LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Rotary Club of Lakeport will hold its second annual drive-through crab feed and online auction at the Lake County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Feb. 19, from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

This year’s event will have a 1950s theme and Rotarians will be dressed accordingly.

“We’re calling this ‘The 50s Cruise Thru Crab Feed,’” said club President Laura McAndrews Sammel. “We’re breaking out the poodle skirts and rolled cuff Levis and probably a classic car or two this year.”

Tickets, which are available on the club website, cost $65. That’s for a complete crab dinner featuring two pounds of hot cracked crab and a pound of fresh shrimp, as well as tossed salad, warm bread rolls and cake pops from Our Tiny Diner.

Also available for an additional $20 is a quart of clam chowder. Local wines can be purchased for $20 a bottle and take-home butter warmers are available for $15.

As part of the crab-packed weekend, Lakeport Rotary is holding an online auction beginning on Friday, Feb. 18, at 9 a.m.

Auction items include a scenic flight around Clear Lake with Jennifer Strong, a canning demonstration with Strong, dinner for four people at Ripe Choice Farm, Tiny Diner dinner for four, a wine box surprise, Lakeport Main Street Association Basket of events, ice cream social for six at Sweet Pea’s Parlor, Bunkhouse brunch for four at Tom and Ruth Lincoln’s bunkhouse, two tickets to the wine tour passport event by the Lake County Winery Association, a day with Sheriff Brian Martin, a gift card “mashup,” Girl Scout Cookie basket, and, finally, a mixed case of Lake County wines donated by David and Natalie Moon-Wainwright.

There will also be a number of home-baked desserts auctioned as well. The dessert auction closes at 2 p.m. sharp on Saturday, Feb. 19, and the main auction will close on Sunday, Feb. 20, at 9 p.m.

This year’s event is sponsored by Strong Financial Network, Lake County Tribal Health, Management Connections, Dr. Mark Buehnerkemper, Kelseyville Lumber, Adventist Health, Pro Farms and The Geysers Calpine., State Farm Agent Nanette Dutcher, Farmers Insurance, Foods Etc., Skylark Shores Resort.

Wine sponsors include Frey Vineyards, Chacewater Winery & Olive Mill, Brassfield Estate Winery, Boatique, Laujor Estate, Mt. Konocti Winery, Guenoc Winery, Cache Creek and Six Sigma.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has a shelter filled with dogs waiting to meet their new and loving families.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of American Staffordshire terrier, Anatolian shepherd, Australian cattle dog, border collie, Brussels Griffon, Chihuahua, fox terrier, German shepherd, Great Pyrenees, husky, Labrador retriever, Rhodesian ridgeback, Shar-Pei, shepherd, pit bull and wirehaired terrier.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control website not listed are still “on hold”).

Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.

Female German shepherd

This female German shepherd has a short black and tan coat.

She is in kennel No. 4, ID No. LCAC-A-2598.

‘Colt’

“Colt’ is a 3-year-old male pit bull with a short tan and white coat.

He is in kennel No. 5, ID No. LCAC-A-2429.

Female fox terrier

This 2-year-old female fox terrier has a short brown and white coat.

She is in kennel No. 6, ID No. LCAC-A-2628.

Male fox terrier

This 5-year-old male fox terrier has a short black and white coat.

He is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-2637.

‘Jingo’

“Jingo” is a 3-year-old male Labrador retriever with a short black coat.

He is in kennel No. 9, ID No. LCAC-A-2636.

‘Panda’

“Panda” is a 3-year-old male pit bull mix with a short black and white coat.

He is in kennel No. 11, ID No. LCAC-A-361.

‘Ruby’

“Ruby” is a 2-year-old female Shar-Pei-Rhodesian ridgeback mix with a short tan coat.

She is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-2560.

Male pit bull

This 2-year-old male pit bull has a short black and white coat.

He is in kennel No. 14, ID No. LCAC-A-2473.

‘Jackson’

“Jackson” is a 2-year-old male Chihuahua with a short cream and tan coat.

He is in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-2588.

Male pit bull

This 2-year-old male pit bull has a short brindle coat.

He is in kennel No. 16, ID No. LCAC-A-2462.

Male husky mix

This 2-year-old male husky mix has a short black and tan coat.

He is in kennel No. 17, ID No. LCAC-A-2512.

‘Max’

“Max” is a 4-year-old male Labrador retriever with a black coat.

He is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-2635.

Anatolian shepherd mix

This 2-year-old female Anatolian shepherd mix has a short tan coat with black markings.

She is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-2535.

Great Pyrenees-shepherd mix

This 4-year-old male Great Pyrenees-shepherd mix has a tan and black coat.

He is in kennel No. 24, ID No. LCAC-A-2593.

Male Chihuahua

This 4-year-old male Chihuahua has a short tan and white coat.

He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-2640.

Male Brussels Griffon

This 2-year-old male Brussels Griffon has a white coat.

He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-2623.

Female border collie mix

This 3-year-old female border collie mix has a tricolor coat and blue eyes.

She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-2641.

‘Turbo’

“Turbo” is a 2-year-old male wirehaired terrier with a cream-colored coat.

