Sonora High students walk in front of a row of school buses taking students home after school on Tuesday. Amy Alonzo Rozak/Union Democrat, copyright 2012

School busing services will not get state funding next year if the proposal passes, causing concern among rural schools that they will have to pay for transportation with already diminishing school district funds.

With a contract in place for the second phase of the East Sonora Bypass project, construction should begin in the spring.

Caltrans awarded a $22.9 million contract for the job to Teichert/MCM Construction last month, according to Caltrans. The joint bid between the two Sacramento contractors was the lowest of five proposals, with the highest coming in at $30.7 million, according to the Caltrans bid summary.

Three young contestants threw their hats in the ring Sunday in hopes of trading them for the Mother Lode Roundup Queen’s tiara.

It was the kickoff for the 55th Mother Lode Roundup, Tuolumne County’s biggest annual event, held each year on Mother’s Day weekend, which is May 12 and 13 this year.
On Sunday, they turned in their paperwork, signed contracts and met members of the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Posse, which organizes and sponsors the Mother Lode Roundup.

 The City of Sonora will take control of the low-income housing program formerly administered by the Sonora Redevelopment Agency in an effort to maintain its nearly $2 million in assets.

As a result, the city will have to operate the program using rental income and repayments from Homebuyers’ Assistance Loans because current legislation diverts the property tax revenues that otherwise would have covered administrative costs.

Attorneys representing the city of Riverbank and Tuolumne County in an ongoing lawsuit expressed cautious optimism this week that a settlement can be reached.

Representatives from all involved parties have been working on a possible agreement for months in a lawsuit over the Cooperstown Quarry in the far-west edge of the county.

As officials with the Groveland Community Services District and the California Regional Water Quality Review Board work out a possible settlement over two sewage spills in 2010, GCSD crews dealt with another wastewater spill this month.

According to Tuolumne County Environmental Health, GCSD crews responded to an overflow out of a manhole on Pleasant View Drive near Pine Mountain Lake on the night of Jan. 18.

 Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen focused on environmental regulations and their impact on business and development in a speech Friday at the Calaveras County Taxpayers Association luncheon.

“I spend a lot of time up there telling environmentalists that human beings are more important than fish, fowl, elderberry bushes and creepy little things,” Olsen, R-Modesto, said.
   

Calaveras County Water District officials and political dignitaries formally broke ground Friday on a $4.42 million upgrade to the district’s Douglas Flat-Vallecito Wastewater Treatment Plant.   

Funded by federal stimulus funds, the project will allow more residents of the area — now prohibited by a moratorium — to connect to the district’s sewer system. It will also allow in-fill type development in the area, previously hindered by the lack of sewer connections.
  

They’re rusty, they’re leaky, they’re older than disco — and there’s a good chance you’re drinking from them.

The Tuolumne Utilities District recently completed an inspection of 81 water storage tanks that supply drinking water to most area homes. The survey found that 24 tanks were in “poor” condition and would eventually need to be replaced, according to a report to the Board of Directors given by district Chief Engineer Tom Scesa. He outlined some of the TUD tank system deficiencies during the regular board meeting on Tuesday.