Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Ken Smith
Freedom Through Innovation
Today, many municipalities are reevaluating that long-held assumption. The concept behind gateless parking is not new. For decades, drivers have parked on city streets, paying at meters or pay stations and relying on enforcement rather than physical barriers to ensure compliance. What has changed is the technology supporting that model.
Chico City Council Election 2026
Chico News & Review asks the six candidates questions about issues important to this community As of last Monday (Oct. 5), ballots for the November 3 general election are in the mail. In Chico, that means the competition for open City Council seats is heating up for the final stretch. Chico has seven City Council districts, and began electing these representatives by district in 2020. Council members serve four-year terms, with elections staggered every two years.
Fairely overwhelming
Inaugural Chico Renaissance and Fantasy Faire was a smashing success, but its massive crowds brought traffic jams, long waits and lessons for next year Fighters from the Barony of Rivenoak—the local chapter of medieval historical reenactment group the Society of Creative Anachronisms—rest between combat demonstrations.Ken Smith Travelers along the Midway last Saturday (Sept.
Rasslin’, romance and revelry
One day at Chico’s Fringe Fest, three wildly different shows and a reminder that theater is for everyone Left & center: Actors Ben Cherington and Marlene Bruce; Bruce as the titular character in "Mary’s Wedding" at Legacy Stage’s Fringe Festival. Photos courtesy Legacy Stage and Ken Smith Forty-eight showings, 22 productions, four stages, three venues. Burlesque, aerial arts, stand-up, improv, drag queens, dancing and so much more.
Movement at the mansion
After persistent community requests, Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park Visitor Center reopens, with invitation for public to submit input for park’s “reimagining” California State Parks Northern Buttes District Interpretation Manager Jennifer Pooley says the Visitor Center’s reopening was driven by requests from community members who wanted activity revived at the Bidwell Mansion SHP.Ken Smith A small group of people were already gathered outside the Visitors Center at Bidwell Mansion State...
Tech Support
Nonprofit Tech Toss recycles discarded tech to provide better access and digital literacy in Butte County Dakota Ross started Tech Toss in 2022 out of his house, and says its new public location gives the organization an opportunity to expand its services.Photo by Ken Smith. When Denise Serrato was a student at Chapman Elementary School, she would often arrive at school long before class started to spend time using the library’s computers.
Alabama vows to address Oklahoma's 'disrespect' in CFP's opening round
We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please visit my profile to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, disable notifications and hide this message.
ACC to fine schools for field, court storming
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips announced Tuesday a new policy to deal with field or court storming issues in football and men's and women's basketball. NEWS COVERAGE. YOU CAN GO HOME. >> THE 2025 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON IS AROUND THE CORNER. EARLIER TODAY, ACC COMMISSIONER JIM PHILLIPS ADDRESSED THE MEDIA DURING THE ACC KICKOFF PHILLIPS LAID OUT A COUPLE OF MAJOR CHANGES THAT WILL BE IMPLEMENTED DURING THE SEASON.
Advice for Effective Board Mergers
Skip to Main Content Online Article 12/05/2024 Online Article Strategy and Risk Mergers The board may be least effective post-deal, at the very time when its oversight may be most important. This article was originally published in the September/October 2014 issue of NACD Directorship magazine. SambaTech has just acquired HipGen (names disguised). The deal closed with the premise that four longtime members of HipGen’s board, including its CEO, would join SambaTech’s six-member board.
Farm to Fork and Back Again
Marie Mertz, owner of beloved Elk Grove eatery Todo Un Poco, applies a karmic philosophy to the sustainable business practices she’s woven into the operation of the Mexican-Italian bistro: “Everything is a circle,” she says. “If you do something good, good things happen.
Bonfire Storytelling is a hot ticket
Acie “Twitch” Schiff is no shrinking violet, nor is she a stranger to the stage. As a seasoned actor, writer, punk musician, concert promoter and out-and-proud trans person, she is usually unfazed by self-expression, or by crowds. But that wasn’t the case one night last November, when Schiff found herself shaking in the wings at the Chico Women’s Club, preparing to share a deeply personal story about her father to a packed house for that month’s installment of Bonfire Storytelling.
Chico News & Review
Unless a patron with the name happens to stop by, you won’t find anyone named Maria at Tres Maria’s. But, when the doors are open, you will be warmly greeted by co-owner Sonia Montes, who is happy to explain the name. “These are the three Marias, although none of them is actually named Maria,” Montes offered without being prompted, beaming as she held up a picture that permanently graces her host station.