He is in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-2587.

‘Iris’

“Iris” is a 3-year-old American Staffordshire terrier with a short black coat with white markings.

She is in kennel No. 32, ID No. LCAC-A-1727.

Shepherd-Australian cattle dog mix

This 1-year-old female shepherd-Australian cattle dog mix has a cream and white coat.

She is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-2534.

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.

When our thoughts turn to the “Big Game” or the championship game of the National Football League, we think food — especially of the snack variety.

Whether we gather around a big-screen TV at home or enjoy a pre-game tailgate party in the stadium’s parking lot, it’s all about the food: chips, popcorn, pretzels, dip, crackers and the like are “Big Game” staples.

How much do we love our snacks around this time of year? The U.S. Census Bureau serves up plenty of data providing a glimpse into our passion for snacks.

We love our snacks

Snack food manufacturing consists of establishments primarily engaged in one or more of the following:

• Salting, roasting, drying, cooking or canning nuts.
• Processing grains or seeds into snacks.
• Manufacturing peanut butter.
• Manufacturing potato chips, corn chips, popped popcorn, pretzels (except soft), pork rinds and similar snacks.

According to the 2019 County Business Patterns (CBP), there were 717 Snack Food Manufacturing establishments in the United States that employed 62,758 paid workers during the pay period including March 12 in 2019.

The CBP shows that the state with the greatest number of snack food manufacturing establishments was California with 141, followed by Texas (59) and Pennsylvania (56).

There are other Census Bureau data sources for snack food manufacturing establishments, too.

According to the 2017 Economic Census, there were 667 establishments in the United States, with 56,516 employees and sales of $38.8 billion in 2017.

More data available on the Manufacturing: Summary Statistics for the U.S., States, and Selected Geographies: 2017.

According to the 2020-2019 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM), snack food manufacturing establishments had sales of $40.4 billion in 2020 and $39.6 billion in sales in 2019.

More data available on the Annual Survey of Manufactures: Summary Statistics for Industry Groups and Industries in the U.S.: 2018 - 2020.

Adam Grundy and Tonja White are supervisory statisticians in the Census Bureau’s Economic Management Division.

Exoplanets come in shapes and sizes that are not found in our solar system. These include small gaseous planets called mini-Neptunes and rocky planets several times Earth's mass called super-Earths.

Now, astronomers have identified two different cases of "mini-Neptune" planets that are losing their puffy atmospheres and likely transforming into super-Earths. Radiation from the planets' stars is stripping away their atmospheres, driving the hot gas to escape like steam from a pot of boiling water.

The new findings help paint a picture of how exotic worlds like these form and evolve, and help explain a curious gap in the size distribution of planets found around other stars.

Mini-Neptunes are smaller, denser versions of the planet Neptune in our solar system, and are thought to consist of large rocky cores surrounded by thick blankets of gas. In the new studies, a team of astronomers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to look at two mini-Neptunes orbiting HD 63433, a star located 73 light-years away.

And they used the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii to study one of two mini-Neptune planets in the star system called TOI 560, located 103 light-years away.

Their results show that atmospheric gas is escaping from the innermost mini-Neptune in TOI 560, called TOI 560.01 (also known as HD 73583b), and from the outermost mini-Neptune in HD 63433, called HD 63433c. This suggests that they could be turning into super-Earths.

"Most astronomers suspected that young, mini-Neptunes must have evaporating atmospheres," said Michael Zhang, lead author of both studies and a graduate student at Caltech. "But nobody had ever caught one in the process of doing so until now."

The study also found, surprisingly, that the gas around TOI 560.01 was escaping predominantly toward the star.

"This was unexpected, as most models predict that the gas should flow away from the star," said professor of planetary science Heather Knutson of Caltech, Zhang's advisor and a co-author of the study. "We still have a lot to learn about how these outflows work in practice."

New clues to missing link in planetary types

Since the first exoplanets orbiting sun-like stars were discovered in the mid-1990s, thousands of other exoplanets have been found. Many of these orbit close to their stars, and the smaller, rocky ones generally fall into two groups: the mini-Neptunes and super-Earths.

The super-Earths are as large as 1.6 times the size of Earth (and occasionally as large as 1.75 times the size of Earth), while the mini-Neptunes are between 2 and 4 times the size of Earth. Planets of these types are not found in our solar system. In fact, few planets with sizes between these two ranges have been detected around other stars.

One possible explanation for this size-gap is that the mini-Neptunes are transforming into the super-Earths. The mini-Neptunes are theorized to be cocooned by primordial atmospheres made of hydrogen and helium. The hydrogen and helium are left over from the formation of the central star, which is born out of clouds of gas.

If a mini-Neptune is small enough and close enough to its star, stellar X-rays and ultraviolet radiation can strip away its primordial atmosphere over a period of hundreds of millions of years, scientists theorize. This would then leave behind a rocky super-Earth with a substantially smaller diameter (which could, in theory, still retain a relatively thin atmosphere similar to that surrounding our planet Earth).

"A planet in the size-gap would have enough atmosphere to puff up its radius, making it intercept more stellar radiation and thereby enabling fast mass loss," said Zhang. "But the atmosphere is thin enough that it gets lost quickly. This is why a planet wouldn't stay in the gap for long."

