How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook due to higher-than-average temperatures forecast for next week and a fire weather watch for the weekend and early next week.
The hazardous weather outlook predicts that temperatures will rise well above normal across the interior of northwest California from Saturday through Monday.
The fire weather watch is in effect from 8 p.m. Saturday through 8 a.m. Monday in elevations above 1,500 feet, especially in southeastern Lake County.
A fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur. As such, forecasters urged area residents to listen for later forecasts and possible red flag warnings.
The forecast calls for north to northeast winds from 12 to 18 miles per hour with gusts of up to 25 miles per hour from Saturday night through Monday morning. Higher gusts are possible over the most exposed ridgetops.
Humidity will range from 10 to 20 percent in afternoons with overnight humidity from 20 to 40 percent.
The specific Lake County forecast calls for daytime highs in the 90s over the weekend and temperatures at or slightly above the century mark on Monday before dropping slightly back into the high 90s on Tuesday and Wednesday. Nighttime temperatures are forecast to be in the low 60s.
In addition, widespread haze due to the region’s wildland fires is expected to impact Lake County through the middle of next week at least, based on the forecast.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News reports
The US Forest Service said the August Complex added another 13,000 acres from Tuesday to Wednesday, with containment up by 1 percent to 39 percent.
The complex, which began on Aug. 17, is burning on the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests, where it’s destroyed 35 structures and continues to threaten nearly 1,600 more. It’s expected to be fully contained on Nov. 15.
The team managing the August Complex-South Zone will hold a virtual public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday to provide a fire overview and to allow the public to ask questions. The meeting will be live-streamed on the Mendocino National Forest Facebook page.
Officials said firefighters completed burning operations to the north of Lake Pillsbury on Tuesday, finishing firing activities that have been occurring over the past several days.
Evacuation orders in Lake County remain in effect in the Pillsbury Ranch and Lake Pillsbury basin areas.
Crews will now complete holding and mopping up actions along the control lines used in these efforts. This includes looking for and extinguishing areas of remaining heat near these lines. Once the area has cooled over the next few days, additional containment in this area is expected, officials said.
The Forest Service said helicopters have been assisting in cooling the fire and holding control lines through water drops near Mill Creek and areas to the northwest of Pillsbury Ranch.
Fire crews and dozers from Cal Fire continue suppression efforts near the main edge of the fire to the northwest, including constructing line where possible, officials said.
Meanwhile, the Forest Service said firefighters continue structure protection in the Pillsbury Basin and along control lines to the west. This includes installing and testing hose lays and sprinklers for use in holding operations.
In the complex’s South Zone, in addition to the evacuation orders for Lake County, there also are active orders for Mendocino County, officials said.
Evacuation information can also be found here.
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News reports
The California State University Board of Trustees has appointed Joseph I. Castro, Ph.D., to serve as the eighth chancellor of the California State University.
Castro has served as the eighth president of California State University, Fresno since 2013.
He is the first California native and first Mexican American to be appointed to oversee the 23-campus university.
Castro will succeed Timothy P. White who is retiring after leading the university since late 2012.
“The California State University provides unprecedented and transformational opportunities for students from all backgrounds to earn a high-quality college degree and to better their families, their communities and the industries in which they become leaders. There is no other institution that makes this great of an impact on the entire state – the CSU is key to a growing and thriving California," said Castro. “I am truly grateful for and excited about this unique and wonderful opportunity, and I look forward to working with the talented faculty, staff and presidents of the 23 campuses as well the Board of Trustees and executives and staff at the Chancellor's Office to further increase achievement for our 482,000 students."
As president of Fresno State, Castro led the university to become a national leader in recruiting, supporting and graduating students from diverse backgrounds. Fresno State is routinely among the top public colleges in rankings issued by Washington Monthly, U.S. News and World Report and Money Magazine for its efforts to enhance student achievement as measured by graduation rates and social mobility.
Castro is a respected scholar in the fields of higher education leadership and public policy and has mentored many other university presidents and other senior officers across the nation over the course of his career.
“Dr. Castro is a passionate and effective advocate for his students, his campus and the CSU – in his local community, in Sacramento and in Washington, DC.," said Lillian Kimbell, chair of the CSU Board of Trustees. “Above all, he is a leader who inspires greatness in students, faculty and in the broader community. He is the right leader for the California State University in our current circumstance and for our future."
Prior to joining Fresno State, Castro served for 23 years in the University of California system, holding a variety of leadership positions culminating in roles of vice chancellor of student academic affairs and professor of family and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Castro was born in Hanford in California's San Joaquin Valley. He is the grandson of immigrants from Mexico, son of a single mother and the first in his family to graduate from a university.
He received his bachelor's in political science and a master's in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in higher education policy and leadership from Stanford University. Castro has been recognized with alumni excellence awards from the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University.
Castro and his wife, Mary, have three children (Isaac, Lauren and Jess). He will begin his duties as chancellor on January 4, 2021.
Following consultation with stakeholders at Fresno State and with the board chair, Chancellor White will soon announce an interim appointment who will serve as campus president beginning early next year. The Board of Trustees anticipates launching a national search in the new year for Castro's successor.
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News reports
Newsom issued an executive order requiring sales of all new passenger vehicles to be zero-emission by 2035 and additional measures to eliminate harmful emissions from the transportation sector.
