How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: Office of Traffic Safety and Caltrans
Even as the days get cooler and shorter, it seems our calendars are busier than ever.
To make sure you make it to all your holiday gatherings safely, it is important to plan ahead before you get behind the wheel.
Drowsy, impaired, and distracted driving are deadly — but they are also preventable.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, estimates that in 2020, 633 people lost their lives to drowsy driving.
Studies have shown that drowsy driving can impair your ability to drive in the same way that drinking and driving does.
The best way to prevent drowsy driving is to recognize the signs. Yawning, daydreaming, missing an exit, and drifting from a lane are all signs that you need to pull over safely and rest up. Even a quick 30-minute nap can do wonders to refresh you before the next leg of your trip.
It is important to get enough sleep, take a break every two hours or 100 miles, and avoid alcohol or medications that can make you sleepy.
While you prepare for your celebrations this season, remember to prepare your holiday safety plan as well.
Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a deadly choice, so plan accordingly. Designate a sober driver or schedule a ride-share to get you home safe and sound.
If you are hosting a party, don’t let your friends or family drive impaired. Ensure that all guests have a designated sober driver or alternative, sober transportation to get them safely to their destinations.
If you are driving and suspect that another driver may be driving impaired, call 911. You could save a life.
It can be easy to get caught up in our busy holiday schedules, but make sure you also take the time to limit your distractions while driving. Silence your cellphone and concentrate on the road as driving conditions tend to worsen in the winter months.
When texting behind the wheel, the amount of time your eyes are off the road averages five seconds. When driving at an approximate speed of 55 miles per hour, you could essentially cover the length of a football field, blindfolded.
The text can wait until you safely arrive at your destination — silence your phone and focus on the road.
Though it seems we are constantly on the go during the holidays, take some time to remember your safety plan:
• Rest up. Don’t drive drowsy and take breaks from driving every two hours or 100 miles.
• If your celebrations include drinking, designate a sober driver, and never let your friends or family drive under the influence. If you see a drunken driver on the road, call 911.
• Limit your distractions, silence your phone, and focus on getting to and from your destination safely.
Drowsy, impaired, and distracted driving are all preventable. Make sure you’re prepared so we can all Go Safely this holiday season.
For more safety tips, visit www.gosafelyca.org.
- Details
- Written by: NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
Just as NASA’s Mars rovers rely on robust wheels to roam the Red Planet and conduct science, some orbiters rely on wheels, too — in this case, reaction wheels — to stay pointed in the right direction.
Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California recently installed four reaction wheels on Europa Clipper, which will rely on them during its journey at Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
When NASA’s spacecraft heads through deep space, slips into orbit around Jupiter, and collects science observations while flying dozens of times by Europa, the wheels rotate the orbiter so that its antennas can communicate with Earth and its science instruments, including cameras, can stay oriented.
Two feet wide and made of steel, aluminum, and titanium, the wheels spin rapidly to create torque that causes the orbiter to rotate in the opposite direction. Isaac Newton’s third law of motion also applies in deep space and explains the underlying phenomenon: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The reaction wheels cause the spacecraft to react to the spinning action of the wheels.
Here’s one way to visualize how reaction wheels work: Imagine you are sitting in a swivel chair and lift your feet off the floor so that you are free to rotate. If you jerk your torso in one direction, the chair and your legs will rotate the opposite direction.
The reaction wheels work the same way: As the reaction wheel’s motor accelerates the metal wheel in one direction, the spacecraft experiences an acceleration in the opposite direction.
Without those reaction wheels, Europa Clipper wouldn’t be able to do its science investigations when it arrives at the Jupiter system in 2030 after its 2024 launch. Scientists believe Europa harbors a vast internal ocean that may have conditions suitable for supporting life.
The spacecraft will gather data on the moon’s atmosphere, surface, and interior — information that will help scientists learn more about the ocean, the ice crust, and potential plumes that may be venting subsurface water into space.
During its orbits around Jupiter, Europa Clipper will rely on reaction wheels to help it perform thousands of turns, or “slews.” Although the spacecraft could perform some of those maneuvers with thrusters, its thrusters need fuel — a finite resource aboard the orbiter. The reaction wheels will run on electricity provided by the spacecraft’s vast solar arrays.
The trade-off is that the reaction wheels work slowly. Europa Clipper’s reaction wheels will take about 90 minutes to rotate the craft 180 degrees — a movement so gradual that, from a distance, it would be imperceptible to the human eye. The rotation of the spacecraft will be three times slower than the minute hand on a clock.
Also, they can wear out over time. It happened on NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, requiring engineers to figure out how to rotate using thrusters with the available fuel.
To address this, engineers have installed four wheels on Europa Clipper even though only three are needed to maneuver. They alternate which three wheels are in operation to even the wear. That leaves them with a “spare” wheel if one of the others fails.