Other scenarios could explain the size-gap, according to the astronomers. For instance, the smaller rocky planets might have never gathered gas envelopes in the first place, and mini-Neptunes could be water worlds and not enveloped in hydrogen gas.

This latest discovery of two mini-Neptunes with escaping atmospheres represents the first direct evidence to support the theory that mini-Neptunes are indeed turning into super-Earths.

Signatures in the sunlight

The astronomers were able to detect the escaping atmospheres by watching the mini-Neptunes cross in front of, or transit, their host stars.

The planets cannot be seen directly but when they pass in front of their stars as seen from our point of view on Earth, telescopes can look for absorption of starlight by atoms in the planets' atmospheres.

In the case of the mini-Neptune TOI 560.01, the researchers found signatures of helium. For the star system HD 63433, the team found signatures of hydrogen in the outermost planet they studied, called HD 63433c, but not the inner planet, HD 63433b.

"The inner planet may have already lost its atmosphere," explained Zhang.

"The speed of the gases provides the evidence that the atmospheres are escaping. The observed helium around TOI 560.01 is moving as fast as 20 kilometers per second, while the hydrogen around HD 63433c is moving as fast as 50 kilometers per second. The gravity of these mini-Neptunes is not strong enough to hold on to such fast-moving gas. The extent of the outflows around the planets also indicates escaping atmospheres; the cocoon of gas around TOI 560.01 is at least 3.5 times as large as the radius of the planet, and the cocoon around HD 63433c is at least 12 times the radius of the planet."

The observations also revealed that the gas lost from TOI 560.01 was flowing toward the star. Future observations of other mini-Neptunes should reveal if TOI 560.01 is an anomaly or whether an inward-moving atmospheric outflow is more common.

"As exoplanet scientists, we've learned to expect the unexpected," Knutson said. "These exotic worlds are constantly surprising us with new physics that goes beyond what we observe in our solar system."

The findings are being published in two separate papers in The Astronomical Journal.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — I grew up believing that food is meant to be shared with family. To my great surprise, my family is not the only one who thinks so.

Among oak woodlands and local parks is the charismatic acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus), a social, rowdy and extremely hardworking species of bird.

The acorn woodpecker also is known as the “clown” bird because of its striking facial color pattern, red crown, and yellowish forehead and throat. Its back is black and slightly bluish with pale white eyes. And like a true clown you can hear it clowning around, projecting big laughs and calls to its family.

When they fly they seem to bounce, going up and down imaginary hills in the air until they reach their destination. It usually inhabits oak forests (Quercus spp.), mixed forests with pine (Pinus) and oak, in addition to spruce (Pseudotsuga) and redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests.

The acorn woodpecker family is like a small colony, composed of a dozen or more birds. They may be monogamous, polyandrous or polygynous. When caring for young, their parenting style is cooperative — one for all and all for one! They take turns feeding and protecting the family's young.

In mid-fall, acorn woodpecker families are in search of acorns. Acorns are the fruits of oak trees. The acorn is a fruit with a hard shell that protects the seed and is protected by a cup-shaped dome on top. Like everything in nature, they are varied, some elongated, others round.

Oak trees have irregular cycles. In some years they produce many acorns, where the floors of trails and parks are covered with these nuts. In a great year, an oak tree can produce up to 10,000 nuts! But curiously in other years, there is no trace of any.

Most species of woodpeckers typically use their chisel-like beaks to peck trees and build their nests. In the bird world, the acorn woodpecker is the only one that, apart from using its beak to build nests, also uses it to store food. This behavior and great strength help to create holes and store acorns to eat in the winter.

These acorns are collected by and for the whole family. The family cares for and protects the same oak tree that is maintained and used for generations.

Holes are drilled in dry trunks and branches. Dry trees are preferred, as the sap can affect the acorns. One family may drill millions of holes in a single tree. This is known as a granary tree. But the work doesn’t end after the holes are created — the fun is just beginning!

The birds will now have the responsibility of checking that the acorns are not loose. If they are, they are moved to a better fitting hole, because if the acorns get loose, they will be food for other companions — such as the California ground squirrel or the California scrub jay.

Oak trees are not the only places where acorns are stored. These clever birds have adapted to using human-made structures. Holes can be seen in telephone poles, house shingles, virtually any structure made of wood. In some cases, they use natural holes.

And as in any family pantry, food varies. The diet of the acorn woodpecker, in addition to acorns, includes fruits, insects, flowers and sap.

This season, remember that where there’s an oak tree, there’s sure to be an acorn woodpecker. When you least expect it, you will hear the “waka, waka, waka” cackle echoing around. When you hear it, you may not be able to see it, but you will still be able to appreciate what a determined, family bird it is.

Martha Cerda is a naturalist in Pleasanton, a city in the East Bay. She works at a historic park interpreting the local and natural history of the site. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring the endless beauty of nature and connecting with diverse communities. Tuleyome is a Woodland, California-based nonprofit conservation organization.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — On Feb. 7, the California Department of Public Health announced modifications to state-mandated COVID-19 precautions, which had been enhanced this winter to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.

