LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – During statewide, national or even global incidents, public safety dispatchers provide a calm, professional voice and an essential link for the California Highway Patrol and the public.
To highlight their service, the CHP joins other law enforcement agencies to recognize National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, April 12 to 18, 2020.
“Telecommunications professionals continue to provide an indispensable service for public safety,” CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “With recent events, now more than ever, our telecommunications personnel are the first point of contact to those in need or peril.”
The CHP employs more than 700 public safety dispatchers in its 24 Communications Centers throughout the state; they handled more than five million calls in 2019.
In times of crisis, a dispatcher must instantly determine the correct response to ensure the safety of all parties involved.
They are also in constant communication with patrol officers, looking up license plates, driver license numbers, and running criminal record checks on wanted subjects.
Calling 9-1-1 can be stressful. The following tips will help callers during an emergency:
– Stay as calm as possible. –Call from a landline if possible. –Be prepared to provide your name, phone number, address or location, and a detailed description of the incident or vehicle being reported. –Cellular telephones may not tell the call-taker where you are. The location of the emergency may be the single most important information for the dispatcher in case the call is cut off. –Wait for the dispatcher to ask questions, and then answer clearly and calmly. –Listen carefully and follow all directions provided by the dispatcher. –Be prepared to provide a physical description if the emergency involves a criminal suspect. –Remember, 9-1-1 is for life-threatening emergencies. Misuse of the emergency 9-1-1 system will result in a delay for callers with real emergencies and is punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000.
The CHP is looking to hire qualified people to fill dispatch vacancies. They currently have more than 150 approved vacancies statewide for the position of public safety dispatcher.
The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of safety, service and security.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This week, updated forecasts on the COVID-19 pandemic offered hope that its death rate and resource usage are trending downward.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington School of Medicine, began issuing forecasts of resource use and peak deaths last month, as Lake County News has reported.
The institute said it has been able to fine-tune its forecasts thanks to more data, better models and improved methods.
In one of its initial forecasts last month, the institute estimated that total COVID-19 deaths in California projected through Aug. 4 would reach approximately 4,306, while total deaths overall in the state were expected to reach more than 6,100.
This week, however, the institute’s updated analysis put California’s death total through early August at 1,483, a 65-percent decrease from that original estimate.
As of Monday night, more than 720 COVID-19 deaths were reported in California, based on reports from the 58 county Public Health departments.
The institute this week also adjusted its forecast to predict that California’s COVID-19 deaths would peak on Sunday, April 19, at 52 per day; initially, the peak had been estimated to be double that, at 100 deaths per day, and set to occur on April 25.
California’s peak resource use – referring to hospitals – is forecast for this Friday, April 17, with 2,004 beds, 479 of them in intensive care units, needed, along with 412 ventilators. The institute’s initial projection late last month had been for peak resource use on April 26, when more than 10,000 beds – 1,500 of them in ICUs – and 1,200 ventilators were expected to be needed.
For the nation as a whole, the institute’s updated forecasts said that hospital resource use peaked on April 10. On that day, 56,831 hospital beds – including 15,164 ICU beds – and 13,851 ventilators were used. Additionally, there was a shortage of 3,498 beds and 7,369 ICU beds, based on the data.
The nation’s deaths per day peaked on Monday, April 13, at 2,150 deaths, the institute said.
Overall, the institute forecasts deaths nationwide to total 68,841 through Aug. 4, down from an initial estimate of 81,000, an 18-percent reduction.
The institute has qualified its results by saying that its updated forecasts are dependent upon the continuing implementation of social distancing and related measures.
“Our model assumes social distancing stays in place until the pandemic, in its current phase, reaches the point when deaths are less than 0.3 per million people. Based on our latest projections, we expect social distancing measures to be in place through the end of May,” the institute reported.
Institute officials said they also are working to forecast what would happen if social distancing measures were lifted before the pandemic is under control. That work will be shared once it’s complete.
“Our forecasts of zero deaths in July and August assume that appropriate measures are put in place to guard against the reintroduction of COVID-19 from another state or country. These measures may include mass screening, contact tracing, testing of all individuals entering the country, and quarantine of people who test positive. Details on what these strategies need to be will be analyzed in future editions of the forecasts,” the institute said.
Just how to transition from the current social distancing and shelter in place protocols that Public Health leaders in Lake County are crediting for keeping local numbers low so far is the next big question.
“Decision-making to end preventive measures currently in place is highly complex,” Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace said in a Monday statement.
“Relaxing restrictions too quickly would likely bring on a severe surge, according to experts,” Pace said. “Yet, waiting too long to reintroduce activities will cause even greater financial, educational and social hardship.”
He added, “Before we are able to relax some of the general restrictions, we need to monitor a bit longer, to ensure no overwhelming surge will occur, put more protections in place for the most vulnerable community members, and develop a clear plan, in conjunction with neighboring counties.”
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 semi rollover resulted in injuries on Sunday, April 12, 2020, near Glenhaven, California. Photo courtesy of Northshore Firefighters. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A tanker truck crash on Sunday afternoon resulted in major injuries and resulted in a spill of milk and diesel.
The crash occurred shortly afternoon noon on Sunday on Highway 20 near Harvey Boulevard near Glenhaven.
Reports from the scene said the truck overturned onto its roof and blocked the westbound lane, with debris in the eastbound lane and a tanker detached and in the lake.
