Free Republic

A consortium of Seattle businessmen offered to pay $365 million for a controlling 65 percent interest in the Sacramento Kings, (snip). A competing group offered $341 million to keep the team in SAC (snip) or $35M less. At first glance this seems perverse. (snip) Well, it seems to all go back to the arena. You see, in addition to offering $365 million for the team, the Seattle bidders were offering to build a brand new arena for the Kings. By contrast, the Sacramento bidders managed to persuade the city of Sacramento to build a brand new arena for the Kings....

Suspected tagger found dead, hanging 9 stories up on office tower A man whose body was found hanging from a downtown Sacramento building Monday, nine stories up, appears to be a tagger who was attempting the vandalize the property, authorities say. The man had used rope to tie himself in a seated position like a rappeller, authorities said. The rope was tied off with a window washing anchor, and fire officials believe that that anchor could have held his weight. But they don't think he was a window washer.

Last weekend, Phil Mickelson threatened to move out of California over the onerous tax hikes imposed by Jerry Brown and the Democratic supermajority in Sacramento. Mickelson later apologized for his outburst, although I'm not sure why; he has just as much right to complain as anyone else. CNN Money later attempted to correct Mickelson, saying that his total tax rate was somewhere around 53%, not 62%, but I'm not sure that was much comfort, nor an effective rebuttal to Mickelson's point.As it turns out, Mickelson's not the only sports entity looking at a Golden Gate exit. Forbes noted that one...

County board votes to rescind airport privatization approval... After close to one year of lobbying efforts and a public campaign, the American Federation of Government Employees—the union for TSA workers in Sacramento and nationwide—today applauded the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors for voting to rescind its approval for Sacramento International Airport to be allowed to privatize, or use corporate airport screeners in place of federal employees.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A Sacramento man scanning the night sky caught a sudden burst of light through his telescope. He recorded that strange sight with his smart phone. CBS13 shared the video with experts to see if they could solve the mystery. This mysterious little tale begins earlier this week when Good Day Sacramento’s Cody Stark got this message on Facebook: “I have something on video no one has ever seen. I had my telescope out, caught an explosion in space. Wanna see the video?” Cody’s response? Absolutely! The video was shot with an iPhone through the eyepiece of a...

The New Year's Eve fireworks celebration in Old Sacramento ended tragically before it had even begun: Someone pulled a gun during a fight inside the Sports Corner Cafe around 9:40 p.m., and now two people are dead three more have been shot, according to police. The midnight display was cancelled. An eyewitness, who provided her name but asked not to be identified, was walking outside the bar when said she heard several gunshots. She said she ducked under a stairwell, turned, and saw a young man in a white hoodie run outside the door, pull out a handgun, turn it...

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A poll worker is out of a job, and she says it’s all because of an email she sent her supervisor. The woman says she was concerned about poll inspectors coming to Sacramento for Tuesday’s election. Shannon Lewis has been a poll worker in Sacramento for 15 years. She said she sent that email and was fired 10 minutes later. “I just tapped out a really fast email,” said Lewis. But that quick email ended Lewis’ 15 year job as a Sacramento County pollster. “I just wanted to get my feelings known and get an answer to...

Revenue from Consumer sales fell a whopping 33.5 percent or $475 million, further demonstrating a severe reality check for the Golden State’s recovery plan. Decades of poor leadership from the state capital have contributed to an unsustainable yearly budget which means California voters must either substantially raise taxes or cut, cut, cut. All the accounting gimmicks have failed, Obama’s stimulus dollars only postponed the inevitable, Facebook’s shares have crashed, taxpayers haven’t approved a tax hike in the past few elections as their wallets are empty, the high-speed train to nowhere will only add to the state’s budget crisis and now...

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says students need to be careful when investing in their education. Bernanke says taking on debt to pay for college can be an important way of increasing one's earning potential. But higher education can also become a financial burden if it doesn't lead to a good job, he warns.

