California Schools Continue to Struggle With Test Scores in Reading and Math
CalMatters: One of California’s starkest — and most important — letdowns is the consistent failure to help elementary and middle school students achieve higher national test scores in basic educational skills, such as reading and math. Moreover, California schools have not yet recovered from the educational losses suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some Burning Questions on Wildfires
FROM THE PUBLISHER: As it is with all catastrophes, there’s plenty of blame to go around. I guess this can be a useful exercise at some point, but it won’t rebuild people’s homes, restore their most valued possessions or, most importantly, stop this from becoming an annual, recurring heartbreak. We need to ask and answer some obvious questions.
Sacramento-Area Schools are Still Grappling With Academic and Social Recovery From the COVID-19 Pandemic
Around the Capital Region, schools are still working to recover socially and academically from the COVID-19 pandemic. Test scores have been affected, as has school attendance. A new wave of behavioral issues has unfolded, too. Now, a variety of people are working to help students catch up.
Artificial Intelligence Is Bringing Nuclear Power Back From the Dead — Maybe Even in California
CalMatters: Artificial intelligence uses so much energy that its rapid spread could endanger California’s goal of eliminating all carbon emissions by 2045 — even as AI companies may be flooding the state treasury with tax revenue. The conundrum has legislators considering what was once unthinkable: Bringing back nuclear power as a driver of innovation and economic growth, sort of like it was the 1960s all over again.
Art Exposed: Jennifer Peart
Meet the Sacramento artist painting portals to a sustainable future
Addressing themes of reciprocity and stewardship, Jennifer Peart’s artwork draws inspiration from science fiction novels, retrofuturistic architecture and pristine natural landscapes. Her intricate, vivid landscapes, often featuring familiar landmarks, are delicately painted on sustainably sourced wood panels.
Local News Is Breaking. Can These Websites Fix It?
These local news sites are responding to the decline in legacy print newspapers
Many digital news outlets like the Folsom Times have popped up in the Capital Region over the past two decades. Are they destined to cease like the newspapers that came before them, or is it possible to build a local newsroom financially sustainable enough to last?
Our Wondrous, but Fleeting, Time With Our Children
This past summer, my daughter graduated from UC Berkeley and my son from high school. Before she entered the job market and he went off to university, I decided to take them on one more epic adventure.
Architects Respond to the Growing Population of Minority, Immigrant and Refugee Students With Culturally Sensitive Design
The influx of immigrants and refugees from a multitude of different countries has created an opportunity and a challenge for Capital Region architects to design educational spaces with greater cultural sensitivity that provide a sense of belonging for new students and families.
Still Foxy: Historic Fox Theaters in the Capital Region Find New Life
Remnants of the ‘movie palace’ era can be found around the region
There were once dozens of theaters across the United States affiliated with Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios), in an era when moviemakers set up their own chains of theaters and sometimes commissioned grand film palaces. Some have long since been demolished, but others have shown what can happen after a successful push for preservation.
New Design Studio on R Street Weaves Its Way Into Sacramento
Fresh from the Bay, Dro & Tsutomu Designs creates bespoke textiles, jewelry and other crafts
David Oorbeck and Tsutomu Kanaya, owners of Dru & Tsutomu Designs, say that some artist friends of theirs told them about Sacramento — that it was affordable and contained consumers “as attracted to creativity as in the Bay Area.”