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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Just over two months after some of the most destructive fires in state history hit Northern California, the debris removal program has reached a major milestone.

Officials said the October wildland fires destroyed 8,900 structures and damaged thousands more.

To date, debris removal operations teams have moved more than 573,000 tons from the wildfire burn areas.

Within the quarter-million burned acres, massive amounts of debris were left behind for clean-up. These fires also left behind thousands of parcels with hazardous waste materials.

The State and Federal Consolidated Debris Removal Program has been working daily to provide survivors of the fires with a clean home site to continue their personal rebuilding plans and community-wide economic recovery.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, and California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, CalRecycle, are part of the Consolidated Debris Removal Program established by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Both USACE and CalRecycle continue to manage numerous teams to quickly remove fire debris in areas where homeowners have signed up for the program.

The debris removal totals to date are as follows.

COUNTY (Lead Agency)             DEBRIS REMOVED (tons)
Sonoma (USACE)                         405,000
Napa (USACE)                                78,000
Mendocino (USACE)                       31,000
Lake (USACE)                                 15,400
Butte (CalRecycle)                            7,300
Yuba (CalRecycle)                           26,200
Nevada (CalRecycle)                       10,900

In Napa and Sonoma counties, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was chiefly responsible for the hazardous household waste removal and 99.8 percent of the parcels have been surveyed and waste collected.

The California Department of Toxic Substance Control has completed about 98 percent of hazardous household waste collection and removal field work in Mendocino, Lake, Butte, Yuba and Nevada counties.

The Debris Removal Program is voluntary and homeowners were asked to sign a right-of-entry form to participate. Homeowners who did not opt-in were required to submit a plan and remove the debris in accordance with city/county standards.

Cal OES is working with state and federal partners of the Debris Removal Program to complete debris removal operations by early 2018.

If you have more questions on the State and Federal Consolidated Debris Removal Program or other questions on the fire recovery efforts, visit the statewide public information Web site www.WildfireRecovery.org. Links to the individual county programs and services can be found on that site.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a public information line at 877-875-7681. The U.S. EPA also has wildfire response information at https://response.epa.gov/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=12452.

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Willy Tujays Timmons, 37, of Upper Lake, Calif., was indicted on Wednesday, December 13, 2017, for the June 2017 murder of his girlfriend Vanessa Niko. Lake County Jail photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week a criminal grand jury indicted an Upper Lake man for the June murder of his girlfriend, with the defendant pleading not guilty by reason of insanity in the case.

The criminal grand jury handed down the indictment in the case of Willy Tujays Timmons, 37, on Wednesday, according to District Attorney Don Anderson.

Timmons is charged with the June 30 murder of 35-year-old Vanessa Yvette Niko, who had three children with Timmons.

A sheriff’s deputy dispatched to a call involving a physical altercation at a home on Bridge Arbor Road in Upper Lake found Timmons assaulting Niko, who died a short time later of her injuries, as Lake County News has reported.

Timmons argued with Niko, beating her to death with a rock and taking off a large portion of her scalp, Anderson said.

Since his June arrest, Timmons has remained in custody, with bail set at more than $1.1 million, according to Lake County Jail booking records.

Anderson said he brought the proceedings involving Timmons before the grand jury rather than proceed through a preliminary hearing because of potentially lengthy delays and other reasons. He was assisted in the grand jury proceedings by Deputy District Attorney Megan Lankford.

In addition to the murder charge, Anderson said the grand jury returned indictments for torture, mayhem and spousal abuse against Timmons.

On Friday Timmons appeared before Lake County Superior Court Judge Andrew Blum and was arraigned on the indictment, Anderson said.

Anderson said Timmons entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

The case is set for further proceedings on Jan. 9, Anderson reported.

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.
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Avril Wright, 15, of Upper Lake, Calif., was last seen at school on Thursday, December 14, 2017. Officials believe she may have run away. Courtesy photo.


UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the community’s help in locating a missing 15-year-old girl who may have run away.

Authorities are trying to find Avril Wright of Upper Lake, according to Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Paulich told Lake County News that on Thursday the girl’s mother, Sahra Wilcoxson, contacted the Lake County Sheriff's Office to report her daughter missing.

He said Wilcoxson told authorities that the girl did not return home from school from Upper Lake High School.

Wilcoxson stated Avril was last seen at 12:30 p.m. Thursday during her lunch break at school. Avril was not seen after her last period of school, Paulich said.

Paulich said Wilcoxson believes Avril may be en route to Wichita, Kansas, where her father is currently awaiting surgery.

