News

Michael Volpatt, the chef-owner of Big Bottom Market in Guerneville, has released a new book, “Cooking In Place: 50 Days, Stories, and 70+ Recipes to Keep You Sane in Challenging Times.”

Of the eight items to come before the Sebastopol City Council at their regular Nov. 16 meeting, two regard compliance with state organic waste reduction laws (SB 1383). The other six include developing objective design guidelines, pension liability refinancing and a redesign of the city website. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. and the full meeting agenda can be found here.

On March 30, 2021, Sebastopol police officers received information of possible sexual assaults that occurred in the City of Sebastopol between December 2019 and March 2021.Upon further investigation, the suspect was identified as Robert Jacob, the former mayor of Sebastopol (2014) and the co-founder of Peace in Medicine, Sebastopol’s first cannabis dispensary.On April 10, 2021 at 7 a.m., Sebastopol police officers contacted Robert Jacob in the 7400 block of Woodland Avenue and took him into custody for an arrest warrant related to five felony and one misdemeanor sexual assault crimes against a minor, including  266j PC, 288(c)(1) PC, 288.2(a)(1) PC, 288.2(a)(2) PC, 288.4(a)(1) PC, and 289(i) PC. (According the California Penal Code, these involve, among other things,  transportation of a child under 16 for lewd and lascivious acts, distribution of child pornography, arranging a meeting for sexual purposes with a person believed to be underage and sexual penetration with a person under 16 years of age.)Jacob was transported to the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility and is being held without bail.This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sebastopol Police Department at 707-829-4400 and refer to Report #21-0220.Townsy Sebastopol is a recently-launched community web app, offering local news, online shopping at local stores, a local event guide, local volunteer and job boards and more. Find it at https://townsyapp.com.Sonoma West Publishers is partnering with Townsy to make our news more accessible to the Sebastopol community. 

School districts in California’s richest neighborhoods are far more likely to offer in-person instruction than those serving its poorest, though the state as a whole remains behind the rest of the country in bringing students back inside physical classrooms, according to a CalMatters analysis of state data.

The Healdsburg Unified School District, with full support from the school board of trustees, is planning to explore how to create and implement a districtwide ethnic studies program for all grade levels. The creation of a new curriculum can take years, however, the process will soon kick off with a preliminary meeting with the Acosta Educational Partnership, a group that works with local schools to aid in the process of establishing ethnic studies, and with community outreach.

Amanda Newhall joins full time fire department staff after years as a reserve

Part two of our annual news roundup covers a selection of events from July through December. Part one, covering January through June, appeared last week.

What’s the difference between a violin and a fiddle? Nothing, really, except maybe an approach to playing it and the musical style. Fiddle is actually just a nickname for the violin, although any bowed string instrument can be called a fiddle (or so Wikipedia tells me). But most of the time, a fiddle is a violin. Just played in a different style.

MONDAY, FEB. 22

Lifesavers team raises $20,000, more to come