News

The Sebastopol City Council is holding a regular meeting this week, on Aug. 3 at 6 p.m. Right before the regular meeting, the council will also be holding a series of interviews in public session at 4:30 p.m. for various committee vacancies. To view the agenda, go here.

A company marketing second home ownership opportunities using a timeshare model in unincorporated Dry Creek Valley may be in violation of zoning code, according to a courtesy notice issued by Permit Sonoma April 26.

Most of the Sebastopol Police Department’s (SPD) computer systems have been restored since the July 11 compromise that’s still under investigation, according to Sebastopol Police Chief Kevin Kilgore. Law enforcement will wait until the investigation’s end to determine whether the incident amounts to a cyberattack, he said.

At their regular meeting Aug. 4, the Windsor Town Council is expected to pass two resolutions that will leave both filling a vacant council seat by a special election next year and modifying the mayoral selection process to the voters by special election on Nov. 2. The council will also continue the first reading of a more restrictive update to the town’s tobacco retailer license ordinance, taking into consideration complaints from business owners. 

Months ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom, target of a disgruntled developer and facing a recall campaign while managing extraordinary wildfire storms, COVID-19 and worsening drought, called for a voluntary water conservation effort that initially targeted only Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Not too much later, as the greatest reservoirs in the state came closer to reaching their lowest levels, Newsom ultimately placed the entire state under voluntary limits of 15%, while never calling for mandatory ones. In the meantime, water levels went down, down, down.

The city of Healdsburg has a new police chief and it’s the Healdsburg Police Department’s (HPD) own Matt Jenkins, who has served as the police department’s lieutenant for the last eight years and has been with the department for almost two decades.

The Healdsburg City Council has a short agenda for their upcoming meeting on Monday, Aug. 2, the first meeting since their July recess. Major agenda items include a city manager update on the drought and COVID-19 and a climate mobilization strategy presentation by the Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA).

Low-income Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal have been vaccinated at far lower rates than the overall population in all 58 counties, according to state data.

Following a COVID-19 outbreak over the weekend in Guerneville, Lazy Bear Week — an annual LGBT-themed event — began July 26, bringing desperately needed business to the hard-hit tourism economy of the Russian River region. 

While washing dishes the other night I was contemplating what this month’s topic should be for the Market Report. As I squeezed the environmentally friendly liquid detergent onto the sponge, I realized my dishwashing ritual has changed substantially this past year. I never use...