Now that it’s upending the way you play music, cook, shop, hear the news and check the weather, the friendly voice emanating from your Amazon Alexa-enabled smart speaker is poised to wriggle its way into all things health care.

The irony of Maria Kang’s international success is not lost on her: The same critics who helped her message go viral inadvertently opened the door for her to reach a global audience.

After Bethany Sasaki became certified as a lactation consultant about a decade ago, she took a break from her hospital nursing job to earn some cash consulting while caring for her newborn son. She drove all over the Sacramento region to meet with moms struggling to breastfeed. And her phone kept on ringing.

Across the Sacramento region, food truck owners are riding their mobile success into more stationary ventures, from sit-down restaurants like Culinerdy Kitchen to food-court outposts and drive-through kiosks.

With full participation in California’s food stamp program, the state’s poor would receive an additional $1.8 billion in federal funds each year. Pending legislation would require the state to close in on that goal. Some say it’s too ambitious for a state where 58 counties manage an arduous application in a variety of ways.

Brandon Weber stood in front of a group of Sacramento entrepreneurs and local leaders, including Mayor Darrell Steinberg, and confronted a truth: Efforts to support the regional chapter of the California Innovation Hub have slowed in recent years.

West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon says the city he used to lead “is young enough to still remember what it was like when it wasn’t a city.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom has ambitious plans to improve California’s early childhood education, but experts say he’s forgetting a key group: preschool teacher salaries.

As Comstock’s celebrates its 30th anniversary, we take a look back at our most-memorable covers. This is the final installment in a four-part series published Mondays.

Daniel Stephan may blend in with his fellow millennials. He’s an avid podcast listener, has a few tattoos and has nurtured a passion project into a dream job. But the baker and owner of Niche Bread & Company in Midtown Sacramento also has an old-school approach to the basics of healthy living — nutrition, discipline, balance — that affects the way he runs his business.