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When late TV artist Bob Ross suddenly appeared in a Mountain Dew commercial this spring painting one of his iconic scenes, viewers were taken aback. He’s actually portrayed by (a transformed) Bryan Mazzarello, who is from Pleasanton.

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CalMatters is a Sacramento-based nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism venture committed to explaining how California's state Capitol works and why it matters. It works with more than 130 media partners throughout the state that have long, deep relationships with their local audiences, including Embarcadero Media.