JUDY FARAH

What California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday, March 19, 2020 around 6:30 pm was unprecedented in the history of California and the United States. He effectively shut down the most populous state in America to try to stop the spread of coronavirus. California’s 40 million residents were ordered to shelter in place. These are very frightening and uncertain times. It’s normal to feel scared and anxious, especially if you've lost income or worry about the health of you

Bayside Church Pastor Ray Johnston admits he was a little worried the weekend of March 15th when the Sacramento-area mega church decided to close its eight campuses and offer online services instead due to the coronavirus pandemic. "I was kind of depressed, to be honest with you," Pastor Johnston said in an Instagram message to church members, "This is going to be a disaster." He said Bayside typically gets 18,000-20,000 visitors to its eight campuses each weekend. But he fea

It was an April morning, and I was running late and rushing to get to work. My boss met me at the elevator, but that wasn’t unusual. He sometimes pulled me aside to talk about personnel matters. He led me back to the big boss’s office, where I was told to take a seat while the door closed behind me. I was coldly handed a thick packet of papers and a check, and quickly escorted out the back door after being told I was out of a job. I was not allowed to return to the office whe

Ken LaGrande’s Sun Valley Rice reached a deal in July to export his rice to China, the first time a California rice farmer sold their product to China. Ken LaGrande was with his family in London in early July when he received the blockbuster news. His global rice team was at an industry event in China when it finally sealed a deal LaGrande and his Sun Valley Rice business had been negotiating for nearly 15 years — China agreed to import his California rice. It was the first t

When you walk into Sacramento Pipeworks, in a vintage brick building on North 16th Street that was once a metal factory, the first thing you see is a massive, 40-foot climbing wall partners work together to scale — one climbing and the other holding the safety rope, a technique called a belay. Alex Honnold, a Sacramento native who in 2017 became the only person to climb Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan with no ropes or safety equipment, trained here. A documentary about hi