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LAKEPORT, Calif. – A red-tailed hawk, a bald eagle, and an American Crow from Lake County have tested positive for West Nile Virus, the Lake County Vector Control District reported Friday.
The red-tailed hawk was found alive but sick near Kelseyville on Feb. 6 and taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center where it died on March 12, officials said.
Vector Control said the bald eagle was found dead in the South Cow Mountain OHV Recreation Area on Feb. 24 and the American Crow was found dead in Clearlake Oaks on March 30.
All three birds were submitted to the California Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS) Laboratory at Davis for examination and testing. Vector Control said the cause of death was determined to be West Nile Virus.
This is the first West Nile Virus activity detected in Lake County this year, and the earliest in the year that West Nile Virus activity has been detected in Lake County, Vector Control reported.
Officials said it is not clear when the birds contracted West Nile Virus. The suspected source of the birds’ West Nile Virus infections was consuming infected – but possibly asymptomatic – birds or bird carcasses.
In November and December near Salt Lake City, the US Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center reported that more than 50 bald eagles contracted West Nile Virus from preying on infected grebes.
Since West Nile Virus arrived in the US in 1999, dead raptors have tested positive during the winter months when there is little or no mosquito activity, Vector Control said. In many cases, starvation leaves raptors immunocompromised and susceptible to West Nile Virus and other diseases that they may have acquired earlier.
There is still much to learn about raptors and West Nile Virus, according to the Vector Control report.
“This is a great reminder to drain rainwater from wheelbarrows, planter pots, children’s toys and other places where mosquitoes grow to protect your family from West Nile Virus,” said Jamesina Scott, Ph.D., district manager and research director of the Lake County Vector Control District. “Mosquitoes thrive in warm weather like we’re enjoying now, and finding positive dead birds so early in the year is a warning that we may have another season with a lot of West Nile virus activity,”
Dr. Scott encourages residents to report any dead birds that they find at any time of the year using the “Report a Dead Bird” link in the right-hand column of the district’s Web site, www.lcvcd.org .
After April 21, dead birds also can be reported by calling the West Nile Virus hotline, 877-WNV-BIRD (877-968-2473).
“Knowing where dead birds are being found helps to direct our mosquito surveillance program,” Dr. Scott explained. “Our district gets immediate access to these reports and they help us locate potential hotspots and reduce the chance of people getting bit by infected mosquitoes.”
West Nile Virus has been detected in dead birds or sentinel chickens in four California counties so far this year. No human cases of West Nile Virus have been reported in California in 2014.
The Lake County Vector Control District traps and tests mosquitoes throughout the county to identify the areas that are at the highest risk, and targets those areas for source reduction and treatment using an integrated vector management program.
Residents with questions, who would like to pick up free mosquitofish, or who would like help with a mosquito problem should contact the Lake County Vector Control District at 707-263-4770 or visit the district Web site at www.lcvcd.org .
For more information about West Nile Virus, visit http://www.westnile.ca.gov/ .
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Humboldt County authorities are seeking information regarding the whereabouts of a Weott woman who did not return home following a Thursday appointment.
Shannon Paige Sundberg, 33, was reported as a missing person and overdue motorist by her husband at 2 a.m. Friday, according to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office.
Sundberg's husband told the investigating deputy that she left their Weott home on Thursday at approximately 6:30 p.m. for a medical appointment in the Fortuna area. He said his wife has had medical issues for several months and he was concerned when she failed to come home or contact him, according to the report.
The sheriff's office said Sundberg's husband tried to call her cell phone and it rings directly to her voice mail. He told the deputy her failure to contact him or come home is completely out of character.
Sundberg, who is originally from the Bay Area, is a white female, 5 feet 7 inches tall, 120 pounds, with brownish red shoulder length hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing blue jeans and knee high leather boots with heels.
Officials said she is driving a silver 2003 Saturn Ion, California plate 5CVV666.
Anyone with information about Sundberg's whereabouts is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriffs Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.
Consider a pair of brothers, identical twins. One gets a job as an astronaut and rockets into space. The other gets a job as an astronaut, too, but on this occasion he decides to stay home. After a year in space, the traveling twin returns home and they reunite.
Are the identical twins still … identical?
NASA is about to find out.
In March of 2015, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will join cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko on a one-year mission to the International Space Station.
Their lengthy stay aims to explore the effects of long-term space flight on the human body.
The interesting thing about Scott is, he's a twin. His brother Mark is also an astronaut, now retired.
While Scott, the test subject, spends one year circling Earth at 17,000 miles per hour, Mark will remain behind as a control.
“We will be taking samples and making measurements of the twins before, during, and after the one-year mission,” said Craig Kundrot of NASA's Human Research Program at the Johnson Space Center. “For the first time, we'll be able two individuals who are genetically identical.”
The experiment harkens back to Einstein's “Twin Paradox,” a thought experiment in which one twin rockets to the stars at high speed while the other stays home.
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, the traveling twin should return younger than his brother – strange but true.
NASA's study won't test the flow of time. The ISS would have to approach the speed of light for relativistic effects to kick in.
Just about everything else is covered, though. NASA's Human Research Program recently announced the selection of 10 research proposals to study the twins' genetics, biochemistry, vision, cognition and much more.
“Each proposal is fascinating and could be a feature-length story of its own,” says Kundrot.
Here are a few examples to give the flavor of the research.
“We already know that the human immune system changes in space. It's not as strong as it is on the ground,” explained Kundrot. “In one of the experiments, Mark and Scott will be given identical flu vaccines, and we will study how their immune systems react.”
Another experiment will look at telomeres – little molecular “caps” on the ends of human DNA.
Here on Earth, the loss of telomeres has been linked to aging. In space, telomere loss could be accelerated by the action of cosmic rays.
Comparing the twins' telomeres could tell researchers if space radiation is prematurely aging space travelers.
Meanwhile in the gut, said Kundrot, “there is a whole microbiome essential to human digestion. One of the experiments will study what space travel does to [inner bacteria] which, by the way, outnumber human cells by 10-to-1.”
Other proposals are equally fascinating. One seeks to discover why astronaut vision changes in space.
“Sometimes, their old glasses from Earth don't work,” noted Kundrot.
Another will probe a phenomenon called “space fog” – a lack of alertness and slowing of mental gears reported by some astronauts in orbit.
“These will not be 10 individual studies,” said Kundrot. “The real power comes in combining them to form an integrated picture of all levels from biomolecular to psychological. We'll be studying the entire astronaut.”
Separated for a full year, Scott and Mark will make it possible for future astronauts to travel farther than ever before, and still look forward to happy reunions when they return home.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – A Hidden Valley Lake woman was found safe late Friday, several hours after she walked away from her home.
Diana Korona, 65, was reported to have left her Powder Horn Road home at around 3:30 p.m., which led to a search of the area that lasted until her discovery at around 10:30 p.m.
The California Highway Patrol issued a Silver Alert for Korona – who is reported to have dementia – however, no Nixle alert was issued by the sheriff's office.
Late Friday, nearly a dozen Search and Rescue personnel and several sheriff's deputies were at a command post on Powder Horn Road.
A deputy who appeared to be in charge of organizing the group would not speak about the operation to Lake County News, instead referring comment to the sheriff's office public information officer, who could not be reached late Friday night.
The Cal Fire Command Center confirmed to Lake County News that South Lake County Fire volunteers, a Cal Fire battalion chief and an engine had been part of the search effort, and that Korona had been located.
Hidden Valley Lake resident Vale Hanzel, a retired law enforcement officer, heard Korona was missing through a Facebook post and went out to help look for her.
Cal Fire, Search and Rescue and sheriff's deputies were saturating the area where Korona was last seen, he said.
Hanzel said he spent about three hours searching, even driving as far away as Middletown.
He said it was at around 10:30 p.m., as he was getting ready to return home, that he heard radio traffic indicating she had been found, which he was able to confirm with a friend.
He then drove by a home on Powder Horn where he saw Korona with officials. She was found in a garage about 100 yards from the command post.
Hanzel said it appeared that a deputy who had been searching the area had found her.
A medic unit responded to check Korona. Hanzel said she appeared uninjured.
John Lindblom contributed to this report.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The California Highway Patrol and the National Transportation Safety Board have released updates on a deadly Thursday evening wreck on Interstate 5 near Orland that involved a tour bus filled with high school students, a FedEx semi and a third vehicle.
