
Women in Leadership 2025: Laura Knauss
Our annual salute to the women who lead the Capital Region
In the four decades that Laura Knauss has been practicing architecture, a lot has changed. In the late 1980s when Knauss began her career, women were woefully underrepresented in the field. Now women make up nearly one third of all architects and almost half of all candidates pursuing a license.

California Students Are Now Required to Take a Money Course; Some Are Already Taking It to Great Success
Despite polls showing overwhelming public support for teaching financial literacy skills to school students, prior to the passage of McCarty’s bill California had no statewide requirements around financial literacy courses in the schools. As a result, the infrastructure that does exist around this has largely been developed through the initiatives of a few banks and some forward-looking schools.

The Egg-onomics of Bird Flu: Capital Region Businesses and Consumers Scramble to Deal with Shortage
How the bird flu is affecting businesses that produce and sell eggs in Sacramento and beyond
As the ongoing bird flu crisis continues to decimate millions of
infected chicken flocks across the country, and eggs become
pricier and harder to find, Capital Region businesses weigh in on
the impact of the shortage and what’s helping them through
another major economic challenge so close on the heels of the
pandemic.

Women in Leadership 2025: Cassandra Jennings
Our annual salute to the women who lead the Capital Region
At St. HOPE, Jennings oversees a collection of nonprofit entities — including a charter high school, a development company and an endowment — aimed at revitalizing the Oak Park neighborhood. She is, and has always been, a community builder.

This Small Town by the Sea Brings ‘Authentic Energy’
Benicia’s First Street offers an eclectic array of historic sites, shops and restaurants
The Solano County city of fewer than 30,000 residents is also an easy day trip for visitors from Sacramento and the Bay Area, with a 10-block stroll along Benicia’s First Street providing a unique opportunity to visit 300 eclectic businesses amidst 19th-century Victorian buildings — all while basking in bay views a couple of blocks away.

Scientists Attest to Value of UC Davis Smelt Lab
Federal funding has been imperiled for facility near Byron
The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Feb. 6 that the federal government was looking to not renew funding for the UC Davis Fish Conservation and Culture Laboratory after its current round expires on Friday. While sources close to UC Davis are confident of a new contract being signed with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, that hadn’t happened as of press time, and some are worried about what comes next.

Recycling Unused Food: On the Frontlines With the Agencies and Food Banks Making SB 1383 Work to Feed the Hungry
The food recovery process for SB 1383 is divided into separate tiers. Tier 1, which involves large grocery chains and food distribution centers, went into effect in 2022. The following year, Rancho Cordova’s locker alone recovered 800,000 pounds of food. In that same period, Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services oversaw the redistribution of 14.6 million pounds of edible food that came directly from Capital Area grocery stores.

Chasing Shadows in Tombstone, Arizona
Stepping through the Oriental Saloon in Tombstone, Arizona, there’s a sense of history colliding with the American imagination that is as heavy as its oak bar columns. It’s possible to drink here and wonder if the whole story of Western settlement can be crystallized by 17 violent months that happened in the still-dusty streets outside the door.

The Way We Work: Kenny Pawlek
A glimpse into the daily life of the administrator at Shriners Children’s Northern California
Pawlek keeps that positive outlook through all aspects of managing the 800-employee operation. One secret to keeping a positive morale: lots of dad jokes.

From Baker’s Stats to Stanzas: Jim Franks’ ‘Existential Bread’ Launches in Davis
Picking apart the stuff (seeds, stories, hoaxes) that go into what we think we know about bread
Baker and poet Jim Franks launched his experimental cookbook “Existential Bread” in Davis this week in collaboration with Student Collaborative Organic Plant Breeding Education, an interdisciplinary approach that offers a new way to consider our relationship with food and the complex processes and economics behind it.