Time is running out to beat the latest postage hike. The cost of mailing a letter went up a penny to 42 cents on Monday. The boost is part of what's expected to be an annual price adjustment by the Postal Service. A new law regulating the post office makes it easier to raise rates as long as the agency doesn't exceed the rate of inflation. Rates are to be adjusted each May. Customers, however, can buy Forever stamps, which remain valid regardless of any postal rate increase. However, when the rate goes up, so does the price of Forever stamps. Postal officials say they have printed an additional 1.5 billion 1-cent stamps in anticipation of the demand from people trying to get rid of their 41-cent stamps.

In National news, Oil Giant Exxon Mobile announced last week that, once again, it has broken the US national record for quarterly profit at $11.68 billion dollars. Democratic House member Maurice Hinchey spoke out against Exxon-Mobile’s massive profits. In response to the numbers, Hinchey stated, “We’re dealing with this at a time when the budgets of households across the country are being stretched out to the limit and that stretching out is largely due to these skyrocketing gas prices. The big oil companies just continue to break records for their profits.” The current national average for gasoline is $3.88 a gallon. California has the third highest gasoline price in the nation, behind Alaska and Hawaii, with a State average of $4.21 a gallon. In Amador County, Gasoline prices this week are averaging $4.35 a gallon. The cheapest gas in the County is $4.29 for a gallon of regular unleaded, and can be found at John’s Pit Stop in Martell, the Mirastar station at Walmart, and the Valero station in Pine Grove.

Senate Republicans broke from President Bush over the weekend to aid Democrats in support for veterans and the unemployed in the form of a bill which will go to pay for another year of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The 75-22 vote also added billions of dollars in other domestic funds such as heating subsidies for the poor and money for fighting wildfires to funding for military operations overseas. Shortly afterward, the Senate voted 70-26 to approve $165 billion to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next spring, when Bush's successor will set war policy. All told, the measure contains $212 billion over the coming two years, plus about $50 billion more through 2017 for veteran’s education benefits. The vote on the domestic add-ons was a rebuke to Bush, who has promised to veto the measure if it contains the domestic measures. However, the president still has enough GOP support in the House to sustain a veto. Some of those House Republicans who voted “present” on Iraq war funding may find themselves on the hot seat over the next week, if Democratic strategists have their way. Last week, the House for the first time ever rejected funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as Republicans held back support as a protest against domestic-spending items Democrats added to the legislation. The war funding failed 149-141, after 132 lawmakers—all Republicans—voted present. Now strategists at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the political arm of House Democrats, are readying radio ads that will air in battleground districts around the country. The goal of the ads is to hold Republicans accountable for not taking a stand – for or against – the war. "I hope President Bush watches closely what happened here today," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. "And I hope he heeds the call of a bipartisan, veto-proof majority of Congress and the thousands of veterans who know we owe our veterans the support they deserve."

Nation - A historic election culminated in record national voter turnouts Tuesday, when Americans voted Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. The landmark presidential victory will be the first for an African American. After over a year of tireless campaigning, Obama stood on a stage in front of half a million people in Chicago’s Grant Park Tuesday and reiterated his goals, saying, “change has come to America.” “I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face,” Republican John McCain said before his supporters in Phoenix, Arizona. Major exit polls indicated that the majority of Americans were most concerned with the economy, an issue for which the Democrat scored highly when compared to his Republican opponent and the unpopular Bush Administration. Exit polls also indicated that voters were more concerned with age than race. Obama's former rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton, said in a statement that “we are celebrating an historic victory for the American people.” Obama will be working with a heavily Democratic Congress. Democrats picked up Senate seats in New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia, among others. Story by Alex Lane (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

By Jim Reece & Jennifer Wilson - The U.S. Department of Transportation announced that effective Monday, the Federal Highway Administration will delay financial reimbursements from the Highway Trust Fund to all states. The delays will slow four projects in Amador County, but will not have any financial impact as the Amador County Transportation Commission is currently between projects. Amador County Transportation Agency Executive Director Charles Field says, "It could affect the federal grants that have already been awarded." Those include improving intersections at Highway 49 at Court Street in Jackson; at Sutter Hill and Ridge Road in Sutter Creek; at New York Ranch Road and Ridge Road in the unincorporated area of the County; plus several other projects. He said the "silver lining" is that ACTC had not gone out to contract on any of the projects. This is good, he said, because to go out to contract takes a deposit of funds, which would have been reimbursed by the grant. He said Amador County would not feel the impact that other places in the United States could feel. "In the rest of the country (workers) went to work and were probably told to go home," Field said. If money had already been spent, they would only get reimbursed 40 to 60 cents on the dollar. Once they get it sorted out, then the feds can move forward with the projects and grants. California Department of Transportation Director Will Kempton announced the policy in a release Monday. "This latest announcement from the U.S. Department of Transportation aggravates an already tight budget problem for California's transportation program," Kempton said. Caltrans had projected that the state budget impasse could impact ongoing transportation construction projects by October. But delays in federal reimbursements could exacerbate the situation. Kempton said "failure to resolve this issue will have a significant impact on California and the rest of the nation. Unless resolved, this situation could result in delaying, reducing, or canceling transportation projects." He said the ripple effect could impact California's economy through loss of revenues, reduced productivity and increased unemployment. In July, Kempton wrote a letter to California's congressional delegation emphasizing the need to resolve the issue at the earliest possible date. He said Caltrans will continue working with Congress and federal transportation officials to secure the passage of legislation that will address the funding shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund.

