SAN FRANCISCO --

The Field Poll found 94 percent of registered California voters consider the shortage serious, and 68 percent of them find it extremely serious. By contrast, when the state had a similarly severe drought in 1977 just 51 percent saw the problem as extremely serious.

California is entering its fourth year of drought and, so far, this winter has yet to produce the rain and snow to make a major dent. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency a year ago and asked Californians to reduce consumption by 20 percent. December was the first month residents hit that threshold.

Another example that Californians recognize the seriousness of the problem: Voters last year approved a massive spending plan that invests $7.5 billion in projects to increase water storage, water recycling, treatment and cleaning up contaminated groundwater.

The poll found just 10 percent surveyed say the state's water storage and supply is adequate. More than half believe government restrictions should be relaxed to build new water storage on state parkland and forest reserves, while 38 percent disagreed.

Half of Californians also said that in dry years, the state should help farmers by easing environmental regulations that protect fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, but the survey found 46 percent disagreeing.

Six in 10 Californians favor the current policy of asking residents to voluntarily cut back on water use, but one-third surveyed say they favor mandatory rationing, up 7 percentage points from last year.

Residents in different parts of California see the drought's seriousness in differing degrees. Nearly three-quarters of registered voters in San Francisco and the Central Valley's farming region told pollsters that they perceive the shortage as extremely serious, while just under two-thirds in Los Angeles County held the same belief.

The poll was conducted by telephone from Jan. 26 to Feb. 16, surveying 1,241 registered voters in California. It has a margin of error of between plus or minus 3.2 and 4.1 percentage points.

For full coverage on the drought, click here.

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Poll: Californians see drought as serious, more want limits

AP Photo/ Bill Gorman In this photo taken Nov. 14, 2014, 71-year old Diana Miller, who agreed to be interviewed by The Associated Press under her middle and married names, talks about her rape by Arkansas parolee Milton Thomas. The elderly widow says that, Thomas who was mowing a nearby lawn, asked for a glass of water and then forced his way in and raped her. He pushed her on her bed with enough force to knock her front teeth loose she said. You realize that youre a parolee, this is going to mean youre going to spend the rest of your days behind bars, she told Thomas. She said he laughed and went back to mowing. Thomas is currently in custody at the North Central Unit at Calico Rock, Arkansas. His trial date is expected to be March 2015.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) On a hot Friday last July, a parolee was mowing a lawn in a small cul-de-sac on the west side of the city when he stopped to ask for a glass of water.

The 70-year-old widow whose yard he was mowing told him to wait on her porch. Instead, she said, he jerked the storm door open, slammed her against the wall, forced her into the bedroom and raped her. The parolee pushed her with such force, she said, that her front teeth were knocked loose.

Then he went back to mowing the lawn.

Milton Thomas, 58, said he's not guilty. His trial is set for March.

Thomas has been in and out of Arkansas prisons since 2008 for nonviolent crimes, including check fraud. After he got out in November 2013, the state predicted he was a low risk to commit another crime, Thomas said, and assigned him the least amount of supervision.

His low-risk prediction would have been calculated based on answers to a lengthy questionnaire, the latest tool among the nation's court systems to try to predict the likelihood that an offender will commit a crime again.

Across the country, states have turned to a data-driven movement to drive down prison populations, reduce recidivism and save billions of dollars. One emerging practice is the use of risk-and-needs assessment tools, which are questionnaires that explore issues beyond criminal history. They are based on surveys of offenders making their way through the justice system.

Supporters cite some research, such as a 1987 Rand Corp. study that said the surveys can be up to 70 percent accurate in predicting the likelihood of repeat offenses, if they are used correctly. Even the Rand study, one of the seminal pieces of research on the subject, was skeptical of the surveys' effectiveness.

It's nearly impossible to measure the surveys' impact on recidivism because they are only part of broader efforts.

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States predict inmates' future crimes

In this section we will discuss the origins of the 3 versions of the great American Lawn Jockey sculpture in the specific time frame of 1776-1913. There are 2 distinct historical time frames associated with this statue: 1. 1776-1913: Original versions manufactured of SOLID iron or zinc and weighing approximately 300-400 lbs. designed for FUNCTIONAL use(tying up horses). 2. 1913-present: Reproductions of the statue manufactured of HOLLOW iron(about 150 lbs.), concrete, plastic, or aluminum designed for DECORATIVE use.

