LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association will hold its annual meeting and open house on Wednesday, March 4.

The meeting will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. in the historic Anderson Ranch House at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park, 8400 Highway 53, Lower Lake.

The event is free and open to the public.

AMIA Treasurer Henry Bornstein invited everyone to attend

“This is not only an opportunity to explore the Anderson Ranch House but also a way for both AMIA members and the general public to get answers to any questions that they may have about AMIA and Anderson Marsh State Historic Park,” Bornstein said.

The annual meeting will include music and light refreshments and a slide show depicting the wildlife found in the park, highlights of AMIA’s past year and a discussion of upcoming plans.

AMIA’s 2020 officers and the board will be introduced, and there will be a presentation of AMIA’s Volunteer of the Year Award.

For information about the event, contact AMIA at either This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707-995-2658.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control is featuring more new dogs for adoption this week.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Anatolian Shepherd, dachshund, German Shepherd, hound, husky, Jack Russell Terrier, Labrador Retriever and pit bull.

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

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

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

‘Smokey’

“Smokey” is a male dachshund mix with a short black and brown coat.

He already has been neutered.

He is in kennel No. 6, ID No. 11555.

Anatolian Shepherd puppy

This male Anatolian Shepherd puppy has a tan and white coat and brown eyes.

He is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 13603.

‘Tyson’

“Tyson” is a male German Shepherd with a medium-length tan and black coat and brown eyes.

He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. 11202.

‘Spankey’

“Spankey” is a male Jack Russell Terrier mix with a short white coat with brown markings and brown eyes.

He has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 21, ID No. 13566.

‘Nook’

“Nook” is a female hound mix with a short tricolor coat and brown eyes.

She has already been spayed.

She is in kennel No. 23, ID No. 11790.

Male husky

This male husky has a medium-length black and white coat and brown eyes.

He is in kennel No. 24, ID No. 13585.

Male Chihuahua

This young male Chihuahua has a cream-colored coat and brown eyes.

He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. 13590.

‘Chase’

“Chase” is a male husky-pit bull terrier mix with a short tan coat and blue eyes.

He is in kennel No. 32, ID No. 13541.

Male pit bull terrier

This male pit bull terrier has a short red and white coat and brown eyes.

He is in kennel No. 33, ID No. 13549.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Firefighters have made gains in containment on a fire burning since Tuesday on the Mendocino National Forest’s Covelo Ranger District.

The Baseball fire was up to 80 percent containment on Saturday evening, according to the Mendocino National Forest.

The fire’s size is now estimated at 211 acres. Forest officials said the acreage is the result of a more precise measurement of the perimeter after a firing operation on Thursday where crews burned the vegetation between the main fire and an established handline to contain the fire.

The Baseball Fire straddles Glenn and Mendocino counties, 15 miles southeast of Covelo.

There are about 100 personnel on the incident including engines and crews from the Mendocino, Klamath and Six Rivers national forests and from Oregon.

On Saturday, crews continued to mop-up and patrol the fire.

Forest officials said the Baseball fire started from previous pile burning on the Baseball prescribed fire project.

The fire is burning in grass, brush and timber in steep, rugged terrain at a low to moderate rate in a mosaic pattern, similar to the desired effects from a prescribed fire. There are no immediate threats to property or structures.

 

Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician who made critical contributions to the space program at NASA, died Feb. 24 at the age of 101.

Johnson became a household name thanks to the celebrated book “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians who Helped Win the Space Race,” which later became a movie. Her legacy provides lessons for supporting women and other underrepresented groups in mathematics and science.

As a historian of mathematics, I have studied women in that field and use the book “Hidden Figures” in my classroom. I can point to some contemporary ideas we can all benefit from when examining Johnson’s life.

1. Mentors make a difference

Early in her life, Johnson’s parents fostered her intellectual prowess.

Because there was no high school for African-American children in their hometown of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, the family relocated to Institute, West Virginia, during the school year. Johnson entered West Virginia State College High School as a preteen and enrolled at the age of 14.

