By M.S. ENKOJI, Sacramento Bee

An estimated $100 million in potential sales tax revenue never makes it into California's and won't any time soon, even in a monumental year of budget shortfalls.

Jeans for $29, the sign reads.

What's a mother to do if she has two daughters about to go back to school?

"The sales are really enticing," said Janet Weeks, who has a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old. "That's a pretty good deal for jeans."

But she's a teacher who is a little worried about her job at McClatchy High School in Sacramento, Calif.

Retail giant Target will add fresh produce, meat, baked goods and more selections to the groceries at 100 stores nationwide as part of the company's efforts to boost its business.
Unlike Wal-Mart, which has seen steady business during the recession, Target's new emphasis on groceries follows the company's recent struggles with slowing sales.

It's time to start rooting through that shoe box for receipts and check stubs.
With the economy heading south, tax filers will be scrambling to get those refunds fast, but tax preparers caution against deceptive practices that could chisel away at your return or land you in front of an Internal Revenue Service agent asking a lot of questions.

It could be California's second Gold Rush.
The skyrocketing price of gold has people mining their jewelry boxes for every bit of the precious metal to sell for cash. Prices have gone from $416 an ounce on New Year's Eve five years ago to as high as just above $1,000 in 2008. The price has hovered around $853 this week.

Traipsing through knee-high grass and squirming through thickets of tree branches, Chris Wemmer is leading an outdoor workshop that's changing the way we look at wildlife.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- In the strawberry fields of pre-World War II Florin, Calif., a budding baseball star toiled, one of a family of 12.From the moment of birth, Yosh Tsukamoto's destiny would never reach the major leagues, no matter if his batting average neared Ted Williams' or his glove was as golden as they get.

REDDING, Calif. -- Gazing out a wall of windows, Mike Lococo watched lightning stab the horizon, over and over, like a bizarre light show gone awry.Three decades of battling blazes in remote corners of California told him one thing: That was trouble hurtling from the heavens.Lococo is part of a unique national network that launches at the first sniff of wildfire.

College acceptance letters aren't going out to only new high school graduates. More than ever, it's their parents waiting for that letter.The number of California college students between the ages of 50 and 64 rose 61 percent between 1986 and 2006. Among people ages 40 to 49, enrollment increased 32 percent. Overall enrollment climbed 33 percent during the same two decades.

As a child, Gena Wasley swept stalls and scooped manure in exchange for the knowledge that brought her here, to a small paddock in Orangevale, Calif.Wasley, 35, trains horses for a living -- gentles them, if you will.