LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A decade after a landslide began destroying homes in the Lakeside Heights subdivision and impacting Hill Road, the county of Lake is preparing to begin purchasing properties necessary to make repairs to the slide area.

On Tuesday, Public Works Director Scott De Leon requested, and received, the approval from the Board of Supervisors to establish just compensation for properties to be purchased for the Hill Road Slide Repair and Restoration Project.

Early in 2013, a landslide developed at the 29-home Lakeside Heights subdivision, which sits above Hill Road and across from the Sutter Lakeside Hospital campus.

Ultimately, the slide would destroy six homes and lead to repeated wintertime closures of Hill Road when rain would cause the slide to move across the roadway.

Those closures of Hill Road have been a particular concern. “Hill Road is our primary route to Sutter Hospital from the Northshore communities so it's a very important road for us to keep open,” De Leon said.

In 2014, the homeowners filed suit against the county, alleging that its water system was to blame. The county settled with the homeowners for $4.5 million in 2017.

The work to plan and design the project has been underway for years. De Leon said numerous issues led to the project delays, including the lawsuit.

However, now the repair project has finally been designed and De Leon said his staff is in the process of acquiring the right of way necessary to complete the project.

De Leon said the item he took to the board on Tuesday was meant to accomplish a few things, including meeting the requirements of federal and state codes.

Because federal funds are being used for the project, De Leon said the board needed to establish just compensation for the properties that the county wants to acquire in order to be in accordance with federal code requirements. That compensation cannot be less than the approved appraisal of the fair market value of the property.

De Leon’s report included a document that listed nine properties that the county wants to purchase for the project, as well as the fair market value of each, determined by an appraisal by the county’s consultant, Bender Rosenthal Inc., and formally reviewed and certified by Sierra West Valuation in accordance with federal code requirements.

A review of a Lake County GIS map shows that the properties in question are vacant lots, primarily located at the edge of the Lakeside Heights subdivision and overlooking Hill Road.

The properties proposed for purchase and their base market value are as follows:

• 5417 Lancaster Road, $9,200.
• 5406 Lancaster Road, $9,200.
• 5432 Lancaster Road, $9,200.
• 5377 Hill Road, $10,700.
• 5396 Lancaster Road, $9,200.
• 5436 Lancaster Road, $9,200.
• 5392 Lancaster Road, $9,200.
• 5412, 5416, 5422, 5427 and 5433 Lancaster Road, $43,600.
• 1025 Downing Drive, $2,200.

De Leon said state code says that a legislative body of a local agency has to grant authority to a negotiator regarding the price and terms of payment before a purchase, sale or exchange, and also has to identify its negotiators, the people with whom they can negotiate and the real property that is the subject of the negotiations.

He said he and Bender Rosenthal representatives will be negotiators on behalf of the county with the property owners.

Any subsequent negotiations will be held in closed session with proper notice, said De Leon.

He said he staff recommended that the board determine that the just compensation for the properties listed is not less than the fair market values.

Supervisor Bruno Sabatier asked about the timeline for the project’s completion, explaining that he had issues with liability with property that may be sliding onto vehicles and pedestrians. “We do continue to see that each winter.”

Sabatier said the process was done correctly and he agreed with the quotes and appraisals presented. “What liability are we taking on if this is a 10-year project versus if it’s going to happen within the next foreseeable future?”

“We have some funding deadlines for construction. We need to get this project built,” said De Leon.

He said there won’t be a 10-year delay between acquisition of properties and construction.

While he doesn’t think it will be built this year, if the process goes smoothly, at the latest it would be constructed by next summer.

Sabatier said he felt that timeline was doable.

De Leon said all of the property acquisitions are going to be incorporated into the repair project’s design.

Supervisor Michael Green, in whose district the project is located, questioned what the board would be negotiating in closed session if they can’t go below the minimum prices or above fair market value.

He said he wasn’t going to ask De Leon for the reasoning behind the item, but added, “It’s going to box us in during the closed session.”

“Let’s just wait and have that conversation,” said Board Chair Jessica Pyska.

Green moved to approve the item, with Sabatier seconding and the board voting 4-0. Supervisor Moke Simon was absent for the discussion.

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

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — With the National Weather Service’s Eureka office forecasting fire weather conditions in Lake County on Friday afternoon, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, in conjunction with local fire districts, is urging residents and visitors to exercise particular caution.

“Fire weather” is a term used when hot temperatures combine with low relative humidity and gusty winds to increase the risk of fire starts and rapid spread, OES said.

The National Weather Service also has issued a heat advisory from 11 a.m. Friday to 11 p.m. Saturday due to high temperatures up to 107 degrees throughout Lake County.

OES and fire officials are asking people to follow simple tips to avoid starting a fire.

Those tips include:

• Do not drive onto tall vegetation;
• Do not participate in any spark producing activities including, but not limited to, outdoor welding or grinding and mowing.
• When towing, ensure chains are not dragging.
• Do not conduct outdoor cooking, such as barbecues, near dry vegetation. Always have a fire extinguisher nearby.

Beyond Friday, daytime temperatures also are expected to top the century mark on Saturday before dropping into the high 90s on Sunday and the lower 90s early next week. Conditions at night are anticipated to be in the low to mid 60s.

While the temperatures remain high, officials remind community members to drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room and out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors.

Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside, rescheduling strenuous activities to early morning or evening.

Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke, and wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible.

Lake County OES’ website has additional preparedness information including how-to pack a go-bag on a reduced budget video, children’s activities and links to other agency websites.

Follow Lake County OES, Lake County Sheriff and fire districts on social media for ongoing information.

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.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has nearly three dozen dogs waiting to be adopted into new families.

The Clearlake Animal Control website continues to list 34 dogs for adoption.

This week’s dogs include “Emma,” a female Rottweiler mix with a black and tan coat.

“Henry” is a male pit bull terrier mix with a red and white coat.

“Clyde” is a male Great Pyrenees mix with a fluffy black and white coat.

The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit Clearlake Animal Control on the city’s website.

This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.

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.

 

Talks between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and UPS over a new contract fell apart on July 5, 2023. The union and the shipping and logistics company are blaming each other for the collapse, which occurred a few weeks after 97% of UPS’s Teamsters voted to strike if the Teamsters and UPS don’t reach an agreement by midnight on July 31.

Without a deal in place, more than 300,000 Teamsters will stop working on Aug. 1. It would mark the delivery service’s first strike since 1997.

The Conversation asked Jason Miller, a supply chain scholar at Michigan State University, to explain how likely it is that this will happen and what to expect if it does.

What are the reasons for this impending strike?

Before the talks collapsed, both sides had been negotiating extensively on a new five-year agreement that would cover about 340,000 unionized UPS workers.

The delivery company has agreed to some of the Teamsters’ demands, pledging to:

1. End a two-tiered wage system in which part-time workers earn an average of about US$5 per hour less than full-time workers;

2. Make Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the third Monday of January, a paid holiday;

3. Stop requiring UPS employees to work overtime hours on their days off;

4. Add fans and install air conditioning in many trucks to improve cooling.

The primary remaining sticking points concern part-time workers. The Teamsters dispute UPS’s claim that part-time workers earn an average of $20 per hour. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien instead says they’re paid “poverty wages.”

The Teamsters further want part-time workers to have earlier access to health insurance coverage and pension plans and a clearer pathway to full-time employment. The union also seeks to resolve safety and health concerns and “better pay for all workers,” as well as obtaining “stronger protections against managerial harassment.”

The impasse comes after two years in which UPS posted record profits. The company cleared $12.9 billion and $11.5 billion, respectively, in 2021 and 2022. The company nearly tripled its net income from the levels seen in 2018 and 2019 of $4.8 billion and $4.4 billion.

The Teamsters argue that these record profits mean UPS can afford to pay higher wages.

What should consumers expect?

If unionized UPS workers do go on strike, many U.S. consumers will surely fear delays in the delivery of their online purchases. In my view, that’s a reasonable concern, given that UPS handles roughly 25% of all U.S. package deliveries.

The 1997 strike, which lasted 16 days, took place when e-commerce was in its infancy. The Census Bureau only began to track that slice of the economy in 1999, when online shopping amounted to about 0.6% of all retail sales. Today, consumers spend about 15% of their shopping dollars on e-commerce purchases.

If a strike were to happen, UPS competitors, including FexEx Ground and the United States Postal Service, would likely be able to handle about 20% of UPS’s deliveries because the industry currently has some excess capacity.

That’s due to delivery workers clocking fewer hours per week today compared to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Parcel delivery demand peaked in 2021, when millions of Americans were still social distancing.

If a prolonged strike happens, UPS could lose up to 30% of its business, experts warn, as customers switch to rival services.

The risk of losing market share is leading many industry experts to believe that if a strike were to occur, it wouldn’t last long.

What about businesses?

Roughly 57.3% of the packages UPS delivers are shipped straight to consumers. The rest go to retailers and other businesses.

Based on my years of researching transportation operations and supply chain disruptions, I believe Americans should recognize that the impact of a UPS strike would stretch far beyond delayed delivery of everything from pet food to tennis rackets that they buy online.

A UPS strike could disrupt the availability of spare parts for cars and wholesale medical supplies, just to name a few essentials. Consumers will also find it harder to get clothing and shoes in stores, as retail locations are typically replenished by parcel carriers.

The supply chain for manufacturing computer and electronics products would probably be disrupted too, according to my analysis of data from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics that tracks how different industries transport products to their customers. Farmers and construction companies trying to get spare parts for heavy equipment would see delays in those shipments, which might result in downtime that costs tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Consequently, a strike would leave many businesses scrambling to fulfill customers’ orders, which may force them to spend more money on higher-priced air freight shipping.

Even a 10-day strike could cost the U.S. economy an estimated $7.1 billion , according to Anderson Economic Group – a research firm – making it potentially the costliest strike in U.S. history. These costs stem from the 340,000 striking workers losing an estimated $1.1 billion in wages and UPS losing $816 million in earnings. The balance of this estimate would result from the disruptions incurred by UPS customers.

What do you think will happen?

Unlike the threatened railroad strikes of 2022, there is no system in place for the federal government to prevent a UPS strike. On that occasion, Congress had the option of intervening, but a deal was reached before the government had to step in.

However, it seems likely that there will be calls for the White House to get both parties back to the negotiating table.

Given that both the Teamsters and UPS have an incentive to not see the company lose customers to rival shipping operations, I believe that they may reach a deal soon enough to avoid a costly and disruptive strike. Consistent with this, UPS announced on July 19, 2023, that it and the Teamsters will return to the negotiating table before their July 31 deadline.

Jason Miller, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management, Michigan State University

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

A state agency that has a direct impact on Lake County residents and millions of other Californians is celebrating its golden anniversary.

Fifty years ago this month, the state of California established a new Department of Transportation, today known as Caltrans, to unify a wide range of transportation functions under a single entity.

Since July 1973, the department has managed one of the most complex transportation systems in the nation and helped play a vital role in creating the world’s fourth largest economy.

Five decades later, Caltrans continues its mission to deliver a best-in-class experience for all Californians, regardless of the mode of travel they choose.

Additionally, to honor the milestone, Caltrans has released an updated history page on its official website.

This new content traces the state’s transportation roots from 1895 when the Bureau of Highways was formed and chronicles key developments and noteworthy projects spanning to the present day.

Visit the Caltrans Historical Page here.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Earlier this month, the Clearlake Police Department served five search warrants at properties within the city involving illegal marijuana growing operations.

Police said approximately 3,650 marijuana plants and just over one 1,000 pounds of processed marijuana were seized from the five locations.

Additionally, 12 illegally owned firearms and approximately 6,450 rounds of ammunition were seized from four of the locations, officials reported.

The marijuana plants at the properties were mostly outdoors, but several had marijuana growing inside the residences, police said.

Police said none of the properties had licenses allowing the cultivation of marijuana.

Four people were arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail for charges related to illegal marijuana operations and firearms, according to the police report.

Both the marriage and divorce rates of U.S. women age 15 and older declined from 2011 to 2021.

In 2021, the U.S. marriage rate was 14.9 marriages in the last year per 1,000 women, down from 16.3 a decade earlier. And the 2021 divorce rate dropped to 6.9 in the last year from 9.7 divorces per 1,000 women in 2011.

But the rates varied by state during both time periods.

Now, an updated U.S. Census Bureau visualization allows you to rank and compare divorce and marriage rates in your state to those in other states and the nation.

Using data from the 2011 and 2021 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, it provides a state-by-state look at marriage and divorce rates per 1,000 women age 15 and older. Please note that not all differences in state marriage and divorce rates are statistically significant.

While the U.S. Census Bureau publishes estimates for both men and women, we have restricted this visualization to data for women to provide a digestible look at trends in marriage and divorce.

Historically, women’s data have often been presented when a choice needs to be made. Previous research [PDF 2.3 MB] found that women more often report data for themselves and report their marital history more accurately.

According to the data, in 2021:

• Alaska and Utah had among the highest marriage rates, at 23.5 and 22.3, respectively. These rates, however, do not significantly differ from each other.

• Puerto Rico had among the lowest marriage and divorce rates. Its marriage rate was 4.7 and its divorce rate 3.9. Puerto Rico’s low marriage and divorce rates likely resulted, at least in part from the high outmigration of its young adult population, especially after Hurricane Maria.

• Massachusetts had a marriage rate of 11.8, also among the nation’s lowest.

• Idaho and Arkansas had among the highest divorce rates, at 11.1 and 11.0, respectively (not a statistically significant difference).

• New Hampshire had a divorce rate of 4.3, among the lowest in the nation.

There are three components of the visualization: an introductory tab discussing how marriage and divorce rates are calculated; a map tab showing each state’s marriage and divorce rates compared to the national average; and a ranking table tab showing each state’s marriage/divorce rank in 2011 and 2021.

Chanell Washington and Lydia Anderson are family demographers in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division.




To see the live visualization, visit here.

 

Extreme heat has been breaking records across Europe, Asia and North America, with millions of people sweltering in heat and humidity well above “normal” for days on end.

Death Valley hit a temperature of 128 degrees Fahrenheit (53.3 degrees Celsius) on July 16, 2023 – not quite the world’s hottest day on record, but close. Phoenix broke a record heat streak with 19 straight days with temperatures above 110 F (43.3 C), and had more in the forecast, accompanied by several nights that never got below 90 F (32.2 C). Globally, Earth likely had its hottest week on modern record in early July.

Heat waves are becoming supercharged as the climate changes – lasting longer, becoming more frequent and getting just plain hotter.

One question a lot of people are asking is: “When will it get too hot for normal daily activity as we know it, even for young, healthy adults?”

The answer goes beyond the temperature you see on the thermometer. It’s also about humidity. Our research is designed to come up with the combination of the two, measured as “wet-bulb temperature.” Together, heat and humidity put people at greatly increased risk, and the combination gets dangerous at lower levels than scientists previously believed.

The limits of human adaptability

Scientists and other observers have become alarmed about the increasing frequency of extreme heat paired with high humidity.

People often point to a study published in 2010 that theorized that a wet-bulb temperature of 95 F (35 C) – equal to a temperature of 95 F at 100% humidity, or 115 F at 50% humidity – would be the upper limit of safety, beyond which the human body can no longer cool itself by evaporating sweat from the surface of the body to maintain a stable body core temperature.

