About 1,500 people gathered on the west steps of the State Capitol Friday afternoon to express their anger with state environmental regulations, which they said were responsible for increased unemployment in the state. Present at the event were talk radio hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty, Congressman Tom McClintock and Mark Meckler, head of the Sacramento Tea Party Patriots and the event's organizer, as well as several business owners and a representative from the National Tea Party Patriots organization. In addition to the protesters on the west steps, many tractors, big rigs and other trucks carrying signs and honking in support of the protest were on the streets around the Capitol.

Sacramento artists of all sorts have been asked by Richard St. Ofle and Jesse Vasquez to contribute to a weekly "participatory art project" on their new blog, "Topical Thursday." On "Topical Thursday," Sacramento's most creative are asked to consider a topic and contribute their interpretation, in whatever form they choose, to the blog. According to St. Ofle, the contributors will be "mostly artists, but also writers as well . . . we wanted to limit it to people who do something creative, but not just visual art." St. Ofle and Vasquez, themselves artists, reveal a new topic every Thursday, as the blog's name implies. Past topics have included "guilty pleasures" and "secrets." Upcoming

  20th Street's Mars Complex has been the location for a lot of recent development, with restaurants, bars, yogurt shops, and now Sacramento's newest yoga studio, Asha Yoga. Asha Yoga is owned and operated by Cori Martinez and Maureen Guildersleeve, two relatively newcomers to the area and longtime yoga practitioners who say they plan to make Asha Yoga into a public space and center for community, not just a yoga studio. Before moving to Sacramento three years ago, Martinez lived in Hawaii, where she established and taught at her first yoga studio, Yoga Centered. She says that she saw the space Asha Yoga now occupies four months ago, shortly before meeting her business partner Guildersl

As pleasant springtime weather becomes more and more common, many Sacramento residents head outside for relaxation and fun, especially to city waterways. This Friday, April 17, marks the begining of Creek Week, an event intended to make sure those waterways are still serviceable. Creek Week is an event sponsored and organized by the Sacramento Area Creeks Council, to draw attention to the condition of Sacramento's creeks. A week of activities, including tours of the Mather Field vernal pools and a "river-friendly" landscaping workshop, culminates in a day of volunteer cleanup work on Saturday, April 25. The Creeks Council emphasizes the benefits of well-maintained creeks, citing their us

Approximately 5,000 people gathered at the State Capitol Wednesday in a "Tax Day Tea Party" protest organizers said was aimed at fiscal irresponsibility in the form of Bailouts, the stimulus bill, increased taxation, and government waste. Speaking at the event were a mixture of media figures, politicians, and organizers, including State Representative Tom McClintock, talk radio hosts Mark Williams and Armstrong & Getty and others. The protest officially started at noon, but the crowd began gathering long before that. Many of the protesters were not Sacramento residents, traveling from Roseville, Grass Valley and other surrounding towns to be heard. The size of the crowd necessitated a gia

  Luigi's Fungarden on 20th Street will be playing host to an album release party for one of Sacramento's homegrown songstresses, Autumn Sky, Friday, April 24. Also on the bill are The Early States and Adrian Bourgeois. Autumn Sky (whose lyrical name is, amazingly, not a pseudonym) has been working on her first album, entitled All Which Isn't Singing, since 2007, and its release on the 24th will be the latest milestone in a lifelong musical journey. Sky can boast of having danced with Santa Barbara alt-rockers Toad the Wet Sprocket while still a toddler, proficiency with 14 instruments, and an appearance on NPR Sacramento's Insight program. It would be easy to describe Sky's music as fo

  A lane closure will be in effect on Q street between 6th and 7th streets beginning April 7 and lasting until April 26, according to a press release from the Sacramento Department of Transportation. The closures will remain in effect 24 hours a day until work is completed on street and sidewalk improvements. The press release stated that the improvements were related to an unnamed state construction project. According to the press release, the traffic patterns of morning commutes in the area may be affected by the closures. Inquiries were made to the City in the hopes of identifying the project, but as of press time no calls were returned.

