![\"Sacramento](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SAC_0538_241712_JV_City_Cou.jpeg\" "\\"Sacramento")
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Sacramento City Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum listens to Councilmember Roger Dickinson during a city council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024.<\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9 Luis Villegas<\/p>\n
jvillegas@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
From a city budget crisis to a gubernatorial endorsement and the prolonged closure of a Highway 50 ramp, Sacramento Bee readers had plenty to track this week.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a quick rundown of top stories you might\u2019ve missed:<\/p>\n
A Stockton Boulevard on-ramp to westbound Highway 50 will close for 11 days<\/a>, from 10 p.m. on Friday through 4 a.m. on May 18. Caltrans crews will be repairing bridge hinges as part of the $511.1 million \u201cFix 50\u201d project, now on track for July completion.Sacramento Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum floated cutting the city\u2019s entire homeless services agency<\/a> to help close a $66.2 million budget shortfall, then walked the idea back. The Department of Community Response has a $41.5 million annual budget.California\u2019s spending on its state workforce has grown<\/a> by $6 billion since fiscal year 2019-20, the Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office found. The reason for that growth is twofold, the LAO reported: \u201cSpecifically, about half of the increase in total employee compensation appears to be associated with growth in the number of filled positions (full-time equivalents), while the other half reflects higher per\u2011employee costs due to increases in salaries and benefits for existing positions.\u201dGov. Gavin Newsom urged all 58 county election officials to count ballots faster<\/a> ahead of the June 2 primary, warning that delays fuel misinformation. California is among the slowest states to tally votes, with results often unknown for days or weeks.The 49ers selected defensive tackle Gracen Halton<\/a> 107th overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, a pick shaped by mentorship from his godfather, nine-time MLB All-Star Gary Sheffield. Sheffield\u2019s friendship with Halton\u2019s father began three decades before Gracen was born.A hantavirus outbreak<\/a> on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius has killed three passengers and sickened seven, with the WHO suggesting some cases may involve rare human-to-human transmission. The virus, spread mainly through rodent droppings, is also found in California and kills about 38% of those who develop respiratory symptoms.McClatchy Media\u2019s California editorial board endorsed former Rep. Katie Porter for governor<\/a> in the June primary, citing her refusal to accept corporate PAC money and her plan to eliminate state income tax for Californians earning under $100,000.The Bee\u2019s comprehensive voter guide breaks down the California 2026 primary<\/a>, with eight major candidates competing to replace Newsom and ballots already arriving in mailboxes for the June 2 election. <\/p>\n This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media\u2019s AI policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sacramento City Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum listens to Councilmember Roger Dickinson during a city council meeting on Tuesday, Dec.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-307785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}