Now that Eric Smith, (not real name) a 17-year-old foster child, has been declared a dependent of the court, he is on a mission to change the laws that regulate CPS. “No one should have to go through what I did,” he said, citing his nine months in CPS custody last year. “They treated me like I was a villain, instead of a victim. Why? Because they can.” Eric wants to see that stop. Just shy of 18, Eric is not yet able to fully tell his story. But that is not stopping him from writing letters to political officials and child welfare groups, recounting his experiences and proposing legislative changes. And what he can tell of his story, he does. On April 1 2011, an emergency CPS social work

Every morning 1,800 employees enter the California State Board of Equalization Building.   Past the sliding glass doors, security, then up the elevators to get to work.  Most never notice the 2 by 5 signs taped to the glass doorways upfront.   Warning: Chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm, may be found in the facility.  California Health and Safety Code Section 25249.6 Though it's not only harmful chemicals, that has plagued the safety of the buiding in the past. Two weeks ago, on January 11, pieces of broken glass fell eight stories to the sidewalk on 5th and N Street. The sidewalk is still blocked with caution tape and

In a world where nearly everyone has a smartphone or an iPod and news flashes are delivered in 140 characters or less, the landscape of news media is rapidly changing. Here is a quick roundup of recent changes in the local news outlets: Sacramento News & Review: Looking for a new editor The Sacramento News & Review has been a print publication since 1989, and Melinda Welsh has been the editor for most of that time. About a week ago, she decided to step down, and now the News & Review is conducting a nationwide search for her replacement. “I love the job, it’s the coolest job,” Welsh said Friday. “But it’s been long enough. Eighteen years as an editor? It’s time to do something different

As an owner of Macer Media, publisher of The Sacramento Press, I have never made a political statement on this site. Today I will, out of self-preservation, and a concern for what is just and good for this site, and the people of this community in general. Wikipedia went black Wednesday due to its strong opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Google also voiced its opposition with a link on its homepage. Many other Interenet companies took similar steps. So the first question is: What is SOPA? SOPA is a piece of proposed legislation in the House of Representatives aimed at, you guessed it, stopping piracy. The main proponent of the bill is the Motion Picture Association of Ame

New Website Showcases Achievements, Interactive Map and Constituent Resources Now, there is a new website that showcases Sacramento County’s green strategies, achievements and helpful information. The website – Green Sacramento County – features an interactive map to pinpoint green activity and provides constituents with green news, tips and resources. “Sacramento County can be proud of its commitment to sustainability and smart environmental practices. Our green practices used within our organization and in neighborhoods across the County save money, energy and the environment,” said County Executive Brad Hudson. Green Sacramento County Website Features Green Map is a fun way to see g

  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>>>

Occupy Sacramento participants once again stood their ground at Ceasar Chavez Park in Downtown Sacramento. At midnight, an hour after the park is officially closed, dispersal orders were given and 4 (including one in a wheel chair) were arrested peacfully. 

Sacramento, CA | The momentum is building. That was the message that Stand Up, the Sacramento based non-profit organization devoted to reforming education, touted in front of a packed house at the Guild Theater on Monday night. The event was part of a series of monthly meetings organized by Stand Up to spotlight education improvement efforts in Sacramento. Previous events have brought in former California State Senator Gloria Romero to discuss the “parent trigger” law, the founder of Teach for America Wendy Kopp, and the co-founder of the Knowledge is Power Program, Mike Feinberg. Local high school students acted as ushers alongside staffers from a variety of organizations including Sa

“The nature of the media is changing,” said KXTV News10 reporter George Warren at Thursday evening’s video storytelling tips and shortcuts workshop, hosted by The Sacramento Press. Warren is an Emmy-winning reporter/multimedia journalist. He recently celebrated his 30th anniversary working with News10. He started started creating videos when he was a senior in college and has shot with primitive videotapes and 16mm film. “The equipment today has gotten so good that it’s easy for one person to go out and produce really good content in just a short amount of time,” Warren told the audience of about 30 aspiring writers, journalists and community members. Warren used his own recent videos t

Sacramento, CA | On a very warm Sunday afternoon, many people came out to celebrate the 5th Annual Chinatown Culture Fair. It was a family friendly event that gave young and old a chance to experience the culture of the Chinese-American community. The fair started off with the sounds of drums and cymbals as a traditional Lion Dance energized the crowd. As the dancers worked their way through the people, younger children seemed to be in awe or not sure what to make of these large, but friendly beast. Master of Ceremonies, Amy Tong, got things going by introducing some of the members of the Chinatown Mall Culture Fair Committee, who without their time, effort, and hard work, the event woul

Sacramento, CA | A level 3 Hazmat situation shuts down a large industrial area in South Sacramento. Budget weakend hazmat team has to reach out with unusual mutual aid requests.  Wednesday morning, the Sacramento City Fire Department was called to Mike and Sons Inc, in the 8500 block of Elder Creek Road, for a commercial trailer fire. When firefighters arrived “they realized the doors were shut and there was a very pungent odor; so they turned this into a level three hazmat which is the highest level of hazmat response that we have”, Niko King, Assistant Chief for Sacramento City Fire Department stated. As things progressed, they contacted the shipper and the property owner discovering t

Celebrating our 25th year of incorporation, the nonprofit community media center Access Sacramento hosts the annual membership meeting Thursday June 16 7-8 PM . You are invited to attend the event in the television studio at the Coloma Community Center or just watch the event on cable TV channel 17 or streamed on the web site www.AccessSacramento.org to any computer in the world. The 15 member Board of Directors will offer highlights of the year past and look forward to another year of Hometown-TV events, Game of Week football and basketball, "Listen Up, Sacramento" local music, and arts and entertainment reporting weekly on "Livewire". Ten new films are in production in the 12th Annual "

Sacramento, CA | Fists and bottles fly early Saturday morning at Parlare Euro Lounge, leaving one person in serious condition. Just around midnight Saturday, a fight started at the Parlare Euro Lounge on the corner of 10th and J Streets in downtown Sacramento. “The fight spilled out from the club into the street. One of the security guards was hit in the head with a bottle, subsequently fought with the original suspect who in turn, turned and fought with another suspect who was also hit with a bottle,” Sargent Wendy Brown, Sacramento Police Department stated. Later the area was deemed a tapped off crime scene with CSI collecting evidence and photos as one of the injured person’s conditi

Sacramento, CA | Friends were saying good-bye for the evening downtown when shots rang out and two people were injured. As friends were enjoying the wonderful evening air outside Capitol Garage early Saturday morning and getting ready to part ways, a black male wearing a hoody walked by and shot into the crowed, per Sargent Wendy Brown of the Sacramento Police Department. Brown stated that two women were struck by the shooters bullets. One sustained a significant gunshot wound to the leg while the other woman was grazed in the leg. They were transported to the hospital via paramedics. “We are assuming the women were not the intended targets. There were no problems going on at the club,”

Sacramento, CA | Unstable air in the area paints a myraid of cloud formations in Sacramento skies. While we enjoyed a breif break from the rain in Sacramento Monday, incredible clouds could be viewed all over the Sacramento skies. The unstable air that produced these sites was also responsible for a low grade tornado that touched down in near by Colusa county and produced a downpour of pea sized hail in Penryn and Loomis areas as well as thunder storms.  Tuesday should yield some more awesome sights in the sky as the next wave of rain moves into the area for another wet week. The National Weather Service has issued this forcast for the remainder of the week:  Tuesday: A 20 percent chanc

Access Sacramento is putting together a network of news bureaus in the South Sacramento area. The goal is to get youth to report for their communities, producing news stories about South Sacramento. The effort is based around a website that access Sacramento has set up called accesslocal.tv. Ron Cooper, executive director of Access Sacramento, said that besides being known for negative news, South Sacramento seems to be absent from the news altogether. He wants to help revitalize the area through empowering the youth to become news reporters and serve them by developing their journalism skills. “South Sacramento is big area with lots of people and lots of ethnic diversity,” Cooper said.

The Sacramento Bee announced Monday it will be cutting back 32 positions, nine of which are in the newsroom. “It is the price of doing business in this region at this time,” said Pam Dinsmore, community affairs director for the Bee. “The hope is that this is a voluntary separation agreement,” she added. “There are two reporter jobs that are being eliminated. Outside of two reporters, there are seven others in the newsroom that can opt to take a severance package. Most of those are in the production of the newspaper.” Monday’s announcement marks the fourth job reduction at the Bee since March 9, 2009, amounting to a total of 214 jobs. Not taking into account this week’s cutback announcem

A new hyperlocal site aims to bring the various voices of Midtown together, sharing local news, events and discussions of the central city. Sacmidtown.com will celebrate all things Midtown and officially launches Monday. “Our goal is to provide a forum for those who live and for those who work in, or come to enjoy Midtown,” said Jimmy Spencer, founding editor of Sacmidtown.com. Spencer was the founding editor of PublicCEO.com and has written for nbcsports.com and sacbee.com.The contributing writers are people who live and breathe in Sacramento. The site will be updated daily, Monday through Friday, Spencer said. Sacmidtown will cover topics such as crime, trends, dating, hard news, mone

Capital Public Radio’s Annual Used Record & CD Sale will be held Saturday and Sunday June 26 and 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This year’s sale will once again take place at the Howe ‘Bout Arden shopping center, 2100 Arden Way, Suite 172 in Sacramento. The Annual Used Record & CD Sale offers music and movies for hugely discounted prices. Last year, approximately 1,000 people took advantage of the great deals on vinyl records, DVDs, audio books, videogames, and more. There are diverse formats of audio and other entertainment to choose from in a variety of genres. From LPs to CDs, video games, and VHS to Blue Ray DVDs, all types of media have been collected over the past months All musical gen

Top priority topics in the June 8 election for District 3 include the budget, creating more jobs and becoming more business friendly, according to the candidates. "Unless we grapple with (the budget), we can't get other things done," incumbent Steve Cohn said. Chris Little said creating jobs is the most important issue. "(Sacramento is) the Silicon Valley for medicine," he said. "(It's a matter of) taking what we have right here and leveraging it." Shawn Eldredge said that Sacramento needs to focus on business. "It's about re-creating a healthy downtown core that's business friendly, for not only large corporations, but all small business, too," he said. "We need to be a city that emb