Q&A

News, Q&A March 25, 2024

Q&A with David W. Gordon, Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools, on kids’ mental health

Children and teenagers have been through a lot the past few years, with the disruption and isolation that was COVID, on top of family stress or trauma that can be present any time. Sacramento County Office of Education is focused on this issue for our kids, and Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David W. Gordon sat down with us to discuss his perspective—and the plans SCOE is putting in place.

News, Q&A October 24, 2023

A Q&A with Senator Josh Newman: How the circular economy effort in California is making a major impact on the environment

As part of our continuing investigation into ways people in our state are working to increase recycling and reduce items filling our landfills, we caught…

News, Q&A June 28, 2023

Paul Lau, SMUD CEO, discusses the projects that could change the world

Some people have asked why SMUD is on such a bold path. My answer is simple. We can’t afford not to. We’ve all seen the devastating impacts of climate change. We’ve all seen the impacts of poor air quality. We can’t afford to waste any time.

Q&A June 16, 2023

Rachel Machi Wagoner of CalRecycle discusses the benefits of a circular economy in California

Last month, I sat down with Rachel Machi Wagoner, who heads California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, better known as CalRecycle. Our talk was so wide-ranging, we decided to break it into two stories for SN&R: Part 1 focuses on SB 1383 and organic waste. And this second part is the discussion we had about other important legislation, as well as the governor’s zero-waste proposal.

Q&A June 7, 2023

Q&A with Rachel Machi Wagoner of CalRecycle on the intricacies of SB 1383

Rachel Machi Wagoner heads the California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, better known as CalRecycle, so of course her focus is the environment. But what you may not expect is how passionate she has long been to this work, which began at the age of 22.

News, Q&A May 4, 2023

Sacramento County’s Chief Probation Officer, Marlon Yarber, discusses his department’s goal of achieving positive change

Marlon Yarber was born and raised in Stockton. His personal experiences there, in large part, he says, helped shape his career.

News, Q&A March 29, 2023

Criminal justice reform: A talk with Contra Costa DA Diana Becton – and what Sacramento might learn from her

Many people in Sacramento are rethinking our criminal justice system. So we decided to sit down with Contra Costa’s District Attorney, Diane Becton. During her…

News, Q&A February 21, 2023

Q&A with Sacramento County’s new Sheriff, Jim Cooper

Last December, Sheriff Jim Cooper was sworn in at the Sacramento State Ballroom, thereby becoming the first Black Sheriff in the county’s history.

News, Q&A January 10, 2023

Why adult education in California shouldn’t be a best kept secret

Adult education programs are free or low-cost and can train people for high-paying in-demand jobs. And in so doing, can change the life of an individual as well as the future of the entire family. So why don’t more people know about their local adult schools?

people walk around Lake Merritt in Oakland

News, Q&A November 2, 2022

Know your residents: Why Oakland succeeds in recycling efforts—and how other parts of the state can do the same

The Bay Area has long been on the forefront of recycling—and has served as a state and even national model in terms of starting it early and doing it right. What can other city agencies learn from how the City of Oakland, for example—with one of the most diverse Bay Area populations—created outreach campaigns that work?

News, Q&A October 17, 2022

A Q&A with Bill Camarillo, CEO of one of the largest organics recyclers in California, about SB 1383

We continue our SB 1383 series—designed to take a deep dive into the challenges and successes as our state takes on significant organic waste recycling in an effort to save landfills and save our planet.

News, Q&A October 7, 2022

Learn how the new plastics bill will change California

Plastic is everywhere—in our packaging, in our parks, in our oceans and even in our bloodstreams. But SB 54, which Gov. Newsom signed into law in June, is aimed at changing that.

Housing, Q&A, Solving Sacramento, Voices October 4, 2022

Interview with SN&R’s publisher on the mission of Solving Sacramento

Sitting down with Jeff vonKaenel, president and publisher By Kate Gonzalez Solving Sacramento, a journalism collaborative, launched in early 2022 with the goal of covering…

A mother and child prepare food in a kitchen

News, Q&A August 16, 2022

The new organics waste bill doesn’t just change how we dispose of food waste—it also gets food to hungry Californians

Restaurants, schools, hospitals, hotels and private households all have food they can’t use, but—with the proper resources—can end up on a hungry family’s table instead of in the garbage.

News, Q&A August 8, 2022

Senator Ben Allen, author of the legislation that drastically cuts plastic pollution in California, discusses how it came together—and what it means

At the end of June, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 54, known as the plastics bill, which requires all packaging in the state to be…

News, Q&A July 27, 2022

What does Bill Hall think about his new role at SEIU Local 1000? Quite a bit.

Hear from Bill Hall, the newly selected president of the SEIU 1000, on his role with the union and its future.

News, Q&A July 21, 2022

Heidi Sanborn of the National Stewardship Council discusses why manufacturers must be held responsible for the full lifecycle of their products

‘Product stewardship’ is a not a term most of us can quickly define. But it’s getting increasing attention in the waste and recycling world, as…

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Q&A