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CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The new president of Woodland Community College made her first visit to the Lake County Campus on Friday, hearing from staff and community leaders about their hopes for the future and what’s needed to rejuvenate the campus.
Dr. Lizette Navarette, accompanied by Chancellor Dr. Shouan Pan, received a warm welcome and, in turn, shared her hopes for the college’s — and the campus’ — future.
The Yuba Community College District Board named Navarette the new college president in November and approved her $208,869-per-year contract in December. The contract is for two and a half years, from her official start date on Jan. 8 through to June 30, 2026.
The visit came at the end of her first week on the job.
While Navarette is still getting adjusted to her new position, Dr. Pan said he wanted to make sure she came to visit the college as soon as possible.
Last fall, ahead of Navarette’s selection, college staff, students and community members had begun to raise pointed concerns about the future of the Lake County Campus, now in its 51st year, and whether it could survive a lack of resources that to many have looked like a purposeful campaign of attrition against it. At the same time, staff have pointed to more resources being given to the main Woodland campus.
Those concerns came to a head on Nov. 9, when the college board held its annual meeting at the Lake County Campus. At that meeting, a room filled with community members made their alarm clear to the college leadership and demanded the help needed to expand the college in order to benefit Clearlake and Lake County.
Pan said at Friday’s reception that Navarette watched that meeting online, so she was aware of what community members were concerned about when it came to the campus’ future.
Laying out priorities
Those in attendance included Clearlake City Council members Russell Cremer and Dirk Slooten; City Manager Alan Flora; college Trustee Doug Harris; District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier; professors Dr. Laurie Daly, Jennifer Hanson and Dr. Annette Lee; retired instructor Sissa Harris; Chef Robert Cabreros, head of the Culinary Arts program; and numerous college classified staff.
During a reception that lasted more than an hour and a half, Navarette thanked everyone for the warm welcome and outlined her three priorities: Listen, learn, collaborate.
Navarette is a first-generation college graduate who most recently served as executive vice chancellor at the California Community College Chancellor’s Office.
She hails from Southern California, and is the daughter of immigrant parents who worked as laborers, and who benefited from community college.
Navarette said she sees the college’s primary role as helping cultivate the aspirations of people like her family.
She said she plans to be in Clearlake once a month to build connections not just with the campus but the larger community, its businesses and leaders, explaining she wants to reinvigorate the campus and is looking forward to the collaboration process.
In response to the continuing belief among some community members that the campus could be lost, Pan assured the group that’s not the case. “It’s not going away.”
He said he, Navarette and the board are committed to the campus. “That’s not just saying the words. That’s commitment.”
However, Pan has emphasized that there are many challenges ahead.
During the reception, Doug Harris said he sees as essential the campus’ revitalization. To get there, he said it will require putting together a strategic and thoughtful set of plans for how the college and community can work together.
“This campus is the pinnacle of higher education in Lake County,” he said.
Harris added, “It needs to be brought back to a position of growing that importance rather than watching it dwindle.”
Pan said Harris’ sentiments are consistent with what college leadership has heard from others.
Staffers including Natasha Cornett emphasized the need for guided pathways and a different approach to handling classes that doesn’t include canceling them too early.
Leadership is key
As he has done in other discussions, Pan emphasized the importance of key leadership positions. With Navarette now in place, they next need to hire a permanent dean for the Lake County Campus.Once that new dean is selected, Pan said he believes there will be a closer working relationship between the Woodland Community College leadership and the Lake County Campus.
He also pointed to the impact of a large amount of staff turnover in college leadership that occurred over the past year. “We’re beginning a new page, a new time for the system.”
Daly, a professor of early childhood development, said she remembered when the college had been busy, and now it isn’t.
“This campus to me, means, just hope,” she said, adding that she believes education is the way out of poverty.
Shared governance between the campus and the administration is important, and she questioned what happened to it, pointing to a top-down approach that has led to disconnect. One example: Her requests for class sections were ignored and, as a result, a key class needed for students to finish their certifications was left off the schedule.
“This place means the world to me,” said Sabatier, a former student and employee at the college, who credited everything he is doing today as coming from the campus.
He said about 30% of Clearlake’s population is in poverty, compared to about 16% countywide. Only 8% have bachelor’s degrees.
To get out of poverty, students need peer support. When rust is lost, it erodes the capability of people to get out of the system, Sabatier said.
Sabatier said there will be tough conversations, but that they are going to build strong relationships.
