The Box fire in Clearlake, California, was quickly contained on Monday, October 11, 2021, by firefighters, who were assisted by passersby. Photo by Stephenie Hargrove.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Firefighters on Monday afternoon quickly stopped a fast-moving fire in the city of Clearlake, with some early help from passersby, one of them an off-duty firefighter himself.
The Box fire was first dispatched around 1:30 p.m. Monday on Dam Road near Jack in the Box.
The first firefighters on scene minutes later reported it was two acres, with a high rate of spread.
Radio traffic indicated the fire was between Dam Road and Highway 53, near the city’s major shopping center.
Lake County Fire responded with Cal Fire sending a full wildland dispatch, including Copter 104 and other air resources.
However, at 1:44 p.m. Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta said forward progress had been stopped, and additional units responding were told to cancel.
Copter 104 continued in to help size up the fire but left the scene shortly afterward.
The firefighters got help in quickly knocking out what could have been a damaging blaze from some passersby who were the first on the scene.
Stephenie Hargrove, a nurse practitioner who works in Lake County, said she and her boyfriend, Tommy Scalfaro, were driving through the area when they saw the fire and noticed that fire resources hadn’t yet arrived.
Scalfaro, a Cal Fire firefighter who was off-duty at the time of the incident, turned his truck around, made sure his 2-year-old son, Hargrove and their newly adopted puppy were safely away from the danger, grabbed the McCleod firefighting tool that he keeps in his pickup for emergencies and ran into the fire, Hargrove said.
She said Scalfaro “went right into the fire to cut hand line to stop the spread of fire to keep it from jumping across Highway 53 due to the high winds.”
Hargrove shared video with Lake County News of Scalfaro at work at the scene.
Two other men also pulled over. Hargrove said they had a shovel and switched off with each other to try to get fire under control, lauding them as heroes for their actions.
When the on-duty firefighters arrived, Hargrove said Scalfaro helped the crew with fighting the fire and discussed where the fire appeared to have started.
Hargrove noted the very high winds in the area, and said she wasn’t sure how much further it would have spread had Scalfaro not quickly gotten to work.
She called Scalfaro a hero, noting that he couldn’t bear to pass this fire and not fight it. That’s despite the physical toll — including coughing and vomiting due to the smoke and having no protective gear. But, she said, he noted he’s “used to that.”
The weather occurred during a red flag warning that was in effect for much of Lake County due to high winds and dry vegetation. The warning is in effect until 7 p.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Tommy Scalfaro, an off-duty Cal Fire firefighter, helped other fire personnel at the scene of the Box fire in Clearlake, California, on Monday, October 11, 2021. Photo by Stephenie Hargrove.
As California honored Indigenous Peoples’ Day for the third year in a row, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a partnership between the California Truth & Healing Council and the Decolonizing Wealth Project to support philanthropic and community engagement, grantmaking and narrative change.
Through this partnership, the Office of the Tribal Advisor and the Truth & Healing Council will work directly with the Decolonizing Wealth Project — an organization that strives to promote community healing and narrative change through education, philanthropy and storytelling — to convene philanthropic ambassadors for the work of the Truth & Healing Council, develop a grantmaking program and galvanize philanthropy broadly to support the recommendations from the Council’s final report, among other activities.
“As we honor the perseverance, rich diversity and contributions of all Indigenous peoples today, California is advancing our commitment to collaborating with tribal communities throughout the state to make real the promise of a California for all,” said Gov. Newsom, who on Monday issued a proclamation declaring Indigenous Peoples’ Day. “This new partnership will expand the Administration’s efforts to engage Native American families in the important dialogue created by the Truth & Healing Council, helping to build bridges and begin healing deep wounds.”
The California Truth & Healing Council was established by the governor in 2019 to provide an avenue for California Native Americans to clarify the record — and provide their diverse experiences, histories and perspectives — on the troubled relationship between Native peoples and the State in the spirit of truth and healing.
The council is led and convened by the governor’s tribal advisor and includes representatives from California Native American tribes throughout the state.
The council officially launched in December 2020 and is slated to issue a final report on or before Janu. 1, 2025.
"The Truth & Healing Council is pleased to partner with Decolonizing Wealth Project on this difficult journey,” said Council Member Frankie Myers, who serves as vice chairman for the Yurok Tribe. “California Native peoples have not forgotten the true history of the State of California, and we hope that our reexamination of the historical record is the first of many steps towards restoring the balance between California indigenous people and the State. Through philanthropy, and the healing tools it will empower us to provide, we are excited to advocate for real change through reparative justice.”
With a goal to develop civic infrastructure within California’s Native American community, this partnership will also support the engagement of Native American families across the state to participate in the council’s meetings, talking circles, listening sessions, and other general activities.
The Decolonizing Wealth Project will leverage its expertise in community healing to ensure Native American families, and other participants involved, have access to culturally competent healing opportunities and other tools as they navigate this process.
Ultimately, this partnership aims to catalyze deeper community engagement in truth and healing conversations and build political will for truth and healing work in other states and at the national level.
“Decolonizing Wealth Project is excited to amplify the work of the Council and California’s Native American tribal leaders,” said Edgar Villanueva, principal of Decolonizing Wealth Project and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. “By helping to raise awareness among Californians and the philanthropic community to advocate for truth and reconciliation, it is our hope that the reparative efforts being put forth by the Council will one day be replicated on a national level. Especially on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we as a nation can only get to a state of reconciliation when we are able to reflect on and acknowledge America’s history of oppression and erasure of Indigenous communities.”
Visit https://tribalaffairs.ca.gov/cthc/help/ to learn more about ways community members from both within and outside of California can support the council.
Mark S Roberts, University of Pittsburgh and Richard K Zimmerman, University of Pittsburgh
As winter looms and hospitals across the U.S. continue to be deluged with severe cases of COVID-19, flu season presents a particularly ominous threat this year.
Our recent modeling work suggests that last year’s tamped-down influenza season could lead to a surge in flu cases this coming season.
Anti-COVID-19 strategies reduced flu too
As a result of the numerous measures put in place in 2020 to curb transmission of COVID-19 – including limiting travel, wearing masks, social distancing, closing schools and other strategies – the U.S. saw a dramatic decrease in influenza and other infectious diseases during the last flu season.
Flu-related deaths in kids dropped from nearly 200 in the 2019-2020 season to one in the 2020-2021 season. Overall, the 2020-2021 flu season had one of the lowest recorded number of cases in recent U.S. history.
While flu reduction is a good thing, it could mean that the flu will hit harder than normal this winter. This is because much of the natural immunity that people develop to disease comes from the spread of that disease through a population. Many other respiratory viruses demonstrated a similar drop during the pandemic, and some of those, including interseasonal respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, have increased dramatically as schools have reopened and social distancing, masking and other measures have declined.
The level of a person’s existing immunity to the current year’s strain of flu depends on several variables. They include how similar the current strain is to the one that a child was first exposed to, whether circulating strains are similar to previously experienced strains and how recent those influenza infections were, if they occurred.
And of course human interactions, such as children crowding together in classrooms or people attending large gatherings – as well as the use of protective measures like wearing a mask – all affect whether a virus is transmitted between people.
There are also variables due to vaccination. Population immunity from vaccination depends on the proportion of people who get the flu vaccine in a given season and how effective - or well matched - that vaccine is against the circulating influenza strains.
Health care workers treat a 45-year-old unvaccinated COVID-19 patient at a medical center in Tarzana, Calif. The ongoing pandemic, coupled with the looming flu season, could trigger what doctors call a ‘twindemic.’APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images
No precedent exists for a ‘twindemic’
Given the limited spread of influenza in the general U.S. population last year, our research suggests that the U.S. could see a large epidemic of flu this season. Paired with the existing threat of the highly infectious delta variant, this could result in a dangerous combination of infectious diseases, or a “twindemic.”
Models of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases have been at the forefront of predictions about the COVID-19 pandemic, and have often proved to be predictive of cases, hospitalizations and death.
But there are no historical examples of this type of dual and simultaneous epidemics. As a result, traditional epidemiological and statistical methods are not well suited to project what may occur this season. Therefore, models that incorporate the mechanisms of how a virus spreads are better able to make predictions.
