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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 02 January 2024

A new law has created another specialized alert for endangered missing individuals in California.

On Jan. 1, SB 673, which created the new “Ebony Alert,” went into effect.

The legislation was authored by Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) and sponsored by the NAACP California Hawaii State Conference.

It allows law enforcement agencies to request that the California Highway Patrol activate an alert for Black youth — including young women and girls between 12 to 25 years of age — who are reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances, at risk, developmentally disabled, cognitively impaired, or who have been abducted, the CHP reported.

Bradford’s office said that, with the bill becoming law, California will become the first state in the nation to enact a law to combat the crisis of missing Black youth and young Black women.

While Black Americans make up 13% of the nation’s population, Bradford said Black children make up about 38% of all missing child cases and they receive less media attention.

In addition, Bradford’s office said missing young Black women are often subjected to human trafficking. A Congressional Black Caucus Foundation report on human trafficking also found 40% of sex trafficking victims nationally were identified as Black women.

In a support statement for the legislation, Oakland City Councilmember Treva Reid pointed to
Oakland Police Department data that shows that Black people make up 22% of Oakland’s population yet account for about 60% of reported missing persons cases.

The Black and Missing Foundation reported that California ranks in the top states where people of color are disappearing at an alarming rate.

“It is important to continue to raise awareness about this issue and advocate for policies that prioritize finding missing people of color. We must ensure that every missing person is given the same amount of attention and resources, regardless of their race or socioeconomic status,” the foundation said.

Berry Accius, founder and chief executive officer of Voice of the Youth, said of the new legislation, “The Ebony Alert will be a game changer for our communities and a necessary tool to bring missing Black girls and women home.”

Bradford’s office said that, unlike the Amber Alert — which can only be used for children younger than age 18 — the Ebony Alert is broader and can be used to help locate young people between the ages of 12 and 25, including those that are considered runaways and those that are subject to human trafficking.

However, that broader aspect of the Ebony Alert was noted as a concern by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed the bill into law on Oct. 8.

In his signing message, the governor thanked the Legislature for addressing the “well documented disproportionality in the number of children of color who go missing every year.”

However, while he was signing the bill, Newsom added, “my Administration has broader concerns that were clearly expressed to the author throughout the process. The criteria in this bill are expansive and do not align with the criteria in existing alerts such as the Amber Alert, Endangered Missing Advisory, Feather Alert and Silver Alert. Our emergency alert system is dependent on people not being fatigued by it and thus ignoring it. Our challenge is to achieve balance between the imperative to notify the public quickly in cases of missing persons or dangerous situations, but to not desensitize that same public by sending too many notifications.”

In response, Newsom said he’s directed the CHP and the Office of Emergency Services to propose reforms through the budget “to ensure consistency for all of California's alert programs.”

The Ebony Alert joins a suite of other alerts managed by the CHP.

In 2022, two new alerts were approved: The Feather Alert, meant to help locate missing Indigenous people, and the California Statewide Yellow Alert Program, introduced through Assembly Bill 1732, which the CHP said is activated when a person has been killed due to a hit-and-run incident and the law enforcement agency has specified information concerning the suspect or the suspect’s vehicle.

Other alerts include:

• The AMBER Alert — which stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response — that’s been used since 2002 when children age 17 or younger have been abducted;

• The Blue Alert, approved in 2011, that notifies the public when a suspect in the assault or killing of a police officer remains at large and the search is active.

• The Silver Alert, used since 2013 when elderly, developmentally or cognitively-impaired persons are missing and determined to be at-risk.

• The general endangered missing advisory is used when an individual is missing under unexplained or suspicious, and is believed to be in danger due to issues with age, physical and mental health issues, weather, being with a potentially dangerous person or other circumstances.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 02 January 2024

LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Fire Protection District Board is planning a hearing next week to consider increasing its mitigation, or development impact, fees.

The board will hold a public hearing at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9, at the headquarters station, 445 N. Main St.

The documents are available on the district’s website and at the headquarters station during business hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Jan. 9 hearing will allow community members to provide input on the mitigation fee study, completed by Ridgeline Municipal Strategies. The firm’s overview presentation is published below.

The mitigation fee, also known as the development impact fee, is a one-time fee imposed on new development as a condition of approval. It’s meant to pay for public facilities needed to serve new development.

The report explains that mitigation fees can be used to expand the district’s facilities to serve new development, but they cannot be used for maintenance, deficiencies or operations.

The mitigation fee ordinance was adopted in September 1992 in Lake County and in April 2005 in the city of Lakeport.