Effective Wednesday, Feb. 16, the requirement for all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks in all indoor public settings will be lifted.

“Since California’s peak during the Omicron surge, the state has experienced a 65% decrease in case rates,” the California Department of Public Health reported.

State Public Health officials continue to recommend indoor masking “when [COVID-19] risk may be high.” The current hospital census remained “over capacity” at the time of their announcement.

Dr. Gary Pace, who has been acting at interim Public Health officer, advised Lake County residents that masking will still be required for unvaccinated individuals in all indoor public settings.

In addition, all individuals in high risk settings will be required to mask, including on public transit and transportation hubs, indoors in K-12 schools and child care settings, emergency shelters and cooling and heating centers, health care settings, state and local correctional facilities and detention centers, homeless Shelters, and long-term care settings and adult and senior care facilities.

The Board of Supervisors will discuss masking in county facilities on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

COVID-19 risk in Lake County compared to other areas of the state

Pace said Lake County lagged broader statewide trends in entering the Omicron surge.

“While new cases are likewise trending downward here, our case rate remains higher than the statewide rate,” Pace said.

As of Wednesday, Feb. 9, testing positivity sat at 20.0%, more than double the 8.7% Statewide rate.

Pace said COVID-19 remains prevalent in Lake County’s communities, and decreased masking in public settings will bring some increased general risk of transmission.

Lessening of statewide mandates is a sign of positive trends around the state, he said.

“We ask that all Lake County residents remain sensitive to the fact COVID-19 still presents significant risk, particularly to the most medically vulnerable among us,” Pace said.

“Continuing to voluntarily take common sense measures to reduce risk will be important as we work together to navigate this next phase,” Pace added. “Thank you all for your tremendous sacrifices and efforts over the past two years. You have made, and continue to make, a difference.”

Being married is significant both for a married person’s lifetime estate planning and subsequent administration of the estate at death. Important rights and responsibilities exist between married persons.

The capacity — or understanding — necessary to be able to marry is low. It is very difficult to invalidate a marriage afterward.

In California, “[t]wo unmarried persons 18 years of age or older, who are not otherwise disqualified, are capable of consenting to and consummating marriage [section 301 Family Code].”

Even a person who is conserved due to being severely incapacitated can marry unless there a court order says otherwise. Unfortunately, predatory persons sometimes marry susceptible persons to take advantage of being married.

Sometimes a person may in good faith believe themselves married when they are not. A so-called, “putative spouse” is someone who is found by a court to have genuinely believed that he or she was legitimately married although the marriage was invalid, void or voidable due to some legal defect affecting the union, e.g., bigamy.

Once married, each spouse owes the other spouse a, “ … duty of the highest good faith and fair dealing … and neither shall take unfair advantage of the other [section 721(b) Family Code].”

Marital earnings are community property and belong equally to both spouses. Anything acquired while married and living together in California is presumed to be community property.

Community property assets are generally liable for the debts of either spouse incurred before or during marriage (Family Code sections 900 et. seq.).

It is possible for the earnings of the non-debtor spouse to become answerable for the premarital debts of the debtor spouse. This is true even if only one spouse is a party to the debt or to the judgment (Family Code section 910(a)).

Two important exceptions exist: First, if a married person puts his or her earnings during marriage (i.e community property) into a separate bank account that their spouse cannot access then these deposited earnings are not liable for the debtor spouse’s debts incurred prior to marriage; and second, the debts of a deceased spouse’s last illness and funeral are chargeable against the deceased spouse’s own estate, i.e., the deceased spouse’s separate property and one-half of the community property estate.

Conversely, a married person’s own separate property is not answerable for their spouse’s own premarital debts or for any marital debts allocated by court order, either at divorce or at death, to their spouse.

If a married person dies intestate, i.e., without a will, the surviving spouse is entitled to inherit all of the couple’s community property and either one-third or one-half of the deceased spouse’s own separate property.

Similarly if a married person dies without having updated their estate planning after getting married, the surviving spouse is presumed to be an unintentionally, “omitted spouse” and so is entitled to an intestate share.

Moreover, if a probate is commenced, a surviving spouse can petition for a probate homestead to be set-aside for the decedent’s surviving spouse and minor children. Probates are generally not used by a spouse to inherit from a deceased spouse’s estate. A so-called “spousal property petition” allows the surviving spouse to claim assets either under the decedent’s will or the laws of intestacy without probate.

In California, pre and post marital agreements allow couples an opportunity to dictate their property rights and legal obligations to each other once married in some important ways. Such agreements require separate representation of each party and full disclosure of each party’s assets and income.

Premarital agreements, for example, can be used to confirm one’s property rights in each party’s separate property and prevent the community estate from gaining an interest in either spouse’s own separate property. It can also address spousal support but cannot address child support.

In sum, marriage creates rights and responsibilities that have affect during life and at death. Estate planning is done with these rights and responsibilities in mind.

The foregoing is a brief discussion of a more complex and broader subject. It is not legal advice. Anyone confronting such issues should consult with a qualified attorney.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control continues to offer a large number of dogs to new homes.

