COTATI — A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the City of Cotati in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, according to court records — the third such case filed against the small Sonoma County city by a plaintiff named George Barich in the past decade. The case, Barich v….
Month: May 2026
Lake County: $4.9 million from state, all on Route 29
The California Transportation Commission’s $4.9 million allocation for Lake County all goes to state Route 29, including $3 million for a new turn lane near Twin Lakes and $1.9 million for safety upgrades from Middletown to Lower Lake.
Micro-Winery Guild launches in Napa and Sonoma, cashing in on Santa Rosa lawmaker’s vineyard-tasting bill
A small-producer trade group that spent years pushing California to legalize tastings out in the vines is now turning that win into a consumer brand. The Micro-Winery Guild, the rebranded version of the nonprofit Save the Family Farms, announced this week it is launching a Napa- and Sonoma-based collective of family-run wineries that make fewer…
Top-down view of parched, cracked earth texture with small green plants emerging
Cloverdale will be short of water in dry years — by a third
In a dry year, Cloverdale will be short of water by a third. That is the city’s own estimate. It is published in a new draft plan posted to the city’s website on Wednesday. And it is the first time a Russian River town has put a number on what life will look like after…
Hidden recording in a Davis living room:
Jones threatens to sue Thompson over attack ad Two and a half weeks before California’s June 2 primary, Eric Jones’ campaign sayssomeone secretly recorded a small house event in Davis — and that Rep. Mike Thomp-son’s campaign is now using the audio in an attack ad. A reportedly secret recording and a new attack ad…
Four Napa County weeklies go dark May 22 as Highway 29 Publishing pauses operations
Four Napa County weekly newspapers will stop publishing on May 22, the company that owns them announced Wednesday afternoon. In a letter posted to the Calistoga Tribune website and signed “The Highway 29 team,” Highway 29 Publishing told readers that May 22 will be the last day it publishes the Calistoga Tribune, the Yountville Sun,…
Word Junkie: The spring edition
In which we drag a perfectly nice season into a basement of dictionaries and refuse to let it leave Spring is the season everyone loves and no one can describe without sounding like a greeting card. “Renewal.” “Awakening.” “Rebirth.” Sure. Also: mud, allergies, and the unsettling realization that you have not, in fact, gone to…
Death cap mushroom. CDPH photo.
Three hospitalized near Deer Park as California’s wild-mushroom poisoning toll climbs to 47
Three adults are in the hospital after eating wild mushrooms picked in the hills above Deer Park, and Napa County’s top public health officer is asking everyone in the region to put down the basket until further notice. Dr. Christine Wu, Napa County’s Public Health Officer and a deputy director at the county’s Health and…
Medtronic’s Santa Rosa exit closes a 27-year chapter in Sonoma County medtech
The slow goodbye finally has a date. Medtronic told its 370 Santa Rosa workers on Wednesday that the company will shut its Fountaingrove campus by spring 2028, ending a presence in Sonoma County that began in 1998 with what was then one of the largest medical-device deals in California history.The work — pacemakers, coronary stents,…
City of Santa Rosa photo
Santa Rosa City Attorney Teresa Stricker resigns; council names interim June 2
Santa Rosa City Attorney Teresa L. Stricker told the city Saturday she is stepping down on Tuesday, June 2, citing “new professional opportunities.” The City Council, which holds the appointment, plans to name an interim replacement at the same June 2 meeting. The departure had not been picked up anywhere outside the city’s own Civic…