A group of more than 30 women broke into a massive street fight in Sacramento's Del Paso Heights neighborhood on Sunday, reportedly because someone involved had pre-planned and posted details about the fight on Facebook. While the suspects all bailed before police arrived on the scene, at least two women needed stitches after being hit with a baseball bat. Two other women apparently stopped mid-brawl to pop in to a nearby convenience store for beverages. more ›

If you're heading to Lake Tahoe today beware that, as of this morning, the Yolo Causeway has been shutdown, casing a massive backup. Police have closed the stretch of I-80 as they search for a gunman who opened fire on officers, stole a car, crashed said car, and generally caused all sorts of mayhem. Sacramento Bee reports. "The I-80 causeway is shut down westbound at Enterprise Avenue and eastbound in Davis, Wetzel said. The suspect crashed his car approaching the causeway in West Sacramento." more ›

If you've visited Sacramento recently only to take a deep whiff and wonder, "Damn, they've got some skunk weed up here," you would be half right. See, hordes of horny skunks have come out of rural areas and into the city to look for mate—and their mating ritual isn't pretty. When females find their mate, make love, and end up with buns in the oven, the pregnant ladies "ward off other suitors with a foul-smelling spray." Hence the stinky stench blanketing the state capital. more ›

The Sacramento prison psychologist who, along with a sinister friend, faked her own home-invasion rape, all in a failed effort to get her husband to move them to a better neighborhood, was sentenced Friday. In a plea bargain, Laurie Ann Martinez to "five years' probation and 180 days on electronic monitoring," reports The Chronicle. "She also must pay more than $4,000 restitution for the police investigation." more ›

The California Supreme Court ruled this morning that the state is free to eliminate redevelopment agencies across California and take $1.7 billion of their funds under Sacramento-approved legislation passed earlier this year. The measure, AB26, was approved by Jerry Brown in an attempt to inject some funds back in to the State budget, but was quickly followed by a lawsuit from an association of redevelopment agencies and California cities. more ›

In a storyline ripped from a rejected Desperate Housewives spec, Laurie Ann Martinez, a psychologist at Folsom Prison, was charged with faking her own rape in order to get her stubborn husband to move the couple to a better neighborhood. Reasonable, right? No, that is not reasonable. That is terrible. Also, she was in cahoots with a friend during this faux rape/robbery ordeal. more ›

Known for controversial and shocking methods of getting their word across, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) plans on erecting a billboard in Sacramento featuring the image of a person about to put a pork chop into the microwave next to a picture of a loving mother pig and reads, "Everybody's Somebody's Baby. Go Vegan." WIth an obvious nod to a particularly gruesome story, PETA came up with the tasteless plan after a Sacramento woman was arrested this week for allegedly microwaving her 6-week-old baby to death. more ›

Hot on the heels of news that San Francisco USD will be laying off 139 educators at the end of the school year, comes a report from Sacramento that over two dozen teachers were arrested at the Capitol last night after they refused to leave the building as part of a demonstration against education cuts in the state budget. California Teacher's Association President David Sanchez, who led the group, told the press he was willing to be arrested, "to let the public understand the seriousness, the state of emergency that California public schools are under right now." more ›

Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom hosts a wild party in his office with students from St. Vincent de Paul School in San Francisco. "Giving them an overview of our state government," he says. more ›

Much to no one's surprise, Governor Jerry Brown admitted this morning that he might not reach a budget deal by Thursday, "his self-imposed 60-day deadline," even though floor votes in the Legislature are expected this week. Why? Well, according to Sacto Bee, the GOP has been threatening lawmakers. Brown allegedly fears "some Republicans who might be willing to support putting tax extensions on the ballot have been threatened with reprisals from within the GOP." [Sacto Bee] more ›

24-hour restaurants really do bring out the worst in people, don't they? Take, for example, a FOX40 news crew who were attacked outside a Sacramento iHOP on the 2900 block of Advantage Lane, near I-5 and Del Paso Road. After trying to question a group of people who had gathered outside the restaurant to mourn the shooting death of a 27-year-old man, which occurred in the same parking lot on earlier that morning, the crowd went on a rampage. more ›

A 29-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the death of a Sacramento woman whose body was found burning in a car on Webster and Rose Streets (between Page and Haight) in the Haight on Sunday. "Almon Johnson was arrested in connection with the death of Vanessa Herrera, reports SF Chronicle. "Investigators suspect that Johnson killed Herrera in Sacramento and drove her body to Webster and Rose streets, then set fire to the 2000 Pontiac at 3:15 a.m. Monday." Police refused to comment on how she was killed. [Chron] more ›

Yesterday, the Sunday Chronicle (or maybe just the normal Chronicle? who even gets the paper anymore?) posted an update on Gavin's first week in office. While the lede says he's got a lot to adjust to after leaving City Hall, it doesn't actually sound like more responsibility. more ›

"What I propose will be painful," Governor Jerry Brown said to reporters at the Capitol after unveiling a budget proposal that, among other things, will include an 8 percent to 10 percent cut in state worker pay. Brown, according to reports, wants to save "$308 million for a 10 percent reduction in take-home pay for state employees not currently covered under collective bargaining agreements." more ›

San Francisco Giants fan Lauren Ruffo, displays her Giant's sleeve and her Giant's bear, named Aubrey Huff, after having her picture taken with the Giant's 2010 World Series trophy on display at the Capitol in Sacramento on Thursday. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) more ›

It's Christmastime, and now that your grandmother and maiden aunt are on Twitter, choral flash mobs are the new big thing! Hundreds of people gathered "spontaneously" at malls in Orlando, Dallas, and Kansas City over the weekend to sing a rousing "Hallelujuah Chorus" en masse, much to the delight of the elderly and local news broadcasters the nation over. But when a similar gathering tried to happen up in Roseville last night -- following weeks of reminders by local church groups, choral groups, etc, on Twitter -- at the Westfield Galleria food court, way too many eager singers showed up, and suddenly the flash mob started to feel like an actual mob, and the mall had to be evacuated. more ›

Confronting a gargantuan budget deficit, Governor-elect Jerry Brown just made his first appointments before heading into office in January. "Brown today announced his first two appointments, retaining Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's finance director, Ana Matosantos, and naming a former appointee secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency," reports Sacto Bee. "Diana Dooley, president of the California Children's Hospital Association, was Brown's legislative secretary and special assistant when he was first governor." [Sacto Bee] more ›

In a memo sent to local law enforcement agencies, the FBI's Sacramento Field office warns that a new Barbie doll with a video camera embedded in her chest could be used as a "possible child pornography production method." Meanwhile, stores in the area have sold out of them because people in Sacramento don't care about their children, apparently. We probably don't have to tell you to teach the kids to avoid contact with any full-grown adults toting around a Barbie Doll, but you might also want to strike this one from any holiday gift lists as well. [CBS Sacramento] [HuffPo] more ›

California lawmakers approved "the tardiest budget in state history this morning" after an epic session at the Capitol this morning. "The $87.5 billion spending plan relies on rosy assumptions about revenues from taxpayers and the federal government, as well as reductions to state worker pay, prisons, and social services," reports the Sacramento Bee. "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expects to sign it as soon as today, enacting the final budget of his gubernatorial career." more ›

Remember how a JetBlue plane made an emergency landing in Sacramento last month, one that blew two tires and sparked a small fire? Well, the reason for the landing has been revealed. It was due to the plane's parking brake being on at the time of landing. more ›

A JetBlue airplane made a "hard landing" at Sacramento International Airpot this afternoon around 1 p.m. after "blowing two tires, sparking a small fire and causing minor injuries." more ›

On Saturday, according to The Chronicle, an Antioch woman "drove off a boat ramp and into the Sacramento River while she was talking on a cell phone with her daughter, asking for directions," and died. Kathleen Gomez Collier, 47, careened into a river near Isleton in Sacramento County. "Just before the call was cut off, Collier told her daughter that her car was filling up with water and to phone her insurance company." In related technology/Sacto news, a blogger from the area recently gave up her cellphone because ye olde print publication NYT told her to do so. more ›

Here are videos showing one of two zebras going on an adorable (albeit horrifying for the animals) rampage throughout the streets of a Sacramento suburb on Saturday. The zebras, it seems, escaped while being loaded onto a truck in nearby Carmichael (just east of Sacramento), "when they were spooked by dogs and went running in opposite directions." And thus, a zebra party was born. more ›

A tanker truck filled with 7,000 gallons of coconut oil crashed and flipped over last night around 2 a.m., spilling the stuff all over the roadway and stinking up half of Sacramento like a Cancun happy hour. more ›

We get so excited when we find a message from Gavin Newsom waiting in our inbox -- especially when "I need your help" calls to us from the subject line. (Help with what? "...Jennifer is being a mega-bitch again, "...I think I like penis," ...David Chiu is in my office taking curtain measurement and won't leave," "...My dealer is out of town." The possibilities are endless.) more ›

Mayor Gavin Newsom took his message about mandatory recycling programs to the Op-Ed page of the Sacramento Bee yesterday, aiming in particular at so-called "high temperature disposal technologies" which he calls "just glorified incineration" and not sustainable. Newsom also takes the opportunity to tout the new, large-scale, mandatory composting programs in San Francisco and Los Angeles. more ›

Obama's Justice Department may be loosening up about medical marijuana, but right on cue the DEA just busted a huge marijuana grow operation that was running out of dozens of half-million-dollar homes in the towns of Elk Grove, Lathrop, Modesto, Sacramento, Tracy, and Stockton. A total of 24,500 plants in 50 different homes-turned-grow-houses were seized, and the whole operation was estimated to have grossed about $100 million a year. Federal agents and the IRS had apparently been investigating some individuals at lower levels of the operations for several years, and the 18 people arrested in yesterday's raids were all low-level, gardener-type employees. The DEA has said that these houses were all being run by "a San Francisco-based organized crime syndicate." Who knew we had one of those? Anyway, here are pictures of the four dudes arrested in Elk Grove. more ›

Well, this stinks. Former NBA player and current Mayor of Sacramento Kevin Johnson was mugged robbed over the weekend while acting like a Boy Scout in San Francisco's Union Square. NBC Bay Area reports "The former NBA player was in the City for a conference with representatives at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. He was helping an elderly man get into a cab near Union Square when someone sneaked up behind him and ripped of his garment bag that was holding a suit, shoes and some toiletries, his blog notes." more ›

The July 2 issue of Sacramento News & Review, it seems, wasn't the most popular issue of SN&R. Why? Well, the cover story -- featuring a safe couple, Ben and Lonny Phillips-Lesenana, and the headline, "5 easy steps to marriage freedom" -- proved very unpopular with Sacto ilk. So much so that the paper's return rate that week was staggeringly high. more ›