The Wake-Up Call: Designated Drivers, Green Jobs

With such a large and vibrant community here in Elk Grove, it's rare that Elk Grove Patch's calendar looks bare. But today, well, it does. Perhaps everyone's saving their energy for midnight showings of Deathly Hallows 2. Whatever the reason, if you know of a local event we missed, hit us up in the comments section.

In the Patch:

Sobriety checkpoint set for Friday. Yes, another one. With as many single-vehicle accidents as we've seen lately in Elk Grove, it's hard to argue we don't need them. Elk Grove police say alcohol-involved collisions can spike during the summer months. They'll be setting up shop in an undisclosed location from 8:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.

Bastille Day deals. If you missed our weekly deals column yesterday, to read up on how you can score some free muffins this morning, in flavors like chocolate mousse and blueberry.

Outside the Patch:

Sacramento: green jobs mecca. A new Brookings Institution report, discussed in today's Sacramento Bee, finds that the Sacramento area has the third-highest concentration of green jobs among the country's metropolitan areas. (Only Albany, NY and Knoxville, TN ranked higher.) People performing environmentally-friendly work here also earn on average $5000 more per year than their counterparts in other industries.