Habitat for Humanity Lake County home recipient Quentin Bryant, along with his family, friends and Habitat staff. Photo courtesy of Habitat for Humanity Lake County. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After delays created by COVID-19, fires and weather, on Sept. 26 Habitat for Humanity Lake County, along with friends and extended family, gathered to celebrate and welcome the Bryant family into their new home.
Guests were invited to share treats and tour the home and property and offer their well-wishes to Quentin Bryant and his daughter during a brief ceremony to present them the keys to their home.
“I’m just so grateful,” Bryant said. “I don’t know what else to say. All the hard work’s been worth it now, to give my daughter a home, her own room, a place to grow up. This wouldn’t have happened without Habitat’s help. I’m so thankful.”
Habitat for Humanity Lake County’s goal is to help qualified low-income families get into safe, decent, affordable housing.
To learn more about program qualifications and to receive a preapplication, visit the office at 15312 Lakeshore Dr. in Clearlake or call 707-994-1100, Extension 108.
Qualification is based on Lake County residency, household income, and household need.
In the time of coronavirus, people with dementia and their caregivers need more support than ever. Westend61 via Getty Images
Deaths from dementia during the summer of 2020 are nearly 20% higher than the number of dementia-related deaths during that time in previous years, and experts don’t yet know why. An estimated 61,000 people have died from dementia, which is 11,000 more than usual within that period.
As a geriatrician, I find this statistic sad but not shocking. I care for dementia patients in my clinical practice. I see firsthand how the isolation caused by the pandemic has changed their lives, whether they’re home alone, living with a caregiver, or in a long-term care facility.
Deciphering the statistics is a challenge. Hiding within them are many factors that have contributed to the deaths from dementia during the pandemic. Here are four of them.
Social isolation
Social distancing – or staying at least 6 feet apart, wearing a mask and avoiding crowds – is a proven way to decrease COVID-19 risk, especially from people with the infection but without symptoms. But social distancing is different from social isolation, which leads to a sense of disconnection from the community. Social isolation, which essentially is little or no contact with others, is the last thing seniors with dementia need. But it’s what many have received, as caregivers are forced to limit visits during the pandemic.
Social isolation is a risk for poor health outcomes, particularly as people age. And in the U.S., 28% of those over 65 (13.8 million) live alone. Socially isolated people have higher rates of not only dementia, but heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, cognitive decline and death.
On the best of days, caregiving for a family member with dementia is difficult. Watching the decline of a loved one is hard. Having to help them with things that are basic and personal makes it even harder. The commitment, 24 hours a day, offers little time for breaks. Often the caregiver, unsung and overlooked, is suffering.
And during COVID-19, caregivers have been isolated too. What help they had from the outside is now probably gone. Burnout becomes more likely. For dementia patients to get the best care, their caregivers also need care and support.
Decreased access to medical care
Throughout the U.S., hospitals and clinics have seen fewer people coming in. Many missed visits were for preventive care and treatment of chronic conditions. For dementia patients, accessing care may even be more problematic. Telemedicine, often an option for other patients, may not be manageable for those with dementia. Physicians and staff need to reach out to them. And agencies and volunteer groups are available in many communities to assist seniors who need access to technology.
Staying home
Because of COVID-19, some of my patients choose to stay home. They’ve decided a medical issue is not worth the risk of leaving the house. I also have patients living in facilities who choose to use the care available there instead of going to the hospital.
This is a good example of something we doctors call goal-concordant care: when doctors understand a patient’s health goals, and then provide them with the best they can within the scope of those goals.
Some advice
Dementia is a complex medical condition with no cure. But that doesn’t mean nothing can be done to make a patient’s life better, even during COVID-19. With each challenge there are ways to provide help and support, not just to those with dementia, but for those who care for them.
If you know someone with dementia, whether they live at home or in a facility, check in on them. Because in-person visits are not the safest option, you can call to see how they’re doing or if you can help. You don’t need the latest technology to connect; many with dementia may have challenges going online. Landlines and cellphones are just fine, allowing your elderly friend to hear a human voice. It does you good too: Building relationships with people who aren’t our age gives us insights and perspectives we may have never considered.
Also, check in on the caregiver; call to chat and, most important, listen. You don’t need to have the answers; just be supportive. If you are a caregiver, reach out to local agencies; many have easy-to-access virtual support groups.
And talk with loved ones about what you would want if you had dementia and couldn’t speak effectively for yourself. Your primary care doctor can help you think through these types of situations. Such conversations are uncomfortable, but necessary.
