City staff wants the council to OK $1,000 for a "buy Redding" campaign. Car dealers and the local chamber will also put up $1,000. Staff says city "would recoup its investment if campaign generates at least $100,000 in additional vehicle...

Will be presented to the city council Tuesday eve. Highlights: More than 12,800 "incidents" recorded last year (at five intersections). More than half were rejected by the red-light vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems, or by RPD. Some 4,600 citations were issued....

As principal of Shasta High back in the Sixties he coined the motto "Only the best is worth trying for." He continues to have a positive mental attitude, despite serious health challenges. An inspiring message on the Class of 70...

The kerfuffle over the "Friends of Ron" list this week brings to mind Morgan's goof last October -- e-mailing a campaign letter on county letterhead. In Morgan's case, she acknowledged telling her secretary to send the letter. Largent seemed to...

Local real estate web sites and blogs are getting creative in order to break through in this market. Hence this new feature. Look forward to seeing the other photos....

The city's long-running contract impasse with REU linemen may be aired at a special public hearing on Monday evening. Could be interesting. There have been rumors that the linemen could strike if they don't get a deal they like. Shades...

That's what Shasta Union High School District's chief budget officer, Art Schmitt, told the district's board last night. In an e-mail to me he said: From what I have been hearing and reading, the economic recovery in California is projected...

Mentioned Nick Webb, CEO of the Lassen Scientific management consulting firm, in my column Saturday, pitching the second edition of his book on our health care mess. Turns out he's hard at work on a new book - "The Innovation...

Thought I whilst donating blood yesterday afternoon. Our blood bank looks even fancier than a New York bank or a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, complete with lots of glass enclosed offices and conference rooms, expensive ergonomic furniture, and...

So says "guest writer" Virginia Reeter in the Anderson Valley Post: Excerpt: Well, according to Shasta County Public Health's handout Paws for Tips, dogs that live with smokers have a 60 percent greater chance of developing cancer. In this same...

One Realtor's perspective, from his blog: My out-of-town client closed escrow yesterday on their Redding home. He sounded celebratory when I called to deliver the news that we were on record. "You going out to dinner tonight, Skip?" he asked....

Gilbert Moore, the Searchlight's managing editor in the late Sixties and my first boss, e-mailed his homage to this terrific actor: To see a total craftsman at work, revisit these old Jeff Bridges films By Gilbert Moore I pay little...

So Realtor Brad Garbutt reports on his blog: I walked into the office this morning to a note from our receptionist from a woman who wanted more information about the home for rent in Stanford Hills. The woman was told...

On the SE corner of Yuba and California Streets? It burned in 1962. A neighbor has this classic sink rescued from the Golden Eagle's barber shop in his basement bathroom. Beautiful. The hotel, a three-story affair pictured golden eagle...

Papers are getting smaller, as you've probably noticed. Better for the environment and their bottom lines. How much smaller? See for yourself. A May 26, 1937, copy of the Call Bulletin of San Francisco, commemorating the just-completed Golden Gate...

From the Shasta Historical Society's Betty McKean and Jay Thompson I learn that Shasta High grad Terry Riley, who became a renowned minimalist composer, influenced Pete Townshend on "Baba O'Riley" (see video), named to honor Riley, now in his...

Martin O'Malley, a longtime writer for Canada's Globe and Mail recalls the joys of baseball's spring training in Floridahere. It includes this graph on our own Rick Bosetti: Rick Bosetti was a peppy young outfielder who toiled for the Jays...

Available on Netflix or YouTube. The Clash, Coldplay, The Ramones and Jimi Hendrix will never sound the same....

Remember the advice the Dustin Hoffman character got in "The Graduate" back in the Sixties? "Plastics." Here's an update. From USA Today: Federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations,...

Doesn't appeal to me but --. The Wall Street Journal reports on the fascinating logistics behind the world's largest cruise ship. An excerpt: The Oasis of the Seas...almost five times as large as the Titanic, it has a population during...

One Ben Nematzadeh. A trade mag reports: $39 Million for 66 Jack in the Boxes [2010-03-04] The results of the sale for the 66 California Jack in the Box franchises are in, with the final price coming in at just...

Let's hope so. Lest its popularity spawns a boom in retrospectives on this most-ballyhooed, indulged and self-absorbed generation. Brokaw's special two-hour documentary first airs tonight. Puh-leeze! Even growing up, surrounded by them on every side, I found stories about the...

City Manager Kurt Starman's question at yesterday's talk by "Plunder" author Steve Greenhut: Starman: Your book was well written, cogent and informative, so I want to compliment you on the book. My purpose is...wearing my manager hat, one of the...

I've heard union officials and rank and file public safety employees say that during online and in-person discussions of public pension costs. In fact, I remember one firefighter declaring that his colleagues tended to die five years after retirement. Not...

I was invited to break bread Tuesday evening with four honchos from the Greater Redding Chamber of Commerce and the conversation turned inevitably to the local economy. The consensus around the table, alas, was that we'll probably have to wait...