The CHP's Willows Office said the crash left 10 dead and injured another 34.
“This was a horrific collision,” Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones said in a Friday press conference.
The tour bus was carrying 43 students and three adult chaperones from the Los Angeles area, according to authorities.
Among the dead are the drivers of both the FedEx semi and the tour bus, several students and chaperones, officials reported.
Humboldt State University confirmed that the charter bus was filled with prospective students on their way to visit the campus for Friday's Spring Preview event.
The tour bus was part of a three-bus convoy, with the other two buses having arrived at Humboldt State by the time of the crash, according to National Transportation Safety Board member Mark Rosekind.
The names of all of those who died have not yet been released by authorities. Glenn County Undersheriff Rich Warren said the work of identifying the dead is continuing and has been made more challenging due to the burn injuries suffered by the victims.
NTSB sent Rosekind and a Washington, DC-based Go-Team of investigators, along with a Southern California investigator, to the scene. The main team arrived Friday afternoon.
Highway Safety Investigator Robert Accetta will serve as the investigator-in-charge, leading the multidisciplinary team of NTSB personnel.
The area of I-5 around the crash was closed throughout the night as investigators worked at the scene. Caltrans reported on Friday that the freeway had reopened.
The crash occurred at 5:40 p.m. Thursday in I-5's northbound lanes, north of the Highway 32 turnoff, according to Friday reports from the CHP and the NTSB.
The wreck involved a FedEx big rig – specifically, a 2007 Volvo semi pulling two trailers – along with a 2014 tour bus owned by Silverado Stages of San Luis Obispo and a 2013 Nissan Altima.
The Altima's driver, 53-year-old Bonnie Duran of Lake Tapps, Wash., sustained minor injuries in the wreck. The CHP said another person – who was not identified – was in the vehicle with Tapps and also had minor injuries.
The drivers of the FedEx truck and the tour bus remained unidentified on Friday afternoon, according to the CHP.
The FedEx big rig was traveling southbound on the interstate in the No. 2 lane, the CHP said. Tapps was traveling northbound in the No. 1 lane ahead of the tour bus, which was northbound in the No. 2 lane.
Officials said that, for reasons that are unknown, the FedEx truck left the roadway, crossed the 60-foot-wide center divider – which is lined with bushes, not a concrete median – and entered the northbound lanes.
There, the FedEx truck sideswiped the Nissan and collided head-on with the bus, with both the semi and bus going off the highway in an easterly direction, the CHP and NTSB said.
Upon impact between the big rig and bus there was an immediate explosion, and both vehicles were engulfed in flames, according to the CHP.
There were nine confirmed fatalities at the crash scene, with another person confirmed dead at UC Davis Medical Center, the CHP said.
In addition, there were 34 reported injuries, ranging from minor to major, authorities said.
The CHP said its investigation is ongoing, and is being carried out by the the Northern Division Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team and the Willows Area CHP office.
CHP officials said in a Friday multiagency press conference that they're not sure if the FedEx driver suffered a medical issue, if there was a mechanical failure or a collision on the other side of the highway that could have led to the fatal wreck.
The NTSB doesn't investigate all major highway incidents. However, as Rosekind said early Friday, before leaving Washington, DC. “We'll be on scene because we're interested in anything from this accident that could have some kind of national impact.”
He said they're going to determine why the crash happened and issue recommendations to prevent such accidents from happening in the future.
In a followup briefing from Red Bluff early Friday evening, Rosekind said the team will be looking at a variety of factors, including highway features and design, human performance and survival factors.
They'll be collecting evidence that includes everything from hardware to witness reports, he said.
“We're after the perishable information that's really only going to be available while we're here on scene,” he said.
Rosekind estimated NTSB investigators will be in Orland for the next one to two weeks, gathering factual information.
If, during that time, they find anything that needs to be addressed immediately, Rosekind said the NTSB will issue an urgent safety recommendation.
NTSB said its investigators will not determine the cause of the crash while at the scene. The agency anticipates its investigation will take months to complete.
The NTSB wants to hear from anyone who saw the crash. Rosekind said witnesses are urged to contact the agency at
Silverado Stages issued a Friday statement saying that it is helping authorities in gathering information regarding the crash.