Scientists created light curves using the high-resolution images of the sun to understand what a sunspot would look like on a distant star. They studied different layers of the sun from the visible surface to the outer atmosphere using 14 different wavelengths, including the six shown here (top left to right: photosphere, magnetic flux of the photosphere, ultraviolet 304 angstroms; bottom left to right: ultraviolet 171 angstroms, ultraviolet 131 angstroms, x-ray). Credits: NASA/SDO/JAXA/NAOJ/Hinode.
NASA’s extensive fleet of spacecraft allows scientists to study the sun extremely close-up – one of the agency’s spacecraft is even on its way to fly through the sun’s outer atmosphere. But sometimes taking a step back can provide new insight.
In a new study, scientists looked at sunspots – darkened patches on the sun caused by its magnetic field – at low resolution as if they were trillions of miles away. What resulted was a simulated view of distant stars, which can help us understand stellar activity and the conditions for life on planets orbiting other stars.
“We wanted to know what a sunspot region would look like if we couldn’t resolve it in an image,” said Shin Toriumi, lead author on the new study and scientist at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science at JAXA. “So, we used the solar data as if it came from a distant star to have a better connection between solar physics and stellar physics.”
Sunspots are often precursors to solar flares – intense outbursts of energy from the surface of the Sun – so monitoring sunspots is important to understanding why and how flares occur.
Additionally, understanding the frequency of flares on other stars is one of the keys to understanding their chance of harboring life.
Having a few flares may help build up complex molecules like RNA and DNA from simpler building blocks. But too many strong flares can strip entire atmospheres, rendering a planet uninhabitable.
To see what a sunspot and its effect on the solar atmosphere would look like on a distant star, the scientists started with high-resolution data of the sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and JAXA/NASA’s Hinode mission.
By adding up all the light in each image, the scientists converted the high-resolution images into single datapoints.
Stringing subsequent datapoints together, the scientists created plots of how the light changed as the sunspot passed across the sun’s rotating face. These plots, which scientists call light curves, showed what a passing sunspot on the sun would look like if it were many light-years away.
“The sun is our closest star. Using solar observing satellites, we can resolve signatures on the surface 100 miles wide,” said Vladimir Airapetian, co-author on the new study and astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “On other stars you might only get one pixel showing the entire surface, so we wanted to create a template to decode activity on other stars.”
The new study, published in the Astrophysical Journal, looked at simple cases where there is just one group of sunspots visible across the entire face of the sun. Even though NASA and JAXA missions have continually gathered observations of the sun for over a decade, these cases are quite rare.
Usually there are either several sunspots – such as during the solar maximum, which we are now moving toward – or none at all. In all the years of data, the scientists only found a handful of instances of just one isolated sunspot group.
Studying these events, the scientists found the light curves differed when they measured different wavelengths. In visible light, when a singular sunspot appears at the center of the sun, the sun is dimmer.
However, when the sunspot group is near the edge of the sun, it’s actually brighter due to faculae – bright magnetic features around sunspots – because, near the edge, the hot walls of their nearly vertical magnetic fields become increasingly visible.
The scientists also looked at the light curves in x-ray and ultraviolet light, which show the atmosphere above the sunspots. As the atmospheres above sunspots are magnetically heated, the scientists found brightening there at some wavelengths.
However, the scientists also unexpectedly discovered that the heating could also cause a dimming in the light coming from the lower temperature atmosphere. These findings may provide a tool to diagnose the environments of spots on the stars.
“So far we’ve done the best-case scenarios, where there’s only one sunspot visible,” Toriumi said. “Next we are planning on doing some numerical modeling to understand what happens if we have multiple sunspots.”
By studying stellar activity on young stars in particular, scientists can glean a view of what our young sun may have been like. This will help scientists understand how the young sun – which was overall more dim but active – impacted Venus, Earth and Mars in their early days. It could also help explain why life on Earth started four billion years ago, which some scientists speculate is linked to intense solar activity.
Studying young stars can also contribute to scientists’ understanding of what triggers superflares – those that are 10 to 1000 times stronger than the biggest seen on the sun in recent decades. Young stars are typically more active, with superflares happening almost daily. Whereas, on our more mature sun, they may only occur once in a thousand years or so.
Spotting young suns that are conducive to supporting habitable planets, helps scientists who focus on astrobiology, the study of the origin evolution, and distribution of life in the universe.
Several next-generation telescopes in production, which will be able to observe other stars in x-ray and ultraviolet wavelengths, could use the new results to decode observations of distant stars.
In turn, this will help identify those stars with appropriate levels of stellar activity for life – and that can then be followed up by observations from other upcoming high-resolution missions, such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Mara Johnson-Groh works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury in Lake County, California. File photo/courtesy of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Congressman John Garamendi, who represents the northern half of Lake County, on Friday submitted a formal comment to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission opposing the proposed removal of Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury and demanding that Lake County have an equal seat at the table for determining the future of Potter Valley Project and the lake.
