Now in the middle of the summer months, energy usage throughout California inevitably has become a significant issue on the minds of millions of residents. Underscoring this reality will, of course, be the sticker shock that many Californians will experience when they open those summertime utility bills.

On Tuesday, Rubicon Brewing Company announced that after 30 years they are closing their doors at the end of the month. The news hit me much harder than it should have and I have been trying to figure out why. Finally it came to me. Rubicon wasn’t just another brewery. It was Midtown. To me, it was everything good Sacramento had to offer.

Bessie Barth, director of Music to Grown On, offers her insight into the role of music therapy.

Can Sacramento continue to invest in the arts when public budgets remain tight and the economy continues to underperform? Wrong question. Rather, we need to ask ourselves whether we can afford not to invest in the arts. We need to change the debate away from a competition for dollars and toward building an understanding of the many avenues by which a vibrant arts scene complements and promotes robust economic growth in our region.

We have a female employee who reported sexual harassment from a male coworker. The woman didn’t want to come forward, but once the CEO found out, he felt he had an obligation to handle the claim. We currently are without an HR manager. What is the proper way to handle this? Should an investigation be made? 

Making a career as an artist is rarely easy, sometimes impossible and usually totally worth it. Sometimes we catch a break and get to skip ahead more quickly than anticipated. Other times we have to put in (very) long hours. Here are a few pitfalls I’ve learned to avoid:

Paulette Trainor, of Paulette Trainor Design, offers her insight into the nexus of technology and good design.

With Californians paying some of the highest gasoline prices around, it is no surprise that fuel efficiency ranks as one of the top considerations for purchasing a new vehicle. Miles per gallon or “MPG” is the metric buyers use to estimate how much it will cost to fill up their tank for their daily commute. But transportation isn’t the only major purchase with long-term energy costs: homes have them too.

Jason Guardino, a gastroenterologist and an assistant physician in chief at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center, gives his perspective on how our guts have become front and center in the understanding of our overall health.

Mike Testa, CEO of Visit Sacramento, offers his insight into what the city has to offer tourists. For more from Testa, check out “The Little Music Festival That Was” in our August issue. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you when it’s available online.