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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Police arrested a Lakeport man on Friday morning after an officer found him on the Terrace Middle School grounds without a reason to be there and in possession of a knife and drugs.
The Lakeport Police Department said Michael Richard King, 34, was arrested on Friday morning.
At 10 a.m. Friday, police said Lakeport Police School Resource Officer Ryan Cooley observed an adult male subject on the Terrace Middle School campus who appeared to have a folding knife hanging from the front of his beltline.
Cooley made contact with the male subject, who police identified as King, to check the status of the knife and the subject’s authorization for being on campus.
During further investigation, the police department said Officer Cooley determined that King was illegally in possession of a knife on campus and had no authorization, nor legitimate purpose, for being there.
Police said King subsequently was arrested for felony possession of a weapon on school grounds and misdemeanors for possession of suspected methamphetamine, possession of approximately half a pound of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
King was booked into the Lake County Jail on the charges and remained in custody late Friday on $15,000 bail.
His booking records show he is set to be arraigned in Lake County Superior Court on Monday.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Allocations are reviewed monthly based on snowpack and runoff information and are typically finalized by May.
Water from Clear Lake flows into Cache Creek which, in turn, flows into the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a source for the State Water Project.
“California gets most of its annual precipitation from a handful of major and infrequent winter storms,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “After some significant storms in December, January has been relatively quiet and is currently below average. We continue to hope for wetter conditions and must always work to eliminate waste and use water more wisely.”
Precipitation in the Northern Sierra is at 63 percent of average to date. Statewide snowpack is 76 percent of normal for this date. The state gets about 30 percent of its annual water supply from snowpack.
Snow water content is one factor in determining allocation amounts along with reservoir storage and releases necessary to meet water supply and environmental demands.
Lake Oroville, the State Water Project’s largest reservoir, is currently at 61 percent of capacity and 94 percent of average for this time of year.
Shasta Lake, the Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir, is at 74 percent of capacity and 112 percent of average.
San Luis Reservoir, the largest off-stream reservoir in the United States where water is stored for the State Water Project and Central Valley Project, is at 72 percent of capacity and 95 percent of average.
In Southern California, State Water Project’s Castaic Lake is at 72 percent of capacity and 87 percent of average.
Friday’s 15 percent allocation amounts to 635,434 acre-feet of water.
The State Water Project provides water to 29 contractors who supply water to more than 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Tonga Ball, 61, was cited and released for solicitation of prostitution on Thursday evening, according to Sgt. Juan Valencia of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.
Valencia said that Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Unit detectives conducted an undercover operation, specifically targeting possible human trafficking, in the massage parlor business.
He said detectives collaborated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Department of Homeland Security, and Sonoma County Code Enforcement for this multi-agency joint operation.
An undercover detective entered the Green Rose Therapy business, in Penngrove to receive a massage, Valencia said.
Valencia said Ball escorted the undercover detective into a room and began to give the detective a massage. Shortly thereafter, Ball solicited the detective to perform a lewd act for money.
Detectives entered the business and detained Ball. Valencia said there were no other employees or clients inside the business at the time.
A detective and a FBI agent conducted an interview with Ball regarding possible human trafficking, Valencia said.
Ball said she was there on her own free will and the business was not involved in any human trafficking operation. Ultimately, Ball was cited and released for solicitation for prostitution, Valencia said.
A Sonoma County Code Enforcement Agent entered the business and found multiple violations, including being a public nuisance, change of occupancy, commercial tenant improvements without permits and unpermitted substandard construction. Valencia said the business was posted as being a dangerous building and the specific tenant spaces cannot be occupied until the violations have been corrected.
Upon completion of the investigation at Green Rose Therapy, Valencia said detectives and Sonoma County Code Enforcement agents went to Penngrove Relax Center to conduct an inspection of the business. Multiple violations were present at this location and the business was posted as being a dangerous building.
“The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office would like to thank the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Department of Homeland Security and Sonoma County Code Enforcement for their assistance with this investigation,” Valencia said.
- Details
- Written by: Keith Koehler
Aurora, also known as the northern lights, are a sight to behold as they dance across the sky when solar winds collide with the Earth’s atmosphere.
However, they also contribute to a process that has an adverse impact on the Earth’s ozone as nitric oxide is created during the auroral light show.
To better understand the abundance of nitric oxide in the polar atmosphere, NASA will launch the Polar Night Nitric Oxide or PolarNOx experiment from the Poker Flat Research Range operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
PolarNOx will fly on a NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket between 8:04 and 9:04 a.m. EST (4:04 and 5:04 a.m. AST) on Jan. 26, 2020. The launch window runs through Feb. 8 and opens three to four minutes earlier each day.
Scott Bailey, PolarNOx principal investigator from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, said, “The aurora creates nitric oxide (NO), but in the polar night, unlike the sunlit atmosphere, there is no significant process for destroying the nitric oxide. We believe it builds up to large concentrations. The purpose of our rocket is to measure the abundance and especially the altitude of peak abundance for the nitric oxide. We don’t know the altitude at which the nitric oxide settles.”
“Nitric oxide under appropriate conditions can be transported to the stratosphere where it will catalytically destroy ozone,” Bailey said. “Those changes in ozone can lead to changes in stratospheric temperature and wind and may even impact the circulation near Earth’s surface.”
Nitric oxide in the northern regions exists between 53 and 93 miles altitude. During the rocket flight a star tracker will lock on to the star Gamma Pegasi.
“PolarNOx will observe starlight with a high spectral resolution UV spectrograph operating near 215 nanometers. Attenuation of the starlight by NO is used to obtain an NO altitude profile," said Bill McClintock, co-investigator and lead instrument scientist from the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado in Boulder.
“The payload with the spectrograph is targeted to fly to an altitude of 161 miles. The goal is to get the most time possible observing both the star brightness above the nitric oxide and where the peak NO exists between 62 and 68 miles altitude,” McClintock said.
This is the second flight of PolarNOx from Poker Flat. “In 2017 we experienced an electronics failure during the flight. While we did get the important part of the data, the mission wasn’t a total success. We did upgrade the electronics for this reflight so we look forward to a much more successful mission,” Bailey said.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has established a subscription-based text messaging service for anyone interested in receiving updates and links to launch range communications or stream broadcasts.
Subscribers also will be notified when the count drops below T-10 minutes, at which time a launch is likely to occur. To subscribe to the messaging service text PFRRLAUNCHES to 33222.
PolarNOx is supported through NASA's Sounding Rocket Program at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Virginia, which is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA's Heliophysics Division manages the sounding-rocket program for the agency.
Keith Koehler works for NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia.
