The data cover 665,721 positions and a total of more than $51.43 billion in 2020 wages.
The newly published data include 459 cities and 50 counties.
The small city of Vernon once again had the highest average city employee wage in California, followed by Hayward, Fairfield, and Pleasant Hill.
Topping the list for highest average county employee wage were the counties of Santa Clara, Alameda, Los Angeles, and Monterey.
The highest-salaried city employee in California was the city manager of Fontana, while the top 40 highest-paid county employees work in health care professions.
In Lake County in 2020, the county of Lake had 1,132 employees, with $46,423,592 in salaries and $13,082,520 in retirement and health contributions.
The Top 10 jobs pay for the county of Lake in 2020 were as follows:
Public Health officer: $182,314. County counsel: $145,418. County administrative officer: $141,309. Sheriff-coroner: $140,185. Social Services director: $128,266. District attorney: $124,720. Chief probation officer: $118,544. Deputy sheriff sergeant: $114,746. Sheriff’s captain: $114,721. Chief deputy district attorney: $113,185.
In the city of Clearlake, there were 80 employees with wages totaling $4,659,135 and $1,102,549 in retirement and health contributions in 2020.
In the city of Lakeport, there were 65 employees in 2020, with total wages of $3,440,598 and total retirement and health contributions of $888,831.
Top 10 employees by salary were:
City manager (outgoing): $172,196. City manager (successor): $149,536. Police chief: $137,492. Police lieutenant: $114,198. Public Works director: $111,598. Utilities superintendent II: $107,573. Administrative Services director/city clerk: $106,706. Finance director: $103,589. Police sergeant: $90,530. Police officer II : $88,120.
California law requires cities, counties, and special districts to annually report compensation data to the State Controller.
The state controller also maintains and publishes state and CSU salary data.
Seven counties and 23 cities failed to file or provided incomplete or late information. San Francisco is both a city and a county; the website reports San Francisco as a city.
Since the website launched in 2010, it has registered more than 13 million page views.
The site contains pay and benefit information on more than two million government jobs in California, as reported annually by each entity.
Users of the site can:
— View compensation levels on maps and search by region; — Narrow results by name of the entity or by job title; and — Export raw data or custom reports.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a housing and homelessness package at Homekey site in Sebastopol, California, on Monday, July 19, 2021. Photo courtesy of the Governor’s Office. At a Homekey site in Sebastopol on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the largest funding and reform package for housing and homelessness in California history as part of the $100 billion California Comeback Plan.
The package includes $10.3 billion for affordable housing and $12 billion over two years toward tackling the homelessness crisis head-on — helping tens of thousands of people off the streets while also demanding greater accountability and more urgency from local governments.
The new homelessness funding includes $5.8 billion to add 42,000 new housing units through Homekey — a national model for homeless housing. $3 billion of this investment is dedicated to housing for people with the most acute behavioral and physical health needs.
Gov. Newsom’s investment is the biggest expansion in decades in terms of clinically enhanced behavioral health housing in California.
“I don’t think homelessness can be solved – I know homelessness can be solved,” said Newsom. “We are going all-in with innovative solutions that we know work – with a focus on creating housing to support people with severe mental health challenges, and with more money than ever to move people out of encampments and into safer situations. With record investments tied to strong accountability and efficiency measures, California will continue to build on the groundbreaking success of Homekey, changing the lives of tens of thousands of Californians for the better and supporting communities across the state.”
The legislation signed Monday, AB 140, also includes $2 billion in aid to counties, large cities and Continuums of Care through the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grant program, or HHAP.
To qualify, recipients must follow strict accountability measures and submit a local homelessness action plan that includes quantifiable, data-driven goals that jurisdictions must commit to meeting.
$10.3 billion affordable housing package
$850 million incentivizing infill development and smart growth.
$800 million to preserve the state’s affordable housing stock.
$100 million promoting affordable homeownership.
Additional funding to scale up the state’s efforts to create more accessory dwelling units, build more housing on state-owned excess land and invest in farmworker housing.
$12 billion over two years to confront homelessness crisis
$5.8 billion for Homekey over two years, creating more than 42,000 new homeless housing units.
$2.75 billion for the Department of Housing and Community Development.
$3 billion for the Health and Human Services Agency to create clinically enriched behavioral health housing and funding for the renovation and acquisition of board and care facilities and residential care facilities for the elderly.
$2 billion in HHAP grants over two years with strong, new accountability requirements for local governments.
$1.75 billion to unlock up to 7,200 units of housing in the pipeline for extremely low-income families and people exiting homelessness.
