This post has been sponsored by

Connect

R.E. Graswich

Writer and Editorial Team

About This Author

R.E. Graswich is a journalist, author and media expert. His book “Vagrant Kings” is the definitive history of the Sacramento Kings basketball team. He was Special Assistant to Mayor Kevin Johnson, managed the Sacramento Voices program for the Maynard Institute of Journalism Education and worked for the Sacramento Bee, CBS 13 and KFBK.

Articles by this author

Rebel’s Yell

Authors love to make news when their books come out, but John Burton went to extremes. Three days after his autobiography was published in September, Burton died.

The grand old California politician slipped away at 92, silenced after six decades of wrangling votes, calling in favors and raising hell across a legislative landscape that stretched from Pat Brown to Gavin Newsom.

At least Burton lived long enough to hold hardcopies of his new book, “I Yell Because I Care.” His coauthor, Sacramento journalist Andy Furillo, helped arrange for a box of special editions from publisher Bloomsbury Academic.

Year Zero

The biggest off-season Kings news happened in July and had nothing to do with the Kings. This was rare for an NBA team that controls its destiny by driving off cliffs.

The news concerned Mike Brown, the coach fired by the Kings at Christmas. The dismissal was a gift for Brown, whose poorest career decision came in 2022 when he agreed to coach the Kings.

There was no doubt Brown would quickly resurface after he was shoved out by Kings lead owner Vivek Ranadive. The question was where Brown would land.

Golden Nugget

This post has been sponsored by:

Midtown Farmers Market is a nice place to visit. But I wouldn’t want to stock up there.

The produce is ripe, the salespeople helpful, the prices reasonable. But look past the street theater charm and the Midtown market is a specialty destination.

A moveable feast built on fresh, edible impulses. Great for grazing. A treat for tourists. Not for real grocery shopping.

Real grocery shopping requires a real grocery store.

Fortunately, Sacramento has the best real grocery store in California. I’m talking about Nugget in Lake Crest Village on Florin Road.

Ashes To Ashes

Show me a city that doesn’t demolish old buildings, and I’ll show you a graveyard. Progress cries out for rubble and rebirth.

This summer, the old Sacramento Bee headquarters at 21st and Q streets joined the roster of demolished landmarks. Wreckage never rests in a city hungry for growth.

Despite protests and lawsuits, the decrepit annex to the State Capitol was torn down in 2023. East Sac elders still dream about the Alhambra Theatre and its Moorish pillars and fountains, pulverized in 1973, replaced by a supermarket.

Check Mate

I don’t have much use for social media. Deleted my accounts years ago. But I’d like to see what TikTok can do with an Environmental Impact Report.

Despite their reputation as weapons exploited by self-interested neighbors and extortionist labor unions—all true—environmental reports dispense useful information. I’ve read dozens. Learned something every time.

Trouble is they are tough to read—ponderous, repetitive, silted. No narrative energy. No character development. Just facts presented in proscribed formats. Boxes checked, dry as cotton.

Which is why I waited three months to tackle the city’s new environmental report on the Sacramento River Parkway Project, otherwise known as the levee bike path.