While at West Virginia State, Johnson took classes with Angie Turner King. King taught at the laboratory high school while she worked to become one of the first African-American women to earn masters degrees in math and chemistry. She would go on to earn a Ph.D. in math education in 1955.

King taught Johnson geometry and encouraged her mathematical pursuits. Thirteen years older than Johnson, she modeled a life of possibility.

Johnson graduated from West Virginia State College at the age of 18. While there, she had the good fortune to learn from W. W. Schieffelin Claytor, the third African American to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in America. Claytor encouraged Katherine to become a research mathematician. In the 1930s, a little over 100 American women counted themselves as professional mathematicians.

2. High school mathematics adds up

Once Johnson completed the standard mathematics curriculum at West Virginia State College, Claytor created advanced classes just for her, including a course on analytic geometry.

Mathematics concepts build on one another and the mathematics she learned in this class helped her in her work at NASA many years later. She used these analytical skills to verify the computer calculations for John Glenn’s orbit around the earth and to help determine the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon, among others.

3. Grit matters

Long before psychologist Angela Duckworth called attention to the power of passion and perseverance in the form of grit, Katherine Johnson modeled this stalwart characteristic.

In 1940, she agreed to serve as one of three carefully selected students to desegregate West Virginia University’s graduate program. She also had to be “assertive and aggressive” about receiving credit for her contributions to research at NASA.

In 1960, her efforts helped her become the first African-American and the first woman to have her name on a NASA research report. Currently, the NASA archives contain more than 25 scientific reports on space flight history authored or co-authored by Johnson, the largest number by any African-American or woman.

4. The power of advocating for yourself

When NASA was formed in 1958, women were still not allowed to attend the Test Flight briefings.

Initially, Johnson would ask questions about the briefings and “listen and listen.” Eventually, she asked if she could attend. Apparently, the men grew tired of her questions and finally allowed her to attend the briefings.

5. The power of a team

In 1940, Johnson found herself among the 2% of all African-American women who had earned a college degree. At that time, she was among the nearly 60% of those women who had become teachers.

Later, she joined the West Computing Group at Langley Research Center where women “found jobs and each other.” They checked each other’s work and made sure nothing left the office with an error. They worked together to advance each other individually and collectively as they performed calculations for space missions and aviation research.

6. The power of women advocating for women

Although Johnson started as a human computer in the West Computing Group, after two weeks she moved to the Maneuver Load Branch of the Flight Research Division under the direction of Henry Pearson.

When it was time to make this position permanent after her six month probationary period, Dorothy Vaughan, then the West Computing department head and Johnson’s former boss, told Pearson to “either give her a raise or send her back to me.” Pearson subsequently offered Johnson the position and the raise.

7. The legacy of possibility

In March of 2014, Donna Gigliotti, producer of Shakespeare in Love and The Reader, received a 55-page nonfiction proposal about African-American women mathematicians at NASA in Hampton, Virginia.

“I kind of couldn’t get over the fact that this was a true story and I didn’t know anything about it,” Gigliotti confessed. “I thought well, this is a movie.” Gigliotti’s hunch ultimately led to the movie “Hidden Figures” and an entire generation of young people learning about the possibilities of math and science.

The U.S. State Department showed Hidden Figures throughout the developing world to encourage girls and women to consider the possibilities of careers in math and science. Mattel created a Katherine Johnson Barbie in its “Inspiring Women” series to celebrate “the achievements of a pioneer who broke through the barriers of race and gender.”

[You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.]

Della Dumbaugh, Professor of Mathematics, University of Richmond

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

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department said its officers – assisted by other local law enforcement agencies – took a man into custody after he assaulted his girlfriend on Friday evening and tried to prevent her from calling police for help.

Micah K. Akima, 39, was arrested on felony charges of domestic battery, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon and preventing the summoning of 911, the Lakeport Police Department said.

At 6 p.m. Friday Lakeport Police officers responded to the area of Armstrong Street at South Russell Street on the report of an assault that had occurred, police said.

Officers met with a 47-year-old female victim at the location. Police said she had bruising to her face as well as cuts and bruising on her arms.

Police said the victim reported to officers that her boyfriend, Akima, had attacked her following a verbal argument after she had returned from shopping. The victim reported that she had been thrown to the ground and kicked and stomped on her face repeatedly by Akima.

The woman told police that Akima had taken her phone and she had been unable to call for help. She said she had been able to flee from the residence by escaping out the back door, police reported.

The victim at that point told officers that Akima was still at their residence, located on North Brush Street. Police said the woman told them that Akima was a former mixed martial arts fighter who was possibly suffering from a mental health crisis.

Lakeport Police officers responded to the address and attempted to contact and detain Akima with the assistance of Lake County Sheriff’s deputies. Police said they attempted to contact Akima but were ultimately unable to at that time.

Police said the officers followed up with the victim and obtained an emergency protective order to protect her from Akima.

Lakeport Police officers, with the assistance of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and California Highway Patrol, returned to the residence where they attempted to contact Akima and place him under arrest per probable cause, police said.

The officers announced their presence multiple times to Akima and ordered him to surrender and exit the residence. Police said Akima refused to comply and remained inside the residence.

Officers and deputies then forced entry from the back of the residence, at which time Akima fled out the front door where he was intercepted and ultimately detained without further incident or injury to himself or law enforcement, police said.

Police said Akima was later booked into the Lake County Jail on the felony charges.

Lakeport Public Works employees responded and assisted with security repairs to the residence, police said.

The Lakeport Police Department thanked its partners with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the California Highway Patrol and Lakeport Public Works Department for their assistance in bringing the incident to a safe conclusion.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With the situation involving the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, rapidly evolving, Lake County’s Public Health officer is offering the latest information on the illness and a community town hall is planned next week.

This week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a possible first case of person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 in California, specifically, a resident of Solano County who is receiving medical care in Sacramento County, as Lake County News has reported.

In that case, the individual had no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual.

That brings the total number of confirmed cases in the United States to 15, with 12 related to travel and three the result of person-to-person spread, the CDC reported.

In response to local concerns, a coronavirus town hall will take place at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 2, at Grace Evangelical Church, 6716 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville.

Lily Woll, a local teacher and District 5 supervisorial candidate, said she’s heard from community members regarding their concerns about coronavirus, so she helped organize the event.

The event will include a panel discussion about the local preparations for dealing with coronavirus, and there will be a question and answer period following the presentations.

Woll said hospital and emergency officials, the Lake County Office of Education and Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace will attend. Spanish translation services will be provided.

Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg said his agency’s coordinator for emergency readiness, Rob Young, will attend and take part in the panel.

Pace told Lake County News that he plans to discuss the current situation, local preparations and answer questions.

Pace offers Lake County situation update

Separately, in a Friday report, Pace noted, “The situation with the coronavirus is changing rapidly. While the risk locally continues to be very low, clearly the virus is spreading widely – now with outbreaks in Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea – and the global impacts are beginning to be felt.”

Pace said there are currently no cases in Lake County, but regionally, there are two known cases in Humboldt County of people that had recently traveled to China.

In addition, there are two cases of repatriated travelers housed at Travis AFB who tested positive and are now being hospitalized in Napa County, with no known community contact.

Regarding the Solano County case confirmed this week, where there was no known travel exposure, Pace said, “It may have been a situation where the person acquired the infection in the community, but we don’t know all of the details yet.”

Pace said the public health strategy up to this point has been to slow the spread of the virus through travel restrictions and isolation of suspected cases.

“Fortunately, this containment approach has allowed us to get some preparations in place and given us time to learn more about the activity of the virus. Now as COVID-19 is spreading into more countries, we can reasonably expect it to make its way into the wider community here over the coming weeks or months, and the containment focus may shift to one of trying to control the impact,” Pace said.

While Pace said that the experts are not yet calling this a “pandemic,” it looks like it may be classified as one soon.

