Issue: November 24, 2016

The cover story this week: The holidays are often a time of inner turmoil and preparation for uncomfortable situations of all stripes: from conversations with nosy relatives to the beginning of those incessant ear-worm Christmas tunes. Thankfully, some of our dear writers at SN&R are here to help with some tips on how to make it through the holidays.

Elsewhere in the issue: Charter school guru Michelle Rhee was recently courted by Trump to be America's education secretary, Raheem F. Hosseini and John Flynn report; Sacramento is known for having uncomfortably warm summers, and now with a climate-change denier as the head of the Environmental Protection Industry's transition team, what can we expect of the region's rising temperatures and what is being done about it? Matt Kramer has the story; Don Martin, a local fire engineer, recently posted on Facebook that "illegal immigrants" should be used as "target practice," John Flynn reports; Elsewhere, someone once said that the theater is a "safe and special place," so why not go check out a play or two this week? Jim Carnes and Bev Sykes have two highlights for you to consider.