Dan Walters describes working for the Sacramento Bee several decades ago as “like living in Sweden.”
The newspaper had a bustling office in California’s capital replete with a cafeteria, a gas station, a credit union, and a medical clinic, where staffcould get their vaccinations and seek care for typing-related hand injuries, recalls the longtime columnist, who worked for the newspaper some 33 years.
But the last two decades have been filled with challenges for McClatchy, whose chain of newspapers across the Central Valley and beyond was once known for its energetic journalism and independent streak…