LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has two cats prepared to go to new homes this week.

The following cats at the shelter have been cleared for adoption.

Female domestic short hair

This female domestic short hair has a lynx point and tortie coat and blue eyes.

She is in cat room kennel No. 7, ID No. 13521.

Male domestic short hair

This male domestic short hair has an all-black coat and gold eyes.

He is in cat room kennel No. 44, ID No. 13520.

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.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Clear Lake, the largest natural lake in California and the heart of Lake County, is far more than that: it is the oldest natural lake in North America, with 68 square miles of surface area and an average depth of 26 feet, among the world’s most productive freshwater ecosystems, and a regional, national and planetary treasure.

It’s not unusual for warm, shallow, nutrient-rich lakes to support large populations of fish, birds and mammals of many different species, but bodies of water like this are ordinarily quite ephemeral, lasting only a few hundred or thousands of years before transforming first to marsh and then to meadow.

What makes Clear Lake unique are tectonic forces that have deepened its bed at approximately the same pace as sedimentation has accumulated: sediment cores show that a lake has existed continually at this location for at least 450,000 years and possibly as much as 2.5 million years.

Although the lake and its watershed offer a paradise for wildlife and abundant agricultural and recreational opportunities, the region also faces serious problems.

Clear Lake has been subject to algal blooms for much of the past century, and was listed as impaired for excess nutrients under the federal Clean Water Act in 1986.

Like most other watersheds in the region, numerous abandoned mercury mines in the basin, especially the Sulphur Bank Mine Superfund site, have led to significant mercury contamination.

Although water clarity improved noticeably beginning in the 1990s, noxious “blooms” of cyanobacteria (commonly called “blue green algae”) have been intermittent since 2009.

Devastating wildfires in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 have denuded the hills surrounding the lake and increased the phosphorus-rich sediment delivery that encourages rampant growth of “algae” and invasive aquatic weeds, while simultaneously reducing the tax base, increasing the demand for services and therefore limiting the capacity of local government to address these issues.

What to do? The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, charged with developing a recovery plan, has held periodic workshops that offered little besides recommendations to extend compliance deadlines.

Then in 2017 Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, whose district includes all of Lake County, sponsored Assembly Bill 707 to create a Blue Ribbon Committee charged with developing strategies to clean up the lake and revitalize the local economies that depend on it.

The committee is chaired by the secretary of Natural Resources and includes representatives from local government, the University of California at Davis, the Water Board, Lake County tribes, and spokespersons for economic development, agricultural, environmental and public water supply constituencies.

The legislation also included $2 million for research and formulation of a stewardship plan, and prospects for an additional $5 million in upcoming water bond funding.

The committee held its first organizational meeting in Upper Lake on Oct. 10, 2018, followed by a series of three stakeholder workshops on Oct. 24.

The facilitators acknowledged that the first task was to assemble and coordinate the numerous studies that have been conducted on the lake in the past and are continuing on an ongoing basis, and to use this data set to create a model of what a healthy lake looks like, while avoiding any temptation to base that model on deep, cold bodies of water such as Lake Tahoe.

They appeared surprised at the number of local residents who participated and by both their commitment to Clear Lake and their breadth of knowledge, while many of the participants appeared equally surprised that the focus of the group seemed to be as much on the economic revitalization of Lake County as on the ecological well-being of the lake itself.

Although these subjects are admittedly closely connected, it was apparent that mission creep could become a serious issue as the committee’s mandate evolved.

The second committee meeting, on Dec. 20, was preceded by a tour of the Middle Creek Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration Project site.

This project, first proposed in the 1990s, is widely acknowledged to be the single most effective action available to improve watershed health and Clear Lake water quality.

By breaching antiquated levees that "reclaimed" 1,600 acres of wetlands for agriculture in the 1930s and 1940s, and by restoring the natural contours and hydrological functions of the area, the project will intercept much of the nutrient-laden sediments that currently trigger rampant growth of weeds and “algae.”

The project will also restore wildlife habitat, improve breeding and rearing conditions for the threatened Clear Lake Hitch, and provide significant recreational opportunities.

Both the Water Board and a 1994 Environmental Protection Agency study have prioritized restoration of the area – the largest single damaged wetland on the lake – as the number one target for improving water quality and restoring an impaired ecosystem, and in February 2019 $15 million in state funding was procured to allow the county to purchase the remaining private properties within its boundaries.

