Heavy equipment repair work on the August Complex’s South Zone in Northern California. Credit: US Forest Service by Ben McLane. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The US Forest Service said the cooler weather that’s arrived over the region is impacting operations on the South Zone of the August Complex.
The complex, started by lightning on Aug. 16 and 17, has remained at 1,032,648 acres for more than two weeks, with containment now at 96 percent.
The South Zone, the portion that includes northern Lake County and the Mendocino National Forest, is at 499,826 acres and 97 percent containment, according to the Forest Service.
This new weather pattern follows a month of unseasonably warm conditions, officials said.
The Forest Service said the temperature dropped 30 degrees overnight on Thursday at Mendocino Pass with a dusting of snow.
There are 688 personnel on the incident as a whole and 260 personnel working on the August South Zone Complex, the Forest Service said.
Crews are continuing to focus on fire suppression repair in priority areas around the Sanhedrin Wilderness, wild and scenic river corridors, Mill Creek, Eel River and in locations that are prone to landslides along key forest travel routes. On Thursday alone, crews completed six and a half miles of suppression repair.
Forest Highway 7 remains closed to public traffic from Willows to Covelo, the Forest Service said.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Animal Control has seven dogs waiting for their new families.
The following dogs are ready for adoption or foster.
“Banjo.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Banjo’
“Banjo” is a male American Staffordshire Terrier mix with a short tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4267.
“Bella.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Bella’
“Bella” is a female American Bully mix.
She has a short beige and tan coat.
She is dog No. 3537.
“Carusoe.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Carusoe’
“Carusoe’ is a small male adult German Shepherd mix.
He has a short tan and black coat.
He is dog No. 4297.
“Chex.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Chex’
“Chex” is a male adult terrier with a short brindle and white coat.
He is dog No. 4341.
“Inky.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Inky’
“Inky” is a male German Shepherd mix.
He has a long smooth black coat.
He is dog No. 4324.
“Jack.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Jack’
“Jack” is a male Labrador Retriever mix with a short yellow coat.
He is dog No. 4155.
“Orrie.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Orrie’
“Orrie” is a male German Shepherd mix.
He has a short tan and black coat.
He is dog No. 4342.
The shelter is open by appointment only due to COVID-19.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s 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.
From left to right, District 4 Supervisor and First 5 Lake County Chair Tina Scott, First 5 Lake County Executive Director Carla Ritz and Bonnie Bonnett, Easterseals Bay Area, Lake County clinical coordinator distribute cases of diapers and wipes to agencies and organizations on Monday, October 26, 2020. Courtesy photo. LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Oct. 26, First 5 Lake County’s executive director, Carla Ritz, and chairperson and District 4 supervisor, Tina Scott, distributed 394 cases of diapers and 169 cases of wipes to 12 local family-serving agencies and organizations.
The supplies were provided by First 5 California in response to the growing needs of families with young children due to recent wildfires and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In April of this year, First 5 California approved up to $4 million to support the acquisition and distribution of county-identified essential supplies for babies and young children, in addition to much-needed sanitation items.
“We have a role to play in helping California overcome this ongoing emergency. My fellow commissioners and I acted quickly to support funding for vital provisions that will help childcare providers and the broader community, while supporting essential workers throughout the state,” said George Halvorson, chair of the First 5 California Commission.
“The need is immediate, it is deep, and it affects more children and families than we can possibly serve,” said Camille Maben, executive director of First 5 California. “With our partners, we will continue to support the child care providers and essential workers who put their own health at risk as they provide much-needed services during this unprecedented time.”
To facilitate the purchase and distribution of these supplies, First 5 California worked in conjunction with www.SupplyBank.org, a California-based nonprofit that specializes in leveraging bulk purchasing power and innovative supply chain strategies to provide low-cost supplies to organizations supporting low-income and vulnerable populations.
“In Lake County,” said Ritz, “we distributed cases of diapers and wipes to our partners: Lake Family Resource Center, Mother-Wise, the Lake County Childcare Planning Council, Child Welfare Services, Lake County Tribal Health, Healthy Start, Adventist Health Clearlake, Sutter Lakeside Hospital, E-Center WIC, Easterseals Bay Area, and Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake.”
All of these supplies will be distributed by the individual agencies to the Lake County families whom they serve.
Earlier in the pandemic, diapers, wipes, disinfecting solution, hand soap, masks, gloves, and children’s books from First 5 California were delivered to North Coast Opportunities Rural Communities Child Care and distributed to participating child care providers in Lake County who remained open to serve the children of essential workers.
This effort, to distribute essential supplies in times of crisis, is aligned with First 5 Lake’s 2019-2024 Strategic Plan which is based on the Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework.
