On April 9, leaders in the city of Sacramento and the Alchemist Community Development Corporation broke ground in the River District for its public market that will include an outdoor food court, farmers market, cafe, a large commissary kitchen, coworking office and a small retail store.  

Five weeks later, the entire development is on the brink of collapse due to funding shortages. The Alchemist CDC project is currently under construction with $9 million secured from state and federal grants.

Those are reimbursements that come roughly 60 days after the corporation pays the construction bills. To bridge the gap, they need a $3 million one-year loan to keep the cash flowing.

The city of Sacramento initially seemed to be a potential partner, according to Alchemist CDC CEO Sam Greenlee. But, as of Wednesday the city declined to provide a bridge loan.

Without the additional funding from the city, the public market risks a construction stoppage and the $9 million secured funds could be returned back to the state and federal government.

Sam Greenlee, the CEO of Alchemist CDC, said the corporation has just a short time to come up with additional funds to keep the project going.

“We have about a week to find the funding,” he said. “This project won't be built, and the decades of economic development this project was going to deliver won't be there.”

Greenlee said he’s received mixed signals from the city of Sacramento over the past few weeks on whether or not they’ll be able to receive those funds. He found out this morning that the city will not consider a loan.

“We have heard from different folks in the city, so it definitely feels like a reversal for us, based on quite a few things we had heard,” Greenlee said. “We have heard from other folks in the city that it was never a possibility to lend this, so just to say we're experiencing this in the reversal.”

During the groundbreaking in April, Mayor Kevin McCarty stated the city was excited to bring the public market to the River District.

On Wednesday, the mayor’s office released a statement.

“Alchemist CDC's transformative work lifts neighborhoods and drives economic development, which is why we have been proud to support them with $300k in State budget funds and, more recently, the City has provided more than $1.4M in loans, funding, and City impact fee deferment,” McCarty wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately, the City’s budget deficit does not allow us to provide any additional funding, but we continue to support their efforts in our community.”

The city is currently in a structural budget deficit of $66.2 million. 

This story is developing and we will update when we get more information.

The California primary election is less than three weeks away, with voters set to decide on a variety of local and statewide races and ballot measures.

Political campaigns are also known for drawing in significant financial backing, which is especially apparent in the crowded field of candidates vying to become California’s next governor.

Democratic candidate and billionaire Tom Steyer has spent more than $132 million of his own money funding his campaign, while major companies and wealthy contributors have also spent millions of dollars backing — or opposing — other candidates.

Sacramento State Political Science Professor Wesley Hussey spoke with CapRadio’s Laura Fitzgerald on Insight about the role of money in politics and elections, and how it can shape the perceptions of voters.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

What does all the money raised by a campaign or candidate actually get used for?

For California, it's all about TV. Even now as we're moving to streaming and digital, TV is extremely expensive. Second largest media market in the country, Los Angeles alone. Throw in the Bay Area, San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno, it adds up quickly. We're talking maybe 70% to 80% of your entire budget going to TV, digital or streaming. Digital and streaming is cheaper, but you have to throw yourself out there on a lot of platforms to get out there. 

If we look at the current candidates running for governor, what stands out about how much they're fundraising?

Well, Tom Steyer has spent more money than any candidate ever [in] the history of California governor. Meg Whitman in 2010 spent a little less than $150 million of her own money running against Jerry Brown. But it wouldn't surprise me if Steyer somehow makes it into the second round, he will easily eclipse that. That's an incredible amount of money running for office of governor. 

Steyer is a billionaire, and has become well known for self-funding his own gubernatorial campaign, to the tune of $132 million as of last month. What do you make of that?

When I ask my students in my class if they've seen any commercials on streaming or TV, they'll always say “Steyer” first, easily. Sometimes that's the only thing they've seen. He's run a lot of ads in favor of his campaign, maybe run ads targeting other candidates. He's really trying to get out there with a message; he doesn’t have the years of experience in government like some of the other candidates, so he's trying to appeal to voters and remind voters who he is.

Do you have a sense of how voters feel about wealthy candidates putting their own money into campaigns? 

I think in some sense voters get skeptical with that much money being spent, particularly of your own money. But on the other hand, they know that campaigns are expensive and that candidates are raising vast amounts of money. There's something about a person using their own money that sometimes voters like, that they appreciate, that they feel like maybe they're not going to get bought or influenced by special interest groups. 

But then it also does remind them how much more money this person has than them. How much more money they have than even wealthy people in California. And yeah, that does have people kind of take a second and think, “do I want someone like that to be my governor?”

What are the limits of self-funding a campaign? Does the best-funded candidate usually end up winning? 

Not always. Having over a certain critical amount of money is key to winning races. Sometimes we do see candidates who spend the most money lose because they're desperately trying to compete with the name brand of their opponent, or someone who's been in office for a long time. It's harder for challengers against incumbents. 

Now, in an open race like this, there's a lot of opportunities for candidates. We can go all the way back to the 1998 gubernatorial race in the Democratic primary, where Gray Davis has two wealthy Democratic opponents who are spending a lot more than him. And yet, he's able to still advance out of that Democratic primary by pointing out that his opponents had all of this money and he doesn't. 

Sometimes you can backfire, but if you're a candidate who doesn't have a long record in government, you have to show that you're a credible candidate. One of the ways you do that is [to] be on TV. Show the voters that you can raise money to be someone that the political insiders think is credible and a viable candidate to run. So there is a need for candidates to spend money to be out there, but how much they spend is really based on the circumstance. 

There's a lot of wealthy supporters and special interests involved in campaigns. Democratic candidate Matt Mahan has the backing of Silicon Valley tech giants, and groups like PG&E are spending a lot of money to oppose Steyer. What does it mean for elections overall to have these major wealthy contributors making donations?

