The map supports local communities in making data-driven decisions to safely open classrooms and helps ensure public transparency.
“As COVID-19 conditions continue to improve and vaccinations ramp up throughout the state, this map will provide local communities with accessible, up-to-date information on how districts in their communities and beyond are adapting to the pandemic, including safety planning and implementation,” said Gov. Newsom. “This map is one of many resources we have made available that will help school staff and families make informed decisions as we safely reopen our schools.”
The interactive map was developed in partnership with county offices of education and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence.
The map will display data from all school types – including school districts and charter and private schools – indicating status on reopening, safety planning and COVID-19 supports. Local communities and school staff will be able to leverage this tool when evaluating their reopening plans.
The Safe Schools Reopening Map will help clarify the planning and implementation of safe reopening.
The California Department of Public Health will be adding other key data to the map, including outbreaks reported in each school district and whether the school has partnered with the Valencia Branch Lab for COVID-19 testing.
To provide up-to-date information, schools will input their data every two weeks. Additional data – including student enrollment data – will be collected and displayed publicly, subject to legislative approval.
Since unveiling the Safe Schools for All Plan, the state has launched the Safe Schools for All Hub to serve as a one-stop shop for information about safe in-person instruction.
The governor’s 2021-22 State Budget proposes historic levels of funding for schools – nearly $90 billion, including $3.8 billion above the Prop 98 minimum – which builds on existing state and federal funds to support schools in responding to the pandemic.
The State Safe Schools Team has also:
– Issued updated guidance that consolidates requirements from Cal/OSHA and CDPH. – Provided direct technical assistance on key safety measures to hundreds of school leaders per week through an online portal. – Monitored and acted on feedback regarding school safety, which school staff and families can submit either via an online portal or a telephone hotline (with non-English options available). – Distributed an extra month of PPE and supplies to all public schools via county offices of education. – Onboarded over 800 schools in 41 counties to the state Valencia Branch Laboratory to support COVID-19 testing. The Lab continues to build supports tailored to schools, including dropboxes throughout the state to reduce logistical costs, an online platform that manages consent and data reporting, and certified support for testing students. – Published new COVID-19 testing resources for schools, including contact information for commercial laboratories and playbooks to support implementation.
The State Safe Schools Team will continue developing resources that support schools to plan and implement safe school reopenings, beginning with our youngest and most disproportionately impacted students.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Animal Control has nearly a dozen dogs in need of new and loving homes.
The following dogs are ready for adoption or foster.
“Agatha.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Agatha’
“Agatha” is a female Rhodesian Ridgeback mix with a short red and black coat.
She is dog No. 4603.
“Boog.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Boog’
“Boog” is a male Rottweiler with a short black coat.
He is dog No. 4609.
“Breeze.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Breeze’
“Breeze” is a female American Pit Bull Terrier mix.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 4445.
“Dorito.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Dorito’
“Dorito” is a male American Staffordshire Terrier mix with a short white and gray coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 4576.
“Inky.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Inky’
“Inky” is a male German Shepherd mix with a long black coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 4324.
“Mommas.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Mommas’
“Mommas” is a female American Pit Bull terrier mix with a white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 4499.
“Nebula.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Nebula’
“Nebula” is a female shepherd mix puppy.
She has a medium-length gray and black coat.
Nebula is dog No. 4644.
“Rudolph.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Rudolph’
“Rudolph” is a male shepherd mix.
He has a short tan and black coat.
He is dog No. 4436.
“Scooter.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Scooter’
“Scooter” is a male shepherd mix puppy.
He has a medium-length tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4649.
“Tiabeanie.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Tiabeanie’
“Tiabeanie” is a female American Bully with a short black with white markings.
She is dog No. 4602.
“Toby.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Toby’
“Toby” is a friendly senior male boxer mix.
He has a short tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4389.
“Yule.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Yule’
“Yule” is a male husky with a black and white coat.
Yule is dog No. 4432.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
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.
This artist's concept shows the planned flight path of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during its final flyby of asteroid Bennu, scheduled for April 7. Credit: University of Arizona. On April 7, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will give asteroid Bennu one last glance before saying farewell.
Before departing for Earth on May 10, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will perform a final flyby of Bennu – capturing its last images of sample collection site Nightingale to look for transformations on Bennu’s surface after the Oct. 20, 2020, sample collection event.
The OSIRIS-REx mission team recently completed a detailed safety analysis of a trajectory to observe sample site Nightingale from a distance of approximately 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers).
The spacecraft’s flight path is designed to keep OSIRIS-REx a safe distance from Bennu, while ensuring the science instruments can collect precise observations.
The single flyby will mimic one of the observation sequences conducted during the mission’s Detailed Survey phase in 2019.
OSIRIS-REx will image Bennu for a full 4.3-hour rotation to obtain high-resolution images of the asteroid’s northern and southern hemispheres and its equatorial region. The team will then compare these new images with the previous high-resolution imagery of Bennu obtained during 2019.
This final flyby of Bennu was not part of the original mission schedule, but the observation run will provide the team an opportunity to learn how the spacecraft’s contact with Bennu’s surface altered the sample site.
Bennu’s surface was considerably disturbed after the Touch-and-Go, or TAG, sample collection event, with the collector head sinking 1.6 feet (48.8 centimeters) into the asteroid’s surface while firing a pressurized charge of nitrogen gas. The spacecraft’s thrusters also mobilized a substantial amount of surface material during the back-away burn.
During this new mission phase, called the Post-TAG Observation phase, the spacecraft will perform five separate navigation maneuvers in order to return to the asteroid and position itself for the flyby.
OSIRIS-REx executed the first maneuver on Jan. 14, which acted as a braking burn and put the spacecraft on a trajectory to rendezvous with the asteroid one last time.
Since October’s sample collection event, the spacecraft has been slowly drifting away from the asteroid, and ended up approximately 1,635 miles (2,200 km) from Bennu.
After the braking burn, the spacecraft is now slowly approaching the asteroid and will perform a second approach maneuver on Mar. 6, when it is approximately 155 miles (250 km) from Bennu.
OSIRIS-REx will then execute three subsequent maneuvers, which are required to place the spacecraft on a precise trajectory for the final flyby on Apr. 7.
OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to depart Bennu on May 10 and begin its two-year journey back to Earth. The spacecraft will deliver the samples of Bennu to the Utah Test and Training Range on Sep. 24, 2023.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator, and the University of Arizona also leads the science team and the mission’s science observation planning and data processing.
Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the spacecraft and provides flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County’s Public Health officer reported that the COVID-19 situation appears to be improving locally, with changes planned for the county’s vaccination clinics and an ethics committee assembled to help address the equitable distribution of the vaccine.
“While we are seeing generally positive trends with regard to case rates and testing positivity in Lake County, COVID-19 remains widespread,” Dr. Gary Pace said Thursday.
As of Thursday, Lake County had 2,942 COVID-19 cases, with 36 deaths. Five Lake County residents currently are hospitalized because of the virus, Public Health reported.
The numbers of new cases in Lake County and across California have been declining in recent weeks as the impacts of the holiday surge start to diminish.
Statewide, there were more than 3,440,550 cases and nearly 46,000 deaths as of Thursday night, according to reports from Public Health departments in California’s 58 counties.
There is a new concern that has arisen since the start of the year: The coronavirus variant L452R, has also been identified in Lake County, as Lake County News first reported in January.
Pace told Lake County News that the state is doing surveillance testing on specimens from different areas around California, meaning that they randomly pick some specimens that are sent to Quest or another lab and conduct genomic sequencing.
In early January, Pace said the state sampled 40 specimens from Lake County and nine of them had L452R, known as the “California variant.”
“We don’t know the clinical significance of this yet,” Pace said.
Pace said L452R is considered a “variant of interest” as opposed to a “variant of concern,” which is how health officials refer to the variants found in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
The British variant, B117, has been found in the Bay Area, as has a Brazilian variant, according to recent news reports.
On Tuesday, Pace told the Board of Supervisors, “The variant gives me a little bit of anxiety.”
He is continuing to encourage people to be as careful as possible and not go back to normal life yet, noting, “This variant could change the equation in the next couple of weeks.”
Public Health changing to drive-thru vaccination clinics
With the emphasis in the coronavirus fight increasingly emphasizing vaccinations, Pace said Lake County Public Health is changing its vaccination clinics to drive-thru sites beginning next week.
The clinics will be held in Lakeport on Mondays and Tuesdays, and in Clearlake on Thursdays and Fridays, Pace said.
Pace said Public Health has been extremely fortunate to get a lot of community volunteer support to help run the vaccination sites, as his staff can’t do it all on their own.
With operations expanding, Pace said they will be calling all Medical Reserve Corps members and are inviting new volunteers as well. If you would like to sign up to volunteer, contact the Health Department at 707-263-1090 and ask to be connected with Dean.
“While we anticipate a greater number of people will ultimately be able to be served at these new outdoor locations (subject to vaccine availability), appointments are still required, and eligibility will be verified prior to administration of the vaccine,” Pace said.
Community members can visit the Public Health website to find if they are eligible under the current priority tiers and check on the availability of vaccination appointments. Links for the current state vaccination registration platform and appointment scheduling are available there.
When appointments are available, people eligible to be vaccinated that have trouble using the online platform are encouraged to call 707-993-4644 for assistance.
If you already received your first dose through one of the Public Health clinics, Public Health staff will contact you to confirm the date, time and location for your second dose appointment. These appointments are typically scheduled four weeks following the first dose. You will be notified five to seven days in advance. If you have not heard from Public Health at the expected interval, write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 707-263-8174.
Pace said that, due to changes in location and days of the vaccination sites, people may need to go to a different site than the one where they received their first dose, and possibly on a different day of the week.
Pace convenes COVID-19 Ethics Ad Hoc Committee
Pace said the state provides general vaccine priority guidance, and all counties use the same eligibility tiers. Age- and sector-based risk criteria must be balanced by an emphasis on reaching people in “disproportionately impacted communities, settings and populations.”
At the same time, he said the vaccine distribution must be both swift and equitable.
Lake County’s Latino and Native American communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and Pace said local data also has demonstrated that protecting agricultural workers must be an immediate point of emphasis. Ag workers are in tier Phase 1B and currently are eligible to receive the vaccine; vaccinations for that group started this week.
To assist in setting areas of Lake County-specific vaccination priority, Pace has established the COVID-19 Ethics Ad Hoc Committee.
Pace said the group includes strong advocates from the Latino and Native American communities, business and agriculture, hospital and primary care medicine, and an “at-large” representative.
The committee had its first meeting on Tuesday. So far, the names of its members have not been reported, and during this week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, the discussion suggested that those names may be kept confidential.
Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein told Lake County News that Pace will give the first report on the committee’s work at the next Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
Pace said requests for consideration by the committee should include the name or group making the request, the group or category of people recommended for reprioritization and the basis or justification for the request (not to exceed 200 words).
Requests can be submitted by contacting the Medical Health Operational Area Coordinator, or MHOAC, addressed to “Ethics Committee,” at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., via mail at MHOAC, attention COVID-19 Ethics Committee, 922 Bevins Court, Lakeport, CA 95453, or by phone, 707-263-8174.
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.
On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission voted in support of a policy to protect customers who use landline phones during emergencies.
The decision requires companies providing wireline communications, including landline phone service and Internet service, to have 72 hours of backup power during power outages.
This new policy is meant to protect Californians in areas with high wildfire risk, including low-income people and the elderly, who are least likely to have cell phones during emergencies.
The Public Advocates Office, the independent consumer advocate at the California Public Utilities Commission, said it supports the CPUC’s decision on the policy.
However, the Public Advocates Office raised concerns that delayed timelines for implementing these requirements may impact some residential customers.
“These difficult times are making Californians more dependent than ever on our phones and the Internet for communications to telework, visit a doctor via telehealth, attend school via distance learning, and be in touch with loved ones,” said Elizabeth Echols, director of the Public Advocates Office.
“Everyone should be able to rely on their phones and Internet during power outages, regardless of where they live or what kind of phone technology they have,” Echols said. “That is why the Public Advocates Office will continue to advocate for holding telephone companies accountable so that everyone has access to essential communications services.”
The CPUC’s backup power requirement for wireline communications service providers must be met in eight months for three types of facilities in areas with high fire risk: 1) critical facilities such as hospitals and fire departments, 2) facilities providing service to wireless networks, and 3) facilities serving communities lacking sufficient wireless service coverage.
However, for all other facilities located in areas with high wildfire risk, the commission is delaying implementation of the backup power requirement for 18 months.
The Public Advocates Office urged the commission to require the 72-hour backup power requirements be in place by no later than October 2021 for all facilities in high fire threat areas to protect the public health and safety of Californians.
“We will continue to push for backup power so all communities can rely on their phone and Internet service, especially if they live in an area with high wildfire risk,” the Public Advocates Office said in a Thursday statement.
The Public Advocates Office recommendations can be found here.
On Thursday, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) voted to advance certain measures of the American Rescue Plan through the Ways and Means Committee.
Provisions under the jurisdiction of the committee will help boost the health care response to the pandemic and support workers, families and businesses that have been hit hard financially.
“The coronavirus pandemic is unprecedented and continues to hurt working families and small businesses. We have to do everything we can to get people the help they need to stay afloat and save lives,” said Chairman Thompson. “That’s why I was proud to vote to advance key provisions that will support our district and communities across the nation.”
He continued, “This legislation will support families, so they are able to provide for their children and stay healthy, even if they’ve lost their job or their employer-sponsored health coverage. This also includes an additional $1,400 in Economic Impact Payments, to boost this round of relief to $2,000. It will also position our economy and our local businesses for a strong recovery. We have to act boldly now to help our families and businesses and I will do all I can to get this bill passed on the House floor in the coming weeks.”
The key measures that were considered in the markup in the Ways and Means Committee include:
– An additional Economic Impact Payment for working families; – An extension of the enhanced Federal unemployment insurance benefits; – Expanded tax credits that help working families, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit and the Child and Dependent Tax Credit; – A boost to health coverage affordability and accessibility; – Important protections for older Americans in nursing homes; – Aid for vulnerable children, workers and families that are struggling to make ends meet; and, – A boost to retirement security.
You can click here to read more about the provisions advanced through the Ways and Means Committee today and you can click here to read more about the American Rescue Plan.
Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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