SMUD Reminds Customers to Ask Utility Workers for Identification
SACRAMENTO COUNTY, CA (MPG) - SMUD employees sometimes need access to a customer’s yard to trim trees or make service repairs. All SMUD field crews carry SMUD-issued photo identification cards at all times, and many wear uniforms and drive SMUD vehicles. Customers who have concerns can verify that a worker is a SMUD employee by calling 1-888-742-7683.
Fifth Annual Wildlife Care Association Fall Photo Contest Takes Flight
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - One picture on your mobile or your camera. That’s all it takes to take off as the 2019 Wildlife Care winner! Get outside and give us your best shot of a bird or birds in your backyard, local park or Sacramento area wild location. Easy!
Submit your picture on the Wildlife Care Association Facebook page as a message with photo attachment. Contest is open October 1 to December 31, 2019. Entries can be made in two categories- Under 12 years old you can enter FREE! Those over 12 are asked to include a minimum $5.00 donation to WCA on the Facebook donate link for each entry. (Under 18 yrs old? Ask your parents to help!)
Submissions should include your email, the location photo was taken, and your best guess what type of bird this might be. Enter @wildlifecareassociation on Facebook.
Each photo may be entered once, but individuals may submit more than one. Enter often and donate to help the WCA heroes of nature save thousands of injured, orphaned and displaced wildlife every year. The non-profit wildlife rehabilitation volunteers depend on the community for their support giving wildlife a second chance to live.
The WCA Photo Contest winner will be awarded a special prize including a guided tour of the Dome at McClellan Park, their photo featured in WCA Facebook/Instagram as a hero of nature!
Give us the bird! Snap some shots, submit them and let’s see if they fly!
For more information call 916-965-WILD
One picture will be chosen from submissions to determine a winner. WCA staff reserves the right to select a winner from content and other factors including artistic merit. All photos submitted become the property of WCA for its use in outreach, education and fundraising.
North Ridge Country Club Announces High School Golf Scholarship Awards
FAIR OAKS, CA (MPG) - The Club provided approximately $8,000 to high school senior men and women scholarships this year with the money coming from member contributions and cumulative grants now approach $40,000. The criteria for an award include grade point average (GPA), golf index and accomplishments over the student athletes’ high school career from local, Sacramento area schools, community involvement and work, and character references. The variety and multitude of accomplishments of the high school men and women recipients and all aspects of the student athletes lives and contributions to the greater Sacramento area is impressive. Many of the recipients have been captains of their golf teams, team or league MVPs, have earned all-league honors and goneon to play collegiate golf.
According to Mike Galli, head professional at North Ridge: “While we have a love of golf, our members also believe young people should have more in their lives than just golf. That’s why we emphasize grades and community involvement as well as golf skills. We are proud of our members for their generosity in making personal contributions to make these awards possible.” Some recipients have gone on to attend such schools as UC Berkeley, Penn State, University of Nebraska, Long Beach State and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to continue their golf and academic endeavors.
Through member contributions of time and funding, North Ridge also has provided support to such organizations as Youth on Course, Folds of Honor Foundation, Junior Girls Program, Stanford Youth Solutions, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Bella Vista, Del Campo and Casa Roble High Schools, Albie Aware Breast Cancer Foundation and others. It is all part of North Ridge’s efforts to be involved in the community. Over the past ten (10) years, including the high school golf scholarships, the Club has donated approximately $300,000 to the aforementioned organizations.
For more information on North Ridge Country Club, please contact Rink Sanford, General Manager at 916-967-5717.
SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Shawn Yadon, CEO of the California Trucking Association (CTA), issued the following statement in response to the decision by Governor Gavin Newsom to sign Assembly Bill 5 into law:
“In the wake of Governor Newsom signing AB 5, the California Trucking Association is exploring its options to ensure California’s more than 70,000 independent owner-operators do not lose the tens of thousands of dollars spent in purchasing and updating their trucks, and other assets they have invested in order to build their own businesses.
