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LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Lower Lake Elementary School is planning its annual Family Science Night this Friday, Feb. 28.
The event, filled with fun opportunities for all ages to learn about science, will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. in the cafeteria at the school, 9240 Lake St.
Science teacher Lisa Rogers has put together an event that will showcase robotics, feature the Taylor Observatory with telescopes and the Lake County Vector Control District with microscopes, and several hands-on activities including composing critters and slime.
Pizza, treats, reusable bags and silent auction items also will be available for purchase.
Check out the highlights from last year's Family Science Night in the video above.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Are you a veteran interested in learning about the benefits available to help you complete your bachelor’s or master’s degree?
Marymount California University Lakeside campus, which is now taking applications for the fall 2014 semester, will have a veterans’ benefits specialist available to share his knowledge and expertise and to answer veterans' questions on Monday, March 3.
The university will offer the presentation at two different locations in Lake County to better serve the veterans’ community.
The presentations will be held from noon to 2 p.m. at the Mendocino College Lake Center, 2565 Parallel Drive in Lakeport, and from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Yuba College Clear Lake Campus, 15880 Dam Road Extension in Clearlake.
For more information contact Marymount enrollment coordinator Sharon Maher at
Visit the campus on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MarymountLakeside .
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A Clearlake Oaks man was flown to a trauma center Friday after he was hit by a pickup while riding his bicycle.
The California Highway Patrol said Paul David Wolfe, 50, was injured in the crash, which occurred just after 7 p.m. Friday on Keys Boulevard at First Street in Clearlake Oaks.
CHP Officer Joe Wind said Wolfe was riding his bicycle south on Keys Boulevard when he was hit by what was described only as an early 2000s model Ford truck that was maroon or burgundy in color.
Wind said the pickup was traveling east on First Street at Keys Boulevard and failed to stop at the stop sign, colliding with Wolfe.
The pickup then fled the scene, traveling along First Street, Wind said.
Wolfe ultimately was transported via REACH to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with a reported broken collar bone, according to Wind.
Wind said the collision is still under investigation.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
AccuWeather.com reports the second half of this week will feature soaking rain and mountain snow returning to drought-stricken California.
Confidence is growing for California to soon receive a substantial amount of rain and mountain snow from two storm systems.
The first system is scheduled to move through California Wednesday through Thursday with the second to follow for Friday through the first part of the next weekend.
The second is likely to be the stronger and wetter of the two systems, bringing a much-needed soaking to many communities (with the deserts being the exception).
If the first storm bypasses or only grazes Southern California, the second will not. It is possible that Downtown Los Angeles receives at least half of the rain that fell in all of 2013 (3.60 inches) from this one storm Friday through next weekend.
Several inches of rain could soak the Northern California coast, while feet of snow may blanket the Sierra. Snow levels could drop low enough to whiten the mountains of Southern California.
More details and precise rain/mountain snowfall amounts will become clearer in the upcoming days.
The upcoming rain and mountain snow will definitely be welcome to a state where the percentage area of places enduring an extreme to exceptional drought was 68 percent on Feb. 18, the U.S. Drought Monitor stated in its latest report.
The number was nearly 61 percent the week prior.
California's Department of Water Resources states that the amount of water stored in the snowpack across the Sierra was only 25 percent of normal on Friday.
As this snow in the Sierra melts during the warmer months, the runoff helps fill reservoirs downstream.
While many residents are likely rejoicing at the news of the returning wet weather, some hazards will also accompany the storms.
Enough rain could fall to trigger flash flooding and mudslides in areas recently burned by wildfires.
At the rain's onset, roads will turn slick as the rain mixes with oil residue left behind by vehicles during the prolonged dry spell.
Motorists could face treacherous travel and chain restrictions in the mountains, including on I-80's Donner Summit. Flight delays may impact airline passengers.
The second storm could also trigger severe thunderstorms.
Before the rainy second half to next week, dry and mild conditions will prevail through Tuesday. Morning low clouds and fog, however, will limit the amount of warming along the coast.
Kristina Pydynowski is a senior meteorologist for www.AccuWeather.com .
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Three county residents were arrested last week following the service of a search warrant by the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force, with methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and weapons seized.
David Keith Tinney, 54, of Upper Lake, and Lakeport residents Marialena Leonie Hampton and Doug Trimmer, both 51 years of age, were arrested on Friday, Feb. 21, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.
Trimmer also is a suspected in a series of gas thefts in Lakeport in January, as Lake County News has reported.
Brooks said that on Feb. 12 narcotics detectives secured a search warrant for a residence located in the 12000 block of White Rock Canyon Road in Upper Lake.
At 9 a.m. Feb. 21, detectives served the search warrant at the residence, where Brooks said they contacted and detained Tinney, Hampton and Trimmer without incident.
During a search of Hampton’s bedroom, detectives located a rifle and a shotgun, both of which were loaded. Brooks said detectives also located two glass methamphetamine pipes in the same bedroom. The firearms and meth pipes were seized as evidence.
During a search of Tinney’s bedroom, detectives located methamphetamine sitting on top of a desk. They also located a plastic bag containing methamphetamine sitting on top of the desk cabinet, along with digital gram scales and a glass methamphetamine pipe which were both covered with a white residue, Brooks said.
In Tinney’s closet, detectives also located a bag containing various types of ammunition, Brooks said. All of the items mentioned were seized as evidence.
Prior to serving the search warrant, detectives conducted a records check of Tinney and knew he was a convicted felon who was precluded form possessing firearms or ammunition, according to Brooks.
Detectives conducted a search of Trimmer’s trailer which was parked on the property and located three glass methamphetamine pipes. They also located several white pills which were identified as being Vicodin, Brooks said.
Tinney was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, being a prohibited person and having access to firearms, possession of ammunition by prohibited person and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia, Brooks said. Tinney's bail was set at $25,000.
Brooks said Hampton was arrested for being under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia. Her bail was set at $15,000.
Trimmer was arrested for possession of a specified controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia, according to Brooks. His bail was set at $15,000.
Brooks said all three were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.
Jail records indicated Trimmer and Tinney posted the required percentage of bail and were released.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be reached through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Department of Water Resources surveyors hope to find a bit more snow when they go into the mountains Thursday to measure snowpack water content.
But water managers say this week’s expected storms will do little more than dent California’s persistent drought conditions.
“California is in the grip of a game-changing drought and we have no idea how long it will last,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin. “We already have been forced to set State Water Project allocations at zero, and we have nothing but more hard choices ahead until we see significant new amounts of rain and snow. One choice we all must make is to get serious about conserving water in our homes and places of work and make it a lifelong habit.”
The state’s drought, pushing through its third year, has left the Sierra largely bare of snow and the state’s reservoirs low.
On Monday, before anticipated storms, electronic readings indicated that water content in the statewide snowpack is only 23 percent of normal for the date and 19 percent of the average April 1 seasonal total.
Surveyors from DWR and cooperating agencies manually measure snowpack water content on or about the first of the month from January through May to supplement and check the accuracy of real-time electronic readings.
The snowpack – often called California’s largest reservoir – normally provides about a third of the water used by cities and farms as it melts into streams and reservoirs in spring and early summer.
California’s major reservoirs, mostly bereft of both snow and rain this winter, are dangerously low.
Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s (SWP) principal reservoir, is at only 39 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity (57 percent of its historical average for the date).
Shasta Lake north of Redding, California’s and the federal Central Valley Project’s (CVP) largest reservoir, is at 38 percent of its 4.5 million acre-foot capacity capacity (53 percent of its historical average).
San Luis Reservoir, a critical south-of-Delta reservoir for both the SWP and CVP, is at a mere 33 percent of its 2 million acre-foot capacity (40 percent of average for this time of year).