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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The city of Lakeport's Thursday Independence Day celebration once again was capped by a nighttime fireworks display.
The fireworks show, which began after dark, lasted about 20 minutes and was shot off over Clear Lake near Library Park.
The display ended with a spectacular and lengthy finale.
See the video above for the full show.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Creative and adventurous people of all ages gathered in Lakeport on Thursday to test the limits of duct tape and cardboard.
The sixth annual Cardboard and Duct Tape Regatta, hosted by the Lakeport Yacht Club, drew hundreds of people from around Lake County and beyond.
The event was held in the midst of Lakeport's Independence Day celebration.
This year's regatta saw a number of creative vessels take to the water, from basic tubs to an elaborate pirate ship complete with two sails.
The result was a hilarious and entertaining boat race.
See the video above for highlights of the races.
State officials are preparing to send out the second year's billing for a fire prevention fee that has been the target of legislative efforts to repeal it.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, reported that it has provided an updated billing schedule to the Board of Equalization for the 2012-13 Fire Prevention Fee bills.
The new bills are set to go out beginning the week of July 15.
The bills will go to owners of record as of July 1 for homes in the 31 million acres of State Responsibility Area where Cal Fire is financially responsible for the prevention and suppression of wildfires.
Bills will be mailed alphabetically by county, beginning with Alameda County.
Assembly Bill X1 29 implemented the fees in July 2011.
The state Board of Equalization said the bills are adjusted annually by the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Currently, property owners are billed $150 per habitable structure located within an SRA, the Board of Equalization reported. If the habitable structure is also within the boundaries of a local agency that provides fire protection services, the property owner will receive a $35 reduction for each habitable structure.
The Board of Equalization said approximately 90 to 95 percent of habitable structures in the SRA are covered by a local fire protection agency, resulting in most bills amounting to $115 per habitable structure.
Cal Fire said the fee “provides a stable source of funding for vital fire prevention activities such as strategic fuel reduction activities, defensible space inspections, fire prevention engineering, emergency evacuation planning, fire prevention education, fire hazard severity mapping, implementation of the State and local Fire Plans and fire-related law enforcement activities such as arson investigation.”
The agency also reported that Gov. Jerry Brown's 2013-14 budget contains new funding for enhanced land use planning, expanded vegetation management activities, and additional defensible space inspectors.
However, groups like the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association have been fighting the fee, which they contend is actually a tax.
Legislation to repeal or change the fee also has been introduced in the state Legislature but so far hasn't been passed.
For more information on the fee, visit www.FirePreventionFee.org .
Even with an improving economy, Californians reduced the amount of garbage they throw away to an all-time low in 2012.
According to figures compiled by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), California’s disposal rate was 4.3 pounds per person per day last year, beating the previous low of 4.4 pounds per day set in 2011.
CalRecycle Director Caroll Mortensen said the latest figures are encouraging, especially in light of AB 341, which went into effect last year and sets a goal for California to reduce, recycle, or compost 75 percent of its waste by the year 2020.
“Each incremental step in waste diversion puts the state closer to our goal of 75 percent recycling,” Mortensen said. “The public is doing its part by being conscious of what we throw out and thinking about recycling and reuse. We at CalRecycle will continue to do our part by supporting recycling businesses and other waste diversion infrastructure that create green jobs and help achieve our goal.”
Each year, CalRecycle calculates the amount of waste disposed in California and divides that figure by the state population to establish the per capita disposal rate.
Last year, 29.3 million tons were disposed statewide, and the population was 37.7 million, resulting in the 4.3 pounds per person per day disposal rate.
By comparison, in 1989 – the year the state’s Integrated Waste Management Act went into effect – the rate was more than 8 pounds per person per day.
State reports indicate Lake County's disposal rates also have been reduced in recent years.
According to the California Department of Finance, labor markets, real estate markets and construction activity all showed some improvement in 2012. So far, this has not translated into increases in solid waste disposal.
However, as the economic recovery picks up steam and consumption increases, solid waste generation is likely to grow as well.
In order to achieve the 75 percent goal, the state will need to maximize its waste diversion and recycling capacity to direct materials away from landfills and back into the economy.
The 2012 per capita disposal rate boosts the state’s “diversion rate equivalent” to an all-time high of 66 percent, up from 65 percent in 2011.
The state’s per employee disposal rate, used to determine waste disposal rates for businesses, also improved, dropping from 11.3 pounds per employee per day in 2011 to 10.8 pounds last year.
Ninety-nine percent of California’s 29.3 million tons of waste went to California landfills, while approximately 1 percent was exported to landfills in other states.
This story has been updated.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Authorities said they located a woman who went missing on Thursday morning in Clearlake, but they were not offering details on her condition.
Julie Diehl, 43, was last seen in a field near Calvary Chapel on Olympic Drive in Clearlake at around 9:30 a.m. Thursday, according to the Clearlake Police Department.
Search and rescue personnel had been dispatched to Redbud Library in Clearlake shortly before 5 p.m., and a Cal Fire helicopter also had sent to the area to assist with the search, according to radio reports.
Diehl, who police said has dementia, was considered at risk, leading to the search effort.
Clearlake Police said she was located just before 5:30 p.m. The agency did not offer details on her condition, and photos provided to Lake County News by a witness showed officers clustered around a location.
Additional details will be posted as they become available.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Thunderstorms that have crossed over Northern California over the past day have been responsible for thousands of lightning strikes, according to state and federal officials.
Thunder rumbled over Lake County late Wednesday and early Thursday, with residents around the area reporting numerous lightning strikes during that time.
A lightning strike map released Thursday morning for California's National Forests (featured here courtesy of www.yubanet.com ), showed that for the 24-hour detection period from Wednesday at 6 a.m. to Thursday at 6 a.m., there were 5,213 lightning strikes reported across California, including 2,615 within the state's national forests.
That followed some 2,800 strikes the day before reported by Cal Fire, which on Thursday reported that those earlier strikes had caused 24 fires that burned 754 acres in northeastern California.
As of Thursday afternoon, no active lightning-caused fires had yet been reported in Lake County, where the hot weather has heightened fire conditions.
The heat wave that the county has experienced over the last several days is expected to lift somewhat as the weekend arrives, with an excessive heat warning to be in effect until 8 p.m. Thursday and a hazardous weather outlook also expected to expire.
Temperatures hovered around the century mark – or passed it – on Thursday, when Lakeport's Independence Day celebration was taking place.
Expectations are for cooler weather over the next several days, with highs forecast to be in the low to mid-90s.
Those slightly cooler temperatures will arrive in time for the annual Maxine Sherman fireworks display taking place in Clearlake Oaks Friday evening, and Clearlake's and Hidden Valley Lake's daylong celebrations set for Saturday, with a Saturday night fireworks display also planned at the Lakeport Speedway. Full details of those events can be found here: http://bit.ly/17vqPPG .
Email Elizabeth Larson at
