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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service is still in effect, with forecasters continuing to predict rain and even some snow throughout parts of Lake County on Friday and Saturday.
The updated forecast follows a rainy Thursday around Lake County. There also were reports of minor snowfall around Lakeport and Middletown on Thursday night.
The 24-hour rainfall totals in inches through 11 p.m. Thursday, based on National Weather Service observation stations, are as follows:
– Bartlett Springs: 0.17;
– Boggs Mountain: 1.99;
– Cache Creek near Lower Lake: 0.72;
– Clearlake city alert: 0.58;
– County line (at Colusa County line): 0.58;
– High Valley Road alert station: 0.52;
– Indian Valley Reservoir: 0.63;
– Kelseyville: 1.26;
– Knoxville Creek: 1.42;
– Lakeport: 0.94;
– Mira Vista Road alert station in Sulphur fire area: 0.68;
– Soda Creek: 1.55;
– Upper Lake: 0.77;
– Whispering Pines: 2.36.
The National Weather Service said periods of moderate to heavy snow will continue through the end of the week across foothills and mountains of interior Northern California.
The agency is predicting chances of rain and snow on Friday and Saturday throughout Lake County, along with winds with gusts of up to 20 miles per hour in the Cobb area.
Daytime temperatures in the 40s and nighttime temperatures dropping into the high 20s through Sunday night.
The rainy weather is expected to break on Sunday, remaining clear through Tuesday night, when showers are forecast to return, continuing into the middle of next week.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis 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 updated forecast follows a rainy Thursday around Lake County. There also were reports of minor snowfall around Lakeport and Middletown on Thursday night.
The 24-hour rainfall totals in inches through 11 p.m. Thursday, based on National Weather Service observation stations, are as follows:
– Bartlett Springs: 0.17;
– Boggs Mountain: 1.99;
– Cache Creek near Lower Lake: 0.72;
– Clearlake city alert: 0.58;
– County line (at Colusa County line): 0.58;
– High Valley Road alert station: 0.52;
– Indian Valley Reservoir: 0.63;
– Kelseyville: 1.26;
– Knoxville Creek: 1.42;
– Lakeport: 0.94;
– Mira Vista Road alert station in Sulphur fire area: 0.68;
– Soda Creek: 1.55;
– Upper Lake: 0.77;
– Whispering Pines: 2.36.
The National Weather Service said periods of moderate to heavy snow will continue through the end of the week across foothills and mountains of interior Northern California.
The agency is predicting chances of rain and snow on Friday and Saturday throughout Lake County, along with winds with gusts of up to 20 miles per hour in the Cobb area.
Daytime temperatures in the 40s and nighttime temperatures dropping into the high 20s through Sunday night.
The rainy weather is expected to break on Sunday, remaining clear through Tuesday night, when showers are forecast to return, continuing into the middle of next week.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-05) announced that he now has 200 co-sponsors from both parties for his bipartisan Thompson-King Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act, a bill that would give states resources to help them submit information to the background checks system.
The bill would also expand the system to cover all commercial firearm sales, closing gun show, Internet and classified ad loopholes.
“It is clear that members of both parties and the President himself agree – we need a strengthened background checks system to help keep our nation safe. That’s why I am pleased to announce a record number of supporters, Democrats and Republicans, for my bipartisan bill to expand the system,” said Thompson. “This support marks the overwhelming public support for strengthening background checks and the urgent need to take action immediately. Let’s hold a vote now and act to help prevent gun violence.”
Republican co-sponsors include Representatives Costello, Curbelo, Fitzpatrick, King, Lance, Meehan, Dent, Donovan, Mast, Ros-Lehtinen and Smith.
