State Sen. Tom Berryhill, R-Twain Harte, is advancing anti-metal theft legislation he hopes will close loopholes in a bill he sponsored in 2008 as an assemblyman to target the crime.

Senate Bill 757, authored by the senator representing Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, passed the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee this week on a 10-0 vote. Its final language is still a work in progress but it is intended to tighten up the provisions of Berryhill’s 2008 Assembly Bill 844, said Berryhill spokeswoman Eileen Ricker.

Debra Jorge, of Sonora, sits with her granddaughter, Freddie Lynn, 2, in Columbia State Historic Park. Amy Alonzo Rozak / Union Democrat, copyright 2013

Her youngest child was approaching high school and her three others had reached adulthood.

Jorge is 57 now, yet she’s been thrust back into the role of a working mom. She works full time, has no immediate plans to retire, and, with her husband, is raising her grandchild, Freddie Lynn.

Bret Harte Union High School District’s Board of Trustees voted Monday to move the alternative Vallecito High School to the main Bret Harte High campus in Angels Camp.

The alternative program, which currently has about 13 students and three full-time teachers, will occupy classrooms in Bret Harte’s science wing.

The Groveland Community Services district is reeling from a staff and board exodus, stemming from tensions among board members.

General Manager Gary Mello announced this week his plans to retire at the end of June, and GCSD board Director Joe Riley also submitted a letter of resignation this week.

Teresa Woods started the robotics club at Summerville High School. Amy Alonzo Rozak / Union Democrat, Copyright 2013.

This year the junior at the Connections Visual and Performing Arts Academy founded a robotics club, which won a devoted student following. Through it, Woods became part of a movement to boost Tuolumne County’s economy by training young engineers.

A Minnesota man who went missing while hiking the popular Mist Trail in Yosemite National Park over the weekend was found dead Tuesday afternoon.

Search and rescue personnel retrieved the body of Kenneth Stensby, 73, from the base of Vernal Fall about 1 p.m.

Dive recovery teams today will continue searching a two-acre pond for evidence linked to the murder of 8-year-old Valley Springs girl Leila Fowler.

Divers from the Calaveras and Stanislaus county sheriff’s departments on Tuesday began searching a pond near the Rippon Road home where Leila was found stabbed more than a week ago.

Lindy Winkler jumps a frog for the Assessors Office while at the Calaveras County Government Center Frog Jump Tuesday afternoon. Maggie Beck / Union Democrat, Copyright 2013.

The annual event pits county employees in friendly competition against one another, with a spot in the world championships of frog jumping on the line.

A woman who struck and killed a jogger in an October auto accident was involved in a wreck Sunday in Jamestown, also allegedly involving distracted driving, the California Highway Patrol said.

The crash occurred at 7:42 a.m. Tashina Hatler, 23, of Jamestown, was driving her 2001 Chevrolet Malibu north on Highway 49 about 40 mph when she looked down at her cell phone to press the speaker button and struck a 1998 Chevrolet Blazer, CHP said.