More than just a roof
Kerry Chancholo is grateful for his job, his sobriety, a safe place to call home and—most of all, he professes—people he can trust. While most people might take these things for granted, they were basic human needs that eluded him for most of his 64 years. “I had a childhood that Stephen King couldn’t have thought up,” Chancholo shared recently, his deep voice touched by even deeper emotion. “Sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect … everything bad you could do to a kid happened to me.
Chico News & Review
There is an interesting phenomena known as “multiple discovery,” which describes how different peoples—though separated by oceans, continents and thousands of miles—tend to stumble upon the same, groundbreaking advancements independently of one another: things like fire, the wheel, and the bow and arrow.
Chico News & Review
On Sept. 22, Sanjay Dev celebrated 30 years of programming his world-renown reggae show, “Devastation Sounds,” on KZFR, 90.1 FM. After three decades on the air, he’d planned for 2023 to be his last year. “I was going to walk away,” Dev said one recent afternoon over cups of coffee in his backyard garden. “It’s not because I’m tired of sharing my love of reggae music, but because I’ve been so fortunate. I wanted to pass the baton.
Spooky, sexy, spectacular
In decades past, Halloween had a more fleeting presence in America, appearing for one exciting moment before vanishing just as quickly … like a ghost. The holiday’s primary celebrants then were children and, with rare exceptions, the spooky and sexy ratings were predominantly PG. Now, like Christmas, the Halloween season has expanded.
Landscape Architect
One of the most visited New York City destinations due in large part to good design and sensitivity to sense of place-keeping x 1 / 6 2 / 6 3 / 6 4 / 6 5 / 6 6 / 6 Over the past two decades, New York City's Meatpacking District has undergone a dramatic shift from a historic working district to a destination leisure area and cultural hub, with an increase in traffic-related issues of vehicular volume, pedestrian safety, noise, and community relations.
Chico News & Review
The hamsa—an open hand with an eye on the palm—is regarded as a powerful symbol in many Middle Eastern cultures, representing good fortune and positive energy.
Our neighbor Jonathan
If you happen to run into Jonathan Richman while grabbing a cup of coffee or walking the streets of Chico—and the odds of that happening, in certain parts of town, are pretty good—just be cool. Even if he’s carrying a guitar (and he likely is), he’s probably not looking to take your requests. If you’re lucky enough to chat with him, topics like the weather, classical Indian poetry or any music under the sun—other than his own—are bound to go further than gushing and gawking.
Chico News & Review
This feature is part of the CN&R’s Live Music Guide special issue. Check out the CN&R’s Arts & Culture calendar online at chico.newsreview.com/calendar It takes a village to build a music scene. Venues, performers and fans are the most obvious essential elements, but just as important are the linchpins that bring all three of these things together to create successful spectacles—the booking agents.
Cheese toast time machine
Every time I pass through Yuba City on Highway 99, I am struck by two sights that never fail to excite and bewilder me. The first is the wild chickens roaming and roosting along the roadside. The second is the Sizzler. Free-range poultry living next to a fast-moving suburban thoroughfare is strange for obvious reasons.
Chico News & Review
To cope with the isolation and existential dread wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Youa Vang—like many other people—turned to baking. She was already an accomplished, self-taught baker and the go-to person for birthday cakes and other homemade sweets for family celebrations, but the world-wide crisis spurred her to hone in on a few hard-to-master delicacies; namely, Japanese milk bread and French pastries.
Chico News & Review
William Shakespeare’s words are so deeply woven into modern culture that everyone, regardless of whether they’ve read his plays or seen them performed, is more familiar with The Bard than they may credit themselves.
Chico News & Review
Russian icon Boris Grebenshchikov’s music, like the man himself, is enigmatic. It is sometimes playful, often poignant, and always poetic; rebellious, yet reverential; and rooted in Russian culture, but embracive of global influences. This multiplicity is likewise reflected in his social media, where he frequently posts live, acoustic versions of songs from his 50-year career and videos displaying penchants for religious imagery, steampunk hats and Baby Yoda. But on Feb.
Chico News & Review
In the not-too-distant past, downtown Chico was a wiener wonderland. It used to be possible for us hot dog fiends, at reasonable and even unreasonable hours, to find a fix within a few block radius of your favorite downtown drinkery. Numerous street carts once slung wieners, of various styles and quality, for half-cocked bar patrons. Zot’s Hot Dogs and Deli, a fixture since 1972, seemed like it had been and would be in the Garden Walk Mall forever.
Chico News & Review
At first glance, the rows of square, ceramic tiles laid out across two tables inside Idea fab Labs (IFL) look fairly similar: saturated, black-and-white designs vaguely resembling asymmetrical Rorschach images. A closer look, however, revealed much more—dozens of unique images, each remarkable both for their similarities as well as their differences.
Chico News & Review
The value of a windowed storefront in downtown Chico is—pardon the pun—clear, to business owners and patrons alike. This is especially true for eateries, as it offers built-in curb appeal and a natural sense of atmosphere, creating a scene where diners can either appreciate the city center’s Valley-town charm at face value or maybe imagine themselves transported to some other more metropolitan locale, at least for the duration of a meal.
Getting back on track
This feature is part of the CN&R’s 2023 Bike Issue. Where other people may see nothing but a muddy tract of land past the Chico Regional Airport, Phil Wysocki and Jim Clancy—the track operator and board president of Silver Dollar BMX, respectively—envision a world-class bike racing facility and essential community gathering place. “This will be the parking lot,” Wysocki said on the stormy afternoon of March 19, sludging through the wet muck around a puddle the size of a small swimming pool.
Chico News & Review
Though commonly advertised as “wholesome fun for the whole family,” there’s an air of spookiness surrounding the circus. For one thing, clowns. On a deeper level, mystery, a touch of the supernatural and a peculiar otherness are woven into the fabric of every circus tent. Traveling circuses, in particular, are at face value are a collection of drifters with special powers banded together, traveling from town to town to offer an escape from mundanity in exchange for coin and applause.
Klamath Police respond to 911 call of gunman in H&R Block building- apprehend unarmed man
Klamath police responded Friday around 11:30 a.m. to a 911 call notifying them of a gunman in H&R Block on South Sixth Street. Police proceeded with a heavy response, and once on-scene began evacuating people in the H&R office and adjacent buildings. Klamath Police Lieutenant Rob Reynolds was one of the responding officers and said they engaged a man barricaded in the bathroom. He said the man was also responsible for the 911 call.
Lifelong love and learning
After six years spent sailing down the coast of Central America and around the South Pacific, Mike and Mary McCluskey considered three different cities—the homes of their children—to (figuratively) drop anchor and call home. The couple, who’ve been married since 1969, came up with a short list of requirements while weighing each location: an art-house cinema; a good used book store; an adult enrichment program; and an alternative newspaper.
Chico News & Review
As a Chico State nursing student, Kristina Chesterman dreamed of traveling to developing nations where she could use her skills to help those in desperate need. Sadly, while biking home from a marathon study session in September 2013, she was hit by a drunk driver on Nord Avenue. After two days in the hospital, the 21-year-old succumbed to her injuries. But Chesterman’s dreams have lived on. In 2017, the Kristina Chesterman Memorial Clinic opened in Ozu Abam, Nigeria.
Chico News & Review
This feature is part of the CN&R’s 2023 Entrepreneur Issue. In 2013, Shenlyn and Martin Svec’s lives were changed by, of all things, a few scoops of ice cream. The couple were vacationing in Texas when they had their first taste of “artisan” ice cream from an Austin parlor called Lick Honest Ice Creams. For Shenlyn, a dream to create her own was born as they enjoyed bowls filled with exotic flavor combinations like goat cheese, thyme and honey and dark chocolate, olive oil and sea salt.
From the ‘Shed of the Dead’
On June 4, 2021, after suffering a series of mysterious and increasingly concerning medical episodes, Maddie Quillin had a massive seizure in her car on the side of Interstate 5, an experience she refers to as when she "died." Though she didn't technically die that day, her word choice is understandable.
New flavor on the block
With the recent opening of Pakistani restaurant Sofi’z Kitchen and Bar, it is now possible to sample food and culture from around the world within just a few steps along the 100 block of Broadway in downtown Chico.
Chico News & Review
A few pieces of clothing; family pictures; important documents. A reality of living in Northern California, especially in recent years, is that most residents have a mental list of what to grab in case of fire. Some take that preparation a sagely step further, keeping a “bug-out bag” filled with necessities and, perhaps, a few items with priceless sentimental value, ready to go at all times.
Chico News & Review
In 1945, Charlie Robinson scored his first guitar gig, playing Saturday night dances at The Diamond Springs Hotel, in the heart of California’s Gold Country, for $5 a week. “The band was booked to play from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., but I could only play until midnight because of the child labor laws,” Robinson said during a recent phone interview.
Chico News & Review
The Chico Ice Rink in the Plaza (pictured) is returning for its second year. The City of Chico is again partnering with the Downtown Chico Business Association, which will manage the temporary rink in the City Plaza Nov. 17-Jan. 9. Last year, the ice rink attracted more than 20,000 visitors, as well as some controversy.
A beautiful nightmare
HomeArts & CultureA beautiful nightmare One of infamous/legendary filmmaker Ed Wood’s many contributions to the horror-camp canon is the screenplay for 1965’s Orgy of the Dead. In the movie, a couple of squares crash their car near a graveyard, and two baddies—the Emperor and the Black Ghoul, played by The Amazing Criswell and proto-goth babe Fawn Silver, respectively—force them to watch a series of sinister stripteases.
