Yay, Sacramento: The New York Times and the arena

Instead of unleashing a bitter rant about The New York Times' recent profile of my hometown—a.k.a. that paper's Kings arena puff piece from this past Tuesday—I'm going to highlight some 916 goodness in this week's issue. See, I don't resent the city's newfound spotlight; I'm straight shining it!

Let's begin with what Sacramentans do best: drink. Conveniently, the annual Sacramento Cocktail Week kicks off on August 17 and keeps rolling for five days. Events and pop-ups go down every night—visit http://sacramentococktailweek.com for the skinny—and, as this week's Feature Story scribe Rick Kushman might attest, rubbing elbows with local bartenders is chummier than shark-infested waters. (Read that here)

Did you notice that SN&R recently got some work done? With all this national attention, we felt the need for a facelift. Our Dish section is a great example of our new pages, and I urge you to chow down on the food-scene reporting. (You can read it here, but pick up a print edition to see what I’m really talking about.)

When it comes to entertainment, Sacramento's theater scene is often overlooked. This week, reviewer Patti Roberts appears to have discovered something quite special at a Midtown production company. A hint: Muppets (find out more here).

And, finally, Raheem Hosseini's look at how prosecutors used social-media videos to enhance prison sentences for a local rapper isn't a touchy-feely Sacramento story, but it is critical (read that here). Lavish D may have been dangerous, but he didn't even shoot a gun or throw a punch. Is law enforcement unfairly targeting the hip-hop community, again?

Thanks for reading.