Concrete support in times of need is one of the five protective factors identified in the framework which promote the positive wellbeing and healthy development of children.
Additional protective factors include parental resilience, social connections, knowledge of parenting and child development, and social and emotional competence of children.
For more information about this and other First 5 Lake initiatives, visit www.firstfivelake.org.
The First 5 Lake County supports programs and services that promote the health and development of young children and educate parents, grandparents, caregivers and teachers about the critical role they play during a child’s first five years. Funding is derived from California Proposition 10’s voter-mandated tax on tobacco products.
Since its inception in 2000, First 5 Lake has supported thousands of families with programs and services designed to help Lake County children grow up healthy and ready to succeed in school and life.
Current First 5 Lake Commissioners are Denise Pomeroy, Brock Falkenberg, Tina Scott, Crystal Markytan, Susan Jen, Carly Sherman, Allison Panella and Fawn Rave.
This illustration depicts Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone. Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle. Since astronomers confirmed the presence of planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, humanity has wondered how many could harbor life. Now, we’re one step closer to finding an answer. According to new research using data from NASA’s retired planet-hunting mission, the Kepler space telescope, about half the stars similar in temperature to our Sun could have a rocky planet capable of supporting liquid water on its surface.
Our galaxy holds at least an estimated 300 million of these potentially habitable worlds, based on even the most conservative interpretation of the results in a study released today and to be published in The Astronomical Journal.
Some of these exoplanets could even be our interstellar neighbors, with at least four potentially within 30 light-years of our Sun and the closest likely to be at most about 20 light-years from us.
These are the minimum numbers of such planets based on the most conservative estimate that 7 percent of Sun-like stars host such worlds. However, at the average expected rate of 50 percent, there could be many more.
This research helps us understand the potential for these planets to have the elements to support life. This is an essential part of astrobiology, the study of life’s origins and future in our universe.
The study is authored by NASA scientists who worked on the Kepler mission alongside collaborators from around the world. NASA retired the space telescope in 2018 after it ran out of fuel. Nine years of the telescope’s observations revealed that there are billions of planets in our galaxy – more planets than stars.
"Kepler already told us there were billions of planets, but now we know a good chunk of those planets might be rocky and habitable," said the lead author Steve Bryson, a researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. "Though this result is far from a final value, and water on a planet's surface is only one of many factors to support life, it's extremely exciting that we calculated these worlds are this common with such high confidence and precision."
For the purposes of calculating this occurrence rate, the team looked at exoplanets between a radius of 0.5 and 1.5 times that of Earth's, narrowing in on planets that are most likely rocky. They also focused on stars similar to our Sun in age and temperature, plus or minus up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
That's a wide range of different stars, each with its own particular properties impacting whether the rocky planets in its orbit are capable of supporting liquid water.
These complexities are partly why it is so difficult to calculate how many potentially habitable planets are out there, especially when even our most powerful telescopes can just barely detect these small planets. That's why the research team took a new approach.
An illustration representing the legacy of NASA's Kepler space telescope. After nine years in deep space collecting data that revealed our night sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets – more planets even than stars – NASA’s Kepler space telescope ran out of fuel needed for further science operations in 2018. Credits: NASA/Ames Research Center/W. Stenzel/D. Rutter. Rethinking how to identify habitability
This new finding is a significant step forward in Kepler's original mission to understand how many potentially habitable worlds exist in our galaxy.
Previous estimates of the frequency, also known as the occurrence rate, of such planets ignored the relationship between the star's temperature and the kinds of light given off by the star and absorbed by the planet.
The new analysis accounts for these relationships, and provides a more complete understanding of whether or not a given planet might be capable of supporting liquid water, and potentially life.
That approach is made possible by combining Kepler's final dataset of planetary signals with data about each star's energy output from an extensive trove of data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission.
"We always knew defining habitability simply in terms of a planet's physical distance from a star, so that it's not too hot or cold, left us making a lot of assumptions," said Ravi Kopparapu, an author on the paper and a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Gaia's data on stars allowed us to look at these planets and their stars in an entirely new way."
Gaia provided information about the amount of energy that falls on a planet from its host star based on a star's flux, or the total amount of energy that is emitted in a certain area over a certain time. This allowed the researchers to approach their analysis in a way that acknowledged the diversity of the stars and solar systems in our galaxy.
"Not every star is alike," said Kopparapu. "And neither is every planet."
Though the exact effect is still being researched, a planet's atmosphere figures into how much light is needed to allow liquid water on a planet's surface as well.
Using a conservative estimate of the atmosphere's effect, the researchers estimated an occurrence rate of about 50 percent – that is, about half of Sun-like stars have rocky planets capable of hosting liquid water on their surfaces. An alternative optimistic definition of the habitable zone estimates about 75 percent.
