News Digest News Digest (January 18, 2006)

Hospital workers vote for strike

Union officials representing about 1,300 Stanford Hospital employees announced last week that workers would stage a 48-hour strike beginning Tuesday, Jan. 24. The workers -- including nursing assistants, operating room assistants, anesthesia technicians, food service workers and others -- have been without a contract since November and recently rejected the latest offer by hospital management. The two sides were scheduled to resume negotiations this Tuesday with a federal mediator, but if no resolution is reached by Jan. 23 the strike will commence at 2 p.m. on the next day, according to the union. "We approach these discussions with the outlook to resolve this at the bargaining table but if need be, we will strike again if we're forced to," bargaining team chair Jesus Andrade said. The union staged a 24-hour strike in December. --- Bay City News Service King Institute reaches a third of its goals

The new Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University is more than one third of the way toward its target goals in two areas: publishing King's sermons, speeches and writings and creating a permanent endowment fund. The institute is a merger of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project, which has published King's writings since 1985, and of the university's Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, which last fall sponsored a series of public lectures on race and Hurricane Katrina. History Professor Clay Carson, who has directed the King Papers Project since its inception, said five volumes of an expected 14-volume edition of King's works have so far been published. In addition, he said the institute has raised $4 million of a projected $12 million endowment fund. An "inauguration" celebration and open house for the combined institute was held Friday, featuring a dramatic reading of excerpts from a play Carson has written as well as speakers and folk singers. -- Don Kazak and Jay Thorwaldson Reward offered for tree vandals

A $1,000 reward has been offered leading to the identification and arrest of people who vandalized 12 London Plain trees on El Camino Real south of Middle Avenue in Menlo Park. The vandalism occurred between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Trees for Menlo, Inc., is offering the reward. Anyone with information is asked to call Officer Mary Ferguson or Officer Louis Tommei at (650) 330-6300. -- Don Kazak Historic purchase for open space district

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District made its largest-ever land purchase last week, with its board voting unanimously to buy the 3,681-acre Driscoll Ranch property. The ranch runs adjacent to the district's La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve. "This is a milestone decision that will help protect water quality and watershed integrity on the Coastside, and protect threatened species and agricultural land," Board President J. Edmond Cry, Jr. said. The Driscoll Ranch property was originally acquired by the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) in 2001 after it received a grant from the California Coastal Conservancy and numerous donations from private donors, POST reported. The ranch property covers 5.75 square miles of mountainous terrain, grasslands, coastal scrub, evergreen forests and second-growth redwoods in an area northwest of La Honda, which is about four miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, the district reported. Since the district's Coastside Protection Program, which preserves open space and agricultural land along the San Mateo County coast, was approved in September 2004, the district has purchased four properties totaling a combined 1,060 acres. The ranch, which was purchased for $9 million, will be integrated into the district's La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve, and used for cattle grazing, the district reported. Following a natural resource, road and trail assessment of the property, the district reported that a public access plan for the ranch will be instated. "We are pleased that the district plans to open Driscoll Ranch to the public while maintaining the existing cattle operation, protecting the property's abundant wildlife, and protecting the San Gregorio watershed," POST President Audrey Rust said. -- Bay City News Service

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