Avery Middle School can count itself among 218 schools to earn the prestigious “California Distinguished School” award this year.

The title came after Avery showed high test scores and a focus on helping students do well. It followed a tough evaluation process that ended with interviews of students, teachers and parents by local educators in March. 

Seven members of the Smith family set out last Tuesday morning for a challenging hike up Yosemite National Park’s Mist Trail and, along the way, conversation invariably turned to the 2011 deaths of three tourists swept over Vernal Fall and similar accidents there.

It hadn’t then occurred to the group, hailing from San Jose and Indiana, that, when they reached the top of the waterfall, they’d almost witness such a tragedy.

The National Weather Service has issued a “Hazardous Weather Outlook” for the Mother Lode and surrounding areas for high wind.

Winds today are predicted to gust as high as 21 mph, increasing to 31 mph tonight.

Tomorrow, winds could gust up to 23 mph, falling to 20 mph overnight.

No precipitation is predicted either day. High temperatures are forecast in the mid-60s and low temperatures in the high-30s both days in Sonora. 

Winds of only 8 mph are predicted Thursday, with no significant wind forecast through the rest of the week.

Two people were injured this morning in an auto accident on Jamestown Road.

PUBLIC MEETING: Angels Camp City Council, 9 a.m. meeting, Joe Carley Memorial Firehouse, 1404 Vallecito Road.

The Angels Camp City Council on Tuesday will review an amended application for up to $3 million in federal grants for construction of the Angels Creek Trail.

The trail is expected to extend 5.1 miles and be open to pedestrians and bicyclists. The estimated cost is about $4.4 million, which the city expects to accumulate in coming years via state and federal grant funding.

The council considered the application to the Federal Lands Access Program at its April 2 meeting but decided to amend it to seek funds for the central portion of the trail. It previously only considered the southern reach that connects to New Melones Reservoir.

The trail is designed to connect many of the city’s neighborhoods and downtown to New Melones mostly along the creek’s route.

The council will also hear an annual report on the city’s Fire Department operations and appointment of a council member to the county Environmental Health Department independent hearing panel.

PUBLIC MEETING: Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors, 9 a.m. Tuesday, 2 S. Green St., Sonora.

The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will discuss the fate of a large, controversial Columbia apartment complex.

The Stonewood Sonora apartments’ developers, RC Equities and Golden State Holdings, is appealing the Columbia Area Planning Commission’s decision last month to reject a request for a special use and design review permit for the 80-unit project slated for five acres at Parrotts Ferry and Union Hill roads.

The Sierra Conservation Center has a new warden in Heidi Lackner.

The Mokelumne Hill resident has worked as acting warden at the Jamestown prison since 2012, and Lackner was the chief deputy administrator at SCC in 2011. 

Kennedy Meadows is moving toward becoming property of Tuolumne County.

With the public comment period complete, the Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council’s board of directors will consider on May 8 a final agreement to turn over 240 acres owned by PG&E in the Stanislaus National Forest to the county. If approved, the transfer will be the first turnover of land by the utility company as part of a 2001 bankruptcy settlement.

The California Highway Patrol on Friday released the names of the two people killed in a fiery head-on crash west of Sonora.

Edward Stanton, 83, and his passenger, wife Jacqueline Stanton, 82, both of El Dorado, perished in the Thursday afternoon accident on Highway 49, CHP said.

A federal grand jury in Oklahoma has indicted two people with Groveland ties on allegations they operated an illegal online sports bookmaking operation that took in more than $1 billion in bets.

Bartice “Bart” A. King, 42, and King’s ex-wife Serena M. King, 43, are among 34 people and 23 businesses named in the 95-page March indictment, unsealed last week.