Avril was last seen wearing a black sweatshirt with white lettering, blue jeans and boots. She has blonde hair, blue eyes, is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds, Paulich reported.

Paulich said the sheriff’s patrol units are following up on the case as they receive more information.

If you have any information of the whereabouts of Avril Wright, please contact the Lake County Sheriff's Office at 707-263-2690.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has several big dogs and a little dog ready to go to new homes in time for the holidays.

The dogs offered adoption this week include mixes of boxer, pit bull, Rottweiler, shepherd and terrier.

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.

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 small male terrier mix is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 9076. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Terrier mix

This small male terrier mix has a curly gray and black coat and floppy ears.

He’s in kennel No. 18, ID No. 9076.

“Romeo” is a male pit bull terrier in kennel No. 19, ID No. 9075. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Romeo’

“Romeo” is a male pit bull terrier.

He has a short gray and white coat.

He’s in kennel No. 19, ID No. 9075.

This male Rottweiler-shepherd mix is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 9033. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Rottweiler-shepherd mix

This male Rottweiler-shepherd mix has a short brown and black coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 9033.

This male pit bull terrier is in kennel No. 29, ID No. 9003. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Male pit bull terrier

This male pit bull terrier has a short brown and white coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 29, ID No. 9003.

This male shepherd mix is in kennel No. 32, ID No. 9042. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Shepherd mix

This male shepherd mix has a long black coat with white markings.

He’s in kennel No. 32, ID No. 9042.

This male boxer mix is in kennel No. 33, ID No. 9026. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Male boxer mix

This male boxer mix has a short brown and white coat.

Shelter staff said he has tested positive for heartworm and needs someone willing to take him through the treatment.

He’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 9026.

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, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.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.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – When it meets next week the Lakeport City Council will consider possible changes to city rules regarding both personal marijuana cultivation and commercial marijuana uses.

The council will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

A report from city Community Development Director Kevin Ingram explained that the proposed changes would reflect state regulations associated with the recently approved
Proposition 64 that legalized the personal use of marijuana, or cannabis, in California and other recent legislative changes concerning cannabis over the past couple of years.

At that meeting, the council will review proposed ordinance amendments that include, but not be limited to, the following.

Personal cannabis cultivation:

– Number of cannabis plants permitted on residential parcels.
– Permitted zoning districts for personal cannabis cultivation.
– Regulations for the cultivation of cannabis on residential properties.

Commercial cannabis uses:

– Potential performance standards for commercial cannabis uses including: cultivation, manufacturing, testing, retail, etc.
– Appropriate zoning districts for the allowance of commercial cannabis uses.
– Consideration of buffer distances for Commercial Cannabis uses (e.g., schools, parks, etc.).
– Commercial cannabis operation plan requirements and application selection criteria.

The public is encouraged to attend and participate.

An electronic version of the staff
report and other meeting materials can be viewed on the City of Lakeport’s Web site at http://www.cityoflakeport.com/departments/page.aspx?deptID=36&id=229.

If you have any questions feel free to contact the Community Development Department at 707-263-5615, Extension 204, or email Kevin Ingram at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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A South Lake County Fire Protection District fire truck during the Candy Cane Run on Friday, December 8, 2017, in Middletown, Calif. Photo courtesy of Johanna Leuzinger.

SOUTH LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A favorite holiday event that went on hiatus after the Valley fire has returned and is once again spreading Christmas cheer across south county communities.

The South Lake County Firefighters Association this holiday season is once again conducting its “Candy Cane Run.”

The association is assisted in presenting the event by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office as well as guests of honor, Santa and Mrs. Claus.

The first of the three runs took place in Middletown Dec. 8.

“It was great,” association President Todd Fenk said of the first run.

The next two runs are scheduled for Friday in Cobb and Saturday in Hidden Valley Lake, beginning at around 6 p.m. each evening.

Santa and Mrs. Claus will be on a decorated flat bed utility, with engines and ambulances following, and firefighters handing out candy canes and playing Christmas music.

The Friday night Cobb run will move from Loch Lomond and Highway 175 to Lema Lane and Lema Court, Venturi and Elliott, Venturi and Pamela Drive, Fox and Regina, Upper Fox, St. Helena, Hoberg’s Loop, Pine Summit Pool, Estates Drive and Meadow, Golf Road, Gifford Springs and Starview Loop, with a stop at Black Rock Golf Course.

