Author: Melinda Welsh

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The Queen of Happiness

Everyone’s in pursuit of happiness, but how do you capture it? Nearly 11 years after being diagnosed with ALS—the same deadly disease that took the lives of her mother and two brothers—Cathy Speck is alive and kicking butt. Even the more recent news of terminal cancer hasn’t slowed (or brought) her down as she navigates the streets of Davis on her festively festooned trike, spreading her colorful brand of heartfelt cheer and hard-won optimism. Speck shows us all how to live like you were dying, while loving every precious minute of it.

Melinda Welsh,

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Best of the City 2019

As they say, there must be something in the water here—Sacramento’s got it going on. From a cool moonlight hike to a cooling moo-less milkshake, from fiery hot street food to a fire-breathing street dragon, and from an Olympic-caliber butcheress to an Olympic-caliber aquatic center, here is our list of the places, people and things making big waves this year.

Hillary Louise Johnson, Tori Masucci Cummins, Jessica Rine, Melinda Welsh, Curtis Yee,

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The Big Sick

In 2015, Melinda Welsh was given shattering news. Despite battling cancer for a year and attacking it with chemo, radiation and surgery, the disease had progressed to Stage IV and doctors told her she had six to 12 months to live. But this past December, thanks to the latest advances in immunotherapy, she received equally stunning news: The cancer had disappeared. All of it. The Davis-based journalist chronicles her incredible journey through the “kingdom of the sick” and her new life after near death.

Melinda Welsh,