City News

Student borrowing is, slowly but surely, on the rise.

While the amount of debt accumulated by graduates of public and private four-year colleges grew relatively slowly, the amount of debt by certain groups in higher education grew rapidly between 2003 and 2008, according to a recent study by the College Board.

Yolo County says it's doing all that it can to increase tourism.

On Aug. 4 the Yolo Board of Supervisors adopted a new food facility policy from the Health Department's Division of Environmental Health.

Staring on Sept. 8, the Mary L. Stephens Branch Library will have a temporary home.

The building on E. 14th Street will undergo renovations that are expected to be completed by mid-2010. In the meantime, the library will be located at 2801 Second St.

The branch closed - and will remain so until Sept. 8 - on Aug. 15 to transfer collections to the temporary location, which also houses the Explorit Science Center.

One of the longest sentences in Yolo County history belongs to former Davis resident Ajay Kumar Dev. Dev was sentenced on Aug. 7 to 378 years and four months in state prison at the Yolo County Superior Court.

Dev was found guilty of repeatedly molesting and raping his 15-year-old adopted daughter between January 1999 and December 2004. He was convicted of 76 felony counts, including 23 counts of forcible rape, 23 counts of sexual assault, 27 counts of lewd acts with a minor, and three counts of attempting to dissuade a witness.

It's no longer flu season, but a new strain has extended the season into the summer months.

Yolo County suffered its first death from the novel H1N1 influenza strain with the loss of Esparto resident Stacey Speegle-Hernandez.

A change in wording can make all the difference, as post-9/11 veterans recently discovered. Under the new GI Bill, formally known as Chapter 33, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs covers student fees. This was a problem for private university students, who are generally charged "tuition" rather than fees, because assistance to private university students is based on how much assistance public university students receive.

The number of California's uninsured children is expected to double in 2009. This year, 1.4 million children currently enrolled in the Healthy Families Program will lose coverage due to recent budget cuts.

A shortage of medical isotopes has doctors across the U.S. postponing important tests, or switching to costlier, time consuming alternatives.

Harper Junior High School's gym will be transforming into a consignment shop from Aug. 13 to 16.

Worth Repeating, a new Davis company, and the Davis Schools Foundation are partnering to transform the gym into a shop.

Worth Repeating organizes children, teen and maternity consignment sales events in the Yolo area. Products sold at Harper's event will include children's clothes, toys, baby furniture, bicycles and DVDs.

Davis bats test positive for rabies

County health officials are advising caution among local residents after two dead bats found in Davis last week tested positive for the rabies virus.

A local resident walking her dog came across seven dead bats near the West Covell Boulevard bicycle overcrossing, where a local bat colony is known to roost. The Yolo County Health Department tested four of the bats and found three were positive for rabies. The other three could not be tested.

What does Miss California 2009 runner-up and UC Davis student Jenna Harvey hope for other than world peace?

"That was going to be my answer!" Harvey said. "Other than world peace, I'd say people need to have realistic expectations, get up and do something."

The Miss California contest took place in Fresno on June 27. Kristen Cavender of Orange won the Miss California title. Over 50 counties were represented in the contest.

On Monday, the Davis City Council collaborated with the Davis Downtown Business Association to work out details of a multi-media marketing campaign that would focus on downtown spending.

Target contributed $100,000 to the city for public safety, parking and streetscape enhancements as well as other community enhancement projects. Free from restrictions, the city can choose to spend the funds whichever way it sees fit.

A recent study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that both female and male college students are equally likely to be victims of physical or emotional violence.

The study surveyed students who sought treatment at health clinics in 2006-2007 at five universities in Wisconsin, Seattle and Vancouver. The results indicated that 17 percent of men and 16 percent of women reported experiencing violence within the past six months.

It only took about an hour and a half to change the Davis City Council's opinion of the fate of two 6,000 square foot lots in East Davis.

The city had planned to give the land to Habitat for Humanity, but the council decided with a 4 to 1 vote to give the Solar Community Housing Association to build cooperative housing.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently proposed a new way to remedy California's budget crisis - cutting the Cal Grant program, which provides financial aid to college students.

Under this proposal, no new Cal Grants would be awarded beginning fall 2009, but students already receiving Cal Grants would continue to receive them.

Schwarzenegger has said the cuts are necessary to help close California's $24.3 billion budget deficit.