City News

The sun’s coming out,UC Davis students are gearing up for summer,and what better way to celebrate spring than spending a day at the fair? The134th annual Dixon May Fair,operating in this small agricultural community since1875,kicks off Thursday and will last the whole weekend.

California voters will decide on May19if elected officials deserve pay raises in a time of economic decline. Proposition1F would amend the California Constitution to prevent elected state officials from receiving raises in deficit years.The measure defines deficit years as when the state’s reserve fund has a deficit larger than1percent of the state’s general fund revenues.

The possibility of a bike museum moving into a space currently occupied by the teen center has some concerned about the future of teen programs in Davis. City leaders are advocating for the U.S.Bicycling Hall of Fame to be located in a city-owned building on Third and B Streets,where the teen center is currently located.Teen center staff are not thrilled about the prospect of losing their space,however.

Second Street inDowntown Davis is scheduled to get a facelift in the near future,in order to make the area more pedestrian-friendly.The project is likely to be funded by Federal Stimulus money,though official approval is still in the works. Michael Mitchell,senior civil engineer for the city of Davis,said the redevelopmentproject will include severalenhancements of the intersections between CStreet and FStreet.Ultimately,he said,Second Street will look “a lot likeThird Street.“

Few diabetic patients are aware of the difficulties that arise after the disposalof their home-generated sharps. Yolo Country and the California Product Stewardship Council recently received a$197,680grant from the California Integrated Waste Management Board to gotowardthe safe management of sharps.

The“best greens in the valley” are now within reach for local Yolo County golfers. Wild Wings Golf Course in Woodland reopened for play on May1after being closed for four months. The course,which used to be privately owned,is now owned by Yolo County.The countyrequired a majority vote from homeowners in order to reopen and fund the course.

Of all six propositions on the May 19 special election ballot, Proposition 1A in particular has been the focus of much media attention due to a growing opposition. Prop 1A would create a larger “rainy day” fund for the state budget that would be used in times of economic crisis and to help relieve the current budget crisis.

If enacted,Prop1D would provide over$600million to protect health and human services programs for children by temporarily redirecting existing tobacco tax money from First5California,a government-funded early childhood program created in1998.Funding would go toward services for at-risk families,children with disabilities and foster children. The proposition would also help balance the state budget,amounting to a projected state General Fund savings of up to$608million in2009-2010and$268million annually from2010-2011through2013-2014.

Fears about swine flu in Davis were alleviated yesterday after laboratory testing confirmed that two suspected local cases of the disease were in fact regular human influenza.Holmes Junior High School was prepared to shut down for two weeks after school officials were told on Friday that a student there had a “probable” case of the H1N1virus – more commonly known as swine flu.

Man sentenced 12 years for burglary The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office announced this week that Immanuel Showtell was sentenced to 12 years in prison after he pled guilty to first-degree burglary.

Drop off household hazardous waste The Yolo County Central Landfill will hold two drop-off days for household hazardous waste items this week for Yolo County residents. The landfill will be open for drop-off on May 8 and 9 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Voters will decide on May19whether or not to pass Proposition1B,which would pay back public schools and community colleges the approximately$9.3billion they have lost in budget cuts over the last year and a half. Prop1B would amend the state constitution as it relates to Proposition98,a budget initiative that has been in effect since1988.If passed,Prop1B would increase the amount of education spending that is already allotted under Prop98.