lesson about a county need to track both more tourism and new businesses community leaders said this week in response to recently commissioned county study that calls for greater emphasis on boosting business community still has a long way to go to fulfill its tourism potential  phil green who cohen's the award winning sierra mountain in with his wife jean people don't know a lot about this area green said wednesday at the grass valley lodge some restaurants to market their businesses in the bay area in sacramento but there is no collective effort to get the word out about the area attractions he said i'd love to see that green added tracking tourist is a vital part of economic development said gill matthews president and c e o of nevada county economic resource council before not out supporting the fourth of july parade or the constitution day parade down the quality of life i'm selling to business says considering relocating goes down as matthew said that's part of my pro grass valley city council members and local leaders offered their thoughts on the county's economic development study this week council members agreed to address their concerns in a letter to the nevada county board of supervisors the study conducted by san francisco based sefl consulting inc and released in december called for shifting the area's focus away from tourism and for spending as much as three hundred thousand dollars to recruit new businesses in construction  financing health care services and information services their port does not list a local high tech business cluster as a business center street to truck or work with valley officials or writing in a letter to the county report didn't even scratch the surface of what grass valley offers councilman dan miller said in tuesday's council meeting despite that most agreed to study was a good start and should boys steer economic development discussions this is a start to have better dialogue amongst the communities to councilwoman lisa's work out but that dialogue has to include a balanced focus on tourism in business attractions she said the study made assumptions that grass valley is nothing more than a tourist town yet none of the city's top twenty five sales tax generators are tourist oriented business many people made the decision to move here and open a business after visiting the community said if you turn your back on tourism that's a big mistake posting said the city is working to get several large developments proposed for the city's periphery to include significant space for business park development the city set aside for large projects proposed for just outside grass valley city limits loma rica northstar can a ranch in southfield village for added scrutiny and if we get all those we'll have a lot more people here i guess that's what we want more people more money funding for community colleges be pitted against funding for elementary and secondary education in debate over proposition ninety two at a time when educators statewide are re the prospect of their funding being slashed under the governor's proposed budget cuts prop ninety two would bring more state funding to community colleges and reduce student fees perhaps at the cost of other public needs if foreigners approve it on february fifth proposition would increase overall state education spending by about three hundred million annually for at least the next three years analysts say in addition it would reduce community college fees to fifteen dollars per unit lowering the student fee revenues paid into the general fund by about one hundred seventy million annually but potentially bringing more students into the system the proposition also would give more independence to community colleges and the board of governors its advocates say opponents however argue the proposition would siphon money from kindergarten through twelfth grade and possibly from other areas such as health care and public safety educators already are facing budget cuts and possible layoffs under governor arnold schwarzenegger's propose budget cuts made to deal with a projected fourteen point five billion dollars shortfall opponents cite lack of accountability on how the extra money would be spent by community colleges and then there was of information on how the state would pay for the additional spending those opposing print money to include david sanchez president of the california teachers association bill how president of california business roundtable and acting president of california taxpayers substation now single state formula sets funding for community colleges and k twelve education state law requires that the entire package receive about forty percent of general fund revenue cording to the state legislative analysis the proposal would split the formula for community colleges away from the rest of the system which takes about ninety percent of state education funding but together they would still get the same forty percent of the state budget the proposed new formula for community college funding also would give the system extra money based on growth expected in the population of young adult a group growing faster than the k twelve population according to state analysts meanwhile the k twelve form would continue to be based upon the number of students served day to day we are asking people to vote yes on proposition ninety two because it will lower the student fee per unit to fifteen dollars to nancy palmer the area w representative on this year college board of trustees community colleges are already not in a good shape with the state cuts in proposed in the proposed budget if proposition ninety two does not pass the fees will increase about forty percent of  graduating high school seniors in western nevada county