We used two separate methods to forecast the potential impact from last year’s decrease in influenza cases on the current 2021-2022 flu season.
In recent research of ours that has not yet been peer-reviewed, we applied a modeling system that simulates an actual population’s interactions at home and work, and in school and neighborhood settings. This model predicts that the U.S. could see a big spike in flu cases this season.
In another preliminary study, we used a traditional infectious disease modeling tool that divides the population into people who are susceptible to infection, those infected, those recovered and those who have been hospitalized or have died. Based on our mathematical model, we predict that the U.S. could see as many as 102,000 additional hospitalizations above the hundreds of thousands that typically occur during flu season. Those numbers assume that there is no change from the usual flu vaccine uptake and effectiveness starting this fall and lasting through the flu season.
Individual behaviors and vaccination matter
A typical flu season usually produces 30 million to 40 million cases of symptomatic disease, between 400,000 and 800,000 hospitalizations and from 20,000 to 50,000 deaths.
Our research also highlighted how young children could be particularly at risk since they have lower exposure to previous seasons of influenza and thus haven’t yet developed broad immunity, compared with adults. In addition to the burden on children, childhood influenza is an important driver of influenza in the elderly as kids pass it on to grandparents and other elderly people.
However, there is reason for optimism, since people’s behaviors can change these outcomes considerably.
For instance, our simulation study incorporated people of all ages and found that increasing vaccination among children has the potential to cut infections in children by half. And we found that if only 25% more people than usual are vaccinated against influenza this year, that would be sufficient to reduce the infection rate to normal seasonal influenza levels.
Across the U.S., there is a lot of variability in vaccination rates, adherence to social distancing recommendations and mask-wearing. So it is likely that the flu season will experience substantial variation state to state, just as we have seen with patterns of COVID-19 infection.
All of this data suggests that although vaccination against influenza is important every year, it is of utmost importance this year to prevent a dramatic rise in influenza cases and to keep U.S. hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — With thousands of its customers out of power due to a public safety power shut-off, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Monday night that it has called the all clear and will begin the work to restore power but warned that another approaching weather system could trigger another shut-off on Wednesday.
The company began turning off power early Monday to an estimated 24,000 customers in 23 counties, including Lake, due to high winds that had also led to a red flag warning issued by the National Weather Service.
The public safety power shut-off, or PSPS, is impacting 4,008 Lake County customers, of which 304 are in the medical baseline program. Those customers primarily are in and around Cobb, Hidden Valley and Middletown, with some also north of Clearlake Oaks.
PG&E said some of the highest wind gusts reported in the PSPS de-energized areas included Butte County, 55 miles per hour; Shasta County, 52 miles per hour; and Tehama County, 47 miles per hour.
With its meteorologists calling the all clear by Monday night, PG&E said it had begun restoring power where possible.
However, the company said before power can be turned back on in the PSPS area, its crews must patrol 2,549 transmission and distribution lines to ensure that no damage or hazards exist before those lines are re-energized and those customers restored.
Efforts related to this PSPS event will include up to 1,494 ground patrol units and 43 helicopters, the company said.
No estimated time of restoration was given by PG&E on Monday night for Lake County’s impacted customers.
While the PSPS continues, four community resource centers in Lake County will remain open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. so impacted customers can charge medical equipment and electronic devices, get up-to-date information about the PSPS, and also pick up water and snacks.
The centers are located at:
— Live Oaks Senior Center, 12502 Foothill Blvd., Clearlake Oaks; — Little Red Schoolhouse, 15780 Bottle Rock Road, Cobb; — Hidden Valley Lake Association mailboxes, 18090 Hidden Valley Road, Hidden Valley Lake; and — Twin Pine Casino and Hotel, 22223 Highway 29, Middletown.
Another PSPS possible this week
PG&E said it is also monitoring weather forecasts that could bring high winds to parts of the company’s service area from Wednesday night into Thursday morning, which might trigger another shut-off.
The company said that the incoming weather system could impact portions of its northern, central and southern regions of its service area.
Specifics of which communities could be impacted were not released on Monday night.
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.
