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Written by: Lake County News reports

Published: 27 December 2020

This festive season, or simply the holidays, is a time for celebrating, gift-giving, reflections and thanks.

To commemorate this time of year, the U.S. Census Bureau presents the following holiday-related facts and figures from its collection of statistics.

The following facts are made possible by the invaluable responses to the Census Bureau’s surveys.

“We appreciate the public’s cooperation as we continuously measure America’s people, places and economy,” the agency said.

Did you know?

$18.4 billion

The estimated retail sales for the nation’s department stores in December 2019, a decrease of 3.5 percent from December of the previous year.

Source: Monthly Retail Trade Survey

13.9 percent

The estimated percentage that December sales accounted for of total hobby, toy and game store sales in 2019.

Source: Monthly Retail Trade Survey

$85.2 billion

The estimated value of retail sales by electronic shopping and mail-order houses in December 2019, the highest estimated total for any month last year.

Source: Monthly Retail Trade Survey

$30.8 billion

The fourth quarter 2019 seasonally adjusted after-tax profits for retail trade corporations with assets of $50 million and over, up $5.7 (±0.6) billion from the third quarter of 2019.

Source: Quarterly Financial Report

$2.1 billion

The value of U.S. imports of Christmas ornaments from China for 2019. China led the way with 92.4 percent of the U.S. total imports of Christmas ornaments.

Sources: www.census.gov/trade and https://usatrade.census.gov

$484.9 million

The value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree lights for 2019. Cambodia led the way with 47.3 percent of the total U.S. imports of Christmas tree lights.

Source: International Trade Statistics, Harmonized System Code 9405.30 (Lighting sets of any kind used for Christmas Trees), www.census.gov/trade and https://usatrade.census.gov

532 establishments

The number of establishments nationwide that primarily produced dolls, toys and games in 2018, an increase of 23 establishments from 2017 (509 establishments); they employed 6,237 workers in the pay period including March 12, an increase of 117 employees from 2017 (6,120 employees). California led the nation with 93 establishments in 2018.

Source: County Business Patterns

$546.8 million

The value of U.S. imports of tapered candles in 2019. Most of these came from Vietnam, representing more than 46.8% of America’s imported tapered candles, followed by Canada with 16.7 percent.

Source: International Trade Statistics, Harmonized System Code 3406 (Candles, tapers, and the like), www.census.gov/trade and https://usatrade.census.gov

Holiday names

There are many holiday-sounding places in the United States. For example, more than a dozen places have Holly in their names, including Mount Holly, N.C. (population 16,257), and Holly Springs, Miss. (7,798).

There’s also Snowflake, Ariz. (5,995); Santa Claus, Ind. (2,411); North Pole, Alaska (2,094); Noel, Mo. (1,807); and — if you know about reindeer — Dasher, Ga. (1,015), and Rudolph, Wis. (416). There is also Unity, Ore. (70).

Source: Vintage 2019 Population Estimates

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Written by: Lake County News reports

Published: 27 December 2020

NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said it has arrested a Fort Bragg man who investigators believe used his pickup to intentionally hit and kill a motorcyclist.

Det. Sgt. Luis Espinoza said Shayne Tyler Wrede, 35, was arrested on Christmas Eve for killing 48-year-old Mark Jason Hutchinson of Willits.

Espinoza reported that shortly after 5:40 a.m. Thursday, officers with the California Highway Patrol were dispatched to a reported traffic collision causing injury in the 15000 block of Caspar Road near the Pacifica Drive intersection in Caspar.

Upon arrival the initial CHP officer discovered the traffic collision involved a 2003 Chevrolet pickup truck being driven by Shayne Wrede, Espinoza said.

Additionally, Espinoza said a 1994 Honda 650 motorcycle was present in the roadway. Through this investigation, it was determined the motorcycle was being operated by Mark Hutchinson.

Preliminary information identified Hutchinson as succumbing to his injuries related to the traffic collision, Espinoza said.

Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the reported coroner's case. While responding, it was learned Wrede – who was identified as also being on county parole – reported being the victim of a shooting earlier that morning prior to the traffic collision, Espinoza said.

Espinoza said Fort Bragg Police Department officers were dispatched to an apartment complex on South Street in Fort Bragg where evidence was located that was consistent with a shooting.

Mendocino County Sheriff's detectives were summoned and were assisted by an investigator with the CHP Northern Division Investigative Unit, Espinoza said.

Espinoza said initial information revealed that following the shooting, both Hutchinson and Wrede were involved in an approximate 4.5-mile vehicle chase.

Their vehicles reached speeds of at least 90 miles per hour through the city of Fort Bragg and the unincorporated southern portion of Fort Bragg before continuing south onto Caspar Road where the subsequent traffic collision occurred resulting in Hutchinson's death, Espinoza said.

Investigators with CHP's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team stationed in Redding were requested to respond and assist in determining the circumstances related to the traffic collision, Espinoza reported.

Following their scene investigation, speaking with eye witnesses and reviewing surveillance video associated with the shooting/vehicle chase, Espinoza said sheriff's detectives developed probable cause to believe Wrede intentionally caused the traffic collision by striking Hutchinson's motorcycle with his 2003 Chevrolet pickup truck at a high rate of speed while on Caspar Road.

