LAKEPORT
LUSD to discuss the school calendar for 2023-24 on Monday
Lakeport Unified School District is holding a meeting to discuss the school calendar for the 2023-2024 school year. The meeting will be held on Monday, January 23 at 4 p.m. at the district office. The gathering is not a governing board meeting. A Google Meet link will be posted on the district website in advance of the meeting.
Parents, staff and community members are welcome.
—Submitted
KELSEYVILLE
Seasonal pop-up this weekend in Kelseyville
Come check out the Kelseyville Business Association’s winter/spring seasonal pop-up, the Kelseyville Artisan Market, with over 20 designers and makers from all over Lake County. The Kelseyville Seniors will be serving up delicious treats and lunch items to benefit the Kelseyvillle Event Center and the Kelseyville Seniors. All happening on the third Sunday January through May at the Kelseyville Event Center, 5345 3rd Street, Kelseyville from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
—Submitted
LAKE COUNTY
Low-income Lake County residents gain home internet
Mediacom Communications reported today that it enrolled more than 40,000 customers in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a new federal program which provides eligible households $30 per month off their internet bills.
Among Mediacom customers receiving the ACP benefit today, nearly 800 are Lake County individuals or families living in areas where the company’s fiber network delivers broadband service. With more economically vulnerable families eligible to use the ACP benefit, Mediacom is expanding its efforts to raise awareness for the program that just celebrated its one-year anniversary.
The ACP benefit is offered through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It provides eligible households with a monthly credit of up to $30 toward the cost of broadband service from participating Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The ACP credit can be applied to any residential service Mediacom offers.
To deliver maximum cost savings to families, Mediacom created a $30 internet plan called Connect-2-Complete Plus (C2C+). Mediacom waives installation and equipment fees for ACP-eligible customers subscribing to the C2C+ plan. When paired with the $30 ACP credit, this allows households to receive Mediacom’s C2C+ service at no cost.
The FCC awards the monthly ACP credit to families with income at 200% of the federal poverty guideline or lower, and to those who qualify for certain other forms of government assistance. The broadband credit is limited to one per household. The ACP benefit is available to both new and existing Mediacom customers who qualify.
Individuals interested in participating in the ACP must confirm eligibility to enroll in the program. Information is available at local Mediacom service centers or by calling: 855-330-6918 (toll-free). Program details are presented in English and non-English languages at the online site: http://mediacomcable.com/acp.
In Lake County, Mediacom’s broadband network is available in Clearlake, Clear Lake Oaks, Clear Lake Park, Cobb, Loch Lomond, Finley, Glenhaven, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Lower Lake, Lucerne, Middletown, Hidden Valley, Nice and Upper Lake. Mediacom also provides broadband service in portions of California’s Kern and Riverside Counties, and in 21 other states, primarily located in the Midwest and southeast regions of the U.S.
—Submitted
CALIFORNIA
Will California join TikTok ban?
President Biden signed a law banning nearly 4 million federal employees from having TikTok on their government phones, over national security concerns. This week, New Jersey and Ohio joined at least 20 other states in restricting access to TikTok, amid fears that the Chinese government could use the app to spy on Americans.
Will California jump on the TikTok ban bandwagon?
While the state often leads on the policy frontier, not so much on regulating social media companies, many of which make their home in California.
It’s a live issue in the Legislature now that bills were introduced Wednesday to ban TikTok and other “high-risk” apps on state-issued cell phones and devices. State Sen. Bill Dodd, a Napa Democrat who authored one of the bills, said he wants to prevent cybersecurity threats — of which there have been a few recently.
Dodd’s Senate Bill 74 is still in its early phases, but if passed, it would apply to apps owned or controlled by a “country of concern” — a list that would be maintained by the governor’s office. TikTok, the short-form video hosting platform, is owned by ByteDance, in which the Chinese government owns a stake.
- Dodd: “Prohibiting these apps on state phones and other devices is a commonsense way to prevent exposure of our sensitive material and the possible tracking or data breaches. Clearly, there are bad actors out there, and we can’t afford to let them in.”
Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, a first-term Murrieta Republican who introduced her own version in Assembly Bill 227, focused more on the Chinese threat. She said the introduction of Dodd’s bill shows it is a bipartisan issue.
- Sanchez: “At a time when the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to undermine America, it is completely unacceptable to continue to allow them to access sensitive data through TikTok’s ByteDance. We need to cut off the flow of sensitive data, protect our state’s cybersecurity, and act before it’s too late.”
Dodd’s bill, supported by the Consumer Federation of California, wouldn’t prevent state employees from using TikTok on their personal phones — which means Californians may not entirely miss out on some of those light-hearted, informative and sometimes snarky interactions with lawmakers.
Sen. Tom Umberg, a Democrat from Garden Grove and chairperson of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said while the bill is a good idea, it needs full review:
- Umberg: “It is something we should do with a great deal of clarity and great deal of due diligence because when government starts to ban modes of communication that can be a problem.”
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat from Woodland Hills and chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, didn’t commit to supporting the bill, but said the committee would discuss the best way to address “privacy, cybersecurity, and national security concerns with TikTok and other social media applications.”
In the face of industry opposition, the recent track record of social media bills is mixed.
Last year, lawmakers killed a nationally-watched bill to allow the attorney general or district attorneys to bring civil lawsuits against social media companies for products or features they know will addict kids. The tech industry strongly opposed the bill. Gov. Gavin Newsom did sign into law a bill designed to protect the privacy of children online. Industry groups said the legislation was too broad and objected to state-by-state regulations.
—Sameea Kamal, CALMatters
