How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
The council will meet beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, in closed session to discuss existing litigation with Pacific Gas and Electric and two cases of potential litigation before convening in open session at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
On the agenda is filling the seat left vacant when Planning Commissioner Nathalie Antus resigned from the commission last month.
Administrative Services Director-City Clerk Melissa Swanson said staff advertised and accepted applications with a Nov. 7 deadline, at which point two applications had been submitted from Fawn Williams and Erin McCarrick. Swanson said another application was submitted on Tuesday morning by David Goolsbee.
“It is staff’s recommendation to interview all applicants,” Swanson wrote in her report to the council. “The new Planning Commissioner would then be appointed by motion and majority vote of the Council to hold office for the term which ends in March 2023.”
In other business, the council will consider appointments to the Zoning Code Update Ad Hoc Committee, the Traffic Safety Committee and an ad hoc committee related to the public safety power shutoff events, and discuss public and private streets maintenance.
On Thursday, the council also will get a presentation on Clearlake Animal Control’s November’s adoptable dogs, and award certificates of appreciation to City Hall-oween contributors, 15-year employee Sgt. Dominic Ramirez of the Clearlake Police Department and city volunteers.
On the meeting's consent agenda – items that are not considered controversial and are usually adopted on a single vote – are warrant registers; minutes of the October council meetings; continuation of a local emergency issued on Oct. 9, 2017, and ratified by council action on Oct. 12, 2017; consideration of Resolution No. 2019-48, approving a temporary street closure for the annual Christmas parade and tree lighting; adoption of Resolution 2019-49 authorizing the city manager to apply for $160,000 in Senate Bill 2 grant funds; receipt and filing of the annual mayor’s appointments list; and receipt and filing of the City Hall holiday closure memo.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
111419 Clearlake City Council Agenda Packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd
Kevin Richardson, 52, was injured in the crash, which occurred at 5:40 p.m. Monday at Highway 29 and Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville, according to the California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office.
The CHP said that Richardson was riding his Specialized bicycle on Live Oak Drive, just east of Highway 29, while 41-year-old Kelseyville resident Richard Jensen was driving his 2015 Dodge Ram truck northbound on Highway, approaching Live Oak Drive.
Richardson was traveling westbound and began crossing Highway 29, near the crosswalk, against a circular red light. The CHP said Richardson crossed right in front of the path of Jensen, who had a green light.
Jensen saw the bicyclist and immediately took evasive action but was unable to avoid colliding with Richardson, the CHP said.
Richardson, who was not wearing safety equipment, sustained moderate injuries and was transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital by REACH air ambulance, according to the CHP. Jensen was wearing his seat belt and was not injured.
While Richardson was being treated at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, the CHP said officers from the Santa Rosa CHP Office responded to the hospital and spoke with Richardson about the collision.
During the interview, the officers observed signs and symptoms of drug impairment, and determined that Richardson was under the influence of a drug, the CHP reported.
The CHP said Richardson was arrested and then released to the hospital for medical treatment.
Criminal charges will be filed against Richardson at the Lake County District Attorney’s Office upon completion of the investigation, the CHP said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Middletown Community Center, 21256 Washington St.
Meetings are open to the community, and offer the opportunity for additional public input on items not included on the agenda.
The group on Thursday will hear presentations and updates on Caltrans’ Highway 175 shoulder widening project, the Hardester’s Market rebuild and the homeless in the community park.
MATH also will accept nominations for two board positions for the coming year.
Also on the agenda is an update from District 1 Board Supervisor Moke Simon.
The MATH Board includes Chair Sally Peterson, Vice Chair Claude Brown, Secretary Paul Baker, and at-large members Tom Darms and Marlene Elder.
MATH – established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 – is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.
Meetings are subject to videotaping.
For more information email
Email Elizabeth Larson at
John Charles Gilliam, 78, of Kelseyville died in the wreck, according to Lt. Corey Paulich.
Shortly before 5:45 p.m. Saturday, Gilliam – driving a 1998 Toyota Tacoma, turned left from the stop sign at Main Street and onto Highway 29, directly in the path of a 2005 Infiniti G37 driven by 48-year-old April Flores of Lakeport.
The crash caused Gilliam’s pickup to spin off the roadway and overturn, the CHP said.
Gilliam, who was not wearing a seat belt, was partially ejected from the pickup. He was declared dead at the scene by firefighters, according to the CHP.
The CHP does not suspect drugs or alcohol as being factors in the wreck.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
The future remains uncertain for a group of young people who were brought from other countries to the U.S. as children without legal authorization.
Currently, these young people are protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. This Obama-era program shields around 700,000 to 800,000 people from deportation. On Nov. 12, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the Trump administration’s decision to end the program.
The hearing involves three separate cases challenging the Trump administration, brought by six New York DACA recipients and the advocacy organization Make the Road New York, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the University of California.
President Donald Trump first announced he would rescind DACA in 2017. However, lower court rulings have blocked the administration from ending the program.
Here is a roundup of archival stories to help you follow along.
1. DACA’s terms and conditions
DACA came with a long list of terms and conditions. For example, to apply you had to be a certain age and meet certain educational requirements.
Immigration scholar Kevin Johnson of the University of California, Davis, points out DACA offered protection for only about 1.8 million of the estimated 3.6 million people who were brought to the U.S. as children.
Of those 1.8 million who were eligible, only about 800,000 actually applied and received protection through DACA.
2. DACA doesn’t cover unaccompanied minors
It’s important to point out that DACA also does not apply to “unaccompanied minors.” You may have heard the term used especially in 2014, when unprecedented numbers of children traveling alone were arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico. Generally, these case are handled under a different set of laws and policies.
