
Rethinking How We Support Our Local Charities
For many companies, the post-holiday season often marks a return to business. But it’s not the time to forget about the nonprofit organizations that are so important to our community. They need our attention beyond the holidays and throughout the year.

Status Check: Bridging the Divide
West Sac makes progress on transportation upgrades
Last year we reported on the massive transportation shift taking place in West Sacramento (“Bridging the Divide” by John Blomster, October 2014) Check out some of the progress that has been made since then:

The Right Assisted Living Facility for Mom
I am looking into assisted living facilities for my mother. What is the difference between assisted living facilities, residential care facilities, retirement homes, and board and care homes? What agency oversees these facilities and how are they licensed?

Don’t Make the Same Mistake Next Year
16 systems you need for 2016
The process of identifying a problem and building a system for the solution doesn’t have to be difficult, time consuming or expensive — but it does require your attention. The good news is that you don’t have to do it alone.

More Companies May Start Helping Employees Buy Homes
Facebook wants to keep its workers close to the office, and it’s willing to pay for it. Sounds great. Why don’t more companies do it?

Startups Meet the Smart Meter
SMUD wants to turbocharge technologies that can raise the IQ of its smart grid
Giving customers price incentives to use less energy during peak periods is a key feature of SMUD’s smart grid. That new metering system is designed to let both the utility and customers better monitor energy use in homes. Now SMUD is hoping to take its grid to the next level. It’s partnering with entrepreneurs who can give customers technology that lets them use SMUD’s price incentives to save money

The Battle Upstream
Environmentalists work to preserve Chinook habitat
On the Yolo Bypass, just northwest of Sacramento, scientists and state and federal agencies are collaborating on a plan they hope could save California’s wild salmon.

Streamlining the Network
MySwirl aims to create the best features of social networking on one platform
While creating MySwirl, Tracy Saville envisioned a network and personal app that could help women unlock their potential, become more mindful, and better collaborate and connect professionally.“ I wanted people to have the freedom to unleash their potential, to collaborate without boundaries, to pursue their ideas and passion to make an impact in the world with as few boundaries as possible — and without having to use twenty different tools to do it,” Saville says.

Friends with Tents
Tent Pals lets buyers donate temporary housing to those in need
While studying abroad at the London School of Economics, UC Davis grad Alex Aguiar befriended a young homeless girl. He found her sleeping beneath an overpass, using folded cardboard to keep the cold concrete from chilling her body. Aguiar could not get the girl’s plight out of his mind. To understand his market, Aguiar spent the night with the homeless community, learning their stories and about what might help them. That’s when the idea for Tent Pals was born

UC Davis Suspends KaloBios Drug Trial After CEO Shkreli’s Arrest
The University of California at Davis and Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida have suspended a planned drug trial sponsored by KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. following the arrest of Chief Executive Officer Martin Shkreli on securities fraud charges.