Yosemite Joint Union High School District officials are pleased with the results of the 1999 Stanford Nine Test results, but, according to Yosemite High School Principal Steve Raupp, "There is always room for more improvement.
    The mean scaled scores, which are the average scores across all levels of the test, rose in all test categories for YHS students and district-wide all rose except one, which had a drop of one point.
    The mean scaled scores were compared for the 1998 ninth graders and the 1999 10th graders and for the 1998 10th graders and the 1999 11th graders, showing how those groups of students improved from one year to the next.
    The biggest gain at YHS was in social science for this year's 11th graders. They improved 12 points over their scores last year. The second biggest gain was in mathematics for this year's 11th graders, posting a 10-point gain over last year.
    District-wide, there was a 13-point gain in social science from last year's 10th graders to this year's 11th graders. The one-point district-wide drop was in language between last year's ninth graders and this year's 10th graders.
    District-wide, the national percentile rankings for the local students ranged from a high of the 61st percentile for 11th graders in social science to a low of the 45th percentile for 10th graders in both language and social science.
    The percentile rankings indicate that in the social science category for 11th graders, 38% of the students taking the test scored as high or higher than the local students and 61% scored the same or lower.

    MADERA - Tracy Kennedy Desmond, Madera County treasurer-tax collector, has two functions.
    First, as county treasurer, she is the recipient of all funds collected by the county, or paid into the county treasury by state and federal agencies.
    "This includes everything from fees for dog licenses, and timber sales, sales taxes and highway-user taxes to funds for running the schools, the jails, the courts, the welfare system, and all the special districts and service areas, says Ms. Desmond.
    All this amounts to, conservatively, $150 million a year.
    Her second duty is the collection of all county property taxes.
    All of these funds, including those for the school districts, are deposited, invested, and monitored by her office, bound by strict parameters enforced by the state.
    Ms. Desmond explains the money is invested in $1 million and $2 million blocks, and she pointed out two huge boxes which contained state legislation regulating her office's investment of these funds.
    "The foremost concern is safety, says Ms. Desmond, "but also considered are liquidity and yield.

    COULTERVILLE - The Mountain Area's first major wildland fire was contained Wednesday after burnwing 150 acres.
    The fire erupted Tuesday at 5 p.m. along Highway 49 at Coulterville, in northern Mariposa County.
    California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection had a force of 150 firefighters battling the flames.
    CDF says the cause was still under investigation on Wednesday.