“Calling it a pandemic does not indicate how serious it will be in terms of debilitating disease, but it does suggest that it seems to be spreading to new countries rather quickly. Will it be mild, moderate, or severe in terms of illness and disruption of society? We just don’t know at this point. Also, some local areas like San Francisco are calling it a ‘health emergency,’ but that really is an indication of how many resources they are devoting to trying to prevent the spread, rather than an indication of the immediate risk to the population,” he said.

Much of the behavior of this virus is familiar in the way it is transmitted via droplets, and prevention strategies are similar to those used in influenza or other viral outbreaks, Pace said.

He offered the following guidance on how to stay healthy:

● COVID-19 spreads by respiratory means, so it is important to cover the mouth when coughing, cough into the arm, not touch your face, wash hands regularly, and don’t go to school or work when sick. Getting the flu shot, if you haven’t already, at least gives protection from the influenza virus.

● Most people with the virus have mild illness, with maybe 20 percent getting quite sick. The fatality rate seems to be less than 2 percent, and the people most at risk are elderly people with prior medical problems. Children don’t seem to be as affected. So, the strategy will be to protect the most vulnerable people in our community, and when people do begin to get ill, contact their medical providers. Call beforehand and let the office know of the cough and respiratory symptoms, so the patient can get masked before going into the waiting room.

● Masks. N95 masks are in short supply and should be reserved for people in close contact with infected people – health care workers or close family members. Surgical masks should be worn by people with cough and respiratory illness to prevent spread.

● An important step is to practice not touching our faces all of the time because this is a frequent source of infection. Also, replace handshakes with “elbow-bumps” or other forms of greeting.

If the situation worsens, and the illness spreads, there may be some additional preparations. None of these are in effect now, Pace said:

● Travel restrictions may get instituted. The CDC website is a good source to follow any developments.

● Sometime in the future, officials may start limiting large public gatherings (as is happening in China, Japan and Italy). This will depend on how widespread the virus becomes.

● Businesses may want to consider planning for potential spread. See the CDC website and look for “interim guidance for businesses.”

● It may be a good idea to get a few months of prescription medications stockpiled in case there are supply chain problems.

● Sometimes preparations and planning need to be made about how to care for sick family members, or who can tend to children if schools are closed.

● Storing some nonperishable food at home may be a good idea, in case there is “social distancing” required further down the road.

“Preparation and communication are key, and we continue to be on regular calls with the CDC, the California Department of Public Health, and local Public Health departments in the Bay Area. Especially in small, rural counties like ours with scarce resources, we receive a huge benefit by learning from the experiences of the larger urban areas,” Pace said.

“Keeping Californians safe and healthy is our number one priority,” said Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health and State Public Health Officer. “This has been an evolving situation, which California has been monitoring and responding to since COVID-19 cases first emerged in China last year. This is a new virus, and while we are still learning about it, there is a lot we already know.”

Angell added, “As in any public health emergency, the Department of Public Health's Emergency Operations Center has been actively coordinating response efforts across the state and preparing for possible community transmission. California continues to prepare and respond in coordination with federal and local partners.”

“We appreciate that this is a confusing time due to the rapidly changing nature of the information,” Pace said. “We will continue to update our community as new information becomes available. Lake County Public Health is in communication with our health partners in the county, with EMS and law enforcement, and the schools in an attempt for all of us to keep up to date on this evolving situation.

For more information about COVID-19, please visit the websites for CDPH or CDC, or call Lake County Public Health, 707-263-1090.

In a historical appointment, the California Highway Patrol has appointed the first African American woman to hold its second-in-command post.

On Friday, CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley announced his appointment of Assistant Commissioner Amanda L. Ray as deputy commissioner.

The appointment makes Deputy Commissioner Ray the first African American woman in the department’s 91-year history to hold the position of second in command of the nation’s largest state police agency.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last year reappointed Commissioner Stanley – who also is African American – to his post, applauded Friday’s announcement.

“The CHP is one of the most respected law enforcement agencies in California, if not the nation. As we mark Black History Month and Women’s History Month in March, I couldn’t be prouder of Deputy Commissioner Ray’s accomplishments and contributions to making the CHP the best of the best. Californians have every reason to be confident in the leadership of the CHP,” Newsom said.

