LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has several new terriers, Chihuahua mixes, a pointer and a Labrador Retriever mix waiting for new homes this week.

The dogs range in age from 15 weeks to five years, and come in all sizes.

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.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .

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”).

'Bear'

“Bear” is a 1-year-old Labrador Retriever mix.

He has a short black coat, weighs 66 pounds and has been altered.

Shelter staff said Bear is very friendly, gentle and mellow, and would make a great family pet, as he's good with kids. He's also scared of cats.

He's currently in foster care, ID No. 37345.

'Daisey'

“Daisey” is a 1-year-old terrier mix.

She has a short black and white coat, and cropped ears. Shelter staff did not report her weight or if she had been spayed.

She's in kennel No. 5, ID No. 37723.

Male border collie mix

This male border collie mix is 1 year old.

He has a curly coat, has been neutered and has cropped ears.

Find him in kennel No. 10, ID No. 37744.

Male border collie mix

This male border collie mix is 1 year old.

He has a curly coat, has been neutered and has cropped ears.

Find him in kennel No. 11, ID No. 37745.

Jack Russell Terrier mix

This male Jack Russell Terrier mix is 5 years old.

He has a short brown and white coat, and weighs nearly 17 pounds. Shelter staff did not report if he had been neutered.

Find him in kennel No. 13, ID No. 37657.

German Short-haired Pointer mix

This male German Short-haired Pointer mix is 15 weeks old.

He has a short black and white coat, weighs 20 pounds and has been neutered.

He's in kennel No. 16, ID No. 37710.

Male terrier mix

This male terrier mix is 4 years old.

He has a short black and white coat, weighs 11 pounds and has been neutered.

Find him in kennel No. 29, ID No. 37679.

Female terrier mix

This female terrier mix is 3 years old.

She has a short brown and white coat, and weighs 16 pounds. Shelter staff did not report if she had been altered.

She's in kennel No. 30a, ID No. 37678.

Female Chihuahua mix

This female Chihuahua mix is 2 years old.

She has a short brown coat and weighs 8 pounds. Shelter staff did not report if she had been spayed.

Find her in kennel No. 30b, ID No. 37753.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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.

HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – A small wildland fire burned along Highway 29 Saturday afternoon.

The fire, reported to be off the highway about a mile north of Spruce Grove Road near the Hidden Valley Lake golf course, was first dispatched shortly after 4 p.m.

Witnesses at the scene said Cal Fire air resources – including helicopters – worked the fire, along with ground units.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Greg Bertelli said South Lake County Fire and Cal Fire responded.

“We had a full wildland response,” he said.

The fire was contained by 5:30 p.m. thanks to aggressive firefighting, he said.

Bertelli said the fire was contained at one acre.

He said the cause is under investigation.

There are no power lines in the area and “nothing obvious jumping out at us right now” as to a potential fire source, Bertelli 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.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The service of a search warrant by the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force has resulted in one arrest and the seizure of marijuana, cash, steroids and a firearm.

Forrest Fredrick Kuecker, 34, was arrested for possession of marijuana for sales, cultivating marijuana, being armed while in the commission of a felony and possession of a controlled substance, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.

On Aug. 27, narcotics detectives secured a search warrant for Kuecker's person, home and vehicle, Brooks said.

At 7:30 a.m. Aug. 28, detectives served the warrant at the residence, which is located in the 7000 block of Westlake Drive in Upper Lake. Brooks said when detectives entered the property they detained Kuecker and 31-year-old Valerie Nichole Sears of Upper Lake without incident.

During the search narcotics detectives located and seized 137 marijuana plants and approximately 30 ounces of processed marijuana, Brooks said.

Brooks said detectives also located an indoor grow room inside the residence. The grow room was set up with high pressure sodium lights which were controlled by timers.

Detectives said it appeared that Kuecker was growing marijuana year round and would harvest plants every 90 days, Brooks said. Kuecker told detectives he was growing far more marijuana plants than he needed.

Detectives located $3,800 in U.S. currency inside the master bedroom closet. All of the money was in $100 bills, which was wrapped in a $10,000 money band. Brooks said both Sears and Kuecker denied having any knowledge of the money, which was seized pending asset forfeiture proceedings.

Narcotics detectives also located two vials containing a clear liquid, inside a cabinet in the bathroom. Upon further investigation detectives determined one of the vials contained Testosterone Cypionate and the other contained Enanthate. Brooks said both were determined to be steroids and are listed as schedule III controlled substances.

Detectives also located a firearm in one of Keucker’s vehicles. Both the steroids and the firearm were seized as evidence.

Brooks said Kuecker was arrested and transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.

Detectives released Sears at the scene, but are submitting the crime report to the Lake County District Attorney's Office for a complaint regarding her involvement in the marijuana cultivation, Brooks said.

The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be reached through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The stars of September represent the transition from the brilliance of the summer skies to the more sedate, but nonetheless beautiful fall skies.

September is derived from the Latin word septem, which means seven.

The old Roman calendar originally had only 10 months and September was the seventh month, hence the name.

For calendar trivia fans, September and December always begin on the same day each year.

The Summer Triangle, which we mentioned in last month’s column, still shines brightly overhead, with the constellations Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila dominant.

The Milky Way is especially prominent this time of the year, running north and south through Cygnus and Aquila.

The Milky Way looks like a large cloud. In reality it is made up of millions of stars.

When you look at the Milky Way, you are looking toward the center of our galaxy, which is named The Milky Way.

We do not know exactly what our galaxy looks like, since we do not have space craft able to travel far enough away it take a picture. But we can infer that it may look very similar to our nearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy.

The Milky Way is estimated to have up to 400 million stars! Our galaxy is only one of an estimated 200 billion or more in the universe.

Hidden among the brilliance of the Milky Way and the constellations Cygnus and Aquila are four small constellations: Sagitta, Vulpecula, Delphinus and Equuleus.

Sagitta is an arrow, possibly one shot by Sagittarius the Archer, another summer constellation.

Vulpecula is a fox, and is a newer constellation, identified in 1690 by Johannes Hevelius, a famous Polish asronomer.

Vulpecula has a remarkable object in it that can be seen with a small telescope. This is M27, the Dumbell Nebula.

Delphinus represents a dolphin. Equuleus is a little horse. Both constellations were known to the ancient Greeks.

John Zimmerman is a resident of Lake County, Calif., and has been an amateur astronomer for more than 50 years. For more information about astronomy and local resources, visit his Web site at www.lakecountyskies.com .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lake County Superior Court judge on Friday denied motions to set aside and dismiss felony charges against three Sonoma County Chapter Hells Angels members charged for their alleged part in a June 2011 fight.

After having heard arguments on the motions in July, Judge Michael Lunas returned on Friday to deliver his ruling in the case against Josh Johnson, Nicolas Carrillo and Timothy Bianchi.

Tentatively scheduled to go to trial in October, the men are facing charges for a fight with Michael Burns, a validated Vagos motorcycle gang member, and Kristopher Perkin on June 4, 2011, at a tattoo convention at Konocti Vista Casino in Lakeport.

Charges against the three men include felony participation in a criminal street gang, and misdemeanor disturbing the peace and battery. In addition, Bianchi faces felony assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, and Johnson and Carrillo each are charged with an additional misdemeanor battery count.

Motions filed on behalf of the men by their attorneys – Patrick Ciocca for Johnson, Michael Clough for Carrillo and Jai Gohel for Bianchi – alleged that the Lake County District Attorney's Office failed to turn over discovery in the case that could have changed the outcome of the March 2012 preliminary hearing.

Specifically, the discovery in question related to Sheriff Frank Rivero, who was involved in the case because he collected surveillance video from the casino in the days after the fight and testified at the preliminary hearing.

The defense argued that the prosecution failed to disclose key details about District Attorney Don Anderson's investigation into allegations that Rivero lied about his actions in shooting at an unarmed man in February 2008, while he was a deputy sheriff.

This past February, Anderson concluded that Rivero had lied and placed him on a “Brady list” of officers with credibility issues.

The Brady list is so named for the 1963 US Supreme Court case that requires the prosecution to disclose to defendants in criminal cases any potentially exculpatory material, including information about the credibility of officers involved in their cases.

The defense argued that Anderson's office violated that key tenet, and also didn't disclose important information about the “county line incident” in May of 2012, when Rivero sent sheriff's deputies to the south county to block a contingent of Hells Angels reportedly on their way to fight with a group of Vagos who had camped out in downtown Lakeport that day. However, no Hells Angels appeared.