Saturday’s Hidden Valley Lake run will travel through areas including Mt. Meadow North, Mt. Meadow South, Spyglass, Hidden Valley Road to Deer Hill, Greenridge/Buckhorn, Greenridge to Stonegate and North Shore from the main gate, with stops at Raven Hill Park and Marine View.

While there’s no rain in the forecast for Friday and Saturday, should rain occur, the Cobb run will be rescheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 19, and the Hidden Valley Lake run for Wednesday, Dec. 20.

The association has about 20 members, many of whom take part in the planning. Fenk said they can get the events fleshed out within a few meetings.

“We’ve been doing it for many years so it’s not too hard to plan it,” Fenk said.

Santa and Mrs. Claus visit with community members during the Candy Cane Run on Friday, December 8, 2017, in Middletown, Calif. Photo courtesy of Johanna Leuzinger.

But, for the last few years, Fenk said the event hadn’t taken place in the wake of the Valley fire, which dealt a big blow to the community.

In Cobb, the year after the fire, “There was really nobody there,” he said.

Instead, in 2015, the association switched gears and worked on a massive toy drive for children impacted by the Valley fire, Fenk said.

Fenk said the volunteers put their hearts and souls into the toy drive. “It was an absolute and total success.”

Now, with the situation in the south county seeming a bit more settled, it was time to get back to the Candy Cane Run, which Fenk said is “a bit of normalcy” after the fire.

“We like to keep the tradition going,” he said.

He added, “The kids love it,” and welcome seeing Santa Claus.

Fenk noted that Santa’s big red suit goes nicely with the big red fire trucks.

Firefighters will be out along with Santa, handing out candy canes and visiting with community members. Fenk said it’s exciting to be a part of it, even on chilly December nights.

“The hearts and joy of the community kind of keep you warm,” he said.

So be on the lookout for a jolly host of firefighters, Santa and Mrs. Claus on a holiday visit over the next few nights.

“If you hear an engine, it may just be Santa coming around the corner” on a fire engine, Fenk 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.
Firefighters participate in the Candy Cane Run on Friday, December 8, 2017, in Middletown, Calif. Photo courtesy of Johanna Leuzinger.
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The Sierra Nevada range rose almost an inch during California's recent drought due to loss of water from within fractured rocks. Credits: CC-BY-2.0.

Loss of water from the rocks of California's Sierra Nevada caused the mountain range to rise nearly an inch – or 24 millimeters – in height during the drought years from October 2011 to October 2015, a new NASA study finds.

In the two following years of more abundant snow and rainfall, the mountains have regained about half as much water in the rock as they had lost in the preceding drought and have fallen about half an inch, or 12 millimeters, in height.

"This suggests that the solid Earth has a greater capacity to store water than previously thought," said research scientist Donald Argus of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, who led the study. Significantly more water was lost from cracks and soil within fractured mountain rock during drought and gained during heavy precipitation than hydrology models show.

Argus is giving a talk on the new finding today at the American Geophysical Union's fall conference in New Orleans.

The research team used advanced data-processing techniques on data from 1,300 GPS stations in the mountains of California, Oregon and Washington, collected from 2006 through October 2017.

These research-quality GPS receivers were installed as part of the National Science Foundation's Plate Boundary Observatory to measure subtle tectonic motion in the region’s active faults and volcanoes. They can monitor elevation changes within less than a tenth of an inch.

The team found that the amount of water lost from within fractured mountain rock in 2011-2015 amounted to 10.8 cubic miles of water.

This water is too inaccessible to be used for human purposes, but for comparison, the amount is 45 times as much water as Los Angeles currently uses in a year.

JPL water scientist Jay Famiglietti, who collaborated on the research, said the finding solves a mystery for hydrologists.

"One of the major unknowns in mountain hydrology is what happens below the soil. How much snowmelt percolates through fractured rock straight downward into the core of the mountain? This is one of the key topics that we addressed in our study."

Earth’s surface falls locally when it is weighed down with water and rebounds when the weight disappears.

Many other factors also change the ground level, such as the movement of tectonic plates, volcanic activity, high- and low-pressure weather systems, and Earth's slow rebound from the last ice age.

The team corrected for these and other factors to estimate how much of the height increase was solely due to water loss from rock.

Before this study, scientists' leading theories for the growth of the Sierra were tectonic uplift or Earth rebounding from extensive groundwater pumping in the adjoining California Central Valley. Argus calculated that these two processes together only produced a quarter of an inch, or 7 millimeters, of growth – less than a third of the total.

Famiglietti said the techniques developed for this study will allow scientists to begin exploring other questions about mountain groundwater.

"What does the water table look like within mountain ranges? Is there a significant amount of groundwater stored within mountains? We just don’t have answers yet, and this study identities a set of new tools to help us get them."

A paper on the research, titled "Sustained water loss in California's mountain ranges during severe drought from 2012 through 2015 inferred from GPS," was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.

Carol Rasmussen is a member of NASA's Earth Science News Team.
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A handgun, ammunition, drug paraphernalia and other items seized during the arrest of David Wayne Christensen, 61, of Clearlake Oaks, Calif., on Thursday, December 14, 2017. Lake County Sheriff’s Office photo.


CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Authorities arrested a Clearlake Oaks man on Thursday after finding him in possession of drugs and weapons.

David Wayne Christensen, 61, was arrested in the case, according to Lt. Corey Paulich.

At 10:30 p.m. Thursday a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy conducted a traffic stop on a Chevy pickup for a vehicle code violation in 12000 block on Widgeon Way in Clearlake Oaks, Paulich said.

The deputy contacted the driver, who was identified as Christensen, who told the deputy that he was on searchable probation related to marijuana sales. Deputies searched Christensen’s truck, but did not locate anything illegal, according to Paulich.

Paulich said deputies then went to Christensen’s residence, which also is located in the 12000 block of Widgeon Way, and conducted a probation search.

During the search deputies located a gallon-size plastic bag containing approximately 13 ounces of suspected methamphetamine. Paulich said deputies also located approximately 14.5 pounds of marijuana that was packaged in one pound increments.

A loaded .38-caliber handgun and high capacity magazine were located in Christensen’s bedroom. Paulich said the suspected methamphetamine had a street value of approximately $37,000 and the marijuana had a street value of approximately $14,000.

David Wayne Christensen, 61, of Clearlake Oaks, Calif., was arrested on Thursday, December 14, 2017. Lake County Jail photo.

Paulich said Christensen was placed under arrest and transported to the Lake County Jail, where he was booked into custody for possession of a controlled substance for sale, possession of methamphetamine while armed, possession of marijuana for sale, possession of drug paraphernalia.

Christensen also was charged with possession of a large capacity magazine and a violation of probation, Paulich said.

Christensen remained in custody on Saturday, with bail set at $25,000, according to jail records.

Paulich said the sheriff’s office will continue its efforts to eradicate narcotics from the communities of Lake County and seize the suspected profits of drug trafficking for asset forfeiture whenever possible.

Anyone with information that can assist the Narcotics Unit with this effort is encouraged to call the anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.

Marijuana seized from the home of David Wayne Christensen, 61, of Clearlake Oaks, Calif., on Thursday, December 14, 2017. Lake County Sheriff’s Office photo.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Forecasters have issued a fire weather watch for Lake County and other areas of Northern California due to unseasonably dry conditions.

The National Weather Service said the fire weather watch is in effect from 10 p.m. Friday through 10 a.m. Sunday due to potentially critical fire weather conditions this weekend.

A fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur, the agency said.

The forecast predicts that a dry weather system will move in from the north late on Friday
will produce a combination of gusty winds and low humidity values.

“Due to these factors and the recent long stretch of warm and dry conditions, a very elevated fire weather risk can be expected particularly for higher elevation locations,” according to the National Weather Service message.

Earlier this week, Lake County Air Pollution Control Officer Doug Gearhart told Lake County News that no burn days are in effect in Lake County through Dec. 18, and possibly longer, at the request of state and local fire officials due to lack of resources as well as dry weather conditions.

The forecast calls for low humidity readings – ranging between 10 and 20 percent – Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Lake County’s specific forecast calls for light winds on Friday most areas except the south county, where north wind speeds could be in the low 20s, and gusts in the mid 20s.

On Saturday, north winds speeds will range into the mid 20s, with gusts in the low 30s on Saturday night, the forecast said.

Temperatures will range from the low 30s at night to the low 60s during the day through the weekend, the National Weather Service 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.
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Volunteers distribute food to Sulphur Fire survivors in Lake County, Calif. Courtesy photo.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – North Coast Opportunities reported this week on the payments made to fire survivors in Lake and Mendocino counties in the wake of the October wildland fires.

North Coast Opportunities Inc., or NCO, has been a collaborative partner in the local wildland fire recovery process, working with county offices, area organizations, and fire survivors to help with immediate and intermediate needs.

NCO partnered with Redwood Credit Union Community Foundation to raise and distribute funds directly to those impacted by the fires in Lake and Mendocino counties.

