LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson announced that he has filed to run for reelection in the newly numbered Fourth Congressional District.

The district includes all of Lake and Napa counties and portions of Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.

“I’m excited to run for reelection in the newly drawn Fourth Congressional District,” said Rep. Mike Thompson. “I was born, grew up and have lived my entire life in our district and I consider it the honor of my life to represent our beautiful region in Congress.

“Families here want a fair shake: well-paying jobs, affordable health care, a clean environment, quality education, and dignity in retirement. They want to know that if they work hard and play by the rules, they can leave more for their children than they themselves had — that the American Dream is alive and well. Folks here want to put food on the table and gas in the car, cover their mortgage payment, and provide an education for their kids without going broke.

“From my first day in Congress, I’ve made these shared priorities the focus of my work. I will continue pushing for sensible, responsible policy solutions that bolster the middle class, create jobs, lower the cost of housing and health care, and strengthen Medicare and Social Security for future generations. I will continue working to empower young people by advancing bold policies that protect our environment and invest in education. And, as Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, I will not stop until H.R. 8, my Bipartisan Background Check Act, is enacted into law to help prevent senseless gun violence and save lives.

“In the current Congress, I also authored the most sweeping climate policy ever to pass the House of Representatives. It is the flagship climate policy of President Biden’s agenda. As chairman of the Select Revenues Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy, I advanced the Child Tax Credit, a tax cut for working families with children that has already significantly reduced child poverty in the months since it was first enacted.

“The past two years have been challenging for all of us. The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented test, one that has taken hundreds of thousands of lives, has repeatedly pushed our health care system to the brink, and has disrupted our economy in every conceivable way. Know that as we continue to battle the virus, I will always place our community at the forefront.

“For all of these reasons, I have earned the endorsement of mayors, supervisors, sheriffs and district attorneys from every county in our district as well as hundreds of business owners, farmers, educators, community leaders and countless other hardworking men and women in our district.

“We have a shared commitment to our great country: because we share the responsibility of building and maintaining a great nation, we share in its challenges and we share in its successes. We are in this together and I will continue to fight for our district in Congress,” he said.

A list of those signing Rep. Thompson’s nomination papers includes:

Kelly Cox, retired Lake County administrative officer
Lake County Supervisor Eddie Crandell,
Madelene Lyon, former trustee, Lake County Board of Education
Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin,
Stacy Mattina, Lakeport mayor and Realtor
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen
Denise Rushing, retired Lake County supervisor and entrepreneur
Lake County Supervisor Bruno Sabatier
Dirk Slooten, mayor of Clearlake
Karen Slooten, retired
David Weiss, vineyard management firm owner, Kelseyville
Peter Windrem, retired attorney at Law, Kelseyville

Elizabeth Alessio, Napa councilwoman
Christopher Canning, mayor of Calistoga
Amelia Ceja, winery owner and business woman
Leon Garcia, mayor of American Canyon
Rolando Herrera, business owner
Ricardo “Ricky” Hurtado, community advocate and leader
Hope Lugo, community leader
John Robertson, retired Napa County sheriff
Scott Sedgley, mayor of Napa
Janet Thompson, nurse
Jon Thompson, lieutenant, Napa County Sheriff’s Department
Robert “Bob” Torres, owner, Trinchero Family Estates

Steven C. Bird, mayor of Dixon
Thomas Ferrara, Solano County sheriff/coroner
Caitlin O’Halloran, Dixon School Board member
Marjorie Olson, community advocate and leader
Annette L. Porini, retired public servant
Ron Rowlett, mayor of Vacaville
John Vasquez, Solano County supervisor
Jeanie White, community advocate and leader
Jeanette Wylie, Vacaville City councilmember
CC Yin, Solano County business owner

Madolyn Agrimonti, Sonoma City Council member
Connie Codding, business owner
Karen Collins, former Alcaldessa
Cheryl Ann Diehm, retired
Jackie Elward, mayor of Rohnert Park
Margaret Fishman, Santa Rosa Junior College Board trustee
Gerard Giudice, business owner and Rohnert Park Council member
Susan Harvey, vice mayor of Cotati
Herman G. Hernandez, Sonoma County Board of Education trustee
Maddy Hirschfield, community leader and labor advocate
Mark Landman, Cotati mayor
Frankie Lemus, business owner
Willy Linares, vice mayor, Rohnert Park
John C. Moore, Cotati City Council member
Steve Page, retired business leader
Chris Rogers, Santa Rosa Mayor
Steve Sangiacomo, Sonoma grape grower
John Sawyer, Santa Rosa Councilmember
Tim Smith, former Sonoma County Supervisor

Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, California Assembly member
Angel Barajas, Yolo County supervisor
Jody Bogle, business owner
Linda Deos, community advocate and leader
Mike Hall, Yolo County farmer
Stephen F. Heringer, Clarksburg farmer, business owner
Garth Lewis, Yolo County Superintendent of Schools
Gloria Partida, mayor of Davis
Bruce J. Rominger, Yolo County farmer
Chris Turkovich, Winters farmer, business owner
Mayra Vega, mayor of Woodland
Lois Wolk, former State senator

For information about the newly drawn and numbered Fourth Congressional District visit here.

For more information about Congressman Mike Thompson’s campaign, visit https://www.mikethompsonforcongress.com/.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — February so far has been unseasonably dry, but the National Weather Service said that could change this week.

Forecasters said clouds are expected to begin gathering during the day on Monday, Presidents Day, leading to slight chances of rain in the evening. Winds of nearly 25 miles per hour in parts of Lake County also are forecast.

Beginning at 10 p.m. Monday, the forecast calls for a six-hour period during which there are chances of rain and snow showers, then a chance of snow showers after 4 a.m. Tuesday.

Chances of rain and snow showers also are in the Tuesday forecast, with conditions expected to clear later in the day and the evening.

The National Weather Service reported that, based on its latest weather models, an inch or so of snow “now seems possible” above the 2,000 foot elevation mark in Mendocino and Lake counties, “though impacts to populated areas will be minimal.”

The weather is supposed to be mostly clear and sunny for the rest of the week, with chances of showers against forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

Daytime temperatures this week will range from the high 40s on Monday to the low 60s on Saturday. Nighttime temperatures will be in the 30s for much of the week, dropping into the high 20s on Tuesday, reaching the low 40s by Saturday.

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.

Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, has introduced a resolution designating the week of Feb. 21 as Eating Disorder Awareness Week, bringing attention to a serious problem affecting 30 million Americans while underscoring the need for prevention.

“Eating disorders are serious conditions that are potentially life-threatening and have a great impact on our physical and emotional health,” Sen. Dodd said. “We must improve the public’s understanding of the causes, encourage early intervention and lay to rest the stigma of this pervasive affliction. As someone who’s had a loved one suffer from an eating disorder, I know how difficult it can be, but with support recovery is possible.”

Sen. Dodd’s resolution raises awareness of a range of disorders affecting men and women across all backgrounds. Conditions include anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating disorders.

This year’s theme, “Come as You Are: Hindsight is 20/20,” will focus on alerting the public to environmental and biological causes as well as empowering people to reduce personal risk factors for developing eating disorders.

California Treasurer Fiona Ma is a co-sponsor. Supporters include the National Eating Disorders Association, American Nurses Association-California, Cielo House and the Eating Disorders Resource Center.

“For too long the media has focused on women needing to be thin to be beautiful,” said Treasurer Fiona Ma. “I remember struggling in college and being forced to look inward to correct unhealthy eating habits. Eating disorders are the third most common chronic illness among adolescent women in the U.S., and 10 million men in the U.S. will suffer from one in their lifetime. De-stigmatizing this conversation and talking openly is the best way to take our power back, and I’m proud to work once again along with my longtime friend and colleague, Sen. Dodd, to make sure we do not let these disorders define us.”

Dodd, who formerly represented Lake County in the California Assembly, now represents the Third Senate District, which includes all or portions of Napa, Yolo, Sonoma, Solano, Sacramento and Contra Costa counties.

The evolution of job growth and employment in the U.S. economy over the past four decades has been characterized by two important but seemingly contradictory facts: Young startup businesses have been a key driver of economic growth, yet more and more of the American workforce has become concentrated at older, more mature firms.

This window into the nation’s economic trends comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics, or BDS, which provide annual measures of establishment openings and closings, firm startups and shutdowns, and job creation and loss.

The BDS paints a portrait of the constantly evolving and dynamic U.S. economy over time and provides information on the contributions to employment changes across and within industries.

These measures are available for the entire economy and by industry (sector and 3-digit and 4-digit North American Industry Classification System or NAICS) and geography (state, county and metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas).

They’re also published by firm and establishment size and age. Statistics are available from 1978 to 2019.

In this story, we summarize recent findings using the publicly available statistics to describe the dynamics of the U.S. economy over the past 40 years. We specifically focus on the role firms of different ages and sizes played in the creation of jobs across various industries.



Age and size of firms

As prior research has shown, the age and size of a business are important characteristics that may reflect its potential to create jobs and economic growth.

The BDS allows us to distinguish between the age and size of an establishment (a physical place of work) and the age and size of the firm (the larger enterprise that owns and operates the establishment).

Firm age is defined as the age of the oldest establishment in the first year in which a firm has employees. We define a startup as any firm that employed its first worker in the current year.

New establishments created by new firms will have job creation patterns that resemble other startups. But new establishments created by long-existing firms will grow in ways that reflect the trends of mature firms.

In addition, an establishment that belongs to a larger parent company may act differently than an independent establishment.

For the purposes of this article, we focus on two age categories: young and old. Young firms are those with positive employment for five years or less, and old firms are those with positive employment for more than five years.

A firm’s size is based on the first quarter employment of a given year and includes all establishments associated with the firm at that time. We consider firms with 100 or more employees “large,” and those with fewer than 100 employees “small.”



Increasing share of employment in older firms

One of the major trends over the past three decades is that employment has become increasingly concentrated at older firms.

After falling in the 1980s, the share of employment at more mature firms rose steadily, representing approximately 90% of all employees by 2019 (Figure 1).

The patterns in a few notable industries mirror this national trend. By the mid-2000s, for example, the Manufacturing, Retail, and Health Care sectors all had over 90% of their employment at mature firms.

There were exceptions: Accommodation and Food Services and Information sectors.

Restaurants and hotels had a lower share of employment in older firms relative to other industries over the entire time series. This share dipped even lower in the late 1990s, then rose until the early 2010’s, and has been flat or slightly declining since.

The Information sector trended somewhat away from older firms through the tech crash in the early 2000’s but has risen since and is now nearly 95% concentrated in mature firms.

The large and increasing presence of employment at old firms appears to contradict the notion that young startups are the engine of economic growth. However, it is true that young firms are more dynamic and have much greater rates of net job creation.

The Net Job Creation Rate, or NJCR, indicates how many more jobs were created than were destroyed relative to overall employment in an industry.

The job creation rate is notably higher for young firms than for old ones — the NJCR has hovered around 15% to 20% for younger firms throughout the time series but was roughly 0% and often negative for more established firms.

The NJCR time series is more volatile for young firms than old ones, showing larger drops during business contractions and larger gains in expansions (Retail and Manufacturing during and after the Great Recession, for example). Despite these fluctuations, the rate is almost always higher for young firms.

The single exception is the Information sector in 2001, when the job creation rate for young firms fell to the same level as for old firms.

Therefore, it is simultaneously true that startups grow at faster rates but old firms account for an increasing share of employment.

Reconciling these facts requires noting that there are fewer startups over time and in turn fewer young firms over time (Figure 3). That is, the net growth rate differential between young and old has not changed much but there are fewer and fewer young firms over time.



Employment concentrated in larger firms

Mirroring the growing share of employment at older firms, the share of employment located at large firms with at least 100 employees also increased.

The national share of employment at these large firms has grown from 41% at the beginning of the time series in 1978 to 48% at the end of the series in 2019.

However, this steady rise in the national share masks considerable industry variation.

Manufacturing has notably defied this trend, becoming more concentrated in smaller firms, despite a slight reversal of this pattern in the last few years.

The Information and Accommodation and Food Services sectors have also moved away from larger firms since the mid-2000’s, despite moving towards them during other time periods.

Retail ‘Megafirms’

The increasing concentration of employment at large firms is most obvious in the Retail sector, which grew steadily from a 36% share in 1978 to 62% in 2019.

Retail’s status as an industry dominated by large players is well-known, with the familiar rise of so-called “megafirms” that have crowded out smaller firms during the last two decades.

Recent research using Census data suggests that the increasing presence of such firms helps explain the decline in the share of national income going to labor, as these firms tend to be capital intensive and highly efficient.



Does age or size influence job creation more?

The increased concentration of large firms in the economy appears to have a smaller impact on job creation than does the increase in older firms. This is because small firms have higher rates of job growth than large ones but not by nearly the same margin as between young and old firms.

During economic expansions, the net job creation rate of small firms exceeds that of large firms by a few percentage points. However, during contractions, the rates fall to nearly the same negative level as large firms.

This is especially apparent in the Information sector during the 2001 recession, where small firms destroyed jobs at a higher rate than large ones.

The NJCR in this sector remains lower today than in the 1990s but aside from the Great Recession, small firms have created more jobs on net than large ones since the mid-2000’s. The exception to this trend of stagnant job growth at large firms is Retail, where large firms have mostly out-performed small firms in net jobs created.

BDS data tables are available for further analysis. BDS data can also be accessed via the BDS Explorer application and guidance on how to use it is available in this webinar.

Christopher Goetz is an economist in the Center for Economic Studies, or CES, at the U.S. Census Bureau. Martha Stinson is a senior economist in CES.

 

As of July 2021, a total of 83.6 million Americans were insured through either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

That’s almost 1 in 4 Americans, with 76.7 million insured through Medicaid and 6.9 million through CHIP. Both public health insurance programs are funded jointly by the federal and state governments. Medicaid provides health insurance for low-income people, most of whom are 64 or younger.

CHIP provides health coverage to kids and pregnant women whose families have low incomes but make too much to qualify for Medicaid.

Affordable Care Act’s impact

Before states began to expand Medicaid in 2014 as part of the Affordable Care Act, the program was much smaller, covering around 55 million people in 2013.

So far, 38 states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid access, with financial support from the federal government.

Prior to the ACA, most states were more restrictive about who could enroll in Medicaid, a program launched following the enactment of landmark legislation President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law in 1965. After the ACA, the federal government began to shoulder more of the program’s costs, footing at least 90% of the bill for new enrollees covered through the program’s expansion.

Today, all adults in Medicaid expansion states who are under 65 with annual incomes less than 138% of the federal poverty line are eligible for Medicaid. In 2022, that means someone who is single without dependents and has an income of $18,754 or less qualifies, as does a family of four earning up to $38,295.

Eligibility rules in nonexpansion states vary widely and exclude more low-income people.

CHIP was signed into law in 1997. Like the Medicaid expansion it was optional, yet it was adopted in all states within three years, by 2000.

Unfortunately, 4.3 million children remain uninsured, many of whom are in poverty, live in a nonexpansion state or a state with stricter income eligibility standards for CHIP.

Even when children are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, they may not be enrolled in the program due to their parents’ lack of awareness or their state’s lack of outreach.

The pace of Medicaid expansion since 2014 has been far slower than the CHIP rollout. Twelve states have yet to opt in, as of February 2022, though the expansion debate continues.

And yet Medicaid’s sharp enrollment growth has reduced the share of uninsured people.

Fewer uninsured Americans

About 91.4% of Americans had public or private health coverage for at least part of 2020, leaving an estimated 28 million Americans without any health insurance, according to the Census Bureau. In 2013, only 86.7% of the country was insured.

Our state, Missouri, expanded Medicaid on Oct. 1, 2021. The state estimates that as many as 275,000 people are newly eligible, though only about 64,000 enrolled in the first five months. Oklahoma expanded Medicaid in July 2021, enrolling more than 200,000 in its first few months. South Dakota may be next: its voters will decide whether to expand Medicaid in November 2022.

Of the 28.6 million Americans who have enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP since the ACA was rolled out, about 60% obtained coverage prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Response to the COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020, the federal government responded to what it correctly anticipated as the sharp growth of Medicaid and CHIP coverage.

At the time, an unemployment surge was stripping millions of workers of their economic stability, including health insurance coverage. Medicaid enrollments tend to rise during bad economic times, as people become eligible due to lower incomes. The pandemic was no different, particularly in 2020.

