Photo Credit: ThinkStock

There’s a certain romance and panache that goes with riding in a horse-drawn carriage. The greater Sacramento area is perfectly suited for a leisurely ride in a comfortable carriage. The State Capitol, Old Sacramento, Nevada City, Elk Grove and El Dorado County are all within reach of a carriage pulled by stunning, matched pairs of horses, for any number of occasions.

Top Hand Ranch
P.O. Box 183
Elverta, CA 95626
(916) 496-6754
www.tophandranch.com

Price: Click here for pricing

Top Hand Ranch has a variety of carriages and horse teams to go with them. Carriages are available for weddings, funerals, business outings and general tours of the Sacramento area. On the business side, it suggests its carriages and teams for seasonal events, grand openings, parades, community celebrations, client appreciation, various promotions and company parties. Dream up your own version of a business-related ride, and get in. Take a tour of Old Sacramento or the State Capitol. You can also ride along the river and through town.

Related: Old Sacramento State Park

Price: Click here for pricing

Vintage Carriage Company will make your wedding a memory-filled event with its Cinderella Carriage, pulled by at matching pair of white horses. Vintage easily accommodates a romantic getaway for two, with carriages that include, but aren’t limited to, Santa’s sleigh. Since 1993 it has offered Baraat services for South Asian weddings, featuring a gorgeous white horse. Create your own version of carriage heaven for you and yours.

Related: Horseback riding in Sacramento

Empire Carriage Company
Grass Valley, CA
(530) 432-1651
www.empirehorse.com

Price: Click here for pricing

Empire Carriage has a fine collection of wagons, suited for anything from weddings to funerals. Empire will travel up to 75 miles from its ranch in Grass Valley. Rides and carriage experiences can be arranged fit your budget and needs. Horses and wagons are well matched for the best experience possible. If you’d like your own parade in a fine wagon, call them.

Price: Click here for pricing

Based in Placerville, this carriage company covers El Dorado and Sacramento counties. It has provided a first-class carriage experience since 1983. Its stable of horses and carriages, along with vintage cars, is available for your enjoyment with a simple phone call. The company boasts an open schedule, meaning that there is no set ride route, except what which you agree on. Dream away, call Sharon, and get ready for a wonderful experience.

Price: Click here for pricing

The Nevada City Carriage Company is located in an old carriage house in Nevada City. Most of the lumber for the carriage house was locally logged and pulled out of the forest by its horses. Take a romantic tour of Nevada City by relaxing in one of Nevada City’s carriages while the horses do all the work. It offers wedding packages to make your day the most memorable one imaginable. Check out its services from Sacramento to North Lake Tahoe. Call to set up your ride.

Charles is a freelance writer who has lived in the Sierra, halfway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, for the last 37 years. He retired from teaching after 36 years in 2010. He and his wife hike, kayak, cross country ski, snow shoe, ride mountain bikes and road bikes, year round. Wandering aimlessly, always looking for another place to explore, some place new, is high on the agenda. Charles enjoys all aspects of the great outdoors and writing about it to encourage others to explore as well. His work can be found at Examiner.com.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Safeway supermarket in midtown Sacramento was evacuated for about an hour and a half after several people reported feeling sick while in the store Friday, according to Sacramento City Fire officials.

Fire and Hazmat crews responded to the Safeway at 1814 19th Street at about 8:15 p.m. About two dozen employees were evacuated after Freon gas from a deli refrigeration unit leaked and employees noticed a cloud of gas. About 20 people reported feeling dizzy but didn’t require hospitalization.

County health officials were checking out the building.

The store was reopened at about 9:45 p.m. after officials said no more detectable gas was present.

One person was detained during a disturbance at the store but it wasn’t immediately clear why.

VACAVILLE (CBS13) — A convicted sexual predator who preyed on children was captured in Roseville on Friday night after police received a tip about his location.

Vacaville police had been searching for Mark Wayne Speer, who reportedly removed his GPS monitoring device back in December. After they received a tip that Speer was in Roseville, they contacted Roseville police and officers there took Speer into custody.

