Starting at 5:30 p.m. each evening, great bands will perform on the veranda of the restored Tallman Hotel with the audience gathered in the intimate garden between the hotel and saloon.

It’s a great time of day and a great spot to enjoy world-class music with a tasty barbecue dinner included in the price of admission.

Advance tickets are $50 and are available for purchase by calling the Tallman Hotel at 707-275-2244. Tickets may also be purchased the day of the event for $55.

The lineup is as follows:

• Friday, Aug. 5 – David Landon to open followed by Alvon Johnson and band.

• Saturday, Aug. 6 – Pat Wider to open followed by Delta Wires.

• Sunday, Aug. 7 – Blues Kitchen opens for John Lee Hooker Jr.

In addition, on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5, the Blue Wing Labor Day Blues Festival welcomes Starlight, who opens for Rick Estrin and The Nightcats.

For more information on the Blues Festival or other musical events at the Blue Wing Saloon & Café, call 707-275-2244 or visit www.tallmanhotel.com or www.bluewingsaloon.com.

For visitor information, contact the Lake County Visitor Information Center at 800-525-3743 or www.lakecounty.com.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – While there have been improvements in the unemployment picture around the nation and here in Lake County over the last several months, those gains rolled back slightly in June.

The latest report from the California Employment Development Department showed that California's unemployment was at 11.8 percent in June, up slightly from May's 11.7 percent but down from 12.4 percent in June 2010.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nationwide unemployment was 9.2 percent in June, compared to 9.1 percent for May and 9.5 percent in June of last year.

Lake County's unemployment rate in June was 17.3 percent, up from 16.8 percent in May, which had been the lowest rate for the county since June of 2010, when it was 16.7 percent, according to state records. This June's unemployment rate ranked Lake 51^st amongst the state's 58 counties.

The Employment Development Department said nonfarm jobs in California totaled 14,068,600 in June, an increase of 28,800 jobs over the month, according to a survey of 42,000 businesses that measures jobs in the economy.

The state's year-over-year change – June 2010 to June 2011 – shows an increase of 156,800 jobs, up 1.1 percent, the report noted.

The number of people unemployed in California was 2,134,000 – up by 18,000 over the month, but down by 116,000 compared with June of last year.

At the same time, a federal survey of households, which uses a smaller sample than the survey of

employers, shows a decrease in the number of employed people, estimating the number of Californians holding jobs in June was 15,910,000, a decrease of 37,000 from May, and down 13,000 from the employment total in June of last year.

The Employment Development Department reported that there were 528,919 people receiving regular

unemployment insurance benefits during the June survey week, compared to 553,041 in May and 643,428 in June of 2010.

The agency said new claims for unemployment insurance in June were up, totaling 74,944, compared with 65,115 in May and 75,866 in June of last year.

Marin continued to have the lowest unemployment in March, at 8 percent, while Imperial topped the state with 28.5 percent, the state said.

Dennis Mullins of the Employment Development Department's Labor Market Information Division said Lake County industry employment increased by 680 in June, ending the month-over period with 13,690 jobs.

Eight industry sectors gained jobs or were unchanged over the month and three declined, Mullins said. Government is down 50 jobs over the month and remained down 200 over the year.

Mullins said month-over job growth occurred in farm, which gained 600 jobs; Mining, logging and construction, 20; manufacturing, 20; trade, transportation and utilities; leisure and hospitality, 80; and other services, 20.

Industries with no change over the month were information and professional and business services, while Mullins said industries that declined locally over the month included financial activities and private educational and health services, which each lost 10 jobs, and government, with 50 jobs lost.

Lake's neighboring counties registered the following unemployment rates and statewide ranks: Colusa, 19.1 percent, No. 55; Glenn, 16.2 percent, No. 45; Yolo, 12.1 percent, No. 23; Mendocino, 10.9 percent, No. 13; Napa, 9.2 percent, No. 5; and Sonoma, 10.1 percent, No. 8.

Among Lake County's communities, Clearlake Oaks had the highest unemployment, 25.5 percent, followed by Nice, 25 percent; the city of Clearlake, 24.6 percent; Lucerne, 18.2 percent; Kelseyville, 17.6 percent; Middletown, 17.5 percent; city of Lakeport, 16.7 percent; Cobb, 15.5 percent; Lower Lake, 14.5 percent; Hidden Valley Lake, 14.3 percent; north Lakeport, 13.7 percent; and Upper Lake, 9 percent.

Lake County's labor force in June was composed of 25,630 people, a 3.3-percent increase over May but a 2.8 percent loss since June 2010, when there were 26,360 local workers.

State details job growth, losses

Based on the Employment Development Department's report, seven categories – manufacturing; information; financial activities; professional and business services; educational and health services; leisure and hospitality; and other services – added jobs over the month, gaining 40,900 jobs. Professional and business services posted the largest increase over the month, adding 16,400 jobs.

Two categories – construction and trade, transportation and utilities – reported job declines over the month, down 12,100 jobs. Trade, transportation and utilities posted the largest decrease over the month, down 11,000 jobs. Two categories, mining and logging and government, recorded no change over the month.

Eight categories (mining and logging; construction; manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; information; professional and business services; educational and health services; and leisure and hospitality) posted job gains over the year, adding 222,400 jobs, according to the report.

Of those groups, the state said professional and business services posted the largest gain on a numerical basis, adding 66,300 jobs, up 3.2 percent. Information posted the largest gain on a percentage basis, up by 6.5 percent, an increase of 27,900 jobs.

Three categories – financial activities; other services; and government – posted job declines over the year, down 65,600 jobs. Government posted the largest decline on both a numerical and percentage basis, down by 61,600 jobs, a decrease of 2.5 percent, the Employment Development Department reported.

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Jupiter's swirling clouds can be seen through any department store telescope.

With no more effort than it takes to bend over an eyepiece, you can witness storm systems bigger than Earth navigating ruddy belts that stretch hundreds of thousands of kilometers around Jupiter's vast equator. It's fascinating.

It's also vexing. According to many researchers, the really interesting things – from the roots of monster storms to stores of exotic matter – are located at depth. The clouds themselves hide the greatest mysteries from view.

NASA's Juno probe, scheduled to launch on Aug. 5, could change all that. The goal of the mission is to answer the question: What lies inside Jupiter?

“Our knowledge of Jupiter is truly skin deep,” said Juno's principal investigator, Scott Bolton of the SouthWest Research Institute in San Antonio, TX. “Even the Galileo probe, which dived into the clouds in 1995, penetrated no more than about 0.2 percent of Jupiter’s radius.”

There are many basic things researchers would like to know – like how far down does the Great Red Spot go? How much water does Jupiter hold? And what is the exotic material near the planet's core?

Juno will lift the veil without actually diving through the clouds. Bolton explains how: “Swooping as low as 5000 km above the cloudtops, Juno will spend a full year orbiting nearer to Jupiter than any previous spacecraft. The probe's flight path will cover all latitudes and longitudes, allowing us to fully map Jupiter's gravitational field and thus figure out how the interior is layered.”

Jupiter is made primarily of hydrogen, but only the outer layers may be in gaseous form.

Deep inside Jupiter, researchers believe, high temperatures and crushing pressures transform the gas into an exotic form of matter known as liquid metallic hydrogen – a liquid form of hydrogen akin to the slippery mercury in an old-fashioned thermometer.

Jupiter's powerful magnetic field almost certainly springs from dynamo action inside this vast realm of electrically conducting fluid.

“Juno's magnetometers will precisely map Jupiter's magnetic field,” said Bolton. “This will tell us a great deal about the planet's inner magnetic dynamo [and the role liquid metallic hydrogen plays in it].”

Juno will also probe Jupiter's atmosphere using a set of microwave radiometers.

“Our sensors can measure the temperature and water content at depths where the pressure is 50 times greater than what the Galileo probe experienced,” said Bolton.

Jupiter's water content is of particular interest. There are two leading theories of Jupiter's origin: One holds that Jupiter formed more or less where it is today, while the other suggests Jupiter formed at greater distances from the sun, later migrating to its current location. (Imagine the havoc a giant planet migrating through the solar system could cause.)

The two theories predict different amounts of water in Jupiter's interior, so Juno should be able to distinguish between them – or rule out both.

Finally, Juno will get a grand view of the most powerful Northern Lights in the Solar System.

“Juno's polar orbit is ideal for studying Jupiter's auroras,” explains Bolton. “They are really strong, and we don't fully understand how they are created.”

Unlike Earth, which lights up in response to solar activity, Jupiter makes its own auroras. The power source is the giant planet's own rotation.

Although Jupiter is 10 times wider than Earth, it manages to spin around 2.5 times as fast as our little planet.

As any freshman engineering student knows, if you spin a magnet – and Jupiter is a very big magnet – you've got an electric generator.