Democratic co-sponsors include Representatives Adams, Aguilar, Barragan, Bass, Beatty, Bera, Beyer, Blumenauer, Blunt Rochester, Bonamici, Bordallo, Boyle, Brady, Brown, Brownley, Bustos, Butterfield, Capuano, Carbajal, Cardenas, Carson, Cartwright, Castor, Castro, Chu, Cicilline, Clark , Clarke, Clay, Clyburn, Cohen, Connolly, Cooper, Correa, Costa, Courtney, Crist, Crowley, Cummings, Danny Davis, Susan Davis, DeFazio, DeGette, Delaney, DeLauro, DelBene, Demings, DeSaulnier, Deutch, Dingell, Doggett, Doyle, Ellison, Engel, Eshoo, Espaillat, Esty, Evans, Foster, Frankel, Fudge, Gabbard, Gallego, Garamendi, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gottheimer, Green, Grijalva, Gutierrez, Hanabusa, Hastings, Heck, Higgins, Himes, Hoyer, Huffman, Jackson Lee, Jayapal, Jeffries, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Hank Johnson, Jr., Kaptur, Keating, Kelly, Kennedy, Khanna, Kihuen , Kildee, Kilmer, Krishnamoorthi, Kuster, Langevin, Larsen, Larson, Lawrence, Lawson , Lee, Levin, Lewis, Lieu, Lipinski, Loebsack, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Lowey, Lujan, Lujan Grisham, Lynch, Carolyn Maloney, Sean Patrick Maloney, Matsui, McCollum, McEachin, McGovern, McNerney, Meeks, Meng, Moore, Moulton, Murphy, Nadler, Napolitano, Neal, Nolan, Norcross, Norton, O'Halleran, O'Rourke, Pallone, Panetta, Pascrell, Payne, Pelosi, Peters, Perlmutter, Pingree, Plaskett, Pocan, Polis, Price, Quigley, Raskin, Rice, Richmond, Rosen, Roybal-Allard, Ruiz, Ruppersberger, Rush, Tim Ryan, Sanchez, Sarbanes, Schakowsky, Schiff, Schneider, Schrader, Bobby Scott, David Scott, Serrano, Shea-Porter, Sherman, Sires, Slaughter, Smith, Soto, Speier, Suozzi, Swalwell, Takano, Bennie Thompson, Titus, Tonko, Torres, Tsongas, Vargas, Veasey, Vela, Velazquez, Visclosky, Walz, Wasserman Shultz, Waters, Watson Coleman, Welch, Wilson and Yarmuth.
The bill would also expand the system to cover all commercial firearm sales, closing gun show, Internet and classified ad loopholes.
“It is clear that members of both parties and the President himself agree – we need a strengthened background checks system to help keep our nation safe. That’s why I am pleased to announce a record number of supporters, Democrats and Republicans, for my bipartisan bill to expand the system,” said Thompson. “This support marks the overwhelming public support for strengthening background checks and the urgent need to take action immediately. Let’s hold a vote now and act to help prevent gun violence.”
Republican co-sponsors include Representatives Costello, Curbelo, Fitzpatrick, King, Lance, Meehan, Dent, Donovan, Mast, Ros-Lehtinen and Smith.
Democratic co-sponsors include Representatives Adams, Aguilar, Barragan, Bass, Beatty, Bera, Beyer, Blumenauer, Blunt Rochester, Bonamici, Bordallo, Boyle, Brady, Brown, Brownley, Bustos, Butterfield, Capuano, Carbajal, Cardenas, Carson, Cartwright, Castor, Castro, Chu, Cicilline, Clark , Clarke, Clay, Clyburn, Cohen, Connolly, Cooper, Correa, Costa, Courtney, Crist, Crowley, Cummings, Danny Davis, Susan Davis, DeFazio, DeGette, Delaney, DeLauro, DelBene, Demings, DeSaulnier, Deutch, Dingell, Doggett, Doyle, Ellison, Engel, Eshoo, Espaillat, Esty, Evans, Foster, Frankel, Fudge, Gabbard, Gallego, Garamendi, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gottheimer, Green, Grijalva, Gutierrez, Hanabusa, Hastings, Heck, Higgins, Himes, Hoyer, Huffman, Jackson Lee, Jayapal, Jeffries, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Hank Johnson, Jr., Kaptur, Keating, Kelly, Kennedy, Khanna, Kihuen , Kildee, Kilmer, Krishnamoorthi, Kuster, Langevin, Larsen, Larson, Lawrence, Lawson , Lee, Levin, Lewis, Lieu, Lipinski, Loebsack, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Lowey, Lujan, Lujan Grisham, Lynch, Carolyn Maloney, Sean Patrick Maloney, Matsui, McCollum, McEachin, McGovern, McNerney, Meeks, Meng, Moore, Moulton, Murphy, Nadler, Napolitano, Neal, Nolan, Norcross, Norton, O'Halleran, O'Rourke, Pallone, Panetta, Pascrell, Payne, Pelosi, Peters, Perlmutter, Pingree, Plaskett, Pocan, Polis, Price, Quigley, Raskin, Rice, Richmond, Rosen, Roybal-Allard, Ruiz, Ruppersberger, Rush, Tim Ryan, Sanchez, Sarbanes, Schakowsky, Schiff, Schneider, Schrader, Bobby Scott, David Scott, Serrano, Shea-Porter, Sherman, Sires, Slaughter, Smith, Soto, Speier, Suozzi, Swalwell, Takano, Bennie Thompson, Titus, Tonko, Torres, Tsongas, Vargas, Veasey, Vela, Velazquez, Visclosky, Walz, Wasserman Shultz, Waters, Watson Coleman, Welch, Wilson and Yarmuth.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A former county education official who is alleged to have embezzled more than $100,000 from a local business has been booked into the Lake County Jail.
