CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce will hold its monthly dinner meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

The meeting will take place at Main Street Bar and Grill, 14084 Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake.

Mingling begins at 5:30 p.m.

Anyone interested may attend. Dinner, with choice of chicken cordon bleu or fish and chips, is $20 per person.

RSVP at 707-994-3600.

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Bill Dodd (D-Napa) introduced new legislation to speed the resolution process for victims of identity theft who find themselves in debt collection.

Current law does not require timeframes for debt collectors to investigate claims of identity theft or notify a consumer of the results of that investigation.

“Victims of identity theft deserve a resolution process that is transparent and performed as expeditiously as possible,” said Dodd. “Having experienced identity theft myself, I know firsthand the challenges and distress that comes as a result.”

According to the California Attorney General, identity theft occurs every 2.5 seconds, impacting over 12 million Americans and 1.5 million Californians every year.

Identity theft occurs when perpetrators illegally use a person’s confidential information to make fraudulent purchases or apply for consumer loans in the victim’s name.

As a result, innocent consumers often find themselves in debt collection or facing negative credit reports for failure to pay the charges or accounts unknowingly opened in their name.

“Identity theft can have damaging effects long after the crime has taken place. Many people only find out the crime has occurred once it appears on their credit report,” said Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch. “Consumers can spend months trying to navigate through a confusing and overwhelming system to remove the negative reporting. Any legislation that provides a more expedient resolution for cases of identity theft is a positive step for consumer protection.”

Consumers who dispute fraudulent accounts are too often forced through an unclear process that can take months to stop collections efforts and even more time to be rectified on the victim’s credit report.

This lengthy resolution process can be particularly damaging for people attempting to secure a loan for a home or automobile.

“Identity theft is a very serious problem that affects millions of Californian’s each year. In Contra Costa County, our Consumer Protection Unit receives over five hundred complaints a year from residents who have become victims of consumer fraud and hundreds more from victims of identity theft,” said Contra Costa District Attorney Mark Peterson. “These victims deserve a faster resolution process. The introduction of this legislation is a step towards helping ordinary citizens deal with the nightmare that results from being the victim of the crime of identity theft.”

Dodd’s bill would dramatically reduce the time frame for debt collection companies to review the consumer’s identity theft dispute and also ensures that consumers be notified of how their dispute was resolved, regardless of the outcome.

The bill would also require debt collection companies to provide updates to the credit bureaus on the status of the fraudulent accounts in a more timely manner, which can help victims who are paying higher interest or denied credit due to fraudulent charges.

Assemblyman Bill Dodd represents the Fourth Assembly District, which includes all or portions of Napa, Yolo, Sonoma, Lake, Solano and Colusa counties. You can learn more about Dodd and the district at www.asm.ca.gov/dodd .

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Dan Wolk, candidate for District 4 Assembly, will be the guest speaker at the Lake County Democratic Club on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Lower Lake Community United Methodist Church Social Hall, 16255 Second St.

Time will be allotted for a question and answer session after Wolk speaks.

Meetings are open to the public. Membership is open to all registered Democrats.

The Lake County Democratic Club is an officially chartered club of the Democratic Party of Lake County.

Visit www.lakecountydemocraticclub.org or contact the club at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Local artist Michelle Price will host a stemware painting party at the Lake County Wine Studio on Sunday, Jan. 31, from 2 to 5 p.m.

Price will guide participants in painting their own wineglass and they can opt to paint a glass for themselves or as a gift for a friend.

Paints, tools and a wine glass will be provided along with a glass of wine for sipping for $20 per person.

If participants want to make a matched pair or set of painted glasses, additional stemware will be available for purchase.

Price was born in Lyon, France, lived in New York for several years and then in 1970s moved to the Bay Area, where she studied Beaux Arts and obtained a degree in cosmetology, massage therapy and health education. She later graduated from the International Tour Management Institute of San Francisco.

In 2000, Price relocated to Lake County where she became inspired to return to art and developed her own style of expressionism in glass art and acrylic and oil paintings.

Some of her paintings have been influenced by her many years of Latin dancing and specializing in ChaCha, Rumba, Meringue and the Argentine Tango, which Price taught a few years ago with the Reach Out Program. Her artist name, Michou, is her signature on all of her artistic creations.

Price has served on the Lake County Arts Council Board and has shown some of her works at the Main Street Gallery and Bell Hill tasting room in Lakeport, Featherbed Railroad B&B in Nice and the Alpine Café in Lucerne. Some of her finished and in progress artwork can be viewed on her Facebook page, Michelle Price Art Creations.

The Lake County Wine Studio is located at 9505 Main St., Upper Lake.

For reservations and additional information, contact Susan Feiler at 707-293-8752.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Lake County Wine Studio is hosting a wine tasting event featuring wine releases from Calvino Jones Wines with winemaker Quincy Steele, and artist reception with photography by Jeff Tangen on Friday, Feb. 5, and Saturday, Feb. 6.

The event will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday and 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday.

Musical guest on Friday evening will be MAJIDE!

The $12.50 ($10/pp for studio club members) wine sampler with paired appetizers created by Cache Creek Catering, will feature the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc with a white bean and olive tapenade with crostini, 2012 Old Vine Zinfandel and cheese fondue with marble potatoes, 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon with an artisan salami Cabernet party mix, and the 2012 Red Blend with roasted pork tenderloin & onion with a dried cherry compote.
 
Born and raised in Anderson Valley and Kelseyville, Quincy Steele grew up working in his family's winery and vineyards. He was sure he wasn't going to make wine professionally so he studied history and English for a couple years as an undergraduate before taking a year to work in a winery in Australia.

Realizing his passion for making wine, and traveling, eating and drinking, he went back to school to study chemistry, biology, enology and viticulture.

Along the way he worked in a few wineries in California, Argentina, and recently Burgundy, and cooked in a few restaurants around the country.

Somewhere in that mix he started a Lake County-focused line of wines called Writer's Block, and a smaller production more specific winemaking project called Calvino Jones from vineyards in Anderson Valley and Lake County.

While he considers himself a thoughtful, relatively young and experienced winemaker, he might sum up his work with wine by the phrase, “The intimate games I play with yeast.”
 
Artist Jeff Tangen has lived in Northern California wine country for the last 30 years, 18 of which he has been in Lake County.

He took up photography as a serious venture in 2006. He began by specializing in vineyards and wine-related themes, but soon found much more to capture with his lens.

Tangen considers his photography as an emotional experience. He won't press the shutter unless he feels like saying “wow” at the scene he is viewing.

With a little good fortune and skill, he can convey that same wow to the viewer of his images. “The majority of what makes good photography is waiting for the right light. I often think of the title 'Until We Meet Again' that I gave to one of my images. Both the image and the title express the thought that magnificent scenes are often short and fleeting but will repeat themselves,” he said.
 
He has won a number of awards for his work and has exhibited both in the U.S. and Europe. Many of his images have been used in magazines, catalogs, brochures, billboards and advertisements, and even an appearance on “Good Morning America.”

“I love the beauty of Lake County. There is so much diversity in both landscape and culture. I hope to enjoy that for many years to come,” Tangen said.
 
Lake County Wine Studio is both a gallery for display of arts and a tasting room, wine bar and retail shop for the fine wines of Lake County. Artists' shows are held on a monthly basis with art and wine receptions held the first Friday and subsequent Saturday of each month.

The gallery is located at 9505 Main St. in Upper Lake. It is open Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 7 p.m., and Friday from 1 to 8 p.m.

The Tangen art show will be on display for the full month of February.

For more information call Lake County Wine Studio at 707-275-8030.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – As preparations continue for the National Football League’s biggest event of the season, the Bay Area is bracing for a surge in motor vehicle, foot, and bicycle traffic that comes with it.

In an effort to give the public a heads-up before they head out, the California Highway Patrol worked with the California Department of Transportation to develop a Super Bowl 50 traffic information Web site www.superbowl50traffic.com .

The Web site, which launches on Monday, January 25, 2016, features resources to help the public travel in and around the Super Bowl as quickly and safely as possible.

Users will find current traffic advisories, detours, closures, alternate transportation links, law enforcement resources, and additional information.

The site also includes a live feed from the CHP’s social media accounts highlighting activity and traffic alerts in and around the various Super Bowl venues.

“Working with our traffic safety partners, we have created a user-friendly, online tool to help the public navigate the influx of traffic leading up to and through the big game,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “The crowds are coming, but with a little preparation and a lot of patience behind the wheel, we will all get to our destinations safely.”