Jeff Pelline

Nevada City and Grass Valley have new digital tools for tourists and visitors alike — a “V Tour” for the “Queen of the Northern Mines” and an iPhone application for Grass Valley. “Nevada City’s new virtual tour or VTour is drawing some attention and delivering impressive levels of engagement in its first month of...

“Elizabeth Taylor, the iconic Hollywood star whose tumultuous romances and precarious health challenges often played out as larger-than-life Elizabethan dramas, died of congestive heart failure at Los Angeles’s Cedars-Sinai Hospital. She may have been 79, but with more than 65 years of screen time preserved for all time, she will remain a glorious, glamorous...

Too many people like to bash government workers nowadays, so I was glad to see the county honor workers at the Rood Center. The story from Yubanet is here. Thanks to the government workers for all you do!

No word in the local media, but some residents want the Nevada City Council to consider opening the doors to the Veteran’s Hall during big storms and sub-freezing weather to all who have no shelter. They also recommend that police or a task force patrol known locations where people without shelter seek protection, such...

“There’s a house back there somewhere.” This shot is from the West Shore of Lake Tahoe, where the snow is piled high. Another two feet is on the way this week.

Editor’s note: Our local peace march stirred up some emotions. Here’s one in Washington D.C. in 1971, with Peter, Paul and Mary this past weekend: Here’s the one from this past weekend in Grass Valley that “citizen journalist&#...

Most California voters support a mix of spending cuts and increases in tax revenue to tackle a $26.6 billion deficit, a new Field and UC-Berkeley poll shows. “The approach is backed by 52 percent of voters, according to a statewide survey by the University of California, Berkeley, and The Field Poll,” Bloomberg Business Week...

“A filibuster-proof 64 senators on Friday sent a letter to President Obama, asking him to engage in serious discussions on a broad plan for long-term deficit reduction. Encouraging,” according to the Washington Post. “But another letter went out this weekend, from the Tea Party Patriots to its supporters, and it highlights an ironic but...

“2011 has already been the most memorable year in ages and we haven’t even reached April yet,” according to The Economic Collapse blog. “Revolutions have swept the Middle East, an unprecedented earthquake and tsunami have hit Japan, civil war has erupted in Libya, the price of oil has been soaring and the entire globe...

I received this email with a link to “Before and after images of the devastation in Japan.” The link is here. Hold your mouse key on the black line on your right, then drag it across the picture for a before and after shot.