I think a lot of your listeners and voters are used to this idea of super PACs now. Here in California, we call them independent expenditures. There's the ability for people to run campaigns on behalf of candidates where they're not allowed to coordinate, but the rules on that are very murky. And so sometimes you're going to see corporations, special interest, wealthy people put tons of money into a campaign to support a candidate, or to attack a candidate. That message isn't always as perfectly clear as a candidate with their own message.

I think that Steyer may have an advantage over Mahan because it’s his money, his campaign. But if you start seeing a commercial, you might not know that’s not actually Mahan’s campaign — there’s a super PAC or independent expenditure on behalf of him. And you're like, "now I know more about that candidate," or, “”I might know something about a candidate I might vote for that's negative.” And one of the other candidates has a super PAC running those ads. 

Which industries are big spenders when it comes to California politics? Are you noticing any trends?

I think the last few election cycles we've seen this huge increase of tech money. I think tech was always a little uncomfortable understanding the rules of politics. They kind of created this aura of “they’re libertarian, they’re outside of the realm of government.” 

And now, as they become more important in society, people want to regulate them, and they’re like “whoa, we need to have candidates [or] elected officials who will listen to us.” I have seen an incredible amount of more money from tech backing candidates, backing initiatives, backing ideas. 

But [there’s also] the classic things you'd see in California; you might see oil giving money, larger corporations that aren’t involved in tech. Hollywood has always been a great source of money — both individuals like celebrities, but also the money behind studios and companies there. So if there's money being generated in California, there's going to definitely be campaign contributions from it. 

A lot of candidates also tout small contributions or grassroot support. Has it been easier for campaigns to attract these donations, and how are they regarded compared to other financial support from these tech giants? 

I think candidates like them because they can say they have X amount of supporters. They have people like you and me giving money to campaigns. Historically they weren't very helpful because it took more work to find small donors, and then get them to contribute and do all of the logistical work then maybe the amount of money you would get.

But these days with the internet, ActBlue, all these companies [where] you can just go to a website and donate, the cost is basically zero. Now you get not only the financial benefit, but also get [that] extra bonus of “how many people have contributed to my campaign.”

A controversial wealth tax might also get on the ballot this year, and it’s drawing opposition from millionaires and billionaires. What stands out to you about how opponents are moving to stop it from passing?

I think that the wealth tax has not officially qualified yet, but it probably will pretty soon. It's going to target a very small group of people who happen to be incredibly wealthy. We're talking billionaires, maybe only 200 [to] 300 people in the state.

Some people have left. But a lot of really rich people have given money to a variety of super PACs, independent expenditures, political groups that are going to oppose this measure if it's on the ballot. But others have put up potentially rival measures that, if passed at the same time, would ban wealth taxes. So the wealth tax could pass, but another measure would say if a wealth tax passes now or in the future, it wouldn't qualify in California.

I think part of that is different strategies to defeat the wealth tax, but it also might be if both of those measures pass there's a time for negotiation. Maybe they both get pulled, but some additional income taxes added to the tax roll. And so the ability to have a measure on the ballot gives you more leverage, and that might just be part of the strategy they're involved with.

The amounts of money being spent on campaigns might be hard for people to wrap their head around. What do you want people to keep in mind when they're seeing these numbers mentioned during the election season? 

I read once that we spend more in America on advertising for potato chips than we do for elections. We spend a lot of money on advertising in America; we're a capitalist society, we're trying to convince people to buy things. Candidates are commodities; they’re ideas, they’re  people who have suggestions of what they want to do, and they're trying to convince us that they're the best choice. 

It doesn’t surprise me that a lot of money is in politics, because there’s a lot of consequence to who's elected and the decisions they make. I'm always surprised by how much money is in politics, but I have to remind myself there's a lot of money in the United States [and] in California. A candidate spending $150 million might be an incredible amount of money.But a campaign raising $70-80 million to run for governor when you're the fifth largest economy in the world, may not be such a big thing to worry about at that point, particularly if I want to see them run ads and communicate with the voters of California.

Wildfires have gone from being a seasonal occurrence to a constant risk across California, and are becoming larger and more unpredictable amid the worsening impacts of climate change.

This change was exemplified by devastating wildfires that burned across the Los Angeles area last January.

California is also coming off a poor winter, marked by a lack of snowfall. U.S. Forest Service Meteorologist Julia Ruthford noted the statewide snowpack is at just 14% of average, with the northern and central Sierra sitting at just 6% and 15% of normal, respectively. 

These conditions, combined with warmer and drier weather, leaves the state vulnerable as the year progresses. 

A recent report released by the National Interagency Fire Center said Northern California faces an above normal potential during June for large portions of the area. This will then expand further in July and August.

The report also notes that the northern part of the state typically sees 11 large fires in June, and 15 to 17 during the following two months.

Preparations are constantly underway for the peak of what has become the “fire year,” from local protections to resource mobilizations on the state and federal level.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief David Acuña joined CapRadio’s Andrew Garcia on Insight to discuss how the state is gearing up.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

What kind of fire activity have we seen so far this year?

We're always aware of what's going on across the state. In terms of the number of wildfires, it’s about average. If you look at our website we have a list of the last five years… on average it’s around 21,000 acres. We’re currently at 18,000. Obviously, last year for 2025, we had a much larger number at 63,000, but that’s abnormal — we’re not generally going to see that, particularly this early in the year.

However, it does back up the need for us to utilize the term peak “fire year” rather than the antiquated “fire season” that we used to use. 

Has there been any noticeable differences between Northern California, Southern California, or other parts of the state when it comes to wildfire? 

Every area has its own unique fuels, weather, and topography. With Cal Fire monitoring what’s happening from Siskiyou to San Diego, it's quite different. As you can imagine, what affects the fuels in Siskiyou County is quite a bit different than what happens in San Diego County.

However, as an overall awareness, our Wildfire Forecast & Threat Integration Center (WFTIIC) keeps an eye on all of the fuels, the weather, and determines where we need to move resources around. If there is a higher risk, let's say in Southern California, we'll move resources from the north. Vice versa, if there's a lightning bust that's expected in the north, then we'll move resources from the south. Wherever it's needed, we'll send it to the highest risk.

We've talked about this year’s poor snowpack previously on Insight. But if we go even larger, what kind of impact does climate change have on wildfires? 

Climate change has really been interesting because we have, in general, been receiving more rain than we had traditionally in the last 30 years. But what that's led to is [an] increased amount of grass growth. For example, here in 2026, we've had a few times where we've had rain and then dry. Particularly in Central and Northern California. And what that's done is allowed additional grass crops to grow. 

One way to look at it is we have a grass crop. It grows [and] dies, and it lays over. The next year, grows, dies, lays over. Not only has it been happening on a yearly basis, but also in August 2023, we had a tropical storm go right up California and that led to a bumper crop then as well. All of these layers have formed what's essentially a haystack on the lands across California, and so once a fire burns, it burns very intensely. Even if there's green grass on top, there's layers and layers of dead fuels underneath. 

What kind of conditions and factors does Cal Fire take into account while preparing throughout the year? 

Thankfully we work very closely with our Forest Service partners, and wildfire is very simple physics. It’s fuel, weather, and topography. That’s all it really has to do with. By utilizing the information on, what are the fuels doing — particularly the lightest fuels? What is the weather? All of those are processes that we've received from the National Weather Service to help us understand where the risks are, and where to move resources.

As we head into the peak of the fire year, what kind of preparations has the agency made so far?

It's been really interesting to see that we're fortunate to have the support of the state, and that we've been able to start bringing on our former Fire Fighter 1 seasonal employees and transitioning them into Fire Fighter 2 permanent employees. We need to have our brush engines available 365 days a year, so it's very important for us to have that staffing to be able to react at a moment’s notice, whether it’s July or January.

A lot of preparation also comes down to educating people about what they could do to help prevent risks, particularly for those that live in fire zones. The state has put significant resources into home hardening and defensible space. How do those types of measures help mitigate risk? 

What we're focusing on is to have people look at our website, and they'll find resources there on how to prevent starting another wildfire if they are doing grass work. Don't do it in the middle of the day, or if they're going to be working with welding one of their fences, they have to do that using significant caution.

Having said that, there's also steps for home  hardening. Defensible space, particularly in Zone 0 — the first five feet outside the home. And then, looking on for what preparation steps can people take. They need to know two ways out of their neighborhood in case one way gets blocked. They need to know: how do they evacuate? Where would they go? Where [are] the people shelters, the small animal [and] large animal shelters, livestock shelters?

And then, also how to pack a go-bag for your family, for your medically frail people, as well as for your pets. All these are very important to have ready to go at a moment's notice.

You can hear more from Acuña, as well as from U.S. Forest Service Meteorologist Julia Ruthford and Wildland Fire Specialist Kristen Allison, here.

This story is featured in our SacramenKnow newsletter. Sign up to get updates about what’s happening in the region in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday.

Have you ever heard of an isopod? Maybe you know them as roly-polies, those small insects you find in dirt in backyards, parks and playgrounds. 

But get this — they’re not insects at all! They’re actually crustaceans similar to crabs, lobsters and shrimp. There are also over 10,000 species of isopods worldwide, each adapted to different habitats. 

Here in Sacramento, Wesley Bryan specializes in breeding and selling Isopods. He owns The World of Isopods and in addition to the isopods, he sells millipedes, scorpions, beetles, grasshoppers, mantises,  and other invertebrates that he houses in a room in his house.

“There are about 100,000 [bugs] in the room,” Bryan said. “So currently, isopod species-wise, I have about 173 different species, and there's also different morphs too, that basically come up to like 253.”

The company began in 2020 and has now grown to one of the largest isopod suppliers in California, according to Bryan. He said his company specializes in “captive breeding,” in which they keep the isopods safe and healthy.

Bryan first began selling chameleons, tarantulas and scorpions at the age of 19 before pivoting to isopods in 2021. He started to sell off all of his inventory and quickly realized that isopods were really popular.

“Basically, they sold super fast, and a lot of people use them in their terrarium,” Bryan said. “I was like, ‘okay, I'm gonna start investing in them.’”

He was using the isopods to clean up poop from the chameleons he was selling. According to the Terrarium Tribe, isopods are used as a clean up crew in which they remove organic decay.

A friend reached out to Bryan and asked if he wanted to sell some of his isopods at a reptile show, which he agreed to.

“I thought maybe I'll make 400-500 bucks, but I came home with $3,000 and I just started buying more and more isopods,” he said. “Now we're the number one biggest company in California for isopods.”

Love for the business

The prices for isopods, depending on the species and morph, are as low as $15. Morphs are color or pattern variations within the same isopod species – similar to dogs and horses that come in different colors and markings, according to Bryan.

“A lot of people like to breed stuff to get a certain color out of an animal,” he said. “What I'm doing is I'm getting the pigmentation and I'm turning it to a different color.”
 
The most expensive isopod in their inventory is the Ardentiella “Red Scarlet” morph. It is native to Thailand and Vietnam and resembles the colors of a Marvel superhero.

“Those species range in very cool colors, like sometimes even pinks, bright reds, and they look literally just like Iron Man,” Bryan said. “But those ones sell for like $100 to $200 a piece, just for the one little, tiny roly-poly.”

Omar Martinez is a friend of Bryan and an employee of  The World of Isopods. He’s been working with Bryan for about a year and he assists with small tasks.

“I'm learning new things, like every other week, but so far, it's like taking the orders down, printing the labels, making the boxes for such shipments,” Martinez said. “Now I've been handling some of the bugs, like putting them in the container containers, or helping with packaging stuff.”

