Sacramento Bee

Come now, let's not be prurient and wallow in all the debauchery. Can someone, for once, take the high road when speaking of the Bay to Breakers, one of the nation's most storied races celebrating its 100th running on Sunday?

If the Kings leave Sacramento after 26 years, it's not because any one person is at fault or the community failed.

The NBA simply doesn't work in Sacramento, and it won't unless the league changes its financial structure so teams without big TV contracts can remain viable by sharing in revenue more equitably.

Even back in 1999, when the Maloof family took over the franchise, the Kings were deeply in debt. It wouldn't surprise me if the debts have swelled, if the Kings have borrowed $100 million from the NBA to go along with the $77 million they owe the city.

Experience does pay. Even though these probable Hall of Famers -- all with at least 10 seasons in the NBA -- are closer to the ends than the beginnings of their careers, all should be factors as the season moves into the homestretch. Expect all seven to help their teams go deep into the playoffs.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The federal investigator took the witness stand and described the crime scene: a sprawling field clogged with boulders, native grasses and knee-high sage brush.

The defendant, a California farmer, had said the site was a 200-acre wheat field. But the investigator found no tilled soil, no tractors, no plows.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- By the time Fred Nelson Jr. walked up to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson Wednesday morning, his once-promising life had largely unraveled.

His career as a drummer for a successful post-grunge band and other groups had hit the skids, his marriage had crumbled, and he had been in and out of jail several times.

But the perceived threat he allegedly uttered to the mayor -- that Johnson would be out of office within four hours -- may have been the result of mental illness rather than a desire to harm anyone, his friends said Wednesday.

"I've known him for 11 years and he's not a criminal," said one friend and bandmate, Kally Turner. "He's ill."

Nelson, 43, said in a jailhouse interview with The Sacramento Bee that he meant the mayor no harm and does not consider himself to be mentally ill. He said he believed Johnson has not done enough to promote new business in Sacramento's Oak Park section and that he simply wanted to warn the mayor that his political career would not last if he did not do better.

They give you joy. They give you loyalty. They give you sloppy kisses.

But before you allow Fido or Fluffy to climb into bed with you at night, as an increasing number of Americans are doing, know that they can also give you something else: zoonoses.

A University of California, Davis, veterinary professor has penned an article for a scientific journal showing that people who allow their pets to lick them, give them "kisses" or sleep with them are at risk for a variety of diseases known as zoonoses. The conditions can range from the mundane to the life-threatening.

It's not unusual for schools, in some instances, to test kids for drugs or alcohol, and home-testing kits have been available to parents for years.

But law enforcement and schools in Placer County, Calif., are teaming up to make it easier for parents to keep tabs on their kids.

They're offering parents home alcohol and drug screening kits at deeply discounted prices -- all for sale at the Sheriff's Department and six high schools.