Deputy Commissioner Ray stated she was “honored and humbled” to be appointed to her new post.

“I am grateful to continue to serve alongside the amazing women and men who each day are dedicated to providing the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security to the people of California,” she said. “I look forward to continuing to make the Department one that our employees and the people of this great state can admire and be proud of.”

A native of Oakland, Deputy Commissioner Ray, 53, is a 30-year member of the department, rising through the ranks and serving in assignments of increasing responsibility from cadet to assistant commissioner, staff, where she oversaw the administrative functions of the department, to include a $2.8 billion budget, departmental training, information technology, and personnel administration of a statewide organization of 11,000 women and men.

In her new role, Deputy Commissioner Ray will oversee the day to day operations, the administrative and field operations of the CHP as well as the Offices of Legal Affairs, Internal Affairs, Equal Employment Opportunity, Risk Management, the Office of Accreditation, and Community Outreach and Media Relations.

Deputy Commissioner Ray succeeds Scott Silsbee, who retired from the CHP in December.


California Highway Patrol Deputy Commissioner Amanda L. Ray career highlights:

CHP / Academy: 03/12/90, cadet
CHP / South Los Angeles Area: 08/09/90, officer
CHP / Santa Fe Springs Area: 12/02/99, sergeant
CHP / Santa Fe Springs Area: 04/01/03, lieutenant
CHP / Riverside Area: 07/01/06, lieutenant
CHP / Hayward Area: 09/01/11, captain
CHP / Riverside Area: 10/31/12, captain
CHP / Golden Gate Division: 09/01/15, assistant chief
CHP / Inland Division: 03/02/17, assistant chief
CHP / Assistant Commissioner, staff: 10/01/17, chief
CHP / Assistant Commissioner, staff: 04/01/18, assistant commissioner, staff

The California Department of Public Health announced today that new Centers for Disease Control test kits used to detect Coronavirus Disease 2019, or COVID-19, now available in California can be used to do diagnostic testing in the community.

California will immediately receive an additional shipment of kits to test up to 1,200 people.

“These new testing protocols and resources will help California medical experts identify and treat COVID-19 cases, trace potential exposures and better protect public health,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “I am grateful to the CDC and federal government for quickly heeding our state’s requests and assisting California’s response to this evolving situation.”

“The availability to test at California’s public health laboratories is a significant step forward in our ability to respond rapidly to this evolving situation,” said Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health and State Health Officer. “As we face the likelihood of community transmission here in California, having this resource where we need it, is essential to better inform public health response and protect our communities.”

The California Department of Public Health has been prepared and is continuing with the following actions as the situation surrounding COVID-19 evolves:

– Activating the Emergency Operations Center to coordinate response efforts across the state.
– Continuing to prepare and respond in coordination with federal and local partners, hospitals and physicians.
– Deploying staff to assist with contact tracing in Solano and Sacramento counties for a patient whose source of infection is unknown.
– Providing information, guidance documents, and technical support to local health departments, health care facilities, providers, schools, universities, colleges, and childcare facilities across California.
– Coordinating with federal authorities and local health departments that have implemented screening, monitoring and, in some cases quarantine.
– Engaging with local health departments in managing suspect and confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients over the past several weeks.

Beyond the work of health officials, each and every person can take steps to reduce the risk of becoming infected with this virus.

– Washing hands with soap and water.
– Avoiding touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.
– Avoiding close contact with people who are sick.
– Staying away from work, school or other people if you become sick with respiratory symptoms like fever and cough.
– Follow guidance from public health officials.

If a person develops symptoms of COVID-19 including fever, cough or shortness of breath, and has reason to believe they may have been exposed, they should call their health care provider or local health department before seeking care. Contacting them in advance will make sure that people can get the care they need without putting others at risk.

For more information about novel coronavirus including various resources, please visit the CDPH website.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Mendocino National Forest said acreage has grown and containment remains steady on the Baseball fire burning on the Covelo Ranger District.

