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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County finished 2014 with a drop in unemployment, according to the latest report on joblessness released by the state.
The California Employment Development Department reported that Lake County's December unemployment rate was 9.5 percent, down from a revised November rate of 9.8 percent and below the December 2013 estimate of 11.1 percent.
Across California, the jobless rate also went down slightly, dropping to 7 percent in December from 7.2 percent the previous month and 8.3 percent in December 2013, according to the report.
The nationwide rate also showed an improvement, with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting the nation's unemployment rate for December was 5.6 percent, a drop from 5.8 percent in November and 6.7 percent the previous December.
Statewide, in December nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 700 for a total gain of 1,522,900 jobs since the recovery began in February 2010, with nonfarm jobs last month totaling 15,643,900, according to a survey of 58,000 California businesses.
The report said the year-over-year change – from December 2013 to December 2014 – showed an increase of 320,300 jobs, up 2.1 percent.
At the same time, a federal survey of 5,500 California households estimated the number of Californians holding jobs in December was 17,507,000, an increase of 40,000 from November 2014, and up 489,000 from the employment total in December of last year.
The number of people unemployed in California in December was 1,327,000 – down by 29,000 over the month, and down by 205,000 compared with December of last year, the state reported.
Slight improvements to local job picture
Lake County's December labor force totaled 26,270 individuals, with 23,770 employed and 2,490 unemployed. That's compared to 26,570 members of the labor force – with 23,980 employed and 2,590 unemployed – in November.
Lake ranked No. 40 among California's 58 counties for its December unemployment rate. Its neighboring counties were ranked as follows: Colusa, 20.8 percent, No. 57; Glenn, 9.9 percent, No. 42; Mendocino, 6.2 percent, No. 19; Napa, 5.1 percent, No. 10; Sonoma, 4.7 percent, No. 6; Yolo, 8.2 percent, No. 33.
Marin continued to hold onto its No. 1 spot, registering a 3.4-percent unemployment rate in December, while Imperial County came in at No. 58, with a 21 percent jobless rate.
Lake County's industry sectors that showed growth in December were wholesale trade, 5.6 percent; transportation, warehousing and utilities, 1.7 percent; retail trade and educational and health services, 0.5 percent; and service providing, 0.1 percent, according to Employment Development Department data.
Industries showing declines included total farm, -7.8 percent; federal government, -6.7 percent; mining, logging and producing, -5.4 percent; professional and business services, -1.7 percent; and leisure and hospitality, -1.0 percent, the data showed.
Statewide categories showing growth, declines
The Employment Development Department report showed that in December five industry categories – trade, transportation and utilities; financial activities; educational and health services; leisure and hospitality; and government – added 18,800 jobs across the state. Leisure and hospitality posted the largest increase over the month, adding 8,300 jobs.
Four categories – construction, information, professional and business services, and other services – reported job declines totaling 18,100 jobs in December, the state said, while two categories, mining and logging and manufacturing, were unchanged over the month.
In a year-over-year comparison – December 2013 to December 2014 – nonfarm payroll employment in California increased by 320,300 jobs, an increase of 2.1 percent, the report showed.
The report said eight categories posted gains totaling 325,000 jobs. Those categories are mining and logging; construction; manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; information; professional and business services; educational and health services; and leisure and hospitality. Professional and business services posted the largest gains on both a numerical and percentage basis, adding 110,900 jobs, a 4.7-percent increase.
Three categories – financial activities, other services and government – posted job declines over the year, down 4,700 jobs.
Among those, the report said that government posted the largest decline on a numerical basis, down 3,500 jobs, a 0.1-percent decrease. Other services posted the largest decline on a percentage basis, decreasing by -0.2 percent, a loss of 1,000 jobs.
The Employment Development Department also reported that there were 436,034 people receiving regular Unemployment Insurance benefits during the December 2014 survey week, compared with 392,610 in November and 504,558 the previous December.
New claims for Unemployment Insurance in December totaled 47,858, compared with 60,211 in November and 73,458 in December of last year, the state report said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – McLaughlin Natural Reserve is a participant in an ambitious plan to use the University of California Natural Reserve System to detect and forecast the ecological impacts of climate change in California.
The University of California, Davis' field station at the reserve – established in 1992 and situated on 80 acres of the 7,050-acre McLaughlin property – is one of 39 UC field stations.
At the heart of the plan is a proposal to establish a UC-wide institute for the study of ecological and geological and evolutionary impacts.
The plan has received $1.9 million in funding, the largest of the Research Catalyst Awards announced by new UC President Janet Napolitano.
It will offer an opportunity for scientists to study how climate change will affect California ecosystems and the ecosystem services that people rely on.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for the UC Davis reserves and for the reserve system as a whole,” said UC Davis Natural Reserve System Associate Director Virginia Boucher. “As a result of long-term collaborations between the UC Davis reserves and campus engineers and computer scientists, our reserves provide prototypes for a variety of sensor networks.”
