NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, the largest the agency has ever built for a planetary mission, will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Europa, an intriguing icy moon of Jupiter. The spacecraft’s launch period opens Thursday, Oct. 10.

Data from previous NASA missions has provided scientists with strong evidence that an enormous salty ocean lies underneath the frozen surface of the moon. Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter and conduct 49 close flybys of the moon to gather data needed to determine whether there are places below its thick frozen crust that could support life.

Here are eight things to know about the mission:

1. Europa is one of the most promising places to look for currently habitable conditions beyond Earth.

There’s scientific evidence that the ingredients for life — water, the right chemistry, and energy — may exist at Europa right now. This mission will gather the information scientists need to find out for sure. The moon may hold an internal ocean with twice the water of Earth’s oceans combined, and it may also host organic compounds and energy sources under its surface. If the mission determines that Europa is habitable, it would mean there may be more habitable worlds in our solar system and beyond than we have imagined.

2. The spacecraft will fly through one of the most punishing radiation environments in our solar system — second only to the Sun’s.

Jupiter is surrounded by a gigantic magnetic field 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s. As the field spins, it captures and accelerates charged particles, creating radiation that can damage spacecraft. Mission engineers designed a spacecraft vault to shield sensitive electronics from radiation, and they plotted orbits that will limit the time Europa Clipper spends in most radiation-heavy areas around Jupiter.

3. Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter, studying Europa while flying by the moon dozens of times.

The spacecraft will make looping orbits around Jupiter that bring it close to Europa for 49 science-dedicated flybys. On each orbit, the spacecraft will spend less than a day in Jupiter’s dangerous radiation zone near Europa before zipping back out. Two to three weeks later, it will repeat the process, making another flyby.

4. Europa Clipper features the most sophisticated suite of science instruments NASA has ever sent to the Jupiter system.

To determine if Europa is habitable, Europa Clipper must assess the moon’s interior, composition, and geology. The spacecraft carries nine science instruments and a gravity experiment that uses the telecommunications system. In order to obtain the best science during each flyby, all the science instruments will operate simultaneously on every pass. Scientists will then layer the data together to paint a full picture of the moon.

5. With antennas and solar arrays fully deployed, Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission.

The spacecraft extends 100 feet (30.5 meters) from one end to the other and about 58 feet (17.6 meters) across. That’s bigger than a basketball court, thanks in large part to the solar arrays, which need to be huge so they can collect enough sunlight while near Jupiter to power the instruments, electronics, and other subsystems.

6. It’s a long journey to Jupiter.

Jupiter is on average some 480 million miles (about 770 million kilometers) from Earth; both planets are in motion, and a spacecraft can carry only a limited amount of fuel. Mission planners are sending Europa Clipper past Mars and then Earth, using the planets’ gravity as a slingshot to add speed to the spacecraft’s trek. After journeying about 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) over 5½ years, the spacecraft will fire its engines to enter orbit around Jupiter in 2030.

7. Institutions across the U.S. and Europe have contributed to Europa Clipper.

Currently, about a thousand people work on the mission, including more than 220 scientists from both the U.S. and Europe. Since the mission was officially approved in 2015, more than 4,000 people have contributed to Europa Clipper, including teams who work for contractors and subcontractors.

8. More than 2.6 million of us are riding along with the spacecraft, bringing greetings from one water world to another.

As part of a mission campaign called “Message in a Bottle,” the spacecraft is carrying a poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, cosigned by millions of people from nearly every country in the world. Their names have been stenciled onto a microchip attached to a tantalum metal plate that seals the spacecraft’s electronics vault. The plate also features waveforms of people saying the word “water” in over 100 spoken languages.

More about Europa Clipper

Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology.

The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The main spacecraft body was designed by APL in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.

NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.

Find more information about Europa here: https://europa.nasa.gov.

LAKEPORT, Calif. — An affordable housing project that has been controversial due to concerns about safety, location and traffic received a vote of support from the Lakeport City Council for a state grant application during a special Thursday night meeting.

The council met for just under an hour and a half to consider a request from City Manager Kevin Ingram to execute a 2018 Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery grant extension request letter to the California Department of Housing and Community Development on behalf of the Parkside apartments project.

Ingram also asked the council to approve reallocating $2,396,301 in grant funds from the Bevins senior apartments project to Parkside, which will be located next to Westside Community Park.

In the end, the council voted 3-1 to support Ingram’s request. The dissenter was Mayor Michael Froio, who has been consistent in his opposition to the project for reasons including the need for another point of access. As the project is currently designed, it would be accessed only by Charlie Jolin Way, the main road into Westside Community Park.

Councilmember Kim Costa had to recuse herself from the discussion because she and her husband own a home in the existing Parkside Subdivision; she noted the project would be located behind her house.

The grant funding is part of the effort to acquire the gap funding necessary to get the project into the building phase, which it will now have a year to do.

Ingram told Lake County News in a Thursday morning interview that he believes the project can start building in that one-year time frame if it has the necessary funding. He told the council the same during the Thursday evening meeting.

The council’s vote was an about face from action it took in response to another request for grant support from the developer, Peter Schellinger, at its May 21 meeting.

At that time, after hearing more opposition from neighbors, the council — in a decision that appeared to surprise city staff — voted 4-0 against supporting staff submitting an application to the California State Department of Housing and Community Development for funding under its Permanent Local Housing Allocation Program to support the project.

Ingram emphasized during the discussion that the project already has been approved and has the entitlements to move forward.

That’s because in November 2022, in a 3-1 vote — with Froio again the lone dissenter — the council approved the project, clearing the way for Schellinger to move forward with building a 64-unit apartment community in the project’s southern phase. A zone change ordinance for the project was given final approval on Dec. 6 of that year.

That’s just the first part of the project, which at full buildout will include 128 new apartment units and 48 cluster homes.

What’s changed since then is that Schellinger — who was not at Thursday’s meeting — has not been able to win the grant funding he’s pursued. Originally, the applicant was Schellinger’s company, Waterstone Residential, formed in 2019, the year after Ingram said Schellinger first pitched the project to the city.

Recently Schellinger has brought on a partner in the effort. The lead applicant is now Danco Communities, the same firm building affordable housing projects in the city of Clearlake.

While Schellinger wasn’t at the council meeting on Thursday evening, appearing instead to speak on behalf of Danco was Chris Westlake, a former deputy director of the California Housing and Community Development Department under then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Westlake said Schellinger wasn’t able to be at the meeting.

Noting that in past meetings an access bridge — or emergency vehicle bridge — has been of particular concern, Westlake said they want to provide a full access vehicular bridge. The design of that bridge still needs to go through environmental review and city design review, but Westlake said they are committed to providing it, which they think will take care of a lot of circulation issues.

Westlake also spoke to the challenges they have had in the highly competitive grant funding rounds for the Parkside project.

When asked at Thursday’s meeting by Lake County News about ex parte contacts from the developer to council members, Brandon Disney and Stacey Mattina said they hadn’t been contacted. Froio said Schellinger had called him twice this week.

The history of the Parkside Subdivision

Schellinger Brothers — made up of Peter Schellinger’s father and uncle — received city approval for their 96-lot Parkside Subdivision in 2005.

The subdivision was supposed to be built out over three phases, the first of which consisted of 31 lots. Schellinger Brothers built 17 homes before progress stopped.

One of the original requirements of that subdivision was that its first phase would include development of Wrigley Street, which was set to extend from Westside Road and connect to Craig Avenue, requiring construction of a bridge over Forbes Creek in the area of 1297 Craig Ave., 1226 Wrigley St. and 1227 Wrigley St.

That was key because it would create a second access point for the subdivision.

In December 2008, Schellinger Brothers took a request to change that through-street and bridge to a cul-de-sac to the Lakeport Planning Commission.

City staff at the time said the Schellingers made the request because after the subdivision application was approved an elderberry tree — that the project’s biological assessment somehow missed — was found within the creek area where the bridge was supposed to have been built.

The valley elderberry longhorn beetle, listed as a threatened species, is found only in the elderberry, its host plant. However, the beetle — endemic to California’s Central Valley — is not known to range into most of Lake County, particularly the Lakeport area, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service map.

The commission voted down that December 2008 revision request, citing lack of documentation about the elderberry's impact on bridge construction.

Another factor in that vote was the commissioners’ concern about having the subdivision limited to a single entry at Westside Park Road.

The Schellingers appealed the commission’s decision to the City Council. The following month, January 2009, the council unanimously granted the Schellinger appeal, which removed the bridge as a requirement.

Ingram told Lake County News on Thursday that the elderberry bush in question did, indeed, exist, but there hadn’t been confirmation that any beetles were present.

“Bridges are expensive,” he said.

At the point of the council’s elimination of the bridge requirement, Lake County was well into the impacts of the Great Recession, which hit it later and longer than other areas, and the rest of the subdivision’s phases weren’t built.

In the meantime, the Schellingers left the existing homeowners in the lurch when it came to dealing with lighting and landscaping in the Parkside subdivision, Councilmember Kim Costa told Lake County News in a Wednesday interview.

Costa said that, in the original agreements, a homeowners association was supposed to be formed to help take care of lighting and landscaping. When the Schellingers walked off, “there was no fix for that,” and the agreements were no longer in force, Costa said.

With neither the city nor the developer responsible for that upkeep, Costa said the subdivision’s homeowners have been left in limbo. They’ve had to deal with weeds and hire cherry pickers to make repairs to lighting. Costa said the developers have never shown an interest in sorting out the situation.

As to the larger issue of safety that Costa and other Parkside residents have raised about the new development, she said both the developer and the city are downplaying their concerns. “It’s like living in some alternate reality.”

With the new Parkside apartments projects, the city similarly did not require a bridge over Forbes Creek. Staff reports for the council discussion in late 2022 showed that the city said it consulted with three separate fire chiefs over the life of the project and that all three had decided that an emergency vehicular access bridge across Forbes Creek wasn't necessary.

During meetings in November and December 2022, a majority of the council — Stacey Mattina, Kenny Parlet and George Spurr — voted to approve Parkside, while Froio voted against it, concerned about its location in a high fire zone and his belief that it didn’t conform to the spirit of the general plan.

At that time, Spurr said he decided to vote yes because this aspect of the project is a good starting point to see if it will turn out the way Schellinger is proposing.

“I hope I didn’t make a mistake,” Spurr said.

Concerns about higher density

City staff said that the purpose of the meeting was not to relitigate the project, as it had already been approved.

Instead, Ingram — who acknowledged that Parkside “is very controversial” — emphasized that it is nonetheless fully entitled and the developers could apply for building permits tomorrow.

He also pointed to new measures by the state Legislature that have chiseled away at the autonomy of local jurisdictions when it comes to approving affordable housing.

Not supporting such projects, he said, could result in punitive measures against the city. That includes being cut off from a major source of funding in the form of Community Development Block Grants.

Under the city’s zoning, if another developer took over, as many as 99 units could be built where Schellinger and Danco are proposing to build 64 units. Ingram said that, with new state density bonuses, that 99 units could be doubled and would be permitted by right and not subject to additional review by the city.

He said only the objective design standards the city was required to adopt two years ago gives them the last tool they have left for input on such projects.

Despite the fact that the project’s approval wasn’t up for discussion, several community members submitted letters or gave testimony during the meeting regarding their opposition, citing issues with fire safety, lack of an evacuation route and inadequate mitigations.

Ingram also was questioned about a city evacuation plan. He said there isn’t one, but that a countywide plan is underway.

Supervisor Michael Green, a former council member, said he was excited to hear about the proposal for a new bridge. He noted that the city had the grant funds to expend for the project because the county had played a role in getting them the money, adding that the county of Lake relies on trusted city partners to collectively address regional housing needs.

Green, who was appointed to the Board of Supervisors by Gov. Gavin Newsom, said he took Newsom’s statements on emphasizing support for housing seriously.

He added that a housing project will bring jobs, new residents and income. “When a city isn’t building it’s dying.”

Retired Lake County Undersheriff Chris Macedo, a resident in the Parkside Subdivision, related his concerns with inadequate ingress and egress in a high fire area that is prone to high winds which, he added, are not addressed in project plans. Additionally, the density is double the original subdivision plan, there will be between 1,000 and 1,500 vehicle trips a day on Charlie Jolin Way and safety concerns for children at Westside Park.

Retired Lakeport Fire Chief Jeff Thomas said he hoped the developer would consider defensible space, adding he is in favor of moving forward with the project if there is a bridge in place.

Parlet asked staff if anything could be done to stop a fully entitled project. City Attorney David Ruderman said the time periods for challenging the project have passed, and that the property owner has rights protected by law.

Parlet said he has heard that the developer hasn’t been mitigating issues related to lighting and vegetation for residents at Parkside.

“That’s an issue that needs to be dealt with in the future,” Parlet said. “If you’re going to do a project, you need to take care of it and you need to do it right.”

He added, “I think our path is clear.”

Disney said he believed the full vehicle access bridge would address a lot of residents’ concerns, adding that if the project died someone could come in and build more units.

Mattina said she felt there is a misconception about what the City Council can and cannot do, explaining property owners go through a huge process of which the council is not a part.

