As most Sacramento middle-schoolers celebrate the lazy days of summer, a few fortunate students are beginning a life-changing journey.
Breakthrough Sacramento, an educational nonprofit, operates a middle school summer academy taught by college students. After closing in 2020 under the pandemic and reopening with a hybrid model in 2021, the program is back in full force for its 28th year in Sacramento.
A few months ago, I saw a flurry of nostalgic photos on social media from longtime friends and former colleagues working or posing in room 1190 of the state Capitol.
That’s the place in the old Capitol annex where reporters gathered for jousting sessions with governors and other elected officials. Because I spent considerable time there when I covered politics for The Bee and later as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s speechwriter, the photos and social media posts caught my eye.
But I have to confess, I feel no warm sense of nostalgia about the place and agree with political columnist Dan Walters, who wrote: “No one who works in and around the Capitol will be sorry to see the annex disappear. It is not only plug ugly 1950s brutalist architecture at its worst, but dysfunctional to the max.”
Kin Thai Street Eatery opened in December 2020, a tough time to start a restaurant. Yet the lively Midtown spot thrived from the start.
Intense flavors and novel dishes familiar to Bangkok street markets make this exceptional restaurant flourish, even in difficult times.
Street food is having a moment. Over the last decade, street food, especially Asian street food, jumped many rungs on the culinary ladder. Thanks to television personalities Andrew Zimmern and the late Anthony Bourdain, less adventurous diners have seen how some of the world’s best food comes from small stands on busy streets.
Replacing a light bulb doesn’t seem like a big deal. But to someone who lives alone and can’t climb a ladder, this simple household task can be impossible.
Enter Blue Collar Concierge. This innovative business founded by husband-and-wife team Ben and Molly Doolittle offers clients a weekly appointment with a handyman to do those small tasks often neglected by an elder or busy homeowner.
“Ben and I both had aging parents,” says Molly, a teacher who grew up in the Bay Area. “We’d go visit Ben’s mom in Petaluma and we’d be walking out the door when she’d say, ‘Can you just do these couple of things?’ She needed someone for her ‘honey-do list.’ We realized there was this niche of people living alone in homes that need tasks taken care of—not big handyman projects, but smaller things like fixing a gate latch.”
Things have come full circle for Bill Martin.
In May, Martin was presented with the Salvation Army’s annual Spirit of Caring Award, given to the person who demonstrates exceptional dedication to the Army and its mission.
Martin was the 30th Spirit honoree. The first, in 1992, was Thayer Prentice, former president of Point West Bank, who got Martin involved with the Salvation Army.
“I started as a volunteer passing out turkeys at Christmas and doing different things on-call, but in 2002, they invited me onto the board—and I’m still on it,” Martin says.
Thin channels of water weave through green marshland along East Levee Road in North Natomas. Large geese, blue herons and egrets poke for food in mud still plump from a rare spring rain.
To the road’s left, a vibrant pasture, thick with clover, rye, alfalfa and fescue, raises each blade to greet the sunlight. Behind me in the distance Downtown Sacramento’s buildings sit as dark dots. Tracts of suburban houses stand guard between the city’s agricultural and industrial land.