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- Written by: Lake County News reports
AB 131, the child care budget trailer bill, will phase in 200,000 new child care slots by 2025-26, dramatically expanding access to child care for families. Over 145,000 new child care slots will be added by 2022-23.
“I’m proud to sign this legislation lifting up women and working families while supporting our dedicated early childhood professionals,” said Gov. Newsom. “With 200,000 new child care slots to help meet the needs of parents as they balance the demands of work with raising a family, and increased compensation and supports for child care and preschool providers, this package will help reinvigorate our essential care economy and invests in the health and well-being of families across the state.”
Under the legislation, child care and preschool providers around the state will receive significant rate increases, reflecting the agreement reached between the state and Child Care Providers United, which represents 40,000 family child care providers.
This is the first collective bargaining agreement between the state and the new union after the Governor in 2019 signed AB 378 — legislation by current Senator Monique Limόn that was championed by Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins and other child care advocates in the Legislature — to give child care workers the right to join a union and collectively bargain with the state.
It also provides $40 million one-time to help address workforce needs including education, training and professional development for family child care providers.
AB 131 includes $579 million for additional support to child care and preschool providers, including stabilization stipends, to ensure more can continue operating in the wake of unprecedented challenges over the past year.
Family fees will be waived for all families utilizing subsidized child care and state preschool, through June of next year.
The legislation also allows the state to deploy $250 million in infrastructure grants to build and renovate child care facilities, with a focus on underserved areas.
Under the budget agreement signed by the governor earlier this month, the state is investing $4.8 million for the Department of Social Services to lead the planning and development of a new child care data system, aligning with the Master Plan for Early Learning and Care, to meet the needs of families and providers.
The California Comeback Plan also includes investments to achieve free, high-quality universal transitional kindergarten for all four-year-olds by 2025 and to seed savings accounts for vulnerable students currently enrolled in K-12 public schools.
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- Written by: NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
After testing a bristling array of instruments on its robotic arm, NASA’s latest Mars rover gets down to business: probing rocks and dust for evidence of past life.
NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover has begun its search for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet. Flexing its 7-foot mechanical arm, the rover is testing the sensitive detectors it carries, capturing their first science readings.
Along with analyzing rocks using X-rays and ultraviolet light, the six-wheeled scientist will zoom in for closeups of tiny segments of rock surfaces that might show evidence of past microbial activity.
Called PIXL, or Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry, the rover’s X-ray instrument delivered unexpectedly strong science results while it was still being tested, said Abigail Allwood, PIXL’s principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Located at the end of the arm, the lunchbox-size instrument fired its X-rays at a small calibration target – used to test instrument settings – aboard Perseverance and was able to determine the composition of Martian dust clinging to the target.
“We got our best-ever composition analysis of Martian dust before it even looked at rock,” Allwood said.
That’s just a small taste of what PIXL, combined with the arm’s other instruments, is expected to reveal as it zeroes in on promising geological features over the weeks and months ahead.
Scientists say Jezero Crater was a crater lake billions of years ago, making it a choice landing site for Perseverance. The crater has long since dried out, and the rover is now picking its way across its red, broken floor.
“If life was there in Jezero Crater, the evidence of that life could be there,” said Allwood, a key member of the Perseverance “arm science” team.
To get a detailed profile of rock textures, contours, and composition, PIXL’s maps of the chemicals throughout a rock can be combined with mineral maps produced by the SHERLOC instrument and its partner, WATSON. SHERLOC – short for Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals – uses an ultraviolet laser to identify some of the minerals in the rock, while WATSON takes closeup images that scientists can use to determine grain size, roundness, and texture, all of which can help determine how the rock was formed.
Early WATSON closeups have already yielded a trove of data from Martian rocks, the scientists said, such as a variety of colors, sizes of grains in the sediment, and even the presence of “cement” between the grains.
Such details can provide important clues about formation history, water flow, and ancient, potentially habitable Martian environments. And combined with those from PIXL, they can provide a broader environmental and even historical snapshot of Jezero Crater.
“What is the crater floor made out of? What were the conditions like on the crater floor?” asks Luther Beegle of JPL, SHERLOC’s principal investigator. “That does tell us a lot about the early days of Mars, and potentially how Mars formed. If we have an idea of what the history of Mars is like, we’ll be able to understand the potential for finding evidence of life.”
The science team
While the rover has significant autonomous capabilities, such as driving itself across the Martian landscape, hundreds of earthbound scientists are still involved in analyzing results and planning further investigations.
“There are almost 500 people on the science team,” Beegle said. “The number of participants in any given action by the rover is on the order of 100. It’s great to see these scientists come to agreement in analyzing the clues, prioritizing each step, and putting together the pieces of the Jezero science puzzle.”
That will be critical when the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover collects its first samples for eventual return to Earth. They’ll be sealed in superclean metallic tubes on the Martian surface so that a future mission could collect them and send back to the home planet for further analysis.
Despite decades of investigation on the question of potential life, the Red Planet has stubbornly kept its secrets.
“Mars 2020, in my view, is the best opportunity we will have in our lifetime to address that question,” said Kenneth Williford, the deputy project scientist for Perseverance.
The geological details are critical, Allwood said, to place any indication of possible life in context, and to check scientists’ ideas about how a second example of life’s origin could come about.
Combined with other instruments on the rover, the detectors on the arm, including SHERLOC and WATSON, could make humanity’s first discovery of life beyond Earth.
More about the mission
A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
For more about Perseverance visit www.mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ and www.nasa.gov/perseverance.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Police Department made history this week when it added another female officer to its ranks.
On Wednesday, Officer Kaitlin Morfin graduated from the police academy.
Later that same day, she took her oath from Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen at a ceremony at the Library Park gazebo.
A lifelong Lakeport resident, Morfin grew up in a family with a record of law enforcement service, including her father, Kory Reynolds, who was a longtime California Highway Patrol officer in the Clear Lake Area office.
Twelve years ago, she started her path toward a law enforcement career by working with the Lakeport Police Department as a cadet while in high school.
She went on to receive a college degree and then went to work for Lake County Probation.
In July 2020, Morfin was a successful candidate in a round of Lakeport Police trainee interviews.
Rasmussen introduced her to the Lakeport City Council in January, when she told the council she was excited for the opportunity.
In March, Morfin headed off to the academy, completing her training this week.
She is the latest of several officers to have come to the department as part of Rasmussen’s effort to train and hire officers from the community.
Rasmussen told the council earlier this year that he’s proud to be recruiting people locally “and investing back in our community.”
Morfin’s arrival as a newly sworn officer is a historic moment for the Lakeport Police Department: It’s the first time in the agency’s 133-year history that it has had three female officers working for the community at the same time.
“Congratulations Kaitlin, we are proud to have you on our team!” the agency said in a statement.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — After taking two weeks to get more information — particularly about water supply and use — the Lake County Planning Commission voted Thursday to approve a new commercial cannabis project on High Valley Ranch in Clearlake Oaks.
In separate 4-0 votes — with District 5 Commissioner Lance Williams absent — the commission voted following a continued public hearing to approve a mitigated negative declaration and grant a major use permit to Sourz HVR Inc./Aviona LLC for the operation at High Valley Ranch, located at 11650 High Valley Road in Clearlake Oaks.
The 1,640-acre ranch formerly was the home for decades to PSI World, which sold the ranch to Aviona LLC in February.
Sourz HVR Inc. proposes to conduct cultivation and distribution activities on a 649-acre portion of the ranch.
The cultivation area proposed is 3,485,000 square feet, or about 80 acres. There also will be 110,000 square feet for storage and drying of cannabis and the existing 13,000 square foot conference center will be used for packing, distribution and office space.
At its July 8 meeting, the commission asked to continue the discussion in order to get more details from the applicant about water usage.
During that meeting, District 1 Commissioner John Hess had explained that the commission was seeking more guidance from the Board of Supervisors on how to look at these projects in light of water, and he reiterated on Thursday that such guidance would be helpful.
He said the commissioners are as sensitive to any county officials to water, and “excruciatingly aware” of the drought.
Hess said they are obligated to take every project on a case-by-case basis, and he expects to have more hearings where water is a concern. But they can’t make a blanket decision to not consider more projects due to water.
The ranch’s High Valley neighbors have brought up many concerns — among them traffic and odor — but the most pressing has been water usage, as several, like Maria Kann, argued that their wells are going dry.
One of the project owners, Elli Hagoel, asked to bring the matter back this week, and in the meantime he had his consultants from the firm Kimley-Horn provide more updated water analysis.
A revised hydrogeology technical memorandum from Jason Sheasley and Brad Stoneman of Kimley-Horn said the project will use 353 acre feet, or 115 million gallons of water per year or about 2.2 million gallons a week during the growing season, when the cannabis plants will be watered three times a week with drip irrigation.
The report said a groundwater evaluation concluded the aquifer has a storage capacity of approximately 27,799 acre feet with groundwater recharge of 2,321 acre feet. Current and future water use demands are estimated at 1.4% of the available groundwater.
Sheasley told the commission that the drip irrigation will draw out of the ranch’s deeper aquifer and help to recharge the shallower aquifer.
District 3 Commissioner and Chair Batsulwin Brown asked if the drought will have an impact on the aquifer and the rest of the valley.
Sheasley said the drought has a definite impact. “We’re in extraordinary circumstances with this drought, for sure.”
Looking back over 50 years, 1976 is most similar to today’s conditions, Sheasley said. It took roughly four to five years for groundwater levels to come back to pre-1976 conditions, which he said is normal under drought conditions, depending on the severity. Drought conditions, he added, come and go.
“It’s not a steady system that never changes. We have to anticipate those changes,” said Sheasley.
In looking at drought conditions, Sheasley said they need to adjust irrigation and consider potentially adjusting crop sizes or using other sources like reclaimed water instead of groundwater.
The additional two weeks also allowed staff and commission members to visit the site to get more information. Brown said his site visit on July 15 was very helpful.
