The 12th annual Sacramento Film and Music Festival opens its SummerFEST program tonight by honoring another long time Festival director.  This year's Film Arts Service Award will be presented to Cecile Mouette Downs, director of the Sacramento French Film Festival.  Cecille has worked previously for the Film Department of the French Embassy in New York City, and as a Press Officer for the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel in Paris. She has a master’s degree in history, is a regular contributor to “France Today” magazine, and was the 2010 recipient of the Arts Executive of the Year Award from the Sacramento Arts & Business Council. This is the fifth Film Arts Service Award to be presented

Now that city leaders have dedicated $2.7 million in funding to add cars to the K Street pedestrian mall, what exactly does the city hope to achieve from the effort?
 Mayor Kevin Johnson and city staffers have said that the move to include cars on K Street would be a boon for business and would also make the street safer.
 Johnson said at a Monday press conference that automobile traffic on K Street — banned since the late 1960s — would create numerous advantages for the city. “It increases visibility for all the retail...stimulates our activity in terms of K Street, and pedestrian malls are a thing of the past,” he said, adding that the cars would also improve public safety on the thoro

Nights on K Street will be lit up once again by the colossal Crest Theatre marquee. A four-month restoration of the landmark neon sign wrapped up Friday when the last neon tubes were installed. Theater operators have invited the public to a relighting ceremony at 7:15 p.m. Monday -- just two weeks shy of the Crest's 60th anniversary celebration. "When I saw the first coats of paint, my first reaction was, 'That's really bright,' " said Sid Garcia Heberger, one of four people who operate the Crest. "But once I saw it in the larger context, I realized how well it works together and how right it looks." In May, Heberger and her partners hired YESCO sign company to perform a $213,000 restor