Weather patterns have changed slightly, giving our air quality a small boost. Air quality has been poor due to smoke from the PlumasCounty “Moonlight Fire”. The fire has now reached over 30-thousand acres and is just 8-percent contained. 16-hundred firefighters are on scene with 101 fire engines, 7 Helicopters, 11 dozers, and 15 Water tenders. The costs jumped nearly a million dollars yesterday alone, with the cost of the suppression effort currently at  $1.25 million.  

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Alliance for Rabies Control and other agencies around the world are celebrating the first annual World Rabies Day September 8, 2007. “The purpose of World Rabies Day is to raise awareness about the impact of human and animal rabies, how easy it is to prevent it and to honor those who work daily to prevent rabies” says Dr. Bob Hartmann, Amador County Health Officer. Rabies is a…

Gov. Schwarzenegger says voters may end up deciding the future of health care reform in California. Schwarzenegger  says that the funding mechanisms needed to pay for his health care reform plan should be put on a statewide ballot.

The Amador Water Agency has joined in new technology, which has opened a new world of possibilities in allowing them to offer better customer service and employee efficiency.  Continuing in its efforts to seek innovative ways to save time and money and perform functions more efficiently, the Amador Water Agency is beginning an Automated Meter Reader program. 

Next Monday the Amador County Sheriff’s Department will celebrate the promotions of four of their officers to a higher rank- with a swearing in ceremony. As part of the re-organization of the Department, Sheriff Martin Ryan created two new lieutenant positions. These lieutenant positions have not been part of the sheriff’s office hierarchy in the recent past. The new lieutenants are Charles Ray and Drew Stidger. Lt. Ray will be in charge of the Patrol…

Yesterday morning the fire alarms sounded at Sutter Amador Hospital. As emergency crews responded, hospital maintenance crews discovered the alarmed had sounded from inside the Intensive Care Unit conference room. Once it was further investigated, crews discovered that the alarm was related to a light bulb issue. Apparently, gases from a faulty light bulb had escaped into the air causing the highly sensitive alarm to sound. The situation was well in hand and no patients…

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States. It is estimated that about 178-thousand women & 2-thousand men in the United States will be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2007.

The Ione City Council met Tuesday Evening, to discuss  the Capital Improvement Plans and also improvements for Howard Park. Included in the Capital Improvement Plan is the task of Street Striping and Painting, which would be done separately from a new slurry seal for the roads in the park. Specifically, one outstanding project which does stand out in regards to the Street Striping project, will involve the need to paint the curbs red, with a…

With all the discussion over API’s and AYP’s, STAR scores and teacher accountability a new study out finds that Americans, in general, think the nations kids are sacrificing to make gains on standardized tests. A poll released by Phi Delta Kappa and Gallup Poll, the 39th Annual Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, says that among this year's major findings are that 52 percent of Americans believe that the Federal No Child…