Tuesday night's meeting of Turlock Unified School District trustees started off on a high note, as the district honored students and staff who won character awards for the 2011-12 school year. After that, there wasn't much in the way of good news as officials outlined a budget picture that's dismal at best, and trustees laid off four employees in a program that lost its funding.

A Turlock man pleaded guilty Monday to six counts of mail fraud for embezzling nearly a half-million dollars from his former employer.

DJ Arellano and Colton Beatty came up big in their final at-bats as the Cal State Stanislaus baseball team defeated Cal State East Bay 3-2 in the series finale on Sunday. After a day full of offensive frustrations, leaving baserunners in scoring position, the Warriors finally came through in the bottom of the ninth to win. Stanislaus improved to 9-9 overall, 6-6 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association by going 3-1 over the weekend.

We hear a lot about how Rick Santorum, a Roman Catholic, has performed better among evangelicals than among Catholics (e.g., Kathleen Parker column, March 23). But this is a flawed comparison, apples to oranges as it were.