The crash resulted in a spill of 100 gallons of diesel and 6,000 gallons of milk, according to the California Highway Patrol’s online reports.
Radio reports indicated one person was transported to a regional trauma center by REACH air ambulance.
Along with the CHP and Northshore Fire, Caltrans also responded, sending units to the scene to set up lights and generators to help with the cleanup.
Traffic delays on the highway were reported for several hours after the crash.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The California Fish and Game Commission will hold a remote meeting on Wednesday, April 15, and Thursday, April 16, during which it will discuss possible changes to recreational fishing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Information on how to watch the meeting is here. The agenda can be viewed here.
On Wednesday, April 15, the commission will deal with one issue only – the ability for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to delay, suspend or restrict sport or recreational fishing if the director of CDFW, in consultation with the president of the commission, finds that such action is necessary to protect against the threat from COVID-19 based on state, federal, local, and tribal public health guidance and public safety needs.
This emergency proposal is based on requests from three counties, is designed to be responsive to local county level needs, and, if approved by the Commission, will expire May 31, 2020.
On Thursday, April 16, the commission will complete the remaining items on the revised agenda.
The commission’s attempt to meet last week was ended abruptly after hundreds of people joined the virtual meeting and overwhelmed the online platform.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The California Highway Patrol reported on a Sunday semi truck crash on Highway 20 near Glenhaven that injured the driver.
The CHP’s Clear Lake Area office said the wreck occurred at 12:10 p.m. Sunday on Highway 20 east of Harvey Boulevard.
Michael Weschke, 38, of Fortuna was driving a 2013 Kenworth semi truck hauling a 2008 tank trailer westbound in the course of his employment with Steve Will's Trucking & Logging, the CHP said. The trailer was loaded with approximately 6,000 gallons of milk.
As Weschke was nearing Harvey Boulevard, the tractor/trailer overturned on the roadway. The CHP said the trailer separated from the truck, left the roadway and entered Clear Lake.
The CHP said the trailer's tank ruptured and released an undetermined amount of milk into the lake.
Swift actions on behalf of Northshore Fire Protection District personnel prevented the release of any other hazardous materials into the lake, the CHP said.
The CHP said Weschke, who was wearing his seat belt, suffered major injuries and was transported by air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
Driving under the influence is not believed to be a factor in this collision, the CHP said.
The roadway was reported to be closed temporarily while cleanup and removal took place.
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.
Moonalice featuring the New Chambers Brothers and the T Sisters. Back row, from left, Jason Crosby, Dylan Chambers, Rachel Tietjen, Roger McNamee, Pete Sears and Barry Sless. Front row, from left, Erika Tietjen, John Molo, Lester Chambers and Chloe Tietjen. Photo by Bob Minkin Photography. Lester Chambers and Roger McNamee first met in 2017. Chambers of course, is the former lead singer of the storied Chambers Brothers. To wit:
Perhaps the greatest voices in 60s rock, Lester Chambers and the Chambers Brothers flawless four-part harmonies were honed in the Echo hills of Mississippi. The brothers were signed by the legendary John Hammond Sr. to the Columbia Record label.
The group fell out of favor with Columbia President Clive Davis despite their groundbreaking, light show staple of Psychedelia hit, “Time Has Come Today.” The song has been used in over 100 movies and ad campaigns. It is familiar to every generation from the baby boomers forward to Generation Z.
Roger McNamee is a unique hybrid. He developed an influential career as a Silicon Valley investor and was an early mentor to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. As an author he has written a New York Times bestseller entitled “Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe.” The book is a treatise on the perils of Facebook and other platforms that use artificial intelligence in ways that are detrimental to the world.
He is also a guitarist and the leader of the band Moonalice. The group is a rocking entity that since its inception has included some very well-connected personalities in the annals of Northern California rockdom.
The Full Moonalice THC (Time Has Come Review) featuring the New Chambers Brothers and the T Sisters, had been booked to play the Soper Reese on April 25. Unfortunately, the gig has been postponed due to the massive social effects of the COVID-19 shutdown. Nonetheless, the event is still near sold-out status and the show has been rescheduled for Aug. 29.
Lester Chambers’ glorious voice has been entertaining audiences for well over half a century. His resume sports connections with a virtual milky way of stars that few living souls can claim. He met Blues legend Jimmy Reed by chance when he was 14. Bob Dylan asked Lester and his brothers to sing on Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” track “Tombstone Blues.” John Lennon and Yoko Ono asked Lester for his autograph live on the Mike Douglas Show.
Of the New Chambers Brothers’ collaboration with Roger and Moonalice, Lester states, “Roger is a complete blessing. He has brought me from the depths of depression to happy days again. With joy, love, peace and happiness, the time has truly come.”
Dylan Chambers, son of Lester and one half of the new Chambers Brothers, is also a seasoned pro. At the age of 6, he confidently strode on stage with his dad and uncles and covered Otis Redding’s “Sitting On the Dock of the Bay” and killed the crowd. Pop Lester turns 80 on April 13. Dylan turns 35 on April 27.
On the breadth of it all, Dylan chimes in, “Being the son of Lester Chambers has been an amazing experience. Meeting the people that he’s known that are now friends of mine. I’ve met a ton of beautiful people out on the road, exploring Rock & Roll and making music. Working with Roger McNamee and Moonalice is mind-boggling. We recently recorded a cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Too High.’ Contributing to the T Sisters handling of the descending harmonies in the chorus was a huge, fun moment.”