The City of Clearlake Animal Association also is seeking fosters for the animals waiting to be adopted.

Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.

Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.

The newest dogs are listed at the top of the following list.

‘Andy’

“Andy” is a male American pit bull mix with a short gray and white coat.

He is dog No. 48995415.

‘Annie’

“Annie” is a female Labrador retriever mix with a short black coat.

She is dog No. 49409961.

‘Arnold’

“Arnold” is a male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a short brindle coat with white markings.

He is dog No. 49029348.

‘Bear’

“Bear” is a male Labrador retriever-American pit bull mix with a short charcoal and fawn coat.

He has been neutered.

He is dog No. 48443153.

‘Bear No. 2’

“Bear No. 2” is a male American pit bull mix with a short tan coat.

He has been neutered.

He is dog No. 48731556.

‘Bella’

“Bella” is a female American pit bull mix with a short gray brindle coat.

She has been spayed.

She is dog No. 48448381.

‘Chai’

“Chai” is a female Alaskan husky mix with a gray and white coat.

She has been spayed.

She is dog No. 49279552.

‘Claire’

“Claire” is a female border collie mix with a short black and white coat.

She has been spayed.

Claire is dog No. 49397880.

‘Ebenezer’

“Ebenezer” is a male American pit bull terrier mix with a short tan and white coat.

He is dog No. 49191651.

‘Edgar’

“Edgar” is a male terrier-American pit bull mix with a black and cream coat.

He has been neutered.

He is dog No. 48634546.

‘Fritz’

“Fritz” is a male Australian shepherd mix with a black and white coat.

He is dog No. 49278179.

‘Isabella’

“Isabella” is a female Chihuahua mix with a short tan coat.

She is dog No. 49292130.

‘Jaxx’

“Jaxx” is a male Doberman pinscher mix with a black and rust-colored coat.

He has been neutered.

He is dog No. 49022184.

‘Levi’

“Levi” is a male golden retriever-Labrador retriever mix.

He has a short golden coat.

He is dog No. 48975687.

‘Maria’

“Maria” is a female Shar-Pei mix with a short tan coat.

She is dog No. 49047315.

‘Maui’

“Maui” is a male Labrador retriever mix with a short black coat and white markings.

He is dog No. 49334317.

‘Nala’

“Nala” is a 1-year-old female German shepherd mix.

She has a medium-length black and tan coat.

She is dog No. 48289638.

‘Noodle’

“Noodle” is a male Alaskan husky mix with a black and white coat.

He is dog No. 49375787.

‘Priscilla’

“Priscilla” is a female Brittany spaniel mix with a white and copper coat.

She is dog No. 49089138.

‘Sassy’

“Sassy” is a female American pit bull mix with a short black coat.

She has been spayed.

She is dog No. 48443128.

‘Snowball’

“Snowball” is a male American Staffordshire mix terrier with a white coat.

He is dog No. 49159168.

‘Terry’

“Terry” is a male shepherd mix with a short brindle coat.

He is dog No. 48443693.

‘Turk’

“Turk” is a male chocolate Labrador retriever mix.

He is dog No. 48911836.

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.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has taken its first visible light images of the surface of Venus from space.

Smothered in thick clouds, Venus’ surface is usually shrouded from sight. But in two recent flybys of the planet, Parker used its Wide-Field Imager, or WISPR, to image the entire nightside in wavelengths of the visible spectrum – the type of light that the human eye can see – and extending into the near-infrared.

The images, combined into a video, reveal a faint glow from the surface that shows distinctive features like continental regions, plains, and plateaus. A luminescent halo of oxygen in the atmosphere can also be seen surrounding the planet.

“We’re thrilled with the science insights Parker Solar Probe has provided thus far,” said Nicola Fox, division director for the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “Parker continues to outperform our expectations, and we are excited that these novel observations taken during our gravity assist maneuver can help advance Venus research in unexpected ways.”

Such images of the planet, often called Earth’s twin, can help scientists learn more about Venus’ surface geology, what minerals might be present there, and the planet’s evolution. Given the similarities between the planets, this information can help scientists on the quest to understand why Venus became inhospitable and Earth became an oasis.

“Venus is the third brightest thing in the sky, but until recently we have not had much information on what the surface looked like because our view of it is blocked by a thick atmosphere,” said Brian Wood, lead author on the new study and physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. “Now, we finally are seeing the surface in visible wavelengths for the first time from space.”

Unexpected capabilities

The first WISPR images of Venus were taken in July 2020 as Parker embarked on its third flyby, which the spacecraft uses to bend its orbit closer to the Sun. WISPR was designed to see faint features in the solar atmosphere and wind, and some scientists thought they might be able to use WISPR to image the cloud tops veiling Venus as Parker passed the planet.

“The objective was to measure the speed of the clouds,” said WISPR project scientist Angelos Vourlidas, co-author on the new paper and researcher at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

But instead of just seeing clouds, WISPR also saw through to the surface of the planet. The images were so striking that the scientists turned on the cameras again during the fourth pass in February 2021. During the 2021 flyby, the spacecraft’s orbit lined up perfectly for WISPR to image Venus’ nightside in entirety.

