.
The proposed decision stated that Cal Water requested a revenue requirement increase of $683,000 or 54.9 percent for 2011, $135,000 or 7.0 percent for 2012, and $135,000 or 6.6 percent for 2013, for the Redwood Valley District.
The authorized increase for the district will be $516,600 or 41.6 percent for 2011, $39,600 or 2.2 percent for 2012 and $39,200 or 2.2 percent for 2013.
Residential customers with an average annual usage of 15 cubic fee per month can expect their bills to increase by 41.6 percent in 2011, according to the document.
As part of the settlement, Cal Water is allowed to make water main replacements.
Redwood Valley District Manager Gay Guidotti said Thursday that Cal Water had asked for permission for three water main replacement projects in Lucerne, and was approved for two.
One of those – on First Avenue – was just completed, she said.
The second, which is supposed to take place next year, will be on Country Club Drive, between 13th and 17th avenues, she said.
Guidotti said the third project – which it was agreed would be put off for a few years – would tie in the other end of Country Club Drive, crossing the creek and tying into Foothill Drive. She said that is part of finishing off a water main section on First Avenue.
The CPUC's Rate Case Plan requires utilities like Cal Water to file for a general rate case every three years.
The company reported that its next general rate case is scheduled to be filed in July of 2012, with rates effective in January 2014.
Nelson said the company recognizes that some of it customers are struggling in the tough economy, so they provide a range of conservation programs and a low-income rate assistance program. He said the company continues to focus on operational efficiencies in an effort to minimize rate increases.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The IRS identified 249,185 fraudulent tax returns and prevented the issuance of $1.48 billion in fraudulent refunds during the 2010 Filing Season, a 50-percent increase over the number of fraudulent tax returns identified during the 2009 Filing Season, the report found.
Yet the report also found that the returns of those most likely to commit fraud are seldom screened by the IRS.
TIGTA’s analysis found that the majority of tax returns the IRS identifies as being filed by prisoners are not being screened to assess their fraud potential.
The review found that 253,929 (88 percent) of the 287,918 returns filed by prisoners as of March 24, 2010, were not selected for screening. Of those, 48,887 who claimed refunds totaling more than $130 million had no wage information reported to the IRS by employers.
While some of the potential fraud may have been caught by other IRS programs, the report concluded that giving the IRS expanded and expedited access to wage and withholding information during the filing season would significantly increase the IRS’s ability to more efficiently and effectively verify wage and withholding information reported on a tax return at the time a tax return is processed.
“While the IRS is identifying larger numbers of fraudulent returns, improvements must be made to its screening processes to ensure that returns filed by prisoners get adequate scrutiny,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
“Unscrupulous individuals, including prisoners, continue to submit tax returns with false income documents to the IRS for the sole purpose of receiving a fraudulent refund,” he added. “Expanded and expedited access to wage and withholding information would significantly increase the IRS’s ability to verify information reported on a tax return when processed, and prevent fraud.”
The IRS uses data mining to identify potentially fraudulent tax returns using formulas based on specific characteristics of the tax return.
TIGTA assessed the IRS’s processes to identify potentially fraudulent tax returns for screening.
Existing law limits IRS access to wage information submitted by Federal agencies and State workforce agencies to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Only individuals claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit have their wage information submitted to the IRS. In addition, the IRS could benefit from expediting the use of wage and withholding information it receives from the Social Security Administration (SSA).
TIGTA made four recommendations to the IRS, including: seeking increased access to HHS data; verifying whether the 48,887 tax returns with tax refunds that were filed by prisoners with no reported wages were fraudulent; and identifying revisions that could be made to data mining criteria to better identify fraudulent tax returns filed by prisoners.
The IRS disagreed with the amount of potential savings from expanded and expedited access to SSA data and improving verification of prisoner tax returns.
TIGTA’s findings regarding prisoners are similar to its findings in a Sept. 28, 2005, audit, “The Internal Revenue Service Needs to Do More to Stop the Millions of Dollars in Fraudulent Refunds Paid to Prisoners.”
To view the report, including the scope, methodology, and full IRS response, go to: http://www.treas.gov/tigta/auditreports/2010reports/201040129fr.pdf .
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