I can’t bear to leave you hanging when it comes to “Glory Hole Watch 2024” at the Lake Berryessa water reservoir east of the valley. This reservoir serves as the main water supply for Solano County to the south. And its “glory hole,” as locals and fans call it, is essentially a giant pipe installed inside the reservoir, to drain it when it gets too full — meanwhile creating the super trippy visual effect of a cosmic black hole in the lake’s surface. The TLDR is that the water line this year didn’t end up rising quite high enough for the hole to fully spill in on itself and create this famous effect. There were some serious trickles running down into the mouth of the hole at one point, but it wasn’t considered a full spill, according to reservoir managers. However! Managers do say our lady of the lake ended up setting a new kind of record this year, for how unbelievably close she was to spilling, and for so long — an “edging record,” as I called it yesterday on the morning show for Napa radio station The Vine. (Tune into 99.3 FM at 9:10 a.m. every Thursday to catch me and host Barry Martin catching up on all the local news that’s fit to blab about!) Anyway, here’s more info from SF Gate: “Lake Berryessa’s spillway, famously known as the Glory Hole, has been on the brink of activation for more than two weeks, hanging a few inches away from a full spill for what’s likely the longest time on record. It’s a scenario that has baffled many, including the engineer who monitors water levels in the California reservoir.” The Solano County water official tells the news outlet: “Since April 1, it’s been within an inch of spilling. The lake may come up and get to be an inch away and then it will slowly back off because the rain stopped. It’s just a crazy year.” This guy has been working at Lake Berryessa for nearly 20 years, SF Gate reports, and “to his knowledge, this year marks the longest period of time the lake has ever been so close to the edge without officially spilling.” He says: “I can guarantee that it will never be duplicated. This is really a once-in-a-lifetime year.” So at least we’ve got that to celebrate. (Source: SF Gate & Lake Berryessa via Facebook)

Over in the Napa Valley, we’ve got some updates on the endlessly intriguing and mysterious federal investigation that’s been unfolding over the past few months. The first scandal of the week involves the beleaguered Clover Flat landfill in Calistoga, which was the target of one of three main subpoenas issued by the feds this past winter to local government entities and other power players across the valley. New documents being aired out by the Press Democrat, the result of a public records request, show that safety and environmental hazards reported at the landfill — including “incinerated infrastructure and severe damage to streambeds and waterways” — may have been much more extensive than we even knew. For example, the PD got its hands on “an email from a management consultant for the landfill sent Oct. 14, 2020 to county staff and state regulators,” describing a “complete incineration of the entire erosion, sedimentation and storm water control measures” at the facility after the Glass Fire that summer — a situation that landfill managers had publicly downplayed. The reason all this is relevant is that the U.S. Department of Justice has been requesting a whole bunch more documents from the Upper Valley Waste Management Agency, which oversees the dump, as part of the feds’ ongoing mystery investigation. And there has been speculation, based on the specific docs requested, that the investigation has to do with why the county renewed the landfill operator’s contract, given all this apparent negligence. The second intrigue of the week involves Ryan Klobas, the former head of the Napa County Farm Bureau, an industry org representing local ag interests. Klobas killed himself on the side of the road in mid-January, according to police, after his bureau was subpoenaed as part of the larger probe. So there’s already reason to think he was freaked out about something. Now, the Napa Valley Register reports that Klobas’ briefcase may have gone missing during the Farm Bureau’s annual Christmas party last year, days before the subpoena was issued. To make the situation even more mystifying, he didn’t report it stolen until weeks later, according to the Register. “The revelation is the latest plot twist in an apparently still-active probe into wine industry leaders, the Napa County Airport, Upper Valley Waste Management Agency, and at least one elected official, county Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza,” the Register reports. The whole thing is truly straight out of a noir thriller. Which brings us to our final intrigue of the week: An NBC news station in Sacramento is reporting that California State Treasurer Fiona Ma — who was known to be very chummy with Klobas over at the Farm Bureau — was also just subpoenaed as part of a larger “federal grand jury subpoena on a case that is yet to be made public.” I’m not saying there’s a connection there, but for what it’s worth, the same Napa Valley activists who have been harping on potential local government and industry corruption in Napa County for years, long before the feds got involved, have always suspected the state treasurer was involved. Guess we’ll see… (Source: Press Democrat & Napa Valley Register & KCRA)

As it happens, the five newest inmates at the same county jail in Santa Rosa that hosted the classical music program are bouncers from one of Petaluma’s rowdiest bars, the decade-old Jamison’s Roaring Donkey bar on Kentucky Street, according to the Petaluma Police Department. City officials in Petaluma are considering shutting down the Roaring Donkey entirely after its security team was arrested last weekend for allegedly beating up a sober guy at the bar who argued with them. Police say they assaulted this guy, a 38-year-old Santa Rosa resident, both inside the bar and outside on the sidewalk, after he defended a woman who had entered the men’s restroom against security’s wishes. “An independent witness reported that while one member of security had the victim in a chokehold on the ground other members were punching and kicking the victim in and about his head,” police say. “The victim sustained significant injuries including swelling and bruising on the left side of his head and other lacerations and abrasions.” The five bouncers, residents of Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park in their 20s and early 30s, have since been arrested and jailed for battery. And two of them are facing extra charges, according to Petaluma police: one for allegedly carrying around brass knuckles in his pocket that night, and one for violating his DUI probation. Meanwhile, the assistant city attorney in Petaluma tells the local paper, the Argus-Courier, that he’s going to try and revoke the bar’s conditional use permit, which would prevent the Donkey from serving alcohol — effectively a death notice. This permit “requires them to have a security plan that has been approved by the city’s chief of police,” the city official says — and “despite several meetings and email correspondence between [Jamison’s Roaring Donkey] and city staff, they still have not submitted an approved comprehensive security plan, which would provide their staff the tools they need to effectively manage their business.” Ouch. For context, the Argus-Courier also reports that nearly a quarter of all crime reports filed from Petaluma drinking establishments come from the Donkey. A lawyer for the bar’s owners — who likewise took over the 8 Ball Tavern in Cotati circa 2018 — is calling some of the reports on what happened that night “erroneous.” He tells the Argus-Courier: “The management of Jamison’s Roaring Donkey is actively reviewing video, interviewing witnesses and bar staff. They do not feel they have gathered enough information to make a determinative statement regarding the incident as a whole.” Petaluma detectives, too, are looking for more witnesses and surveillance video; they’re encouraging anyone with leads to contact Officer Nathan Good at (707) 781-1262 or ng***@************ma.org. (Source: Petaluma Police Department via Facebook & Petaluma Argus-Courier & Sonoma County Sheriff)