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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The event will take place from 3 to 4 p.m. and will be broadcast live on Lake County PEG TV, Mediacom Channel 8, and online at the county’s Facebook page – in English and Spanish live streams – and on the county’s website.
Please send your questions to
If you are in need of a disability-related modification or accommodation to participate, please reach out by 5 p.m. Friday, April 17, either at 707-263-2580 or
On April 9, thousands of county residents and otherwise interested people gathered online for District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown’s first virtual COVID-19 town hall for business owners.
Social media posts and other web-based engagement, including video of this event, reached approximately 10,000 people, with more than 4,400 views of the English language video and 1,700 views of the Spanish language simulcast on Facebook.
Video and resources from that meeting can be accessed here.
Programs for business owners and employees at the state and federal level continue to evolve, and Lake County residents need the most up-to-date information.
Additionally, multiple county residents submitted questions regarding unemployment-related matters that the county hopes to answer with greater precision during Monday’s meeting.
Supervisor Brown will moderate the Monday meeting, in collaboration with Jeff and Andy Lucas of Community Development Services, or CDS, of Kelseyville.
CDS is a partner of Lake County Economic Development Corp., a collaborative effort of the county, cities of Lakeport and Clearlake, and other community organizations, and is a NorCal Small Business Development Center Affiliate.
CDS has been providing a variety of supports to local businesses for decades, including facilitating access to state and federal funding opportunities. CDS can be reached at 707-279-1540.
Melissa Fulton, chief executive officer of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, will additionally present the results of a survey that documents impacts of COVID-19 to local businesses.
Scott Rogalski, director of Partnerships for Northern California Small Business Development Center Networks, who contributed to the first town hall, has again agreed to participate. The slides from his valuable April 9 presentation are posted at http://www.lakecountyca.gov/ .
Representatives from the State’s Employment Development Department and the Small Business Administration are also expected to participate.
“Businesses are the engine of our economy,” said Brown. “I want to connect people with the information they need, so local businesses can endure these challenging circumstances and continue to invest in Lake County communities.”
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
On Wednesday the commission granted to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife the ability to temporarily delay, suspend or restrict recreational fishing if the agency’s director, in consultation with the commission president, finds that such action is necessary to protect against the threat from COVID-19 based on state, federal, local, and tribal public health guidance and public safety needs, as Lake County News has reported.
On Thursday, the commission acknowledged robust public participation using remote technology.
"While we all are learning this remote world together, this meeting proved that government can continue with public input," said Commission President Eric Sklar. "Gov. Newsom recently said we expect a mid-May peak of COVID-19. I implore Californians to stay healthy and stay home to help save lives."
The commission approved the mammal hunting regulations and increased the number of elk tags in the northwest management unit. This increased hunting opportunity for the state's hunting public, based on the best-available scientific data, is due to robust elk populations in this part of the state. The recovery of these elk is a great success story in California wildlife conservation.
Additionally, the commission approved the waterfowl daily and seasonal limits for ducks and geese for the 2020-21 hunting season. The northern pintail limit will remain at one pintail per day due to the current status of the population. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to improve the models to address the public's concerns that pintail limits are too low.
Commissioners adopted proposed regulations for public use on CDFW lands, including wildlife areas and ecological reserves. The regulations designate one new wildlife area and seven new ecological reserves, remove areas from the regulations where CDFW no longer has management authority, authorize site-specific public uses and make minor changes to clarify the regulations.
In other business, the commission voted unanimously that listing of the Shasta snow-wreath may be warranted. This commences a one-year status review by CDFW.
It also voted unanimously that listing of an evolutionarily significant unit of mountain lions may be warranted. This commences a one-year status review by the CDFW.
Commission President Sklar, Commission Vice President Samantha Murray, and Commissioners Jacque Hostler-Carmesin, Russell Burns and Peter Silva participated in the call.
The full commission agenda for this meeting along with supporting information is available at www.fgc.ca.gov. An archived audio file will be available in the coming days. The next meeting of the full Commission is a teleconference scheduled for May 14.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
This will be the first in a series of virtual town halls over the coming weeks where Thompson will answer questions on what Congress is doing to respond to the fallout from coronavirus.
Experts from each county in the district will join in to answer questions.
All constituents of California’s Fifth Congressional District and members of the press are invited to join.