Wrede was arrested for murder and violation of post release community supervision, Espinoza said.

Espinoza said Wrede was subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Sheriff's detectives are continuing to followup on information and are asking for the public's help, according to Espinoza’s report.

Sheriff's detectives are requesting anyone with information related to a shooting incident on South Street in Fort Bragg and the vehicle chase involving a motorcycle and dark-colored pick-up truck or the reported traffic collision on Caspar Road to call the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Tip-Line at 707-234-2100, Espinoza said.

Specifically, Espinoza said any residences or businesses with surveillance video facing US Highway 1 between Walnut Street – where Safeway is located – continuing south to Caspar Road are asked to contact the sheriff's office.

Espinoza said the time frame requested is from 5 to 6 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 24.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office thanked the following public safety agencies for their assistance during this investigation: California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Highway Patrol Investigator - Northern Division Investigative Unit, Fort Bragg Police Department, Mendocino County District Attorney's Office and the CHP Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team.

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Written by: NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Published: 27 December 2020

NASA and the European Space Agency, or ESA, are moving to the next phase in a campaign to deepen understanding of whether life ever existed on Mars and, in turn, better understand the origins of life on Earth.

NASA has approved the Mars Sample Return, or MSR, multi-mission effort to advance to Phase A, preparing to bring the first pristine samples from Mars back to Earth. During this phase, the program will mature critical technologies and make critical design decisions, as well as assess industry partnerships.

The first endeavor of this campaign is in progress. NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launched in July and is set to land on the Red Planet Feb. 18, 2021. The car-size rover will search for signs of ancient microbial life.

Using a coring drill at the end of its robotic arm, Perseverance has the capability to gather samples of Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), and hermetically seal them in collection tubes. Perseverance can deposit these samples at designated locations on the Martian surface or store them internally.

In the next steps of the MSR campaign, NASA and ESA will provide respective components for a Sample Retrieval Lander mission and an Earth Return Orbiter mission, with launches planned in the latter half of this decade.

The Sample Retrieval Lander mission will deliver a Sample Fetch Rover and Mars Ascent Vehicle to the surface of Mars. The rover will retrieve the samples and transport them to the lander.

The Perseverance rover also provides a potential capability for delivery of collection tubes to the lander. A robotic arm on the lander will transfer the samples into a container embedded in the nose of the Mars Ascent Vehicle.

Once sealed, the system will prepare for the first launch from another planet. In Mars orbit, the Earth Return Orbiter will rendezvous with and capture the sealed sample container, and then place the samples in an additional high-reliability containment capsule for return to Earth in the early 2030s.

"Returning samples of Mars to Earth has been a goal of planetary scientists since the early days of the space age, and the successful completion of this MSR key decision point is an important next step in transforming this goal into reality," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "MSR is a complex campaign, and it encapsulates the very essence of pioneering space exploration – pushing the boundaries of what's capable and, in so doing, furthering our understanding of our place in the universe."

Bringing Mars samples back to Earth will allow scientists across the world to examine the specimens using sophisticated instruments too large and too complex to send to Mars, and will allow future generations to study them using technology not yet available. Curating the samples on Earth will allow the science community to test new theories and models as they are developed, much as the Apollo samples returned from the Moon have done for decades.

The MSR campaign also advances NASA's efforts to send humans to the Red Planet. It will involve landing heavier spacecraft on the Martian surface than ever before. It would also involve launch from and rendezvous operations around another planet for the first time. With the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the lunar surface in 2024 to prepare for humanity's next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.

"MSR will foster significant engineering advances for humanity and advance technologies needed to successfully realize the first round-trip mission to another planet," said Jeff Gramling, Mars Sample Return program director at NASA Headquarters. “The scientific advances offered by pristine Martian samples through MSR are unprecedented, and this mission will contribute to NASA’s eventual goal of sending humans to Mars."

NASA established a Mars Sample Return Independent Review Board earlier this year to evaluate its early concepts for partnership with ESA to return the first samples from another planet. The board’s report with NASA’s responses released in October found the agency is now ready to undertake its Mars sample return campaign. NASA convened a second group of independent experts, the MSR Standing Review Board (SRB), to provide ongoing assessment of the MSR program. The SRB also recommended the program move into Phase A.

"Beginning the formulation work of Phase A is a momentous step for our team, albeit one of several to come," said Bobby Braun, Mars Sample Return program manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads development for NASA’s MSR effort. "These reviews strengthened our plan forward and this milestone signals creation of a tangible approach for MSR built upon the extraordinary capabilities of the NASA centers, our ESA partners, and industry."

ESA is providing the Earth Return Orbiter, Sample Fetch Rover, and the lander's robotic arm to the partnership. NASA is providing the Sample Retrieval Lander, Mars Ascent Vehicle, and the Capture/Containment and Return System payload on the Earth Return Orbiter. Multiple NASA Centers are involved in this effort, contributing in their areas of strength.

For more information about the agency’s activities on Mars, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mars .