Local Angle

+ There were tears when Steve Matthews, the beloved band teacher at Pitman High School, announced today that he has accepted a position at a high school in Columbia, Missouri. Steve and Janet have been such important people in our community and very formative in the lives of hundreds of musicians. He will be a hard act to follow when he leaves at the end of this school year.

Columbia looks like a great place to live and I suspect that the cost of living is closer to the sane range. And now they're getting an excellent band teacher, too.

+ This evening we went to the new Panda South Chinese Restaurant (2300 West Monte Vista). Of course, it just complicates our lives to have yet another great Chinese restaurant in town. So many choices! We'll just have to eat out more often.

+ A postcard from Sunrise Christian Church came in the mail today. They've got one of the more unusual church website addresses -- www.smoking-non-smoking.com. If this weren't California (where smoking isn't allowed in any public building -- including restaurants, bars, airports, theaters, malls...) you might think they were fixin' to open a restaurant.

+ The population of California is now at 37 million.

+ Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, chancellor of University of California, Merced, is seeking $100 million to build the state's first new medical school in 35 years.