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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Habitat for Humanity Lake County has helped yet another family achieve homeownership.
As 2022 came to a close, Habitat for Humanity Lake County was excited to celebrate the closing of their 39th home in Clearlake.
The homeowner ceremony with the family and Habitat staff was held on Dec. 28, but the home closing occurred sooner so that, on Christmas Day.
The Smith family opened their Christmas gifts in their old residence, bid farewell to their old life and moved into their new home.
“It was the best Christmas present we could get, spending Christmas night in a home that’s ours,” said Alicia Smith, the mother of three who shares the home with her mother and grandmother.
“We are beyond blessed and grateful,” Smith said. “From the house to the neighborhood and neighbors, we truly have a place of our own to call home. This would not be possible without Habitat and we will forever be paying it forward.”
If you are interested in Habitat’s Homeownership program or know someone you think would qualify, you are encouraged to contact the office at 707-994-1100, Extension 106, or stop by for an application at 15312 Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake, behind Foods, Etc.
Community members are invited to share conversation about the book selection, “Postcolonial Love Poem” by Natalie Diaz.
The book discussions offered in partnership with the Redwood Community Services Harbor Youth Resource Center, New Darlings: Readings on Contemporary Poetry, O’Meara Bros. Brewery and Natalie Diaz.
In addition to hosting the March 1 book discussion, O’Meara Bros. Brewery crafted a new beer to celebrate the NEA Big Read. Stop in to try the new Postcolonial Love Poem raspberry ale while it lasts, and enjoy a wide array of lunch and dinner food options.
New Darlings: Readings on Contemporary Poetry
Friday, Feb. 24, 5 to 6 p.m.
Join local author Jennifer Mills Kerr and Lake County Poet Laureate Georgina Marie Guardado for a virtual reading and discussion of Postcolonial Love Poem. Visit lakecountybigread.com for the link to register.
Location: Zoom
Youth Book Club with The Harbor on Main
Monday, Feb. 27, 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Teens and young adults are invited for a book discussion of Postcolonial Love Poem with The Harbor on Main.
Location: The Harbor Youth Resource Center on Main, 150 S. Main St., Lakeport
Lakeport Evening Book Club discussion
Wednesday, March 1, 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Join the Lakeport Library Evening Book Club in discussing the NEA Big Read book selection, Postcolonial Love Poem, and try the newly crafted Postcolonial Love Poem brew
Location: O'Meara Bros., 901 Bevins St., Lakeport
Youth Book Club with The Harbor on Main — free
Monday, March 6, 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Teens and young adults are invited for a book discussion of Postcolonial Love Poem with The Harbor on Main.
Location: The Harbor Youth Resource Center on Main, 150 S. Main St., Lakeport
The final book discussion, the Big Read 2023 Author Event, will include a poetry reading and Q&A with the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “Postcolonial Love Poem,” Natalie Diaz.
Join the Lake County Library and Lake County Friends of Mendocino College on Saturday, March 18, 1 to 3 p.m.
This event will take place on Zoom and will be live streamed from the Mendocino College Lake Campus Round Room, 2565 Parallel Drive in Lakeport, and all four branches of the Lake County Library.
The public is invited to attend all NEA Big Read events at no cost, and free books are provided at each event and all library branches until supply runs out.
Programming runs from Feb. 9 through March 25.
To view the full schedule of events, go to http://www.lakecountybigread.com/.
Follow the Big Read on Facebook by visiting https://www.facebook.com/LakeCountyBigRead/.
The NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, which seeks to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book.
The NEA Big Read showcases a diverse range of contemporary titles that reflect many different voices and perspectives, aiming to inspire conversation and discovery.
Visit https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/nea-big-read for more information about the NEA Big Read. Organizations interested in applying for an NEA Big Read grant in the future should visit Arts Midwest’s at https://artsmidwest.org/ for more information.
Georgina Marie Guardado is literacy program coordinator for the Lake County Library.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of border collie, boxer, German shepherd, German shorthaired pointer, hound, husky, Labrador retriever, Pekingese, pit bull, shepherd, treeing walker coonhound and terrier.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
Male German shepherd puppy
This 3-month-old male German shepherd puppy has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 2, ID No. LCAC-A-4748.
‘Teddy’
“Teddy” is a 2-year-old male Pekingese with a long brown and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-4700.
Male German shepherd
This 9-month-old male German shepherd has a short fawn coat.
He is in kennel No. 8, ID No. LCAC-A-4684.
‘Ricky’
“Ricky” is a 3-year-old male pit bull terrier with a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 9, ID No. LCAC-A-669.
Male German shepherd
This 6-month-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-4689.
Female pit bull
This 6-year-old female pit bull has a short white coat with gray markings.
She is in kennel No. 11, ID No. LCAC-A-4677.
‘Oreo’
“Oreo” is a 2-year-old male treeing walker coonhound with a short tricolor coat.
He is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4738.
Male German shorthaired pointer puppy
This 5-month-old male German shorthaired pointer puppy has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 14a, ID No. LCAC-A-4768.
Male German shorthaired pointer puppy
This 5-month-old male German shorthaired pointer puppy has a short red and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 14b, ID No. LCAC-A-4769.
Male German shorthaired pointer puppy
This 5-month-old male German shorthaired pointer puppy has a short red and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 14c, ID No. LCAC-A-4770.
Female pit bull-Labrador retriever mix
This female pit bull-Labrador retriever mix has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 17, ID No. LCAC-A-4692.
‘Icy’
“Icy” is a 2-month-old female pit bull terrier puppy with a short black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-4757.
Female pit bull
This 4-year-old female pit bull has a short white coat with gray markings.
She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-4676.
Male husky-pit bull mix puppy
This 3-month-old male husky-pit bull mix puppy has a short gray and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-4714.
Female German shepherd
This 1-year-old female German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-4715.
Female shepherd-pit bull mix
This 3-month-old female shepherd-pit bull mix has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 24b, ID No. LCAC-A-4694.
Female shepherd-pit bull mix
This 3-month-old female shepherd-pit bull mix has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 24c, ID No. LCAC-A-4695.
Female shepherd-pit bull mix
This 3-month-old female shepherd-pit bull mix has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-4697.
Male boxer-pit bull mix
This 8-year-old male boxer-pit bull mix has a short brown brindle coat.
He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-4678.
‘Lola’
“Lola” is a 2-year-old female border collie mix with a red and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-4729.
Male shepherd-pit bull mix
This 3-month-old male shepherd-pit bull mix has a short tricolor coat.
He is in kennel No. 28a, ID No. LCAC-A-4696.
Male shepherd-pit bull mix
This 3-month-old male shepherd-pit bull mix has a short tricolor coat.
He is in kennel No. 28c, ID No. LCAC-A-4698.
Male German shepherd
This 1-year-old male German shepherd has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 29, ID No. LCAC-A-4710.
‘Diesel’
“Diesel” is a 2-year-old male pit bull terrier with a short white coat with black markings.
He’s in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-4549.
Female German shorthaired pointer puppy
This 5-month-old female German shorthaired pointer puppy has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 34a, ID No. LCAC-A-4771.
Female German shorthaired pointer puppy
This 5-month-old female German shorthaired pointer puppy has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 34b, ID No. LCAC-A-4772.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
In his 2023 State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called for public school teachers to get a raise but offered no specifics on how that could be done. Here, Michael Addonizio, an education policy expert at Wayne State University, provides insight on the current state of teacher salaries, whether a collective raise is in order and how one might be achieved.
1. Do teachers really need a raise?
In many school districts, the answer is: Yes.
According to a 2022 study from the Economic Policy Institute – a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that addresses low- and middle-income workers’ needs – the teacher “wage penalty” - that is, how much less teachers make than comparable workers - grew from 6.1% in 1996 to 23.5% in 2021. Put another way, the average weekly wages of public school teachers – adjusted for inflation – increased just US$29 from 1996 to 2021, from $1,319 to $1,348 in 2021 dollars. Meanwhile, inflation-adjusted weekly wages of other college graduates rose $445, from $1,564 to $2,009, over the same period.
Teacher wage gaps vary widely from state to state, but in no state does teacher pay equal or exceed pay for other college graduates.
Adding benefits to the analysis does not change the picture. Although teachers generally receive a higher share of their compensation as benefits than other professionals do – usually health insurance and retirement plans – this difference does not offset the teachers’ growing wage penalty. Teachers’ “total compensation” penalty reached 14.2% in 2021. This is a 23.5% wage penalty offset by a 9.3% benefits advantage. This total compensation penalty for teachers grew by 11.5 percentage points from 1993 to 2021, according to the Economic Policy Institute analysis.
2. Where do teacher raises typically come from?
Public school teacher salaries are generally set by local school districts. Districts establish salary schedules where teacher base pay is determined by years of teaching experience and education credentials or graduate credit hours. Contracts are negotiated at the district level, so that teachers in different schools within a district are covered by the same salary schedule.
These schedules, sometimes referred to as “step-and-lane” systems, can vary substantially from district to district. District contracts may differ in the annual pay increases for experience or the relative importance given to experience versus credentials. Contracts may give larger annual pay hikes to less experienced teachers than to veteran teachers, or the reverse may be true.
Where does the money come from? Fully 93% of school districts’ operating revenue comes from state and local sources. Nationally, on average, states provide 47% and local districts provide 46%.
Rising concern over low teacher salaries has prompted many states to pass appropriations to boost local salary schedules across the board. In 2021, 25 states enacted or introduced legislation to raise teacher pay. Ten of those states have statewide teacher salary schedules, while eight have minimum teacher salary requirements.
Among the states with statewide salary schedules, state initiatives raised pay and expanded eligibility for bonuses. In states with minimum salary requirements, lawmakers sought to raise these minimums and provide incentives for districts to hike salaries across the board. Elsewhere, state efforts focused on general salary increases for teachers.
However, despite these state efforts, teacher salaries continue to lag well behind other professional salaries in many states.
3. Can federal funds be used?
No, not as a long-term solution to the problem of low teacher pay. Federal funds are too limited in amount and there’s not enough flexibility to finance general pay raises for teachers.
The federal government provides about 7% of K-12 revenue, and the money is designated for specific programs. In general, these funds are intended to supplement funding for schools with at-risk youth, including children with learning disabilities or children from low-income households.
During recent economic downturns – the Great Recession of 2008 and the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown – the federal government provided K-12 schools with emergency aid to supplement diminished state and local revenue. The COVID relief was exceptionally substantial, with the American Rescue Plan providing school districts with $190 billion.
This federal aid, however, while unprecedented in amount, has two key limitations: it is one-time aid and not all districts share in it. Districts that do receive these funds must be careful not to make them part of their annual operating budgets without solid plans for state or local replacement funds.
Many districts have revealed plans to use these federal funds to hire new teachers or to pay teachers bonuses for extra work in an effort to mitigate COVID-related learning loss. Paying bonuses to current teachers would avoid the need to lay off teachers when the emergency aid runs out.
In addition, a revised American Teacher Act has been introduced in Congress. The bill would establish a four-year grant program for states to encourage local districts to raise base teacher salaries. The bulk of these funds would go to districts with teacher salaries below $60,000.
The bill would award grants to states that enact and enforce laws establishing a statewide minimum teacher salary requirement of $60,000. Details continue to be worked out, including refining the definition of a “teacher” to avoid paying unqualified staff with federal funds. The bill would address a pressing problem, but state participation would be voluntary and the program would expire in four years. And passage is uncertain.
To achieve lasting teacher pay hikes, it’s going to have to take place in state capitols and local school boards.
Michael Addonizio, Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Wayne State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Scientists recently named a mesa-like lunar mountain that towers above the landscape carved by craters near the Moon’s South Pole.
This unique feature will now be referred to as “Mons Mouton,” after NASA mathematician and computer programmer Melba Roy Mouton (MOO-tawn).
Members of NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, mission proposed the name to the International Astronomical Union, or IAU.
The flat-topped mountain is adjacent to the western rim of the Nobile Crater, on which VIPER will land and explore during its approximately 100-day mission as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
The IAU theme for naming mountains (mons) on the Moon focuses on “scientists who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to their fields.”
The lunar landmark naming honors and recognizes Mouton’s life, her accomplishments as a computer scientist, and her contributions to NASA’s missions.
“Melba Mouton was one of our pioneering leaders at NASA,” said Sandra Connelly, the acting associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “She not only helped NASA take the lead in exploring the unknown in air and space, but she also charted a path for other women and people of color to pursue careers and lead cutting-edge science at NASA.”
