December 30th, 2008 01:20pm
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The Sacramento Bee today reports – here – that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing mid-year budget cuts that respond to the gaping hole in the state budget. Without revenue increases, that could mean at much as $40 billion in spending reductions over a period of 18 months. (The 18-month deficit has been variously estimated at $40 billion to $42 billion.)
Think pain all around. The deficit exceeds the amount the state …
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December 29th, 2008 03:30pm
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While expanding on one of the answers on the 2008 news quiz – it was one group’s concern about the safety of WiFi that caused a controversy in Sebastopol – I wrote that the City Council “backed down” from its opposition to WiFi.
But I was incorrect. It turns out the council said it would reconsider its opposition to the WiFi contract, but according to City Manager David Brennan, the council …
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December 28th, 2008 02:06pm
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In the 17th annual Press Democrat Quiz for News Junkies, the questions were posted earlier today. Now come the answers. Don’t worry about your score. We’re all friends here.
1 – On Nov. 4, 93.4 percent of Sonoma County voters, the highest percentage in the state, cast ballots. Democrat Barack Obama received 73.5 per cent of the votes for president.
2 – Economist Chris Thornberg said he didn’t expect an economic …
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December 28th, 2008 10:31am
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How do we make sense of the highs and lows of 2008? It will be a year remembered for the exhilaration of a presidential campaign that made history and for the anxiety associated with an economic contraction that left us to worry about what the new year will bring.
In three weeks, Americans will celebrate the inauguration of the first African-American president and then ask Barack Obama to lead the nation …
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December 21st, 2008 12:10pm
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At Christmastime, no one should have to think about the misadventures of the California Legislature, but there is this problem: The state budget deficit over the next 18 months is $42 billion – which is more than the combined annual spending on criminal justice ($13 billion), higher education ($12 billion), social services ($9 billion), environmental protection ($2 billion) and transportation ($1.4 billion).
In other words, the Golden State could shutter all …
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December 17th, 2008 10:08pm
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The Press Democrat Editorial Board today speaks out on the promises associated with the creation of a regional park in southern Sonoma County. You can read the editorial here.
Six years and $18 million ago, county officials offered assurances that the Tolay Lake regional park would be open to the public no later than 2008.
These assurances were important because local government didn’t have a sterling track record when it came to …
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December 16th, 2008 01:21pm
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Charlie Cooke lived an extraordinary life – Annapolis graduate, military analyst in Vietnam, Pentagon and White House official, target of Richard Nixon’s venom – and, finally, father of Sonoma County’s landmark efforts to protect open space and farm land.
Cooke died Sunday at his Sonoma Valley ranch. He was 77. Chris Smith wrote the obit (which includes my comments). You can read it by clicking here.
I liked talking to …
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December 15th, 2008 01:25pm
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If you lived in the Bay Area in the 1970s, you know the story of Harvey Milk, the martyred San Francisco supervisor.
Still, the movie about his life offers new insights into the spirit, energy and courage that made him a champion for the rights of gay people. Gus Van Sant’s movie, “Milk,” deserves its place among the best films of 2008. It’s still at the Rialto. You should check it …
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December 14th, 2008 12:53pm
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Sea Ranch, the landmark seaside development in the northwest corner of Sonoma County, gets star treatment today in the New York Times. Architectural writer Patricia Leigh Brown shares her love of the land and of the radical architecture that defined the place. But she also warns that some areas are in danger of being surburbanized into what one critic calls “a highly processed destination resort.”
You can read the Times report …
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December 12th, 2008 03:32pm
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Today’s page one story – click here – testifies to how much Bodega Bay has changed in the past 40 years. This seaside enclave remains a fishing town – but not necessarily a town where fishermen can afford to live.
In case you missed it, Business Week magazine listed this picturesque hamlet among the 32 most expensive small towns in America. And why not? When the median price of a home …
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Pete Golis is a columnist for The Press Democrat and a longtime resident of Sonoma County.
