News

The California Transportation Commission on Friday allocated more than $1.6 billion for transportation projects throughout the state, including about $1.3 billion for State Highway Operation and Protection Program projects, Caltrans’ “fix-it-first” program aimed at preserving the condition of the State Highway System.

Also included in the list is a $9.5 million allocation for safety improvements on Highway 20 near Witter Springs Road in Lake County.

“Our maintenance and construction crews remain hard at work improving California’s transportation infrastructure,” said Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin. “The $1.6 billion allocated will allow the department to continue with critical repairs and upgrades to roads and highways, and will support thousands of jobs that are essential for our economy.”

In addition to the Lake County project, other District 1 funding allocations include:

– Approximately $24 million for roadway rehabilitation on U.S. Highway 101 from south of the Fields Landing Overhead Bridge to north of the Herrick Avenue Overcrossing near Eureka in Humboldt County.
– Approximately $15.5 million for safety improvements on Highway 299 from east of Cedar Creek Road to a mile west of the Highway 96 junction in Humboldt County.
– Approximately $13.8 million for wastewater improvements along U.S Highway 101 at the Moss Cove Safety Roadside Rest Area near Laytonville in Mendocino County.

The California Transportation Commission also approved more than $118 million in funds for rail and mass transit projects, including freight, intercity rail and bus services. This allocation expands access to public transportation and helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion.

This investment includes $77 million for the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program, which is dedicated to projects that enhance the movement of goods along corridors with high freight volume by making improvements to state highways, local roads, freight rail systems, port facilities and truck corridors.

In addition, the California Transportation Commission approved nearly $14 million for 17 projects that will improve bicycle and pedestrian overcrossings, repair sidewalks and bike lanes, and provide safer routes to school for children.

Project funding is derived from federal and state gas taxes, including $1.2 billion from Senate Bill (SB) 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. The state’s portion of SB 1 funds are used for the ongoing maintenance and rehabilitation of the State Highway System.

By 2027, these funds will enable Caltrans to fix more than 17,000 lane miles of pavement, 500 bridges, 55,000 culverts, and 7,700 traffic operating systems that help reduce highway congestion, such as ramp meters, traffic cameras and electric highway message signs.

For details on SB 1, visit Rebuilding California - Senate Bill 1.

A special type of aurora, draped east-west across the night sky like a glowing pearl necklace, is helping scientists better understand the science of auroras and their powerful drivers out in space.

Known as auroral beads, these lights often show up just before large auroral displays, which are caused by electrical storms in space called substorms.

Previously, scientists weren’t sure if auroral beads are somehow connected to other auroral displays as a phenomenon in space that precedes substorms, or if they are caused by disturbances closer to Earth’s atmosphere.

But powerful new computer models combined with observations from NASA’s Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms – THEMIS – mission have provided the first strong evidence of the events in space that lead to the appearance of these beads, and demonstrated the important role they play in our near space environment.

“Now we know for certain that the formation of these beads is part of a process that precedes the triggering of a substorm in space,” said Vassilis Angelopoulos, principal investigator of THEMIS at the University of California, Los Angeles. “This is an important new piece of the puzzle.”

By providing a broader picture than can be seen with the three THEMIS spacecraft or ground observations alone, the new models have shown that auroral beads are caused by turbulence in the plasma – a fourth state of matter, made up of gaseous and highly conductive charged particles – surrounding Earth.

The results, recently published in the journals Geophysical Research Letters and Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, will ultimately help scientists better understand the full range of swirling structures seen in the auroras.

“THEMIS observations have now revealed turbulences in space that cause flows seen lighting up the sky as of single pearls in the glowing auroral necklace," said Evgeny Panov, lead author on one of the new papers and THEMIS scientist at the Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. “These turbulences in space are initially caused by lighter and more agile electrons, moving with the weight of particles 2000 times heavier, and which theoretically may develop to full-scale auroral substorms.”

Mysteries of auroral beads formation

Auroras are created when charged particles from the Sun are trapped in Earth’s magnetic environment – the magnetosphere – and are funneled into Earth’s upper atmosphere, where collisions cause hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms and molecules to glow.

By modelling the near-Earth environment on scales from tens of miles to 1.2 million miles, the THEMIS scientists were able to show the details of how auroral beads form.

As streaming clouds of plasma belched by the Sun pass Earth, their interaction with the Earth’s magnetic field creates buoyant bubbles of plasma behind Earth.

Like a lava lamp, imbalances in the buoyancy between the bubbles and heavier plasma in the magnetosphere creates fingers of plasma 2,500 miles wide that stretch down towards Earth. Signatures of these fingers create the distinct bead-shaped structure in the aurora.

“There's been a realization that, all summed up, these relatively little transient events that happen around the magnetosphere are somehow important,” said David Sibeck, THEMIS project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We have only recently gotten to the point where computing power is good enough to capture the basic physics in these systems.”

Now that scientists understand the auroral beads precede substorms, they want to figure out how, why and when the beads might trigger full-blown substorm.

At least in theory, the fingers may tangle magnetic field lines and cause an explosive event known as magnetic reconnection, which is well known to create full-scale substorms and auroras that fill the nightside sky.

New models open new doors

Since its launch in 2007, THEMIS has been taking detailed measurements as it passes through the magnetosphere in order to understand the causes of the substorms that lead to auroras. In its prime mission, THEMIS was able to show that magnetic reconnection is a primary driver of substorms.

The new results highlight the importance of structures and phenomenon on smaller scales – those hundreds and thousands of miles across as compared to ones spanning millions of miles.

“In order to understand these features in the aurora, you really need to resolve both global and smaller, local scales. That's why it was so challenging up to now,” said Slava Merkin, co-author on one of the new papers and scientist at NASA’s Center for Geospace Storms headquartered at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “It requires very sophisticated algorithms and very big supercomputers.”

The new computer simulations almost perfectly match THEMIS and ground observations. After the initial success of the new computer models, THEMIS scientists are eager to apply them to other unexplained auroral phenomena. Particularly in explaining small-scale structures, computer models are essential as they can help interpret what happens in between the spaces where the three THEMIS spacecraft pass.

“There’s lots of very dynamic, very small-scale structures that people see in the auroras which are hard to connect to the larger picture in space since they happen very quickly and on very small scales,” said Kareem Sorathia, lead author on one of the new papers and scientist at NASA’s Center for Geospace Storms headquartered at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. “Now that we can use global models to characterize and investigate them, that opens up a lot of new doors.”

Mara Johnson-Groh works for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department said an elderly man died on Thursday night after he was hit by a vehicle on Lakeshore Drive.

Sgt. Ryan Peterson said officers responded to the report of a crash involving a pedestrian and a vehicle at approximately 9:13 p.m. Thursday in the 15000 block of Lakeshore Drive near Old Highway 53.

The pedestrian, a male in his 80s, was found in the roadway and transported by air ambulance to an out-of-county medical facility, Peterson said.

Peterson said the man later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased by out-of-county medical staff.

The driver of the vehicle remained at the scene and was cooperative with the investigation, according to Peterson’s report.

Traffic Officer Michael Perreault responded to the scene and took over the investigation, Peterson said. The roadway was closed while the scene was reviewed and evidence was collected.

Peterson said preliminary indications are that the pedestrian was crossing the roadway outside of a crosswalk and was struck by a vehicle.

This case is pending further investigation and review for final determination and cause, he said.

The identity of the pedestrian is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. “Our thoughts are with his family in this difficult time,” Peterson said.

Anyone with information regarding this case is encouraged to contact Officer Perreault at 707-994-8251, Extension 519.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The lack of enough candidates for the three Clearlake City Council seats up for election in November will leave the current council members to look at options for filling that remaining seat in a special meeting next week.

Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Melissa Swanson said incumbent Joyce Overton and David Claffney, who serves on the city’s marketing committee, have qualified to run.

The seats up for election currently are held by Overton, who will be seeking a fifth term; Phil Harris; and Russel Perdock.

Harris had indicated he wasn’t planning to run and so didn’t file by the Aug. 7 deadline, which caused the deadline to be extended to 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Last week, City Manager Alan Flora told Lake County News that Perdock, along with Overton, had filed to seek reelection.

However, on Thursday Swanson reported that only Overton and Claffney had qualified for the November ballot.

She said Perdock failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify.

To qualify, council candidates have to be nominated by not less than 20 nor more than 30 registered voters.

The same thing happened with Lakeport City Council incumbent Tim Barnes, as Lake County News has reported.

However, while Lakeport’s council has four candidates for the general election, Clearlake is now short by one.

“This is very unusual. I have talked to many clerks today and no one I have talked to has had this happen,” Swanson told Lake County News. “It can be common to appoint members, but there are always enough members who file.”

Swanson suggested that the pandemic’s impacts on civic engagement – including the lack of meetings for many community groups – has created “a very different election process this year.”

The council will consider options for filling the seat when it holds a special meeting at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Swanson reported that pursuant to California Elections Code Section 10229, if there are not more candidates than offices to be elected then the council can either appoint those candidates who have been nominated, appoint an eligible voter who hasn’t been nominated or go forward with holding an election.

In August 2018, when the filing deadline had closed for the Lakeport City Council, only incumbents Stacey Mattina and Mireya Turner had filed to run. Since they were unopposed, the council decided to forgo the expense of an election and appointed them to fill the seats for another term, as Lake County News has reported.

The Clearlake City Council could take similar action this time, based on election code.

