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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Assembly Bill 1434, introduced by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-Davis), cleared the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications on Monday.
This measure seeks to ensure water affordability for all Californians, especially for those with low or fixed incomes.
“As the state continues to set improved standards for water quality, residents throughout California are bearing the burden of the cost to upgrading water systems,” stated Yamada.
“My constituents in Lake County nearly experienced a rate increase of 77 percent over three years due to the development and construction costs of a new water treatment plant, but luckily a pending settlement agreement was reached,” she said, referring to the situation in Lucerne. “However, the legislature cannot leave communities with limited resources to fend for themselves. AB 1434 will initiate a process to strike a balance for utilities and ratepayers.”
With new treatment requirements for groundwater, recycled water, and wastewater on the horizon like the pending hexavalent chromium standards under consideration by the California Department of Public Health, even more infrastructure investment are expected in the coming years that may potentially raise rates for Californians.
Increasing costs of water can force some households to disconnect service altogether. As the revenue from these households ceases, water providers are forced to increase rates on the remaining ratepayers to cover the costs of their water delivery infrastructure.
This problem will only increase as the cost of providing potable water to Californians increase, Yamada's office reported.
To stabilize water rates for all Californians, AB 1434 would direct the California Department of Community Services and Development, in conjunction with the Board of Equalization and relevant stakeholders, to develop a statewide Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Program by Jan. 1, 2016.
This process is the first step in developing a program that will mitigate the impact of rate increases. AB 1434 reaffirms the state’s commitment for every human being to have the right to safe, clean and affordable water.
AB 1434 will next be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Yamada represents the Fourth Assembly District which includes all or parts of Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Although Clear Lake has more water than many lakes and reservoirs in the state, it is experiencing lower-than-usual water levels due to the drought.
These levels may impact your ability to safely navigate boats in certain areas of the lake.
To promote safe boating conditions in Clear Lake, the Lake County Department of Water Resources recently placed white warning buoys along the shore near Rodman Slough to mark shallow areas of water that boaters should avoid.
The California Department of Boating and Waterways suggests adjusting your boating activities this year because of the drought conditions.
The agency also advises that all boaters keep a proper lookout for trees, snags, sandbars and other hazards, and to remember that areas that were easily boated a year ago may be hazardous this year due to water levels.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch on Monday announced that defendant Aldo Joseph Baccala, who ran a Ponzi scheme that defrauded victims more than $17 million, was sentenced to 20 years in state prison and ordered to pay a fine of $6.4 million at a Monday hearing in Sonoma County.
“This fraudulent investment scheme cheated dozens of elderly investors out of millions of their hard-earned dollars,” Harris said. “The dedicated investigators in our Financial Fraud Section, along with our local partners, will continue to protect California’s investors and consumers by bringing perpetrators like him to justice.”
“Along with the Attorney General’s Office, our office expended incredible resources in order to bring this scam artist to justice,” Ravitch said. “The scale and scope of this man’s fraud on unsuspecting investors is staggering. That so many of his victims lost their livelihoods, their homes and their retirement savings, to this man’s scheming and greed is beyond tragic. This was not just a fraud he perpetrated, but a crime against their futures and the emotional toll is incalculable. Thus, we believed his loss of liberty should be in proportion to their loss.”
Baccala was arrested in June of 2012 and charged with grand theft, securities fraud and elder abuse.
On March 12 of this year, Baccala entered no contest pleas to 140 counts and admitted to excessive taking and white collar enhancements.
The case was jointly prosecuted by both the Attorney General’s Financial Fraud and Special Prosecutions Section and the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office.
Baccala used his Petaluma-based company, Baccala Realty Inc., to solicit funds from victims, urging them to invest in ventures in California and other states, such as assisted living facilities, a car wash and other businesses with a promise of a return of monthly payments at an annual rate of 12 percent.
He issued promissory notes stating the investments were either secured with real property or were designated for a particular use.
Many victims of the Ponzi scheme were elderly and had known Baccala and his family for many years.
Though he solicited investments in more than 100 notes between 2004 and 2008, Baccala did not own the facilities and his company could not provide any kind of return for those who purchased the promissory notes.
Instead, Baccala used the solicited money for his own personal, unsuccessful stock market bets.
His company eventually lost more than $7 million and, when it collapsed, it had almost $17 million in promissory notes outstanding.
Consumers should exercise caution with investments that seem too good to be true and contain promises that cannot be verified or authenticated.
Consumers may report suspected fraud or elder abuse to the Attorney General’s Office at https://oag.ca.gov/bmfea/reporting .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The year's dry conditions have resulted in a severe curtailment for some of those who rely on water from Clear Lake.
Yolo County Flood Control & Water Conservation District, based in Woodland, owns the water rights to Clear Lake, and also owns and operates Indian Valley Reservoir.
Based on Yolo Flood's water rights, it gets 150,000 acre feet of water if Clear Lake is at 7.56 feet Rumsey – the special measure for the lake – by May 1.
However, if Clear Lake is at 3.22 feet Rumsey or below, Yolo Flood gets no water.
This year, Clear Lake's level on May 1 was 2.32 feet Rumsey, according to Lake County Water Resources records.
As such, that meant a zero allocation for Yolo Flood, according to General Manager Tim O'Halloran.
Yolo Flood had received a 70-percent allocation in 2013, he said. That year, Clear Lake was at 6 feet Rumsey.
The last time Yolo Flood received a zero allocation was in 1991, O'Halloran said.
O'Halloran said that Yolo Flood is releasing a small amount of water through the Cache Creek Dam as it is required to do to maintain certain flow levels, but beyond that Yolo Flood's customers are having to find backup sources of water.
“They have three options, basically,” he said.
Those are to fallow land, use groundwater or plant crops that need less water, O'Halloran said.
As for the impact of the zero allocation, “It’s a big deal for us,” said O'Halloran.
He explained that 80 percent of the district's revenue comes from water sales.
Yolo Flood has a $4.5 million annual budget, and O'Halloran estimated that an average of about $3.5 million comes from selling water.
Many parts of Northern California are seeing large plantings of orchard crops, such as almonds, thanks to a robust market. However, due to the water involved, that's a concern for Yolo Flood.
“We're watching that closely,” said O'Halloran, who hasn't noticed that trend in his service area.
Like Clear Lake, irrigation water also isn’t being released from Indian Valley Reservoir this year, O'Halloran said.
Currently, Indian Valley Reservoir is at about 28,000 acre feet, a fraction of its 300,000-acre-foot capacity.
Yolo Flood stopped releasing water from the reservoir earlier this year, when the reservoir was at 15,000 acre feet. O'Halloran said rain in February and March raised it to the current level.
With the Spring Valley community using the reservoir for a water supply, it was decided not to let the level go any lower, O'Halloran said.
“It's not in anybody's interest to have them go dry,” he said.
Even if Yolo Flood did release that additional water from the rainy season, it's unlikely it would get to customers, but would be absorbed by the dry ground, he said, so it's best to hold onto it for next winter.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The summer is kicking off with a new group of cats and kittens at Lake County Animal Care and Control needing homes.
This week's felines include kittens as young as 12 weeks up to cats age 6.
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”).
Male domestic short hair mix kitten
This male domestic short hair mix kitten is 16 weeks old.
He has a white and gray coat, gold eyes and has not yet been altered.
He's in cat room kennel No. 6, ID No. 40066.
Female domestic long hair mix
This female domestic long hair mix cat is 2 years old.
She has dilute tortie markings, weighs 10 pounds and has been spayed.
She's in cat room kennel No. 56, ID No. 39764.
'Sticker'
“Sticker” is a 12-week-old female domestic medium hair mix kitten.
She weighs 2.2 pounds, has gold eyes and has been spayed.
Sticker has been fostered and was raised on a bottle, so she is very people orientated, as well as very playful and curious, according to shelter staff.
