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Letters to the editor, April, May 2026

I’m a small business owner in Old Sacramento, we are in our 14th year of business in CA, 5th year in Old Sac. Every year we pay $800.00 to the state for the privilege of doing business in CA. We pay this regardless of profit or loss. It’s a flat fee imposed on small businesses with under $250,000 in income. I get angry every year when I send in my payment knowing that large multi-million dollar companies and their owners are able to hide their income, and due to loopholes in the tax laws, avoid paying their fair share.

I don’t mind paying reasonable taxes as I see it as a responsibility of living in a community that provides roads, law enforcement and all the other requirements of being able to live and work in a stable society. I do object to small business being treated like Atlas, supporting the entire weight of business, including the multi nationals, and the million, billion and trillion dollar companies here in CA. We know from Reagan’s era that “trickle down economics” never worked and won’t work. If anyone gets tax breaks, it should be those of us struggling to create businesses that create employment, and pay local taxes that support our local infrastructure. This is one reason I support Tom Steyer. Prosperity is built from the bottom up, not from the top down.
Max Soucia
Citrus Heights

California has a long history of reckoning with the Asian American community, and Oroville is no exception. Tule Lake Segregation Center to the north and Arboga Assembly Center Memorial site, less than an hour south, serve as a reminder of how racism, fear, and suspicion have shaped California’s relationship with Asian immigrants.

The Hmong community has worked tirelessly, despite overcoming immense odds as refugees and the residual oppression that still thrives in American immigration policies. Many communities also continue to challenge stereotypes and public perception of immigrants through their dedicated nonprofit work, like the Hmong Cultural Center.

Despite what many immigrants and refugees have achieved, they are still targeted as outsiders and live in fear of harassment or removal. As American immigration policies continue, it is important to learn from our past mistakes, like the Chinese Immigration Exclusion Act and Executive Order 9066, which forcibly incarcerated 120,000 Japanese Americans. We must ask ourselves if the cycle of violence is worth the reward of being an American.

While many refugees have experienced unimaginable hardship, American immigration policies continue to add to the distress. We were once known for the saying, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” yet we have not always extended that promise equally. It is time for the “nation of immigrants” to stand up for those who are yearning to breathe free.
Amber Salazar
Fresno

Every day, American horses are transported abroad, killed, and consumed by humans. The practice of slaughter alone is hard to stomach, but the conditions horses experience while awaiting this gruesome fate are disturbing and merciless. During overcrowded transport, they suffer from untreated injuries, disease, and dehydration.

The U.S. has eliminated funding for horse slaughter facilities in recent years, but this defunding needs to be upheld every year to remain effective. Even with U.S. horse slaughter operations halted, tens of thousands of American horses are still shipped to foreign countries to be killed and placed on a plate every year.

It’s time to end horse slaughter once and for all, and the Save America’s Forgotten Equine’s (SAFE) Act (H.R. 1661) is our best chance. The SAFE Act would permanently end horse slaughter in the U.S. and ban the transport of horses abroad for slaughter. I urge Representative Kevin Kiley to protect American horses and humans by supporting the SAFE Act.
Suzanne Eibeck
Fair Oaks

At the beginning of this primary season, I certainly did not envision voting for the billionaire candidate. In fact, I dismissed Tom Steyer out of hand precisely because of his immense wealth. However, as this primary season has unfolded, I have concluded that the candidate best positioned and motivated to fight back against the undue influence of the wealthy elite just happens to be one of their own.

This is not unprecedented. President Franklin Roosevelt embraced the label of “class traitor” as he lifted more Americans out of poverty that any other president in our nation’s history. More recently, Governor Pritzker has stood firm for the working people of Illinois against a hostile and vindictive Trump administration.

I am not suggesting we make a habit of electing the ultra-wealthy to high office and I am certainly not suggesting that the wealthy possess some sort of virtue that the rest of us lack. I am simply suggesting that wealth itself should not be an automatic disqualifier if the candidate is the right person for the moment.

As for Mr. Steyer’s closest rival, if the DNC were to create the quintessential do-nothing corporate Democrat in a laboratory, it would look and sound a lot like Xavier Becerra. The only thing more underwhelming than Becerra’s personality is his platform. We need someone bolder. We need someone who not only believes that healthcare and education are basic human rights, but who also has a plan to turn that belief into reality in the Golden State.

Tom Steyer wants this fight. I think we should give him a shot.
Kieran Tintle
Sacramento

As a Family Physician serving a “need” area for 36 years, I am writing to correct some biases in the article by Christine Mai-Duc of May 8, 2026 about single payer healthcare.