Hanson, who said she remembers the campus’ glory days, added that she has yet to see the resource attrition for the campus stop. She said she is concerned about the intense inequity between what happens at Woodland Community College and the Lake County Campus.
Lee followed up by giving an impassioned overview of the campus’ needs, from organizational efficiency to taking better care of students.
Nearly a decade ago, when the Lake County Campus was realigned with Woodland College, Lee said the campus community was torn down and disrupted.
She said they are now getting great new programs like the Caring Campus, designed to increase student retention and success in community colleges. But she said they’d had programs like that and were told to stop.
Positions need to be made full-time, counselors need to be hired and they need to look at ways to get new people onto campus — such as through career technical education — with Lee explaining that students who are doing well online won’t be coming back.
Lee said staff knows how to bring the campus back. “It’s just such a grind working with this organization because we are so dismissed.”
However, she said she’s excited for the new leadership and believe Navarette and Pan can succeed.
Slooten said people felt Woodland College didn’t pay attention to what the community needs are and that the college administration felt they knew better than the campus leadership, which they didn’t.
“The city of Clearlake really needs this campus to flourish,” Slooten said.
Cremer said he wants to see more agriculture classes, and more willingness by the college to invest in new programs.
Cabreros, whose culinary program is one of the campus’ great successes, said all of his classes are over-full and have waiting lists. He said he’s looking forward to meeting with Navarette to share his vision for the campus.
Flora joked that Pan had told him Navarette would solve all of the campus’ problems.
“We feel like the campus has been squeezed beyond where it can be successful,” Flora said.
Mary Wilson, student engagement and outreach specialist, said 20% of the Clearlake population doesn't have a high school diploma, and they also have a high percentage of people who don’t speak English. As a result, she said they need adult education skills classes. The college doesn’t have those now due to the elimination of the LEARN program.
Patricia Barbara, the Lake County Campus’ interim dean, said many students continue to struggle, especially after the impacts of having to go online during the pandemic, and the LEARN program helped address that.
Pan thanked the group for coming and speaking candidly and forcefully about their concerns. “We’re committed to working with you.”
He said leadership matters but it can’t solve every problem, and it will take everyone working together.
Navarette said she plans to follow up with people about their comments and concerns.
She recognized that Lake County has challenges and has endured disasters.
However, she said, “There is hope.”
Navarette asked for patience as they worked through the process of getting people back on campus.
Learning is a great privilege, but Navarette said that at the end of the day, students come to college to get a better job.
A key question she raised is how they prepare the workforce to be ready, and she wants to brainstorm together on finding the answer.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
The notice of judgment is now available which includes a full transcription of the judge’s Nov. 20, 2023 decision. It is published below.
The dispute centered around the 18th Avenue project, which the city called “a vital piece of infrastructure needed to support the much-anticipated hotel project.”
The Koi alleged that the city had not participated in consultation with the tribe as required by state law.
The court denied all claims brought by the Koi, instead ruling the city’s analysis of tribal cultural resources was sufficient.
In the ruling, the court also found that the Koi’s claims that tribal consultation procedures were not followed by the city were false and that, in actuality, the Koi never even adequately requested consultation.
After the ruling was issued the Koi asked the court to grant a “stay” of any construction work until a hearing could be granted on a possible appeal.
The court heard arguments on the stay on Dec. 11 and rejected the stay request due to a lack of merit.
City officials said the ruling follows their lengthy efforts to ensure development efforts to not harm tribal resources, including consultation with tribes, commissioning a thorough survey and report from a professional archeologist, allowing the tribe to provide contractor cultural sensitivity training before work starts and putting into place a number of mitigation measures in case there is an inadvertent discovery.
In his in-depth ruling, Judge Michael Lunas explained, “I am compelled and left with the finding that there is substantial evidence supporting the city’s determination, including their assessment of the evidence offered by petitioner. There is substantial evidence supporting the city’s determination independent of the evidence offered by petitioner, and there is substantial evidence supporting the city’s determination in consideration and assessing the evidence offered by petitioner and the entirety of the evidentiary record under the applicable legal standard. Accordingly, the city has properly reviewed and considered tribal cultural resources and specifically considered and assessed the evidence presented by petitioner. The city properly considered petitioner’s input, properly heard and considered petitioners evidence regarding knowledge of the site and whether tribal cultural resources were present. The mitigation adopted was appropriate to the facts. And as a result, the city did not fail to consider cumulative impacts regarding this project and other projects. The causes of action set forth in the petition fail on this review. Each cause of action, including as already noted, the cause of action based on improper consultation is denied on its merits and not sustained on the evidence. The petition for writ is denied.”