The lack of enough candidates comes despite a discussion brought forward by Harris at last week’s meeting to raise the council’s monthly stipend, which currently is $300.

Harris said the raise – which the council reached consensus to have staff bring back as an ordinance at its next regular meeting later this month – is meant to draw more people to serve on the council.

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. – The city of Lakeport reported that four candidates – one of them an incumbent – have qualified to run for seats on the city council that are up for election this fall.

Three seats for the Lakeport City Council are on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

Those seats are currently held by Tim Barnes, Kenny Parlet and George Spurr.

Spurr, currently the city’s mayor, did not file to run for election by the Aug. 7 deadline, which led to the filing deadline being extended until 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Kelly Buendia told Lake County News that Barnes did file by the Aug. 7 deadline.

Candidates have to be nominated by not less than 20 nor more than 30 registered voters.

However, after the Registrar of Voters Office reviewed the signatures Barnes submitted, it was discovered that he did not have enough valid signatures to qualify, Buendia reported.

On Thursday, the city released the list of qualified candidates who will be on the fall ballot.

They include Parlet, Michael Froio, Michael Green and Nathan Maxman.

Froio is a general contractor who has served on the Lakeport Planning Commission since December 2016. In recent years he’s made significant efforts to clean up his neighborhood in the northern part of the city.

Green also serves on the Lakeport Planning Commission, appointed to a seat at the same time as Froio. He is a longtime cannabis advocate and consultant, and worked on a successful campaign for the county’s Measure C cannabis cultivation tax in 2016.

Maxman currently works as an auditor-appraiser for Mendocino County. He serves on the city’s Traffic Safety Advisory Committee, and has been a volunteer team leader with the Hope Harbor Warming Center and a volunteer with the Junior Giants program.

Both Green and Maxman made unsuccessful bids for council seats in the November 2016 election.

Parlet is a longtime resident and business owner in Lake County. He owns and operates Lakeview Supermarket and Deli in Lucerne. He’s seeking a third term this fall.

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.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Despite a recent rise in COVID-19 cases, Lake County’s Public Health officer said the virus’ activity remains manageable locally.

Dr. Gary Pace reported on Thursday that Lake County was up to  267 COVID-19 cases, of which 37 are active – meaning they are being monitored by Public Health staff – and 227 recovered. There are no current hospitalizations and the county’s deaths remain at two, Pace said.

Pace said Lake County is not on the State’s County Monitoring List, and local residents enjoy a more open economy than 97 percent of Californians.

However, Pace said the increase in cases this week led to a state-reported peak 14-day average of 114 cases per 100,000 people. As of Thursday morning, the county’s average had returned to 70, well within the state’s threshold.

While the brief rise in cases over the monitoring threshold does not appear to be leading Lake County toward the watch list, Pace noted, “It is a good reminder of just how vulnerable we are to minor fluctuations that can lead to big changes.”

On Thursday night, Public Health departments statewide reported more than 602,000 cases and nearly 11,000 deaths.

Local health departments also have reported 27,493 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 142 deaths statewide.

Case counts for Lake County’s neighboring counties on Thursday night were as follows: Colusa, 401 cases, five deaths; Glenn, 404 cases, three deaths; Mendocino, 513 cases, 10 deaths; Napa, 1,170 cases, 11 deaths; Sonoma, 4,063 cases, 51 deaths; and Yolo, 1,927 cases, 45 deaths.

Lake County Public Health reported that 8,353 tests have been conducted. Statewide, the California Department of Public Health said Thursday that 9,445,493 tests have been conducted, an increase of 142,026 over the prior 24-hour reporting period.

Pace said Lake County residents have recently reported test result delays of seven to 10 days, with some receiving results upward of two weeks after testing. Modifications made by Quest Labs have decreased backlogs, and turnaround now averages five to seven days.

He said Verily testing remains available five days a week in Lake County. You can register for an appointment here.

Konocti Vista Casino reports on employee COVID-19 case

In related news, on Thursday Konocti Vista Casino and Resort in Lakeport said that it was informed on Monday that one of its employees had tested positive for COVID-19.

“As a precautionary measure, we immediately closed the property to focus on deep cleaning and contact tracing for guest, employee and community safety,” the casino management reported.

All available information and contact tracing indicate that the casino employee did not contract COVID-19 at Konocti Vista Casino and, until the positive result came back, was not symptomatic, casino officials said.

Once the individual’s test results were confirmed, health authorities and Konocti Vista Casino management advised the employee to immediately begin self-quarantine.

“In addition, contact tracing showed this employee had very limited contact with the public and other team members, but any employees that came in close contact, are being tested as an added precaution and won’t be returning to work until they receive a negative test result,” the casino said in its statement.

The casino suggested that any guest or employee who was in the facility from Aug. 1 to 9 should contact their doctor or medical professional if they feel fever, nausea, body aches or other flu-like symptoms.

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.