In Mendocino County, NCO also partnered with the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, Savings Bank of Mendocino County, and Community First Credit Union.

Anyone impacted by the fire – including those who experienced full loss, partial loss, lost wages and/or evacuation costs – was eligible to apply to the Wildfire Relief Fund, which closed on Nov. 30.

As of Friday, Dec. 8, $783,738 had been disbursed to 688 fire survivors across Lake and Mendocino counties.

NCO received 729 applications to the Fire Relief Fund, and the remaining 38 that have not been funded require additional information to be verified.

Fire survivors with full loss were sent $2,000, and other applicants received lesser amounts based on their circumstances.

“It’s worth noting that money received from a non-profit organization to help with an emergency is not taxable income,” said NCO Executive Director Patty Bruder. “This money is intended to help people get back on their feet, and will not negatively impact them when it’s time to do taxes.”

Additionally, $40,000 in gift cards was distributed at shelters, resource centers, and NCO offices. These were given out regardless of other financial aid a person might have received.

“We knew from previous fires how valuable gift cards to gas stations and grocery stores are, so we prioritized getting those out to people as quickly as possible,” said Bruder. “That gave people a little boost while we worked on processing applications.”

To date, approximately $1.1 million has been raised. Any money not distributed for immediate needs will be earmarked for intermediate and long-term needs.

NCO is already working with other agencies and organizations to determine what the needs are, and the collaborative approach will help avoid redundant efforts.

One such collaboration between NCO, the Health and Human Services Agency of Mendocino County and the Ukiah Valley Conference Center is the Redwood Fire Survivor Resource Room, providing free resources and support to anyone impacted by the fires.

People can drop in Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or call 707-621-8817 to make an appointment.

People can also call that number to sign up for the free Redwood Fire Survivor Support Group, which will meet for six weeks in January and February in Ukiah.

“Unfortunately, the work is only just beginning,” said Bruder. “It will take years to rebuild, and we hope to support our community throughout that process.”
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Our solar system now is tied for most number of planets around a single star, with the recent discovery of an eighth planet circling Kepler-90, a Sun-like star 2,545 light-years from Earth. The planet was discovered in data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope.

The newly-discovered Kepler-90i – a sizzling hot, rocky planet that orbits its star once every 14.4 days – was found using machine learning from Google. Machine learning is an approach to artificial intelligence in which computers “learn.” In this case, computers learned to identify planets by finding in Kepler data instances where the telescope recorded signals from planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets.

“Just as we expected, there are exciting discoveries lurking in our archived Kepler data, waiting for the right tool or technology to unearth them,” said Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division in Washington. “This finding shows that our data will be a treasure trove available to innovative researchers for years to come.”

The discovery came about after researchers Christopher Shallue and Andrew Vanderburg trained a computer to learn how to identify exoplanets in the light readings recorded by Kepler – the minuscule change in brightness captured when a planet passed in front of, or transited, a star.

Inspired by the way neurons connect in the human brain, this artificial “neural network” sifted through Kepler data and found weak transit signals from a previously-missed eighth planet orbiting Kepler-90, in the constellation Draco.

While machine learning has previously been used in searches of the Kepler database, this research demonstrates that neural networks are a promising tool in finding some of the weakest signals of distant worlds.

Other planetary systems probably hold more promise for life than Kepler-90. About 30 percent larger than Earth, Kepler-90i is so close to its star that its average surface temperature is believed to exceed 800 degrees Fahrenheit, on par with Mercury. Its outermost planet, Kepler-90h, orbits at a similar distance to its star as Earth does to the Sun.

“The Kepler-90 star system is like a mini version of our solar system. You have small planets inside and big planets outside, but everything is scrunched in much closer,” said Vanderburg, a NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow and astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin.

Shallue, a senior software engineer with Google’s research team Google AI, came up with the idea to apply a neural network to Kepler data.

He became interested in exoplanet discovery after learning that astronomy, like other branches of science, is rapidly being inundated with data as the technology for data collection from space advances.

“In my spare time, I started googling for ‘finding exoplanets with large data sets’ and found out about the Kepler mission and the huge data set available,” said Shallue. "Machine learning really shines in situations where there is so much data that humans can't search it for themselves.”

Kepler’s four-year dataset consists of 35,000 possible planetary signals. Automated tests, and sometimes human eyes, are used to verify the most promising signals in the data.

However, the weakest signals often are missed using these methods. Shallue and Vanderburg thought there could be more interesting exoplanet discoveries faintly lurking in the data.

First, they trained the neural network to identify transiting exoplanets using a set of 15,000 previously-vetted signals from the Kepler exoplanet catalogue.

In the test set, the neural network correctly identified true planets and false positives 96 percent of the time.

Then, with the neural network having "learned" to detect the pattern of a transiting exoplanet, the researchers directed their model to search for weaker signals in 670 star systems that already had multiple known planets.

Their assumption was that multiple-planet systems would be the best places to look for more exoplanets.

“We got lots of false positives of planets, but also potentially more real planets,” said Vanderburg. “It’s like sifting through rocks to find jewels. If you have a finer sieve then you will catch more rocks but you might catch more jewels, as well.”

Kepler-90i wasn’t the only jewel this neural network sifted out. In the Kepler-80 system, they found a sixth planet.

This one, the Earth-sized Kepler-80g, and four of its neighboring planets form what is called a resonant chain – where planets are locked by their mutual gravity in a rhythmic orbital dance. The result is an extremely stable system, similar to the seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system.

Their research paper reporting these findings has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. Shallue and Vanderburg plan to apply their neural network to Kepler’s full set of more than 150,000 stars.

Kepler has produced an unprecedented data set for exoplanet hunting. After gazing at one patch of space for four years, the spacecraft now is operating on an extended mission and switches its field of view every 80 days.

“These results demonstrate the enduring value of Kepler’s mission,” said Jessie Dotson, Kepler’s project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “New ways of looking at the data – such as this early-stage research to apply machine learning algorithms – promises to continue to yield significant advances in our understanding of planetary systems around other stars. I’m sure there are more firsts in the data waiting for people to find them.”

Ames manages the Kepler and K2 missions for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation operates the flight system with support from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. This work was performed through the Carl Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowship Program executed by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute.
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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Mountain Vista Middle School in the Kelseyville Unified School District recently received notification that they are one of only 12 California schools to receive the distinction as an “Exemplar Site” for the state-wide Project READ program.

Linda Long, California director of Project READ sent a letter stating, “Your selection was based on a rigorous panel review process and approved by the California Department of Education.”

Mountain Vista Middle School Principal Nicki Thomas says, “Reading instruction is now at the heart of what we do at Mountain Vista Middle School.”

Project READ was introduced by the California Department of Education through a federal grant from the US Department of Education, as a way to improve literacy in middle-school students.

It is an intensive five year adolescent literacy intervention program dedicated to increasing the literacy skills of all students - including students with disabilities, English Learners, and Socioeconomically Disadvantaged students.

Mountain Vista Middle School applied to take part in Project READ in 2013, and through a competitive application process, was one of 44 middle schools selected to participate in the state of California.

The Site Leadership Team at Mountain Vista Middle School consists of Jen Conrad, MVMS Project READ Lead, ELD and Literacy Specialist; Christina Taylor, seventh grade ELA/History; Kerry Smith, resource teacher; and Nicki Thomas, principal.

The leadership team works closely with their Project READ coach, Chantell Caldwell, from Walnut Creek to provide ongoing professional development to the MVMS staff, and focuses on how to teach reading in all content areas.

Thomas added, “All MVMS teachers view themselves as reading teachers, and are using the same reading strategies school-wide. As a result of our hard work, students continue to improve their reading skills and teachers continue to improve their instructional practices."

Team members and the Project READ coach visit classrooms, observe teachers, and use that data to determine next steps in professional development.

Additionally, team members work closely with reading and special education teachers on providing high quality intervention classes to all “at-risk” students.

As an Exemplar Site, the Mountain Vista Middle School Site Leadership Team will be providing professional development to other California school sites through webinars and site visits, as well as presenting at the Project READ Statewide Institute in Spring 2018 in Anaheim, California.

Teams from several California schools have visited MVMS this year to learn best practices, and schools from the Bay Area have sent teams to visit in previous years.

“Project READ has brought our staff together and allowed us to focus on instructional practices that best meet the needs of our students,” Thomas said. “Through Project READ, our staff have become even better teachers and our students are reaping the rewards.”

Dave McQueen, superintendent of the Kelseyville Unified School District, added, "We are excited to see what is happening at MVMS. A big congratulations to Principal Thomas and the staff at MVMS. The bottom line in all this good news is that students are gaining skills and getting the help they need to succeed. We will continue to make strides in helping all students at Kelseyville achieve."

For more information on Project READ at Mountain Vista Middle School in Kelseyville, please contact Nicki Thomas or Jen Conrad at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to schedule a site visit.

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