Inside Sacramento

05/28/2026

READERS Near and Far
David and Linda Jones in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

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05/26/2026

READERS Near and Far.
Edward Gunz and Deborah Mac Millan cruising the Rhine River in Germany near Koblenz.

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05/26/2026

The submission deadline for the McKinley Rose Garden photography contest is approaching;

entries must be received by this Sunday, May 31st.

Please email up to three images to [email protected].

The prizes for the contest are as follows:
1st Place: A 20x30 canvas from Mike's Camera, 2nd Place: A 16x20 canvas from Giclee Kings, 3rd Place: A 16x20 photo print from Photo Source.

05/25/2026

READERS Near & Far
Rob and DeAnne Beller at their son's wedding at Chateau du Fey in Burgundy, France.

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Email a high res photo to [email protected]

05/25/2026

This Memorial Day, we pause to honor the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. Their courage, dedication, and sacrifice will never be forgotten. As we gather with family and friends, may we also take a moment to reflect with gratitude on the freedoms we enjoy because of them. 🇺🇸

05/24/2026

Double Occupancy
Another year with A’s spells trouble for Cats
Even vagrant musicians get pretentious when they plug in for more than one night. They declare any extended stay a “residency.”

Residencies are popular with entertainers who play Las Vegas. But as the Vegas A’s stumble into the second of three seasons at West Sacramento, nobody calls the interlude a residency.

I’ve heard “couch surfing” and “camping” to describe the A’s. But residency? When it comes to West Sac and the A’s, show biz pretensions can’t get to first base.

Major League Baseball sees the badlands between Oakland and Southern Nevada as a practical joke. In sports lore, old time baseball players were notorious pranksters. Just for laughs, they set shoes on fire. They called it a hot foot.

Like chain-smoking shortstops, hot foots are so 1962. But in 2026, there are major leaguers who would smile if Sutter Health Park got a hot foot and burned down.

For me, the saddest part about the A’s dropping anchor near the west bank of the Sacramento River is the defamation done to the River Cats and their ballpark.

Everyone loved the cozy little stadium before the A’s arrived. No one complained about ticket prices, hot afternoons, patchy turf, grim locker rooms or primitive media setups when the park was home to a Triple-A team.

The A’s ruined everything. They took a stage designed for minor league baseball, freshened it up with green and gold paint and nice clubhouse chairs, and expected it to pass for Dodger Stadium.

No surprise, Sutter Health Park failed. It’s a major league embarrassment.

The River Cats suffered along with their home field. For years, the team was beloved by fans because the Cats lacked the arrogance, formalities and expectations associated with the big boys. They were just a farm team, lovable, accessible, gravity-free.

Farm team status endures. But these days, when the Cats return from road trips, their presence reminds everyone that they aren’t the A’s and aren’t playing the Boston Red Sox. The River Cats can’t escape Oakland’s shadow.

Last year in these pages I worried about the damage the A’s would do to the River Cats, especially at box office. Sacramento is a small market overwhelmed and exhausted by baseball. The A’s and River Cats offer 14,000 tickets for 156 games this season. That’s 2,200,000 tickets to sell.

Such numbers are one reason minor league teams vanish in the night when cities join the major leagues. Baseball loves monopolies. And hates box office competition.

Sure enough, River Cats attendance collapsed last year. Turnstile counts fell 22%, with 1,200 fewer fans turning up each game. Most nights, the park was two-thirds empty.

Meanwhile, A’s fans had little to celebrate. The team fielded two of the best young players in baseball—shortstop Jacob Wilson and first baseman Nick Kurtz—but finished cellar-adjacent.

The A’s posted some of the highest ticket prices in baseball but were a terrible investment. People who bought A’s tickets learned they couldn’t profit by reselling seats in secondary markets.

Like Kings fans, many A’s supporters unloaded at steep discounts. Empty seats abounded.

The misery should end after the 2027 season, when the A’s theoretically move into a 33,000-capacity stadium at the old Tropicana hotel and casino site. But with A’s owner John Fisher, nothing is certain.

A Vegas ballpark is under construction, but costs have popped to $2 billion. Bally’s casino will someday wrap around the stadium, consummating the marriage between baseball and gambling. It’s unclear how Fisher plans to pay for his honeymoon.

Nevada authorities kicked in $380 million—crumbs. Fisher chose his parents well. He inherited a fortune and is worth $3 billion. But he’s the cheapest owner in baseball. Nobody thinks Fisher will write checks to cover funding gaps. The A’s need partners.

Back in Sacramento, let’s look past the A’s. Think about the River Cats. All they need is love.

Written by R.E. Graswich

R.E. Graswich can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram: .

05/24/2026

Final Bow
Conductor and artistic director hangs up baton
Ralph Hughes knew what to choose for his last performance after 40 years as conductor and artistic director of the Sacramento Master Singers.

He picked a new choral commission by Robert Cohen for the group’s “A Season of Gratitude” concert May 14 at the Harris Center in Folsom.

The piece is about “a music conductor appreciating their life in music,” Hughes says.

Hughes didn’t mean to take over the Master Singers in 1986. He joined the choir at the behest of his adviser while studying voice and earning his teaching credential at Sacramento State University.

One day at a rehearsal break, founding director Ken Winter said he was ready to retire and wanted Hughes to succeed him as conductor.

“It was the weirdest way to begin a new position, with no intent of having that job to begin with,” Hughes says. “But it was fortuitous because it’s become my life’s passion.”

Under Hughes’ leadership, the Master Singers expanded their repertoire with dozens of original commissions. The group has worked with some of the biggest names in choral music and performed all over the world.

Hughes credits his friend John “Jack” Crowell for getting him to dream bigger.

“Jack had a vision I didn’t yet have. He really pushed me,” Hughes says. “He said, ‘you have this skillset to have the choir do festivals, tours—more than you’re currently doing.’ He wrote our first grant. Now with more money, we thought, what could we do? Commissions? Hire guest conductors? I owe a lot to him for making me think in a bigger way and making me brave enough to invite guest conductors.”

The choir worked with industry notables Moses Hogan, María Guinand, Alice Parker and Oscar Escalada. Guinand invited the Master Singers to perform at the America Cantat choral festival in Venezuela.

“I had people ask me, how in the heck did you get Moses Hogan to agree to come?” Hughes says. “I asked!”

Hughes’ ability to make connections benefited the Master Singers and his students. He taught music and drama for seven years at Bella Vista High School and choir, voice and piano at American River College for more than 30 years. He was named “Outstanding Music Educator of the Year” by the California Music Educators Association Capitol Section in 1995.

“There have always been other choirs in my life,” he says. “At one point, I had eight or nine going simultaneously—at schools, honor choirs. I was in two choirs myself at Sac State during my master’s. At times, there were 150 (choral music) pieces in my folder.”

Immersion was perfect for Hughes. He’d fallen in love with choir when a neighbor volunteered him to play piano for a local choir while attending high school in Germany. He loved it so much he joined as a singer. When his family moved back to his parents’ hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, he joined another choir and never stopped.

As he looks toward the future and free time, Hughes is eager to travel to events such as Oktoberfest and European Christmas markets. He also looks forward to spending more time with his 90-year-old mother and rebuilding his foothills cabin that burned in the Caldor Fire.

Choir will always be his passion. Hughes says, “This choir is my West Coast family. It’s been a wonderful experience for me.”

For information, visit mastersingers.org.

Written by Jessica Laskey
Photography by Aniko Kiezel

Jessica Laskey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram: .

05/22/2026

Landscape designer creates lifestyle magic
By Dan Vierria
At the Northern California Home & Landscape Expo at Cal Expo, I spotted a familiar face, award-winning Sacramento landscape designer Michael Glassman. His company, Michael Glassman & Associates, has performed outdoor living magic for more than 40 years.

Outdoor season is long and cherished. We emerge from winter’s chill, survey the yard and evaluate the work ahead. If the landscape is hopeless or woefully outdated, designers can do all the work or offer advice on an hourly basis to help avoid costly mistakes.