attend sirrah college college president leo chavez said seventy percent of california's attending college are enrolled in community colleges proponents for the proposition argue  to community college system receive far less funding per student than the two state university systems if you look at the value community colleges provide in terms of access and low cost versus the state funding we receive which is the lowest of any segment of education including k through twelve and additional investment as reflected in proposition ninety two is a good value to have as a prop ninety two is being sponsored by a coalition which includes the community college league of california california federation of teachers and the los angeles community college  and with our storm two grass valley residents involved in a head on collision are expected to fully recover from their injuries officials said wednesday diana collier forty eight years old suffered facial trauma and is in fair condition it's under roseville medical center treated and released last tuesday hospital spokesman brett bentley said they both should be fine hernandez said colliers nine hundred eighty six several a cavalier drifted over the solid double yellow line on the twelve thousand block and that's here for our local news edwards made his farewell address in new orleans where he launched his campaign thirteen months ago john edwards says it is time for me to step aside so that history can so that history can blaze its path we do not know who will take the final sixteen hundred pennsylvania avenue but do what we do know is that our democratic party will make history we will be strong and we will be unified and we will with our convictions and little back born a little backbone we will take back the white house and remember and we'll create hope and opportunity for this country edwards did not endorse either of the remaining democratic candidates but he said he received pledges from both senators hillary lott running clinton and barack hussein obama to focus on poverty in the united states which edwards called the cause of his life as edwards bowed out for the race long time consumer advocate ralph nader announced a presidential exploratory committee to decide whether to run as an independent candidate well more on edwards and later later in the community and say america is back america is back and we are ready to lead the world against common threats of the twenty first century terrorism and nuclear weapons and also climate change and poverty genocide and disease and i will be once more sending a message  faces beyond our shores that say you matter to us your future is our future in our moment is now clinton meanwhile was in arkansas in little rock she stressed her campaign's iraq platform pressuring the iraqi government senator hillary clinton said we can tell the iraqi government that the blank check that they've had from george bush is no longer valid they'll have to start making decisions for themselves meanwhile former president luther king and said obama would likely win some southern states this is democratic nominee carter also said you have spoken to former president bill clinton and criticized some clinton's racial charged comments on the campaign trail peanut attorney general michael mukasey has refused again to say whether waterboarding is a form of torture or illegal because he testified before the senate judiciary committee wednesday for the first time since the democratic because senate confirmed his nomination under questioning from senator ted kennedy across he admitted waterboarding would look feel like torture if it was done to him but he refused to say whether it would be illegal for a foreign country to waterboard a u s citizen senator edward kennedy also ask him so let me ask you this would waterboarding be done be torture if it was done to you and because he answered i would feel that it was because he later said the cruelty of torture must be balanced against the information you might get he was criticized by senate judiciary chairman patrick leahy senator patrick leahy said never mind that waterboarding has been recognized as torture for the last five hundred years never mind that president teddy roosevelt properly prosecuted american soldiers for this more than one hundred years ago never mind that we prosecuted japanese soldiers for waterboarding america's during world war two never mind that this is a practice of repressive regimes around the world that is not america and israel and the occupied territories the israeli supreme court has rejected a challenge to israel's blockade of the gaza strip several human rights groups had sought a judgment overturning israel's cut off of fuel electricity and other supplies petitioner accused the israeli government of collective punishment in violation of international law but on wednesday the court called the palestinian authority there is one palestinian authority yamas is not legal force it is a usurping force last forces currently have ground control of the egyptian border masa seeking recognition of its authority and say the borders should remain open meanwhile in israel a long awaited internal formal inquiry has criticised israel's leadership for its handling of the two thousand and six attack on lebanon the final report from the winograd commission called the lebanon war is seriously missed opportunity that failed to achieve its goals the report did not criticize the government for attacking lebanon in the first place nor for causing more than one thousand lebanese civilian deaths referring to his ball of fighters report concludes a semi military organization of a few thousand men resisted for a few weeks the strongest army in the middle east which enjoyed full air