Recently, backstage at a show in San Francisco Roger McNamee leaned into Lester and said, “Brother, you’re just everything I ever dreamed of. I wouldn’t change a thing that you do.
McNamee granted LakeCoNews an exclusive interview in mid-March in anticipation of the now-postponed Soper-Reese show. In addition to discussing the current state of Moonalice, McNamee expounded on the premises presented in his book. Excerpts of the interview are presented here.
LakeCoNews: How did you first become familiar with the Chambers Brothers?
R.M: Their song “Time Has Come Today was it for me.” I’m 63 years old. I was a cub, growing up in Albany, New York when that song was first put out. I had brothers and sisters who were much older than I am. My older brothers went to Woodstock. So, they were really into San Francisco and/or psychedelic music in a really big way and that kind of music got played in my house when I was a kid. For example, in the spring of 1967, when he was a sophomore at Yale, my second oldest brother went to a Jimi Hendrix Experience show at a club in New Haven, Connecticut. It was at the beginning of the Experience’s first U.S. tour, before they exploded on the scene at Monterey Pop in June of that year.
Looking back on my childhood there were certain songs that I know all the words to. “Time Has Come Today” was one of those songs. There was a particular movie that it was in a long time ago, that went out of my life for fifteen or twenty years. But in the ‘80s I was hearing it again and it got back into my head. I was really, really liking it. So I went and bought the Chambers Brothers Greatest Hits on CD because I wanted to have it back. And then I was reminded of the other great songs in their body of work.
After Lester was attacked on stage back in 2013, I made a substantial contribution to the Musician’s Fund page that someone set up for him online, even though I had never met him. I’m guessing this was in 2014 because I didn’t hear about the attack when it first happened.
By the time Moonalice did the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love Solstice Festival in 2017, I was friends with Dylan Chambers on Facebook. When I asked him if he and his dad would be interested in playing the date with us he responded with an emphatic, “Absolutely.” So Lester and Dylan came to rehearsal the night before the gig. It was the first time we met face to face and it was hilariously successful. The next day we played the gig in front of 18,000 people in Golden Gate Park. Lester was totally in his element. We had a ball.
In 2018, we decided that we would do it again and the results were the same. Everybody was completely into it. Afterwards we were yucking it up and I said to Lester and Dylan, “You know, Moonalice has these shows coming up. What are you guys doing? Would you like to do it again? Can you come by every once in a while and just play with us?” So we started this routine where three more times in 2018, Lester and Dylan came and did Time Has Come Today and People Get Ready with us. They did the Summer Solstice with us again in 2019 and it was there that I asked Lester and Dylan, “Why don’t we just fold this thing in, learn more of your songs and make it a real thing?”
The T Sisters who had been working with us also, had recently become free agents. So we decided to all do a show together. So we do one together at Union Square. In a sense we’re just wingin’ it. But it was magical. That was in July. We had a bunch of shows coming up on the East Coast, leading up to the Lockn Festival in August. So I say to them, “How ‘bout if you guys come with us and we’ll go on tour and see how it goes? You know, we’ve got this gig coming up at the SF Giants ballpark we can warm up with.”
So we do that AT&T ballpark gig and fly back east for the East Coast tour. We used a bus for a week and the 10 of us got to know each other. It was complete magic. Imagine, the twins in the T Sisters had their 33rd birthday on this little tour. Lester was 79. That’s a 46-year gap, top to bottom. A bunch of the band members are in their 60s with one being in his ‘40s and Dylan in his 30s. Socially, it couldn’t have been any better. Everybody really liked each other’s company. When we got to the end of the tour, we were all saying, “Damn, that was fun. Let’s do more of that.”
We had a couple of rehearsals before the first show of the tour in Nevada City. It was the first show where we were called Moonalice, Sisters and Brothers with the T Sisters and the New Chambers Brothers. And it was like, nobody could believe it; the people in the audience, the people on stage. Everyone was going, it’s a revue. It’s a musicological trip through Psychedelia. From the T Sisters doing Grateful dead songs, to the New Chambers Brothers finishing with their brand of Psychedelic Gospel. It literally blew the roof off the place. It was a two and a half hour show. Unfortunately, we couldn’t duplicate that at the Lockn Festival because our set was only 40 minutes. But when we played our full set at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival people went completely crazy. I proposed to Lester that we record a complete album. We did a bunch of rehearsing at the end of 2019 and went into the studio and recorded 18 songs in three days. We came up with 16 songs from the live show and two new ones which were written basically by the T Sisters and me. Everybody was incredibly happy and we introduced that with the show at Terrapin Crossroads on the 4th of January, 2020. Everyone was totally fired up for the new year. Now, because of the plague, everything is up in the air.
LakeCoNews: What is your opinion of the historical significance of this collaboration?
RM: Who knows? Here’s the thing I will tell you. We live in an era dominated by a small number of Heritage Acts that are still around; Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, a handful of people who are still doing it after long, successful careers. Then you’ve got EDM and Hip Hop where there’s still a lot going on, but a lot of turnover. What Moonalice is doing is something different. Because what we are doing is not a tribute to a band, but rather a tribute to an idea. There are some people who are doing mash-up tributes, where they combine a couple of things, right? I believe there’s something more authentic goin’ on in ours because obviously, Lester sang all of his songs. We do a lot of original music. The T Sisters stuff, Moonalice’s stuff and Lester’s stuff is all original material. Calling it a revue is an explicit attempt on our part to recognize the difference. In the old days at the Fillmore, you had a chance to see things that were completely unrelated back to back – ...