Meet her in cat room kennel No. 60, ID No. 39699.
Domestic medium hair mix cat
This female domestic medium hair mix cat is 5 years old.
She has a gray coat, weighs 8 pounds and has been spayed.
She's in cat room kennel No. 62, ID No. 39667.
Domestic short hair mix cat
This male domestic short hair mix cat is 1 year old.
He has a gray coat and green eyes, and has not been neutered.
He's in cat room kennel No. 63, ID No. 40003.
Male domestic medium hair mix
This male domestic medium hair mix is 6 years old.
He has a black and white coat, and one brown and one green eye, and has been neutered.
Shelter staff says he is very vocal and likes to chat with his human friends.
Find him in cat room kennel No. 81, ID No. 40032.
Male domestic short hair mix
This male domestic short hair mix is 4 years old.
He has a white and orange spotted coat, weighs 16 pounds and has been neutered.
He's in cat room kennel No. 101, ID No. 35839.
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, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 1 p.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
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Ethnological research shows that what is now called California was once home to more than 100 American Indian tribes, or groups of people, who knew the lay of the land intimately – what to eat, how to hunt and how to respect the land.
William Ralganal Benson, a Pomo, born in 1862 at Shaxai – which is now known as Buckingham on Clear Lake – indicating this respect, said, “Plants are thought to be alive, their juice is their blood, and they grow. The same is true of trees. All things die, therefore all things have life. Because all things have life, gifts have to be given to all things.”
Miner's lettuce is a familiar California native plant that is seen during spring to early summer in damp areas. It is easily identified by its thickset, round, rosette shape with delicate flowers at its top. In times past, California's American Indians made use of its succulent leaves in their varied diet.
The name of the plant comes from the California Gold Rush era when miners dined on it to prevent scurvy, as it is high in vitamin C. It was commonly eaten as a leafy vegetable, raw or boiled like spinach.
Wild strawberries, known by the Yuki Indians as “Pol-put' mam,” are commonly seen along wooded hillsides.
A perennial with white flowers, the berry is quite similar to its cultivated cousin, except much smaller.
Children, then as now, loved wild strawberries and consumed them fresh or dried. Pomos along the coast celebrated the arrival of spring's first ruby red delicacies with a strawberry festival before gathering them commenced.
The leaves of wild strawberry plants were enjoyed as a vitamin C-enriched tea, while the roots were used medicinally for stomach problems and as a diuretic.
According to “The Complete Garden Guide to the Native Perennials of California,” by Glenn Keator, wild strawberries, or Fragaria, are of the rose family.
There are at least three varieties of wild strawberries, and all grow to great colonies in a garden, and may be used as a ground cover or as a stabilizer.
Soaproot is an unassuming low-lying green plant which was used in a variety of ways by California's Indians.
Soaproot, also known as soap plant or amole, is considered to be one of the most abundant bulbs in California.
A relative of the lily, it is easily identified even without a flower. The leaves are narrow and long with a slightly wavy edge.
By late spring a straight stalk grows amidst the center of the leaf rosette and, if you look carefully, you may see the white flowers open late in the day.
These marvels of evolution do not need bees or wasps for pollination, but instead, depend upon small night flying beetles, flies or moths to do the deed.
Soaproot has been used to make strong brushes from the brown fibers which cover the bulb. After the fibers were removed from the bulb, they were cleaned of debris, and were fashioned into various sized bundles for sifting acorn flour. The brush handle was often made from boiled soaproot bulbs.
Once it was made into a pulp, it could be adhered to the soaproot fibers and dried. These handy brushes were put to a variety of uses by American Indians. They could be used for the cleaning of baskets, mortars and pestles.
Soaproot, as its name implies, was used for soap, as well. First, the bulb was crushed, then mixed with water for a foamy, fresh cleaner.
Along with soaproot's many other uses, it was used traditionally to stun fish in a dammed creek, and its bulb was also cooked and eaten.
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.
