Among its critics, SMART, the North Bay’s passenger rail service, has gained a reputation as an opaque money-pit of an agency. Unfortunately, the agency’s takeover of freight service is proving no different. Last May, the board of directors voted nearly unanimously to take on freight service in the North Bay....

On the southwest side of the City of Sonoma, a small stream named Fryer Creek cuts through a quiet neighborhood. In late October, the creek was, like most waterways in the Bay Area, inundated with water during the “bomb cyclone” storm. However, as the rains pounded Sonoma with seven and...

This article is the second part of a series. Read the first story here. Last week, we reported that two owners of the Press Democrat, Darius Anderson and Doug Bosco, helped craft a state-funded bailout deal benefiting Bosco’s privately owned Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company while Anderson’s Platinum Advisors was a...

A Story in Two Parts. Read the second story here. On the muddy banks of the Petaluma River in downtown Petaluma, a new housing complex is rising. Crews employed by the A.G. Spanos Corporation, a Stockton-based developer, are constructing a 184-unit apartment complex on a lot sandwiched between a row...

Bodega Bay Restore the Store A landmark business since the 1850s, the Bodega Country Store was revived in 2018 by proprietor Ariel Coddington and refashioned into a valuable community resource, especially during the pandemic. In August, a drunk driver plowed through the store and closed the beloved business. The store is...

One of the criticisms of the arts is that they are not real life. Not truth, like science. Not immediately important, like activism or a salary. Artists can be treated as if they are not really living. Most artists almost certainly endure this complaint by someone they wish had...

Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon return to Pemberley Manor for The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, a sequel—of sorts—to their roaringly successful Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley Both take place in the extended world of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The Spreckels Theatre Company hosts The Wickhams on their Condiotti stage...

Double Trouble: Enrique Chagoya and Kara Maria, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art’s current exhibition, sits at the intersection of political unrest and visual art.  Chagoya and Maria, a married couple and long-time art-activists, each bring their own striking and unforgettable interpretation to the ongoing issues of migration, extinction, climate change...