The Glass fire, shown here at 67,484 acres. Map courtesy of Cal Fire. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Fire crews are within striking distance of having the Glass fire fully contained, while thousands of firefighters continue their work to control the August Complex.
On Monday night, the Glass fire remained at 67,484 acres, with containment at 96 percent, Cal Fire reported.
The incident, expected to be fully contained on Oct. 20, has been burning in Napa and Sonoma counties since Sept. 27, coming less than a mile from Lake County’s southern border.
Total structures that continued to be threatened by the incident were reduced again on Monday to 1,217, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire’s final damage assessment, released late last week, said the Glass fire has destroyed 1555 structures and damaged 282 others.
On Monday night, resources that Cal Fire said remained assigned to the incident included 219 firefighters, 10 engines, seven water tenders, one helicopter, two hand crews and 10 dozers.
The August Complex as mapped on Monday, October 12, 2020. Map courtesy of the US Forest Service. Changes in weather could bring more fire activity in August Complex area
On California’s largest fire, the August Complex, by Monday night it had burned 1,029,029 acres on the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests, with containment up to 76 percent, the US Forest Service reported.
Officials said 4,610 personnel are assigned on all four zones of the complex, which has been burning since Aug. 17.
The Forest Service said firefighters continue to coordinate with Cal Fire on control measures in the Hellhole Canyon area, northeast of Covelo.
On the west and south sides of the South Zone, which includes portions of the Mendocino National Forest in northern Lake County, fire crews are felling hazard trees along roadways as needed for firefighters and public safety. Crews continue to patrol firelines by ground and air, officials said.
The Forest Service said smoke may be visible in areas where pockets of vegetation within the fire’s perimeter continue to burn and temperatures warm up over the next few days.
On the west side of the South Zone, the Forest Service said firefighters are repairing handline constructed on the southwestern portion of the fire during suppression operations. Firefighters continue to scout for additional opportunities for suppression repair.
Changes in the weather this week could lead to challenges for firefighters.
The Forest Service said relative humidity is expected to drop after the moist weekend with an increase in afternoon winds that have the potential to dry out fuels and increase fire activity along ridges and slopes. The dry weather is expected to continue through the week, with generally northerly breezes.
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 August Complex-South area soil burn severity map, courtesy of the US Forest Service. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Burned Area Emergency Response, or BAER, specialists recently completed their data gathering and verification fieldwork of the August Complex-South burn area.
Across all of its zones, the August Complex was up to 1,028,601 acres burned and 75 percent contained as of Sunday night, according to the US Forest Service.
Officials said the soil burn severity map has been finalized. Soil burn severity levels are unburned/very low, low, moderate and high.
The map shows that in the August Complex-South fire area, approximately 52 percent of the 521,256 acres analyzed by the BAER team is either unburned/very low (9%) or low (43%) soil burn severity, while 44 percent sustained a moderate soil burn severity, and only 4 percent burned at high soil burn severity.
Of the land assessed, 416,301 acres, or 79.9 percent, is owned by the Forest Service, 90,288 acres or 17.3 percent is held by other owners, 14,660 acres or 2.8 percent is owned by the Bureau of Land Management and 7 acres, less than 1 percent, covers other federal lands.
The BAER post-fire assessment team uses soil burn severity data to identify if there are areas of concern where increased soil erosion, accelerated surface water run-off, and debris flows have the potential to impact human life/safety, property, and critical natural and cultural resources from storm events.
The team consists of Forest Service scientists and specialists who are considering emergency stabilization options for those critical resources on National Forest System lands.
The BAER team shares it analysis and findings with interagency cooperators who work with private land and business owners to help them prepare for upcoming rain events.
BAER Team Leaders Luke Rutten and Kendal Young said, “The BAER team expects erosion and run-off within the August Complex-South fire area to moderately increase as a result of the fire because 48 percent of the burned area experienced moderate or high soil burn severity.”
In specific areas that experienced moderate to high soil burn severity, there is concern for increased post-fire run-off from steep hillslopes and resultant increases in post-fire soil erosion and debris flows.
The August Complex-South soil burn severity BAER map, shown above, can be downloaded at the interagency August Complex Post-Fire BAER InciWeb site as a JPEG or PDF version under the “maps” tab.
The Glass fire as mapped by Cal Fire on Saturday, October 10, 2020. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Firefighters on the Glass fire had another day of significant containment gains on Saturday while the August Complex continued to add more acreage.