Six additional meetings followed in 2019, several preceded by site visits, along with six meetings of a Technical Subcommittee chaired by committee members but primarily composed of outside experts. The year concluded with preparation of an annual report to the Governor and consideration of a formal letter of support for the prompt realization of the Middle Creek Project.

Priorities for 2020 include creating a model of the upper watershed; implementing a basin-wide monitoring strategy; conducting a bathymetric survey of Clear Lake; reviewing existing programs and Best Management Practices; and assessing public perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge gaps about the lake and water quality generally.

At this writing a 2020 meeting schedule was expected soon; schedules, agendas, and much additional information is available at the BRC website, https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/Blue-Ribbon-Committee-for-the-Rehabilitation-of-Clear-Lake .

Victoria Brandon is the president of the Board of Directors of Tuleyome and a Lower Lake resident. Tuleyome is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization based in Woodland. For more information go to www.tuleyome.org.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Winter allows us to slow down and observe the underpinnings of nature.

With the autumn season's job of coloring, then dropping leaves, now it's easier to study a tree's distinctive covering – its bark.

Depending on the species, a tree's bark can be smooth as wet stone or deeply ridged with character-giving “craters.”

Anatomically speaking, bark – or the tree's periderm – is a protective layer that keeps it safe from disease, dehydration, harmful parasites, pests and pathogens.

According to Glenn Keator's “Life of an Oak,” all trees hold within them cells called vascular cambium which add to the tree's size each year, and a tree's bark secretly holds differing layers consisting of cork and cork parenchyma.

The tree's wood is a complicated coordination of fibers, vessels and cellulose molecules to name but a few parts.

Tree bark often gives us features and hints to identify a tree's species.

The complex compounds that make up bark include tannins, lignins and suberins. Those components have the capacity to both reflect and hold certain wavelengths of light, thereby creating a bark's color.

Some trees, like mature oaks, hold deep ridges and furrows, gaps which are called rhytidome.

Other trees, such as pine, have bark with plates or scales, and flowering dogwood's bark is unusual with its little puzzle-piece plates.

According to Bay Nature Magazine, manzanita trees “are derived from a group of trees, the madrones, that have fossils dating as far back as 50 million years.”

While madrone trees exhibit flesh-colored, smooth bark, manzanita bark is often a deep, red-mahogany color.

Both trees have adapted a special way to protect their lovely, smooth bark surfaces by way of peeling. Each year their bark peels into papery scrolls which protects their smooth surfaces from the ravages of parasites, fungi, mosses and lichens.

While a tree's bark can help to identify it when it is leafless, another way bark can aid in a tree's identification is by its unique smell.

Ponderosa pine is said to give off a unique scent with hints of vanilla, and Jeffrey pine holds a butterscotch smell, while other pine trees may smell of turpentine.

A tree's bark can show age or time in the sun, much like our sun-ravaged epidermis, and similar to us, a tree can sport a callus in response to a wound.

Over time, people have appreciated or been dependent on trees not only for their food and fuel. Trees have "generously" provided humankind with bark for boats and shelter, medicines, cork, cloth, mulch, shingles and so much more.

Sometimes you don't have to look very closely to examine tree bark's nuances; its patterns and textures. Many trees' furrowed, patchy or scaly skin can play host to numerous types of mosses, lichens and fungi, which stand out like a beacon in the woods.

Moss anchors to tree bark like a vivid, velvet cloak. When the season is dry, moss that grows on bark or stone places itself into a phase of dormancy. Then, it awaits life-giving moisture from fog, or rain when it plumps up like a wet sponge.

Trees, those intricate, stalwart life forces, give us much to ponder, so next time you are wandering the woods get up close and personal to a tree, hone in your art of perception and enjoy the varieties, nuances and textures – secrets that each tree has to offer.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, freelance writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.”

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has a new mix of dogs needing homes this week.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of bull terrier, Chihuahua, Labrador Retriever, pit bull, Pomeranian, Rhodesian Ridgeback and terrier.

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

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”).

Male pit bull terrier puppy

This male pit bull terrier puppy has a short black and tan coat and brown eyes.

He is in kennel No. 19a, ID No. 13489.

‘Hank’

“Hank” is a male bull terrier-Labrador Retriever mix with a short brown and white coat and gold eyes.

He’s in kennel No. 20, ID No. 13510.

‘Blossom’

“Blossom” is a female pit bull terrier with a short blue coat and brown eyes.

She has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 21, ID No. 11864.

Male Labrador Retriever

This male Labrador Retriever has a short chocolate coat.