“Our top priority is making sure that the injured are being cared for. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured, their families and everyone affected by this accident,” the company said.
FedEx said it is cooperating fully with crash investigators.
On Friday, FedEx Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frederick W. Smith expressed the company's sympathies and condolences to the victims' families.
“It will take some time to fully understand exactly how this accident occurred and why,” said Smith. “In the meantime, I want everyone to know that we at FedEx are committed to providing every resource necessary to assist investigators in their efforts to understand what happened.”
Gov. Jerry Brown issued a statement on the crash, noting, “Anne and I extend our heartfelt and deep sympathies to the families, friends and loved ones of those who died in the tragic accident near Orland this evening. As we mourn the loss of those who died, we join all Californians in expressing our gratitude for the tireless work of the Red Cross and emergency personnel who responded bravely to this terrible tragedy.”
Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA), who represents Glenn County as well as a portion of Lake County in the US House of Representatives, praised the Orland community and first responders for their efforts to help the victims, and offered his support to the CHP and NTSB.
“As a Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I will continue to follow this tragedy closely. And as a father of six, I will keep these students, chaperones and families in my thoughts,” Garamendi said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Five high schools, eight youth-oriented programs and 10 other Lake County nonprofit organizations have been selected as beneficiaries of this year's Lake County Wine Auction.
“To build a strong community, we need to help the next generation respect Lake County's agricultural tradition and improve their educational skills,” said Wine Alliance President Kaj Ahlmann. “With our grants, the Wine Alliance is working towards those goals.”
The Wine Alliance – a nonprofit organization of wineries, winegrape growers, vineyard owners, related businesses and community supporters – has contributed $1,081,302 to foster the arts, benefit health services and support the community since it was founded in the year 2000.
In addition, the organization has a mandate to promote Lake County as a premier growing region for fine winegrapes and other crops.
This year's auction, the 15th, will take place at the Cole Creek Equestrian Center in Kelseyville on Saturday, Sept. 20, from 4 to 10 p.m.
Cole Creek Equestrian Center, which was the scene of last year's event, has been used for numerous social and community events over the years and provides guests with a unique view into the diversity of Lake County's agricultural community. The Lake County Wine Auction is open to guests 21 years and older.
All proceeds from the Wine Auction activities will benefit the selected beneficiaries.
Eighteen organizations, agencies, and programs submitted their funding requests to the Wine Alliance, demonstrating the number of worthy programs in Lake County seeking financial assistance.
This year's beneficiaries are the five comprehensive high schools of Lake County for their arts programs, Catholic Charities for its food and benefits outreach project, United Christian Parish for its food pantry, Hospice Services of Lake County for bereavement support groups, Sponsoring Survivorship for assistance to residents with breast cancer, the Yuba College Culinary Club for scholarships, Clear Lake Performing Arts for beginning string instruction, Lower Lake High School Culinary Club, Lake County Church Women United for their shoes and socks program.
Groups that also will receive funds from the event include the Lake County Office of Education for the Mock Trial team, the Lake Community Pride Foundation for its teen shelter, Lake County Channel Cats, Lower Lake School House Museum for student field trips, the Lake County Literacy Coalition for its adult literacy program, the Lake County Senior Centers for its Meals on Wheels program, Operation Tango Mike for support of our local soldiers overseas and Habitat for Humanity new projects to create affordable housing.
Tickets for the Wine Auction will be available through the Wine Alliance Web site, www.winealliance.org , or by calling1-866-279-WINE to make reservations.
Information about sponsorship opportunities is available from Marie Beery, 707-278-0129. Major sponsors confirmed to date are Beckstoffer Vineyards, Mendo Lake Credit Union, Fowler Chevrolet, artist John Clarke, St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, Shannon Ridge Winery, Cal Pine, Trinchero Family Estates and Kelseyville Pharmacy.
In addition, $10,000 in matching grants has been received from Deutsche Bank and General Electric.
Honorary co-chairs for the Wine Auction are John and Joanne Van Eck, proprietors of Cole Creek Equestrian center.
Members of the all-volunteer Wine Alliance Board are Kaj Ahlmann, president; Dr. Judy Luchsinger, vice president; Sharron Zoller, secretary; Rob Roumiguiere, treasurer; and Marie Beery and Bill Groody, directors.