Thursday morning, journalist Lisa Ling, members of the City Council and the homeless and formerly-homeless community joined Mayor Kevin Johnson in launching the "Sacramento Steps Forward" initiative. A crowd of several hundred waved blue initiative flags and cheered as Johnson announced his goal "to end homelessness and focus on permanent housing." He applauded permanent housing shelters such as Mercy Housing, Turning Point and Martin Luther King Jr. Village, 3900 47th Avenue, where the launch was held. Johnson said the goal of Sacramento Steps Forward is to provide 2,400 "decent and affordable" permanent housing units over the next three years. That would nearly quadruple the amount of

 A recent fishing derby pulled in a truckload of clothes and cash for St. John's Shelter for Women and Children in Sacramento. The sixth annual Gone Fishin' Derby held recently at Granite Regional Park had folks of all ages showing up with their fishing gear in hand. "Approximately 250 kids and 100 adults attended the event," says Tammy T. Nguyen, Community Relations Coordinator for The Hoyt Company. "We gave away almost $2,000 worth of fishing equipment, not including the gift baskets we received from SunSweet, a trip to Donner Lake, and the gift certificates from Squeeze Inn." Derby co-sponsors were HDR|The Hoyt Company, BLT Enterprises,Power Inn Alliance, Granite Park Partners, Jacks