He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. 13465.

Male terrier

This male terrier has a curly black coat with white markings and gold eyes.

He is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 13495.

Male pit bull terrier

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

He is in kennel No. 29, ID No. 13507.

‘Butter’

“Butter” is a female terrier with a long tricolor coat and brown eyes.

She’s in kennel No. 30A, ID No. 13534.

Male Pomeranian

This male Pomeranian has a long red coat and brown eyes.

He is in kennel No. 30B, ID No. 13535.

‘Goofy’

“Goofy” is a young male Rhodesian Ridgeback with a short tan and black coat.

Shelter staff said this boy is great with other dogs, although he is high energy and would benefit from obedience training. He would love to go jogging every day, he is very food motivated and willing to learn new things.

Goofy has been at the shelter since Nov. 5. He was originally taken from someone in Upper Lake and found on the highway in Clearlake. If anyone has any information on his owner please contact the shelter.

He’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 13210.

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.

 

The 2020 Census hasn’t even started – but it has already kicked off spirited fights.

A Supreme Court case, decided last year, blocked a Trump administration proposal to ask every respondent if they were a citizen.

Meanwhile, there are three pending federal court suits in which plaintiffs for civil rights groups and one city claim that the administration has not done sufficient planning or provided enough funding for Census 2020.

Census 2020 is far from the first census to set off bitter political fights. One hundred years ago, results from Census 1920 initiated a decadelong struggle about how to allocate a state’s seats in Congress. The political arguments were so bitter that Congress eventually decided they would not use Census 1920 results.

Could this happen again?

Power in the census

The framers of the Constitution mandated a count of all people every ten years, in order to allocate seats in Congress and the Electoral College on the basis of each state’s population.

The results of the census shift political power and money. At present, US$1.5 trillion in federal spending is distributed to states and local governments every year on the basis of data gathered by the Census Bureau.

I am a demographer who has been teaching about the nation’s population trends since the early 1960s. I have analyzed census data for decades. In Census 2000, I was an enumerator and Census 2010, an address lister.

The 2020 Census asks just seven questions. Back in 1910, the census posed 32 questions, with an additional array of questions for farmers. One of those queries asked farmers the value of the products they sold during the previous year.

Since 1790, the official census start date had been either the first Monday of August or June 1. But, for the 1920 census, the Department of Agriculture presumed they would obtain more accurate information about the value of crops if the census were taken on Jan. 1. They feared farmers would forget financial details over the winter.

Congress approved the change without realizing the implications.

Immigration influx

Census 1920 results were released in December of that year, and they surprised the members of Congress.

At that time, there was vibrant opposition to foreigners coming into the U.S. The nation had already banned immigration from Asia, but many of those arrived after 1880 were Catholics and Jews who came from southern and eastern Europe. Many Americans feared they would never assimilate.

The 1920 census results showed that the Northeastern and industrial Midwestern states had grown rapidly, thanks to immigration from Europe. After an interruption for World War I, immigration spiked to 800,000 in 1920.

In response to census results and the unexpected “flood” of immigrants, Congress, in 1921, enacted an Emergency Immigration Quota Act, restricting immigration.

The lost census

That was just the first step in a decadelong controversy involving key issues that shaped the nation. Would there be continued immigration from eastern and southern Europe? Would political power shift to the states with the biggest cities?

The 1920 results would have shifted political power away from the South and away from the agricultural states of the Midwest, to the northeastern states and those states Americans now call the Rust Belt.

Representatives of farm states contended that the new Jan. 1 census date meant that many men who spent most of the year working on farms were counted in cities where they spent just a few winter months.

Southerners in Congress argued that congressional seats should be allocated on the number of citizens only, since this would protect their representation.

Congressmen from growing states emphasized that the Constitution said nothing about citizens. They argued that a constitutional amendment was required to limit congressional apportionment to citizens only.

Northeastern members also pointed to an obscure clause from the 14th Amendment that permitted Congress to diminish a state’s representation if they determined that a state abridged the right of male citizens to vote. Southern states attempted to accomplish that with poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses and refusal to register African Americans.

There was also controversy about which mathematical method to use to allocate seats to states. Different methods assigned different numbers of seats to states.

From 1800 to 1910, Congress had increased its membership after censuses, to prevent states from losing a seat. Vibrant controversy raged about the size of Congress, since different numbers favored different states.

Late in the 1920s, it became clear that Congress was so riven they would never use Census 1920 data to reapportion Congress. In 1929, they enacted legislation specifying which method would be used to allocate seats on the basis of the 1930 count.

Census 1920 is unique, since it was the only one not used for reapportionment.

Echoes of the past

Is there any chance the census count of 2020 will be dismissed?

Just as in the 1920, there are conflicting views today about immigration and how much representation states should have in Congress and the Electoral College.

In the pending federal suits, plaintiffs contend that the administration’s lack of sufficient planning and funding will substantially undercount Americans, especially minority groups.

Should federal judges find in the plaintiff’s favor, members of Congress may be skeptical about data from Census 2020.

What’s more, at present, there are many individuals and several organizations arguing that congressional and Electoral College seats should be allocated according to the count of citizens or the count of voting age citizens, as opposed to all residents.

The state of Alabama has already filed suit contending that Alabama will likely lose a seat to Texas because aliens are included in the count used to apportion seats. If Congress were to apportion seats on the basis of citizens only, the Supreme Court may have to rule about what the framers of the Constitution meant when they defined the apportionment population.

Finally, the nation’s population is currently three times as large as in 1911, when Congress decided that 435 was the appropriate size of membership. On the basis of 2019 data, it seems likely that 10 states will lose a representative.

Some political analysts and advocates favor an expansion of Congress, since that would mean that members would represent fewer constituents. If Congress, next year, decided to increase its size to 460, no state would lose any of its current seats.

A new Congress will be elected this November and they will meet for the first time on Jan. 3, 2021. One of their first obligations will be reapportionment. Will this go smoothly – or will the controversies of the 1920s once again influence what use Congress makes of census counts?

[Like what you’ve read? Want more? Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter.]

Walter Reynolds Farley, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Michigan

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

It will be a dark winter’s night when Solar Orbiter launches from Florida on its journey to the source of all light on Earth, the sun.

The mission, a collaboration between the European Space Agency and NASA, is scheduled to begin Feb. 9, 2020, during a two-hour launch window that opens at 11:03 p.m. EST. The two-ton spacecraft launches from Cape Canaveral on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Seeking a view of the sun’s north and south poles, Solar Orbiter will journey out of the ecliptic plane — the belt of space, roughly aligned with the sun’s equator, through which the planets orbit.

Slinging past Earth and repeatedly around Venus, the spacecraft will draw near the sun and climb higher above the ecliptic until it has a bird’s eye view of the poles.

There, Solar Orbiter will try to answer basic questions about the sun, whose every burp and breeze holds sway over the solar system.

What drives the solar wind, the gust of charged particles constantly blowing from the sun? Or, what churning deep inside the sun generates its magnetic field? How does the sun’s magnetic field shape the heliosphere, the vast bubble of space dominated by our star?

“These questions are not new,” said Yannis Zouganelis, ESA deputy project scientist at the European Space Astronomy Centre in Madrid. “We still don’t understand fundamental things about our star.”

In solving these mysteries, scientists seek to better understand how the sun shapes space weather, the conditions in space that can impact astronauts, satellites, and everyday technology like radio and GPS.

Over the next seven years, Solar Orbiter will travel as close as 26 million miles to the sun — closing about two-thirds the distance from Earth to the star. It will climb 24 degrees above the ecliptic for a vista of the poles and the far side of the sun.

“We don’t know what we’re going to see,” said Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla, NASA deputy project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Our view of the sun is going to change a lot in the next few years.”

Enabling its scorching voyage is a heat shield sporting a black coating of calcium phosphate, a charcoal-like powder similar to pigments used in cave paintings tens of thousands of years ago.

All but one of the spacecraft’s telescopes peer through holes in the heat shield. At closest approach, the front of the shield will near 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, while the instruments tucked behind it will remain at a comfortable range – for them – between minus 4 F and 122 F above zero.

Because Earth orbits through the ecliptic plane, we don’t get a good view of the poles from afar. It’s a bit like trying to glimpse Mount Everest’s summit from the base of the mountain. Crucially, the poles are still missing from space weather models that scientists use to forecast solar activity.

Like Earth’s own North and South poles, the sun’s poles are extreme regions quite different from the rest of the sun. They’re covered in coronal holes, cooler stretches where the fast solar wind comes gushing from.

There, scientists hope to find the footprints of knotted magnetic fields underlying solar activity. Many think the poles hold the first clues to the intensity of the next solar cycle, which comes roughly every 11 years, as the sun swings from seasons of high to low activity.

