The latest tally for District 4 has Steve Hansen topping Joe Yee by a mere 135 votes,11,132 votes to 10,997, while Allen Warren has taken a commanding 198 vote lead in Distict 2, with 6,103 votes compared with 5,905 for Rob Kerth.  The offical handout from the Sacramento Country Department of Voter Registration and Elections: Latest vote tally for Sacramento While Hansen is leading Yee in total votes, he's being careful not to make any assumptions before every vote is counted.  "I'm very happy that our lead is stable, and i'm anxious to see the count finished," Hansen said Tuesday evening. "And we'll look forward to knowing the final result very soon."  Officials say more than 16,000

Allen Warren jumped slightly ahead of opponent Rob Kerth in the race for the District 2 seat on the Sacramento City Council, according to Wednesday's update from the Sacramento County Department of Voter Registrations and Elections. Only 35 votes separate the two, with Warren claiming 5,818 votes, and Kerth totaling 5,783. In another hot race, Steve Hansen leads Joe Yee by 139 votes in the race for the District 4 seat on the council. Hansen now has 10,869 votes to Yee’s 10,730, according to the updated results released at 11:18 a.m. The race has been competitive to say the least. The two candidates have been taking turns grabbing the lead with nearly each update from the elections offi

Steve Hansen leads Joe Yee by 151 votes in the battle for the District 4 seat on the Sacramento City Council, according to the latest update Monday from the Sacramento County Department of Voter Registrations and Elections.  According to Sacramento County Campaign Services Manager Brad Buyse, Hansen now claims 10,842 votes to Yee's 10,691. Buyse said there will not be another update until next week. There are still 31,000 provisional ballots yet to be added to the tally. In this video, Sacramento Current blogger Devin Lavelle shares his analysis of the vote in the race for the District 4: "We definitely learned that the grid can turn out and vote and hold its own with Land Park, and in

The race for the District 4 seat on the Sacramento City Council was at times billed as the Land Park (Joe Yee) candidate versus the central city candidate (Steve Hansen), but it turns out the district's redheaded stepchild – River Oaks – was more important than many people realized. That's the conclusion Sacramento Current blogger Devin Lavelle reached in his smart post breaking down the vote. With Land Park and the central city essentially canceling each other out, River Oaks served as the tie breaker, or as Lavelle calls it, the "Ohio of District 4," and it tilted slightly in Hansen's favor. While it made up 10 percent of the total vote, Hansen's 4 percent advantage in River Oaks added

Lincoln & Twilight There’s a movie opening this week that features a strong, charismatic leader with a rich life experience, making compromises and forging alliances to avoid future persecution of a targeted minority, against the backdrop of an extremely uncivil, civil war. Actually there are two as, on some level (and the comparison may offend some), that description oddly fits both Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” and “Twlight” – or more accurately “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2.” Naturally, the higher quality outing comes courtesy of Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Lincoln and stars Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead role, a role he allegedly immersed himself in so completely that even the cr

The day of reckoning is finally here: Election Day, 2012. Time to do your civic duty, more-than-dimple some chads and bring home the coveted “I Voted” sticker. Not sure where to go? Just look up your polling place online and make it there before closing time at 8 p.m. tonight. (Same goes for you absentee voters – submit them to your polling place or the elections office at 7000 65th Street.) Don’t forget to take some pics of your patriotic moments at the polls and send them our way via Twitter, using hashtag #SPVotes. When you’re all done, you can turn on a TV and watch outlines of U.S. states turn pretty colors. 

The last debate between Steve Hansen and Joe Yee took place at the Cosmopolitan Cabaret on K and 10th streets Tuesday night. In a cordial showdown, the differences between the two candidates seemed arguably lessened, as both men agreed that any winner would be good for Sacramento. “After over a year of campaigning, I think a lot of issues have come to the fore,” said Hansen. “Joe (Yee)’s been a great person to run against because we both deeply care about this city.” Within the immediate downtown/Midtown/Land Park area, the race for City Council has been a close one. There were only 75 votes between first and second place during the primaries in June. Even this late in the race, there we

The ballot measure to create an elected charter commission has generated some of the most heated debate this fall, and it will be the subject of our Sac Press Live chat on Wednesday. Critics have scoffed at Measure M, calling it an unnecessary distraction, while supporters see it as a way of opening up the political process and putting the strong mayor initiative on the back burner. We'll have Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, who has been vocal in her opposition, and blogger-activist and charter commission candidate Isaac Gonzalez on for a Google+ Hangout to chat about it at 12:15 p.m. (We're working on rounding up more participants and will have an update shortly. Someone page Cosmo Garvin

City Council candidate Rob Kerth is this week's guest on Sac Press Live. Please join us at noon this Wednesday, Oct. 24, for a discussion of Kerth’s candidacy and his views on the challenges facing the city of Sacramento. The chat will be streamed live at noon here: Kerth previously served on the City Council from 1992 to 2000, and is taking on Allen Warren for the District 2 seat, which represents northern Sacramento. Warren has agreed to appear on the chat next Saturday, Oct. 27, at 10:30 a.m. Got a question for Kerth about what he would do on the council? Ask it in the comments section below this article. We'll cover all the on-point (and civil) reader questions we can during the in

The race between Joe Yee and Steve Hansen for the District 4 seat on the Sacramento City Council is reaching its hurried climax, as the candidates go from one forum to the next, with two this week alone. We decided to take a slightly different approach for the debate we're hosting on Oct. 30, and we'll need your help. The format is based off of two common observations that seem to hold true in most races. First, candidates tend to answer questions more candidly and completely when they come from voters as opposed to journalists. Secondly, followup questions are key to getting candidates to move beyond prepared stock answers and into the real substance of the issues. Here's how the forum

Candidates for the Midtown Business Association's June 20 elections will need to be able to cast aside their own business goals and work together to make Midtown a better business environment as the organization goes through a transition, according to MBA staff and business owners alike. “We’re at this pivotal point in Midtown, and I’d like to see a focus on the greater good – a sustainable Midtown business environment,” said Kimio Bazett of The Golden Bear and the upcoming Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co. Ten of the 25 Midtown Business Association Board of Directors seats are open to be filled by June 20, and only about seven incumbents are returning, meaning the organization will see ne

At the outset of the City Council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Kevin Johnson promised a robust discussion on the subject of redistricting, and robust is what he got. It was another full house Tuesday with nearly 500 people crowding into City Hall, filling every seat in the council chambers and overflowing to makeshift seating areas on the second floor – everyone with the same agenda item on their minds: redistricting. Neighbors, schoolchildren and spokespeople for Latino and African American communities of interest lined up – more than 100-deep – to give their two minutes’ input on where new district boundary lines should be drawn. At the council meeting on Aug. 16, more than 200 people atten

Before guests could hit the dance floor and mingle with friends at a non-profit organization’s 10th Anniversary celebration, local community leaders gave a “Celebrity Show” posing to be celebrities of the last decade to say a few words. The emcee introduced the first celebrity – Hillary Clinton. Walking and gracefully waving to “Stand by Your Man” by Tammy Wynette from the back of the ballroom to the podium is Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg’s (D-Sacramento) District Director Susan McKee. Guests stood up from their seats to take videos and photos while others clapped and laughed. “I told the President that C.C. Yin has always been my man and all of you know I stand by my man,

“Freedom has not come as a gift, but as a triumph.” –Alice Paul The 1911 victory for California women made California the sixth state to win equal suffrage for women. The California win doubled the number of women who could vote in the United States, building electoral power and support for the 1920 passing of the 19th amendment, which would give all women in the country the right to vote. The Sacramento History Museum has unveiled a unique and wonderfully elaborate exhibition detailing the long struggle women fought to win the vote, not only in California but in all of the United States, aptly titled “We Won the Vote! 100 years of Equal Suffrage in California.” The exhibit displays tru

  Want to help end violence against women in our community? Maybe you want to help feed the hungry? Right now, it’s as easy as clicking a button. Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento created an innovative campaign in honor of their 10th anniversary to help raise $10,000 for a deserving charity. 17 nonprofits are vying for the prize. Among them are WEAVE, River City Food Bank, Society for the Blind, and a host of others. By clicking a single button to cast your vote online, you can help your favorite charity earn this critical grant. You can make a difference in three easy ways: 1) cast your vote online; 2) tell all your friends to vote; and 3) share the voting link on your Facebook and Twi

Dear Mr. Mayor, I know that you have been busy with the election and all, and then the wedding plans, and  finding a place for Sacramento’s homeless, and keeping the Kings in town, the rail yard deal,etc. etc. etc. But Dude; you gotta proof read the emails your vast media machine puts out. They got some of it wrong. I did a quick Big Education Ape touchup: what do you think? your pal, Mike Correction: Vote for  Community! Dear Neighbor, This email isn't going to bore you with the standard "here's why Election Day is important to democracy" lecture. If you're reading this, you know Election Day matters. What you may not know is why Tuesday means so much down the ticket -- where the sch

If you can't find a place to vote on Tuesday, you're not looking very hard. They're all over the place, and the address of your polling place should be on your ballot. But we thought it would be interesting, and perhaps useful, to list all of the polling places around Sacramento's central city.  As you can see below, there's no shortage, from churches to garages, schools to retirement homes.  There's really no excuse, now is there?  Note well: If you know you are registered, but don't know your polling place, go here.  If you know you're registered, and you go to your polling place but they don't have you on the rolls, you can still vote with a "provisional" ballot. It will be counted

What with the excitement of Sacramento city council and county supervisor races – competition, deals, drama, controversies, strong/weak mayor, and the like – and even some interesting regional and statewide races, who really has time to study and vote intelligently about the propositions that also are on our ballots? Once again Sacramento voters are faced with the usual array of statewide propositions this year: five on the June ballot and another three qualified for November, three pending at the Attorney General’s Office, signatures filed for seven, the Legislature considering nine, 24 gathering signatures for topics like taxes, abortion, pensions, human trafficking, redistricting and r

Ok, we have been updating you all along with the success of the "Sacramento Has Talent" Competition being held at the "New" Tommy T's Comedy Cluib; well, the Second Round is about to start this Tuesday Aug. 11th at 7:30. All good acts, but only half make it on to the Finals. The audience is always the best judge, and that's why with this competition it's the audience who decide which acts have what it takes to represent our area. Come join us and help pick the Best, because we got rid of the Rest!  Starting with this next round of shows, all the acts win because TV cameras will be taking it all in and soon these talented people will be seen on your local TV screen. Come out and be a part

This coming Tuesday August 4th is the Final preliminary level show in our "Sacramento Has Talent" Competition. Held at the "New" Tommy T's Comedy Club (above the ole' Spaghetti Factory on Hwy 50 & Hazel) Tuesday at 7:30 (out early) and only a $5 cover. A whole lot of fun because the audience votes the talent through to the next level, some come out and vote! Ages 16 & over welcome for this special Local Talent Event. Anyone that wants to sign up for this last opportunity to perform should visit www.sactotalent.com for details.