It is fitting that during Earth Week, and a week before the Whole Earth Festival, the city of Davis will host the region’s largest professional art function that embraces earth —literally. That is earth of the ceramic variety. The John Natsoulas Art Gallery is hosting the 23rd annual California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art (CCACA) in downtown Davis April 27-29. Pronounced “caca,” like the natural fertilizer that animals drop to the earth, the CCACA’s festivities will showcase ceramic art from three Los Rios District colleges, CSU Sacramento, UC Davis and more than 40 West Coast colleges, universities and high schools. Of the 5,000 who attend, 2,000 students will exhibit

A new independent bus service aims to solve a problem facing many Sacramento State students: how to get to the central city restaurants and bars from the campus area on the cheap. Laura Allen, 26, said she, her sister and father are working through their family business, Allen Transportation, to provide a bus that will make a circuit with several stops around the school, downtown and Midtown on Friday and Saturday nights, starting this week. “The Sactown Hopper is a service we’re providing mainly for Sac State students right now because the pickups are around that area,” Allen said. “We’re stopping at three locations around Sac State and four locations downtown.” A list of the stops can

The Sacramento Poetry Center will welcome Mary Mackey and Sharon Coleman on Monday as part of its ongoing weekly reading series. Tim Kahl, local poet and longtime poetry center board member, will host the free reading at the gallery space at 1719 25th Street at 7:30 p.m. Mary Mackey is a poet, novelist, screenwriter and professor emeritus who is always working on at least one new project. Her latest book of poetry, “Sugar Zone,” was released by Marsh Hawk Press on Oct. 1, and has received great praise. In addition to this sixth book of poetry, she’s authored 13 novels and five screenplays. Mackey helped found the Sacramento State women’s studies program, the Sacramento State graduate cre

Sacramento State hosted the 58th annual Causeway Classic football game, its rivalry game against UC Davis Saturday at Hornet Stadium. The Hornets were hoping to win its third Causeway Classic game in four years, but unfortunately the Aggies did not let that happen as Davis defeated Sac State 23-19. Sac State did not score until the second quarter when freshman defensive lineman Ben Cowger sacked Davis quarterback Randy Wright, causing Wright to fumble the ball into Davis’ end zone allowing Cowger to recover the ball for a Hornet touchdown. Davis however would answer back with a touchdown of its own when freshman running back Austin Edmondson rushed to the end zone from the 8-yard line

Photo essay by Dan Ward   Baseball in Sacramento is extending its reach to a higher medium. The Morris brother’s baseball league is now producing podcast shows, along with launching their clothing line online. The Morris league started up back in 2007, when the two brothers were playing catch at the Sacramento State dorm fields. While seeing others play they decided to start up a pick-up game at a local park. From there they saw the potential to do more than just play a game here and there. Donte and Dominic Morris saw a league happening. After countless hours of research and fundraising the Morris brothers started up their first season with two teams and since then building over the ye

Master Barber & Beauty Shop presents: Art on Stockton Blvd. - Art Panel Discussion "Art In Sacramento - Where do we go from here?" This is your chance to share and discuss with some of Sacramento's lead art professionals and artists! Join Master Barber & Beauty Shop and panel participants, Dr. Allan Gordon, Lorrie Kempf, Patris Miller, Daphne Burgess and James Sweeney for an evening of lively discussion on "Art in Sacramento." Come with your thoughts, stories and questions as professionals in the art world tell their personal and professional views on the Sacramento art scene. Keynote Speaker: Gerry GOS" Simpson - Artist, Photographer and Author Moderator: Tim Foster - Editor, Midtown

New bike lanes could be added to 65th Street if the city receives enough cash from the state. The City Council is expected to approve the application for funding to install bicycle lanes on 65th Street between Fourth Avenue and Folsom Boulevard. The issue will be reviewed at Tuesday night’s council meeting. The city’s transportation department estimates the new bike lanes will cost $337,000 to install. California would pay most of the project’s costs if it selects the city’s application for the state’s Bicycle Transportation Account grant program. The city would pay 10 percent of the cost from revenues from Measure A, a local half-cent sales tax applied to street projects, according to E