Martinez finds the job fascinating and wants more people to learn about the critter. 

“If you're not aware of roly-pollies or their scientific name, isopods, at all, I think it's worth giving a look into because they're definitely a unique creature,” he said. “I think you'd be surprised about how much you like them.”

Bryan also mentioned his passion for his job.

“I would say the most I like about my job is just the fact that I grew up being outdoors, loving to be with bugs, finding bugs, and just being around bugs for my job, it's just literally my dream.”

Business operations

Daily operations include three to four hours of care usually starting the day off buying organic yams and fish flakes. Bryan and his employees go through every bin and check to make sure they are fed and their climate is ok.

Isopods can live anywhere from 5 to 10 years–with deep-sea isopods living on the longer side.

The most challenging part of the job is the supply because they sell so many isopods weekly, Bryan said.

“We ship out about 50 to 70 orders, and that's not even including our wholesale orders,” he said. “So usually, most of the time we get the breeding process. I have two employees that help me, and we try to keep up with demand.”

Although the demand is pretty high, Bryan said he loves what he does.

If you want to buy isopods or other insects from The World of Isopods, they’ll be at the Reptile Realm Expo in San Jose on June 13-14. You can also purchase the isopods on their website.

Dr. Ralph Hughes has been a longtime figure in the local choral scene.

For 40 years he has served as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Sacramento Master Singers, a group of 50 performers dedicated to advancing choral music within the community.

Hughes has been credited with bringing his passion for “art with a purpose” to stages across the region, including this Thursday at 7 p.m. with the performance of “A Season of Gratitude” at Stage One of the Harris Center in Folsom.

But this performance also comes at a time of transition, as Hughes prepares to bring his journey with the Master Singers to an end this year.   

He joined CapRadio’s Andrew Garcia on Insight to reflect on four decades at the helm.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

You’ve been conducting the group since 1986. What brought you to the Sacramento Master Singers in the first place?

Well, I’ve actually been with them longer than that. I sang with them for a couple of years. Then, about the third or fourth year, the previous director Ken Winter says “Ralph, I need to talk to you at the break.” So that’s a rather odd way to start as conductor of a group, but he did in fact have his interests go in different directions, and I took over mid-season that many years ago.

Did taking over like that ever crossed your mind?

No. I was told by an advisor at Sac State “you need greater experiences as a choral musician.” That’s why I was singing with them, and so suddenly to be the conductor was not the plan. But it really was fortuitous for me because it’s become my life’s passion, and it’s my West Coast family.

What was the choir's mission at that point, and how have things changed over the decades?

It was a very small group at that time; usually in those first concerts it was 14-17 singers. Ken was a very passionate choral conductor and many people wanted to study with him because of that. So when I took over, it led through a number of years where we had to tighten up the standards and we were interested in being a larger choir. So we went up to 50 singers, and it's a much more polished group now. Certainly, I call it a semi-professional group. I think we reach professional standards, but they simply don't get paid.

You’re the conductor as well as the artistic director for the Master Singers. How has your role changed over the past four decades?

Initially, it was “wear every hat as conductor,” and a few other people wearing multiple hats. Now we have a superb board, we have additional staff members who are paid such as our accompanist Heidi Van Regenmorter [who] has been with me for 30-something years, but more than a dozen years as the accompanist for Master Singers. We have an assistant conductor, Emily Carbrey… a lot of things that used to fall in my lap are now spread across an amazing team of people.

I think the singer soon realized, "alright, he's coming to the concert downbeat with a lot of stress. We need to see what we can do to remove that from him. Let him concentrate on the artistic side of things."  I think the new artistic director is walking into a completely different world than what was at my outset.

What have been some of the highlights over your 40 years with the Master Singers?

Do you have half an hour? Touring with this group has been amazing; we've done tours in the United States, Venezuela, Europe, the British Isles, those were amazing things. We have participated in a world festival in Caracas, Venezuela called America Cantat — we were one of three North American choirs at that festival. We appeared with the Boston Pops; 20 years ago they were touring the West Coast every December, and we were chosen as the choir for the Sacramento performance. That was exhilarating to perform for I think around 12,000 people at the Kings arena at that time.

Have there been any collaborators or members that have been with you through your entire tenure? 

Yes, one singer — David Temme — he was the tenor section leader for decades, he has sung all 40 years. We have people like Carol Horner who's retiring this year after 23 years. I've already mentioned Heidi has been with us more than a dozen years because even when she was not the primary accompanist, she was often a guest accompanist. We have five or six singers who have been with me [for] more than 30 years. 

Most people tend to come and sing for a number of years. Sometimes growing families tug them in a different direction, or a career move doesn't allow them to give the amount of time. They invest an amazing amount of time towards the group's music learning, and helping run the organization. 

Thursday’s performance will include a piece from composer Ken Medema in the program titled “I Will Sing Hallelujah.” Can you tell us more about your relationship with Ken, and this song?

Ken was a musical hero for me when I was a teenager. He's about 10 years older than I am and he had a songbook out, a contemporary Christian songbook. I really wasn't steeped in classical music, so I played that songbook hours per week. Then years later, he called our business manager and said, “I’ve heard your performance of ‘I Will Sing Hallelujah,’ and I need to meet the director.”

That was just a wild experience that someone who I revered as a teenager was calling wanting to meet me. In the meantime, he has come and been a guest soloist; he's written pieces for us. He [even] appeared here on Insight a few years ago.

We're ending the concert with that piece and what will make it even more exciting is that there's going to be 23 string players added to that mix, an electric bass player and the soloist will be Thomas Voigt. I'm sure you're going to find that to be a rocking way to end the concert. 

Are there any other pieces that you're excited about in the upcoming program?