“In its current form, AB 5 denies a significant segment of the trucking industry the ability to continue operating as independent owner-operators, forcing them to abandon investments they’ve made in their trucks as well as taking away their flexibility to set their own schedule and determine their destiny regarding their businesses, which many have operated for more than three decades.
“We look forward to working with the Legislature and the Administration to develop a more workable solution to AB 5 that protects employees from misclassification without eliminating the independent owner-operator business model.”
Since 1934, the California Trucking Association has been serving the commercial motor carrier industry in California and the companies that provide products and services to the trucking industry. A critical and vital component of California’s economy, nearly 80 percent of California communities depend solely on trucks to deliver their goods. Our carrier membership ranges from individual owner-operators, to small for-hire fleets, to the largest national and international carriers. Allied members of the California Trucking Association range from businesses involved with truck and trailer sales, parts and service, insurance, legal services and all other businesses that support the trucking industry.
The California Trucking Association promotes leadership in the California motor carrier industry, advocates sound transportation policies to all levels of government, and works to maintain a safe, environmentally responsible and efficient California transportation goods movement system.
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) – The Sacramento River Cats and Sutter Health announced a multi-year agreement that names the integrated healthcare network, headquartered in Sacramento and serving more than 100 Northern California communities, as the team’s lead community partner. As part of the new agreement that will take effect after the 2019 season, the home of the Sacramento River Cats will be known as Sutter Health Park, and the team and Sutter Health will collaborate on a variety of community-focused projects to improve the total health and wellness of the Sacramento region.
“Sutter Health has been a long-time partner to the Sacramento River Cats–whether it was their network doctors serving as team physicians or through their sponsorship of our Saturday night fireworks,” said River Cats General Manager, Chip Maxson. “We are excited about this new opportunity where we can concentrate on a variety of community-focused projects on and off the field, while also lending the Sutter Health name to the home of the River Cats, a premier venue for fun, affordable and family-friendly entertainment in the Sacramento region.”
As part of its collaboration, the River Cats and Sutter Health will together expand its support of youth physical and mental health, as well as access to play and the outdoors across the region. Plans include providing field makeovers for youth baseball and softball fields and promotion of youth mental health awareness.
“Sutter Health is excited to expand our nearly 20-year community partnership with the River Cats. The organization is a fun, affordable and family-friendly community asset that we are proud to support,” said Sutter Health Chief Operating Officer James Conforti. “Together we call this region home, and we are passionate about supporting our vibrant community. Communities are stronger when there is greater access to sports, athletics and outdoor activities, which are powerful ways to improve individual health and wellness.”
As part of the transition, the home of the Sacramento River Cats will become Sutter Health Park. It will serve as a community gathering space that actively promotes health and wellness beginning with the 2020 baseball season and throughout the year, and plans include health and wellness programming and local events from walks and runs, to health screenings, flu immunization clinics and more. During the season, attendees will see additional cause-related nights and non-profit community partners featured and supported in their community-related activities and programs.
Raley’s, the inaugural community sponsor that made its commitment to support the tradition of local baseball with the Sacramento River Cats, will transition out of its role at the conclusion of the 2019 season. Like Raley’s, Sutter Health is one of the Sacramento region’s largest private employers, and both are proud to call the Sacramento region home.
“Twenty years ago, Raley’s made a commitment to support our local baseball club, which was a defining moment for our region,” said River Cats President Jeff Savage. “We are very grateful for their partnership over the years and all that we have accomplished together in support of our organization, our players and the larger community.”
“The Sacramento River Cats and Raley’s have made a special imprint in our community. They are a part of our city’s history and will continue to shape our future,” said City of West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon. “We welcome Sutter Health into their new role with the River Cats and all the different ways it will champion greater community health.”
