The city’s oldest cemetery may soon be registered as a historic landmark, ensuring that remembrances of Sacramento’s early settlers remain for many years to come. The city’s Preservation Commission unanimously recommended Tuesday that the City Council list the Historic City Cemetery, located at 1000 Broadway, in the Sacramento Register of Historic & Cultural Resources as a landmark. “It’s the final resting place of so many early Sacramentans that were key in settling this area,” Bob LaPerriere, chairman of the Old City Cemetery Committee said Monday. “The fact that they are still here with original tombstones after 150 years makes this the most unchanged site of history in Sacramento,”

A delegation of Sacramento business and political leaders returned from a four-day tour of New Orleans with fresh insight into what it takes for a city to recover and thrive after a disaster, including improving transportation methods, sustainable housing and flood protections. “New Orleans had a unique opportunity to reinvent itself because of all the investments made there after Katrina,” City Councilman Kevin McCarty said Tuesday. “We need to look at how we can reinvent ourselves here, too.” On Tuesday, Council Members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn and Kevin McCarty and Mayor Kevin Johnson shared the lessons learned from the people in New Orleans about methods of recovery the city has u

Early Saturday morning saw a break in the weather, so I headed for the swollen rivers with my 14-foot sit-in polyethylene kayak. Embarking at Sutter's Landing, I headed downstream to see what all the rain and water releases from the Folsom dam had done to the lower American and Sacramento rivers. The float took only ninety minutes with no hard paddling -- the current is strong and the waters turbid and brown. It was a solitary journey shared with only a few scattered fowl and plenty of flotsam washed loose from upstream shores. For those heartier souls it is a  worthy adventure.Wool socks recommended.

Dave Eggers spoke about his book, “Zeitoun,” at the Crest Theatre Wednesday in the feature event of the sixth-annual One Book Sacramento: Connecting Our Communities. In her opening remarks, Sacramento Public Library Director Rivkah Sass mentioned the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (Aug. 29) and the flood threat to the Sacramento region as reasons the library selected “Zeitoun.” Eggers took the stage in hiking boots and a pinstripe jacket. He was joined by interviewer Joseph Palermo, associate professor of American history at Sacramento State. Palermo has written two books on Robert F. Kennedy and blogs at The Huffington Post. “Zeitoun” narrates the story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun,

The largest storm in California's recorded history peaked in January 1862, turning the Sacramento Valley into a 250- to 300-mile-long inland sea. Since the previous winter, Sacramento had received 400 percent of its annual average rainfall. The storm moved as far inland as Tennessee, slowing down troop movements in the Civil War. After 10 inches of rain in December 1861, Sacramento newspapers declared Christmas canceled. By January 1862, steamboats sailed through what is now Old Sacramento, rescuing people from their homes, and boat-makers charged inflated prices to capitalize on the new demand. On Jan. 10, newly elected Governor Leland Stanford had to travel to the Capitol via boat for