Kepler's legacy charts future research
This result builds upon a long legacy of work of analyzing Kepler data to obtain an occurrence rate and sets the stage for future exoplanet observations informed by how common we now expect these rocky, potentially habitable worlds to be.
Future research will continue to refine the rate, informing the likelihood of finding these kinds of planets and feeding into plans for the next stages of exoplanet research, including future telescopes.
"Knowing how common different kinds of planets are is extremely valuable for the design of upcoming exoplanet-finding missions," said co-author Michelle Kunimoto, who worked on this paper after finishing her doctorate on exoplanet occurrence rates at the University of British Columbia, and recently joined the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Surveys aimed at small, potentially habitable planets around Sun-like stars will depend on results like these to maximize their chance of success."
After revealing more than 2,800 confirmed planets outside our solar system, the data collected by the Kepler space telescope continues to yield important new discoveries about our place in the universe.
Though Kepler's field of view covered only 0.25 percent of the sky, the area that would be covered by your hand if you held it up at arm's length towards the sky, its data has allowed scientists to extrapolate what the mission's data means for the rest of the galaxy. That work continues with TESS, NASA's current planet hunting telescope.
"To me, this result is an example of how much we've been able to discover just with that small glimpse beyond our solar system," said Bryson. "What we see is that our galaxy is a fascinating one, with fascinating worlds, and some that may not be too different from our own."
Frank Tavares works for NASA's Ames Research Center.
What's up for November? Cool autumn evenings are a great time to look for the Pleiades star cluster. You'll also have a couple of great opportunities to observe the Moon with Jupiter and Saturn. Plus, check out the phenomenon known as Earthshine.
Evenings in November are a good time to start looking for the Pleiades. This bright cluster of stars is a well-known sight to most stargazers, and is best enjoyed in the cooler fall and winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Pleiades is what's known as an open star cluster – it's a loosely bound grouping of a couple thousand stars that formed together and are slowly drifting apart over time. A handful of the brightest stars in the cluster are visible with the unaided eye, and with binoculars or a telescope, you can see hundreds.
Astronomers estimate the age of the cluster is only about 100 million years. It's located a bit more than 400 light years away. The brightest stars in the Pleiades are many times brighter than our own star, the Sun. In fact, if you were to visit the Pleiades and look homeward, you wouldn't even be able to see the Sun without a small telescope.
On cool November evenings, look for the Pleiades in the east in the couple of hours after dark. The cluster rises to its highest point around midnight.
On Nov. 18 and 19, enjoy a lovely crescent moon near Jupiter and Saturn after sunset. The two planets have been brilliant highlights of the night sky for much of this year, and are now getting closer together in advance of their super close pairing in mid-December. More about that next month, but for now, be sure to watch as they draw a little nearer to each other each week.
You may have marveled at how brightly a full moon can light up a nighttime landscape, but have you noticed how Earth can illuminate the night side of the Moon? This eerily beautiful glow is called Earthshine. It's sunlight that's been reflected off of Earth, then bounced off the Moon and back to our eyes.
Earthshine is easiest to observe in the few days before and after the new moon, when the part of the Moon that's directly lit by the Sun appears as a slim crescent. This is partly because there's less of the bright, sunlit surface to compete with the dimmer Earthshine-lit portion, and partly because the phases of Earth and the Moon are complimentary: when the Moon is a slim crescent in our sky, Earth seen from the Moon looks nearly full.
Occasionally, NASA spacecraft use this phenomenon to make the night side of other planets and moons visible – for example Saturnshine on Saturn's moons and ringshine lighting up Saturn itself, as seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
The best times to observe Earthshine in November are on the 17th through the 20th, following sunset, and before dawn on the 9th through the 12th.
And for an added treat, on the 12th, the Moon, illuminated by both sunshine and Earthshine, will appear just above the "Morning Star," Venus.
You can catch up on all of NASA's missions to explore the solar system and beyond at www.nasa.gov.
Preston Dyches is with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Lauren Hughes, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Roberto Silva, University of Colorado Denver
Business restrictions early in the pandemic, when rural towns had few cases, triggered a backlash that haunts them now. Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images
As COVID-19 spreads through rural America, new infection numbers are rising to peaks not seen during this pandemic and pushing hospitals to their limits. Many towns are experiencing their first major outbreaks, but that doesn’t mean rural communities had previously been spared the devastating impacts of the pandemic.
Even if they had no cases, many rural areas were under statewide public health orders that left businesses closed and events canceled. And that has become part of the problem today. The early compassionate and cohesive community responses to COVID-19 quickly gave way to growing anger and compliance fatigue, especially when some isolated towns didn’t see their first positive cases until summer.
