Ever since I was a kid, I’ve liked older people. I grew up in a large Irish Catholic family, and storytelling was like a competitive sport, played at the dinner table. Older people told better stories than younger people, so I ended up at that end of the table and I guess I never left.
After two years of pressure from community leaders and residents hoping to “grow their own groceries”, the city of Sacramento will finally break ground this April on a half-acre, 32-plot community garden in the Oak Park neighborhood southeast of the central city. In exchange for a $50 plot fee, residents will soon be able to grow up to $600 worth of fruits and vegetables, estimates Bill Maynard, Community Gardening Director for Sacramento Parks and Recreation.
California voters think major reforms of the state’s criminal justice system are needed, and they support changes that would focus on prevention and rehabilitation programs targeted at young people, according to a new poll released Thursday.
As the battle plays out over Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies statewide, one thing is clear: the way we go about revitalizing low-income neighborhoods in California is likely to change. But we must find a way to preserve two of the most powerful tools redevelopment agencies currently hold.
At Fresno’s Susan B. Anthony grade school, located in one of the most impoverished area of Fresno, 78 percent of fifth graders don’t meet the state’s requirements for healthy fitness. Fresno pastor Mike Slayden decided to tackle the problem by encouraging students to walk or bike to school. Through his not-for-profit, he offers them a shiny prize for their work: a brand new bike.
As the Legislature moves closer to voting on a budget largely reflecting Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed spending plan, Democrats are learning that a power they have long sought — to pass a budget with a majority vote — might not be the lever they thought it was going to be.
About six years ago, I was preparing to retire. Starting to cut back on my clinical psychiatry practice, I was looking forward to spending more time with my grandchildren and traveling with my husband, Donald. But then Donald and I happened to walk along the beach in Santa Monica, just as a veterans’ group was putting up hundreds of little white crosses in the sand, commemorating deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. I gasped, stunned by the enormity of the losses. And then I started thinking about all the soldiers who have been returning home alive, and maybe physically well, but traumatized by all they have seen and endured. As a therapist, I knew I had the tools to help, and also that I couldn’t ignore the need.
To combat a growing obesity crisis in Kern County, farmers will be bringing their fresh vegetables and vibrant fruits to four burgeoning markets around the Central Valley.
California families commit to salting away a share of their income when they can, just in case the roof springs a leak. But state lawmakers have learned that saving for the proverbial “rainy day” can be a challenge, given the competition for dollars and wildly fluctuating tax revenues.
When I was still in training, I met a patient who transformed my perspective of modern medicine without ever saying a word. She was a young mother who was dying of leukemia while the doctors who were training me gave her repeated blood transfusions, trying in vain to prolong her life even as they made it impossible for her to leave the hospital.