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News Archive

News Archive (6192)

Thursday, 06 March 2008 00:19

The Amador Railroad

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Amador RailroadThis is part two in a series that TSPN is doing this week on the history of the Amador Railroad. Since the railroad’s inception in late 1904, it had an immense impact on Amador County cities and the lives of the people that lived here. The railroad was essentially the main bloodline for circulating goods and services through the county. The railroad also revolutionized human transportation.  Passengers could board a train in Martell, ride for an hour down the windy stretch of track to Ione, and from there it was a straight shot to Galt. Passengers sometimes rode in open cars, and trains on the Ione to Galt route often exceeded 60 miles per hour. As the population of valley cities such as Sacramento and Stockton grew, lumber from the foothill region became more and more vital for construction.

Amador RailroadTrains loaded with lumber rumbled down the foothill lines on a daily basis. On January 1, 1946, the Amador Central Railroad was leased to Winton Lumber Company, who had the lumber mill in Martell.   Winton Lumber operated the line until June 22, 1964, when American Forest Products purchased the Amador Central. Then in June of 1988, AMC sold again to Atlanta based Georgia-Pacific Corporation, which at that time controlled 22% of plywood production in the US, as well as 5% of all lumber production.  In 1997, the railroad, saw mill and particle board plant in Martell were all acquired by Sierra Pacific Industries. SPI already owned three lumber mills within 40 miles of Martell, and essentially purchased the Martell mill in order to buy out a competitor. SPI decided to close the mill, and subsequently laid off some 800 mill workers there, spelling the end of an era for Amador County Industry as well as the AMC.

Thursday, 23 August 2007 00:33

Ione City Council Meeting

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slide7The proposed budget which had been seen by the city council, two times prior to the meeting Tuesday was approved, as was the increase in Local Road Traffic Mitigation Fees. The prior fee was $827 per single family dwelling permit and the new fee, which was approved unanimously at the meeting, increased by $2247, for a total of $3065 per home. The next item of discussion was regarding Ione becoming involved in the Amador Regional Planning Committee.
Thursday, 16 August 2007 00:50

ACUSD STAR Scores: Pretty Much The Same As Last Year

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slide17Amador County Unified’s STAR scores are pretty much the same as last year says district officials. A comparison of median test scores for all grade levels show a rise throughout the educational process with scores, on average, higher at the High School levels. Elementary scores averaged in the mid 3-hundreds for English Language arts.
Wednesday, 08 August 2007 23:52

Will State Budget Impasse Impact Local Schools?

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slide31State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell today urged Senate Republicans to come back to work in Sacramento and end the budget impasse that is severely impacting the service capabilities of all California’s 785 state-funded child care agencies.
Monday, 06 August 2007 03:28

Amador County Library Offering New E-Services

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slide20The Amador County Library is now offering some new services available on the internet. The services include access to electronic resource databases which are being provided to the library through our membership in the 49/99 library cooperative. Some of the new databases are Fact Cards, a series of research resources designed for quick reference for students in grades 4 through 8. The topics covered by Fact Cards are those California, United States, and World topics included in the social studies curriculum in California.
Thursday, 05 July 2007 23:37

School District Increases Substitute Pay

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The Amador County Unified School District Board of Trustees recently gave a raise to the substitutes utilized by the district. According to Executive Director of Personnel Rosalie McProuty, the district has conducted a survey of the surrounding, and therefore competing counties, including El Dorado and Calaveras. What the survey found is that the ACUSD rate of $90 dollars per day for short term subs was much lower that the surrounding counties which paid anywhere from 125 to 209 dollars per day. McProuty emphasized the importance of having a “good” pool of substitute teachers on which to call when the need arises. The Board, after some discussion, approved the rate increase to $110 per short term substitutes and $150 dollars per day for long tern subs.
slide24Some local teens are getting a head start on promising careers in health care. Sutter Amador Hospital (SAH) awarded scholarships to three students preparing to head to college this fall to study a field in health care. The scholarships were awarded during awards ceremonies prior to graduation in the spring. Every year, SAH awards scholarships to local students dedicated to making a difference to the health of our community. SAH’s merit-based scholarship program was established to support the advancement of health care in the communities we serve, and to promote the training and development of future health care professionals.
Monday, 14 May 2007 04:43

Homework Policy Reviewed By School Board

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slide13The Amador County Unified School District recently discussed their homework policy. The item was requested by trustee David Dutra after hearing multiple complaints from parents regarding the lack of notification from teachers when students have fallen behind on their assignments. Currently, the Board Policy and administrative regulation require teachers to notify parents about consistently miss assignments. How to do this in an efficient manner was the discussion between board members and members of the district’s administration. Elementary Teacher Mike Delaney commented that this does not appear to be much of a problem at the Elementary level.
Tuesday, 17 April 2007 00:51

Students Scores higher for 2007 on Exit Exam

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slide33State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell announced  that a greater percentage of students in the Class of 2007 have passed the Exit Exam when compared to the Class of 2006 at the same point in time during their senior year. O’Connell also noted that test results show significant progress toward closing the achievement gap between students who are African American or Latino and those who are white or Asian.
Thursday, 12 April 2007 00:32

ACUSD Approves Salary Increases For All Employees

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slide12The Amador County Unified School District Board meeting got off to a late start last night after the Board considered a lengthy closed session agenda. The closed agenda considered 7 expulsions and several pending or potential litigations. The district announced a settlement in a case called JM vs ACUSD and ACOE. The district agreed to settle this loss suit against the district for 53,000 dollars. There were no details released in the case. Superintendent Dr. Carey then presented a special award to business department employee Jan Stitt, who was recently recommended at a state level class she took on behalf of the district.