Sacramento clubs are watching you
City requires popular entertainment venues to collect customers’ personal information, but doesn’t require disclosure Privacy advocates are worried the city of Sacramento is making its…
Read MoreArticles by Scott Thomas Anderson
A crystalized crisis: As meth trafficking surges, doctors and CPS workers struggle with the fall-out
Ten minutes before sunrise, the team hit the house. The FBI SWAT members approached a darkened stretch of 18th Avenue. The street was narrow, crowded…
Privacy hacks
Democratic lawmakers in California are quietly attacking their own landmark privacy law The California Consumer Privacy Act was hailed as a milestone for reining in…
The road to peace: New initiative sees signs of progress in combating gang killings in Sacramento
In 2018, the city of Sacramento managed to escape a grim statistic: It made it 12 months without a child being murdered. Now, an initiative…
The Chinese connection: Federal investigators map an international scheme to produce black market marijuana
A dozen arrests and 100 home seizures result from operations When federal agents finally looked inside the Cadillac, they saw multiple house keys, four garage door…
Midnight Burning: Three murders, three detectives and the remnants of a savage summer
Doyle Hemling was in his bedroom when a car door slammed in the darkness. Hemling lived on Annabelle Avenue, a one-way country road dipping through…
What the bones say: Arrest in grisly murder made with luck, determination and a tale beyond the crime tape
The hikers stopped when they saw the skeleton splayed out along the manzanita and scrub brush. It was weather-beaten. A cervical vertebra was missing from…
A healing voice
Psychologist’s refugee story remains a motivating force behind her trauma work in Sacramento When Dr. Carolee Tran recalls her last glimpse of Vietnam as a child, the most…
Nowhere to go: Crammed shelters, a seller’s market and financial challenges brew recipe for a domestic violence disaster
On March 10, Sacramento police Detective Michael Severi sat in a courtroom describing a crime scene from last summer, after officers rushed into a house to…
Gunning for the source: ATF’s gun-tracing investigations are solving crimes across California
A Roseville police officer shot in the face by a .45-caliber Glock in October 2013; a 13-year-old gunned down on the streets of Stockton with…
A Sleepless case: How detectives, prosecutors won groundbreaking Ambien double-murder trial
Placer County attorneys spent weeks battling over whether two teenagers were killed by a recklessly dangerous pill-popper or an accidental victim of Ambien-induced parasomnia. The…
The bling ring: Illegal gambling operation tied to ‘rich-as-f***’ gang in Sacramento
For the second time in four years, law enforcement has broken up an illegal gambling operation in California run by Israeli nationals. The latest investigation…
Ghost of a chance: Battle brews over new anti-ghost gun bill at the state Capitol
A former police officer looks to tackle untraceable assault weapons Mike Gipson smiled as he walked through a lamp-studded hallway inside the state Capitol. Not…
The music ends: Rapper Lizk sentenced to 30-years-to-life for simple gun possession
Performer’s situation draws sympathy from the judge handing out the sentence At 25 years old, Deandre Rogers is officially out of strikes. The South Sacramento…
Surveillance debate
Capitol hearing exposes rift between law enforcement lobbies and civil liberty defenders It only took minutes for George Orwell’s1984 to be invoked during an April 3 hearing…
Loaded lyrics: Trial of rapper Lizk centers on soundtrack to area gang war
South city performer faces gun charges—again Deandre Rogers doesn’t deny he’s a gang member. But the idea that he was cruising through Sacramento with high-powered, automatic…
Missed warnings: How Sacramento’s domestic violence victims are failed by the system, some losing their lives
As murder-suicides flared, officials searched for more effective way to gauge lethality On May 18, Jarrod Hill was supposed to walk into a Sacramento County…