With a powerful array of 10 instruments, Solar Orbiter is like a lab in orbit, designed to study the sun and its outbursts in great detail.

“What makes Solar Orbiter unique is this combination of really high-resolution imagers and in situ instruments, getting perspectives we haven’t seen yet,” said Daniel Müller, ESA project scientist at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands.

Ideally, Müller said, Solar Orbiter will image where solar wind bubbles on the surface and study the properties of that gust of wind as it flows from the sun and passes the spacecraft. For the first time, scientists will be able to map what comes out of the sun to precisely where it came from.

The instruments are also designed to work in concert, enhancing their observing power, said ESA payload manager Anne Pacros. When something fleeting like an X-ray solar flare blazes on the surface, the spacecraft’s X-ray instrument will see, and alert the others to pay attention.

“They enter burst mode, where they take more data, faster, responding to solar activity in real time,” Pacros said. “This promises much more science with what we have on board.”

Solar Orbiter’s destination is largely uncharted, a little-explored region of the heliosphere. Its unique vantage point is key to a complete understanding of the sun’s activity and cycles.

By offering regular views of the far side of the sun, and the first images of the solar poles, Solar Orbiter joins a team of NASA heliophysics missions seeking to understand how the sun affects the space around Earth and all the planets.

“We have all these amazing missions located in exactly the right place we want to study,” said Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “They’re in places that allow us to do big system science, more science than you could do with just one mission alone.”

In particular, Solar Orbiter will work closely with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. The two are natural teammates. Together, they’ll provide a never-before-seen global view of our star.

The duo makes new multi-point measurements possible; these are useful for tracking how flows from the sun develop and change. As Parker Solar Probe samples hot solar gases up close, Solar Orbiter can tell us more about the very space Parker flies through.

Or, they might simultaneously image the same structure in the corona, the solar atmosphere, sharing views from the poles and equator. At various points, the two missions will make coordinated observations.

“Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter, in orbit together, is a big milestone,” Nieves-Chinchilla said. “This is something heliophysicists have been waiting on for decades. In the next decade, together, the two will be sure to change the field.”

After launch, the operations team will conduct three months of commissioning to ensure the instruments are operating properly. Once this check-out period is complete, the in situ instruments will turn on; the remote-sensing instruments will remain in cruising mode until Solar Orbiter’s first solar approach in November 2021.

Solar Orbiter is an international cooperative mission between ESA and NASA. ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands manages the development effort. The European Space Operations Center in Germany will operate Solar Orbiter after launch.

Solar Orbiter was built by Airbus Defence and Space, and contains 10 instruments: nine provided by ESA member states and ESA.

NASA provided one instrument, SoloHI and an additional sensor, the Heavy Ion Sensor, which is part of the Solar Wind Analyzer instrument suite.

For more information, please visit www.nasa.gov/solarorbiter .

Lina Tran works for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Redwood Credit Union this week announced the opening of its new, full-service branch in Lower Lake.

The branch is located at 16095 Main St., at the corner of Highway 53 and Highway 29.

It’s a major investment by the credit union in Lower Lake, which sustained major losses to its downtown in the August 2016 Clayton fire.

To better accommodate RCU’s growing membership in Lake County, the new branch offers the community competitive personal and business loans, free checking, high-yield deposit options, home and auto loans, and concierge auto-buying services.

Comfortable technology areas for members to bank online and quickly access information is also offered, with staff readily available to assist. There’s also a children’s activity area.

“Our new Lower Lake branch is designed to offer an experience that goes beyond everyday banking, though that’s offered too,” said Brett Martinez, RCU president and CEO. “It’s a comfortable environment where individuals and businesses can get financial service – from money management to home and auto loans, and long-term financial planning. We’re excited to offer this new location to serve the Lower Lake community.”

With branch hours Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., plus an easy-to-access location, this Lower Lake branch is set up to make banking easy for its local members

Founded in 1950, Redwood Credit Union is a full-service financial institution providing personal and business banking to consumers and businesses in the North Bay and San Francisco.

RCU has over $4.9 billion in assets and serves more than 355,000 members with full-service branches from San Francisco to Ukiah.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake and several other Northern California counties are under a wind advisory set to start this weekend due to a weather system that’s forecast to bring high winds.

The National Weather Service has issued the wind advisory that will be in effect from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Forecasters said an area of low pressure will bring a period of gusty northerly and easterly winds to the region on Sunday.

The strongest winds are expected on the west side of the Sacramento Valley and into Lake County and on higher elevations of the Sierra. The forecast said winds will begin to weaken Sunday night into Monday morning.

The advisory notes that northerly and easterly winds from 20 to 30 miles per hour and valley gusts between 30 to 45 miles per hour are expected, while upper foothills and mountain gusts of between 30 and 60 miles per hour and stronger gusts possible for the higher elevations also in the forecast.

The Lake County forecast anticipates gusts above 35 miles per hour in areas such as Cobb.

Over the coming week, temperatures in Lake County are forecast to be warmer – into the mid-40s at night and upper 60s during the day – thanks to sunny and clear conditions.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said its meteorologists are forecasting strong winds Sunday and into Monday throughout much of Northern and Central California and it’s urging customers to take the necessary steps to be prepared and stay safe.

PG&E emphasized that, while it’s tracking the system, it is not planning to call a public safety power shutoff as fuel and soil moisture values remain high due to winter season precipitation.

The company said it has electric and vegetation crews on alert and in position to be able to respond should outages occur.

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.

California State Treasurer Fiona Ma announced that the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, or CTCAC, which she chairs, is clarifying its regulations to make certain that 13 counties hit by disasters receive $100 million in new federal tax credits.

Lake County is among the 13 listed by Ma as being the recipients of the assistance.

The federal credits, carried by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, and approved by the federal government in December, are intended to finance housing projects in 13 counties struck by wildfires in 2017 and 2018, including the Camp fire, the Tubbs fire, the Thomas fire and the Mendocino Complex.

In addition to Lake, the counties are Butte, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Orange, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Shasta, Sonoma, Ventura and Yuba.

“We want to make it crystal clear that these tax credits are going to help counties that have been devasted by disasters,” said Treasurer Ma. “I salute the resilience, dedication and creativity of these communities and I’m glad we can help them rebuild.”

State Senator Mike McGuire, D-Santa Rosa, thanked Treasurer Ma for her efforts. McGuire represents Lake County in the State Senate.

“This $100 million in tax credits will be a huge shot in the arm for the rebuilding of our communities and desperately needed affordable housing,” McGuire said. “We’re incredibly grateful to Treasurer Ma for moving so fast and ensuring the tax credits will be spent as intended – in the 13 counties devastated by these massive wildfires. We are also truly appreciative of the leadership of Congressmen Thompson and Huffman, who have been fighting to make this allocation a reality for over a year now.”

“It is critically important that our communities that have been hit hard by wildfires have all of the resources they need to rebuild and recover, which is why I carried legislation to provide $100 million in new federal tax credits to help create much needed affordable housing in disaster-stricken counties,” said Rep. Thompson. “I greatly appreciate Treasurer Ma’s commitment to ensuring that this assistance is allocated as Congress intended so that those displaced by wildfires can have access to affordable housing.”

In response to public comments finding the regulations unclear, CTCAC is revising regulations to give projects in the 13 counties two years to seek credits for housing projects.

Under federal regulations, the credits must be used within two years or lost. If there are any unused credits at the end of 2021, to avoid losing them, the new regulations allow projects seeking to house the homeless to apply.

The revised regulations would exempt communities hit by disaster from the typical 9 percent tax credit rules, which reward projects located close to amenities such as shopping, libraries and parks.

CTCAC is also working to develop regulations to ensure that the disaster areas occurring in large or wealthy counties are not given an unfair advantage over disaster areas in smaller counties or in counties with fewer people.

More information is available here.

With another fire season just around the corner, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said on Friday that it has submitted its 2020 Wildfire Mitigation Plan to the California Public Utilities Commission, a plan that it says will – among other things – seek to reduce the impacts of the kinds of public safety power shutoffs used repeatedly last year.

The company said the plan expands and enhances its comprehensive Community Wildfire Safety Program, which was designed to address the growing threat of extreme weather and wildfires across its service area.

PG&E’s 2020 Wildfire Mitigation Plan is subject to public review and approval by the CPUC.

The 2020 Wildfire Mitigation Plan will continue expanded key safety work including new grid technology, hardening of the electric system, accelerated inspections of electric infrastructure, enhanced vegetation management around power lines, and real-time monitoring and situational awareness tools to better understand how severe weather can impact PG&E’s system.

PG&E’s 2020 plan includes changes to make public safety power shutoff, or PSPS, events smaller in scope and shorter in duration and to lessen the overall impacts of shutoffs while working to keep customers and communities safe during times of severe weather and high wildfire risk.