“Our region becomes more dynamic as we create stronger connections between community health and well-being, economic development, and sports and entertainment,” said City of Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg. “By teaming up together, the Sacramento River Cats and Sutter Health will support new opportunities for our communities—from youth physical and mental health to education and wellness programs—that will have a lasting impact.”
The Nature of Things Speaker Series Featuring Obi Kaufmann
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Best-selling artist, naturalist, and poet Obi Kaufmann is coming to the Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Carmichael on October 8, 2019, 6:30 – 8:30pm.
Kaufmann’s first book the California Field Atlas (Heyday Books 2017) quickly became a best seller, spending two months in the number one spot for non-fiction in the San Francisco Chronicle. The California Field Atlas blends science and art to illuminate the vast array of the natural world in California. In the book, Obi Kaufmann provides a narrative of the shaping forces of earth, air, fire and water along with exquisite hand-painted maps, and spirited illustrations of wildlife. The book has won awards from the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association.
For his second book, The State of Water, Understanding California’s Most Precious Resource, Kaufmann turns his artful yet analytical attention to the Golden State’s most complex and controversial resource: water. In The State of Water, Kaufmann reveals pragmatic yet inspiring solutions to how water in the West can continue to support agriculture, municipalities, and the environment. The book is interspersed throughout with hand painted maps, and trail paintings of animals that might survive under a careful water ethic. Kaufmann shows how California can usher in a new era of responsible water conservation, and — perhaps most importantly — how we may do so together.
Please join us October 8 from 6:30 - 8:30pm. As artist, poet and naturalist Obi Kaufmann brings his best-selling CALIFORNIA FIELD ATLAS and THE STATE OF WATER to the EFFIE YEAW NATURE CENTER (2850 San Lorenzo Way, Carmichael, CA 95608).
Obi will be giving a presentation on conservation, art and restoring California’s natural world, followed by a Q&A session. Obi will be signing copies of his books, and offering exclusive prints of his watercolor trail-paintings for sale.
Desserts and beverages will be available for purchase.
Tickets can be purchased on-line: $12 for members, and $17 for non-members atwww.sacnaturecenter.net.
Follow the Nature Center @EffieYeawNC, and follow Obi on Instagram @coyotethunder.
SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - “We commend Governor Gavin Newsom for signing into law SB 419, which will ban California’s administrators from suspending students in grades 4-8 for “willful defiance.” With his signature, the governor is acknowledging the overuse of school suspensions for minor or subjective reasons as well as school suspensions’ role in the crisis of school pushout among students of color.
“Willful defiance is an undefined provision of the state education code that accounts for 16% of out of school suspensions statewide. Black students are much more likely than their white peers to be suspended for disruption or defiance for the same offenses, causing them to miss critical learning time and opportunities to grow. Disabled students and students experiencing trauma are also more likely to be suspended,” said Ross.
“Punitive discipline doesn’t work. Research shows that suspended students are often pushed into dropping out of school and are more likely to be locked up in youth prisons. We need to put student’s health and academic outcomes first. Following the success of 2014 legislation that prevented more than 15,000 suspensions of K-3 students in the ‘14-‘15 school year alone, SB 419 will help even more students benefit from research-based discipline practices that keep them in the classroom, create a welcoming school culture, improve behavior, and build resilience.
During the 2017-18 school year, more than 20,000 students in grades four through eight were suspended for defiance or disruption. While this bill ensures grades K-8 can benefit, there are still nearly 19,000 high school students who were suspended for defiance in the 2017-2018 school year who will not have these protections. These students also have a right to an education.
“Across California, there is growing momentum to prioritize supportive, healing alternatives to suspensions in schools including restorative practices, positive behavioral intervention, and social emotional learning. This legislation would not have been possible without the tireless work of students and community leaders who fought to protect the education of students of color. We appreciate Gov. Newsom’s leadership in listening to them and working to keep kids in school where they can learn and thrive,” Ross concluded.