Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/303582
ByFenitNirappil TheAssociatedPress SACRAMENTO SteveUpton thinks of himself more as an "Officer Friendly" than a water cop. On a recent sunny day, the water waste inspector rolled through a quiet Sac - ramento neighborhood in his white pickup truck af- ter a tipster tattled on peo- ple watering their lawns on prohibited days. He approached two cul- prits. Rather than slapping them with fines, Upton of- fered to change the settings on their sprinkler systems. "I don't want to crack down on them and be their Big Brother," said Upton, who worksforthewatercon - servation unit of Sacramen- to's utilities department. "People don't waste water onpurpose.Theydon'tknow they are wasting water." Teaching,enforcing At least 45 water agen- cies throughout Califor- nia, including Sacramento, are imposing and enforcing mandatory restrictions on water use as their supplies run dangerously low. Sac - ramento is one of the few bigger agencies actively pa- trolling streets for violators and encouraging neighbors to report waste. They teach residents to avoidhosingdowndriveways, overwatering lawns or filling swimming pools. While gen - tle reminders are preferred, citations and fines can follow for repeat offenders. "We do have the stick if people don't get it," said Kim Loeb, natural resource con - servation manager in Visa- lia, a city of 120,000 people that has hired a part-time worker for night patrols and reduced the number of warnings from two to one before issuing $100 fines. Mandatory restrictions aren't as widespread as in previous droughts, even among the drier parts of Southern California. One reason is more cities are conserving and making it expensive for residents to guzzle water. Sacramento, where about half the homes are un - metered, is deploying the state's most aggressive wa- ter patrols to compensate. In February, the city of 475,000 deputized 40 em- ployees who drive regularly for their jobs, such as build- ing inspectors and meter readers, to report and re- spond to water waste. Of them, six are on water pa- trol full-time. Providing a boost to their efforts is a campaign asking residents to report neigh - bors and local businesses breaking the rules. In the first three months of this year, Sacramento has re - ceived 3,245 water waste complaints, compared to 183 in the same period last year. "There are tons of eyes out there watching every - where," said Upton, look- ing at a computerized map of suspected offenders throughout the city. Lina Barber was among those warned by Upton aboutwateringonthewrong day, but she said she's still drought conscious. She's al - ready waiting for full loads to wash clothes and dishes and just needed a simple re- minder, a courtesy she'd ex- tend without dragging in the water cops. "I'm just going to talk to my neighbors," Barber said. "I know them well enough to say they are trying to en - force the water rules." Roseville, also is deploy- ing an aggressive water-pa- trol program. Despite steady rain and snow in February and part of March, the state's wa - ter supply and mountain snowpack remain peril- ously low, meaning there will be far less water to re- lease to farms and cities in the months ahead. More consistently wa- ter-conscious communities have found they don't need to spend as much time or money on enforcement. Los Angeles has just a small water-enforcement program but has mandated conservation since 2009 and has cut water use by 18 per - cent. Just a single inspector patrols the streets full time in a city of nearly 3.9 mil- lion that imports most of its water, a program that is ex- pected to expand to four by summer. The program will take a softer approach than its "drought busters" program of 2008, said Penny Falcon, a water conservation man - ager. The workers will no longer roam the city wear- ing special uniforms and driving Priuses. Standard, city-issued vehicles will be used instead. "No one wants to be the water cops," said Lisa Lien- Mager, spokeswoman for the Association of Califor - nia Water Agencies. "When they are asked to conserve, Californians will generally respond." CAliFORNiA dROughT Some cities start water-waste patrols RichPedRoncelli—TheAssociATedPRess steve Upton, right, explains to larry Barber how to use the water timer Upton installed on the water spigot at the Barber home in sacramento on March 11. By lisa leff The Associated Press SAN FRANCiSCO The high school graduation rate in the United States will not increase as quickly as ex - perts think it can without more improvement in Cali- fornia, which educates one- fifth of the nation's low-in- come school children and more Hispanic students than any other state, a report re- leased Monday concludes. The "Building a Grad Na- tion" report, produced by a coalition of advocacy groups and researchers at Johns Hopkins University, cred - its the nation's most popu- lous and diverse state with developing effective strat- egies that helped push its 2012 graduation rate to 79 percent, an increase of five percentage points from two years earlier and one point below the national average. "California has been making progress, not - withstanding huge demo- graphic changes and bud- get challenges," said the re- port's authors, who foresee 90 percent of the nation's high school students earn- ing diplomas in 2020, if re- cent trends hold. "Educators have learned how to address the needs of students from non-English speaking back - grounds; districts have em- barked on major reform ef- forts (and) large investments were made in out-of-school- time learning." The gains from 2010 to 2012, the most recent year for which statistics were available when the report was compiled, were seen across economic and racial groups, with the graduation rate for socioeconomically disadvantaged high school seniors also increasing five percentage points, from 68 percent to 73 percent. Dur - ing the same two-year pe- riod, the growth was six per- centage points for Hispanic and African-American stu- dents, who graduated at a rate of 74 percent and 66 per- cent, respectively. Among the factors con- tributing to the positive trend are the state's $550 million annual investment in after-school and sum - mer classes for students in kindergarten through ninth grade, outreach and support programs geared at parents who do not speak English and the creation within high schools of smaller programs that combine a career theme with academics. EduCATiON Report: California key to raising grad rate By Kimberly hefling The Associated Press WAShiNgTON U.S. public high schools have reached a milestone, an 80 percent graduation rate. Yet that still means 1 of every 5 stu - dents walks away without a diploma. Citing the progress, re- searchers are projecting a 90 percent national gradua- tion rate by 2020. Their report, based on Education Department sta- tistics from 2012, was pre- sented Monday at the Build- ing a GradNation Summit. The growth has been spurred by such factors as a greater awareness of the dropout problem and ef - forts by districts, states and the federal government to include graduation rates in accountability measures. Among the initiatives are closing "dropout factory" schools. In addition, schools are taking aggressive action, such as hiring intervention specialists who work with students one on one, to keep teenagers in class, research - ers said. Growth in rates among African-American and His- panic students helped fuel the gains. Most of the growth has occurred since 2006 af- ter decades of stagnation. "At a moment when ev- erything seems so broken and seems so unfixable ... this story tells you some- thing completely different," said John Gomperts, pres- ident of America's Promise Alliance, which was founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell and helped pro - duce the report. The rate of 80 percent is based on federal statistics primarily using a calcula - tion by which the number of graduates in a given is year divided by the number of students who enrolled four years earlier. Adjustments are made for transfer stu - dents. EduCATiON Report: 4 in 5 US high school students graduate The Associated Press RiChMONd Afederaltrans- portation safety official ar- rived Monday in Northern California to investigate a collision between two small planes that sent one crash - ing into San Francisco Bay. The investigator will be interviewing the pilot of a plane that made it back to land and reviewing the pi - lots' backgrounds, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Terry Williams said. The collision occurred Sunday near the Rich - mond-San Rafael Bridge and involved a single-engine Cessna 210 and a single-en- gine Hawker Sea Fury TMK 20. Witnesses at Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor told the San Francisco Chroni - cle that the Cessna spiraled out of control and crashed into the choppy water. Debris was found in the bay after the collision, Stew - art said. The Sea Fury's pilot landed at Eagle's Nest Air- port in the small city of Ione in Amador County, Fed- eral Aviation Administra- tion spokesman Ian Gregor said. The Sea Fury's occu- pants — a husband and wife —were uninjured. It was un- clear how many people were in the Cessna. U.S. Coast Guard helicop- ters and vessels were con- ducting search patterns in the bay Monday morning, Lt. Joshua Dykman of the U.S. Coast Guard said. Search teams found no signs of the downed pilot af - ter scouring San Pablo Bay through the night. Amador County firefight- ers and medics sent to the Ioneairportwerenotneeded because the pilot and pas- senger in the Sea Fury — a husband and wife — were not injured, county Under- sheriff Jim Wegner said. Both planes had departed from Eagle's Nest Airport to participate in the Pacific Coast Dream Machines, an annual festival at Half Moon Bay Airport that features a variety of planes, motorcy - clesandcars.Bothplanesleft HalfMoonBay,about20miles south of San Francisco, and were on their return flight. Wegner wouldn't discuss damage to the Sea Fury, citing the ongoing investi - gation by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board. FAA records indicate the Sea Fury, a vintage Brit - ish fighter plane, is regis- tered to Sanders Aeronau- tics Inc. in Ione. A man who answered the phone at the company's listed number declined to comment. Sanders Aeronautics' website said the family-run company specializes in air - craft restoration, and broth- ers Dennis and Brian Sand- ers are avid air racers. NORThERN CAliFORNiA Feds probe crash of planes over San Francisco Bay MOULE'S TEHAMACOUNTYGLASS 515 Sycamore St., Red Bluff 529-0260 SUNSCREENS ReduceHeat up to 90%! SAVE ENERGY Keep the heat out. 530529-2040 1355VistaWay,RedBluff CompleteAutobodyRepair INTERCITYBODY& PAINT • Painting • Fiberglass Repair • Exotic Metals • Color Matching • Frame Repair • Spray-In Bedliners • All Auto Manufacturers • Rental Cars Available FactoryTrainedSpecialistsIn: WeacceptallInsuranceCarriers Kindergarten& Transitional Registration Antelope School District Date: April 30, 2014 Time: 9:00AM - 3:00 PM Place: Antelope School Office If your child turns 5 years old on or before September 1, 2014, you may register them for Kindergarten. If your child turns 5 years old between September 2 and December 2, 2014, you may register them for Transitional Kindergarten (TK). Please bring the following items: * Residential Verification * Birth Certificate * Immunizations If you have questions please call 527-1272 Western heritage. Ca ttlemen and w omen. Bigtime rodeo. Old Calif or nia. Victorian homes. Antique stor es. World class hunting and fishing. Ag ri-T ourism. World-famous motorcycle road. Alpine hiking and camping. Volcanic legacy. Aw ar d winning oliv e oils. Slow foods. Wi neries in the pines. Warm, welcoming people. We love it here. They will, too. Spring-summer edition published May 24 Advertising deadline: Friday, May 2 STOVEJUNCTION The TheNorthState'spremiersupplierofstoves 22825 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff 530-528-2221 • Fax 530-528-2229 www.thestovejunction.com Over 25 years of experience Tues-Sat9am-5pm• ClosedSun&Mon Now Carrying! GreenMountainGrills & Accessories Serving Butte, Glenn & Tehama Counties 365S.MAINST,REDBLUFF 527-2720 • www.lariatbowl.com Lariat Bowl Groovy Summer Kick-Off PARTY May 15 3-5 pm Meet Mr. Pin $ 1 Small Sodas FREE Bowling certainlimitsapply $ 1 Hotdogs | NEWS | RedBlUFFdAilYneWs.coM TUesdAY, APRil 29, 2014 8 A