It’s been quite a year for Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, topped in most people’s minds by his stunning, come-from-behind effort to block the Maloof family from selling and relocating the Sacramento Kings. We sat down with him recently to discuss basketball and several other topics important to the Capital Region.

U.S. Rep. Ami Bera has spent most of his career as one of the Capital Region’s leading voices on health care, first as a doctor and later as Sacramento County’s chief medical officer and a dean of admissions for the UC Davis medical school.

You would be hard pressed to find anyone with a greater breadth of understanding and experience in navigating the complex Golden State health care system than Diana Dooley, California’s secretary of Health and Human Services.

Sacramento Police Chief Sam Somers Jr. is still fairly new to his position, but he is hardly fresh to Sacramento or law enforcement.

Americans once looked at early retirement as reward for decades of hard work, a chance to relax and the opportunity to do more of what they enjoyed — including doing absolutely nothing.

When Shelley Tabar’s father fell off her roof, she became his primary caregiver and subsequently lost nearly half her income.

It all began six years ago, the year my parents turned 80 within a month of one another. Suddenly my strong father, a former steel worker, couldn’t lift most things. At the same time, my multitasking, do-it-all mother became increasingly frustrated by all that she couldn’t accomplish.

The California Teachers Association has long been one of the state’s most powerful political players. This year, the organization has thrown its weight behind Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to raise the state sales tax, in part to fund education. We sat down recently with CTA President Dean Vogel to discuss that support and other critical issues surrounding California schools.

Assemblywoman Connie Conway, a Tulare County Republican, made her presence felt immediately in the California Legislature.

Small-company advancement is on the rise, and more local businesses are seeking innovative leadership training that can help catapult their companies into a source of industrial growth.

Before opening his first retail coffeehouse in a midtown Sacramento alley, Jason Griest roasted a lot of beans.

Stan Atkinson could be described as a homebody these days. It’s not that he doesn’t like to go out occasionally, but Atkinson, like many other aging Americans, would prefer to stay in his home as long as possible.

Last November, Roger Niello was named president and CEO of the Sacramento Metro Chamber. We sat down with him recently to talk about the city’s business and political climate and the Chamber’s collaborative Next Economy planning initiative.

Peter Lindert is one of the preeminent voices in the “deep history” field of economics, which looks at the world economy over the scope of all human history. We recently talked with the UC Davis professor about the U.S. and global economies and the penchant for both to experience exhilarating highs and devastating lows.

California’s ongoing economic slump has been historically challenging to local governments, even in relatively affluent areas like Folsom, which has one of the highest per capita incomes in the Capital Region. We sat down recently with Folsom City Manager Kerry Miller to discuss the city’s current fiscal condition and plans it has to thrive as the economy improves.

Former California State Treasurer Phil Angelides was tapped in 2009 to chair the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a 10-member commission that Congress tasked with determining the causes of the Great Recession.

Bob Deis has been Stockton city manager for less than a year. Since coming on board last June, Deis has faced numerous challenges, most notably finding a solution to the city’s enormous budget shortfall and looming pension obligations. We sat down with him recently to discuss some of those issues and his plans to revitalize Stockton’s business climate.

Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez’s tenure has been one of the most tumultuous in the university’s history.

Donna Lucas’ political acumen has made her one of the most respected public affairs strategists in the nation and one of the most influential people in California state government.

Phil Isenberg, a longtime environmental advocate and former Sacramento mayor and state assemblyman, will lead the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force. We sat down with him recently to talk about the state’s efforts to bring its water system into the 21st century.

For many environmentalists and residents of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the solution to California’s water supply sounds brilliant in its simplicity: Use less than we do now, particularly in areas of the state that have precious little of their own to begin with, thereby eliminating the need for spending billions of dollars on new water storage. But don’t try selling that idea to the bulk of California’s most powerful water stakeholders, many of whom contend that all the low-flow toilets and drip irrigation systems in the world won’t mean much without more dams and reservoirs to capture water during wet years and reap the benefits in dry times.

Mary Nichols is no stranger to innovation. As one of the nation’s first environmental attorneys, Nichols has spent her career protecting natural resources at the state and federal level. She also served as the California Air Resources Board Chairwoman from 1978 to 1983, and now she’s at it again.

Pamela Eibeck has made a career of distinguishing herself in the male-dominated fields of engineering and college administration while balancing life as a wife (of law professor William D. Jeffery) and mother of four children. This month, she reached another milestone and is reporting to a new job. Eibeck is the first female president in the 158-year history of University of the Pacific.

After a quarter-century of leadership at UC Davis, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef will step down. Appointed as UC Davis’ fifth chancellor in 1994, he is one of the nation’s longest-serving university administrators. He came to the campus in 1984, first serving as the executive vice chancellor, and will bow out at the end of the campus’s centennial year on June 30. As part of the celebration, the chancellor sat down with Comstock’s to reflect upon the colorful history of the campus once known as University Farm and the lasting contributions it has on the Capital Region.