On Wednesday, 61-year-old George Tanner McQueen II was transported from Sacramento County, where he has spent the last six months in jail, and booked at the Hill Road Correctional Facility in Lakeport on a felony arrest warrant.
A Lake County Sheriff’s Office investigation found evidence that McQueen – a former Yuba College dean who also previously had worked for the Lake County Office of Education – had taken $103,000 from the personal and business accounts of a local couple for whom he was doing bookkeeping work, wiring the funds into his own business accounts, as Lake County News has reported: http://bit.ly/2oo1w1l.
In September, the sheriff’s office forwarded its findings to the District Attorney’s Office for review. Then, on Feb. 7, the District Attorney’s Office filed a criminal case and the following day a Lake County Superior Court judge signed an arrest warrant for McQueen.
Also in September, as the Lake County Sheriff’s Office was concluding its investigation, McQueen was sentenced in Sacramento and Placer counties for having stolen the identities of his adult son and daughter, as Lake County News first reported in September: http://bit.ly/2CxrYKN.
McQueen previously did jail time in Lake County after being convicted in 2006 of elder abuse for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a friend’s trust. He later moved from Lake County to the Sacramento area.
With McQueen just finishing his jail sentence in Sacramento, officials said the recent issuance of the new arrest warrant meant he would be transported to Lake County to begin the process of hearings for his new case.
McQueen is on a PC 1275 hold, which is commonly used with people accused of crimes involving illegally obtaining money. It requires a defendant to prove that the funds used for bail were obtained legally and did not come from criminal activity, according to the penal code.
He is tentatively scheduled to be arraigned in Lake County Superior Court on Friday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Office of Education is launching the first-ever countywide attendance challenge for the week of March 19 to 23.
All Lake County schools will be competing with each other for bragging rights to who has the best attendance.
“Good school attendance is essential to academic success. When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating,” said Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg.
During the week of March 19 to 23, each Lake County school will be trying to reach 100-percent attendance.
The Lake County Office of Education will be collecting attendance data throughout that week to determine the winning schools, divided into the following categories:
– Highest attendance percentage for elementary school;
– Highest attendance percentage for middle school;
– Highest attendance percentage for high school.
Falkenberg added, “With chronic absenteeism being a true concern for Lake County students, LCOE staff brainstormed solutions to help educate the students, parents and community on the importance of attendance. And thus, the Attendance Challenge was born.”
The definition of “chronic absenteeism” is missing 10 percent of the school year—or about 18 days – for any reason, excused or unexcused. This equals missing two days of school a month.
Rob Young, emergency services/special projects coordinator at LCOE, is organizing the project.
“We hope that organizing something fun for the students related to attendance will help them better understand the importance of it,” Young said.
“Attendance matters to everyone in the community, not just those with school age children,” said Falkenberg. “Addressing chronic absence is a key component of improving graduation rates, increasing academic achievement, and giving young people the best chance at success in their adult life.”
Each school district will be sending information home to students and parents about the attendance challenge.
More information can be found at www.lakecoe.org or on the Lake County Office of Education’s Facebook page.
All Lake County schools will be competing with each other for bragging rights to who has the best attendance.
“Good school attendance is essential to academic success. When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating,” said Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg.
During the week of March 19 to 23, each Lake County school will be trying to reach 100-percent attendance.
The Lake County Office of Education will be collecting attendance data throughout that week to determine the winning schools, divided into the following categories:
– Highest attendance percentage for elementary school;
– Highest attendance percentage for middle school;
– Highest attendance percentage for high school.
Falkenberg added, “With chronic absenteeism being a true concern for Lake County students, LCOE staff brainstormed solutions to help educate the students, parents and community on the importance of attendance. And thus, the Attendance Challenge was born.”
The definition of “chronic absenteeism” is missing 10 percent of the school year—or about 18 days – for any reason, excused or unexcused. This equals missing two days of school a month.
Rob Young, emergency services/special projects coordinator at LCOE, is organizing the project.
“We hope that organizing something fun for the students related to attendance will help them better understand the importance of it,” Young said.
“Attendance matters to everyone in the community, not just those with school age children,” said Falkenberg. “Addressing chronic absence is a key component of improving graduation rates, increasing academic achievement, and giving young people the best chance at success in their adult life.”
Each school district will be sending information home to students and parents about the attendance challenge.
More information can be found at www.lakecoe.org or on the Lake County Office of Education’s Facebook page.
COBB, Calif. – Residents of Cobb and surrounding Lake County communities can expect to see smoke in the air regularly this spring.
Cal Fire reported that its personnel are conducting a large-scale pile burning operation on the Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest.
The burning operation is the final push to prepare for tree replanting and to reopen public access to the forest.
As a result of the Valley fire and drought-induced bark beetle mortality, 99 percent of the trees on the forest have died.
The forest management staff have been aggressively been removing these standing dead trees in preparation for replanting. Because of this clearing there are hundreds of residual slash piles that must be disposed of, officials said.
Disposal of this material is not feasible by other means due to the volume of the material, number of piles and time frame of which it must be disposed of, according to Cal Fire.
Cal Fire said a crew of firefighters has been assigned to conduct these pile burns throughout the winter on permissive burn days.
A large-scale smoke management plan has been completed in coordination with the California Air Resources Board and the Lake County Air Quality Management District. Department staff will follow the same rules and regulations that apply to the public.
“It is the goal of the department to restore the forest to a condition that is safe for public access. Allowing wood cutting, trail access, and camping is an important part of having this public land in Lake County,” said Cal Fire Sonoma Lake Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones.
Cobb residents should not be concerned to see smoke in the air and the local Cal Fire helicopter flying during the month of March, officials said.
Starting on March 1, Boggs Mountain Helitack Base will be staffed seven days a week with a helicopter and crew for air rescue operations across the North State. The monthlong rotation is shared amongst the five northern California Cal Fire Helitack Bases.
For more information about fire safety or prescribed fire and its benefits, visit the Cal Fire Web site, www.fire.ca.gov or call your local Cal Fire facility.
Cal Fire reported that its personnel are conducting a large-scale pile burning operation on the Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest.
The burning operation is the final push to prepare for tree replanting and to reopen public access to the forest.
As a result of the Valley fire and drought-induced bark beetle mortality, 99 percent of the trees on the forest have died.
The forest management staff have been aggressively been removing these standing dead trees in preparation for replanting. Because of this clearing there are hundreds of residual slash piles that must be disposed of, officials said.
Disposal of this material is not feasible by other means due to the volume of the material, number of piles and time frame of which it must be disposed of, according to Cal Fire.
Cal Fire said a crew of firefighters has been assigned to conduct these pile burns throughout the winter on permissive burn days.
A large-scale smoke management plan has been completed in coordination with the California Air Resources Board and the Lake County Air Quality Management District. Department staff will follow the same rules and regulations that apply to the public.
“It is the goal of the department to restore the forest to a condition that is safe for public access. Allowing wood cutting, trail access, and camping is an important part of having this public land in Lake County,” said Cal Fire Sonoma Lake Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones.
Cobb residents should not be concerned to see smoke in the air and the local Cal Fire helicopter flying during the month of March, officials said.
Starting on March 1, Boggs Mountain Helitack Base will be staffed seven days a week with a helicopter and crew for air rescue operations across the North State. The monthlong rotation is shared amongst the five northern California Cal Fire Helitack Bases.
For more information about fire safety or prescribed fire and its benefits, visit the Cal Fire Web site, www.fire.ca.gov or call your local Cal Fire facility.
On Wednesday members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, including Representative Mike Thompson (CA-05), Representative Ted Deutch (FL-22), Representative Elizabeth Esty (CT-05),and Representative Stephanie Murphy (FL-07) applauded the president’s commitment to stronger prevention measures and called for immediate action, following a meeting at the White House.
In a statement issued by the task force, members noted, “Today marked progress. The president made a commitment to taking action on comprehensive background checks and stated unequivocally that we should drop Concealed Carry Reciprocity. He also agreed that we need to ban bump stocks and that we should re-examine the Dickey Amendment so federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control can fund and conduct research into this public health crisis.”
The statement added, “The president embraced the idea of gun violence restraining orders, which take guns away from people who have been reported as a danger to themselves or others.
“This is a moment when we must come together, both parties, and take action to keep our schools, our communities, and our nation safer from gun violence,” the group concluded.
The Gun Violence Prevention Task Force was established after the tragedy at Sandy Hook and has grown to a membership of more than 130.
In a statement issued by the task force, members noted, “Today marked progress. The president made a commitment to taking action on comprehensive background checks and stated unequivocally that we should drop Concealed Carry Reciprocity. He also agreed that we need to ban bump stocks and that we should re-examine the Dickey Amendment so federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control can fund and conduct research into this public health crisis.”
The statement added, “The president embraced the idea of gun violence restraining orders, which take guns away from people who have been reported as a danger to themselves or others.
“This is a moment when we must come together, both parties, and take action to keep our schools, our communities, and our nation safer from gun violence,” the group concluded.
The Gun Violence Prevention Task Force was established after the tragedy at Sandy Hook and has grown to a membership of more than 130.