What’s different this time is that states, which administer Medicaid and CHIP, haven’t been allowed to kick anyone out of the program during this period – even if they would have lost eligibility due to higher earnings.

This restriction will continue as long as the federal government public health emergency declaration remains in effect. To help states with that increased financial burden, the federal government increased its share of Medicaid payments to states.

In January 2022, the Biden administration renewed the public health emergency for another three months. The emergency declaration is scheduled to expire on April 16.

Soon after this measure expires, millions who have been covered by Medicaid but now make too much money to qualify could lose their eligibility, particularly if they live in states that have not yet expanded Medicaid.

But it’s not clear whether the number of Americans enrolled in these programs will decline sharply. In part, that’s because more people are getting access to Medicaid for the first time due to their states’ participation in its expansion.

[You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors. You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter.]

Heather Bednarek, Associate Professor of Economics, Saint Louis University and Ellen Barnidge, Associate Professor of Behavioral Science and Health Education; Interim Dean of the College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Two teams of talented high school students took to the courtroom this month to argue a hypothetical murder case as part of the annual Mock Trial competition.

The event took place on Friday, Feb. 11, on the fourth floor of the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.

Now in its 10th year, the competition is run in partnership with the Constitutional Rights Foundation, the Lake County Superior Court and Lake County Office of Education.

Competing again this year were teams from Middletown and Upper Lake high schools, with Middletown coming away with the win.

Last year, due to COVID-19, the event was virtual and hosted by the Napa County courthouse.

This year, however, it was back to the courtroom in the Lake County Superior Court.

However, Dana Adams, the Mock Trial coordinator for the Lake County Office of Education, said COVID resulted in this year’s scrimmage being canceled, meaning the teams had a limited amount of practice, “but the teams did a stellar job,” Adams said.

Adams said the students — with the help of volunteer attorney coaches and teachers — prepared arguments, evidence and more for the county competition through Mock Trial classes at their schools.

The Middletown team was assisted by teacher coach Dawnmarie Schneider, and attorney coaches Jon Hopkins and Janina Hoskins.

For Upper Lake, teacher coaches Alex Stabiner and Anna Sabalone, along with attorney coach Judy Conard, worked with the students.

Over the years, all of the court’s judges have taken turns volunteering their time to judge the competition.

This time around, judges J. David Markham and Shanda Harry presided over the competition in the morning and afternoon sessions, respectively.

Middletown and Upper Lake argued the fictional case of People v. Cobey.

The case revolves around Jamie Cobey, a horticulturist living in the community of Burnsley, California, a semi rural town in the high desert.

Cobey is charged with killing landlord and next-door neighbor, Erik Smith, in the most unusual of ways — by placing a rattlesnake in Smith’s mailbox.

Based on the arguments and evidence presented, both Markham and Harry ruled that Cobey was not guilty on all counts.

“Reasonable doubt is a difficult standard to make,” Harry said.

Harry, who wrapped up the day with the students, congratulated them for their passion. “I was very impressed by everyone.”

One of the team members, in turn, thanked Harry and the other adults who helped make the competition possible.

“I had a great time,” Harry said. “This is a great experience for everyone.”

Individual recognition for outstanding students was given to the following students:

• Outstanding prosecuting attorney: Zoey Petrie, Upper Lake High School.
• Outstanding defense attorney: Ellary Isherwood, Middletown High School.
• Outstanding pretrial attorney: Olivia Gallagher, Middletown High School.
• Outstanding defense witness: Brandon Blecman, Middletown High School.
• Outstanding defense witness: Isabella Neylon, Middletown High School.
• Outstanding prosecution witness: Gabriela Neylon, Middletown High School.
• Outstanding prosecution witness: Kenneth Carter, Middletown High School.
• Outstanding clerk/bailiff: Jacob Colecleaser, Upper Lake High School.

Middletown High School will now advance to the 41st annual state competition, which will be held virtually in March.

Two community groups are generously supporting the teams in the state competition, the Lake County Bar Association and Lake County Friends of Mendocino College, Adams said.

Adams said this year’s competition would not have been possible without the support of volunteer court organizers Melissa Perry and Luanne Hayes, Markham and Harry, and volunteer attorney scorers Nicholas Rotow, Megan Lankford, Mary Amodio and Edward Savin.

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.