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VW’s Penance for Cheating Takes Shape With California Wish List
California’s regulator that played a key role in busting Volkswagen AG for cheating on emissions tests laid out a detailed list of options for how the automaker will have to spend $800 million toward advancing cars that don’t pollute the air.
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Your Guide To 7 Workplace Dress Codes
No matter where you work or what you do, there’s always going to be a dress code. For people who work with their hands, that may mean steel-toed boots and protective eyewear, but for the average office worker, it’s less about safety and more about looking neat, organized and professional.
![Members of the Community Incubator Lead for the Valley Hi neighborhood meet up during an event at the Sierra Health Foundation in Sacramento. (Photo courtesy Sierra Health Foundation)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1116_blog_health1.jpg?1577874530)
Simple, Life-Saving Idea Catches On
Hospitals in Sacramento County give cribs to mothers of newborns to help address sleep-related child deaths
In May 2015, a pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center pioneered a life-saving idea. It was remarkably simple, relatively inexpensive and would help address a public health crisis. Nurses would ask every mother of a newborn leaving the hospital if her baby had a safe place to sleep. If not, Kaiser would send the parent home with a free, portable Pack-N-Play.
![2500 R Street is a development in Midtown Sacramento.
(photo by Sena Christian)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1116_blog_energy1.jpg?1577874530)
Rising Conflict
Residents of Sacramento’s first net-zero energy community claim their homes may not be net zero after all
Less than three years after its first resident moved in, the highly-touted energy-efficient development in Sacramento called 2500 R Street is now mired in a legal dispute over the alleged false advertising of its homes as net-zero energy and LEED-certified.
![At a recent “Crime and Dine” lunch, the Sacramento Police Department did bomb detonation demonstrations.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1016_blog_law1.jpg?1577874530)
Power Inn Alliance Forges Partnership with Sacramento Police
Advocacy group and law enforcement work together to share information and reduce crime
When a woman drove a Lexus SUV through Fruitridge and Power Inn Road earlier this year, there were no obvious signs that it was hot and teaming with drugs. Within moments a police observation device returned a hit on the stolen vehicle, and Sacramento Police Department Officer Patrick Mulligan had her pulled over.
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Employment Agreements: Yes, All that Paperwork is Necessary
Contracts, non-disclosure agreements and trade secrets
Remember when drafting employment contracts, they are binding for both parties. Therefore, if you add a surplus of incentives in your contract to entice a candidate that blew you away during the interview process to come aboard, you better be prepared to follow through with actually doling them out.
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Family Policy
The Family Business Association of California is a lobbying firm founded to protect the interests of California family businesses in the state legislature, and to “fight against proposals which will add new regulations and costs to family businesses.”
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Close to Home
Capital Region Family Business Center’s executive director on how family businesses can learn from one another
Since 2007, the nonprofit Capital Region Family Business Center has worked to help family-run businesses solve some of the unique challenges facing their companies. The organization recently took another step toward that goal by hiring Stella Premo as its first full-time, paid executive director. We talked to her about the ups and downs of running a family business.
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Our Printer is Going Green(er)
Commerce Printing turns to solar power with plenty of downtown real estate — on their roof
Commerce Printing, located on 12th and C streets in Sacramento, has been printing Comstock’s magazine for roughly 16 years. As a business publication, we take pride in being the city’s only major magazine to be printed locally. But there’s another reason we’re proud of our long-standing relationship with the company: its commitment to environmentally sustainable practices.
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No Such Thing as No Strings Attached
Watch out for well meaning family and friends when building a startup
Recently, within the context of being a co-founder and mentor at Roseville’s Glue Factory, an incubator for entrepreneurs willing to give back to the community in exchange for free workspace and guidance, I am often asked about the ins and outs of family and friends investing in a startup company.