From an AP dispatch on Bush's unsuccessful pitch to get the Saudis to pump more oil to bring down prices... "Energy-guzzlers China and India are stretching supplies..." "Energy guzzlers" is an odd phrase given that, by one estimate, the U.S....

That's the amount of dough businessman Jim "Downtown Santa" McDilda is rumored to be willing to raise and spend. By comparison, Mary Stegall raised about $70,000 in her campaign, then a record. Call me old fashioned, naive or idealistic, but...

Recently watched, very belatedly, Ken Burns' "Thomas Jefferson." It brought to mind this: When President John F. Kennedy welcomed forty-nine Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962 he said, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of...

Unless you're an artist with passion and a gift. Jim Dyar has both. Here's to my former RS colleague and longtime D.A.T.E. editor for, as Joseph Campbell said, following his bliss. A snap of Jim and bandmate singer Torri Pratt...

See that one of my favorite places, Ide Adobe State Park in Red Bluff, has been spared in the governor's proposed budget. Still, wonder why the park couldn't be taken over by city of Red Bluff, Tehama County, or the...

It's only a store, I know. But there's something about Trader Joe's that inspires an almost cult-like following. When I was part of the "Buzz on the Street" team with David Benda, nothing we wrote about got the feedback that...

For the fellow hired by the city to sell Stillwater Business Park. Do something about the lame web site. Criminy, if you're gonna spend $70 million to $100 million on a business park, in a global marketplace, you need a...

I'm confused. Thought Jim Zauher was Redding's economic development czar. Sounds like Oakland-based Realtor John Troughton, retained by the city, will be plowing the same ground: "A lot of people like to come up here and go fishing. ... I...

Reading between the lines of Kimberly Ross' story it seems Nestle's interest in McCloud is drying up. Nestle looks caught between a rock (NIMBYism) and a hard place (energy prices and the economy). Pity. That town could sure use a...

A friend went shopping at Raley's and e-mailed about a purchase: ...maybe the whole natural/organic foods craze has gone over the edge when there are "natural" Cheetos? No preservatives, no artificial flavors or colors. What the heck is left? What...