SACRAMENTO COUNTY, CA (MPG) - This winter, there is growing concern about the convergence of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), flu and COVID-19, a phenomenon some have termed a “triple threat” or “tripledemic.” All three viruses cause respiratory illness with the potential to lead to serious illness or death. Local hospitals are already feeling the impacts of these illnesses, but there are actions we can all take to decrease the likelihood of getting or spreading these viruses.
RSV and flu normally surge each winter. This year, California has experienced more cases earlier in the season and more severe illness, especially among younger (under 5 years old) and older (65+ years old) residents. After several months of declining COVID-19 rates, Sacramento County’s rates have increased steadily over the last month. The county’s CDC COVID-19 Community Level has increased from Low to Medium, which means that everyone should consider wearing a mask in indoor public places, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Guidance for Face Coverings. Masks are also recommended in crowded indoor public places for vulnerable people or those with household or social contact with vulnerable people.
The increase in cases also activates mask requirements in certain settings, as set by CDPH. Homeless shelters, emergency shelters, cooling and heating centers, and state and local correctional facilities and detention centers are required by CDPH to reinstate universal masking requirements for staff and residents. Masks remain required in healthcare settings, long-term care settings and adult and senior care facilities.
Dr. Olivia Kasirye, Sacramento County Public Health Officer, reminds residents, “As we gather this winter with family and friends, it is important to remember the tools we have to stay healthy and safe. Updated COVID-19 boosters and flu shots help provide essential protection. Consider wearing a mask in indoor public places and wash your hands frequently. If you’re sick, whether it’s with COVID-19 or something else, stay home so you don’t spread it to others.”
Lights on for Christmas
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CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - A window of clear sky on a rainy day blessed the 20th annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Carmichael Park last week.
Leading a community count-down, Park District board chair Joyce Carroll flipped a switch and ignited thousands of fairy lights on the 50ft park Christmas tree and surrounding illuminations. Flurries of faux snow were unleashed.
The 60-strong River City Concert band from Rancho Cordova led Christmas songs. Joined by Disney heroine Elsa from “Frozen,” Santa Claus indulged hundreds of children. His elves distributed more than 500 illuminated glow wands. Believers were further rewarded by crafting opportunities.
More than 1500 visitors celebrated the winter festival as trees and inflatables glowed. Food trucks fed the multitudes. The Christmas decorations may be viewed on the park’s Fair Oaks Boulevard frontage every night until the New Year.
Sponsors included Carmichael Kiwanis Club, Buck Family Automotive and Carmichael Parks Foundation.
New Art Space in Milagro Centre – Salt & Light Gallery
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Everyday life can feel heavy and demanding, but there is a place to lay down your worries and take in some magic.
Salt and Light Gallery is a new space at Milagro Centre in Carmichael. Salt & Light Gallery is a curated space featuring art for your home and office. The work is light and uplifting – lending a sense of hopefulness and calm. It offers a place to rest, look and breathe.
Michelle Andres, a Sacramento area artist and Carmichael resident, was offered the space by local developer, Allan Davis, to show her own work. Noting the need to lift people’s spirits and have positive visual relationships, Andres took the concept to heart and collected a small stable of artists to showcase their work at Milagro calling the project Salt & Light.
Events to showcase the work will soon follow, so keep in contact with the gallery space for updates. You can find them on Instagram or sign up for updates at the website www.saltandlightgallery.art
The space is nestled between the Bella Bru Event Center and Seritella’s Restaurant on the north end of the centre. Milagro offers community staples and areas for gathering, relaxing and dining. Other venues include River City Brewing Company, Mesa Mercado Restaurant, Taiko Sushi, GB Gelato, a lovely coffee niche called Café Madre and more.
Milagro Centre and Salt & Light are open every day from 9 am – 9 pm. Other merchant hours may vary, so check their site at www.milagrocentre.com if you would like to eat or play while seeing the artwork.
To learn more about Salt & Light Gallery follow them on Instagram at @Saltandlight_Gallery.
Kiwanis Club of Carmichael’s See’s Candies Sales
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - The Kiwanis Club of Carmichael Foundation is currently holding its annual holiday See’s Candies sales which started on November 19 and will end on December 24, 2022.
The sales are taking place in the H&R office (next to Starbucks) at 4005 Manzanita Avenue Ste# 9 in the Bel Air Shopping Center complex in Carmichael. The hours of the sales are from 10:00 am to 5:30 p.m. daily.
The Kiwanis Club of Carmichael is a member of Kiwanis International which is a global organization dedicated to serving communities and bettering the lives of children and families. Our club has created impactful programs to support our diverse community while fulfilling our mission of serving the children of the world. All proceeds will be utilized to support these programs. To find out more about our projects and events, please visit www.carmichaelkiwanis.org.
We are privileged to be a partner in this caring and supportive community, and we appreciate your support of this important fundraiser for our club.
Have a wonderful holiday!
Chuckawalla State Prison and other California facilities will shut down
SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today announced that Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP) in Riverside County will close by March 2025, and that the $32 Million lease on CDCR-staffed California City Correctional Facility (CAC) will not be renewed in 2024. In their announcement, CDCR pledged that the state would work to support local communities impacted by prison closures with an economic resiliency plan.
Additionally, CDCR named the following facilities in six other state-owned prisons: Folsom Women’s Facility to be deactivated by January 2023; California Men’s Colony (West) to be deactivated by Winter 2023; California Rehabilitation Center (A yard) to be deactivated by Spring 2023; California Institution for Men (D yard) to to be deactivated by Spring 2023; Pelican Bay State Prison (C yard) to be deactivated by Winter 2023; California Correctional Institution (D yard) to be deactivated by Summer 2023.
“Our community applauds this move toward reversing California’s terrible history of prison expansion,” said Amber-Rose Howard, Executive Director of Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB). “We hope yard deactivations are done safely, and that they are an indication of the future prison closures we all know are possible over the next several years.”
This is the latest development in California’s effort to reduce its sprawling prison system. Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI) was shuttered on September 30, 2021. Governor Newsom’s enacted budget for 2022-23 mandated that California Correctional Center (CCC) in Susanville––a six-decade-old facility requiring $503 million in repairs–– must close by June 30, 2023. Newsom’s budget also enshrined the longstanding possibility that at least three more prisons could close by 2025. Prison closure advocates maintain that in order to accomplish this goal, identifying which prisons to close next and how best to do so must be prioritized in the administration’s agenda.
The state’s own nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office produced a report in November of 2020 that outlined at least $1.5 billion annually in savings if California committed to closing five prisons by 2025. CURB released a roadmap to close at least 10 prisons across the state, potentially reducing corrections spending by $2.8 Billion annually.
“It’s important that California continue this progress and adopt a well-considered roadmap for future prison closures, one that centers community investment and is informed by the experiences of people most harmed by incarceration,” continued Ms. Howard.
CDCR’s announcement marks the third state prison designated to close since 2021
SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) – Stephen Cook, attorney for Save Our Capitol!, today issued the following statement after the California Third District Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Save Our Capitol!, finding the Capitol Annex Project’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) legally deficient and ordering the Project’s approvals to be set aside pending revision, recirculation, and reconsideration of the EIR:
“Save Our Capitol! is gratified that the Court sided with the people of California today. The California Department of General Services (DGS) and the Joint Committee on Rules of the California State Senate and Assembly (JRC) were found to be in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), depriving the public and California lawmakers of an opportunity to fully evaluate the devastating consequences of the Capitol Annex Project.
“The Court agreed that the EIR ‘prevented the people from commenting on significant environmental effects of what is truly the people’s capitol.’ We’re heartened that the Court’s decision requires DGS and JRC to do what they should have from the start of the Project: fully evaluate the Project’s environmental impacts, and consider and adopt feasible mitigation and alternatives.
“The Court has ordered the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate directing DGS to vacate its certification of the EIR and approval of the Project, and to revise and recirculate the deficient portions of the EIR before it considers reapproving the Project. Today, the People of California won. While it is unfortunate that legal action was required to compel JRC and DGS to follow the law, Save Our Capitol! is hopeful that, now, they will properly consider alternatives to the Project which do not involve decimating these irreplaceable historical resources.”
The Court’s decision can be found here.
About Save Our Capitol!
The purpose of Save our Capitol! is to preserve the site of the historic Capitol and its surrounding Park as the center and symbol of Californians’ right to truth, transparency, and trust in self-governance. Follow Save Our Capitol! on Twitter and act to #StopTheDemolition by visiting www.saveourcapitol.org.
‘The Party was Over’
Getting a Second Chance at Life
NORTH HIGHLANDS, CA (MPG) – The Tri-County Lunch Bunch came together on December 1 in North Highlands for their monthly meeting at the Pancake Palace, which takes place the first Thursday of every month.
The group, which includes locals from Rio Linda, Elverta, North Highlands and beyond, is always welcoming new members. Thursday’s two guest speakers attended the monthly gathering for the first time and were invited by regular attendee, Chris Evans.
The two speakers were Jesse Yniguez and Shawna Barnes, who each are recovered from previously using drugs and alcohol.
“I became homeless in 2017 due to drugs and alcohol,” Yniguez told the Lunch Bunch. “For the first year, I pretty much just survived, I got into survival mode. I did not want to do anything but survive. The second year, I came across Downtown Streets Team.”
Yniguez joined the Downtown Streets Team Sacramento shortly after it launched in 2018. The team provided him with an opportunity to join the workforce and restore how he viewed himself as a person.
“They started giving me certain tasks and certain things to build up my self-esteem. I didn’t have any more self-esteem left and my confidence, my confidence was gone, everything was just totally gone,” Yniguez recalled.
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After three years of working for the streets team, Yniguez decided it was time to work on himself. He spent nine months attending alcohol DUI classes so he could get his driver’s license back, which he successfully did last month in November 2022. Yniguez also got a warrant from 2010 lifted off his license as well.
He now works with Evans at The River District. The other featured speaker, Barnes, also works with Evans.
“I was pretty messed up on drugs, I was homeless for five years,” Barnes said. “I lost my family, my kids, I didn’t have anything left. I wanted something different, so I started working [on] the Downtown Streets Team and it just changed everything around [me]. I got off drugs, I got my family back, I got my kid back, I got my license, I got a new car!
“They got me this job and this job is amazing, its changed my life. I know I can do it now. I didn’t have any hope left and today I do. Today I know anything is possible. I know anybody can do it because I did it and I didn’t think it was possible.”
Evans works with the Downtown Streets Team Sacramento, The River District and the Sacramento Navigators, with a goal of rehabilitating individuals who are homeless due to substance abuse struggles.
“Every month I know you hear me say the same thing,” Evans said. “We do not have a homeless problem in California, we have a drug problem. Just because we have a drug problem doesn’t mean we need to give up hope. There’s people out there who will fight to come back.”
Yniguez and Barnes said they each, respectively, found out about the street team program while going to get a meal from Loaves & Fishes.
“I had made a mess of the streets and I was like, ‘I would love to do that!’ I mean, what was I doing? I had nothing better to do,” Barnes proclaimed Thursday. “It got me some clean socks, underwear and just stuff that I really needed. You have to go down and get on the list and every week you have to be there so they can see your serious, then they let you on the team and it’s amazing.”
The street team program provides $100 stipends each week that can be spent at the Dollar Tree, McDonald’s and Ross Dress for Less in exchange for someone picking up trash off the streets.
“Once I started getting in that rhythm of joining up each day and [was] somewhere that I belonged, it [became] like family,” Yniguez said. “I met Shawna through Downtown Streets Team. We’ve known each other since then and we’ve become like family. I went to her house for Thanksgiving this year, that’s how close we’ve become.
“This is like one of the neatest programs ever, I’ll tell you that. They really make you feel like family.”
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Evans said the street team currently has two separate divisions: street cleaning and landscaping. In early 2023, the nonprofit will be adding two more with a bakery and entrepreneurship program. The plan is for team members to bake banana bread and sell it at swap meets according to Evans.
One member of the group, who admitted to being a recovered alcoholic himself, asked the two speakers how they are able to sustain their sobriety. The gentleman mentioned that even as someone in recovery, he feels you still always have that part of you that was addicted to a substance within yourself.
“I don’t anymore to tell you the truth,” Yniguez responded. “There just came a time I knew the party was over. My choice of drug was meth. I didn’t think I had a problem. But then when I realized that I did have a problem, and then I realized that I had just been wanting to become successful again, that that was not going to be in the cards when I was doing that.”
Yniguez shared that at the age of 32 he bought his own diesel truck that he had been saving to get for five years. Despite the truck “meaning the world” to Yniguez, his addiction to alcohol led him into downfall spiral before he even did drugs. He said that he began coming into work late and letting his addiction seep into his everyday life.
“When I got my diesel truck, I felt that was the top of the success line that I was going to get,” Yniguez explained. “I felt great. I made my grandparents happy, I made my mother and father ecstatic and I had it all [for] about two and a half years. When it came to an end and I had to sell it, I went into a deep depression. Therefore, now that I’m becoming successful again, I don’t ever want to feel that feeling again. Now I’m just going to the top and that’s all I want to do. I know what to do once I get there.
“I had cravings many years ago, maybe three or four years ago, but I don’t anymore, that’s out of the cards. That’s not even a thing to me. I can be around it and I wouldn’t touch it. I have too much to lose right now.”
Barnes said she’s been able to maintain her sobriety through religion.
“How I stayed sober is I found God,” she said. “God saved my life. I was out there, I had nothing left and I told God, ‘If you’re real, please help me,’ and he did, he changed my life around. I go to church two-three times a week and I just love it. God really saved me.”
The next meeting of the Tri-County Lunch Bunch will be on January 5 at Pancake Palace from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and anyone is welcome to attend.