The project will extend 18th Avenue to connect the Old Highway 53 with State Route 53, another important part of improving the city’s overall transportation system.
It also includes a four-story, 75-room Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel, one-story meeting hall and parking lot.
The site is on almost 3.5 acres of land on the former Pearce Airport landing strip, long used as a city storage and equipment yard.
“We are working hard to improve the city’s roads, parks, housing and tourism options, among other priorities,” said Mayor David Claffey. “This project is a four-way winner; it includes transportation improvements, new jobs, additional hotel rooms and a community gathering space. We take the issues raised by the Koi very seriously and it’s why we go to great lengths to
proactively identify and mitigate potential concerns. It’s reassuring to have such a clear ruling from the court that validates our thoughtful approach to development, and we look forward to returning to a practice of reasonable and collaborative efforts with all our community members.”
Downey Brand represented the City of Clearlake in this case and continues to represent the city in a similar lawsuit also filed by the Koi Nation in July over plans for the Burns Valley sports complex and recreation center. That lawsuit has not yet come to hearing.
2023-12-27--Notice of Entry of Judgement(4041580.1) (1) by LakeCoNews on Scribd
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has a group of new puppies joining the many adoptable dogs in its care.
The Clearlake Animal Control website lists 47 adoptable dogs.
The adoptable dogs include “Emily,” a 1-year-old female Doberman pinscher mix with a red and copper coat.
There also is “Luna,” one of several 2-month-old pit bull terrier puppies.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Spring, summer, fall and winter – the seasons on Earth change every few months, around the same time every year. It’s easy to take this cycle for granted here on Earth, but not every planet has a regular change in seasons. So why does Earth have regular seasons when other planets don’t?
I’m an astrophysicist who studies the movement of planets and the causes of seasons. Throughout my research, I’ve found that Earth’s regular pattern of seasons is unique. The rotational axis that Earth spins on, along the North and South poles, isn’t quite aligned with the vertical axis perpendicular to Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
That slight tilt has big implications for everything from seasons to glacier cycles. The magnitude of that tilt can even determine whether a planet is habitable to life.
Seasons on Earth
When a planet has perfect alignment between the axis it orbits on and the rotational axis, the amount of sunlight it receives is fixed as it orbits around the Sun – assuming its orbital shape is a circle. Since seasons come from variations in how much sunlight reaches the planet’s surface, a planet that’s perfectly aligned wouldn’t have seasons. But Earth isn’t perfectly aligned on its axis.
This small misalignment, called an obliquity, is around 23 degrees from vertical for Earth. So, the Northern Hemisphere experiences more intense sunlight during the summer, when the Sun is positioned more directly above the Northern Hemisphere.
Then, as the Earth continues to orbit around the Sun, the amount of sunlight the Northern Hemisphere receives gradually decreases as the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the Sun. This causes winter.
The planets spinning on their axes and orbiting around the Sun look kind of like spinning tops – they spin around and wobble because of gravitational pull from the Sun. As a top spins, you might notice that it doesn’t just stay perfectly upright and stationary. Instead, it may start to tilt or wobble slightly. This tilt is what astrophysicists call spin precession.
Because of these wobbles, Earth’s obliquity isn’t perfectly fixed. These small variations in tilt can have big effects on the Earth’s climate when combined with small changes to Earth’s orbit shape.
The wobbling tilt and any natural variations to the shape of Earth’s orbit can change the amount and distribution of sunlight reaching Earth. These small changes contribute to the planet’s larger temperature shifts over thousands to hundreds of thousands of years. This can, in turn, drive ice ages and periods of warmth.
Translating obliquity into seasons
So how do obliquity variations affect the seasons on a planet? Low obliquity, meaning the rotational spin axis is aligned with the planet’s orientation as it orbits around the Sun, leads to stronger sunlight on the equator and low sunlight near the pole, like on Earth.
On the other hand, a high obliquity – meaning the planet’s rotational spin axis points toward or away from the Sun – leads to extremely hot or cold poles. At the same time, the equator gets cold, as the Sun does not shine above the equator all year round. This leads to drastically varying seasons at high latitudes and low temperatures at the equator.
