Local

The results of Merced's mayoral race won't be known until Friday.

Merced County will offer voluntary retirement plans to about 300 employees in an effort to reduce ongoing expenditures and avoid future forced layoffs.

Sociologist Vaughn Grisham said Wednesday he'd never bother to study Merced as it overcomes its challenges.

ATWATER -- While the streets of Atwater are most definitely not paved with gold, keeping all 90 miles of them clean is still important to residents.

Two women were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing a purse and money from a 46-year-old woman, Merced police reported.

Merced will have to wait to find out who will serve as its next mayor.

In one of the closest local races in decades, Merced City Councilman Bill Spriggs went to bed Tuesday night with just 24 more votes than his closest competitor, Councilwoman Michele Gabriault-Acosta.

Voters on Tuesday transformed the Merced City Council, electing a mix of leaders with wide-ranging opinions and backgrounds.

Election returns showed Merced County Undersheriff Bill Blake, high school teacher Josh Pedrozo and clean-air advocate Mary-Michal Rawling garnering the most votes and heading for office.

Dave Long dunked his opponent Jack Hooper in Tuesday's election, capping a bare-knuckle fight for Merced Irrigation District's open seat.

An amendment allowing money from a half-cent sales tax measure to be used for salaries of emergency services personnel passed Tuesday night.

* = winners

The Merced County Department of Public Health is changing clinic service hours for public health clinics in Merced and Los Banos.

The Merced College board of trustees approved the school's 2010-11 academic calendar Tuesday evening, moving the college's Veterans Day observance to the federally-recognized date of Nov. 11.

The Merced County District Attorney's office has been selected to receive $300,000 in Federal Economic Recovery Act funds to enhance its efforts responding to and prosecuting cases involving violent crimes against women.

Comcast has announced changes to its channel lineup. Starting Wednesday, Merced and Los Banos subscribers to Comcast's "Digital Starter" package will also get PBS Kids Sprout (Channel 71), Bloomberg (119), G4 (128), Shop NBC (164), Trinity Broadcasting Network (230), Biography Channel (275), History International (276), and Lifetime Movie Network (504). The changes come at no additional cost to subscribers, Comcast said.

WINTON -- A 25-year-old validated gang member was Tasered by a Merced County sheriff's deputy Monday night after the suspect fled and resisted arrest, the sheriff's department reported.

A 52-year-old suspect accused of killing a couple in their Mission Avenue home pleaded not guilty to murder charges in Merced County Superior Court on Monday.

Pfc. Lukas Hopper, a 20-year-old Army paratrooper from Merced, died in a Humvee crash in Baghdad last week, the military said Monday.

A Golden Valley High School graduate, Hopper had been in Iraq for nearly a year. He was less than two weeks away from the end of his deployment when his vehicle flipped Friday in a noncombat-related crash southeast of Karadah, Iraq.

A sacred parade.

That was the scene in the near-ghost town of Hornitos on Monday night as about 250 candle-carrying people made the steep, narrow walk up to St. Catherine's Catholic Church to celebrate All Souls Day.

A California nurses union says it won't strike after swine flu protections were written into new contracts with the state's largest hospital system.

The California Nurses Association had threatened a one-day strike at 32 Catholic Healthcare West hospitals, including Mercy Medical Center Merced, if state and federal swine flu protection recommendations weren't included in their contracts.

As voters trek to the polls today, they'll have to plow through a thicket of conflicting information, rumors and accusations.