City News

Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Floyd Landis and more than 100 of the nation's best cyclists will cycle through town on Sunday as part of the Amgen Tour of California.

The first stage of the nine-day, 750-mile race will begin in Davis on Sunday, and local organizers say they expect the event to draw crowds of Picnic Day proportions.

The economic downturn has not slowed the spread of solar energy in California.

In 2008, Californians installed 158 megawatts of solar power, twice as many as the year before, according to a report from the California Public Utilities Commission.

With maps covering the walls, movable whiteboards, new computers and clean desks, this classroom seems like it belongs in a new suburban middle school - except for the razor wire outside. The classroom was one stop on a tour of the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility. The detention facility's first open house gave Yolo County residents an up-close look at the new facility, which opened in 2005.

With just two months left in what is normally the wettest part of the season and California's major reservoirs already running low, little doubt remains that dry conditions will persist through spring, experts say. Even with the latest small burst of cold and damp weather, California's snowpack remains far below average.

Downtown Davis businesses are feeling an itch for expansions, renovations and grand openings.

Recently, multiple businesses have either opened or renovated their locations. The restaurant industry in downtown Davis has become particularly affluent.

Here is a preview of some changes you can expect to see downtown:

Analog television users were going to be left in the dark starting Feb. 17.

But last Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill to delay the switch from analog to all-digital broadcast television to June 12. President Barack Obama has yet to sign, but has indicated that he will approve of the delay.

TUESDAY

I don't like your attitude, mister

An elementary school crossing guard had to stand in front of a student who was crossing the street so that a driver would slow down. After the student got across the street, the driver sped past the guard and flipped her off.

The Davis City Council will meet Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Chambers at 23 Russell Blvd.

The following are descriptions of selected agenda items the council will discuss at the meeting. To view the entire agenda and associated staff reports, visit cityofdavis.org.

Students from the Met School in Sacramento planted hundreds of native trees, shrubs and grasses to create a natural buffer around the new Clark Pacific concrete plant in Woodland.

Some of the plants that are part of the new landscape include Valley Oak, Fremont Cottonwood, Mexican Elderberry, Buckwheat and Deergrass, according to a press release.

As some of you may have noticed by venturing to theaggie.org this past weekend, K.C. Cody now has two columns; his tried and true Informed Dissent, and a spiffy new advice column called Ask a Super-Senior.

So, if you happen to find yourself in a social, moral or academic dilemma, or if you just want some general advice from a battle tested source, please send your intractable scenarios to either kccody@ucdavis.edu or editor@theaggie.org and K.C. will be happy to make up a fake name for you and respond the following week.

Anyone who has been in Davis during the summer knows it gets hot here.

"The middle of summer in Davis isn't the best time to stand out in the sun," said Ruth Williams, president of Tree Davis, a nonprofit organization that planted 424 trees in Davis last year. And no right-minded UCD student takes a tree for granted as they race from one shaded sanctuary to the next on a sweltering August afternoon.

The typical college student's weekend is devoted to sleeping, partying and studying, but this weekend a group of students will go out and do something for the community.

Wednesday's article, "USPS proposes cutting delivery to five days a week," incorrectly stated that USPS spokesperson Augustine Ruiz said the Postal Service was a $900 billion industry. 

Many state employees are not pleased with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to give them several days of unpaid vacation a month. The governor's budget-saving plan forces furloughs, or unpaid days off, onto most state employees starting Friday. Over 200,000 state workers will be affected, saving the state $1.3