Editorials

In "With Malice Toward None," the Lincoln exhibit currently at the California Museum, a glass case on display contains the contents of the 16th president's pockets the night he was assassinated – a $5 Confederate bill, a pocket knife, a watch fob, a button, a glass case and two pairs of spectacles. One pair has a broken hinge that the president had crudely repaired himself using a piece of twine. I loved that last detail. It speaks volumes about the humbleness of this greatest of all American presidents, the one who saved the union and abolished slavery.

Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness says he will have to lay off 209 deputies if the county cuts $57 million from his budget as proposed. He paints a scary picture of a force sized for 1970 trying to serve 2009 population and crime levels.

Sometimes bad laws have a way of coming back to bite the people most responsible for enacting them. That's the case with state Sen. George Runner, the principal sponsor of Proposition 83, the 2006 initiative popularly known as Jessica's Law, which voters approved overwhelmingly.

If you have been trying to ignore the daily grind of bad news out of California's Capitol, we don't blame you. Watching the state's so-called leaders trying to negotiate a budget is like focusing on the dull pain of a low-grade toothache that you hope might just go away. But now would be a good time to tune in if you can stand it. This thing has turned into a full-blown abscess, and the infection is spreading.

The governor's proposal to reform the pensions for state workers won't help balance next year's budget. But it is still a good idea.

An agreement wouldn't just ease some of California's prison overcrowding. It would also likely save the state money.

As the state gears up for the challenge of meeting the law's requirement to cut greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2020, "cool" car rules serve as a reminder that small changes in individual behavior help pave the way for immense changes in the broader economy.

When 2009 ends, so will Kodachrome. What a run it had, illuminating countless family slideshows and news photographs around the globe

The National Marine Fisheries Service has issued a wake-up call on the dangers facing the Central Valley's salmon and, ultimately, the water system they depend on. It should be mulled and acted upon.

Sacramentans are about to benefit from the troubles of an old friend.

Two independent groups have been working toward a fundamental restructuring of state government and might soon begin presenting Californians with some options for overturning the status quo.

An incredibly talented musician, dancer and performer, Michael Jackson was emblematic of the perils of a postmodern era of fluid identities.

Here's one area where Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has been focused, persistent and effective: encouraging volunteerism.

Before the city of Sacramento lays off 68 firefighters, everyone involved in labor negotiations – both city officials and Local 522, the firefighters union – needs to take a step back, cool off and think about it.

It's "Back to the Future" time in the Capitol.

Sixteen years after its gestation began, the South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan is about to be born, or at least unveiled in public.

California's public employee pension fund lost nearly a third of its value in the recent stock market crash, but the state's local governments have just been given permission to hide those massive losses by pushing them off the books and trying to recoup them over the next generation.

Well, the outspoken, feisty Barbara Boxer has struck a nerve once again. Some people are making a big deal of her insistence that she be called by her title, "senator," and not "ma'am," a polite term to refer to any woman.

Nevada City's annual bike race was a classic long before Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and their friends descended on it at the last minute Sunday.