$150 million to stabilize participants in Project Roomkey hotels.
$50.6 million for encampment resolution efforts.
$45 million for services and housing for homeless veterans.
In addition to these investments addressing homelessness and housing affordability, the California Comeback Plan includes $1.1 billion to clean up the streets of California by partnering with local governments to pick up trash and beautify downtowns, freeways and neighborhoods across California. The program is expected to generate up to 11,000 jobs over three years.
Newsom’s office said his Comeback Plan seizes this once-in-a-lifetime moment to address long-standing challenges by taking on threats to our state’s future and ensuring every California family — regardless of their race or ZIP code — can thrive.
In 2008, as big banks began failing across Wall Street and the housing and stock markets crashed, the nation saw how crucial financial regulation is for economic stability – and how quickly the consequences can cascade through the economy when regulators are asleep at the wheel.
Today, there’s another looming economic risk: climate change. Once again, how much it harms economies will depend a lot on how financial regulators and central banks react.
Climate change’s impact on economies isn’t always obvious. Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, identified a series of climate change-related risks in 2015 that could shake the financial system. The rising costs of extreme weather, lawsuits against companies that have contributed to climate change and the falling value of fossil fuel assets could all have an impact.
Nobel Prize-winning U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz agrees. In a recent interview, he argued that the impact of a sharp rise in carbon prices – which governments charge companies for emitting climate-warming greenhouse gases – could trigger another financial crisis, this time starting with the fossil fuel industry, its suppliers and the banks that finance them, which could spill over into the broader economy.
Our research as environmentaleconomists and macroeconomists confirms that both the effects of climate change and some of the policies necessary to stop it could have important implications for financial stability, if preemptive measures are not undertaken. Public policies addressing, after years of delay, the fossil fuel emissions that are driving climate change could devalue energy companies and cause investments held by banks and pension funds to tank, as would abrupt changes in consumer habits.
The good news is that regulators have the ability to address these risks and clear the way to safely implement ambitious climate policy.
Climate-stress-testing banks
First, regulators can require banks to publicly disclose their risks from climate change and stress-test their ability to manage change.
The Biden administration recently introduced an executive order on climate-related financial risk, with the goal of encouraging U.S. companies to evaluate and publicly disclose their exposure to climate change and to future climate policies.
The European Commission also proposed new rules for companies to report on climate and sustainability in their investment decisions across a broad swath of industries in its new Sustainable Finance Strategy released on July 6, 2021. This strategy builds on a previous plan for sustainable growth from 2018.
Mark Carney (right), former head of the Bank of England, has been warning about the economic risks of climate change for several years. The U.S. Federal Reserve, chaired by Jerome Powell (left), has recently begun discussing it as well.AP Photo/Amber Baesler
Carbon disclosure represents a crucial ingredient for “climate stress tests,” evaluations that gauge how well-prepared banks are for potential shocks from climate change or from climate policy. For example, a recent study by the Bank of England determined that banks were unprepared for a carbon price of US$150 per ton, which it determined would be necessary by the end of the decade to meet the international Paris climate agreement’s goals.
The European Central Bank is conducting stress tests to assess the resilience of its economy to climate risks. In the United States, the Federal Reserve recently established the Financial Stability Climate Committee with similar objectives in mind.
Monetary and financial policy solutions
Central banks and academics have also proposed several ways to address climate change through monetary policy and financial regulation.
One of these methods is “green quantitative easing,” which, like quantitative easing used during the recovery from the 2008 recession, involves the central bank buying financial assets to inject money into the economy. In this case, it would buy only assets that are “green,” or environmentally responsible. Green quantitative easing could potentially encourage investment in climate-friendly projects and technologies such as renewable energy, though researchers have suggested that the effects might be short-lived.
A second policy proposal is to modify existing regulations to recognize the risks that climate change poses to banks. Banks are usually subject to minimum capital requirements to ensure banking sector stability and mitigate the risk of financial crises. This means that banks must hold some minimum amount of liquid capital in order to lend.
Incorporating environmental factors in these requirements could improve banks’ resilience to climate-related financial risks. For instance, a “brown-penalizing factor” would require higher capital requirements on loans extended to carbon-intensive industries, discouraging banks from lending to such industries.
Reducing fossil fuel use to slow climate change will affect oil industry assets, like refineries, pipelines and shipping, as well as the industry’s suppliers.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Broadly, these existing proposals have in common the goal of reducing economy-wide carbon emissions and simultaneously reducing the financial system’s exposure to carbon-intensive sectors.
The Bank of Japan announced a new climate strategy on July 16, 2021, that includes offering no-interest loans to banks lending to environmentally friendly projects, supporting green bonds and encouraging banks to disclosure their climate risk.
The Federal Reserve has begun to study these policies, and it has created a panel focused on developing a climate stress test.
Lessons from economists
Often, policymaking trails scientific and economic debates and advancements. With financial regulation of climate risks, however, it is arguably the other way around. Central banks and governments are proposing new policy tools that have not been studied for very long.
A few research papers released within the last year provide a number of important insights that can help guide central banks and regulators.
They do not all reach the same conclusions, but a general consensus seems to be that financial regulation can help address large-scale economic risks that abruptly introducing a climate policy might create. One paper found that if the climate policy is implemented gradually, the economic risks can be small and financial regulation can manage them.
Financial regulation can also help accelerate the transition to a cleaner economy, research shows. One example is subsidizing lending to climate-friendly industries while taxing lending to polluting industries. But financial regulation alone will not be enough to effectively address climate change.
Central banks will have roles to play as countries try to manage climate change going forward. In particular, prudent financial regulation can help prevent barriers to the kind of aggressive policies that will be necessary to slow climate change and protect the environments our economies were built for.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport City Council this week will hold its first in-person meeting since March 2020 and will meet the city’s new K-9 police team.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 20, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The council chambers will be open to the public for the meeting. In accordance with updated guidelines from the state of California and revised Cal OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards, persons who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 are required to wear a face covering at this meeting.
If you cannot attend in person, and would like to speak on an agenda item, you can access the Zoom meeting remotely at this link or join by phone by calling toll-free 669-900-9128 or 346-248-7799.
The webinar ID is 973 6820 1787, access code is 477973; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To give the City Clerk adequate time to print out comments for consideration at the meeting, please submit written comments before 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 20.
Indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that read to the council will be subject to the three minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council before the meeting.
Olin, a young German shepherd, completed his training on June 25 and he and Strugnell started working together on June 29.
He’s trained in narcotic detection and patrol certification including suspect tracking and apprehension.
This is the first police K-9 the Lakeport Police Department has had since 2009, when K-9 Max, a Belgian Malinois, was retired.
The council on Tuesday also will hold a public hearing to approve the close out of grant contract 14-CDBG-9883, and direct staff to submit the final close out documents to the state.
Finance Director Nick Walker’s report to the council said that outcomes and accomplishments under this contract for Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, funds include completing the Lakefront Revitalization Study, issuing five loans totaling $397,563 and contributing $153,593 toward the nearly $300,000 Carnegie Library Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility projects.
Walker said all projects are now complete, and the contract will be closed out with the state.
Also on the agenda is the council’s receipt and filing of the 2021 Use of Force Analysis Report from the Lakeport Police Department.
Rasmussen’s report, on page 83 of the agenda, said his department, like all departments in the state, is required to report to the state Department of Justice all incidents where the use of force by an officer resulted in serious bodily injury to a subject.
“In our May 2021 audit for these use of force incidents for 2020, we found that it showed a 50% reduction in DOJ reportable Use of Force incidents, which continued a trend of declination since 2018, with 2019 showing a 50% decline, as well,” Rasmussen wrote.
He said these use of force incidents numbered 4 in 2018, 2 in 2019 and 1 in 2020.
“In considering Use of Force incidents that occurred in other jurisdictions throughout the State and Country, which gained national scrutiny and criticism, relative to the Lakeport Police Department, the police administration has identified some training recommendations for future internal training,” said Rasmussen, explaining that they also looked at equipment and don’t believe that the department has any critical equipment needs.
In other business on Tuesday, the council will consider adopting the proposed resolution to approve an amendment to the safety element of the general plan and nominate voting delegates for the League of California Cities Annual Conference to be held Sept. 22 to 24.
On the consent agenda — items usually accepted as a slate on one vote — are ordinances, minutes of the regular council meeting on June 15 and the special meeting of June 29; introduction of a proposed ordinance to the Lakeport Municipal Code and schedule a public hearing for Aug. 17, 2021; review and filing of the third quarter 2020-21 financial statements; adoption of the resolution to cause a written report to be prepared and filed with the city clerk regarding delinquent water and sewer user charges, fees and penalties for the period of June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021, and setting a public hearing on the written report before collection on the tax roll; and authorization for the mayor to sign the first amendment to the 2019 agreement for the public, education and government cable access TV station extending the term of the agreement through 2023.
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 National Weather Service is warning of the potential for a thunderstorm to materialize over Lake County on Monday morning.
Parts of Northern California, including the North Bay, area under a red flag warning through Monday evening due to the potential for lightning.
