A youth mentor for a local educational program said he used poetry to see himself through a difficult past. Coon, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, was walking home when he was shot three times. One bullet hit his spine and ricocheted into his lung. "I was hanging out with somebody who really wasn't my friend, and I pretty much took on their beef, their issues, and I was guilty by association," he said. "I've never been in a gang or anything like that. You don't have to be (involved) in a gang for something bad to happen to you." Asking to be referred to only by his last name (and stage name), Coon channeled the pain from his wounds and started taking his writing and poetry seriously

The Sacramento City School District held a board meeting on 10-15-09 at Kennedy high school in which many issues that the school district is facing for the year were discussed in a public forum. The big issue at the board meeting revolved around the hours being to cut to instructional aides who work with special needs children. The aide’s hours are being cut from 6 hours to 5 hours. Some parents were extremely upset about the cuts. One parent Rebekah Norris whose daughter has been going to school for almost 14 years expressed her frustration over the cuts. Ms. Norris said “the budget cuts have put her special needs daughter safety at risk.”Her concerns were of such things as bathroom duti