Columbus
KRCB 104.9
Petaluma's Minna Stess is set to skate Summer Olympics in Paris.
photo credit: Minna StessPetaluma's Minna Stess (right) pictured with her father Andrew,after claiming bronze at the 2023 World Skate championships in Rome. After a park skating bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships, Petaluma’s Minna Stess battled through Olympic qualifying to claim a spot in the Paris 2024 summer games. "I swear every contest I got more nervous and more nervous and more nervous," Stess said through laughs. The successful qualification campaign, spread across a number of competitions including make or break outings in China and Hungary, had a few bumps - falls really - for the 18-year-old Petaluma native. "Budapest, I...
Sebastopol voters to weigh 1/2-cent sales tax increase in November
photo credit: Marc Albert/KRCBA downtown Sebastopol alley, looking toward a vacant storefront, formerly Jasper's. Following much hemming and hawing late into the night, Sebastopol's city council this week unanimously agreed to place a half-cent sales tax increase before the small city's voters in November. According to city officials, Sebastopol had little choice. Without a bump in revenue, budget deficits would consume reserves in a few short years. While a recent poll of city residents found support for the measure around 70 percent, elected leaders said they don't relish the ask. Addressing the council, resident Kyle Falbo told them he'd vote for it, but took issue...
Sonoma residents will face decision on upping the city's sales tax
photo credit: Canva If you're in the city limits of Sonoma, there'll be an additional tax measure on your ballot in November. One the city says it needs to keep services running. Sonoma officials estimate the half-cent sales tax would generate close to $3 million a year for city coffers. Sonoma says it's contending with a jump in city pension obligations and fire district costs going up by over a quarter million dollars. And a $873-thousand dollar increase in the police contract. City manager David Guhin said simple belt tightening won't correct Sonoma's budget issue amid declining hotel and sales tax revenue, which...
Windsor ballot measure would trash competitive bidding for garbage contract
photo credit: Courtesy GoogleMaps Cans out for trash day in Windsor. In November, voters in Windsor will be asked to get rid of a local law passed by Windsor voters in 1996. That gave ordinary residents more say in local garbage service. Measure is Q on the ballot in Windsor only. It would officially eliminate competitive bidding from the town's waste hauler selection process, and dump a ten-year limit on those contacts. Why change now? Alissa Johnson is on the board of directors of Windsor's Chamber of Commerce. She also works for Windsor's current trash hauler, Sonoma County Resource Recovery....one of the main drivers behind...
Focusing on Mendocino County's Jackson Forest
photo credit: Frank Hartzell/Bay City News Two trees slated for removal at Jackson Demonstration State Forest in Mendocino County. East of the towns of Mendocino, Fort Bragg and Caspar lies the Jackson Demonstration State Forest, a 48,000-acre tract filled with redwood, douglas fir and other trees common to California's North Coast.Created in 1947 to allow sustainable harvesting, the area has been logged repeatedly but currently grows more new trees than are harvested.On Friday, the forest will be the site of an unusual meeting for the volunteer panel that helps advise management of the forest.For what is apparently the first time in the group's...
Sonoma County strips park rangers of peace officer status
photo credit: USFWS Sonoma County supervisors have controversially reclassified regional park rangers away from peace officer status, to the less law enforcement focused public officer status. It's a move widely condemned by park rangers like Kat Pringle. "I don't know that there's much else to be done," Pringle said outside the Board of Supervisors chambers in Santa Rosa after the decision. "As far as I understand it, the director does have this kind of power." County supervisors, minus the absent James Gore, unanimously approved the reclassification. For Sonoma County Regional Parks leadership, it’s a simple change; one which Deputy Director Melanie Parker said puts...
Environmental docs available for comment on Koi Nation casino plan
photo credit: Koi Nation via Bay City NewsRendering of a proposed casino and resort near Windsorproposed by the Koi Nation of Northern California. The public can weigh in on potential environmental impacts of a casino and resort southeast of the town of Windsor in unincorporated Sonoma County proposed by the Koi Nation of Northern California, following the release of a draft environmental impact statement from federal regulators. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs completed a draft environmental impact statement that will be open for public comment until Aug. 26 for the controversial proposed development on a roughly 68-acre site that the federally recognized...
State regulators push for electrification could raise PG&E bills even higher
photo credit: Sanika Mahajan/Bay City NewsActivists with the Party for Socialism and Liberation demanded PG&E be nationalized and protested rate hikes. The California Public Utilities Commission opened the door on Thursday to potential PG&E rate increases as soon as next year, adopting a new rate making process that will let the utility recoup its costs for completing energization projects. Energization projects help connect new customers to the electricity grid, increase capacity for existing customers, and increase transmission capacity to deliver greater loads in the future as the state moves to stop selling gas-powered vehicles by 2035 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. Prior...
IOLERO seeks judgement for whistleblower complaint subpoenas
photo credit: County of Sonoma There's been plenty of back and forth since its inception in 2015 over what exactly IOLERO, Sonoma County's Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach, can and can't do. The saga continues, and the latest chapter is playing out in the courts. The catalyst for this dispute: a whistleblower complaint sent to IOLERO. The Sonoma County Sheriff said IOLERO lacks the authority to investigate. IOLERO Director John Alden has a different assessment. "Measure P gives us the ability to look into whistleblower complaints from inside county government or inside the sheriff's office by issuing subpoenas to take...
Can California’s health care providers help solve the state’s homelessness crisis
photo credit: Marc Albert/KRCB When a shortfall of several hundred thousand dollars almost derailed new homeless housing in Bakersfield, a health care company swooped in to salvage the project. That unorthodox move is part of a broader effort to commingle California’s health care and homeless services agencies. It comes as providers in both areas increasingly acknowledge that it’s nearly impossible to be healthy if you’re living on the street. Health care company Akido Labs covered about 10% of the cost to build that 16-unit project in Bakersfield. Health insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is also funding homeless housing projects...
At long last, Petaluma's Helen Putnam Regional Park set to add most of Scott Ranch
photo credit: City of PetalumaSeasonal Kelly Creek during the winter. A bitter, arduous two decade development struggle over a large ranch on Petaluma's western edge moved much closer to an amicable resolution this week. That's when Sonoma County's Board of Supervisors officially agreed to pony up $1.8 million dollars to help seal the deal. The money unlocks matching funds from the City of Petaluma, along with private donations and will help finalize a deal that will append much of the historic Scott Ranch onto Helen Putnam Regional Park. That's while 28 large single family homes rise on the balance. Jared Emerson-Johnson is...
California bracing for the worst as fires burn vastly more acres than last year
photo credit: Marc Albert/KRCBGov. Gavin Newsom at a wildfire briefing Wednesday Despite unprecedented preparations, full reservoirs and lightning fast response by firefighters, this year's fire season is outpacing recent years. Preventing disaster will require all hands on deck, including a vigilant public. That was the main thrust of an hour-long press conference this morning in Sacramento featuring governor Gavin Newsom along with state emergency officials. Joe Tyler, director of CalFire said hot temperatures are adding new challenges, and despite larger fires, losses have thankfully been minimal. "Though the acres are big, the fatalities at this point are zero, the structures damaged or destroyed...
New airport fuel tank project prompts lawsuit
photo credit: Courtesy of STSSonoma County's airport. Plaintiffs are awaiting a hearing date in a lawsuit alleging a project at the Charles M Schulz-Sonoma County Airport could cause an aviation catastrophe. One of the main flight service companies operating at the airport is suing the county over a new above-ground fuel tank being installed by a competitor. Airport, and by extension county, officials have approved the tank and its location. Les Perry, a partner at Perry, Johnson, Anderson, Miller and Moskowitz is representing the Sonoma Jet Center. It's a firm providing maintenance, flight support and airport hangers, mainly to private planes. Perry told KRCB...
Local white sturgeon fish moves closer to endangered status
photo credit: US Fish & Wildlife Service via Bay City NewsA female sturgeon captured by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is tagged to document movement in the San Joaquin River Basin. April 17, 2024. After over 100 million years of existence, the white sturgeon may be fading from the San Francisco Bay estuary. On June 19, the California Fish and Game Commission approved white sturgeon as a candidate species for listing under the California Endangered Species Act. Bay Area scientists say their decline is due to increased pollution and a loss of deep-river spawning grounds. The listing could not only affect the sport fishing...
Prop 4: $10 billion bond for resilience, wildfire prevention makes ballot
photo credit: Stanislavsky A $10 billion statewide bond measure that would fund a range of environmental resilience and other projects will appear on the November ballot after the passage this week of a bill to place it before voters. Major projects funded by the bond revenue would include drinking water infrastructure and wildfire prevention. Passed as Senate Bill 867 on Wednesday, it was numbered by the end of the day by Secretary of State Shirley Weber as Proposition 4. It was one of 10 propositions numbered for the statewide ballot in November, including a separate bond measure for K-12 school infrastructure. Prop. 4, formally titled...
Proposed Sebastopol hotel wins three-year extension, builders hope to wait out high interest rates
photo credit: Courtesy GoogleMapsThe site of a promised hotel remains vacant years after approval. Long-planned as the future site of a swank 66-room hotel, a vacant lot in Sebastopol remains a weedy patch behind a cyclone fence, hopefully not forever. It's the saga of the Sebastopol Hotel, a $90 million dollar boutique hotel viewed by backers as a panacea for the financially struggling small city. In addition to sorely needed property and room taxes, it is hoped vacationing guests bring in more sales tax revenue, while the new edifice fills a hole in the city's streetscape. Councilmember Sandra Maurer told colleagues this...
Pacific Gas & Electric says grid holding stable so far
photo credit: Pacific Gas & ElectricPG&E staff provide an update from their Emergency Operations Center in Vacavilleon power grid status and safety precautions for the early July heatwave on July 3rd, 2024. It’s an all hands on deck approach to the current heatwave in California; and that includes PG&E. On Wednesday, the utility giant provided a briefing from its emergency operations center in Vacaville. PG&E Meteorologist Scott Strenfel said the extreme heat smothering California could set new temperature records. "What we're going to see over the next seven days rivals some of our biggest heat waves that we've ever experienced," Strenfel said....
Toll Fire burns 50 acres; firefighters starting to turn the corner on containment
photo credit: CalFire Air support making a drop on the Toll Fire burning northeast of Calistoga on Tuesday, July 2. Here's the latest information on that fire burning out of control in hills north east of Calistoga. CalFire is reporting that the blaze, named the Toll Fire is now about 50-acres in size, and 10% contained. The agency says 300 firefighters are mobilized on scene. Air attack and most helicopters were released by 4 P.M. Firefighters appear on their way to gaining the upper hand. The app Watch Duty is reporting that the fire is being held to 50-acres as of early Tuesday afternoon. The fire...
Heat wave could cause blackouts
Extreme heat expected locally for at least the next week. Extreme temperatures expected this week will do more than shorten tempers and draw crowds to swimming holes. Widespread and lingering heat across most of Northern California could disrupt electricity this week. PG&E is telling customers in Sonoma and nine other counties to prepare for possible shutoffs. "Normally, at night when the temperatures go down, our equipment has a chance to cool down, but when we have this extreme heat, it's staying warm at night and our equipment never gets a break, so we can see heat-related damage to our equipment which...
Enviros suing feds over vanishing shark
photo credit: Courtesy Michael Meier, Gillclub.The tope shark, also called a soupfin shark, snapper shark and school shark. Two environmental groups are suing federal officials for blowing a year-and-a-half past a deadline over consideration of protections for a shark species living off of our coast. The plaintiffs say the deadline, set by the feds themselves, lapsed in February of last year. David Derrick is a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that filed suit. "Unfortunately, the agencies have a lot on their plate and it's not uncommon for them to miss deadlines, but it's our job to hold their feet to...
KRCB 104.9
1K+
Posts
4M+
Views
KRCB 104.9 is Sonoma County's NPR station. We provide live radio news, podcasts, and social media news updates covering Sonoma County governmental affairs, wildfire, arts, culture, and breaking news.
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments. It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency: our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. We strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation. Join us in shaping the news narrative together.