She said the council doesn’t get to say they like or don’t like projects. “I wish we had more power to do that,” she said. “That’s just not how it works.”

Mattina said it has been an uphill battle with the state, which has taken away all of the city’s power. “Extending the funding just makes sense.”

Froio said he was happy to hear about the plans for the bridge, but added, “That bridge Is not assured.”

Mattina asked where he was at on extending the grant, and Froio said he was a no vote.

Parlet moved to approve the grant extension which Disney seconded. They were joined by Mattina in voting in support of the motion, while Froio voted no.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. — The six candidates for this fall’s Lakeport City Council election fielded a variety of questions from community members during a forum this week.

The candidates met for the two-hour event in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall on the evening of Monday, Sept. 23.

Seeking seats on the council this fall are incumbents Kim Costa, Brandon Disney, Michael Froio and Kenny Parlet, and challengers Carl Porter and Christina Price.

Four council seats are on the ballot in November due to a former council member having resigned after being reelected but before taking office. That required an appointment until the next municipal election, which is in November.

Elizabeth Larson, editor and publisher of Lake County News, moderated the forum.

The video of the forum is shown above.

The Department of Water Resources on Thursday previewed the new water year which starts on Oct. 1 by highlighting preparations for more extreme weather events this season following a record hot summer across much of California and a looming La Niña pattern.

Over the past decade, climate extremes have posed significant challenges to water managers, especially the extreme hot and dry conditions that frequently persist well past summer months and into the fall.

California is seeing that right now with above-average temperatures forecast into October and no rain in the current forecast.

At the same time, the water that California does receive will arrive from more powerful storms, and hotter temperatures will mean less winter precipitation falls as snow and more will arrive as rain, increasing flood risk.

“California has experienced the full range of climate challenges in recent years from extreme drought to severe flooding and we will be seeing more of that in the future,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “To meet these dramatic challenges, California is starting this water year with more accurate forecasting and additional investments in flood protection and groundwater recharge.”

DWR and partner agencies are making California more climate resilient, taking actions to protect and boost California’s water supplies by taking an all-of-the-above approach to creating a resilient water supply in the face of a changing climate.

Investments in Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations and improved data collection on hydrological conditions across the state through DWR’s $7 million California Stream Gage Improvement Program, or CalSIP, will allow California to incorporate the best available science and data into its water management decisions.

California is also investing in protecting Californians from extreme weather events. Floodplain restoration and flood infrastructure projects such as the Lookout Slough Tidal Habitat Restoration and Flood Improvement Project and the Lower Elkhorn Basin Levee Setback Project will work with nature to improve wildlife habitat while reducing flood risk to hundreds of thousands of Californians.

California is also starting this water year with significant progress in bringing groundwater basins across the state closer to long-term sustainability, protecting drinking water supplies against the impacts of climate change.

Last winter, DWR launched the Flood Diversion and Recharge Enhancement Initiative, which supports local groundwater recharge efforts that increase the volume of flood flows diverted from local waterways to recharge areas and expand local capacity to divert and receive future flood flows.

DWR has invested over $100 million in groundwater recharge projects since the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was signed into law in 2014.

While Lake Oroville, the State Water Project’s largest reservoir, is currently 101 percent of average for this date, the latest outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center shows a 71 percent chance of La Niña conditions emerging this fall.

While seven of the 10 La Niña events this century resulted in dry years, research also suggests that even as the climate grows hotter and drier overall, the precipitation that California does receive will arrive in stronger storms, increasing the risk from flooding.

“California experienced record heat and dry conditions this summer, drying out the landscape and putting our hydrology behind before the water year even starts,” said State Climatologist Dr. Michael Anderson. “While there is still a lot of uncertainty around how La Niña could impact the state this year, we know we can count on it to include extreme conditions.”

The record dry conditions this summer broke multiple records across the state for consecutive days of triple digit temperatures. In the critically important Sierra Nevada watersheds, precipitation this fall will be vitally important to ensure the winter snowpack can translate into runoff that fills our reservoirs, which provides a third of the water used in California.

In addition to Thursday’s preview of the new Water Year, DWR will also release the 2024 Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment Summary Report on Monday, Sept. 30.

The summary report, which includes water shortage information at the supplier level, as well as regional and statewide analyses of water supply conditions, finds that all suppliers have assessed that they will have adequate supplies to meet demand in the coming year.

On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he signed four bills into law to protect victims of human trafficking and help ensure that the predators who exploit them are held accountable.