Installing the wheels was one of the most recent steps of the phase known as assembly, test, and launch operations. Science instruments continue to arrive at JPL to be added to the spacecraft.
Next, a variety of tests will be conducted, as the spacecraft moves toward its October 2024 launch period. After traveling over 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers), Europa Clipper will be set to begin unlocking the secrets of this icy world.
Missions such as Europa Clipper contribute to the field of astrobiology, the interdisciplinary research field that studies the conditions of distant worlds that could harbor life as we know it.
While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will conduct a detailed exploration of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon, with its subsurface ocean, has the capability to support life.
Understanding Europa’s habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet.
More information about Europa can be found here.
- Details
- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Habematolel Pomo tribe of Upper Lake has made a substantial donation to increase the Northshore Fire Protection District’s ability to respond to fires.
The tribe has donated $662,000 to Northshore Fire.
The contribution is a part of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake’s ongoing commitment to local communities and residents in the region.
“The Northshore Fire Protection District thanks the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake for their financial support in developing the newly organized Northshore Fire Fuels Crew,” said Northshore Fire Protection District Chief Mike Ciancio.
“The Habematolel has always been a huge supporter of the local community and with the latest financial support we were able to employ 11 new members full time with health insurance and retirement benefits,” Ciancio said.
In addition to funding personnel, Northshore Fire used the donation to fund equipment.
That equipment includes two F-350 crew cab utility trucks, one F-350 crew supervisor truck with skid mount pump unit, one Mobark chipper with a trailer, six chainsaws, two pole saws and 11 sets of wildland fire personal protective equipment.
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The City of Clearlake Animal Association also is seeking fosters for the animals waiting to be adopted.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
The following dogs are available for adoption. New additions are at the top.
‘Aoki’
“Aoki” is a male Siberian husky mix with a white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50905477.
‘Athena’
“Athena” is a female American pit bull mix terrier with a short brindle coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49934476.
‘Babs’
“Babs” is a female Labrador retriever mix with a short black coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49505856.
‘Bruce’
“Bruce” is a 2-year-old American pit bull mix with a short gray coat with white markings.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50684304.
‘Buster’
“Buster” is a male pit bull mix with a short tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50762164.
‘Domino’
“Domino” is a male terrier mix with a short white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50815541.
‘Eros’
“Eros” is a male Rottweiler mix with a short black and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50754504.
‘Foxie’
“Foxie” is a female German shepherd with a red, black and white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49702845.
‘Goliath’
“Goliah” is a male Rottweiler mix with a short black and tan coat.
He is dog No. 50754509.
‘Hakuna’
“Hakuna” is a male shepherd mix with a tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50176912.
‘Herman’
“Herman” is a 7-year-old male American pit bull terrier mix with a brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51236411.
‘Hondo’
“Hondo” is a male Alaskan husky mix with a buff coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s dog No. 50227693.
‘Jack’
“Jack” is a 9-month-old male terrier mix with a short black and brindle coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50992658.
‘Little Boy’
“Little Boy” is a male American pit bull terrier mix with a short tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50075256.
‘Luciano’
“Luciano” is a male Siberian husky mix with a short black and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50596272.
‘Mamba’
“Mamba” is a male Siberian husky mix with a gray and cream-colored coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49520569.
‘Matata’
“Matata” is male shepherd mix with a tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50176912.
‘Maya’
“Maya” is a female German shepherd with a black and tan coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 50428151.
‘Mikey’
“Mikey” is a male German shepherd mix with a short brown and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51012855.
‘Molly’
“Molly” is a female Samoyed mix with a long white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 50933031.
‘Paige’
“Paige” is a female American pit bull mix with a short brown coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 51194668.
‘Poppa’
“Poppa” is a 3-year-old male American pit bull terrier mix with a short red and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50773597.
‘Rascal’
“Rascal” is a male shepherd mix with a black and brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50806384.
‘Reese’
“Reese” is a female German Shepherd with a black and an coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 50884542.
‘Sadie’
“Sadie” is a female German shepherd mix with a black and tan coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49802563.
‘Snowball’
“Snowball is a 1 and a half year old male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a short white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49159168.
‘Terry’
“Terry” is a handsome male shepherd mix with a short brindle coat.
He gets along with other dogs, including small ones, and enjoys toys. He also likes water, playing fetch and keep away.
Staff said he is now getting some training to help him build confidence.
He is dog No. 48443693.
‘Trike’
“Trike” is a male border collie-Australian shepherd mix with a black and white coat and blue eyes.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51029972.
‘Willie’
“Willie” is a male German shepherd mix with a black and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50596003.
‘Zeus’
“Zeus” is a male Samoyed mix with a long white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50933068.
Email Elizabeth Larson at