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CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Dozens of dogs are waiting at Clearlake Animal Control for their new families.
The Clearlake Animal Control website lists 50 adoptable dogs.
This week’s new dogs include “Alice,” a handsome female German shepherd with a black and tan coat.
There also is “Clover,” a 7-month-old male Labrador retriever mix with a short black coat.
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
Some probates are foreseeable well before they occur.
Consider an elderly individual who owns assets in her own name with a total gross value that exceeds the threshold for probate (presently $184,500).
Unless such assets are held in a living trust and/or death beneficiary accounts then a probate will be required when she dies. Probate becomes increasingly foreseeable, in such cases, the closer a person is to death.
Less foreseeable probates, however, can catch people off guard. Let us discuss.
First, consider a married couple that owns all assets jointly with right of survivorship. Unless they are both senior citizens, it is likely that they may reasonably expect that the surviving spouse will have ample opportunity and ability, after the death of the first spouse, either to get all real property assets into a living trust and/or to sell real property assets and place the proceeds into accounts with death beneficiaries.
However, sometimes the foregoing gamble does not work out. For example, it is possible for a common accident or illness to take the lives of both spouses together. Typically, one spouse will survive longer than the other spouse and be declared the surviving spouse. If so, the estate of the second to die spouse is more likely than to have a gross value in excess of the then existing threshold for a probate.
Otherwise, if it is unclear which spouse survived then each spouse may be deemed to have survived the other spouse for purposes of succession to the couple’s assets. In such case, all assets titled as joint tenancy assets are divided equally between the two estates.
Sometimes, this halving of the joint tenancy assets may be sufficient such that neither deceased spouse’s estate exceeds the probate threshold. Otherwise, two probates may each be required to transfer each spouse’s own estate to their beneficiaries under each spouse’s will, if any, or to each spouse’s surviving heirs (e.g., children).
Second, consider an individual who has a small estate, i.e., under the probate threshold, but then inherits sufficient assets to have an estate that exceeds the probate threshold. That individual may never have considered the need for estate planning.
However, if the individual does not transfer the inherited assets into a living trust and/or into designated death beneficiary accounts, after receiving such assets, then that individual’s own death may trigger an unexpected probate.
Sometimes probate is unavoidable, such as when the individual has not yet received the full distribution of their inheritance and so could not possibly have done anything to place such assets outside probate. However, having one’s existing assets outside one’s probate estate reduces the risk and the magnitude of any probate.
Third, consider an individual who names primary death beneficiaries to Pay on Death bank accounts, life insurance policies, and/or Transfer on Death brokerage accounts. If the named primary death beneficiaries do not survive the account holder then does the account designate alternative (backup) death beneficiaries?
If not, or if the alternative death beneficiaries are also deceased, then the gift of such assets by way of the death beneficiary designation form will lapse (fail). The lapsed gift is then usually kicked into the deceased owner’s estate; the enlarged estate may exceed the probate threshold.
People do not plan to fail, but people do fail to plan. By not getting one’s affairs in order at one’s leisure, when there is no compelling reason to do so, a person is taking an unnecessary risk which may lead to an unexpected probate that catches their surviving family members off guard and leads to unintended results.
The foregoing discussion is not legal advice. Consult a qualified estate planning attorney for fact specific legal guidance.
Dennis A. Fordham, Attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at
When you hear the word comet, you might imagine a bright streak moving across the sky. You may have a family member who saw a comet before you were born, or you may have seen one yourself when comet Nishimura passed by Earth in September 2023. But what are these special celestial objects made of? Where do they come from, and why do they have such long tails?
As a planetarium director, I spend most of my time getting people excited about and interested in space. Nothing piques people’s interest in Earth’s place in the universe quite like comets. They’re unpredictable, and they often go undetected until they get close to the Sun. I still get excited when one comes into view.
What exactly is a comet?
Comets are leftover material from the formation of the solar system. As the solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago, most gas, dust, rock and metal ended up in the Sun or the planets. What did not get captured was left over as comets and asteroids.
Because comets are clumps of rock, dust, ice and the frozen forms of various gases and molecules, they’re often called “dirty snowballs” or “icy dirtballs” by astronomers. Theses clumps of ice and dirt make up what’s called the comet nucleus.
Outside the nucleus is a porous, almost fluffy layer of ice, kind of like a snow cone. This layer is surrounded by a dense crystalline crust, which forms when the comet passes near the Sun and its outer layers heat up. With a crispy outside and a fluffy inside, astronomers have compared comets to deep-fried ice cream.
Most comets are a few miles wide, and the largest known is about 85 miles wide. Because they are relatively small and dark compared with other objects in the solar system, people can’t see them unless the comet gets close to the Sun.
Pin the tail on the comet
As a comet moves close to the Sun, it heats up. The various frozen gases and molecules making up the comet change directly from solid ice to gas in a process called sublimation. This sublimation process releases dust particles trapped under the comet’s surface.
The dust and released gas form a cloud around the comet called a coma. This gas and dust interact with the Sun to form two different tails.
The first tail, made up of gas, is called the ion tail. The Sun’s radiation strips electrons from the gases in the coma, leaving them with a positive charge. These charged gases are called ions. Wind from the Sun then pushes these charged gas particles directly away from the Sun, forming a tail that appears blue in color. The blue color comes from large numbers of carbon monoxide ions in the tail.
The dust tail forms from the dust particles released during sublimation. These are pushed away from the Sun by pressure caused by the Sun’s light. The tail reflects the sunlight and swoops behind the comet as it moves, giving the comet’s tail a curve.
The closer a comet gets to the Sun, the longer and brighter its tail will grow. The tail can grow significantly longer than the nucleus and clock in around half a million miles long.
Where do comets come from?
All comets have highly eccentric orbits. Their paths are elongated ovals with extreme trajectories that take them both very close to and very far from the Sun.
An object will orbit faster the closer it is to the Sun, as angular momentum is conserved. Think about how an ice skater spins faster when they bring their arms in closer to their body – similarly, comets speed up when they get close to the Sun. Otherwise, comets spend most of their time moving relatively slowly through the outer reaches of the solar system.
A lot of comets likely originate in a far-out region of our solar system called the Oort cloud.
The Oort cloud is predicted to be a round shell of small solar system bodies that surround the Earth’s solar system with an innermost boundary about 2,000 times farther from the Sun than Earth. For reference, Pluto is only about 40 times farther.
Comets from the Oort cloud take over 200 years to complete their orbits, a metric called the orbital period. Because of their long periods, they’re called long-period comets. Astronomers often don’t know much about these comets until they get close to the inner solar system.
Short-period comets, on the other hand, have orbital periods of less than 200 years. Halley’s comet is a famous comet that comes close to the Sun every 75 years.
While that’s a long time for a human, that’s a short period for a comet. Short-period comets generally come from the Kuiper Belt, an asteroid belt out beyond Neptune and, most famously, the home of Pluto.
There’s a subset of short-period comets that get only to about Jupiter’s orbit at their farthest point from the Sun. These have orbital periods of less than 20 years and are called Jupiter-family comets.
Comets’ time in the inner solar system is relatively short, generally on the order of weeks to months. As they approach the Sun, their tails grow and they brighten before fading on their way back to the outer solar system.
But even the short-period comets don’t come around often, and their porous interior means they can sometimes fall apart. All of this makes their behavior difficult to predict. Astronomers can track comets when they are coming toward the inner solar system and make predictions based on observations. But they never quite know if a comet will get bright enough to be seen with the naked eye as it passes Earth, or if it will fall apart and fizzle out as it enters the inner solar system.
Either way, comets will keep people looking up at the skies for years to come.
Shannon Schmoll, Director of the Abrams Planetarium, Michigan State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
At its Oct. 5 meeting, the council gave unanimous support to selling a property at 15903 36th Ave. to Jerry Lambert and Alexis Silimon to build a new home as part of the city’s homestead program.
Clearlake’s homestead program offers participants a city-owned lot at no cost or $10,000 toward the purchase of a privately owned lot.
In October 2020 the council approved a proposal by City Manager Alan Flora to create the homestead program, earmarking $1 million from Series B bond funds to support it as part of an effort to encourage market-rate housing development in the city.
Applicants must meet requirements including having income levels classified as median to moderate, have an existing job within Lake County or a verified employment offer, have the ability to obtain financing for construction of a new stick built home or manufactured home, complete construction of a new stick built home or new manufactured or modular home within 12 months of the issuance of a building permit, and the home must be owner occupied for a minimum of two years from date of occupancy.
Flora told the council that, due to the interest rate hike, a number of people in the homestead program haven’t moved forward with their plans.
“There’s been a reduction in the number of participants in that program,” he said, explaining there had been about 12 individuals previously going through the process.
This is the second or third application approved, but Flora said he wanted to highlight it due to the recent circumstances.
He said the program hasn’t gone quite the way the city expected “because of interest rates and how that impacts people being able to borrow money to build.”
Flora said he’s excited to see the property transferred to the couple.
Councilman Russ Cremer moved to approve the property sale, with Councilman Dirk Slooten seconding and the council voting 5-0.
For more information, visit the city’s homestead program webpage.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
This Saturday, Oct. 14, the public is invited to Lakeport, Redbud and Middletown branches to watch the solar eclipse at 9 a.m.
Free eclipse glasses will be available while supplies last.
In an eclipse of the Sun, the Moon moves in front of the Sun and covers some or all of it.
All parts of the continental US will see a partial eclipse. Join the community events at Lakeport, Redbud, and Middletown branches and receive free certified solar-viewing glasses.
It is never safe to look at the sun, even with regular sunglasses; but you can use certified solar-viewing glasses to safely protect your eyes.
A calendar of all upcoming events is available on the library website at https://library.lakecountyca.gov.
For more information about these events or others, you can also contact the Lake County Library by phone at 707-263-8817, by email at
On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom, accompanied by Legislative and local leaders, families, advocates, veterans, and health care professionals, signed Senate Bill 326 (Eggman, D - Stockton) and Assembly Bill 531 (Irwin, D - Thousand Oaks) which Newsom’s office said will collectively will transform California’s mental health and substance use disorder treatment systems for the first time in decades.
Advocates said these reforms re-focus billions of dollars in existing funds to prioritize Californians with the deepest mental health needs, living in encampments or suffering the worst substance use issues.
The $6.38 billion bond will provide funding to build more than 11,150 new behavioral health beds and housing and 26,700 outpatient treatment slots — capacity that will touch many tens of thousands of people’s lives every year — filling critical needs across the state for homeless Californians with severe behavioral health issues, to kids suffering from depression, and everyone in between.
Recent polling from the Public Policy Institute of California found that 87% of Californians say there is a mental health crisis in the United States.
“These reforms, and this new investment in behavioral health housing, will help California make good on promises made decades ago. We see the signs of our broken system every day — too many Californians suffering from mental health needs or substance use disorders and unable to get support or care they need. This will prioritize getting people off the streets, out of tents and into treatment,” Newsom said.
This action — which Newsom’s office called a “historic transformation” — comes after months of engagement with stakeholders across the state: people and families with lived experience, health care professionals, children and youth groups, veterans organizations, schools and school administrators, businesses, labor leaders, mental health and equity advocates, first responders, and local officials.
Senate Bill 326 modernizes the Mental Health Services Act to address today’s behavioral health system and demand for services.
These reforms expand services to include treatment for those with substance use disorders, prioritize care for those with the most serious mental illness, provide ongoing resources for housing and workforce, and continue investments in prevention, early intervention, and innovative pilot programs.
“The Mental Health Services Act has been a great success — but after nearly 20 years it’s time to update it in a manner that is consistent with reforms in health care coverage and our increased understanding of behavioral health,” said SB 326 Author & Senate Health Committee Chair Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman. “The new Behavioral Health Services Act will drive resources to those with the greatest needs, including those with substance use disorders, and provide for real accountability with a focus on outcomes. Paired with Assemblymember Irwin’s essential bond, these new and restructured investments deliver on exactly what Californians deserve to address this crisis of behavioral health and homelessness. I’m grateful to this Governor for his commitment to those suffering and for his laser focus on critical reform.”
Senate Bill 326 reforms the system of care to prioritize what Californians need today with new and increased accountability for real results for all families and communities.
Assembly Bill 531 includes a $6.38 billion general obligation bond to build 11,150 new treatment beds and supportive housing units as well as outpatient capacity to help serve tens of thousands of people annually — from intensive services for homeless people with severe mental illness, to counseling for kids suffering from depression, and everyone in between.
This investment would be the single largest expansion of California’s behavioral health treatment and residential settings in our state’s history — creating new, dedicated housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness who have behavioral health needs, with a dedicated investment to serve veterans.
These settings will provide Californians experiencing behavioral health conditions a place to stay while safely stabilizing, healing, and receiving ongoing support. Included in the bond is a $1 billion set aside specifically for veterans’ housing.
“For decades we have chronically under-resourced our community-based safety nets, which has now led us to a humanitarian crisis for which we don’t have the adequate tools to address,” said California Medical Association President Donaldo Hernandez, MD, FACP. “A sustainable model of care delivery for our residents struggling with serious mental health and substance use disorders must include, not only expanded access to services, but also stable and reliable access to housing. I applaud the governor for continuing to remove barriers while working to assure that we can overcome the gaps that exist in serving those suffering from mental health and substance use disorders.”
On Thursday Newsom also announced the “California Mental Health Movement,” which is his sweeping plan to address the mental health and substance use disorder crises happening across the state — impacting Californians in every community.
“The mental health crisis — especially amongst youth– is the most significant public health concern of our time. I’m so proud of our nation-leading mental health movement and ongoing work to transform the state’s behavioral health system in a way that is comprehensive, holistic, and intentionally focused on recognizing the humanity in each and every Californian,” Newsom said.
The multi-year “California Mental Health Movement” encompasses more than $28 billion and focuses on real results and increased accountability, includes four key pillars:
Treatment and housing for those who need it most: $10.9 billion to create approximately 24,800 beds/units. It also creates 45,800 outpatient treatment slots for Californians with behavioral health issues across the spectrum — everything from intense, inpatient care, to substance abuse treatment, to outpatient care and counseling.
Increasing access to mental health services for all: Investing over $10.1 billion to increase access to behavioral health services for all Californians. Transforming Medi-Cal to expand behavioral health services and crucial care for one in three Californians, offering new crisis care and targeted veteran and older adult services, and developing a plan to require private and commercial health plans to raise their standards to match Medi-Cal behavioral health plans.
Building our health care workforce: California is investing $5.1 billion, and proposing an additional $2.4 billion investment through reforms to the Mental Health Services Act, to train and support more than 65,000 new health care workers over the next five years to ensure we have the workforce to provide culturally responsive services and care to all who need them.
Supporting and serving children: The investments include $4.6 billion to support children through the Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health and gives California’s 10,000 public schools the opportunity to get enhanced funding to increase student behavioral health services.
“Getting veterans experiencing homelessness off the streets has long been a priority for California, but getting some of our most vulnerable veterans into needed treatment for behavioral health challenges will be transformative,” said AB 531 Author Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin. “One of the only groups that has seen a recent significant decline in percent of homelessness are veterans, thanks primarily to the very successful Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention program. By placing a renewed focus on existing programs like Homekey and the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure program, AB 531 and SB 326 will provide housing and treatment services to veterans that focus on serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Funding and expanding this program is the right thing to do, and I look forward to working with the Governor and veterans organizations to put these important advances before the voters.”
“California continues to reduce the number of veterans living on our streets — a feat to be celebrated — but there are still thousands more who won’t have a place to sleep tonight,” said U.S. Vets President and CEO Stephen Peck. “Gov. Newsom’s successful legislative push to reform the Mental Health Services Act will allow providers to attack this problem head on. Refocusing funding that prioritizes care for those with the most serious mental illnesses combined with the promise of thousands of new, dedicated veteran housing units offers one of the state’s most sweeping and welcome reforms in favor of vulnerable veterans who need the stability and services to live a life of dignity."
“We applaud Gov. Newsom, Sen. Eggman and Assemblymember Irwin for their leadership on SB 326 and AB 531,” said California Professional Firefighters President Brian Rice. “Every day, our firefighters and paramedics see the impact of severe mental illness and substance use disorder in our communities. We have to do more than just take people through a revolving door in the emergency room. By focusing on housing and treating those most in need, the Behavioral Health Modernization package can transform our approach to homelessness, mental illness and substance use disorder.”