To Share or Not To Share
Mind your own business when it comes to background checks
What items gathered during the recruitment process can I share with others? We require approval from several parties before making an employment offer, and I am concerned that we may be sharing confidential information when “check complete” should be enough.
Clean Speed Ahead
UC Davis to help China accelerate electric car use
The cord powering cleaner, plug-in electric cars in China now stretches across the Pacific to California. A recent information-sharing agreement between UC Davis and the government authority that oversees China’s car industry will connect the world’s acknowledged leaders in creating clean car standards with the globe’s largest and fastest-growing new car market.
In the Dark?
6 steps to navigating Title 24’s new lighting standards
The updated Title 24 energy efficiency standards will greatly impact how property owners design, construct and renovate buildings. Bernie Kotlier, co-chair of the nonprofit California Advanced Lighting Controls Training Program, shares the best ways to navigate the changes:
Star Power to Ignite Sac Soccer
Owners hope new investment lineup will boost city's chances of going MLS
The Sacramento Republic FC has bolstered its quest to become a Major League Soccer franchise. On Monday the team announced an impressive addition of more than a dozen new business leaders who will invest in the group, including Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter and local business owner Urijah Faber.
Juris Prudence
Changes to the legal market are motivating attorneys to bootstrap
Alex Medina and Brandon McKelvey’s new law firm looks more like a bootstrapped tech startup than a high-end legal practice. It’s one model among the boutique firms whose numbers have taken off in the region this year. The improving economy, a buyer’s market for legal services, and the lures of startup culture have upended Sacramento’s legal landscape.
Fostering Futures
Women in Philanthropy helps foster youth transition to adulthood
Women in Philanthropy, a program of the United Way California Capital Region, supports foster teens in the community who are turning 18 and facing emancipation. The group coordinates workshops and social programs and organizes a holiday stocking and gift event. Last year, volunteers collected nearly 500 towel sets and 50 luggage sets, along with toiletries and household goods to give to those making the transition to independence.
Always on Time
Billable hours are under scrutiny, but they're here to stay
The billable hour is under attack. After a scandal involving allegations of overcharging at global law firm DLA Piper last spring, Northwestern University law professor Steven Harper wrote a New York Times op-ed in which he asserted that the billable-hour system serves no one.
Strategic Thinking
Are you employing your highest quality of thought?
You’ve been there. You’re on a deadline with limited information, and what you’ve got to draw from is a similar episode that transpired eight months ago, or eight years ago or with an entirely different company. But hey, there are some parallels. This time sounds like that time (sort of), so you base your present reaction on your past experience. The process is called reasoning by analogy, and while it can be a powerful method in the decision making process, it can also be problematic and limiting.
Student Success Update
California community colleges aim high
Last May we reported on the Los Rios Community College District’s ahead-of-the-game implementation of state-mandated student supportive services (“Renewable Resources,” May 2014). Those improved services were required by colleges statewide for the fall 2014 term as part of the 2012 Student Success Act. Now, the rest of the state is about to catch up.
Touchscreen to Table
West Sacramento to address food access with Code for America
Code for America works with cities around the country, using open-source software to improve the scalability and reach of government services. Starting next year, Code for America fellows will work with the Sacramento Area Council of Governments and the city of West Sacramento using technology to tackle issues related to health care and food access in the city.