The Sacramento Bee

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Petco needs dog grooming assistants. Sports Authority wants merchandise handlers. Jamba Juice can use some juicers. And RiteAid hopes to find a "wellness ambassador."

From pet stores to pharmacies, the job market for teens is warming up along with the weather.

And for teens thinking about a summer paycheck, now's the time to pounce. Hiring is expected to be better than during the pits of the recession, and there'll be less competition from jobless adults looking for part-time, seasonal work, according to several hiring studies.

For anyone who has accidentally stepped on an insect and faced the vexing question, "Should I kill it and put it out of its misery?," there is one answer better than the others.

The question, posted last fall on the online question-and-answer site Quora.com, garnered a burst of celebrity for Matan Shelomi, an entomologist and Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Davis.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Sierra LaMar hasn't been seen since 6 a.m. March 16, about an hour before she left her home in Morgan Hill to go to school. Police believe she was abducted as she walked to the bus stop.

Despite a legion of volunteer searchers, a well-organized campaign to find the girl and a flood of media coverage, a significant segment of Northern California hadn't heard about the missing 15-year-old until March 3

SACRAMENTO -- At least Sacramento Kings coach Keith Smart knows what he's up against now: his current roster.

Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie skipped past the trade deadline and kept his squad intact for the duration of the 2011-12 season, preserving salary cap flexibility to pursue significant free agents this summer but virtually ensuring the Kings' return to the NBA lottery for a sixth consecutive time.

It could be worse, though. Doing nothing is preferable to doing something stupid.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- As the average price of gasoline zips toward $4 a gallon in California and past $3.50 nationwide, increasingly frustrated motorists are asking questions.

Among the most vexing: If we're using less gas, how come prices keep going up?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Keith Smart could troll for sympathy votes for this fine mess of a basketball team he inherited. There is no point guard on the horizon, no passers or shooters of note on the roster, and the overall product his boss and his predecessor assembled -- which is young and not without some ability -- fits together like Hatfields and McCoys.

But Smart likes this Sacramento Kings job for a few reasons.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The scan, Dr. David Gandara said, looked really good. Romeo Topacio nodded. He has stage four lung cancer -- the deadliest of cancers -- and for a moment he sat quietly, taking in the doctor's words.

Gandara continued, saying the tumor was responding to the targeted treatment. He held a paper with more test results, showing that Topacio's cancer is likely to be responsive to another drug as well.