LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With a background of slick green pebbles, the vibrant wildflowers on serpentine soils send a siren song of vibrant colors; many of them pink to fuschia, and all of them unique as the seemingly sprout from gravel.

Serpentine, the official California state rock is apple-green to black and is often speckled with light and dark colored areas as is found at Highland Springs Recreation outside of Lakeport, the McLaughlin Natural Reserve outside of Lower Lake, as well as many areas around Lake County and the state.

“Soil created from ultramafic rocks, serpentine soil, covers about 1% of California, but 13% of the state’s endemic plant species call it home,” according to the California Native Plant Society, and as serpentine rock is exposed to the elements of wind, sun, and rain – it decomposes to create a nutrient-deficient soil that not only stunts the growth of plants, but keeps other plants from successfully growing on these soils.

Composed of one or more of the three magnesium silicate minerals, "lizardite," "chrysotile" and "antigorite," the California Department of Conservation notes that, “Chrysotile in fibrous form is the most common type of asbestos. Asbestos is a term applied to a group of silicate minerals that readily separates into thin, strong, and flexible fibers that are heat resistant,” which made it popular to use in housing insulation and siding, as well as heat-resistant fabrics up to the late 20th century until it was phased out and banned due to the human health consequences of breathing in asbestos fibers; but serpentine soils are home for some stunning – but small – wildflowers.

One of these serpentine-growing wildflowers is known as Bitterroot, which also is the state flower of Montana, with delicate pale to vibrant pink flowers growing on what appears to be a succulent-type plant. Only visible for a few months in early spring, the bitterroot plant withers away when the heat sets in above ground, but a long taproot lies in wait for the next spring to grow again.

Wildflowers in the onion (allium) genus also are quite happy on serpentine soils and are related to the onions and garlic that we commonly eat, with California having over 45 different species of native onions, with 15 of those species growing in Lake County such as the scythe (or sickle) leaf onion, so named for the curve of the leaves similar to a scythe (a hand tool to cut grass or grains) and the Siskiyou onion (allium siskiyouense).

Highly developed in California, the allium genus often provides great drifts of color on dry slopes, ridges, and open fields with vivid shades of pink, rose, rose-purple, and wine.

Like bitterroot and other wildflowers growing on serpentine soils, the leaves die back after flowering as temperatures warm into mid-spring, with peak bloom time in late March through April – so #GetOutThere now and succumb to their siren song of spring!

Nurseries where you can purchase seeds/starts:
Bitterroot: https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=2168&showmap=1 
Scythe leaf onion: https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=136&showmap=1 
Siskiyou onion: Unknown at this time

Terre Logsdon is an environmentalist, certified master composter, and advocate for agroecology solutions to farming. An avid fan and protector of California wildflowers, plants, natural resources, and the environment, she seeks collaborative solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change. Kim Riley is retired, an avid hiker at Highland Springs, and has lived in Lake County since 1985. After 15 years of trail recovery and maintenance on the Highland Springs trails, she is now focused on native plants, including a native plant and pollinator garden on her property as well as promoting and preserving the beauty of the Highland Springs Recreation Area. Karen Sullivan has operated two nurseries to propagate and cultivate native plants and wildflowers, has lived in Kelseyville for the past 30 years, rides horses far and wide to see as many flowers as possible, and offers native plants and wildflowers for sale to the public. You can check her nursery stock here: https://calscape.org/nurseryplants/416/ord-popular/np-0/page-all?fbclid=IwAR1qIxpajtUTpRKm4yRl_GjZK4h4El3yJNU4vojBg_C9d3Hdp-5_qJ1UMYI. They are collaborating on a book, Highland Springs Recreation Area: A Field Guide, which will be published in the future. In the meanwhile, please visit https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsNaturalists and https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsRecreationArea.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Bureau of Land Management Ukiah Field Office will host a second virtual Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Trails and Travel Management Planning Workshop on Wednesday, April 21, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Similar to the first workshop, the public will be able to use an online map and survey tools to help the BLM build a database of existing trails and routes within the monument, understand how each route is used and the amount of use.

During the workshop, the BLM will provide an overview of public input received to date, summarize the points of interest identified on the interactive map, explain the travel management planning process and timeline, as well as highlight the additional public input still needed.

