The Public Eye

Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jonathan Raymond hired a local charter schools leader as his interim chief of staff at a higher pay rate than appears in the position's salary schedule.

With the news last week that the Sacramento Kings may be sold and moved to Seattle, residents and city officials found themselves facing an old fear: Would team owners dare skip town on the controversial 15-year-old loan from the city when they leave?

Earlier this week, the invitation on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website read: "Yolo Wildlife Area, Davis – We are offering a one day clinic on hunting predators in California. Space is limited. Cost: $45 for the class."

The Sacramento County district attorney said Thursday she will not pursue criminal charges against state parks officials in the recent "hidden funds" scandal, saying a recent investigation by the state attorney general left her little option because of its "failure to identify any crime."

Six months after the public learned that California state parks officials had concealed $20 million even as they were crying poor and closing parks, one crucial issue remains foggy as ever:

Election officials in Sacramento and dozens more counties got a glimpse this month at how California's diverse population will affect how they plan for the next gubernatorial election in June 2014.

For nearly two years, managers earning fixed salaries at California's massive public retirement system have been making extra money at second hourly-wage jobs at the agency.

An Arizona-based environmental group is challenging Placer County's plans to build a small power plant near Truckee that would burn forest waste wood, questioning whether such biomass facilities warrant their reputation as producers of green energy.

Interest groups that spend the most money trying to influence policy in California's Capitol spend the bulk of it in secret, including hiring former politicians as consultants and launching ad campaigns to push their agenda with virtually no financial disclosure.

California has millions more guns than it did 10 years ago. It also has thousands fewer gun injuries and deaths each year.

Caltrans' Transportation Laboratory, which houses the agency's radiation-based testing equipment, was cited by the California Department of Public Health in October for numerous radiation handling and training violations.

Former California state parks leaders engaged in a "conscious and deliberate" effort to hide millions of dollars for as long as 13 years, according to an investigation by the state attorney general's office released Friday.

After learning that a social worker responsible for investigating child abuse had reportedly abused children herself, Sacramento County officials ordered a review of some of the cases she had investigated.

The city of Sacramento's Department of Transportation reported earlier this month that it has significantly reduced the backlog of streetlight repairs since the City Council in April approved $2 million in funding to hire three additional electrical contractors.

Eight months have passed since Sacramento County sheriff's deputies fatally shot Dennis Dean during a search of his Orangevale home.

At the same time California state parks officials were hiding millions of dollars and secretly awarding vacation payouts, they also were routinely violating rules that control how long employees can work outside their job classification, according to a new audit.

They haven't passed a single law, but already some rookies in the California Legislature's massive freshman class have proved adept at one priority: soliciting campaign cash.

Felony convictions for vandalism and burglary didn't disqualify Ryan Schomberg from being hired earlier this year as an instructional aide to special education students at Albert Einstein Middle School, despite police reports describing the then 21-year-old as being violent with officers during his arrest last year.

A team of eight inspectors arrived unannounced Monday for a floor-by-floor survey of the UC Davis Medical Center, part of a widening probe of the hospital over untested surgical procedures performed by two neurosurgeons on three terminally ill patients who later died.

Sacramento County has fired a Child Protective Services investigator because she allegedly abused children in her foster home, used a county car to commute to work each day and counted the commutes on her timecard, records show.

In a scathing review of three experimental surgeries at the UC Davis Medical Center, federal regulators found that deficiencies were so severe the 619-bed hospital "lacks the capacity to render adequate care to patients."

There is progress in North Natomas Regional Park. Construction is well under way on a $4 million baseball and softball Little League complex. Also in the works is a playground and parking lot.

Who says crime doesn't pay? Probably not Sergey Pautov.

As founder of one of the nation's largest urban wildlife damage control companies, Kevin Clark is no stranger to competition.

Going to college has always been a gamble for students taking loans. They bet on a college degree conferring higher earnings that will let them settle up after graduation.