A high-placed source in Elk Grove’s political underground related a plot to appoint another Elk Grove city council member.

In this episode, we lay out how this scheme could happen. 

For hardcore NFL fans, tomorrow’s Super Bowl between the Pats and Rams is like Christmas morning. Football fanatics probably know there are only four teams who have never appeared in the Super Bowl.

The cocktail recipe is here.  

In this edition of Elk Grove News Podcast, we discuss one of the most misunderstood - especially as practiced by members of the Elk Grove City Council - regular items on their meeting agendas. An item that was supposed to inform the public has evolved into a perversion of the original intent. 

Elk Grove resident and longtime city council observer, Lynn Wheat joins the conversation. Wheat explains the history of this item, and never one to be without worthy ideas, suggests a solution.

 By Dan Schmitt |

The United States is one of the few developed nations on earth that does not provide some form of universal, single-payer health care. 

For clarification purposes, when referring to health care, the term universal means that all people within a country have coverage. The term Single-payer usually means that the federal government pays for everyone’s health care, with funding via a payroll tax similar to Social Security and Medicare.

 In the last several days, city hall tax collectors and mall mavens in Elk Grove received crushing news – the Outlet Collection at Elk Grove will never open. Not to worry though - help is on the way! 

In less than one month, plans for the demolition of two shopping centers in Elk Grove have been announced.

The first is the Stonelake Landings for the proposed $750 million for profit hospital on the city’s west side

The second is the demolition of the unfinished Outlet Collection, also known as the Ghost Mall.

With the Ghost Malls demise, questions from residents of the Stonelake neighborhood, who oppose the demolition of the Stonelake Landings, will abound.

At the January  2019 Elk Grove City Council meeting, the city’s economic development director Darrell Doan made claims that make 

Dr. Evil’s assertion that his father invented the question mark plausible.

By Dan Schmitt

Numerous polls, just before the 2018 midterm election, showed that the number 1 issue on voters’ minds was access to affordable, quality health care. Actually, for more than a half-century, access to good health care has been elusive for many Americans. One might say it’s been a case of the “Haves and the Have-Nots.”

 The “Health Care Haves” are the wealthy who have the financial resources to purchase their own health care insurance, people who can afford health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, employees who are fortunate enough to get decent health care insurance through their employers, and folks on Medicaid and Medicare. Still, many Americans fall into the category of the “Have-Nots.” The most recent estimates show that 44 million Americans have no health insurance and 38 million Americans have inadequate health insurance.  

Is the Elk Grove City hall payroll getting fat?

A casual examination of recent events and job listings would say yes. 

 As we enter 2019, there will be scads of stories that will develop during the year.

However, there are a few stories that have developed this year and before, that will continue into 2019. The outcome of these ongoing stories will have the most influence in shaping the future of Elk Grove, California.