Jimmer Fredette was Jimmer Fredette again Monday night, burying jumpers and runners and generally looking like the scoring machine that created so much hype back in his halcyon days at BYU. But all is not well for the second-year Kings guard, even with the 30-point outing he unleashed in a summer league game against the Rockets at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center. Just minutes before hitting the floor, he received word that the Kings had signed veteran point guard Aaron Brooks and thus moved him even further down the team's depth chart.

by John HillStand With Arizona It's no contest. It's not even close. California is America's undisputed "Sanctuary State" for illegal aliens. And now, in their hysteria over the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the central provision of Arizona's S.B. 1070 - that requires police officers to check the immigration status of people they stop - California legislators are setting new lows in contempt for the rule of law. The California Senate on Thursday passed a bill supporters dub the "anti-Arizona" law, which seeks to "shield illegal immigrants from status checks by local police" and which even welcomes in illegals from states such as Arizona. The...

When guilt is demonstrable, confession is the best bet. So allow me to confess: as the California’s Director of Finance for four years, I did some stupid things. Let’s take a few examples and see if they help the casual observer to better understand how government, or at least how the Golden State’s’ budget process works – or fails to work.

Not too many people get excited about dry budget numbers. Most people care instead about what’s behind those numbers — how much of our money will the government take, what kinds of services will it provide? Indeed, those programmatic and policy questions are far more important than the latest assessment of how bad our fiscal situation is. They’re also the subject of the remainder of this week’s conversation on these pages. As a former Director of Finance for the state, it falls to me to give an overview of the arithmetic and the budget process. Bear with me: you’ll laugh,...

Labor unions and business interests have been quietly raising millions of dollars and testing campaign messages for months, girding for a brawl over a November ballot measure that could fundamentally shift political power in Sacramento. Now, on the heels of an election that saw unions handed a major defeat last week in Wisconsin, the opposing camps in California soon will launch a campaign battle likely to consume $50 million or more in political spending. "Unions have just two channels of influence," said Daniel J.B. Mitchell of the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, "collective bargaining and the political side,...

SEIU Member Noujaim wins writ of mandate allowing her to get access to SEIU financial records.

The 12th annual Civil War Experience starts Friday at Gibson Ranch Road and is expected to give families a living history day. The 12th annual Civil War Experience starts Friday at Gibson Ranch Road and is expected to give families a living history day.

An eyewitness says: "It was pretty freakin' real when all the dogs started barking right before it hit, then EVERYTHING shook. We were in the field just outside the barn & the barn continued to shake for a couple minutes afterward. We are about 50-60 miles or so from where it hit."

by John HillStand With ArizonaWe have become sadly accustomed to California - America's Sanctuary State - sinking lower and lower into utter lawlessness for the sake of naked racial politics. But whatever they do in Sacramento doesn't even come close to the utter madness that is Los Angeles - which makes the rest of the state look conservative by comparison. This week saw the Los Angeles Police Department announcing that it will soon start ignoring California state law, which requires police to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers for 30 days - because it is "unfair" to illegal aliens!That's right....

Dale Carlsen was about 24 years old and had been merely selling mattresses, but finally Dale got frustrated and went into the biz for himself. He was coming up on having to make a payment on the loan for his new, tiny mattress company. He didn't have much money, and this loan was at over 20% interest, ok? Worse was that Dale had chosen the location of his first mattress store in gritty South Sacramento, near Sac State, alongside some train tracks, next to a flea market. He'd thought the flea market foot traffic would bring customers, but in fact...

A massive student rally in support of higher education funding planned for Monday at the state Capitol is being co-opted by labor and Occupy activists, says an executive with one of the student groups. In the run-up to Monday's rally, two groups, Refund California and Occupy Education California, have issued press releases and given interviews about their plans to "Occupy the Capitol." But Miles Nevin, executive director of the California State Student Association, says those two groups have "nothing to do with this event." "We are majorly losing the media battle. They are trying to take over our event," Nevin...

