Mid-Valley briefs
Marysville
Levee work goes to bid next week
Construction work for the first phase of an extensive improvement project on the ring levee around Marysville is slated to go out for bid next week.
The four-phase project, with a price tag of between $75 million and $100 million, is designed to improve the city's flood protection ahead of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's remapping of Yuba County for flood protection levels.
City officials, the Yuba County Water Agency, Marysville Levee Commission, state agencies and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers all have stuck to a tight deadline, said City Services Director Dave Lamon, in order to make use of about $28 million in federal stimulus dollars made available for the project.
Contracts for the work will likely be awarded by the end of August, with construction to begin afterward, Lamon said.
Yuba-Sutter
Unemployment 3rd highest
The Yuba City metropolitan statistical area again had the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation last month, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Wednesday.
Yuba-Sutter's 19.4 percent unemployment rate ranked only behind El Centro (27.6 percent) and Yuma, Ariz., (26.4 percent) among the 372 metro areas surveyed.
Among the 12 areas with jobless rates of at least 15 percent, 10 were in California. Merced (18.1 percent), Modesto (17.3 percent) and Stockton (16.5 percent) were the next-highest.
Bismarck, N.D., registered the lowest unemployment rate in June at 3.8 percent.
Unemployment rates were lower in June than a year earlier in 185 of the 372 metropolitan areas, higher in 168 areas and unchanged in 19 areas.
The national unemployment rate in June was 9.6 percent, not seasonally adjusted, compared with 9.7 percent a year earlier.
Yuba City
Reed challenges Herger to debates
Jim Reed, a Democrat running in a heavily Republican district, challenged U.S. Rep. Wally Herger, R-Chico, on Monday to three debates, beginning Aug. 14 at the Veterans Memorial hall in Yuba City.
Two subsequent debates would be Aug. 23 in Chico and Sept. 9 in Redding, under the schedule proposed by Reed, a Shasta County attorney.
Herger, first elected to Congress in 1986, has debated his challengers, though he's usually won re-election easily. In 2008, he debated Democratic challenger Jeff Morris, a Trinity County supervisors, once in Chico.
Yuba City
Franklin Avenue closed for fair
Franklin Avenue between Wilbur and Woodbridge avenues in Yuba City is closed to traffic for the annual Yuba-Sutter Fair.
The street is closed from 2 p.m.-10 p.m. today and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
The street closure was approved by the Yuba City Police Department Traffic Education and Enforcement Unit.
Yuba City
Free barbecue for National Night Out
A free barbecue is part of National Night Out activities Tuesday at Summerfield Senior Living, 1224 Plumas St., Yuba City.
The celebration is from 6:30-9 p.m.
Activities also include live music and tours of the facility.
For reservations, call Mindy Burnett at 755-3850.
Marysville
Orphan child system profiled
A one-hour multimedia program about a system that moved more than 250,000 orphaned and unwanted children from New York City to places throughout the United States over 75 years is scheduled in Marysville.
"Riders on the Orphan Train," at 7 p.m. Aug. 7 at St. John's Episcopal Church, 400 D St., includes music and video. Admission is free.
Author Alison Moore will read a novel in progress about the system that ran from1854 to 1929 that took children from orphanages and streets in New York City to train stations across the country where they were given away.
Moore is a humanities scholar in Texas and a former assistant professor of English/creative writing at the University of Arizona.
The orphans' system was originally organized by Congregationalist minister Charles Loring Brace and the Children's Aid Society of New York.
For more information, call Susan Kimmel at 743-6108.
Yuba-Sutter
Widowed Persons holding gatherings
The social group Widowed Persons Association of California has a variety of restaurant gatherings scheduled in August throughout the Yuba-Sutter area.
Planned get-togethers include:
• Breakfasts at Perko's in Yuba City, Duke's Diner in Olivehurst and Denny's in Marysville.
• Lunches at Linda's Soda Bar in Yuba City, City Grill in Wheatland and Little City in Linda.
• Dinners at Lumberjack and International House of Pancakes, both in Yuba City.
In addition, group members regularly do a mall walk Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Yuba Sutter Mall.
For information about the restaurant events, call 695-1525.
