Two bills were on bikers’ minds Monday as they rallied at the Capitol. Hundreds of California motorcyclists, drivers and passengers, showed up for the yearly motorcycle rally sponsored by the American Brotherhood Aimed Towards Education (ABATE) Monday morning. They gathered on the Capitol building’s south-side in support of two bills that would change the state’s helmet law and throw out the motorcycle-only checkpoints. Legislators were scheduled to vote Monday afternoon after rally.  For results, CLICK HERE>>>

Today I testified before the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services in regard to their plan to cut roughly a $1 billion of regional center services to people with developmental disabilities. Some of you may know me already. My wife, Azlina, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly just a month ago. Perhaps the saddest part of my personal tragedy is that my son Azrai, diagnosed with Autism three years ago, lost his mother, his best friend and a tireless advocate for him to receive all the educational and developmental services he needs to live a more-or-less normal life. As Melissa Mendoza wrote yesterday, there is tremendous cost involved in attaining services for a

Today Angela Hassell, Director of the Mustard Seed, a free, private school which serves homeless children aged 3-15, and Rick D. Redding, Republican candidate for California State Assembly District 9 (Sacramento) have joined forces in an endeavor to benefit the school. Mr. Redding, a Hiram Johnson High School graduate who now teaches special education at the school, stated that “we often forget that homelessness affects children as well as adults. We have an incredible opportunity as a community to directly help less fortunate children. Please join us. It is the least that we can do.” Sacramento residents are being asked to bring school supplies, toiletries, gift cards, and non-perishabl

Thirty-three votes divide the two local politicians fighting for a state Assembly seat in the Democratic primary. Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson currently has a tiny lead of 33 votes over City Councilman Kevin McCarty in the race for the District 9 Assembly seat. Dickinson has 35.05 percent of the vote, while McCarty has 34.93 percent. With all precincts reporting, McCarty had 9,634 votes to Dickinson’s 9,667. Jill LaVine, Sacramento County’s top election official, estimated that more than 86,000 remaining ballots still need to be counted. That total is comprised of unprocessed ballots that came to the elections office before Tuesday night, vote-by-mail ballots delivered t

On Wednesday, May 26, 2010, the Rick Redding for state assembly campaign filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) against the Kevin McCarty for state assembly (district 9) campaign. The complaint alleges McCarty’s campaign of lobbying and campaign violations of the California Political Reform Act (PRA). The three page complaint, supported by over 100 pages of evidence and documentation, accuses McCarty of three principle violations: Kevin McCarty, a registered lobbyist, failed to report his lobbying efforts on AB 962 in the quarterly reports in 2009 and 2010; The McCarty campaign utilized campaign funds and campaign literature from his 2012 Sacramento City Cou

With the primary election season in full swing it would be advantageous to talk about some local congressional and assembly races and candidates that the major “fish wraps” seem to be neglecting. On June 8, voters will cast their votes and determine which candidates move on to the general election in November and which candidates close up shop and set their sights on the days to come. The focus of this piece will be to provide information regarding some of the local races and local candidates. Considerations and/or endorsements are the opinion of the author and in no way reflect the views of the Sacramento Press. The congressional district 5 republican primary pits Paul Smith against Erik

Talk about election fatigue. The last general election was just a few months ago. And though most voters aren't even aware of it yet, our tv's and mailboxes will be full of campaign propaganda for a statewide special election scheduled for May 19th. Beyond that, however, the 2010 campaigns for governor and legislature are already underway, particularly here in Sacramento, where an all-out battle for the California State Assembly seat being vacated by termed-out Assemblymember Dave Jones has begun to heat up. First, a bit of background. The District 9 Assembly seat, which encompasses the City of Sacramento and some Sacramento County turf, is safely Democratic. The winner of the June 2010