Columns

When we first investigated and reported in April about the rising use of electronic cigarettes by local teens we came away astonished by the set of facts that pointed to a public health crisis that was impacting thousands of unwitting local students. Since that time, the horrors of “vaping” have increased in volume and intensity. Earlier this month, Dr. Celeste Philip, Sonoma County’s public health officer, issued an alert and urged local doctors to watch for lung illnesses that could be linked to vaping nicotine and cannabis. This week, the first death in California attributed to vaping was reported among 57 similar cases of lung illnesses linked to vaping. More than 500 mysterious lung illness cases and five deaths have been reported nationwide.

This year’s theme — Strength. Resilience. Justice. — reflects this vision of the future. One in which all victims are strengthened by the response they receive, organizations are resilient to face challenges and communities are able to seek collective justice and healing. The theme...

100 years ago – November 4, 1920

I was raised during the Joe McCarthy era “Red Scare” times. Growing up in an ethnically mixed, working class community I remember very well the fear of that time. If you weren’t a “real” American you were suspect. If you supported unions you were a communist. We had people in our neighborhood disappear. Sound familiar?

Last year was a rough year for so many reasons. Wildfires, floods, a new administration defined by turmoil and greed; you’ve got the gist. It was a year in which much was lost and hearts were broken. So let’s begin 2018 with renewed hope and a discussion of what wines pair best with broken hearts.

Various elected officials and area firefighting administrators have been trying for several decades to better coordinate and add more efficiencies to all of Sonoma County’s firefighting services, personnel and tax structure. It has been a history of turf battles, bookshelf studies (you know, when a study is commissioned and then immediately left on the shelf unutilized) and even a recall election or two.

The student survivors of the Florida high school mass shootings are speaking out about school safety and gun violence. It seems they have the nation’s attention. They have provoked comments that “this time may be different.” Maybe these Florida students represent a new generation with a new voice and a new set of convictions. Maybe.

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.