As part of the plans, PG&E said it is installing 592 automated sectionalizing devices on distribution lines with the aim of reducing the number of communities without power during a PSPS event and adding 23 transmission switches capable of redirecting power and keeping substations and transmission lines energized in some areas during a PSPS event.

The company said it also will work with local communities to operationalize additional microgrids that will allow customers and essential community services to stay energized during a PSPS event, it will expand its ability to provide backup power to some critical service providers, such as major transportation thoroughfares, water systems, medical centers and fire departments, and enhance meteorology technology for more precise PSPS events.

Other plans include increasing its helicopter fleet from 35 to 65 to patrol lines after a weather event has passed, using two fixed-wing aircrafts with infrared cameras capable of inspecting transmission lines at night, deploying additional field crews to patrol, inspect and repair power lines after a weather event has passed, and working closely with local, state and tribal officials to better coordinate for PSPS events.

The company said it will bolster its website and call center resources and continue to make improvements to information and resources available, will improve customer notifications about when power will be shut off for safety and when customers can expect it to be restored, work with local communities to improve the locations, availability and resources provided at community resource centers, and hosting a series of information open houses and webinars to provide information to customers and communities about systematic improvements and PSPS preparedness.

“We know how much our customers rely on electric service. Proactively turning off power disrupts lives and presents its own safety risks, which need to be carefully considered and addressed,” said Debbie Powell, vice president, asset & risk management, Community Wildfire Safety Program. “Turning off power for safety is not how we strive to serve our customers, and we are committed to reducing the impacts without compromising safety.”

PG&E’s 2020 Wildfire Mitigation Plan describes forecasted work and investments that will be executed this year to help further reduce the potential for wildfire ignitions associated with its electrical equipment in high fire-threat areas.

The plan addresses an array of wildfire risk factors through new and ongoing measures.

Among the safety steps and actions to be taken this year include:

– Pruning or removing more than one million trees to keep them away from power lines;
– Installing more than 240 miles of stronger and more resilient poles and covered power lines, along with targeted undergrounding;
– Adding approximately 400 new weather stations this year, which will keep PG&E on track to add a total of 1,300 new weather stations by 2021, a density of one station roughly every 20 circuit-miles in the high fire-risk areas;
– Installing nearly 200 new, high-definition cameras in high fire-threat areas, which will keep PG&E on track to add a total of 600 by 2022, increasing coverage across high fire-risk areas to more than 90 percent of its service area; and
– Coordinating prevention and response efforts by monitoring wildfire risks in real-time from the Wildfire Safety Operations Center.

 

Scientists have discovered over 4,000 exoplanets outside of our Solar System, according to NASA’s Exoplanet Archive.

Some of these planets orbit multiple stars at the same time. Certain planets are so close to their star that it takes only a handful of days to make one revolution, compared to the Earth which takes 365.25 days. Others slingshot around their star with extremely oblong orbits, unlike the Earth’s circular one. When it comes to how exoplanets behave and where they exist, there are many possibilities.

And yet, when it comes to sizes of planets, specifically their mass and radius, there are some limitations. And for that, we have physics to blame.

I am a planetary astrophysicist and I try to understand what makes a planet able to support life. I look at the chemical connection between stars and their exoplanets and how the interior structure and mineralogy of different sized planets compare to each other.

Rocky versus gaseous planets

In our Solar System, we have two kinds of planets: small, rocky, dense planets that are similar to Earth and large, gaseous planets like Jupiter. From what we astrophysicists have detected so far, most planets fall into these two categories.

In fact, when we look at the data from planet-hunting missions such as the Kepler mission or from the Transiting Exoplanet System Satellite, there is a gap in the planet sizes. Namely, there aren’t many planets that fulfill the definition of a “super-Earth,” with a radius of one and a half to twice Earth’s radius and a mass that is five to 10 times greater.

So the question is, why aren’t there any super-Earths? Why do astronomers only see small rocky planets and enormous gaseous planets?

The differences between the two kinds of planets, and the reason for this super-Earth gap, has everything to do with a planet’s atmosphere – especially when the planet is forming.

When a star is born, a huge ball of gas comes together, starts to spin, collapses in on itself and ignites a fusion reaction within the star’s core. This process isn’t perfect; there is a lot of extra gas and dust left over after the star is formed. The extra material continues to rotate around the star until it eventually forms into a stellar disk: a flat, ring-shaped collection of gas, dust, and rocks.

