Central Park will host the June 22-23 Challenge Village, from which a series of graded cycle tours will leave that Sunday. More than 1,500 cyclists participated in the 2011 Challenge, which raised almost $1 million for cancer patients.

On Sunday, June 23, cyclists will be able to ride distance ranges from 10 to 100 miles, based on experience and fitness levels, through the beautiful landscape of Northern California.

An integral part of the event is the Livestrong Challenge Village on the Green. The Central Park site will be home to many health-related and information booths.

For more information, call the Davis city manager’s office at 530-757-5602. To register for a ride, visit www.livestrong.org.

Scranton will graduate next month from Davis High School where he was a member of the cross country and track teams. The prospective members of the Class of 2017 will report to West Point for the first time on July 1.

The U.S. Military Academy is a four-year coeducational federal undergraduate liberal arts college 50 miles from New York City. Founded in 1802 as America’s first college of engineering, it consistently ranks as one of the top colleges in the nation.

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Louise Kellogg, professor of geology at UC Davis, and Susan Mann, professor emerita of history, are among the new members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced on April 24. They specialize in virtual reality and a historian of women in China, respectively.

With Kellogg and Mann, 24 current and emeritus UC Davis faculty have been elected to the academy, including Chancellor Linda Katehi and painter Wayne Thiebaud.

The new class will be inducted during an Oct. 12 ceremony at the academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Since its founding in 1780, the academy has elected leading “thinkers and doers” from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the 20th. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

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The UC Davis department of entomology’s Linnaean Team won second place in the Linnaean Games hosted by the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Association and will be heading to Austin, Texas, in November to compete in the national finals.

Linnaean Games are college bowl-style games based on entomological facts and insect trivia. Team members respond to the moderator’s questions by buzzing in with the answers.

First-place honors went to the UC Riverside team, which will receive funds to attend the 61st annual ESA meeting, Nov. 10-13. It is themed “Science Impacting a Connective World.”

The UC Davis team includes Matan Shelomi, a doctoral student who studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey; Mohammad-Amir Aghaee, a doctoral student who studies with major professor Larry Godfrey; Margaret Rei Scampavia, a doctoral student who studies with major professors Edwin Lewis and Neal Williams; and Alexander Nguyen, an undergraduate entomology major student who volunteers at the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

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Mark J. Mannis, director of the UC Davis Eye Center, has been named to the University of Florida College of Medicine’s Wall of Fame.

Mannis is professor and chair of ophthalmology and vision science and a 1975 graduate of the University of Florida medical college. He joins 24 fellow alumni who have been recognized for outstanding contributions since 1991 when the award was established.

Mannis was honored for his leadership and scientific contributions in the field of corneal transplantation as well as for his commitment to ophthalmic education in the United States and throughout the world. He has published more than 125 papers and is the author of five books on topics relating to corneal surgery and disease.

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Imron Bhatti and Anita Mukerji have been announced as the new Human Rights Fellows, and Elizabeth Ballart and Anna von Herrmann have been announced as the Justice John Paul Stevens Public Interest fellows by the California International Law Center at UC Davis School of Law.

Both fellowships fund summer work by current UCD law students in the field of human rights and public interest. Summer fellowships enable outstanding students to carry out high-impact fieldwork as they gain invaluable experience.

All recipients are law students at UCD. Bhatti will be working in India for communities affected by internationally financed development projects with the San Francisco-based organization Accountability Counsel. Mukherji will represent asylum applicants at the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant in San Francisco.

Ballart will spend her summer with the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center’s Disability Rights Program in San Francisco. Von Herrmann will work in New York City with the American Civil Liberties Union on its LGBT and AIDS Project.

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The Davis Odd Fellows Lodge has awarded scholarships to three Davis High School graduates. The $1,000 scholarships are going to Harrison Allen-Sutter, who will attend the University of Oregon; Hannah Cole-Leathers, who will attend the University of San Francisco; and Ashley Hillis, who will attend graduate school at the University of Southern California.

The Davis Odd Fellows Lodge is part of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, an international fraternal order open to men and women 16 years of age and older. The Odd Fellows are known as the “three-link fraternity” based on the fraternal symbol of three interlocking links which stand for friendship, love and truth.

You spend time and money to create a nice home. How can you protect it from intruders without it costing a fortune? It’s easier than you think.

Chris Hsiung, a lieutenant with the Mountain View Police Department, says that the best home security involves multiple deterrents to dissuade opportunists and thieves from making your home a target.

Contrary to what you see on TV, Hsiung says most homes are burglarized during the day when residents are out. “Burglars do not want to confront anybody. At the first sign of occupancy, they’re gone,” he says. “They just want to grab property and sell it. The criminals know that when someone is in the house, it changes the crime classification.”

Because of this, thieves frequently pose as solicitors, he says. If no one answers the door, that’s their cue to head around back and break in. Outsmart a thief with these home security tactics:

* Using common sense is one of the best ways to prevent a home intrusion, Hsiung says. “You’d be surprised how many people leave doors and windows open when they leave.”

Even an open garage door invites a quick theft of whatever you store in there. If a thief sees a bike in an open garage, it’s an easy mobile crime to commit. “They come in by foot and take off on the bike,” Hsiung says.

* Because some burglars case an area for a target, be discreet before leaving town on a trip, which could alert thieves you’ll be away. “If you’re heading to the airport, you don’t want to advertise it with your car trunk open, filled with suitcases,” Hsiung says. Make sure to cancel newspapers, and have the post office hold your mail, so it doesn’t stack up in front of your home.

