Stockton’s levees haven’t received a major overhaul since the 1990s, while Sacramento’s have received widespread upgrades in the last 20 years. “We think they’re in danger,” says Jane Dolan, chair of the Central Valley Flood Protection Board. “They’re behind on flood protection.”

Climate change is increasing the strength of Sacramento’s winter storms. Higher temperatures allow atmospheric rivers to carry more water, research shows. Climate change is also jacking up other flood risks, such as sea rise and snowmelt. All this is raising the chances of catastrophic flooding in Sacramento.

The Sacramento City Council recently approved a revitalization plan for Old Sacramento Waterfront that is dramatically smaller than the plan it endorsed six years ago.

The district tells the story of the Gold Rush, the railroads, Sacramento’s beginnings and more, but it has a reputation as being merely a tourist novelty spot with gag gift and candy shops.

In the last four years, Sacramento has approved more than 11,000 housing units, the third-highest total in the state, according to figures from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The city’s total of approved housing trails only Los Angeles and San Diego, both of which are much larger cities.

The region has been suffering through a housing shortage for several years. But environmentalists worry about the impacts of greenfield development: It increases greenhouse gas emissions as people commute longer distances and causes the loss of habitat and open space, which gives the region its character and makes it a good place to live.

Dos Rios State Park is located eight miles west of Modesto at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers. It’s the state’s most visible example of rebuilding wetlands along river corridors.

The life cycle of a salmon, so the story goes, is a heroic journey. The fish emerge from fertilized eggs in a river bed, swim to the ocean where they spend most of their lives and return to give birth in the exact place where they were born.

The South Fork of the American River looked like the high seas or a stormy lake in late May, with four times the normal amount of water coursing through Chili Bar, known for challenging rapids even in dry years.

Uncertainty over where people can consume marijuana can create significant limitations for cannabis businesses. 

Mike Appezzato has only been in business for a year, but he’s already uprooting his company to move it to Sacramento.  

To many consumers, the idea of edibles — cannabis-infused chocolate bars, brownies and other treats — sounds enticing. Especially considering health concerns about cigarettes have made people uncomfortable with smoke, including from marijuana.

The legalization of adult-use marijuana in November 2016 created an opportunity for California to rethink drug education programs, as a portion of the tax revenue from the new commercial cannabis market must go to education programs.

Getting reliable information about cannabis may be more important than ever. But finding reliable cannabis information has become harder because of another trend — the decimation of newsroom staffs.