Sonoma’s new City Council majority

The addition of Logan Harvey to Sonoma's City Council has shifted the council's center of gravity to a more pro-government stance. Former council member Gary Edwards was reliably right-of-center, often arguing that "market forces" are more dynamic and workable than government planned solutions. He consistently... Continue

Check out these library favorites of 2018

By Anna Pier Lisa Musgrove, Manager of the Sonoma Valley Regional Library, is delighted with the big jump in average monthly visits in 2018. Compared to the 11,000 average for 2013-2017, during this past year average visits to the West Napa Street site rose by 2000... Continue

Dear Mr. Thompson

I challenge you, Rep. Mike Thompson, to a debate -- again. I ran against you in 2018, and challenged you then, but you must not have received my letter, which I sent to all of your offices, or seen it printed in the newspaper, or... Continue

New faces on Sonoma Planning Commission, cranky neighbors and more

The Sonoma Planning Commission has been, in effect, rezoned. The City Council has made official the reappointments to the seven-member panel of Robert Felder, James Bohar and Robert McDonald. The new members are Sheila O’Neill, Steve Barbose, the former councilmember and mayor, and Larry Barnett,... Continue

Under the Sun: Lisa Summers, writer and poet

When did you start writing? Not really till my late 30s. As a child I always wrote poetry. Poems inspired by the street culture of San Francisco – the jump rope rhymes, the Korean clapping games. After college, I did lots of technical writing, working... Continue

High School survey evaluates Senior Project

The Senior Project Coordinator for SVHS, Bryan Kelly, is conducting a series of surveys for teachers, students, alumni, and parents regarding their experience of the Senior Project, to gauge its overall effectiveness. Now in its 20th year, the Senior Project involves a mentor-supervised activity, a... Continue

No, we can’t all get along

Put people together and you're sure to find trouble. Families, husbands and wives, siblings, cousins, politicians; no matter how you find them, people always have trouble getting along. Human society reflects just how terribly difficult it is; when large groups of people organize, it often... Continue

Don’t break up PG&E. Nationalize it.

Deadly blazes are the new normal for our state, and this has reinvigorated discussion over how to address climate change. But besides a changing climate, California residents have begun to notice another pattern behind these infernos: the negligent, cost-cutting habits of California’s investor-owned utility, PG&E.... Continue

Birds of a feather

Back in the day, it wasn’t possible for kids to grow up without their parents warning: “Be careful of the company you keep!” Cautions abounded that even if we were very good (B+ good), hanging out with The Wrong Crowd -- the Lazy, the Losers... Continue

Coming of age, again — one woman’s second Bat Mitzvah

[caption id="attachment_92935" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Bonnie Walner preps for her second Bat Mitzvah, 60 years after the first, by reading The Torah with her grandkids. “One of the greatest messages from the Torah has been to treat others as you would like to be treated,” she... Continue