Columns

We expected this new year of 2020 to be a very full 12 months of news, it being a presidential election year, a Leap Year, the start of a new decade and the continuation of an age of digital disruption. But we didn’t also expect so much news about homelessness, endless tax questions on our election ballots and plenty of employment but not enough money to pay our rents and mortgages. And then there’s all that presidential impeachment news, too.

Healdsburg could have been called Karlsburg over the last couple of weeks when thick fog settled in the Russian River Valley creating near white-out driving conditions and beautiful sunrises and sunsets. by Pierre Ratte “Karl,” actually “Karl the Fog,” is the name given to San Francisco’s...

In the aftermath of the worst firestorm in Sonoma County history last week, local chefs snapped into action doing what they do best: They cooked. They cooked for first responders and the people they saved. They cooked for evacuees. They cooked for volunteers who were helping at local evacuation shelters. The resulting meals included homemade sausages, steak and lasagna. They were adorned with fresh vegetables from local farms, fresh bread from local bakeries and lots of love.

I’m fairly confident in my ability to say that the newsroom here at Sonoma West Publishers is primarily made up of introverts — we love our jobs, we love our communities and as long as we’re not forced to be the life of the party, we’re good to go. Contradicting our collective social trepidation, however, is one of the staples of community journalism: interviewing.

Right around the time on Thanksgiving morning when you pop your turkey into that fancy oven, just after you tune the television in your cozy living room to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from New York, volunteers affiliated with a Healdsburg-based nonprofit will fan out into the community and inspire gratitude of an entirely different kind.

May 1 is an important date in our family. That is the date that the pool opens, and which – more importantly – the date that the hot tub opens. We are at the gate, pool key in hand, most weekend mornings the minute the gate opens. (It’s on an electric timer, so if you try at 8:57, it won’t open. We’ve tried.)

The smoke has cleared from the skies overhead but tons of ashes still remain where homes and whole neighborhoods once stood just two weeks ago before the northern California wildfires struck on Oct. 8. The skies may be clear, but our futures are not. Our county just suffered an historic natural disaster, the most destructive wildfire ever in California. We are facing questions and impacts that no one has ever been challenged with before.

If you grow tomatoes, consider growing marijuana. Skill is required, but it’s not rocket science. The legal limit varies from city to city. It’s best to check with the authorities, or go to sonomacounty.ca.gov/Cannabis/Personal-Use-and-Cultivation/ for information. The site states that, “Permits are not required for personal cultivation” on land outside city limits.