By Farhad Manjoo, Wall Street Journal This is going to sound silly, but I think Snapchat was the most important technology of 2013. It sounds silly because Snapchat is just an app. What’s more, it’s an app used primarily by teens and college students, and wasn’t I telling you just a few weeks ago that […]
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By Jim Miller, Sacramento Bee State Sen. Ted Gaines is going home but leaving his 1st Senate District constituents behind, at least temporarily. Gaines, who represents Lake Tahoe, recently told recipients of his district’s email newsletter that he and his family are leaving Rocklin after deciding to “temporarily move back into our long-time home in […]
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By Christopher Joyce, NPR Among the things to celebrate this holiday season is the fact that there are fewer hungry people in the world. Just how many? Well, since 1965, researchers in Europe have been tracking the world’s food supply and where it’s going. The good news is: The percentage of the world’s population getting […]
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By Kathryn Reed Olympic Valley – it might be California’s next town. More than enough signatures were gathered this month for Placer County’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) to have to look into the viability of making Olympic Valley a town. Twenty-five percent of the registered voters needed to sign the petitions; 30 percent did […]
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By Theresa Harrington, Contra Costa Times SACRAMENTO — California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson declared a fiscal state of emergency in K-12 education 3½ years ago. But much has changed since then. Now, Torlakson says, schools are in better financial shape and ready to take on the challenges of new education standards and computerized […]
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Strong temperature inversions and stagnant weather conditions are causing air pollution levels to increase rapidly in the valleys of Carson City and Douglas County. The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection is asking people in the Eagle and Carson valleys to refrain from burning wood this week. Where wood is the only option, people should burn […]
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By Justin Bachman, Bloomberg The number of award miles needed to snag a seat in the premium cabin will rise dramatically next year at Delta and United — and airline mile collectors are fuming. The biggest changes in both airlines’ loyalty programs will be for international travel in first and business class, where some award […]
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By Brad Branan, Sacramento Bee For the second time in his career, a Sacramento County deputy district attorney faces drunken driving charges after getting into a car accident. The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office this month filed a criminal complaint in Superior Court against Alan Scott Hengel, 58. The complaint alleges that Hengel had […]
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By Kathryn Reed Joe Hoffman isn’t letting the bitter, nasty campaign of 2012 stop him from running again for El Dorado County Superior Court judge. The 44-year-old is running to replace Judge Daniel Proud, who is retiring. The contentious battle of 2012 was against incumbent Curt Stracener. “I think this time will be different than […]
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By Peter Delevett, San Jose Mercury News Lots of folks believe California is ungovernable. Venture capitalist Tim Draper has a solution: Six Californias, including one called Silicon Valley. Draper, a maverick tech investor who once poured $20 million into a statewide school voucher initiative, on Monday laid out his case for a proposed ballot measure […]
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