LakeCoNews: Like Journey and Yusef Lateef.
R.M: Exactly! And though it didn’t happen at the Fillmore, another variant was Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees. It’s the kind of thing where it’s like a happy accident. At the end of the day, what you really have is a group of people who really like each other, trying to make ends meet. And finding in that a creative energy that really stands out in a very crowded marketplace. The music world places a huge premium on your ability to create a social connection, a human connection. What’s interesting is that human connection sometimes only happens between the stage and the fans. But if it happens on the stage itself, that really shows. If you watch the stage at our shows, what’s really obvious is the joy on the faces of the people participating. You can’t fake that.
The notion of putting it together was not something that necessarily would’ve occurred to anybody, including me, except that, I just liked all the people involved. I thought, “Wouldn’t that be different?” Not even knowing what it would turn into. Without even knowing that the T Sisters could sing Grateful Dead, Stevie Wonder or Gloria Gaynor tunes and that people would really react to that.
The thing is, this is a really important time to represent as much of America as you can present. So the notion that we could by putting black (male) and (white) female voices in a way that white audiences can accept has special resonance today. Because right now there are people in America trying to divide us all day long, every single day. Moonalice is gonna stand up for something different.
LakeCoNews: Speaking of something different, how did you become the activist that wrote the book Zucked?
R.M.: I’m not a natural activist. I realize when I started my activism that I had no idea what I was doing so I reached out to someone I had known in the company I co-founded, Elevation Partners. Dr. Clarence Jones is someone who has done activism all his life. He was a professor at Stanford and is now at the University of San Francisco Law School. As a young man he was the attorney and speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. So he lived in that world. When I first started out, I said to Clarence, “I need someone to guide me. Would you mentor me?” He agreed and ever since, he has helped me with the public side of my activism. He’s the reason why I always wear a tie when I’m doing my activism. You have to carry yourself in a way that respects the people you’re talking to all the time.
What I really, really believe in is the principles of the Enlightenment, of self-determination and the ideas that derive from that, like equality of opportunity. The notion that whatever your highest moral authority is, we’re all equal in front of that. In this day and age, those are revolutionary thoughts. I’m not by nature a person who looks to make trouble. But I do have a set of values that I adhere to and will fight for. The values that I grew up with went from being mainstream to underappreciated. In that context, I went from what I would characterize as a normal person to somebody who is fighting for things that are out of fashion.
My parents were involved in the Civil Rights Movement. I met Jackie Robinson when I was 9 years old at a Civil Rights event at my mother’s church. It was incredibly informative to me. In my family Franklin Roosevelt was at the top of the pyramid, and then came Jackie Robinson. I thought when the ‘60s were done that our society would just continue to make progress. So, I was just blindsided as anybody with all the stuff that’s going on. I’m not a cynical person. I want to believe that tomorrow is gonna be a better day.
I got involved in Proposition 64, essentially, legalized cannabis in California as a Civil Rights issue. I thought, this is my opportunity to get involved in the same kind of things my parents got involved in; people of color getting incarcerated at three times the rate of comparable usage for whites. It’s an obvious Civil Rights problem and I got involved so my voice could make a difference. And it did. But guess what happened the same damned day? Trump was elected. So we won a battle but lost a war. So now suddenly, that little act of rebellion, of standing up for something in regard to Civil Rights, is now essentially the training ground for the much larger fight, which is, how did we get back in the position where people are encouraged to look down on someone else in order to make themselves look better?
How did we get to a situation where a guy can run for president of the United States assuming that the people will forgive him for stop and frisk? How proud are we of the Democratic Party and Elizabeth Warren for saying, “I’m not doing that stuff anymore”? I look at those things and say talk is cheap. You’ve got to live your life in a way where you’re part of the solution.
Now, someone in my position has opportunities to do that. I simply have chosen in each part of my life to look for ways where I can make a small difference. And here’s the thing. I’m not an important person. I’m just a person doing what I believe in. The thing is, I’m not expecting anybody to focus on me. The story I want to focus on is the story of Lester Chambers. Lester deserves better than he’s gotten. I’ve not even been able to watch the YouTube video of when he was attacked on stage in 2013. His relationship with his hit making brothers is less than perfect. He is my friend and I was in a position to give him another shot. It would be insane not to do that.
People can look at it and say, “White people play white music.” I say, “That’s just an accident of history.” It doesn’t have to be that way. Black music is a lot more fun to play! You might watch us play and come to the conclusion that yeah, we’re not the Funk Brothers, but we’re genuine in this. I mean, we feel it on two and four, not on one and three. Our band could always swing. We just swung in the places that were authentic for people like us. But now that we have people who can sing like the New Chambers Brothers and the T Sisters do, then all of a sudden you’ve got this band of people who can play and you’re putting it behind people who really enjoy being on top of that, what you really end up with is a really cool thing. These things are always an experiment. You never know how it’s gonna go. I’m just so happy that so far this has been a beautiful experiment.
LakeCoNews: Can we circle back briefly to your book “Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe.” In chapter 5 you speak of you and former design ethicist at Google, Tristan Harris’ meeting with Sen. Mark Warner on the threat of Russian or outside interference using social media platforms in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles. You offered some very cloak and daggerish hypotheses to the senator. With the 2020 election cycle now upon us, do you think the threat has increased or diminished?
RM: Let me tell you what I think has actually already happened. The original thing that I saw that got me to pay attention to Facebook being a threat was stuff circulating from a coordinated network associated with Bernie Sanders. It was operating outside of Bernie’s campaign. I did not know that then. That exact network cleared the field for Sanders. Initially it went after Kamala Harris, then Elizabeth Warren. Those were the two biggest threats to him. It later went after Buttigieg but the big focus was on Warren because she was the biggest threat.
The irony of this whole thing was having cleared the field of progressives, it turned out that Democrats and specifically people of color, didn’t give a damn about progressive. What they really wanted to do was to get rid of Trump. So Bernie had gone to all this trouble to create the perfect way to win an election that had the same issues as 2016, not realizing that it wasn’t what 2020 was gonna be about. So he effectively cleared out all those people but it didn’t help him. Meanwhile, Trump is trying to dredge up old resentments among those same Bernie people so they don’t support Biden. So yes, disinformation has been rampant in this cycle.
LakecoNews: Just as rampant or more rampant?
RM: It’s very hard to tell because we’ve never really done a complete analysis of what happened in 2016. But I will venture a guess and tell you that I’m quite certain that it’s rampant enough to be more coordinated on a larger scale than it was in 2016. But it’s very sophisticated in terms of its packaging. It has to be because people have learned from 2016, so some people are not as vulnerable to it. And I would say that people of color who were the most manipulated in 2016 learned faster than anybody. In 2018, they voted in record numbers and in 2020 they have determined who will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. In order to do that, they had to resist all of that disinformation.
So the thing had to be more sophisticated because the people who were very vulnerable in 2016 were three groups; suburban white women, young people and people of color. It turns out that young people were just as vulnerable to it as they ever were. We don’t know about the suburban white women yet though it was easy to manipulate them to be negative on Warren. We still can’t have a woman president in the U.S. which is insane.
LakeCoNews: On to COVID-19. Do you see social media playing a positive or negative agenda in the dissemination of related news?
RM: I think social media today is a very big net negative. It’s too easily manipulated and the incentives that it creates undermine critical thinking and good citizenship. We’re seeing this in the coronavirus. The amount of BS that is being created is just staggering.
LakeCoNews: What future do you see for Facebook and aside from reading your book, what advice do you have for us?
RM: In the paperback edition, I wrote a whole new thing about this. The most important thing I say to everybody is, change your behavior. The next time you get a smartphone, make sure you’re on Apple because they protect your privacy. There are other tools you can use. I avoid Google products because they track you. I use DuckDuckGo as my search engine and browser on my mobile device. There are other products that protect your privacy as well.
The most important thing for people to do is to engage in the political process because it doesn’t matter whether your biggest fear is climate change, gun violence, white supremacy or whatever. The reason we can’t make progress on anything is that Internet platforms give disproportionate political power to the angriest voices. We have to stop them. It’s really a big problem. You have to change the fundamental business model and get them away from algorithmic amplification, get them away from abuses of their privacy. That’s gonna hurt. They will fight it to the death. We have to just say, “I’m sorry.”
This is like the chemical industry in 1960 when the profits of that industry were really high because they could pour mercury into fresh water – they could pump lead into the atmosphere because there were no limits on what you could put out of a smokestack. We said to those guys, “Hang on, you’re killing us. You have to pay that cost.”
T. Watts is a music journalist and radio host who lives in Lake County, California. He is the co-writer with Lester Chambers of, “Time Has Come: A Memoir,” slated for publication in the fall of 2020.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Library is more than doubling the amount of borrows patrons can enjoy on the hoopla Digital service.
Lake County Library cardholders can instantly borrow titles and start reading, listening, or viewing for free with a library card and a PIN by visiting the library website, www.library.lakecountyca.gov , and selecting hoopla Digital from the library’s digital content page.
If you don't yet have a library card, you can get a temporary online library card instantly at the library website. If you already have a card, your library PIN is usually the last four digits of the phone number on your library card registration.
Starting this week hoopla borrows will now be going from a limit of three to seven per month. This was made possible thanks to a grant awarded to the Lake County Library. The California State Library has provided Lake County Library $5,000 in crisis collection funding to help increase the digital resources available to residents.
Through the hoopla app and website patrons will have even greater access to hoopla's full collection of over 750,000 eBooks, audiobooks, movies, TV shows, music, comics and more.
Titles can be streamed immediately, or downloaded to phones or tablets for offline enjoyment later.
There are hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, with more being added daily.
All titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period and there are no late fees. Hoopla is like having your public library at your fingertips.
In addition to its normal offerings and to provide more content to patrons during this difficult time of sheltering at home, hoopla Digital has curated the hoopla Bonus Borrows Collection.
This list of more than 1,000 top titles will not count against the usual borrowing limits for each patron. The collection will be free to libraries and patrons through April 30, 2020.
The grant funding that increased the number of borrows is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the state librarian.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Woodland Community College reported that it is working closely with educational partners and the college community to identify the best ways to keep students, staff and community at large safe while ensuring access to educational and support services for our students.
