The Sacramento Bee Company

Nevada Sends S.F. Trove of Public Records Related to "Patient Dumping"

To many Californians, perhaps the only thing more outrageous than the idea of Nevada dumping hundreds of mentally ill patients into the Golden State is the idea that Nevada's Governor would have the audacity to deny it. But last week, Gov. Brian Sandoval did just that, acknowledging no more than o ... More >>

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval Denies Dumping More Than One Patient From Psych Hospital

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval says indeed his state did improperly discharge one mentally ill patient from a state-run hospital, but no more than that -- and it was accidental. According to Reuters, the republican governor defended his state, and denied accusations that Nevada had been busing hundred ... More >>

Federal Judge Criticizes State for "Profound Ethical Violation" in Prison Mental Health Case

For 18 years, a federal court has overseen the California state prison system's mental health care. This week, the state is making its case: conditions for mentally ill prisoners have improved enough for California to regain control of its facilities. A good chunk of the state's evidence lies in a ... More >>

Oakland Soldiers Aaron Gordon and Stanley Johnson Faced Off in State Championship Game

When we reported on the Oakland Soldiers summer league basketball team for our June feature, Swoosh Dreams, its best player, Aaron Gordon, was sidelined with a broken foot. It's second best player, Jabari Bird, was also out with an injury. So when the Soldiers took the court against the Houston Ho ... More >>

Gov. Brown's Frequent Use of Pardons is Retro California

Between 1991 and 2010, California's governors granted pardons to 20 convicted criminals. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown pardoned 21. On Monday, Brown pardoned 79 felons. Brown's use of pardons represents the larger shift in the criminal justice mindset he has overseen in the state -- higher rates ... More >>

Gov. Brown Won't Let Reporters Have Easy Access to Prison Inmates

Assembly Bill 1270, passed by both chambers of the state legislature, would have allowed journalists to set up interviews with specific inmates in state prisons. Eight times over the past two decades a similar bill had passed through to the governor's desk, and all eight times it was vetoed.The stre ... More >>

Unwelcome Cougar Shot After Allegedly Breaking Into Family Home

There are so many reasons not to live in the far-flung communities of the Central Valley -- bad schools, bad husbands, and really bad credit. Oh, and those uninvited cougars -- there's another reason. Turlock resident Tami Mendonca was doing some yard work at her home on Sunday morning when she hear ... More >>

Plenty of NorCal High School Kids Will Miss Graduation Because of Senior Pranks

It's that time of year: The Golden State Warriors are making a top-10 draft pick, tourists are under-dressed for the coastal breezes, and high-schoolers are being barred from graduation ceremonies because of senior pranks.This week, 51 seniors at Heritage High in Brentwood and 30 more at McClatchy H ... More >>

Some Lawmakers Don't Seem to Mind If James Hooker Dates His Students

Much to our surprise, a committee of California lawmakers today rejected a proposed bill that would have made it a felony for creepy teachers like James Hooker to date their students -- even if they are 18. Given the negative attention the Hooker case has received, we thought for sure this bill, aut ... More >>

Tom Chambers: Magical Realist Photography at Modernbook

Assemblyman Wants to Ban Violent Fans from Sporting Events

​Here's something that will give sports spectators something to really cheer about. A SoCal assemblyman is essentially asking for a statewide restraining order on violent sports fans, barring them from events so that the rest of us can watch our teams play without worrying about getting killed. As ... More >>

Wait Until 2014: Marijuana Legalization All But Dead in California

​Union Pulls Plug on Medical Reform, Other Ballot Measures Starved For Cash; Legislature, Ammiano Last Hope for Reform NowNobody likes to celebrate with a loss, but for the medical marijuana movement, 2010 and the historic defeat of semi-legalization measure Proposition 19 already look like the go ... More >>

UC Davis Chancellor: Police Defied Orders by Pepper-Spraying Occupy Protesters

UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi is apparently sorry -- really, really sorry -- for the pepper-spraying of peaceful Occupy student protesters that set off a public-relations catastrophe last week. In an interview with the Sacramento Bee yesterday, Katehi said she had ordered campus police to interac ... More >>

Fantasy Island: The Strange Tale of Alleged Fraudster Pearlasia Gamboa

Jerry Brown's Budget Solution Is To Starve Senior Citizens, Excluding Himself

Not On Our Dime​Most everyone would expect Governor Jerry Brown to take sharp measures to ensure that the state's books are balanced in the coming year.But cutting back on food for the elderly? That seems draconian. According to the Sacramento Bee, Brown wants to seriously trim grants for the low- ... More >>

Police Beating Victims May Be Prosecuted a Fourth Time

YSFPD's use-of-force trainer says this is the result of proper law enforcement technique​olo County prosecutors are weighing wether to opt for a fourth trial of two West Sacramento brothers after separate juries failed to convict them three prior times on charges of resisting arrest and fighting a ... More >>

Does California Have a Future? No: California *Is* the Future.

