Evan Tuchinsky

3 weeks ago | chicoer.com | Evan Tuchinsky

CHICO — Like his classmates, Alexander Melendez had anything but a direct path to his high school graduation. The oldest of five siblings, Melendez came to Chico when his family moved from Virginia. He enrolled at Chico High, but “school was never much my thing,” he admitted. “Growing up, I didn’t really do much in school; I was always paying attention to other stuff.”Not surprisingly, then, Melendez skipped a lot of his freshman year and essentially all of his junior year at CHS.

3 weeks ago | orovillemr.com | Evan Tuchinsky

• None Alexander Melendez delivers his speech during the graduation ceremony for Fair View and Oakdale high schools Friday, June 6, 2025 at DeGarmo Park in Chico, California. (Evan Tuchinsky/Enterprise-Record)• None The Class of 2025 for Fair View and Oakdale high schools commences the commencement ceremony Friday, June 6, 2025 at DeGarmo Park in Chico, California.

3 weeks ago | chicoer.com | Evan Tuchinsky

“Summertime, and the living is easy” …OK, so it’s not technically summer for another two Fridays, even if the late-spring heat waves suggest otherwise. Nor is it particularly easy for those who put on, or chronicle, events. But that’s not most people. Graduates at high schools across the north state are shedding the burdens of a busy school year, as are the folks who’ve educated them. Households with and without kids have plenty of other reasons to head out from home.

3 weeks ago | orovillemr.com | Evan Tuchinsky

Welcome to kitten season, when animal shelters need all the help they can get

3 weeks ago | chicoer.com | Evan Tuchinsky

Regular readers are familiar with “notes on a napkin” — the installments of City Insider that aggregate snippets from a busy week. Well, this is another one … but with so, so much going on, I feel like the shark hunter Quint in “Jaws” when Police Chief Brody says, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”We’ve got what we’ve got. So affix your life preserver and brace yourself for a choppy ride; we’re diving in!• Why are city budgets so hard to read?