Amador County – The U.S. Supreme Court decided to order the release of as many as 46,000 prisoners back into society recently, while in a sharp dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia said “terrible things are sure to happen.”

Congressman Dan Lungren agreed Monday, in a speech before Congress. Lungren (R-Gold River), who represents Amador County, the former California attorney general and author of “The Prison Litigation Reform Act,” released a transcript of the speech to TSPN.

Lungren said, in part: “Today the United States Supreme Court delivered a body blow to the safety of the people of my home state of California. Today in an unprecedented action of judicial intemperance, the United States Supreme Court basically ordered that between 38,000 and 46,000 prisoners currently in the California prison system be released.”

He said: “Many times Supreme Court decisions are of mere academic interest. This one specifically deals with the safety of the people of my home state.”

“As one who led a team of attorneys generals of the states of the nation in the 1990s to have prison litigation reform which was incorporated into a law that was passed by the Congress and signed by the president, this flies in the face of every piece of that bill.”

Lungren said: “You rarely say this, but I fear that there will be murders, there will be rapes, there will be assaults, there will be unnamed and unnumbered crimes in my home state as a direct result of today’s decision.”

“Since when did they take over all of the three branches of government, becoming the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch?”

Lungen said the Prison Litigation Reform Act states that “prospective relief in any civil action with respect to prison conditions shall extend no further than necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right of a particular plaintiff or plaintiffs.” It also said that such relief must be “narrowly drawn,” and extend “no further than necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right.” Also, it must be “the least intrusive means necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right.”

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Amador County – The California Transportation Commission recently allocated $58 million for 56 highway, transit, and rail projects statewide, including $1.3 million for two projects in Sacramento.

Matt Rocco of the California Department of Transportation announced the allocations May 12, saying they are intended “to support jobs and upgrade the state’s vital transportation system.”

Caltrans Director Cindy McKim said: “We are putting transportation dollars to work creating jobs and making transportation improvements that will benefit Californians today and for decades to come.”

The project allocations included $90,000 for a “STIP” planning, programming and monitoring project for the Calaveras Council of Governments.

Sacramento was allocated $336,000 “to purchase a new neighborhood ride hybrid bus and make repairs and improvements to various light rail stations,” McKim said. Sacramento also received $1 million for Del Paso Boulevard Streetscape Improvements, between State Highway 160 and Arden Way, including a pedestrian plaza, sidewalks and traffic signals.

It also allocated $1.3 million for work in El Dorado, Nevada and Placer counties, to “install 11 Intelligent Transportation Systems and Transportation Operation Systems to enhance safety, reduce accidents and maximize the efficient use of the highway system.”

It also allocated $10 million to build two carpool lanes on Interstate 680 from Milpitas to Highway 84. Los Angeles received $1.8 million to “seismically retrofit the Century Bridge and to repair 20 bridges in the San Fernando Valley between I-5 and Big Tujunga Wash.” Orange County received $2.5 million to “install electronic highway message signs at seven locations.”

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Amador County – The Jackson Rancheria last week distributed the proceeds from the 2011 Mother Lode Hot Jazz Party to this year’s recipients, giving $10,000 to three organizations.

Jackson Rancheria Vice President of Marketing Ron Olivero gave large ceremonial checks to two of the three recipients of the funds last week. The Arc of Amador and Calaveras Counties received $5,000 from the Jazz Party, and Mother Lode Friends of Music got $3,000, while the Jackson Revitalization Committee received $2,000.

During the ceremonial presentation, Olivero gave a check to Vice Mayor Wayne Garibaldi and City Manager Mike Daly of the city of Jackson, for the donation to the Jackson Revitalization Committee. Olivero also gave a check to Mike Sweeney from The Arc.

Carol Cook, content developer for the Jackson Rancheria Marketing Department announced the donations for this year’s recipients of funding from the Mother Lode Hot Jazz Party. This was the first year for the Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel to host the Jazz Party. Cook said “over the 33 years of this event, proceeds have contributed more than $300,000 to local non-profit organizations.”

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Amador County – Amador Community Foundation announced last week the anonymous gift of $30,000 toward music education in county schools.

Amador Community Foundation Executive Director Tina Hurley, who is disbursing the donation, said the gift is for music education. She said “Chris Tootle, Amador County Unified School District Music Educator, had partial funding for music education from other resources, but this gift allowed him to hire additional teachers and fund the music program through the next year.”

Hurley said now the High School Jazz Band can be offered this year as well as 5th & 6th grade elementary band classes. All three are “programs which were previously cut, with the loss of two full-time music teacher positions.” She said “generous gifts from other private donors at the Amador Community Foundation, Sutter Creek Elementary, and Pioneer Elementary, allowed many of these classes to return.”

Elementary Band classes are the feeder system for the Junior High and High School Bands, and the High School Jazz Band keeps the most advanced students challenged, so getting these classes back was first on the ACUSD Music Education department’s priority list, Hurley said.

“With these sizeable financial donations, we created a budget that makes it possible to teach students Band in 6th Grade, as well as Jazz Band, twice a week,” said Tootle. “We are going to try and stretch the budget through the 2011-2012 school year as well as this Spring, but once the funds run out, it is back to square one.”

In the past 20 years, ACSUD staff has gone from five full-time music teachers to one, as a result of state budget cuts, Hurley said, while many school districts across the state have cut Arts Education entirely.

Amador County schools that have added Elementary Band twice a week this spring are Pioneer, Sutter Creek, Pine Grove, and Ione Junior High. Plymouth Elementary, Jackson Elementary, and Jackson Junior High will teach Band in the 2011 school year.

Pioneer also offers K-2 General Music, 3-4 Recorder, and 5-6 Band/Violin. Thanks to the efforts of their Parent Faculty Club, Ione Elementary School offers General Music classes to each student once a week. Ione Elementary School also holds beginner, intermediate and advanced violin. The High School Jazz Band also rehearses twice a week.

The $30,000 donation was part of a total $130,000 anonymous donation to ACUSD, with disbursement made by the Amador Community Foundation. About $50,000 of the funding went to each of the Physical Education programs at the two Junior High Schools, in Ione and Jackson.

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Amador County – Amador Community Foundation has received a gift of $130,000 from an anonymous donor, with the intention of benefiting school physical education at Ione Junior High and Jackson Junior High, along with the overall music program.

Tina Hurley, Executive Director of the Amador Community Foundation announced the donation last week, saying she was “delighted” to begin her position as ACF executive director “by awarding a gift of $130,000 from a generous anonymous donor to benefit local schools,” especially “at a time when state budget cuts and pink slips are expected.”

Hurley said she met with the Physical Education staff at Ione and Jackson Junior High Schools “to announce that their departments would be enriched by $100,000, thanks to a generous donor to ACF. The gift allocates funds to both junior high P.E. programs.” It also supports music education in the elementary and junior high schools with a $30,000 allocation.

Hurley said she initially met with Justin Brazil, Christine Kearney and Kelly Hunkins, P.E. teachers at the two junior high schools, who “were thrilled that a donor saw the need to support P.E. at this time of reduced resources for our schools.” Ione and Jackson Junior High Schools will each receive about $50,000 to be used to enhance and improve P.E. at the schools, Hurley said. There are 385 students at Ione Junior High, and 320 at Jackson Junior High.

Justin Brazil of the Ione Junior High Phys Ed Department, said: “We have been able to make sure we have enough of each type of equipment to maximize each student’s chances for success. Having enough of the right equipment also allows us to offer a higher quality experience for our students.”

Brazil said the anonymous donation “has allowed us to get equipment to offer new units that we were not able to teach before, giving the students more potential choices to stay active and lead a healthy lifestyle.”

Hurley said the successful disbursement of the donation “truly exemplifies our mission to connect local generosity to local needs.”

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Amador County – The Preston Youth Correctional Facility plans its final open house to coincide with a closure ceremony June 2nd at the Ione facility.

Preston officials announced that “after more than 100 years in operation, Preston Youth Correctional Facility will hold an open house closure ceremony next month.”

“To celebrate its rich history,” officials said in a release that “the public is invited to an open house closure ceremony,” set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, June 2. On-ground tours of the facility will be offered to the public from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and from 12:30 to 2 p.m. A flag lowering ceremony will be held at noon in front of the administration building in the parking lot.

The Preston Visiting Hall will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with various historical displays, and refreshments will be served.

The Release said the “Preston Youth Correctional Facility, established in 1894, is scheduled for closure on June 30 by action of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Legislature. Preston has served the state of California and its youth for 117 years. Preston began as a proposal in the Legislature to remove youthful offenders from San Quentin and Folsom state prisons.”

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Amador County – The Jackson City Council today will hear additional survey results for potential uses for a new city park on the Oro de Amador, also known as the former “Wheel Development,” on land that holds former Kennedy Mine tailings.

The Council is scheduled to hear results of the survey being conducted by the Amador County Recreation Agency as part of a Proposition 84 grant application for the property, as park land and potential facilities. An April meeting of the Council had a consensus that more surveys be sought from other age groups and different areas of the community, said Mike Daly, in a report for today’s meeting.

ACRA Executive Director Tracey Towner-Yep submitted the updated survey findings, which could be discussed by the council today, with possible direction to staff and ACRA as lead agency, on behalf of the city in the application.

The results show the total polled responses, including three groups of surveys taken at fifth grade classes Jackson Elementary Schools, as well as other classes at Argonaut High School. The results also broke down the numbers with responses from the “taxpaying population,” as requested by the Council in April.

The Council will also consider an expansion of the city Façade Improvement Program to the northern areas of the city, and will discuss application periods for positions on the city Planning Commission and the Cemetery Committee.

The meeting is 7 p.m. today at the civic center.

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Amador County – The Northern California Society of American Foresters plans its 2011 Summer Field Meeting for August 5-6 in Jackson.

The organization announced the plans in its latest newsletter, saying “we will gather in beautiful Amador County, in the heart of the Mother Lode.” The meeting’s focus will be “Biomass: From Forests to Energy,” and a committee developed “an informative and enjoyable program to pique everyone’s interest and increase knowledge about the opportunities and challenges for foresters, landowners and agencies.”

Organizers said the “meeting will include a winery dinner and evening speaker to set the stage for the Saturday field tour, fuel site visits within the Mokelumne River watershed, lunch at a hunting preserve on the shores of Lake Camanche, and a tour of the Buena Vista Biomass Power plant in Ione.”

The newsletter said it is an “opportunity to learn, network and visit with foresters and others interested in this important developing issue.”

Recent postings said the Aug. 5-6 NorCal Society of American Foresters summer meeting “kicks off with wine tasting and dinner at Avio Vineyards (in Sutter Creek) with guest speaker James D. Boyd, Vice Chair, of the California Energy Commission.”

The postings said registration will be Friday night in the Jackson City lot behind Mel & Faye’s Diner, where attendees will get opening remarks and can organize carpools.

“Saturday’s field tour will visit past and current forest thinning operations designed to create fuel breaks for adjacent subdivisions.” The group will travel up Highway 88 to the Pioneer area for field stops to see work on “fire hazard reduction & wood utilization; fuels management & thinning for biomass.”

They will also “discuss the economics and environmental implications of fuel treatment options and end uses, including biomass for energy production, and address the challenges of working in the wildland-urban interface and the Mokelumne River drainage.”

Field meeting attendees will take lunch at the private Camanche Hills Hunting Preserve, “where managers will describe land management challenges” in the Moke watershed, which “supplies water to Bay Area residents while providing diverse recreation opportunities for local residents and visitors.”

They will also “explore the relationship between hazardous fuel treatment and fire safety in the upper watershed and water resource management down river.” They will also consider the difficulties and “social and economic benefits of building an energy facility in California.” The field meeting will end at the “Buena Vista Biomass Power plant, an 18-megawatt generation facility that is being repowered as a long-term sustainable biomass energy generation facility.”

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Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 5-23-11 - Supervisor Richard Forster sits down with Tom Slivick to discuss the agenda for the upcoming board of supervisors meeting.

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 5-23-11

·       An anonymous donor gave $100,000 for physical education programs at Junior High Schools.

·       NorCal Foresters plan a summer field meeting in Jackson to look at “Biomass: From Forests to Energy”

·       An anonymous donor will help the School District expand music education for the next year.

·       Jackson City Council today will review an update of a new city park survey, toward a Prop 84 parks grant.

·       Preston plans its final open house in a closure ceremony June 2