Tag: Sac Bee

McClatchy to freeze wages

This just in… The McClatchy company is announcing a one-year freeze in employee wage increases.

This means that if you are scheduled to receive a merit or salary review between September 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009, your review will occur one year later than scheduled. For example, if your next salary review date is March 1, 2009, the salary review will be postponed until March 1, 2010.

Ouch. The tough times continue. And two weeks’ notice, that’s rough. However, if you’re working for McClatchy and you’re…still working for McClatchy, this is somewhat of a relief?

BUZZ: Trethaway Aide Blasts Bee

AWESOME post on Natomas Buzz with an email from a Ray Trethaway aide, Dan Roth, to the Bee’s Mary Lynne Vellinga about Vellinga’s front-page article from last week about crime and low-income housing in Natomas. Roth blasts Vellinga for failing to accurately present her angle, and takes the Bee to task for its racist comment box, go figure

I don’t know what disturbs me more…this comment [from user “sacsforsaps”], or the fact that 4 out 5 people found this comment helpful.

Note to Bee: If you are going to continue with the comments thing, please add permalinks so we can more easily mock you…

The new Bee — what’s the verdict?

So, first impressions of the revamped Bee, anybody? Or do we need a few days to think about it. A few of mine: The narrow page size is “weird”; the color comics every day is great, though it seems like a waste of money; the Top Stories box on the front page is a great addition; the new photos of columnists are a great touch too (wait, that’s Bob Shallit?). I think I can sympathize with the renaming of Metro to Our Region: sometimes you just have to make a change to your product, just for funsies. For example, I think I’ll rename sac-eats. Starting tomorrow, enjoy your snarky food coverage by Tim-tom Happy-pants. Now with double the hyphenation!

Continue reading “The new Bee — what’s the verdict?”

Sac Bee comments must be stopped – UPDATED

This isn’t the first time that the racist idiocy that is the comments box at the Sac Bee has come to my attention. We here at the Rag, and other bloggers like Heckasac have often pointed out the problem.

Today’s racist idiocy comes from this story of the shooting death of a young woman in Oak Park: Continue reading “Sac Bee comments must be stopped – UPDATED”

HodnÄ› Å¡tÄ›stí, Lisa and Todd!

The Sacramento News and Review reports today that SacBee writers Lisa Heyamoto and Todd Milbourn will be packing up their lives and moving to Prague. The pair claims that they are following their desires to live in Europe, but we at the SacRag know the truth… The SacBee staff refuses to accept our generous offer for a pub quiz rematch as they are afraid of another trouncing, and are opting to flee the continent to save face. We think you are cowards, but wish you the best, regardless.

Don’t forget to Czech out this Web site (Ha, get it? So clever!)

I’m Taking My Heterosexual Ball and Going Home

In a story today, the Bee reports that the Butte County Clerk Janice Grubbs has refused to perform any further marriage ceremonies in the Butte County Clerk’s office.

Don’t jump to conclusions, however, because Janice says that it has nothing to do with the recent dust-up over gay marriage. According to the piece, “…Grubbs says the county can’t afford to continue performing wedding ceremonies… [and] said her decision has nothing to do with the California Supreme Court’s ruling last month legalizing gay marriage.” (despite the fact that gay marriage just happened to be ordered by the court in the same week as her decision) Continue reading “I’m Taking My Heterosexual Ball and Going Home”

Ugly Flyer Tries to Fool Naive Voters

Ah, what kind of election would it be if we didn’t have last-minute desperation from candidates with too much money in their campaign chests?

The SacBee reports today on a mailer sent out by a group called Democratic Voters Choice with the catchy slogan, “Make it Emphatic, Vote Straight Democratic!” The only problem is that this group has been sending out virtually identical flyers for almost 20 years to trick Democrats into voting for GOP candidates in non-partisan local races. Local candidates Susan Peters, who is VERY Republican, and Kevin Johnson, who I will very kindly refer to as an “idealistically conflicted Democrat”, are both endorsed and are both listed in the fine print as the folks who paid for this deceptive flyer.

Kudos to the Bee for being on top of this story. The flyer is included for your enjoyment after the jump.

Continue reading “Ugly Flyer Tries to Fool Naive Voters”

Are Political Ads in the Online Bee Fair?

Since I read the Bee online, I have noticed a trend that makes me a bit uncomfortable. The Bee imbeds political advertising in political articles.

Of course, this is smart targeting of voters. People who read articles about the election are more interested in politics than those who don’t. No brainer.

My problem is when the advertising is sold to candidates about whom the articles are written.

Take a look at an article today here. It reports on the debate between the Republican primary candidates for the 4th Congressional District, which will be won by either Tom McClintock or Doug Ose. While reading the article, the reader gets to listen to and watch series of advertisements for McClintock who is (of course) slamming his opponent, Ose. Readers have to turn off the ad if they do not want to watch it or mute it if they do not want to listen to it. Even if they do so, a big “McClintock for Congress” remains on the page.

Continue reading “Are Political Ads in the Online Bee Fair?”

Bee Article That Caught My Eye Today #2

The front page of the sports section today was dominated by a fun piece by Bee sportswriter Ahmed Ortiz. I’m not too familiar with Ahmed’s writing, mostly since I keep forgetting that these things called “Raiders” exist, and that’s Ortiz’s bread and butter. But he definitely caught my attention with today’s piece comparing the general flameout of Barry Zito to the other notable big-paycheck pitching flops of the last ten years.

My favorite bit was when he summed up Dodger pitcher Chan Ho Park as “another Boras special” and “a paper tiger,” the former comment referring to Scott Boras, the immanently unlikable “super agent” who always seems to be behind these ridiculously overpriced deals, the latter comment needing no explanation.

Good work, Ahmed.

Bee pats itself on the back for KJ allegations

Buried at the bottom of this story about Heather Fargo’s uphill battle against KJ’s celebrity status, the Bee’s Mary Lynne Vellinga mentions yesterday’s Padilla bombshell about KJ:

This week, Johnson has again had to contend with allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls in Phoenix and Sacramento. Charges were never brought in either case, but rival mayoral candidate Leonard Padilla on Tuesday distributed the police report in the Phoenix case to the press.

Yes, he had to contend with them again because they were reported on in the same paper after being dropped off by a very concerned political opponent. Continue reading “Bee pats itself on the back for KJ allegations”