Davis Ca

Local and federal officials have announced a plan for dealing with racial tensions in public schools. School officials sought federal help after a Davis High School student was arrested in February for allegedly spray-painting racist graffiti in front of a black family's home. Davis police acknowledged at the time that they had been struggling to ease tensions. The new policy includes definitions of hate crimes and racial harassment.

The last time friends saw retired UC Davis sociology professor John Finley Scott was nearly four months ago when the 72-year-old bicycle pioneer and resident contrarian tooled away from a local bistro on his beloved two-wheeler. Scott fired off a few e-mails over the next few days but then went silent. After friends reported him missing, Yolo County sheriff's deputies went to his rural ranch home, where they found blood in the bedroom and foyer but no sign of a body.

A scenic, 17,300-acre ranch would be permanently protected from development under a plan by Yolo County officials and UC Davis. The property, owned by a subsidiary of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., is between Interstate 5 and Interstate 80 along the Yolo Bypass. The land was put on the market in 1996 for $68.5 million. Supporters of the conservation effort want to form a partnership by the county, three cities and the university to share the cost of buying the ranch.

A scenic, 17,300-acre ranch would be permanently protected from development under a plan by Yolo County officials and UC Davis. The property, owned by a subsidiary of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., is between Interstate 5 and Interstate 80 along the Yolo Bypass. The land was put on the market in 1996 for $68.5 million. Supporters of the conservation effort want to form a partnership by the county, three cities and the university to share the cost of buying the ranch.

Davis voters will decide March 2 whether to approve a half-cent sales tax increase. Raising the sales tax locally from the state rate of 7.25% to 7.75% would add about $3.1 million to the city's general fund each year, city finance officials said.

The city has asked state lawmakers to enact legislation allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. The Davis City Council passed a resolution last month that has already been sent to the governor. This week, city officials presented the Freedom to Marry resolution to local gay activists. Davis joins five other cities in asking lawmakers to remove sex and gender as requirements for a civil marriage license.

City officials are considering a plan to require developers to set aside more affordable housing and to improve opportunities for the city's police officers, firefighters and teachers. The median home price in Davis is about $400,000, which is far too expensive for most municipal workers, officials said.

The University of California's proposed housing development on its Davis campus could be annexed into the city. Davis, Yolo County and university officials said the city would lose about $336,000 a year, but the county could gain $428,000 a year. The two jurisdictions are expected to devise a revenue-sharing agreement before the deal proceeds. "All the pieces are there to make it work," said Davis Mayor Susie Boyd.

Davis adopted a resolution declaring the University of California community a "pro-choice city" after a three-hour City Council debate attended by about 500 people. "The resolution is a political act to support women's choice to choose their own morality. . . . I know that will alienate people, but that's the way I see it," Mayor Michael Corbett said. He was joined by two council members.

For three weeks, discussion in this bucolic college town swirled around a report that a woman was wrestled from her bike by a wilding gang of skateboarding teens and raped on one of the city's parklike greenbelts. Townsfolk demanded arrests. Threatening anti-male graffiti, including the slogan "Dead Boys Don't Rape," was scrawled on an overpass favored by skateboarders. Police questioned 75 boys. But this weekend the story took another shocking turn when the woman recanted.

Davis voters will decide March 2 whether to approve a half-cent sales tax increase. Raising the sales tax locally from the state rate of 7.25% to 7.75% would add about $3.1 million to the city's general fund each year, city finance officials said.

On Saturday afternoons in Davis, Little League baseball games are packed with parents. Joggers run freely along dark streets late at night. The city's downtown has more bookstores than bars. Surrounded by farmland, Davis lies 15 miles west of downtown Sacramento. Residents say it is a great place to raise a family. But that all may change, they fear, if the town's university becomes home to a high-security infectious disease lab paid for by the federal government.

A former autopsy assistant who allegedly collected an array of severed limbs, body organs and at least two fully preserved human heads so he could study anatomy at his Davis home was in police custody Saturday on suspicion of smuggling the remains out of medical facilities in the area, authorities said. David Lawrence Beale, 46, was arrested Friday after a search of his home, a nearby shed and a rented storage locker turned up 157 pounds of human remains, said Davis Police Lt. Jim Harritt.

City officials are considering a plan to require developers to set aside more affordable housing and to improve opportunities for the city's police officers, firefighters and teachers. The median home price in Davis is about $400,000, which is far too expensive for most municipal workers, officials said.

The University of California's proposed housing development on its Davis campus could be annexed into the city. Davis, Yolo County and university officials said the city would lose about $336,000 a year, but the county could gain $428,000 a year. The two jurisdictions are expected to devise a revenue-sharing agreement before the deal proceeds. "All the pieces are there to make it work," said Davis Mayor Susie Boyd.

The city has asked state lawmakers to enact legislation allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. The Davis City Council passed a resolution last month that has already been sent to the governor. This week, city officials presented the Freedom to Marry resolution to local gay activists. Davis joins five other cities in asking lawmakers to remove sex and gender as requirements for a civil marriage license.

The last time friends saw retired UC Davis sociology professor John Finley Scott was nearly four months ago when the 72-year-old bicycle pioneer and resident contrarian tooled away from a local bistro on his beloved two-wheeler. Scott fired off a few e-mails over the next few days but then went silent. After friends reported him missing, Yolo County sheriff's deputies went to his rural ranch home, where they found blood in the bedroom and foyer but no sign of a body.

UC Davis and the city of Davis are at a standoff over a proposed high-security infectious-disease laboratory. The university wants to build a five-acre complex outfitted to handle the world's deadliest germs. Some residents and city officials do not. If the federal government approves the $200-million project, what is now the UC Davis Equestrian Center will become the Western National Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Local and federal officials have announced a plan for dealing with racial tensions in public schools. School officials sought federal help after a Davis High School student was arrested in February for allegedly spray-painting racist graffiti in front of a black family's home. Davis police acknowledged at the time that they had been struggling to ease tensions. The new policy includes definitions of hate crimes and racial harassment.

UC Davis and the city of Davis are at a standoff over a proposed high-security infectious-disease laboratory. The university wants to build a five-acre complex outfitted to handle the world's deadliest germs. Some residents and city officials do not. If the federal government approves the $200-million project, what is now the UC Davis Equestrian Center will become the Western National Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases.