May 28, 2022
Like many teens, Ella Fodor, Jenna Yates and Viva Corliss spent recent weeks studying for finals and planning college visits. But the three young Pocket women also performed a community service. They held their second annual collection drive to “end period poverty.”
“Period poverty” refers to inadequate access to feminine hygiene products and menstrual education. Medical professionals say it’s a public health crisis rarely discussed. A national campaign called “Her Drive” began in 2020 to collect bras, menstrual care and hygiene products for people in need.
May 28, 2022
As I was checking out of the neighborhood Rite Aid the other day, I noticed a young man fill a small cart mostly with liquor bottles and walk past the waiting line and out the door. A man in line loudly pointed this out to the clerk. She shrugged and said, “Yep, it happens all day long, every day. They know they can steal without any penalty. They fire us if we try to do anything about it.”
A reader had just written me about witnessing the same situation at the same J Street store while eating ice cream cones with his kids. He said his children were aghast. He noted three nearby Rite Aid stores face closure. The locations on Folsom Boulevard and in Midtown have already closed. The Alhambra location was in process of shutting down. And the J Street location just had an armed robbery.
May 28, 2022
City Council members come and go, but one tradition never changes: pretending City Council jobs are hard.
When Kevin Johnson was mayor, I worked as his special assistant. The job was fun, filled with interesting people and problems. Being a staff member is not the same as elected. But I can’t call it hard.
Working for Kevin was difficult, but nothing like bartending or nursing or driving a delivery van. It was challenging because Kevin always wanted to know where I was and what I was doing, even when he didn’t need me, which was most of the time.
May 28, 2022
Flourishing, fragrant blossoms of orange, lemon, lime, yuzu and grapefruit trees infuse the morning air. Kiwi vines twist up arbors still wet with last night’s rain.
For more than 39 years, Tony and Joye Inzana have tended this former dairy land south of Modesto, transforming it into one of the most diversely planted landscapes in our region. Sacramento residents can buy Inzana Ranch products from an online store, and the couple sells at several Bay Area farmers markets.
Row upon row of almond, walnut, pecan, chestnut, pistachio, olive, cherry, plum, pluot, plumcot, apricot, fig, pomegranate, apple, quince, peach, pear, wine and table grapes, avocado, mulberry, blueberry, kiwi and more than 20 varieties of citrus line the ranch acreage. Each type of fruit gets represented by three to five varieties. Diversity equals not just options to tantalize the palate, but health and resiliency for the organic farm.
May 28, 2022
The Green Room, one of East Sacramento’s newest eating and drinking spots, brings refined cocktails and small plates to J Street. This offering from Billy Zoellin and Amber Michel, owners of breakfast standout Bacon & Butter, is a rebrand of their second B&B location.
When the pandemic shut down restaurants, Zoellin and Michel decided to try a new formula at their J Street space. Rather than a second Bacon & Butter less than 3 miles from their Broadway location, the sibling pair overhauled an East Sacramento storefront and turned it into a modern, inviting cocktail lounge and small-bite gastropub.