Travel Management Planning can help the BLM provide better access to public lands, improve route connectivity to ensure a more enjoyable experience, increase efficiency and reduce impacts to the environment.

The BLM Trails and Travel Management Planning Workshop will focus on identifying existing routes and is designed to engage stakeholders and members of the public about the vision for travel management at the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument.

The plan will be important for designating a wide variety of roads and trails for motorized, non-motorized and non-mechanized recreational opportunities.

This summer, when scoping begins for an environmental assessment, the public will have an opportunity to propose new routes within the monument.

The BLM and Mendocino National Forest co-manage the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument and believe partnerships and inclusion are vital to managing sustainable, working public lands. This workshop and associated planning efforts are specific to travel management on public lands administered by the BLM within the monument.

To participate in the workshop, please register at least 30 minutes prior to the event at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5815845177969242640.

Please contact the BLM for reasonable accommodations to participate.

For specific questions, please contact Rebecca Carr Wong at 707-468-4023 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Public safety dispatchers, often the first assistance people reach in an emergency, provide a crucial link between the California Highway Patrol and the public.

In recognition of their service, the CHP joins other law enforcement agencies to recognize National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week on April 11 to 17.

California legislation enacted in 2020 reclassified public safety dispatchers as “first responders.” The new classification acknowledges their vital role in the state’s emergency response chain.

“As recognized first responders in California, our CHP public safety dispatchers and operators remain resilient in times of crisis,” CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray said. “They are devoted professionals who provide the timely handling of all calls for services and are the lifeline between the public and emergency services.”

The CHP employs more than 700 dispatchers who provide critical services to communities throughout California.

In 2020, these dispatchers who work out of one of the 24 CHP communications centers statewide handled more than 4.9 million 911 calls from the public.

In emergency situations, dispatchers 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.

Those interested in a rewarding career as a CHP public safety dispatcher are encouraged to apply for one of the more than 175 positions available statewide. Details are available at www.chp.ca.gov/chp-careers.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has four dogs ready to go home with new families this week.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of boxer, husky, shepherd, terrier and pit bull.

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

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm for information on visiting or adopting.

‘Sophie’

“Sophie” is a female boxer-pit bull mix with a short red coat.

She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 14356.

Pit bull terrier mix

This female pit bull terrier mix has a short brown coat.

She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 14459.

‘Lobo’

“Lobo” is a male husky with a medium-length fawn and white coat.

He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. 14453.

Husky-pit bull terrier

This young male husky-pit bull terrier mix has a short blue and white coat.

He’s in kennel No. 26, ID No. 14437.

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.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will create enormous cosmic panoramas, helping us answer questions about the evolution of our universe.

Astronomers also expect the mission to find thousands of planets using two different techniques as it surveys a wide range of stars in the Milky Way.

Roman will locate these potential new worlds, or exoplanets, by tracking the amount of light coming from distant stars over time. In a technique called gravitational microlensing, a spike in light signals that a planet may be present.

On the other hand, if the light from a star dims periodically, it could be because there is a planet crossing the face of a star as it completes an orbit. This technique is called the transit method.

By employing these two methods to find new worlds, astronomers will capture an unprecedented view of the composition and arrangement of planetary systems across our galaxy.

Scheduled for launch in the mid-2020s, Roman will be one of NASA’s most prolific planet hunters.

The mission’s large field of view, exquisite resolution, and incredible stability will provide a unique observational platform for discovering the tiny changes in light required to find other worlds via microlensing. This detection method takes advantage of the gravitational light-bending effects of massive objects predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity.

It occurs when a foreground star, the lens, randomly aligns with a distant background star, the source, as seen from Earth. As the stars drift along in their orbits around the galaxy, the alignment shifts over days to weeks, changing the apparent brightness of the source star. The precise pattern of these changes provides astronomers with clues about the nature of the lensing star in the foreground, including the presence of planets around it.

Many of the stars Roman will already be looking at for the microlensing survey may harbor transiting planets.

“Microlensing events are rare and occur quickly, so you need to look at a lot of stars repeatedly and precisely measure brightness changes to detect them,” said astrophysicist Benjamin Montet, a Scientia Lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. “Those are exactly the same things you need to do to find transiting planets, so by creating a robust microlensing survey, Roman will produce a nice transit survey as well.”

In a 2017 paper, Montet and his colleagues showed that Roman – formerly known as WFIRST ­– could catch more than 100,000 planets passing in front of, or transiting, their host stars. Periodic dimming as a planet repeatedly crosses in front of its star provides strong evidence of its presence, something astronomers typically have to confirm through follow-up observations.

The transit approach to finding exoplanets has been wildly successful for NASA's Kepler and K2 missions, which have discovered about 2,800 confirmed planets to date, and is currently used by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS.

Since Roman will find planets orbiting more distant, fainter stars, scientists will often have to rely on the mission’s expansive data set to verify the planets. For example, Roman might see secondary eclipses – small brightness dips when a planetary candidate passes behind its host star, which could help confirm its presence.

The twin detection methods of microlensing and transits complement each other, allowing Roman to find a diverse array of planets. The transit method works best for planets orbiting very close to their star.

Microlensing, on the other hand, can detect planets orbiting far from their host stars. This technique can also find so-called rogue planets, which are not gravitationally bound to a star at all. These worlds can range from rocky planets smaller than Mars to gas giants.

Roughly three quarters of the transiting planets Roman will find are expected to be gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, or ice giants like Uranus and Neptune. Most of the remainder will likely be planets that are between four and eight times as massive as Earth, known as mini-Neptunes. These worlds are particularly interesting since there are no planets like them in our solar system.

Some of the transiting worlds Roman captures are expected to lie within their star’s habitable zone, or the range of orbital distances where a planet may host liquid water on its surface. The location of this region varies depending on how large and hot the host star is – the smaller and cooler the star, the closer in its habitable zone will be. Roman’s sensitivity to infrared light makes it a powerful tool for finding planets around these dimmer orange stars.

Roman will also look farther out from Earth than previous planet-hunting missions. Kepler’s original survey monitored stars at an average distance of around 2,000 light-years. It viewed a modest region of the sky, totaling about 115 square degrees.

TESS scans nearly the entire sky, however it aims to find worlds that are closer to Earth, with typical distances of around 150 light-years. Roman will use both the microlensing and transit detection methods to find planets up to 26,000 light-years away.

Combining the results from Roman’s microlensing and transiting planet searches will help provide a more complete planet census by revealing worlds with a wide range of sizes and orbits.

The mission will offer the first opportunity to find large numbers of transiting planets located thousands of light-years away, helping astronomers learn more about the demographics of planets in different regions of the galaxy.

“The fact that we’ll be able to detect thousands of transiting planets just by looking at microlensing data that’s already been taken is exciting,” said study co-author Jennifer Yee, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “It’s free science.”

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado, L3Harris Technologies in Melbourne, Florida, and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.

For more information about NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, visit https://www.nasa.gov/roman.

Claire Andreoli and Ashley Balzer work for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County is home to an amazing number of bird species.

As of December 2019, 321 species of birds have been identified in Lake County.

No matter where you live in the county – whether in one of our towns, along the lake shoreline, or out in the country – it is possible to create a bird-friendly yard or habitat. Even apartments with balconies can be a place to attract birds.

One of the first things to look at when embarking on creating a bird-friendly yard is to think about what birds need: food and water, shelter and safety.

If you want to start providing the very basics for birds, simply provide a bird bath. A bird bath is simple. It isn’t necessary to buy an expensive one (although they are usually very pretty) but simply putting out a shallow saucer, like those used underneath potted plants is fine.

Birds don’t require or like deep water, just a few inches is needed, and they usually prefer sloping sides. Just remember to change or refresh the water every other day at least. Soon you will be seeing birds visit your yard or your apartment balcony to take advantage of fresh water.

There are a variety of different seed types that birds will eat. Observant nature watchers know that birds migrate during the winter and so the birds in your yard will vary depending on the time of year.

In fall and winter you will be seeing white-crowned and golden-crowned sparrows and Oregon Juncos that won’t be here in the summer. These birds are generally ground feeders, but will eat at a hanging feeder too. Millet, safflower and black-oiled sunflower seeds are usually the main ingredients of premium bird seed that can be purchased at local feed stores.

Lake County’s year-round birds like the California quail and mourning dove enjoy ground feeding and will appreciate the millet or mixed bird seed too. Black-oiled sunflower seeds are popular among many birds like oak titmice, scrub jays, woodpeckers, doves, grosbeaks and nuthatches. Suet is very popular too, especially during the winter months.

