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Agencies and organizations respond to delay in food benefits

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Written by: Lingzi Chen

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — While delayed federal food benefits have finally begun to roll out, officials warn hunger relief in Lake County remains urgently needed with local agencies continuing to organize efforts in response to food insecurity. 

On Friday, the California Department of Social Services said California families are beginning to see their benefits “restored” on their EBT cards.

This development followed a federal court ruling Thursday ordering the Trump administration to release full benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, by Friday. 

While the administration promptly appealed the decision and obtained a temporary stay on Friday, some recipients of SNAP — and its California version, CalFresh — began receiving benefits as early as Thursday evening.

The state’s social services department said that, in accordance with the court order, it has “taken steps to provide full November benefits” for all 5.5 million Californians on CalFresh.

In Lake County, however, officials alerted that 16,320 CalFresh recipients — representing 10,333 families — may still face uncertainty surrounding basic food support, according to a county press release issued on Friday.

“Hunger relief is still urgently needed,” the press release stated. “Supports typically available for December are uncertain, at this time.”

“SNAP (Calfresh) benefits are being released, but hunger relief is still critically needed,” Supervisor Pyska said in a Friday Facebook post. 

During the time of increased food insecurity and delayed benefits, local food distribution points “observed increased demand this week,” the press release said, noting that Clear Lake Gleaners alone reported distributing 1,465 bags of food in two days. 

By Friday afternoon, no data had been available on how many Lake County residents had received their benefits or the amount they had received, as the state department had not yet released the information, according to Chief Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein.

County allocated $80,000 in address food security

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved $80,000 in county General Fund for expenditures over a two-week period to address food security from Nov. 4 to 18. An ad hoc  committee was also established to administer the funds and coordinate the efforts to feed residents.

Friday morning, Lake County Social Service Director Rachel Dillman Parsons told a group of community partners that $70,000 of the amount had been obligated to Redwood Empire Food Bank, which provides food support to 16,450 Lake County residents through direct food distribution and partnering with 12 nonprofit or faith-based organizations, including Clear Lake Gleaners, according the the press release. 

Next week, Lake County’s food pantries will begin to receive “targeted increased food supplies,” and two pallets of “Meals Ready to Eat,” or MREs, are expected to arrive early next week, to be distributed by the Peer Support Centers.

Rothstein told Lake County News on Friday that these initial MREs cost another $3,800 of the county funds, with the usage of the remaining just over $6,000 not yet finalized. 

“Members of the Ad Hoc have been inclined to gauge whether two further pallets of MREs may be needed, as one example,” He said. “As you will appreciate, the situation remains dynamic.”

And to add to the confusing dynamic — on Friday night, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary stay on the decision ordering that SNAP benefits be released. 

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the stay to allow the First District Court of Appeals to make its determination on the stay the Trump administration had also filed with it regarding the decision earlier this week by the District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

Justice Brown Jackson’s ruling noted that the First District Court planned to deal with the motion before it “as quickly as possible.” 

Despite the ongoing litigation, Dillman Parsons said in a Friday statement that there is no error in the ongoing benefits issuance. 

Recipients who have received or are receiving their benefits are encouraged to use them, she said. 

The county’s social services department maintains an updated list of community resources pinned to their Facebook page. Food assistance resources are also available at the county website which includes a five-page food distribution list in both English and Spanish. 

Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Registrar’s office issues updates on vote count progress

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — On Friday, the Registrar of Voters Office issued an update on its work to complete the final count for Tuesday’s special statewide election.

The official canvass for the Proposition 50 election has been underway since Wednesday.

The elections office said the ballots remaining to be counted as of Friday totaled 8,585, about 2,000 fewer than the previous day. 

That total count includes 8,049 vote-by-mail ballots; 386 provisional or conditional ballots; and 160 vote-by-mail ballots under further review.

Until Nov. 12, the registrar’s office also is accepting ballots postmarked on or before Election Day.

The next report is expected on Wednesday, the elections office said.

Statewide, the Secretary of State’s Office said 9,830,003 ballots from 18,399 precincts have been processed and 1,683,596 ballots remain to be counted.

The preliminary statewide results show a 64.1% “yes” vote, or 6,422,621 ballots, to a 35.9% “no” vote, totaling 3,596,569 ballots.

County elections officials must complete final official results on Dec. 4, and the Secretary of State will certify results on Dec. 12.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, and on Bluesky, @erlarson.bsky.social. Find Lake County News on the following platforms: Facebook, @LakeCoNews; X, @LakeCoNews; Threads, @lakeconews, and on Bluesky, @lakeconews.bsky.social. 

Clearlake Animal Control: ‘Beezy’ and the dogs

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson
“Beezy.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has a lot of great dogs waiting to be adopted.

The shelter has 48 adoptable dogs listed on its website.

This week’s dogs include “Beezy,” a nearly 3-year-old Rottweiler mix with a short black and brown coat.
 
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 

For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit Clearlake’s adoptable dogs here.

This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, and on Bluesky, @erlarson.bsky.social. Find Lake County News on the following platforms: Facebook, @LakeCoNews; X, @LakeCoNews; Threads, @lakeconews, and on Bluesky, @lakeconews.bsky.social. 

Estate Planning: Drafting flexibility into trusts

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Written by: DENNIS FORDHAM
Dennis Fordham. Courtesy photo.
Discretionary decision making authority over the administration of the trust or its assets directly can be delegated or reserved to the settlors.
Persons with discretionary decision making may include the trustees, trust protectors, trust directors, and holders of powers of appointment. Provisions for trust protectors and trust directors, however, are not typically seen in most living trusts.  
A trust may give the trustee discretionary authority over distributions, asset investments, and asset management. Such discretionary authority can be broadly or narrowly defined and tailored to the purpose. 
For example, the trustee of a special needs trust always has absolute discretion over whether to make distributions for the special needs beneficiary. Also, the trustee of a support trust may have discretion to make additional distributions. 
Trust protectors can be given authority to hire and fire trustees and amend the terms of the trust as needed to keep current with the law. Trust protectors are relevant when inheritances are administered in ongoing trusts over years and not simply distributed outright to the beneficiary at the settlor’s death. 
For example, special needs trusts for persons on needs based government benefits typically always have a robust set of trust protector provisions that authorize the trust protector to amend the terms of the trust to remain compliant with ever changing government benefits rules. 
A trust protector may have a fiduciary role (i.e., legal duties and accountability) or a non-fiduciary role (i.e., no duties) depending on their authority and the settlor’s intentions. That is, a trust protector may have a non-fiduciary capacity when firing and hiring replacement trustees but may have a fiduciary capacity when amending the trust to conform its terms to current law. 
Trust directors, new to California law, are “trustee like” fiduciaries with power(s) of direction over some specific aspects of the trustee’s administration of the trust; the power of direction can be narrow or broad. 
A trust may include one or more separate trust directors who, for example, may decide when and how a trustee makes beneficiary distributions, invests trust assets, or manages special trust assets, or any other aspect of trust administration. 
Trust directors are typically advisors — be they professionals, family or friends – whom the settlor wants involved in a decision making capacity to tell the trustee how certain trust administration matters are handled. 
Trust directors never hold title to trust assets themselves, the trustee does, and so directors can only act through the trustee who keeps all trustee duties not otherwise assigned to the trust directors.
Powers of appointment included in a trust allow a person, even the settlor, certain specific or general authority to distribute trust assets either to anyone or to specific persons. The power is held in a non-fiduciary capacity, which means that the person has full freedom to use or not use the power as they personally choose. 
Revocable trusts typically include a reserved power of appointment by the settlors to direct the transfer of assets by way of a written instrument to the trustee, which could be exercised in life or at death through a will (called a testamentary power of appointment). 
A power of appointment is different than a trust director’s power of direction over the trustee’s administration. The power of direction is always a fiduciary responsibility that requires the trust director to act under the same standards as a trustee would act if the trustee were exercising that same authority over the trust administration.
Whether to include any of the foregoing authority in a person’s trust is best understood in terms of the person’s estate planning goals, concerns, and circumstances. 
During the estate planning discussion it should become apparent whether such provisions may be needed to address future and unforeseen circumstances. 
The foregoing brief discussion is not legal advice. Consult a qualified estate planning attorney for guidance. 
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.

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