Mouton was first employed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in 1959, just a year after the space agency was established.
She became the head mathematician who led a group of "human computers," who tracked the Echo 1 and 2 satellites, launched into Earth’s orbit in 1960 and 1964, respectively.
A few years later, in 1961, Mouton was the head programmer responsible for the Mission and Trajectory Analysis Division's Program Systems Branch — the team who coded computer programs used to calculate spacecraft locations and trajectories, giving NASA the ability to track spacecraft while in orbit.
Before retiring in 1973, after a career at NASA that spanned 14 years, Mouton had become the assistant chief of research programs for the Trajectory and Geodynamics Division at Goddard.
In appreciation of her dedicated service and outstanding accomplishments, which culminated in the successful Apollo 11 Moon landing on July 20, 1969, she was recognized with an Apollo Achievement Award.
As NASA prepares to send astronauts to the lunar surface, including the first woman to set foot on the Moon, Mons Mouton is among one of the 13 candidate landing regions for Artemis III.
The wide, relatively flat-topped mountain, about the size of the state of Delaware, was created over billions of years by lunar impacts, which sculpted it out of its surroundings.
As a result, Mons Mouton stands as tall as Denali — the tallest mountain in North America — approximately 20,000 feet higher than its neighboring features on the Moon’s South Pole.
Because it is relatively untouched by bombardments, scientists believe Mons Mouton is much more ancient — possibly billions of years older than its surroundings.
A ring of huge craters — evidence of its pulverizing past — lie around its base; some with cliff-like edges, descending into areas of permanent darkness. Its rolling hilltop is peppered with smaller rocks and pebbles as well as lots of enticing craters that are frequently blanketed in freezing, shifting shadows.
“Mons Mouton represents a great spot for VIPER — our solar-powered Moon rover that we’ll drive and conduct science in near real-time,” said Dr. Sarah Noble, VIPER program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “It features high sunny spots, it’s relatively flat, satellite data shows signs of water ice, and it allows long stretches of direct communications with our ground station on Earth.”
VIPER will be the first resource mapping mission beyond Earth. It will search at and below the lunar surface to determine the location and concentration of any ice could eventually be harvested to sustain human exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond and will help advance scientific exploration of the Moon by helping to understand how water is created and deposited throughout the solar system. VIPER is planned for delivery to the Moon in late 2024 under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
Rachel Hoover works for NASA's Ames Research Center.
These annual surveys offer, “estimates of tree mortality and damage and depict broad mortality trends.”
On May 3, 2022, the Lake County Board of Supervisors proclaimed a local emergency due to pervasive tree mortality.
In the ensuing months, Napa and Mendocino counties likewise declared states of emergency, recognizing what is a growing crisis in much of the state of California.
United States Forest Service data have depicted truly troubling trends with tree mortality.
In 2019, the Forest Service estimated 1,000 Lake County acres were affected by tree mortality. The estimated number of dead trees was 3,000.
Those estimates have exponentially grown in the time since:
• 2019: 1,000 acres, 3,000 dead trees;
• 2021: 21,000 acres, 331,000 dead trees;
• 2022: 31,000 acres, 590,000 dead trees.
“The U.S. Forest Service’s report shows catastrophic tree mortality across most of Northern California,” said Board of Supervisors Chair Jessica Pyska. “We have been hard at work on this problem in Lake County since 2021, and declared the first tree mortality emergency back in May. Since, we have developed a coalition surrounding this topic with regional counties, and assisted Napa and Mendocino with their emergency declarations.”
A 2022 windshield survey identified approximately 4,000 dead and dying trees near Lake County roadways and evacuation routes, alone.
Dr. Michael Jones, the University of California Cooperative Extension’s Forest Advisor for Lake County and a trained entomologist, said removal of dead and dying trees is critical to mitigating multispecies bark beetle infestation.
Costs for remediation of the highest priority areas, alone, are expected to exceed $12 million.
County officials and partners are reported to be heavily engaged in efforts to secure funding.
“We remain relentless in our project development to treat areas of high concern, and seeking funding from every available source,” said Pyska. “This report confirms everything we have been saying and should garner the attention and urgency that is needed.”