Well, this is awkward... Over my nearly three years at The Sacramento Press, I’ve written some nice farewells to folks who’ve left us, and I’ve even had to fire a couple of people. Not what I signed on to do. But now I find that the tables are turned: I was laid off yesterday as Editor in Chief of The Sacramento Press. It was a cost-cutting measure, done to get this young company to profitability. Not the way I wanted to help get there, but you do what you can. Yikes. I wasn’t the only one, but that doesn’t really lessen the sting. In some ways, it makes it worse. The other person laid off is media-shy, and I will respect that. But I do want to say that she also worked hard to put Sacra

The long, sorry tale of redistricting 2011 is over. But certain local incumbents may find that the saga has legs well into next year. Say, into election season. Councilmembers Bonnie Pannell, Sandy Sheedy and Kevin McCarty may find that citizens of Sacramento, especially the relative few who vote, have long memories when the incumbents run for reelection next year. The people of Oak Park – and not just them, but their sympathizers – will long remember the removal of the UC Davis Medical Center complex out of Jay Schenirer’s District 5 into McCarty’s District 6. The redistricting process was not just long, it was fraught with conflicts of interest, surreptitious power plays, raw politics

On Tuesday’s regular visit with Jeffrey Callison on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight,” we discussed this week’s unveiling of the arena financing deal, the long-awaited passage of the backyard chicken ordinance and the opening of a new gelato shop in Midtown. The highly anticipated report by Mayor Kevin Johnson’s Think Big Sacramento committee should give Sacramentans a better idea of possibilities for financing the entertainment and sports complex the mayor has been pursuing for more than a year. It will be unveiled at a luncheon at the Sacramento Press Club on Thursday, and we will be there. Meanwhile, here’s our most recent story on the subject.  On a much less grand scale, after two ye

We old-timers will likely continue to call it “Jazzfest” or even “the Jubilee” for some time to come, but as of today, Sacramento’s Memorial Day tradition for 38 years, the Sacramento Jazz Festival in Old Sacramento, is going by a new name: The Sacramento Music Festival. The airport isn’t the only SMF in town any more. Name changes are nothing new for the event, which began its life as the Dixieland Jazz Jubilee in 1973 and became the Sacramento Jazz Festival a couple of decades after that. But jazz has long since ceased to be the only, or even the dominant musical form at the festival, which has for years featured many blues, swing and other traditional music acts. The festival has als

Many claim to be public servants, but few do work that has as concrete an impact as Ryan Loofbourrow's work has. No, you didn't vote for him, and you won't see him in the news cutting ribbons, opining on politics or taking credit for this or that civic improvement. But if you live or visit downtown Sacramento, Loofbourrow's work with the homeless, the mentally ill, public drunks and runaway teens has made the central business district safer, quieter and cleaner for 16 years. And now he's leaving, for a job in San Diego. Loofbourrow, who was profiled in The Sacramento Press earlier this year, is the director of community services for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership. It has been his