shopping was a mixed bag for local retailers this holiday season though some posted increases others were boarded a downturn or said they depended on pre holiday sales to prop up the bottom line at n p r music in nevada city owner jamie bellows saw the writing on the wall months ago people were fearing a recession and facing our household expenses including gasoline said bill easy echoing the consumer sentiment across the country expected a downturn going into the holiday shopping season many people are earning the same amount of money and buying less sales are off about ten percent to fifteen percent from previous holiday seasons he said i can fractionally years ago as valley candy store owner brad blair saw his foot traffic decrease and expected his sales numbers to be down a little i've seen fewer people traveling from out of town and tourists in general blair said the higher gas prices probably were a deterrent grass valley blues runs real record sales were down about thirty percent from last year and only big christmas sale day was the day after thanksgiving across the nation retail sales were up two point four percent according to mastercard but below expectations analysts have cited the housing slowdown in the subsequent subsequent credit crunch and high gas prices among other factors the stock market has partnered along in recent weeks with investors fearful of slowdown  consumer spending i'm sure sales didn't go up as well as many wanted said bob bilis president of nevada city chamber of commerce bulis who owns nevada city postal company said he talked with business owners who were disappointed about their sales numbers but he hastened to add that he also heard from some people who posted modest increases test kitchen store in grass valley which expanded its store by one third  a store downtown this fall reportedly twenty five percent sales increase compared to the previous year it was just huge said rita burns she attributed at least part of the increase to the larger floor space now stand standing at four thousand square feet yuba blue posted nearly thirty percent increase in holiday sales compared to last year said sara lee lessard lasers are not a koan or of nelse street business the mill str angered carter or reduced all merchandise by forty percent carter said she finished the holiday season with flat sales from last year people thanked me for doing that said carter who had never resorted to such drastic pretty christmas discounts for other stores reported sales fell from the previous year despite the discount attendance at victorian christmas in nevada city was flat did year compared to a year ago estimated cassy which really executive director of the nevada city chamber the event was held for five days this year compared to four days last year attendance at cornish christmas in grass valley was higher compared to last year as timid power line executive director grass valley downtown association but vine said he couldn't be more specific although others stated the cornice christmas was not as busy as in past years and the vendor sales were down but food sales seemed to stay constant and lowest deigns of morgan ranch as was rejoicing wednesday about a long awaited traffic light not just the holidays crews were installing the pole and lights to the traffic signal at the busy intersection of ridge road s college and morgan ranch drives in grass valley i don't know what's taken so long jane said we need it for all the traffic in the high school and college in particular i've seen a lot of cars just blow through the stop sign i added near accident they're not your go to signal cost between two hundred fifty eight thousand dollars has been discussed for years we're hoping to have it operational by the end of the week said rejoined jones an assistant engineer for traffic techno was one of the require as the city made of local developer tony medlar when he extended his morgan ranch development adler residence and councilwoman lisa's white house questioned the need for the signal when the city approved the move in september two thousand and six saying traffic backs up there only twice a day or on school medlar is fronting the money and handing handling its construction and what is essentially an interest free loan see the city were paying him for most of that over seven years under a two thousand four agreement that let medlar expand morgan ranch buy twenty five new homes at the bottom of the subdivision in a two thousand one survey that m paid for ninety percent of morgan ranch residents polled did not want a signal there either residents near the intersection wednesday who wouldn't click identify themselves said they wondered why a stoplight was needed to control traffic only twice a day when i school opens and close but others share deigns center i think it will be great said rick a vision of morgan ranch there's a large problem with kids going through one or two inches of snow is possible in the foothills in the vatican county and lower tonight as a slow cold front continues just slide across the air the storm would bring the first significant snowfall of the season to grasp valley life sporadic snow flurries occurred wednesday in the area many communities in the motherlode worst where snowfall is rare may see up to an inch or two kori to the national weather service in sacramento and snow is possible all the way to the second floor residents should protect cold sensitive plants and shelter past cordie to the weather service mountain motorists should have snow chains food water clothing and a flashlight at all times when driving in a sierra one for up to the minute road conditions call the california highway patrol or encountering hands at one eight hundred four two seven six seven six two three that's one eight hundred four two seven seven six two three friday there will be a chance of more new snow and rain expected in western nevada county as i climb into the low forty's and lows back into the thirty's at night we can highs will be limited forty's with lows in the thirty's chance for foothill ranch hours will increase to fifty percent on saturday and sunday tells guys are predicted to start clearing again sunday night the forecast for monday and new year's day is sunny with highs in the mid forty's lows with more snow and very cold temperatures are expected at the higher elevations of nevada county for the rest of the week the national weather service is predicting a chance of snow at seven thousand feet and above through sunday with the likelihood of snow tonight snowfall should further improves conditions at donner pass area ski resorts