Garamendi, who served as the deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior in President Bill Clinton’s administration, said the proposal to remove the dam was issued over the objections of Lake County residents as part of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s divestment of the Potter Valley Hydropower Project.
“Lake County residents who have owned homes and property around Lake Pillsbury reservoir for decades have been shut out of planning for the future of the Potter Valley Project,” said Garamendi (D-CA). “Let me be clear: any decision-making for the Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury Reservoir must include representatives from Lake County. Anything short of that is simply unacceptable.”
He said he strongly opposes draining Lake Pillsbury by removing the Scott Dam. “The planning process will not be adequate until every community impacted by this project has a voice in the process I expect FERC to give Lake County and Lake Pillsbury residents a full and equal seat at the table during this process. I stand ready with Lake County to create a version of the Potter Valley Project that works for every community involved, including cost-effective fish passage at Scott Dam.”
“We are extremely pleased that Congressman Garamendi is standing up for Lake County, Lake Pillsbury recreation and wildlife, and Lake Pillsbury homeowners,” said Carol Cinquini of the Lake Pillsbury Alliance.
Lake County denied a seat at the table
The Scott Dam is part of the hydroelectric Potter Valley Project, owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which in May 2018 announced its intention to put the project up for auction.
North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman led an ad hoc committee promoting what it’s called a “two-basin solution” that includes decommissioning and removing the dam.
Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, Sonoma County Water Agency, California Trout Inc., the county of Humboldt and Round Valley Indian Tribes, known as the “NOI Parties,” initiated Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proceedings to make a licensing proposal for the Potter Valley Project.
Lake Pillsbury sits within northern Lake County. As such, the county of Lake sought to be a part of the group but was denied membership, and county officials – including Supervisor EJ Crandell, who represents the Lake Pillsbury area – said Lake County’s concerns have been ignored or entirely dismissed.
In his letter to FERC, Garamendi said Lake County formally requested to join the NOI Parties, only to be rejected. “Apparently, the ‘notice of intent’ parties’ standing rules require approval of all current members before another party may join. CalTrout – a nongovernmental organization that will likely have no official role in the future governance of the Potter Valley Project under the to-be established regional entity – voted to block Lake County from joining its peer county governments (Mendocino, Sonoma, and Humboldt) as a ‘notice of intent’ party. This is not acceptable.”
CalTrout, earlier in 2019, had issued a report listing the Scott Dam as one of the five top dams in California that needed to be removed to benefit fish and habitat.
This past May, the NOI Parties filed a feasibility study in which they seek to gain control of the Potter Valley Project from PG&E. The plan included removing the Scott Dam and destroying Lake Pillsbury.
If the plan is approved, Lake County would have no operational control over the Potter Valley Project, including the Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury reservoir. “This is just not right or acceptable,” said Garamendi.
“The Two Basin Partnership’s vision for a balanced future for people and wildlife who depend on the Eel and Russian rivers does so at the expense of those most directly affected by their proposal to remove Scott Dam,” said Cinquini. “Water supply reliability for downstream users has not been assured. The size and quality of Eel River habitat upstream of Scott Dam has not been ground-truthed. All fish mitigation enhancements need to be seriously considered before concluding that dam removal is the only path forward.”
On behalf of the county, Crandell has argued that there are many other ways to ensure fish passage, and provide environmental benefits to communities along the Russian and Eel Rivers and those that live near Lake Pillsbury, most at a fraction of the cost, but none of those options were considered.
The Lake Pillsbury Alliance, Crandell and the county, and now Garamendi, also have pointed out that Lake Pillsbury has for many years been a critical source of water for firefighting efforts.
“The Lake Pillsbury reservoir has been a feature of Lake County since 1922 and provides essential firefighting capacity for one of the most fire-prone regions in California,” Garamendi continued. “Cal Fire made extensive use of Lake Pillsbury reservoir for firefighting during the devastating Mendocino Complex fire in 2018, and again during this year’s fire season.”
This summer, firefighters also have drawn on the lake to fight the massive August Complex – which is the largest wildland fire in California history, at more than 1,030,000 acres – which resulted in evacuation orders for the Lake Pillsbury basin last month.
Crandell told Lake County News on Friday that he initially had filled Garamendi in on the situation when the congressman visited the Middle Creek Restoration project in October 2019. They spoke again briefly about it at his office in DC.
Then, on Sept. 16, the Lake County Chamber of Commerce set up a virtual meeting with Garamendi, Crandell said.
Crandell said he, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier and members of the Lake Pillsbury Alliance were invited to speak with the Garamendi about their struggles with the two-basin solution and share the history of Lake County’s interests not being taken seriously in regard to Scott Dam and most of Lake Pillsbury.
“Because of that meeting we were able to fill him in on the intricacies of this project,” Crandell said.
More study needed
In his letter to FERC, Garamendi said that a 2018 study prepared for the Sonoma County Water Agency – one of the parties now seeking to remove the Scott Dam – found that providing volitional fish passage both upstream and downstream of the Scott and Cape Horn dams would cost less than $64 million.
“By contrast, decommissioning the Scott Dam, removing or otherwise mitigating 12 million cubic yards of sediment stored within Lake Pillsbury reservoir, and other proposed project changes are estimated to cost upwards of $400 million, according to the parties’ feasibility study report,” Garamendi said, noting those “critical issues” are not addressed by the initial study report filed with FERC on Sept. 15.
Garamendi also referenced a Sept. 29 public meeting on the initial study report prepared by the parties, where he said it was summarily announced that the technical studies and future planning documents for the integrated relicensing process would no longer include an assessment of fish passage improvements at Scott Dam other than removal of the dam.
“How can FERC or the parties accurately assess the impact of the proposed removal of Scott Dam on federally protected fish species without considering those benefits, if any, relative to other potential fish passage improvements at the dam?” Garamendi asked.
In his letter, which can be seen below, he went on to point out inaccuracies in a FERC scoping document, and argued, “At a minimum, further independent study is needed to justify that the benefits of removing the Scott Dam outweigh the substantial costs, rather than just assuming this to be the case as the parties’ FERC filings do.”
He said he stands ready to help secure federal funding to improve fish passage at the Scott Dam and reservoir operations at Lake Pillsbury.
“I am truly grateful for Congressman Garamendi writing a letter for Lake County and the Lake Pillsbury residents,” Crandell said.
How to get involved
Members of the public can submit comments regarding the removal of Scott Dam and draining of Lake Pillsbury reservoir by:
2) Once registered, check your email inbox. In the email from FERC, there will be a link to submit a public comment.
3) Enter docket number P-77-298 (not 285 as previously reported) and click “search.”
4) Click the blue + on the right side of the table to select the docket.
5) Submit your comments in the comment box.
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. – Lake County had two more residents die of COVID-19-related illness this week and more than a dozen new cases confirmed on Friday, with Public Health releasing data showing the racial breakdown of the county’s cases.
Lake County’s COVID-19 cases increased to 658 on Friday, up 17 over the previous day and 30 over the previous Friday, according to Lake County Public Health’s COVID-19 dashboard.
Public Health said 55 cases are active and being monitored, and two patients currently are hospitalized, bringing the total of all cases hospitalized to 40. Another 588 have recovered.
This week, two additional deaths have occurred, bringing the total to 15, Public Health reported.
Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace said the 14th death was an individual older than age 65 who had a previous history of medical issues and was hospitalized at the time of death.
The 15th death, reported to Public Health on Friday, was an individual who was over age 60 and died following a lengthy COVID-related hospitalization, Pace said.
Statewide, county Public Health departments reported a total of 16,905 deaths as of Friday night, with more than 871,000 confirmed cases.
Lake’s neighboring counties reported the following total caseloads and deaths as of Friday: Colusa, 545 cases, six deaths; Glenn, 639 cases, three deaths; Mendocino, 1,080 cases, 21 deaths; Napa, 1,851 cases, 14 deaths; Sonoma, 8,717 cases, 129 deaths; and Yolo, 3,034 cases, 56 deaths.
The California Department of Public Health said Friday that local health departments have reported 41,984 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 194 deaths statewide.
The state also said that as of Friday there have been 16,621,956 tests conducted in California, an increase of 104,144 over the prior 24-hour reporting period.
‘Significant disparities’ emerge
In his Friday report, Pace said directing additional resources to disadvantaged communities and essential front-line workers are critical in addressing the impacts of the virus.
“Despite our efforts, significant disparities have emerged. Those that live in crowded conditions, work in settings requiring close contact with people outside of their household, and those with little available paid sick time have been infected at higher rates,” he said.
He said moving to less restrictive tiers of the state’s COVID-19 framework and further invigorating the local economy will require targeted interventions. “Those at disproportionate risk need resources: additional testing, services, and education to help people stay off work and out of the public when they are infected.”
In response to new requirements from the state that case race and ethnicity data be reported, Pace said infection rates in Lake County are two to three times higher among the Latino or Hispanic population and two times greater in Native American communities as compared to the general population data.
