Tuesday on Capitol Public Radio’s “Insight” program, I sat down with host David Watts Barton and Sacramento Bee editorial board member Foon Rhee to discuss the Checks and Balances Act of 2012 – more commonly known as the “executive mayor” or “strong mayor” initiative. The mayor’s office rolled out the latest version of the strong mayor initiative Dec. 21 by a coalition of supporters led by Mayor Kevin Johnson’s chief of staff, Kunal Merchant. The issue was scheduled to be on the agenda for City Council discussion Tuesday, and Johnson said he is hopeful that council members will put the initiative on the June ballot. Rhee pointed out that Tuesday’s meeting was the 16th time the issue has

City Council election drama, a potential swap of high school campuses, new businesses and two Sacramento Press contests were all topics I discussed with Jeffrey Callison Tuesday morning on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight” program. Elections are quite a ways away, but the District 2 City Council race is already heating up as some accuse candidate Kim Mack of using an email list from her time working on the Obama campaign to push for a Strong Mayor initiative for Mayor Kevin Johnson. Mack denies sharing the email list with the Strong Mayor backers. Read more by clicking here. Another contentious issue in the city right now has to do with education – more specifically education facilities.

Journalists are “no longer restricted to one medium of storytelling,” Andrew Nixon said as he began the Intro to Video Storytelling Workshop at The Sacramento Press Wednesday night. You don’t have to use video in every story either, he added. Nixon is a multimedia producer for Capital Public Radio based in Sacramento. His past experiences include professional photojournalism, motion graphics, web platforms and currently video journalism. Several of his own videos, some of which incorporate his background in still-frame photography, were used as examples for the techniques he delivered to an audience of about 35 budding journalists, artists and editors. Mentioning from the beginning th

You step into the room and are immediately transported from small town Northern California to a big town high end night club. Large paintings of jazz musicians line the walls. The room is filled with tables for four where individuals converse and sip their drinks. Over the stage is more jazz themed art. The house lighting dims. The stage lighting rises. Gary Vercelli introduces the performers and the evening’s show commences. The audience is about to treated to another evening of great jazz. Gary Vercelli  This is the experience created by the Capitol Radio Studio Jazz Series - a three show series now in its’ second year. The room is the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre the smaller of the tw

Jeffrey Callison, host of Insight Capitol Public Radio’s popular morning live news magazine, was interviewed by The Sacramento Press Editor in Chief David Watts Barton Sunday Evening. The interview was part of the The Sacramento Living Library, curated by Time Tested Books’ Peter Keat and hosted by “Midtown Monthly” editor Tim Foster. Barton had kicked off The Sacramento Living Library 2010 in January, interviewing Tower Records founder Russ Solomon. More on The Sacramento Living Library and previous interviews is available at Time Tested Books’ website. Insight premiered in July 2009 as a half-hour afternoon news magazine. Then the KXJZ news director had been invited by Station Manager

 Music lovers and bargain hunters came together Friday for great deals as Capital Public Radio hosted its annual used records and CD sale preview party. About 4,000 people showed up at the Howe Bout Arden Shopping Center for the swap this weekend, for which all proceeds went towards CPR’s two local radio stations 90.0 and 88.9. Some visitors were searching for older types of recordings, wanting to keep a tangible form of music in their collection. “I’m looking for more things that are unique,” Bjarne Winkler, 56, said. He added that the old 78s are interesting and many "kids of today" wouldn't recognize one. "It’s sort of a piece of history I can hold on to.” People were riffling throu

"Community Conversations" will return July 13 to coffee houses all over Sacramento. The conversations are put on by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, Capital Public Radio and The Sacramento Bee with the goal of bringing neighborhood residents together for civil discussion, learning each other's different perspectives on local issues. Community Conversations began last month offering residents the chance to speak with fellow neighbors in coffee houses in areas such as Natomas, North Sacramento, Midtown, Land Park, Oak Park, College/Glen, Pocket Area and South Sacramento. Each location has one facilitator who keeps the dialogue flowing all while ensuring the house rules are follow

 This is what I wrote at the end of my last California Lectures review: “John Waters, the famous — or infamous — filmmaker, provocateur, art photographer, writer and all around great conversationalist, will be interviewed by The Sacramento Bee’s arts writer and classical music critic.” Waters proved to be all that and more. He played to full house of his fans and admirers at the Crest Theatre Wednesday night. The interview was part of Waters’ book tour for his new book, “Role Models”. Waters’ role models are a quite eclectic bunch, as one would imagine. They range from Johnny Mathis to Leslie Van Houten. Some are well know, some not so well known, and some are infamous. He started out s

What will it take to propel our region beyond the present slump into a thriving vibrant future? That was the question asked to the community on Tuesday. The Sacramento Region Community Foundation, Capitol Public Radio and The Sacramento Bee have joined forces to organize civil discussions at local coffee houses. A total of eight coffee houses facilitated the conversations Tuesday. Locations were determined by City Council district. I attended the discussion at the Old Soul Coffee house in Oak Park. Each discussion had a mediator representing the Sacramento Region Community Foundation. To begin, the mediator set the ground rules, making sure all participants understood this event must rem

National Public Radio "Weekend Edition Saturday" host Scott Simon presented “Covering War and Peace, Sports and Celebs” at the Crest Theatre Monday evening. This was the premier of a new lecture by Simon.  The presentation was part of the California Lectures 2009-2010 season.  It was a nearly full house of Simon's adoring fans.  He began by acknowledging and praising Capitol Public Radio.  When Simon started in public radio in Chicago, there was only one national program from NPR, “All Things Considered.”  He joked that when someone called WBEZ to ask what time “All Things Considered” was on, the station would reply, “What time would you like to listen to it?”  He spoke to what a valuable

Wednesday night, the Urban Hive was packed with people eager to hear what local media outlets had to say about the changes they've made recently in response to the economy, technology and social media. Jim Jakobs, Assignment Manager of KCRA, Jon Schuller and Anne Shulock, Office Manager and Reporter of Sactown Magazine, Jen Picard, Senior Producer of Insight, David Watts Barton, Editor in Chief of Sacramento Press, and Nick Miller, Arts Editor of Sacramento News and Review, had a lively discussion moderated by Janna Santoro. Here is the first part of the video from that night. Nick Miller joined the panel a little late. This first segment is before he arrived.    Media Panel video

Many of you have asked about workshops and events being posted on our site in addition to the email invitations. Here is some information about our planned December events. We've organized a media panel Dec. 9. and a Google workshop Dec. 15. The media panel is a collaboration between the folks at the Urban Hive and The Sacramento Press. It will be held at the Urban Hive, Dec. 9 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. The panel features representatives from each type of news outlet and will focus on the changes each has had to make over the past few years with technology, the economy and social media. Each panel member will also be asked where they see the future of journalism is headed. Attendees will ha

The third monthly "For Art's Sake" meeting held Wednesday morning at Capitol Public Radio had a big announcement. Over 100 people stuffed into CPR's conference room to hear the news that $100,000 had been raised for the For Art's Sake initiative. In addition to the financial support, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced a more active web presence. The initiative has a live Facebook page, and a website is in the works to be launched in the next month, Johnson said. Familiar faces filled the audience which included the likes of Sacramento Ballet artistic director Ron Cunningham and Sacramento's poet laureate Bob Stanley, as well as new faces such as Keith Ochwat of the Documentary Foundation and

Sacramento's Solar Cookers International (SCI), a group that helps communities harness the power of the sun to cook food and pasteurize water, will be holding their annual "Shine On" event Wednesday evening. The event will educate SCI's supporters on their successes of the last year and highlight future projects, said the event's coordinator Rene Hamlin. About 250 people are expected to fill the Sierra 2 Center from 5 to 9 p.m. to listen to speeches by SCI co-founder Dr. Bob Metcalf and Capitol Public Radio food reporter and solar cook Sherry Cole. Those who attend will be able to view cooking demonstrations, eat solar-cooked food and even participate in a silent auction featuring art by

Take a million-dollar inventory of LPs, CDs and DVDs, arrange them on several 80-foot-long tables and place them into a 10,000 square foot room for three days. This is the recipe for Capital Public Radio's (CPR) annual Used Record and CD Sale. It will commence on Friday night with a "Preview Party" from 6 - 9 p.m. For a $20 cover charge, people can get a jump start on the musical feast while enjoying live music, food and wine. On Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., the public can dig in for free and search through the leftovers. It all takes place in suite 172 of the "Howe 'bout Arden" shopping center at 2100 Arden Way. All-in-all there will be approximately 45,000 vinyl records