The recently “killed in committee” CalCare, AB 1900, is worth a look. Passing a policy bill would allow us to pursue Federal money for a future funding bill. Insurance would become obsolete. Free at the point of service, the comprehensive plan allows choice of provider without network restrictions. Individuals could choose to pay out of pocket to receive services from providers without participation agreements.
Approximately 30% of our healthcare dollars currently go toward insurance. Efficient single payer healthcare systems are already here, such as Medicare (with a 2% administrative cost), the VA, and the Indian Health Service. Employers and workers are already paying insurance costs through our paychecks, and this would also go toward CalCare. We have substandard National health measures compared to other countries.

Several recent studies show how California could save BILLIONS, rather quickly. An April 2022 report by the Healthy California for All Commission concluded: “Under almost all scenarios analyzed, in the first year of implementation unified financing is expected to result in lower total health care expenditures than under the status quo; savings over time would be achieved under all scenarios examined, even when long-term care services and supports are included as covered services.”

Visit the CalCare, California Nurses Assoc., National Nurses United, or Medicare4All websites.
Sharon Paltin, M.D.,
Laytonville, CA

Comments from our readers, April, May 2026

Sam Kieth, Sacramento-Born Comic Innovator Behind The Maxx, Dies at 63
Thanks for the great write up Tim.. I had no idea that dude was from the Sac Area.
Lob

‘MJ The Musical’ brings to life the King of Pop
Sickening
Do not promote that person
Let him disappear
Samuel Fulford

I wish the entertainment industry would stop glorifying him. Think, people.
Laurie J Loving

What’s in a name? Exploring the history of old cannabis slang words and where they came from
I might be considered conservative by many, but I’m definitely liberal when it comes to sex, drugs, and alcohol!
John B

Websites break California privacy law at ‘industrial scale,’ survey finds
Interesting to see how widespread this issue is. What do you think the impact will be on wedding vendors and their use of websites?
Sazkakasino Max

Real Estate Investors Profit From Long-Term Care While Residents Languish
Good grief, this sound like the outline for a graphic novel.
Thanks for reporting.
Julia

The marriage guru
So…Learning a lot about women. I discovered how they are complex compared to men. I learned about myself that being myself was fine, but drop the sensitive bs that our feminized culture puts on men. Most guys like being men, and being not so clever as women and hanging out with men doing manly things like cigars and cars, is fine. Camping trips and sharing after the weekend was highly fraternal and brotherly friendships develop. Weekly 3 hour meetings is a commitment. All good but nothing bad, no prioritizing the men over your family. Anyone who took the weekend seriously got a lot out of it. Many of the 40 or so that did my weekend still are in touch and try to follow at least some principles learned from Justin. All men are jerks but most bow down and are run around by their mamas or wife and they lose sight. Justin gave us confidence in our jerkhood and that we are the protectors and leaders. Most women say they don’t like that but they love having powerful men around. I have a magnificent marriage relationship with everything about loving respect and honor rather than fighting. You soar in life with standard sex roles and Sterling trained men how to be at their best.

My life turned around and the weekend training was just what I needed back in 1997. Thanks Justin!
GlennForslin

Will California ever build the Delta tunnel? Major battles ahead as Newsom era nears end
The 2/3rds of the population is So Cal. They need to desalinate from the ocean not to the DCP.
Lou

In California Governor Race, Single-Payer Is a Litmus Test. There’s Still No Way To Pay for It.
“how [any candidate] would cover the estimated $731.4 billion cost” Gosh, it’s only half as expensive as the US system in the rest of the world…How can we afford something cheaper than we’re paying now? It is a puzzler!

Oh yes, and ya gotta love the Republican candidate blaming those “illegal aliens” (Martians with parking tickets?) who obviously do nothing and don’t have contagious diseases. Apparently he’s unfamiliar with the term “enlightened self-interest”
Adam Eran

The race for Supervisor in District One
Ken Magri, Once again you are out there getting the facts and pertinent information for the readers . Thanks!
Amy Bomberger

Societal collapse: The new ‘Lord of the Flies’ miniseries is a masterpiece, offering deeper looks at the main characters
For a counter-narrative, see Rutger Bregman’s “Humankindness: A hopeful history.” He tells about a real-life group of boys stranded on a South Pacific island. They not only didn’t revert to primitive behavior, they organized, cooperated, and after they were rescued, agreed to crew a fishing boat together. Apparently Golding was discouraged about human nature after he experienced World War II. Real life contradicts the “Beelzebub” (“Lord of the Flies”) narrative.
Adam Eran