“Kate was my sister, but also my close friend. We lived a mile apart and walked several times a week in Land Park with our dogs. And, as of that fateful day last year, my friend is not here anymore. That will be with me forever,” Dan Tibbitts says.

Kate Tibbitts was raped and murdered last September in her home on 11th Avenue. Her dogs Molly and Jenny were killed. Her house was torched.

The next day police arrested a homeless man named Troy Davis for parole violations and warrants. Murder and rape charges were added when investigators linked Davis to Kate’s death.

A history of assault, battery and drug charges follows Davis from at least 2013. The parolee was arrested for car theft three months before Kate was killed. But California’s zero-bail policy put him back on the streets almost immediately.

When Carolyn Kay wanted to volunteer after retirement, she chose Meals on Wheels by ACC because of the people.
“They were—and still are—dedicated and kind and hard working and helpful and they care about the people they serve,” Kay says. “What more could you want?”

Eight years on, those people still inspire Kay on her weekly rounds delivering meals to seniors.

“I’ve learned a lot from (my clients),” Kay says. “Usually, nobody sees them. They see the gray hair, they see the wrinkles, that they’re not working and they think they’re just an old goat with gray hair. But I’ve met some lovely people with some great stories.”

Recent hand wringing about the American River Parkway being destroyed by illegal camping reminds me of the old Yogi Berra line: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

If you listen to the critiques, including those from such stalwart advocates as the American River Parkway Foundation, you’d think the popular trail is a dangerous place best avoided at all costs.

“The parkway is in crisis,” Dustin Luton, president of the foundation’s board, wrote city and county officials this year.

At age 6, Savanna Karmue decided to become a cardiologist.

A visit to her Sunday school teacher, recovering from heart surgery, inspired the career path. When she was 8, Karmue founded Happy Heart Advice, a nonprofit to teach young people about heart health.

Today, at the advanced age of 16, the goal is closer than ever, encouraged by Karume’s nonstop research into the mechanics of cardiology and her management of Happy Heart, where she serves as CEO.

Brown Thumb Mama is a mother of two, garden writer and corporate world escapee who wields her superpowers from a suburban Sacramento home.

With her Brown Thumb Mama website (brownthumbmama.com), weekly newsletter, social media sites, videos and TV appearances, Pam Farley recently exceeded a website milestone—more than 1 million annual readers.

Desperate to manage a homeless population that’s nearly doubled in three years, the Board of Supervisors opened a two-pronged strategy this summer.

Board members approved 100 “tiny homes” for a vacant lot in South Sacramento. And the board took preliminary steps to restrict encampments in sensitive places such as sidewalks, waterways, levees and the American River Parkway.

In what’s become familiar blowback, supervisors were criticized for doing too much and not doing enough.