Bon Air is right on the corner of 26th and J Streets. You might miss it, because it looks just like a teeny little corner market where you would go to buy a pack of cigarettes or Brillo pads or candy bars – not the location of a deli so good I moved down the street to be closer to it. On the side of the building there's a giant mural of a really parched guy chugging what looks like a bottle of Snapple, which is pretty cool. If you or your friends like to take pictures and be photographers, you can't really beat a thirsty giant leering behind you while you pose. Inside this unassuming building, some of the best sandwiches in downtown Sacramento await you. Maybe you like your sandwiches wi

  According to a study conducted by the plastics manufacturer Nalgene, Sacramento leads the nation in the use of energy-efficient light bulbs. The study, called America's Least Wasteful Cities, questioned 3,750 people living in America's 25 largest cities. Participants were asked about how much garbage their households generated, their shopping and transportation habits, and other sustainable behaviors. Mayor Kevin Johnson said, "I'm proud that Sacramento tops the list in using energy-efficient light bulbs but there's still plenty more work to be done to move us up the list in other categories. Particularly with the challenging economic conditions we're in, we should not reduce our effo

Bikes, beer and beards - all were in abundant supply this weekend at the second annual Sacramento Bike Games, which lasted all of Saturday evening. A select group of people received phone calls Saturday morning from the event's organizers telling them where to meet up for the first event, a skid-stop competition held on the American River Bike Trail at noon. After that, the action moved to Discovery Park, where the Pick Up, Footdown and Trackstand events were held. While Footdown and Trackstands have been explained in previous articles in this storyline, Pick Up is probably unfamiliar to readers. In Pick Up, objects of successively diminishing size have to be picked up by players riding

Five Sacramento streets will be resurfaced with money provided by the federal economic stimulus package, according to a press release from the Department of Transportation. The streets to receive the overlays will be: Truxel Road, from Del Paso Road to Gateway Park Boulevard Arena Boulevard, from East Commerce Way to Gateway Park Boulevard Arden Way, from Del Paso Boulevard to Evergreen Street Florin Road, from 24th Street to Franklin Boulevard Calvine Road, from Franklin Boulevard to Bruceville Road Bids for the project, which is expected to cost $8.1 million, will be posted in late May. Work is anticipated to start in late June. Additionally, the following streets will also be

  A few days ago, while I was eating a gigantic hamburger at Nationwide Freezer Meats, I noticed a flier advertising for the second annual Sacramento Bike Games. This upcoming Saturday, March 28, was given as a date, but no location was revealed. My interest was piqued, so I checked the MySpace address listed on the flier, only to find the games’ location listed as "TBA." Viewers of the page were encouraged to check back regularly for information on where the games are to be held. However, other pertinent information was revealed. The games focus on fixed-gear bikes, with events like Bike Polo, Footdown (essentially chicken played on bikes), Jousting, and several other bike maneuvers. S

The Sacramento Police Department is urging citizens to use their cell phones to text information about crimes to the Sacramento Crime Alert program. Citizens who see a crime and wish to inform police are instructed to text SACTIP and the details of their information to 274637, or CRIMES. Two-way conversation with an officer is possible, although it can be ended whenever the informer wants. Sacramento Police Sergeant Norm Leong said that no phone numbers were stored by the police department, and guaranteed privacy to anyone using the system. The program is a way for people to anonymously inform law enforcement of illegal activity that they would otherwise be hesitant to reveal due to the

Community Organizers called for increased oversight of the spending of national stimulus funds in Sacramento this Wednesday at the Green Living Center in Sacramento's Boulevard Park neighborhood. The organizers were a small group of real estate developers, members of nonprofit organizations, and others who had gathered to discuss the formation of the Economic Opportunity Commission, a group devoted to using funds provided by the stimulus to develop Sacramento's poorer neighborhoods. Jim Knapp, a longtime community organizer and Director of Development at the nonprofit organization Build America, said that such an organization was necessary to combat corruption in the city's handling of st