Lake County is not under a red flag warning. However, the National Weather Service said an isolated dry thunderstorm will be possible over Lake County into Monday morning.
The forecast called for monsoonal moisture to spread north across the region overnight, with that moisture expected to aid in a slight chance of a dry thunderstorm over Lake County.
Winds of up to 10 miles per hour also are forecast for Monday.
Besides that storm potential, the National Weather Service said Lake County can look forward to a week of warm, sunny and dry conditions “typical of mid-summer.”
Temperatures across Lake County throughout the week are forecast to hover in the low to high 90s, with higher temperatures expected this weekend. Nighttime temperatures will range from the high 50s to low 60s.
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 Lake County Board of Supervisors will honor probation officers this week and consider new rules for bidding for services.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 20, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 951 9209 8576, pass code 163326. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,95192098576#,,,,*163326#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
At 9:06 a.m., the board will present a proclamation designating the week of July 18 to 24 as Probation Officers Week in Lake County.
At 9:30 a.m., a public hearing, continued from July 13, will take place with the supervisors sitting as Lake County Sanitation District Board of Directors. They will consider a resolution of delinquent sewer fees for the Lake County Sanitation District.
At 11 a.m., the board will hold a public hearing to consider an ordinance amending Article X of Chapter Two of the Lake County Code to include further requirements for exemptions from competitive bidding and requirements for bid protests.
Those changes will include purchases during a state of emergency, requirements for bidding every five years and situations where competitive bidding would produce no economic benefit for the county.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: (a) Approve the purchase of an animal control box in the amount of $30,776.15 and (b) authorize the Animal Care and Control director or his designee to issue a purchase order.
5.2: Approve the continuation of a local health emergency related to the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) as proclaimed by the Lake County Public Health officer.
5.3: Approve the continuation of a local health emergency and order prohibiting the endangerment of the community through the unsafe removal, transport, and disposal of fire debris for the LNU Complex wildfire.
5.4: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to the Mendocino Complex fire incident (River and Ranch fires).
5.5: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to COVID-19.
5.6: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to the Pawnee fire incident.
5.7: Approve the continuation of an emergency declaration for drought conditions.
5.8: Approve the continuation of a local emergency in Lake County in response to the LNU lightning complex wildfire event.
5.9: Adopt Resolution amending Resolution No, 2021-68 Establishing Position Allocations for Fiscal Year 2021-2022, Budget Unit No. 4012, Health Services Administration.
5.10: Approve amendment five to the agreement between the county of Lake and Evan Bloom, MD, MPH, to assist the Lake County Public Health officer during the COVID-19 crisis response and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.11: Adopt proclamation designating the week of July 18-24 as Probation Officers Week in Lake County.
5.12: a) Adopt resolution revising the fiscal year 2021-2022 adopted budget of the county of Lake by canceling reserves in Fund 254 Lake County Sanitation District Southeast Capital Improvement Reserve Designation, in the amount of $82,000 to make appropriations in the Budget Unit 8354, Object Code 783.62-74 to purchase a mobile generator to provide backup power to Lift Stations #1, 2, 3, and 4. (b) Waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 2-38.2, not in the public interest. (c) approve purchase of a used, low hours (2,000 hours) Multiquip 300kVa portable generator and authorize the Special Districts administrator/assistant purchasing agent to issue and sign a purchase order not to exceed $82,000 to Generator World of Sacramento.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:06 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the week of July 18-24 as Probation Officers Week in Lake County.
6.3, 9:30 a.m.: Public hearing, continued from July 13, sitting as Lake County Sanitation District Board of Directors, consideration of resolution of delinquent sewer fees for Lake County Sanitation District.
6.4, 10 a.m.: Public hearing, consideration of rezone for Brand Family Parcel Map Project; General Plan Amendment (GPAP 17-01); Rezone (RZ 17-01); Parcel Map (PM 17-01); and Initial Study (IS 17-31).
6.5, 10:15 a.m.: Public hearing, consideration of Rezone for Richard and Beverly Siri; General Plan Amendment (GPAP 19-02) and Rezone (RZ 19-02) and Initial Study (IS 19-41).
6.6, 11 a.m.: Public hearing, consideration of an ordinance amending Article X of Chapter Two of the Lake County Code to include further requirements for exemptions from competitive bidding and requirements for bid protests.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: (a) Consideration of county investment policy; and (b) consideration of agreement for investment advisory and management services.
7.3: a) Consideration of certification resolution for an exception to the 180-day wait period to hire a CalPERS retiree as an extra help county employee; and b) consideration of advanced step hiring of Jeff Rein as an extra-help employee.
7.4: Consideration of agreement between county of Lake and Behavioral Health Services as lead agency of the Lake County Continuum of Care and Elijah House for services funded under the Emergency Solutions Grant — Coronavirus Program for fiscal year 2021-22 in an amount not to exceed $450,000 and authorize the chair to sign.
7.5: Consideration of agreement between county of Lake and Behavioral Health Services as lead agency of the Lake County Continuum of Care and Elijah House for transitional housing services for fiscal years 2021-25 in an amount not to exceed $207,585 and authorize the chair to sign.
7.6: Consideration of a presentation from the Cyanobacteria Communication Work Group Multi Agency members.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Public employee evaluation: County Librarian Christopher Veach.
8.2: Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9 (d)(1): Nichols v. County of Lake, et al.
8.3: Conference with labor negotiator: (a) Chief negotiator: M. Long; County Negotiators: C. Huchingson and P. Samac; and (b) employee organizations: LCDDAA, LCDSA, LCCOA, LCEA, LCSEA and LCSMA.
8.4: Conference with legal counsel: Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9 (d)2)(e)1) — one potential case.
8.5: Conference with legal counsel: Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9 (d)(2) (e) (3) — Claim of McQueen.
8.6: Public Employee Appointment Pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b)(1): Appointment of Public Health officer.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused price spikes for corn, milk, beans and other commodities, but even before the pandemic about 3 billion people could not afford even the cheapest options for a healthy diet.
The remaining 60% of the world’s 7.9 billion people could afford the ingredients for healthy meals. That, of course, does not mean they always eat a healthy diet. Cooking time and difficulty, as well as the advertising and marketing of other foods, can lead many people to choose items that are surprisingly unhealthy.
To measure diet costs globally, our project linked World Bank price data for about 800 popular foods across 174 countries to the nutritional composition of those items. Using the prices and nutritional values of each item, we computed the least expensive way of meeting national dietary guidelines and essential nutrient requirements.
For affordability, we compared diet costs to World Bank estimates of what people typically spend on food and income distribution within each country. It turns out that almost everyone in the United States could afford enough ingredients for healthy meals, such as rice and beans, frozen spinach and canned tuna, bread and peanut butter and milk. But most people in Africa and South Asia could not acquire enough of these foods for a healthy diet even if they were willing to spend their entire available income.
Food prices go up and down, but many healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, nuts, dairy products and fish are consistently more expensive than starchy staples, oil and sugar. The high cost of the healthier food groups often forces people in poverty to eat less expensive items, or go hungry.
Beyond higher incomes and safety nets for the poorest, food prices can be lowered for everyone through public investment in new technology and infrastructure to improve food production and distribution. Agricultural innovation and investment in food markets can save lives and drive economic development – when the new technologies and other changes are well adapted to local conditions.
We believe that our diet cost data, produced to inform global agricultural policies, gives people sharp new insight into the world food situation. Previous efforts to monitor global food prices focused on tracking a few internationally traded farm commodities, monitoring conditions in places at risk of famine or keeping an eye on consumer price indices. Measuring the cost of healthy diets using locally available items focuses attention on consumer prices for the healthy foods that low-income people might buy, if those items were affordable.
With better data, governments and development agencies can steer their countries to where they want to go, which one day could make it possible for everyone around the world to eat a healthy diet.
World Bank economist Yan Bai contributed to this research.
This litter of black kittens is among nearly 30 cats and kittens available for adoption at Lake County Animal Care and Control. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control is swamped with kittens and a few adult cats this week.
The following cats at the shelter have been cleared for adoption.
It’s kitten season, so many of this week’s additions are little felines needing forever families.
Here is a sampling of the nearly 30 cats and kittens available this week, more of which can be seen at the shelter website.
This male yellow tabby kitten is in cat room kennel No. 70b, ID No. LCAC-A-987. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male domestic shorthair kitten
This male yellow tabby kitten has a short coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 70b, ID No. LCAC-A-987.
This male yellow tabby kitten is in cat room kennel No. 70d, ID No. LCAC-A-989. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male domestic shorthair kitten
This male yellow tabby kitten has a short coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 70d, ID No. LCAC-A-989.
“Furball” is a 6-year-old female domestic longhair cat in cat room kennel No. 84, ID No. LCAC-A-969. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Furball’
“Furball” is a 6-year-old female domestic longhair cat with a brown tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 84, ID No. LCAC-A-969.
This male domestic medium hair kitten is in cat room kennel No. 103a, ID No. LCAC-A-965. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Domestic medium hair kitten
This male domestic medium hair kitten has a yellow tabby coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 103a, ID No. LCAC-A-965.
This male domestic medium hair kitten is in cat room kennel No. 103c, ID No. LCAC-A-967. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Domestic medium hair kitten
This male domestic medium hair kitten has a short gray tabby coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 103c, ID No. LCAC-A-967.
This female domestic shorthair kitten is in cat room kennel No. 103d, ID No. 968. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic shorthair kitten has a gray tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 103d, ID No. 968.
This male domestic shorthair kitten is in cat room kennel No. 103e, ID No. LCAC-A-959. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Domestic shorthair kitten
This male domestic shorthair kitten has a yellow tabby coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 103e, ID No. LCAC-A-959.
This male domestic shorthair is in cat room kennel No. 120, ID No. LCAC-A-874. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male domestic shorthair
This male domestic shorthair has a gray and white coat.
He is 1-year-old and weighs nearly 6 pounds.
He is in cat room kennel No. 120, ID No. LCAC-A-874.
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. — Firefighters have stopped a fire that burned several structures in a Clearlake Oaks neighborhood.
The fire was first reported shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday in the area of Second and Hoover streets.
Radio traffic stated that authorities had received multiple 911 calls about the fire and associated explosions.
Incident command requested deputies respond to assist with dispersing a large crowd and to help with evacuating a two-block radius.
Over the radio, Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta also requested aircraft and an immediate need strike team, reporting that there were spot fires moving through the community.
There also are reports of multiple downed fire lines throughout the fire area.
Sapeta estimated that four structures were on fire, reporting minutes later another structure was starting to catch fire.
Additional fire units are being requested from the Williams area.
Shortly before 6:30 p.m., radio traffic indicated the area from Hoover to Butler had been evacuated.
Scene reports stated the fire had been held to a total of four structures.
Shortly after 7 p.m., air resources reported that the threat to the wildland fire had been stopped.
By 7:15 p.m., the fire’s advance was stopped, with incident command reporting that it had been contained to the block of origin.
Scanner traffic also indicated that at least two firefighters were being treated for heat-related illness.
Due to the amount of water that’s been drawn from the Clearlake Oaks County Water District, Northshore Fire Chief Mike Ciancio reported over the air that the district is low and he requested three water tenders to respond.
Ciancio also asked for Lake County Animal Care and Control to come to the scene due to multiple pets that were in the structures. “They’re running everywhere.”
Pacific Gas and Electric reported that 161 customers in Clearlake Oaks were out of power as of 7:05 p.m. The power was restored shortly before 8:30 p.m., About two hours ahead of the original estimate.
Red Cross has been requested to provide assistance to five adults, one child and at least a dozen pets — from birds to cats and dogs — from three family residences, according to radio reports.
The incident was terminated at 10:30 p.m., with the final units clearing.
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.
Fire officials at the scene of a vegetation fire in Nice, California, on Sunday, July 18, 2021. Photo by John Jensen/Lake County News. This story is being updated with new information.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Firefighters have stopped the forward progress of a wildland fire in Nice that prompted evacuations.
The fire, in the 2400 block of Lakeshore Boulevard at Stokes Avenue, was first reported shortly before 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
Fire officials arriving on scene reported that it was about two to three acres in size, with spots being pushed by the wind across Lakeshore Boulevard, where it’s threatening structures, including a sewer system utility building.
The wind was reported to be coming off of Clear Lake and pushing the fire toward Highway 20.
Evacuations were underway in the area at that time, fire officials reported.
Cal Fire Copter 101 works at the scene of a vegetation fire in Nice, California, on Sunday, July 18, 2021. Photo by John Jensen/Lake County News. Air tankers, a helicopter and air attack arrived on scene shortly after 2 p.m. and began to work the fire, based on radio traffic.
At 2:14 p.m., the Lake County Sheriff’s Office issued a Nixle alert for an evacuation order for residents south of Stokes Avenue to north of Clear Lake, east of the Nice-Lucerne Cut-off and west of Hammond Avenue.
At that point, a temporary evacuation point hadn’t been established, officials said.
Just after 2:30 p.m., incident command reported that forward progress had been stopped and the aircraft had been released, with evacuations to be lifted shortly.
Lakeshore Boulevard is to remain closed temporarily to all but residents, based on radio reports from the scene.
The fire was reported to be a total of four and a half acres.
Units were expected to remain on scene for a few more hours for mop up.
On Sunday evening around 6 p.m., as units were wrapping up, some were released to respond to a fire burning several structures in Clearlake Oaks at Second and Hoover.
