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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After registering a record-low unemployment rate in September, Lake County’s jobless numbers edged upward slightly in October.

The latest report from the Employment Development Department showed that Lake County’s October unemployment rate was 4.7 percent, up from a revised 4.4 percent in September but still lower than the year-ago estimate of 5.1 percent.

Across California as a whole, unemployment held at 4.1 percent in October – a record low in a series dating back to 1976, the Employment Development Department reported. California’s October 2017 jobless rate was 4.5 percent.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics said the nationwide unemployment rate for October was 3.7 percent, the same as September. The October 2017 national unemployment rate was 4.1 percent.

The state’s report said that California has gained more than three million jobs since the economic expansion began in February 2010.

In October, the state’s total number of nonfarm payroll jobs totaled 17,236,000, according to a survey of 71,000 California businesses. That’s up 308,700 jobs, or a 1.8-percent increase, from the previous October, the Employment Development Department reported.

A federal survey of 5,100 California households showed an increase in the number of employed Californians over the month and the year, estimating state residents holding jobs in October was 18,637,000, an increase of 55,000 from September and up 111,000 from the October 2017 employment total.

The report also showed that the number of unemployed Californians in October was 804,000, an increase of 1,000 over the month but down by 63,000 compared with October 2017.

In October, Lake County ranked No. 37 statewide for its jobless rate.

The preliminary estimate for October put the number of unemployed individuals at 1,410, compared to 1,330 in September and 1,500 in October 2017.

At the same time, the civilian workforce in Lake County included 30,070 individuals, compared with 30,360 in September and 29,680 the previous October, based on the report.

Industries that showed shifts in job numbers in October included total farm, which was down 27.2 percent from September but up 22.1 percent over last year.

Total nonfarm categories showed a drop of 0.5 percent, with the only subcategory showing growth being educational and health services, at 0.2 percent.

Neighboring county jobless rates and rankings in October are as follows: Colusa, 8.1 percent, No. 56; Glenn, 5 percent, No. 41; Mendocino, 3.5 percent, No. 18; Napa, 2.6 percent, No. 6; Sonoma, 2.5 percent, No. 4; and Yolo, 3.6 percent, No. 19, the report said.

Last month, San Mateo continued to hold onto the No. 1 ranking with the lowest jobless rate statewide, 2.1 percent, while Imperial County once came ranked No. 58, with a 19.2 percent rate.

During the October survey week, the Employment Development Department said there were 272,542 people receiving regular Unemployment Insurance benefits, compared with 284,790 in September and 299,272 in October of last year.

New claims for Unemployment Insurance in October totaled 40,032, compared with 34,519 in September and 42,114 in October of 2017, the Employment Development Department 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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The public is invited to participate in a ceremony on Friday, Dec. 7, commemorating the 77th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The ceremony will take place from 9 to 9:30 a.m. at the Pearl Harbor Memorial Mast in Library Park in Lakeport.

Honored guests will be sweethearts Alice Darrow and Charlotte Bower, whose husbands were Pearl Harbor survivors.

Darrow, a Navy nurse during World War II, took care of Dean Darrow who had a bullet in his heart, and Charlotte Bower became the wife of Pearl Harbor Survivor Chuck Bower.

The engraved Lake County Memorial Pearl Harbor Survivors' bell will be tolled with all our survivors’ names being read.

The Lake County Military Funeral Honors Team will play “Taps” and fire a salvo as the US flag is lowered to half staff in memory of those who served at the Dec. 7 attack.

The community is invited to join in honoring these men who have served our country.

In the video below, Lake County Pearl Harbor survivors visit the USS Arizona at the 69th Anniversary convention at Pearl Harbor.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The city of Lakeport has extended the application deadline for community members interested in serving on the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board.

The deadline has been extended to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12.

Interested community members who live within the fire district are invited to submit an application for appointment to serve on the district’s five-member board of directors.

The fire district board includes two board members nominated by the Lakeport City Council on the basis of interest and qualifications, and approved for appointment by the Lake County Board of Supervisors.

The fire district’s board of directors meet at 5 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at the Main Street Station.

Membership on this Board is voluntary. If you are interested in serving on the board, applications are available on the City’s Web site under the Hot Topic, “Now Recruiting: Lakeport Fire Protection District Board."

For additional information, please contact Deputy City Clerk Hilary Britton at 707-263-5615, Extension 102, or by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

On Tuesday Gov. Jerry Brown announced several appointments to California’s Courts of Appeal.

Brown appointed Gordon B. Burns as associate justice, Division Five of the First District Court of Appeal; Brian S. Currey as associate justice, Division Four of the Second District Court of Appeal; Laurence D. Rubin as presiding justice, Division Five of the Second District Court of Appeal; and John Shepard Wiley Jr. as associate justice, Division Eight of the Second District Court of Appeal.

The annual compensation for each of these positions is $237,365.

First District Court of Appeal

Gordon B. Burns

Gordon B. Burns, 52, of Davis, has been appointed associate justice, Division Five of the First District Court of Appeal.

Burns has served as undersecretary at the California Environmental Protection Agency since 2011.

He was an attorney at the Resources Law Group LLC from 2010 to 2011 and served as deputy solicitor general at the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General from 2006 to 2010, where he was also a deputy attorney general from 1997 to 2006. Burns was an associate at Downey, Brand, Seymour and Rohwer from 1994 to 1997.

He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Effective Nov. 30, Burns will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Terence L. Bruiniers.

This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline.

Burns is a Democrat.

Second District Court of Appeal

Brian S. Currey

Brian S. Currey, 62, of Manhattan Beach, has been appointed associate justice, Division Four of the Second District Court of Appeal.

Currey has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2014. He was of counsel at O’Melveny and Myers LLP from 2013 to 2014.

Currey was deputy mayor for economic and business policy in the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2013 and counsel to the mayor from 2010 to 2013. He was a partner at O’Melveny and Myers LLP from 1989 to 2010, where he was an associate from 1981 to 1989.

Currey earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis.

He fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Nora M. Manella to presiding justice, Division Four of the Second District Court of Appeal.

This position requires the completion of a review by the State Bar's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation and confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert.

Currey is a Democrat.

Laurence D. Rubin

Laurence D. Rubin, 72, of Los Angeles, has been appointed presiding justice, Division Five of the Second District Court of Appeal.

Rubin has served as an associate justice at the Second District Court of Appeal since 2001. He served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2001 and at the Santa Monica Municipal Court from 1982 to 2001.

Rubin was of counsel at Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp in 1982 and a partner at Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz and Selvin from 1978 to 1982, where he was an associate from 1973 to 1978. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Stanley Mosk at the California Supreme Court from 1971 to 1972.

Rubin earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

He fills the vacancy created by the death of Presiding Justice Paul A. Turner.

This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert.

Rubin is a Democrat.

John Shepard Wiley Jr.

John Shepard Wiley Jr., 65, of Los Angeles, has been appointed associate justice, Division Eight of the Second District Court of Appeal.

Wiley has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2002. He was a policy consultant at the Federal Trade Commission in 2001 and special master at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California from 2000 to 2001.

Wiley was a teacher at the Federal Judicial Center from 1995 to 2008, an examiner for the Commission on Judicial Performance and of counsel at Mayer Brown from 1995 to 1999 and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in 1998.

He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1990 to 1994 and was counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in 1993.

He was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law from 1983 to 2005 and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Lewis F. Powell, Jr. at the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 1982 and for the Honorable Frank M. Coffin at the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit from 1980 to 1981.

Wiley earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, a Master of Arts degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis. He is a member of the American Law Institute.

Wiley will fill the vacancy created by the elevation, subject to confirmation, of Justice Laurence D. Rubin to presiding justice, Division Five of the Second District Court of Appeal.

This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert.

Wiley is a Democrat.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The California Highway Patrol said it is seeking the community’s help in its investigation of a hit-and-run crash north of Upper Lake last week that claimed the life of a Potter Valley man.

James Jobe Carpenter, 57, was the victim of the crash, according to a report from the CHP’s Clear Lake Area Office.

The CHP said that at 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19, Carpenter was found severely injured on the side of Elk Mountain Road, south of Forest Route 18N33, by a passing motorist.

The motorist attempted to seek aid for Carpenter, who died of his injuries shortly after he was found, the CHP said.

The CHP’s investigation determined Carpenter had been struck by a motor vehicle, likely a large pickup truck.

This week, the CHP said it’s unknown what type of vehicle struck Carpenter or who was driving the vehicle.

The agency also did not give an estimated time for when the crash occurred.

If anyone has any information regarding this incident, please contact the California Highway Patrol Clear Lake Area Office at 707-279-0103 or at 5700 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville.

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. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has identified the two women killed in a Saturday night head-on crash near Middletown.

Carrie Anne Horarik, 46, and Carol Amsbury Jackson, 77, both of Clearlake, were the victims of the wreck, according to Lt. Corey Paulich.

The California Highway Patrol said the fatal collision occurred on Highway 29 south of Grange Road shortly before 10:30 p.m. Saturday, as Lake County News has reported.

The CHP stated in its initial report that Horarik was driving a 2011 Nissan Sentra southbound when she crossed over the highway’s solid double yellow lines.

Horarik traveled directly into the path of Jackson, who was driving a 1999 Ford Ranger northbound, resulting in the head-on wreck, the CHP said.

Both Horarik and Jackson died at the scene, officials said.

The CHP said the crash’s cause remains under investigation.

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.