Nineteen months ago, I wrote a column about young people leaving Sonoma County for places where housing was affordable, jobs were plentiful and the cost of living allowed time for family. (You can read the column here.) Here was a new and different turn to the California story. For a [...]

This morning's shocking headline: "Legislature to miss budget deadline." What a surprise. The state Legislature hasn't missed a deadline since the last deadline.The story by Staff Writer Derek Moore goes on to explain that the state may eliminate funding for the victims of domestic violence. In Sonoma County, according to [...]

"Who would have thought that America's largest state, a state whose economy is larger than that of all but a few nations, could so easily become a banana republic?"-New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.When Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown announced last week that she wants to maintain funding for the [...]

When Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown announced this afternoon that she wants to maintain funding for the Orenda Center drug and alcohol treatment program, Orenda Center supporters applauded. But Brown asked them to stop. "Don't clap," she said, "This only means that some other program will have to go. . [...]

Six years ago, the brawny movie star rode into town on a promise to kick butt and take names. Remember? Unfortunately, his good intentions ran headlong into the immoveable object. These days, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is just another garden-variety politician, humbled by his failure to slay the beast that is [...]

The announcement came only 58 minutes after the polls closed on Tuesday night. With the defeat of ballot measures designed to stave off a financial calamity, the Bay Area Council was amping up its campaign to re-invent state government."In the run-up to the recent special election," the announcement said, "the [...]

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Even in liberal Sonoma County, the message from voters was clear and unequivocal: We're tired of the endless posturing and paralysis. We're tired of the smoke and mirrors. We're tired of government pretending that it's not subject to the same economic realities as everyone else. If state government has to [...]

I'm heading out to vote, mindful of what a friend said about this election: I'll vote with two hands, he said, one to mark the ballot and the other to hold my nose.I'm looking at a political mailer that promises that Proposition 1C will provide "$5 billion immediately to help [...]

For many years, in good times and bad, the people who represent us in Sacramento have rejected every opportunity to bring spending in line with revenue. They also refused to put money aside for hard times.Now, they have a crisis, and no one trusts them. It appears that the financial [...]