There was no immediate information available on the cause of the Lakeshore Boulevard fire.
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.
A burned pier on Lakeshore Boulevard in Nice, California, damaged by a fire that occurred on Sunday, July 18, 2021. Photo by John Jensen/Lake County News.
Katelyn Rubio of Kates Out the Bag Coffee Co. serves customers with a smile at the farmers’ market in Middletown, California, on Friday, June 18, 2021. Photo by Esther Oertel. Thomas Jefferson said that coffee is the favorite drink of the civilized world, and we in this java loving nation have proven his point in spades.
Though coffee houses were wildly popular in continental Europe beginning in the early 1600s, it wasn’t until 1773 that the drink gained popularity here. It was the Boston Tea Party that turned the beverage tide, morphing us from a tea drinking nation to a coffee drinking one.
These days, over 80% of adult Americans consume coffee, and we drink more of it than any beverage other than water.
In 2016, a whooping 88.8 gallons of the beloved brew was guzzled per capita in the United States, and consumption has only grown since.
Compare that with the next highest category, carbonated beverages (including things like soda and sparkling water), which registered only 39.5 gallons per person, less than half of the coffee tally.
Its acclaim is worldwide, going far beyond our shores. Coffee is one of the most valuable legally traded commodities in the world, second only to crude oil.
If the proliferation of coffee businesses throughout our lovely county is any indication, we here in Lake County are consuming our fair share.
A complex espresso drink or a simple cup of Joe can be found in coffee shops in nearly every one of our communities, from Middletown to Upper Lake, some with drive-through service and others offering food beyond croissants and muffins.
I recently learned that an enterprising Lake County woman has begun a different sort of coffee business — a portable espresso cart — which I happened upon on a balmy June evening at the Friday night farmers’ market in Middletown.
As I strolled the shaded paths lined with vendors in Middletown Square (the large green lawn in front of the library and senior center complex), I discovered the “Kates Out the Bag” cart nestled near the end of the southernmost path. Intrigued, I ordered a honey-oat milk latte for myself and a fresh lemonade for a friend.
It was a treat to have such interesting potables options at the market.
One of the first things one notices about this cart is its feline theme. The name is a play on “the cat’s out of the bag” and the phrase “PURR-FECT COFFEE” graces the banner above the cart.
It turns out the purveyor, Katelyn Rubio, loves cats as much as she loves coffee and decided to combine her passions in this business.
Her custom blended coffees include names like Black Cat Decaf and Nine Lives Breakfast Blend. Other products are named after her two rescue cats, Freddy and Fannie.
Rubio, a Hidden Valley Lake resident, is a 2005 graduate of Middletown High School. She’s been hooked on the taste of coffee since the first time she was given a sip of it as a child.
While in college she honed her espresso pulling skills at the drive-through coffee hut (now Mugshots) at the Highway 29 Shell station near Hidden Valley Lake, as well as at the Mugshots outpost at Harbin Hot Springs near Middletown.
She fell in love with the technique of making coffee at those jobs — she feels it’s an art form. Learning how to make the perfect shot and steaming the milk just right was satisfying work. She also enjoyed interaction with customers and getting to know the regulars.
After forays into a couple of other careers (phlebotomy and office administration), she’s returned to her first love, coffee. She says it’s a great business for a mother with four children at home aged from 6 to 16.
The coffee she serves is custom roasted, with blends created and curated by her with assistance from the roasting company. The espresso she serves contains six different beans from around the world — Indonesia, Africa, and Central and South America.
Her espresso cart (as well as her packaged coffee blends) can be found at farmers’ markets in the county on Friday nights in Middletown and Tuesdays and Saturdays in Lakeport. She hopes to expand her business to include weddings and special events.
Kates Out the Bag Coffee Co. products can also be purchased online at www.katesoutthebag.com and the business can be found on Instagram. To book her cart for events, Rubio can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
It turns out that research has shown coffee to be beneficial in a variety of ways, so there are plenty of reasons to drink it aside from the taste.
Some obvious benefits are heightened energy, increased metabolism and improved workout performance. Other positive effects are more surprising.
Customers contemplate their coffee orders at the Friday night farmers’ market in Middletown, California, on Friday, June 18, 2021. The coffee cart is operated by Katelyn Rubio of Kates Out the Bag Coffee Co., who also sells coffee at the farmers’ markets in Lakeport on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Photo by Esther Oertel. According to what I’ve read, research has shown that:
Coffee is an antioxidant that has been proven to increase longevity and to reduce the risk of heart failure, stroke, diabetes and some cancers. It contains a variety of essential nutrients like riboflavin, pantothenic acid, manganese, potassium, magnesium and niacin.
