Something happened, and somebody died. Bongard and Rath potentially will face doubled sentences under California's three-strikes law. That possibly means a minimum of 30 years in prison before parole for Rath, who has served time for assault with a deadly weapon, and Bongard, who has a conviction for a residential burglary. A hearing on the sentencing enhancement is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday. Arlene Siebert said she sympathized with the defendants' families - and with the defendants themselves.
Prison is a horrible place.
When complete scores for California's achievement test finally were released by the state Thursday, some Solano County school district officials were caught by surprise. After waiting almost a month for Harcourt Educational Service to rectify its mistakes, local officials scrambled to prepare an analysis of their students' performance. In Dixon, where 24 percent of students are classified LEP, Superintendent Bill Huyett said the difference between districtwide results and English-only scores ranged from eight to 10 percentage points. An analysis of test scores released by the Vacaville Unified School District last week uncovered similar discrepancies between overall district performance and high school students' scores. Travis Unified School District results were only minimally affected by the snafus, said Kathleen Bond, the district's curriculum and instruction director.