The Sacramento Press is a hybrid site of professional and community-contributed journalism. One recent event that we could not cover in-house is a perfect example of how citizen journalism works best: One of our reporters, Kathleen Haley, was unable to attend a debate scheduled for Thursday night. Our editorial department e-mailed a resident Haley had met at another event who had shown interest in the debate. This resident suggested that a friend of hers, Chris Shannon, who had already planned to go to the debate, write about it for The Sacramento Press. We asked our interns to see who was available, but none of them were to attend either. Chris Shannon e-mailed us and called to confir

Sacramento Press witnessed the block party at de Vere's firsthand. We had a booth set up in the middle of the festivities. Here are some pictures of the festivities.             Beer Brats Sonny Mayugba interviews the Kennelly Dance Company. Sonny sits down with Henry de Vere White. Sonny interviews Rob Kerth for the Sacramento Press livestream.   The Sacramento Kings dancers at the Sacramento Press booth.   Sonny interviews Simon de Vere White.   News 10's Jennifer Smith and camera man check out The Sacramento Press.

We have a free journalism workshop scheduled later this month. Dianne Heimer will lead our first Research and Fact-Checking workshop on Tuesday, March 23, 6:30 - 8 p.m. Heimer is a journalism professor at Sac City College and advises the college's newspaper, The Express. Doing research for articles seems daunting, but we'll show you that it isn't difficult and that the added credibility and depth are worth the time and effort. Heimer will discuss appropriate sources and will go over how to confirm the accuracy of the facts in your story. She'll also discuss the trustworthiness of the Internet as a source. Food and drinks will be served at 6:30 p.m., with the workshop at 6:45. Our offi

The Sacramento Press presented its "Introduction to Journalism" workshop Wednesday evening hosted by Sacramento Press' copy editor Brandon Darnell. The 28 attendees came for advice on a wide spectrum of journalistic problems. Some wanted to alleviate their sarcastic and biased writing voice, others came to discover proper format. Chelsey Miller, who said she wants to cover articles focusing on culture (music and fashion), came because she felt it was an opportunity to help "people to see me as a professional." Ira Cohen, who is more interested in covering business and technology, said he always had a hankering for journalism but considered it in his "I'll get around to it pile." His o

For the first time in its barely-one-year history, The Sacramento Press is entirely laid out. That's right: No matter which of the section headings you click on in the green navigation bar this morning, you will get a fully laid out page: Politics, Business, Sports and Culture now join our Front Page with stories, pictures and comments. This is the first time we will ever have had a Business page front. And the Politics and Culture pages are completely content not even carried on the Front Page. Thus, click on the Culture page and you will get ideas about where to dine for two on Valentine's Day, or read about a new mosque rising in Sacramento. On the Sports page, you will see staffer Mi

It's very exciting to see the number of our community contributors continue to grow. We now have close to 800. With so many new writers, we want to make sure we offer you the tools and resources to improve your writing and help you feel more confident posting on our site. We've held many journalism-related workshops in 2009 ranging from Interviewing Techniques, Bias in Media, Journalism Ethics, among others. We're happy to announce another Intro to Journalism workshop this month, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 17 6:30 - 8 p.m. Brandon Darnell will be teaching the workshop. He is a freelance writer and editor, and he currently copy edits for The Sacramento Press. Darnell graduated from C

The second workshop we have scheduled for January is a media discussion with the co-founders of Sacramento Press, Ben Ilfeld and Geoff Samek. This workshop will give you the opportunity to meet the co-founders of Sacramento Press, hear them discuss the future of media in their eyes, and ask them any questions you may have about the site, online news, etc. The workshop will be at the Sacramento Press office on Monday, Jan. 25 from 6:30 - 8 p.m. Our office is located at 431 I St., Suite 107 in the Amtrak station. We are in the same building complex as Starbucks. If you are facing Starbucks, go around the building to the left and you'll see our Sac Press sign out front. We recommend you f

South Sacramento is a diverse community that speaks many languages and practices many traditions. Cultural lines and language barriers prevent news and community stories from being told to those outside a small radius. Access Sacramento, in collaboration with The Sacramento Press, The Sacramento Bee and other regional media organizations have reached the final round in the Knight News Challenge. Their grant proposal will focus specifically on South Sacramento and its residents. Access Sacramento has applied for a two-year, $316,500 grant to continually achieve their mission of providing a forum for the thoughts, dreams and opinions of community members who are ignored by mainstream media

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

Thanks to all of you who came to the Media Panel at the Urban Hive Wednesday night! We have another engaging event scheduled for next week. Jeff Marmins, who taught our last Facebook workshop, will be leading the Google event titled, "Get Google in your Social Media Mix." Jeff is the creator of Social Media Path and partnership director of Social Media Club Sacramento. The event will be at the Sacramento Press office Dec. 15 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Jeff will discuss how to condense all of the social media sites you post to into one application on Google, successfully use RSS feeds and answer your specific questions. This workshop is designed for intermediate Google users. If you'd like a

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

When: Wednesday, Nov. 18 2009 6:30 - 8 p.m. Where: The Sacramento Press office, 431 I Street, Suite 107 Sacramento, CA 95814 What: Facebook workshop, taught by Jeff Marmins, creator of Social Media Path. He will go over privacy settings and how to keep your personal and work lives separate on Facebook. He will also be answering any questions you may have. How: To RSVP for tonight, email journalism@sacramentopress.com. Space is limited, we only have a few spots left. If you have any questions, you can call us at 916-443-5403.

