CALIFORNIA-LA RUE PROJECT EXPECTED TO START UP AGAIN: Major construction is expected to resume June 18 at California Avenue and La Rue Road just north of the arboretum waterway. One-way traffic control is planned as crews dig up the intersection to put in steam and chilled-water pipelines.

Campus officials had announced the project in late May, but materials did not arrive on time -- forcing a delay in the digging. Drivers should expect delays, not only because of the one-way traffic control, but because traffic will be rerouted onto a temporary road at the intersection's southwest corner.

The construction zone lies along a busy route that carries traffic to and from Interstate 80 at the campus's south entry. Drivers can avoid the project by using Highway 113 and Hutchison Drive.

The pipeline work is a continuation of a project that began just over a year ago. Crews are done with the lines going to the new Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, along Old Davis Road south of the waterway.

The California-La Rue junction is the branching-off point for a set of lines to the Physical Sciences Expansion project, on the north side of the waterway. The underground work in the intersection is expected to take about three weeks, said Scott Arntzen, a senior project manager with the campus's Architects & Engineers unit.

In other south entry construction news, paving is expected to take place on June 16 around the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, and on the Old Davis Road extension to the site of the new Graduate School of Management, university conference center and hotel.

Arntzen said the paving work should not interfere with most university traffic.

CAMPUS STEAM SHUTDOWN 5 A.M.-MIDNIGHT JUNE 16: Don't get steamed, utility officials are saying. Just be aware the Davis campus's steam system is scheduled to be shut down from 5 a.m. to midnight June 16.

The reason for the shutdown is construction work at the Central Heating and Cooling Plant. Workers are due to repair piping and connect a new boiler to the steam distribution system.

Officials said the 19-hour shutdown will affect domestic and industrial hot water, autoclaves, cage-rackwashers, dishwashers, stills, sterilizers, cooking equipment and any other equipment using steam, including hot water systems used for heating in buildings.

Questions should be directed to Larry Wilson, (530) 304-1381, or Dane Monell, (530) 308-8099, or the Facilities Management Customer Support Center, (530) 752-1655.

TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT MOVES TO HR OFFICE TODAY: Temporary Employment Services planned to be closed today (June 13), to allow for the office's move to the Human Resources Administration Building on Orchard Road just west of La Rue Road.

When the office reopens on June 16, the phone numbers will be new. The main telephone number will be (530) 754-3000, and the fax number will be (530) 754-3010.

FORMER EMPLOYEE PLEADS GUILTY: A former UC Davis employee pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of theft of government property, and is scheduled to return to federal court in Sacramento in the fall for sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Lapham said Beverly Benford of Sacramento admitted in a plea agreement to using $160,000 of funds from the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program, which she had administered, for her own purposes.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton sent the case to the U.S. Probation Department for recommendations on sentencing; he scheduled the next hearing for Oct. 7. Benford, 66, earlier resigned her position in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition and is no longer employed by the university.

A federal grand jury indicted Benford in March 2007 on the one count of theft of government property. At the time, federal prosecutors alleged that Benford made fraudulent purchases and travel expense claims over a period of at least six years, going back to at least July 2000. The alleged misappropriation of funds was initially reported to UC Davis officials in August 2006, as a whistleblower complaint.

When a campus investigation found that U.S. Department of Agriculture funds possibly were involved, university officials reported their findings to the federal government, and the USDA subsequently launched its own investigation.