Induced electric fields accelerate particles toward Jupiter's poles where the aurora action takes place. Remarkably, many of the particles that rain down on Jupiter's poles appear to be ejecta from volcanoes on Io. How this complicated system actually works is a puzzle.

It's a puzzle that members of the public will witness at close range thanks to JunoCam – a public outreach instrument modeled on the descent camera for Mars rover Curiosity.

When Juno swoops low over the cloudtops, JunoCam will go to work, snapping pictures better than the best Hubble images of Jupiter.

“JunoCam will show us what you would see if you were an astronaut orbiting Jupiter,” said Bolton. “I am looking forward to that.”

Juno is slated to reach Jupiter in 2016.

Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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On Wednesday, July 27, 2011, Michael McDaniel was arrested for burglary and his girlfriend Alicia Moore was arrested for being an accessory the following day. Lake County Jail photos.

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A local man has been arrested in connection with a series of Clearlake Oaks burglaries that occurred over the past two months, with his girlfriend also being arrested as an accessory after warning him that law enforcement was looking for him.

Michael Christopher McDaniel, 25, was arrested on Wednesday and 24-year-old Alicia Michelle Moore on Thursday, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Bauman said the arrests resulted from an extensive investigation and coordinated effort between sheriff’s deputies, Major Crimes Unit detectives and burglary victims from the Clearlake Oaks area.

Along with the arrests, nearly $2,000 worth of stolen property was recovered, Bauman said.

In late June and early July, several residential burglaries in the Clearlake Oaks area were reported to the sheriff’s office. Bauman said an estimated $3,500 worth of jewelry, coins, stamp collections, clothing, artwork and home electronics were reportedly stolen as a result of those burglaries.

On July 5, sheriff’s deputies were alerted by one of the burglary victims that some of the property stolen from their home had been located in a secondhand store in the Big Oaks Plaza in Clearlake Oaks, Bauman said.

He said some of that victim’s stolen property ultimately was recovered from the store and due largely to the cooperation of the store owner, the person responsible for selling the stolen items to the store was identified the following day as McDaniel.

Further investigation by detectives with the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit over the next two weeks led to the identification and recovery of additional stolen property from another one of the burglaries at another secondhand store in Clearlake Oaks, Bauman said. On July 22, detectives secured an arrest warrant for McDaniel and a search warrant for McDaniel’s Clearlake Oaks home.

On July 27, sheriff’s detectives served the search warrant at McDaniel’s home on Shoreview Drive. Bauman said detectives learned from Moore, McDaniel’s girlfriend, that McDaniel had moved out of the home two days prior. However, detectives also learned that some of the property stolen in the burglaries had been seen at the home prior to McDaniel leaving.

Bauman said a relative, who became aware that McDaniel was wanted, coordinated McDaniel’s surrender to sheriff’s detectives later that day and he was arrested without incident.

McDaniel was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked for first degree burglary. He remained in jail on Thursday with bail set at $30,000, Bauman said.

During McDaniel’s arrest, detectives learned that his girlfriend, Moore, had alerted him that he was being sought and to “run,” shortly after detectives left his home that day. Bauman said Moore was arrested on Thursday for felony accessory and booked at the Hill Road Correctional Facility as well.

Jail records showed that Moore remained in the jail on Thursday with bail set at $10,000.

Bauman said sheriff’s detectives have since located additional stolen property at the home of one of

McDaniel’s relatives.

To date, nearly $2,000.00 in stolen property has been recovered and the investigation continues, he said.

Anyone with information on any other burglaries in the area or McDaniel’s activities is encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit at 707-262-4200.

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“Romeo and Juliet” will appear on the Soper-Reese stage for seven shows between Friday, July 29, and Sunday, Aug. 6.

In addition, a special preview will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 28. General admission tickets cost $7.

“This is the start of something big,” said John Tomlinson, artistic director of New Vintage Productions – the theater company producing the event – at the first rehearsal at the theater on Sunday, July 24.

Auditions were held in May, and the cast has been rehearsing since early June, according to Gina Dickson, mother of cast-member Natalia Dickson.

“The production has come so far in a short time,” Dickson said. “Not only have they learned their parts, they have learned about all aspects of what it takes to produce a successful show including selling ads, marketing, designing and constructing sets – everything – including language lessons!”

The production includes an all-ages cast ranging from 6 year olds to those over 60, according to the producers.

Tomlinson said that according to Managing Director Claudia Listman, co-founder of the Lake County Repertory Theatre, this full production of Shakespeare's famed Romeo & Juliet will be the first full-scale Shakespeare production in Lake County.

Included in the 24-member cast and ensemble, the seven-member “Il Mio Divas” will entrance the audience with a Capella songs.

In the future, New Vintage Productions plans to do a major theater production each summer, Tomlinson said, with other smaller productions throughout the year to give the community and its youth experience in the theater arts.

“We try to engage the youth in drama arts,” Tomlinson said, “and all cast members participate in the outcome of the production. … It's about the process. Keeping people involved and enjoying what they do.”

Shows will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, July 29, and Saturday, July 30; 2 p.m. Sunday, July 31; 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 7.

Advance tickets cost $15 for general assigned seating and $20 for premium seating; all tickets cost an additional $2 at the door.

To buy tickets online visit https://www.ticketturtle.com/index.php?ticketing=srct or call the Soper-Reese box office at 707-263-0577. The theater's Web site is www.soperreesetheatre.com/.

The Soper-Reese Community Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport.

E-mail Terre Logsdon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.

A Cal Fire tanker drops retardant on a fire in Spring Valley near Clearlake Oaks, Calif., on Friday, July 29, 2011. Photo by James Hershey.

SPRING VALLEY, Calif. – An aggressive effort by local and state firefighters Friday evening stopped a fire that ran up a hill and at one point endangered homes in Spring Valley.

The fire, reported after 5 p.m., started at the base of Wolf Creek, according to Northshore Fire Deputy Chief Pat Brown.

“It ran up a very steep incline,” and crested a ridge, Brown said.

He said the fire originally threatened some homes as it ran the northern ridge out of Spring Valley.

Northshore Fire sent three engines, two water tenders and a battalion chief, and Cal Fire sent five engines, three dozers, six hand crews, two helicopters and four fixed air wing aircraft, Brown said.

The fire was contained at an estimated 25 acres, but Brown said aircraft will reevaluate the acreage on Saturday.

The cause is under investigation, Brown said.

Brown said mop up and monitoring would continue throughout the night, with firefighters remaining on scene.

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The fire in Spring Valley near Clearlake Oaks, Calif., burned an estimated 25 acres on Friday, July 29, 2011. Photo by James Hershey.

The Spring Valley fire on Friday, July 29, 2011, began at the base of Wolf Creek and made a run up a incline. Photo by James Hershey.

Lisa Kauppinen sent in this picture of a Cal Fire helicopter used to drop water on the fire in Spring Valley near Clearlake Oaks, Calif., on Friday, July 29, 2011.

Firefighters make their way up to the Spring Valley fire as flames leap into the sky on Friday, July 29, 2011. Photo by Gary McAuley.

The workshop will be held on Thursday, Aug. 11, at 5:30 p.m. at the Sons of Italy Hall, located at 2817 E. Highway 20 in Nice, and is presented by the Lake County Redevelopment Agency and Mogavero Notestine Associates.

David Mogavero, principal at Mogavero Notestine Associates, will review observations and input from the April workshop and present two conceptual site plans for the Holiday Harbor property.

The plans seek to maximize the site’s developable area while providing public access to the harbor and the lake.

Community input and questions on the conceptual plans will be solicited in an open forum. Lake County Redevelopment Agency officials will outline the proposed next steps in the process, including a time line for the final plan.

The Lake County Redevelopment Agency purchased the Holiday Harbor Resort and Marina, located at 3605 Lakeshore Boulevard, Nice, in June 2008.

The site includes 134 boat slips, picnic areas, restrooms, a boat launch and on-site caretaker.

The agency envisions development of the site and surrounding area as the future town center for Nice. The short-term goal of the agency is to develop a market development plan, including conceptual plans and other marketing pieces, to attract investment in the site by a private developer.

Funding for the creation of the market development plan is provided by a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Planning and Technical Assistance grant.

The agency awarded a contract for development of the plan to Mogavero Notestine Associates through a competitive request for proposals in February.

Mogavero Notestine Associates (MNA) is an award winning architecture, planning, urban design and development firm that specializes in innovative urban infill projects. Not only does MNA provide traditional architecture and planning services, but the agency expects their experience in feasibility analysis and private development to provide both a creative and tangible plan for the Holiday Harbor site.

Formed in 1999, the Lake County Redevelopment Agency works to eliminate blight and promote economic development in communities within the Northshore Redevelopment Project Area, which includes parts of Upper Lake, Nice, Lucerne, Glenhaven and Clearlake Oaks.