October is almost half over and we've only gotten16 stories submitted for the Journalism Open. We have roughly 15 prizes to give out, and we'd love to have a lot more content to judge for our writing contest. That being said, we don't want you overestimating the time and effort you need to put into writing an article for the Sacramento Press. We offer free copy editing, so don't put off writing for the chance to win $500, a trip to Squaw Valley, and other prizes because you think your article needs to be Pulitzer-Prize worthy. We're having a workshop Tuesday, Oct. 13 to answer all of your questions about The Sacramento Press Journalism Open. If you've been hesitant to enter or just hea

Streets and neighborhoods in West Sacramento will again be participating in the National Night Out on Tuesday, Aug. 4, from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. The annual event, which promotes public safety and community partnerships, brings neighbors together for block parties and cookouts. At 7:30 p.m., in support of the Bryte & Broderick Community Action Group, the Police and Fire Departments, along with other agencies, will converge at Bryte Park at 425 Todhunter Avenue. For more about National Night Out, contact Community Service Officer Nora McDowell, (916) 617-4837 or noram@cityofwestsacramento.org .  

On Tuesday, Aug. 4, from 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m., Harmony on the River, a free summer concert series from the City of West Sacramento, will present the final concert of the season.  Enjoy an evening with Hurricane Sam & the Hotshots, featuring boogie, blues, and jazz. Harmony on the River is a family-friendly event, so please bring the kids, a picnic, and soak up the sounds. Pets on leash are allowed, but the City asks that you refrain from any glass bottles. Parking is free also, so just see a parking attendant on site for a pass. For more information, contact Scott Stanley of the City of West Sacramento Parks & Recreation, scottst@cityofwestsacramento.org.  

Have you ever noticed yourself straining to make out someone's profile picture? Perhaps you've had trouble seeing detail in an article photo. If so, you'll be pleased to know that tonight we've rolled out an update to The Sacramento Press that should make your pictures clearer and smoother than they've been before. Initially, you'll only see the difference in pictures uploaded after today, but in a few days we'll go back and fix everything uploaded to the site since day one. In addition, article images now appear in the order in which they were uploaded, and we're now accepting a few more image file types (although we recommend sticking with JPEG or PNG files). We also added a few new cap

The City of West Sacramento announces a modification underway in the traffic flow parallel to City Hall, 1110 West Capitol Avenue as part of the West Capitol Avenue Streetscape construction project. All eastbound vehicle and bicycle traffic is shifted to a single south lane on West Capitol Avenue. Westbound vehicles and bicycles will continue using the north side of West Capitol. All pedestrian access continues on the north side of the street, as West Capitol's south sidewalk remains closed, and the closure of Merkley Avenue from West Capitol Avenue to approximately 600 feet south stays in effect. The two Yolobus eastbound transfer stations at Merkley Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard have

The City of West Sacramento has announced their Mimi-Grant Program for community service organizations with a great program idea needing additional funding. The City's "Community Mini-Grant Program" provides funds annually to help qualifying West Sacramento non-profit organizations with special funding needs. This year, thirty thousand dollars is available to non-profit organization applicants that can demonstrate a viable need that benefits West Sacramento and its residents. Applications for the mini-grant program must be submitted by Sept. 25, 2009, to the Parks & Recreation Department, 1110 West Capitol Ave., West Sacramento, CA 95691. Once all of the applications are in, they will

 The season of free Friday evening concerts in Cesar Chavez Plaza at 10th and J streets in downtown Sacramento, a summer tradition, just got a bit longer. Promoter Jerry Perry, who has been arranging the multi-act shows, all featuring local musicians, since 1997, just got permission from the city to extend the concerts another five weeks. And this time, Perry will be in charge of the whole event, over the five-week series. Called “End of Summer Fest,” it will begin when the current series of concerts ends on Aug. 14. “I’ve always felt that the season ends too soon,” he said by phone Tuesday. “But I was never completely in charge before.” The shows are generally sponsored by the Downtow

In a combined press release, Tony's Fine Foods and the City of West Sacramento have announced a major expansion of Tony's headquarters and food distribution facilities in West Sacramento. The expansion will accommodate an expanding customer base and new product lines, as well as business acquisitions generating significant growth in market share for the 75-year old, family-owned company. The company will invest about $15 million to construct a new 77,000 square foot building to house a new freezer and automated distribution warehouse, and renovate existing warehouse and office space. The expansion will increase the West Sacramento company's workforce to 365 fulltime employees, an increase