For this week’s virtual town hall, Thompson will be joined by Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin and Lake County Public Health Office Dr. Gary Pace.
This event will be held over Zoom and interested participants must email Thompson’s office in order to join, as the platform has a capacity of 500 people.
Interested participants will be notified via email with instructions on how to join. The event will also be streamed on Facebook Live via Thompson’s page, https://www.facebook.com/RepMikeThompson/ .
For security reasons, interested participants must email
Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, the $2.2 trillion relief bill passed by Congress last month, established the Paycheck Protection Program.
The program offers forgivable loans to employers who retain employees while dealing with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, tribes and their supporters are asking the federal government to address an action taken by the US Small Business Administration at the end of March which disqualifies tribal gaming businesses from assistance.
On April 8, a bipartisan group of nearly 40 members of Congress – among them, Congressman Mike Thompson, whose district includes southern Lake County – sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza, also raising issues with the SBA’s action.
The letter pointed out that Congress specifically included tribal business concerns, as defined in the HUBZone program, with under 500 employees as being eligible for Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Yet, in spite of Congress’ intent, the Small Business Administration adopted the final rule for implementing the Paycheck Protection Program that makes ineligible tribal businesses such as gaming.
Based on the intent that members of Congress said existed to help tribes, all four of Lake County’s casinos – Konocti Vista, Robinson Rancheria, Running Creek and Twin Pine – would be eligible for the program, as the California Employment Development Department reports each has 249 employees or less.
County officials reported at Tuesday’s board meeting that an estimated 1,000 people work for local gaming businesses, which equates to about 5 percent of Lake County’s workforce.
Tribal chair shares letter
Sherry Treppa, chair of the Habematolel Pomo, which owns and operates Running Creek Casino in Upper Lake, shared with Lake County News a letter she sent on April 6 to the Treasury Department, the White House and the SBA opposing the SBA’s plans for implementing the Paycheck Protection Program.
In her five-page letter, Treppa challenged the SBA’s interpretation of Congress’ wishes and pointed out the damage it would do to tribal businesses as well as local economies.
“Tribes engage in economic development because they lack anything resembling a traditional tax base, owing to centuries of ruinous federal and state policy toward tribes. The role that tribal
economic development plays in ensuring that members of Indian tribes have access to necessities and crucial services cannot be understated. The enormous role tribal enterprises play in regional economies should not be underestimated,” Treppa wrote.
She warned, “If the losses that my Tribe, and others in our situation, have experienced and will continue to experience due to COVID-19 are not remediated the consequences could be truly dire not only for our tribal governments but for the surrounding economies as well – the ripple effect will be felt far beyond our borders.
Treppa also faulted the SBA for applying “outdated morality and public interest concerns” in singling out tribal casinos as part of its program implementation.
She told Lake County News ahead of the supervisors’ discussion that a letter from the board in support of tribes would be great.
“Everything helps,” she said.
Board takes action to support tribes
On Tuesday, Supervisor Rob Brown asked for the Board of Supervisors to also send a letter to the SBA in support of tribal casinos being able to apply for assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program.
The board’s draft letter said that disqualifying tribal government-owned gaming businesses and their employees from receiving help through the program “directly conflicts with both the text and overarching goals of the CARES Act.”
Before the board discussed the letter on Tuesday, Board Chair Moke Simon and Supervisor EJ Crandell recused themselves from the discussion.
Simon is the tribal chair for the Middletown Rancheria and Crandell chairs the Robinson Rancheria tribal council. Both tribes operate casinos, and Simon and Crandell said their tribes have separately written to the government to ask for relief under the program.
Following their recusal, Brown said he wanted to let the public know, “There is no financial conflict for either supervisor,” because not one dime of the relief funding would go to them personally, but would instead be used to pay employees.
Brown said helping the nearly 1,000 employees of tribal businesses in Lake County is what the request was all about.
He added, “I don’t think it’s fair that one group would be denied this just because they’re tribal and other groups would be allowed this because they are not tribal.”
Supervisors Tina Scott and Bruno Sabatier agreed that the county should support the tribes.
The county’s gaming industry, Sabatier noted, is “a huge part of our community. It’s a huge draw for our community,” and also is a part of Lake County’s hospitality industry. He said everyone in the county should be supportive.
There was no public comment before the board voted 3-0 to support sending the letter to the SBA.
Email Elizabeth Larson at