Columns

This Labor Day is unlike any other we can remember in our lifetime. There is more labor to be done than there are willing workers. It seems there is a “help wanted” sign hanging on almost every other door or store window we pass. The biggest concern for local grape growers as the 2017 harvest begins is finding enough workers to pick their crops. With the official unemployment rate at 3.9 percent, this Labor Day in Sonoma County will be marked in stark contrast to recent Labor Days that were marred by a recession when the local unemployment rate hit a high of just over 11 percent.

Many of us of a certain age remember learning how to spell “encyclopedia” from Jiminy Cricket. This small Walt Disney character advised us that if we were full of curiosity and wanted to know the answers, we should get the … (sing it with me now … ) E-n-c-y-c-l-o-p-e-d-i-a.

Here's what's happening at the senior center: 

With newly confirmed Amy Coney Barrett now the sixth conservative on the bench, the next several months should be fascinating if not terrifying for those concerned about health care, the environment and the concentration of wealth. As expected, little was revealed during her confirmation hearing with all votes determined long before it started (although Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski took a few days to say so). Now we wait to see if Biden can win the presidency and the Democrats can take the Senate. If both of those things happen, we’ll see how long it takes them to add justices to the court to reduce the conservative super majority to a minority. Adding, say, four liberal justices to the court would send Republicans howling, and probably increasing the number yet again if they ever retake the White House and the Senate. 

Endorsements, events and other news from around town.