<p>Pictures Monday (02/27/2012) was to be just another nice normal day for me at the CA Capital taking pictures of the Tea Party’s 3 year anniversary.</p> <p>They had advertised that they were meeting on the North steps; however, when I arrived I noticed that they were actually on the West steps and there was some group already gathering on the North side.</p>

A man showed up for a job interview near Sacramento naked and high on methamphetamine, and now cellphone footage of his fight with police has gone viral. Jose Ayala didn't make the best first impression at a Del Paso Heights-area welding shop when he showed up last week frazzled and unclothed, says shop owner Chris Johnson, who added he won't soon forget the job applicant. “The producer from TruTV called me [Monday afternoon]. I can’t even get any work done now. I’m taking calls from camera crews and TV stations,” Johnson told FOX40 in Sacramento. Ayala was eventually subdued by...

New Law Forces Older Kids Into Child Seats SAN DIEGO - A new California law that went into effect Sunday increased the age of child required to use a car seat. The new state law indicates any child under eight years old must be in a car seat, and if the child is over eight years old and too small for an adult side seat, they also must be in that seat. It's a change from the previous law for children under six and for those weighing less than 60 pounds. The state insists keeping older kids in booster seats...

Free pot draws a crowd as Sacramento County dispensary closesBy Peter Hecht - The Sacramento Bee Last Modified: Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 - 3:58 pm Hundreds of people lined up for free grams of medical marijuana and discount pricing today as one of Sacramento County's last surviving dispensaries closed with a flourish and a day tinged with politics. People snaked around the building at the Magnolia Wellness Center, waiting more than two hours for their marijuana as the Orangevale dispensary doled out its inventory and promoted a political drive to overturn the county's ban on cannabis stores. Sacramento County, which...

Clear Channel will flip the simulcast switch tomorrow (December 1), creating "FM News/Talk 92.5 and AM 1530 KFBK." The station is about to turn 90 years old on February 2, and in the 1980s it was the incubator for the Rush Limbaugh talk show. Its current lineup includes Limbaugh, Tom Sullivan, Kitty O'Neal, Amy Lewis, Ed Crane, John McGinness and Kelly Brothers. The station losing out is modern AC "My 92.5" KGBY. Clear Channel market manager Jeff Holden says adding an FM signal "will give a younger audience access to one of the most influential stations in not only Sacramento,...

<p>AP material must be excerpted to 50% of content, if the article is short.</p>

Sacramento is Government Central, a land of overly pensioned bureaucrats and restaurant discounts for state workers. But way up in the North State, one finds a small but hard-edged rural populace that views state and federal officials as the main obstacles to their quality of life. These rural folks, living in the shadow of the majestic Mount Shasta, believe that they are being driven away so that their communities can essentially go back to the wild, to conform to a modern environmentalist ethos that puts wildlands above humanity. As the locals told it during the Defend Rural America conference Oct....

A glutton for bad press, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has canceled on the Sacramento Press Club. Again. The rail authority, which canceled a luncheon once already at the club -- and delayed the release of its much-awaited business plan -- said this afternoon that it will still release its business plan Nov. 1. But it will be just somewhere else. Lance Simmens, the authority's new deputy director for communications and public policy, said he made the call "to roll out what is going to be a very significant business plan at another venue." That venue, Simmens said, has yet...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Police in the California state capital of Sacramento say that anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was among 19 demonstrators arrested during a demonstration of anti-Wall Street sentiment. The Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/oI2tNu ) reports that the 53-year-old Sheehan was booked early Sunday on suspicion of unlawful assembly and failing to follow police orders to disburse.

Suspect Is Rasaan Zawadi SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) -- A 21-year-old man was arrested Thursday in connection with the attack of a woman that was captured on video and posted online, according to the Sacramento Police Department. Rasaan Zawadi was taken into police custody for assault with a gang enhancement, says a news release, adding that officers do believe this crime was gang-related. Police said they're still looking for a second person involved in the attack, and urge anyone with information to call the department. On Oct. 12, police learned of the attack -- which was likely posted on the Internet...

