Startup of the Month: AppA11y
Software developer creates games for visually impaired players
Before 2012, Nick Barbato was a software developer working in a cubicle, and he was miserable. He wanted more control over his life, so he left that job to start a company called Pangia Games. Not long after he and his cofounder, Lee Hobbs, released their first game, he received an email in 2013 from someone who played it.
Passion Brew
Craft breweries are raising money for philanthropic causes
New beer releases at top-notch craft breweries usually come with plenty of fanfare, attracting the connoisseurs and the curious. In some cases, lines form hours before the beer goes on sale.
Buzzwords: Talent Brand
An employer’s public-facing identity that reflects what it’s like to work at the company
Although companies may try to appear glossy and appealing on that platform, it can still be informative to gauge the company’s values, perks and just how genuine the smiles on employees’ faces may be.
Are We Doomed by Climate Change?
Fast-thinking innovation is needed to prevent ‘wetter wets, drier dries, hotter hots’ from threatening the state’s crops, species and economy
Mediterranean climates, like California’s, typically follow boom and bust cycles, marked by a predictable shift between cold and wet and hot and dry. But the changing climate will amplify that pattern with weather that is, at times, wetter and at other times hotter.
Ron Burkle: The Man Backing the MLS Bid
Five things to know about Ron Burkle, who joined Sacramento Republic FC as lead investor in its bid to join Major League Soccer.
At The Railyards, it’s Full Steam Ahead
Backed by the expected arrival of a Major League Soccer team, development is stirring at the long-dormant Railyards in downtown Sacramento
There’s a word that comes to mind for Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg regarding the largest infill project in his city, The Railyards. “The one word I would use to describe the state of where we’re at is ‘breakthrough,’” Steinberg says.
Inside California’s New Paid Family Leave Law
California recently approved a longer paid family leave, allowing workers whose blessed events fall on the right side of the new law to take up to eight weeks off with partial pay to bond with a new baby. How’s that going to work?
After Torrential Wildfires, Insurance Woes for Homeowners
The Camp Fire has made it more expensive to own a home in rural areas
The most striking effect from the Camp Fire is rising fire insurance costs for residents in areas where wildfire risk is high. Some traditional insurance companies are declining to offer services in these locations.
While Needy School Districts Get More Money, Poor Students in Affluent Districts Suffer
California's 5-year-old school finance overhaul is working for disadvantaged students, but a study still finds that poor students aren't being helped in better-off districts
The study’s findings come amid pressure from lawmakers and advocates who have been concerned that the new system isn’t effectively channeling the extra state money to students, and that more progress hasn’t been made on the achievement gap.
Riding Their Rye
How four women are turning the Legado Whiskey passion project into an international brand
Though Legado Whiskey is a dark American rye, the company is as unaged as moonshine. The owners have leveraged their story — homegrown, women-owned — to reach consumers around the Capital Region, a key strategy in the crowded craft beverage market.