That resentment toward public health recommendations, including mask-wearing, is now on a crash course with rising case numbers in the Mountain West, Midwest and Great Plains. For the fifth week in a row, rural counties witnessed a sharp increase in cases, to the point where over 70% of the nation’s nonmetropolitan counties had earned a “red zone” designation, suggesting local viral spread was out of control. The reality, though, is COVID-19 has never been “under control” in the U.S.
As professors of family medicine with experience in rural health policy and medical practice, we have been studying the barriers rural communities are facing during the pandemic and how they can solve COVID-19-related challenges.
Understanding the drivers of increasing COVID-19 cases in rural places is critical to both curtailing the current surge and limiting flareups in the future.
Why rural cases are on the rise
Several factors have contributed to the rise in rural case numbers.
The politicization of the pandemic – and of mask-wearing – has hampered both public health efforts and collaboration among businesses, community organizations and health care entities. Political tensions have given rise to misinformation, reinforced on social media, that can be difficult to turn around. If people aren’t taking protective measures, when COVID-19 does come in, it can easily and quickly spread.
In some communities, the resumption of small-town activities, such as school, church and sports events, has led to more infections. Experts have pointed to social gatherings, including the nearly 500,000-strong Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota in August, as sources of the recent COVID-19 surge in the upper Midwest.
Unemployed workers wait to fill out job applications in a region hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.Mario Tama/Getty Images
Local health care is already short-supplied
Pinpointing COVID-19 outbreaks early and stopping the spread can also be harder in rural areas.
Funding for rural public health departments has long been anemic, crippling their ability to test, share data and conduct contact tracing. Limited resources also constrain education and outreach efforts.
These factors, compounded by caring for a population that is comparatively older, sicker and poorer, leave rural communities extraordinarily vulnerable as cases continue to rise.
How to turn the tide of rising cases
Intervening now can slow the rate of rise of COVID-19 cases in rural hot spots while simultaneously building a more robust long-term response.
To be most effective, each rural area’s unique demographics, economies and perspectives should be considered as policies are developed.
For example, allowing rural communities to exert control over their reopening and closing decisions based on local disease transmission dynamics would allow them to better balance disease mitigation with economic impacts. Some states allow rural communities with few or no cases to apply for waivers from statewide public health orders. These applications generally look at local infection data, containment measures and health care capacity.
Changing the nature of the conversation around COVID-19 in the community can also help in implementing simple, effective measures like mask-wearing. When communications are personal, they may be more accepted. For example, a public service message could remind people that wearing a mask keeps your favorite business open and your grandmother healthy. Framing levels of risk in understandable terms for different types of activities can also help, such as how to exercise or socialize safely. Working with trusted local messengers, such as business owners and faith leaders, can help convey evidence-based information.
Stillwater, Oklahoma, pulled back on requiring people to wear masks in stores last spring after officials said some customers threatened store employees.Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty
Planning is also essential. Communities need to prepare so they can get supplies, testing and treatment when needed; protect the most vulnerable community members; educate the community; and support people in isolation and quarantine. A rural regional approach to testing and contact tracing, sharing supplies and swapping staff could help bridge some of the gaps. Getting test results closer to home could decrease wait times and courier costs. Sharing resources across health care organizations could also minimize the burden of response.
3 ways to strengthen systems for the future
COVID-19 isn’t likely to be the last pandemic rural America will see. Here are three ways to strengthen rural systems for the future.
By partnering with universities and local and state agencies, communities can incorporate their unique susceptibilities into dynamic epidemiological models that could better inform local public health and economic decisions.
Aligning public health and health care measures could help governments better balance pandemic responses and ensure all parts of the community are moving toward the same goal.
Increasing broadband access and internet speeds in rural and frontier communities could also help. During the pandemic, people everywhere have appreciated the need for internet connectivity for education, remote work and purchasing goods, as well as virtual health care.
Based on those studies, Caltrans said it is developing a project “that may include improved sidewalks, crosswalks and bikeways on Highway 20 throughout Lucerne from the Morrison Creek Bridge to Country Club Drive.”
A project initiation document is Caltrans’ first step in seeking funding for a project.
While funding so far hasn’t been identified, “We intend to partner with the Lake Area Planning Council to pursue funding through the Active Transportation Program or other funding opportunities that may arise,” Kelso told Lake County News.
With the project now in its preliminary stage, Caltrans wants community input on project concepts so it can design facilities that work well for all road users.
Kelso said the survey was developed to get more specific design-related feedback from the public than what the planning studies provided.
“Responses will help Caltrans scope a project that increases people’s safety and comfort in walking and bicycling in Lucerne,” Kelso said.
For more information or to offer additional comments, contact Alexis Kelso at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707-498-0536.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office issued a report on Thursday about the thousands of ballots that it has yet to count in the month-long official canvass.
Tuesday’s presidential election was unique primarily due to the impact of COVID-19, which had resulted in more than 22 million vote-by-mail ballots being issued statewide, including 37,717 issued to the registered voters in Lake County.
On Wednesday, an update on the preliminary count issued by Lake County Registrar Maria Valadez’s office showed that 11,157 ballots had been tallied as part of the initial count in the races for president, and state offices and propositions.
Based on past practice, once it has given preliminary reports on the count either by Election Night or the following day, the elections office doesn’t issue any additional updates on race counts until the election is certified in early December.
However, the registrar does report on unprocessed ballots early in the process, and that was the report Valadez issued on Thursday.
Valadez said that altogether her office has approximately 18,270 ballots still to count over the coming weeks, in addition to the more than 11,000 counted so far.
Those 18,270 ballots break down as follows:
– Vote-by-mail ballots received through Election Day, Nov. 3: 9,983. – Vote-by-mail ballots received on Nov. 4: 232. – Vote-by-mail ballots received on Nov. 5: 73. – Vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at the polls on Election Day: 4,344. – Provisional and conditional ballots voted at the polls on Election Day: 2,950. – Provisional and conditional ballots voted at the Elections Office: 159. – Vote-by-mail ballots that require further review for various reasons: 529.
That overall count is still subject to change in the coming weeks.
Normally, state election law allows ballots to be counted if they were postmarked on or before Election Day and arrived no later than three days after the date of the election.
However, a newly enacted state election law, Elections Code section 3020(d), changed the deadline for election officials to receive vote-by-mail ballots returned by mail for the Nov. 3, 2020, General Election only.
Valadez said that new law allows county elections officials to count a vote-by-mail ballot if it is postmarked on or before Election Day and delivered to the elections office by the US Postal Service or a private mail delivery company no later than 17 days after Election Day, or Nov. 20.
Based on the numbers provided so far by Valadez’s office, Lake County appears to be on track for a voter turnout of well over 70 percent.
Ongoing counts common following elections
Having large numbers of ballots still to count following elections, especially for key federal and state offices, is typical, not just in Lake but in other counties across the state and nation.
For comparison, for the Nov. 8, 2016, general election, the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office’s report on unprocessed ballots showed that it had 11,911 ballots remaining to count following Election Day, a number which included 1,497 provisionals – half of this year’s total – and 9,453 vote-by-mail ballots received either by mail, at the polls or the elections office by Election Day, about 5,000 less than this year.
The California Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday issued its reports on the estimated number of unprocessed ballots for the Nov. 3 General Election, reporting that there are 4,523,196 uncounted ballots statewide.
That breaks down as 4,079,126 vote-by-mail ballots, 68,619 provisionals, 285,993 conditional voter registration provisionals – a result of the “same day” voter registration process that’s new this year – and 89,458 ballots classified as “other.”
Overall, the total number of unprocessed ballots in California this year is only about 200,000 less than the number the state reported just after the Nov. 8, 2016, general election.
The biggest difference between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, when it comes to the state’s unprocessed ballot numbers, is that in 2016 vote-by-mail ballots totaled just over 3.1 million, compared to just over four million this year.
In 2016, there were more than one million provisional ballots, compared to 354,612 provisions – 68,619 regular provisionals and 285,993 conditional registration provisionals – this year.
The election count is considered preliminary until the official canvass is completed and the election certified in early December.
Valadez’s office has until Dec. 1 to report Lake County’s presidential election results to the Secretary of State’s Office, with a Dec. 4 deadline for state and local contests.
The state in turn will certify results by Dec. 11, three days before the Electoral College is due to meet.
Editor’s note: On Friday, the Registrar of Voters Office issued an updated report which increased the number of vote-by-mail ballots received through Election Day from 9,947 to 9,983. The overall number of ballots still to be counted in that revised report remained at 18,270, the same as in the initial report from Thursday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council is set to consider purchasing a property to develop for housing, commercial and recreational uses and also will discuss a letter of intent to sell a portion of Redbud Park for a hotel development project.
The council will meet for a closed session at 5:30 p.m. to discuss negotiations for a property at 14885 Burns Valley Road owned by One Shot Mining before the public portion of the meeting convenes at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5.
Because of the county’s shelter in place order, Clearlake City Hall remains closed to the public, however, the virtual meeting will be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel or the Lake County PEG TV YouTube channel. Community members also can participate via Zoom.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can also visit the city’s town hall site and submit written comments at https://www.opentownhall.com/portals/327/forum_home. Identify the subject you wish to comment on in your email’s subject line or in your town hall submission.
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments prior to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5.
