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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Upper Lake High School’s Academic Decathlon team participated in the Bay Regional Academic Decathlon over the weekend and will advance to the state competition to represent Lake County.
The Solano County Office of Education hosts and coordinates the annual Bay Region Academic Decathlon event for students.
“Water, A Most Essential Resource” is the theme of this year’s decathlon in which
250 students from 17 high schools across nine counties — Contra Costa, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo — were challenged to bring their “A” game.
The decathletes completed testing, speeches and interviews last week, with the competition culminating on Saturday with a live virtual Super Quiz followed by the awards ceremony.
In addition to Upper Lake, the schools taking part in this year’s competition were American Canyon High School, Napa Valley Unified School District; BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Charter, Santa Clara; Buckingham Collegiate Charter Academy, Vacaville Unified; Campolindo High School, Acalanes Unified; Casa Grande High School, Petaluma City School District; Davis Senior High School, Davis Joint Unified; Dixon High School, Dixon Unified; Evergreen Valley High School, East Side Unified; Freedom High School, Liberty Unified; Jesse Bethel High School and Vallejo High School, Vallejo City Unified; Menlo-Atherton High School, Sequoia Unified; River City High School, Washington Unified; Rodriguez High School, Fairfield-Suisun Unified; Vanden High School, Travis Unified; and Willits High School, Willits Unified.
Willits placed fourth overall and Upper Lake placed sixth overall, and the two schools will now go on to represent Mendocino and Lake counties, respectively, at the state competition, said Upper Lake High Head Coach Anna Sabalone.
Guiding the team along with Sabatone is Assistant Coach Angel Hayenga.
Sabalone said the state competition will take place virtually starting on March 1 with the essay. Objective testing will take place on March 5, on March 12 the speech and interview round will be held and the awards are planned for March 19.
Upper Lake High’s team members competing at the regional competition were Upper Lake Joslyn Huntley, Ahmana Jones, Atlantis Jones, Paris Klier, Monserrat Luna, Zackery Marrufo,
Isaiah Marschall, Cassidy McAuley, Desiree McCarty, Diana Mendoza-Razo, Natalia Rosin, Isabel Sanchez, Georgia Schmit, Cierra Wenning, Emily Williams and Kadenz Rickert.
Team members won the following awards in the weekend regional competition:
• Art: Gold, Isabel Sanchez and Georgia Schmit; silver, Joslyn Huntley.
• Economics: Gold, Georgia Schmit.
• Essay: Bronze, Georgia Schmit.
• Interview: Gold, Isabel Sanchez; bronze, Georgia Schmit, Ahmana Jones and Diana Mendoza-Razo.
• Literature: Gold, Georgia Schmit; bronze, Isabel Sanchez.
• Math: Silver, Georgia Schmit; bronze, Isabel Sanchez.
• Music: Silver, Georgia Schmit and Desiree McCarty; bronze, Diana Mendoza-Razo.
• Social Science: Bronze, Emily Williams.
• Speech: Silver, Isabel Sanchez; bronze, Georgia Schmit.
Georgia Schmit, a junior who competes in the varsity level, won the bronze for individual high score.
The team high score gold went to Paris Klier, with Schmit receiving the silver and Atlantis Jones the bronze.
The team that will represent Upper Lake at the state competition are Atlantis Jones, Paris Klier, Kadenz Rickert, Desiree McCarty, Ahmana Jones, Natalia Rosin, Isabel Sanchez, Georgia Schmit and Joslyn Huntley.
The team members thanked everyone in the region and the county who have supported them this year and especially those who volunteered to be speech and interview judges.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, via Zoom. The meeting is open to the public.
To join the Zoom meeting click on this link; the meeting ID is 832 1989 2440. Call in at 669-900-6833 or 253-215-8782.
One of the evening’s main topics will be local crime.
At 7:05 p.m., they will discuss local crime statistics, legislative challenges and response time.
Guest speakers will be Sheriff Brian Martin, District Attorney Susan Krones and Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
There also will be a question and answer period.
In other business, MATH will hold nominations for a special election for an at-large seat at 7:50 p.m., and will follow up by discussing an alternate seat nomination and election.
At 8:15 p.m., the chair will give a report and will discuss the formation of a committee to review an election-related grievance.
At 8:30 p.m., Supervisor Moke Simon will give his monthly update.
Other items on Thursday’s agenda include public comment, committee updates and a municipal advisory council review.
The MATH Board includes Chair Monica Rosenthal, Vice Chair Rosemary Córdova, Secretary Todd Fiora, Ken Gonzales and Lisa Kaplan.
MATH — established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 — is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.
For more information email
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Mohja Rhoads, California State University, Dominguez Hills and Fynnwin Prager, California State University, Dominguez Hills
More Americans are using flexible workplace practices – including telecommuting, co-working and off-peak start times – to add flexibility to their lives and eliminate or improve their commute.
One motivation? Rush hour traffic is getting worse, and commute times are getting longer.
For example, the average American today spends close to an hour getting to and from work. It’s worse in big cities. In the greater New York area, commutes average 1 hour 14 minutes round-trip.
We’re experts in urban planning and development, and started wondering why worsening traffic wasn’t encouraging more people to telecommute.
What do we know about workplace flexibility?
Telecommuting – or working at home – has many benefits. Workers have been modifying commutes ever since the phone and portable computers made it possible.
Advances in technology within the last decade have greatly expanded our ability to work from anywhere at any time. Many of us are taking advantage of this flexibility.
Census estimates show that the percentage of the workforce working from home the majority of the week grew from 3.3% in 2000 to 5.3% in 2018, and is growing faster than additions to the workforce.
Most people adopt flexible workplace practices just a few times a month rather than full-time, and these numbers are also growing.
How workers win
What are the benefits of telecommuting?
For one thing, it allows workers to seek cheaper housing, yet still have access to a large job market.
They can also use time previously spent commuting in more productive ways.
Companies that offer flexible workplace practices have a competitive edge because they are more attractive to workers. Many high-tech businesses and startups cater to their employees’ needs in order to attract and retain talent because talent is critical to innovation.
Flexible workplace practices can also increase an organization’s productivity. Studies have shown that workers who have control over their schedules and places of work are more satisfied and productive. They don’t quit as often or take as many sick days.
But even with these benefits, most organizations are still not comfortable granting flexibility to their workers.
Obstacles to flexibility
Our recent report showed that many workers we surveyed viewed managerial and executive resistance to telework as a major obstacle.
Through interviews, we learned that executives saw the benefits of using flexible work to their advantage as a negotiating tool for recruitment, promotion, retention and motivation, but they often worried about the costs of training and potential culture change.
They expressed concern that allowing telecommuting could create inequitable outcomes in the workplace, and possibly negatively impact morale.
Because flexible workplace practices provide so many benefits, we believe policymakers should encourage its implementation. In Atlanta, which has seen one of the fastest-growing commute times of any city, policymakers have implemented telework programs.
It has paid off. From 2008 to 2017, the number of commuters working from home increased from 5.7% to 7.3%.
There are no easy fixes here. Even if organizations become more willing to allow flexible workplace practices, we will likely never see a future in which the roads are free of congestion.
That’s because any traffic decreases will result in people that were previously using alternatives joining the roads. This is called “triple convergence” in the field of transportation research, and it is the principle that congestion self-adjusts.
In other words, you can add more lanes to a highway, but after a while people will catch on, begin using the route and congestion will stay the same or increase.
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Mohja Rhoads, Research Consultant and Lecturer in Policy, Planning and Development, California State University, Dominguez Hills and Fynnwin Prager, Assistant Professor of Public Administration, California State University, Dominguez Hills
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s sheriff said he plans to run for reelection this year.
Brian Martin is seeking a third term as sheriff-coroner.
He said it’s been an honor and a privilege to serve the people of Lake County as sheriff-coroner for the past seven years.
“It has been much more challenging, and much more rewarding than I could have ever imagined,” said Martin, who took office just months ahead of a series of devastating fires in 2015 — the Rocky, Jerusalem and Valley fires.
“Through numerous emergencies, including fires that have touched every family and community in our county, to floods, to atmospheric river events, to public safety power shut-offs, a jail evacuation, an endless quest to adequately staff positions, and the loss of several close friends, we’ve been through a lot together. We even got to slip in a global pandemic along the way, too, which has no signs of letting up anytime soon,” Martin said.
He said he has many thanks to give for the successes we’ve had. “I have to thank my dedicated, committed, and capable staff. Whether it’s the deputy on the street, or the dispatcher answering 911 calls, or the correctional deputy ensuring inmates are safe and secure, or the investigators and evidence technicians who comb scenes looking for the evidence needed to ensure justice is served, or the support staff that keeps the bills paid, the records correct, and the right doors locked at the jail, the dedicated men and women of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office have answered the call to duty with selfless, tireless commitment. Our community owes them thanks. I want to thank them and tell you what an honor it is to work with all of them.”
Martin also thanked Lake County’s residents for being supportive, kind and helpful during some truly challenging times. “Even when other communities joined calls to ‘defund the police and in some cases staged violent protests with targeted violence against peace officers, the people of Lake County remained supportive of our law enforcement officers. On behalf of a grateful group of peace officers, thank you for allowing us to serve you.”
He saved the most important thank you for his family, including his wife Crystal, their three grown children and his parents, all of whom have all been extremely supportive.
“This position requires a great deal of time, and they have been more than understanding of the demands of the job. I couldn’t be successful without their support,” he said.
As for what he’s planning in the coming years, Martin said, “Our focus on the next four years will be to fine tune the systems we’ve put in place and develop the next group of leaders within our organization to carry us on as we adapt to ever-changing circumstances, whether it’s changing requirements in the law, changes in our environment, or societal shifts that require evolution in our profession, I want to make sure the Lake County Sheriff’s Office meets or exceeds your expectations.”
He said he hopes he’s served the people of Lake County well enough for them to reelect him for another term.
“I expect that we will continue to deal with emergencies. Some, like fires and floods, will be familiar. It seems that there is always a curve ball thrown our way, but our staff has proved to be adaptable and our community resilient. I feel confident that we can handle anything that comes our way,” Martin said.