Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

After Jim Keil Chevrolet closed its doors in Brunswick Basin four years ago, the two-acre lot at Brunswick Road and Sutton Way sat vacant for years. Tall weeds marked the spot, making it an eyesore. Now a new but vacant Walgreens drug store sits on the spot. The project has been stalled, and liens have [...]

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Grass Valley lawyer Barry Pruett, who lost the race for clerk recorder against incumbent Greg Diaz, has provided a list of “my links” on his new blog titled “Inside Nevada County Politics.” You supposedly can’t judge a book by its cover. We’ll see how that applies to a list of links for a blogger. The [...]

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Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mark Fiore has a cartoon on the BP oil disaster and the wonders of voluntary regulation, including a look at gold mining, food safety and banking, called “trust me”:

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About 10,000 Americans died by handgun violence in the four months that the Supreme Court debated which clause of the Constitution it would use to subvert Chicago’s “entirely sensible” ban on handgun ownership, the New York Times wrote in an editorial on Tuesday. “The arguments that led to Monday’s decision undermining Chicago’s law were infuriatingly [...]

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Scott Simpson, who owns the tree-removal service Scott Simpson Enterprises in Auburn, rolled into the neighborhood with his son, driving a Lexus that he’s equipped with axes, chain saws, floodlights, shovels, climbing ropes — and first-aid kits. It’s a reminder that the tree-removal season is in full swing — a growing business, thanks to fire [...]

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The meeting to discuss keeping the county courthouse in downtown Nevada City is Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at City Hall. A feasibility study stating it is “not viable” to reconfigure and expand the courthouse on its existing site is flawed, as first reported on this blog. It comes after the state approved plans for [...]

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Here’s a small-town scooplet: A new inn called the Broad Street Inn is resurfacing at the top of Broad Street and Bennett where the Bella Rosa Inn used to be. The signs are up out front (permanent ones are coming later) and new furniture is being put in place. The Inn is expected to open [...]

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Robert Byrd, the 92-year-old West Virginia Democrat who served in the U.S. Senate for 51 years, died Monday. A family spokesman said Mr. Byrd died peacefully at about 3 a.m. at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Va. At first Mr. Byrd was believed to be suffering from heat exhaustion and severe dehydration, but other medical conditions [...]

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From the San Antonio Express-News: “Gov. Rick Perry’s close friend and former chief of staff tried to help Green Party candidates get on the general election ballot this fall as part of a larger effort by outside groups that state District Judge John Dietz declared ‘an unauthorized, illegal contribution’ Thursday. “The judge granted the Democratic [...]

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The Center for The Arts in Grass Valley has been signing up more “big name” talent lately: the Smothers Brothers, Chubby Checker, Paula Poundstone, Rickie Lee Jones and Kris Kristofferson. The ticket prices are high, at least for our area — $50 or more. But most of the shows are selling out — a sign [...]

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