City News

In an attempt to close the widening achievement gap between African American public school students and their respective counterparts, the California State Board of Education voted unanimously last week to create an African American Advisory Committee.

alifornia put a new law giving schools the authority to suspend or expel students for cyber-bullying into effect this month.

Cyber-bullying can mean anything from sexual harassment to hate violence by means of the Internet, cell phones or any number of electronic devices.

The shady side of craigslist

An individual on Acacia Lane was selling electronics to a person through craigslist.org, but the customer sped off with the electronics while the individual was counting the money.

Cheaper gas may not be the only reason to keep driving.

Recent data shows traffic collisions have dropped significantly in both the city of Davis and the state of California.

The city of Davis has seen a 52 percent decrease in the number of collisions since 2003.

A citywide crash report now includes 2007 data and Roxanne Namazi, senior civil engineer for the city of Davis, said the reported decreases may have a connection to more recent driving behaviors.

California is leading the nation in its recycling efforts, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, or CIWMB.

California currently diverts 58 percent of its waste to recycling, or about 54 million tons of the 93 million tons of trash it produces each year.

That is saving the equivalent of 100 football fields stacked with trash reaching as high as the Empire State Building. The CIWMB hopes to eventually achieve "Zero Waste," according to the CIWMB website.

When Cantina del Cabo closed in June 2007, many Davis residents lamented the loss of a favorite hangout. The restaurant and bar, known for its roomy digs and expansive beer selection, was demolished shortly after it closed.

The hole in downtown didn't last for long, though. A new commercial building is now nearing completion in the same location.

It was standing room only at Tuesday's Davis City Council meeting as over 150 people clamored for a chance to speak their mind on the ongoing war in Gaza.

The City Council was considering a resolution calling for peace in Gaza, where Israel and Hamas have been fighting a bloody battle for three weeks. The resolution did not lay blame on either side or seek a specific solution to the matter, but instead called for "an immediate, durable, fully respected ceasefire" and a "lasting humanitarian truce."

A fact box accompanying Wednesday's article "Facebook reaches 150 million active users" incorrectly stated that Facebook had more first time visitors than every other social networking site in November 2008. In fact, the source data measured total unique visitors, not first time visitors. The Aggie regrets the error.

Everyone is doing it. Or at least it seems that way when it comes to the number of people using Facebook.

A MySpace.com communications manager even admits to having a Facebook because, "a lot of my friends have Facebooks and it's a way to stay connected with them. They do have a very successful growth model."

It's not every January that students can be spotted playing Frisbee or sunbathing on the Quad, but record temperatures this week have made the outdoors beckon like it's spring already.

Records were broken in the Sacramento region both Monday and yesterday, and weather forecasters say the warm spell will continue at least through early next week.

With U.S. teen pregnancy rates soaring above every developed country in the world and up to half of the annual 18.9 million new STD cases occurring in 15 to 24 year-olds, most agree on the importance of sex education. What everyone can't agree on is the method.

The split of opinion lies between teaching an abstinence-only sex education and a comprehensive sex education. In a national survey, roughly 58 percent of principals in public secondary schools describe their sex education as comprehensive and roughly 34 percent report an abstinence-only sex education.

Apple announced last week that iTunes will offer all songs without Digital Rights Management software, meaning the music will no longer be protected by copyright software that restricts play to authorized devices.

As a result, most songs bought on iTunes can now be played on almost any computer or device, including non-Apple mp3 players.

Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide product marketing for Apple, made the announcement at Macworld 2009, an electronics trade show in San Francisco.

For many UC Davis students and employees, the intersection of the eastern side of campus with Third Street is an important gateway into downtown Davis.

Now the city of Davis wants to improve that area, turning it into a more polished city-campus connection.

California taxpayers awaiting refunds could receive IOUs rather than checks this year if state lawmakers are unable to balance the budget soon.

The state is projected to run out of cash sometime in February if no agreement can be reached regarding how best to balance the budget, say finance experts.

The Recording Industry Association of America announced last month that it would no longer file mass lawsuits against illegal file sharers.

Instead, the RIAA said it would work with individual internet service providers to stem the flow of illegal music downloads on the internet.