Elk Grove News Podcasts

By Lynn Wheat, Podcast Contributor | On Thursday the Sacramento Central Groundwater Authority will conduct a special meeting for the purpose of gathering comments on the Groundwater Sustainability Plan. One of the programs within the plan is the so-called Harvest Water project . While this plan is meant to provide agricultural users with an alternate source of water, could the use of sewer water b...

Emboldened by recent SCOTUS decisions, the week President Biden fired Andrew Saul, Trump’s appointee heading the Social Security Administration.

By Dan Schmitt |  One of my earliest memories involves reading.  I was about three when I began crawling up on my father’s lap each Sunday morning and listening while he read the comics to me. Although I didn’t understand much about those comics at such a young age, listening to Dad chuckle as he read the likes of Beetle Bailey, Dagwood, and Blondie, and Bringing up Father made me unders...

We have reached the halfway point of 2021, and things for America are much better. But there could be dark clouds ahead.

By Lynn Wheat | The transparency, outreach, and messaging of the Sacramento Central Groundwater Authority and its member agencies, including Elk Grove Water District and the City of Elk Grove, have not sufficiently engaged the public.

This week I attended the funeral mass of the father of dear friends. Days before his 98th birthday, Patrick left a large family of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends. Slán Leat

There was a significant development in what was Elk Grove’s largest ever proposed project.

Elk Grove has many organizations providing crucial services to our community. Many of these groups are vital, yet there is one that has shriveled like an overcooked hotdog into irrelevancy.

This week the Sacramento LAFCO allowed Elk Grove to annex about 600 acres into city limits. With this annexation, 60 acres of taxpayer-owned property in the affected area might be sold to a corporation.

A year from now, the Supreme Court will issue what could be a landmark reproductive rights ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which could make it easier for states to essentially outlaw abortions. If decided as predicted, the courts six conservative justices will allow many states to continue their goal of reenacting Jim Crow-era laws.

Recently the city of Elk Grove’s public relation machinery has taken to social media bragging about the population growth over the last year. Growth, the smart kind, is welcome, but before the city council and city employee executives continue to laud themselves, they need to stand down.

California has 11 Republican Congressmembers. Among those 11 are two of the most cowardly and thin-skinned in the entire Republican caucus and are from the Central Valley.

This week's ouster of Liz Cheney from her leadership position in the Republican Congressional caucus oozed of cowardice. It also reveals other troubling aspects of Republican political philosophy that must go unaddressed.

This Wednesday, the Elk Grove City Council is expected to adopt the city's housing plan. Unlike other communities throughout the state who also fulfill the legal mandate, Elk Grove's plan is lacking one key element for a large portion of our population.

Recently the Elk Grove food bank has landed a permanent home. This is good news. The Elk Grove and other food banks and their volunteers are admirable, but their work is a social barometer. 

By Dan Schmitt |  I bought my Ford 150 truck back in 1993, and, by all accounts, it was an excellent truck. And why wouldn’t it be? After all, it was brand-spanking new! Fast forward to today, 28 years later. I still drive that truck, even though it’s no longer anything to be admired.

This week we heard from two readers independently who shared identical recent interactions with the mayor and four city councilmembers.

Over the last 20 years, the Elk Grove City Council has approved numerous useless consultant studies.

This week an Elk Grove Planning commission hearing will consider several sites for low and very low-income housing. One eight-acre parcel included in the city staff report is noteworthy.

Recently interest in cryptocurrencies not called Bitcoin has escalated. Among the other coins spiking in price and popularity are Etherium and DogeCoin.

The last several days have been tough for Republican Representative Matt Gaetz. The firebrand Floridian is reportedly under investigation on a variety of unsavory charges, including sex trafficking.

Donald Trump has been out of office for almost three months, and we can’t help but wonder about his residual effects. This week we inadvertently ran an eye-opening experiment.

One of the cornerstones of American civil and judicial society is the presumption that every person under arrest is innocent until proven guilty. So ingrained is this it is written into our Bill of Rights. While we, as a nation, have not always practiced this freedom equally, it is one of those ideals that persist in our goal of making a more perfect union.

An activity my family enjoys is camping. Starting as a teenager in Michigan, camping has been something I have enjoyed for over 50 years. Summer camping in California is almost always under clear skies.

When you hear the term Women in Elk Grove politics, you probably think of elected officials, but that’s not the entire picture.