superiority and size and technological advantages in lebanon parliament members hussein haasan said the report recognized that he called his followers successful resistance we saw and said this report highlighted the israeli army that everyone knows is invincible was defeated and that has a big impact zionist enemy on all levels in the short medium and long term one then when a grad report says that the army failed in its ground offensive that means that israeli army failed and has to was defeated in war against what it itself said was only a number of fighters the pentagon has announced it's probably georgians and u s soldiers killed several iraqi prisoners in baghdad last year which will say the prisoners may have been killed at the point of capture before they could be taken to the u s or iraqi jail no details released on a number of slain prisoners or accused soldiers and in other military news the washington post is reporting on a suicides of reached another record high and internal pentagon study hundred twenty one soldiers took their lives last year the more most sense wrap for our world news today the call nine forty a m police closed i don't marilyn road between certain way and brunswick road on fifty three am a caller from pleasant street at chapel street reported a car slid into a fence and a bus was off the road twenty two am a caller from gas station on seven way reported a vehicle drove off with a hose still inside the gas tank the governor stopped through the hose toward the pumps and sped off police to term and there was no damage to property two twenty eight seven twenty five pm a call from one hundred block in st reported people on quads were driving all over the roadway recklessly with no helmets on police were unable to locate quads wednesday nevada  on tuesday eight fifteen a m to peace we're looking for a blue two thousand three subaru forester stolen from horizon circle in grass valley nine twenty one am a caller from the sixteen thousand block of alexandria way reported a delivery truck rolled down an embankme block i want seventy four have been broken into sometime over the last two weeks four forty two p m a caller from ten thousand block of lincoln way reported a resident was burglarized sometime during the day no weapons were taken  eight p m a man called from ten thousand block a melody road to report upright with his wife was physical he said she was drunk and broke down the bedroom door the man called back to say his wife was leaving in a brown toyota camry in the deputies arrested in money on suspicion of drunken driving and battery that's it for the blotter and now for our weather report mostly cloudy today with rain highs in the fifty's southwest fifteen twenty five m r i will start with possible snow the clearing highs and of low fifty's more wet weather for a weekend with snow moving in by mid day saturday through sunday snow snow is no stay on watch the super bowl if you don't need to go out anywhere then don't a late breaking story cairo egypt will light al libbi a top al qaeda commander to afghanistan has been blamed for bombing a base while vice president cheney was visiting last year has been killed in pakistan according to militant web site are sad for his loss he left a legacy that will inflame the enemy nation and religion statement included al libi his picture in an earlier announcement on the same site a banner appeared in a section reserved for affiliated militant groups not open to public posting we congratulate the islamic nation for the martyrdom of the sheik said line the line abu lice al libbi it said before the posting there had been reports of an attack on militants  to approach the side of the blast in the pakistani government and military said they did not know who fired the missile local officials said foreigners were targeting targeted in one intelligence official in the area who spoke on condition of anonymity and amenity s interior ministry said they could not confirm al libby's death and we're still trying to gather details on the missile strike this spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the attack a knowledgeable western official said that it appears at this point that  libby has met his demise but declined to talk about the circumstances it was a major success in taking one of the top terrorists in the world off the streets official said yeah he did to death occurred within the last few days u s led coalition and nato led forces in afghanistan could not confirm al libby's death an official what the nato led force said they were picking up some signals from the but could not confirm whether al libbi was dead there is no confirmation from our side said nato official in kabul in condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly on the issue pakistani counterterrorism officials say he was an al qaeda spokesman attack killed twenty three people but cheney was deep inside the sprawling basin with not hurt the bombing added to the impression that the western forces and the chickie government of president hamid karzai are vulnerable to a especially close focus by u s intelligence since two thousand and five when u s forces destroyed a militant training camp belief set up by a lady in eastern afghan province of cost that was an admission that terror camps continue to operate in afghan saw since taliban regime ouster more than five years ago but you describe your libya as transient moving where he thinks he can count on support terrorists like al libbi use the rugged terrain of the the second largest down in north waziristan and has a strong presence of foreign militants mostly use backs with legs to al qaida who fled the pakistani tribal regions after the fall of the taliban regime in afghanistan in two thousand