The report said there have been no significant updates to the fee program in 31 years, other than the city of Lakeport increasing the fee to match the Lake County amount in 2007. The program set the fee ceiling of $1 per square foot but did not include an inflation adjustment provision.

Since the program was implemented, the district has added emergency medical services, and construction costs went from $64 to $70 per square foot to more than $600 per square foot. At the same time, class A engine/pumper trucks have grown in cost from $200,000 to $350,000 to $700,000, and water tenders have risen from between $110,000 to $125,000 to between $400,000 and $550,000, the report said.

The report said the fire mitigation fee methodology is based on future development’s share of existing and future public facility costs.

There are currently 10.8 million square feet of development within the district. Within the next 18 years, it’s projected that there will be 1.1 million square feet of new development.

They’re proposing a total fee of $2 per square foot for residential development and $2.45 per square foot for commercial development.

The new fee is expected to raise revenue of $2.3 million over 18 years.

During that time frame, there will be planned facilities costs of $24.7 million, with $480,000 in available mitigation fee funds and $22 million needed from other sources, according to the report.

In related news, in September, the board voted to raise the Measure M parcel tax rate.

Measure M, passed by voters in 2019, had a beginning rate per benefit unit of $6.14. The ordinance authorizing the measure allowed the board to approve an annual rate increase of up to 3%, based on the San Francisco Consumer Price Index.

The board voted to raise the tax to $6.65, splitting the difference between the minimum increase that would have made the new rate $6.50 and the maximum allowable increase that would have changed the rate to $6.81.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

Lakeport FPD Fire Mitigati by LakeCoNews on Scribd

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Written by: Jane Gifkins, Griffith University

Published: 02 January 2024

 

In the hit dystopian TV series Severance, employees at biotech corporation Lumon Industries find it easy to separate work and home life. A computer chip is inserted in their brains to act as a “mindwipe”. They leave all thoughts of home behind while at work, and completely forget about their work when at home.

While the show explores the pitfalls of such a split in consciousness, there’s no denying it’s a tantalising prospect to be able to “flick the off switch” and forget about work whenever you’re not actually supposed to be working.

This is known as “psychological detachment”. People who can do it are happier and healthier, and experience less fatigue. But many of us struggle to detach and disconnect mentally from work, particularly when our jobs are demanding and stressful.

It may not be enough simply to be physically away from work, particularly in an era when so many of us work from home. We also have to stop thinking about work when we’re not there – whether it’s fretting over your to-do list while out at dinner, thinking about your unanswered emails while you’re at your daughter’s soccer game, or lying in bed pondering what you’ll say at tomorrow’s board meeting.

The art of detachment

Your choice of activity outside work can be crucial to this process of psychological detachment. To learn more about what strategies are most effective, my research surveyed nurses who were working shifts in hospital emergency departments in 2020, a highly stressful work environment.

My colleagues and I collected data from 166 nurses, using a survey called the Recovery Experience Questionnaire. This included collecting information about the underlying psychological experiences associated with home-time activities, such as feeling relaxed while reading a book or going for a walk.

Importantly, our survey results also showed nurses who were better able to forget about work had less fatigue and better physical and mental health.

Our results identified three key strategies that helped our survey participants to reduce fatigue and mentally recover from work:

• exercise
• spending time with family and friends
• leisure pursuits.

The physical benefits of exercise are well known. But exercising – whether it’s doing yoga, going for a run or playing netball – also brings mental benefits by encouraging you to focus deeply on what you’re doing rather than dwelling on outside thoughts.

Friendship and social connection are also good for our wellbeing. Research suggests people who have plenty of friends and confidants are less likely to die from chronic disease. And one study found people who undertake a difficult task with the help of a friend have fewer abrupt changes in heart rate than those who tackle the task alone.

Deliberately making time to spend with family, friends or pets can help us forget about work at home, and to centre our attention instead on what is important to us besides work.

Many of the nurses in our study reduced the effects of fatigue during home time by pursuing hobbies and interests such as sewing or gardening. But you shouldn’t worry too much about what specific activity you pursue – the main thing is to pick something you find pleasurable and engaging, and which fits comfortably around your existing commitments.

Leave your work at work

Finally, switching off from work also means not letting your work come home with you. Where possible, complete all your daily tasks so these aren’t on your mind at home. Unplug from work-related technology by not checking work emails or texts.

Of course, technology and working from home have now made separating work and home even harder. But setting healthy routines can help put mental as well as physical boundaries around your work time – even when your workplace is in the next room.

Jane Gifkins, Researcher, Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, Griffith University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.