Over the last several weeks, staff across the three college sites – including the Lake County Campus in Clearlake – have been preparing and are now operating remotely until further notice.
“Our priority continues to be the safety of our college community while continuing to deliver quality instruction and student services, albeit remotely. We want to make sure that our students can continue with their educational goals without disruption during this health crisis,” said WCC president Art Pimentel.
Transition to remote student services and instruction
On March 18, the college officially transitioned instruction and student services to remote operations.
The college created a task force to address student, professional staff and faculty needs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty participated in on-site and remote workshops to assist them in the transition to remote instruction.
To further assist students, the college developed a resource page to help them access services available, including hours of operation and student support services like academic counseling, financial aid, and admissions and records.
For those students who do not have access to computers at home, the Yuba Community College District is purchasing laptops/Chromebooks which will be available to students as part of a lending program through the end of the spring semester.
Those students who are interested in requesting a device to complete, are asked to complete a laptop request form sent to students directly via their YCCD student email addresses.
Additionally, through the college’s continued partnership with the Yolo Food Bank, students experiencing food insecurity can contact Yolo Food Bank at 530-668-0690 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to receive food assistance.
Summer and fall schedules
WCC is planning a robust class schedule for the summer and fall 2020 terms.
The class schedules are available on the college’s website. Students can begin to register for the new terms on Monday, April 20.
Social distancing will continue to impact the college’s operations for the coming months, officials reported.
The goal for the summer and fall terms has been to develop a course schedule that is flexible to transition to remote instruction if needed, but one that firmly focuses on the needs of students and their ability for program completion and transfer.
“We look forward to continuing this journey together for the benefit of the students we are fortunate to serve,” Yuba Community College District Chancellor Douglas Houston said.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors this week will ask the US Small Business Administration to extend assistance to tribal governments and their casinos, which are suffering impacts from closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also will consider shortening the window for abatement of nuisance vegetation.
The board will meet virtually beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 14, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting can be watched live on Channel 8 and online on the county’s Facebook page or at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx. Accompanying board documents, the agenda and archived board meeting videos also are available at that link.
Because the meeting will be held virtually, members of the public are asked to submit comments on items to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please note the agenda item number addressed.
At 9:06 a.m., the board will present proclamations designating the month of April 2020 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Lake County and the week of April 12 to 18, 2020 as National Public Safety Dispatcher Week.
At 9:10 a.m., Public Health Dr. Gary Pace will give the board his weekly update on the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an untimed item, Supervisor Rob Brown is asking the board to consider sending a letter to the US Small Business Administration in support of local tribal casinos being able to apply for assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program.
Currently, tribal government-owned gaming businesses and their employees are prevented from seeking economic support under the newly-established Paycheck Protection Program.
The board’s proposed letter said that rule “directly conflicts with both the text and overarching goals of the CARES Act,” also known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
Two board members, Chair Moke Simon and Supervisor EJ Crandell, are in the tribal leadership of Middletown Rancheria and Robinson Rancheria, respectively, which own casinos that are closed in response to state and local shelter in place orders.
In another untimed item, the board also will consider an urgency ordinance establishing a temporary exception to certain nuisance abatement notice requirements of Chapter 13 of the Lake County Code relating to the nuisance abatement process.
The urgency ordinance states: “For the period of April 15, 2020 through July 15, 2020, when the County Fire Official serves a Notice of Nuisance and Order to Abate pursuant to Section 13-62.1.2 of the Lake County Code as a result of a public nuisance caused by hazardous vegetation, the thirty (30) day period for the property owner to self abate described in that section shall be modified to provide that said notice shall order that hazardous vegetation must be abated within fifteen (15) days.”
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve letter of support for Hope Rising’s Center for Transformation and authorize Supervisor Scott to sign on behalf of the board.
5.2: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meetings from Jan. 7, Jan. 28, Feb. 4, Feb. 25 and March 17, 2020.
5.3: Approve budget transfer for capital asset improvements in the amount of $85,000 to pay Garland Co. for roofing materials and authorize the chair to sign.
5.4: Approve late travel claim for Mental Health Services Act Team Leader Carrie Manning in the amount of $216.81 and authorize the auditor-controller to process payment.
5.5: Adopt proclamation designating the month of April 2020 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Lake County.
5.6: Approve public nuisance abatement contracts for the following service vendors, (a) JDM Earthworks for an amount not to exceed $150,000, (b) Cook Construction Engineering Partnership for an amount not to exceed $150,000 and (c) Leonard’s Hauling Services for an amount not to exceed $200,000 and for a term from March 17, 2020, to June 30, 2022 and authorize chair to sign.
5.7: Adopt resolution accepting official canvass of the presidential primary election held on March 3, 2020, and declaring county supervisors duly elected.
5.8: Authorize the closure of the Eastlake Sanitary Landfill until the county of Lake Health officer rescinds the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order.
5.9: Approve agreement for Federal Apportionment Exchange Program and State Match Program for California Department of Transportation - Non MPO County, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.10: Adopt proclamation designating the week of April 12-18, 2020, as National Public Safety Dispatcher Week.