It may also be an effective treatment for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Studies showed that those who drank two or more cups of coffee a day had less liver damage than those who drank little or no coffee.
The chlorogenic acid found in coffee can aid in reducing blood sugar, lowering blood pressure, improving mood and reducing inflammation in the body. It also acts as an antimicrobial against a wide range of organisms.
Coffee contains substances that have heavy metal chelation properties, binding to heavy metals like lead, mercury or copper and extracting them from the body via the kidneys.
Other studies link coffee with improved brain function, including reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia, lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes, and staving off depression.
Does this make you want to go make a cup of coffee as it does me?
Or we could eat our coffee. There are many ways to use it in cuisine.
Coffee’s roasted notes and its bitter, acidic qualities compliment sweet, bold, earthy or nutty ingredients, from desserts (think mocha brownies or espresso-laden tiramisu) to meats (like ham with red eye gravy or coffee rubs on beef or pork).
As to meats, coffee not only infuses flavor, it also has tenderizing qualities.
A specialty of the southern U.S. is ham with red-eye gravy, made simply by cooking ham in a skillet and then deglazing the pan with about ½ cup of boiling hot coffee. It should be simmered to reduce by half, which takes about five minutes. Butter or oil may be added to the pan to ensure there are enough drippings if the ham is lean.
Some add sugar, broth or a little extra butter to round out the intense and bitter coffee flavor, but this isn’t a traditional preparation.
I ran across an interesting recipe that includes marinating bite-sized pieces of chicken overnight in brewed espresso with pink peppercorns, cardamom and cinnamon, which shows that there can be a great deal of creativity when using coffee in the kitchen.
The flavors of roasted or grilled pork and beef can be enhanced with a rub that includes coffee. In addition to ground coffee, common ingredients include sugar (typically brown), coarse pepper, paprika and garlic in fresh or powder form.
Today’s recipe is for an all-purpose coffee rub which can be used on almost any protein as well as on most veggies. Unlike some rubs, it’s relatively low in salt and sugar, so there's no overpowering sweet or salty overtones.
Cayenne pepper can be added for some heat if desired, and the level of any of the spices can be adjusted according to your taste. This makes a generous amount and can be stored for quick use in a tightly sealed container. Be sure to store away from sunlight to prevent deterioration of flavors.
Enjoy!
All-purpose coffee rub
2 tablespoons each of: Garlic powder Ground coffee (medium grind) Paprika Onion powder or dried onion flakes Ground cumin
1 tablespoon each of Salt Brown sugar
Combine all ingredients.
Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper if heat is desired.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. She lives in Middletown, California.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Friendly banter abounded as the cast of the Lake County Theatre Co.’s production of “All’s Well That Ends Well” logged into their Zoom rehearsal.
Many of the actors reside here in Lake County, but several hail from out of state, including Virginia, New York and even Toronto.
Despite a physical separation of thousands of miles and multiple time zones, cast members joked around and connected with each other as if in the same room.
Pre-rehearsal conversation touched on diva cats, pro-wrestler theme songs, and outdated fashion trends.
The pros and cons of stiff celluloid collars were discussed at some length thanks to Ed Borg, a local actor who has been in all six of the Shakespeare at the Lake productions.
Altogether, the cast of 11 has more than 40 Shakespeare performances under its belt and some 200-plus years of collective acting experience and eight degrees in theater, including four Masters of Fine Arts degrees.
Their acting chops certainly showed during rehearsal as they worked their way through the pages of Shakespeare’s comedy.
Each performer breathed life into their role, giving depth and flavor to each character while still supporting each other.
At one point Ted Powers (zooming from Toronto), typed a message into the chat to Rose Kingfisher (zooming from Marin), complimenting her stellar entrances.
Since this was the first night off-book, actors patiently waited for each other as they searched for lines or confused one scene with a later one.
They encouraged one another through the process, always keeping the bigger picture of the entire play in mind, not just their individual performance.
The Lake County Theatre Co. and Mendocino College, the producers of the Shakespeare at the Lake project, look forward to putting on a live show again next summer.
In the meantime, they hope you will tune in to this fabulous online play, chock full of talent from all over North America.
Virtual performances will take place Friday, July 23, and Saturday, July 24, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, July 25, at 2 p.m.
Visit www.lctc.us to reserve your free tickets and to obtain all the log-in information.
This production is made possible with generous support from the Lake County Friends of Mendocino College and the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport.
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