Thistle seed is a good choice for finches. Insects are essential dietary components for almost 96 percent of North American terrestrial bird species. This is one of the reasons the mixed seed and suet blocks are excellent.

Even better are the native insects that live in the trees and on the shrubbery in your yard. Please avoid spraying your trees and shrubs if at all possible. Birds need bugs and if you give them a chance, birds will help establish a balance in your yard so you can avoid the use of insecticide.

Some of the main things to remember when feeding birds is to avoid overcrowding at feeders and to keep the feeders clean. Occasionally people will be encouraged to take their feeders down if there is a disease outbreak, such as Salmonella, which occurred recently when pine siskins were unusually abundant and were bringing the illness to bird feeding locations. Fortunately, that seems to have passed and we can once again resume feeding the birds.

Birds need shelter and homes. If your property is large enough, place bird houses for cavity-nesting birds like swallows, bluebirds, titmice and woodpeckers. Contact Redbud Audubon Society at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for advice on the proper placement of birdhouses, or visit www.NestWatch.org.

Creating a predator-safe location for your birdhouse is important, otherwise you will be setting up the nesting bird pair for their eggs and chicks to become prey. It is also important to clean out the birdhouses every year.

Try to provide as much shelter for birds as you safely can. With the high fire danger now present here, this needs to be carefully thought out. Shelter and nesting habitat should be a distance from the home and can consist of native less-flammable shrubbery. Birds need places such as dense thickets for nesting, perching, and for escaping predators like raptors or cats.

Planting native plants and shrubs is especially valuable for birds. Toyon and elderberry are excellent examples of two native shrubs that produce berries for birds to eat, but all shrubs do not have to be a native plant although they tend to do better in Lake County’s dry climate.

Safety is also an issue for songbirds. If you have free-roaming cats, consider enclosing an area for them or simply keep them inside. Windows, especially large plate-glass windows can be another hazard. Try not to place your feeders in direct flight line with a large window.

There are also techniques to prevent birds from hitting windows. These “bird strikes,” kill millions of birds every year.

Check out these websites for information on preventing bird strikes, creating bird-friendly habitat, nest box placement and more: www.allaboutbirds.org, www.audubon.org or www.NestWatch.org.

In recognition of Bird Appreciation Month in Lake County, the Redbud Audubon Society is providing articles suggesting ways to improve the life of birds here.

NICE, Calif. – The Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians has received $10,000 from the First Nations Development Institute of Longmont, Colorado.

This award will support the efforts of the Tribes Kudi Ta’Weno – Eastern Pomo name for “Good Earth Medicine” – Garden Collective.

The goals of this project are to provide the Robinson Rancheria Tribal Elders Sheecome with healthy nutritious organic vegetables and fruit, and to provide a scaffold to food security.

The garden will be primarily maintained and managed by the Elders Sheecome, although all tribal members are encouraged to participate.

The Tribe’s Education Department will be key partners with the Elders Sheecome, providing the tribal youth an opportunity to learn from and work alongside the elders.

There will be a blessing ceremony at both the beginning of the planting season in the spring and at fall harvest. The fall season will culminate in a harvest feast for the tribal community, featuring food grown in the garden.

The garden design will incorporate not only the growing of crops, but also a modest walking trail for viewing and exercise purposes.

As one tribal member, Marion Quitiquit, said, “We need to develop a wellness program for a healthier life and growing a garden will help us.”

A one-acre site of farmland, groundwater and a small tractor is already available to get this project off the ground.

The tribe has established partnerships with the local Tribal Health Clinic and North Coast Opportunities, who will continue and expand their existing support of the tribe’s health goals in this project, with activities such as nutritional trainings, gardening classes and potential supply donations.

This project is supported by the six-member tribal council and signed off by our Tribal Chairman Beniakem Cromwell.

Robinson Rancheria is located in Nice, California and comprises 40 acres of trust land and an estimated 790 acres in fee land.

Historically, this area was the center of the traditional homeland of the Eastern Pomos, descendants of who represent the significant majority of our present-day tribal membership.

The mission of Robinson Rancheria is “Honoring our ancestors by preserving and practicing culture, asserting tribal sovereignty through economic development while improving the lives of all tribal members.”