A map of areas in Lake County, California, expected to be included in a public safety power shut-off on Monday, October 11, 2021. Image courtesy of PG&E.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Due to an incoming windstorm across a large portion of its service area, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will move forward early Monday with shutting off power to about 25,000 customers in 23 counties.
PG&E said it expects to begin its public safety power shut-off, or PSPS, across parts of California as early as 4 a.m. Monday.
In Lake County, 4,008 PG&E customers — 304 of them in the Medical Baseline program — are set to be included, most of them in the south county or north of Clearlake Oaks.
The power is expected to go off in those areas in Lake County between 6 and 8 a.m. Monday, PG&E said.
Customers can look up their address at www.pge.com/pspsupdates to see if they are being included in the shut-off.
PG&E said it’s calling this PSPS due to a dry, offshore wind storm expected to start overnight and bring wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour by Monday morning, combined with extremely dry conditions.
Beginning on Monday morning, PG&E will open 24 community resource centers in 14 counties to offer charging of medical equipment and electronic devices, up-to-date information about the PSPS, and water, snacks and other essential items.
The centers will open at 8 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. for the remainder of the shut-off.
In Lake County, community resource centers are planned for the following locations:
— Live Oaks Senior Center, 12502 Foothill Blvd., Clearlake Oaks; — Little Red Schoolhouse, 15780 Bottle Rock Road, Cobb; — Hidden Valley Lake Association mailboxes, 18090 Hidden Valley Road, Hidden Valley Lake; and — Twin Pine Casino and Hotel, 22223 Highway 29, Middletown.
The company anticipates weather “all clears” will occur as early as Monday evening with restoration expected to begin Tuesday afternoon, with times varying based on individual locations.
After the all clear is called but before restoring power, PG&E said its electric crews will begin patrolling in the air, in vehicles and on foot to visually check de-energized lines for hazards or damage to make sure it is safe to restore power. Inspections must occur during daylight hours. Once hazards are found and repaired, power can be turned back on to customers.
PG&E said it will notify customers when the weather system has passed and will provide continuous updates on when to expect the power to turn back on.
In addition to Lake, the shut-off is expected to affect customers in these counties:
Alameda: 134 customers, 10 Medical Baseline customers Butte: 1,342 customers, 98 Medical Baseline customers Colusa: 566 customers, 39 Medical Baseline customers Contra Costa: 597 customers, 40 Medical Baseline customers Fresno: 189 customers, 6 Medical Baseline customers Glenn: 376 customers, 22 Medical Baseline customers Kern: 633 customers, 34 Medical Baseline customers Monterey: 854 customers, 27 Medical Baseline customers Napa: 2,441 customers, 113 Medical Baseline customers Plumas: 309 customers, 4 Medical Baseline customers San Benito: 84 customers, 2 Medical Baseline customers San Luis Obispo: 223 customers, 4 Medical Baseline customers Santa Barbara: 27 customers, 2 Medical Baseline customer Shasta: 2,336 customers, 172 Medical Baseline customers Solano: 4,698 customers, 433 Medical Baseline customers Sonoma: 87 customers, 1 Medical Baseline customer Stanislaus: 30 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers Tehama: 5,342 customers, 498 Medical Baseline customers Yolo: 515 customers, 16 Medical Baseline customers
The list above only includes counties with 25 or more customers impacted. There are three other counties with fewer than 25 customers impacted.
The following Tribal Communities are also expected to be impacted.
Cortina Rancheria: 8 customers, 1 Medical Baseline customer Grindstone Rancheria: 50 customers, 4 Medical Baseline customers Middletown Rancheria: 34 customers, 1 Medical Baseline customer Mooretown Rancheria: 1 customer, 0 Medical Baseline customer Pit River Tribes: 8 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers
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.
Tacos originated in Mexico and have become a popular food in the United States, as well as around the world. These grilled tilapia tacos from Rosales Market in Middletown, Calif. are topped with tomatoes, romaine lettuce, red onions, radishes, and pickled jalapeño peppers. They're accompanied by grilled onions, lime wedges and pico de gallo. Photo by Esther Oertel. National Taco Day was celebrated on Oct. 4 and may be in our rearview mirror, but it’s never a bad day to have tacos, even if it’s not Tuesday.