Maurice Chaney, Public Information Officer for the City of Sacramento, had this to say in response to comments made by Cline Moore and Jim Knapp of the Build America nonprofit organization. "In terms of the money that will be used to fund the 10th and K development, I think it's important to clarify that the Sheraton Hotel proceeds are legally obligated to David S. Taylor Interests and the CIM Group, and can only be used for downtown development projects. "The City believes that this project builds on the momentum and number of investments made downtown, including the Citizen Hotel, the Crest, Ella’s, the Cosmopolitan, and Marilyn’s. The development of 1012-1022 K Street not only reinfor

  Monday evening, a group of business owners, politicians and concerned citizens gathered at the Hart Senior Center for the March meeting of the Sacramento Neighborhood Advisory Group. The Neighborhood Advisory Group is a monthly meeting for residents of Sacramento's Area 1 to discuss issues pertinent to residents and business owners in the area. It is a partnership between neighborhood leaders and the city's Neighborhood Services Department. Monday’s meeting began with a brief speech from Mayor Kevin Johnson, followed by a question-and-answer period. Light on specifics, Johnson's speech focused on the idea of Sacramento as a city of neighborhoods, Johnson's commitment to making Sacrame

If you had to sleep with one of the Three Stooges, which would it be? And what would your answer reveal about you? Sacramento's own Lambda Players graciously provide the answer in their production of Douglas Carter Beane's As Bees in Honey Drown. Alexa Vere de Vere (played here by Kristen Wagner), a glamorous and mysterious woman with a seemingly inexhaustible Rolodex, poses the aforementioned Larry-Curly-Moe conundrum early in the play to Evan Wyler (Matthew Abergel), a writer newly “discovered” by New York's literary elite. Vere de Vere contracts Wyler to write a screenplay based on her terribly exciting and exotic life, and drama ensues. Wagner's Vere de Vere is an affected, just-bare

 After two and a half years in its latest incarnation as a weekly news magazine, the Sacramento Union has ceased publication once again. In a statement to Union readers, editor-in-chief James Dutra blamed the closure on "the difficulties so many local businesses are encountering," likely a reference to the economic hardships imposed by the global recession. The closure of the Union comes amidst news of further cuts and layoffs at the Sacramento Bee, fueling concern among newspaper employees over the industry's future. The Union, which was originally founded in 1851, was published as a daily newspaper until its closure in 1994. When it resumed operations in 2006, it was a changed publica

Have you ever just been living your life, like you do every day, when, out of nowhere, someone living her dreams just rockets past you at the speed of a blistering, heavy-metal guitar riff? Yesterday I talked to Jen Ayres, co-owner of Thunderhorse Vintage, and that was exactly how it felt. There are a lot of little clothing boutiques around Sacramento, so you'd be right to ask what makes this one more worth visiting than any other. Thunderhorse has serious quantities of vintage for women and men, tons of belts, boots and bags, and enough toys and kitsch to satisfy the most nostalgic child of the 80s. But so do a lot of other stores. So why should you visit Thunderhorse? Two words: the hel

 Hot, fashionable, and crowded - no, Thomas Friedman isn't debuting a clothing line. Sacramento boutique Bows and Arrows is holding the first Sellout Buyout of the year, and it's sure to be packed with people, clothes, and an array of whimsical and crafty art items. Sellout Buyout is a lively and loud fashion/art market that gives relatively unknown designers the chance to show their wares alongside established local names. "It's a different line up every single time," says event organizer and Bows and Arrows co-owner Olivia Coelho. "You never know what you're going to get, but I try to make a balanced event." Regardless of the specifics of the line up, visitors to Sellout Buyout can e