The fire, located 15 miles southeast of Covelo in Glenn and Mendocino counties, reached 140 acres on Friday, with containment at 50 percent, the forest reported.

Officials said the increase in acreage is the result of a firing operation on Thursday where crews burned the vegetation between the main fire and an established handline to contain the fire.

There are about 100 personnel on the incident including engines and crews from the Mendocino, Klamath and Six Rivers national forests and from Oregon.

On Friday, personnel continued to mop-up and patrol the fire, forest officials said.

It has been determined that the Baseball fire started on Tuesday from previous pile burning on the Baseball prescribed fire project.

The fire is burning in grass, brush and timber in steep, rugged terrain at a low to moderate rate in a mosaic pattern, similar to the desired effects from a prescribed fire.

There are no immediate threats to property or structures.

Money on deposit in bank or brokerage accounts that are titled as “joint tenancy with right of survivorship” passes automatically at the death of a deceased joint tenant to the surviving joint tenants, if any, by operation of law; or does it?

Many times the money is deposited by one account holder only – often an elderly parent or a dependent spouse. The other joint tenant is added so that they can manage and use the account on behalf of the person who contributed the money.

In California, section 5302(a) of the Probate Code provides that, “(a) Sums remaining on deposit at the death of a party to a joint account belong to the surviving party or parties as against the estate of the decedent unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intent.”

Section 5302 (e) provides that, “A right of survivorship arising from the express terms of the [joint tenancy] account or under this section, a beneficiary designation in a Totten trust account, or a P.O.D. payee designation, cannot be changed by will.”

Section 5303 of the Probate Code, however, provides that a joint tenancy account can be changed in any of four ways; none of which involves a will.

Until now, I always understood that a decedent’s will had no relevance to a decedent’s joint tenancy bank account when there are surviving joint tenants. That is, unless the joint tenants died simultaneously the will of a deceased joint tenant was not relevant.

Recently, in Placencia v. Strazicich (2019) 42 CA 5th 730, however, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeals decided that the will of a deceased joint tenant can be used as “clear and convincing evidence of a different intent” to negate the right of survivorship, notwithstanding sections 5302 and 5303 (see above).

In Placencia v. Strazicich, a father named Ralph opened a joint Franklin Fund account with Lisa, one of his daughters.

Afterward, Ralph executed a will (11 days prior to his death) in which he said, “Remove Lisa Strazicich as sole beneficiary of my Franklin Fund. I want the beneficiaries to be Lisa Strazicich, Stephanie A. Placencia and Tina R. Placencia, … I want the Franklin Fund to be placed into my trust and then be used to pay off the mortgage curt of my home … .”

After Ralph died, Lisa retitled the money in the account into her own name for herself alone.

The court examined Probate Code sections 5302 and 5303 and decided that although the will could not change the right of survivorship it could nonetheless provide clear and convincing evidence of intent to negate the right of survivorship.

Having thus negated Lisa’s right of survivorship, the court then decided that, “… arguably, therefore, upon Ralph's death, his interest in the Franklin Fund account became part of his personal estate, which would need to be probated.”

In Placencia v. Strazicich, the Court of Appeals bent over backward to give effect to the decedent’s intent even though the statute says that a joint tenancy cannot be changed by a will.

The court justified its sleight of hand based on “… the modern trend in the law favoring the decedent’s intent over [legal] formalities.”

The foregoing legal authority is a California appellate court decision. As such, it is only binding in the Fourth District (certain counties including San Diego) and is not binding statewide.

Eventually, the California Supreme Court may get the opportunity to decide whether the same approach should become the law of California.

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

A new understanding of Mars is beginning to emerge, thanks to the first year of NASA's InSight lander mission.

Findings described in a newly published set of six papers reveal a planet alive with quakes, dust devils and strange magnetic pulses.

Five of the papers were published in Nature. An additional paper in Nature Geoscience details the InSight spacecraft's landing site, a shallow crater nicknamed "Homestead hollow" in a region called Elysium Planitia.