Bem-vindo a minha casa
Step into Lili’s Brazilian Bistro most any time when the doors are open, and there’s a good chance you’ll find the restaurant’s proprietor and namesake, Lili Da Silva, somewhere within. If she’s not at the front counter—greeting each customer with a disarmingly sincere “Bem-vindo!” (Welcome!)—she’s likely in the kitchen, cooking up recipes passed through her family for generations. “I do all the cooking,” she said during a recent visit to the new restaurant in downtown Chico.
Young-Onset Breast Cancer Outcomes by Time Since Recent Childbirth in Utah
[Skip to Navigation] Figure 1. Long-term Outcomes by Stage and Time Since Recent Childbirth Group MFS indicates metastasis-free survival; PPBC, postpartum breast cancer expressed as time from childbirth to breast cancer diagnosis in years. Figure 2. Long-term Outcomes by Estrogen Receptor (ER) Status and Time Since Recent Childbirth Group This analysis only included 2891 patients with known ER status.
Chico News & Review
This feature is part of the CN&R’s Oct. 6 Election Issue. For more stories on the 2022 general election click here. Democratic challenger Max Steiner’s strategy to unseat long-time incumbent Doug LaMalfa for his seat in California’s First Congressional District is focused on appealing to an unlikely subset of voters: Republicans. “The Republican Party is running off the rails,” Steiner said during a recent interview at Daycamp Coffee in the Meriam Park neighborhood.
Mechoopda land restored
HomeNewsMechoopda land restored Chico State has returned 93 acres of the Butte Creek Ecological Reserve to the land’s former Native American inhabitants. Chico State Enterprises and the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria completed the transfer Sept. 26. According to the zero-dollar agreement, no buildings can be built there, and it must continue to be used for conservation and educational purposes.
The Empire dives back
The roughly six-mile stretch of The Midway between Chico and Durham is a scenic short drive—or moderate-length bike ride—at any time of the year. In spring, the surrounding almond orchards bloom with pink-tinged white blossoms, and the ancient walnut and oak trees lining the roadway provide a cooling canopy during the valley’s scorching summers. Soon, the landscape transforms into a kaleidoscope of autumn hues, making way for the stark beauty of winter.
Chico News & Review
Since forming more than 15 years ago, Ukrainian avant-folk group DhakaBrakha has served as cultural ambassadors for that country. The band was born in Kyiv’s Dakh Contemporary Arts Center, a world-renown experimental theater, and its three female members (Olena Tsybulska, Iryna Kovalenko, Nina Garenetska) are ethnomusicologists who—in more peaceful times—travel their country in search of songs which they present in a singular style, incorporating influences from around the world.
Chico News & Review
Sailors famously love ’em; nowadays, so do soccer moms. Walk into a coffee-house, and you’re likely to find a barista with more art on one arm than the average biker gang. You might even find as much ink at a PTA meeting as you formerly would only in a prison yard. In the past few decades, tattoos have moved from society’s fringes to the mainstream. Along the way, the artwork has gained its due respect.
Chico News & Review
In the sweltering summer of 1978, a violent sexual predator and murderer terrorized the North State, claiming victims from Redding and one from Chico. In 1997, a pathological sporting goods salesman from Cottonwood who claimed to be part of a shadowy cabal of international assassins conspired to murder his pregnant wife. Both crimes happened in our region, and both were subjects of nationally popular true crime podcasts.
Chico News & Review
A touch of swagger is essential if you want to compete in the barbecue game. It’s a business where, from backyards to brick-and-mortar storefronts, bragging rights and word-of-mouth praise are a grillmaster’s stock and trade. It also helps to let people know a little bit about what sets your seared and smoked delicacies apart from others. Sameer Aldabashi’s chosen name for his new barbecue restaurant—Halal Boss Smokehouse—is inspired.
Chico News & Review
The border town of Tijuana, Mexico, is known for a lot of different things. Those of us who’ve spent significant amounts of time there might bicker about what aspects of the city’s reputation are deserved and which are exaggerated, but there is little argument on one point—the street food is amazing.
Chico News & Review
Ryan Davidson is in love. Perhaps obsessively so, he admitted one recent morning as he stood behind his workbench surrounded by the objects of his affection: violins, in all states of construction and repair, from penciled sketches on slabs of wood to complete instruments ready for sale. “I don’t know if ‘obsessed’ is too strong a word,” he said, the gleam in his eye and his effusive words confirming it isn’t, “but I’m absolutely captivated and compelled by them.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Ken
Contact Ken, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack