in a story written by liz keller local merchants are busy stringing up christmas lights playing holiday carols over the sound systems stocking up on goodies for shoppers and ramping up efforts to prevent shoplifting petty theft is a perpetual a neg problem for area merchants and gets worse as  calendar moves towards the holidays this past weekend alone five people were arrested in shoplifting incidents in grass valley unfortunately it is a problem and one we probably face on a daily basis said lily poland owner of mail street retailer uber blue we pride ourselves in offering great customer service so it makes it hard when someone steals from you plan to send in all of our ploys to a shoplifting prevention seminar at the grass valley elks lodge early wednesday seminar which has been put on by the grass valley and the vatican city chamber of commerce and the grass valley downtown association is open to any merchant in the county and will feature tips from the grass valley police we wanted to do something beneficial to the merchants of con county as a whole to give them ideas and what their rights are and to give them a heads up on what to look for said downtown association project administrator julie jordan we don't have a problem as of yet we want to keep it that way jordan said we are aware it might be an issue and we want to prevent it it is holiday season it's a rough economy economic time for some people it's just so much easier to try and take things because merchants are so busy with clientele a study release last week by the center of retail research found the shrinkage stock lost due to crime or ways jumped nearly nine percent united states over the past year bloody theft and shoplifting org largely to blame according to the research store theft cost each u s household more than four hundred dollars a year what do thieves take the most according to the report favored targets include perfume razor blades video game systems and m p three players small items are of course perennially popular targets for shoplifters according to read it burns owner of test kitchen store in grass valley she is even last nice to sticky fingers but ever since she installed a security camera system last year she had virtually no shoplifting apparently shoplifters do look for it she said it did help us catch someone who was passing fraudulent checks in the store in other stores because we have the camera we were able to go back and see who they were and we caught this ring of people passing bad checks byrne said the security system was expensive but peace of mind it brought has been priceless i have a big store it's difficult to see everybody and we have a lot of small items that can be picked up she said every time i realized it had been ripped off i was so upset it was really aggravating me burns plans to attend wednesday's session saying downtown merchants often work together to apprehend suspected shoplifters it's a great opportunity for us to get the latest and greatest information agreed poland for more information call grass valley downtown association and two seven two eight three one five that's two seven two eight three one five and another story written by liz keller two newest homeowners in nevada county wiped tears away sunday afternoon as they got ready to move into the eighteenth and the nineteenth house was built by me vatican the habitat for humanity you hear that you're not getting a house you're getting a home said kay connors but it's more than that it's about giving someone life it's about what am i feeling right now i'll say goodbye it's a big laugh lots of excitement i'm very emotional it's just a dream come true good who is a widow so did she first applied for the habitat house more than a year ago there were more than sixty applicants for the house homes to date all families contribute a minimum of five hundred volunteer hours known as sweat equity and buy their homes with a one percent cash downpayment conners who first started looking into obtaining a house through habitat four years ago when her rental bring down said that she was put in over six hundred equity hours from stripping forms to lane sodden everything in between i've tried to be here as much as i could they take on and zero interest mortgages paid back to habitat and that is based on no more than thirty percent of their income said executive director erica to two hours cost an estimated one hundred seventy thousand one hundred eighty five thousand which included the cost of gifts in kind such as in a point we're building homes for sixty six dollars a square foot in large part due to the all volunteer labor force a lot of love and labor goes into the houses so construction coordinator frank so beryl when we first started it would take us a long time to build a house he said we've gotten better and better our skills are improving these two we did in six months so brown said the local habitat chapter has about forty volunteers of whom about twenty work on a house on any given day we try to involve all of them he said grocery outlet also became involved in the process supplying all kinds of goodies for the new homeowners including food drive goods and even a new vacuum cleaner habitat peace officer resisting peace officer battery on a police officer with injury driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level of more than a point zero zero am violating probation c h p officers responded to a collision with a vehicle in a ditch just before one a m in the thirteen thousand evergreen drive according to see peter porter call reported the driver had been drinking vehicle was stopped in the middle of the road but allegedly fled the scene when officers attempted to make an enforcement stop after a short pursuit to drive in the vehicle deep described as a nine hundred sixty eight p crashed the car into a mailbox and then tried to flee on foot during the chase c h p officer tried to taser the suspect but it had a minimal effect because he was wearing heavy clothing the officer was apprehended can don't was he was placed under arrest  kendall was being held at wayne brown correctional facility and lieu of thirteen hundred sixteen dollars bail because he doesn't watch cops too often they never seem to people just don't get  who developed an interactive fire safety program has moved into historic thought i was downtown the best city brad ballard who founded far facts dot org after receiving the identity dream and three coworkers now occupied the second floor at four twenty two broad street they recently supplied thousands of copies of the latest versions of the cd for fire safety events last month at two hundred twenty five serious hardware and kmart stores across the country including kmart in grass valley featured in partnership with farmers insurance group and first alert the events targeted families with young children ballard's mission is to use his interactive program to eliminate child deaths from home fires by teaching children how to case of a fire now the little group is filing requests topping five hundred thousand c d s from fire departments and schools across the u s ballard added they also ship same teddy bears sticker badges and teachers in addition we're running a nationwide name our firehouse puppy contest that will benefit the winning student scholar with a ten thousand dollars computer lab upgrade and the school's local fire department with thirty five hundred dollars towards their public education program the governor of missouri also is interested in getting the d v d into every school ballard added the new version can be used by teachers who give homework to parents teaching them the importance of working smoke alarms and having a fire exit plan and that's it for local news now another thanks to one of our underwriter that's right it's time for the police blotter pictures and a blotter not from these actual grants but used for visual aid on grass valley police department on friday nine am a caller from one hundred block of ventana ridge place reported a possible rabbit fox running in circles officers were unable to locate the animal levon forty two am call from one hundred block of west burial drive reported a woman screaming and furniture possibly being thrown around a domestic violence report was taken one fourteen reported an i pod had been stolen from a backpack and at two fifteen p m a call from two hundred block of fairmont drive reported possible identity theft three eleven pm it woman from a business on a one hundred block of dorsey drive reported receiving phone o three p m call from a business in one hundred block a western diet were reported to shoplifting one man was arrested on suspicion of burglary criminal conspiracy and violating probation another man was arrested on suspicion of burglary and criminal conspiracy ele following the caller for two p m a call from business two thousand block of nevada city highway reported shoplifting shoplifter in custody man was arrested on suspicion of burglary and driving on a suspended license  was cited and released nine fifteen p m caller from plaza drive reported to aggressive pit bulls owner owners were retrieving them and sunday four seventeen a m a call from four hundred block of south avance reported a woman screaming a man was arrested on suspicion of being drunk in public vandalism and giving false information to a peace officer and the vatican county sheriff's office on friday one nineteen m it woman from sixteen thousand block a sage road reported someone cut her internet cable one forty five p m call from twenty nine thousand block car with forty nine reported the second thursday of the month two hundred people were gathered for food distribution and causing impounded vehicle five o seven p m a woman walked from the ten thousand block of brown valley road reported the man banging on the door flashing again signs and yelling profanities five o nine p m a caller from auburn and hidden valley roads report  one thousand block of ball road reported receiving death threats over the phone and saturday twelve fifty six am a man from thirty thousand block golden eagle way reported his neighbors neighbor was practising the grahams and  ten fifty five a m a man from the twenty thousand block of white oak dr reported someone shot out the window of a jeep in the driveway and at twelve forty five pm a woman from the ten thousand block of colby road reported prescription medication to been stolen from an unlocked vehicle noticed the word unlocked one forty eight p m on a man seventeen thousand block pennzoil drive reported an intentional collision in a parking lot another caller reported sixty eight men surrounding an elderly man so it was called so i could man walking outside with a rifle possibly pounding on the residence he was gone when deputies arrived and eleven twenty eight p m a caller from fifteen thousand block sunnyvale lane reported hearing five shops in the fattest city police department drunk a person at the courthouse man was arrested on suspicion of being drunk in public and violating probation and saturday three fifty two a m call from martin rock road reported a man pushed the caller nine fifty three in a rare comment yes dollars value on mondays acknowledged the currency slump was raising some prices but said other factors are standing inflation will win in the day while sure he was not indifferent to the dollar slide bernanke said tight credit and weak job market would weigh on the economy is recovering he repeated the fed's place to keep interest rates is exceptionally low for an extended period we're attentive to the implications of changes in the value of the dollar that will continue to formulate policy to guard against the risks of our dual mandate to foster both maximum employment and price stability he told economic club of new york the fed chairman said the central bank's commitment to its dual objectives along with the strength of the u s economy would help ensure that the dollar was  of global financial stability the dollar initially rose on these comments but fell back later in the day hitting a fifteen month low against a basket of six major currencies gold prices hit record highs and all prices settle up more than three percent as the dollar we fed officials usually defer to the u s treasury secretary on issues relating