It was not until recently that this limit was tested on humans in laboratory settings. The results of these tests show an even greater cause for concern.

The PSU H.E.A.T. Project

To answer the question of “how hot is too hot?” we brought young, healthy men and women into the Noll Laboratory at Penn State University to experience heat stress in a controlled environmental chamber.

These experiments provide insight into which combinations of temperature and humidity begin to become harmful for even the healthiest humans.

Each participant swallowed a small telemetry pill that continuously monitored their deep body or core temperature. They then sat in an environmental chamber, moving just enough to simulate the minimal activities of daily living, such as showering, cooking and eating. Researchers slowly increased either the temperature in the chamber or the humidity in hundreds of separate experiments and monitored when the subject’s core temperature started to rise.

That combination of temperature and humidity at which the person’s core temperature starts to continuously rise is called the “critical environmental limit.”

Below those limits, the body is able to maintain a relatively stable core temperature over long periods of time. Above those limits, core temperature rises continuously and the risk of heat-related illnesses with prolonged exposures is increased.

When the body overheats, the heart has to work harder to pump blood flow to the skin to dissipate the heat, and when you’re also sweating, that decreases body fluids. In the direst case, prolonged exposure can result in heat stroke, a life-threatening problem that requires immediate and rapid cooling and medical treatment.

Our studies on young healthy men and women show that this upper environmental limit is even lower than the theorized 35 C. It occurs at a wet-bulb temperature of about 87 F (31 C) across a range of environments above 50% relative humidity. That would equal 87 F at 100% humidity or 100 F (38 C) at 60% humidity.

Dry vs. humid environments

Current heat waves around the globe are exceeding those critical environmental limits, and approaching, if not exceeding, even the theorized 95 F (35 C) wet-bulb limits.

In the Middle East, Asaluyeh, Iran, recorded an extremely dangerous maximum wet-bulb temperature of 92.7 F (33.7 C) on July 16, 2023. India and Pakistan have both reached hazardous levels in recent years, as well.

In hot, dry environments, the critical environmental limits aren’t defined by wet-bulb temperatures, because almost all the sweat the body produces evaporates, which cools the body. However, the amount humans can sweat is limited, and we also gain more heat from the higher air temperatures.

Keep in mind that these cutoffs are based solely on keeping your body temperature from rising excessively. Even lower temperatures and humidity can place stress on the heart and other body systems.

A recent paper from our laboratory showed that heart rate begins to increase well before our core temperature does, as we pump blood to the skin. And while eclipsing these limits does not necessarily present a worst-case scenario, prolonged exposure may become dire for vulnerable populations such as the elderly and those with chronic diseases.

Our experimental focus has now turned to testing older men and women, since even healthy aging makes people less heat-tolerant. The increased prevalence of heart disease, respiratory problems and other health problems, as well as certain medications, can put them at even higher risk of harm. People over the age of 65 comprise some 80% to 90% of heat wave casualties.

How to stay safe

Staying well hydrated and seeking areas in which to cool down – even for short periods – are important in high heat.

While more cities in the United States are expanding cooling centers to help people escape the heat, there will still be many people who will experience these dangerous conditions with no way to cool themselves.

Even those with access to air conditioning might not turn it on because of the high cost of energy – a common occurrence in Phoenix – or because of large-scale power outages during heat waves or wildfires, as is becoming more common in the western U.S.

All told, the evidence continues to mount that climate change is not just a problem for the future. It is one that humanity is currently facing and must tackle head-on.

This is an update to an article originally published July 6, 2022.

W. Larry Kenney, Professor of Physiology, Kinesiology and Human Performance, Penn State; Daniel Vecellio, Geographer-climatologist and Postdoctoral Fellow, Penn State; Rachel Cottle, Ph.D. Candidate in Exercise Physiology, Penn State, and S. Tony Wolf, Postdoctoral Researcher in Kinesiology, Penn State

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

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Clearlake City Council is set to consider approving a school resource officer contract for the first time in nearly three years and approving traffic signal updates.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 20, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

The meeting will be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel or the Lake County PEGTV YouTube Channel. Community members also can participate via Zoom or can attend in person. The webinar ID is 878 6022 4577.

