‘California Schools Rule,’ according to Kiplinger rankings

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Eleven California universities were among the top 100 “best-value” public colleges ranked by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in a 2013 list that is set to hit newsstands Tuesday.

UCLA led the way for California coming, in at No. 6 in the annual rankings – but the Westside school was not alone. UC Berkeley and UC San Diego also cracked Kiplinger’s top 10, while six University of California schools were ranked in the magazine’s top 25 and a total of eight UC schools landed in the top 100.

Three California State University schools – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Long Beach and Cal Poly Pomona – all also made the top-100 list.

The schools are measured on “academic quality — including test scores and four-year graduation rates — as well as affordability,” according to a story on Kiplinger’s website. Despite heavy tuition increases in recent years, the rankings remain flooded with so many California schools, the article addressed the state specifically under a heading titled “California Schools Rule.”

“So why do California schools keep earning top marks in our rankings?” the story asked. “Academics are key.”

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill took home the No. 1 ranking, a spot the publication said it has held “consistently since Kiplinger’s first analysis in 1998.”

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-- Matt Stevens

Search and rescue teams from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. saved a stranded Aliso Viejo man Sunday after the man and his two dogs slid off a trail and down a 30-foot ice chute, authorities said.

The man, who was identified in a statement only as being 30-years-old, was hiking in the snow near the summit of Mount Baden-Powell, in the Angeles National Forest, officials said. After he and his dogs slid off the trail, they remained a “remote area” in the wind and snow until they were recused by search-and-rescue personnel, the statement said.

Helicopters could not be used during the rescue due to low visibility, sheriff’s officials said. Instead, Palmdale Sheriff’s deputies, the Antelope Valley Search and Rescue Tea, and the Crescenta Valley Search and Rescue Team provided first-aid treatment to the hiker. They also helped him walk out of the remote area, and down the mountain.

The Antelope Valley Search and Rescue Team has performed nine rescues so far this month, the sheriff’s statement said.

“This is a perfect example of why it’s important to pay attention to weather predictions when planning a hike,” Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Cmdr. John Johnston said.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill took home the No. 1 ranking, a spot editors said it has held “consistently since Kiplinger’s first analysis in 1998.”

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--Matt Stevens