5.11: Approve first amendment to the contract between county of Lake and Lake Family Resource Center for Cal-Learn Teen Parenting Services in the amount of $50,000 for the term of July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.12: Adopt resolution approving the Standard Agreement #19-5042 between the county of Lake and California Department of Social Services for Resource Family Approval Program services and authorizing the director of Social Services to sign the standard agreement.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:06 a.m.: (a) Presentation of proclamation designating the month of April 2020 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Lake County; and (b) presentation of proclamation designating the week of April 12 to 18, 2020 as National Public Safety Dispatcher Week.
6.3, 9:10 a.m.: Consideration of update on COVID-19.
6.4, 9:30 a.m.: Public hearing: Continued from March 24, this item will be continued to May 19, appeal to Board of Supervisors, AB 19-03 for Minor Use Permit MUP 18-10 (Sandtner/Frey).
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of letter to SBA in support of the needs of local tribes due to the COVID-19 crisis.
7.3: Consideration of proposed findings of fact and decision in the appeal of Lake County Local (AB -19-07).
7.4: Consideration of an urgency ordinance establishing a temporary exception to certain nuisance abatement notice requirements of Chapter 13 of the Lake County Code.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Conference with labor negotiator: (a) chief negotiator: M. Long; county negotiators: C. Huchingson and P. Samac; and (b) employee organizations: LCDDAA, LCDSA, LCCOA, LCEA, LCSEA and LCSMA.
8.2: Public employee evaluation: Public Health officer.
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. – Lake County’s Public Health officer is once again urging community members to wear masks in public to curb the spread of COVID-19, at the same time as other health leaders around the region are making mask-wearing in public mandatory.
On Monday, Dr. Gary Pace strongly encouraged all Lake County residents to wear masks when in public.
It was the same day he reported the county’s fifth confirmed case of COVID-19.
“The predicted rise of cases and severe illness in our area has not materialized due to the significant effort that the community has made to ‘shelter in place,’” said Pace, who issued a countywide shelter in place order on March 19 that has been extended to May 3.
“Cases that have popped up do not appear to have spread within the county, thanks to people’s decreased mobility, use of masks and care with handwashing. Limiting out-of-county travel has also slowed entry of the virus into our area,” Pace said in his Monday statement.
He urged people to continue to follow the shelter in place order, to stop all nonessential activities and maintain good hygiene and routine cleaning.
Pace said Lake County’s low numbers at this point indicate “we may be able to avoid the severe crush of illness that has unfolded in some urban areas like New York, New Orleans and Detroit. A month ago, the momentum for such a surge seemed to be building in our neighboring counties to the south, but local and state efforts to stop the spread clearly have been successful.”
He continued, “Since masking is one way to limit spread in settings where vulnerable individuals are present, I am increasing the strength of the recommendations for face coverings. At this point, there is no intention to mandate face coverings for the general public, but I strongly encourage their use anytime someone goes out of the house.”
Pace is taking a different approach from that of some neighboring counties.
On Friday, Mendocino County Public Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan issued a revised shelter in place order that made facial coverings in public mandatory in certain instances, such as during recreation activities in parks. That county has had four confirmed cases, all now reported to have recovered.
Then, on Monday, Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase went further, issuing a new health order requiring everyone to wear face coverings in public starting at 12:01 a.m. Friday, April 17.
Sonoma County had 152 confirmed cases and two deaths as of Monday night.
“All persons shall wear facial coverings before they enter any indoor facility besides their residence, any enclosed open space, or while outdoors when the person is unable to maintain a six-foot distance from another person at all times,” Sonoma County’s order states.
Employers who continue to operate and require their employees to leave their residence to work or provide a service must ensure that their employees comply with the order, and governments and business owners are allowed to refuse admission or service to any customer or visitor who fails to wear facial coverings, Mase’s order states.
With N95 and surgical masks continuing to be in short supply, Pace said they should be reserved for use by health care professionals, who are required to wear masks at work, as are workers in congregate-living facilities, like assisted living or memory care sites.
First responders are encouraged to continue following established practices for personal protective equipment, and workers in grocery stores and pharmacies are likewise strongly encouraged to follow recent Federal Drug Administration guidance to wear facial coverings when at work, Pace said.
The CDC cautions, “Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.”
Guidance and options for making your own cloth masks are provided here.
For Lake County-specific COVID-19 information, visit Lake County Health Services Department’s website, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 707-263-8174 during business hours.
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. – Test results over the weekend have confirmed a fifth Lake County resident has contracted COVID-19.
Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace reported on Monday afternoon in a video and a written statement about the fifth case of COVID-19 in Lake County, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
“The most recent case in Lake County is another one where the contact was made with an infected person outside of the county, so we still don’t have any signs of community transmission that we’ve been able to pick up,” he said.
Lake County’s five cases have all been confirmed over the last eight days, as Lake County News has reported.
Pace said that, to date, all of Lake County’s confirmed COVID-19 cases have been “rooted in initial contact with a known out-of-county case, with secondary infections only confirmed within households with a known positive case.”
Pace said all five patients are doing fine, are recovering at home and complying with Public Health’s directives on home isolation.
He has continued to decline to release more information about the patients, including age, gender and community of residence.
However, Pace said that, with there now being five confirmed cases in Lake County, “the public should consider every public place as a place that one could be exposed.”
As of early Monday evening, California’s cases have topped 24,000, with more than 700 deaths, according to information provided by Public Health agencies across the state.
