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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Wiggins said she was honored to accept the chairmanship of the committee, which reviews bills that affect California’s cities, counties, special districts and redevelopment agencies. The committee also hears bills that shape land use planning and development.
Prior to her election to the Assembly in 1998, Wiggins served as a member of the Santa Rosa City Council. As an Assemblywoman, she founded the Legislature’s Smart Growth Caucus (www.assembly.ca.gov/sgc).
She also authored AB 857 (statutes of 2002), the most comprehensive state land use planning legislation in 30 years. That bill established California’s spending priorities for future growth to help prevent sprawl, and to promote compact development and greater social equity.
In addition, Wiggins chaired the Assembly Committee on Local Government.
Wiggins said she looks forward to working with local governments across the state, to “ensure that my colleagues fully understand how proposed new laws may affect the local agencies that serve the people of California.”
Wiggins represents California’s large 2nd Senate District, which includes portions or all of six counties: Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano and Sonoma. Visit her Web site at http://dist02.casen.govoffice.com/.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Michael DeGregorio, 53, grew up in Lake County. Six years ago, he bought a Kelseyville farmhouse built in 1870, which he moved into three months ago.
He commutes most days to UC Davis, where he's a professor of hematology and oncology. He also has a laboratory at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, and leads the pharmacology research program at UC Davis Cancer Center, where he specializes in the molecular analysis of drug activity and the evaluation of biomarkers of drug response or resistance. The majority of his work focuses on developing new drugs that improve women's health.
DeGregorio and his research team have received a $3 million grant from Merck KGaA to assess the effectiveness of Stimuvax, an experimental vaccine that targets MUC1, a cancer cell surface protein that is uniquely overexpressed in many cancers, including more than 90 percent of all breast cancers.
The study DeGregorio and longtime collaborator Greg Wurz, a UC Davis research scientist, are launching will study Stimuvax to determine if it can arrest or prevent breast cancer when used in conjunction with standard hormonal therapies.
They will assess the vaccine's ability to prevent breast cancer in mice bred to promote human MUC1 expression and a gene known to spontaneously cause breast cancer. The mice additionally will be exposed to one of four anti-estrogen therapies to assess the vaccine's impact.
Existing cancer vaccines for hepatitis B and the human papillomavirus aim to prevent the viral infections that can lead to liver and cervical cancers. But the experimental breast-cancer vaccine aims to stimulate the immune response against breast cancer tumors themselves.
Results from the UC Davis study will help direct the design of human clinical trials slated to begin worldwide in 2009, according to a statement from the university.
In an effort to give back to the community where he grew up, DeGregorio – a Kelseyville High School alumni – will offer up to six research internships this summer to local students who excel in the sciences.
Students will receive three to four weeks' experience in DeGregorio's state-of-the-art lab, where he said they will see actual cancer patients. Participating students also will be able to conduct molecular biology-type studies in labs.
Those students who complete the internship will come away with a letter of recommendation that can help them get into schools at a time when competition for spots at state colleges is getting tighter, he said.
The internships are open to all area high school students, who DeGregorio said must be at least 16 years of age.
DeGregorio said he hopes that, by giving students first-hand experience in a research lab and showing them how scientists apply knowledge to find solutions to challenging health problems, he'll help those who may be interested in pursuing a career in research or medicine.
Matthew Cockerton, principal of Kelseyville High School, said he appreciates the opportunity to expand students' knowledge.
"Opportunities like this don't surface for our school too often," he said. "Anytime we can give students real-world experience at a nationally ranked university, we are elated. And we are deeply grateful to Dr. DeGregorio for remembering his early experience and offering his laboratory to broaden our students' education."
DeGregorio has been all over the world since leaving Lake County to pursue his studies as a young man.
He started off at junior college, then went on to San Francisco State. DeGregorio received his doctorate from the University of California, San Francisco, where he became a faculty member at age 26.
DeGregorio would later go on to become an associate-level professor at Yale while he was in his early 30s. Then it was on to the University of Texas, where he became a full professor and started a biotech company. He arrived at UC Davis in 1994.
Throughout his travels around the world, DeGregorio said he always wanted to return to Lake County.
Now that he's back, he's placing this new focus on helping local students who have an aptitude for science.
DeGregorio notes there are very bright young people in Lake County. “I really think that we have to even the playing field a little bit out there, the best we can. This is my small way of doing it.”
