Editorial

The taxpayers’ checkbook

July 6, 2016

July 1 is the start of a new fiscal year for local governments. This is when the county, cities and schools start spending new tax money based on recently approved 2016-2017 budgets. All these budgets tend to launch with the same conclusions: there is never enough tax revenue; there are too many unmet needs; employee and pension costs keep going up; and everything could be solved if we only agreed to raise new taxes and vote for more long term debt bonds.

LETTER: Newspaper smiles

July 27, 2006

EDITOR: Usually I go up the hill to get the Press Democrat about

Questions on the Fourth

July 8, 2021

File this editorial under, “careful what you wish for.” As a nation, we just celebrated our Independence Day. Just before that, a few thousand Sonoma County high school seniors took their first steps toward adulthood and independence. All of us are emerging from a year-plus of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. A few of us are swearing by our independence to not be forced to vaccinate. And, all those 3- and 4-year-olds under our feet keep letting us know that one definition of independence is the ability to say “no.”

Uniquely California: The Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury

March 23, 2023

When our forefathers drafted the California Constitution in 1849, they included a requirement that “One or more grand juries shall be drawn and summoned at least once a year in each county.” Today, California is the last state still to have a comprehensive standing...