Cal Fire said the Glass fire, burning for two weeks in Napa and Sonoma counties, stayed at 67,484 acres for the second day, with containment up to 86 percent by Saturday night.
The fire has destroyed 1,555 structures and damaged 282 others, Cal Fire said.
Officials said the fire continues to threaten 2,560 structures.
On Saturday there was smoldering heavy fuels and minimal activity over the entire Glass fire Area, Cal Fire said.
The demobilization of resources continues, Cal Fire said, with resources anticipated to be released based on the current fire and weather situation. These measures ensure that the number and type of resources assigned to the incident match the current operational needs.
As a result, Cal Fire said the number of personnel on Saturday was reduced to 1,135, along with 130 engines, 16 water tenders, seven helicopters, 17 hand crews, 11 dozers and two masticators.
The fire remains on track to be fully contained by Oct. 20.
August Complex adds 3,000 more acres
Elsewhere around the region, the August Complex grew by about 3,000 acres to a total of 1,026,947 acres on Saturday night, with containment at 69 percent, the US Forest Service said.
The lightning-caused complex, which began on Aug. 17, is burning on the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests.
The Forest Service said firefighters are continuing mop up along a slopover area northeast of Lake Pillsbury, near Bloody Rock.
On the west side of the South Zone, fire continues to back out of the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness onto Cal Fire Direct Protection Area. The Southwest Area Incident Management Team is engaged in a coordinated and collaborative response with Cal Fire to support suppression actions to protect local communities at risk, officials said.
The Forest Service said firefighters are patrolling the eastern side of the South Zone with aircraft. Fire crews and engines are patrolling the southern and western perimeter of the South Zone.
Minimal fire behavior is expected as cooler temperatures and increased relative humidity continue through the weekend. However, officials said some smoke is expected to remain visible in areas as heavier fuels like logs and stumps continue to hold heat and the fire burns through pockets of previously unburned vegetation within the fire’s perimeter.
Firefighters are evaluating areas across the South Zone to identify and prioritize suppression repair needs. The Forest Service said crews have begun ordering equipment and personnel to support suppression repair efforts in the coming days.
The complex is expected to be fully contained on Nov. 15.
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 August Complex as mapped on Saturday, October 10, 2020. Map courtesy of the US Forest Service.
As the U.S. Department of Transportation establishes October as the first-ever National Pedestrian Safety Month, Caltrans is refining its data-driven programs to enhance pedestrian safety and reduce injury and death on California roadways.
Pedestrian deaths have increased nationwide over the last decade.
In California, pedestrians are 37 times more likely to be injured in a collision than any other roadway user.
Between 2008 and 2017, pedestrian-related incidents accounted for 19 percent of all collisions resulting in death or serious injury.
“At least two pedestrians or cyclists lose their lives on California’s transportation system each day – a number we refuse to accept or normalize,” said Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin. “Safety remains our top priority and the department will work diligently until the trend is reversed. Data-driven augmentations to safety features and a recent $100 million investment dedicated to pedestrian-focused infrastructure improvements will help enhance safety for those who walk and bike on California roadways.”
Caltrans is enhancing pedestrian safety measures at high-risk locations based on traffic collision data. The department uses a first-of-its-kind pedestrian safety toolbox that includes 47 countermeasures to enhance pedestrian safety on the state highway system.
Caltrans investigates high-risk locations to determine the best safety improvement in the toolkit. Specific toolbox improvements include:
– Signal timing enhancement and extended pedestrian crossing times. – Intersection and roadway design changes, such as sidewalks, curb extensions, and roundabouts or raised intersections that provide enhanced pedestrian safety in high traffic locations. – New pedestrian signs and markings, including high-visibility crosswalks, advanced stop and yield markings, or “yield to pedestrian” signs.
Caltrans is already implementing these safety measures (click here to view locations) and expects to identify further safety improvements by September 2021.
In addition, the California Transportation Commission recently approved $100 million for projects that promote active transportation options, such as:
– 310 miles of new and repaired bike lanes; – Installation and repair of nearly 50 miles of sidewalk; – Nearly 3,000 new crosswalks; and – 178 transit stop improvements, such as bus shelters.
The California Office of Traffic Safety, or OTS, is also providing more than $8 million in funding for programs dedicated to the safe and equal access of roads for pedestrians, including:
– Complete Streets Safety Assessments to assist local agencies statewide in identifying and implementing infrastructure improvements to pedestrian safety and accessibility. –Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training programs that encourage local residents in underserved communities to develop a community action plan to improve walking and biking safety. –Coordinate Walking Tours and education outreach with health care providers and senior centers. Focus on high-collision areas for older adult pedestrians and measures to improve safe travel for older adults. –Develop “walking school busses” with groups that walk with students to school and educate students on traffic rules and best safety practices.
National Pedestrian Safety Month is an important reminder that we are all pedestrians at one time or another and that we all play a role in protecting those who walk on California’s transportation system.
“Behavior change goes hand in hand with infrastructure improvements,” OTS Director Barbara Rooney said. “Safe habits by drivers and pedestrians complement a transportation system that is designed with pedestrian travel in mind.”
Motorists and pedestrians can follow these tips to alter their habits for the sake of pedestrian safety.
Tips for drivers:
– Slow down on busy streets and intersections. –Avoid distractions like cell phones, eating, using in-dash touch screens, or deep conversations with passengers. –Be extra careful when approaching crosswalks. –Be prepared to stop for pedestrians. – Avoid blocking crosswalks when making a right-hand turn. – Turn headlights on and slow down at night when pedestrians are more difficult to see.
Tips for pedestrians:
– Stay off the phone, especially when crossing the street. – Always try to use marked crosswalks, preferably at stop signs or signals. – Make eye contact and nod or wave at drivers. A quick nod or wave is an easy way to let a driver know you see them, and they see you. – Be careful crossing streets or entering crosswalks at night when you’re more difficult to see. – Walk with a flashlight and wear a reflective vest at night to make it easier for drivers to see you. – Remember to look both ways for cars if you need to briefly walk into the street to maintain social distancing on sidewalks.
For more information about Caltrans pedestrian programs click here and visit the Office of Traffic Safety website to access pedestrian safety tips by clicking here.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – State Controller Betty T. Yee has published 2019 self-reported payroll data for California special districts on the Government Compensation in California website.
The data cover 164,981 positions and a total of nearly $9.86 billion in 2019 wages and just under $2.83 billion in health and retirement costs for 3,093 special districts.
Special districts are governmental entities created by a local community to meet a specific need. Data for 2019 show the top 10 districts by total wages are in health care, transit, utility, water, and fire districts. Nine of the top 10 individual salaries reported are in health care districts.
The state controller also maintains and publishes state and California State University salary data.
California law requires cities, counties and special districts to annually report compensation data to the state controller.
In Lake County, the site reported there are 28 special districts with 413 employees, wages totaling $10,481,433 and $3,402,464 in retirement and health contributions.
The top 10 largest special districts in Lake County are as follows:
– Lake County Fire Protection District: 48 employees; wages, $1,828,737; retirement and health contributions, $842,697. – Kelseyville Fire Protection District: 42 employees; wages, $1,581,252; retirement and health contributions, $434,497; – Northshore Fire Protection District: 37 employees; wages, $1,319,098; retirement and health contributions, $431,851. – Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District: 18 employees; wages, $1,045,225; retirement and health contributions, $426,752. – Clearlake Oaks Water District: 27 employees; wages, $938,687; retirement and health contributions, $269,991. – Lakeport Fire Protection District: 30 employees; wages, $853,883; retirement and health contributions, $366,648. – Lake County Vector Control District: 16 employees; wages, $613,495; retirement and health contributions, $245,225. – Konocti County Water District: 17 employees; wages, $539,485; retirement and health contributions, $157,757. – Cobb Area County Water District: 18 employees; wages, $336,431; retirement and health contributions, $50,094. – Lower Lake County Waterworks District No. 1: 14 employees; wages, $303,632; retirement and health contributions, $61,421.
An additional special district in Lake County, the Anderson Springs Community Services District, didn’t file information for 2019, according to the site.
A list of districts that did not file or filed incomplete reports is available here.
Since the GCC website launched in 2010, it has registered more than 12 million pageviews. The site contains pay and benefit information on more than two million government jobs in California, as reported annually by each entity.
Users of the site can view compensation levels on maps and search by region, narrow results by name of the district or by job title, and export raw data or custom reports.
As the chief fiscal officer of California, Controller Yee is responsible for accountability and disbursement of the state’s financial resources. The controller has independent auditing authority over government agencies that spend state funds.
The Supreme Court will face another challenge to the Affordable Care Act that is more likely to succeed with the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Meanwhile, Trump recently released his “America-First Healthcare Plan.” In it, the president claims significant achievements. He also outlines broad principles of his vision for the future of health care in America.