The council will get an update on November’s adoptable dogs, and host presentations for recognition of five-year and 25-year employees, offer appreciation to trunk or treat and “You’ve Been Boo’ed” volunteers, and hear a presentation by the Lake County Economic Development Corp. on the Small Business Program.
On Thursday, the council will consider a purchase agreement with One Shot Mining Co. LLC for parcels located at 14885 Burns Valley Road, 14795 Burns Valley Road, 14760 Olympic Drive, 3334 Washington St., 3359 Washington St. and 3367 Washington St.
The Clearlake Planning Commission held a special Tuesday evening during which it considered whether the purchase was in keeping with the general plan, as Lake County News has reported.
City Manager Alan Flora wrote in his report to the council that the city has been exploring locations for a new Public Works corporation yard. At the same time, the city was looking for a large parcel that also could accommodate other uses.
“This analysis identified one primary undeveloped site in the City that can accommodate the multiple uses. This is the property north of Safeway on Burns Valley Road, owned by One Shot Mining Company, LLC. The property consists of approximately 31 acres included in three parcels,” he wrote. “Additionally, the City has negotiated to include three additional properties owned by One Shot Mining to the east of Burns Valley Road.”
Flora said the overall project would include development of the westernmost portion of the property for the Public Works yard and some space for the Clearlake Police Department’s evidence storage. He said that area of the property is well suited for this use adjacent to the Pacific Gas and Electric corporation yard.
“The north eastern corner of the property is well suited for multi-family housing development. The eastern portion of the property along Burns Valley Road is envisioned for either retail development or the location for a community recreation center. The remaining middle portion of the property would be developed for new softball fields and potentially some soccer fields as well. After the purchase is approved the City will immediately begin work on site planning and design,” Flora said.
He said the city and One Shot Mining have agreed to a total sales price for the six parcels of $870,000. “The purchase will be made in three annual payments, $300,000 per year for each of the first two years and then a final payment of $270,000. The payments will not accrue any interest.”
One of the existing buildings has been removed by the owners, and the second building on Olympic Drive will be removed prior to the close of escrow, Flora wrote.
He is asking for the council to approve the purchase and sale agreement and authorize him to sign the agreement and other documents needed to close escrow.
Flora’s report said the purchase is a step toward city goals of supporting economic development and marketing real estate for development.
Under business, the council will discuss approval of a letter of intent with King Management, LLC, which wants to purchase a portion of Redbud Park at 14800 Ballpark Ave.
Flora’s report on the proposal to the council explains that Redbud Park and Thompson Harbor have been utilized for bass fishing tournaments for many years.
“One of the amenities that many launching sites have that make them more attractive is nearby hotel developments. Clearlake in general has a shortage of quality rooms that may be attractive to both anglers and other tourists,” he said.
Flora said the city entered into a letter of intent in July with King Management for development of a hotel at the former Pearce Field airport property.
“King Management is still interested in this project but is also interested in a hotel development at the Redbud Park site,” said Flora.
The council also is discussing the purchase of the 31-acre parcel on Burns Valley Road, which Flora said would offer the chance to develop new recreational amenities, including softball fields, at that site, and allowing the development of the existing fields for a hotel and other retail uses.
He said the proposed agreement would provide King Management a six-month window to perform due diligence and work through infrastructure and other planning items with the city.
“If adequate interest exists, the parties would negotiate a purchase and sale contract, or possibly a long-term lease agreement,” Flora said.
Flora said King Management proposes a nationally branded 60 to 80 room hotel with a small conference center, pool and other amenities.
The city would ensure that no development would occur at Redbud Park unless new replacement softball fields are constructed at another location, Flora said.
The proposed letter of intent covers approximately 2.5 acres on the far eastern portion of the property, leaving approximately four additional acres available for retail development. “This project would not impact the Youth Center property,” Flora added.
In other business on Thursday, the council will consider a senior planner position and modification to the management benefit plan and salary schedule update and discuss adopting a joint powers agreement and bylaws for the California Intergovernmental Risk Authority, which permits the merger of Public Agency Risk Sharing Authority of California and the Redwood Empire Municipal Insurance Fund.
Also on Thursday, the council will continue its consideration of updating the city’s zoning code, design review procedures and design standards, and hold a first reading on the changes.