Assistant Planner Katherine Schaefers said she visited the site last week along with state officials to look at remediation efforts regarding grading violations. Due to those remediations, she said the project no longer has violations with the county.
Tom Armstrong of Sourz HVR Inc. said they heard the concerns at the July 8 meeting and tried to address them, outlining in a PowerPoint more information on traffic, the distance from the nearest school, grading, and archaeological and biological resources.
He said the normal operations only require 10 people, with peak season to have 60 employees who would live in the existing and permitted employee housing.
While Kann and other neighbors argued that project impacts like water and odor can’t be mitigated, supporters like Richard Derum said the project proposal is one of the most comprehensive he’s seen, adding larger cannabis operations like the one proposed for High Valley Ranch are needed to move Lake County forward as a top cannabis producing area.
Hagoel said he took very seriously the concerns of the neighbors and the Planning Commission and tried to meet with most of the residents.
He said the area was designated by the county for cannabis cultivation and is surrounded by hundreds of acres of existing vineyards, away from the public eye.
In response to Kann’s concerts that the valley can’t support the operation, Hagoel said they are doing things out of good faith, not fear. “Change is here. It’s coming.”
During the meeting, it was noted that Hagoel had delivered water to some of the neighbors. Kann confirmed she was one of those, and that she appreciated it.
She and another neighbor, Doug Logan, both emphasized that Hagoel and his team are good people.
“The water is the issue,” Logan said.
Commission deliberates with more information
District 2 Commissioner Everardo Chavez Perez brought up a video posted to YouTube by Kann on Wednesday, which can be seen above. It featured drone footage of flying over pipes running from a Brassfield Winery reservoir to High Valley Ranch.
“Where is that water going to?” he asked.
Hagoel said the water is being used for agricultural operations. Armstrong also explained that they had county permits to run the pipe, which county staff confirmed.
Hagoel said they are running cattle for some neighbors and will plant more than 40 acres of sunflowers, rather than cannabis, on the east side of the property to block the grow from neighbors.
Regarding a hairpin turn on High Valley Road that was a concern for both neighbors and commissioners, Hagoel said he’s already agreed to fix that turn and a contractor is bidding to add a 15-foot culvert to the site.
Public Works Director Scott De Leon confirmed to the commission that Hagoel was in contact with Public Works staff to discuss those road improvements.
While Brassfield Winery has been paying 10 cents per case of wine sold toward road maintenance, De Leon said the challenge had been to settle on what unit of measure for cannabis. Instead, the decision was made to ask the Board of Supervisors for a percentage of the cannabis tax that will be paid on the project.
Hess, noting he was the “last standing commissioner” who worked on writing the county’s cannabis ordinance, said in his review the Sourz HVR Inc. proposal was one of the most comprehensive and carefully crafted applications he’s seen, and it was further buoyed by the additional information they received on Thursday. As such, he was prepared to move forward.
His fellow commissioners indicated the same, with Brown noting that after visiting the site last week and getting the updated information, a lot of his concerns — such as those focusing on water — were no longer valid.
District 4 Commissioner Christina Price said she felt the applicant had wanted to address every situation and that hadn’t gone unnoticed.
Chavez Perez said the applicant had put a lot of work into the project, and continues to go beyond to address neighbor and public concerns.
Hess made both motions, for the mitigated negative declaration and the major use permit, which the commission approved in 4-0 votes.
No action on one permit, approval of another
In other business on Thursday, commissioners chose to take no action on the major use permit application for Pasta Farms LLC, located on 235 acres located at 10750 and 10417 Seigler Springs North Road and 10833 Diener Drive, Kelseyville.
Applicant Peter Simon is proposing to add one 27,201 square foot nursery area, four 22,000 square foot greenhouses and 113 hoop houses. The project is to be phased over four years.
However, information was included in the agenda packet that raised questions about a well that is not part of the property and which was said to be a significant water source.
“It can’t be approved. There is a dispute about the water source,” said Associate Planner Eric Porter.
He said that the dispute came to light about a week ago and staff had to scramble to change its recommendation from an approval to a continuation.
Porter suggested they continue the matter to a date uncertain, noting there is also substantial public opposition for different reasons.
Commissioners agreed to refuse the item, meaning staff would need to reassess the project in order to bring it back in the future, explained Deputy County Counsel Nicole Johnson. Had they voted to deny it, the applicant would have had to reapply.
In its other agenda item, the commission voted to approve Langtry Farms’ request for a parcel map to divide a 406.69 acre property to create three new parcels at 21700 and 22000 Butts Canyon Road in Middletown.
It was clarified during the meeting that the property split is not connected to the larger Guenoc property that surrounds it. The Guenoc property is slated for a large resort development that’s already been approved but is being held up due to litigation.
The property currently has a vineyard, one single family dwelling, several small sheds, a well for potable water and several internal driveway, staff reported.
There are no development plans for the Langtry property, which will remain in agriculture and is almost fully developed for that purpose, it was noted during the meeting.
Email Elizabeth Larson at