Since 2016, Congress has made little headway besides eliminating the ACA’s penalty for not carrying insurance. This is the basis for the current lawsuit to be heard before the Supreme Court in November. The argument is that because Congress did away with the penalty, the individual mandate can no longer be constitutionally justified as a tax. As a result, the entire law should fall.
While Republicans have been unable to repeal the law, the Trump administration has taken a number of executive actions to limit its reach. In combination, these efforts have contributed to bringing the uninsured rate to 14% by 2019 from a low of 11% in 2016. This leaves millions of Americans without coverage and exposed to medical bills should they fall ill.
With few details in Trump’s executive order on health care, the plan lays out goals for improved care and lower prices but offers no legal basis for implementing reforms.Brian Blanco via Getty Images
The administration has also worked to expand alternative insurance plans like so-called short-term, limited-duration health plans and association health plans. While these plans have lower premiums, they do not carry the consumer protections of the ACA like preexisting condition coverage. They also do not pay for prescription drugs or hospital stays. And unlike the ACA, they also require consumers to undergo a medical assessment before enrollment. Consumers may be charged higher premiums or rejected entirely based on their medical condition and age.
On one of the president’s other priorities, eliminating surprise bills for medical services that patients unexpectedly receive for care that they reasonably thought would be covered by their insurance, the administration’s actions have yet to have a meaningful effect.
More generally, after years of promising a detailed plan, the America-First Healthcare Plan focuses primarily on past actions. It also spends just 491 words on laying out a set of objectives – lower costs, better care and more choice – yet does not provide a mechanism or road map for how to implement them.
All this leads me to believe that if the ACA is overturned before the Supreme Court, the prospect of substantive replacement that seeks to expand care to more Americans is unlikely.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council at its last meeting offered honors to its retiring planning commission chair and chose a local businesswoman to succeed him.
The council honored Richard Bean, who stepped down effective Sept. 30, at its meeting on Oct. 1.
Bean joined the commission in March 2017. He’s the retired pastor of Clearlake Church of the Nazarene and a longtime Lake County resident.
Mayor Russ Cremer commended Bean for his efforts. “You’ve always given your all.”
Bean thanked the council for recognizing him, noting he was very humbled by it as all as by the confidence they placed in him.
He said he tried his best to make the city a better place in which to live and commended the council for its efforts to do the same.
While he said he hated to leave the commission, it was necessary for him to do.
Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten, who along with Cremer served with Bean on the planning commission before his election to the city council, said it was always a pleasure working with Bean.
The rest of the council also offered their thanks, as did City Manager Alan Flora, who said Bean was great to work with and that, even when he disagreed on a topic, he shared his opinions honestly and tactfully.
Bean said he loves the city of Clearlake and raised his family there. He’s lived there going back to the time the city was incorporated in 1980.
“My heart is here,” he said, adding that he is so thankful to see the progress that’s been made over the last five to six years.
Later in the meeting, the council interviewed via Zoom two candidates to succeed Bean on the council, Michael McKeown and Fawn Williams.
After interviewing both at length, with each sharing their ideas and backgrounds, the council voted to select Williams as the city’s next planning commissioner.
Williams, a 31-year Clearlake resident, previously worked in the finance and mortgage industry, and since January 2003 has owned and operated Show Dressed Up, making custom women’s and girl’s clothing for wearing in competitions for Western pleasure, horsemanship and showmanship.
She’s also a member of Soroptimist International of Clear Lake and is a volunteer and past board member of SPCA of Lake County.
After the vote, McKeown offered Williams his congratulations. “You did fantastic.”
Cremer congratulated Williams, who had applied for the commission once previously.
“The work is going to start now,” said Cremer. “We’ve got a lot of things ahead of us, a lot of important projects coming up, so you are going to be busy.”
“I’m just really excited to get started and to be a part of some of the decisions that are going to help make Clearlake a better place,” Williams 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.
Gloria Scott. Courtesy photo. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Here’s a nice Dr. Feelgood read for you. We have quite yet another star in the Lake County constellation.
She is a singer/songwriter who went on the road with Dick Clark’s Rock & Roll Road Show. Her first record was produced by Sly Stone. She worked her way up the ranks of Ike & Tina Turner’s review as an Ikette. Tina Turner mentions her in her acclaimed biography.
She signed with Barry White’s Soul Unlimited label and has recorded an album produced by him.
With an underground following in Europe since one of her recordings was re-released in London, she had played the acclaimed Baltic Soul Weekender for 14 consecutive years until the dread COVID-19 stopped that festival in its tracks this year
Gloria Scott lives in Nice, California, and is still making music. She recently shared her story with Lake County News.