This project supports the mission by creating a collective garden, which will improve the lives of the tribe’s membership by providing a healthy food source and strengthening food sovereignty.

The project will be administered through the Robinson Rancheria Environmental Department and will work closely with the Elders Sheecome in ensuring all project tasks are reported and completed.

With this funding the Kudi Ta’ Weno Garden Collective infrastructure will be established and become sustainable for decades to come.

Each season will provide new opportunities for learning about healthy living, both physically and spiritually.

Robert Quitiquit, Garden Consultant and Elder Tribal Member will be coordinating and working with volunteers to plant the garden. For further questions, please contact Temashio Anderson, environmental director, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Over time, people may change their testamentary intentions and revoke prior wills and execute new wills.

Such revocations may be either partially or wholly effective in invalidating a prior will.

Let us discuss revocation of wills and how even a revoked will may sometimes be revived.

In California, a will can be revoked by a testator (“person making the will”) so long as he or she is of sound mind (Estate of Lang (1884) 65 Cal 19) and acts intentionally and voluntarily, i.e., without any duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence (Section 6104 Probate Code).

A testator can revoke his or her own will, in whole or in part, by physical acts or by, “[a] subsequent will which revokes the prior will or part expressly or by inconsistency” (section 6120(a) Probate Code).

In California, under section 6120 of the Probate Code, a will can be revoked by, “[b]eing burned, torn, canceled, obliterated, or destroyed with the intent and for the purpose of revoking it, by either the (1) testator or (2) another person in the testator’s presence and by the testator’s direction.” Depending on the facts and circumstances, physical revocation can either wholly or partially revoke the will.

Under section 6124 of the Probate Code, a “lost will” is presumed to have been destroyed by the testator with the intention to revoke the will, “[i]f the testator’s will was last in the testator’s possession, the testator was competent until death, and neither the will nor the duplicate original of the will can be found after the testator’s death, … . This is a presumption affecting the burden of producing evidence.”

The “lost will” presumption can be overcome by producing substantial evidence contrary to the decedent destroying the will. For example, producing evidence that other persons besides the decedent had access to and motive to destroy the decedent’s will.

California allows a lost will to be probated in certain circumstances. Under section 8223 of the Probate Code, “[t]he petition for probate of a lost or destroyed will shall include a written statement of the testamentary words or their substance.” A photocopy of the will can be attached to the petition and otherwise a statement of will’s contents. If a duplicate original will can be found, then the will is not lost and the duplicate original can be probated.

Next, a revoked will can be restored or revived under special circumstances. Under section 6123(a) of the Probate Code, if a will is revoked by a later will the revoked will can be revived if the testator subsequently revokes the later will with the intention to revive the earlier will.

Also, under the Doctrine of Dependent Relative Revocation, a will that is revoked in connection with the execution of a newer will is presumed to be revoked on the condition that the newer will is valid and effective (Estate of Marx (1917), 174 Cal. 762). When applicable, the earlier revoked will becomes effective at least to the extent that the provisions of the later will are invalid or ineffective (Estate of Kaufman (1945) 25 Cal 2d 854).

People who execute handwritten (holographic) wills may unintentionally create a situation where an earlier will is probated because the holographic will is inadequate. Consider a handwritten will that makes specific gifts, but does not distribute the decedent’s entire estate.

Depending on the facts and circumstances an earlier will may be revived to avoid a partial intestacy of the decedent’s estate, i.e., where assets are distributed to heirs instead of to beneficiaries under the decedent’s will(s).

Having an attorney draft one’s will and revoke any earlier wills may provide better peace of mind that unintended outcomes are avoided.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.

 

One of the most heavily contested voting-policy issues in the 2020 election, in both the courts and the political arena, was the deadline for returning absentee ballots.

Going into the election, the policy in a majority of states was that ballots had to be received by election night to be valid. Lawsuits seeking an extension of these deadlines were brought around the country for two reasons: First, because of the pandemic, the fall election would see a massive surge in absentee ballots; and second, there were concerns about the competence and integrity of the U.S. Postal Service, particularly after President Trump appointed a major GOP donor as the new postmaster general.

The issue produced the Supreme Court’s most controversial decision during the general election, which prohibited federal courts from extending the ballot-receipt deadlines in state election codes. Now that the data are available, a post-election audit provides perspective on what the actual effects of these deadlines turned out to be.

Perhaps surprisingly, the number of ballots that came in too late to be valid was extremely small, regardless of what deadline states used, or how much that deadline shifted back and forth in the months before the election. The numbers were nowhere close to the number of votes that could have changed the outcome of any significant race.

Changing deadlines in Wisconsin

Take Wisconsin and Minnesota, two important states that were the site of two major court controversies over these issues. In both, voters might be predicted to be the most confused about the deadline for returning absentee ballots, because those deadlines kept changing.

In Wisconsin, state law required absentee ballots to be returned by Election Night. The federal district court ordered that deadline extended by six days. But the Supreme Court, in a 5-3 decision, blocked the district’s court order and required the deadline in the state’s election code to be respected.

Writing for the three dissenters, Justice Elena Kagan invoked the district court’s prediction that as many as 100,000 voters would lose their right to vote, through no fault of their own, as a result of the majority’s ruling that the normal state-law deadline had to be followed. Commentators called this a “disastrous ruling” that “would likely disenfranchise tens of thousands” of voters in this key state.

The post-election audit now provides perspective on this controversy that sharply divided the court. Ultimately, only 1,045 absentee ballots were rejected in Wisconsin for failing to meet the Election Night deadline. That amounts to 0.05% ballots out of 1,969,274 valid absentee votes cast, or 0.03% of the total vote in Wisconsin.

If we put this in partisan terms and take Biden as having won roughly 70% of the absentee vote nationwide, that means he would have added 418 more votes to his margin of victory had these late-arriving ballots been valid.

Changing deadlines in Minnesota

The fight over ballot deadlines in Minnesota was even more convoluted. If voters were going to be confused anywhere about these deadlines, with lots of ballots coming in too late as a result, it might have been expected to be here.

State law required valid ballots to be returned by Election Night, but as a result of litigation challenging that deadline, the secretary of state had agreed in early August that ballots would be valid if they were received up to seven days later.

But a mere five days before the election, a federal court pulled the rug out from under Minnesota voters. On Oct. 29, it held that Minnesota’s secretary of state had violated the federal Constitution and had no power to extend the deadline. The original Election Night deadline thus snapped back into effect at the very last minute.

Yet it turns out that only 802 ballots, out of 1,929,945 absentees cast (0.04%), were rejected for coming in too late.

Even though voting-rights plaintiffs lost their battles close to Election Day in both Wisconsin and Minnesota, with the deadlines shifting back and forth, only a tiny number of ballots arrived too late.

Where deadlines didn’t change

What happened in states that had a consistent policy throughout the run-up to the election that required ballots to be returned by Election Night?

Among battleground states, Michigan provides an example. Only 3,328 ballots arrived after Election Day, too late to be counted, which was 0.09% of the total votes cast there.

Finally, Pennsylvania and North Carolina were two states in which litigation did succeed in generating decisions that overrode the state election code and pushed ballot-receipt deadlines back – in Pennsylvania by three days, in North Carolina by six days.

These decisions provoked intense political firestorms in some quarters, particularly regarding Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s three-day extension of the deadline became the primary justification that some Republican senators and representatives offered on Jan. 6 for objecting to counting the state’s Electoral College votes.

How many voters took advantage of these extended deadlines? In North Carolina, according to information that the state Board of Elections provided to me, 2,484 ballots came in during the additional six days after Election Day that the judicial consent decree added. That comes to 0.04% of the total valid votes cast in the state.

In Pennsylvania, about 10,000 ballots came in during the extended deadline window, out of the 2,637,065 valid absentee ballots. That’s 0.14% of the total votes cast there. These 10,000 ballots were not counted in the state’s certified vote total, but had they been, Biden would likely have added around 5,000 votes to his margin of victory, given that he won about 75% of the state’s absentee vote.

These are not the numbers of ballots, of course, that would have come in late had the courts refused to extend the deadline in these two states. They show the maximum number that arrived after Election Day when voters had every right to return their ballots this late. Even so, those numbers are still far lower than the 100,000 that had been predicted in Wisconsin.

But had the statutory deadlines remained in place in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, there is no reason to think the number of late absentees would have been much different from those in similar swing states like Michigan, where the statutory deadlines remained fixed and 0.09% of ballots arrived too late.

