Category: News

An unique twist on a common occurrence

We’re at the point here at the Sac Rag that we don’t even bother reporting on “normal” crashes involving a vehicle and a living room (unless it’s a two-fer, of course), but this one is different. While Sacramento isn’t making a name for itself on any “best place to…” list, it does continue to bring its “A” game in this arena.

Sacramento police say around 9:20 p.m. one of its officers and the driver of a Honda crashed into one another on Village Star Drive and Franklin Boulevard. The impact sent the Honda into the living room of a nearby home.

Wow, huh? I wonder what happened. High speed pursuit? Drunk driver? Man, what could it have been? I must read on…

Police say there are no indications that speed or alcohol lead to the crash.

Oh, ok, Police, sure that’s enough for me. I’ll move on now.

Breton backpedals on hate crime case

First, I should point out that these are my views. I’m sure others share them, but none of us Sac Rag contributors should ever be construed to be speaking for the rest.

I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m enjoying watching the Bee squirm after their Slavic Evangelical accusations in the Singh case have all but dried up. But there is squirming going on. Witness Marcos Breton today… Continue reading “Breton backpedals on hate crime case”

Public hearing tonight on RT changes

Even though the state budget is not yet complete, Regional Transit is planning to reduce its operations due to the probable inclusion in that budget of $1.3 billion in public transit cuts. In addition to internal cost-saving measures it looks like RT is set to make changes to 20 or more routes. Sac RT has released an announcement with a list of routes slated for trimming (PDF). RT Rider blog has more documents to peruse. RT Driver had some pretty tough words for the RT leadership when the announcement of Arnold’s cuts came out.

There is a public hearing about the proposed cuts tonight at 6 p.m. at the 29th and N RT office.

In honor of the 50E, my line of choice and one of the doomed routes, check out “Stockton Boulevard” by Stars & Garters on Chris Macias’ Sunday Single…

Besides, what’s wrong with Sacramento?

Sacramento based editorial writer for the LA Times, Bill Stall, writes an interesting article about Sacramento’s failure to make any “best places to” list. He does make you wonder, after listing all of the usual attributes, why we continue to get a bad rap.

I happen to live in Sacramento, which rarely makes any list of best places. My wife and I have talked of moving some place with lower housing costs as we both approach retirement, but have yet to find the perfect place.

I do find it curious that when the Internet boom was in full swing several years ago (approaching a decade, huh? wow.) the River City looked mighty appealing with its affordable housing, tree lined streets, and proximity to all things cool. And now folks talk of moving to areas with lower housing costs and populations. See a pattern forming here? Sacramento has been wined and dined until it put out and now is being kicked to the curb. Was Sacramento too easy? Should she have played hard to get? Most of our loyal readers can answer these questions as they’ve been through the bad, the good, and the bad again.

What does Sacramento have to do to get back on the “best places to” lists?

Fare-thee-well to Willemina’s

The scuttlebutt on the street says that Willemina’s in Old Sac will be closing in the next 60 days. For those of you whom have not had the pleasure, this young venue has recently been the epicenter of Sacramento’s rockabilly, hotrod and tattoo loving community. It is also one of the few spots in town to feature quality German beers on draught.

Will the new owners of the property be the proprietors of Davis’ G Street Pub? If so, let’s hope they keep bringing the same high quality acts and events as the current owners. Cheers, and good luck!

Sacramento gets Real (again)

I am not sure how I missed this one (oh, that’s right, I had no idea the show was still on television), but the 38th installment of MTV’s “The Real World” will feature a local gal by the name of Shauvon. Fans of the show might put together that this marks the second consecutive season of the show featuring a Sacramento native. Not to mention the 29th cycle of American’s Next Top Model which included yet another River City product.

So, rather than go on and on about how lame The Real World is or how they simply cast the same “characters” each season, I want to know what you think about Sacramento’s knack for producing reality show contestants. Are we just so diverse and cultured that we can’t help but kick out well rounded, dynamic individuals? Or perhaps our town is just now moving into the mainstream of hip?

How says you, Sacramento?

Breton keeps to Bee party line on Slavic Christians

bee
This is one of the good ones.

Marcos Breton’s Metro column today features his take on the search for the men responsible for the murder of Satender Singh a month ago. Once again it’s important for me to state that those people need to be caught and punished, and that Singh’s death is a real tragedy.

Breton takes Sacramento to task for being the kind of place where culprits don’t walk into the police station and turn themselves in routinely. He also brings up the “unwanted attention” this case brings on the area’s “Slavic community.” Although he acknowledges that only “some members” of that community belong to Evangelical churches who have engaged in anti-gay protests, he goes right on ahead and assumes that the attackers should turn themselves in because “[a]ttacking a man, causing his death and then hiding from the law is the opposite of Christian principles.” He’s obviously read his stuff, this Marcos Breton.

Continue reading “Breton keeps to Bee party line on Slavic Christians”

Speaking of fact or fiction…

There is an interesting article on money.cnn.com about JetBlue’s new fall fare sale. Flights from Sacramento, CA to/from New York/JFK are priced at $149 each way and Sacramento to/from Long Beach are $49 each way. However, the detail that caught my eye was JetBlue’s announcement that they have been named…

“The Official Airline of Springfield” — the hometown city of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson — to celebrate the summer theatrical release of The Simpsons Movie.

Uh, uh, say what? This is an airline, right? That flies high in the air with hundreds of human beings on board? Oh wait, there’s more you say?

In honor of America’s favorite animated family of comedy, JetBlue also unveiled its first-ever specialty aircraft, christened “Woo-Hoo, JetBlue!” and featuring an image of Homer along with a permanent logo of its new Springfield status. To celebrate Fall travel, the low-fare airline is offering special sale fares for Springfielders and non-Springfielders across the country.

What’s next? Do I get a Bart Simpson Black Box toy with each round trip ticket purchased? Perhaps a Milhouse fuselage complete with air sickness bags?

Nuts to all that!

Fox has a “fake news” comedy show called “The 1/2 Hour News Hour.” Haven’t seen it, can’t comment on its laugh-generating ability. But the show’s companion Web site OfficialNewsAgency.com has a winner with a very funny spoof of the mandatory neutering legislation (for pets, gentlemen! for pets!) recently shelved in the state Senate. (Update: The site isn’t associated with the show. I got that idea from their About page, which I now see has been changed to clearly show that they’re making fun of the Fox show, for people like me who are too dopey to get it. Ha!)

The story is being circulated all over the Internets as true, which is what spoof writers live for:

A marble monument to service dogs, originally set to be displayed in Sacramento, California, may be on its way out of the golden state. The reason? The statue’s “manhood” is still intact.

Proponents of the recently-tabled state assembly bill AB-1634, the so-called “California Healthy Pets Act”, which would require that most of the state’s dogs and cats over the age of 6 months be sterilized, claim that placing the image of an intact male dog on public property is harmful and sends the wrong message to California pet owners.

“Its not an appropriate display, in a state that carries out three million euthanasias a year.” said Dan Nender, a 1634 supporter who filed suit in Sacramento Federal Court to have the monument altered.

Pressed about the number, since most reputable sources set that number at 400,000, Nender replied, “One is too many. Concentrate on the point I’m making, not the numbers.”

Pretty good stuff, and very believable if you followed any of the heated rhetoric on both sides of the issue. (Which I very much did, like, um, full-time for weeks.)

Best part of all:

“As California government officials […] will attest to, Sacramento is a testicle-free zone.”

Well, OK, so maybe it’s not all a spoof. We are talking about a town full of politicians, after all.

Damn those mossies!

So I’m reading that four northern counties will undergo aerial spraying for West Nile virus beginning Monday and I couldn’t help but wonder how this came about so quickly.  Then I hop over to sacbee.com and check out an article about two new cases of West Nile being discovered this week.

From the Sac Bee article:

District officials were sharply criticized in 2005 when, during a West Nile epidemic, they began aerial spraying in Sacramento and Yolo counties with little public notice. As a result, the district initiated an intensive awareness campaign to publicize every facet of its mosquito control efforts.

From the News 10 article:

The decision follows Thursday’s announcement that two human cases of the virus have been detected in the county.

Now that’s an intense effort to publicize EVERY facet, huh?