A new page on a new calendar is always a time of optimism. The pages are blank and I wonder what I will have written on them by the time the year has run its course. But right now, I’d like to slow down and appreciate the year we just enjoyed.

California rang in the new year with a newly legal product: cannabis.

Direct democracy can be an exhausting business.

Noel Kammermann, executive director of Loaves & Fishes, offers his insight into services for the region’s homeless population.

Today’s world of free enterprise has never been more robust. Yet startup activity in the U.S. is at a 40-year low, according to statistics derived from U.S. Census Bureau data. More businesses are dying off than being launched daily, indicative of a broken innovative economy.

HomeAid Sacramento in Roseville is addressing the age-old problem of homelessness by serving as a facilitator between the regional homebuilding industry, and homeless shelter and service providers.

Something new is happening in the world of cryptocurrencies.

In the wildest dreams of wireless engineers, the mobile network of the future controls our cars, lets our refrigerators talk to the grocery store to order more milk, and provides fast, reliable broadband connections to our homes so we can sever ties with cable companies.

‘Tis the season for last-minute holiday shopping, and buyers seeking creative gifts and a memorable shopping experience have a number of local businesses to choose from.

People are genetically engineering their own cells in their kitchens, injecting modified viruses into their bodies and surgically implanting homemade sensors under their skin. The “do-it-yourself” mentality has entered the realm of medicine. And, surprisingly, the FBI supports it.