Firefighters Try To Rally the Public to Their Side
COMMENTARY: Fire Offers No Alternatives Other Than Status Quo – It was a sparse crowd on Tuesday night, at the Multipurpose Room at Pioneer Elementary School, to hear about the city’s proposed fire staffing changes. It is part of a larger campaign to bring public awareness to the firefighters’ issue.
The firefighters, apparently believing that they cannot move council directly, are trying to mobilize people to pressure council. If Tuesday night is any indication, this is going to be a tough task.
by Michael Harrington
By Lois Wolk
Not only has Attorney General Kamala Harris declined to defend Proposition 8 in the courts, but on Wednesday she filed a “friend-of-the-court” or amicus brief in the US Supreme Court, “arguing that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional and the initiative’s sponsors do not have the right to claim to represent the interests of California by defending the law in federal court.”
LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission) has an initiative to explore alternative models of animal sheltering for Yolo County, following reports and complaints about problems with the current state of the Yolo County Animal Shelter.
Last November, California voters overwhelmingly adopted Prop 36, known as the “Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012.” Under the new law, which created PC 1170.126, those sentenced to 25 years to life for a non-violent third strike can be resentenced.
by Robb Davis
By Alan Pryor
Last month the Davis City Council made a series of critical decisions on fire department response time and the boundary drop. However, when they delayed the discussion on reductions to fire staffing until what will be March 5 – election eve – due to the later hour, they gave the firefighters an opening that they are now, in one last-ditch effort, attempting to exploit.
One of the critical issues in the Measure I debate over whether the city needs to go from groundwater to surface water is the long-term viability of the current groundwater system. 
According to a release from the West Sacramento Police Department, Officer Sergio Alvarez, while on duty, used his position to stop and assault women – six in total, some of them more than once, who range in age from 20 to 47.
by Bessie Samson and Antoinnette Borbon 
The notion of cash for convictions is the idea that fiscal incentives might drive the decisions made by prosecutors as to which cases to pursue. In the age of declining budgets, prosecutors increasingly are forced to rely on external grants which contain the incentive to arrest, prosecute and convict more people in the targeted category.
By Alan Pryor
by Nancy and Don Price
By Vanguard Court Watch Interns
by the Davis Vanguard Editorial Board
The Yes on Measure I campaign appears to be falling into a lot of the traps of front running campaigns in Davis. For weeks, the campaign, pounded on the ground by columns by Davis Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning and various attacks by Michael Harrington and others, has seemingly refused to engage – waging the 30,000 foot campaign.
by Eileen M. Samitz