Lunas, after having reviewed extensive case law, said the defense's motion to dismiss under Penal Code 995 was not the correct procedure to challenge the alleged procedural errors.

In order to find there were Brady violations that justified dismissal, Lunas said he had to conclude that disclosing the information would have changed the outcome of the preliminary hearing. However, that was not his finding.

The preliminary hearing was held before Judge Andrew Blum, who ordered the three defendants to be held to answer on the charges.

Lunas pointed out that, based on his review of the case documents, it appeared that the defense did have information about the Brady investigation and the county line incident in hand at the time of the preliminary hearing. He said the prosecution had disclosed the Brady investigation to the defense around March 2012.

He also noted that the defense made no objection at the time of the preliminary hearing about those incidents.

“I do not find that it's reasonably probable that it would have changed the outcome,” he said of the information disclosure the defense was seeking.

If he excluded Rivero's testimony entirely, “It's clear to me that the remaining testimony before Judge Blum was more than significant evidence to raise a strong suspicion necessary for a holding order.”

It was noted in court on Friday that at the preliminary hearing Rivero had been asked about the Brady investigation and had denied that he lied about the 2008 shooting, which Lunas said was “collateral impeachment.”

Lunas said the defense had asked to simply declare a false start and start over again. “There was some appeal to that,” he said, adding, “The court has seriously considered those arguments.”

He went on to explain that he did not find any bad faith or misconduct at the preliminary hearing, adding that it appeared there were advantages to the defense in Rivero being called.

Following Lunas' ruling, Clough asked the judge to reconsider. Clough said the defense did know about the county line incident but argued that it's important to separate the types of charges in the case.

Lunas said he had read Clough's argument and made his ruling. Clough said he was entitled to make a record of his concerns.

Lunas replied that he was going to require that those concerns be made in writing, according to court rules, and wasn't going to have an open-ended, freewheeling argument. He said it sounded like Clough was trying to reargue the case.

Clough asked if Lunas was issuing a written opinion. Lunas said no, and Clough responded by asking that a written opinion be prepared. Lunas directed the court clerk to prepare a transcript, which he said would constitute the written opinion Clough requested.

The attorneys noted there is a pending motion for discovery materials that hasn't yet received a response or been placed on the court calendar, and likely will cause an issue with the scheduled October trial date.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Changes to the Lake County Department of Public Works' construction schedule will mean bus service in a portion of Lakeport will be canceled for two days next week.

Lake Transit Authority General Manager Mark Wall said the Route 8 bus service on Lakeshore Drive in the city of Lakeport will be canceled between Park Way and Margot Lane on Wednesday, Sept. 11, and on Thursday, Sept. 12.

Originally, Lake Transit Authority had reported that the construction would cause a service cancellation on Tuesday, Sept. 10, but a revised construction schedule made available on Friday changed that.

Route 8 buses will detour after leaving Lakeside Health Center. Buses will travel via Lakeshore Drive, Hill Road, and Park Way to return to Lakeshore Drive, according to Wall.

He said the route will operate its usual schedule south of the intersection of Lakeshore at Park Way.

Service is expected to return to normal on Friday, Sept. 13, Wall said.

A NASA-led team of scientists has uncovered strong evidence that soot from a rapidly industrializing Europe caused the abrupt retreat of mountain glaciers in the European Alps that began in the 1860s, a period often thought of as the end of the Little Ice Age.

The research, published Sept. 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may help resolve a longstanding scientific debate.

In the decades following the 1850s, Europe underwent an economic and atmospheric transformation spurred by industrialization.

The use of coal to heat homes and power transportation and industry in Western Europe began in earnest, spewing huge quantities of black carbon and other dark particles into the atmosphere.

Black carbon is the strongest sunlight-absorbing atmospheric particle. When these particles settle on the snow blanketing glaciers, they darken the snow surface, speeding its melting and exposing the underlying glacier ice to sunlight and warmer spring and summer air earlier in the year. This diminishing of the snow cover earlier in each year causes the glacier ice to melt faster and retreat.

The Little Ice Age, loosely defined as a cooler period between the 14th and 19th centuries, was marked by an expansion of mountain glaciers and a drop in temperatures in Europe of nearly 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius).

But glacier records show that between 1860 and 1930, while temperatures continued to drop, large valley glaciers in the Alps abruptly retreated by an average of nearly 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) to lengths not seen in the previous few hundred years.