Imagine travelling back in time to 1872... clipclopping along the cobblestone road and slowly passing by the gas lights, and then stopping off your horse drawn carriage at the Composite Iron Works, 9 Mercer St., New York City... to pick out a hitching post!

Documented history on the Lawn Jockey is solid back to the 1850's, but prior history is based on putting pieces of a puzzle together through eyewitness accounts, legend, and speculation. The trail of puzzle pieces traces the history of the Lawn Jockey back through the civil war in the 1860's to the Underground Railroad in the 1850's, and all the way back to George Washington in 1776. But to truly understand the origins of the Lawn Jockey statue, you must first turn the time machine clock back further still, way back to 500 bc in ancient Greece where the public display of the human form in sculpture was perfected.

In 500 bc, the ancient greek sculptors perfected statues of the human form... clothing on sculpture is used to convey social structure. The jockey's timeless design was borrowed from ancient Greece and reinvented in colonial America.

Many copies of this popular design were made all the way through the end of the Roman Empire in 476ad. Note how all had bare feet and had their right arm extended to hold horses reins just like the original jockeys.

Apollo was also linked with oracles associated with wishing to know the outcome of an illness. Healing belonged to Apollo's realm: he was the father of Asclepius, the god of medicine.

2 milleniums later, the American Red Cross was established in the US. Coincidentally, a red jockey looks like a red cross. Many doctors who made house calls by horsedrawn carriage in the 1800's had red jockey hitching posts at their own homes to identify their profession. The unusual huge popularity of jockeys in the medical community still continues today in the tradition of Apollo and the Red Cross.

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History of the Lawn Jockey Statue jocko graves faithful ...

Est alerta! La abeja africanizada en California Informacin sobre cmo prepararse para la entrada en California de la abeja de miel africanizada.

Information on how to "bee prepared" for the movement of the africanized honey bee into California.

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Agritourism can be a great boon to the California grower, but you have to be aware of your legal responsibilities, get your permits, and follow the rules regarding land use, zoning, public health, and other areas. This gives you a brief overview.

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This publication gives you a game plan for navigating the maze of permits, plans, and approvals you will need to get in order before you launch a potentially profitable agritourism enterprise on your California farm or ranch.

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Through the 13 activities in this 4-H Youth Development unit, participants will explore relationships between the people and the salmon and steelhead that live, or once lived, within their community's watershed.

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Almond leaf scorch is a bacterial disease that kill otherwise healthy trees -- or, if undetected and untreated, entire orchards -- within just a few years. Learn to recognize the disease and take action early to save your trees and your livelihood.

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Robbins man charged in robbery

A 57-year-old Robbins man was arrested Nov. 23 after he stole a womans purse and hit her in the parking lot at the Sav-A-Lot supermarket, Midlothian police reported.

The Parent-Teacher-Student Association at Oak Lawn Community High School is out about $1,000 after the money was stolen between Oct. 24 and 29 from the concession building at the football field, police reported.

A Chicago Heights man is facing charges after leading police on a chase and crashing his sport utility vehicle into a house in the 7700 block of Sycamore Drive in Orland Park, police reported.

A 32-year-old Justice woman was attacked and robbed by two men who initially came to her aid and changed a flat tire for her, Oak Lawn police reported.

A Chicago man, stopped by Oak Lawn police for speeding, tried to fool police by calling in a fake report of a shooting and wound up being charged with filing a false police report and other charges, police reported.

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A Texas jury will soon decide on Eddie Ray Rouths next home: a maximum-security prison cell or a room with an open door and no lock.

Rouths defense attorneys have argued that their client is not guilty because he was insane when he killed Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield in February 2013. But lawyers who have staged similar defenses say it will be a hard sell to jurors, in part because they are told little about what comes after an insanity verdict, and how Rouths life in a state hospital would differ from life in prison.

The upshot: Routh would have more freedom at a state hospital and could be let out at some point. He would have a regimented life and difficulty convincing doctors and a judge that he should be released permanently.

But its not prison.

Our mission is treatment and recovery, not punishment, said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Our whole focus is empowering patients to become responsible for their own lives.

Routh would go to one of two state mental health maximum-security facilities. Both are in small towns: Rusk, in East Texas, and Vernon, near the Panhandle.

Once inside the secured perimeters, it looks very much like a local community college, Williams said.

The hospitals have regimented days, regular shower times and jobs such as janitorial work or gardening. They have classes, such as those that deal with social skills, anger management and life skills.

Patients can learn about their illnesses, medication and treatments. Their rooms, with twin-size beds and a small wardrobe, are bathed in soothing colors. The doors stay open. There is TV, but not in the bedroom. The Internet is restricted. Cellphones and other contraband arent allowed.

David Self, retired chief of the forensic unit at Rusk State Hospital, said the daily programming is both therapeutic and good for security.

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Juries like those in Chris Kyle case hear little of how those found insane live

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Weeds in a gravel drive

Q Last year we renovated and extended our weedy gravel drive. Some of the area was lined with a membrane before a thick layer of coarse gravel was spread on it, while other parts (where there is less traffic, and where much of the original soil had been removed or churned up badly during some major building works), we didnt bother. Almost straight away, weeds (including thistles) started to appear, even on the areas with the membrane. What now?

Jacqui Harman, via email

A The areas that have simply been gravelled over the top of the disturbed soil will have naturally sprouted an enormous amount of weeds, seeds of which will have lain dormant in it for years. Creeping thistle and dock are extremely tenacious perennials, notorious for spreading around in disturbed, infertile soil.

The weeds that are showing up where you really didnt expect them in places where you laid the membrane are possibly growing through gaps where the membrane has become damaged by car traffic, or where it was not overlapped sufficiently. In any event, over time a layer of silty soil builds up on top of membrane, enabling determined weed seedlings to germinate and thrive, so you may always have a bit of a problem, despite your efforts.

When growth really kicks off next month, you can treat all the weeds in the gravel with one of the long-lasting weedkillers that contain glyphosate, to hit the current crop of visible weeds, both annual and perennial. Some of these products also contain chemicals that will inhibit the future germination of seeds for up to three months, although I suspect this is a bit optimistic where deeply gravelled drives are concerned. The products available to gardeners are Path and Drive Weedkiller (from Bayer Garden) or Pathclear (from Scotts), and both can be found in garden centres. These are strong chemicals and instructions should be followed carefully: They should not, for example, be used on sloping land (where there is a danger that the weedkillers will drain onto flower beds or grass), but once they are dry, children and pets need not be excluded from treated area.

Use weed killers on gravel carefully to prevent killing flowers and grass

Reassurance

Q Val Groves is worried about random little fungi that have appeared in her garden, presumably from a delivery of mulch that was spread about her borders during the course of a makeover. She asks if the fungi will harm her new plants, and if so, how she can rid her garden of them.

A Nearly all fungi that appear in gardens are harmless to plants, growing naturally from organic matter in the soil (or as in Vals case, from organic matter brought in from elsewhere). If they offend, they should just be brushed away or forked into the soil. Notable exceptions are honey fungus that travels via very distinctive underground rhizomorphs from dead hosts to live woody plants. They also throw up crops of orange toadstools from the roots of affected trees and shrubs. To hinder its spread, all dead woody plants and as much of their root as possible should be dug out and burnt. The other garden baddie that can spread from dead to living woody plants is coral spot rot (showing as crops of small orange pustules on the dead branches of, for example, acers and chaenomeles). Swift removal and disposal of affected branches will prevent airborne spores from hanging around.

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Thorny problems: should I returf my lawn?

News Sports Obituaries Grand People Entertainment Media Schools/Education Opinion Top Story A brush with the law

Its been many years now. Time has flown by. Ive been retired some 20 years, but sometimes I awake in a sweat. My wife seems to understand, b

ST. PAUL Two bills have been brought before the House and Senate in a bipartisan effort to restore Local Government Aid to 2003 levels, and another would have a portion of these funds going towards improving water treatment facilities in rural areas.

ST. PAUL Five DFL Senate leaders have introduced a package of bills addressing Greater Minnesotas economic needs by requesting major funding for public infrastructure, housing, broadband access, and career counseling.

With a renewed focus on Greater Minnesota already emerging as one of the themes of the 2015 legislative session, leaders of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (CGMC) and the Greater Minnesota Partnership (GMNP) held a press conference to discuss what needs to happen for the session to be considered a success for Greater Minnesota.

The City of Grand Rapids now has a lobbyist.

With the development of the internet, government information has become much easier for the public to access. This is a wonderful tool for people when they are doing research on their city, county, state, or federal government. However, it is important when attempting to compare one unit of government to another that the researcher fully understands the data.

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February 20, 2015