The whole second half is featuring those string players. We begin with a piece by Robert Cohen. [He] was commissioned by the Sacramento Master Singers board to write a piece honoring me. The poet is Ron Cadmus and they’ve written this amazing piece called “The Gift of Hands.” It just simply is trying to give tribute to all conductors out there, and the influence they have with their hands. 

This performance is titled “A Season of Gratitude.” As you look back on your 40 years with the group, is “gratitude” the word for how you feel? 

Yes… you'll get me choked up here. The whole season has been one where I've been grateful for the singers, for what they have added to my life, and I am grateful for what they add to the Sacramento community.

22 year old pianist Parker Van Ostrand started winning piano competitions at the age of five. Since then he's taken first prize at the SF International Piano Competition, and Third Prize/Best Sonata at the International Chopin Competition. He's also got some great performance accolades his belt, with numerous international appearances, collaborations with the likes of Yuja Wong, and concertos with the SF Symphony. Most recently he joined the Auburn Symphony Orchestra for Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto at the Mondavi Center.

In this feature we enjoy live performances of several different composers, and discuss how things like the gym and ziplining keep him sane. 

For decades, a facility in the North State has been working to help bring closure to loved ones by analyzing unidentified human remains. 

Chico State’s Human Identification Lab (HIL) was established in the 1970s and its work has taken the lab’s small team of experts into the heart of natural disasters, including the 2018 Camp Fire, as well as to the battlefields of World War II.

Recently, the HIL’s researchers worked with the U.S. Department of Defense to uncover the remains of 19-year-old U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Fatur, a tail gunner aboard a B-17G Flying Fortress that crashed in Poland in March 1945. Fatur’s remains were eventually accounted for by Defense Department personnel in July 2025.

Dr. Ashley Kendell is the director of the HIL, and Dr. Colleen Milligan is one of its forensic anthropologists. They spoke with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about the lab’s work, and traveling abroad to help solve long-lasting mysteries.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

Why was the Human Identification Lab started?

KENDELL: The Chico identification lab has been around for a little over 50 years. The program itself [was] started by Dr. Turhon Murad in the 1970s.  We had a really, really small caseload; we would receive maybe one to 10 cases per year. And over the last 50 years, our casework has grown exponentially. We now receive around 120 to 150 cases per year that cover about 90% of the counties in California. 

A lot of that is attributed to the fact that of the forensic anthropologists that are in the lab. Four of us are POST-certified [Peace Officers Standards and Training], and we teach all of the new detectives throughout the state of California in a homicide investigation course how to utilize forensic anthropological services, and what we can do as far as forensic archaeological excavation in homicide investigations. 

Is this lab unique to California or the West Coast?

MILLIGAN: This is a lab that is largely unique to the West Coast. There are labs like ours across the country. You have ones that are large at the University of Tennessee; they're well known for what we say is the “body farm.” You also have labs in the Midwest as well as Texas. Chico State’s Human Identification Lab is the largest forensic anthropology lab at a university west of the Rockies. Part of the reason we serve as much of the state as we do is because of the number of professionals that we have associated with our lab. 

What kind of large-scale responses have you been involved in?

MILLIGAN: Personally, on my end, most of our last two decades of work have been related to California's wildfires. We respond to wildfires across the state, as well as responding in 2023 in Maui for the wildfire there. What we do with these responses is assist the recovery and the identification of human remains and victims from these large-scale events.

 

In my background — all of us have previous experience with sort of mass fatality events mindset — mine started in graduate school as I was on a fellowship with the Department of Homeland Security working on mass fatality policy development. That included looking at some of the later stages of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana at that time. 

KENDELL: My first response was the 2018 California Camp Fire. I had just started at Chico State in 2017 so prior to that, I hadn't had any mass fatality response in my past. I've learned a lot over the last 10 years, and unfortunately on an almost annual basis now our lab is employed to do mass fatality response for fires. 

What goes into processing a case?

KENDELL: So depending on the types of cases we get, we focus on cases [where] we can get information from the human skeleton. We often interface with sheriff corner's offices, medical examiners' offices, and [the] main focus in our lab predominantly comes from helping to make identifications on remains that are not visually identifiable. 

We also get a lot of requests for trauma analysis, so helping the forensic pathologist or the sheriff corner make determinations as to cause and manner of death based on interpretations in the bone of things like sharp force trauma, projectile trauma or blunt force injuries.

I would imagine the time frame to identify remains can vary greatly depending on the circumstances.

KENDELL: It does. Our timeframe [really depends] on the type of case. We sometimes look at a single skeletal element and we are tasked with, what is it? Is it human, is it non-human? We can do those types of cases very quickly. However, if we do get more complicated cases that are fragmentary, or are burned as are the case with the wildfire decedents, those cases can oftentimes span a couple of weeks in order to process and then do a full analysis for that case.

Some recent work involved identifying servicemembers killed in World War II alongside the Department of Defense. How did you get connected with the federal government?

MILLIGAN: One of the major employers for our field in the U.S. is actually the Department of Defense. If there are 200 or so forensic anthropologists across the U.S. about half of those are employed by the Department of Defense. They run two very large labs — one in Honolulu, Hawaii and one in Omaha, Nebraska — for identification of servicemembers killed in foreign wars in particular.

There are so many service personnel that are still unaccounted for, that even with having that many of us employed by a single entity, that workload requires a much larger cooperation with agencies and universities to help locate and ultimately [hopefully] recover those that are unaccounted for. That's where we came in.

One of those operations involved recovering an airman’s remains from Poland. How does working on a case like this, from decades ago, complicate your work?

U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Fatur died in March 1945 after his bomber went down over Poland. His remains were eventually recovered with the assistance of experts from the Chico State Human Identification Lab.Courtesy of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

The race to represent Assembly District 7 — which includes Citrus Heights, Folsom and Rancho Cordova — is expected to be one of California’s most competitive state legislative contests. 