Glaciologists and climatologists have struggled to reconcile this apparent conflict between climate and glacier records.

“Something was missing from the equation,” said Thomas Painter, a snow and ice scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who led the study. “Before now, most glaciologists believed the end of the Little Ice Age came in the mid-1800s when these glaciers retreated, and that the retreat was due to a natural climatic shift, distinct from the carbon dioxide-induced warming that came later in the 20th century. This result suggests that human influence on glaciers extends back to well before the industrial temperature increases.”

To help the scientists understand what was driving the glacier retreat, Painter and his colleagues turned to history. The researchers studied data from ice cores drilled from high up on several European mountain glaciers to determine how much black carbon was in the atmosphere and snow when the Alps glaciers began to retreat.

Using the levels of carbon particles trapped in the ice core layers, and taking into consideration modern observations of how pollutants are distributed in the Alps, they were able to estimate how much black carbon was deposited on glacial surfaces at lower elevations, where levels of black carbon tend to be highest.

The team then ran computer models of glacier behavior, starting with recorded weather conditions and adding the impact of the lower-elevation pollution.

When this impact was included, the simulated glacier mass loss and timing finally were consistent with the historic record of glacial retreat, despite the cooling temperatures at that time.

“We must now look more closely at other regions on Earth, such as the Himalaya, to study the present-day impacts of black carbon on glaciers in these regions,” said Georg Kaser, a study co-author from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and lead author of the Working Group I Cryosphere chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's upcoming Fifth Assessment Report.

“This study uncovers likely human fingerprints on our changing environment,” said co-author Waleed Abdalati, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research and Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder. “It's a reminder that the actions we take have far-reaching impacts on the environment in which we live.”

Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco announced its 2013 awards through the bank’s Access to Housing and Economic Assistance for Development (AHEAD) Program this week.

The grants are provided through member financial institutions both large and small.

This year, 21 Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco members will be supporting 33 innovative initiatives which address a variety of needs and populations thanks to funding from the FHLBSF AHEAD program funding – including three fortunate applicants, sponsored by Mendo Lake Credit Union (MLCU).

Awards will go to California Human Development, Redwood Children’s Services and the Resource for Native Development.

“MLCU is honored to provide access to FHLBank San Francisco funding for local organizations,” said Mendo Lake Credit Union CEO Richard Cooper. “We have a close connection with all three organizations. All three recipients are nonprofit organizations that foster economic development and promote community stability and self-sufficiency which align with our own organizational goals and objectives.”

California Human Development (CHD), a Santa Rosa-based 46-year-old nonprofit agency serving 31 California counties, was awarded $42,000 to fund its Mobile Migrant Farmworker Housing Unit Demonstration Model project.

The project proposes using portable housing units as temporary homes for seasonal migrant farmworkers.

Antonio Silva, CHD housing director, said that the grant “will allow CHD to demonstrate the feasibility of a mobile housing solution to meet the housing needs of peak harvest workers. These workers often struggle to find adequate housing at harvest time. Our concept is to bring the housing to the workers.”

The funds to construct a prototype mobile unit – providing housing for up to four to six workers – will allow CHD to both test and market the concept to a larger audience of funders, growers and farmworkers.

“With success, CHD envisions a fleet of these mobile units which will provide much needed short term and affordable housing as the units rotate among California’s significant agricultural regions. We are excited and grateful to have the opportunity to test this concept,” said Chief Executive Officer Christopher Paige.

Redwood Children’s Services will use its $25,000 grant to support its Arbor Youth Program. The Arbor currently serves 1,700 low-income foster or at-risk youth between the ages of 14 and 24 in the Ukiah Valley area.

Young people using the center have access to computers, clothing, food, employment assistance, education support, and community connections, as well as gang prevention programs and support groups for young mothers.

The grant will help to fund facility expansion, new equipment purchases, and the hiring of a bilingual staff person.

MLCU staff support the Arbor program by providing financial literacy classes and banking services for Arbor clients.

The Resource for Native Development (RFND) provides business development, consumer and home repair loans to Indian tribes within a nine-county region of California.

Tribal economies within this region are severely underdeveloped, with low rates of home-ownership, asset growth, and business development.