One tap mobile is available at +16694449171,,83085917604# or join by phone at 669 444 9171 or 720 707 2699.

The agenda can be found here.

Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments before 4 p.m. Thursday, July 20.

On Thursday the council will consider approving a memorandum of understanding with the Konocti Unified School for a school resource officer for the 2023-24 school year.

The report on the item to the council from Police Chief Tim Hobbs explained that the Clearlake Police Department has not had a school resource officer, or SRO, assigned to work for it since October 2020.

“The police department's current staffing level allows one officer to be assigned full-time to the SRO position,” Hobbs wrote.

The memorandum of understanding calls for Konocti Unified to pay $142,956.32 to fund the cost of a full-time SRO, which includes salary, benefits, overtime, training and vehicle usage costs, Hobbs wrote. “The City can also recover additional overtime costs for other officers used at school events.”

Other business include the proposed award of a contract to DC Electric in the amount of
$46,715 for traffic signal updates.

Public Works Director Adeline Leyba’s report to the council explains that the upgrades will take place at the intersection of Olympic Drive and Old Highway 53 and include replacement of the traffic signal controller and cabinet monitoring unit and a new video detection system.

Leyba said the city received Coronavirus Response and Relief supplemental appropriations through Caltrans for the project and solicited proposals.

The city received three bids. In addition to DC Electric, which had the lowest bid, the other two bidders were Mike Brown Electric, $79,710; and St. Francis Electric LLC, $97,350.

Also on Thursday, the council will meet July’s adoptable dogs, and consider awarding a contract for guardrail installation with Midstate Barrier for $46,500 and authorize the city manager to approve up to 10% for additional unforeseen contract amendments.

On the meeting's consent agenda — items that are considered routine in nature and usually adopted on a single vote — are warrants and minutes.

The council also will hold a closed session after the meeting to discuss a liability claim by Cari McCormick against the California Public Employees' Retirement System, state of California, county of Lake and city of Clearlake, et al.

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. — During a quick Tuesday night meeting, the Lakeport City Council held two brief public hearings on utility-related matters and selected a voting delegate to a statewide conference.

During the half-hour-long meeting, Assistant City Manager/Finance Director Nick Walker presented to the council the items for the public hearings.

The first public hearing was for the purpose of approving a resolution identifying delinquent utility accounts to be submitted to the Lake County Auditor-Controller’s Office for inclusion on the property tax roll.

Walker said that, initially, the list accounted for delinquent accounts totaling $40,000. As of Tuesday night, that total had dropped to $14,000. Last year, the delinquent account totaled $10,000.

“This process did what it’s supposed to do,” said Walker, adding they will continue to collect delinquent funds until the deadline to submit the list to the county.

Councilman Kenny Parlet moved to approve the resolution, with Councilwoman Kim Costa seconding and the council voting 5-0.

Next up was a hearing to adopt a resolution changing the fees collected for the Water and Sewer Expansion Fee Program, which also can be described as developer fees.

Walker was careful to explain that the fees to be collected for the program are completely separate from the regular water and sewer rates paid by utility customers. Those rates were adjusted a few years ago.

He said this program is an attempt to equitably share the cost of the existing infrastructure between current customers and new customers connecting to the city’s water and sewer utility systems.

The fees, he said, are collected from developers.

Willdan Financial Services, which the city contracted with in June of 2022, completed the water and sewer expansion fee study. Walker said that’s the same company that did the study on utility rates a few years ago.

It took about a year for this latest study to be completed. Walker said the goal was to update the fees to reflect the cost of providing services to new or expanded development.

The last time the city conducted a water and sewer expansion fee study was in 2007. “It was very dated,” Walker said, adding the recommendation is to conduct such a study every five years.