He said 49.9 percent of Lake County’s cases have affected Latino or Hispanic individuals, and 6.2 percent of those infected have been Native American.
The latest American Community Survey data from the US Census Bureau shows that Hispanics or Latinos make up 20 percent of the Lake County population – which numbers just above 64,000 residents – while Native Americans account for 5.2 percent.
“Regrettably, these groups are facing more problems with access to services and greater pressures to work, even when exposed to the virus,” Pace said. “The county of Lake’s Health Services Department is committed to acting on these disparities, and we submitted a plan to the state this week.”
The California Department of Public Health reported that Latinos have accounted for 61.1 percent of the state’s total cases and 48.6 percent of all deaths. African Americans account for 4.2 percent of cases and 7.5 percent of deaths, Native Americans or Alaska Natives account for 1.1 percent of cases and 0.7 percent of deaths. Whites make up 17.4 percent of cases and 30.1 percent of deaths.
Pace said the state has also encouraged local jurisdictions to regularly publish data regarding caseloads in groups with the highest rates of COVID-19 infection, and Pace said Public Health will start doing that next week.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors is set to approve a resolution accepting unanticipated funds, including $463,702 from the federal government, for COVID-19 testing and epidemiological surveillance-related activities, including enhancing Public Health surveillance systems and COVID-19 crisis response.
“Directing resources where the need is greatest just makes sense, and we are grateful federal and state funding is available to support enhanced effort,” Pace said.
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 quick work of Mt. Konocti’s fire lookout volunteers and a large number of fire resources – including a passing strike team on its way home from the August Complex – led to the quick containment of a fire along Highway 20 on Friday.
Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mike Wink said the fire was dispatched at 11:42 a.m., just east of New Long Valley Road, east of Clearlake Oaks.
Wink credited the sharp-eyed volunteers of the Mt. Konocti Lookout for spotting the fire early on.
While the volunteers are no longer in the lookout tower due to safety issues, they continue to have a presence on the mountaintop to look for fires, he said.
And on Friday, “Their determination and hard work paid off,” Wink said.
That early report was particularly important because the fire was located in an area without cell phone service, said Wink.
Another fortunate factor: “Just by random coincidence there was a strike team of engines that were passing through the area of Highway 20,” Wink said.
Following the fire’s dispatch, Wink said a strike team of five engines from Cal Fire’s Amador-El Dorado Unit happened to be traveling along Highway 20, on their way home from an assignment in Covelo, where they had been working on the north zone of the August Complex.
That group of firefighters, monitoring the radio traffic, stopped and joined the firefighting effort, which Wink said included a wildland dispatch of five Cal Fire engines and local fire agencies, as well as another five engines from Mendocino County fire districts that has been staged in the city of Clearlake due to the red flag conditions.
Wink said tankers and helicopters – including Copter 104 from Boggs Mountain, plus another copter that had been staged there due to the red flag warning – were part of the response.
All of them “pounced” on the fire, which Wink said burned in grass along the highway.
Although the fire had a northwest wind on it, “Luckily, it didn’t jump the highway,” Wink said.
The firefighters held the fire to three acres and contained it very quickly, he said.
Radio reports indicated Highway 20 was closed for a short time as firefighters were working in the area.
Wink said the fire started on private property.
“The property owner is cooperating with the investigation and it is not suspicious,” Wink said of the fire’s cause.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – In an effort to focus resources and respond to a challenge in recruitment, the Lakeport City Council has approved a plan for freezing two city committees and bringing forward new ad hoc committees to look at specific topics.
City Manager Kevin Ingram took the proposal to the council at its Oct. 6 meeting.
He said it’s the time of year to consider recruitment for the city’s committees and commissions. Over the past couple of years, the city has had trouble finding enough people to fill the seats and hasn’t had adequate agenda items for those who do serve.
As a result, Ingram was proposing a new option, which included freezing the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee and the Parks and Recreation Committee and instead forming ad hoc committees to deal with specific issues.
Ingram also suggested that at the beginning of the year the council would hold joint meetings with its committees to help members understand their roles and the council's direction.
“I think what’s important here is that the commissions and committees work in a manner that is beneficial for the council and for the city,” said City Attorney David Ruderman, who told the council that any resulting Brown Act concerns from creating the new committees would be handled by staff.
Council members offered their support for the plan, with Councilwoman Stacey Mattina noting that she liked the potential for having less staff time going into managing city committees that don’t meet regularly.
Ingram said the proposal was only dealing with the Traffic Safety and Advisory Committee and the Parks and Recreation Committee, as the Lakeport Planning Commission and Measure Z Advisory Committee have set roles, and the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee has a strategic plan.
