Smoke from the Solano and Napa County fires fills the Valley over the past week. Photo by Ryan Lely. Sonoma’s skies were white this week with smoke and ash from hundreds of last Friday’s lightning-sparked Northern California wildfires, and local firefighters helped their Napa Valley... Continue

Charlotte Lamb was a driving force in the creation of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. Photo by Blaine Transue. Charlotte Lamb, whose quiet devotion and astute intelligence made her one of Sonoma’s most effective supporters for the arts and for organizations that work to... Continue

It’s come to this. Now that the City’s Mobile Home Ordinance is drafted, and is coming up for a final vote before the Sonoma City Council, and after intense efforts at mediation by an ad hoc committee, and with the Rancho de Sonoma homeowners’ association... Continue

The counting is over – incumbent First District Supervisor Valerie Brown will face challenger Will Pier in November’s runoff. The final results, released late Friday afternoon, show Brown with 11,399 votes (44.1 percent) and Pier with 6,005 votes (23.2 percent). On June 4, the initial... Continue

City Hall prepares for renovation Those wishing to fight City Hall – or simply pay their water bill – will have to march a block south for the next couple of months while the nearly century-old building undergoes renovations. Telephone numbers and e-mail addresses will... Continue

On Friday, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) announced a new approach for controlling the light brown apple moth – but the plan for Sonoma remains the same. Two specimens were found near Sonoma earlier this year, causing CDFA to place a 15-square-mile... Continue

Sonoma’s first week of same-sex weddings has been “good, really good,” said Vicki Petersen, chief deputy county clerk of Sonoma County. “There’s been a lot of emotion with the couples and with the staff, and we’re thrilled. It’s nice.” June 16 was the first day... Continue

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, at their June 17 meeting, voted 5-0 to grant a use permit by Bruce Cohn of B.R. Cohn Winery allowing him to increase his events capacity, and dropping their January requirement of a perpetual conservation easement on a portion... Continue

For Rev. Nancy Taylor, pastor of Sonoma’s First Congregational Church, Monday afternoon marked not only a legal milestone, but an anniversary. “My partner and I were married in Massachusetts in 2004,” she said, “and when the State of California decision takes effect, it will finally... Continue