I think most Americans agree with me, since we consume billions of them each year.
But how has such a seemingly simple food become so beloved, not just in Mexico, where it originated, or the U.S., where it was first imported, but around the world?
Perhaps it’s because these scrumptious packets of goodness can be filled with so many things — all kinds of meat, beans of all types, or even with vegetables like mushrooms or sweet potatoes as the star.
Aaron Sanchez, chef and television personality, has said, “Tacos are one of those dishes that are so iconic yet have such a large range of techniques and ingredients from region to region. Even just the difference between flour and corn tortillas is important. The main components to any taco are a tortilla, a filling, and a salsa. The varieties are virtually endless.”
You might say the secret to a good taco lies in getting those three components right. Perhaps tacos aren’t so simple after all.
It’s hard to pinpoint the exact origin of the taco, and conflicting theories as to their provenance exist.
History professor and author Jeffrey Pilcher has spent 20 years investigating the origins of Mexican food. His theory is that tacos originated with 18th century silver miners in Mexico.
The explosive charges used by these miners to excavate ore — small pieces of paper wrapped around gunpowder and tucked in holes to explode in the rock wall — were called tacos.
His theory gains traction when we learn that tacos were described as “tacos de minero,” or miner’s tacos, in the first reference to tacos as a food in an archive or dictionary a century later.
If this origin story is true, then culinarily speaking, tacos are a relatively recent addition to the food spectrum.
In contrast to Pilcher’s theory, others say tacos are much older than that, going back to when the Aztecs used corn tortillas as a sort of spoon to scoop up fillings like fish or offal (organ meats). This would put their origin somewhere between 500 to 1,000 B.C.
In addition, it’s possible that the word taco is not derived from explosive mine charges, but rather a Nahuatl, or Aztec language, word. “Tlahco” in that tongue means “half” or “in the middle,” and is perhaps a reference to the way tacos were formed.
According to Gustavo Arellano, who wrote “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America,” tacos have existed since there was a tortilla, even if they didn’t exist by that name.
“The earliest mention of taco as a food dates only to the late 19th century,” he says. “Previously, the word stood for anything from a pool cue to a hammer to getting drunk.”
Or, apparently, an explosive in a silver mine.
Thankfully, this paradox of the taco’s origin doesn’t diminish their deliciousness.
The first mention of the taco in the U.S. was in a 1905 newspaper. This was a time when immigrants from Mexico were beginning to come to the U.S. for work in mines, railroads and other similar jobs, and they brought their food traditions with them.
Mexican food in those days was often sold in pushcarts on the street, and since tacos were highly portable and cheap, they were a popular option.
Tacos started to become a more mainstream food when the children of immigrants rose in economic status. Mexican American tacos often were adapted to what was available in the American market — ground beef or chicken instead of offal, cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and the like.
The first taco truck in the U.S. (and quite possibly the first food truck of any type) is believed to have been opened by Raul Martinez, a Mexican immigrant, who repurposed an old ice cream truck in 1974.
He parked his mobile taco eatery outside an East Los Angeles bar and was so successful that within six months he was able to leave the truck behind and open a restaurant. The restaurant, King Taco, now has 22 locations in California.
At the same time that Mexican immigrants were arriving in the U.S. early in the last century, Mexico was having an influx of immigrants, and their food traditions had an influence on what fills a taco.
For example, Lebanese migrants brought shawarma or gyro with them — lamb cooked on vertical spits served in pita bread. When they began to put the meat into tortillas, “tacos arabes,” or Arab tacos, were born.
Second-generation Lebanese immigrants changed the recipe a bit, using pork instead of lamb and serving it with pineapple. Tacos al pastor, which is pork sliced thin and served in a taco with pineapple, onion, and cilantro, is an adaptation of this Lebanese fare and is now considered a standard Mexican taco.
Glen Bell, the founder of Taco Bell, capitalized on the popularity of the taco. He originally owned a few hamburger joints but noticed how popular Mexican food was with non-Mexicans. He opened the first Taco Bell in 1962.
In his autobiography, Bell claimed he invented the hard-shell taco in the 1950s, which allowed for selling tacos in a fast-food style.
The “taco shell” could be made ahead of time in large quantities to store until they were needed, streamlining operations, in contrast to tacos that were made to order in Mexican restaurants with tortillas made fresh.
Despite Bell’s claims, the U.S. patent office shows records of patents for hard-shell tacos granted to Mexican restaurants in the 1940s, not to Bell. Also, Mexican cookbooks from the 1940s offered recipes for making them.
Tacos made with hard shells are known as “tacos dorado” in Mexican cooking. It’s unclear when the hard shells were first used, but it was at least a decade before Bell claimed to have invented them.
Tacos have become quite popular throughout the world. In Norway, for example, a communal make-your-own-taco night is celebrated each week. Instead of Taco Tuesday, Norwegians celebrate “Fredagstaco,” which takes place on Fridays.
Nearly 10% of the population of Norway participates in this food ritual.
There are endless variations on the taco. Middletown Pomo elder Millie Simon recalls eating fry bread filled with beans or meat while growing up. These are now known as Indian tacos.
I fell in love with fish tacos when introduced to them by my brother-in-law, a chef. Though I rarely eat meat, I’m still a huge fish taco fan and I enjoy sampling them in various locations.
Fish tacos also have dueling origin stories.
The city of Ensenada, Mexico is situated on the Pacific coastline in Baja California about 78 miles south of San Diego. In addition to being known for Mexican wine and American tourism, the city claims that it was the birthplace of the fish taco. They point to the sale of fish tacos in Ensenada’s fish market, the Mercado Negro, as early as 1958. Many Ensenada restaurants advertise that they were the first to create the fish taco.
Perhaps fish tacos were first commercialized there, but their origin likely goes back thousands of years, at least as long as the Indigenous peoples of coastal Mexico have wrapped their ocean catch in a tortilla.
It was Ralph Rubio who popularized fish tacos in the U.S. He tasted them on a spring break trip to Baja California, where, as the story goes, he coaxed a Baja vendor into giving him his recipe for the tacos.
Rubio later established a restaurant in San Diego known as Rubios — Home of the Fish Taco, which later became the Rubio’s Coastal Grill chain.
It’s interesting to note that tacos are typically a morning treat or a nighttime snack in their country of origin. They’re less available between noon and 6 p.m. in Mexico, likely because the main meal there is eaten in the afternoon.
Aren’t we lucky that we can eat tacos here all day long?
Today’s recipe is for mushroom tacos, an option that’s gaining in popularity. Rest assured that these tacos aren’t just for vegetarians, especially if you’re a fungi fan.
While there are many variations on mushroom tacos, the portobellos in this recipe provide a meaty texture and a wonderful burst of umami flavor.
Marinated mushroom tacos with pineapple salsa and lime guacamole
For tacos:
6 portobello mushroom caps, halved ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil ½ cup orange juice 4 garlic cloves, crushed 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 teaspoon smoked paprika Juice of two limes ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped Salt to taste Warmed corn tortillas
For pineapple salsa:
½ small pineapple, diced 1 small jalapeño with seeds and pith removed, chopped Juice of one lime ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped Salt to taste
For guacamole:
2 avocados, peeled, seeded, and mashed Juice and zest of one lime Salt to taste
Procedure:
Marinate mushrooms with olive oil, orange juice, garlic, chili powder, paprika, lime juice, cilantro and a pinch of salt to taste. A zipper-sealed bag works well for this. Marinate 10 minutes or as long as overnight in the fridge.
In a bowl, stir together the mashed avocado, lime juice and zest, and salt to taste.
Mix all salsa ingredients together in a separate bowl.
Preheat a grill or grill pan to high. Remove the mushrooms from the marinade and sear for five minutes on each side, or until slightly charred on both sides. Remove from heat and slice into strips.
Spread the guacamole on the warmed tortillas and top with the grilled mushrooms and pineapple salsa.
Enjoy!
Recipe adapted by Esther Oertel.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. She lives in Middletown, California.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Planning Commission will meet this week to discuss a project for a city restaurant.
