LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has many dogs of various breeds waiting for their new homes.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Alaskan husky, American blue heeler, Anatolian shepherd, border collie, German shepherd, hound, Labrador Retriever, pit bull terrier, Rottweiler and Weimaraner.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
Those dogs and the others shown on this page at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
The shelter is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
In addition to signing all necessary estate planning documents to put one’s affairs in order, it is necessary to consider what additional information will be needed by the persons carrying out the estate plan when the time comes.
First, it is necessary for the individual named to carry out the estate plan to know that there are estate planning documents in place, where those documents are kept, and how to gain access to them. Without such basic knowledge the family of an incapacitated or deceased person will not even know on what path to proceed.
For example, take the son of an incapacitated mother who did not know that she had transferred her financial assets to a living trust and did not know where her trust document was kept. Thus, he did not know that such planning was in place and proceeded with a court conservatorship proceeding in order to gain control over the mother’s assets to pay for her care.
The conservatorship was unnecessary under the circumstances, but the son did not know this. Eventually, the son contacted an attorney and the mother’s estate planning documents were located. The take-away is to tell the appropriate person(s) that you have estate planning documents and where they are kept.
Second, estate planning may include designating death beneficiaries to bank, brokerage and life insurance assets. This work typically does not involve the estate planning attorney as the beneficiary forms are provided by the financial institution to the customer to complete.
The disconnect between the estate plan prepared by the attorney and the death beneficiary forms prepared by the client/customer means that the estate planning binder oftentime does not disclose the identities of the account(s) and the death beneficiaries.
It is wise, therefore, to keep copies of the designated death beneficiary forms inside the estate planning binder (or other compilation of estate planning documents) so that the person administering the estate knows about such non-trust assets and knows the identities of the death beneficiaries.
These beneficiaries will then be told to contact the financial institution to request the beneficiary claims package.
For example, take the decedent who has his affairs in order except that the successor trustee discovers a retirement plan account and cannot ascertain who is the death beneficiary.
Is the beneficiary the decedent’s trust, an individual beneficiary or is it a charitable beneficiary?
Unfortunately, banks and brokerages will only provide account information about a decedent to a court appointed personal representative; this means opening a probate proceeding.
The successor trustee managing the decedent’s trust may try various hit or miss attempts at guessing who might be the designated beneficiary and having such person(s) contact the bank or brokerage to make a claim as the death beneficiary.
Alternatively, the situation may end up only be resolved by opening a probate that is otherwise unnecessary as death beneficiaries were named and so normally avoids probate.
Third, some valuable or sentimental assets may be stored in undisclosed (hidden) locations. Unless the person administering the estate knows where and how to access such valuables, it is possible that such assets will be lost due to not knowing where they are.
For example, consider the parent who hides valuable gold bars for their protection. The parent dies unexpectedly before telling his child where the gold bars are located.
Such unfortunate results may occur if someone takes it for granted that they will get to disclose such information before death but are not yet ready to do so presently. That approach is risky business.
In sum, consider what is important. Practical information about one’s estate planning and assets needs to be provided in advance to the person who will be administering the estate. This increases the likelihood of a successful administration down the road.
The foregoing brief discussion is not legal advice. Consult a qualified estate planning attorney for guidance.
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.
Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04), is lauding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ final rule expanding required background checks before firearm sales.
“Today’s rule is a leap forward in closing dangerous, decades-old loopholes that have allowed many firearm buyers to bypass background checks,” said Thompson in a statement released early Thursday morning. “There’s no doubt this rule will help save lives by keeping guns out of dangerous hands.”
Chairman Thompson has long supported expanding background checks for firearm sales. Rep. Thompson has introduced background check legislation every Congress since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting which killed 20 children and six adult staff members.
The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it has submitted to the Federal Register the “Engaged in the Business” Final Rule, which makes clear the circumstances in which a person is “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms and thus required to obtain a federal firearms license, in order to increase compliance with the federal background check requirement for firearm sales by federal firearms licensees.
Previously, only sellers “engaged in the business” of firearm dealing were required to register as a Federal firearm licensee, or FFL, and therefore conduct background checks for firearm sales.
The new rule expands the definition of "engaged in the business" of dealing firearms to anyone who sells firearms to earn a profit, greatly expanding the number of firearms dealers legally required to register as FFLs.
Firearms sellers previously operating without running background checks will be obligated to perform them before selling a firearm to a buyer.
“Under this regulation, it will not matter if guns are sold on the internet, at a gun show, or at a brick-and-mortar store: if you sell guns predominantly to earn a profit, you must be licensed, and you must conduct background checks,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This regulation is a historic step in the Justice Department’s fight against gun violence. It will save lives.”
This rule was made possible by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most consequential gun violence prevention legislation signed into law in decades which Rep. Thompson said he was proud to help pass.
“The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act enhanced background checks and closed loopholes, including by redefining when a person is ‘engaged in the business’ of dealing in firearms. Today’s rule clarifying application of that definition will save lives by requiring all those in the business of selling guns to get a federal license and run background checks — thus keeping guns out of the hands of violent criminals,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “I applaud the hard work of ATF in drafting this rule and reviewing the hundreds of thousands of public comments, which overwhelmingly favored the rule announced today. Because of that work, our communities will be safer.”
“This is about protecting the lives of innocent, law-abiding Americans as well as the rule of law. There is a large and growing black market of guns that are being sold by people who are in the business of dealing and are doing it without a license; and therefore, they are not running background checks the way the law requires. And it is fueling violence,” said Director Steven Dettelbach of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). “Today’s Final Rule is about ensuring compliance with an important area of the existing law where we all know, the data show, and we can clearly see that a whole group of folks are openly flouting that law. That leads to not just unfair but, in this case, dangerous consequences.”
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), enacted June 25, 2022, expanded the definition of engaging in the business of firearms dealing to cover all persons who devote time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominately earn a profit through the repetitive purchase and sale of firearms.
On March 14, 2023, President Biden issued Executive Order 14092, which, among other things, directs the Attorney General to develop and implement a plan to clarify the definition of who is engaged in the business of dealing in firearms and thus required to obtain a federal firearms license.
The Final Rule conforms the ATF regulations to the new BSCA definition and further clarifies the conduct that presumptively requires a license under that revised definition, among other things.
Federally licensed firearms dealers are critical to federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement in our shared goal of promoting public safety. Licensees submit background checks on potential purchasers to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which helps to keep firearms out of the hands of prohibited persons.
Further, licensees keep records of sales transactions to help ensure that when a gun is used in a crime and recovered by law enforcement it can be traced back to the first retail purchaser; they help identify and prevent straw purchasers from buying firearms on behalf of prohibited persons and criminals; and they facilitate safe storage of firearms by providing child-safety locks with every transferred handgun and offer customers other secure gun storage options.
Unlicensed dealing, however, undermines these public-safety features — which is why Congress has long prohibited engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without the required license.
To increase compliance with the statutes Congress has enacted, the Final Rule identifies conduct that is presumed to require a federal firearms license. And, in addition to implementing the revised statutory definition discussed above, the Final Rule clarifies the circumstances in which a license is — or is not — required by, among other things, adding a definition of “personal firearms collection” to ensure that genuine hobbyists and collectors may enhance or liquidate their collections without fear of violating the law. The Final Rule also provides clarity as to what licensees must do with their inventory when they go out of business.
The Final Rule goes into effect 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register.
On Sept. 8, 2023, the Justice Department published a notice of proposed rulemaking, and during the 90-day open comment period, ATF received nearly 388,000 comments.
Stars like the Sun are remarkably constant. They vary in brightness by only 0.1% over years and decades, thanks to the fusion of hydrogen into helium that powers them. This process will keep the Sun shining steadily for about 5 billion more years, but when stars exhaust their nuclear fuel, their deaths can lead to pyrotechnics.
Supernovae happen across the Milky Way only a few times a century, and these violent explosions are usually remote enough that people here on Earth don’t notice. For a dying star to have any effect on life on our planet, it would have to go supernova within 100 light years from Earth.
In my writing about cosmic endings, I’ve described the threat posed by stellar cataclysms such as supernovae and related phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts. Most of these cataclysms are remote, but when they occur closer to home they can pose a threat to life on Earth.
The dying star emits high energy radiation as gamma rays. Gamma rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths much shorter than light waves, meaning they’re invisible to the human eye. The dying star also releases a torrent of high-energy particles in the form of cosmic rays: subatomic particles moving at close to the speed of light.
Supernovae in the Milky Way are rare, but a few have been close enough to Earth that historical records discuss them. In 185 A.D., a star appeared in a place where no star had previously been seen. It was probably a supernova.
Observers around the world saw a bright star suddenly appear in 1006 A.D. Astronomers later matched it to a supernova 7,200 light years away. Then, in 1054 A.D., Chinese astronomers recorded a star visible in the daytime sky that astronomers subsequently identified as a supernova 6,500 light years away.
At 600 light years away, the red supergiant Betelgeuse in the constellation of Orion is the nearest massive star getting close to the end of its life. When it goes supernova, it will shine as bright as the full Moon for those watching from Earth, without causing any damage to life on our planet.
Radiation damage
If a star goes supernova close enough to Earth, the gamma-ray radiation could damage some of the planetary protection that allows life to thrive on Earth. There’s a time delay due to the finite speed of light. If a supernova goes off 100 light years away, it takes 100 years for us to see it.
Astronomers have found evidence of a supernova 300 light years away that exploded 2.5 million years ago. Radioactive atoms trapped in seafloor sediments are the telltale signs of this event. Radiation from gamma rays eroded the ozone layer, which protects life on Earth from the Sun’s harmful radiation. This event would have cooled the climate, leading to the extinction of some ancient species.
Safety from a supernova comes with greater distance. Gamma rays and cosmic rays spread out in all directions once emitted from a supernova, so the fraction that reach the Earth decreases with greater distance. For example, imagine two identical supernovae, with one 10 times closer to Earth than the other. Earth would receive radiation that’s about a hundred times stronger from the closer event.
A supernova within 30 light years would be catastrophic, severely depleting the ozone layer, disrupting the marine food chain and likely causing mass extinction. Some astronomers guess that nearby supernovae triggered a series of mass extinctions 360 to 375 million years ago. Luckily, these events happen within 30 light years only every few hundred million years.
Left behind after a supernova explosion, neutron stars are city-size balls of matter with the density of an atomic nucleus, so 300 trillion times denser than the Sun. These collisions created many of the gold and precious metals on Earth. The intense pressure caused by two ultradense objects colliding forces neutrons into atomic nuclei, which creates heavier elements such as gold and platinum.
A neutron star collision generates an intense burst of gamma rays. These gamma rays are concentrated into a narrow jet of radiation that packs a big punch.
If the Earth were in the line of fire of a gamma-ray burst within 10,000 light years, or 10% of the diameter of the galaxy, the burst would severely damage the ozone layer. It would also damage the DNA inside organisms’ cells, at a level that would kill many simple life forms like bacteria.
Gamma-ray bursts may not hold an imminent threat to life on Earth, but over very long time scales, bursts will inevitably hit the Earth. The odds of a gamma-ray burst triggering a mass extinction are 50% in the past 500 million years and 90% in the 4 billion years since there has been life on Earth.
The most extreme astrophysical events have a long reach. Astronomers were reminded of this in October 2022, when a pulse of radiation swept through the solar system and overloaded all of the gamma-ray telescopes in space.
It was the brightest gamma-ray burst to occur since human civilization began. The radiation caused a sudden disturbance to the Earth’s ionosphere, even though the source was an explosion nearly 2 billion light years away. Life on Earth was unaffected, but the fact that it altered the ionosphere is sobering – a similar burst in the Milky Way would be a million times brighter.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has more new dogs waiting to go to their forever families this week.
The Clearlake Animal Control website lists 34 adoptable dogs.
This week’s dogs include “Romeo,” a male German shepherd mix with a tricolor coat.
And of course there is “Juliet,” a 2-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever mix.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
State and local leaders discussed unique challenges facing rural California at an event hosted by the Public Policy Initiative of California last month. The event put a spotlight on a statewide initiative to support regional economic development efforts—the focus of a 2022 Little Hoover Commission study.
"California's vibrant sustainable future depends on its rural communities,” said Ashley Swearengin, former Mayor of Fresno and current President and CEO of the Central Valley Community Foundation. She added that investment in rural California "actually means a brighter future for other parts of the state.”
California has a unique opportunity to further its efforts to build a “regions up” approach to development that brings together goals surrounding economy, equity, and environment through the Regional Investment Initiative, Swearengin told the crowd.
The Regional Investment Initiative (formerly the Community Economic Resilience Fund, or CERF, is a $600 million state initiative launched in 2021 to support regional collaboratives as they work to develop and implement strategies for inclusive development.
In its November 2022 report Equitable Economic Development across California, the Commission applauded Governor Newsom and state leaders for this bold investment in California’s regional economic agenda.
The initiative, the commission found, offered a tremendous opportunity for the state to strengthen and expand existing grassroots coalitions and accelerate more inclusive and sustainable regional economic growth.
In turn, these efforts would help California lift up its inland and rural regions, which suffer from disparities in income, employment, and opportunity, as compared to the state’s coastal cities.
However, the commission also learned that the initiative suffered from challenges, including balancing among different outcome goals, ensuring that regions receive the scale of investment necessary to change their economic trajectories, and coordinating the range of state programs that can support inclusive regional economic development.
In recognition of these obstacles, the commission outlined several recommendations to help the state better support regions as they seek to execute economic development strategies:
• Prioritize historically disadvantaged regions and subregions for funding within the Regional Investment Initiative and related programs. • Provide greater strategic clarity to the Regional Investment Initiative by focusing the program more specifically on the creation of quality jobs in sustainable industries with high growth potential and on connecting members of disadvantaged communities with the quality jobs created. • Encourage and support regional investments in traded sectors (those that sell goods and services outside of the region). • Create a single, senior point of leadership for regional economic development. Further, the state should coordinate state funding and programs in support of regional economic development strategies. • Increase regional capacity for inclusive economic development by dedicating ongoing funding for regional partnerships responsible for guiding regional economic development. The state should also plan for how to structure and sustain regional collaboration after the end of Regional Investment Initiative. • Allocate ongoing funding to better enable colleges and universities to act as leaders in regional economic development and improve alignment with regional economies. • Institutionalize the regular reporting of metrics relating to the health of regional economies and the extent of regional economic disparities.
Regional collaboratives are in the midst of developing roadmaps, including a strategy and recommended series of investments, for their respective regions.
Last month, Gov. Newsom also announced the creation of the California Jobs First Council, which will help support regional collaboratives to expand industry and create jobs locally.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument is expected to soon be expanded thanks to anticipated action by President Joe Biden.
The 330,780-acre monument — most of which is located in Lake County — is being considered for expansion through the addition of the Walker Ridge area.
That area, totaling 13,753 acres, will be referred to as “Molok Luyuk,” which means, “Condor Ridge,” in the Patwin language.
Reports came out of Washington, D.C. this week that President Biden plans to approve the monument’s expansion.
Biden was vice president when, on July 10, 2015, President Barack Obama — following an extensive campaign by state, local, tribal and federal representatives — designated the monument, which runs across the California Coastal Range in Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano and Yolo counties.
The rugged land boasts abundant wildlife, plants and other natural resources, and is a haven for outdoor recreation. It is managed by the Mendocino National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management.
Congressman Mike Thompson, Lake County’s longtime member of the House of Representatives, introduced the original legislation to designate Berryessa Monument back in 2015 and is the co-sponsor of the bill to expand the monument, as well.
"I worked to designate the Berryessa Snow Mountain region as a national monument in 2015, and I've worked to expand it ever since. The Monument's designation has played a crucial role in protecting the biodiversity of Northern California and an expansion of the Monument would have an immense positive impact on the region,” Thompson said.
While Biden’s action on the monument is pending, Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, has a resolution urging the Berryessa Snow Mountain expansion which is set to be heard in a state Senate committee early next week.
“I thank the president for recognizing the incredible beauty and rich resources that make Berryessa Snow Mountain one of the most scenic and diverse landscapes in all of Northern California,” Sen. Dodd said. “It is vital to include this additional piece, which was home to native tribes for thousands of years. We can recognize the land’s cultural significance while protecting it for generations to come.”
In 2015, Sen. Dodd wrote Assembly Joint Resolution 4, the first time a state Legislature passed a measure asking the president to create a national monument. At that time, he was the Assembly member representing an area that included Lake County.
“I am proud to have been on hand when President Obama finalized the official designation,” Sen. Dodd said.
The designation arrives amid vanishing wild lands around the world. Nationwide, natural land is declining at a rate of one football field every 30 seconds, threatening plant and animal species and contributing to climate change, Dodd pointed out.
In response, both President Joe Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom have championed the so-called 30X30 goal, which sets aside 30% of natural and coastal waters by 2030 to protect habitat, preserve history and maintain recreational opportunities.
Now, proposals before the president and Congress would expand Berryessa Snow Mountain Monument by 3,900 acres in Lake County.
They also support renaming the area commonly known as Walker Ridge to Molok Luyuk, reflecting the area’s cultural significance to many federally recognized tribes in the region.
By doing so, it would also provide opportunities for partnerships between the tribes, BLM and the U.S. Forest Service.
Sen. Dodd’s Senate Joint Resolution 10 helps fulfill state and federal goals by supporting federal approval of the monument’s expansion.
The state Senate Natural Resources committee is expected to endorse Sen. Dodd’s bill in a hearing on Monday.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional information on the original legislation by Congressman Mike Thompson.
Adi Foord, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
If the James Webb telescope was 10 times more powerful, could we see the beginning of time? - Sam H., age 12, Prosper, Texas
The James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST for short, is one of the most advanced telescopes ever built. Planning for JWST began over 25 years ago, and construction efforts spanned over a decade. It was launched into space on Dec. 25, 2021, and within a month arrived at its final destination: 930,000 miles away from Earth. Its location in space allows it a relatively unobstructed view of the universe.
The telescope design was a global effort, led by NASA, and intended to push the boundaries of astronomical observation with revolutionary engineering. Its mirror is massive – about 21 feet (6.5 meters) in diameter. That’s nearly three times the size of the Hubble Space Telescope, which launched in 1990 and is still working today.
It’s a telescope’s mirror that allows it to collect light. JWST’s is so big that it can “see” the faintest and farthest galaxies and stars in the universe. Its state-of-the-art instruments can reveal information about the composition, temperature and motion of these distant cosmic objects.
As an astrophysicist, I’m continually looking back in time to see what stars, galaxies and supermassive black holes looked like when their light began its journey toward Earth, and I’m using that information to better understand their growth and evolution. For me, and for thousands of space scientists, the James Webb Space Telescope is a window to that unknown universe.
Just how far back can JWST peer into the cosmos and into the past? About 13.5 billion years.
Time travel
A telescope does not show stars, galaxies and exoplanets as they are right now. Instead, astronomers are catching a glimpse of how they were in the past. It takes time for light to travel across space and reach our telescopes. In essence, that means a look into space is also a trip back in time.
This is even true for objects that are quite close to us. The light you see from the Sun left it about 8 minutes, 20 seconds earlier. That’s how long it takes for the Sun’s light to travel to Earth.
You can easily do the math on this. All light – whether sunlight, a flashlight or a light bulb in your house – travels at 186,000 miles (almost 300,000 kilometers) per second. That’s just over 11 million miles (about 18 million kilometers) per minute. The Sun is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from Earth. That comes out to about 8 minutes, 20 seconds.
But the farther away something is, the longer its light takes to reach us. That’s why the light we see from Proxima Centauri, the closest star to us aside from our Sun, is 4 years old; that is, it’s about 25 trillion miles (approximately 40 trillion kilometers) away from Earth, so that light takes just over four years to reach us. Or, as scientists like to say, four light years.
The James Webb Space Telescope is looking much farther back in time than previously possible with other telescopes, such as the Hubble Space Telescope. For example, although Hubble can see objects 60,000 times fainter than the human eye is able, the JWST can see objects almost nine times fainter than even Hubble can.
The Big Bang
But is it possible to see back to the beginning of time?
The name is a bit misleading, however, because it suggests that some sort of explosion, like fireworks, created the universe. The Big Bang more closely represents the appearance of rapidly expanding space everywhere in the universe. The environment immediately after the Big Bang was similar to a cosmic fog that covered the universe, making it hard for light to travel beyond it. Eventually, galaxies, stars and planets started to grow.
That’s why this era in the universe is called the “cosmic dark ages.” As the universe continued to expand, the cosmic fog began to rise, and light was eventually able to travel freely through space. In fact, a few satellites have observed the light left by the Big Bang, about 380,000 years after it occurred. These telescopes were built to detect the splotchy leftover glow from the Big Bang, whose light can be tracked in the microwave band.
However, even 380,000 years after the Big Bang, there were no stars and galaxies. The universe was still a very dark place. The cosmic dark ages wouldn’t end until a few hundred million years later, when the first stars and galaxies began to form.
The James Webb Space Telescope was not designed to observe as far back as the Big Bang, but instead to see the period when the first objects in the universe began to form and emit light. Before this time period, there is little light for the James Webb Space Telescope to observe, given the conditions of the early universe and the lack of galaxies and stars.
Peering back to the time period close to the Big Bang is not simply a matter of having a larger mirror – astronomers have already done it using other satellites that observe microwave emission from very soon after the Big Bang. So, the James Webb Space Telescope observing the universe a few hundred million years after the Big Bang isn’t a limitation of the telescope. Rather, that’s actually the telescope’s mission. It’s a reflection of where in the universe we expect the first light from stars and galaxies to emerge.
By studying ancient galaxies, scientists hope to understand the unique conditions of the early universe and gain insight into the processes that helped them flourish. That includes the evolution of supermassive black holes, the life cycle of stars, and what exoplanets – worlds beyond our solar system – are made of.
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Reinforcing California’s commitment to supporting legal cannabis operators and dismantling the illegal market, the Governor’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce, or UCETF, seized more than $53,620,600 million in illegal cannabis in the first quarter of this calendar year.
Other enforcement highlights from the period of Jan. 1, 2024, through March 31, 2024, includes:
• 31,866 pounds of unlicensed cannabis seized. • 54,137 unlicensed cannabis plants eradicated. • $34,858 in cash seized. • 11 firearms seized. • Four arrests.
“California is home to the largest legal cannabis market in the world,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “As we continue to cultivate a legal marketplace, we're taking aggressive action to crack down on those still operating in the shadows — shutting down illegal operations linked to organized crime, human trafficking, and the proliferation of illegal products that harm the environment and public health.”
“UCETF continues to strengthen its momentum by focusing on priority targets and strategically removing operations having a significant impact on the illegal cannabis supply chain,” said Nathaniel Arnold, acting chief of the CDFW Law Enforcement Division. “We are utilizing all the available resources from our partner agencies and are committed more than ever to providing public safety, protecting the environment, and helping the regulated market succeed and thrive.”
“A key to UCETF’s success is a collaborative approach relying on intelligence gathering, targeted investigations and leveraging the expertise of our members,” said Bill Jones, chief of the Law Enforcement Division for DCC. “The Taskforce continues to play a crucial role in protecting the legal cannabis market while eliminating the often-dangerous activities associated with unlicensed cannabis operations.”
The following state agencies and departments participated in UCETF operations during Q1 2024: Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Department of Cannabis Control, Employment Development Department, Department of Fish and Wildlife, California National Guard Counter Drug Task Force, California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, California State Parks, and the Department of Tax and Fee Administration. In addition, multiple federal and local partners assisted with enforcement operations during the first quarter of 2024.
A total of 18 search warrants were served during Q1 2024 in the following counties: Alameda (2); Fresno (1); Kern (5); Los Angeles (1); Riverside (2); San Joaquin (1); and Orange County (6).
Since inception, UCETF has seized $371,199,431 in unlicensed cannabis through 236 search warrants. The taskforce has also eradicated 401,458 plants and seized 139 firearms.
Created by Governor Newsom in 2022, the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce has been charged to further align state efforts and increase cannabis enforcement coordination between state, local and federal partners. UCETF’s enforcement actions protect consumer and public safety, safeguard the environment, and deprive illegal cannabis operators and transnational criminal organizations of illicit revenue that harms consumers and undercuts the regulated cannabis market in California.
The taskforce is co-chaired by the Department of Cannabis Control and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and coordinated by the Homeland Security Division of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. The taskforce includes more than two dozen local, state, and federal partners working together to disrupt the illegal cannabis market.
The Department of Cannabis Control, or DCC, licenses and regulates commercial cannabis activity within California. DCC works closely with all stakeholders, including businesses and local jurisdictions, to create a sustainable legal cannabis industry and a safe and equitable marketplace. DCC develops and implements progressive cannabis policies with robust protections for public health, safety, and the environment.
To learn more about the California cannabis market, state licenses and laws, visit www.cannabis.ca.gov.
Most of those who were discharged to long-term acute care centers had ailments that lasted for more than a year.
UC San Francisco researchers examined COVID-19 patients across the United States who survived some of the longest and most harrowing battles with the virus and found that about two-thirds still had physical, psychiatric, and cognitive problems for up to a year later.
The study, which appeared April 10 in the journal Critical Care Medicine, reveals the life-altering impact of SARS-CoV-2 on these individuals, the majority of whom had to be placed on mechanical ventilators for an average of one month.
Too sick to be discharged to a skilled nursing home or rehabilitation facility, these patients were transferred instead to special hospitals known as long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs). These hospitals specialize in weaning patients off ventilators and providing rehabilitation care, and they were a crucial part of the pandemic response.
Among the 156 study participants, 64% reported having a persistent impairment after one year, including physical (57%), respiratory (49%), psychiatric (24%), and cognitive (15%). Nearly half, or 47%, had more than one type of problem. And 19% continued to need supplemental oxygen.
The long-term follow up helps to outline the extent of the medical problems experienced by those who became seriously ill with COVID early in the pandemic.
“We have millions of survivors of the most severe and prolonged COVID illness globally,” said the study’s first author, Anil N. Makam, MD, MAS, an associate professor of medicine at UCSF. “Our study is important to understand their recovery and long-term impairments, and to provide a nuanced understanding of their life-changing experience.”
Disabilities from long-term hospital stays
Researchers recruited 156 people who had been transferred for COVID to one of nine LTACHs in Nebraska, Texas, Georgia, Kentucky, and Connecticut between March 2020 and February 2021. They questioned them by telephone or online a year after their hospitalization.
The average total length of stay in the hospital and the LTACH for the group was about two months. Their average age was 65, and most said they had been healthy before getting COVID.
In addition to their lingering ailments from COVID, the participants also had persistent problems from their long hospital stays, including painful bedsores and nerve damage that limited the use of their arms or legs.
“Many of the participants we interviewed were most bothered by these complications, so preventing these from happening in the first place is key to recovery,” Makam said.
Although 79% said they had not returned to their usual health, 99% had returned home, and 60% of those who had previously been employed said they had gone back to work.
They were overwhelmingly grateful to have survived, often describing their survival as a “miracle.” But their recovery took longer than expected.
The results underscore that it is normal for someone who has survived such severe illness to have persistent health problems.
“The long-lasting impairments we observed are common to survivors of any prolonged critical illness, and not specific to COVID, and are best addressed through multidisciplinary rehabilitation,” Makam said.
Authors: Additional UCSF co-authors include Oanh Kieu Nguyen, MD, MAS, Eddie Espejo, MA, Cinthia Blat, MPH, W. John Boscardin, Ph.D. and Kenneth E. Covinsky, MD, MPH.
Funding: The work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging (K23AG052603), the UCSF Research Evaluation and Allocation Committee (Carson and Hampton Research Funds) and the National Association of Long Term Hospitals. The authors had no conflicts of interest to disclose.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s newest municipal advisory council’s members have been selected and the group is expected to hold its first meeting this month.
At its April 2 meeting, the Board of Supervisors selected the five members and one alternate to fill the seats on the council, which will represent the Kelseyville planning area.
The council was officially formed at the board’s March 12 meeting.
The supervisors voted unanimously to appoint Angel Acosta, Megan Lankford, Big Valley Tribal Chair Flaman McCloud, Brian Hanson and Joy Merrilees to the general membership seats, and Greg Panella as the alternate.
Acosta, Lankford, Hanson, Merrilees and Panella were all part of the group involved with drafting the new council’s bylaws.
However, so far, an agenda has not been released or posted on the county’s website, and the new council isn’t listed on the county webpage for board-appointed councils and commissions.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — An incoming cold front is expected to bring rain Friday and over the weekend.
Lake County has enjoyed several sunny days with warmer temperatures, a pattern forecast to hold on Thursday.
The National Weather Service said the warmer seasonal conditions will give way to “widespread light rain and gusty south wind Friday afternoon into the weekend. Warmer weather will return mid next week.”
The Lake County forecast calls for rainfall amounts of up to an inch for Friday and Saturday, with slighter chances of rain on Sunday.
Gusting winds of about 10 miles per hour are in the forecast for Friday and Saturday.
Temperatures from Friday to Sunday will range from the high 50s during the day to the low 40s at night.
From Monday through Wednesday, temperatures will be on the rise again, reaching the high 60s during the day while at night lingering in the low 40s.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.