Of course, the first question was how did she come to land in Lake County?
“I lived and entertained in Guam for a while. I became good friends with Dianne, wife of the bass player, George Rawls, in the band I was singing in. We stayed in touch and a couple of years ago I was looking for a place and Dianne started helping me look. Suddenly, her rental property became available and that’s where I’m staying now. Dianne is one of my best friends,” Scott explained.
Like Janis Joplin, Gloria Scott was born in Port Arthur, Texas. At 9 months of age, she was moved to Houston where her first musical memories of being in church happened.
“My mom was very musical,” she said. “As a matter of fact, we’d have to go to church all day long. I would fall asleep and hear my mother sing and wake up. When she would finish singing, I would fall back to sleep. Later in life, she told me she once sang on a Gospel show with Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers. But she decided to have a family and married very young. So her work with Sam Cooke was before she was married.”
The piano lessons the young Gloria started at the age of 10 were curtailed early on when they became too expensive for the household.
Barry White’s Soul Unlimited label signed Gloria Scott, who recorded an album produced by him. Courtesy photo. “I did learn a little bit though, and later on started teaching myself chords. So that’s how I started writing songs. I still dabble a little bit. In fact, I currently play for a little church in Lucerne,” she said.
Gloria and her family moved to California in 1960, initially East Palo Alto then Sunnyvale. It was in Sunnyvale where she met Sly Stone.
“The first time I saw him was through my aunt when we first moved to East Palo Alto,” Scott said. “We stayed with her until we found our own place. My aunt, Centranella Boulding, had a rehearsal of her Gospel group at her place. The group consisted of Sly, his sister Rose, their cousin, and my Aunt Centranella. I was 14 years old at the time. The next time I saw Sly was at a school dance during summer school. Sly and his group at the time, The Mojo Men, were playing. My friend got Sly’s attention, pointed to me and told him, ‘She can sing.’
“‘Well, come on up here and sing then,’ he said. So I got up there and sang Gee Whiz. I must’ve impressed him because he started taking me around to sing at their gigs in the Bay Area. I don’t know that I put two and two together about the first time we met or not. It became clearer later,” she said.
“Sly became the first person to take me into the studio and produce me when I recorded ‘I Taught Him’ and ‘Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You’ as Gloria Scott & the Tonettes. When we played one of many Rock & Roll shows at the Cow Palace, the Tonettes were Sly, his Sister Rose, and their cousin La Tonya. I met Marvin Gaye and Betty Everett at the Cow Palace show. When San Francisco-based Bobby Freeman, who was also being produced by Sly, heard ‘Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You,’ he told Sly, ‘I want you to write me a song like that.’ That’s when they came up with ‘The Swim.’ Bobby Freeman was a gifted singer and performer. We shared the bill at many dances and sock hops during that time. Sly looked out for me and didn’t want anybody messin’ with me,” Scott said.
After working with Sly Stone, and other Bay Area artists including John Turk and Clifford Coulter, Scott worked jobs and sang at night and on weekends.
“Eventually, I met Charles Sullivan, whose nickname was the ‘Mayor of Fillmore.’ He was the most successful independent booking agent on the West Coast. He had the lease on the Fillmore Auditorium before Bill Graham. He heard me sing and told me that he wanted to introduce me to some people. One night I got a call from him asking me to come down to the Fillmore Auditorium. When I got there, I auditioned for Ike & Tina Turner. They hired me and took me to L.A. immediately,” Scott said.
“I worked with them for about nine months. It was really a good experience despite my not having the stomach for Ike Turner’s shenanigans. I think he was kind of demonic, actually. I can probably tell some stories that have never been told,” she explained.
“I didn’t start working with them right away. I hung around for a few weeks and said, ‘I wanna go home.’ I wasn’t on the show. I was only singing at auditions which Ike Turner held frequently. I went back to the Bay Area and got another call from Ike who wanted to send me and another group of women as the Ikettes out on a Dick Clark Tour. Ike had four or five sets of Ikettes of which I was in one set. I remember Ike and Tina came to our show after I had moved back to the Bay Area. Later, when I moved to L.A. again, Ike came over one day and said, ‘You wanna be an Ikette?’ And with as much excitement as I could muster I replied, ‘Yes, I wanna be an Ikette!’ What happened was the girls on the Dick Clark tour were making more money than the real Ikettes which made them so mad they quit,” Scott recalled.