“The images and video just blew me away,” Wood said.

Glowing like an iron from the forge

Clouds obstruct most of the visible light coming from Venus’ surface, but the very longest visible wavelengths, which border the near-infrared wavelengths, make it through. On the dayside, this red light gets lost amid the bright sunshine reflected off Venus’ cloud tops, but in the darkness of night, the WISPR cameras were able to pick up this faint glow caused by the incredible heat emanating from the surface.

“The surface of Venus, even on the nightside, is about 860 degrees,” Wood said. “It's so hot that the rocky surface of Venus is visibly glowing, like a piece of iron pulled from a forge.”

As it passed by Venus, WISPR picked up a range of wavelengths from 470 nanometers to 800 nanometers. Some of that light is the near-infrared – wavelengths that we cannot see, but sense as heat – and some is in the visible range, between 380 nanometers and about 750 nanometers.

Venus in a new light

In 1975, the Venera 9 lander sent the first tantalizing glimpses of the surface after landing on Venus. Since then, Venus’ surface has been revealed further with radar and infrared instruments, which can peer through the thick clouds by using wavelengths of light invisible to the human eye.

NASA’s Magellan mission created the first maps in the 1990s using radar and JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft gathered infrared images after reaching orbit around Venus in 2016. The new images from Parker add to these findings by extending the observations to red wavelengths at the edge of what we can see.

The WISPR images show features on the Venusian surface, such as the continental region Aphrodite Terra, the Tellus Regio plateau, and the Aino Planitia plains. Since higher altitude regions are about 85 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than lower areas, they show up as dark patches amidst the brighter lowlands. These features can also be seen in previous radar images, such as those taken by Magellan.

Beyond looking at surface features, the new WISPR images will help scientists better understand the geology and mineral make-up of Venus. When heated, materials glow at unique wavelengths.

By combining the new images with previous ones, scientists now have a wider range of wavelengths to study, which can help identify what minerals are on the surface of the planet.

Such techniques have previously been used to study the surface of the Moon. Future missions will continue to expand this range of wavelengths, which will contribute to our understanding of habitable planets.

This information could also help scientists understand the planet’s evolution. While Venus, Earth, and Mars all formed around the same time, they are very different today. The atmosphere on Mars is a fraction of Earth’s while Venus has a much thicker atmosphere.

Scientists suspect volcanism played a role in creating the dense Venusian atmosphere, but more data are needed to know how. The new WISPR images might provide clues about how volcanoes may have affected the planet’s atmosphere.

In addition to the surface glow, the new images show a bright ring around the edge of the planet caused by oxygen atoms emitting light in the atmosphere. Called airglow, this type of light is also present in Earth’s atmosphere, where it’s visible from space and sometimes from the ground at night.

Flyby science

While Parker Solar Probe’s primary goal is solar science, the Venusian flybys are providing exciting opportunities for bonus data that wasn’t expected at the mission’s launch.

WISPR has also imaged Venus’ orbital dust ring – a doughnut-shaped track of microscopic particles strewn in the wake of Venus’ orbit around the Sun – and the FIELDS instrument made direct measurements of radio waves in the Venusian atmosphere, helping scientists understand how the upper atmosphere changes during the Sun’s 11-year cycle of activity.

In December 2021, researchers published new findings about the rediscovery of the comet-like tail of plasma streaming out behind Venus, called a “tail ray”. The new results showed this tail of particles extending nearly 5,000 miles out from the Venusian atmosphere. This tail could be how Venus’ water escaped from the planet, contributing to its current dry and inhospitable environment.

While the geometry of the next two flybys likely won’t allow Parker to image the nightside, scientists will continue to use Parker’s other instruments to study Venus’ space environment. In November 2024, the spacecraft will have a final chance to image the surface on its seventh and final flyby.

The future of Venus research

Parker Solar Probe, which is built and operated by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, isn’t the first mission to gather bonus data on flybys, but its recent successes have inspired other missions to turn on their instruments as they pass Venus.

In addition to Parker, the ESA (European Space Agency) BepiColombo mission and the ESA and NASA Solar Orbiter mission have decided to gather data during their flybys in the coming years.

More spacecraft are headed to Venus around the end of this decade with NASA’s DAVINCI and VERITAS missions and ESA’s EnVision mission. These missions will help image and sample Venus’ atmosphere, as well as remap the surface at higher resolution with infrared wavelengths. This information will help scientists determine the surface mineral make-up and better understand the planet’s geologic history.

“By studying the surface and atmosphere of Venus, we hope the upcoming missions will help scientists understand the evolution of Venus and what was responsible for making Venus inhospitable today,” said Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters. “While both DAVINCI and VERITAS will use primarily near-infrared imaging, Parker’s results have shown the value of imaging a wide range of wavelengths.”

Mara Johnson-Groh works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s sheriff, district attorney and chief deputy district attorney spoke to the Middletown Area Town Hall on Thursday evening about crime in the south county and challenges law enforcement is facing due to changing laws and hiring.

Sheriff Brian Martin, District Attorney Susan Krones and Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff spoke to MATH members and fielded questions during the first half of the group’s monthly meeting, held via Zoom.

