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Special Districts: Mandatory urgency conservation ordinances still in effect in some water districts
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The December rains helped the drought situation significantly, but the drought continues, county officials said Friday.
Lake County Special Districts reported that mandatory urgency conservation ordinances are still in effect for the following systems: County Service Area No. 22 – Mt Hannah, County Service Area No. 18 – Starview, County Service Area No. 7 – Bonanza Springs, County Service Area No. 16 – Paradise Valley Water, and County Service Area No. 2 – Spring Valley Water.
Urgency ordinances were lifted for Kelseyville County Waterworks District No. 3 and County Service Area No. 6 – Finley Water System, according to Special Districts.
However these systems remain in stage one of the county's drought management plan, which calls for voluntary conservation, the agency said.
County Service Area No. 13 – Kono Tayee, County Service Area No. 20 – Soda Bay and County Service Area No. 21 – North Lakeport also remain under a voluntary conservation order.
According to the drought management plan, stage No. 1 is implemented when a potential threat to capacity is seen.
A potential threat is currently present in all systems managed by Special Districts due to low water tables and low lake and reservoir levels.
If a water system has inadequate storage and supply to meet the drinking water and fire suppression needs of the community, the water system will be elevated to stage 2 or higher of the drought management plan.
Stage No. 2 and above requires mandatory conservation, prohibits nonessential water use and implements surcharges for violations.
“We are watching water levels and analyzing supply and demand with the hopes of lifting the mandatory urgency ordinances that remain. When the urgency ordinances are lifted, customers will be notified by mail,” Special Districts said in a Friday statement.
The state of California is still requiring a 20-percent reduction in usage over the same period last year. All systems managed by Lake County are currently meeting the state requirement.
If you have any questions about the conservation requirements for your district, call Special Districts at 707-263-0119.
How many stars like our sun host planets like our Earth?
NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope continuously monitored more than 150,000 stars beyond our solar system, and to date has offered scientists an assortment of more than 4,000 candidate planets for further study – the 1,000th of which was recently verified.
Using Kepler data, scientists reached this millenary milestone after validating that eight more candidates spotted by the planet-hunting telescope are, in fact, planets.
The Kepler team also has added another 554 candidates to the roll of potential planets, six of which are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of stars similar to our sun.
Three of the newly-validated planets are located in their distant suns’ habitable zone, the range of distances from the host star where liquid water might exist on the surface of an orbiting planet. Of the three, two are likely made of rock, like Earth.
“Each result from the planet-hunting Kepler mission's treasure trove of data takes us another step closer to answering the question of whether we are alone in the Universe,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “The Kepler team and its science community continue to produce impressive results with the data from this venerable explorer.”
To determine whether a planet is made of rock, water or gas, scientists must know its size and mass. When its mass can’t be directly determined, scientists can infer what the planet is made of based on its size.
Two of the newly validated planets, Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b, are less than 1.5 times the diameter of Earth.
Kepler-438b, 475 light-years away, is 12 percent bigger than Earth and orbits its star once every 35.2 days.
Kepler-442b, 1,100 light-years away, is 33 percent bigger than Earth and orbits its star once every 112 days.
Both Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b orbit stars smaller and cooler than our sun, making the habitable zone closer to their parent star, in the direction of the constellation Lyra.
The research paper reporting this finding has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.
“With each new discovery of these small, possibly rocky worlds, our confidence strengthens in the determination of the true frequency of planets like Earth,” said co-author Doug Caldwell, SETI Institute Kepler scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. “The day is on the horizon when we’ll know how common temperate, rocky planets like Earth are.”
With the detection of 554 more planet candidates from Kepler observations conducted May 2009 to April 2013, the Kepler team has raised the candidate count to 4,175.
Eight of these new candidates are between one to two times the size of Earth, and orbit in their sun's habitable zone.
Of these eight, six orbit stars that are similar to our sun in size and temperature. All candidates require follow-up observations and analysis to verify they are actual planets.
“Kepler collected data for four years – long enough that we can now tease out the Earth-size candidates in one Earth-year orbits,” said Fergal Mullally, SETI Institute Kepler scientist at Ames who led the analysis of a new candidate catalog. “We’re closer than we’ve ever been to finding Earth twins around other sun-like stars. These are the planets we’re looking for.”
These findings also have been submitted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement.
Work is under way to translate these recent discoveries into estimates of how often rocky planets appear in the habitable zones of stars like our sun, a key step toward NASA's goal of understanding our place in the universe.
For more information about the Kepler mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler .
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Assemblyman Bill Dodd (D-Napa) on Thursday introduced a resolution petitioning President Obama to create the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument.
The establishment of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument would help safeguard the area that stretches from the shores of Lake Berryessa in Napa County to the flanks of Snow Mountain, and includes portions of Lake, Mendocino, Solano, and Yolo counties.
“The designation of this unique area as a national monument will help preserve the region’s natural splendor for future generations. The national monument will provide continued recreational opportunities and will bring enhanced visitation,” said Dodd. “This is a great example of how we can protect our environment and support our local economy.”
Dodd was joined in supporting the national monument by the region’s other legislative representatives – Senators Lois Wolk and Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Jim Wood – all of whom are principal co-authors of the Assembly joint resolution, AJR 4.
“I want to recognize Congressman Mike Thompson and the broad coalition of environmental and outdoor recreation groups, hundreds of local businesses, and local governments that have been working diligently to support the national monument designation,” Dodd said.
The Berryessa Snow Mountain area includes some 350,000 acres of existing public lands and is a rich in wildlife, providing habitat for bald and golden eagles, black bears, mountain lions, tule elk, river otters and the rare Pacific fisher.
The area’s proximity to the Bay Area and Sacramento makes it an outdoor recreation destination easily accessible to millions of Californians.
Each year tens of millions of Californians participate in outdoor recreation, supporting over 700,000 jobs and creating more than $6 billion in economic activity.
Studies have shown that local economies expand around newly created national monuments.
Assemblyman Bill Dodd represents the Fourth Assembly District, which includes all or portions of Yolo, Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Solano and Colusa counties.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Safeway Inc. has reached a settlement with 42 counties – including Lake – in a case alleging that more than 500 of its stores and distribution centers violated the state's environmental laws for handling and storing hazardous materials, including the disposal of pharmaceutical waste.
The settlement, which orders Safeway to pay $9.87 million in civil penalties, also applies to the other branded stores that the Pleasanton-based supermarket chain owns – Vons, Pavilions and Pak ‘n Save.
The final stipulated judgment was approved Jan. 2 by Judge Wynne S. Carvill in Alameda County Superior Court, where the case was filed.
According to a statement from Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley – whose office was one of the lead agencies in the case – the investigation that led to the suit began after the discovery of improper shipments of hazardous and pharmaceutical waste to Safeway’s distribution centers through its reverse logistics program.
During 2012 and 2013, inspectors from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office Environmental Protection Division along with other district attorney investigators and environmental regulators statewide, conducted a series of waste inspections of dumpsters belonging to Safeway stores, case records showed.
The inspections revealed that Safeway was routinely and systematically sending hazardous wastes to local landfills, and was failing to take measures to protect the privacy of their pharmacy customers’ confidential medical information, O'Malley's office reported.
When prosecutors notified Safeway of the widespread environmental issues at its facilities, the company “worked cooperatively to remedy the issue, enhance its environmental compliance program and train its employees to properly handle such waste,” according to O'Malley's report.
Among the facilities listed in the settlement are Lake County's two Safeway stores – 14922 Olympic Drive in Clearlake and 1071 11th St. in Lakeport.
The Lake County District Attorney's Office will receive $1,750 from the settlement, while another $3,500 in civil penalties will go to the Lake County Environmental Health division, according to the stipulated judgment.
Neighboring Mendocino County, which has three Safeway stores, will receive $2,625 for the district attorney and $5,250 for its environmental health department; Napa County, also with three stores, will receive $27,000 for its district attorney and $27,000 for its department of environmental management; Sonoma County, with 12 stores, will receive $22,750 for the district attorney, $3,500 for the cities of Healdsburg and Sebastopol, $7,000 for its fire and emergency department and $8,750 for Santa Rosa City Fire; and Yolo County, with four stores, receives $375,000 for its district attorney and $35,250 for its environmental health department.
California Safeway stores have, pursuant to the final agreement, adopted new policies and procedures designed to eliminate the improper disposal of retail hazardous waste products and pharmaceutical waste into store trash bins for eventual disposal into local landfills, officials reported.
The settlement terms also require Safeway to continue its First Assistant Store Manager Program designed to address environmental compliance at the store level and conduct annual store audits.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
The California Department of Public Health has been notified of seven confirmed cases of measles in patients from five different locations within California.
Dr. Ron Chapman, CDPH director and state health officer, reported that two Utah resident cases also have been confirmed and three additional California residents also are suspected to have measles and are under investigation.
All confirmed and suspect cases reported visiting Disneyland or Disney California Adventure Park in Orange County sometime between Dec. 15 and Dec. 20.
Based on information from current cases, it is likely that a person infectious with measles was at one of the theme parks on these dates. People can be infectious with measles for nine days.
Measles typically begins with fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes and within a few days a red rash appears, usually first on the face and then spreads downward to the rest of the body.
Measles is a highly infectious, airborne disease.
“If you have symptoms, and believe you may have been exposed, please contact your health care provider,” said Dr. Chapman. “The best way to prevent measles and its spread is to get vaccinated.”
Measles has been eliminated in the United States since 2000. However, large measles outbreaks have occurred in Western Europe, Pakistan, Vietnam and the Philippines in recent years.
Travelers to areas where measles is endemic can bring measles back to the U.S., resulting in limited domestic transmission of measles.
Disney and other theme parks in California are international attractions and visitors come from many parts of the world, including those where measles is endemic.
Two doses of measles-containing vaccine (MMR vaccine) are more than 99 percent effective in preventing measles.
Measles vaccines have been available in the United States since 1963, and two doses have been recommended since 1989. If you are unsure of your vaccination status, check with your doctor to have a test to check for measles immunity or to receive vaccination.
The California confirmed cases reside in five local health jurisdictions (Alameda, Orange, Pasadena, Riverside, and San Diego) and range in age from 8 months to 21 years.
Six cases were unvaccinated for measles (2 were too young to be vaccinated), and 1 had received appropriate vaccination (two doses of MMR vaccine). Several large contact investigations are ongoing.
Health care providers treating patients with fever and a rash should consider measles, and ask patients about travel to international destinations and domestic venues that are popular with international travelers.
More information about measles can be found on the CDPH Web site at www.cdph.ca.gov .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Clearlake Oaks man accused of shooting his wife to death the weekend before Christmas has pleaded not guilty to the numerous charges filed against him in the case.
Marc Anthony Clark, 59, pleaded not guilty to murder and a host of other felony counts and also denied numerous special allegations – particularly for the use of a firearm – during a Tuesday morning court appearance before Judge Andrew Blum.
Authorities said that on the night of Dec. 20, Clark used a handgun to kill his wife, 58-year-old Linda Louise Clark, at their home on Wolf Creek in Spring Valley.
After the shooting, Marc Clark called law enforcement to report that he had shot his wife following an argument, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Clark is charged with five felonies – murder, mayhem, aggravated mayhem, corporal injury on a spouse and assault with a firearm – plus 10 special allegations related to the use of a firearm and causing great bodily injury.
Defense counsel Tom Quinn represented Clark during the Tuesday appearance.
He urged Clark to agree to a general time waiver – which will allow more time to prepare a defense – due to the case's gravity, and Clark agreed.
Judge Blum ordered Clark to return to court at 8;15 a.m. Jan. 27 for the setting of a preliminary hearing.
Clark remains in custody in the Lake County Jail, with bail set at $1.5 million.
Email Elizabeth Larson at