“Tina really liked me and eventually she let me sing lead on most of the Ikettes songs because I had found the other girls. She even mentions me in her book. I had my own place when I worked with them, but before I was an Ikette, I stayed at their house. My mom had a café in the Bay Area and I took Tina there when we played the Bay. As an Ikette I did a lot of gigs. We were always going somewhere. The final straw for me came when we missed the bus when we were flying to Houston. Ike said, we would have to fly ourselves and be fined one night’s pay. We already weren’t making much money and I said, ‘If he fines me, I’m gonna quit,’” she said.
“I remember Tina recounting to me that she said to Ike, ‘Gloria said if you fine them, she’s going to quit.’ Ike’s response was, ‘Let the bitch quit then.’ And that’s just what I did. I went back to the Bay Area and worked in retail. A friend of mine convinced me to move back to Southern California. I met my songwriting partner, Herman Chaney, in L.A. and after we wrote a few songs, I got a gig doing entertainment for the Job Corps.
“As I went on the road, Herman said he wanted to introduce me to this guy who was interested in a song of ours. We did about 60 shows in 30 days. When I got back home we went right down to Soul Unlimited on Sunset Boulevard. I met Barry White there and played my songs for him and right then and there he said, ‘I’m gonna sign you as an artist. He signed me to a seven-year artist’s contract.
“And though we didn’t do any of my songs, he did put a lot of arranging and orchestration work on the album he produced and arranged for me which was called, ‘What Am I Gonna Do.’ It made a big splash in Germany though it didn’t do so much here. It was on the Casablanca record label. It was only the second album they ever released. The first was by the shock rockers, Kiss. I was at Casablanca before Donna Summer and the P-Funk group Parliament.
“While I was under contract to Barry White, he kind of left me on the shelf. I was working with this guy at Motown and he introduced me to Mary Wilson of the Supremes. I auditioned for her show and she said, ‘Well, we like your singing but you have to lose some weight because we can’t afford to buy more gowns.’ So, I lost about 30 pounds and worked with her about two years; recording and performing. Interestingly, Barry frowned on me working in clubs.
“Meanwhile though, they were playing my album in Europe and I didn’t know. Years passed before I found out. I was living and working in Guam and I met the owner of a club called the Underground and he said, ‘Your name sounds familiar.’ The next time I saw him he had printed out a list of songs that were charting in London and a single of mine titled ‘A Case of Too Much Lovemakin’ from the ‘What Am I Gonna Do’ album had been re-released,” Scott said.
Before COVID-19, Scott had been singing at various music events in Lake County, sitting in with top-shelf locals like Rob Watson and Howard Reggie Dawkins.
“I’m still hoping to get booked at the casinos if the restrictions on live performing ever get lifted,” she said. “Meanwhile, I’m staying busy by creating a line of designer face masks which people have expressed an interest in.”
For booking, Ms. Gloria Scott can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
T. Watts is a music journalist who lives in Lake County, California.
Gloria Scott now makes her home in Lake County, California. Courtesy photo.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has several more news dogs of various sizes and breeds available to new homes this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of border collie, Chihuahua, German Shepherd, Great Pyrenees, husky, Labrador Retriever, Papillon 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”).
This female Labrador Retriever is in kennel No. 8, ID No. 14073. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female Labrador Retriever
This female Labrador Retriever has a short black coat with white markings.
She is in kennel No. 8, ID No. 14073.
This male Chihuahua is in kennel No. 11, ID No. 14094. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male Chihuahua
This male Chihuahua has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 11, ID No. 14094.
This male Papillon-Chihuahua mix is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 14084. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male Papillon-Chihuahua
This male Papillon-Chihuahua mix has a medium-length tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 14084.
This young male German Shepherd Dog-Labrador Retriever mix is in kennel No. 21, ID No. 14085. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. German Shepherd Dog-Labrador Retriever mix
This young male German Shepherd Dog-Labrador Retriever mix has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 21, ID No. 14085.
This male pit bull is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 14066. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male pit bull
This male pit bull has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 14066.
This male Great Pyrenees is in kennel No. 24, ID No. 14077. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male Great Pyrenees
This male Great Pyrenees has a long white coat.
He is in kennel No. 24, ID No. 14077.
This young male border collie is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 14052. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male border collie
This young male border collie has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 14052.
This young male husky-German Shepherd Dog is in kennel No. 29, ID No. 14097. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male husky-German Shepherd Dog
This young male husky-German Shepherd Dog has a medium-length cream and black coat.
He is in kennel No. 29, ID No. 14097.
“Layla” is a female Labrador Retriever-pit bull mix in kennel No. 30, ID No. 14079. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Layla’
“Layla” is a female Labrador Retriever-pit bull mix.