InSight is the first mission dedicated to looking deep beneath the Martian surface. Among its science tools are a seismometer for detecting quakes, sensors for gauging wind and air pressure, a magnetometer, and a heat flow probe designed to take the planet's temperature.

While the team continues to work on getting the probe into the Martian surface as intended, the ultra-sensitive seismometer, called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure, or SEIS, has enabled scientists to "hear" multiple trembling events from hundreds to thousands of miles away.

Seismic waves are affected by the materials they move through, giving scientists a way to study the composition of the planet's inner structure. Mars can help the team better understand how all rocky planets, including Earth, first formed.

Underground

Mars trembles more often – but also more mildly – than expected. SEIS has found more than 450 seismic signals to date, the vast majority of which are probably quakes (as opposed to data noise created by environmental factors, like wind).

The largest quake was about magnitude 4.0 in size – not quite large enough to travel down below the crust into the planet's lower mantle and core.

Those are "the juiciest parts of the apple" when it comes to studying the planet's inner structure, said Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator at JPL.

Scientists are ready for more: It took months after InSight's landing in November 2018 before they recorded the first seismic event. By the end of 2019, SEIS was detecting about two seismic signals a day, suggesting that InSight just happened to touch down at a particularly quiet time. Scientists still have their fingers crossed for "the Big One."

Mars doesn't have tectonic plates like Earth, but it does have volcanically active regions that can cause rumbles.

A pair of quakes was strongly linked to one such region, Cerberus Fossae, where scientists see boulders that may have been shaken down cliffsides. Ancient floods there carved channels nearly 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) long.

Lava flows then seeped into those channels within the past 10 million years – the blink of an eye in geologic time.

Some of these young lava flows show signs of having been fractured by quakes less than 2 million years ago. "It's just about the youngest tectonic feature on the planet," said planetary geologist Matt Golombek of JPL. "The fact that we're seeing evidence of shaking in this region isn't a surprise, but it's very cool."

At the surface

Billions of years ago, Mars had a magnetic field. It is no longer present, but it left ghosts behind, magnetizing ancient rocks that are now between 200 feet (61 meters) to several miles below ground. InSight is equipped with a magnetometer – the first on the surface of Mars to detect magnetic signals.

The magnetometer has found that the signals at Homestead hollow are 10 times stronger than what was predicted based on data from orbiting spacecraft that study the area. The measurements of these orbiters are averaged over a couple of hundred miles, whereas InSight's measurements are more local.

Because most surface rocks at InSight's location are too young to have been magnetized by the planet's former field, "this magnetism must be coming from ancient rocks underground," said Catherine Johnson, a planetary scientist at the University of British Columbia and the Planetary Science Institute.

"We're combining these data with what we know from seismology and geology to understand the magnetized layers below InSight,” said Johnson. “How strong or deep would they have to be for us to detect this field?"

In addition, scientists are intrigued by how these signals change over time. The measurements vary by day and night; they also tend to pulse around midnight.

Theories are still being formed as to what causes such changes, but one possibility is that they're related to the solar wind interacting with the Martian atmosphere

In the Wind

InSight measures wind speed, direction and air pressure nearly continuously, offering more data than previous landed missions.

The spacecraft's weather sensors have detected thousands of passing whirlwinds, which are called dust devils when they pick up grit and become visible.

“This site has more whirlwinds than any other place we've landed on Mars while carrying weather sensors,” said Aymeric Spiga, an atmospheric scientist at Sorbonne University in Paris.

Despite all that activity and frequent imaging, InSight's cameras have yet to see dust devils. But SEIS can feel these whirlwinds pulling on the surface like a giant vacuum cleaner.

"Whirlwinds are perfect for subsurface seismic exploration," said Philippe Lognonné of Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, or IPGP, principal investigator of SEIS.

Still to Come: The Core

InSight has two radios: one for regularly sending and receiving data, and a more powerful radio designed to measure the "wobble" of Mars as it spins.

This X-band radio, also known as the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment, or RISE, can eventually reveal whether the planet's core is solid or liquid. A solid core would cause Mars to wobble less than a liquid one would.

This first year of data is just a start. Watching over a full Martian year (two Earth years) will give scientists a much better idea of the size and speed of the planet's wobble.

About InSight

A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.

A number of European partners, including France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales, CNES, the German Aerospace Center, or DLR, and the United Kingdom Space Agency are supporting the InSight mission.

CNES provided the SEIS instrument to NASA, with the principal investigator at IPGP. Significant contributions for SEIS came from IPGP; the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland; Imperial College London and Oxford University in the United Kingdom; and JPL.

DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain's Centro de Astrobiología supplied the temperature and wind sensors.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service is preparing to transfer responsibility for Lake County’s forecast service area from its Sacramento to Eureka office.

The transition will take effect on Tuesday, March 3.

The National Weather Service said the transition will necessitate reconfiguring nearby public and fire weather zones.

The agency said both its Eureka and Sacramento offices currently provide fire weather forecasts for different portions of Lake County.

The transition will allow the Eureka office to provide forecast services to all of Caltrans District 1’s service area. In addition, it will give Lake County more focused support for weather emergencies from one National Weather Service office versus having to coordinate with two of them for forecasts and fire weather, the agency reported.

Michelle Mead, warning coordination meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office, said forecasts will continue to published as before at www.weather.gov, with the Eureka office not just handling the main forecasts but also taking charge of issuing flood and storm warnings.

Community members who have followed the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office on Facebook will now also want to follow Eureka, which will share weather updates there.

“We started the discussion last summer with all of the emergency management personnel in Lake County,” Mead said.

Mead said it was an idea that had been “kicked around” for some time, and then Dale Carnathan, the emergency services manager for the Lake County Office of Emergency Services, expressed interest pursuing it.

At that point, Mead said she told him about the option of moving the forecast responsibility from Sacramento to Eureka if it would serve the county better, and eventually the request was made formally.

“There wasn’t any dissatisfaction with the services that we were receiving from Sacramento,” said Teresa Stewart, assistant to the Lake County Office of Emergency Service.

Stewart explained that the agency felt that there were benefits to transferring to Eureka, including being in the same forecast area as Mendocino County, which it works with often. Lake County also shares the same emergency alert system plan with Mendocino County.

She said the emergency alert system for Lake County already is activated by the Eureka office through its weather radio transmitter in Ukiah.

Moving operations to Eureka also will streamline operations. Stewart said there is a small portion of northern Lake County’s forecast coming from Eureka in addition to the rest of the county’s forecast coming from Sacramento.

Stewart and Mead both pointed out that Mendocino and Lake counties have similar weather, and that Lake County is in the California Office of Emergency Services’ 16-county Coastal Region, which the National Weather Service’s Eureka office serves.

Mead said that, weatherwise, Lake County is more in line with the Coastal Range and the west side of the mountains.

Stewart said the county requested a change over in an Aug. 30 letter.

The Lake County Disaster Council would begin discussing the proposal in the fall, according to a meeting agenda.

Mead said National Weather Service representatives attended local meetings and presented the proposal, and everyone was in agreement with it for all of the reasons she explained.

She said it was then open for a 90-day period which concludes with the Tuesday transition.

“We continue to have a great working relationship with Lake County,” said Mead.

Ryan Aylward, Mead’s counterpart in Eureka, where he is a warning coordination meteorologist, has been working with Mead on the transition. That work has included moving over operations and interacting with weather spotters.

This week, Lake County’s weather spotters were notified of the changeover and directed to contact the Eureka office as of March 3.

“It won’t be an extremely large additional workload because we’re already doing a forecast for Mendocino County,” which has an extremely similar climate, Aylward said.

A major concern through the summer is fire weather, an area where Aylward said they are placing a lot of concentration.

When considering Lake County’s membership in the Coastal OES Region, its similar climate and the fact that it’s also a part of Caltrans District 1, headquartered in Eureka, “It makes sense to be with us,” Aylward 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.