KELSEYVILLE
Hometown girl to preach on Christmas Eve
Kelseyville High School graduate (Class of 2000), now Rev. Dr. Kelsey Sturges Ingalls, will lead the Christmas Eve service at the Kelseyville Presbyterian Church. Ingalls, now from the Oregon Coast town of Newport, says she is excited to be the guest pastor at her childhood church. It will be a traditional candle-light service and all are welcome. Ingalls says she hopes people will turn out for this special worship. “I hope to see some of my old friends from the church, as well as from the high school and community.” The service begins at 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 24. The church address is 5340 Church St in Kelseyville, at the corner of 3rd and Church Street.
—Submitted
LAKEPORT
Lakeport City Council to swear in newly appointed members Tuesday evening.
The Lakeport City Council will swear in newly appointed council members Roy “Brandon” Disney and Kim Costa at the Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, meeting.
These individuals will be filling the seats of council member George Spurr and Mireya Turner. Spurr recently filled the seat of Turner after she left the council due to her acceptance of the Community Development Director position at the County of Lake.
Turner was reelected to the Lakeport City Council during the November 2022 election and again had to resign from the position, leaving a vacant seat on council.
The other vacancy was from former council member Michael Green, who had to resign from the council after he accepted the position to be the Lake County District 4 Supervisor.
Each new Council Member will be required to cite an oath of office.
Instead of running a special election for these positions, due to the most recent November 2022 elections, the city council decided to accept applications from the community and appoint members to fill the vacancies.
The Lakeport City Council held interviews for the vacancies during two special meetings on December 12 to 13, 2022. There were seven total applicants for the two council positions.
Costa has worked with Human Services for 35 years. She said that economic development within the city of Lakeport has a positive effect on the entire county.
Disney is a long time Lakeport resident and said he has watched the town grow and develop over the years and is excited to help shape the future.
After swearing in Disney and Costa, the council will nominate a new Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem to the council. Currently, Stacey Mattina is Mayor and Kenny Parlet is Mayor Pro Tem.
—Zack Jordan
SACRAMENTO
Gov. Newsom announces CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray’s upcoming retirement
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Friday the retirement of California Highway Patrol (CHP) Commissioner Amanda Ray at the end of the year following more than three decades of service at the Department.
“Commissioner Ray has been a steadfast partner in our work to protect public safety, build a CHP that is more representative of California’s communities and create a criminal justice system that better serves all Californians,” said Newsom. “Working her way up the ranks to become the first woman to lead the CHP, Commissioner Ray is an inspiration to the next generation of women and men stepping up to serve our communities with compassion and understanding. I thank her for her committed leadership and service over more than 30 years at CHP and wish her all the best for the future.”
Appointed by Newsom to serve as CHP Commissioner in 2020, Commissioner Ray is the first woman and second African American ever to lead the CHP. Deputy Commissioner Sean Duryee will serve as Acting CHP Commissioner upon Commissioner Ray’s retirement at the end of the year.
—Submitted
CALIFORNIA
In other state labor news:
- The ongoing UC strike may have disrupted typical classroom instruction, but it’s also led to new forms of learning. Professors have held lectures on the picket line, undergraduates have incorporated the strike into their final projects and graduate students have organized teach-ins — informal lessons and discussions that situate the labor action within American history, disability studies and other disciplines, Megan Tagami reports for CalMatters’ College Journalism Network.
- California’s unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1% in November, up from 4% the month before, the state Employment Development Department announced Friday. Even though 10 of California’s 11 major industries added 26,800 jobs, the labor force fell by 42,700 people. “Going into 2023, we have a new-phase job market in California with a large number of job openings, but a very competitive environment for those white collar and tech jobs that pay at middle level and above” while blue-collar industries “report they can’t fill positions,” said Michael Bernick, a former EDD director and attorney at Duane Morris. Newsom, meanwhile, highlighted that California had added jobs for the fourteenth consecutive month.
- California Highway Patrol Commissioner Amanda Ray, the first woman to lead the department, will retire at the end of the year, just two years after Newsom appointed her to the job, the governor’s office said Friday in what the Sacramento Bee described as an “unexpected” announcement. Ray is the latest high-ranking official to depart the administration; also retiring at the end of the year is the leader of the state prison system.
—Emily Hoeven, CALMatters
