The USDA Rural Development office in Stockton, serving Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Mono and San Joaquin counties, announced the availability of Section 504 grants and low-interest loans for low-income individuals to make needed repairs on their homes. Funding may be used for a variety of projects including installing or renovating water or sewer hook-ups, roofing, flooring, lighting, insulation and weatherization.

A victory in court last Thursday for the Gillman Family Partnership in their civil suit filed against local contractor, Buddy White. After an 8 day jury trial the jury awarded the Gillman Family partnership a 292,000 dollar judgment against B&G Mechanical and its owner Buddy White. The jury found that White was guilty of fraud and breach of contract. The breach of contract amount awarded by the jury was 166,000 dollars. The balance of the award, 126,000 dollars was awarded based upon the fraud found by the jury.

The Amador County Health Department is now warning about Lyme disease, a syndrome caused by a tick-borne bacteria called borrelia burgdorferi, which can progress from an initial skin infection, to a disseminated infection, to a disabling multi-systemic illness which can include dermatologic, arthritic, ophthalmologic, cardiac, psychiatric and neurological manifestations.  Lyme’s disease is most often spread by a Tick Bite.

The ARC of Amador and Calaveras is going green and the managing board of the organization has voted to purchase and install a21kW SolarStar® Electrical Energy System from Renewable Technologies, Inc. for their building at 75 Academy Drive. The Arc of Amador and Calaveras now joins businesses like Jon’s Pit Stop and the Amador County Fair, who have already gone “Green”. The SolarStar® Electrical Energy System for the Arc will use the combined power of 141 SolarWorld 175W PV panels to run 3 SMA America SB7000US power inverters.

Stating he is responding to a surge of gun violence across the state and rising gang violence involving firearms, Assistant Assembly Majority Leader Kevin de León last week announced the introduction of legislation, AB 362, to for the first time, regulate handgun ammunition sales in California. Currently, there are no regulations concerning the distribution and sale of handgun ammunition.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision released Wednesday, has reversed two lower court rulings and upheld a law passed by the former Republican-controlled Congress that bans a specific method for late-term abortions called “Partial Birth Abortion”. According to experts this decision has political repercussions and delivered an immediate political boost to pro life groups as well as bringing the issue to the forefront for Democratic presidential hopefuls. "This isn't really an abortion issue," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, as she walked the Capitol on Friday. "That is what really saddens me about what the justices said. "This is about a procedure that any parent would want her daughter to have access to if she needed it. And to frame it as an abortion issue is doing a disservice to medicine and to our young women and our country. So I hope we can get the focus back on the fact that this Supreme Court is deciding what medical procedures are necessary for childbearing women." 

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has released a draft report on proposed early actions to mitigate greenhouse gases in California, consistent with the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on September 27, 2006. "The impact of greenhouse gases on the world's climate is an urgent problem that calls for prompt action," said ARB Chairman Dr. Robert F. Sawyer. "Discrete early action measures will get that process started while we work on more comprehensive solutions." The Act mandates that California's greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020, an ambitious 25% percent cut in emissions compared to business as usual.

Wastewater continues to be the topic of discussion in the county. The City of Jackson is one of the entities currently discussing waste water at length, especially while waiting for the Regional Water Quality Control Board to release their permit which will specify how the City is to deal with their waste water in the future. Several alternatives have been identified if Jackson is required to pull their wastewater out of the creek. However, at this week’s meeting the costs associated with these identified solutions had the public and the commissioners concerned, to say the least.

There were only two underage sales this year in a survey of 35 store sample within Amador County. While a sales rate of 5.7 % sounds low … should we be proud or upset?  A sales rate of any amount is in direct violation of the law that prohibits tobacco sales to minors that has been on the books for over one-hundred years.