Good news for local news
Most of the time journalists go around looking for trouble. Lately, we haven’t had to look very hard. Our reporting has focused on the viral pandemic, the wildfires, the drought, climate change, civil unrest, constitutional insurrection and attacks of “fake news” against our very being and profession. It’s never been more challenging to seek out troubles and alert our public about problems that need solutions. We watchdog our government leaders to uphold our public trust, our laws and our democracy. We sit through endless school board meetings and local government sessions looking for anything that might smell fishy. We count on you, our readers, to act on your civic duties as voters, taxpayers and independent voices. We can’t force you to read our news or speak up, but we will never tire of imploring you to raise your voices to power and to defend our fragile democracy.
Flashbacks from Healdsburg, Feb. 8
100 years ago – Feb. 7, 1924
January Report of School Nurse
During January Mrs. Alice Howard paid 34 visits to 14 schools in this section, according to her monthly report as Healdsburg Red Cross nurse. She inspected 253 children during the month, recommending 62 teeth...
Editorial: River discharge plan warrants close, continued scrutiny
The idea that the Russian River should continue to be used as
Law: Revealed, natural and positive
Some time ago a column entitled “Religion challenges left and right” by E. J. Dionne, Jr. appeared in the Press Democrat. “Whenever I write sympathetically about religion,” he noted, “I get bombarded with tweets and notes from readers who normally agree with me but cannot abide by the idea that religious belief should be seen as intellectually serious.” Having made that caveat he goes on to treat religion seriously in a summary of a study produced by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution. Dionne himself took part in the research for the study. The study divides citizens into four groups: 28 percent religious conservatives, 38 percent religious moderates, 19 percent religious progressives, and 15 percent nonreligious. These groups are correlated to political attitudes and party affiliations. Not surprisingly, most religious conservatives are politically conservative and gravitate to the Republican Party, and most religious progressives and nonreligious are politically liberal and gravitate to the Democratic party. Also not surprisingly, religious moderates are in between and just as they are religiously moderate they tend to be moderate Republicans or moderate Democrats in fairly equal numbers.
Arts & Entertainment
A festival of love at local film center
While some 17 films and three “surprise screenings” are spread out over the four-day festival, that obscure majority is outweighed in impact by four classic love stories, including 'Roman Holiday,' 'The Birdcage,' 'Umbrellas of Cherbourg' and none other than Nick Cage and Cher in 'Moonstruck.'