Stephanie Canizales, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Southern California, Dornsife, has spent time doing in-depth interviews and observational research on this group of migrants, who face a separate set of issues around labor exploitation.
Canizales writes, “Undocumented working youth migrate to Los Angeles in hopes of working to support their families who remain in their home countries. … Much like with their adult coworkers, economic necessity and fear of removal from the workplace and the country keep undocumented migrant youth workers quiet in cases of exploitation, and docile and efficient on the job.”
3. DACA improves mental health
There is research that shows that DACA has improved the mental health of those who received it.
Scholars Elizabeth Aranda of the University of South Florida and Elizabeth Vaquera of George Washington University explain that being an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. carries severe mental health consequences. These include problems such as chronic worry, sadness, isolation and even suicidal thoughts.
Although DACA may offer only temporary protection, the relief recipients felt was significant. Aranda and Vaquera write, “These youth shared with us that they were more motivated and happy after Obama’s executive order. As Kate, one of our participants, told us, DACA ‘has gone a long way to give me some sense of security and stability that I haven’t had in a very long time.’”
4. Dreamers would boost US economy
DACA critics have suggested that undocumented immigrants negatively impact the U.S. economy because they steal jobs from native-born people. In fact, there is growing evidence that shows how incorporating undocumented immigrants into the workforce actually boosts economic growth.
For example, take City University of New York sociologist Amy Hsin’s study that shows what would have happened if the DREAM Act had passed in 2017.
She found that it would have had no significant effect on the wages of U.S.-born workers. It would have created more economic opportunities by encouraging legalized immigrants to make education gains. Hsin wrote, “Overall, we estimate that the increases in productivity under the DREAM Act would raise the United States GDP by US$15.2 billion and significantly increase tax revenue.”
An updated version of the DREAM Act, called the American Dream and Promise Act,passed the House on June 4, but has yet to be voted on by the Senate.
5. The moral argument for Dreamers
Arguably, at the core of the effort to protect Dreamers is a belief that the U.S. has a tradition of embracing those who arrive at its shores seeking a better life.
However, a quick scan of history would reveal that the U.S. has not in fact always been so welcoming. As Carrie Tirado Bramen of the University at Buffalo explains, many writers have described U.S. history as an “ongoing duel between generosity and greed.”
Bramen writes that DACA gets at the core of American identity: “At stake is not only the fate of the Dreamers, but also how the country and the rest of the world understands the idea of America.”
6. What Americans think about immigration
What do Americans make of the debate over DACA?
According to recent polls, “Americans have never felt warmer toward immigrants, nor have they ever been more supportive of immigration,” writes Mariano Sana, a sociologist at Vanderbilt University.
He finds that somewhere between 62% and 81% of Americans consistently support offering undocumented immigrants legalization with a path to citizenship.
This is an updated version of an article originally published on Feb. 14, 2018, authored by Danielle Douez.
Aviva Rutkin, Data Editor, The Conversation
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The meeting will take place at 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, in San Francisco.
It will be livestreamed on the Judicial Council’s Web site.
The staff report for the discussion is on the first page of the agenda packet published below; the updated priority list can be found on page 45 of the packet.
As a result of Government Code section 70371. – enacted by the governor and State Legislature in June 2018 – no funding for new courthouse construction projects will be provided until the Judicial Council reassesses all courthouse projects identified in its Update to Trial Court Capital-Outlay Plan and Prioritization Methodology, adopted in October of 2008.
The Judicial Council’s Court Facilities Advisory Committee was given the task of working on that new priority list.
That process began in August 2018, and from February to September a working group evaluated more than 213 buildings across the state.
The result was an updated priority list of 80 projects that had Lakeport’s long-awaited new four-courtroom courthouse in the No. 1 spot, at an estimated $51.2 million to build. A $15 million new one-room courthouse in Clearlake is listed in the No. 6 spot. Both are in the “immediate need” category.
No. 2 on the list is the new Ukiah courthouse in Mendocino County, at an estimated cost of $89.6 million.
The committee revised the initial scoring criteria and priority list based largely on public comment and on Oct. 1 approved sending it on to the Judicial Committee for consideration.
At this week’s meeting, the Judicial Council will consider the Court Facilities Advisory Committee’s recommendations to adopt the revised prioritization methodology for trial court capital-outlay projects, discuss the adoption of the revised statewide list of trial court capital projects, and delegate to the administrative director the authority to make technical changes to the reports for submission to the Legislature, subject to the review and approval of the Court Facilities Advisory Committee chair and vice chair.
Other items on the council’s Thursday meeting agenda include:
– Legal services for low-income litigants: The council will consider distributing $2.5 million in this year’s state budget for the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel pilot projects, which provide legal representation and improved court services to eligible low-income litigants.
– Legislative priorities: The council will consider its legislative priorities for the upcoming year. Proposed priorities include improving court efficiency, investments in the judicial branch, and securing critically needed judgeships.
– “Court Adoption and Permanency Month”: The council will consider a recommendation to proclaim November “Court Adoption and Permanency Month.” This year marks the 20th year the council has recognized the efforts of California courts and justice partners to provide children and families with fair and understandable judicial proceedings and just permanency outcomes.
– Presentation of Distinguished Service and Aranda Awards: The council will present Justice Dennis Perluss and Judge Hilary Chittick with its Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes extraordinary contributions to California's judicial branch. In addition, the California Lawyers Association – in partnership with the Judicial Council and the California Judges Association – will present Judge Carol Brosnahan with the Aranda Access to Justice Award, which honors a judge for improving fairness and access to the courts, especially for low-and moderate-income Californians.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
111419 Judicial Council Agenda Packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd