
Neighborhood Favorite: Kind Bean Cafe and Ethiopian Cuisine
This cafe serves ceremonial Ethiopian coffee — and breakfast burritos
The coffee ceremony at Kind Bean Cafe and Ethiopian Cuisine
unfolds like a sacrament, each tool imbued with significance like
objects on an altar. The beans, roasted and ground throughout the
day, steep in a jebena, an ebony-colored earthenware vessel
developed more than 800 years ago.

The Back Story: The Rocket Company that Roared
Aerojet was once a major player in the region — until it wasn’t
If you’re ever on Jeopardy and you’re asked to name an American company that not only helped the country and its allies win a war (the Big One) and, a bit more than two decades later, helped send it to the moon — before getting mired in a sludge of litigation — remember one of this region’s more complicated and often controversial sagas: Aerojet.

Malls Adapt to Changing Retail Patterns
We invited the managers of some of the most successful shopping centers in our region for insight on how they managed during the pandemic, but more importantly how they stay relevant in a digital world.

The Rise and Fall of the Mall
Sunrise Mall and other shopping centers seek to reinvent themselves in a changing retail landscape
As many as 25 percent of America’s roughly 1,000 malls will close within three to five years, according to a recent study by Coresight Research. Migration patterns, a shift towards online retail and the pandemic are all cited as factors in the struggle of retail centers.

Art Exposed: Beti Masenqo
The musician-singer-songwriter blends folk and rock with the Ethiopian songs of her childhood
When she performs, singer and songwriter Beti Masenqo leaves this earthly plane in a way that seems entirely effortless.

Local Organizations Support Mental Health Among Afghan Youth
The intergenerational trauma that young Afghan refugees inherit is compounded by legislation that could determine their stateside fate
Refugee youth often bring traumatic lived experiences, known as adverse childhood experiences, raising the demand for U.S.-based mental health services. A network of support groups has formed to provide culturally sensitive care and catch those falling through the cracks.

Out of the Landfill and Into the Compost Pile
Capital Region residents rise to the occasion of new organics recycling law
Separating food waste from trash used to be the stuff of hippies. But, unlike cork sandals, it’s not a matter of taste — it’s state law.

Keeping the Faith
Sacramento congregations navigate pandemic, other challenges
While the days of having to meet remotely for services are mostly done, houses of worship in Sacramento are still coming out of a tough time and facing uncertainty.

A Push for School-Based Mental Health
Ratcheted up by the pandemic, students’ mental health has become an important focus in schools
Schools and universities in the Capital Region have taken an array of approaches to assure mental health is one of the many pillars a student’s education addresses.

Sacramento Feels the Roar
Downtown Commons is flooded with thousands of Sacramento Kings fans for the first playoff game in 17 years
If you wanted to know what it was
like to be at the Sacramento Kings first playoff game in 17 years
Saturday night, Comstock’s Editor Judy Farah can tell you the
fans were so loud you couldn’t hear the player
introductions.