Glassman has hosted national television shows and authored eight books. His landscapes grace more than 50 Sunset magazine articles. He studied landscape design at France’s La Napoule Art Foundation and received degrees in landscape design and horticulture from UC Davis.

Heading one of the most prestigious design companies in Northern California, he credits success to being versatile and adapting to changing trends and economies. He takes jobs big and small.

“We’ve got a small office right in the Fox & Goose building,” he says. “My associate designer has been with me for 24 years and my administrative assistant for nine years. It’s a very small operation because we don’t spend a lot of time in our office.”

Promoting his latest book at the landscape expo, “Solving Problems in the Landscape,” a collaboration with Davis-based gardening podcaster and video blogger Janey Santos (“Dig, Plant, Water, Repeat”), Glassman was a featured speaker for two workshops.

“Every one of my clients and those I talk to have indigenous problems in their landscapes, whether it be drainage, privacy or lack of space,” Glassman says. “I realized I’ve always wanted to do a book on solving problems in the landscape and I felt there was a tremendous need for this book. And even though I’ve written other books, the one thing that we never stressed was all the problems.”

Some of us are content to set aside sections of yards for lawn, flower and vegetable beds, with a patio for relaxing and entertaining. We are fine with the basics until we are not.

A good landscape designer listens and is mindful of current and future needs with an emphasis on minimal maintenance. If you take on labor and planning yourself, some designers, Glassman included, can be hired for consultations. He charges $250 an hour. Pitfalls for DIYers are numerous and expensive.

“The most important things are function, usability and sustainability,” Glassman says. “A lot of my clients want a space to entertain. They want to be able to barbecue and swim. They want to be able to garden and grow food.”

Homes and lots are more compact today. It’s not always easy to have it all in the backyard. “Now, there is no such thing as throwaway spaces. Every space is valuable and useable,” he says.

These days, people want outdoor rooms, raised planters, plunge pools (small, shallow pools), spas, saunas and the number one request: outdoor kitchens and barbecue areas.

“My idea of the perfect garden is a cohesive space that ties the inside of the home to the outside,” Glassman says. “It is big enough to be able to have people over and entertain, barbecue, dine outside and sit by an outdoor fireplace. It is big enough that you can plant roses, grow vegetables and have privacy.”

In “Solving Problems in the Landscape,” Glassman and Santos highlight three perspectives: the gardener and use of plants, saving money with some DIY projects, and the designer’s perspective.

No. 1 question from prospective clients? “How do I take care of it?”

For Glassman, the ideal outdoor space is affordable with the amenities requested, yet small enough to maintain.

“Maybe spend a weekend once a month or a weekend twice a month to make it look amazing,” he says.

Thinking about a new patio and outdoor kitchen? Dreaming about new landscape? With planning and guidance, dreams can come true.

Dan Vierria is a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener for Sacramento County. He can be reached at [email protected]. For answers to gardening questions, contact UCCE Master Gardeners at (916) 876-5338, email [email protected] or visit sacmg.ucanr.edu. Follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram: .

05/22/2026

Message from Rich Supervisor Rich Desmond

I invite you to a community conversation about shared responsibility and safety for e-bikes, scooters, bicycles, and pedestrians. I will be joined by the California Highway Patrol, Sacramento County Regional Park Rangers, and the Sacramento County Department of Transportation to engage with residents on improving the safety of our roads and trails. It will take place on June 1, 2026, at 5:30 PM in the Carmichael Park Clubhouse - 5750 Grant Ave, Carmichael, CA 95608. Hope to see you there!

To stay informed about upcoming events from my office, sign up for my monthly newsletter here https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/CASACRAM/subscriber/new?topic_id=CASACRAM_23

Supervisor Rich Desmond
Supervisor, Third District
700 H Street
Suite 2450
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 874-5471
Fax: (916) 874-7593

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05/21/2026

Support Inside Sacramento
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Today, Inside Sacramento remains free to readers and delivered to 80,000 Sacramento homes each month. But small-business advertising alone can no longer sustain the level of independent local reporting our community needs. Through the Sacramento Civic Journalism Project, in partnership with nonprofit Friends of East Sacramento, readers and supporters can help preserve this essential civic resource.
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05/21/2026

Protection Without Devastation
Balance flood control with preserving the parkway
Now is the time to walk the dirt trails between the lower American River and the paved bike path.

The air is fresh. The river runs high. Wildflowers bloom. Oaks, cottonwoods and willows canopy the trails. The water is alive with geese, ducks, herons and egrets. Pond turtles sun on logs.

To know the magnificence of the parkway is to understand why so many people, now and in the past, devote their lives to protecting it.

If the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ latest erosion-control project comes to fruition, as many as 700 trees, including 300-year-old heritage oaks, acres of riparian forest and established woodlands will be destroyed.

Contract 3B stretches several miles along the American River from the Howe Avenue bridge to east of Watt Avenue. The project is the Army Corps’ solution to protect Sacramento from floods.

For a perspective of the planned destruction, drive across the H Street bridge. Once lush and verdant, the banks at Campus Commons Golf Course and Sacramento State are now barren with scatterings of replanted vegetation. The destruction extends to Paradise Beach in River Park.

Citizens group American River Trees reports similar erosion-control methods are planned under Contract 3B. The project will bulldoze hundreds of trees and remove tons of dirt along the riverbanks to install riprap (large angular rocks) to prevent erosion.

More trees and vegetation will be demolished to make room for equipment, staging areas and access ramps.

Is that what visionaries who worked decades to protect the nationally recognized “wild and scenic” parkway would have wanted?

One of those visionaries was Frank Cirill, a River Park resident for 52 years. Cirill devoted his life to preserving the American River Parkway against threats to its ecosystem, wildlife habitat and recreational resources. He died in 2017 at 94.

Cirill, an engineer, joined Save the American River Association in 1968, serving as president from 1978 to 1994.

Save the American River Association is one of many organizations opposing the Army Corps’ destructive approach to erosion control via Contract 3B.

For two years, community advocates, including environmental experts, have called for alternatives, such as “engineering with nature,” which provide erosion protection while reducing habitat demolition.

When their efforts failed, Save the American River Association was one of three groups that filed a lawsuit to pause the project and request consideration of science-based bioengineering alternatives.

Cirill was a longstanding member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the American River Parkway Plan, a guide for land-use decisions affecting the parkway.

Adopted in 1976 and updated in 2008, the plan was “written to ensure preservation of the naturalistic environment while providing limited developments to facilitate human enjoyment of the Parkway.”

The parkway plan calls for balancing flood control with preserving and enhancing native vegetation, supporting wildlife habitat and providing recreational opportunities.

Instead of full-blown destruction, why not a more targeted approach using nature-based solutions to preserve the ecosystem?

Why is the Army Corps taking such drastic measures in an area where erosion is minimal, seepage is not a problem and recreational use is significant?

When every river is different based on flow velocity, slope, gradient and vegetation, why is the Corps using a one-size-fits-all approach?

The channel in River Park has two sharp bends that are more susceptible to erosion. The portion affected by Contract 3B is relatively straight with lower velocities at the banks. River Park’s Paradise Beach has more sand and silt. The Contract 3B area has packed clay.

Frank Cirill was known for his ability to recruit community leaders to help preserve the parkway. He rallied experts in wildlife, environmental issues, water law and community organizing.

Would Cirill have appreciated, even applauded, efforts by engineers, biologists, scientists, geologists, professors, environmentalists and community activists who want the Corps to rethink the devastation in favor of up-to-date models, data and techniques?

Most likely, Cirill would have encouraged that conversation. Something the Army Corps has refused to do.

Last year, a U.S. district court granted a temporary injunction to stop the Corps from removing trees and vegetation until the lawsuit is resolved.

If the Army Corps worked with the community two years ago, the threat of a 200-year flood would not be looming while the lawsuit is pending. But the Corps missed those opportunities.

Protection without devastation. It can be done.

For more information, visit sarariverwatch.org/safca_levee and americanrivertrees.com.

Written by Cathryn Rakich

Cathryn Rakich can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram: .