She has a short black and white coat and has been spayed.
She’s in kennel No. 30, ID No. 14079.
“Max” is a male pit bull terrier mix in kennel No. 31, ID No. 14078. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Max’
“Max” is a male pit bull terrier mix with a short tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 31, ID No. 14078.
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.
Malinda Maynor Lowery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
More and more towns and cities across the country are electing to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day as an alternative to – or in addition to – the day intended to honor Columbus’ voyages.
Critics of the change see it as just another example of political correctness run amok – another flash point of the culture wars.
The growing recognition and celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day actually represents the fruits of a concerted, decades-long effort to recognize the role of indigenous people in the nation’s history.
Why Columbus?
Columbus Day is a relatively new federal holiday.
In 1892, a joint congressional resolution prompted President Benjamin Harrison to mark the “discovery of America by Columbus,” in part because of “the devout faith of the discoverer and for the divine care and guidance which has directed our history and so abundantly blessed our people.”
Europeans invoked God’s will to impose their will on indigenous people. So it seemed logical to call on God when establishing a holiday celebrating that conquest, too.
Of course, not all Americans considered themselves blessed in 1892. That same year, a lynching forced black journalist Ida B. Wells to flee her home town of Memphis. And while Ellis Island had opened in January of that year, welcoming European immigrants, Congress had already banned Chinese immigration a decade prior, subjecting Chinese people living in the U.S. to widespread persecution.
And then there was the government’s philosophy towards the country’s Native Americans, which Army Colonel Richard Henry Pratt so unforgettably articulated in 1892: “All the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”
It took another 42 years for Columbus Day to formally become a federal holiday, thanks to a 1934 decree by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
He was responding, in part, to a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, a national Catholic charity founded to provide services to Catholic immigrants. Over time, its agenda expanded to include advocacy for Catholic social values and education.
When Italians first arrived in the United States, they were targets of marginalization and discrimination. Officially celebrating Christopher Columbus – an Italian Catholic – became one way to affirm the new racial order that would emerge in the U.S. in the 20th century, one in which the descendants of diverse ethnic European immigrants became “white” Americans.
To some, recognition of Columbus was a way to welcome Italian Americans into the fold of mainstream American culture.AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Indigenous people power
But some Americans started to question why Indigenous people – who’d been in the country all along – didn’t have their own holiday.
In the 1980s, Colorado’s American Indian Movement chapter began protesting the celebration of Columbus Day. In 1989, activists in South Dakota persuaded the state to replace Columbus Day with Native American Day. Both states have large Native populations that played active roles in the Red Power Movement in the 1960s and 1970s, which sought to make American Indian people more politically visible.
Then, in 1992, at the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ first voyage, American Indians in Berkeley, California, organized the first “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” a holiday the city council soon formally adopted. Berkeley has since replaced its commemoration of Columbus with a celebration of indigenous people.
The holiday can also trace its origins to the United Nations. In 1977, indigenous leaders from around the world organized a United Nations conference in Geneva to promote indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. Their first recommendation was “to observe October 12, the day of so-called ‘discovery’ of America, as an International Day of Solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.” It took another 30 years for their work to be formally recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted in September 2007.
Unexpected allies
Today, cities with significant native populations, like Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles, now celebrate either Native American Day or Indigenous Peoples Day. And states like Hawaii, Nevada, Minnesota, Alaska and Maine have also formally recognized their Native populations with similar holidays. Many Native governments, like the Cherokee and Osage in Oklahoma, either don’t observe Columbus Day or have replaced it with their own holiday.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills speaks at the signing ceremony to officially replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
But you’ll also find commemorations in less likely places. Alabama celebrates Native American Day alongside Columbus Day, as does North Carolina, which, with a population of over 120,000 Native Americans, has the largest number of Native Americans of any state east of the Mississippi River.
In 2018, the town of Carrboro, North Carolina, issued a resolution to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day. The resolution noted the fact that the town of 21,000 had been built on indigenous land and that it was committed to “protect, respect and fulfill the full range of inherent human rights,” including those of indigenous people.
While Columbus Day affirms the story of a nation created by Europeans for Europeans, Indigenous Peoples Day emphasizes Native histories and Native people – an important addition to the country’s ever-evolving understanding of what it means to be American.
Ants enjoying the nectar of a zucchini plant's flower. Photo by Kathleen Scavone. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Who knew that ants were such fascinating creatures?