“One sexual assault is too many. One student can make a difference.” So goes the slogan for the “One Student” campaign which kicked off locally at Sacramento State University on Tuesday with volunteers collecting pledges from students stating that they would not tolerate sexual assault and that they would themselves be respectful when talking about sex in general. The campaign doesn’t coincide with any tragic event in particular, it's a response to all sexual violence in general said senior Megan Olson who was collecting pledges inside the student union.   “Students can make a difference in their individual actions. It can be as small as intervening at a party…. Education is the best way

Couples scurry before Valentine’s Day to find their significant others the perfect gift: flowers, chocolate, perhaps an engagement ring? For many people Valentine’s Day may seem like a Hallmark holiday but for others – the single variety – it’s just another day in February. The Sacramento Press set out to find how singles spend their Valentine’s Day. “As you get older, it doesn’t matter as much when you’re in college and you’re busy,” said Erica Childs, a Davis native and first-year student at Chico State. Childs added that she will be busy with sorority rush week at Chico State on the week of Valentine’s Day. In addition, Yesania Villaroñ, a first-year nursing student at Sacramento S

The good news is more and more people at Sacramento State are using alternative transportation and parking as they should. The bad news is revenue from parking citations has been down, and that may lead to changes to the university’s Hornet Shuttle program. The University of Transportation and Parking Services, or UTAPS, held an open forum this afternoon regarding proposed Hornet Shuttle route changes for Spring and Fall 2011. The Hornet Shuttle program began in 1989 with shuttle routes running off campus Monday – Friday from 7am to 7pm during the Fall and Spring semesters. The current fleet of six buses, all running on compressed natural gas, make 18 to 24 runs combined among three rout

Sacramento will be hosting the 2011 World Masters Athletic Championships, and registration is now open. The worldwide event draws track-and-field athletes from about 80 countries every two years and is rarely held in the United States, with the last time being 16 years ago, according to Bob Burns, spokesman for the Sacramento Sports Commission. “It’ll mean quite a bit of business here locally,” he said, explaining that most of the estimated 5,000 athletes and their families will be staying in the area for at least a week, as the event is held from July 6-17. The biannual event is open to everyone 35 and older, and Burns said there is usually at least one athlete 100 years or older. Reg

Sacramento State's 33 annual Festival of New American Music runs November 4- 14.  The festival begins  with Keynote Address at 12:00pm on Thursday, November 4, on the life and work of Arthur Jarvinen. Jarvinen's music will be featured at the Gala Performance at 8:00pm on November 4, also in the Music Recital Hall, featuring performances by TempWerks, Earplay and percussionist Chris Froh. Saturday evening as part of the St. Paul's Arts and Culture Experience 2010 – 2011 the Festival of New American Music will present a free cocert featuring Zoe Keating. The Sacramento Bee has described St. Paul's Episcopal Church as one of the best venues in Sacramento to hear classical music.   Zoe Keat

The Sacramento Mountain Lions are looking to avenge their loss in this season’s opening game with a victory over the Hartford Colonials Saturday night. “We’ve got to try to see if we can get that win back from Hartford, and with three games to go, I think we’ve just got to get out and play very well in the second half of the season,” Head Coach Dennis Green said after the team’s practice Wednesday. The Colonials (1-4) beat the Mountain Lions (2-3) in the Sept. 18 opener. The teams are part of the United Football League, a professional league in its second season. Last year’s season was six games, but this year’s season has been expanded to eight games. “You play everybody twice, and the

The Sacramento State Hornets football team defeated the Northern Colorado Bears 42-7 during its annual Homecoming game at Hornet Stadium on Oct. 9. The Hornets shut out the Bears 28-0 in the second half and 14-0 in the first, third and fourth quarters. This victory moved Sac State up to fourth place in the Big Sky Conference. Here is some exclusive video footage of the game. Highlights include a running back Bryan Hilliard's first touchdown of the game and post-game interviews with players.   Photo taken by Nick Hunte

Mayor Kevin Johnson released his endorsements for several Nov. 2 political races on Friday. He named his candidates in local, state and federal elections in a post on his blog.  In the Sacramento City Council runoff in District 5, Johnson endorsed education policy consultant Jay Schenirer. He had endorsed Schenirer for the first time in May, when the City Council candidate was running against four other candidates. Schenirer is competing against attorney Patrick Kennedy in the November runoff. The winning candidate will replace current City Councilwoman Lauren Hammond. Johnson decided not to endorse a candidate in the District 7 runoff. Ryan Chin, a communications director at Sacramento

Sacramento State’s football team showed everyone the meaning of a blowout victory after defeating the Northern Colorado Bears 42-7 Saturday in an exciting homecoming game. With this win, Sacramento State holds a 3-3 overall record and is currently in fourth place in the Big Sky Conference at 2-2. With 9,011 in attendance, the Hornets’ fans rallied behind their team while the visiting side of Hornet Stadium was sparse. In a game with only touchdowns, Sacramento State got off to a strong start when running back Bryan Hilliard ran in for the short one-yard touchdown run with 6:30 left in the first quarter. “I just did what the team told me to,” Hilliard said of the play. “We’ve been worki

As Sacramento’s bicycle scene continues to grow, be it among fixed-gear aficionados in Midtown or hardcore racing fans, a decades-old indoor cycling sport is gaining popularity – Gold Sprints. “It started out 50, 60, 70 years ago,” said Dean “Dino” Alleger, a mechanic at Rex Cycles, 1811 E St. “It had two fixed bikes and a big clock with wires, but now it’s all digitized.” Alleger said the basic premise of Gold Sprints is that racers use fixed-gear bicycles mounted without their front wheels while the rear wheels rest on rollers. When the race starts, racers “pedal like crazy” for 500 meters or one kilometer, and the computer keeps track of who wins. “Gold Sprints are all indoors, and t

When you think of a “rap superstar,” what words come to mind? Gaudy? Violent? Subjective to women? How about humble, loving, and community-oriented? All of these words and many more could describe hip-hop duo Atmosphere, which will grace the University Union Ballroom stage at Sacramento State Sept. 28. This unique outlook on music production and life in general has pushed Atmosphere, composed of Sean Daley (Slug) and Anthony Davis (Ant), to the forefront of the international hip-hop scene. Working together for close to two decades, the duo has produced dozens of EPs, tour albums and collaborative albums with outside artists, traveled the world and started the wildly successful independent

By Jennifer A. Gordon Be ready to receive an infusion of laughter. L.A. comedian Darren Carter, “the Party Starter,” is coming to town. He’ll be performing at Serna Plaza at Sacramento State’s University Union from 7:30-9 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 16. All ages are welcome. No alcohol will be sold or permitted at the venue. The show is free. Beat Energy, fun, hip hop and razor-sharp wit, Carter’s act has beat. His musicality pervades his comedy and gives it rhythm and punch. And, Carter’s the only comedian with a theme song, written by a rapper fan of his, Big Fluff Nickolantern. Grown-ups like him, too A favorite among college students, Carter has a solid following among the adult crowd, too.

Sacramento State students won’t be disappointed with their investment. The WELL officially opened Thursday in front of a crowd of 250 students, faculty, staff and community members. The University’s new 151,000 square-foot recreation and wellness center was paid for by a student fee approved by students in a campus-wide referendum. “Today is a historic day for Sacramento State,” said Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez. “I especially want to congratulate the students, because you are the ones who came to me and told me this is what you wanted, and you worked very hard to make it happen.” “I know for many, many years you’ve been looking forward to this day, and what a day it is