May 28, 2022
Primary voting by mail in Sacramento County is underway and ballots can be cast at Vote Center locations through June 7 when the polls close. Two candidates already know they’re winners. Others must wait for the final tabulation.
County Assessor Christina Wynn and Supervisor Phil Serna drew no opponents, so neither needed to campaign.
Serna hasn’t faced an election battle since his maiden run to succeed Roger Dickinson in 2010, and that race brought token opposition. We can ponder whether Serna will try to move up the political ladder, though history has not favored candidates from the county’s first district.
May 28, 2022
Everyone in California knows water is a hot topic. Water rights, drought, agriculture, climate change—California’s past and future are inextricably linked to H2O.
Retired water attorney Craig Wilson tapped into the state’s water drama for his debut novel “Kesterson: An Environmental Thriller,” based on the real-life case he handled in the 1980s involving Merced County’s Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge.
In the 1970s, Central Valley farmers were having trouble draining excess water from their land. Experts thought migratory birds in the nearby wildlife refuge could benefit from more water, so farms were allowed to divert drainage into the area.
May 28, 2022
Looking for an antique armoire? Maybe a beautiful vintage dress? Or perhaps a tabletop accessory, cute pillow or fun kitchen sign? You don’t need to drive all over town. Just head to Midtown Bliss Home & Gifts, a one-stop shop for unique vintage and antique items, home décor, furniture and gifts from more than 120 vendors.
Co-owners Sydnei Kelly and her mom, Stacy Tomlinson, opened their first Bliss outpost in Rancho Cordova in 2016. Tomlinson had run her own antique and vintage shop in Folsom for years before it became too hard to make ends meet, due in part to the 2008 recession. When Kelly returned to Sacramento after a stint in Texas for her husband’s job, the mother-daughter duo went into business together.
May 28, 2022
West Sacramento is celebrated for its minor league ballpark, River Walk Park and Trail, waterfront housing, bars and restaurants. But who cares? I’ll never forgive West Sac for killing West Capital Raceway.
Local historians say I’m wrong. They say I can’t blame the city of West Sac, because it didn’t exist when West Capital Raceway died in 1980. The city lurched to life in 1987.
They say the Yolo County Planning Commission killed West Cap Raceway. The county refused to issue permits for crowds to gather, engines to roar and dirt to fly. The county encouraged the track’s new owners to sell out and turn California’s heroic quarter-mile dirt speedway into a parking lot for trucks.
May 28, 2022
Psst. Want to know a secret? Snuggled between J Street and a parking garage is the University Arboretum and Botanic Garden. Yup, a petite parcel of trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials on the Sacramento State campus.
Easy to miss, the arboretum is a surprisingly tranquil retreat from modern mayhem. The Sacramento Tree Foundation, which awarded the arboretum its “Legacy Award,” says schoolchildren call it the “Forest in the City.”
