WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, Davis, Yuba City, Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, announced the introduction of H.R. 6319, the National Guard Pay Integrity Act.

The bill is meant to protect nearly 10,000 soldiers from attempts by the Department of Defense to reclaim the bonuses and incentives they were paid upon enlisting reenlisting during our nation’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“These brave men and women signed up to serve our country, and believed in return that the country would have their back. We need to have their backs too,” said Garamendi. “The Department of Defense has taken a necessary first step by stopping collection efforts, but that is far from enough. My legislation will solve the problem by eliminating these debts entirely for those who accepted bonuses in good faith.”

Congressman Garamendi’s comprehensive legislation will not only protect guardsmen from future collection efforts, but also allow any guardsman who has already paid back a bonus wholly or in part to obtain reimbursement.

It also includes measures to protect student loan payments that were made on guardsmen’s behalf as part of a recruitment or re-enlistment bonus, while excluding anyone who obtained a bonus through their own fraud or misrepresentation.

“Our veterans made tremendous sacrifices, and should not pay the price for mistakes made by recruiters. Congress should act as soon as possible to honor the promises we made,” Garamendi said.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Reps. Sherman (D-CA), DeFazio (D-OR) and McGovern (D-MA).

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Public Services Department announced that the Eastlake Landfill and the Lakeport Public Services office will be closed Thursday, Nov. 24, and Friday, Nov. 25, for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

The landfill will reopen on Saturday, Nov. 26, and the Public Services office will reopen on Monday, Nov. 28. Normal operating hours at the landfill are 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. 

The Public Services office is normally open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Normal collection schedules will resume the week following the holiday.

If you have any questions regarding this subject or any of the solid waste issues in Lake County, please call 707-262-1760.

SACRAMENTO – The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office this week is recognizing and celebrating the second annual National Apprenticeship Week.

It runs Nov. 14 through 20 and is designed to provide the apprenticeship community the opportunity to recognize success stories of apprentices, businesses, labor, education and other entities that contribute to longstanding, successful and sustainable apprenticeship programs.

“Apprenticeships are a proven for training a strong workforce, through which one generation of skilled workers pass essential skills to another,” said Van Ton-Quinlivan, vice chancellor for workforce and economic development. “Our community colleges are proud to support tens of thousands of students every year through apprenticeships that put them on a fast track to well-paying, lifelong careers.”

More than 430,000 Americans participate in apprenticeship program each year across the country. With more than 70,000 registered apprentices in more than 300 occupations, California has the largest apprenticeship system in the country.

It is also one of the most diverse, serving a substantial number of woman, veterans and under-represented populations in every region of the state. And, apprenticeship programs will only continue to expand in California.

With the passage of the 2015-16 and 2016-17 state budgets, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature have approved $30 million to develop new and innovative apprenticeship programs in regionally focused priority and emerging industry sectors, occupations and trades.

Many of the state’s existing programs are connected directly with California Community Colleges. The system has approximately 25,000 apprentices enrolled in more than 160 apprenticeship programs comprised of a total of 66 trades/crafts titles located on 39 campuses.

The Chancellor’s Office works in close collaboration with the California Labor Agency, Division of Apprenticeship Standards, California Workforce Investment Board, Employment Training Panel and Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development to ensure the success, investment and growth of apprenticeship programs.

More on the California Community Colleges apprenticeship program can be found at: http://extranet.cccco.edu/Divisions/WorkforceandEconDev/PolicyAlignmentandOutreach/Apprenticeship.aspx .

Hundreds of events are under way across the nation this week to showcase apprenticeship programs. A full listing of National Apprenticeship Week events in California can be found at http://www.dir.ca.gov/das/National_Apprenticeship_Week.htm .

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation composed of 72 districts and 113 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year.

For more information about the community colleges, please visit http://californiacommunitycolleges.cccco.edu/ , https://www.facebook.com/CACommColleges or https://twitter.com/CalCommColleges .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Marvin Ellentuck, 90, died Oct. 29, 2016, at Clearlake after a brief illness.

Born July 3, 1926, in Los Angeles to Hyman Ellentuck and Edith Rose Rosenthal, Marvin was a World War II veteran. He entered the service on Nov. 15, 1944, at San Francisco, Calif., having completed his high school education, graduating from Commerce High School in 1944.

He completed Cavalry Basic Training at Fort Riley, Kansas, achieved a rifleman qualification, served with military occupation as a personnel clerk-typist, and was deployed overseas with the 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division at Luzon and Japan.

He received awards including the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation Medal. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant November 1946 at Camp Beale, Calif.

Marvin married Norma Ilene Pierson, daughter of Albert A. Pierson and Lorene E. Baldwin, in San Francisco on Sept. 6, 1961. Together, they had one child, who died as an infant in 1962.

Marvin worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. for approximately 15 years after the war from 1946 to 1961.

He was predeceased by his wife, Norma Pierson Ellentuck; infant daughter Ellentuck; step-daughter, Susan L. Bryant; brothers, PFC Lawrence Block, killed in action during World War II, and Bernard Block Barrett; and sisters, Selma Evelyn (Block) Schechtman Carparella and Ruth Riva (Block) Hand Haight.

He is survived by his adopted grandson and loving caregiver, Anthony Williams, and young great-grandson, Aiden Williams, both of Lake County, and a niece and great-niece in Texas.

Arrangements for cremation are being handled by Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary in Lakeport, Calif.

For further information please contact Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary at 707-263-0357 or 707-994-5611, or visit www.chapelofthelakes.com .

