Columns

Who was that praying for all the rain? Are you done yet? Wait, maybe we should remind ourselves where we live and what our flood and drought history tells us.

Spring. A magical time of year. You can see and feel life bursting forth with great force and energy. Dry Creek Peach included. Our fruit has set by this time, green leaves are growing, and peaches will soon begin to take shape. We do a big...

The top-to-bottom modernization of the Healdsburg Regional Library will begin in September and last through spring 2025, the county’s library system has confirmed. But the library at 139 Piper St. will close to the public a week earlier, on Aug. 25, a week before the temporary 'mini-library' opens on Sept. 3...

This time of year is always bittersweet for me. The days of having all the time to do all the things I want, when I want to do them, are coming to an end.

When I was growing up I remember often complaining to my parents that I was bored. They would always say, "Go outside, ride your bike, put your roller skates on." And I did just that; I would ride around my street or lace up my skates. It passed the time and helped ease my boredom. Those memories of my teen nostalgia got me thinking. The world seemed simpler then, less chaotic. What I wouldn't do to transport my teenagers back to the ‘80s so they could get a glimpse of life less complicated. So they could truly understand what my teen years looked like.  

There’s no question that our country needs major income tax reforms to an IRS system that’s crookedly complicated, cruelly unequal, sizzled in politics, pocked full of loopholes, filled with shady tax shelters and the subject of heaping piles of misinterpretation and malicious favoritism.

To make America great again, as Mr. Trump keeps promising, shouldn’t we start in our own communities? We realize that all of America’s communities are unique and have different notions of what greatness means. But isn’t there a very definitive set of values and pursuits that fit under the banner of “We, the people?” Isn’t it a belief in freedoms, rights and responsibilities that unites the alt-liberals of northern California (most of us) with the poor working class of coal country West Virginia?

I’m more of a rom-com Halloween girl, versus a horror movie Halloween girl. I love fall, and all things pumpkin patch-y and handing out candy and seeing the kiddos all dressed up in their cute costumes. But, I wouldn’t mind never seeing a zombie or cackling spooky skull and if those creepy clowns with balloons could go away forever, that would be great.

Last week 99 U.S. senators took an oath to “do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.” (Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe was absent due to a family medical emergency but will be sworn in on another day). 

Despite Memorial Day’s deep significance, it was not recognized as a national holiday until 1971. The complex and poignant story of its becoming a national holiday echoes through the canyons of American history from the Civil War to the present...