Mark Wayne Speer

Speer is a parolee-at-large and was considered armed and dangerous, according to police. They were searching for him in the Fairfield/Vacaville area and believed he could be staying at hotels in the area. It wasn’t immediately clear where in Roseville Speer was tracked down.

CBS13′s Derek Shore spoke to Speer’s mother on Friday night before his arrest and she begged for him to turn himself in.

Watch the CBS13 news at 10 p.m. for more on this story.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department has recovered remains of Cyndi Vanderheiden and Chevy Wheeler on property near San Andreas formerly owned by the family of convicted serial killer Wesley Shermantine. They also recovered more than 1,000 bone human bone fragments from a well near Linden.

But Shermantine says there are more burial sites out there created by “Speed Freak” partner Loren Herzog, who committed suicide last month.

Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani says the FBI is best equipped to handle the investigation going forward. She sent a letter to the FBI formally requesting the agency reopen its investigation. The federal agency was involved in the investigation into Herzog and Shermantine in 1999. They were convicted of four murders in 2001. Herzog’s murder convictions were later reduced and he was out on parole when he took his own life outside the High Desert State Prison in Susanville in January.

“I’m asking them to come in,” she said of the federal agency. “If this is not an example of a case where they could be involved, I don’t know what is an example.”

In the later, she says there could be victims spanning 21 Northern California counties.

“With attention on this case, now there are so many families reliving the nightmare of a loved one going missing that to prolong this search only puts them through more torture,” she said.

CALAVERAS COUNTY (CBS13) — Lisa Pisano will never forget Feb. 14, 1998, the day she says her friend of 10 years, “Speed Freak Killer” Wesley Shermantine, raped her.

“And he starts ripping my clothes and he pulls out a knife and held the knife to my throat,” she tells CBS13 in recounting the event on Friday.

The terrifying ordeal started with a 2 a.m. phone call. She says he called drunk from a bar begging for a ride home.
Once she got there, Lisa says Shermantine forced himself into the driver’s seat, taking her down a remote road where he pulled over.

“And then he raped me and all I could do is look at this windmill out in the field and I watched it turning,” she says.

She says it continued for two hours. She prayed she’d get home to her son, who was with a babysitter.

“I kept telling Wes I had to get home, I got to get Richie ready for school,” she says.

When he was done, she says he told her to put her clothes on but she wasn’t fast enough.

“And he got me out of the car and he got me out of the passenger seat and he slammed my head down to the ground and he said ‘If you don’t want to die, then you’ll hear the heartbeats of the families I buried here,’” she says.

Finally, he let her go home, but she says she was so shaken and scared it took her a day to tell her family and police. The case went to trial in Calaveras County.

“I told the jury, ‘He’s the type of person that will do it again, he needs to be stopped, he’s going to do this again,’” she says.

Then, Lisa says she felt violated all over again. The jury didn’t believe her story. Shermantine walked away a free man.

Five months later, he murdered Cyndi Vanderheiden of Linden in San Joaquin County. She was one of four victims he and partner Loren Herzog were convicted of killing.

Shermantine is on death row at San Quentin State Prison. Herzog killed himself last month while out on parole. The murder charges against him were later reduced on appeal.

“The jury did not listen to me, and Cyndi would be alive now if that jury had listened to me,” a sobbing Lisa says.

A Rancho Cordova family is frustrated over their son’s Medi-Cal account. His card has the wrong last name. After months of trying to get it fixed, they called Kurtis.

It seemed like a simple solution; make a call and get the name fixed. But they say it’s been anything but simple.

Debra Van Noy looks back on the day her son was born in 1993. “Justin was born on March 12 with a cleft lip.”

Justin Van Noy is doing much better these days, after two corrective surgeries and speech therapy. But he’s developed two extra teeth and his wisdom teeth are coming in painfully.

“So it basically feels like a big guy just comes up and socks you,” says Justin, pointing to the pain in his mouth.

He needs to see a dentist but there’s a problem with his Medi-Cal card. After Debra and Justin’s dad Tim applied for benefits last year, Justin’s card showed up with his old last name. He had it legally changed several years back to Van Noy, Tim’s last name and Debra’s now-married name.

Debra recalls applying for benefits, “I took the two pieces of papers and said, ‘This is what he was born with. Here is the amendment. Please make sure you put Justin Van Noy.’”

The family is frustrated because after sending in paperwork, making calls and stopping by the county offices, the card isn’t corrected.

“I just want other people out there in our situation to know that someone can help them,” says Debra.

So if the government won’t listen, where can you get help?

“A lot of what we do is empowering people to help themselves,” says Amy Williams, managing attorney of Legal Services of Northern California’s health unit.

Williams says the non-profit offers free help to low-income people with a number of issues, including Medi-Cal problems.

“We’re able often to just make a couple of different phone calls to people throughout the county and state, based on our relationships, and get things fixed,” says Williams.

In this case, CBS13 called Sacramento County on Justin’s behalf. They couldn’t explain the mix up to us. But after our call, they agreed to give Justin a new card, with the correct last name, clearing the way for him to see the dentist.

“I just want to get him in and get the rest of his stuff done so he can get on with the rest of his life,” says Debra.

Sacramento County tells us if you’re having problems with Medi-Cal you have the right to ask for a supervisor and escalate the issue all the way up to the program director.

A gunman walked into the Chevron at Bradshaw and Micron and opened fire some time before 10 p.m. No injuries have been reported and one person has been detained.

Traffic was being shut down in the area and a perimeter was being set up.

Check back at cbssacramento.com for more on this story.

After scorching about 200 acres, Calfire spokesman Daniel Berlant says crews should have the blaze contained by 8 a.m. Saturday.

The fire, which threatened three homes shortly after it was reported a little after noon Thursday, has been burning in an area of steep canyons outside the city of Napa.

Fire investigators are blaming the wildfire on a resident of the area who was burning piles of landscape debris.

Berlant says the resident lost control of the fire when strong winds spread the fire into nearby underbrush.

Andrew Heitmeyer

The nanny arrived at her employer’s home on Fratis Street and reportedly heard a noise at the back of the residence. She called out to her employer but heard no answer. Shortly thereafter, the homeowner arrived and began checking the house.

He and the nanny then encountered the suspect, Christian Heitmeyer, 23, of Folsom, who fled out the back slider and ran from the Prairie Oaks residence, according to police.

A nearby homeowner gave chase after Heitmeyer reportedly tried to break into his home to avoid arriving police officers.

Heitmeyer was eventually captured by officers and arrested. He was booked into the Sacramento County Jail on one count of burglary and one count of attempted burglary. He is being held in lieu of $130,000 bail.

Dean Thomas Watson-Setliff

The Umpqua Bank at 2525 McHenry Ave. was robbed on Feb. 13 after the suspect entered the bank, handed the teller a note demanding money and then left with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Detectives began to follow up on investigative leads, which included tips from citizens. Through their investigation, they identified Dean Thomas Watson-Setliff, a 26-year-old Modesto resident, as the suspect. Detectives issued an arrest warrant for Watson-Setliff.

A Modesto detective saw Watson-Shetliff sitting in the passenger seat of a car on Friday at about 2 p.m.. Patrol officers stopped the car at Orangeburg Avenue and Rose Avenue and arrested Watson-Setliff.

Watson-Setliff was questioned and booked into the Stanislaus County Jail for bank robbery.

WEIMAR (CBS13) — Neighbors in Weimar say Union Pacific is crossing the line, keeping them from leaving their homes because of construction.

The road is open now but people on the east side of the tracks at Weimar cross road say Wednesday they were unable to cross because of road construction. It’s the only public road in or out of the neighborhood.

A family with seven disabled children worries about emergencies.

“If they can’t get in when one of them is having a seizure that could be the difference between life or death,” said the children’s mother, Amy Hanaway.

Railroad officials say a plan is in place for emergencies. The next scheduled closure is March 2.

They say if anyone has trouble getting out they should call railroad police.

TURLOCK (CBS13) — They’re angry, they’re aggressive and they leave behind land mines everywhere they go.

The geese — and their poop — have become a messy situation on the campus of California State University, Stanislaus. Walking around campus is almost like a game of hop scotch to avoid the droppings.

“They’re not always easy to spot because they’re the same color as the grass,” said Cal State Stanislaus spokesman Dave Tonelli of the poop.

But not only do you have to watch your stop, you also have to watch your back.

“They do tend to charge at you,” Tonelli said.

Lurking in the shadows in the day, coming out full force in the mornings and evenings, the growing flock of Canada geese, about 500 of them, have made the campus their permanent home.

“The numbers are just growing and growing and growing,” Tonelli said.

And apparently, they’re territorial.

“You’ll kind of like look at them and they’ll just be like ‘reeh!’” student Dayna Azebedo said, making her best goose growl impersonation.

The geese look for large bodies of water to land in during migration, and they found about a half dozen of them on the Turlock campus.

“They’re supposed to come here for the winter and then leave, and they’ve liked it so much that they’ve stayed,” Tonelli said.

Next month, the university plans to bring in dogs to chase off the birds and use boats to scare them.

“Even if we don’t thin out the population, if we can help from it getting bigger,” Tonelli said.

Not only are the geese confrontational, their piles of poop pose a health risk to people, and there’s a lot of it, Tonelli said.

“They let out probably 1 to 3 pounds of droppings every day per goose,” Tonelli said.

That’s as much as 1,500 pounds of geese feces dropped on the campus a day.

So, yes, geese going No. 2 is Becoming a No. 1 priority on campus.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The city of Sacramento now has less than a week to finalize plans for a new sports complex. And, Friday Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson boarded a plane headed to the NBA All-Star Game in Orlando, where he will talk with NBA Commissioner David Stern.

It’s a crucial time in these proceedings as Mayor Johnson will present plans for the new arena to Commissioner Stern and the Maloofs, the owner of the Sacramento Kings basketball team.

Members of the Mayor’s Think Big Arena Committee are also in Florida.

CBS13′s Koula Gianulias is also in Orlando and will be reporting throughout the weekend. Gianulias reported on Friday that the mayor and other city officials will be checking out Orlando’s Amway Center, opened in 2010 at a cost of $380 million in order to keep the Magic in town. She also said a source told her an NBA All-Star Game in a new downtown Sacramento arena could pump in $100 million to the local economy.

Mayor Johnson spoke briefly before boarding his flight early Friday morning, saying a new arena for the area, and keeping the Kings in town, is about much more than professional sports.

“It’s bigger than basketball. This about job creation, I think we all know that,” he said. “We’re talking about creating over 4,000 jobs. Even riding out here, you know, you pass by Power Balance Pavilion, and you look over there and you think ‘God, that business creates roughly a million jobs both full time and part time. If that team is not here, then we are going to lose those jobs. That is not in anybody’s best interest.”

So far, plans to lease the city’s downtown parking to a private firm in order to pay its part of the project are on track. And Mayor Johnson got a bit of good news before heading to Orlando for his meeting. On Thursday, Sacramento County officials announced their plans to contribute to the downtown arena effort by privatizing three county-owned parking garages.

The county Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on a non-binding agreement to privatize 1,500 garage parking spots with profits shared between the downtown arena and county parks, with 75 percent of revenues going toward the arena.

That would be in addition to the city’s 7,200 garage spots and 5,500 street spots that are being sent out to bid in order to generate around $200 million toward the sports and entertainment complex.

Its contribution toward the arena would be $1 to $2 million a year, according to the county.

The mayor continues to say he’s confident about Sacramento’s plan. But it’s still unclear exactly what he will be presenting to the Maloofs and Commissioner Stern.

More specifics are expected to be released on Sunday during Commissioner Stern’s All-Star weekend media availability.

Today on the show Dave was joined by Jon Anik of the UFC. They talked about the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter” where the coaches will be UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominic Cruz and Sacramento’s own Urijah Faber. The talked about the animosity between the two and if it is for show or genuine. The talked about the comments made by a former ESPN employee about Jeremy Lin, as well as this weekends title fight between Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson.

John Frisch came on and discussed the proposed Downtown arena and the possibility of it happening plus the economic value it can generate.

Current Strikeforce Middleweight fighter Scott Smith finish us off for the week. He talked about the changes he’s made in his training the prank war Dave and him have been engaged in for years. They talked about Scott’s next opponent and whats next for him after that.

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SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The man accused of killing his father last May at their Roseville business appeared in court for the first time Friday afternoon at the Placer County Courthouse.

Police say Christopher Northam Jr. killed his father, Christopher Northam Sr., inside the business called Skim X, an indoor wakeboarding facility.

Family members say they don’t want to discuss the case other than to say it’s been very difficult.

“It’s a tragedy, a tragedy amongst the family,” said Conrad Rosenstiel, the victim’s uncle. “Right now we just need to hang together.”

Family members hugged and cried after Northam Jr. appeared in court for the first after an nine-month investigation led to his arrest.

“I will always have a gaping whole in my heart and soul and so will my parents,” said Shon Northam, the victim’s brother, “but at least this is a step forward in the process and we will go from there.”

Police say Northam Jr. shot and killed his father inside his Roseville indoor sports business. They say the motive was money.

Police also arrested Northam jr.’s ex-wife, Averill Easley, for giving false information to investigators. The judge kept her bail at $25,000 .

Now family members say they’re trying to cope in the midst of extreme turmoil.

“This has been a long and difficult process for my parents and my family,” Shon Northam said. “Given the unique fact patterns in this particular case there’s obviously heightened emotions.”

Rosenstiel reflected on happier times for the family.

“I used to push him around on his bike when he was a little baby,” he said. “It’s sad.”

TRACY (CBS13) — A man with three passengers lost control and drove his BMW into a canal late Thursday night, and one of the passengers is presumed dead after never re-emerging from the water.

Investigators say it appears 32-year-old Eric Olsen was on a Tracy Municipal Airport runway when he lost control of his BMW 328i, raced through the fence and then slammed the car in the Delta Mendota Canal just feet from the end of the runway at about 11:40 p.m..

Eric Rode Olsen

“Three people were able to escape from the canal and one occupant is still missing,” Tracy Police Sgt. Luis Mejia said.

Olsen and a pair of passengers managed to pull themselves out of the water. But one of their friends was left behind and presumed dead.

After crews pulled the car from the canal, police called in a special crew to help locate the missing man’s body.

They spent two hours Friday taking underwater pictures of the mile-and-half stretch of water.

Police say they found something where the canal meets Tracy Boulevard, but there was no immediate word if divers will recover what could be the remains of the missing passenger.

On Olsen’s Facebook page he lists his occupation as the chief operating officer at Sky View Aviation. A pilot at the airport tells CBS13 the car’s passengers are all flight school students with access to the runway.

Crime scene investigators took pictures inside the office. No one with the school wanted to answer questions from CBS13.

Police say the passenger who is presumed dead was visiting from Europe. His name hasn’t been released.

Olsen was arrested on a charge of vehicular manslaughter. Police are also investigating to see if alcohol was involved.

The officer was riding his bike north on McHenry Avenue and a car driving south on McHenry reportedly made a left turn into a shopping center right in front of the officer.

The officer struck the car and was ejected off his bike.

He was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.

The driver was being interviewed but had not been arrested.

Yuba City police and fire dispatchers say the store made the decision to evacuate. PG&E workers are on scene and they are reporting that a contractor was working at the store outside using a scissors lift that accidentally broke off a gas level meter. The gas was turned off at 3:40 p.m. Crews are trying to fix the meter.

The store is located at 1150 Harter Parkway on the outskirts of the west side of the city.

The incident was reported at about 3 p.m.

Check back at cbssacramento.com for more on this story as information becomes available.

The shooting accorded near the intersection of Whispering Wind Drive and Tracy Boulevard about two blocks from the Tracy airport. Police blocked off a stretch of the road while they searched for the shooter. So far no suspect information has been provided.

The victim was airlifted to an area hospital. A witness said the man was shot in the neck. There was no immediate word on a motive.

Today, Don begins by telling us that the owner of the San Diego station we were supposed to broadcast in loves the show, but the Program Director still hates it. Don also tells us how the owner described the PD, which led Don to ask, “Why did you hire him then?” The guys then go outside the station for another edition of “Porch Sittin’.” While outside, Don continues on about the moron PD in San Diego, and the guys talk about Yahtzee, and the new season of Eastbound and Down.

After Don tells us he got a text from the owner of the San Diego station that said, “I’m listening,” Don tells us about his interview with radio inc., in which he spoke about his past radio jobs in different cities. Don then tells some of his best stories from his earlier days at these stations. We also hear about Steven Tyler getting naked on American Idol, and a news reporter in Florida, who has a car wreck happen right behind her, and doesn’t even notice!

Today is Abe Vigoda’s 91st birthday, and Don has Craig come in to give Abe a call. Craig gets Abe on the air for everyone give him a nice birthday greeting. The guys then talk about Abe Vigoda’s role in the Godfather movies, and that gets the guys into a discussion of their favorite death scenes in movies and on TV. We then find out that Peter Cetera, from the band Chicago, who was supposed to be on the show yesterday, but flaked, has once again flaked out on us today.

We do however, get a visit from comedian Doug Stanhope. Doug, who is performing at the punchline tonight and tomorrow, talks about his hatred for Sarah Palin, putting his vasectomy online, why he lives in Bisbee, AZ, and the kid who was ripping off his jokes and using them in his own online blog. We then hear Jimmy Fallon’s tribute to Jeremy Lin in the style of Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam. It’s then time for the “Phantom News Hour.” Among the stories today: The mayor of San Diego says their budget deficit has been erased, Chris Brown steals a girl’s iPhone, and the movies that are coming out this weekend. We then find out that hack editor Tom Couzens from the Sacramento Bee just called up the show, cursed at Craig about his hatred for the show, and hung up. Don and the guys have a good laugh when they find out he actually called on Wednesday as well! Don leaves Tom a voice message, as does Little Joe. After all the Friday shenanigans, Don wraps everything up with a caller 100!

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Comedian Doug Stanhope, who is performing at the punchline tonight and tomorrow, talks about his hatred for Sarah Palin, putting his vasectomy online, why he lives in Bisbee, AZ, and the kid who was ripping off his jokes and using them in his own blog.

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Just a decade ago, the glamorous 3,300-seat venue was touted as the Oscars’ first permanent home, but the 131-year-old company has forfeited its sponsorship of the venue as it struggles with bankruptcy.

The move symbolizes Kodak’s fading star power in Hollywood. Although seven of the nine “Best Picture” nominees were shot on Kodak film, the industry’s increasing use of digital editing and projection has ravaged the company’s printing business.

About half of the world’s commercial screens now show movies from digital projectors, and by some estimates, film reels will soon be a thing of the past.

“35-millimeter is coming to the end of its life,” said David Hancock, head of film and cinema for research firm IHS Screen Digest. “In four years’ time there will be no film printing business.”

Kodak film has long been a favorite of cinematographers. But more and more movies are shot using digital cameras, and the notion of a “cutting-room floor” littered with celluloid scraps has given way to studios with computerized tools such as Avid Technology Inc.’s Avid DS and Apple Inc.’s Final Cut Pro.

At their peak, motion pictures accounted for more than 12 billion feet of film processing each year, enough to reach the moon and back five times, according to IHS. This year, IHS predicts film processing will shrink to about 4 billion feet as an increasing number of theaters receive their “films” by satellite or via hard drives delivered by courier.

“We no longer ship (film) to most theaters,” Philippe Dauman, chief executive of Paramount Pictures owner Viacom Inc., told a conference last month. “We have helped them implement digital distribution so we don’t have to make so many prints.”

The billions of dollars that major studios save on film — and its costly ingredient, silver — has resulted in revenue declines for the Eastman Kodak Co. division that once accounted for the vast majority of the company’s overall revenue.

In the first half of 2011, revenue from the division that makes motion picture stock film was $763 million, about half the $1.57 billion it posted in the same period in 2008.

Film printing volume was crucial to Kodak. Although it takes about 1 million feet to shoot a feature film, studios need about 100 million feet to print enough copies for the widest of North American releases.

Kodak sees its future in commercial imaging devices and printing. Still, the motion picture business is significant, accounting for somewhere under a quarter of its revenues. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January with $6.7 billion in debt.

Kodak is unable to afford the marketing boost the Oscars once gave it.

Last week, a bankruptcy court judge approved its early exit from a 20-year naming rights deal it signed with Kodak Theatre owner CIM Group in 1999. As a result, Kodak won’t have to pay the $3.6 million annual naming fee.

The Kodak Theatre, which was custom-built for the awards show and first played host to the ceremony in 2002, will be described to millions of viewers on Sunday simply as the “Hollywood & Highland Center.”

The judge’s decision came too late to remove the signs outside, which may cast a sense of gloom over an industry already rocked by technological change.

“I think everyone looks at Kodak’s name coming off the theater with a degree of sadness mixed with respect,” said Chris McGurk, chief executive of Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp., which installs digital projectors for thousands of movie screens and is getting into the business of putting live video feeds into theaters. “It’s just that the tide has shifted. The digital rollout is moving great guns. It’s unfortunate that the great companies that helped build the film business can’t all be part of it going forward.”

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which declined to comment for this story, is reportedly considering a move to a different venue.

The Academy won’t suffer financially from the unpaid fee, since it doesn’t have a direct relationship with Kodak and most of its $100 million annual budget comes from licensing the Oscar ceremony’s broadcast, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The Academy leases the space from CIM Group.

It’s not as if Kodak didn’t see the digital future coming. Last October, Kodak licensed its patented laser projection technology to Imax Corp. to allow digital projectors to work in domes and other huge theaters that were once reserved for film.

Even if its name is gone from the Oscars, Kodak will still be a part of filmmaking, as long as Academy voters continue to pick movies with that rich, grainy “film look.” Kodak stock film was used to shoot Oscar-nominated movies such as “War Horse,” ”The Tree of Life,” and “The Help,” even though the captured images were converted for digital editing and delivery.

Mark Graziano, senior vice president of post-production at “War Horse” maker DreamWorks Studios, said the end of the sponsorship serves as a reminder of the “lost art” of film production, and of the workers who once had titles like “negative cutter.” It used to take two weeks, for example, just to prepare a rough cut for studio executives to view in screening rooms. The process is nearly instantaneous now.

“It makes you nostalgic for the days when we only worked with 35-millimeter film,” Graziano said, noting that film still has a place at many studios. “You look at many filmmakers that swear by film capture, their movies always look gorgeous. It’s hard to turn your back on that.”

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

ROCKLIN (CBS13) – A Placer County town is considering a ban on smoking that some say goes way too far.

The Rocklin City Council is considering making it against the law for smokers to smoke anywhere outside on their property.

The city council is considering the ban after one home owner complained about smoke coming from their neighbors’ backyards saying it caused health problems for their kids.

But before going to the city council, the family first asked their neighbors to stop smoking.

One couple agreed, according to their son.

“They felt that there wasn’t any reason to put the household in any sort of health risk,” Eric Croslin said explaining his parent’s position.

But some smokers and even some non-smokers saying this ban goes too far.

“So what about people who have children in their home and they don’t want to smoke in their home?” asked non-smoker Tamara Davis.

“As a smoker, I think that smokers should be considerate,” said Rocklin resident and smoker Ryan Malonson. “But on your own property, that’s unacceptable…It’s not going to pass.”

It is already against the law for smokers to light up near businesses, parks and playground in California.

The city’s Planning Commission unanimously approved a conditional permit for the sign on Thursday.

The 15-by-7-foot sign — likely first painted in 1930 — is on the side of a home in Bernal Heights. It was covered with asbestos siding in the 50s and rediscovered in 1991.

Opponents say it promotes a sugary drink, sending a dangerous message to students at a nearby elementary school.

Supporters counter that it’s a relic from the neighborhood’s working-class past that should be preserved.

The city had deemed the sign illegal after someone filed a complaint about it.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife trapped the bear that damaged cars and a home.

The 250 pound male bear which was caught Wednesday night will not be put down.

It will be released today at an undisclosed location.

CBS13 reported on Tuesday that supporters of the bear had attempted to prevent his capture by poured Pine Sol near the trap to warn off the bear.