From UC Davis Human Resources: In recent days, there have been a number of press releases, emails and media communications issued by Blue Shield of California and the Sutter Health Network updating the status of their negotiations while also presenting their individual positions on each organization’s contract proposals. This can be very confusing. At this time there has not been an agreement reached between Blue Shield and Sutter Health Network, but there is optimism in knowing that negotiations are ongoing, and both sides are seeking to ensure that members have uninterrupted access to quality medical care.

UC Davis remains committed to providing updated information to affected participants, and we will continue to send updates as we receive them from the negotiating parties. At this time, there is no need for employees or retirees to make any changes. All service will continue throughout the negotiation process. It is UC’s hope that Sutter Health and Blue Shield will come to an agreement before the transition period ends on July 1.

More information is available on the UC Davis Health Care Facilitator Program website, and in a notice and FAQ from the UC Office of the President.

Police Accountability Board to meet Jan. 28

The next meeting of the Police Accountability Board will be the first to be held on the Sacramento campus. The public meeting is scheduled from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday (Jan. 28) in the auditorium of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, 45th and X streets.

The newly established board meets quarterly. The fall 2014 meeting took place on the Davis campus and the spring 2015 meeting will also be in Davis.

At each session, the board gives an update on its activities and invites public comment.

Mark the date, Jan. 26: Shapiro nets his butterfly!

Professor Art Shapiro’s annual beer-for-a-butterfly hunt ended Monday (Jan. 26), later than he expected but still with another early catch — and another win for him.

Shapiro searches for the first cabbage white butterfly to emerge each year in Sacramento, Solano or Yolo counties, and charts the first flights to study biological response to climate change. He promises a pitcher of beer to anyone who finds a Pieris rapae before he does.

Shapiro caught the cabbage white at 12:30 p.m. in West Sacramento, on undeveloped acreage near a creek and railroad tracks he has been visiting for decades.

Read more and see photos of what proved to be “a very easy catch."

UC Learning Center temporarily unavailable

To accommodate upgrades to its website, the UC Learning Center will be unavailable, from Thursday until next Wednesday, Jan. 29-Feb. 4. The upgrades will give the center’s home page a more modern look and provide greatly improved Internet browser capability, among other features.

The UC Learning Center, for staff and faculty, provides access to required training and additional online and in-person activities for professional development.

The system shutdown is scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. Jan. 29. Employees are advised to go to the site beforehand, if they have activities to complete. Existing registrations and completed activities will remain unchanged.

Training materials to familiarize employees with the updated system will be available in early February on the UC Learning Center resource page.

Post office's reopening expected soon

If all goes according to plan, the campus post office will reopen this week, perhaps on Wednesday (Jan. 28).

With a construction project looming in the Memorial Union’s east wing, the post office and Campus Copies moved after fall quarter to a portable building on the east side of Wickson Hall (across from the Memorial Union and Freeborn Hall).

But the post office has yet to reopen, due to a delay in having the computers reinstalled, said Janice Corbett, business manager for ASUCD.

This week’s opening depends on the Postal Service, she said.

Campus Copies is up and running in the trailer, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday.

See Dateline’s full story on the construction project here.

Greenhouse wiring under inspection

Officials are inspecting the wiring in all greenhouses after the state fire marshal’s office confirmed an electrical short sparked a Jan. 21 fire in Greenhouse 615.

Located off Orchard Park Drive, west of La Rue Road and the Activities and Recreation Center, the greenhouse contained tomato plants being used for research by a professor and graduate student. The fire damaged some of the plants, but most were spared, said Garry Pearson, lead greenhouse manager with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The greenhouse sustained minor structural damage and broken windows.

Campus and city fire crews responded to the fire at 8:15 a.m. and had it out around 8:30 a.m., Fire Chief Nathan Trauernicht said.

Pearson said the day of the fire he suspected an electrical short melted a power cord, and this led to a bench catching fire.

The state fire marshal’s office, which investigate all fires on campus, later confirmed that, said Morgana Yahnke, the campus fire marshal.

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