Boys basketball Desert Heat Classic Ponderosa 37, Capistrano Valley 55 — The Cougars dropped the Bruins to 0-3 at the year-end tournament. Ponderosa 45, Perris 46 —  The Bruins lost a close one to end the tournament. Zacc Williams had 10 points to lead Ponderosa; Taylor Bybee and Travis Fisher each scored seven; Dom Campodonico [...]

EL DORADO HILLS — Matt Howard came off the bench to score a career high 16 points Thursday and Bryce Scott added 15 as host Oak Ridge High held off neighboring Folsom 57-50 to win the annual Trojan Toss Up title. Oak Ridge threatened to pull away in the third, establishing a 12-point lead, but [...]

While we refrain at year’s end from predicting how our local prep teams will fare in the upcoming new year, the Mountain Democrat sports department doesn’t hesitate to reflect on the top sports stories that made 2010 so memorable. While we’ve grown accustomed to witnessing El Dorado’s ski/snowboard teams bring back state banners, state titles [...]

What a year 2010 was. We got Obamacare, more bailouts, a suspicious nuclear weapons deal with the thugocracy called Russia, a weird financial regulatory bill from the two most corrupt and arrogant jerks in Congress — Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd. Then there’s the gift that keeps on taking. Fannie Mae and Freddie [...]

We recently celebrated another joyous Christmas at the Francisco house, and even though we all know the meaning of Christmas is not about gifts, some of the gifts we have received over the years made more of an impression on our lives than others. One gift in particular, a globe of the world, has provided [...]