How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
California state agencies are combining resources to prevent deaths and injuries from prescription painkiller misuse and overdoses by alerting health care providers, pharmacists and the public to this epidemic.
The Prescription Opioid Misuse and Overdose Prevention Workgroup was formed to expand prevention strategies to decrease the amount of misuse, overdose and death from prescription pain medications.
“Drug overdose brings to mind illegal street drugs, like heroin, but many deaths due to drug abuse are from misuse of the legal prescription drugs that many people find in their medicine cabinets,” said Dr. Ron Chapman, state health officer and director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), who leads the workgroup.
In the U.S., drug overdoses kill more people than motor vehicle crashes.
In 2012, there were more than 41,000 deaths in this country related to drug overdoses – with more than 50 percent related to pharmaceuticals.
Opioid analgesics, like oxycodone, methadone or hydrocodone, were involved in about three of every four pharmaceutical overdose deaths.
The cost of health care related to abuse of opioid pain relievers is estimated at more than $70 billion.
In California, reported deaths involving opioid prescription medications have increased 16.5 percent since 2006.
In 2012, there were more than 1,800 deaths from all types of opioids – 72 percent involved prescription opioids.
The number of people being treated for prescription opioid abuse in publicly funded or monitored programs in California has nearly doubled since 2007.
These medications are often obtained legally, but then taken incorrectly or used by people they are not prescribed for, such as a friend or relative.
The workgroup includes CDPH, the departments of Health Care Services, Justice, Education and Consumer Affairs, California State Board of Pharmacy, Medical Board of California, Dental Board of California, and Emergency Medical Services Authority.
One of the workgroup’s goals is to provide information about the California Medical Board’s recently revised guidelines for prescribing controlled substances for pain.
“We want to provide tools that will lead to better discussions between providers, pharmacists and their patients,” added Kimberly Kirchmeyer, executive director of the Medical Board of California. “The Board’s new guidelines will assist in this endeavor.”
“Treating pain is complicated and prescription drugs do have an appropriate use. Health care providers and their patients should discuss the benefits and risks of prescription pain medications, and consider all treatment options,” said Dr. Chapman.
In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared prescription drug abuse a nationwide epidemic.
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officers issued its President’s Challenge 2014, with the goal of bringing together state health officials and their partners to identify ways to reduce the toll associated with prescription drug misuse, abuse and overdose.
LUCERNE, Calif. – A Lucerne man is missing and presumed drowned after he didn't return from his daily kayaking trip on Monday.
Michael Belhumeur, 68, was reported missing by his niece Monday evening after he hadn't come back from kayaking along the Northshore.
Tracie Dotson told Lake County News that it was her uncle's routine to go out on the lake daily – anywhere from a few to several hours – and return at least an hour or so before it got dark.
He’d recently had a bout of sciatica that sidelined him but was back on his kayak almost every day, she said.
So when she hadn't heard from him Monday afternoon, and found his pickup still parked at the Sandy Beach Trailer Lodge on Highway 20 – where he left it to go kayaking – she became concerned.
Conditions on the lake were choppy and rough the day Belhumeur went missing. Two men had to be rescued from the lake offshore of the city of Clearlake after their canoe capsized Monday afternoon, as Lake County News has reported.
Undersheriff Chris Macedo said the sheriff's office was contacted about Belhumeur's disappearance at about 5:30 p.m. Monday, with a deputy subsequently taking a report.
Sheriff's Marine Patrol went out that same day to begin looking for Belhumeur, encountering rough and windy conditions, with no signs of the missing man found at that point, he said. The search continued Tuesday and then Wednesday.
Dotson herself went out on a boat to try to locate her uncle, but didn't have any luck.
However, on Wednesday Sheriff's Marine Patrol and Search and Rescue located a kayak, life jacket and kayak paddle, Macedo said.
The kayak and other equipment was reportedly found along the shoreline near Ceago Winery, between Lucerne and Nice.
Dotson said she was asked to come and look at the items to see if they were her uncle's.
“It's all his,” she confirmed, noting that she broke down when she saw her uncle’s blue kayak.
Macedo said the California Highway Patrol assisted with the search by flying over the area, but there has been no sign of Belhumeur himself.
“It's presumed he drowned,” Macedo said of Belhumeur.
Dotson said her uncle is experienced on the water, and surfed regularly when he lived in Santa Cruz.
Even with his experience, she said it was possible that he lost his paddle or the boat flipped over on him.
“Something got away from him,” she said.
If the boat did flip, it’s likely that he wasn’t wearing his life jacket. Macedo said Belhumeur kept a life jacket on his kayak but was known to not wear it.
On Thursday, the search was scaled back, Macedo said. The Marine Patrol wasn't searching the lake but sheriff's patrol units were checking areas along the shoreline for signs of Belhumeur's body.
With the lake's temperature at an estimated 47 degrees Fahrenheit, Macedo said Belhumeur's body isn't expected to surface until conditions become warmer.
Northshore Fire Chief Jay Beristianos, whose district has experienced divers, said his agency hasn't yet been called in on the case.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The new year is getting off to a frigid start, with forecasters warning of freezing conditions through Friday morning.
The National Weather Service issued a freeze warning for Lake County and a large section of Northern California.
The warning is in effect from 12 a.m. Thursday through noon on Friday.
Freezing temperatures – from the upper 20s to about 30 degrees – are expected both nights, the National Weather Service reported.
Residents of the impacted areas are urged to take action to protect animals and any sensitive vegetation.
Around Lake County, temperatures for Thursday and into the weekend are expected to range from the low 30s at night up into the high 50s during daytime hours, according to the forecast.
Thursday is anticipated to be clear, with sunny conditions predicted Friday through Sunday.
Patchy fog also is forecast for Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights, based on the forecast.
Forecasters said next Tuesday is expected to be cloudy, with a chance of showers returning Wednesday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Monday a Lake County Superior Court judge sentenced a Lower Lake man to state prison for molesting a young child.
Patrick Allen Williams, 25, received an eight-year sentence, according to the District Attorney's Office.
In early March 2013, the 4-year-old victim disclosed to a relative that Williams had molested her, according to prosecutors.
After an investigation by the Lake County Sheriff's Office and Child Welfare Services, a complaint charging a single count of lewd act with a child was filed by the Lake County District Attorney. Lead investigator for the sheriff’s department was Todd Dunia.
The case went to trial, which began Oct. 16 and ended on Oct. 31 with the jury handing down a guilty verdict.
Judge Andrew Blum, who presided over the jury trial, gave Williams the maximum eight-year for the charge, the District Attorney's Office reported.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Edward Borg, with Williams represented by defense counsel Thomas Quinn.
Because the crime he was convicted of violating is classified as a violent felony, Williams will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for release, according to prosecutors.
When he is released, Williams will be required to register as a sex offender.
The California Highway Patrol reported that there are a few new laws going into effect in the new year that are designed to keep the motoring public safe.
The two new laws involve the operation of limousines and driver license eligibility for the state's undocumented residents.
Modified Limousine Safety Requirements: Regulations/Inspections (SB 611, Hill)
This law creates a modified limousine inspection program, which must be implemented no later than July 1, 2016.
Through this program, modified limousine terminals will be inspected once every 13 months by the CHP.
The new law also defines a modified limousine as a vehicle that seats not more than 10 passengers, including the driver, and has been modified, altered, or extended in a manner that increases the wheelbase of the vehicle, sufficient to accommodate additional passengers.
SB 611 also requires modified limousines to be equipped with two readily accessible and fully charged fire extinguishers.
The driver or operator of the modified limousine must notify the passengers of the safety features of the vehicle including instructions for lowering the partition between the driver and passengers, and the location of the fire extinguishers.
Driver License Eligibility: Undocumented Residents (AB 60, Alejo)
Beginning Jan. 2, 2015, the California Department of Motor Vehicles will issue an original driver license to an applicant who is unable to submit satisfactory proof of legal presence in the United States.
The applicants are required to provide satisfactory proof of identity and California residency and must meet all other qualifications for licensure, which includes demonstration of the basic knowledge, skills and ability to have the privilege of driving.
This law was adopted during the 2013 legislative year.
It does not change the day-to-day operations of the CHP.
For complete information on chaptered bills enacted in 2014, refer to the Legislative Counsel Web site at www.LegInfo.ca.gov .
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has entered an approach phase in which it will continue to close in on Ceres, a Texas-sized dwarf planet never before visited by a spacecraft.
Dawn launched in 2007 and is scheduled to enter Ceres orbit in March 2015.
“Ceres is almost a complete mystery to us,” said Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Ceres has no meteorites linked to it to help reveal its secrets. All we can predict with confidence is that we will be surprised.”
The next couple of months promise continually improving views of Ceres, prior to Dawn's arrival.
By the end of January, the spacecraft's images and other data will be the best ever taken of the dwarf planet.
Dawn recently emerged from solar conjunction, in which the spacecraft is on the opposite side of the sun, limiting communication with antennas on Earth.
Now that Dawn can reliably communicate with Earth again, mission controllers have programmed the maneuvers necessary for the next stage of the rendezvous, which they label the Ceres approach phase.
Dawn is currently 400,000 miles from Ceres, approaching it at around 450 miles per hour.
The spacecraft's arrival at Ceres will mark the first time that a spacecraft has ever orbited two solar system targets.
Dawn previously explored the protoplanet Vesta for 14 months, from 2011 to 2012, capturing detailed images and data about that body.
The two planetary bodies are thought to be different in a few important ways. Ceres may have formed later than Vesta, and with a cooler interior.
Current evidence suggests that Vesta only retained a small amount of water because it formed earlier, when radioactive material was more abundant, which would have produced more heat.
Ceres, in contrast, has a thick ice mantle and may even have an ocean beneath its icy crust.
Ceres, with an average diameter of 590 miles, is also the largest body in the asteroid belt, the strip of solar system real estate between Mars and Jupiter.
By comparison, Vesta has an average diameter of 326 miles, and is the second most massive body in the belt.
The spacecraft uses ion propulsion to traverse space far more efficiently than if it used chemical propulsion. In an ion propulsion engine, an electrical charge is applied to xenon gas, and charged metal grids accelerate the xenon particles out of the thruster.
These particles push back on the thruster as they exit, creating a reaction force that propels the spacecraft.
Dawn has now completed five years of accumulated thrust time, far more than any other spacecraft.
“Orbiting both Vesta and Ceres would be truly impossible with conventional propulsion. Thanks to ion propulsion, we're about to make history as the first spaceship ever to orbit two unexplored alien worlds,” said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission director, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.