Ukrainian-born Andrey Kukushkin is a man in the middle. He has roles in two scandals, one consuming Washington, D.C., and the other rocking Sacramento City Hall and the local regulated pot industry.
Kukushkin is one of four men indicted by federal prosecutors for allegedly trying to channel offshore money into the campaigns of U.S. politicians to gain entry into pot industries in Nevada, New York and other states.
Sacramento received some good news recently. You might have missed it. There was no announcement, no media briefings. There were a few brief and whispered acknowledgements around City Hall, the kind where someone smiles tightly and says, “I just want you to know.”
Here’s the good news: There will not be another strong mayor campaign in Sacramento, at least not in the bankable future, and not conducted by Darrell Steinberg. After 11 years of plotting and dreaming that extended across two uniquely ambitious mayoral administrations, reality has been accepted at the center office on the fifth floor at City Hall.
Every time I see a homeless encampment, I feel disheartened. They are among the least healthy environments in our city, rife with crime, trash, unsanitary conditions, open drug use, discarded needles and despair.
Tent encampments are testaments to our failure as a community and society to deal with the scourge created by drug addiction, mental infirmity and the economic factors that compel people to live on the streets.
America is binging on outrage because liberals are arrogant elitists recklessly opening our borders and bankrupting the country, while conservatives are hateful bigots bent on destroying the environment and oppressing poor people.
Neither statement is true, but both stereotypes feed the outrage addiction that has become the default narrative of public dialogue.
I first learned about Haven for Hope, a unique homeless facility in San Antonio, Texas, from a close friend, Jill McDonnell. Jill is a professional photographer. Her passion is capturing extraordinary images of homeless people in Sacramento.