sugar bowl done for ski ranch and boy real mountain resort already we're reporting thirty six to forty eight inches of powder base wednesday and that's it for today's local news pakistan out of pakistan the washington post reports u s special forces are expected to vastly expand their presence in pakistan beginning in its earliest two thousand and eight u s troops will be part of the take part in an effort to train and support pakistani counterinsurgency musharraf met with afghan leader hamid karzai karzai said more needs to be done to stop pro taliban militants from pakistan crossing into afghanistan he also said there is reduced activity on the afghan side as unfortunately there is an increased activity now on the pakistani side here said pakistan and afghanistan need to improve intelligence sharing you also said the key to fighting to enhance our capabilities against terrorists and extremists is intelligence cooperation that's the key is intelligence agencies are on both sides must cooperate more strongly if we are to deal with terrorism and extremism more effectively in other news from afghanistan two european diplomats accused of making contacts with taliban have been forced to leave the country the afghan government accuse the pair of posing a threat to national security michael sam p is the acting head of the e u mission in afghanistan mervyn patterson high ranking british un employ on wednesday president bush signed a five hundred fifty five billion dollars spending bill that would include seventy billion dollars for military operations in iraq and afghanistan the democrat led congress pass gen spending bill without including a timeline for it to put withdrawal from iran turkey has problems with praised bush administration for providing intelligence to help turkey bomb kurdish regions in northern iraq turkish daily news reports turkey will soon be using israeli made unmanned drones over northern iraq according to the paper personnel from the state run and israeli company aerospace industries will assist the turkey johnny and using the heroin unman vehicles and i new report from unicef has found an average of twenty five thousand iraqi children per month were displaced within iraq by violence or intimidation during two thousand and seven estimated seven hundred sixty thousand children were out of primary school in two thousand and six and two hundred twenty thousand more displaced children have their educators interrupt education interrupted two thousand and seven unicef also found that today eighty percent of the children outside baghdad don't have working sewers in their communities limiting access to see why and on capitol hill senate democrats are attempting to block president bush from giving a recess appointment to a government attorney who authored two of the bush administration's secret torture memos  usually in recess this week but on wednesday the senate held a nine second session in order to prevent bush from promoting steven bradbury to becoming the chief justice department's office of legislative counsel bradbury is currently the acting chief but his nomination has not been approved by the senate in two thousand and five bradbury signed two secret memos approving the cia's use of harsh interrogation techniques in economic news prices of existing single family homes are dropping at near record levels suggesting the housing slump is far from over according to one study prices of homes dropped over six percent between october two thousand and six and two thousand and seven the biggest declines were in miami and tampa where prices fell over eleven percent gone amiss robert shiller said that this is the biggest drop in housing prices since nine hundred forty one watching times reports for closures and prices drops are now the largest since a great depression meanwhile investment bankers are celebrating on wall street for the country's biggest banks goldman sachs morgan stanley lehman brothers and beer bear stearns are expected to dole out an estimated thirty billion dollars in bonuses this year the c e o of goldman sachs lloyd blankfein blank field is receiving a record sixty eight million dollars bonus last month housing advocates called on the nation's largest investment banks to donate their holiday bonus to foreclosure prevention fund that will help prevent a new wave of foreclosures agreed to cover the cost of surgery but natalie's family said by then it was too late the teenager died less than an hour after cigna reversed the decision family's attorney mark geragos gary goes said he plans to ask los opportunity commission with employers can reduce or eliminate health benefits for retirees when they turn sixty five and become eligible for medicare could affect more than ten million retirees who rely on employees sponsored health plans as a primary source of coverage or retirees sixty five and a group of deans from some of the most prominent journalism schools in the country are encouraging journalists to speak out against last week's f c c ruling line cross ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in an opinion piece in the new york today said the future of the profession of journalism and its public mission is at stake dean writes we do not believe that the market can be absolutely trusted to provide local newsgathering that the american system needs to be function at its best we didn't wan deregulation has led to cutbacks and newsroom cross country television radio stations generally have smaller newsstands today than it did an era before deregulation there that represents a real lost american democracy that's right it's time for the police blotter pictures of the blotter not from the sexual abuse for visual aid on grass valley police department on tuesday at eleven fifty four a m a colorful kid a street at ray street reported an elderly couple in a motor fourteen thousand block a strawberry circle you get police book with a person who refuses present charges ten fifty one a m a call from thirteen thousand block of gas canyon road reported various ongoing problems with the neighbor or so by tomorrow morning best chance for rain snow showers came late today overnight and into friday morning any light rain or snow could cause some icy conditions on roadways or drive carefully highs today near sacramento stuck in the desert climbs up to monday and tuesday there are no wood burning restrictions today for secular counties michel owens was posted by the and in our events prize is eight dollars it is all it does location is a christian brothers high school second floor theater forty three fifteen martin luther king boulevard in