“The $25,000 AHEAD award will provide operating support to RFND to obtain certification as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) from the US Treasury as the first Native CDFI serving this area,” said Darlene Tooley, executive director of the Northern Circle Indian Housing Authority.

“Our market study supports the need for financial education and opportunities for Native people to access capital and financial services,” Tooley said. “RFND obtaining this certification will be a significant step forward to address that need in our community.”

As a CDFI credit union, MLCU has supported RFND’s progress in obtaining their own CDFI designation through funding and volunteer service.

“The bank is pleased that Mendo Lake Credit Union continues to be such an effective user of our AHEAD Program,” said Marietta Núñez, vice president of community lending at FHLBank San Francisco. “The breadth of the needs being addressed in the projects Mendo Lake is sponsoring speaks to how an engaged financial partner, no matter its size, can be a valuable partner for innovation in so many diverse areas.”

For more information on the AHEAD program and a full list of 2013 awardees go to http://www.fhlbsf.com/community/docs/2013-ahead-recipients.pdf .

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A late-night vehicle crash along Highway 20 led to a small wildland fire and traffic holdups.

The fire was first reported shortly before 12 a.m. Friday on Highway 20, about 18 miles west of Williams inside the Colusa County line, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Reports from the scene said a vehicle flipped off the north side of the road and went 30 feet down a ravine.

Firefighters arriving at the scene found a small wildland fire that resulted from the crash. The fire traveled up and out of the drainage and started uphill, burning grass and trees.

CHP was requested to respond for traffic control and a ground ambulance was dispatched for a person who suffered minor injuries in the crash, radio reports indicated.

The fire was reported to be about 2 acres shortly before it contained just before 1 a.m.

Traffic control was in effect for a short period of time while firefighters worked at the scene, the CHP 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.

SACRAMENTO – The California State Board of Food and Agriculture and the California Water Commission will hold a joint meeting concerning the state's water supply on Tuesday, Sept. 10, in Sacramento.

The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, 1220 N St., Main Auditorium, Sacramento.

“California's current water situation spells uncertainty for agricultural interests throughout this state,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “We need to work proactively with farmers and ranchers to address groundwater overdraft and water transfers – providing a level of reliability over the next few years.”

On May 20, Gov. Edmund G. Brown, Jr. issued an executive order to streamline approvals for water transfers to protect California's farms. The order was in response to the very dry conditions occurring within the state.

Currently, water allocations for this year remain low with 35 percent of requested amounts through the State Water Project and 20 percent of requested amounts through the federal Central Valley Project.

Even if this winter provides a normal wet year, growers throughout the state are preparing for a reduced water supply as nine of the state's major reservoirs are below historic average levels, and six of these are below 50 percent total capacity.

This meeting provides a forum for agricultural stakeholders, water representatives, and government officials to discuss California's water situation and make recommendations to the state board.

Invited speakers include Director Mark Cowin, California Department of Water Resources, Randy Record, chair of the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA); Mike Wade, California Farm Water Coalition; Chris White, Central California Irrigation District; Victoria Whitney, State Water Resources Control Board; Karla Nemeth; California Natural Resources Agency; Marvin Meyers, Meyers Farming; Joe MacIlvaine, Paramount Farming; John Sweigard, Merced Irrigation District; and Kris Beal, Vineyard Team.

“With the strong potential for drought conditions next year, flexibility within the statewide water system is needed” said Craig McNamara, president of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture. “I'm hopeful that this meeting can help inform policy discussions and encourage action by state and federal agencies.”

The California State Board of Food and Agriculture advises the governor and the CDFA secretary on agricultural issues and consumer needs.

The state board conducts forums that bring together local, state and federal government officials, agricultural representative and citizens to discuss current issues of concern to California agriculture.

The California Water Commission consists of nine members appointed by the Governor and subject to Senate confirmation. Its historical role includes advising the director of the Department of Water Resources on matters within the Department's jurisdiction, approving rules and regulations, and monitoring and reporting on the construction of the State Water Project.

Follow the board on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Cafood_agboard .

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer – or LADEE – is headed toward the moon after launching on a Minataur V rocket Friday night from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

LADEE will orbit the moon to gather detailed information about its atmosphere, conditions near the surface and environmental influences on lunar dust.

LADEE is the first spacecraft designed, developed, built, integrated and tested at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

Using a Modular Common Spacecraft Bus architecture, also developed by Ames, LADEE will demonstrate how to build a first class spacecraft at reduced cost.

