Apprentices offer a much-needed path to quality, high-paying careers.

The message popped into UC Berkeley sophomore Varsha Sarveshwar’s inbox a few days before the start of her Introduction to General Astronomy course in the fall of her freshman year. It contained the usual details about class times and textbooks. But then there was something surprising: a plea from the professor to skip the first day of class.

In 2018, Golden Pacific Bank is an anomaly, one of the few remaining community banks in the Capital Region to emerge in the past 10 years and not be acquired by a larger entity.

In November, the Sacramento Region Business Association launched Region Finance, a trade association created to help local governments do more business with community banks. Its board consists of executives from local banks — including River City Bank, American River Bank and others — pushing to keep businesses, resources and funds local to spur economic growth.

Joe Devlin, Sacramento’s first chief of cannabis policy and enforcement chats about what can be expected in the near future for legal cannabis in Sacramento.

The political whirlwind raging around California’s “sanctuary” laws isn’t doing much damage to the laws themselves, according to many state legal experts. In fact, the brunt of any legal damage may be felt most by the small city that started the rebellion.

Restaurants, retail stores and salons are among the businesses finding assistance and resources from the Downtown Stockton Alliance, a public-private partnership uniting property owners and downtown businesses with a 2018-2019 strategic plan that focuses on specific steps to increase safety and cleanliness for a more more vibrant downtown.

I’m not here to throw anyone under the bus, but let’s talk about these seminars and the reality of flipping homes in Sacramento.

California’s major revenue sources have shifted over time. Until 1995, the biggest was property taxes. Today, it’s personal income taxes.

And California ranks fairly high in overall taxation: 10th highest both per capita and as a percentage of personal income, based on the latest available data from the U.S. Census.

When Lodi’s General Mills plant closed in 2015, it left unused a nearly two-mile stretch of Union Pacific spur track. A vestige of a 19th century rail, the track had been converted into a service line, but today weeds grow between its ties, and the line seems to have little use but for safely recreating scenes from the 1986 movie Stand by Me.

Three companies found to have sold toxic lead paint for decades—despite knowing it posed health hazards for children—are waging a major battle to avoid paying the several hundred millions of dollars in liability that California courts have slapped on them.

And they’re asking you, the California voter, to help them get their way.

Squaw Valley is on a quest to reduce its carbon footprint and achieve 100 percent renewable energy by as soon as the end of this year. In doing so, the company is undertaking one of the most aggressive eco-friendly efforts by the ski industry across the nation.

A fleet of Teslas are headed to Squaw — and not just to the parking lot.

As part of its ongoing renewable energy efforts, the resort is partnering with Liberty Utilities and the electric car (and rocket) company on a proposal to install battery units for storing power generated by solar and other sources.

Need to fill a prescription? Pick up a medication for your pet? Get a professional review of a complicated list of meds? How about a facial? Tackling this list could take all morning and require several stops around town, but one specific stop could do it.

Businesses in California now have a new centralized directory with which to find information about relevant state and local incentives.

In San Joaquin County, elementary and middle school students are running farmers markets at 10 after-school sites. In Yolo County, the Yolo Food Bank runs each market held at local schools, but hundreds of students get to shop weekly for fresh produce. And in Sacramento County, a hybrid approach currently serves five schools.

Picture 350 square feet. That’s 11 queen-sized beds. It’s the inside of a school bus with an extra row or two of seats. It’s a little smaller than the average two-car garage. And it’s the size of 25-year-old Rachel Vaney’s apartment in Midtown Sacramento.

As a Midtown renaissance has morphed into a downtown building boom around the Golden 1 Center, Cool Projects Bike Tour riders have enjoyed a front row bicycle seat to it three to four times a year.

The Sacramento Bee imposed its latest round of layoffs and company buyouts on Tuesday, targeting 15 editorial staffers and eight working on the production and copy desk. 

Clean carpets, proper ventilation and special filters may help keep allergens out of the workplace. Another strategy entails sealing cracks in a building to make sure unwanted particles can’t sneak in.