The multi-campus project is led by Barry Sinervo, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz.
“We are going to be creating a large network of UC climate researchers and using the NRS system as a climate change observatory for biotic systems,” Sinervo said.
The local contact for McLaughlin Natural Reserve is resident Co-Director Catherine Koehler.
The researchers will assemble historical records, establish a new system for data collection, and conduct experiments and long-term monitoring studies across the state from 39 field stations.
Although there have been many in-depth studies documenting climate impacts, they have largely been done independently, with results that are difficult to compare among studies.
The new institute will pursue a coordinated approach across broad geographic scales.
Researchers will develop models to predict future changes to ecosystems and potential impacts on ecosystem services that might threaten the capacity of Californians to adapt to a changing climate.
“I have worked with grants for the reserve for 25 years and I’ve worked in a bunch of different reserves and it has become clear to me that there should be some better way to coordinate the data that we collect,” said Boucher.
“It used to be that everybody would get together once a year and agree, yes, that’s important and then they’d all go home where they had enough work to do already and nothing happened,” Boucher explained.
The institute is one of five newly funded projects designed to stimulate UC research in areas that could benefit California and the world.
The President's Research Catalyst Awards will channel $10 million over three years to fund research in areas of strategic importance, such as sustainability and climate, food and nutrition, equity and social justice.
“It’s not just a huge collection of researchers using a large number sites,” said Koehler. “There is an opportunity for the people of Lake County to get involved in this and to be participants in the data collection and make a difference to the science of this.”
Koehler said that geologists, ecologists and environmentalists will be well-served by the McLaughlin site.
“People start to think, ‘Oh, ecologists and environmentalists are people running around with butterfly nets,’” she said, “but a lot of ecologists are mathematicians who try to understand incredibly complex interactions and patterns by using mathematics, just like in astrology.”
Locally, the UC program will awaken the population hereabouts to the unique environment and scientific resources of the Lower Lake site.
Once the site of a gold mining operation that employed 200 people, it is now a knowledge mine for ecological and research scientists.
McLaughlin is a unique site in the UC system, said Koehler, because it places a university in partnership with a mining company that operated in the 1980s until the 2000s.
“It is an interesting alliance,” she said, “because there are so many liabilities and problems that could arise. The reason UC would partner with a mining company is that (McLaughlin) is an extremely conscientious company, so the risk involved to both parties is very low. An excellent agreement has been crafted.”
Contributing to the unique aspects of the McLaughlin Natural Reserve are the opportunities for soil studies.
“We are living smack in the middle of an amazing hot spot that is globally significant,” said Koehler.
That’s largely because of the mix of soils – i.e., pentament, volcanic and serpentine – at the site, she added.
In addition to multiple faculty members from UC Davis, representatives from the entire UC system are joined in the project.
They include UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and UC Merced.
Environmental Science and Policy Associate Professor Marissa Baskett and John Muir Institute of the Environment Director Mark Schwartz are coordinating the campus effort.
“One of the most interesting was a researcher for NASA Ames who continues to work out here. She is studying the hydroxide and the microbes that live in the weird water here,” said Koehler. “The microbes seem to be living on iron atoms.”
Another scientist from Duke University is presently studying the mimulus – known as “monkey-flowers” – that grow at the site.
Koehler said that stateside there also have been research teams from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Wisconsin.
Study teams from the University of Toronto, China, Germany, the United Kingdom and “a few I can never remember” also have conducted research there, said Koehler.
One of its strongest attractions is the serpentine soil, which has a radically different chemistry than more common soils, she said.
“Serpentine soil may be common here, but it is not common across the country,” said Koehler.
She said that an average of 15 scientific research projects are annually conducted on the property.
“For Lake County, what’s really exciting about this place,” she added, “is that all of a sudden you’ve got the university community right out the back door.”
Persons looking for more information about the project can reach Koehler by phone at 707-995-9003 or by email at
Email John Lindblom at
“I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do. I feel as if this tree knows everything I ever think of when I sit here. When I come back to it, I never have to remind it of anything; I begin just where I left off.” – Willa Cather, “O Pioneers!”
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Highlands Park in the city of Clearlake is a nugget worth seeking out.
Located at 14365 Lakeshore Drive on one acre, it overlooks beautiful Clear Lake.
Here, you can sit amongst the oak trees and picnic, fish or ruminate.
Like all natural spots, no two days are ever the same. It's true here, near the oaks on the lake, for sure.
Our lake and the surrounding hills and valleys are host to hundreds of species of birds – it's a bird-watcher's paradise.
We have such a prodigious amount and variety of bird life that the National Audubon Society has designated Clear Lake as an “Important Bird Area.”
The UC Cooperative Extension, which houses a great store of information about our lake, suggests visiting the Web site, www.ebird.com , to learn about the birds that visit or live year-round.
This Web site combines information on bird life from the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
It is common to view the prehistoric-looking American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) on Clear Lake, as well as a variety of ducks and birds of prey.
