Happy 2024 from your friends at California Local. In this week’s edition of The Newsletter, you will find more of what you’re looking for, if what you’re looking for is reliable information about the place you call home.
This week’s News Digest, as always curated by our good friend and executive editor Sharan Street, is the most robust ever, and can be your guide to the most important stories you may have missed over the holiday.
Our Year in Review, also cat-herded by Sharan, will remind you that this was (another) nut job of a year—and that there’s some good stuff happening in California, too.
Speaking of good stuff: Chris Neklason, our good friend and fearless leader, compiled a list of the big changes that have happened here at California Local over the past 12 months. It kind of blew my mind, and I work here every day—so I’m not sure why I was surprised.
And yes! Even more good stuff. From our good friend and publisher, Mike Gelbman, some retrospection and inspiration.
• UC Davis Launches Mobile Clinic to Help Students
A new 24/7 mobile team at UC Davis is working to prevent crises before they happen, answering calls every day from students experiencing overwhelming stress and food and housing insecurity.
(01/01/2024) → CapPublicRadio
• Need a New Year’s Resolution?
Here are 50 ways to improve your life in 2024.
(12/30/2023) → CapPublicRadio
• Ex-Student Found Competent to Stand Trial for Stabbing Deaths Near UC Davis
Former college student Carlos Reales Dominguez, accused of stabbing two people to death and wounding a third in Davis, will return to court on Jan. 5 and criminal proceedings will be reinstated if there isn't any challenge to his mental state.
(12/29/2023) → CapPublicRadio
• MOSAIC Children’s Museum Welcomes Woodland Community
After seven years of hard work, a two-year pause due to the pandemic and an extended search for a home, the MOSAIC Children's Museum enjoyed a much-awaited soft opening on Dec. 15.
(12/29/2023) → Daily Democrat
• One Man, Many Hats
For as long as he can remember, David Rosenberg has never held just one job. The
longtime judge, who is retiring from the Yolo bench after two decades, was a journalist, an attorney, and an elected official before he became a judge.
(12/29/2023) → Read the full Davis Enterprise report
• Bailes Named Brinley Award Winner
Davis resident Shelly Bailes has made an impact on the LGBTQ+ community in Yolo County and beyond. Her work in obtaining respect and acceptance for the community earned her the honor of being the 2024 recipient of the Brinley Award.
(12/29/2023) → Read the full Davis Enterprise report
• Winters Chamber Honors Community Members, Businesses
The official selections are in for the Toast to Winters honorees, chosen by the Winters District Chamber of Commerce.
(12/29/2023) → Winters Express
• CHP Highlights New Traffic Safety Laws
As we head into the new year, the California Highway Patrol is educating the public on traffic safety laws that were passed during this year’s legislative session and take effect on Jan. 1.
(12/28/2023) → West Sacramento Sun
• Yolo County Recommends Residents Vaccinate, Mask Indoors
Rates of COVID-19, RSV and influenza are rising in Yolo and Sacramento counties and local public health officers are encouraging precautions for the fourth holiday season in a row.
(12/28/2023) → CapPublicRadio
• Woodland Police Department Holds Promotion Ceremony
The Woodland Police Department celebrated a familiar and prominent face within the department: newly promoted Deputy Chief Dallas Hyde.
(12/28/2023) → Daily Democrat
• Sierra Snowpack at 25% of Usual Levels
The California Department of Water Resources has found that the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains is at just 25% of normal levels for this time of year. This could potentially impact water supply and wildfire protection.
(01/02/2024) → Sacramento Bee
• Hospitals Seeing More People with COVID-19 and Flu
Los Angeles County has entered the medium category of COVID-19 hospitalization defined by the CDC, with providers warning that illnesses like RSV like to travel in tandem with the virus. Officials are urging the public to mask when visiting hospitals or other indoor facilities.
(01/02/2024) → Los Angeles Times
• CA Minimum Wage Hits $16 an Hour
The dawn of 2024 meant that California’s minimum wage rose from $15.50 to $16 an hour. That puts the Golden State at the second-highest minimum wage for a U.S. state, trailing only Washington state at $16.28 an hour.
(01/02/2024) → New York Times
• Law Goes Into Effect Blocking Guns in Many California Public Places
A law passed by the California legislature in 2023 has gone into effect banning licensed gun holders from bringing their firearms to places like playgrounds, churches and casinos. The law faces an ongoing challenge in the federal court system.
(01/02/2024) → Los Angeles Times
• 7 Ways to Hang On to More Money in 2024
Just as you might intend to change your diet or workout plan, resolve to make changes that will allow you to meet financial goals.
(12/27/2023) → Daily Democrat
• American Graffiti is Back: Cruising Now Legal Again in California, But So Are Speed Cameras
Under new state laws, five cities will test cameras to catch speeding drivers and cruising bans will be lifted statewide. The first is supposed to improve road safety, but critics of the second say it will endanger the public.
(12/27/2023) → CalMatters
• San Diego Zoo Displays World’s Rarest Insect
Visitors can see the critically endangered Lord How Island stick insect, on display for the first time in North America, in a special habitat at the zoo’s Wildlife Explorers Basecamp.
(12/27/2023) → San Joaquin Valley Sun
Family and friends are the best part of any year.