When a planet has an obliquity of more than 54 degrees, that planet’s equator grows icy and the pole becomes warm. This is called a reversed zonation, and it’s the opposite of what Earth has.
Basically, if an obliquity has large and unpredictable variations, the seasonal variations on the planet become wild and hard to predict. A dramatic, large obliquity variation can turn the whole planet into a snowball, where it’s all covered by ice.
Spin orbit resonances
Most planets are not the only planets in their solar systems. Their planetary siblings can disturb each other’s orbit, which can lead to variations in the shape of their orbits and their orbital tilt.
So, planets in orbit look kind of like tops spinning on the roof of a car that’s bumping down the road, where the car represents the orbital plane. When the rate – or frequency, as scientists call it – at which the tops are precessing, or spinning, matches the frequency at which the car is bumping up and down, something called a spin-orbit resonance occurs.
Spin-orbit resonances can cause these obliquity variations, which is when a planet wobbles on its axis. Think about pushing a kid on a swing. When you push at just the right time – or at the resonant frequency – they’ll swing higher and higher.
Mars wobbles more on its axis than Earth does, even though the two are tilted about the same amount, and that actually has to do with the Moon orbiting around Earth. Earth and Mars have a similar spin precession frequency, which matches the orbital oscillation – the ingredients for a spin-orbit resonance.
But Earth has a massive Moon, which pulls on Earth’s spin axis and drives it to precess faster. This slightly faster precession prevents it from experiencing spin orbit resonances. So, the Moon stabilizes Earth’s obliquity, and Earth doesn’t wobble on its axis as much as Mars does.
Exoplanet seasons
Thousands of exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, have been discovered over the past few decades. My research group wanted to understand how habitable these planets are, and whether these exoplanets also have wild obliquities, or whether they have moons to stabilize them like Earth does.
To investigate this, my group has led the first investigation on the spin-axis variations of exoplanets.
We investigated Kepler-186f, which is the first discovered Earth-sized planet in a habitable zone. The habitable zone is an area around a star where liquid water can exist on the surface of the planet and life may be able to emerge and thrive.
Unlike Earth, Kepler-186f is located far from the other planets in its solar system. As a result, these other planets have only a weak effect on its orbit and movement. So, Kepler-186f generally has a fixed obliquity, similar to Earth. Even without a large moon, it doesn’t have wildly changing or unpredictable seasons like Mars.
Looking forward, more research into exoplanets will help scientists understand what seasons look like throughout the vast diversity of planets in the universe.
Gongjie Li, Assistant Professor of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — The five candidates running for the District 1 supervisorial seat took part in a forum on Thursday night, held as part of the regular Middletown Area Town Hall meeting.
Bren Boyd, John Hess, Sean Millerick, Helen Owen and Bryan Pritchard spent more than an hour and a half answering questions about a wide range of community issues.
The forum was moderated by Lake County News Editor and Publisher Elizabeth Larson, with MATH Chair Monica Rosenthal conducting the timekeeping and Thomas DeWalt of PEG TV filming and recording the event.
The full video can be seen above.
The five candidates will meet for another forum at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Adventist Health Clear Lake said it has welcomed its first baby of 2024.
Born on Jan. 4, at 1:49 a.m., Aitana, weighing a healthy 6 pounds, 11 ounces, brings immense joy to her proud parents, Maribel and Cesar, the hospital reported.
The hospital said the delivery “marked a momentous start to the new year,” with the dedicated team at Adventist Health Clear Lake sharing in the excitement.
Maribel and Cesar were presented with a beautifully adorned bassinet, generously filled with thoughtful gifts, as a token of congratulations on the birth of their precious daughter.
Surrounded by well-wishers, Aitana's grand entrance into the world was met with warm greetings and heartfelt congratulations.
“The atmosphere was filled with joy as our team celebrated this extraordinary moment with the family,” the hospital said in its announcement.
“As Adventist Health Clear Lake embraces the significance of each new life, we extend our sincere wishes to Maribel, Cesar, and baby Aitana for a future filled with boundless love and happiness. We are honored to have played a part in this special occasion and look forward to supporting the health and well-being of Aitana and her family in the years to come,” the hospital reported.
Lake County’s first baby of the year was born on Jan. 1 at Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
Jaylin Mora-Rivera was born at 10:26 p.m. Monday, Jan. 1, to proud parents Janette Rivera and Gustavo Mora Cueras, as Lake County News has reported.
