Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Here’s a UK perspective on Halloween, asking “Is Halloween another tacky American import or a bit of harmless fun that boosts the economy?” Click here. One finding: “It surprised me to learn that Halloween originated in Ireland, and only became big in America in the mid-19th century when the potato famine drove more than one [...]

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Now that the young whippersnapper Gavin Newsom has dropped out of the California governor’s race, 71-year-old Jerry Brown is the frontrunner for Democrats. That’s older than Ronald Reagan when he became president. I’m old enough to remember when Jerry was “Governor Moonbeam,” the same guy who signed my diploma from UC Berkeley (class of ’81), [...]

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The county’s Friday memo includes the conclusions of the joint cities, council meeting, which I previewed last week. The conclusions here provide more detail that has been reported in the local media when it comes to proposed consolidation of services. “The next steps will include a review of approaches by the three city managers (Grass [...]

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Thomson is struggling to agree to terms for the sale of its Grass Valley unit located here to Platinum Equity Group, French daily La Tribune reported on Friday. The two sides were at odds on the level of financing required to fund the restructuring. Thomson declined to comment to La Tribune. The French newspaper said [...]

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Here’s the email Gavin Newsom is sending out, withdrawing from the governor’s race: “It is with great regret I announce today that I am withdrawing from the race for governor of California. With a young family and responsibilities at city hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort [...]

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The Nevada City Farmers Market ends the season on Saturday — its biggest year yet. The year-end Harvest Hoedown this past weekend was a “huge success,” raising more than $2,000, as Reinette Senum said on Twitter. The event is a stellar example of the growing appetite for locally grown food, which is sold at the [...]

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Drooling Dog Barbeque — one of the best barbeque joints in the foothills — is moving to Auburn from Colfax, as I wrote the other day. It opens on Halloween in downtown Auburn at 150 A Harrison Ave., near Pistol Pete’s Brew & Cue. Drooling Dog has been profiled in The Union numerous times. “The [...]

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Whiskey celebrates her first birthday on Friday. A puppy’s prayer Now I lay me down to sleep The king-size bed is soft and deep I sleep right in the center groove My human being can hardly move! I’ ve trapped their legs, they’re tucked in tight And here is where I pass the night No [...]

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Text messaging has changed the way we communicate. I often go to “Urban Dictionary” to decipher phrases I don’t understand. We have a copy of the Oxford English dictionary on our bookshelf — two volumes — but Urban Dictionary is more relevant nowadays. One of my favorites is “ROFLOL,” short for “rolling on floor, laughing [...]

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Years ago, Russ Steele, a pioneer blogger in our community, launched a blog called “NC Media Watch” whose mission was “A quest for reason and accuracy in letters to the editor, guest editorials and other issues of interest to the citizens of Western Nevada County.” Now Russ — who writes a regular column for The [...]

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