They were asked to speak to the group, whose members have been concerned about crime in their communities.

One aspect of the discussion involved homelessness. Martin explained that driving factors include mental health, drug and alcohol abuse, high housing costs, voluntariness, domestic violence and lack of family support.

He referenced the 2021 point in time count that found 241 people in Lake County who met the federal definition of homeless, down from 572 the previous year. Of those, 36% self-identified as having chronic health issues, 19% said they receive disability benefits and 227 said they have lived in Lake County for more than five years.

Of that group, 177 people said they were homeless because of Lake County’s wildland fires.

Among those reported to be homeless, Martin said the ages range from 5 months to 94 years old.

Martin also discussed the impacts of prison realignment, which began in 2011. By 2014, county jail populations had skyrocketed and the Lake County Jail capacity, which was rated for 286 inmates, reached its highest level, at more than 400.

He said lawsuits were filed in several counties due to jail overpopulation, and in 2014, 19 of 58 county jail systems were operating under court-ordered population caps.

Martin, Krones and Hinchcliff would fault voter ballot measures such as Proposition 47, the “Safe Neighborhood and Schools Act, passed in 2014, and Proposition 57, passed in 2016, for negatively impacting efforts to reduce crime.

Martin said Proposition 47 reduced a number of felonies to misdemeanors, including property crimes valued at less than $950 — shoplifting, grand theft, receiving stolen property, forgery, fraud and bad checks — as well as personal use of most illegal drugs.

Adding to the challenge are record case backlogs. Martin said many offenders now are failing to even show up for court appearances. Court clerks in Lake County are now adding a notation to case numbers indicating how many times a person has failed to appear in the same case. Martin said one individual has failed to appear eight separate times.

Martin said the 2021 Humphrey decision by the California Supreme Court found that the state's practice of requiring cash bail in most cases is unconstitutional. As a result, courts must now consider all non-monetary alternatives to detention, such as electronic monitoring, check-ins with pretrial case managers, community housing or shelter, stay away orders, and drug and alcohol testing and treatment.

He said courts also must consider a defendant's ability to pay and set bail at the defendant can reasonably pay.

If the court concludes that public or victim safety, or the arrestee's appearance in court, can't be reasonably assured if the individual is released, it may detain them only if it finds clear and convincing evidence that no nonfinancial condition of release can reasonably protect those interests, Martin said.

Martin also discussed the challenges in staffing for his department while at the same time incidents are growing in number.

In 2005, the sheriff's department had 163 employees. Today it has 118, with Martin noting during the discussion that he has 30 vacancies. The sheriff’s office received reports of 39,799 incidents in 2021, of which 5,337 were in the Middletown area.

In reviewing crime statistics for 2021, Martin said he noted that burglaries jumped for some reason in Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake.

Out of the 19 burglaries that occurred in that area, five were in Hidden Valley — three of them took place outside of the gates in the shopping center — and 14 occurred in Middletown.

The Hidden Valley Lake cases included a pharmacy smash-and-grab, a golf cart that was stolen and recovered and appeared to be the work of juveniles — deputies found tracks from “smaller than adult size feet” during the investigation — along with a stolen firearm from a house in which the suspect likely knew the victim, and two construction site burglaries, Martin said.

In one of those construction site burglaries, the victim is not assisting. However, in the second, a suspect has been identified and linked to crimes in the city of Clear Lake. Martin said the property has been recovered and they are awaiting an arrest warrant from the District Attorney's Office.

Regarding the 14 burglaries in the Middletown area, Martin said one of them involved the theft of three bags of pellets from a store, theft of money from a laundromat, a weed eater that was stolen from a storage shed in an apartment complex, money stolen from the closet of a residence, two residential burglaries at homes near Highway 29, a storage container lock that was cut and a weed eater stolen, a suspect arrested for being under the influence and found to have committed a burglary earlier in which he stole a car and a residential burglary in which guns were stolen in the victim is not assisting.

Another residential and community burglary involved a suspect who was arrested and has had seven counts filed against him by the district attorney. However, that suspect, identified by Martin as 29-year-old Luke Parker of Kelseyville, was released from jail and is at large. Martin warned people not to attend to apprehend Parker themselves.

Other burglaries in that group of 14 included one in connection to a domestic violence case, commercial burglaries on Main and one at Crazy Creek Gliders, for which there was a partial property recovery, and a burglary at an antique store, Martin said.

Martin urged community members to secure their property, don't leave items in plain sight, get security cameras, and alarm systems, know their neighbors and get serial numbers of property.

Those with security cameras can join the sheriff’s camera registry program at http://www.lakesheriff.com/Programs/Cameras.htm.

District attorney’s staff discusses law changes

Krones said under the new laws there is no incentive for people to stop stealing.

She said she’s among a group of 27 district attorneys from across the state that have filed an injunction against the California Department of Corrections for an increase to good conduct credits given to prisoners convicted of serious violent felonies.

She said new laws that went into effect in January take away the discretion of judges in sentencing in some situations, requiring them to give the middle terms unless aggravating factors are proved.

Another sentencing guideline involves younger offenders. If an individual is under age 26 when offense committed, the presumptive term is the low term, she said.

“We have an uphill battle to get even to the midterm, even in the most horrendous of offenses,” Krones said.

She also explained the no bail practice, which was implemented for most offenses due to COVID-19. “This has continued for the last two years.”

No bail and the Humphreys decision have added to the problem, with most people now being released or cited. As a result, “We’ve had a lot of failures to appear over the last two years,” Krones said.

Hinchcliff said Proposition 47 has “caused a huge increase in petty thefts in this county and all across the state,” explaining that people can commit repeated crimes with thefts of under $950 and never be prosecuted for a felony.

Hinchcliff, who was raised in Lake County and has been with the District Attorney’s Office for 27 years, said there are many people working in the agency who care about the community and have stayed to serve it.

“We’re doing everything that we can,” but Hinchcliff said their hands have been tied by voters passing bad laws that impact law enforcement.

He outlined the three biggest problems that he thinks need to be addressed to reduce crime:

• There is not enough treatment for people with mental health issues and drugs. He said it’s estimated that more than 90% of homeless individuals who are committing crimes day after day have serious mental health and drug issues.
• People must quit voting for laws that reduce the seriousness of crimes and law enforcement’s ability to arrest and prosecute people. “We need to reverse some of the damage that has been done in the last 15 years” by changing the laws back, Hinchcliff said.
• The District Attorney’s Office needs more staff. After a decade of getting only one 3% raise, the county has found money for raises and Hinchcliff said he hopes it helps. About five years ago, he said the office had 13 trial prosecutors, in addition to him and the district attorney. Now, those 13 have been reduced to eight. At the same time, they have just over half of the four secretary positions they have filled, which can cause case backlogs.

During a question and answer period, community members pressed Martin in particular on what they can do to partner with the sheriff’s office to get more response and presence.

Martin suggested involvement in Neighborhood Watch and volunteering at the sheriff’s office. He also urged them to reach out to their legislators about the tools that have been taken away from law enforcement.

He also fielded complaints about dispatcher responses to callers.

When asked about whether he had enough money to cover his hiring needs, Martin said yes, but added that money isn’t the issue and that if he can’t find the people to hire, the money doesn’t matter.

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.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The investigation of a water theft in the Clearlake Oaks area led this week to an arrest and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office’s largest seizure of illegal marijuana, estimated to be worth several million dollars.

On Tuesday, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Roadmap Task force and the Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Enforcement Unit, conducted an investigation regarding water theft in the area of Henderson Drive.

During their investigation, detectives located three residences used to dry and process marijuana, the sheriff’s office reported.

Authorities said the investigation revealed all three residences were being used to illegally process marijuana for sales and were connected with the reported theft of water.

The sheriff’s office said the residences were secured by detectives and a search warrant for all three residences was obtained and executed late on Tuesday afternoon.

Detectives located and seized a 12 gauge shotgun, 2,326 marijuana plants and approximately 7,600 pounds of processed marijuana, a large majority of which was packaged and ready for sale.

The marijuana is estimated to have an approximate value of $7 million, the sheriff’s office said.

Detectives contacted and detained Salvador Diaz Maciel, 52, at one of the residences. Maciel was subsequently arrested and initially booked at the Lake County Correctional Facility for illegal cultivation and processing of marijuana.

The seizure of 7,600 pounds is the single largest seizure of processed marijuana by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, to date, the agency reported.

“While licensed cannabis growers struggle to remain compliant with the regulations required of this industry, and further struggle to remain financially viable while dealing with the associated costs, such as fees, permits, and taxes, there continues to be a black market for this product,” said Sheriff Brian Martin.

“Operations such as this one pump large amounts of unregulated and untaxed cannabis into the market,” Martin said. “They avoid the costs that legitimate growers have to encumber by stealing water, avoiding taxes, and not complying with any regulations. These operations adversely impact the legal industry, have negative impacts on the environment, and are frequently the cause of other criminal activity. We will continue our efforts against large scale illegal operations such as this one.”

Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to contact the Lake County Roadmap Task Force or Lake County Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Enforcement Unit at 707-262-4200.

Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) announced that more than $56 million is on the way to California from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to install electric vehicle, or EV, charging stations along key roads and highways.

Congressman Thompson said he worked to secure these investments to create good-paying jobs, improve charger access for California drivers, help protect California’s environment and support American car manufacturers’ rapidly growing EV production.

“Electric vehicles play a vital role in combating climate change and providing a cleaner environment by reducing carbon pollution across the country,” said Thompson. “The EV investments from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will create good-paying jobs by incentivizing the production of electric vehicles and investing in the expansion of EV charging stations across the country. As more money comes to California from this law, I look forward to ensuring that it is distributed equitably to all of our communities.”

The United States’ network of 100,000 chargers is currently insufficient to service the growing number of EV owners — and also struggles with inconsistent plug types, payment options and data availability.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is investing in good-paying union jobs to address these shortcomings, advancing our goal to expand the U.S. network to 500,000 chargers and grow electric vehicle sales to 50 percent of the automobile market by 2030.

Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.