“We’re starting to see a little bit of a rise in our county,” Pace said, explaining that health officials were expecting “a huge explosion” of cases in the Bay Area, Sonoma County and in Lake County.
“A month or so ago, we were really starting to prepare for some really difficult times,” he said.
However, so far, that hasn’t happened, with Pace attributing that to the community observing his shelter in place order, which went into effect March 19 and has been extended to May 3. “It seems to be helping out quite a bit.”
Pace added that he believed a lot of lives have been saved by compliance with Public Health directives.
He said Bay Area nursing facilities have had increasing issues with the virus. That hasn’t been the case so far in Lake County, where none of the cases are in such facilities.
Pace said Lake County’s nursing homes are doing a great job of preparing for the virus. They’ve stopped allowing visitors, are no longer having group dining activities and staffers are all starting to wear masks while at work. He said his agency is appreciative of the work they’re doing.
He said Public Health wants the community to get better at protecting the most vulnerable.
As such, he continued to urge people to wear masks while in public, especially when they are around older people or those with underlying medical conditions.
Pace said he is not yet ordering people to wear masks, although, “That may come at a later point but we’re not doing that at this point.”
He said the goal is to have a gradual spread of the infection through the community – not to try to stop it entirely.
That, Pace said, will keep the virus at a rate the local hospitals can manage while protecting the community’s vulnerable members.
All of the measures put in place so far are meant to accomplish those goals, Pace 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.
When former governors Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush later became president and had to work with the U.S Congress, they wished they still had the line-item veto powers they had as governors, which allowed them to cut individual items in the budget passed by the legislature.
Today, as governors continue to provide leadership on the coronavirus crisis they are about to confront a second crisis, as their state’s fiscal positions will rapidly deteriorate. In my view, it will be as bad as the Great Recession of 2008 to 2009 and its aftermath.
I might call that lecture now “Governor, why did you want that job anyway?”
The magnitude of the fiscal crisis that governors and their states will have to face is just starting to emerge. And that crisis will affect states’ abilities to do everything from paying teachers to paving roads to providing social services.
Money in, money out
Total state spending in 2019 was about $2.1 trillion. In national summary figures, the largest state program is Medicaid, which is about 28.9% of total spending, substantially above the 19.5% for elementary and secondary education and the 10.1% for higher education. The other major spending is for transportation, which is about 8.1%.
The remaining 33.4% is for a catch-all category of smaller programs like the environment and economic development.
On the revenue side of the equation, which is also about $2.1 trillion, the three major taxes on sales, personal income and corporate income make up 40.8% of the total. Special fees and other taxes represent 28.5%. The federal government, through grants and contracts, contributes 30.7%.
There are five key components in understanding the seriousness of the challenge to states and their governors. They reflect the complex interplay between the federal and state levels of government, commercial activity and a state’s need for money to operate and provide services:
1. Rainy day funds will quickly evaporate
Before the pandemic hit, states collectively had built-up rainy day and other surpluses of $113.2 billion – an all-time high – amounting to 13% of their general fund spending in 2019. Governors thought they were prepared for the next economic downturn.
That crash is continuing through the second quarter of the year, as people stop purchasing goods because restaurants, stores and bars are closed and as individuals practice social distancing. Once the revenue from sales taxes dives, states will be forced to turn to – and ultimately deplete – their rainy day funds.
Others are far more pessimistic. James Bullard, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said unemployment could reach 30% in the second quarter.
Masses of people no longer getting paychecks means a big drop in income tax revenue to states.
How much states will fail to collect in projected tax revenues this time will depend on the depth and length of the downturn. But it clearly will be deeper than the previous downturn.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has proposed $687 million in budget cuts to his $14.7 billion budget because of the coronavirus pandemic.AP/John Locher
3. Medicaid spending will explode
As mentioned earlier, Medicaid, a health-care program for low income individuals paid for by both federal and state governments, represents about 28.9% of total state spending.
Now, as unemployment skyrockets, many people will have lost their employer-paid health insurance and will qualify for Medicaid if they are under the income threshold. That is an echo of what happened during the Great Recession, when an additional 6 million people – a 14% increase – came on to the Medicaid rolls.
In 2019 states spent $234 billion of their own revenues on medicaid so another 14% increase in the case load could cost over $30 billion per year extra. Far more people will come on the rolls this time, because the unemployment rate will be higher than the peak of 10.5% in the last downturn and the states have substantially expanded eligibility.
4. Governors will cut spending and increase taxes
State governments can’t spend more money than they bring in: 49 of the 50 states have some type of balanced budget requirement in law or in the state’s constitution. Sometimes that simply means that the governor has to submit a balanced budget. Other state mandates require balance to be maintained during the year.
States have not yet begun to raise taxes or fees but, in my view, that will come later.
5. Federal action will be required
The budget cuts and tax and fee increases that governors will be forced to make will weaken aggregate demand and the economy and make the economic downturn deeper and longer.
But only the $30 billion in the Education Stabilization Fund created by the act will be to replenish state coffers by offsetting state revenue losses. The rest goes to local governments and to states for additional non-Medicaid health care and hospital costs incurred in the fight against the coronavirus.
The economic and public health crises facing states and their governors will have an impact in another realm: politics. In November, 2020 there will be 11 gubernatorial elections, with nine incumbents likely to be running for re-election.
The real test of leadership during the these twin crises will be reflected in the results of those elections.