On the meeting's consent agenda – items that are not considered controversial and are usually adopted on a single vote – are warrant registers; minutes of the Sept. 9 Lake County Vector Control District Board meeting; minutes of the Oct. 1 meeting; consideration of continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on Oct. 9, 2017, and ratified by council action Oct. 12, 2017; consideration of continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on March 14, 2020, and ratified by council action March 19, 2020; consideration of a resolution adopting the fifth amendment to the FY 2020/21 Budget (Resolution No. 2020-27) appropriating funding and releasing the self insurance reserve, Resolution No. 2020-56; consideration of Resolution No. 2020-53, a resolution of the city of Clearlake, approving a temporary street closure for the annual Rotary of Clearlake Christmas Dinner; award of contract for design services for the Public Works Shop Site Planning Phase I; adoption of Resolution 2020-57 authoring the application for and receipt of Local Early Action Planning Grant Program funds.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Sen. John F. Kennedy speaks to supporters at Chicago Stadium four days before the 1960 election. AP Photo
As states continue to count their ballots in the 2020 election, it seems possible that Democrats and Republicans will end up in court over whether President Trump will win a second term in the White House.
Should either Trump or Biden refuse to concede, it wouldn’t be the first time turmoil and claims of fraud dominated the days and weeks after the elections.
The elections of 1876, 1888, 1960 and 2000 were among the most contentious in American history. In each case, the losing candidate and party dealt with the disputed results differently.
1876: A compromise that came at a price
By 1876 – 11 years after the end of the Civil War – all the Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union, and Reconstruction was in full swing. The Republicans were strongest in the pro-Union areas of the North and African-American regions of the South, while Democratic support coalesced around southern whites and northern areas that had been less supportive of the Civil War. That year, Republicans nominated Ohio Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes, and Democrats chose New York Gov. Samuel Tilden.
But on Election Day, there was widespread voter intimidation against African-American Republican voters throughout the South. Three of those Southern states – Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina – had Republican-dominated election boards. In those three states, some initial results seemed to indicate Tilden victories. But due to widespread allegations of intimidation and fraud, the election boards invalidated enough votes to give the states – and their electoral votes – to Hayes. With the electoral votes from all three states, Hayes would win a 185-184 majority in the Electoral College.
A certificate of Louisiana’s electoral vote for Rutherford B. Hayes.Wikimedia Commons
Competing sets of election returns and electoral votes were sent to Congress to be counted in January 1877, so Congress voted to create a bipartisan commission of 15 members of Congress and Supreme Court justices to determine how to allocate the electors from the three disputed states. Seven commissioners were to be Republican, seven were to be Democrats, and there would be one independent, Justice David Davis of Illinois.
But in a political scheme that backfired, Davis was chosen by Democrats in the Illinois state legislature to serve in the U.S. Senate. (Senators weren’t chosen by voters until 1913.) They’d hoped to win his support on the electoral commission. Instead, Davis resigned from the commission and was replaced by Republican Justice Joseph Bradley, who proceeded to join an 8-7 Republican majority that awarded all the disputed electoral votes to Hayes.
Democrats decided not to argue with that final result due to the “Compromise of 1877,” in which Republicans, in return for getting Hayes in the White House, agreed to an end to Reconstruction and military occupation of the South.
Hayes had an ineffective, one-term presidency, while the compromise ended up destroying any semblance of African-American political clout in the South. For the next century, southern legislatures, free from northern supervision, would implement laws discriminating against blacks and restricting their ability to vote.
1888: Bribing blocks of five
In 1888, Democratic President Grover Cleveland of New York ran for reelection against former Indiana U.S. Sen. Benjamin Harrison.
Back then, election ballots in most states were printed, distributed by political parties and cast publicly. Certain voters, known as “floaters,” were known to sell their votes to willing buyers.
Harrison had appointed an Indiana lawyer, William Wade Dudley, as treasurer of the Republican National Committee. Shortly before the election, Dudley sent a letter to Republican local leaders in Indiana with promised funds and instructions for how to divide receptive voters into “blocks of five” to receive bribes in exchange for voting the Republican ticket. The instructions outlined how each Republican activist would be responsible for five of these “floaters.”
Democrats got a copy of the letter and publicized it widely in the days leading up to the election. Harrison ended up winning Indiana by only about 2,000 votes but still would have won in the Electoral College without the state.
Cleveland actually won the national popular vote by almost 100,000 votes. But he lost his home state, New York, by about 1 percent of the vote, putting Harrison over the top in the Electoral College. Cleveland’s loss in New York may have also been related to vote-buying schemes.
Cleveland did not contest the Electoral College outcome and won a rematch against Harrison four years later, becoming the only president to serve nonconsecutive terms of office. Meanwhile, the blocks-of-five scandal led to the nationwide adoption of secret ballots for voting.
1960: Did the Daley machine deliver?
The 1960 election pitted Republican Vice President Richard Nixon against Democratic U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy.
The popular vote was the closest of the 20th century, with Kennedy defeating Nixon by only about 100,000 votes – a less than 0.2 percent difference.
