The questions about Kevin Johnson’s past just keep on coming. The SacBee reports on a federal investigation into St. Hope’s suspected misuse of grant money for the AmeriCorps program and of reports of KJ’s inappropriate behavior towards two teenagers.

From 2004-2007, St. Hope received more than $800,000 for their Hood Corps program aimed at leadership development among inner city youth. Last year, federal funding was terminated because half of the youth involved had dropped out. The program is also supposed to be non-religious and completely voluntary, yet former members report that they were required to study the Bible, attend church, and receive communion. Many participants also had trouble with the mandatory “boot camp” style physical fitness training, another activity forbidden by the funding guidelines. Participants were also allegedly required to perform activities outside of the program’s scope, including campaigning for Sacramento City School Board candidates, a major violation of campaign rules and electoral ethics.

If these allegations turn out to be true, they will be a major blow to KJ’s mayoral campaign, as they show that he cannot even manage a simple government grant within the specified rules. And if he cannot do that, how much success will he have with an entire city?

In honor of The Sac Rag’s 3rd birthday, which was Saturday, we are (finally) introducing our 2008 redesign. In addition to cosmetic changes there are a few new features to which I’d like to call your attention…

Continue reading “Redesign launched!” »

Okay, how sad do you think these ponies are?

The Bee is reporting today that CalPERS’ chief investment officer Russell Read is calling it quits. We’ve mentioned Mr. Read here before, less than two years ago in fact, when he first took the job.

Why such a short tenure? Well, it’s not due to Mr. Read’s investing acumen, which led the country’s largest pension fund to achieve higher than average gains in an iffy market. No. It’s instead the pull of Mother Earth on Mr. Read’s heartstrings. According to the Bee, Mr. Read says that he’s leaving “to pursue my long-standing interests in environmental and clean technology investing.”

In other words, if you’ve got a Series 7 license and PhD in biology, Mr. Read might be looking for your particular skill set. Time to dust off that resume.

Heckasac beat me to posting about the article in Via magazine about midtown. The Via article is here. I think it is interesting that one main focus of the article is on Sacto as a “walking town” and for using the phrase “ground-beef triangle” to refer to the as-yet unlabeled area bordered by Ford’s, Willie’s, and Suzie’s. I normally recuse myself from burger discussions, I guess because I am too much of a fan to be objective. I likes em all. Does it have meat between buns? Give it over.

Continue reading “Midtown featured in AAA mag” »

Courtesy of your Sacramento River Cats! Let’s hope they can dig deep and pull out some wins during the rest of this homestand…

No, Corey and the boys are not getting back together (I wish)… Last year My58 CW31 brought us Reno 911! on late night, and this year they’re My58 is bringing back Keenan, Jamie, DAG, Tommy, Carrey, and of course J Lo. That’s right, “In Living Color,” the troupe that rocked your world back in the ’90s, is coming back to My58 starting at 7:30 p.m. on April 16. Will it stand the test of time?

The DTP (Downtown Partnership, not to be confused with DTV, the Downtown Vandals) has announced the full lineup for the Friday Night Concerts in the park. Not too many surprises, except maybe the inclusion of Knock Knock. A Kevin Seconds-themed show, Bucho, The Brodys, Mick Martin etc. are all classic picks. I can’t find the full lineup from last year but I remember some better shows.

I guess the other interesting inclusion this year is freakin hot buzzworthy Middle Class Rut, which you keep hearing on KWOD.

(I like the DTP events calendar’s default text for a broken search page like this one for last year’s lineup… “What”)

I intend the focus of my posts here to be primarily on local music, so consider this entry an aberration. Yesterday, my department took me out to lunch for a belated birthday celebration. We had wanted to try Chicago Fire, but for some reason they are only open for dinner. I thought it a bit odd to hear of a pizza place that doesn’t do lunch, but perhaps the lunch crowd isn’t so big on that end of J Street, since our substitute restaurant, Gianni’s Trattoria only had about a 10-12 other diners the entire two hours we were there.

However, the primary reason I am writing this is not to review the cuisine – which folks like sac-eats can do much better than I – it’s more to give y’all a couple heads-up warnings. First, that if you want to go to Chicago Fire you’ll have to make it for dinner. Second, it’s probably not a good idea to visit Gianni’s right now, because they are renovating the space next to the restaurant and the entire time we were there they were hammering on the walls, which put a bit of a damper on the affair.
Continue reading “whadjasay?” »

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if a tiny band of synthesizer-playing women in Renaissance-themed costumes and drum-kit playing men in white suits crawled out of the speakers at the mall and began to play jazzy versions of Handel’s Messiah, inspiring middle-aged women to compliment one another on their Christmas sweaters? Or are you more the type to wonder what it would be like if Thomas Kinkaide’s artwork went through the video toaster before being projected at a stadium concert? If you’ve ever had these questions, or if you simply enjoy wizardry, Gaelic spellings (e.g. “Faeries”) and being more relaxed than you ever thought you could be in a huge sports stadium, I strongly recommend seeing Mannheim Steamroller next year at Arco Arena.  We went last night.  I don’t think I need to say much more except there is really very little I won’t do to please my in-laws.