For more information about the project, contact the Lake County Redevelopment Agency at 707-263-2580 or visit www.co.lake.ca.us/redevelopment.

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The crash occurred at 2:35 p.m. Tuesday, according to a report from CHP Officer Kory Reynolds.

Holden King, 20, of Ukiah was driving a 1998 Ford truck tractor towing a Budweiser delivery trailer northbound on Highway 29 north of Mockingbird Lane at approximately 55 miles per hour when he feel asleep at the wheel, according to Reynolds.

When King fell asleep it allowed the truck to drift off the roadway and clip the Robinson Creek Bridge abutment. Reynolds said the vehicle continued northbound up the embankment and struck a power line support pole.

The truck and trailer came to rest blocking the northbound lane and phone lines were across both lanes, Reynolds said. Highway 29 was closed in both directions for approximately 90 minutes.

He said King was trapped in the truck and had to be extricated.

King was taken by REACH to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with a possible left leg fracture, ruptured spleen and lacerations to his left leg, Reynolds said.

The collision is still under investigation by Officer Erich Paarsch.

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Endowment funds ensure that your donations will be used by the charitable organization for certain specific purposes.

Consider, for example, St. Helena Hospital Clearlake which seeks funds specifically to build a new emergency room in Clearlake.

Endowments can stabilize the long term future of the charity and can create a lasting legacy for the donors. Let’s examine how endowments work.

Endowments are created by written agreement between one or more donors and a charitable organization to use for specific charitable purposes.

The agreement expressly states the purposes for which the donation may be used; how the donations may be invested; how much may be spent each year; and sometimes how long the fund is intended to last.

The agreement restricts the charity to accepting the gift according to the express terms of the agreement.

To the extent that the agreement is silent on any of these issues, California’s “Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act” (“UPMIA”) controls.

Because the endowment is a restricted fund it is not part of the charity’s general fund and cannot be used to pay general overhead.

Once established with an initial contribution, an endowment fund can receive further contributions from other like minded donors.

Such additional contributions also become subject to the same fund restrictions.

For example, a donor may give money to a high school to establish a high school endowment for the sole purpose of awarding an annual college scholarship to a worthy graduating senior.

The endowment may specify the selection procedures. The endowment may also specify that the high school may spend only the interest to pay the scholarship.

If the endowment fund agreement is silent, then California’s UPMIA law controls issues related to the fund’s investment strategy, spending strategy, and duration.

Regarding investments, California law says that the institution managing the fund, “shall manage and invest the fund in good faith and with the care an ordinarily prudent person in like position would exercise under similar circumstances.”

Meeting that standard entails consideration of numerous investment requirements, including that the fund investor has diversified investment portfolio; that the fund investor balance the competing needs to distribute for present charitable expenses and for future use; and that the fund investor consider the general economic conditions in making investment decisions.

Next, regarding payments, California law provides that spending over seven percent (7%) of the funds average value during the last three years is considered to be imprudent and in violation of the prudent investor rule.

The 7 percent rule is only a rule of thumb, however, and can be overcome by showing that it was reasonably prudent under the circumstances to pay more. Naturally, the fund agreement can provide otherwise.

Endowment funds can last indefinitely or can last for a term of years. The endowment agreement can specify whether the fund is a permanent endowment or term of years endowment.

If the agreement provides that the fund use “income” only (or a similar concept) then California law treats this as a permanent endowment.

A permanent endowment should invest for growth and use only the investment income for charitable purposes.

Anyone wishing to further a particular charitable purpose may wish to contact those charities whose mission encompasses the specific purpose.

If a charity already has an existing endowment fund that is directly relevant then contributions can be made to the existing fund.

If not, then perhaps the charity may be willing to establish an endowment agreement for such purpose.

Lastly, gifts to an endowment fund can be made while one is alive, or later through bequest after one dies.

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Friends and family built a roadside memorial to 4-year-old Joseph McCloud, who died on Wednesday, July 27, 2011, after he was struck by a car on Soda Bay Road outside of Lakeport, Calif. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Thursday the California Highway Patrol offered additional details on the Wednesday accident that took the life of a young child.

Four-year-old Joseph McCloud of Lakeport died after he was struck by a car on Soda Bay Road east of Osprey Court, according to CHP Officer Kory Reynolds.

Reynolds said the child was walking east with family members along Soda Bay Road's north shoulder just after 12:30 p.m. Wednesday when, for unknown reasons, he stepped into the westbound lane.

