Editorial

For too many years, Healdsburg’s public library and all of the Sonoma County Library branches have suffered with reduced hours, less staff and a loss of programs due to budget cuts made during the Recession that have not been restored.

California’s state government — which controls nearly all of our

As a first year County Supervisor, I often tell people that “I am so full of purpose I might pop.” I love my job … and I don’t take a bit of it for granted. Some people ask me how I deal with the negative aspects of being a local elected official – the accusations, the blame and the demands to fix everything under the sun.

Come journey to the antebellum south, tune your ear to the tender sounds of Bach and Beethoven, and take a cultural tour of Paris through the ages with stops in Medieval times, the Enlightenment, the Belle Epoque, and the 1920s. All of this is available here in Sonoma County with no tests, no grades and no required reading. The magic is, you don’t have to leave the area to start this journey. Sonoma State University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) program is pleased to present three of our most popular instructors this fall at our Healdsburg satellite campus, where we have served hundreds of lifelong learners since 2012. Mick Chantler, Kayleen Asbo, and Bruce Elliott are a powerful trio, often referred to as the Pied Pipers of OLLI, as our members follow them everywhere and take anything they might teach.

All of Sonoma County owes its eternal gratitude to Bill Kortum for his five decades of open space preservation, environmental action and community leadership that shaped the land, coastline and our urban-rural land use patterns as we know them.

Dressing in my sweats, high-top shoes, hooded jersey and cap, I leave the house to meet the morning  cold. As my father would say, “No one is tougher than the weather!” I am going to meet an old friend— wild, steep, dense stands of redwood, oak and madrone— the forested path of the Fitch mountain fire trail. Hiking it brings understanding and awareness of life’s connectedness, of oneness with the Earth.

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed five important tobacco control laws, made possible because of the governor’s special session on health legislation.

“May you live in interesting times” is an ancient curse that has