- The bespangled cube dropped for the New Years celebration is burgled from city hall. By Heather Fargo.
- Mayor Kevin Johnson rings in the new year by asking the city council to change the title of his office to “Sultan.”
- The Kings win 7 games in a row at home after getting the NBA to OK a new “rimless” basket for the visiting team.
- The Grant High Pacers take on the Dillon Panthers after the Pacers acquire the ability to appear on television. Grant QB Kapeli Koniseti shines and is offered his own variety show that appears after the new Jimmy Fallon Late Nite. The show is called “Last Call with Carson Daly.”
- The Haines Brothers open a restaurant serving only fried potatoes crafted in the French style. It is panned widely for only serving to d-bags.
- The switch to digital TV in February brings a new program to CBS13 titled “Chris’s Burrous” in which anchor Chris Burrous examines animal habitats.
- The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board is taken over by its commenters, and “ardenparkboi84” is named the new Managing Editor.
Author: CoolDMZ
"X-ray vision to see in between / Where's my kimono and my time machine?"
Christmas tree recommendation open thread
Post your comments below if you have a good Christmas tree purchasing tip. My recommendation is Three Women and an Armoire, which is probably the best antique dealer in town. They have a selection of splendidly-priced trees, and you can pick up some unique furniture too. I picked up a 6′ Noble fir for $30 and an antique Chinese cabinet for $745 (just kidding).
Three Women and an Armoire
1116 F Street – 447-2168
KJ proposes to increase mayor’s power
Mayor Kevin Johnson plans to present a voter initiative to increase the power of the office of the mayor, the Biz Journal reports. The office would function as an executive one rather than simply another vote on the council. My hunch is that the voters will probably first want to see whether KJ can actually execute something other than sick dunks 15 years ago, but I suppose it will depend on how he sells it.
“Cable’s Comment” makes a comeback!
In case you missed this last week, CBS13’s Chris Burrous invited legendary News10 anchor Dick Cable to co-anchor the 9am edition of GDS. Cable reprises his “Cable’s Comment” feature, talking about his life in retirement, living with diabetes, and revealing that he listens to Amy Winehouse on his iPod while running with his dogs. If you’re a Sac nostalgia freak this is the coolest video of the day!
Bee tuition piece focuses on woes at Country Day
At Country Day – where tuition costs as much as $17,300 a year – administrators are already taking steps to buy cheaper school supplies, save energy and reduce gas consumption in school vehicles.
I can’t help feeling that Faturechi was playing for an unsympathetic audience reaction by mostly highlighting Country Day School and Jesuit High School (my alma mater) in his report about area families having trouble paying for private school. That’s the only explanation I can find for his relegating Cristo Rey High School to the bottom of his piece. Cristo Rey exclusively targets low income students, who pay for their education by working at local businesses. Some of those businesses are having to pull their support for Cristo Rey, Faturechi reports, which is hurting the school’s bottom line.
Midtown Holiday Celebration Saturday
On Saturday the Midtown Business Association is hosting its annual holiday celebration, featuring tons of fun events for Sacramentans of all ages and interests. Highlights include the IndieSacramento trunk show and craft bazaar at 24th and J all day featuring crafting and live music, an open house viewing of the Governor’s Mansion renovation, and a Ricky Berger and Sac Rag favorite Daisy Spot show at Bows & Arrows at 6pm. Tons of stuff for you crafter types, and kiddie activities all day at the Mosaic Salon parking lot at 27th and Jay. Here is a walking map for the event. (PNG image)
Grant High ranked #58 in nation
The Grant High School Pacers, the top area Division II football team, has been ranked #58 in the nation by Yahoo’s Rivals.com, my Yahoo home page tells me. Nifty.
Though a more important number for the Pacers is their #2 ranking by ESPN’s CalHiSports.com. (So they’re D-I in the state, but D-II in Sac-Joaquin? I’m going to need MSN’s Google’s Wikipedia to explain that to me. Obviously different measures are used by CIF and Sac-Joaquin.) Apparently that #2 ranking means they are looking at a berth in the CIF state championship game on December 20, where they would play the top D-2 school from So Cal. It’s a big weekend for local prep football, as Casa Robles are (apparently I’m British) still in play for the D-II CIF championship berth.
The Pacers and Rams should wear FlyJumpers Power Jumping Stilts Friday night in their Sac-Joaquin section championship games, that could put them over the edge…
How Drunk Are We? Light Rail edition
I wanted to test the new Google Chart API so I had to think of a local angle…
How Drunk Are We? Light Rail edition
Silver lining on RT’s 2009 rate increase
If you’re an RT user I’m sure you know that fares are going up in 2009. An extra two bits for a single fare, and actually also an extra quarter for a transfer, up to 50 cents. So a basic ticket plus transfer is $2.75, almost double the same type of fare on SF Muni, I’m discouraged to learn. However I suppose you could pretend that all of SF would be within the “Central City zone” for Sac RT, in which case a comparable fee will only be $1.60. But that takes some pretending.
However, the silver lining is that RT riders will not experience any service cuts when 2009 comes. In fact, according to the latest “Next Stop News” the only service changes will actually be additional service on several lines.
I like RT’s General Manager Mike Wiley’s moxie; the press release about 2009 fare increases quotes Wiley: “RT could not absorb an $18.3 million raid by the state of California without asking our riders to pay more…”
What do you think though, RT riders? Increased costs or service cuts? Are you going to be happy to pay more knowing that at least for the time being you won’t have to deal with changes to your route?
Sac Food Bank turkeys get big turnout
I think this qualifies as heartening news. Mrs Cool reports that the line outside the Sacramento Food Bank for the thousands of free turkeys being given away today — courtesy of a food drive last week sponsored by KCRA — was around the block. As sac-eats pointed out, this is a great week to do some good.
The Sac Rag 