to the dollar's value but bernanke has commented on currency in the past but nike finally is doing what any self respecting central banker does admit that the weakness of the reserve currency of the world matters said peter but bar and equity strategist and company in new york john boehner is one thing but don't tell the world sees actual action the u s dollar will remain in secular decline after the global financial crisis saw investors repatriate funds in two thousand and eight pushing up the us dollar the greenback has lost six sixteen percent since mid march this year and as risk appetite has returned to these safe haven flows have abated and the dollar has accordingly retraced its gains at eight dollars decline this year is sparked concern from paris to beijing and europe to policymakers worried that the strength of the euro is harming economic recovery prospects while the dollars drop has eroded the value of the chinese government's massive holdings of u s treasury debt chinese banking regulator lou meaning kang said on sunday that the low u s interest rates and the weak dollar pose a new systematic sist mattick risk because they were fueling speculation in oversea asset markets and particularly pointed criticism with u s president barack obama visiting china had slashed u s overnight rates to near zero in december said it would likely keep them ultra low for an extended the outlook for policy as well suggesting the fed would act if the dollar begins to unravel and it does orderly way dollars federal reserve bank president richard fisher said in tyler texas currencies decline had been orderly but that the central bank was aware inflation expectations should keep price pressures under wraps on not not was standing significant crosscurrent inflation seems likely to remain subdued for some time he said he said the fed would closely monitor inflation expectations which can of warning signal of whether an inflationary psychological psychology is building most gauges of inflation expectations have stayed within fed's comfort zone although the router's university of michigan survey of consumers on friday showed five year inflation expectations rose for a second month in november but nikkei and while the said that while the economy appeared to be in early stages of recovery how it will fare under government stimulus measures as they dry up is uncertain my own view is that the recent pickup reflects more than purely temporary factors in the continued growth next year is likely he said what bernanke kansas city's federal reserve bank president thomas hoenig said in a speech in abu dhabi that the u s economy still faces significant weaknesses she began to roll out her memoir going rogue on america not pale and made it clear she wanted to concentrate on the twenty ten congressional election and which republicans hope to make inroads into democratic majorities in the u s congress i'm concentrating on ten and making sure that we have issues to tackle pain and said in an interview taped last week and broadcast on monday i don't know what i'm going to do in two thousand and twelve running for president is not on my radar screen right now the former alaskan governor and unsuccessful two thousand and eight republican vice presidential candidate who is popular among many u s conservatives hasn't worked on a campaign style media tour to promote tuesday's release of her book her appearance on when for this program one of the most watched daytime shows on u s television comes as political insiders watch her every move to see if she may launch a bid for the two thousand and twelve republican presidential nomination went free actively supported democrat barack obama during last year's campaign palin is hit a dozen states be during a book tour that will take her mostly to smaller cities initial printing of the one point five million copies promised in memoir written with a ghostwriter will be an instant best seller if palin is to seek higher office she'll have to overcome some political headwinds washington post and a b c news poll found that sixty percent of those polled said problem was not qualified to serve as president fifty two percent viewed her as an unfavorable terms among republicans however her positive rating is seventy six percent styled hockey mom during the two thousand and eight campaign playland directed her at times tart tongue at c b s t v anchorwoman katie couric and levi johnson who fathered a child out of wedlock with payments daughter bristol and has since become a pale and critic said kurtz questions during their a series of interviews during the campaign which critics said expose problems lack of intellectual depth had annoyed her and therefore left the perception she was unqualified i thought she was asking about  alaska and said of course a question about the newspapers in a magazine she regularly read play on recalled being confronted by couric backstage following a thrilling campaign stop there is the perky one with the included comments that she is not getting along with her husband todd we don't want to mess up to get he's doing aspiring porn paling crack referring to his appearance in playgirl and online magazine features nude men i also saw i didn't go to hockey games there are so many untruths levi is still welcome to come to dinner next week for the u s thanksgiving holiday with the parents she added he's family and another your router story out of jerusalem the united states would veto a palestinian declaration of statehood in the united nations security council u s senators visiting israel said monday they said the threat by palestinian officials to take the issue to the united nations was a waste of time and would go nowhere they urged arab states to stop it it would be d o a dead on arrival democratic party senator ted kaufman from delaware told a news conference in jerusalem is a waste of time and that's it for world knows t news would like to thank routers and the union for sourcing of our news and don't forget you can underwrite and support the local news callers for details two seven four seven four one three or eight four five fifty eight fifty eight and here he comes