A journalistic colleague e-mails: Went to Jack's with friends on Saturday night to celebrate my husband's birthday, and we were delighted to hear that there was a 1.5-hour wait... the past few times we've visited, we've been seated before we...

Ronald Reagan "signed" the diploma I got from the University of California in December 1974. A few months later Jerry Brown began his eight-year turn as California's chief executive. How long ago was that? Let's see...gasoline averaged 44 cents a...

Say this for Jerry Brown. He's been through a brutal cash crunch in Sacramento. Here's a link to then Gov. Brown's speech following passage of the tectonic shift known as Proposition 13, more than 30 years ago now....

Not that Shasta College's former prez needs the work. From the City Times: San Jose City College hired former Ohlone College president Doug Treadway as the interim president Feb. 16. He will fill in, while the school seeks replacement for...

Say this for Michael Savage - unlike Rush or Hannity you never know what you're going to get when you dial in (3 p.m. weekdays on KCNR1460). Today, for instance, out of the blue, he played this wonderful clip...

The popular q97 radio hosts took over the Cascade Saturday night for a 90-minute variety show to celebrate the milestone. The proceeds went to Make-A-Wish and the Cascade Theatre Fund. Good guys....

On the story today about Sheriff Bosenko wanting to use Homeland Security grant $$$ to buy two tiny remote-controlled robots: 420PoolGuy writes: I keep coming back because this cracks me up. Tommy Gun Bosenko want 2, yes 2 robots to...

Ask Janis Logan, co-owner of the Vintage Wine Bar & Restaurant across from the Cascade Theatre. Her Tuesday evening business is down "70 percent" since the hit TV talent show returned to the air. "I didn't believe it at first....

If you can't make it to the Redding Chamber's coffee klatch with "Plunder!" author Steven Greenhut Wednesday morning at the Builders' Exchange, you can watch him on C-Span here or hear him at 8 a.m. Monday on KCNR1460 (Carl and...

I'm told another pedestrian was hit recently in the same Court Street crosswalk that claimed the life of a county employee last year. In the latest case, the woman was hit by a driver apparently distracted by waving to a...

According to the SacBee a good number of state workers are ignoring the rules and turning unused vacation into handsome career-ending paychecks. Excerpt: Beyond the state employees who have exceeded their allowed limits, the state has seen hundreds of state...

Go down to the seashore to have a look. Terrifying footage from Hilo on the Big Island from 50 years ago....

If you're the delightful actor/director/diarist Richard E. ("Withnail & I") Grant, it's porridge. Every morning. Even though you "detest" it. Prepared by your wife of 23 years. A wonderful clip from some BBC program....

Can tell my former "Buzz on the Street" partner enjoyed himself writing about the prospect of the "Coyote Ugly"-style dancers returning to the California Street bar: ...Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control gave bar dancers the boot at Johnny's Cathouse ...Shasta...

Remember that famous national debt clock in New York City? Here's a long-ago photo. This web site takes it to another level. Scary....

"Cuss Free Week?" What the -- ? From the Merc: SACRAMENTO -- Feeling a little salty, Californians? Better get it out of your system while you can. Amid the ongoing -- and occasionally tense -- debate over how to clean...

I was struck by this anecdote, told at today's bipartisan health care "summit," reported by the Wall Street Journal: Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) told of how he discovered his father-in-law was taking 16 medications. When he went down the...

About that banner head in Monday's paper. The RS ran a clarification yesterday, noting that the family sold the land in '04 to the city and it (the family) isn't the object of a possible criminal investigation by the DA...

REU would take a dim view of Colin Beavan and Michelle Conlin, stars of the documentary "No Impact Man." The NYC couple (he an author, she a BusinessWeek staffer) turned off the electricity to their Fifth Avenue co-op for six...

Last week interviewed Joe Martinez, owner of Vittles Family Restaurant in Anderson (write-up will be in Thursday's D.A.T.E), and father of Adam Martinez, the young man who died after that unprosecuted punch last year at the former Club Ice nightclub...

The banner headline in yesterday's paper -- "Stratte investigation moves forward: District attorney forwards complaint to Shasta County grand jury, FBI" -- has angered members of the Stratte family, I hear. Understandable, since the family hasn't owned that infamous land...

I asked that question via e-mail over a year ago and here's the answer I got: I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, but my parents moved to Irving, Texas - a suburb of Dallas - when I was three....

A quick snapshot of the standing-room-only memorial service for Redding area volunteer extraordinaire Alton "Hutch" Hutchinson, Saturday afternoon at the First United Methodist Church. (I found a seat in the choir loft behind the altar.) Masons, Rotarians, Elks, Redding...

Now that our DA has handed over John Harris' detailed complaint about the Stratte property deal to the Grand Jury and the FBI? Since it's a possible criminal investigation, the council should, at a minimum, publicly order that all records...

Reports the San Jose Mercury News: A number of prominent Republicans have publicly switched their support from Poizner to Whitman in recent days, including former Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, Rep. John Campbell, Sen. John Benoit, R-Riverside...