He said if it doesn’t work, in a year the city can return to its previous approach.
Councilman Kenny Parlet said that, ultimately, issues come back to the council anyway, and if there are problems community members usually call the council members directly.
Councilwoman Mireya Turner said everyone is strapped for time, so it made sense to focus resources where there’s the most energy and where they can get things done.
Turner moved to direct staff to review council goals, return with proposals for new ad hoc committees, and freeze the Traffic Safety and Advisory Committee and the Parks and Recreation Committee, which the council approved unanimously.
Ingram said he has talked to both the Traffic Safety and Advisory Committee and the Parks and Recreation Committee about the proposal and believed that the members are looking forward to participating in the new ad hoc committees.
In other council action on Oct. 6, the council presented a proclamation to Sheri Young of Lake Family Resource Center designating October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, held a hearing and approved an ordinance to update the Lakeport Municipal Code’s emergency services chapter, made amendments to the fiscal year 2020-21 city budget and approved a resolution for approval that would authorize the city manager to submit an application for the Prop 68 Per Capita Program and execute any agreements necessary for the use of grant funds.
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.
Perseverance's Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX) uses radar waves to probe the ground, revealing the unexplored world that lies beneath the Martian surface. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/FFI.
After touching down on the Red Planet Feb. 18, 2021, NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will scour Jezero Crater to help us understand its geologic history and search for signs of past microbial life.
But the six-wheeled robot won't be looking just at the surface of Mars: The rover will peer deep below it with a ground-penetrating radar called RIMFAX.
Unlike similar instruments aboard Mars orbiters, which study the planet from space, RIMFAX will be the first ground-penetrating radar set on the surface of Mars. This will give scientists much higher-resolution data than space-borne radars can provide while focusing on the specific areas that Perseverance will explore.
Taking a more focused look at this terrain will help the rover's team understand how features in Jezero Crater formed over time.
Short for Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment, RIMFAX can provide a highly detailed view of subsurface structures down to at least 30 feet underground. In doing so, the instrument will reveal hidden layers of geology and help find clues to past environments on Mars, especially those that may have provided the conditions necessary for supporting life.
"We take an image of the subsurface directly beneath the rover," said Svein-Erik Hamran, the instrument's principal investigator, with the University of Oslo in Norway. "We can do a 3D model of the subsurface – of the different layers – and determine the geological structures underneath."
While Mars is a frigid desert today, scientists suspect that microbes may have lived in Jezero during wetter times billions of years ago and that evidence of such ancient life may be preserved in sediments in the crater.
Information from RIMFAX will help pinpoint areas for deeper study by instruments on the rover that search for chemical, mineral, and textural clues found within rocks that may be signs of past microbial life.
Ultimately, the team will collect dozens of drill-core samples with Perseverance, seal them in tubes that will be deposited on the surface for return to Earth by future missions. That way, these first samples from another planet can be studied in laboratories with equipment too large to take to Mars.
A test model of the RIMFAX instrument – aboard the trailer behind the snow mobile – undergoes field testing in Svalbard, Norway. Credits: FFI.
Traveling back in time
Scientists believe the 28-mile-wide Jezero Crater formed when a large object collided with Mars, kicking up rocks from deep in the planet's crust. More than 3.5 billion years ago, river channels spilled into the crater, creating a lake that was home to a fan-shaped river delta.
Hamran hopes RIMFAX will shed light on how the delta formed. "This is not so easy, based on surface images only, because you have this dust covering everything, so you may not necessarily see all the changes in geology."
He and his science team will stack successive radar soundings to create a two-dimensional subsurface image of the crater floor. Eventually, data will be combined with images from a camera on the rover to create a 3D topographical image.
The instrument employs the same type of ground-penetrating radar used here on Earth to find buried utilities, underground caverns, and the like. In fact, Hamran uses it to study glaciers.
Tens of millions of miles away on Mars, however, he and his colleagues will be relying on Perseverance to do the work as it roams through Jezero Crater.
"We do some measurements while we are stationary," he said, "but most measurements will actually be gathered while the rover is driving."
More about the mission
A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life.
The rover will characterize the planet's ancient climate and geology, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent missions, currently under consideration by NASA in cooperation with ESA (the European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 mission is part of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028 through NASA's Artemis lunar exploration plans.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers.
Highlighted in blue in this visualization, the RIMFAX instrument's antenna is externally mounted underneath the MMRTG (the rover’s nuclear battery) on the back of Perseverance. With the interactive tool Learn About Perseverance, you can get a closer look at Perseverance and its many features. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Friday night that it has restored power to nearly all of the customers impacted by a public safety power shutoff that was implemented over the past two days.
The shutoff, which began on Wednesday evening in response to red flag weather conditions, impacted 41,000 customers – about 12,000 customers less than originally forecast – in 24 counties: Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Lake, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba.
In Lake County, 82 Lake County customers, five of them in the medical baseline program, were impacted in the Cobb, Lower Lake and Middletown areas.
PG&E said the severe weather subsided enough during the day on Thursday in some locations for its meteorology team to issue a number of “weather all clears,” which allowed electric crews to begin patrols of power lines to look for damage as the first step toward restoration. As a result, 10,000 customers had their power restored on Thursday.
On Friday morning, PG&E issued the all clear for the remaining areas in the PSPS footprint, deploying 1,200 employees on the ground or in 47 helicopters inspecting about 3,200 miles of lines for damage or hazards.
The majority of the remaining 31,000 customers affected by this PSPS event were restored by early Friday evening, the company said.
PG&E said wind gusts of more than 50 miles per hour were recorded in multiple high fire danger areas including Napa, San Mateo and Yolo counties. Peak wind gusts were recorded in Contra Costa County, 61 miles per hour; Butte County, 64 miles per hour; and Sonoma County, 73 miles per hour.
Based on preliminary data from the company’s damage inspections, there were 30 instances of weather-related damage and hazards – such as downed power lines and vegetation on power lines – in the PSPS-affected areas. PG&E said that type of damage could have resulted in wildland fires had the lines not been deenergized.
PG&E said it will submit a report detailing damages from the severe weather conditions to the California Public Utilities Commission within 10 days of the completion of the PSPS.
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 California Highway Patrol is asking for the community’s assistance in identifying the driver responsible for fatally injuring a pedestrian in a Thursday morning crash and then fleeing the scene.
The CHP’s Clear Lake Area office said Carl Curtis Knight, 59, of Clearlake died as a result of the crash.
Knight was crossing Highway 29, south of Orchard Street in Lower Lake, at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, when conditions were reported to be dark, the CHP said.
The CHP said Knight was walking from the west side of the roadway at the Power Mart towards the east side of the roadway when a vehicle hit him while he was in the No. 2 northbound lane of Highway 53.
The driver of the vehicle that hit Knight then fled the scene, according to the CHP’s Friday evening report.
Knight was transported to Adventist Health Clear Lake Hospital where he succumbed to injuries resulting from the collision, the CHP said.
If anyone has any information as to who the driver of the involved vehicle is or the location of the involved vehicle, please contact the Clear Lake CHP office at 707-279-0103.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – During its Wednesday evening meeting, the Lakeport Planning Commission approved renaming a city street in honor of the man who was the prime mover behind the development of Westside Community Park.
The discussion about renaming Westside Park Road for Charlie Jolin was the main item on the agenda for the commission’s brief Wednesday night meeting.
In July, at the request of the Westside Community Park Committee, the Lakeport City Council approved beginning the process to rename the street in honor of Jolin, who died in June at age 96, as Lake County News has reported.
The process’ next stop was the planning commission, which first considered the proposal at its Sept. 8 meeting.
Originally, the proposal had been to name the road “Charlie’s Way.”
At the commission’s September meeting, City Manager Kevin Ingram pointed out that the city’s city’s street naming conventions discouraged the use of apostrophes.
Commissioner Mark Mitchell, later in the same meeting, suggested going with “Charlie Jolin Way,” as it would offer more information about the man behind the street name.
That option would come out as the top choice, but before making a decision the commission voted to hold off until this month’s meeting so they could hear directly from the Westside Community Park Committee, which had its own meeting at the same time and so didn’t have a representative on hand Sept. 8 to answer questions.
In his update to the commission on Wednesday, Ingram said the next step would be a public notice process that city staff would initiate immediately. While there are no residences on the road, he said it leads to homes in the Parkside Subdivision. It’s the city’s intention to give individual notifications to subdivision residents.
Because the city’s street naming rules don’t allow apostrophes, Ingram said staff recommended the new street name be “Charlie Jolin Way.”
Westside Community Park Committee Chair Dennis Rollins was on hand to answer questions from the commission.
He said the committee doesn’t believe there would be a Westside Park without Jolin.
Rollins explained that in the late 1990s, Jolin and then-Lakeport Community Development Director Richard Knoll got together and had a brainstorm about the park idea, and Jolin ran with it.
He said the first phase of the park involved help from the National Guard, which Jolin had arranged.
“He was the mover and the shaker,” Rollins said.
One of the park committee members had suggested the whole park be renamed for Jolin, but Rollins said Jolin didn’t want anything named after him. He was low-key about things unless it was about promoting the park.
Rollins said he thought renaming the road in Jolin’s memory is fitting.
Mitchell asked him his preference for the name.
Rollins said he liked “Charlie’s Way” because the committee had done everything Jolin’s way. However, he said he understood the punctuation issues with the city’s street naming rules. The committee has discussed it and is fine with the proposed name of “Charlie Jolin Way.”
“Ordinarily, this isn’t something I’d be in favor of,” said Commission Chair Michael Froio, who also had raised his concerns at the last meeting about renaming established streets.
However, Froio said Wednesday that in talking with people this week about the proposal, it seemed fitting and that his question had been answered when Mitchell questioned Rollins about his name preference.
Commissioner Ken Wicks moved to recommend the city council change Westside Park Road to “Charlie Jolin Way,” with the finding that the name change is in conformance with the general plan and existing street name network. Commissioner Jeff Warrenburg seconded and the commission approved the motion 4-0, with Commissioner Michael Green absent.
Ingram told Lake County News after the meeting that the Lakeport Municipal Code has a 10-day notice requirement for street renaming but it requires the notice to be placed in two public spaces.
He said he also intends to send a direct mailing to the Parkside Subdivision, as he had indicated during the meeting.
Ingram said the plan is to get sign notices by the end of the month, which would put the matter on track to go before the Lakeport City Council at its Nov. 17 meeting.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – In an effort to save staff time and resources, the Clearlake City Council on Thursday approved an agreement with a company that will provide new agenda management services to the city.
The council unanimously approved the request for the new services from Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Melissa Swanson following a presentation by representatives of Municipal Code Corp., a company headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, with a West Coast office in Portland, Oregon.
The discussion starts at the 35 minute mark in the meeting, shown in the video above.
Swanson told the council that it takes city staff about 35 hours per month – the equivalent of almost an entire work week – to review and produce agendas, with another four hours required to print out agendas for the two monthly council meetings.
The city currently relies on what Swanson’s written report called an “antiquated, time- and paper intensive process” that is estimated to cost $2,200 per month or $26,400 annually in staff time.
She said city council agenda packets use an average of more than 19,000 pieces of paper per year.
“To visualize this, 19,000 sheets of paper stack up to over 6 feet tall, and over my time as city clerk, that stack of papers would stretch as high as a 10-story building,” she said.
That doesn’t count the work necessary for the city’s planning commission, marketing committee or any ad hoc committees, Swanson said.
She said an agenda management system would streamline the agenda process for staff, the council, committees and the public.
While staff time and paper costs wouldn’t be completely eliminated, Swanson said they would be greatly reduced.
In July, the Administrative Services Department published a request for proposals for an agenda management system. Swanson said several proposals were submitted and staff selected three vendors for a final review by department heads and stakeholders including Mayor Russ Cremer.
She said they reviewed them on Sept. 14, using criteria including technology level, ease of use, user interface, pricing structure, functionality and integration with the city’s current technology infrastructure. After demos by the three finalists, Swanson said the committee’s decision was to recommend the council approve an agreement with Municipal Code Corp., or MuniCode.
Her written report said city staff contacted 14 other California jurisdictions that currently use MuniCode Meetings, with 10 responding to their request for information. All 10 said they would recommend MuniCode for ease of use, customer service and smooth implementation processes.
She said the cost would be $11,500, which includes the one-time cost of $1,500 for historical data importation. Implementation of the new program is included in her department’s budget.
MuniCode representative Leon Rogers, appearing via Zoom, showed the council the company’s meeting portal, a link for which would be put on the city’s website. It will have search functions for date ranges and by board and commission, with meeting information and agendas available for download.
Rogers said the software allows council members to vote through the system.
He also explained that they would train staff on how to use the program.
Following the presentation, the council unanimously approved the agreement with MuniCode.
Swanson told Lake County News that the module doesn’t come with a video portion like Granicus, the agenda management system used by the county of Lake for Board of Supervisors and Lake County Planning
She said the city will continue to use Zoom to record meetings and post them on the city’s YouTube page.
In other business, the council held a public hearing to consider updates to the city’s zoning code, design review procedures and design standards, and following extensive discussion decided to hold the matter over until its next meeting.
The council also denied appeals of abatement orders for 15615 34th Ave. and 16221 32nd Ave., which were cited for illegal outdoor marijuana cultivation.
At the request of the League of California Cities, the council approved a resolution in support of Proposition 20, the Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act. The proposition, which is on the November ballot, would reclassify as “violent” some crimes currently categorized as “nonviolent” and create two additional categories of punishable crimes with increased penalties.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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