He said a lot of the assumptions used in the 2007 study are outdated, particularly those involving population growth, which had followed the city’s general plan. The previous study called for a great deal of residential growth, “which just hasn’t happened,” Walker said.

The new study includes updated assumptions and actually lowers the fees for the expansion program, said Walker.

Mayor Stacey Mattina said the new study was long overdue.

Parlet moved to adopt the resolution, with Mayor Pro Tem Michael Froio seconding and the council approving the resolution 5-0.

The council also unanimously selected Froio as the voting delegate for the annual League of California Cities conference, with Mattina as the first alternate and Costa as the second alternate.

City Manager Kevin Ingram said the city usually gets one or two resolutions a year to decide on at the September conference, and will get the information packets on the resolutions in August so that the council can take its own action on them at the end of August or beginning of September.

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 world just sweltered through its hottest June in the 174-year global climate record.

Additionally, Earth’s ocean surface temperature anomaly — which indicates how much warmer or cooler temperatures are from the long-term average — were the highest ever recorded, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

Here’s a closer look into NOAA’s latest monthly global climate report:

Climate by the numbers

June 2023

The average global surface (land and ocean) temperature in June was 1.89 degrees F (1.05 degrees C) above average, ranking June 2023 as Earth’s warmest June on record. June 2023 was 0.23 of a degree F (0.13 of a degree C) warmer than the previous record set in June 2020.

June 2023 also marked the 47th-consecutive June and the 532nd-consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average.

For the third consecutive month, the global ocean surface temperature hit a record high as weak El Nino conditions that emerged in May continued to strengthen in June. Globally, June 2023 set a record for the highest monthly sea surface temperature anomaly of any month in NOAA’s climate record.

The year to date (YTD, January through June)

The first half of 2023 ranked as the third warmest such YTD on record, with a global temperature of 1.82 degrees F (1.01 degrees C) above the 20th-century average of 56.3 degrees F (13.5 degrees C).

According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook, there is a greater than 99% chance that 2023 will rank among the 10-warmest years on record and a 97% chance it will rank among the top five.

Other notable climate events in the report

Sea ice coverage hit a record low: Globally, June 2023 saw the lowest sea ice coverage (extent) for any June on record. This primarily was a result of the record-low sea ice in the Antarctic that occurred for the second consecutive month. Earth’s global sea ice extent in June 2023 was 330,000 square miles less than the previous record low from June 2019.

The tropics were active last month: Nine named storms occurred across the globe in June. Four of the storms reached tropical cyclone strength (winds of 74 mph or higher) with one of those reaching major tropical cyclone strength (winds of 111 mph or higher). These counts are all above 1991–2020 averages for June. The Atlantic basin saw three tropical storms this June, which ties eight other years for the most storms in June.

 

Because of climate change, summers are getting hotter and more humid – much more humid. SciLine interviewed Dr. W. Larry Kenney, professor of physiology and kinesiology at Penn State University, who discussed why humid heat can be dangerous to human health and, in some cases, life-threatening; how heat stresses the body, particularly the cardiovascular system; and why infants, athletes and older adults are especially susceptible.

Below are some highlights from the discussion. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

How is climate change affecting the frequency and severity of heat waves in the U.S.?

Kenney: When climatologists talk about the changing climate and global warming, the focus is on the average temperature on Earth – the average surface temperature, the average ocean temperature and so on. Humans are tropical animals; we evolved in tropical climates. And so a change of a couple of degrees Fahrenheit in the average Earth’s temperature doesn’t have much of an effect on human health directly.

However, if you think of the range of climates as a bell-shaped curve, and then think of that whole curve shifting toward hotter temperatures, it’s the extremes that are dangerous. So we’ll have more hot days and more extremely hot days, which result in an increased frequency, duration and intensity of environmental heat waves.

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Read Kenney’s in-depth story on his research for The Conversation.

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Why is humid heat particularly dangerous?