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With the holiday season approaching, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) reminds consumers to use safe food preparation and storage measures to prevent foodborne illness.

Bacteria that can be found in foods such as meat and poultry may cause illness if they are insufficiently cooked, inadequately cooled or improperly handled.

“We can help ensure that foodborne illnesses don’t ruin our holidays by properly preparing and handling meat, poultry and other foods,” said CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith.

About 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths in the U.S. each year are related to foodborne diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Foodborne diseases can be prevented by:

· Washing hands with soap and warm water before and after food preparation, and especially after handling raw foods.

· Cleaning all work surfaces, utensils and dishes with hot soapy water and rinsing them with hot water after each use.

· Cooking food thoroughly and refrigerating adequately between meals.

Symptoms of foodborne disease can include diarrhea, which may be bloody, vomiting, abdominal cramps and fever. Most infected people recover from foodborne illnesses within a week.

Some, however, may develop complications that require hospitalization. Young children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are at highest risk for potentially life-threatening complications.

For more information about preparing and storing food, visit the following CDPH links:

· Food Safety Tips for Holiday Feasts ;

· Safe Food Handling Practices ;

· Controlling Food Allergens ;

· Foodborne Pathogens and Illnesses.

Additional information about food safety is available on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Meat and Poultry hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854).

Consumers can also access the national Partnership for Food Safety Education’s Fight BAC! Web site.

SACRAMENTO – Continuing California’s groundbreaking effort to better treat and prevent diseases through advanced computing, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and the University of California, San Francisco on Thursday announced six new projects have been selected for the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine, or CIAPM.

“These grant winners will harness the power of advanced computing to better treat and prevent diseases,” said Gov. Brown.

Precision medicine aims to use data-driven tools and analysis to develop new diagnostics, therapies and insights into disease.

Last year, California became the first state in the nation to launch a precision medicine initiative when Gov. Brown announced the creation of CIAPM.

Through this program, California is developing demonstration projects that harness the power of advanced computing to better diagnose, treat and prevent disease for all Californians.

“What an exciting time to be a Californian,” said Atul Butte, director, Institute for Computational Health Sciences, Professor of Pediatrics, UCSF and Principal Investigator, California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine. “With these state resources, we are helping to launch six exciting projects in precision medicine, bringing together academics, physicians, small and large businesses, and patients. These projects cover individuals who are healthy and ill, from the youngest to the oldest, and make use of the latest mobile, imaging, wearable, and deep learning technologies, all to push the boundaries of what is possible in medicine.”

The six projects announced Thursday were selected following a rigorous assessment by a selection committee of nationally and internationally recognized experts in genomics, statistics, ethics, cancer, computation and other sciences.

More than 20 organizations from academia, private sector, patient advocate groups, hospital systems and entrepreneurs will be partnering to complete these projects, which will use research, clinical, environmental and population data to better diagnose, treat and prevent disease.

These projects include efforts to:

• Improve the early treatment of prostate cancer through a complex assessment of patient characteristics, cancer severity indicators and genomics.
• Help patients better manage chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and depression by gathering personal health data through their mobile phones.
• Speed the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury, stroke or aneurysm by applying state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technology to computed tomography scanning.
• Create a catalogue of DNA variants to better understand harmful mutations and better identify the causes of disease in children that suffer from difficult to diagnosis conditions.
• Combine several types of clinical data and real-time patient data in an interactive tool that patients with multiple sclerosis and doctors can use to better predict how the disease may develop over time and what can be done to improve outcomes.
• More quickly identify the early signs of cardiovascular disease by, among other activities, providing patients with specialized watches that transmit sleep, heart rate and other health data to their doctors.

UC Health and UCSF host CIAPM with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.

Each grant awardee is eligible for up to $1.2 million in grant funding, which will then be leveraged with other non-state funding sources to complete the projects.

In addition to developing demonstration projects, CIAPM is conducting an inventory of California’s vast technological and medical resources that make precision medicine possible.

The 2016 Budget Act includes approximately $10 million for the CIAPM.

For more information about the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine, including further details on selected projects, visit: http://www.CIAPM.org .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Spring cleaning … in fall?

Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College recently organized a cleanup of the property between the campus and the local Clearlake Walmart. 

Many students and pedestrians walk up the hill between the two properties, and with garbage accumulation becoming obvious, the Associated Students of Lake County Campus chose to organize a cleanup. 

“It’s part of our view when on our campus, and we thought it was important to offer a clean view and a clean area for all who choose to be on our campus,” said Lena Murphy, the Associated Student president. “Plus, it’s a neighborly act promoting our clean and beautiful environment.”

The Lake County Campus has its Spring 2017 schedule up online at http://lcc.yccd.edu . New students can apply to the college right now and can register for classes as of Nov. 23.

You can make an appointment with a counselor at 707-995-7900 or visit their beautiful campus at 15880 Dam Road Extension.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Senior Center will sponsor a bus trip to Reno on Nov. 29 through Dec. 1.

Highlights of the outing will be a dinner show musical, “Miracle on 34th Street,” based on the classic 1947 movie starring Maureen O’Hara and Natalie Wood.

The three-day trip includes the bus ride, two-night stay at the Eldorado, two breakfast buffet, a cocktail party and the dinner show.

The cost per person for double occupancy is $176 and single occupancy is $224.

To make reservations or for more information please call Bob at 707-279-0187 or call Nanette at 707-263-4218.