Incumbent Republican Assemblymember Josh Hoover narrowly flipped the seat in 2022, winning by just over a thousand votes. He is now seeking reelection against Democratic challenger Amy Slavensky, a longtime educator and former principal. 

Hoover and Slavensky both argue California needs major changes. However, they sharply disagree on which direction the state should go. 

Hoover said Democratic leadership has failed the state because of policies he argues are costly and ineffective. 

“What we are doing is not working and we have to change something,” he said. “I think my opponent actually represents the status quo, more of the same, and we definitely don’t need that in California.” 

Slavensky rejects that criticism pointing to her decades working in public education where she said she’s been a “change agent.” 

“I am a lifelong public servant, he is a career politician,” she said. “Forty years in classrooms and schools directly versus his four years on a school board and a few years on an education committee.”

CapRadio asked both candidates about their stances on several key issues including affordability, homelessness, and education. 

Education 

Hoover, who serves as vice chair of the Assembly Education Committee, pointed to legislation he authored to restrict cellphone use in schools, which he said was critical to improving classroom focus.

“I think that’s a key part of the academic improvement as well, but it has to be in tandem with getting back to basics on literacy and math,” he said. 

The Assemblymember from Folsom also said he wants to restore more “local control” to school districts.

“At the end of the day, the best leaders of local communities are the people on the school boards in the local communities,” he said. “I came from a school board and too often the state overreaches and tells them what to do. We need to empower local communities to run their own districts.” 

Slavensky, who is from Fair Oaks and has worked as a principal for more than a decade, said childcare access is one of the biggest challenges facing families and schools. 

“Many of the [transitional kindergarten] classes are only three hours long so working families are having trouble accessing it due to childcare,” she said. “When I’m in the legislature, I will want to think through the total costs and resources needed for educational programs as the legislation around them is being authored and as they’re being implemented.” 

Slavensky said that includes working with colleagues to expand education funding to better support childcare costs. 

Affordability

Slavensky said growing up in poverty in the region shaped her views on affordability. She described housing costs as one of the most urgent issues facing Californians. 

“There are so many people who are members of working families who have good jobs, but housing is so expensive and we don’t have enough affordable housing,” she said. 

Slavensky said she would support efforts to reduce regulatory barriers to housing construction, including reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. 

Hoover focused on the high cost of energy and gas prices. He highlighted legislation he authored that would shift certain utility-related fees away from ratepayers and into the state budget. 

“We need to pass legislation that actually makes a meaningful impact on this and what California continues to do is pass legislation that moves us in the opposite direction,” he said. 

Hoover has also backed Republican proposals to suspend California’s gas tax arguing the state could offset that revenue — which is critical for the state’s transportation and climate program funding — through other sources. 

“It would be easy to backfill that with state revenue — it’s all a matter of priorities,” he said. “We don’t have to give up funding our roads in order to give people relief at the pump.” 

Homelessness

Hoover has been a vocal critic of California’s approach to homelessness and helped lead a bipartisan state audit examining homelessness spending programs. 

“We need to start with accountability to track where our dollars are going,” he said. “We need to fund programs that are actually helping people address their mental illness, their substance abuse issues and unfortunately we’re not doing that in California and that needs to change.”  

Slavensky said the issue is deeply personal to her because her brother experienced homelessness for more than a decade. 

“He struggled to get along in life and he passed away a couple of years ago due to the terrible conditions that he was living in,” she said. 

If elected, she said she would push for stronger renter protections while also expanding housing, and mental and behavioral health services for people experiencing homelessness. 

“I know from having worked with my brother and trying to help him that that is very complex and very challenging and is not just about housing,” she added. “It’s also about mental health and behavioral health support services, and in some cases, substance use support services.”  

Campaign finance

Campaign fundraising shows a large gap between the top candidates. 

Hoover has raised nearly $1 million while Slavensky has raised $150,000, according to state campaign finance filings. 

A third candidate, Sanaz Motamedi, is running as an American Independent. Her campaign website states she wants to protect communities, support working-class families and promote environmental sustainability. Motamedi has not reported raising campaign funds. 

Voters will decide on the race during the June 2 primary.

Performers:

Guitarist George England

Cellist Mike Dahlberg, accompanied by Jennifer Reason

Pianist Arend Aldama

Tenor Robert Vann, accompanied by Jennifer Reason 

Italian Soprano Vanessa Martucci, accompanied by Jennifer Reason

Violinist Bill Barbini and Flutist Mathew Krejci, accompanied by Jennifer Reason 

CapRadio’s Mike Nelson on French horn, accompanied by Jennifer Reason

Jazz Combo with Avery Jeffry on standup bass, Andrew Maloney on sax, Andrew Mills on jazz guitar, and drummer Jeremy Paz

Three years ago, Santiago Romero moved from Colombia to Patterson, a city of about 24,000 people in California’s Central Valley. Like most high school students, he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. Then he enrolled in his high school's logistics program.

Romero said it taught him how to manage inventory, ship orders and run a working school district warehouse. Now, he added, he plans to spend his career in supply chain and logistics.

"When I first enrolled into this class, for me it was a new world," Romero said. "It opened up a lot of experience for me."

Romero is one of hundreds of students enrolled in the Career Technical Education program at Patterson High School. The program offers pathways in fields including logistics, cosmetology, agriculture, patient care and commercial trucking. It's open to all students at no cost. The district says the program is largely funded through state grants designed to support career education programs.

Alongside teaching practical skills, it helps students earn the industry certifications and licenses that make them hireable the moment they graduate.

"We want to make sure that they're career ready," said Kim Brinkman, the program's director. "Because regardless of if they go to college, they're still going to need to be career ready. They're going to need to have those professional skills."

The school district identified Patterson as a regional distribution hub years ago and built the CTE program to match the local labor market. The city sits along Interstate 5 between the Bay Area and Los Angeles, and now hosts distribution centers for Amazon, CVS, Grainger and Kohl’s among others. Grainger alone brought more than 2,000 jobs to Patterson when it opened its facility there in 2012. 

Students at Patterson High School watch as classmates operate forklifts during a forklift certification class in Patterson, Calif., on Thursday, April 30, 2026. The class is part of the school's Career Technical Education program.Greg Micek/CapRadio

Reyes Gauna, the district's superintendent, said those companies prioritize hiring students who complete the program.

"If they go through our program and get our certification, they put them at the top of the pile of their hiring," Gauna said.

Real certifications, real jobs

Each pathway in the CTE program is designed around industry-recognized credentials. Students don't just learn how to operate a forklift. They earn certifications through Ives Training, a nationally recognized program. Cosmetology and barbering students can complete the 1,000 hours of practical training required to sit for their California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology license before they graduate. Patient care students can earn certifications from the American Red Cross and the National Healthcareer Association.

The supply chain and logistics pathway offers Lean Six Sigma white, yellow, and green belt certifications. The agriculture pathway offers Ag Align certifications across multiple disciplines. Nearly every pathway includes OSHA-10 workplace safety certification.

Brinkman said the focus on certifications is intentional.

"Students learn the basics of an industry, but they also have the industry certifications and the skills to prove to a future employer that they actually know what they're talking about," she said.

The program holds quarterly and biannual advisory committee meetings with industry professionals to make sure the curriculum stays current. Brinkman said it's a constant feedback loop between educators and the industries that hire their students.

A college pathway

Gauna said the program isn't a replacement for college. It's an alternative path that can also fund a college education.

"Several of our students are working for CVS and Grainger, and they're not just working for them. They're supervisors, they're leaders, and they're continuing their education," Gauna said.

Brinkman said one graduate worked for FedEx straight out of high school as one of the program's first interns. She paid for her undergraduate degree while working there. Now she's been accepted into UC Davis Medical School, and FedEx is helping pay for that, too.

"She's going to graduate with zero college debt," Brinkman said.

David Kastiro, who graduated from Patterson High’s trucking program in 2020, now drives a sleeper truck for Walmart. He's one of two graduates who became some of the youngest drivers in Walmart history. Both were hired at 21. Walmart drivers can earn around $135,000 a year, and the company is paying for Kastiro to earn a bachelor's degree in supply chain and logistics management.

"This is great to pay for your education if you want to go to college," Kastiro said. "Walmart's covering my whole bachelor's degree. I don't have to pay a penny."

Big rig trucks sit parked outside the commercial trucking classrooms at Patterson High School in Patterson, Calif., on Thursday, April 30, 2026. Students in the school's truck driving program use the rigs for hands-on training exercises.Greg Micek/CapRadio

The trucking program

The trucking pathway is one of the program's flagship offerings. It's run by Dave Dein, who has been in the trucking industry since 1988 and co-founded the Next Generation Trucking Association.

The program doesn't teach behind-the-wheel driving on campus. Instead, students complete 180 hours of classroom instruction and 30 hours on driving simulators. After completing the program, students take behind-the-wheel training through a partnership with a private truck driving school. They can earn their commercial learner's permit at 18 and use it for seasonal work or full-time jobs.

Dein said the focus is on more than just teaching students to drive a truck.

"Teaching somebody just how to drive a truck is really irresponsible unless you teach the mindset first," Dein said. "This is an 80,000 pound vehicle. It's a rolling bomb. If you don't get this right first, you're going to have a disaster."

The curriculum also includes Truckers Against Trafficking certification, financial literacy, health and nutrition, and Worklete, a program that teaches proper body movements to reduce workplace injuries. Dein said the goal is to prepare students for long, healthy careers.

"I see our graduates being the next leaders in trucking," he said. "And you can't lead anything unless you know what's going on around you."

Other pathways

The cosmetology and barbering pathway operates a fully functioning salon on campus where seniors provide hair, nail, beard, facial, and makeup services to the public. Students who reach the 1,000-hour licensure threshold before graduation have their first state board exam fee paid by the school.

The agriculture pathway includes ornamental horticulture, animal science, agriscience, and ag welding and fabrication. Students enrolled in the pathway are automatically members of the National FFA Organization and participate in events at the Stanislaus County Fair.

The patient care pathway covers medical terminology, human anatomy, and patient care. Students can earn certification as a Patient Care Technician through the National Healthcareer Association.

Looking ahead

The district is planning to expand its CTE offerings to middle school. An agriculture program will start in seventh and eighth grade next year.

"The more that you can expose kids to opportunities and different programs, the better educated our kids are when it's time for them to decide, what do I want to do with my life?" Gauna said.

For students like Romero, the program has already answered Gauna's question. It also answered one Romero brought with him from Colombia.

"What I want to do is dedicate my life to logistics," he said. "And it's all because of this program."

County supervisors don't draw the attention of mayors or state legislators. The Placer County Board meets twice a month in Auburn, and the meetings rarely make the news. But the seat carries significant authority — a $1.4 billion budget, oversight of the sheriff's department, the district attorney's office, and the jails. Supervisors also set land use and zoning rules across the unincorporated parts of the county and oversee social services programs ranging from foster care to behavioral health.

Two candidates are running in the June 2 primary for Placer County's District 2 seat on the Board of Supervisors: incumbent Shanti Landon and Lincoln City Councilmember Holly Andreatta.

District 2 covers the city of Lincoln, the rural community of Sheridan, and the western portion of Roseville. It’s one of the most rapidly growing parts of Placer County, with master-planned communities approved decades ago now being built on land between Roseville and Lincoln.

The supervisor seat has changed hands only once since 1995, when Robert Weygandt was first elected. He held it for 27 years before retiring at the end of 2022. Landon, who had worked for Weygandt as his district director, successfully ran to succeed him. Andreatta endorsed her then. She is now her challenger.

