The Central Valley Regional Water Board held its third public meeting in Sacramento on Monday to discuss control of discharges of Organochlorine pesticides in water bodies throughout the Central Valley. Eight Delta waterways, portions of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, have been included in the discussion, in addition to other water bodies throughout the state. These water bodies have been listed as impaired on the 303(d) list, meaning that they exceed the minimum pollutant level permitted by the Federal Clean Water Act. This meeting is one of several that have been held since June 2010 by the Board to discuss with waterway stakeholders the development of Organochlorine pesticide TMDLs

The cocktail is one of few things Americans can call their own as part of the American legacy, aside from Texas barbeque and jazz, Erick Castro told his Cocktail 101 class Saturday afternoon at Midtown's Dragonfly. A former Zócalo bartender and cofounder of Sacramento’s annual Midtown Cocktail Week, Castro taught a group of almost 30 how to make an Oriental, gin gimlet and Manhattan in just two hours, while sharing more knowledge and history about the art of cocktail-making than they could hope to remember. This is the first year the class has been incorporated into the week-long event.  Participants worked at tables lined with shakers, jiggers (or measures), bottle openers, martini glas

"Sculpture doesn't have to answer to society or beauty," Japanese contemporary ceramic artist Takako Araki once said. Referred to by some as sacrilegious, her lifelike tattered Bible sculptures, one of which she made by silkscreening text from the Bible onto fired clay, are part of the Soaring Voices ceramic exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum in Downtown Sacramento. The exhibition opened to the public Saturday and features a collection of more than 80 ceramic pieces by 25 female Japanese artists. Until the 1950s, the world of ceramics in Japan has been a "man's world," exhibit organizer Maya Nishi told an audience at Sunday's gallery talk. She elaborated on how Japanese women had been

Renowned hip hop icon Too $hort, known by many as the "Godfather" of Bay Area hip hop, will be performing at Chris Webber’s Center Court Friday night in Natomas. The show was arranged by Everett Hunter Presents and will include appearances by guest DJs MP 3, Reese Roundtree and Steve DTrix. The multi-platinum artist began his career on the streets of East Oakland during his early teens, selling $5 cassette recordings of his work. He gained widespread acclaim in the hip hop scene with the success of Born to Mack, released in 1986 on his independent label Dangerous Music. The album was later re-released on the Jive Records label and went gold, selling more than 500,000 copies. He has relea

Babe the sheep-herding pig and his talking farm friends will revisit the big screen Saturday night at East Portal Park in East Sacramento. The '90s classic Babe is the first film to be featured at Sacramento's fifth Screen on the Green free movie series, held in different local neighborhood parks for four consecutive Saturdays in August. Founded by City Councilman Steve Cohn, Screen on the Green has grown immensely in attendance each year since it first began five years ago, said District Director Sue Brown. Although anyone is welcome to attend, the films are geared toward families. Last year's films included Charlotte's Web, Hairspray, Ratatouille and The Goonies. Screen on the Green i