Marc Albert

Measure FF, going before Santa Rosa voters this fall, would lift the city's transient occupancy tax from nine to 11 percent.

Northern California Public Media

The California quail, majestic redwoods and glowing orange poppy can now welcome two animal icons to the state's lineup of official symbols: Dungeness crab and banana slugs.

photo credit: Marc Albert/KRCB Students stage a walkout from Sebastopol's Analy High School as a fracas over consolidation with Forestville's El Molino High School and controversy over a new name boiled over in this 2022 file photo.

Northern California Public Media

Northern California Public Media

photo credit: courtesy Bay Area Council Economic Institute Graphic showing economic sectors adding the most and losing the most jobs across the North Bay region.

How we get around affects the environment, ourselves and our built environment. To some, like Carter Levin, a co-founder of the Transbay Coalition, a 5-year old advocacy group, it's a paramount issue. Earlier this year the group sent every candidate across the Bay Area seeking a city or state office a survey about transit, intending to provide voters another facet on which to base their choice.

A state appeals court recently upheld a 2-year-old trial court decision rejecting environmental documents for a proposed housing development in Lake County, east of Middletown. The Guenoc Valley project is a 1,400-home development proposed to spread across 16,000 acres.

New visitors have been appearing up and down the west coast the last two years that may be a harbinger of bigger changes on the way.