The commission will meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The council chambers will be open to the public for the meeting. In accordance with updated guidelines from the state of California and revised Cal OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards, persons who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 are required to wear a face covering at this meeting.
To speak on an agenda item, access the meeting remotely here; the meeting ID is 986 6166 5155. To join by phone, dial 1-669-900-9128.
Comments can be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To give the City Clerk adequate time to print out comments for consideration at the meeting, please submit written comments before 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13.
Please indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that are read to the council will be subject to the three minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council before the meeting.
The main item on the agenda is an application from Santana’s Cottage Cafe at 1090 N Main St.
The business is seeking an architectural and design review and categorical exemption to allow for a 540 square foot patio cover.
Community Development Director Jenni Byers’ report notes that while the size of the project requires the commission to review it.
At the same time, she notes that as proposed, the expansion of a commercial project meets a general plan objective to “provide support for the promotion of local businesses.”
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 campuses of Woodland Community College in Woodland, Lake County and Colusa County provide safe learning environments for students, according to the most recent crime statistics report provided by the Yuba Community College District Police Department in compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Act.
In 2020 only one on-campus offense was reported, a burglary on the Lake County campus. One additional offense was reported off-campus on adjacent public property of the Woodland campus.
The 2020 statistics were lower than the 2019 report that indicated a total of four on-campus offenses and two off-campus offenses, officials said.
Looking back over the past eight Clery Act filings, the campuses of Woodland Community College have historically provided a safe environment for students, averaging just over one reportable offense per year on both the Woodland and Lake County campuses since 2013, and only one single offense on the Colusa County campus during that time period.
“It is reassuring to know that we are providing safe campus environments. The safety and welfare of students, faculty and staff is a top priority for the college, and while the 2020 statistics were impacted by COVID, looking back at the two previous years we have had few crime reports, almost exclusively nonviolent in nature,” said Woodland Community College President Art Pimentel.
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act or Clery Act, was signed into law in 1990.
It is a federal statute requiring colleges and universities to maintain and disclose Campus Crime Statistics along with disclosure of campus safety policies and timely warning requirements.
Annually, the Yuba Community College District Police Department gathers statistics on reportable crimes and reports the statistics to the Department of Education, the FBI and to the public.
The Jeanne Clery Act requires statistics to be reported from a geographic area that includes the campus as well as adjacent public property, and also requires reports of student disciplinary referrals in addition to arrests for drug, alcohol and weapon offenses.
Copies of the most recent Yuba Community College District Clery Act Reports are available online here.
Crime statistics and campus safety information is compiled based upon crime reports received by the Yuba Community College District Police Department, from crime statistics received from outside agencies and from incident reports received from other campus security authorities.
State Sen. Mike McGuire’s bill SB 98, which advances some of the toughest press freedom protections in the nation, was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday.
SB 98 has been one of the most critical bills focused on First Amendment protections moving forward in any state legislature.
The new law’s provisions will extend crucial protections to members of the press as they enter and report on events protected by the First Amendment.
Freedom of the press is foundational to the United States. It strengthens the nation’s democracy by providing transparency, keeping a check on government and informing citizens’ everyday decisions.
But McGuire — whose district includes Lake County — said this freedom is under assault here in the United States.
“There’s no doubt about it, California now has some of the toughest protections in place for journalists compared to any other state in America. We have seen a surge in egregious acts of violence and obstruction made against members of the press across the country and right here at home in the Golden State,” McGuire said. “This law will provide critical protections for the press as they attend and report on First Amendment events like protests, marches, rallies, and demonstrations.”
He added, “California is leading the way to ensure the freedom of the press and the First Amendment are protected and held to the highest standard. I’m grateful to Gov. Newsom for his signature and to the hundreds of journalists and Guild Members who mobilized across the state along with the California News Publishers Association and the California Broadcasters Association, to ensure SB 98’s success.”
In 2020, over 600 reported acts of aggression against reporters took place. Rubber bullets, tear gas, and even detainment cannot become the new norm for journalists.
McGuire said California must lead the way to protect and uphold the right of the press and the First Amendment.
Currently, California law allows reporters and other members of the press to enter natural disaster emergency areas behind closed law enforcement lines — such as areas impacted by fires, floods, and earthquakes — in order to gather information to relay to the public. They can also go out during curfews at times of natural disasters.
