News

Healdsburg local Hollie Clausen and Healdsburg student youth activist Izabel Soto led a boisterous crowd in a musical march down Center Street and up Johnson Street to the Fitch Mountain Elementary School campus on Friday night, July 31, in a show of support for equality and justice for Black, Indigenous and people of color in light of the death of George Floyd and other deaths at the hands of police officers.

After years of searching and negotiating to find a strategic partner, the board of directors that oversee the Healdsburg District Hospital this week voted to go forward with final agreements with NorCal Health Connect, an affiliate of Providence St. Joseph Health. Pending a vote by the taxpayer-owners of the Northern Sonoma County Healthcare District (NSCHD) in November, ownership and management of the hospital will change and be final.

At the school board’s regular meeting on July 30, West Side School Principal and West Side Union School District Superintendent Kris Menlove revealed the district’s distance learning plans for the 2020-21 school year, stating that distance learning will look quite different this fall and will have a more rigorous program than what was implemented last year.

Two west county commercial cannabis cultivation projects are headed to final public hearings and comment periods in early August. One is proposed at 885 Montgomery Road west of Sebastopol and a second one is proposed at 2425 Poole Ridge Road near Guerneville. The projects have separate owners.

According to a statement from the county of Sonoma, the chances of the county being removed from governor’s watchlist next week are slim. On July 13, the State of California placed Sonoma County on the state watchlist with new restrictions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Sonoma County was given the date of Aug. 2 as the first date the state would consider lifting some of the restrictions. 

Incoming animals

EDITOR: During his campaign four years ago, Trump claimed that he could shoot someone in Times Square and still get elected.  Today Trump is killing thousands of people, not by shooting a gun, but by shooting off his mouth.

Subdivision map, fire fuel management and a public art project on agenda

California Coastal Commission announces coastal cleanup month focused on working close to home

Several notable Sonoma County musicians will perform virtually next Saturday, Aug. 8 in an online variety show hosted by the Occidental Center for the Arts (OCA).