Pannell-Meadowview hosts pool party for pooches

by Chason Wainwright –– Bosco, a 2-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever, is a swimming veteran. He steals toys from the other wet dogs, dropping them off in the nearby grassy area.

Bosco joined 120 of his canine buddies in late October at the third annual “Doggie Dip Days.” The City of Sacramento Department of Parks and Recreation opens the Pannell-Meadowview pool to dogs and their owners on the last day of the season.

Sacramento shelters reduce pet loss with microchips
By Chason Wainwright –– Shortly after Laura Warner moved to Sacramento, her two Shetland Sheepdogs escaped from her sister’s house. But because Warner, a veterinarian at the City of Sacramento Animal Care and Services shelter, had inserted microchip identifications in both her dogs, she was reunited with her dogs later that day.

Three of Sacramento-area animal shelters now require all adopted animals to have microchips implanted, in hopes of making it easier to bring lost pets and their owners back together.

Locks of Love helps children with hair loss

By Shanna Thompson –– Fourteen-year-old Rachel Sydow sits patiently with her mother, waiting for her long, braided, brown hair to be cut to her shoulders.

Sydow is donating her hair for the second time to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that provides hair pieces to children who have lost their hair from cancer, burns, injuries, skin diseases and other illnesses.

Textbook law challenges textbook prices

by Greg Hyatt –– While lawmakers and students hope a bill signed by the governor will help lower college textbook prices, the new law may lack the teeth to enforce it. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 2477 on Sept. 16. It aims at challenging textbook publishers and universities to rethink their pricing policies

Truancy sweeps planned for Marysville students

by Hardeep Sahota –– The Marysville Joint Unified School District is looking to increase revenue through attendance after hiring an attendance coordinator who is planning truancy sweeps to get students back to class. The district lost about $30,000 last year to truancy, but hopes to recover about $100,000 this year, an administrator said.

West Sacramento looks for heart of city

by Leticia Valenzuela –– West Sacramento’s main thoroughfare has long time been associated with female streetwalkers in provocative clothes, half-lit yellow hotel signs that read “vacancy,” cracked sidewalks and vacant lots. But with massive population growth and redevelopment occurring at city ends, officials have decided to unite residents together by reviving West Capitol as their core.

Land expansion on hold for West Sacramento school

by Leticia Valenzuela –– The West Sacramento School Board closed escrow on 54 acres of a new high school site on Oct. 14, and although building plans are moving forward, the district is still having trouble purchasing the remainder of land. Located at the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Linden Road in Southport, the 91 acres parcel has been set to hold a new 2,400-student high school since the development of Southport in 1991.