Calaveras County Water District directors set the ceiling last week for impending rate hikes on water and sewer bills.

The board Thursday approved a notice to be mailed out to customers in about two weeks laying out a proposal to increase monthly water bills up to 25 percent in the coming year and a cumulative 71 percent by mid-2017. Sewer bills are slated to rise as much as 15 percent the first year and 62 percent by mid-2017.

A member of the California Board of Equalization will hold a series of special conference calls for members of the public who want answers about a controversial state fire fee that affects many rural property owners.

George Runner, who represents District 2 of the tax board, will hold the first of multiple telephone conference calls at 6 p.m. Tuesday to update the public on the issue of the state’s Fire Prevention Fee approved in 2011. 

Law enforcement officials over the weekend wrapped up their first full week investigating the murder of 8-year-old Valley Springs girl Leila Fowler by retracing searched areas and probing new angles.

Sunday, a pair of dive teams searched a pair of ponds near the Fowler home on the 5600 block of Rippon Road. It was unclear Sunday night whether they found anything.

Columbia’s 44th Commencement will begin at 6:30 p.m. tonight in the Oak Pavilion on campus, with a reception to follow in the adjacent Carkeet Park. 

Columbia College is sending new graduates into the world this spring, many of whom have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. 

The college will award degrees to more than 200 students at its commencement ceremony tonight. Twenty-seven are graduating with honors, and 19 will leave with distinction — meaning their grades were mostly A’s.

The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office has ruled out two potential suspects in the murder of Leila Fowler, an 8-year-old girl who was stabbed in her Valley Springs home Saturday.

Investigators have also scrapped a suspect description provided by a woman who claimed she saw the killer, but then recanted her statements without explanation when asked Wednesday to help a sketch artist.

Sonora Elementary School first-graders (from left) Sophia Powell and Alisia Enriquez-Ferreria help Megan Scott with a word search. Amy Alonzo Rozak / Union Democrat, Copyright 2013.

Seven local school districts sought grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which pays for free afternoon activities and academic support.

The Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday dismissed marijuana trafficking charges against four people arrested in a May 2011 raid on a medical marijuana dispensary in East Sonora.

Jana Marie Evans, Nancy June Smith, Sara Herrin and Dannyjo Gellar Herrin, all of Tuolumne, appeared in Tuolumne County Superior Court for their trial when the charges were dropped.

Law enforcement officers on Wednesday shared some new information on the investigation into the weekend slaying of 8-year-old Leila Fowler.

Investigators returned to Leila’s home on the 5600 block of Rippon Road in Valley Springs, where she was found stabbed, to search for more evidence.

Vivian Hansten, 73, of Sonora, puts together shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child to be sent overseas to children in impoverished countries. Maggie Beck / Union Democrat, Copyright 2013.

She doesn’t know any other way.

“Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do?” she said when asked about her volunteer efforts. “It just seems normal to me.”

Hansten, 73, of Sonora, has her feet firmly planted in organizations and activities on both sides of the Stanislaus River that have an impact all across the world.