When he did so, the little boy was hit by the right front of a 2004 Saturn SUV driven by Lakeport resident James Bishop, 39, Reynolds said.

Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells had said on Wednesday that his paramedics responded to the Fastop convenience store at the intersection of Soda Bay Road and Highway 175, where the child had been transported. Paramedics found CHP working on the child to try to save him.

A Lakeport Fire ambulance transported the child to Sutter Lakeside Hospital where a REACH air ambulance was prepared to fly him out of county. However, Reynolds said the child was pronounced dead at 1:20 p.m.

Reynolds said the CHP is handling the investigation into the incident, in which alcohol was not a factor.

A memorial to the little boy has been built by friends and family at the accident site, near Big Valley Rancheria.

On Thursday, bright red and pink heart-shaped balloons, toy cars, candles, flowers and an array of stuffed animals – a kangaroo, toy dog, teddy bear, and Winnie the Pooh characters Tigger and Piglet – sat along the roadside near where the child was struck.

There also were homemade signs with handwritten messages to the little boy – who also was identified as Joseph Anderson – who would have turned 5 years old in September, according to a sign that recorded his birth date.

“We love you, Joe!” read one sign, while another sign said, “Forever in our thoughts.”

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The memorial to 4-year-old Joseph McCloud of Lakeport, Calif., included homemade signs, stuffed animals, flowers, balloons and candles. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.

On Wednesday, Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-1) successfully offered an amendment to H.R. 2584, the Interior-Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2012, that will preserve essential federal protections for America’s endangered and threatened species.

Specifically, Rep. Thompson’s amendment removed language – known as the Extinction Rider – that would have prevented the Fish and Wildlife Service from spending any funding to list new plants and animals under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

“We’ve been trying to get more species off the endangered species list for years, and the majority party is leading the way,” said Rep. Thompson. “Unfortunately, their strategy is to prevent endangered species from being listed as endangered in the first place. The Extinction Rider is so ridiculous that it would be comical, but for the dangerous effect it would have on imperiled species that are struggling to survive.”

“It is our responsibility to be good stewards of this earth and prevent the extinction of wildlife, plants, and fish,” Rep. Thompson added. “The sad truth is that once we lose a species we will never get it back. That is why we need to allow for science-based policies and recovery plans for imperiled species instead of allowing politics to drive listing decisions and activities.”

Congressman Thompson co-authored his amendment to remove the Extinction Rider from H.R. 2584 with Reps. Norm Dicks (D-WA), Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI). 37 Republicans joined Congressman Thompson and over 180 of his Democratic colleagues in supporting the amendment, which was approved by the House in a 224-202 vote.

“I applaud my colleagues, particularly the Republicans, for joining me to fight this misguided legislation,” Rep. Thompson said. “Many of my colleagues are truly invested in saving our natural resources, and I was impressed by their impassioned remarks in support of my amendment. Their efforts will ensure that our endangered and threatened species are protected for the future.”

If the Extinction Rider had been in effect 44 years ago, the American bald eagle, our national bird, would be extinct. In the 1960s, there were less than 450 nesting pairs of bald eagles. But thanks to the Endangered Species Act, this national symbol was removed from the endangered species list in 2007 and now there are nearly 10,000 nesting pairs of bald eagles.

A more local example of the ESA’s positive impact is the Aleutian goose. In 1967, there were no more than a few hundred of these birds left in the wild. ESA protections allowed the Aleutian goose population to rebound, to a population of more than 100,000 birds in 2008. In fact, the ESA recovery effort was so successful that the Aleutian goose was delisted in 2001 and is today being hunted in Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

In addition to the Extinction Rider, H.R. 2584 contains nearly 40 other anti-environment policy riders, including provisions that would:

• Block protections for more than 1 million acres of land around the Grand Canyon, leaving them open to toxic uranium mining.

• Prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing the just-finalized Cross-State Pollution Rule, which protects communities from dangerous pollution from power plants upwind of them.

• Indefinitely stop long-overdue standards to control toxic mercury air pollution from power plants, endangering pregnant women, infants and children.

• Block EPA from moving forward with standards for new vehicles after 2016 that would reduce our foreign oil imports and cut pollution.

• Allow oil companies to pollute more when drilling offshore by weakening the Clean Air Act and exempting polluting support vessels from regulation.

Thompson represents California’s 1st Congressional District, which includes Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, and portions of Sonoma and Yolo counties. He is a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Rep. Thompson is also a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition and Co-Chair of the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Wine Caucus.

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