Elk Grove News Podcasts

In recent days I met with others at Old Town Elk Grove’s first real destination, Dust Bowl Brewery. Even though they're on their shakedown cruise, they are navigating in the right direction.

With just a few nights until Christmas, we extend this Season's Greeting to the executive bureaucrats who work so selflessly for taxpayers and the devoted politicians, when they are not posing for selfies, whose wisdom guides our fair city.

The Christmas and holiday seasons are upon us and our thoughts naturally drift to meeting with family and friends. But there is an anniversary coming we should remind ourselves about. 

When former city manager Laura Gill was fired, Councilmember Pat Hume said in the media, the city needed a pair of fresh eyes to manage things.

A few months ago Elk Grove announced with a splash that the city had entered into a six-month negotiation for the relocation of the Sacramento zoo. What has occurred since that announcement? 

By Dan Schmitt |  It might have been seen as a Greek tragedy, except that, unlike in Greek tragedies, the ending did not have to be a foregone conclusion. Rather, it was a prime example of how someone can do something so incredibly stupid, but that incredibly stupid something was protected by law. That tragedy began on August 23rd of last year when Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was sh...

If there is one thing Elk Grove Mayor Singh-Allen has been consistent with since taking office it has been the use of social media. Despite its traps, politicians, our mayor included, find social media a necessity.

The City of Elk Grove is pursuing an agreement that would relocate the Sacramento Zoo to the city's Southeast Policy Area. While the idea might be alluring, it could be a drag on taxpayers or future homeowners in the form of high Mello Roos fees. As they say at city hall though, Not My Money!    

Recent smash and grab robberies in California are international news. These brazen organized robberies will be campaign issues.

During 2021 there were many things to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

One positive, if you can call it that, of the COVID 19 pandemic has been greater civic participation, particularly with school boards.

Yesterday President Biden signed into law the $1.2 trillion-dollar Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework bill. The bill had the support of 13 Republicans, none of them Californians.

Earlier this year the Elk Grove planning commission added three new members. They were added not because of resignations, but by a power play.

Last week an Elk Grove resident broke her leg in five places after she, unfortunately, tumbled down the new hill at the newly opened District 56’s Preserve playground. We wish her a speedy recovery.

The COVID pandemic has been like nothing else in our lifetimes. The most devasting effect has been the worldwide loss of life, but there are silver linings, especially for state and local governments.

In the summer of 2020, an Elk Grove News reader discovered an illegal cement grinding operation at the site of the OSH hardware. That was a strong indicator of what happens at city hall. 

For anyone who lives east of Highway 99 in Elk Grove, and more specifically east of the Union Pacific tracks undoubtedly are stopped on almost a daily basis by trains.

On his Twitter feed, renowned University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato documented lengthy delays receiving a mail-in ballot for this year’s Virginia gubernatorial race.

The Elk Grove Police Department announced this week they received a one-year, two-hundred-thousand-dollar grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety.

By Dan Schmitt | During my teaching career, writing assignments were an integral part of my English and social studies curriculum. Often I would model the process by writing something on the same topic. Here is a story used to help guide them to write a Halloween-time story.

Elk Grove City Councilmember and Sacramento County Board of Supervisor candidate Pat Hume is chickening out by enlisting surrogates and parsing words when it comes to addressing the most pressing challenge to our democracy. 

Mitt Romney has had a political resurrection in the last few years. Following his 2012 loss to Barrack Obama, the Republican has been elected as a Utah Senator, voted to impeach Donald Trump and has become something of an elder statesmen. But it is worth remembering what Romney told people attending a private fundraiser during the 2012 presidential election. This sort of double talk is also report...

Democratic elected officials including Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen and city council members Stephanie Nguyen and Darren Suen will host a fundraiser benefiting fellow Democrat, Representative Ami Bera.

Sacramento Zoo’s announcement on their possible move to Elk Grove caught many by surprise. There is, however, a bit of irony how the project ended up in Elk Grove.

In an interview this morning on Cap Radio's Insight program, Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen revealed more information on the possible relocation of the Sacramento Zoo. Last week zoo officials and city officials announced a six-month negotiation to move the 15-acre zoo to an undeveloped 60-acre site in Elk Grove. In her presentation, Singh-Allen noted the city was approached earlier in the summ...