A Simple Solution to Two Huge Problems

As oppressive heat continues to blanket much of the U.S., it’s especially crucial to take precautions to protect yourself and your loved ones—furry friends included.

Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry won the American Century Championship with a knuckle-biting last putt.

A 23-acre open space park with a nearly mile-long paved trail through a new housing development off Arcadia Drive is expected to be completed in the fall.

Federal regulators approved the nation’s first over-the-counter birth control pill—a decision that will soon make contraceptive medication as easy to obtain as aspirin and eyedrops.

More than four in ten Californians reported being personally affected by an extreme weather event in the last two years, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors didn’t postpone a carbon neutrality goal after dozens of climate activists pushed back against proposed changes. In a 3-1 vote, with Supervisor Sue Frost abstaining, the board requested revisions including adding a requirement to measure progress on reducing emissions every five years.

A rodent posing a serious threat to levees and native marshlands has found its way to Sacramento County. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife first sounded the alarm on nutria in 2017, when the large South American rodents were detected in the San Joaquin Valley.

Seven dual language immersion programs are in the Sacramento City Unified School District, with programs taught in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hmong, and Spanish. But while the elementary school programs are a “great experience,” kids are left unsupported once they graduate.

As nights warm and droughts intensify, past models predicting fire behavior have become unreliable. So California is working with analysts and tapping into new technology to figure out how to attack wildfires. Gleaned from military satellites, drones and infrared mapping, the information is spat out in real time and triaged by a fire behavior analyst.

Two former Twitter employees have developed a new social media app called Spill. Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell and DeVaris Brown say the platform prioritizes the safety and well-being of marginalized identities, with a particular emphasis on African Americans and the LGBT-Q community.

Caltrans broke ground on the first phase of a project designed to improve traffic on Interstate 5 through Natomas. The $39 million project will include construction of new auxiliary lanes.

Sacramento State is one of the most diverse colleges in all of California—a state that stopped allowing race to be a criteria for admission in its public academic institutions in 1996 with the passage of Proposition 209.

Rep. Katie Porter was the choice of 19% of likely voters, just ahead of Rep. Adam Schiff at 16% and Rep. Barbara Lee at 13%, a June survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found. PPIC also found that in the race for the White House, 50% of the state’s likely Republican voters support former President Donald Trump.

The environmental costs of ending water diversions from Mono Lake to Los Angeles would be mixed: It might help a shore bird habitat but would require changes that increase carbon emissions.

Mildred García will take over a system confronting a budget shortfall, declining enrollment and complaints about how Cal State officials have handled sexual misconduct allegations.

In the magazine Nature, a team of scientists reports that they have detected changes in ocean color that cannot be explained by natural, year-to-year variability alone. These color shifts have occurred over 56 percent of the world’s oceans.

For the first time, San Diego has surpassed San Francisco for average rental rates, making the All-American City the nation’s third-most expensive rental market, according to a Zillow report. But San Jose had the nation’s highest monthly rent with $3,411.