Sebastopol Times
Why is it taking so long to get broadband to all of West County?
There's a new turn in the fight over AT&T's plan to shut off its old copper phone lines.
Roger Coryell
All clips written by Roger Coryell, owned by their publishers
320
stories
July 2026
May 2026
Wine Country Gazette
Grand jury gives Sonoma’s open-space agency a clean review — and flags a 2031 cliff
A Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury report released Sunday May 10 says the agency that has spent 35 years buying up farmland and open space across the county is, by and large, doing the job voters paid it to do. The report’s title — “It’s On Their Website!” — is the jury’s broad answer to citizens w...
Wine Country Gazette
Bodega residents to get update Thursday on fire station lease talks
The nonprofit that owns Bodega’s fire station has called a special meeting Thursday night to brief local residents on lease talks with Gold Ridge Fire Protection District, the agency that staffs the station and runs calls in this rural coastal corner of Sonoma County.
Wine Country Gazette
Lake County names public works director after merger and pay increase
LAKEPORT — Lake County supervisors merged two departments to save money, raised the salary range for the new director job and then appointed the man who had proposed the merger — after interviews held outside public view.
Wine Country Gazette
Opinion: A quiet scam at the dumps voters own — and pay twice to clean up after
When I moved to West County twelve years ago, dropping a load of yard trimmings at the Pocket Canyon transfer station cost $7. Today the minimum charge for the same vehicle, at the same gate, is $47. The per-ton rate over those twelve years has climbed roughly with inflation. The minimum has clim...
Wine Country Gazette
State money buys trucks, but Lake County fire districts still face crunch
On the first day of Wildfire Preparedness Month, Lake County fire leaders stood beside state Sen. Mike McGuire to celebrate $2 million in state money for badly needed firefighting equipment.
April 2026
Wine Country Gazette
Yountville’s town manager walked into a performance review. He walked out resigned.
YOUNTVILLE — At 3 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, the Yountville Town Council went into closed session. The agenda had one item: a performance evaluation for Town Manager Brad Raulston.
Wine Country Gazette
Permit Sonoma’s code-enforcement reckoning
A speaker at Tuesday’s Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting told the room about the day Esteban Diaz had a heart attack on the floor of a Sonoma County courtroom. An ambulance was called. The judge, Hon. Patrick M. Broderick, did not pause the proceedings. Instead, the speaker said, he dire...
Wine Country Gazette
The Lake Sonoma contract the board no longer votes on
For forty years, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted every spring on the same small contract — Sheriff’s deputies patrolling Lake Sonoma from May through September, paid back by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They asked questions. They kept watch. This spring the vote didn’t happen, a...