Until now, these critical protections, however, did not expressly extend to First Amendment events such as protests and marches.
SB 98 prohibits law enforcement officers from obstructing, detaining, assaulting, or otherwise preventing the press from fulfilling their constitutional mandate in reporting on these events.
Additionally, the bill mandates that reporters can challenge their detainment or lack of access by working with law enforcement management on scene. This provides a necessary safety net to reporters who are not granted access or intentionally detained or mistakenly detained.
Recent police action demonstrates that these statutory protections are critical to ensure our democratic system has access to newsworthy information to inform the discussion on the crucial issues that California and the nation face.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee will meet this week to continue its work on a city strategic plan.
The committee, or LEDAC, will meet via Zoom from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13.
The meeting is open to the public.
The meeting will be held via Zoom: Meeting ID, 847 9466 6151; pass code, 619840. Dial by your location, 669-900-6833.
LEDAC will continue its work on the Lakeport Economic Development Strategic Plan for 2022 to 2027.
Also on the agenda are updates on city projects and activities, member reports and citizens input.
The remaining LEDAC meetings this year will take place from 7:30 to 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 10, and Wednesday, Dec. 8.
LEDAC advocates for a strong and positive Lakeport business community and acts as a conduit between the city and the community for communicating the goals, activities and progress of Lakeport’s economic and business programs.
Members are Chair Wilda Shock and Vice Chair Denise Combs, Bonnie Darling, Candy De Los Santos, Monica Flores, Pam Harpster, Andy Lucas, Alicia Russell, Laura Sammel and Marie Schrader, with Bill Eaton as an ex officio member. City staff who are members include City Manager Kevin Ingram and Community Development Director Jenni Byers.
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.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The city of Lakeport and Lakeport Disposal Co. Inc. will host a Community Cleanup Day for city residents on Saturday, Oct. 16.
It will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the public parking lot north of the Fifth Street boat ramp in downtown Lakeport.
This event is limited to city of Lakeport residents and those dropping off trash and waste will be required to provide photo identification and a copy of a city utility bill.
Participants are required to follow the following COVID-19 safety protocols:
• Cloth face masks must be worn. • One person per vehicle. • Stay in vehicle while Lakeport Disposal staff unloads materials • Two visits maximum per each address.
Household trash, televisions, specified appliances, electronic waste, mattresses, household furniture, unusable clothes/blankets/towels and similar materials will be accepted.
Items that will not be accepted are refrigerators, hot tubs/spas, construction debris, used tires and household hazardous waste.
For more details, please see the city’s website, its Facebook page or contact Lakeport Disposal at 707-263-6080.
Columbus Day celebrations in the United States – meant to honor the legacy of the man credited with “discovering” the New World – are almost as old as the nation itself. The earliest known Columbus Day celebration took place on Oct. 12, 1792, on the 300th anniversary of his landing. But since the 1990s, a growing number of states have begun to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day – a holiday meant to honor the culture and history of the people living in the Americas both before and after Columbus’ arrival.
In the following Q&A, Susan C. Faircloth, an enrolled member of the Coharie Tribe of North Carolina and professor of education at Colorado State University, explains the history of Indigenous Peoples Day and what it means to American education.
More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia now recognize Indigenous Peoples Day. Those states include Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
How does Indigenous Peoples Day change things?
Indigenous Peoples Day offers an opportunity for educators to rethink how they teach what some have characterized as a “sanitized” story of the arrival of Columbus. This version omits or downplays the devastating impact of Columbus’ arrival on Indigenous peoples. Indigenous Peoples Day is an opportunity to reconcile tensions between these two perspectives.
Yes, the shift from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day has met resistance from communities across the country. In 2021, parents in Parsippany, New Jersey, protested the local school board’s decision to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day in place of Columbus Day. Among other things, they cited lack of community input, failure to honor the legacy of Italian immigrants and the need for a “more balanced picture of Columbus.” In response, the school board removed the names of all holidays from its calendar. Now the holidays are just referred to as “days off.”
What resources do you recommend for Indigenous Peoples Day?
