Apr 28, 2023
It’s common to see untreated mentally ill people wandering in neighborhoods where homeless congregate and camp. With a crisis on display, it’s hard to imagine the lifetime that preceded it. Or a way out of their misery.
I’m grateful to share Steven Seeley’s story of hope and recovery after years of mental illness. Steven, 56, was one of eight children raised by his mother and stepfather in Los Angeles.
“Since a young teen, I’ve always had incidents with my mental health. I didn’t exactly know what it was at the time,” he says. “I’d drift off and I go to different places and not know what I was doing there. I also heard voices, and the delusions made me feel unstable, crazy and scared.
Mar 28, 2023
My favorite cooking tool is my gas stove cooktop. I’ve cooked on gas exclusively for four decades. The rhythm and timing of a sauté over an open flame is steeped in my muscle memory. I’m lucky to have a sensitively calibrated stovetop that makes cooking joyful. Plus, there is something primal about the fire under a metal pan. No wonder kids love nothing more than roasting marshmallows over an open flame.
I use natural gas to fuel my barbecue, fireplace and underfloor hydronic heating system.
But this practice will soon be history. Last year, the City Council voted to become the state’s 46th municipality to ban natural gas infrastructure in new construction. There was zero public outreach.
Feb 28, 2023
About five years ago, Sebastian Bariani moved from his Land Park home to be closer to the Bariani family’s olive groves in Zamora, north of Woodland. He became intrigued with the idea of constructing his new farm home with steel shipping containers.
Jan 28, 2023
Blake and Christine Dugger were married in 2000 and now have three children, Ashby, 11, Penelope, 8, and Crosby, 4½. The kids attend Sacred Heart Parish School. When the school’s fundraiser Holiday Home Tour returned this past December (after a two-year hiatus), the family was ready to showcase its newly remodeled house.
“Four years ago, we moved into this vintage home,” Christine says. “We lived previously at 45th and D streets in a small, two-bedroom home. We made plans to remodel and expand to accommodate our growing family. We were not even looking for another place.
“My youngest was just a baby, and on a stroller walk I spotted the open house for this home. After a quick tour I called Blake and said we needed to buy this house. It had charm, space and everything we had ever hoped for.”
Jan 28, 2023
Thien Ho has a mandate. The new Sacramento County district attorney was elected last year by a landslide, defeating Alana Mathews by more than 43,000 votes. Now comes the hard part. Ho must deliver on a promise to make the community safe again.
In a wide-ranging interview before he took office in January, Ho told me his experience as a prosecutor and legacy as an immigrant will guide him through challenges that await.
“We face two huge issues in our community right now,” he says. “No. 1, without a doubt, is the homeless crisis. And second is gun violence. Whether it’s the shootings that happened Downtown, or in other parts of our county, violent crime is escalating.