In national news, Democrat Barack Obama plunged Wednesday into a five-month election battle with Republican John McCain after making history by becoming the first black presidential nominee of a major US party. The Illinois senator's giant-killing win over Hillary Clinton came at the climax late Tuesday of the longest, most expensive and spellbinding nominating epic ever. Clinton has not yet conceded the race, but on Wednesday she held out an olive branch to Obama after he clinched the number of delegates needed to be the Democratic party's presidential nominee in the November elections. "Let me be very clear, I know that Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel," she told a powerful pro-Israel lobby group. But the former first lady stopped short of formally abandoning her quest to be the first woman elected to the Oval Office, and although they both addressed the gathering within minutes of each other they had no plans to meet. Instead as President George W. Bush joined worldwide plaudits of Obama's stunning success, Clinton's supporters strove to coax the new Democratic standard-bearer into choosing her as his running mate. Together, they would be "unstoppable," the New York senator's campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, told MSNBC television. "I think we would have the White House for 16 years." On November 4, voters must pick between Obama, 46, a freshman senator and charismatic mixed-race standard-bearer of a new political generation, and McCain, 71, a Vietnam war hero asking for one final call to service. Clinton has said she will now consult with supporters and party leaders on the way forward.

According to Dataquick Information Systems, there were a record 47,171 California foreclosures in January, February and March. DataQuick is a national company that provides property information and tracks statistics. It is also triple the previous peak during the 1990s downturn, with a total of 15,418 in the third quarter of 1996. The eight-county capital region - Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties - showed 9,505 defaults during January, February and March. All told, this region has seen about 34,000 home loan defaults since the beginning of 2007 - and we are guessing about 15,000 foreclosures. That foreclosures number is still to come from DataQuick. The number of California homes going into foreclosure jumped in the first quarter to its highest level in more than 16 years, as the market continued to work its way through declining home values and a pool of at-risk mortgages originated in 2005 and 2006.

March brought few storms and little snow to the Sierra, leaving the snowpack below average to date, officials said. Though spring storms could still add to the snow totals, April typically signals an end to the peak snow season. As of Tuesday, the snowpack in the Lake Tahoe basin was 87 percent of average for the date, according to the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. The numbers are still better than last year, when April arrived with a Sierra snowpack at less than half of what it should be. After a slow start, back-to-back storms in January blanketed the Sierra, boosting the snowpack to well-above-average levels.

As recently as late February, the Tahoe Basin snowpack was at more than 115 percent of average.  But March — typically the fourth largest month for snowfall — produced Sierra snow for only few days. While winter didn’t erase the deficit from a seriously dry 2007, there shouldn’t be any major problems with water supplies, officials said. Lake Tahoe — the river system’s largest reservoir — should rise at least a foot between now and late June, said Bill Hauck, water supply coordinator for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority.

By Alex Lane - And now, our continuing report on the Propositions you’ll be deciding on in the November ballot. Today we’ll discuss Proposition 3, which would authorize 980 million in new bonds to build children’s hospitals and help them purchase new medical equipment. Supporters have argued persuasively for the need for better facilities and treatment in children’s hospitals, but opponents believe this is simply not possible during our current tough economic times. Supporters argue in favor of Prop 3 because it will “not raise taxes” and will “allow children’s hospitals to purchase the latest medical technologies and special equipment for sick babies.” They highlight the overwhelming percentage of childcare that takes place at Children’s Hospitals, compared to other hospital facilities. For example: Children’s Hospitals provide 97 percent of all surgery for children who need organ transplants and 71 percent of inpatient care for children with cancer. Four years ago, voters approved nearly 750 million for these hospitals but construction costs and budget shortfalls required most of the money. Opponents believe that “adding bonded indebtedness for anything but the most essential infrastructure is unwise to the point of absurdity.” Opponents criticize the emotional framing of the proponent’s argument under the guise of “Children’s hospitals”, saying that a “careful reading of the definition…reveals that 80 percent of the money may go to any acute hospital so long as it treats children, among other patients.” On November 4th, you’ll have the opportunity to decide on this highly contentious issue.

By Alex Lane - Repairs to failed slide gates at the Caples Lake main dam outlet works are nearing completion. Inspections conducted after a recent dewatering show that the 85-year-old slide gates, their appurtenances, and the trash rack were more badly deteriorated than indicated by earlier underwater investigations. However, no new major problems were discovered. The repair teams are removing the slide gates and trash rack and installing replacements. El Dorado Irrigation District anticipates the work will be done by November 1st, or possibly earlier. Once the repairs are completed, the gates will be tested and the bladder dams removed. Currently, the District is pumping water—at the rate of two to three cubic feet per second—from behind the bladder dams into Caples Creek. At their October 6 meeting, the District’s Board of Directors unanimously voted to fund the first year of the Caples Lake fish restocking plan, approved by the state Department of Fish and Game. According to the plan, over a ten-year period, brown, rainbow, and mackinaw trout will be released into the lake to reestablish the lake’s recreational fisheries. The comprehensive plan includes a timeframe that Fish and Game believes will allow a trophy mackinaw fishery to reestablish. Fish and Game will fund the restocking of the mackinaw. The cost to the District to fund the first year restocking effort is 246,282 dollars. At this time, the details are being worked out by District staff, Fish and Game, and potential partners. Caples Lake is a major recreation area for residents of Amador County.