How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News reports
The following dogs are ready for adoption or foster.
‘Bella’
“Bella” is a female American Bully mix.
She has a short beige and tan coat.
She is dog No. 3537.
‘Diesel’
“Diesel” is a male border collie mix with a black and white coat.
He is dog No. 4023.
‘Isis’
“Isis” is a female American Staffordshire Terrier mix with a brindle and white coat.
She is dog No. 3732.
‘Lady’
“Lady” is a female German Shepherd mix.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 3683.
‘Wilbur’
“Wilbur” is a male American Bully mix with a short gray and white coat.
He is dog No. 3999.
Clearlake Animal Control’s shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53, off Airport Road.
Hours of operation are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The shelter is closed Sundays, Mondays and major holidays; the shelter offers appointments on the days it’s closed to accommodate people.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or at the city’s website.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
- Details
- Written by: NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is on its way to the Red Planet to search for signs of ancient life and collect samples to send back to Earth.
Humanity's most sophisticated rover launched with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at 4:50 a.m. PDT on Thursday on a United Launch Alliance, or ULA, Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
"With the launch of Perseverance, we begin another historic mission of exploration," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "This amazing explorer's journey has already required the very best from all of us to get it to launch through these challenging times. Now we can look forward to its incredible science and to bringing samples of Mars home even as we advance human missions to the Red Planet. As a mission, as an agency, and as a country, we will persevere."
The ULA Atlas V's Centaur upper stage initially placed the Mars 2020 spacecraft into a parking orbit around Earth. The engine fired for a second time and the spacecraft separated from the Centaur as expected. Navigation data indicate the spacecraft is perfectly on course to Mars.
Mars 2020 sent its first signal to ground controllers via NASA's Deep Space Network at 6:15 a.m. PDT. However, telemetry (more detailed spacecraft data) had not yet been acquired at that point.
Around 8:30 a.m. PDT, a signal with telemetry was received from Mars 2020 by NASA ground stations. Data indicate the spacecraft had entered a state known as safe mode, likely because a part of the spacecraft was a little colder than expected while Mars 2020 was in Earth's shadow. All temperatures are now nominal and the spacecraft is out of Earth's shadow.
When a spacecraft enters safe mode, all but essential systems are turned off until it receives new commands from mission control. An interplanetary launch is fast-paced and dynamic, so a spacecraft is designed to put itself in safe mode if its onboard computer perceives conditions are not within its preset parameters. Right now, the Mars 2020 mission is completing a full health assessment on the spacecraft and is working to return the spacecraft to a nominal configuration for its journey to Mars.
The Perseverance rover's astrobiology mission is to seek out signs of past microscopic life on Mars, explore the diverse geology of its landing site, Jezero Crater, and demonstrate key technologies that will help us prepare for future robotic and human exploration.
"Jezero Crater is the perfect place to search for signs of ancient life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Perseverance is going to make discoveries that cause us to rethink our questions about what Mars was like and how we understand it today. As our instruments investigate rocks along an ancient lake bottom and select samples to return to Earth, we may very well be reaching back in time to get the information scientists need to say that life has existed elsewhere in the universe."
The Martian rock and dust Perseverance’s Sample Caching System collects could answer fundamental questions about the potential for life to exist beyond Earth.
Two future missions currently under consideration by NASA, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, will work together to get the samples to an orbiter for return to Earth.
When they arrive on Earth, the Mars samples will undergo in-depth analysis by scientists around the world using equipment far too large to send to the Red Planet.
An eye to a Martian tomorrow
While most of Perseverance's seven instruments are geared toward learning more about the planet's geology and astrobiology, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE, instrument's job is focused on missions yet to come.
Designed to demonstrate that converting Martian carbon dioxide into oxygen is possible, it could lead to future versions of MOXIE technology that become staples on Mars missions, providing oxygen for rocket fuel and breathable air.
Also future-leaning is the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which will remain attached to the belly of Perseverance for the flight to Mars and the first 60 or so days on the surface. A technology demonstrator, Ingenuity's goal is a pure flight test – it carries no science instruments.
Over 30 sols (31 Earth days), the helicopter will attempt up to five powered, controlled flights. The data acquired during these flight tests will help the next generation of Mars helicopters provide an aerial dimension to Mars explorations – potentially scouting for rovers and human crews, transporting small payloads, or investigating difficult-to-reach destinations.
The rover's technologies for entry, descent, and landing also will provide information to advance future human missions to Mars.
"Perseverance is the most capable rover in history because it is standing on the shoulders of our pioneers Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity," said Michael Watkins, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "In the same way, the descendants of Ingenuity and MOXIE will become valuable tools for future explorers to the Red Planet and beyond."
About seven cold, dark, unforgiving months of interplanetary space travel lay ahead for the mission – a fact never far from the mind of Mars 2020 project team.
"There is still a lot of road between us and Mars," said John McNamee, Mars 2020 project manager at JPL. "About 290 million miles of them. But if there was ever a team that could make it happen, it is this one. We are going to Jezero Crater. We will see you there Feb. 18, 2021."
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of America's larger Moon to Mars exploration approach that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. Charged with sending the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024, NASA will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028 through NASA's Artemis program.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and will manage operations of the Mars Perseverance rover. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management, and ULA provided the Atlas V rocket.
Learn more about the Mars 2020 mission at https://www.nasa.gov/mars2020 .
For more about America’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, visit https://nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars .
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Dr. Gary Pace said that the county’s confirmed cases are up to 195, an increase of 12 cases over Thursday and an increase of 29 since Pace’s last report on July 23.
Of the 195 cases reported on Friday, 21 are active and currently being monitored by Public Health staff; two currently are hospitalized, one locally and one out of county; and 173 have recovered, Pace said. At the start of this month Public Health said one patient had died.
The Public Health COVID-19 dashboard shows that 6,983 tests have been conducted in Lake County, with a 3.4 percent positivity rate for the last 14 days.
“COVID-19 activity remains manageable in Lake County at this time,” said Pace.
A Friday afternoon report from the California Department of Public Health said that California has 493,588 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 9,005 deaths attributed to it.
Pace said a “high level of vigilance” has kept Lake County’s numbers relatively low, and that needs to be maintained “for the long haul.”
Statewide delays in testing results have recently affected the reliability of “active cases,” as a meaningful indicator of how COVID-19 is affecting Lake County communities, Pace said.
“Additionally, with many residents regularly leaving Lake County to work and shop, the probability of coming into contact with COVID-19 may be markedly greater, at times, than our local numbers, alone, would suggest,” he explained.
Pace said that vigilant local monitoring by Public Health officials and staff, Sheriff Brian Martin, Captain Norm Taylor, and County Deputy Sheriffs and staff serving in the Lake County Jail, and leadership and staff at skilled nursing and other congregate living facilities has kept Lake County’s virus numbers low and outbreaks at bay.
“That vigilance must be the norm for the foreseeable future, and will require ongoing community support to sustain,” Pace said.
That’s especially key now that all of Lake’s six neighboring counties have been placed on the state’s watch list, Pace said.
As of Friday, 37 counties – representing 93 percent of Californians – have been placed on that monitoring list in accordance with the California Department of Public Health’s County Data Monitoring protocol.
Pace added that Public Health greatly appreciates that many people have stepped up to help the agency of late. Any others interested in volunteering to support Lake County’s COVID-19 response effort can write to
Email Elizabeth Larson at
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News reports
This is the first death in California of a teenager, and this young person had underlying health conditions, officials said.
Due to patient confidentiality, CDPH will not provide any additional information about this death.
CDPH said there have been no reported deaths in younger age categories, including children 5 and under.
“Our hearts go out to the family and loved ones of this young person whose death is a tragic and powerful reminder of how serious COVID-19 can be,” said Dr. Sonia Angell, state Public Health officer and director of the California Department of Public Health.
Officials said California has 493,588 confirmed cases to date and 9,005 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
As of July 29, local health departments have reported 23,513 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 127 deaths statewide, CDPH said.
CDPH said Friday that the seven-day average number of new cases is 8,322 per day. The seven-day average from the week prior was 9,881.
In addition, there have been 7,811,041 tests conducted in California. CDPH said this represents an increase of 177,201 over the prior 24-hour reporting period.
CDPH also has been giving weekly updates on the number of cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, reported in the state.
As of July 28, 25 cases of MIS-C have been reported statewide. To protect patient confidentiality in counties with fewer than 11 cases, the state is not providing total counts at this time.
MIS-C is a rare inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19 that can damage multiple organ systems. MIS-C can require hospitalization and be life-threatening.
Health officials said parents should be aware of the signs and symptoms of MIS-C including fever that does not go away, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes or feeling tired. Contact your child’s doctor immediately if your child has these symptoms. Early diagnosis and treatment of patients are critical to preventing long-term complications.