The supervisor's seat is officially nonpartisan. It carries policymaking authority similar to a city council seat, but spread across a county with more than 400,000 residents, with over 100,000 in District 2 alone. The board also functions as an arm of state government, delivering services to residents both inside and outside city limits.

Shanti Landon, the incumbent District 2 supervisor on the Placer County Board of Supervisors, is seeking reelection in the June 2 primary.Courtesy of Shanti Landon

Shanti Landon

Notable endorsements: Predecessor Robert Weygandt; Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo; Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 PAC

Landon has held the District 2 seat since January 2023. Before that, she spent nearly six years as district director for Weygandt. She lives in Newcastle with her husband and the youngest of their five children, four of whom were adopted from foster care. She is the 2026 chair of the Placer County Board of Supervisors.

Landon's stated priorities include public safety, foster youth, land conservation, and what she described as accountability in homeless spending.

She compared the supervisor's role to a city council seat extended across an entire county. "Even though we may not make land use decisions in the incorporated cities, a lot of our services are for city residents," she said.

Landon describes herself as "very much a free market person," but said the county does much of its work in a heavily regulated environment that conflicts with that philosophy. She pointed to state mandates requiring the county to zone for affordable housing and meet regional housing targets, which she said often leaves the county filling gaps that the private market won't.

On growth, she said much of what's now reshaping west Roseville traces back to project approvals made years ago. She described the Placer County Conservation Program — which aims to conserve more than 47,000 acres of open space alongside future development — as a "build-out vision" for the county, with growth and conservation areas mapped out together.

Her ideal, she said, would be for large-scale growth to happen inside city limits, where municipalities are set up to deliver urban services. Instead, she said, the county will soon need to provide urban-level fire, police, and parks services in places like west Roseville, where the Placer Vineyards project alone is approved for 14,000 housing units.

"We are going to have essentially a city out in West Roseville," she said.

Landon's interest in homelessness is personal. Her father had schizophrenia and died homeless, she said, and family and resources were available to him but did not change his situation.

"There's no silver bullet," she said.

She credited the county's recent nearly 10 percent decrease in homelessness, reported in this year's point-in-time count, to investment in permanent supportive housing, including a 55-unit project now under construction. She has called for an external audit of how the county has spent its share of state Project Homekey funds, which pay cities and counties to open homeless housing.

On the budget, Landon said the county's Health and Human Services [HHS] spending deserves more scrutiny. "There are millions and millions of dollars that are flowing through the county to HHS from the state and federal government," she said.

Asked what has changed in her thinking during her time in office, Landon pointed to her family's experience adopting four children from foster care. She said she used to assume people start from roughly the same place, but watching her own children navigate the lasting effects of trauma reshaped that view. "True conservatism is investing in children and families before they get to the point where they fall off the waterfall," she said.

Holly Andreatta, a Lincoln City Councilmember since 2018, is running for the District 2 seat on the Placer County Board of Supervisors in the June 2 primary.Courtesy of Holly Andreatta

Holly Andreatta

Notable endorsements: Lincoln Mayor Richard Pearl; former California Republican Party Chair Tom Del Beccaro; Loomis Town Councilmember Danny Cartwright

Andreatta has served on the Lincoln City Council since 2018 and was reelected unopposed in 2022. She served as mayor in 2022 and again in 2025. She and her husband are both former public school teachers; she taught for years at Cooley Middle School in Roseville before stepping back from full-time teaching. She holds a doctorate of ministry from Epic Bible College in Sacramento, where she also teaches, and is an ordained minister. Her family's ties to Lincoln go back to the 1970s.

Andreatta's stated priorities include the relationship between the county and its cities, agricultural land preservation, accountability in homeless spending, and what she described as integrity in local government.

Her central pitch is that the county should be a partner to its cities, not a competitor with them. "Strong cities make a strong county, not the other way around," she said. She argued that the county has, in recent years, gotten that backwards by approving projects on unincorporated land at the edges of cities — collecting tax revenue while leaving cities to absorb traffic and infrastructure costs.

On growth, Andreatta said state housing mandates have pushed counties into difficult positions. She also said supervisors going back years have made the situation worse by allowing developers to pay in-lieu fees instead of building affordable housing — a pattern she said has now produced controversies like a proposed 240-unit affordable housing development in Penryn, where she said community members have indicated they would support a project at 50 to 100 units. She emphasized that her criticism was directed at past boards, not the current one.

"As growth happens, you can't stop it," she added. "But we also need to take a step back and not do things that are going to cause negative impacts to the people who already live here."

On homelessness, Andreatta said the housing-first model adopted at the state and county levels is incomplete. "You can put a roof over the head, but they still have a substance abuse problem or a mental illness that needs to be treated," she said. She wants the county to expand treatment services and said she would support requiring treatment in some cases for unhoused people who decline help.

Lincoln's homeless population has declined sharply during her council tenure, she said, an outcome she attributed to services, accountability, and partnerships with the county and community groups.

On the budget, Andreatta said she wants a full external audit of the county's homeless spending. She said other parts of the budget may also warrant a closer look but acknowledged she has not studied them in detail.

The relationship between the county and its cities, in her view, has reached "an all-time low." She pointed to a long-running dispute over property tax sharing in several Lincoln-area zones, including Sun City Lincoln, where she said the city's share of revenue is roughly half what comparable areas receive elsewhere in the county. She said the arrangement dates to a time when Lincoln had a volunteer fire department and is overdue for renegotiation.

Asked what has changed for her over time, Andreatta said her policy views haven't really evolved, but her patience with what she sees as a pattern of dishonesty in regional government has run thin. "I'm demanding integrity. I'm demanding truth. I'm demanding transparency and honesty," she said.

District 2 voters will decide on June 2.