The LADEE spacecraft makes use of general purpose spacecraft modules that allow for a plug-and-play approach to manufacturing and assembly.

Earth's atmosphere is critically important to all of us. In addition to providing us with air to breathe, it protects us from temperature extremes, harmful space radiation, and vast numbers of incoming meteoroids. The atmosphere is a very complex system that we are only beginning to understand.

Gaining a better understanding of the atmosphere, how it protects us, and how we can protect it is in all of our interests.

In order to understand Earth's atmosphere and how it works, it is essential to study atmospheres under a wide range of conditions beyond Earth. Examining atmospheres on other planets allows this. For example, by studying the atmosphere of Venus, we learned about the role of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, and saw how it drives the temperature on Venus as high as 860 degrees Fahrenheit (460 degrees Celsius).

The moon has a type of atmosphere scientists call a surface boundary exosphere. This very thin atmosphere may actually be the most common type of atmosphere in our solar system.

Yet despite occurring so frequently, surface boundary exospheres largely remain a mystery. The moon, Mercury, larger asteroids, many moons orbiting the solar system's giant planets and even some of the distant Kuiper Belt Objects beyond Neptune, all have surface boundary exospheres.

To fully understand atmospheres and how they work, we also need to understand the most common type. Fortunately, the moon is in our own celestial "backyard," and LADEE observations of the lunar atmosphere and surface conditions will provide insights scientists can apply to many worlds.

For more information about the LADEE mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ladee .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Thursday, the nonprofit that operates Lake Transit Authority reached an agreement for a new three-year contract with union-represented workers who had gone out on two separate strikes this summer.

Paratransit Services of Bremerton, Wash., reported that it met with representatives of Teamsters Local 665 on Thursday and reached the agreement on a tentative collective bargaining agreement.

Teamsters Local 665 President Ralph Miranda told Lake County News that the new three-year contract was ratified by about 20 union members who met in Clearlake on Thursday, the same day the contract went into effect.

The new contract calls for a 2.2-percent wage increase, but the restoration of step pay increases that the union had fought for aren't included, Miranda said.

“It is essentially the same offer that Paratransit offered prior to the strike,” he said.

Paratransit Services confirmed that the deal reached Thursday mirrored Paratransit Services' best and final offer which initially was presented on June 18.

Teamsters members went out on a two-day strike July 1-2. After they didn't make headway over the step increases – which they said they had given up in 2010 with the belief that they would be added back when the economy improved – they began an indefinite strike on July 29, as Lake County News has reported.

Christie Scheffer, Paratransit Services' chief operating officer and executive vice president, said that when the indefinite strike was called, Paratransit Services' priority was to maintain and restore transportation services as quickly as possible to Lake County.

Paratransit Services also moved forward with hiring permanent replacement workers and gradually restoring services. Scheffer said the nonprofit “kept every commitment and restored significant portions ahead of schedule.” All services were fully restored by Sept. 3, according to Lake Transit.

The second strike ended on Aug. 16 after the striking union members voted to go back to work unconditionally in order to restore the transit services that had been curtailed during the walkout.

“We had a legal right, given the expenses we have incurred to restore services as quickly as possible to
Lake County to pull our wage offer off the table, but we had made an initial fair wage offer and remained committed to our employees and have kept our word,” said Scheffer.

Miranda said that, for the union, the decisions to end the strike and to settle on the new contract resulted after Paratransit Services successfully hired replacement workers.

“We had thought all along that replacement workers were not that readily available,” Miranda said. “Apparently they hired people from whatever location they could and put them in the seats.”

That has left many union workers waiting to return to work. Miranda said Local 665 and Paratransit Services agreed that workers should be recalled for openings based on seniority.

As of Monday, six Teamsters – five drivers and one dispatcher – had returned to work for Lake Transit, Miranda said. That leaves 23 Teamsters still waiting to go back to work.

Scheffer said Paratransit Services is looking forward “to service expansion and continuing to make a difference in serving Lake County.”

Miranda said the union is going to refocus, and switch its effort to get Paratransit Services replaced as the transit authority's operator. He said the contract is expected to come up for renewal next June.

“We will continue to make appearances at the Lake Transit Authority meetings, we will continue to agendize items and speak our mind,” Miranda 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.