FEMA approved a $5.5 million reimbursement to Sonoma County for road repairs after the January 2017 winter storms, the county said Oct. 5. The county spent more than $7.3 million on the work.
Year: 2026
Daily storage in Lake Mendocino through Water Year 2025 and Water Year 2026, from California Data Exchange Center readings at station COY. (Chart: Wine Country Gazette)
Lake Mendocino ends water year 5 feet lower than 2025
Lake Sonoma ended the year about a foot higher despite 12 inches less rain. Lake Mendocino closed Water Year 2026 holding about 9,100 acre-feet less than a year earlier, as Eel River imports through the Potter Valley Project keep shrinking.
Lake County supervisors, from left, Eddie Crandell, Jessica Pyska, Chair Brad Rasmussen, Helen Owen and Bruno Sabatier, at the board's special budget meeting Oct. 1, 2026, in Lakeport. (Screen capture from County of Lake video)
Lake County adopts budget by unfunding vacant county jobs
Lake County supervisors adopted the 2026-27 budget Oct. 1, a day before the state deadline, by pulling funding from vacant general fund jobs after spending down the county’s contingency money.
The Larkdales, in a 2020 publicity photo, are scheduled to play near the Blue Door Gallery during Guerneville's First Saturday ArtWalk on Oct. 3. (William Toft / Courtesy of The Larkdales)
Guerneville ArtWalk brings brooms, photos and street music
River Arts’ First Saturday ArtWalk fills downtown Guerneville from 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 3 with handmade brooms, photography, ceramics, metal sculptures, a party-hat project and street music from The Larkdales.
Late-day sun over Lake Berryessa in the Napa County mountains on May 22, 2025. The lake sits in the North Bay Interior Mountains forecast zone, one of two North Bay zones under the weekend heat advisory. (Jesse Pluim / Bureau of Land Management)
Heat advisory covers Sonoma and Napa hills, not valley towns
The National Weather Service put the hills of western Sonoma County and the mountains of Sonoma and Napa counties under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. Saturday to 10 p.m. Sunday. Valley towns fall outside it.
Fort Bragg Town Hall, where the City Council meets, at Main and Laurel streets on July 18, 2026. (Roger Coryell)
Fort Bragg delays housing fix as state target nears 5 times
Fort Bragg’s council again put off fixing a decades-old conflict over apartments in commercial zones, continuing the hearing to Nov. 9 as the city faces a state housing target nearly five times the last.
Santa Rosa's Measure M figures for the 2024-25 fiscal year, from the Parks for All — Measure M Report to the Community 2025. (Sonoma County Regional Parks)
Santa Rosa holds $11 million in unspent parks tax money
Santa Rosa ended the last fiscal year with $11.07 million in unspent Measure M parks tax money, about three-quarters of what all nine cities held, as voters weigh renewing the tax Nov. 3.
The first page of Gov. Gavin Newsom's Sept. 20, 2026, veto message on SB 1272. (Office of the Governor)
Napa passes on help for buyers stuck with code violations
Days after Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill to give new homeowners time to fix inherited code violations, Napa County staff sketched a local version for supervisors, then said they weren’t bringing it forward.
Clear Lake pact takes effect after a split Lake County vote
The Clear Lake co-management agreement took effect Sept. 11 with all 23 governments signed. Lake County’s announcement called the approval four to one; the board’s minutes record three to one, with one supervisor absent.
Vintage Premier Dinner at Robert Mondavi Winery
Robert Mondavi Winery welcomed guests back to its Oakville estate Saturday for its 2026 Vintage Premiere dinner. It was the first edition of the annual celebration held at the winery since a three-year renovation, and it came as Mondavi marks 60 years since its founding. Guests had a chance to explore the grounds before sitting…