Because of that national spread – and because Kennedy officially defeated Nixon by less than 1 percent in five states (Hawaii, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico) and less than 2 percent in Texas – many Republicans cried foul. They fixated on two places in particular – southern Texas and Chicago, where a political machine led by Mayor Richard Daley allegedly churned out just enough votes to give Kennedy the state of Illinois. If Nixon had won Texas and Illinois, he would have had an Electoral College majority.
While Republican-leaning newspapers proceeded to investigate and conclude that voter fraud had occurred in both states, Nixon did not contest the results. Following the example of Cleveland in 1892, Nixon ran for president again in 1968 and won.
2000: The hanging chads
In 2000, many states were still using the punch card ballot, a voting system created in the 1960s. Even though these ballots had a long history of machine malfunctions and missed votes, no one seemed to know or care – until all Americans suddenly realized that the outdated technology had created a problem in Florida.
Then, on Election Day, the national media discovered that a “butterfly ballot,” a punch card ballot with a design that violated Florida state law, had confused thousands of voters in Palm Beach County.
The Florida butterfly ballot confused a number of voters, who ended up voting for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan thinking they had voted for Democratic candidate Al Gore.Wikimedia Commons
Many who had thought they were voting for Gore unknowingly voted for another candidate or voted for two candidates. (For example, Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan received about 3,000 votes from voters who had probably intended to vote for Gore.) Gore ended up losing the state to Bush by 537 votes – and, in losing Florida, lost the election.
But ultimately, the month-long process to determine the winner of the presidential election came down to an issue of “hanging chads.”
Over 60,000 ballots in Florida, most of them on punch cards, had registered no vote for president on the punch card readers. But on many of the punch cards, the little pieces of paper that get punched out when someone votes – known as chads – were still hanging by one, two or three corners and had gone uncounted. Gore went to court to have those ballots counted by hand to try to determine voter intent, as allowed by state law. Bush fought Gore’s request in court. While Gore won in the Florida State Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled at 10 p.m. on Dec. 12 that Congress had set a deadline of that date for states to choose electors, so there was no more time to count votes.
The national drama and trauma that followed Election Day in 1876 and 2000 could be repeated this year. Of course, a lot will depend on the margins and how the candidates react.
Most eyes will be on Trump, who hasn’t said whether or not he’ll accept the result if he loses. On election night, he announced he had won before all the votes had been counted in a number of battleground states.
This is an updated version of an article originally published on Nov. 1, 2016.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After an October that is reported to have been warmer than normal, the National Weather Service is forecasting cooler temperatures for the coming weekend as well as chances of rain plus snow in mountain areas.
The agency issued a hazardous weather outlook for Lake, Mendocino and Humboldt counties for the coming week.
The forecast calls for a strong cold front moving into the area through Friday, bringing periods of cooler weather, heavy rain, gusty winds and high elevation snow to Northwest California.
The National Weather Service predicts light mountain showers with possible breaks in precipitation during the day on Saturday. That’s expected to be followed by heavier mountain snow, mainly in the Sierra Nevada, on Saturday night into Sunday.
By Monday, conditions are expected to clear, with dry and cool weather.
The specific Lake County forecast calls for chances of showers overnight Thursday and into Friday, with a 30-percent chance of showers during the day on Friday and a 20 percent chance on Friday night.
At the same time, temperatures are forecast to drop into the 50s through Sunday, with nighttime temperatures into the low 40s. There also are chances of light winds up to 9 miles per hour.
Next week, daytime temperatures are forecast to be back into the 60s while nighttime temperatures could drop into the high 30s.
On Thursday, the forecast calls for a slight chance of showers.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The work of counting the ballots cast by mail or in person by Lake County’s voters continued on Wednesday after a long election night.
The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office, continuing the process of counting the ballots, issued one update on Wednesday afternoon.
That report showed no change in the shape of the local races so far, including the most closely-watched race of the season, for the District 5 seat on the Board of Supervisors, in which Jessica Pyska continues to lead Bill Kearney with a substantial margin.
The report showed that 11,157 ballots have been counted for the state and federal races. However, a total of 37,717 vote by mail ballots were issued in Lake County, and of those 16,823 had been reported returned by Monday.
With thousands more ballots cast in person on Tuesday or still making their way to the elections office via mail, knowing just how many ballots there are to count could take weeks. That’s because the state has extended the deadline for accepted mailed ballots; those postmarked by Election Day can be accepted up to 17 days afterward.
Presidential elections have typically seen voter turnout close to, or above, 70 percent in Lake County, and vote by mail – or absentee – voting has increased in recent years.
The registrar’s office typically issues a report within a week or so of the election that will give an estimate on how many ballots remain to be counted.
Elections officials have a month to conduct the official canvass in which they go through a thorough process that leads to the final certification of the results in early December.
Typically, once it reports on the number of ballots left to count, the Lake County Registrar of Voters will not issue updates until the final canvass is completed.
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.