During all of this motion and commotion, the dust grains slam into each other, forming pebbles which then grow into larger and larger boulders until they form planets. As the planet grows in size, its mass and therefore gravity increases, allowing it to capture not only the accumulated dust and rocks – but also the gas, which forms an atmosphere.

There is lots of gas within the stellar disk – after all, hydrogen and helium are the most common elements in stars and in the universe. However, there is considerably less rocky material because only a limited amount was made during star formation.

The trouble with super-Earths

If a planet remains relatively small, with a radius less than 1.5 times Earth’s radius, then its gravity is not strong enough to hold onto a huge amount of atmosphere, like what’s on Neptune or Jupiter. If, however, it continues to grow larger, then it captures more and more gas which forms an atmosphere that causes it to swell to the size of Neptune (four times Earth’s radius) or Jupiter, 11 times Earth’s radius.

Therefore, a planet either stays small and rocky, or it becomes a large, gaseous planet. The middle ground, where a super-Earth might be formed, is very difficult because, once it has enough mass and gravitational pull, it needs the exact right circumstances to stop the avalanche of gas from piling onto the planet and puffing it up. This is sometimes referred to as “unstable equilibrium” – such that when a body (or a planet) is slightly displaced (a little bit more gas is added) it departs further from the original position (and becomes a giant planet).

Another factor to consider is that once a planet is formed, it doesn’t always stay in the same orbit. Sometimes planets move or migrate towards their host star. As the planet gets closer to the star, its atmosphere heats up causing the atoms and molecules to move very fast and escape the planet’s gravitational pull. So some of the small rocky planets are actually the cores of bigger planets that have been stripped of their atmosphere.

So, while there are no super huge rocky planets or small fluffy planets, there is still a huge amount of diversity in planet sizes, geometries and compositions.

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

Natalie Hinkel, Planetary Astrophysicist, Senior Research Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute and Co-Investigator for the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), Arizona State University

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

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Lake County Superior Court judge is asking for the community’s support of his election to his first full term this spring, which he’s pursuing as a write-in candidate.

Incumbent Judge J. David Markham is running in the March 3 election to continue serving in the position of Lake County Superior Court judge.

“I want to confirm categorically that I am indeed running to retain my position as a judge,” said Markham.

He serves as assistant presiding judge, with his primary assignment being the felony case calendars.

A well-known Lake County attorney, Markham practiced law for 17 years before he was appointed to the bench by Gov. Brown in 2017 to fill the unexpired term of retiring Judge Richard Martin. He was sworn in at a February 2018 ceremony.

Markham’s seat is up for election on the March ballot. Judge’s seats are elected for six-year terms.

An incumbent judge seeking another term isn’t out of the ordinary, but Markham’s approach as a write-in is different.

“Due to a combination of factors, there was a failure in the filing notification process,” said Markham.

Specifically, with the presidential primary now falling in March, rather than June, filing deadlines are months earlier. Expecting to file early this year, Markham missed the earlier Dec. 6 filing deadline.

“Therefore, even though I am unopposed for the office of Superior Court judge, I am required to conduct a write-in campaign in the March 3 election,” he said.

Running as a write-in candidate has its own unique requirements, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office.

While the declaration of candidacy and nomination paper filing period ended on Dec. 6 for most candidates – with the exception of those in races where the incumbent didn’t file, which was extended several days – write-in candidates have from Jan. 6 to Feb. 18 to submit their statement of write-in candidacy and nomination papers.

Interim Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley confirmed to Lake County News on Thursday that Markham has fulfilled those requirements.

Write-in candidates such as Markham must also educate the voting public about how the voting process works for them.

Due to no one having submitted papers by the December deadline, no candidates’ names will be printed on the ballot.

So voters need to understand that they must write in the candidate’s name in the blank box next to the office of Lake County Superior Court judge on the ballot and then check the box next to the name.

Markham said he’s already received commitments from dozens of local volunteers to assist with his write-in campaign.

There is precedent for a write-in candidate to win a local race. In fact, the only time it’s been done in decades was when Betty Irwin ran for justice court judge of the Clearlake-Highlands Judicial District in 1982, according to Fridley.

Fridley said Irwin received enough votes in that year’s primary to finish in the top two vote-getters, which earned her a place on the ballot on Nov. 2, 1982. Ultimately, Irwin won the race and took office in 1983.

Markham said he is not accepting any monetary donations. “There are other causes in Lake County that can use your money,” he said, asking instead that people help him by sharing word of his write-in campaign.

For more information about Markham visit his website.

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.