“Human trafficking is a disgusting and reprehensible crime that leaves lasting pain on victims and survivors. These new laws will help us further hold predators accountable and provide victims with the support and care they need,” Newsom said.

“No imperative is more essential than our responsibility to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. To that we will continue bipartisan efforts to keep children safe from the heinous crime of sex trafficking as well as strengthen our protections for victims and survivors. Crimes against children have no place in California,” said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

What these new laws do

Help victims get to safety: SB 963 by Senator Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento) requires hospitals that have an emergency department to adopt and implement policies that allow emergency room patients to confidentially self-identify themselves to hospital personnel as a victim of human trafficking or domestic violence, so they may receive assistance and resources.

Increase penalties for traffickers: SB 1414 by Senator Shannon Grove (R- Bakersfield) increases penalties for the crime of solicitation of a minor under the age of 16 or a minor under the age of 18 who is a victim of human trafficking. The bill provides more tools for prosecutors to charge a felony and increases the number of people convicted of this crime who must register as sex offenders.

Assist law enforcement support victims: AB 2020 by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) requires law enforcement agencies and the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, to create minimum guidelines for law enforcement personnel when interacting with survivors of human trafficking.

Create new tools to address labor trafficking: AB 1888 by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno) establishes a new Labor Trafficking Unit (LTU) within the Department of Justice and requires coordination with various state departments and law enforcement agencies to refer complaints or reports of labor trafficking for investigation, prosecution, or other remedies. The unit will also develop a tracking system to collect labor trafficking reports and complaints.

“Providing a way for victims of human trafficking to safely report their abusers and get help is vital to our progress on this issue. Oftentimes, the first and only contact a victim will have outside of their trafficking situation is with an emergency medical professional. SB 963 provides a tool for emergency room personnel to identify victims of human trafficking and connect them with life-saving resources,” said Sen. Angelique Ashby.

“Today marks an incredible victory for California children. I am grateful to the governor, First Partner, and my co-authors for once again joining me in the fight against human trafficking,” Sen. Shannon Grove said Thursday. “With the signing of my bill, SB 1414, we are reaffirming our commitment to safeguarding the most vulnerable among us — our children. Last year with my SB 14 we targeted the traffickers selling children, this year with SB 1414 we have gone after the buyers of trafficked children. Criminals have been far ahead of us when it comes to child sex trafficking, we must have a strong approach to eradicate this brutal crime and ensure no child is reduced to a commodity."

“Survivors of human trafficking need support, not systemic barriers, and I am proud to stand with the governor today to advance criminal justice policies that will support those our society has cast aside for too long,” Assemblymember Mia Bonta said Thursday. “AB 2020 will provide communities like those I represent with the opportunity to escape cycles of abuse, incarceration, and trafficking. This bill was born from the ongoing conversations I’ve had with organizations supporting survivors of sex trafficking and organizations representing law enforcement to combat human trafficking while centering the needs of survivors and advancing trauma-informed justice practices.”

“I want to thank Gov. Newsom for signing AB 1888 and Attorney General Bonta for supporting this important effort to protect all workers from heinous and inhumane treatment,” said Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula. “I also deeply appreciate that Assemblymember James C. Ramos was a joint author and that the California Native American Legislative Caucus this year made AB 1888 one of their priority bills. I’ve worked on this legislation for more than two years because labor trafficking preys on workers by making them vulnerable to threats regarding their immigration status, threats to their families’ safety, and threats involving their wages. This legislation — which includes establishing a new Labor Trafficking Unit within the Department of Justice — is a solid step forward in the effort to stop this horrible abuse and ensure that all workers in California are safe and respected.”

Fighting human trafficking

Since 2019, California has taken a comprehensive approach to combat human trafficking, with a total investment of $280.1 million to take down traffickers and support victims and survivors.

The state has provided substantial funding to expand support programs for human trafficking survivors and Family Justice Centers — creating a one-stop facility for victims and their families to access various services — and allocated $25 million for the prevention, intervention, and services for minor victims of commercial sexual exploitation.

California has funded Human Trafficking Task Forces at the California Department of Justice to address statewide human trafficking, resulting in numerous arrests and assistance to victims.

The California Highway Patrol’s interdiction efforts on task forces and operations have led to numerous arrests of traffickers.

Gov. Newsom also has signed multiple bills to strengthen legal protections for trafficking victims, including provisions for vacating convictions and considering trauma in sentencing.

If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to access help and services. If you are in immediate danger, call 9-1-1.