
Startup of the Month: Nexa Labs
Biosensor aims to detect cattle disease early
Nexa Labs took home first prize at the 2025 UC Davis Big Bang! Competition for a solution designed to give farmers real-time health data on livestock so they can catch diseases early.

Dilemma of the Month: My Gen Z Employees Want a 4-Day Workweek. How Do I Get Them to Back Off?
My younger employees are fixated on switching to a four-day
workweek. They send me articles about Scandinavian companies and
work-life balance. We cannot be competitive and switch to a
four-day model. And the older employees are fine with the
standard 40-hour workweek. What do I say to get them to stop
asking?

An Age of High Hopes and Negotiated Dreams
FROM THE PUBLISHER: In a moment of either exasperation or truth seeking, Dr. Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychiatry, asked, “What does a woman want?” Today, that question needn’t be gender related. It might be more appropriate to ask, “What does the new generation — the youngest segment of the workforce — want?”

There’s Free Food Every Weeknight at This Davis Park
How the Davis Night Market offers mutual aid on a ‘shoestring of a shoestring’ budget
You’ll find them standing in a corner of Davis’ Central Park every weeknight after dark, barely lit by a nearby streetlight, surrounded by cardboard boxes and plastic bags. This is the Davis Night Market, a grassroots organization that has been operating under the radar for over half a decade.

My Father’s Legacy: Untamed Joy
Contributor Marie-Elena Schembri shares memories of her father for our monthly personal essay column
As a young girl, I thought my dad was the funniest, smartest, most handsome man in the world. He had many wonderful and endearing qualities, but he was a complicated man. He was an alcoholic and carried a depth of grief, shame and anger that often made him hide the best parts of himself.

California’s Much-Touted IVF Law May Be Delayed Until 2026, Leaving Many in the Lurch
KFF Health News: California lawmakers are poised to delay the state’s much-ballyhooed new law mandating in vitro fertilization insurance coverage for millions, set to take effect July 1. Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked lawmakers to push the implementation date to January 2026, leaving patients, insurers, and employers in limbo.

This California Beer Sends a Message of Solidarity With the Iranian People
Behind the crisp pilsner lies a numeric code meant to transcend language and challenge Iran’s regime
Beer has been illegal in Iran since the Islamic Republic rose to power in 1979. To follow the story of Persian beer, one must look beyond the borders of the country. The latest chapter takes place in Davis, home of Rostam36.

Opinion: We Overcame Disabilities, Addictions and Trauma. Now We’re Fighting to Save Our Jobs
CalMatters: I’m one of 60 people who clean the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. Our jobs, which we got through PRIDE Industries, have given us purpose, dignity and steady paychecks that help us pay rent, buy groceries and care for our loved ones. Now all of that is a risk.

Hunting Near the Farm-to-Fork Capital
Driven by a desire to eat ethically and connect with nature, more people are discovering the Capital Region’s wealth of hunting opportunities
Alongside deer, upland game like turkeys and pheasants, and invasive wild pigs, Sacramento offers some of the best wildfowl hunting anywhere in the U.S., and hunters come from across the state and country to enjoy it.

Off the Beaten Track Takes Another Path
Department coming to an end after five-year run spotlighting little-known destinations
When Off the Beaten Track debuted in early 2021, the Capital Region was tenuously crawling back from the worst pandemic in more than a hundred years. As we poked our heads outside, we wondered which businesses made it out OK, and how did they do it? Their compelling tales were the overriding storylines of those early post-pandemic days, while impacts from COVID-19 stretched throughout OTBT’s run.