In winter the lake hosts a myriad of ruddy ducks and buffleheads, and even eared grebes have been spotted here.
It's easy to enjoy nature’s shows. The obvious: spring extravaganzas when she paints every available spot in showy pastels, summer’s swaying golden hillsides and fall’s variety show of ruby, yellow and orange foliage.
A Lake County winter puts on a subtle, but no less resplendent show, if one looks carefully.
A winter walk is to be savored, taken slowly and with concentration.
Nature is contradictory in that she becalms and energizes a person at the same time. While walking at an unhurried pace a multitude of minutia will reveal themselves – free gifts.
Take time to peer down to the wet banks of the lake, to “read” who’s been here before.
Some wood ducks glide out from the dried tule reeds and present a study in grace and perfection with their rippling reflections on the waters.
The evidence of visiting skunk or raccoon in the form of tracks is imprinted in the soil at the shoreline, offering proof of busy comings-and-goings here on Clear Lake.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The BYU Young Ambassadors will bring their new musical revue show to Lakeport as part of their Northern California tour this Thursday, Jan. 29.
The performance will begin at 7 p.m. in the MAC Building at the Clear Lake High School campus, 350 Lange St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 per person, and can be purchased at the Clearlake Grocery Outlet, 14806 Olympic Drive, or by calling Tom Engstrom in Lakeport at 707-245-5194.
A very limited number of tickets will be available at the door.
The Young Ambassadors’ new production, “Heartsongs – Melodies of Love,” highlights some of the world’s all-time favorite love songs in a vibrant musical journey through the roller coaster of life.
With show tunes from award-winning Broadway musicals such as “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” “Cinderella,” “Singing In the Rain” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” and featuring international hits by the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Bublé, Adele and Michael Jackson, “Heartsongs” celebrates life’s unforgettable seasons of love in a spirited 90-minute showcase that is appropriate for family members of all ages.
This fast-paced musical revue features singers, dancers and a live, onstage band, in a high-energy, nonstop performance – complete with colorful costumes.
The Young Ambassadors made their worldwide debut in 1970 at Osaka’s World Expo, and have been entertaining audiences across the globe ever since.
Last fall, the group returned from a three-week tour in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, where they performed for the princess of Thailand.
Over the past 44 years, the Young Ambassadors have shared their remarkable talent and energy in 66 countries. Since 2000, the Young Ambassadors have been to Brazil, Argentina, the 2002 Winter Olympics, Canada, Russia, Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, China, Africa, Tasmania, throughout Scandinavia, and all over the US. The Young Ambassadors have also performed for heads of state in India, Britain, Jordan, Egypt, Japan and the United States.
Prominent past members include former Miss America Sharlene Wells Hawkes, Diamond Rio’s Dan Truman, and Broadway favorites Christeena Michelle Riggs and Candese Marchese.
The Young Ambassadors represent the School of Music in cooperation with the Department of Dance from the College of Fine Arts and Communications at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control is offering four adult cats for adoption this week.
The cats are all domestic short hair mixes, two with black coats and two with tabby and white coats.
In addition to spaying or neutering, cats that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are microchipped 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 there, hoping you'll choose them.
In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .
The following cats at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (other cats pictured on the animal control Web site that are not listed here are still “on hold”).
Domestic short hair mix
This male adult short hair mix cat has a coat with brown and white markings.
He's in cat room kennel No. 48, ID No. 1364.
Domestic short hair
This female domestic short hair mix has a coat with white and brown tabby markings.
She's in cat room kennel No. 73, ID No. 1316.
Domestic short hair mix
This male domestic short hair mix has an all almost entirely black coat, with a white mark on his chest.
He's in cat room kennel No. 79, ID No. 1605.
Domestic short hair mix
This young black cat has a short, all-black coat.
Shelter staff did not report the cat's gender.
The cat is in cat room kennel No. 99, ID No. 1618.
Adoptable cats also can be seen at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Cats_and_Kittens.htm or at www.petfinder.com .
Please note: Cats listed at the shelter's Web page that are said to be “on hold” are not yet cleared for adoption.
To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .
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
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – On Saturday, personnel with Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit and Napa County Fire assisted with a rescue of a rock climber in the Table Scraps rock climbing area of Napa County.
Cal Fire reported that the climber – who was wearing a helmet at the time of the fall – fell approximately 20 feet at the rock climbing area on Mount St. Helena.
The emergency call was made to Cal Fire's St. Helena Emergency Command Center at approximately 1:21 p.m., authorities said.
Two state helicopters with crews, California Highway Patrol H32 and Cal Fire's Copter 104 from Boggs Mountain, assisted with the rescue, according to Cal Fire.
Fire and medic personnel hiked in to the incident area. Cal Fire said CHP's Copter H32 performed the patient hoist rescue and transported the patient to a local hospital. The rescue concluded just before 3 p.m.
Cal Fire did not have a condition update on the climber Saturday evening.