Q&A

Brian King became chancellor of the Los Rios Community College District in February, taking over the state's second-largest district as it begins recovering from years of budget cuts.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday and Wednesday will confront two distinct gay marriage cases, which together pose some very sensitive questions. Here's a rundown.

Biologist Carol Witham, 56, is a specialist on vernal pools. These patches of land flood with water in the winter, bloom with flowers and aquatic wildlife in the spring and stay dry in the summer.

As president of the nonprofit Global Medical Foundation, Mohammed Siddiqui, a general surgeon from Jackson, has provided care to underprivileged and underserved people in a dozen nations on four continents.

Sister Simone Campbell has been in the spotlight since last April, when the Vatican criticized U.S. nuns for focusing on social justice but not speaking out enough against abortion, birth control and gay marriage.

Born and raised in the Salinas Valley, Mark Martinez founded a water treatment company and a commercial fire and security systems firm. He became a leader in promoting Latino businesses as chief executive officer of the San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The California Public Records Act, enacted in 1968, made access to state and local government records easier and faster, and eliminated many hurdles the public faced in trying to stay informed about how government bodies and officials operate behind closed doors.

Q&A Sacramento native Ron Cooper has had the best seat in the house as residents of all kinds took advantage of Access TV at Coloma Community Center studios on T Street over the last two decades.

Long-term care doesn't come cheap – up to $72,000 a year in California nursing homes, a steep price tag that will provide sticker shock for the more than 70 percent of people age 65 and older who will require care at some point as they grow older.

Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty sits a few feet from Mayor Kevin Johnson on the council dais, but miles away when it comes to their views on financing a downtown entertainment and sports arena.

From 1983 to 1995, Robert Trigg was a household name in Elk Grove, as he led the school district through an era of dramatic growth. He gained a reputation for getting all stakeholders to work together while the district built 14 new schools and more than doubled enrollment in his dozen years as superintendent.

Renowned Berkeley chef Alice Waters wanted to transplant her concept of "edible schoolyards" throughout the nation – and a school in Oak Park in Sacramento became the beneficiary.

Ever since she was a junior in high school, Karen Burney wanted to know who she was and where she came from. Now a veteran genealogist, she believes her origins began in the Congo more than 200 years ago.

The landscape for seniors was a little grim back in 1972, when Deanna Lea joined Sacramento's Community Services Planning Council as a young gerontologist managing the division on aging.

Vicki Barber is ending her reign June 30 as the El Dorado County schools chief after nearly 20 years in the role.

Nationally, the statistics are alarming: According to the National Institute of Justice, as many as one in 10 older adults is abused, although only a small fraction of victims ever reports that abuse to authorities.

On Dec. 1, Jeffrey Mount quietly retired after 33 years as a geology professor at UC Davis.

Through the years, the California State Fair has been described as Big Fun.

Latinos, who make up 10 percent of the American electorate, played a key role in President Barack Obama's re-election. He received 71 percent of the Hispanic vote.

Nothing seems to overwhelm families of the elderly more than figuring out the issue of senior care: Who needs intervention? What kind? How much? How little? What's available? When is it time to step in to help?

In the first five years since becoming a city in 2000, the wide-open ranching territory of Elk Grove grew at a dizzying pace, adding thousands of homes and families, stretching its boundaries and prompting plans for a regional mall.

A former Sacramento police official and familiar presence in the region's media reports on shopping and security, Steve Reed took time Friday morning to offer advice to potential shoppers.

Thanksgiving is all about the food, but if you're not careful about how you prepare your holiday meal, your time at home with family and friends could be spent instead in an emergency room with a bout of food poisoning.

The death last week of two seniors served mushroom soup made with fungi foraged at a Placer County elder care facility has lots of people asking: "Who gathers food?"

Brothers Lawrence and Brian Tom spoke to an audience at California State University, Sacramento, last week about their book, "Sacramento's Chinatown," as part of the university's fall Author Lecture Series.

Keric Ashley doesn't mind a challenge. The former schoolteacher and principal spent the last eight years at the helm of the Educational Data Management Division at the California Department of Education. He and his staff worked to complete a state data system to track student information known as CalPADS – the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System.

Q&A A health care overhaul is like the rumble that occurs nanoseconds before a powerful earthquake hits. It foretells of seismic shifts to come in the expansive health care delivery landscape.

The growing number of Hindu temples, organizations and meditation centers in the Sacramento region reflects the area's fastest-growing ethnic group: Asian Indians.

Following the Sept. 11 killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Rashid Ahmad and other Muslim Americans have been asked by their non-Muslim friends why this happened.