City News

A fully-involved structure fire broke out Wednesday afternoon around12:30 p.m.at a residence located at 27423 Oakside Drive inSouth Davis. City ofDavis Fire Chief Rose Conway said there was significant damage made to the home and the familycould only salvage a few items. “There was a reported fire,and while en route [the firefighters] saw smoke around a fully-involved structure,” Conway said.

Holocaust Remembrance Day, also known as Yom Hashoah, is a day to commemorate the millions who perished in the Holocaust. Bet Haverim, a Davis synagogue, will host this year’s congregation today at 7 p.m. The community-wide event will take place at the Mosaic Law Congregation in Sacramento. Alexander Groth, professor emeritus of political science at UC Davis, will be the featured speaker for this event. Groth is one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust.

Every spring and fall, migrating bats come through Yolo County. “We have a huge wonderful bypass that’s an ideal habitat for bats,” said Bruce Sarazin, the director of Yolo County environmental health. “There’s a lot of bugs and mosquitoes, lots of food, lots of cover and a wonderful place to live.” Yolo County has one of the largest bat colonies in California. The Health Department of Yolo County warns residents of rabid bats. Now that it is spring, bats are coming out of hibernation, and all residents should avoid contact with bats.

The Davis bike paths are a hazardous place. With high traffic density between classes and frequently messy roundabouts, divine intervention on the road sounds like a good idea. The Davis Bike Church offered the next-best thing Saturday with a bike blessing. It was the Bike Church’s first blessing with more to potentially follow in the future, said Chris Congleton, who helped organize and officiate the event. The event was based on the annual bike blessing at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York.

On Apr. 11, Yolo County rancher Hank Stone was given the livestock man of the year award during Friday night’s performance of the Grand National Rodeo at the Cow Palace in Daly City, Calif. “The livestock man of the year award is one of the most prestigious awards that only one person gets each year,” said executive vice president of the California Cattlemen’s Association, Matt Byrne. Stone, who has been a rancher for 60 years, has owned and worked on his family ranch, Yolo Land & Cattle Co. for the past 20 years. He is a 30-year member of the California Cattlemen’s Association and has served on the board of directors for the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association for 20 years. Additionally, he has served on the livestock development board at UC Davis and currently is serving on the animal science committee at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Schools and cities across the country are closing athletic fields in response to reports of a lead threat in artificial turf, but turf manufacturers say there is no health risk. The wave of field closures began two weeks ago when health officials in New Jersey discovered elevated lead levels in two synthetic turf fields. This prompted the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to begin a national investigation. “We are in the very, very initial stages of our investigation,” said commission spokesman Scott Wolfson. “The key point for all parents and school administrators is that there is not a cause for alarm and panic at this time. It is not an issue where fields need to be shut down immediately.”

Candidates forDavis City Council will answer questions and meet with the public at a forumonWednesday.The forum is hosted by the Davis Neighborhood Coalition and the Sierra Club‘s Yolano Group.Davis Bicycles! is co-sponsoring. “We‘re going to be asking them questions about growth issues on our periphery,sprawl on agricultural land versus more growth within the city,parking issues downtown,“ said Pamela Nieberg,chair of the Yolano Group.“We‘ll also look at whether or not they support the democratic process,like Measure J.“ Another goal of the forum is to determine how“green“ the candidates actually are,she said.

Californians will likely be able to vote on a $10 billion bond measure to build a high speed rail line stretching from Northern California to San Diego in November. The state legislature has removed the bond from the ballot on two previous occasions, but proponents are optimistic that a bill currently in committee will increase the measure’s chances of staying on the ballot. Assembly Bill 3034 – scheduled to be heard in Appropriations on May 7 – amends and updates some of the language in the original 2002 bond measure to address some concerns of Governor Schwarzenegger as well as those of environmental and business groups.

FRIDAY Backpack brigade A window was reported smashed and a backpack was stolen onF Street. Lethal weapon An assault with a deadly weapon was reportedatSycamore Lane andWake Forest Drive.

The UC Davis Summer Abroad is extending the deadline to apply to select programstotoday, Apr. 29 and May 1, in the hope of encouraging students to take the opportunity to study abroad and give students who missed the deadline a chanceto apply. “We know there are some students out there who want to apply who haven’t,” said Eric Schroeder, director of the Summer Abroad Education Abroad Center (EAC) program and University Writing Program lecturer. Programs take place during both summer sessions, but only deadlines for programs in the second summer session can be extended.

The Bush Administration’s five-year plan for increasing fuel efficiency released last week has ignited outrage from many California lawmakers. California Attorney General Edmund Brown Jr. called the plan a “covert assault” on California’s landmark tailpipe greenhouse gas regulations. The Department of Transportation unveiled the plan Tuesday to implement requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which mandates an increase in Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency standards. For passenger cars, the proposal would increase fuel economy from the current 27.5 miles per gallon to 35.7 mpg by 2015. For light trucks, the proposal calls for increases from 23.5 mpg in 2010 to 28.6 mpg in 2015.

What would you do with $733,000? For the Davis Schools Foundation, this is enough money to fund 10 teacher positions and one-and-a-half librarian positions. The funds will go toward elementary school high school teachers. As of Monday, the foundation had raised $733,000 with the help of Hanlees Auto Group. Hanlees Auto Group in Davis made a $30,000 donation Apr. 16and challenged the community to match that amount over the course of five days. On Apr. 20, the last day of the challenge, the community surpassed that amount with $142,000 – $17,000 of which was raised at an entertainment event at Hanlees on that day alone.