The face of things to come​That's the conclusion of an interesting piece of commentary published today in The New Republic. Penned by former Sacramento Bee editorial page editor Peter Schrag, the article argues that California -- the favorite punching bag of bad-government critics who assail its p ... More >>

GOP to Hammer Harris on Death Penalty with $1 million in TV Ads as Election Nears

Close observers of the 2010 California Attorney General's race probably saw this one coming. With less than two weeks remaining until election day on Nov. 2, Republican activists are going to spend about $1 million blanketing the airwaves with commercials attacking San Francisco District Attorney Ka ... More >>

Sacramento Metalheads Tesla's Studio Burns in Three-Alarm Blaze

Ross HalfinTesla​Flames tore through a Sacramento apartment building last night, damaging a studio where the metal band Tesla recorded.Soundproofing in the recording studio, which was behind the apartment building, made it harder for crews to reach the attic, where the the three-alarm blaze had sp ... More >>

Patronage Army General Willie Brown Stumps for Pension Reform

I repent!​Willie Brown, who in 2001 deployed his friends, family, and hangers-on into what was commonly referred to as a "patronage army," is now helping the governor campaign against the classic patronage perk known as bloated pensions.At an event last week Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger billed as a ... More >>

Legislators, Lawyers Winning Fight to Render Red Light Cameras Useless

Bill would make it easier to get away with this​Red light-runners are winning a battle to render camera evidence less incriminating in court, the Sacramento Bee's Dan Walters reports.Sen. Joe Simitian, who represents Palo Alto and San Jose commuters under the watch of the dozens of cameras mo ... More >>

Sarah Palin's Reported Fee For California College Appearance: $93,000

Is that a $93,000 wink? ​Sen Leland Yee, who has been in a running battle with California State Stanislaus over its refusal to disclose the fee for a Sarah Palin speaking engagement, is trumpeting a blog that does just that. According to the Palingates website, the former Alaska governor and Repub ... More >>

Sacramento Bee: Harris Fibs on Conviction Rate

​Attorney General candidate and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris' new TV ad boasting of high conviction rates "does not tell the whole story," the Sacramento Bee reports this morning.No kidding.SF Weekly's Peter Jamison reported May 5 on "an alarming decline in felony trial conviction ... More >>

City, County Officials Whisper 'Bankruptcy' to Solve Pension Woes

Wheeee!McClatchy Newspapers Pension Investigation: More Local Government Accounts Looking As Red As Bankrupt Vallejo's; California's 80 Largest City and County Governments Face $28 Billion Shortfall.SF Weekly Follow: Failure is no obstacle to the pension good life: CalPers records show $197,421 ... More >>

Blackwater: DiFi's Questionable H2O Moves Muddy Dems' Election Hopes

Will Sen. Dianne Feinstein's shady water deal shoot down Dems' election chances? ​Take one part frozen orange juice concentrate, mix it with three parts water, and you have a delicious morning drink.Take one sleazy political juice deal, and mix it with rotten water policy, however, and California' ... More >>

McClatchy Newspapers Renew Misleading Anti-Hetch Hetchy Crusade

Coming soon? Don't count on it. ​"Hetch Hetchy could go on ballot," declares a headline in today's Modesto Bee atop a story claiming the group Restore Hetch Hetchy is on the verge of putting a measure before San Francisco voters this November that, if successful, would lead to the destruction of O ... More >>

How Much Will State Vacuum From San Francisco and Other Counties? Check the Database.

​Those of us who grew up in the Bay Area learned well from Humphrey and Charley -- borrowing without asking is a stupid thing to do! And yet, the Great State of California is borrowing roughly $2 billion from its cities and yanking another $1.7 billion from redevelopment agencies.What this means f ... More >>

Stealth Bloggers

Posing as journalists, bloggers got paid to write positively about Mark Leno.

Working-Class Struggle

Three housekeepers and a day laborer take action against deadbeat employers who abuse immigrants

Demo Sale

The party's leaders are putting their lack of ethics on display once again

Unhealthy Union

Could there be a secret deal with Arnold on health care that will inflate union rolls?

Blogos-Free

Since the paper is called the Examiner, shouldn't it take a closer look at what's going up on its Web site, and pay for it?

Rotting on the Dock of the Bay

The easy choice between a destitute Port Authority and acres of rotting piers, or a beautified waterfront with some hotel rooms

Onward, Christian Lawyers

Why lawsuits filed by anti-abortion activists may be a blessing in disguise for the California stem cell institute

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, June 8, 2005

The 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Public Relations

The envelope, please ... and the Pulitzer goes to -- Environmental Defense!

Big Dam Mess

The Environmental Defense Fund embarks on a national campaign to shame San Francisco into restoring the other great Yosemite valley, Hetch Hetchy. But is shame really a good political strategy?

The New California Adventure

Schwarzenegger budget policies are turning small cities and rural counties into post-apocalypse theme parks

alt.war

Traditional media mislead the public about the war in Iraq as a media revolution makes traditional media increasingly irrelevant

Chump Changes

Journalists are playing into the hands of George Bush when they unthinkingly insist that everything is different since Sept. 11

The Return of the Screw

PG&E is doing to New England what greedy, polluting, out-of-state energy suppliers have done to PG&E and California

South to the Future

Sam of Son Unabomber victims sue to profit from their attacker's crimes

Playing Monopoly

Dog Bites

Unspun

Unspun

Unspun

Letters

Dog Bites