Pictures that I took from 2 days at the Un-Organized Occupy Sacramento Protest. (10/6 and 10/9)

On "Mexican Independence Day" in Sacramento, the state capital is routinely turned into a giant Mexican flag for the celebration. Davi Rodriguez of Save Our State did what he so frequently does around California, tows and parks his sign calling for illegal aliens to leave America. That didn't sit too well with the Mexican revelers... VIDEO LINK BELOWDavi is called a racist - big shock there - and also gets a nice little veiled threat from the woman who said they "could" destroy his sign and write all over it, but "we're better than that". How sweet.

The start of waterfowl hunting season on public lands in the Sacramento Valley has been delayed by a week due to lingering effects of a wet winter.

Filmed Saturday, March 19, 2011, this a clipped version of the events that unfolded at the downtown Hyatt, Sacramento, CA during the Republican State Convention. E+ Productions had a crew there to capture the protest to use within their documentary feature film, "WHERE'S FRANK?" , but no one could have predicted what would happen next.

Chickens are no longer backyard outlaws in Sacramento. With a unanimous vote tonight, the City Council passed an ordinance that will allow city residents to keep up to three egg-laying hens in their back yards starting Nov. 1. ...Dr. Glennah Trochet, the county's public health officer, said she has spoken with state health officials and poultry experts at UC Davis and neither recommended striking down a backyard chicken ordinance because of concerns over disease, including the bird flu.

KCRA Television reports that concealed carry permits are up dramatically in Sacramento, California. According to reporter Danielle Leigh, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office has approved more concealed carry permits this year than in the history of the department. While neither she nor the spokesman for the Sheriff's Office mention it, this is directly attributable to the agreement reached by the Second Amendment Foundation and the CalGuns Foundation with the Sheriff's Department where "self-defense" is now recognized as showing "good cause". The reporter asks the Sheriff's Department spokesman whether the rise in CCW permits means things are "out of control" and...

Homeless men and women – weathered by the elements and carrying bags and backpacks – are getting a chance to tell their side of the story in federal court about how the city of Sacramento treats them. In a highly unusual case that focuses on their nightly searches for places to sleep, the city's down and out are pitted against city police who are charged with enforcing a local ordinance prohibiting camping in undesignated areas for more than 24 hours at a time. The civil class action, brought on behalf of all homeless people in Sacramento who have lost tents,...

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — There is now a shocking new strategy to fight copper crime. Street lights are now staying on 24-hours a day in one Sacramento neighborhood and the city is banking on live wires to keep criminals away. The city now figures keeping them turned on will save money, by warding off copper thieves; keeping the lights on mean live wires, and the unlucky thief who doesn’t know better could be electrocuted. It’s quite a warning, from a city that’s been hit hard by the copper crime.

Monday, April 18, 2011, from noon until 4pm, grassroot organizations from across the state will come together to "Reclaim America, United." Sponsors of this event are Citizens Reclaiming Constitutional Liberty PAC (CRCLPAC) and Tea Party United. This years event will not only focus on the United States' ever growing budget, but will show that the Tea Party Movement is United in order to claim Victory in 2012. Grassroot organizations from across Northern California are coming out to attend and share information with their fellow grassroots activists to be taken back and implemented in their own communities after the event is...

A state Assembly committee dominated by Democrats this morning killed two bills that sought to require public officials to report suspected illegal immigrants and prohibit employers from knowingly hiring the immigrants. Freshman Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, an activist with the Minuteman movement, proposed an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigrants because he said the federal government is doing an inadequate job protecting the borders.

An Arizona-like law to combat illegal immigration has a snowball's chance in Phoenix of passing the California Legislature, but freshman Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks (San Bernardino County) is giving it a shot. Donnelly, who has patrolled the California-Mexico border as part of the militant Minutemen citizen group, held a rally at the Capitol today for his bill, AB26. The bill would make a number of changes in state law, including requiring law enforcement to verify the immigration status of anyone who is arrested and suspected of being in the country illegally. It also would make it illegal to limit...

As the Anaheim City Council gets ready to vote in a few hours on issuing bonds to fund improvements to that city's Honda Center - the possible future home of the Sacramento Kings - there's still work being done on the home front. State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, is considering a request by city officials to carry a bill barring Anaheim from moving forward on the bond unless Sacramento is guaranteed the Kings will pay off a loan they owe City Hall.

On April 14th, we are co-sponsoring a rally with Howard Jarvis Tax Payers Association on the west steps of the Capitol.We will meet at 9:00, have an address by Jon Coupal and then we will go into the Capitol and lobby. [That otta be good!] At around 11:00, we will again meet on the west steps and have another speaker and we will be done by noon. More information will be coming soon in a separate e-mail. On April 16th, our "Patriot Freedom Ride" will be taking off from Renegade in Grass Valley by 8:30 am. We have much more...

Dorothea Puente may finally be gone, but she is hardly forgotten. The Sacramento serial killer, who died Sunday at 82 in the skilled nursing facility at the Central California Woemn's Facility in Chowchilla, is mentioned in at least 10 books still available on Amazon.com, including this gem from author Shane Bugbee: "Cooking with a Serial Killer, Recipes From Dorothea Puente."

(Barbara Simpson, 560KSFO Radio Host, mentioned the following, and I found the main info at stoptheillegals.com) Progam Summaries/Sunday March 20, 2011 Program NotesUrgent Message from CA Assemblyman Tim Donnelly * Action Alert UPDATE: THE NEW DATES ARE APRIL 4TH AND 5TH! See below. Patriots, Yesterday, as the Vice Chairman of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, I sat and listened to over a hundred witnesses in favor of Assembly Bills 130 and 131 (Cedillo). Witnesses consisted of tax-taking unions, pro-illegal alien activist groups, dozens of unapologetic illegal students whose educations we subsidize, and the UC and CSU system representatives, as well...

A man in midtown Sacramento who once hung a swastika banner in the front window of his Newton Booth home to prevent the next-door neighbors from renting their house was taken into custody for violating a court order this morning. Joe Ongaro, an electrical contractor, was taken into custody after police served a search warrant and arrest warrant this morning about 7:30 a.m. at the man's home near 25th and U streets. "It is related to a court order barring him from harassing his neighbors," said Sacramento Police . . .

It looks like the gangbangers who made a small memorial in front of the IHOP on Advantage Way in Sacramento where was murdered have nad their memorial destroyed by a motorcycle vigilante.  This past Sunday FOX 40 reporter John Lobertini and camerawoman Rebecca Little were assaulted by friends and relatives of a gangbanger shot after an altercation took place between him and another gangbanger inside IHOP. The murdered banger was 27-year-old Chester Jackson, and the reporters were there to interview some people who may have been able to shed some more light an incident that is becoming all too...

News Crew Attacked At Natomas Murder Scene SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Grieving family and friends attacked a reporter and photojournalist from a Sacramento news station Sunday as they covered the aftermath of a deadly shooting in north Natomas. KTXL reporter John Lobertini and photojournalist Rebecca Little were attacked at an IHOP restaurant on the 2900 block of Advantage Way by a number of bystanders who had gathered at the site of the murder. Video captured by CBS13 news crew a short distance away shows several people shouting profanities at the news crew at about 4:00 p.m. as a growing crowd began...

"As his tiny daughter's skin turned blotchy and her body went limp during a lengthy wait at Methodist Hospital's emergency room, Ryan Jeffers panicked." "The family's ordeal began on a Sunday morning in early December, when the normally rambunctious Malyia developed a fever and became lethargic, Ryan Jeffers recalled."

The airline pilot who was reprimanded by the TSA for posting videos showing security flaws at a major airport is speaking out exclusively for the first time, saying that it was the "fallacy of the system" that inspired him to take this action. *snip* He first posted the videos to YouTube on November 28. Three days later, he says, four federal air marshals and two local sheriff's deputies showed up at his home to question him about the footage. The pilot filmed the conversation, during which the federal marshals confiscated his federally-issued firearm. (News video runs when you click the...