City News

A recent report comparing California hospitals' inpatient mortality rates for certain treatments was a mixed bag for Woodland Healthcare and UC Davis Medical Center hospitals. According to data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, the UC Davis Medical Center has worse than average mortality rates for strokes and craniotomy surgeries.

Something has been lost. Populist sentiment is on the rise. The public's confidence in America's leaders and her businesses is broken. The world's admiration for America's financial prowess is fading. American capitalism is under assault. This frustration is evident most clearly in the recent backlash to Wall Street's reward of a lavish $18 billion bonus after receiving taxpayer bailouts. For certain segments such as college students, this is the future disappearing; for others, this indicates the losses of a moral compass and ethical consciousness.

Most of Yolo County does not meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's national ambient air quality standards, the agency announced in December.

The designation refers particularly to high levels of fine particulate matter, which many studies have linked to significant health problems and early death.

Athletes who get concussions could be in for more than a couple days of headache. Researchers are discovering that the effects of mild head trauma may not be benign. A recent study into the effects of repeated concussions on former athletes found that deficits in brain function can be apparent as many as 30 or more years after the initial incident.

For those people who enjoy waiting by the mail box for a new post card or letter from a friend, you may have a day off.

Postmaster General John E. Potter is proposing that the requirement for mail to be delivered six days a week be changed to five. Potter said the U.S. Postal Service is $2.8 billion in the red and is projecting a net loss of $6 billion in 2009.

The fight against global warming will not be brief. While scientists weren't expecting Earth to reenter equilibrium tomorrow, new research shows the ecosystem will not cool for another 1,000 years.

TUESDAY

But it wasn't a hot day?

A homeless person was cooking something on the sidewalk on C Street.

After 18 months of looking for work, Woodland resident James Edwards is down but not out.

As a commercial fisherman, Edwards says it's difficult to just go find a fishing job, especially in this economy. After cashing out all his savings and exhausting other options, he has been able to scrape by with the help of public assistance programs like unemployment.

Memories of getting an "I voted" sticker, hanging up a U.S. flag, entering the voting booth, could soon be simply memories past.

County clerk-recorder Freddie Oakley is pushing a proposal that would make Yolo County a testing ground for a voting system that operates completely through the mail.

City Council members know they have to make cuts. They just don't want to make all of them — yet.

Has change really come? Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California legislature seem to think so.

Gottschalks, Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection under the Chapter 11 law. The company plans to stay open while it seeks a buyer.

"While we have aggressively pursued a number of important steps over the past year to improve our performance and reduce costs, the persistent challenges in the economy and recent unexpected reductions to our borrowing capacity as a result of tightening credit markets have left us no other recourse than to pursue a sale of the company under court approval in city as a result of a Chapter 11 proceeding," said Jim Famalette, Gottschalks chairman and CEO, in a press release.

A batch of contaminated peanuts was the source of a nationwide salmonella outbreak, causing dozens of companies to issue voluntary recalls.

The outbreak has been the cause of 488 illnesses and six deaths nationwide as of Jan. 23.

By this summer, California Supreme Court judges will determine the fate of same-sex marriages performed before Proposition 8 passed last November. UC Davis law professor Courtney Joslin co-authored and submitted a friend-of-the-court brief this month that argues that Prop 8 should in no way affect the validity of those marriages.

If you missed it in fall, be sure to catch the historic bike exhibit in Downtown Davis before it closes this February. The display, "Swiftwalkers to Streamliners: Bicycles 1823-2008," features bicycles representing every era of the development of the bicycle.