Wine aficionados and wine novices alike should be on the alert to next Tuesday’s 2nd Annual Riedel Wine Tasting Seminar, this year held at the gorgeous Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa from 6:30pm-9pm. Event planner Catrina Maria assures no prior knowledge of wine is needed: “Anyone would enjoy this seminar and those who do not love wine already may find they enjoy it more after drinking wine from the correct glass. It opens your eyes to how different the same wine can taste.” Being a wine novice myself, I can’t wait to gain a little insight into how a wine glass affects the flavor of the wine and expand the breadth of my wine knowledge beyond the basics. The workshop, presented by Sylvie La

Read "Locke property dispute (part 1)" here. This is my reply to the long response of another of my neighbors in Locke to "Locke property dispute (part 2)" RLM: It was with great interest that I read this. Esch: Glad to have your interest, Ronnie.   RLM: I have never publicly spoken on this matter, neither verbally nor in print--not even anonymously. Esch: According to my friend Jacquie and her friend, who visited me a couple weeks ago, you had quite a lot to say to them about it.   RLM: However, I must dispute some of the claims made. Firstly: There are two separate issues here 1" the manner in which the building at 1265 Levee was acquired by Ms. Esch and 2) the zoning of this propert

Continued from "Locke property dispute (part 1)" There was a second response – a very lengthy one - to my first article from an anonymous person posting under the name, “Locked.” I suspect “Locked” is one of my neighbors and a board member of LMA Locke Management Association, the public agency which has filed a lawsuit against me to take my property. Locked’s writing style is recognizable, accusatory, with no factual basis. Original article (part 1) is found here: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/56717/Locke_property_dispute_part_1 I’ll take Locked’s questions and comments one by one... Locked: Who's throwing stones? Esch: LMA board threw the first stones at me when they sent me a

Saturday morning was warm enough to draw more than 38 people to Martin Luther King Junior Community Garden for seminars and discussions on composting, cover crops, vermicomposting and the benefits of ladybug larvae. More than a dozen people attended the first of two composting seminars, led by Bill Maynard, master gardener and director of community gardens for the city. Sacramento waste reduction coordinator Doug Houston opened the 8 a.m. event by speaking about waste reduction and the cost of green waste. Houston told the group that Sacramento pays for green waste disposal. Bins cost residents less money each month, and they are environmentally friendly because green waste is kept out

 After years of holding the dubious distinction of tearing apart families at one of the highest rates in California, Sacramento County finally has brought its rate of child removal in line with the state average, the Sacramento Bee reported Monday.  But the Bee left out some good news: The two key measures of safety used by the federal government show that, as entries into foster care declined, child safety improved. Apparently even with budget cuts, setting clear standards and doing a better job of weeding out false reports and trivial cases has given workers more time to focus on finding children in real danger. One would think the fact that Sacramento County used to be the child remo

The agency that manages retirement benefits for Sacramento County employees provided in-depth information about retirees’ finances to The Sacramento Bee earlier this week after a lengthy court battle. The Sacramento County Employees’ Retirement System released information about retirees on June 13, Richard Stensrud, the chief executive officer of SCERS said Wednesday. Joyce Terhaar, executive editor of the Bee, confirmed in an interview Thursday that the newspaper received retiree information from SCERS after suing for it in 2010.“In general, it should have been available from the beginning,” Terhaar said, referring to the data SCERS submitted. The Bee, which joined with the First Amend

The 2011 Art Happens, hosted by the Sacramento Artists Council, took place June 4 in Midtown. The venue was held inside the Sacramento Art Complex on 2110 K Street. This was a benefit event to support art in Sacramento. Sutter Middle School and Nevada Union High School students exhibited works of art by their students. Artwork created by the students also helped their school art programs as  one 100 percent of sales was given to the respective school’s art program. The event was sponsored by Sacramento News and Review, Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Press and others. A day full of art, music, food, wine tasting and great music contributed to the fest

“The most important part of review writing is to tell a story,” said Nick Miller, associate editor at Sacramento News & Review and panelist at Wednesday evening’s review writing workshop, hosted by The Sacramento Press. You should make your reader feel as though they were at the event by including specific details about what you saw, he added. Along with Miller, the workshop’s other two panelists, Rachel Leibrock of Sacramento News & Review and Carla Meyer of The Sacramento Bee, spoke from personal experience about how to effectively write a review of music, food or film. The panel also fielded questions from the 20-person audience in regards to writing style, etiquette and editing. The

The Sacramento Bee and The Sacramento Press teamed up Wednesday night to host Table Talk Sacramento inside the Sacramento Bee building at 2100 Q St. The two-panel discussion addressed the need for a variety of local food writers and various trends being seen within the food and dining communiy. The first panel focused on the state of Sacramento food writing. Moderated by Chris Macias, the Bee's food and wine writer since 2008, the discussion featured local blogger Catherine Enfield of Munchie Musings, Niesha Lofing of The Sacramento Bee and Micah Rousey a member of the Yelp Elite Squad for his bulk of restaraunt reviews on Yelp. “The purpose of this is to get people into a room, get peop

Do you love talking about food? Do you flip to the food section of the newspaper before even reading the front page? Is a trip to the grocery store an excursion? For all you foodies, bloggers and lovers of Sacramento’s restaurants and food: The Sacramento Bee and The Sacramento Press have teamed up to bring you “Table Talk Sacramento: The region’s food community comes together for an evening of lively discussion.” There will be two panels addressing different topics, including “What Sacramentans Eat” and the quality of local food writing. Chris Macias will moderate the food writing panel. Macias has served as the Bee’s food and wine writer since 2008. The panelists include: Niesha Lofin

Access Sacramento opened its doors and studios to the public to mark its 25th year of offering community media for Sacramento County. For 25 years, nonprofit organization Access Sacramento has been “making a difference, one voice at a time,” through its commitment to covering local entertainment, high school sports and cultural events. Saturday’s event will showcase what local media has to offer the community and how attendees can play a major role in community reporting. I was 'the media covering the media' as I roamed around snapping photos for a couple of hours. Here are some shots: Many special guests including Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, City Councilman Steve Cohn, Supervisor

News is no longer designed for idle consumption: It is becoming more and more interactive as bloggers, community journalists, Twitter users and witnesses equipped with smart phones make their mark in distributing news. Access Sacramento will be hosting its 25th anniversary celebration Saturday and invites you to be seen and heard by telling your stories through digital media. The event also kicks off “Sunshine Week” (March 13 - 19), a national effort promoting the freedom of information and open government. To help celebrate Sunshine Week, Congresswoman Doris Matsui and city, county and state agency representatives will be in attendance. Access Sacramento is having an open house from noo

Saturday, VIBE organization will be organizing and hosting a cake-decorating contest where local bakeries will showcase their designs in Midtown for the Second Saturday Art Walk. Cake Craze is a fundraiser and all proceeds will benefit the VIBE Foundation and the new teen center that is being built. VIBE is a youth organization which was founded in 2007 and officially became a nonprofit organization about a year ago. “The VIBE Youth Board was brainstorming ideas and came up with the Cake Craze contest,” said VIBE spokeswoman Mylesha Ramey. Julia Hildago, chairwoman of VIBE, said this is the first time we’ve done an event like this and we’re very excited. The youth organization is made

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

Sacramento starts 2011 with a new governor and many projects in the works. With the new year comes the opportunity for a fresh start, and many make New Year's resolutions to avoid past mistakes or better themselves in some way. We asked Sacramentans to share their resolutions with us. If you have one you'd like to share, add it to the comment thread below.  Janet Whalen Zeller, founder and co-director of Soil Born Farms: "To remember, moment by moment, that the life I want to live is the life I am creating now. To create positive change in our community by participating in the creation of a local food system that makes healthy food accessible to all."   Gerald Celestine, (pictured rig

Once the introductory applause had quieted down in The Crest Theatre, Dave Eggers settled into his chair and asked his audience of literary fans and admirers the score of the Giants/Phillies game. He said he wouldn’t be able to relax until he knew. With similar candidness and humor, Eggers opened up about his latest nonfiction book “Zeitoun,” which documents the life and wrongful imprisonment of a Muslim-American man, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Sharing the stage with Eggers was Sacramento State’s Joseph Palermo, an associate professor of history. Together they discussed what it was like to have a relative wrongfully incarcerated, the mi

Anyone looking for a clean kill in tonight’s gubernatorial debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman probably walked away a little disappointed. If you were hoping for another Jan Brewer moment in which a candidate seems to simply and completely lose it on camera, again, disappointment reigns. But if you were looking for a reasonably thoughtful discussion of many of the real issues facing California, there was much to appreciate in the debate staged at the Mondavi Center at University of California, Davis. Three local journalists – Amy Chance of the Sacramento Bee, Marianne Russ of Capital Public Radio and Kevin Riggs of KCRA Channel 3 – led the candidates through ten questions ranging f

 Art Events: As if you could miss it, it is Second Saturday. Here  is information on the art side of Second Saturday.   Free The fourth annual Curtis Fest is being held in its’ namesake William Curtis Park Saturday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. This year will feature 60 local artists, musicians, and cuisine, along with activities for children and adults. More information from Sacramento365.com.    Free Lectures: California Lectures kicks off its’ 2010-2011 season with a very timely interview with David Plouffe. From California Lectures press release: California Lectures presents An Evening with David Plouffe on September 13, 2010, at 7:30 PM at the Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento. Dav

About 30 local writers, journalists, students and public relations professionals met at The Sacramento Press office Wednesday evening to attend a media ethics workshop headed by assistant professor of journalism at California State University, Sacramento, Molly Dugan. Dugan hooked her audience by posing hypothetical questions like “If I see a public official strangling a baby, can I write about it?” The answer is yes, but it’s best to seek legal counsel before targeting someone with the means to hire a good attorney. Dugan warned journalists against using anonymous sources whenever possible, encouraged them to keep notes and documents as long as possible for personal protection, and to u

  On Thursday August 12, Dane Drewis performed at Crawdad's on the River located at 1375 Garden Highway in Sacramento. Set on a floating stage that connects to a floating venue, the scene at Crawdad's is unique. River wakes cause the place to rock and roll.  Boaters out on the river can pull up and dock alongside the floating venue and join in the festivities. On this night, Drewis and his band were excited. Both Dane and his younger sister Janel are competing in the upcoming American Idol preliminaries being held first in Sacramento at Arden Fair Mall from 10am to 2pm on Tuesday August 17, and followed quickly by a round at AT&T Park in San Francisco on Thursday August 19. The Sacramen