Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
LEWISTON School officials voted to reduce the local tax impact from next year’s school budget by 40 cents on Wednesday, despite a barrage of criticism from committee members over how the City Council has handled the budget negotiations.
The School Committee was forced to amend its budget during a special meeting Wednesday after the City Council voted down the proposed $95.7 million school budget Tuesday. The vote caused the school budget validation referendum on May 11 to be postponed.
Several committee members stood by the initial budget Wednesday, slamming city officials for handing down a ultimatum to cut sorely needed funding for a struggling school district.
FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
Suisun City police officers investigate the scene of a shooting on the 300 block of Flagstone Circle, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. (Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic)
Suisun City sees jump in arson, assaults; decrease in robbery, auto theft
SUISUN CITY The Police Department saw an overall drop in serious crimes in 2020.
City police handled 744 Part I crime calls last year, the department reports. The figure was 801 in 2019.
Part I crimes as defined by the federal Uniform Crime Reporting Program include murder, negligent manslaughter, forceable rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson.
Members of the City Council reviewed the report Tuesday.
CHARLESTOWNÂ â Members of the Town Council have approved a motion authorizing the purchase of a 66.5-acre parcel of land along Alton Carolina Road known as Tucker Woods.
The Tucker Woods property, located in the corridor between the Francis C. Carter Memorial Preserve and Carolina Management Area, serves as a corridor connecting the Carter Preserve wetlands and the Pawcatuck River. The town will acquire the property for an agreed upon $900,000, according to Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz.
The town is eligible to receive a Rhode Island Department of Management open space grant for $400,0000, and will be responsible for funding the remaining $500,000. The purchase will be made using the townâs open space fund balance.
HOPKINTONÂ â Members of the Town Council last week approved three amendments to the townâs photovoltaic solar energy systems ordinance while rejecting a motion to reopen the public hearing in order to consider amendments to the farm viability ordinance.
The Hopkinton Town Council voted 3-2, with Michael Geary and Scott Bill Hirst opposed, to approve amendments to Section 5 of Chapter 134 of the Zoning Ordinance, which impacts the district use table, and an amendment to Chapter 246 regarding non-residential photovoltaic solar energy systems. Geary and Hirst also pressed to reopen a public hearing to consider further amendments to the townâs farm viability ordinance, but were unsuccessful in garnering a third vote in support.
Chunder, Challenges, and Controversy: A look back at Otago’s debaucherous Capping Week
Not so long ago, in the 1950s, students at Otago would have been in the middle of intense party preparations at this time of year. Throughout most of the 20th Century, May graduations (known as Capping) were celebrated with a week of festivities including social events, stunts, and extreme binge drinking. In the early days, lectures were cancelled for the week because the Uni knew that no one would show up.
All that remains of the week for us today is the Capping Show, but Capping Week used to rival O Week. Instead of just having a disappointing fresher toga party in the Union Hall, the Capping Committee hosted a variety of events all week long, for everyone to attend. This is a catalogue of all the events that would have been on show for you if you attended Otago in the mid-20th century. Not that you would have been sober enough to remember many of them.