John Paul, CEO of Spiral Internet, offers his insight into rural broadband capabilities. For more from Paul, check out “The Long Reach” in our September issue. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you when it’s available online.

It took four years to write my thriller, but only three months to see it morph from a 122,000-word computer file to a book available on Amazon and at local bookstores.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg has a decidedly unique perspective on the role of government borne of experience few can match: he is a former city councilman, California assemblymember and senate president who has come home to local government. We sat down with him to talk about his vision for the city.

Randy Roberts, deputy director of the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, offers her insight into the essential role of museums as community organizations.

Now in the middle of the summer months, energy usage throughout California inevitably has become a significant issue on the minds of millions of residents. Underscoring this reality will, of course, be the sticker shock that many Californians will experience when they open those summertime utility bills.

On Tuesday, Rubicon Brewing Company announced that after 30 years they are closing their doors at the end of the month. The news hit me much harder than it should have and I have been trying to figure out why. Finally it came to me. Rubicon wasn’t just another brewery. It was Midtown. To me, it was everything good Sacramento had to offer.

Bessie Barth, director of Music to Grown On, offers her insight into the role of music therapy.

Can Sacramento continue to invest in the arts when public budgets remain tight and the economy continues to underperform? Wrong question. Rather, we need to ask ourselves whether we can afford not to invest in the arts. We need to change the debate away from a competition for dollars and toward building an understanding of the many avenues by which a vibrant arts scene complements and promotes robust economic growth in our region.

We have a female employee who reported sexual harassment from a male coworker. The woman didn’t want to come forward, but once the CEO found out, he felt he had an obligation to handle the claim. We currently are without an HR manager. What is the proper way to handle this? Should an investigation be made? 

Making a career as an artist is rarely easy, sometimes impossible and usually totally worth it. Sometimes we catch a break and get to skip ahead more quickly than anticipated. Other times we have to put in (very) long hours. Here are a few pitfalls I’ve learned to avoid: