Local News
03/05/2012
Kristin Olsen On The Sacramento Rally
Sacramento, CA - Students and supporters from all over California are rallying at the Sacramento Capitol building today.
Participants at the rally represent several different orginazations. One is a first-ever state wide rally organized as part of the annual Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities Day. The group is speaking to the state legislature in opposition of Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to cut the maximum Cal Grant award by nearly half for students at independent nonprofit colleges.
Participants hoped for a turnout of 10,000, so far several reports estimate a crowd of 4,000 - 5,000. Sacramento Police have extra officers on horseback and on bikes out to help keep the demonstration from getting out of hand.
Assemblymember Kristin Olsen provided her reaction, "I stand with the students and educators here at the Capitol today, and across the State, who are advocating that the Legislature make K-12 and higher education funding a priority."
According to the Associated Press a group called ReFund California is at the capitol to support funding schools and universities with a proposed income tax hike on Californians making more than $1 million dollars a year.
Olsen stated, "I disagree that raising taxes is the only way to give our students the level of funding they deserve." According to Assemblymember Olsen, tax revenues grew this year but K-12 funding was down $700 million while health and welfare spending has grown $3 billion each year. Olsen also reported that last week Democrats rejected $1 billion in welfare cuts. Olsen said "Rejecting these cuts puts education funding in further danger."
Olsen concluded, "We need to focus California's resources on education, higher education and public safety first, cut unnecessary and inefficient state bureaucracy, and then use remaining taxpayer dollars to fund other programs."
More Than Branding For Angels Camp
Angels Camp, CA -- Tomorrow, the Angels Camp City Council will vote on adopting the Destination Angels Camp Development Corporation as the City's Non Profit Economic Development Program.
The Destination Angels Camp group has existed since 2008 when it branded Angels Camp as the "Base Camp of the Sierra" for outdoor recreational activities. The branding development and marketing action plan can be downloaded here.
According to Destination Angels Camp board chair, Anne Forrest, eight of the seventeen recommendations, including redesigning the city logo with a backpacking frog and enabling free WiFi downtown, have been done with no budget. According to Forrest, the committee will need a budget and funding to proceed with other recommendations including sidewalk improvements, more crosswalks, signage, and suggestions about how to attract and improve downtown businesses.
The organization wants to expand its purpose to recruit and retain businesses in downtown Angels Camp and is in the process of gaining full non-profit status as a public and private entity. Forrest says will be a win-win for the City Council, as they will be able to apply for more grants only available to cities that have an economic development plan. Likewise the group will be able to seek more grants and private funding as a non-profit.
Forrest noted that according to the committee bi-laws; at least one city council member or the Mayor, the City Administrator, and the city Planning Director, are required to be a part of the Destination Angels Camp Development Corporation's board and executive committee.
If the City Council approves the request Forest says, they will submit a strategy for the next five to seven years by April.
Three people were hurt in an accident on Highway 12 in Calaveras County.
The CHP reports that the three vehicle collision happened on Sunday morning near the intersection of Lime Creek Road. 19-year-old Katelynn Campbell of Valley Springs was slowing down on Highway 12 to make a turn, and was hit from behind by 20-year-old German Vega of Stockton. Campbell's Pontiac sedan spun around and was hit by an oncoming Izuzu Rodeo driven by 90-year-old Robert Mason of Lodi.
The CHP reports that Campbell was flown to Doctors Hospital in Modesto to treat moderate injuries, and a one-year-old girl in her car was flown to Memorial Hospital to treat reported minor injuries.
A passenger in Vega's vehicle, 20-year-old Juan Lieras of Stockton, was also flown to Doctors Hospital to treat moderate injuries. Vega and Mason were not injured.
The Tuolumne County Supervisors are scheduled to formally vote on whether to place the Transient Occupancy Tax expansion on the June ballot.
At the past couple of meetings the Supervisors have been debating whether to include exemptions for some groups and organizations. The revised ordinance that will be up for discussion on Tuesday would exempt the Boy and Girl Scouts, developmentally disabled people that attend camps, school sponsored education programs, and religious organizations that have a 501 ©3.
The ballot measure would expand the T.O.T. to include campgrounds, houseboats and RV parks. Much of the funding would then go to save Railtown 1897 and the Mother Lode Fairgrounds.
The Supervisors will also continue a public hearing on the proposed Argonaut Estates Subdivision. The developer is CALI Investments, LLC. It calls for creating 18 housing lots over 114 acres in an area 1 ½ miles east of the Greenley Road/Cabezut Road intersection.
Tuesday's meeting starts at 9am, and it will be streamed live in the multimedia section of myMotherLode.com.
Lecompte Is S.P.D.’s Most Wanted
Sonora, CA -- The Sonora Police Department is asking for your assistance in locating Joseph Jerry Lecompte.
Lecompte has a felony warrant being a felon in possession of a dangerous weapon. Lecompte is a 21-year-old male with brown hair and blue eyes. Lecompte is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 190 lbs. If you see Lecompte or have information of his whereabouts, call the Sonora Police Department at (209) 532-8141. Your call can remain anonymous.
Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele gave insight on the AB 109 realignment, as well as the investigation into the fires that destroyed several patrol vehicles.
The Sheriff was the guest on Mother Lode Views over the weekend.
As part of AB 109, many lower level offenders will be staying in the county rather than go to state prison. Mele says that many of the day-to-day operations of the Sheriff's Office have not changed, but adds that the success of the program is contingent on the state coming through to properly fund the transition in the coming years. "You're going to see more inmates on electronic monitoring," says Mele. "There will be split sentencing where inmates sentenced to four years may spend two years in county jail and two years on electronic monitoring."
The Tuolumne County Probation Department is leading many of the programs related to AB 109, but the Sheriff's Office is actively involved on a day-to-day basis.
No arrests have been made from the December 1st incident where several patrol vehicles where set on fire outside the Sheriff's Office administration building. "We have some video and DNA," says Mele. "That evidence is in Quantico, Virginia. We're trying to enhance the video, kind of like you see on TV, so that we can get a clearer picture."
Mele said that unlike television, it takes longer than 60 minutes to make conclusions regarding the DNA and video evidence. To hear the entire 30 minute Mother Lode Views, click here.
Obama: Let's Fight For A Clean Energy Future
President Obama was Monday's KVML "Newsmaker of the Day". Here are his words:
"Hi, everybody. Earlier this week, I spent some time with the hardworking men and women of the American auto industry, who are busy writing a new chapter in America's story.
Just a few years ago, their industry was shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs. Two of the Big Three - GM and Chrysler - were on the brink of failure. If we had let this great American industry collapse - if we had let Detroit go bankrupt - more than one million Americans would have lost their jobs in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression.
I refused to let that happen. These jobs are worth more than just a paycheck - they're a source of pride and a ticket to the middle class. These companies are worth more than just the cars they build - they're a symbol of American innovation and a source of our manufacturing might.
So in exchange for help, we demanded responsibility. We got the companies to retool and restructure. Everyone sacrificed. And three years later, the American auto industry is back.
Today, GM is the number one automaker in the world. Chrysler is growing faster in America than any other car company. Ford is investing billions in American plants and factories, and plans to bring thousands of jobs back home. All told, the entire industry has added more than 200,000 new jobs over the past two and a half years.
And they're not just building cars again - they're building better cars. Thanks to new fuel efficiency standards we put in place, they're building cars that will average nearly 55 miles per gallon by the middle of the next decade. That's almost double what they get today. That means folks will be able to fill up every two weeks instead of every week, saving the typical family more than $8,000 at the pump over time. That's a big deal, especially as families are yet again feeling the pinch from rising gas prices.
So what's happening in Detroit will make a difference. But it won't solve everything. There's no silver bullet for avoiding spikes in gas prices every year. There's no shortcut to taking control of our energy future. We have to pursue an all-of-the-above strategy that helps develop every source of American energy. And we have to do it now.
The good news is, we've been making progress. Six years ago, 60% of the oil we used was imported. Since I took office, America's dependence on foreign oil has decreased every single year. In fact, in 2010, for the first time in thirteen years, less than half the petroleum we consumed was imported. Part of that is because we're producing more oil here at home than at any time in the last eight years.
But we can't just drill our way out of this problem. While we consume 20 percent of the world's oil, we only have 2 percent of the world's oil reserves. We've got to develop new technology that will help us use new forms of energy. That's been a priority of mine as President. And because of the investments we've made, our use of clean, renewable energy has nearly doubled - and thousands of Americans have jobs because of it.
Now we need to keep at it. And to do that, we need to make the right choices.
Here's one we can make right now. Every year, $4 billion of your tax dollars go to subsidizing the oil industry. These are the same companies making record profits - tens of billions of dollars a year. I don't think oil companies need more corporate welfare. Congress should end this taxpayer giveaway. If you agree with me, I'm asking you to e-mail, call, or Tweet your representative. Tell them to stop fighting for oil companies. Tell them to start fighting for working families. Tell them to fight for the clean energy future that's within our reach. Because the sooner we all get started, the sooner we'll get there together. Thanks."
The "Newsmaker of the Day" is heard each weekday morning on AM 1450 KVML at 6:47, 7:47 and 8:47am.
Winter Weather Advisory For The Sierra Nevada
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for the Sierra Nevada through 4 PM Tuesday.
Snow accumulations of three to six inches is possible above 5000 through 7000 feet. Up to eight inches of snow could fall above 7000 feet.
Winds of ten to twenty mph are expected with gusts reaching up to fifty mph over the higher ridgetops.
The latest road condtions can be found here http://www.mymotherlode.com/traffic
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