Highly engaged voters

The small number of absentee ballots that came in after the legal deadlines occurred despite a massive surge in absentee voting in nearly all states. What explains that?

Voters were highly engaged, as the turnout rate showed. They were particularly attuned to the risk of delays in the mail from seeing this problem occur in the primaries. Throughout the weeks before the election, voters were consistently returning absentee ballots at higher rates than in previous elections.

The communications efforts of the Biden campaign and the state Democratic parties, whose voters cast most of these absentee votes, got the message across about these state deadlines. Election officials did a good job of communicating these deadlines to voters. In some states, drop boxes that permitted absentee ballots to be returned without using the mail might have helped minimize the number of late arriving ballots, though we don’t have any empirical analysis on that.

In a highly mobilized electorate, it turns out that the specific ballot-return deadlines, and whether they shifted even late in the day, did not lead to large numbers of ballots coming in too late.

That’s a tribute to voters, election officials, grassroots groups – and to the campaigns.

Richard Pildes, Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University

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

What's up for April? Morning planets, a sunset arch and finding Leo the lion.

April 22 is Earth Day – an annual opportunity to collectively appreciate the wonder and beauty of our home planet. So it seems appropriate to feature an Earth-related sight you can see any time of the year when you have clear skies. It's a twilight phenomenon that you might have noticed just after sunset.

If you can pull your gaze away from the sunset in the west, and spin yourself around to face east, you'll often notice a band of pink- or orange-colored sky with a darker, bluish band beneath. These bands move upward over the minutes following sunset to form an arch across the sky that slowly fades as night sets in. The dark band is Earth's shadow rising. Above it, the rosy-hued band is known as the Belt of Venus.

We observe this sight for a short time after sunset when the sun is just below the horizon, but some of its light rays are still making their way through the atmosphere before nightfall. The redder, or longer wavelengths, of sunlight are able to travel the longest distance through the atmosphere. And at the point opposite to the sunset, this reddish light is scattered off the atmosphere and back toward your eyes.

The Belt of Venus is named not for the planet, but for the mythical goddess. Together with Earth's shadow, these sights form the "anti-twilight arch." This arch rises like a curtain on the night, slowly fading as Earth's shadow eventually fills the sky, allowing us to gaze outward into the stars.

You can see this sight in morning twilight as well, by looking in the direction opposite the rising sun – that is, toward the west. As the sky begins to lighten, Earth's shadow becomes noticeable with the Belt of Venus above it, and these bands slowly sink to the horizon as day breaks.

April is a great time to look for Leo, that is, the constellation Leo. Leo is the Latin word for "lion," and this well-known grouping of stars is named for a super-powered lion vanquished by the mythical hero Hercules. It's a pretty easy constellation to locate, because it sort of looks like a lion reclining in the sky, and has this recognizable curving shape, called the Sickle, that represents the lion's head.

In April, you can find Leo high overhead in the south in the first few hours after sunset. In addition to the sickle shape of the lion's head, look for the lion's heart – the brilliant bluish-white star Regulus, which is one of the brightest stars in the sky.

Astronomers think most stars have a family of planets orbiting them. And these two bright stars in Leo – named Algieba (which is actually a double star!) and Rasalas – each have a confirmed planet larger than Jupiter orbiting around them. So step out after dark in April to look for Leo, with its sickle-shaped lion's mane, and blazing bluish heart.

Preston Dyches works for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department said Friday that it has located an at-risk teenaged boy who went missing on Thursday night.

At 11:22 a.m. Friday, the agency posted an update on its Facebook page saying that 14-year-old Ocean Smith was safely located.

He had gone missing on Thursday night after 10:30 p.m. after a dispute with family.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department said early Friday that it is trying to locate a missing at-risk 14-year-old boy.

The department is trying to find Ocean Smith.

At 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Ocean Smith was in a dispute with family at his residence located in the area of the 14500 block of Lakeshore Drive, police said.

After the dispute, police said Ocean left the residence in an unknown direction.

Ocean is described by family as having special needs and this behavior is out of character for him, police said.

Ocean is a black male juvenile, standing 6 feet tall and weighing 300 pounds, with black hair and hazel eyes. Police said he was last seen wearing a t-shirt and blue shorts.

If you see Ocean, please contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251.