I enjoyed a Zoom talk hosted by the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority's Merav Vonstak, PhD recently, who related that there are 12,000 to 15,000 ant species worldwide.
When I think of the masses of ants that had silently invaded my home during an extended vacation years ago, it looked as if every one of the 15,000 ant species had congregated in my kitchen!
They had chosen a houseplant as their home base where their ant excavations were taking place in the planter's soil. Needless to say, that plant now lives far away from the kitchen!
Dr. Vonstak pointed the Zoom class towards an ant data website called www.antmaps.org.
If you hover the cursor over California it shows that we have 281 native ant species in our state; and by moving the cursor “around the world” it gives you an idea of the diversity of ant critters worldwide.
Ants are highly organized in their social structure, or “eusocial.” They display cooperative brood care and they have an organized division of labor where some ants “empty the trash” that may have accumulated in the nest, while some ants are fighters and will defend their domain.
The life cycle of the ant includes egg, larva, pupa then adult metamorphosis. Each colony contains at least one queen who is distinguished by her large eyes and large thorax and abdomen.
The queen may live up to two years unless it's a harvester or carpenter ant, then she may reach the ripe old age of 30 years. Male ants also possess large eyes which enable him to find a mate.
Worker ants are sterile; they cannot lay eggs. The workers, who may live only weeks, vary in size since there are minors, medians and majors.
Most ant species are omnivores, however, some species specialize, and prefer fruit, nectar or seeds. Some ant species are a boon to the garden as they dine on pesky aphids.
If you want to sneak a peek at ant life, they can easily be found in most habitats, nesting under rocks or downed tree limbs.
Harvester ants will be busily gathering seeds near grasslands, while big carpenter ants live inside decomposing logs or in dead trees.
The ants around my deck will want to watch out for fence lizards that I've seen gobbling them up like Pacman!
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, freelance writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.”
Familiar stars shine, nebulae glow, and nearby galaxies tantalize in a new panorama of the northern sky assembled from 208 pictures captured by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS.
The planet hunter imaged about 75 percent of the sky in a two-year-long survey and is still going strong.
TESS has discovered 74 exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system. Astronomers are sifting through some 1,200 additional exoplanet candidates, where potential new worlds await confirmation. More than 600 of these candidates lie in the northern sky.
TESS locates planets by simultaneously monitoring many stars over large regions of the sky and watching for tiny changes in their brightness.
When a planet passes in front of its host star from our perspective, it blocks some of the star’s light, causing it to temporarily dim. This event is called a transit, and it repeats with every orbit of the planet around the star. This technique has proven to be the most successful planet-finding strategy so far, accounting for about three-quarters of the nearly 4,300 exoplanets now known.
The data collected also allow for the study of other phenomena such as stellar variations and supernova explosions in unprecedented detail.
The northern mosaic covers less of the sky than its southern counterpart, which was imaged during the mission’s first year of operations.
For about half of the northern sectors, the team decided to angle the cameras further north to minimize the impact of scattered light from Earth and the Moon. This results in a prominent gap in coverage.
TESS map of the northern sky
The northern panorama represents only a glimpse of the data TESS has returned. The mission splits each celestial hemisphere into 13 sectors. TESS imaged each sector for nearly a month using four cameras, which carry a total of 16 sensors called charge-coupled devices, or CCDs.
During its primary mission, the cameras captured a full sector of the sky every 30 minutes. This means each CCD acquired nearly 30,800 full science images.
Adding in other measurements, TESS has beamed back more than 40 terabytes so far – equivalent to streaming some 12,000 high-definition movies.
Remarkably, these numbers will rise sharply over the next year. TESS has now begun its extended mission, during which it will spend another year imaging the southern sky. The satellite will revisit planets discovered in its first year, find new ones, and fill in coverage gaps from its initial survey.
Improvements to the satellite’s data collection and processing now allow TESS to return full sector images every 10 minutes and measure the brightness of thousands of stars every 20 seconds – all while continuing its previous strategy of measuring the brightness of tens of thousands of stars every two minutes.
“These changes promise to make TESS’s extended mission even more fruitful,” said Padi Boyd, the mission’s project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Making high-precision measurements of stellar brightness at these frequencies makes TESS an extraordinary new resource for studying flaring and pulsating stars and other transient phenomena, as well as for exploring the science of transiting exoplanets.”
TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Additional partners include Northrop Grumman, based in Falls Church, Virginia; NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley; the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts; MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory; and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. More than a dozen universities, research institutes, and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission.
Francis Reddy works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
