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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — In partnership with Lake County Tribal Health, Adventist Health Clear Lake, and the city of Clearlake, the Lake County Chamber of Commerce announced the inaugural Move, Lake County! 5K Fun Run and Wellness Faire on Aug. 27.

The event will kick off that day at 8 a.m. with a 5K Fun Run that will start and end in Austin Park in Clearlake.

The carefully curated course will allow the runners to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the business district along the shores of Clear Lake, Redbud Park and some residential neighborhoods of the area.

Runners, their families and friends, and the local community will also be able to enjoy free fitness classes, health and wellness vendors, and other fun activities until 2 p.m.

The Lake County Chamber of Commerce is committed to elevating the economic vitality and prosperity of every region of our county.

The combination of an outdoor, active event that highlights a local business district is well-aligned with that mission.

The cost to participate in the 5K fun run is only $35 through June 15, which includes a special edition T-shirt.

Registrations are accepted until Aug. 25, with cost increasing incrementally as the event draws closer. T-shirts are guaranteed for runners that register by July 31.

Participants may register for the fun run at www.lakecochamber.com/move-lake-county.

Any business that is interested in having a booth at the Wellness Faire may inquire at the Lake County Chamber of Commerce at 707.263.5092 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Proceeds from this event will benefit programs and activities that support the local economy such as the Youth Mentorship Program and the Certified Tourism Ambassador Program.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The East Region Town Hall, or ERTH, will meet on Wednesday, June 1.

The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at the Moose Lodge, located at 15900 Moose Lodge Lane in Clearlake Oaks.

The meeting can be attended in person or via Zoom; the meeting ID is 935 8339 6020, the pass code is 448228.

Agenda items include a commercial cannabis cultivation update, a discussion about the consolidated lighting district in Clearlake Oaks and Spring Valley street lighting, the Lake County geothermal project watchlist and the EPA mercury mine Superfund site.

There also will be updates on Spring Valley and the Northshore Fire Protection District, and a report from Supervisor EJ Crandell and new business.

ERTH will next meet on Wednesday, July 6.

ERTH’s members are Denise Loustalot, Jim Burton, Tony Morris and Pamela Kicenski.

For more information visit the group’s Facebook page.

There are 20.6 million people who identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander alone (not in combination with another race), making up 6.2% of the nation’s population, according to the 2020 Census.

But it’s not until these numbers are broken down that the incredible diversity of this population becomes clear.

Using recently released data from both the 2020 Census and the American Community Survey’s (ACS) 5-year estimates, we detail the diversity of the racial and ethnic composition of this population and its geographic distribution.

Race

The 2020 Census shows:

• 19.9 million people identified as Asian alone and 4.1 million people identified as Asian in combination with another race.
• Roughly 690,000 people identified as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (NHPI) alone but almost 900,000 identified as NHPI in combination with another race.
• Race and Hispanic origin are measured separately by the Census Bureau: 267,330 identified as both Asian alone (race) and Hispanic, and 67,948 people identified as both NHPI alone (race) and Hispanic.

Diversity

The Asian diaspora is extremely diverse. Using data from the 2016-2020 5-year ACS, the Census Bureau published data for 21 different detailed groups in the United States under the umbrella of Asian alone, including 4.2 million people reporting Chinese (excluding Taiwanese) and 3,526 people reporting Okinawan.

Among NHPI (alone or in combination) individuals, there were roughly 620,000 who identified as Native Hawaiian, 212,000 as Samoan, 156,000 as Chamorro, 65,000 as Tongan, and roughly 50,000 as Fijian.

In acknowledgment of the diversity of languages spoken in the United States, the Census Bureau disseminated materials for the 2020 Census in 59 different languages other than English, including 23 languages that originated in Asia: Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, Khmer, Gujarati, Hindi, Hmong, Ilocano, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Lao, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Sinhala, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese.



Where they were born

The U.S. Asian and Pacific Islander populations have diverse backgrounds, according to the ACS’s most recent 5-year estimates:

• 73.2% of those who identified as Asian alone were U.S. citizens, by birth or naturalization.
• 85.9% of those who identified as NHPI alone were U.S. citizens, by birth or naturalization.
• 31.3% of the roughly 44 million foreign-born people in the United States were born in Asia.

Where they live

The Asian and NHPI population was not evenly distributed across the United States, according to the 2020 Census:

• Only three states — Hawaii, California, and New Jersey — had 10% or more of their population identify as Asian alone.
• Hawaii, Alaska, and Utah were the only states where at least 1% of the population identified as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone.
• Hawaii, Washington, and Nevada are the three states with the highest percentage of the population who identify as Asian in combination with another race.
• Hawaii, Nevada, and Alaska are the three states with the highest percentage of the population who identify as NHPI in combination with another race.

Race and ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census

The population profiles of major Metropolitan Statistical Areas (“metro areas”) across the country reflect the geographic dispersion of the Asian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander population. The 2016-2020 ACS 5-year shows:

• The largest Asian alone population in the Chicago and Atlanta metro areas is Asian Indians (229,003 in the Chicago metro area and 136,931 in the Atlanta metro area).
• One of the largest Asian groups in the Houston metro area was Vietnamese (136,813).
• The Los Angeles metro area is home to roughly 35,000 NHPI alone individuals, including 11,752 Samoans and 4,569 people who identify as Chamorro.
• The largest Asian alone population in the Minneapolis metro area was Hmong (83,132).
• The largest Asian alone population in the Seattle (124,204) and Boston (152,274) metro areas was Chinese, except Taiwanese.
• The largest Asian alone population in the San Diego metro area was Filipino (155,522).
• In the Salt Lake City metro area, the NHPI alone population (18,291) was significantly larger than any detailed Asian alone group.
• More data on detailed Asian and NHPI groups from the 2020 Census will be released in summer 2023.

About the data

The 2020 Census counted every person living in the United States and the five U.S. territories on April 1, 2020. The 2020 Census Data Quality website provides information about 2020 census data quality.

The ACS is the premier source for detailed population and housing information about our nation, allowing for more frequent data on America’s communities than the decennial census. ACS 5-year estimates are period estimates that represent data collected within a 60-month period.

Because the ACS is a survey based on a sample of the population rather than a census of the entire population, the ACS estimates presented here are subject to sampling and non-sampling error. Technical documentation and more information about ACS data quality are available on the ACS Technical Documentation website.

Readers should note that the Census Bureau measures race and Hispanic ethnicity separately in accordance with the 1997 Office of Management and Budget’s Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.

Additional information about the Census Bureau’s coding of race alone or in combination can be found in this recent America Counts story and in this technical paper.

Lindsay M. Monte and Hyon B. Shin are researchers in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has new cats including several new kittens available for adoption this week.

Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm for information on visiting or adopting.

The following cats at the shelter have been cleared for adoption.

Male domestic shorthair

This 1-year-old male domestic shorthair cat has an all-black coat.

He is in cat room kennel No. 66, ID No. LCAC-A-3309.

Orange tabby kitten

This 3-month-old male orange tabby kitten has a short coat.

He is in cat room kennel No. 84a, ID No. LCAC-A-3390.

Orange tabby kitten

This 3-month-old male orange tabby kitten has a short coat.

He is in cat room kennel No. 84c, ID No. LCAC-A-3392.

Female domestic shorthair kitten

This 3-month-old female domestic shorthair kitten has a white coat and blue eyes.

She is in cat room kennel No. 84d, ID No. LCAC-A-3393.

Male domestic shorthair kitten

This 3-month old male domestic shorthair kitten has a white coat and blue eyes.

He is in cat room kennel No. 84e, ID No. LCAC-A-3394.

‘Dave’

“Dave” is a young male brown tabby with a short coat.

He is in cat room kennel No. 96, ID No. LCAC-A-3299.

‘Delilah’

“Delilah” is a 2-year-old female domestic longhair cat with a gray coat with white markings.

She is in cat room kennel No. 103, ID No. LCAC-A-3070.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. — On Matthew Dollosso’s 16th birthday in January, before he could legally drive a vehicle, he took off in a Cessna 172 from Lampson Field in Lakeport on his first solo flight and realized a long-held dream.

Dollosso, who lives in Lakeport with his family, can’t remember a time when he wasn’t interested in planes and flying. He credits his father, Frank, as the inspiration behind his eagerness to pursue a pilot’s license.

“I remember my dad talking a lot about flying and how much he loves it,” Matthew Dollosso said.

The older Dollosso, in turn, points to his son as the reason he has a pilot’s license today.

Over two decades ago, before he had a family, Frank Dollosso pursued a private pilot’s license. He had completed all the required flight hours, had passed the written test, and had a flight exam scheduled. Then Sept. 11, 2001, happened, and everything was grounded for a time. Somehow, he just didn’t return to it after that.

While his son was learning to fly, Frank Dollosso became motivated to complete his own license requirements through a question from Matthew: “Dad, why don’t you get back into flying?”

Now both father and son are licensed and share together their passion for flight.

From the time he was young, Matthew Dollosso was fascinated by airplanes.

The Federal Express planes that take off from the Ukiah Municipal Airport fly directly over the Dollossos’ Lakeport home and provided fodder for this burgeoning interest. It wasn’t long before he had memorized their and other planes’ flight patterns, thanks in part to a phone app.

On Matthew Dollosso’s 15th birthday, his father gifted him with a “discovery flight,” which, simply put, is someone’s first experience in a private plane with the purpose of discerning an interest in flying.

The teenager and discovery flight’s pilot, who was Frank Dollosso’s flight instructor from 20 years before, took off from the airport in Ukiah and spent time soaring over the area. As is typical for a discovery flight, Matthew Dollosso spent time in the pilot’s seat to see what learning to fly would be like.

“That first flight is one of the best memories of my life,” he said. It cemented his desire to be a pilot.

With the teen ready to pursue a license, his family engaged Kenneth Henninger, an independent flight instructor working out of Lake County’s airport, Lampson Field, to teach him to fly. Henninger also helped father Frank complete the requirements for his license, which he accomplished 20 years to the week after he initially started the process.

Matthew Dollosso had to wait until age 16 to fly a plane solo per Federal Aviation Administration or FAA, rules, and he did this at the first opportunity, on his 16th birthday on Jan. 23.

This earned him a student license, which comes with some restrictions. He’s not allowed to take passengers and, though he can fly wherever he wishes, he must be signed off by his instructor before taking to the skies as a solo flyer.

According to Henninger, a student pilot isn’t allowed to go up unless the skies are clear and the wind is minimal. The FAA requires a minimum of five statute miles of visibility, but Henninger won’t give permission unless visibility is greater than this. He notes that Mt. Konocti isn’t visible from the airport without at least six statute miles of visibility.

While Matthew Dollosso is the youngest student Henninger has soloed, he’s not the youngest person he’s taught. There’s no minimum age to start logging flight hours, and Henninger has worked on and off with a 9-year-old enthusiast. His oldest student was 82, and every decade between 9 and 82 has been represented among his students.

Matthew Dollosso will legally be able to get his private pilot’s license at age 17. It comes as no surprise that, like with his student license, he plans to do that on his birthday next year. When certified, he’ll be able to take passengers and fly solo without an instructor’s permission.

Henninger has high praise for his young student. “Matthew is a super good pilot, especially for 16 years old. If not for having to wait a year for his age, he would be able to get his private pilot’s license now.”

He stressed that student designation is because of age, not experience. “For as much as he’s flown and how well he flies, he could be a fully licensed pilot right now if not for the FAA requirement,” said Henninger.

Dollosso’s goal is to become a commercial pilot, perhaps eventually with a large legacy airline, and once he’s certified as a private pilot, he’ll work with Henninger to obtain his commercial pilot’s license at the minimum age of 18. According to Henninger, getting all his ratings at the minimum age puts him ahead of the game.

Henninger said that on a first flying lesson the student sits in the pilot seat in front of the instruments. He gives the student a broad overview of flying, so they get a feel for the aircraft. They learn how to throttle and brake, and how to ease up, turn, and stall.

After doing that for a flight or two, they practice landing, the hardest part of flying. As Henninger said, “We do landing after landing after landing until they’re able to do it by themselves.”

Henninger said he’s always nervous the first time a student flies solo, but not with Dollosso. “Matthew was the first and only person where I thought, ‘he’s got it.’ He’s a natural. It’s really amazing, especially at this age.”

Frank Dollosso added to that. “You’d think that as a parent you’d be nervous having your kid go up and fly on their own, but I’ve flown with him enough to know that his maneuvers were good and that he lands well. My wife and I weren’t nervous at all.”

Matthew, a high school sophomore, has been homeschooled throughout his life. He enjoys this arrangement, especially because it gives him freedom to pursue interests such as flying.

According to his father, aviation correlates well to homeschooling because reading, memorization of regulations and learning good communication skills are all part of it. In addition, “the history of aviation covers so much that it falls into just about every category of home school,” Frank Dollosso said.

He also noted that math skills are necessary for wing balance, ensuring that the plane isn’t overloaded and guaranteeing a correct center of gravity.

Henninger, smiling, added, “You have to be a meteorologist, a psychologist and a mathematician, and then at the end you get your pilot’s license.”

In addition to a private pilot’s license, Matthew Dollosso would like to get his instrument rating when he’s 17. His father is working on that now, and he’ll soon hunker down to begin those studies, too. This will enable him to fly through fog or when it’s cloudy.

Henninger noted that getting an instrument rating is difficult, as it’s all new information and one must know the mechanics of the instruments in depth. “It’s all about procedures, and the flying is more difficult because you can’t see outside. Ninety percent of our orientation is visual.”

In addition to the family’s Cessna 172 that Matthew Dollosso commandeered for this solo flight, he has experience with the Cherokee 140 owned by Henninger.

A passel of relatives came out to see Matthew Dollosso perform his first solo flight. Grandparents on both sides, aunts, uncles and others were there to share in his success. All, including flight instructor Henninger, signed the tail that was cut from his shirt, a tradition in the piloting world.

This unusual custom hails from the days when flight instructor and student sat tandem in an aircraft, rather than side-by-side. When the instructor needed to get the student's attention, he'd tug on their shirttail. Cutting it off represents the independence of the student once a pilot's license is earned.

Matthew Dollosso drove a car for the first time a few weeks after he earned his pilot’s license. He now has a driver’s license, but he prefers to fly. The open skies hold his interest more than the pavement below.

When asked what word best describes his feeling when in the air, Matthew Dollosso replied, “Amazing.”

Esther Oertel is a freelance writer in Middletown who's contributed to Lake County News since 2010. She especially enjoys writing about the people and places that make Lake County unique. For comments, questions and story suggestions, she may be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office confirmed that on Saturday morning he tested positive for COVID-19 after exhibiting mild symptoms.

The positive test came the day after Newsom had met in San Francisco with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to sign a new climate partnership agreement.

The Governor’s Office said he will continue to work remotely.

In accordance with local and state health guidelines, Newsom will remain in isolation at least through Thursday, June 2, and until he tests negative.

As outlined in California's SMARTER Plan, which focuses on testing and treatment, the governor will test prior to leaving isolation.

He also has received a prescription for Paxlovid, the antiviral that has been proven effective against COVID-19, and will begin his five-day regimen immediately.

Gov. Newsom is vaccinated and has received two booster shots, including as recently as May 18.

The Governor’s Office said vaccinations and boosters remain the best way to protect yourself from COVID-19.

California was the first state in the nation to announce a comprehensive plan to deal with COVID-19 going forward, the SMARTER plan, that focuses on testing and treating patients to avoid serious disease.

By following the guidelines outlined in the SMARTER plan, individuals can help protect themselves and others, and public officials can prepare for surges in COVID-19 transmission, like the one currently occurring across the country, Newsom’s office reported.