According to Reuters the American herb craze has many Americans using the herbal supplements but few actually following the directions on the bottles. Roughly half of adults who use herbal supplements do not use them in accordance with "evidence-based" indications, U.S. researchers report. The findings, which appear in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings for May, stem from more than 30,000 adults who were surveyed regarding their use of herbs.The six herbs studied and their evidence-based indications were: echinacea for upper respiratory tract infection, garlic for high cholesterol, ginseng for mental performance/diabetes, St. John's wort for depression, soy for high cholesterol/hot flashes, and kava-kava for anxiety.

According to the LA Times leading Republican senators on both sides of the immigration debate said Sunday that they would work together to modify the bipartisan legislation being considered in the Senate. Initially, some conservative Republicans condemned what has been referred to as the "grand bargain" on immigration that emerged this month. The controversial piece of legislation would increase border security and employer based workplace enforcement of immigration laws. These concepts are long favored by Republicans, and in exchange the Democrats could then deliver on their promise to offer legal status to an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants and create guest worker programs.

This morning around 4:30 am Jackson Fire Crews were called to a fire at 833 Vogan Toll Rd at the Law Offices of Stephen Zalkind. The fire was reported by the first Jackson Police officer on scene to be a fully involved structure. Fire crews from Jackson and CalFire arrived on scene within minutes with two engines a piece. The structure by this time was fully ablaze and concerns turned to limiting the spread of the fire to the surrounding fields. The fire was under controlled by 5:07 am with Jackson Chief Mark Morton asking for Ione City Fire to respond with their rehab support unit as the Jackson and CalFire crews will be on the scene for mop up for quite some time. The cause of the fire is under investigation and the home was a total loss. Jackson Fire Chief Mark Morton had this to say about the fire.  

Around 5 pm last evening what could have been a dramatic accident off of Irish town Rd near Wieland Road was avoided by the brute force of some local firefighters and passerbys. According to witnesses on scene a White Chevy Tahoe was reported tipping toward its side and about to roll over with only two men holding the SUV from tumbling. Apparently, the driver had swerved to avoid a car that pulled out of a shopping center in front of her. As a consequence she traveled up the side embankment of the road leaving her car dangerously close to rolling over. Two passerbys held the vehicle until Units from the Amador County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, Amador County Fire Protection District Battalion 10 and CalFire all arrived on the scene. Firefighters from Battalion 10 and Calfire were able to hold the vehicle while an air jack was used to right the vehicle and prevent additional body damage. The accident produced no injuries and is under investigation by the CHP

The Amador County Fair Premium Books are now available. The book includes all you need to know about the Amador County Fair and its rules and regulations. The books are available at many locations around the county including the Fair Office, the Chamber of Commerce, local libraries, the Ione pharmacy, the Feed Barn, the Mt Aukum Store and Volcano Telephone Company

The Sutter Creek man facing vehicular manslaughter and Driving under the Influence charges for a wreck that killed his friend, remains in custody in the Calaveras County jail while awaiting his pretrial. At an arraignment last Thursday in Calaveras County Court Allen appeared along with his public defender- his next hearing date is June 7th. Jared Allen, 24 years old, was arrested after a May 1 accident on Hwy 49 in Mokelumne Hill in which his passenger, Jeremy Brown of Jackson, was ejected from the Jeep Allen was driving and killed. The California Highway Patrol arrested Allen at the scene for suspicion of DUI. According to the CHP report, Allen lost control of the vehicle after attempting to steer around a car that was stopped in the highway waiting to make a turn. Allen struck the other vehicle and drove off the roadway, rolling the Jeep and ejecting Brown who was not retrained by a seat belt.

For the El Dorado national Forest and those that recreate therein the Memorial Weekend marks the start of the summer recreation season. With drier than normal conditions in the forest, campgrounds below 7,000 feet will be open for the big weekend. The high elevation campgrounds at Wrights Lake, Woods Lake, and Kirkwood Lake will not be open. The Eldorado National Forest remains under a 2005 court order that restricts motorized vehicle travel to routes identified on the Motorized Vehicle Restriction Map which is available free of charge from all Eldorado National Forest offices.

Before the Jackson Planning Commission this week was a review of the Notices of Intent to Develop submitted by developers interested in building their projects in Jackson.  The City was to distribute 106 HEUs approved by the City Council for allocation this year. The Commission recommends to the City Council which projects should receive the competitive allocation of HEUs. City Planner Susan Peters made it very clear that the Commission is in no way recommending approval of the individual projects, but rather recommending that the developer be allowed to submit an application for their project.