Kenney: The primary means by which humans get rid of body heat that’s built up is by evaporation of sweat. The more humid it is, the less of the sweat that we produce evaporates, and the less of that powerful cooling mechanism we have at our disposal.

Other than sweating, how does the body respond to heat stress?

Kenney: The other way we cope with increased body temperature is unique to humans. We pump a lot of blood to the skin to dissipate heat to the environment. So under extremely hot resting conditions, we may pump as much blood to the skin as we pump to the entire rest of the body.

And as we pump more and more blood to the skin, the heart has to work harder and heart rate increases. And in some cases, in some vulnerable populations, that can put a great strain on an already-compromised heart.

Why are infants and older adults particularly vulnerable to heat and humidity?

Kenney: Infants are particularly vulnerable to high heat and humidity, primarily because they’re at the mercy of adults to make good decisions to make sure that they’re protected from hot conditions, adequately hydrated, properly fed and so on.

Coupled with that, infants don’t have a very well-developed thermoregulatory system. Their ability to dissipate heat, once body temperature is elevated … is lower than that of adults.

And so, unfortunately every summer, there are a number of deaths of children left in hot cars by accident, which is a real tragedy.

On the other part of the age spectrum, the elderly are also particularly vulnerable to high heat and humidity for a number of reasons, including socioeconomic factors – lack of access to air conditioning, becoming more sedentary and less fit, and going outdoors less often.

And then physiological changes occur with aging, including a lesser ability to pump blood to the skin, accompanied by more strain on the heart and a lower ability to produce sweat and evaporate that sweat for cooling.

So individuals on both ends of the age spectrum tend to be particularly vulnerable to what we term classic heatstroke.

Are there any government regulations in place to protect workers from heat?

Kenney: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health provides guidance on work/rest cycles, depending on how hard people are working and how hot and humid the environment is.

There is also good information available on heat acclamation procedures for those workers, getting them ready to better tolerate conditions of high heat and humidity. Unfortunately, this is not an enforceable standard.

What should coaches and athletes know about staying safe when exercising in hot conditions?

Kenney: Most of the athletes who succumb to heat-related disorders do so during the first few days of training for their sport – in particular football players during late July and early August, when the players have not really become truly acclimated to exercise in those hot environments.

Coaches need to be knowledgeable about gradually acclimating their athletes to the heat. They also need to be knowledgeable about proper hydration practices. And another thing that coaches need to realize is that many heat-related deaths in athletes across many sports are associated with coaches having the players run wind sprints or do intense exercise at the end of, or very late in, the practice.

The athletes already have a high heat buildup. That’s then exacerbated by pushing themselves really hard at the end of practice and core temperature soars. In terms of the athletes, they first and foremost need to listen to their bodies and not push themselves beyond their physiological limits.

There’s no way that really trying to tough it out when you have signs and symptoms of heat-related strain or illness makes sense, because your attitude can’t overcome physiology.

Is the heat index a good measurement of how hot it feels and how people’s bodies are affected by heat?

Kenney: The heat index was developed in 1979 and popularized by the National Weather Service as a measure of how hot it feels when temperature is combined with relative humidity. And there’s a long, complex equation that’s used for calculating the heat index.

The problem with using the heat index for human health and safety is that it’s a perceptual index – it’s truly an estimate of how hot we feel in that environment, not the effects of that heat and humidity on the human body.

A better measurement that many people have used is something called wet-bulb temperature. That involves taking a typical mercury thermometer, putting a wick over the bulb and then saturating that wick with water. And as water evaporates from that wick, it cools down the temperature measured by the thermometer. In many ways, it mimics a human sweating and evaporating that sweat.

So wet-bulb temperature is becoming known as a better index of heat strain. It’s not perfect. It doesn’t account for radiation from the Sun, for example‚ but it’s much better than the heat index because it’s much more physiological.

Watch the full interview to hear more about how heat and humidity affect your health.

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W. Larry Kenney, Professor of Physiology, Kinesiology and Human Performance, Penn State

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