* Your neighbors can be your best home security — especially the nosy one next door. Cranford, N.J., homeowner Rachel Schwartz says one of her neighbors frequently looks out the window to see what’s going on in the neighborhood. Last year, the woman saw two men outside a house looking suspicious. She called the police, and the men were caught cutting the window screen trying to break in. “If she’s home, nothing gets by her,” Schwartz says.

Be sure to tell neighbors when you’re going out of town, so they can look out for your house. Hsiung also recommends using an online social network such as NextDoor.com, which connects neighbors virtually and promotes discussions.

* Lighting is really important in preventing home intrusions, says Hsiung, who recommends standing outside your home at night, looking for the dark, shadowy areas. “You want the light to illuminate your doorways and pathways to your house,” he says.

While looking for dark, shadowy areas, look in your yard for spots with heavy vegetation. You should cut these bushes and trees back, as they are a good place for people to hide. “You don’t want to come home and have the boogeyman behind the bush,” Hsiung says.

* Think about using dense hedges or thorny bushes near windows to keep away predators, says Lewis Long, vice president of consumer marketing for ADT Security Services. Make sure to keep them tidy, so they don’t become a place for intruders to hide. Also, trim back any trees that may provide access to a second-floor window.

* Another trend is installing security cameras outside. Long says internal and external home cameras are one of the most popular additions to alarm systems.

While 360-degree coverage is ideal, Hsiung says that a burglar could be deterred if he sees cameras recording at the front or back doors. Even a fake camera can be a deterrent, but it has to look legitimate. “A toy camera won’t fool anybody,” he says.

Hsiung says prices for simple surveillance cameras are reasonable, but technology can go so far as connecting to your cellphone, so you can watch when you’re not home, or snapping a picture each time someone opens a certain door.

* To alarm or not to alarm? There’s no right answer. An average alarm system costs $400 to $500 to install, says Long, and monthly monitoring ranges from $43 to $58. “People will buy a system and have it installed as a result of a life-stage change; they’re looking for some peace of mind” Long says. However, once they’re settled, they may become lax and not use it.

Long says, “The very presence of the system is a deterrent, and with any loud noise, in most cases, folks who like to do harm will not take that risk.”

* Protecting your home’s access points means making sure your doors, windows and locks are sturdy. “Deadbolts are definitely a good thing,” Hsiung says. Also, make sure your door is a solid wood or metal construction with a good frame. “If the wood is deteriorated, it won’t take much to force open,” he says.

Use an inexpensive dowel in the windows or the sliding glass door, so they can’t be pried open. “Any piece of wood that fits in the track works,” he says.

The event is a benefit for the Yolo Farm to Fork Foundation, one of the two major beneficiaries of the Tour de Cluck events taking place throughout May. (The other beneficiary is the Davis Art Center.)

The meal is a combined effort of the hospital chef, using locally grown produce, and Davis restaurant Caffé Italia. Rich Collins of California Endive Farms and a past foundation board member will create endive appetizers and salads with the Sutter chef and her staff. Caffé Italia will be on site with its “Pizza with a Purpose” wood-fired oven to provide “fowl” and vegetarian pizzas garnished with endive. Additional produce from Sutter’s Farmers Market will add to the food offerings. Yolo County wines will be featured.

Officers from Davis High School’s Future Farmers of America chapter, led by Ellie Michel, will serve guests.

The new food finale will help celebrate 10 years of successful Davis Farm to School programs with partners and businesses (continuing now under the Yolo Farm to Fork Foundation banner). The garden, nutrition and waste management programs are expanding to the rest of the schools in Yolo County with the support of county Agriculture Commissioner John Young.

Tickets are $35 per person, available at the south end of the Davis Farmers Market in Central Park, Fourth and C streets, and online at www.brownpapertickets.com. Proceeds will help with expanding the work of farm to school programs in the county. The dress for the event is dressy casual.

Every purchaser of a meal ticket also gets a free raffle ticket.

For more information and tickets, visit the Tour de Cluck website, www.tourdecluck.org, or call organizer Dorothy Peterson at 530-753-2647.

In addition to music, the free event will feature food, a children’s fair and a family photo booth from noon to 4 p.m., games from noon to 6 p.m., and a jazz and wine social, hosted by the African and African American Alumni Association, from 5 to 7 p.m.

Performances — including singing, stepping and spoken word — will run from 1 to 6 p.m. with Blackalicious set to perform at 4 p.m.

The duo — Sacramento natives Gift of Gab (Timothy Parker) and Chief Xcel (Xavier Mosley) — burst onto the alternative hip-hop scene in 1994 with an underground hit, “Swan Lake.”

Parker, a UCD student, and Mosley worked with a local hip-hop crew called SoleSides. It also produced DJ Shadow (Davis High School graduate Josh Davis), whose solo album “Entroducing…” later was named one of Time magazine’s 100 all-time best albums.

Blackalicious, which earned a reputation for tongue-twisting rhymes, classic beats and a positive message, signed a major label deal with MCA in 2000. After releasing solo albums, the pair reunited in 2005, releasing “The Craft” on ANTI Records.

For more information about the jazz and wine social, which will be held in the Student Community Center, contact alumni@ucdavis.edu or 530-752-0286. Tickets are $10.