The transportation sector is responsible for more than half of all of California’s carbon pollution, 80 percent of smog-forming pollution and 95 percent of toxic diesel emissions – all while communities in the Los Angeles Basin and Central Valley see some of the dirtiest and most toxic air in the country, Newsom’s office said.
“This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” said Newsom. “For too many decades, we have allowed cars to pollute the air that our children and families breathe. Californians shouldn’t have to worry if our cars are giving our kids asthma. Our cars shouldn’t make wildfires worse – and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn’t melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines.”
NextGen California said Newsom’s executive order “puts us on the right track.”
“Burning gasoline and diesel for transportation is by far the biggest source of air pollution and is what drives California's contributions to the climate crisis,” said NextGen California Senior Policy Advisor David Weiskopf. “This order lays down an important marker that we need to tackle this problem in a just and systematic way – from the wellhead where oil is produced to the vehicles we drive.”
Weiskopf added, “We can achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, but it will take ambitious actions like these across the whole economy – including burning gas in buildings, heavy industry, agriculture, and improving how we manage lands and waters in the state. We will also need to create more and better clean housing and transportation options across the state, and start making smart infrastructure decisions that begin to undo the toxic legacy of environmental racism that continues to harm low-income and communities of color. This order takes important steps in that direction by including transit, walking, biking, and other clean transportation infrastructure components.”
While eliminating greenhouse gases in California will not be enough to solve the climate crisis, Weiskopf said, “If we do this well, our state can be the pivot point that turns both the national and global economies towards a more just and sustainable model.”
Pushback on Newsom’s plan began immediately on Wednesday, with the California Fuels & Convenience Alliance calling Newsom’s plan to unilaterally enact the policy “both troubling and a cause of great distress for millions of Californians.”
The group added, “This order not only represents an egregious transgression of the legislative process, but also an outright disregard for the millions of Californians struggling to just get by in today's most taxing of circumstances.”
It also said the state’s power grid does not have the capacity to bear the weight of carrying one of the largest personal transportation sectors in the world. “California already cannot meet its own energy demand without widespread EV adoption,” the group said, adding that EV’s remain out of reach for many working Californians.
"California's transportation industries continue to make strides in greener and environmentally responsible solutions from renewable fuels, to vehicles with unfathomable efficiency, and this order is a blatant affront to these great advancements. The path to a greener tomorrow cannot be a one-size-fits-all 'solution' forced down by a one-party regime,” the group said.
The California Chamber of Commerce said it agreed with Newsom that California has been a leader in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, especially by adopting a market-based cap-and-trade program, and phasing in a greater share of renewable electricity generation.
"To develop a comprehensive and effective approach to climate change policy, California needs to have standards that other states and nations can follow. We can’t do it alone,” CalChamber said in a Wednesday statement. "Banning vehicles with internal combustion engines in just 14 years is unrealistic, since it presumes that consumer demand will not create a viable ZEV market by 2035.”
Unless California, along with other states and countries, supports a market for ZEVs that ensures vehicle performance, range, safety, functionality, price, and choice for automobile consumers, then California residents alone will be left with higher energy and transportation costs without a material effect on global GHG emissions, the group said.
“Eliminating the infrastructure for fueling internal combustion engines will only further exacerbate this cost increase for low-income Californians and will wipe out major elements of local government and schools’ property tax base,” CalChamber asid.
State agencies, Legislature, private sector to be involved in process
Following the order, the California Air Resources Board will develop regulations to mandate that 100 percent of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks are zero-emission by 2035 – a target which would achieve more than a 35 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and an 80 percent improvement in oxides of nitrogen emissions from cars statewide.
In addition, the Air Resources Board will develop regulations to mandate that all operations of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles shall be 100 percent zero emission by 2045 where feasible, with the mandate going into effect by 2035 for drayage trucks.
To ensure needed infrastructure to support zero-emission vehicles, the order requires state agencies, in partnership with the private sector, to accelerate deployment of affordable fueling and charging options. It also requires support of new and used zero-emission vehicle markets to provide broad accessibility to zero-emission vehicles for all Californians.
The executive order will not prevent Californians from owning gasoline-powered cars or selling them on the used car market.
Newsom’s office said California will be leading the nation in this effort – joining 15 countries that have already committed to phase out gasoline-powered cars and using our market power to push zero-emission vehicle innovation and drive down costs for everyone.
By the time the new rule goes into effect, zero-emission vehicles will almost certainly be cheaper and better than the traditional fossil fuel-powered cars. Newsom’s office said the upfront cost of electric vehicles are projected to reach parity with conventional vehicles in just a matter of years, and the cost of owning the car – both in maintenance and how much it costs to power the car mile for mile – is far less than a fossil fuel burning vehicle.
Newsom’s office said the executive order sets clear deliverables for new health and safety regulations that protect workers and communities from the impacts of oil extraction. It supports companies that transition their upstream and downstream oil production operations to cleaner alternatives. It also directs the state to make sure taxpayers are not stuck with the bill to safely close and remediate former oil fields.
To protect the health and safety of our communities and workers, the governor is also asking the Legislature to end the issuance of new hydraulic fracturing permits by 2024.
The executive order directs state agencies to develop strategies for an integrated, statewide rail and transit network, and incorporate safe and accessible infrastructure into projects to support bicycle and pedestrian options, particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities.