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Over Tipping
Why I’m finished with added service fees
Magpie Café killed tipping in Sacramento. It won’t be a sudden death, nor was it intentional. But when we look back in five years, we’ll remember Magpie as patient zero.
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Sick Leave Switches
How does the new law impact household employees?
I am a working single mom, and about six months ago I hired a nanny to help around the house on days I work late or the occasional weekend. Until now I’ve paid an hourly wage for hours worked, and I’m wondering how California’s new sick leave act will impact how I pay my nanny?
![(Shutterstock) (Shutterstock)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0815_blog_realestate_ss_1.png?1577874530)
Small Home, Big Benefits
Five ways tiny housers say they’re better off
McMansion, meet tiny house. The symbol of the bubbling 2000s hasn’t exactly been displaced by the sub-400-square-foot home. But for many homebuyers in insecure times, shrinking their square footage has also downsized their worries.
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Startup of the Month: Brown Lawn Green
In dry times, the grass can be greener with paint
Short on water for your grass? Just add paint, says Bill Schaffer, owner of Brown Lawn Green in Dixon. The idea for his business started as a joke. With California in the midst of a historic drought, Schaffer commented to his girlfriend that people would have to start painting their lawns if they wanted them to be green again. When the state introduced strict new rules concerning water use, he realized he might be onto something.
![California State Senate pro Tem Kevin de León California State Senate pro Tem Kevin de León](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0815_dept_discourse_nn_1.jpg?1577874530)
Head in the Clouds
California State Senate pro Tem Kevin de León has an aggressive plan to curb climate change
Senate pro Tem Kevin de León is California’s first Latino Senate leader in more than 130 years. He has championed an aggressive agenda centered on transitioning the state away from fossil fuels and toward a low-carbon, high renewable energy economy. We sat down with him recently to discuss that transition.
![(Photo: Eiko James Photography) (Photo: Eiko James Photography)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0815_ft_environment_lead_eiko-jones-photography.jpg?1577874530)
Survival of the Fishes
California depends on hatcheries to maintain the state’s salmon population, but the cost is genetically inferior fish
Every spring and summer, Chinook salmon gather in vast schools along the central coast of California, fattening up on krill and small fish before their autumn spawning migration into the Central Valley. Fishermen in commercial boats, private skiffs and kayaks take to the water, and most summers, the fleet catches several hundred thousand Chinook weighing somewhere between five and 30 pounds. California’s bounty of salmon, however, does not reflect a thriving fish population.
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Photos: Sutter Memorial Closes
Doors open at the new Anderson Lucchetti Women's and Children's Center
On Saturday, Aug. 8, Sutter Memorial — birthplace of 348,089 babies since 1937 — officially closed. At the same time, labor and delivery opened at Sutter’s new Anderson Lucchetti Women’s and Children’s Center. Here’s what it all looked like.
![(Photo: Joan Cusick) (Photo: Joan Cusick)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/sutter01.jpg?1577874531)
Sutter on the Move
Sutter hospital’s new Anderson Lucchetti Women’s and Children’s Center opens and staff say goodbye to their old home
It’s early Saturday morning in the neonatal intensive care unit, normally a busy time in the round-the-clock care of premature babies. But the lights are off and the staff is gone, leaving medical director Dr. Stephen Butler as the last man standing at the Sutter Memorial Hospital NICU.
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Let’s Get Real About Vaccine Risks
This is the last year most unvaccinated children will be allowed in public schools — and that’s a good thing
Is Senate Bill 277 fair to parents fearful of vaccines? Though doctors can still provide parents with a medical exemption for their children if deemed necessary, the only education alternative for parents who simply don’t want their child vaccinated in California is home-schooling.