He estimates his program of study on the effectiveness of the experimental vaccine in humans will last 10 years, with the $3 million grant covering three to four years of study. Within five years they should know if the vaccine works for humans, with human trials scheduled this year.
“In science, nothing ever happens the way you think,” he said, noting that serendipity is responsible for 80 percent of all inventions.
If the vaccine doesn't work, the study will be discontinued, he said.
The protein MUC1 is “a pretty hot topic right now,” said DeGregorio. In addition to breast cancer, MUC1 is now being studiec in relation to lung cancer.
There are many variations of cancer, and DeGregorio said at the molecular level they're all different.
Recent big breakthroughs in cancer involve leukemia in children, which DeGregorio said may be curable, according to the latest studies. There also is increased promise in curing testicular cancer.
“The idea of prevention is where we should be going,” he said, adding that, once you get cancer, it's hard to beat.
DeGregorio said he will be contacting area school principals and science teachers to find eligible students.
He also invited anyone interested in the program to contact him at
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
CLEARLAKE OAKS – A man who was being sought, along with his brother, for a Nov. 26 shooting has been arrested.
Cecil McDaniel, 37, of Clearlake Oaks was arrested at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office's booking records, posted online at www.lakesheriff.com.
McDaniel and his brother, Patrick Dewin McDaniel, 44, also of Clearlake Oaks, have been sought in connection with the shooting of another Clearlake Oaks resident, 42-year-old Patrick Joseph O’Conner.
Patrick McDaniel is alleged to have shot O'Conner in the chest last week following an argument he and his brother had with O'Conner and O'Conner's 23-year-old son. The McDaniels then fled the scene.
Cecil McDaniel's booking sheet says he is being held for being an accessory, with bail set at $500,000. He's set to be in court on Friday.
Still at large is his brother, who recently was paroled from prison.
Patrick McDaniel is described as a 44-year-old black male adult, 6 feet tall, 235 pounds, and was last seen wearing a “puffy” jacket, dark pants and yellow shoes. He has names tattooed on his left arm and a playboy bunny tattooed on his left arm.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Patrick McDaniel should call the Investigations Branch of the Lake County Sheriff’s Department at 262-4200.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
UPPER LAKE – Following a search that lasted several hours on Tuesday, law enforcement and fire personnel were able to find an injured Upper Lake man.
Austin Duncan, 18, was located around mid-afternoon after falling and injuring his back.
Sheriff's officials reported that they attempted to contact Duncan at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at a location along Highway 20. Duncan, however, fled, running across the highway in the area of Reclamation Road.
Officials did not comment on the purpose of the initial contact with Duncan. However, an unidentified family member suggested that the family was concerned about Duncan's behavior after a family member's recent death.
Duncan managed to evade deputies for several hours before calling 911 around 11:30 a.m., according to a report at the scene. He explained to the 911 dispatcher that he had fallen and had injured his back and requested medical assistance.
As Duncan attempted to describe his surroundings to the California Highway Patrol dispatchers in Ukiah, the dispatchers communicated via radio to CHP Officers Craig Van Housen and Brian Engle, who were aiding the sheriff's office in the search, along with Northshore Fire.
A CHP helicopter from Napa joined the search at 1 p.m.
Communication with Duncan was lost several times. Officials suggested that perhaps Duncan was seeking medical help but did not want contact with law enforcement.
The search covered several acres on both sides of Reclamation Road, with terrain varying from flat open fields to deep and wide gullies lined by 10- to 12-foot-tall dense, wild berry bushes with long sharp thorns.
At around 2 p.m., Duncan made contact with 911 again. With the help of the dispatcher, Duncan described what he could see and hear, and his location was narrowed to an area just 50 feet from the side of the road.
Found in the heavy wild berry bushes Duncan was unable to move without assistance. Duncan’s mother, Helena Duncan, assisted officials in the search and was the first to make visual contact.
The terrain where he was located was nearly inaccesible from the road. The CHP helicopter was sent airborne again with a CHP flight paramedic and Sheriff's Sgt. Gary Basor on board.
Duncan was carefully extricated from the thorny grasp of the berry bushes and loaded aboard a Northshore Fire ambulance from the Upper Lake station. Medical personnel transported him to Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
No information about Duncan's condition was available late Tuesday.
E-mail Harold LaBonte at
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