Two decades after California voters approved medical marijuana use, state lawmakers finally endorsed the idea of creating a statewide framework regulating the product last year.

Founded by UC Davis students in 1992, and located at Loaves and Fishes in Sacramento, the Mercer Clinic for the Pets of the Homeless serves not only animals, but the people who love them and the community as a whole.

As West Sacramento’s mayor since 1998, Christopher Cabaldon has been an integral part of the city’s metamorphosis from a gritty industrial outpost to one of the region’s most up-and-coming locales. We recently sat down with him to talk about riverfront development, craft breweries and the impending “green rush” of legal marijuana.

When it comes to mental and physical well-being, the rules seem simple: Those who drink plenty of water, get enough sleep, eat healthy foods, exercise regularly and engage in joyous activities will be rewarded with decreased likelihood of falling ill, improved mental focus and better overall health.

Standing up improves productivity by increasing blood flow and brain activity. Purging your desk clears your mind. Faking a smile can actually make you feel better. Want more tips? We have them …

Within the past year alone, dozens of foodborne disease outbreaks have impacted the U.S. food supply, implicating all sorts of ingredients. Contaminated cucumbers have been blamed, along with tomatoes, cilantro, pork, turkey, tuna and raw milk. Cases have also occurred at the food-service level, often because employees failed to wash their hands.

Ryan Duey, owner-operator of Capitol Floats in Sacramento, describes the experience of floating as “turning the outside off, and turning you up to the nth degree. You’re the driver of the ship. Your float is whatever your float wants to be.”

Americans are growing increasingly conscious of their health, as diet-related conditions such as diabetes and heart disease remain stubbornly among the top causes of death in the U.S.

Effective leaders don’t come from one mold. The women featured below have excelled in nontraditional industries due to their talent, vision, perseverance and the (sometimes unlikely) mentors who guided their trajectory. They shared their stories with us — where they started, their rise to leadership and their thoughts on mentoring the next generation of powerful women.

In 2012, we reported on the growing number of men seeking plastic surgery in the Capital Region (“Male Enhancement” by Allen Young, March 2012). We caught up with one of the doctors interviewed, Dr. Debra Johnson of the Plastic Surgery Center of Sacramento, to see what the makeup of her waiting room looks like now.