News

Calif. snowpack just 17 percent of normal

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013, 11:56am

ECHO SUMMIT, Calif. (AP) - California's last snow survey of the season is bad news for the millions of state residents who rely on the snowpack for their water.

The state Department of Water Resources found the water content in the snowpack on Thursday was 17 percent of normal, an ominous situation for a state that depends on a steady stream of snowmelt to replenish reservoirs throughout the summer.

In some places, there was no snow at all.

State officials are projecting they will deliver just 35 percent of the water that has been requested from the 29 agencies that rely on the snowmelt, which supplies more than 25 million Californians.

This year has been one of the driest rainy seasons on record in some parts of California.

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Duct-taped fast food wrapper prompts shelter-in-place order at Del Campo High

Submitted by Paul Janes, News 10 Web Producer

Tuesday, April 30th, 2013, 11:15am

Duct-taped fast food wrapper prompts shelter-in-place order at Del Campo High

FAIR OAKS, Calif. - A package initially deemed suspicious prompted a shelter-in-place order at Del Campo High School on Tuesday.

San Juan Unified School District spokesman Trent Allen said the suspicious package was found on the school's driveway on Dewey Ave. just after 10 a.m.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Dept. was called to the scene to investigate and students and faculty were advised to shelter in place immediately, said Allen.

The sheriff's department dispatched their Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team who sprayed water on the package before looking inside and discovering a Taco Bell wrapper wrapped in duct tape, Allen said.

EOD removed the package, lifted the shelter-in-place order and the scene was cleared.

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Sacramento Kings should stay, recommends NBA panel

Submitted by News10 Web Staff

Monday, April 29th, 2013, 7:17pm

SACRAMENTO, CA - It's not the final decision but Monday, the NBA committee tasked with examining two competing bids for the Sacramento Kings recommended to the league's Board of Governors to deny the team's application to move to the Seattle.

The committee's vote was unanimous, 7-0 (some of the 12 members serve on both the relocation and finance committees which worked together on the reviewing the offers).

With the "all-in" vote, News10 Sports anchor Bryan May says that gives Sacramento at least 12 votes, more than the eight needed (to block a Seattle move) when the full vote by the Board of Governors (the 30 team owners or their representatives) is taken.

The owners have at least seven days to review the committee's recommendation before calling a meeting to vote. The NBA said Monday the owners would convene the week of May 13 to vote.

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'Pothole Sweeps Week' underway in Sacramento

Submitted by Melissa Crowley, News10 Traffic Reporter

Monday, April 29th, 2013, 10:21am

SACRAMENTO - The Sacramento County Department of Transportation (SACDOT) has started "Spring 2013 Pothole Sweeps Week."

This week marks an intensified effort to identify and repair potholes and improve maintenance for unincorporated area roadways.

Pothole sweeps are performed twice each year: in late Spring to repair holes caused by weather and in Fall to ready roads for storm season.

If you are plagued by a pothole on a neighborhood street, contact SACDOT Customer Service at 916-875-5171 or log onto www.sacdot.com.

Share pictures of your problem potholes MCrowley@news10.net or via Twitter @MelissaCrowley.

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Pending US home sales reach 3-year high in March

Submitted by News10 Web Staff

Monday, April 29th, 2013, 7:28am

WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in March to the highest level in three years.

The National Association of Realtors says that its seasonally adjusted index for pending home sales rose 1.5 percent to 105.7. That's the highest since April 2010, when a homebuyer's tax credit boosted sales. It's also above February's reading of 104.1.

Signed contracts are 7 percent higher than they were a year earlier. There is generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale. Still, sales are being held back by limited supply.

Sales of previously occupied homes dipped in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million, down from 4.95 million in February.

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How does CPS decide when to remove a child from his parents?

Submitted by Paul Janes, News 10 Web Producer

Friday, April 26th, 2013, 5:58pm

SACRAMENTO - Thursday, Sacramentans were gripped by the story of a couple whose baby boy was taken from them by Sacramento County Child Protective Services (CPS).

STORY: Sacramento couple fights to get their baby boy back from authorities

Anna Nikolayev claimed CPS had taken her 5-month-old son Sammy after she and her husband removed him from the Sutter Memorial Hospital intensive care unit without a proper discharge and before taking him to Kaiser Permanente for a second opinion.

Nikolayev said a CPS social worker told her Sammy was removed from their custody due to "severe neglect," but did not elaborate on the severity of the neglect, nor the specifics behind the decision to take the child. However, CPS did release the following statement:

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Small business growth stifled amid improving job market

Submitted by Jeff Maher on Friday, April 26th, 7:10 am

SACRAMENTO - Recent statistics are showing a decline in the number of new, small businesses in the United States.

Some economists believe one reason fewer small businesses are opening up shop comes down to the fact that potential entrepreneurs are capitalizing on an improving job market, choosing to join the general workforce rather than venturing out on their own.

According to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, there were an estimated 514,000 new business owners per month in the U.S in 2012. That number is down from 543,000 per month in 2011, and 565,000 in 2010 which was the peak of the recession.

In regards to Sacramento specifically, the city recently made a list of the most unfriendly cities for small businesses, due in part to high tax rates.

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