The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors this week voted unanimously to adopt the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 balanced budget, representing nearly $2.3 billion in total expenditures and 4,390 full-time employees, a 2.8 percent increase in staffing. “This is a good news budget,” said Supervisor Chris Coursey,... Continue
Even if you can’t read, that title caught your attention, eh? The Texas reaction: “No Way!! This is AMERICA!!" Yes, it is America, whose wig-headed Founders declared, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people... Continue
Transparent this, transparent that; it seems as if labeling the public process as transparent is government’s order of the day. The fact is, the workings of government are more opaque than ever. A representative government means we elect leaders to whom we give the responsibility... Continue
By Jonathan Farrell -- In celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride, Rev. Nicole Trotter, pastor at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Sonoma, welcomed Rev. Dr. Jane Spahr to speak at a recent Sunday service. Almost 50 years ago, in 1974, Spahr was among the first women to... Continue
By Jonah Raskin -- I recently spent three days in the town of Sonoma, visiting friends and revisiting familiar places like Oak Hill Farm that I wrote about in Field Days, my book about farms, farmers, and field workers. Back in San Francisco, I told... Continue
Sonoma County is bringing a number of county services — economic assistance, child support, and health services among them — under one local roof. The 19080 Lomita Avenue building in Sonoma, a Nelson company property, will become a regional service center, saving a trip to... Continue
As ruefully anticipated in my prior columns on the fabricated debt ceiling crisis (the debt ceiling kabuki), this episode was another sad, deflated defeat by a political party that seems headed the way of the Whigs. The intellectual paralysis of the conventional DC Beltway mindset... Continue
We love stories. As far as we know, human beings are the world’s only story tellers, although it’s possible that songs of the Humpback Whale may, in their way, be stories. The stories we tell are narrative, which is to say, with words that convey... Continue
The City of Sonoma has appointment of Jennifer M. Gates, AICP as Community Development Director, a new management position that will oversee planning, building, sustainability, housing and code enforcement. Gates brings over 18 years of diverse government experience with a focus on planning and historic... Continue
I would like to make a suggestion to the Woodland Star Charter School that will be moving to the Dunbar campus. In honor of the second-oldest school in the history of California, could you consider calling the school Woodland Star Charter School at Dunbar? Thank... Continue