🌱 Tribune Back Already! + Skylaer Palacios Out + Flights To Reno

Hey, everybody — it's me, Simone, your host of the Healdsburg Daily. I'm back in your inbox this morning with everything you need to know about what's happening locally. Got some real exciting news for you today, to offset some of this Roe v. Wade mayhem, so hold onto your seats...

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First, your daily weather:

• Tuesday: Hot and sunny. High: 80 Low: 48.
• Wednesday: Even hotter and sunnier. High: 83 Low: 48.

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Here are the top 5 stories today in Healdsburg:

1. The death of the Healdsburg Tribune didn't even last a week. Dan Pulcrano, owner of the "Weeklys" newspaper publishing group that runs the Bohemian, announced today that he has purchased the Trib and will "resume publishing immediately," according to the Editor&Publisher news site. "We didn't want to see a treasured newspaper lost," Pulcrano says. "We moved the Bohemian's office to Healdsburg in 2020 and love the community. Residents here have worked hard to maintain community journalism and we intend to give the community a voice and local information every week." Pulcrano reportedly "founded his first newspaper, the Los Gatos Weekly, in 1982 and opened Metro Silicon Valley three years later. His company has been starting and acquiring newspapers in Northern California ever since. The Tribune will be the 15th newspaper under his ownership, and his second in Sonoma County." Nancy Dobbs, head of the SoCoNews nonprofit which sold the Trib to Weeklys, says: "With this transfer of ownership, we can rest assured that the Tribune is in experienced hands, and we are celebrating this opportunity to see a newspaper continue to serve the community. We are grateful to all who helped us hang on long enough for this miracle to occur." Pretty wild, right? I'll share more here as I learn it! (Editor&Publisher)
2. Healdsburg City Councilmember Skylaer Palacios resigned at last night's City Council meeting. "My reasons for leaving are mainly due to housing instability," she said in her resignation letter, which she read aloud. "During my campaign I knew it was uncertain that I would be able to afford to live in Healdsburg for the duration of the four-year term." When Palacios joined the council in late 2020 at the age of 25, she was the youngest and first Black-Latina member of Healdsburg city government. Since then, after admitting she wasn't vaccinated and advocating for her right to still attend meetings in person at City Hall, she's become somewhat of an unwilling figurehead across Sonoma County for the unvaccinated and proud. In her resignation letter, Palacios said she has been "on the receiving end of a plethora of hostile treatment including my personal email being opened, my car being tampered with, being asked if someone is following me, online harassment etcetera." She added that "the recent death of former Police Chief Burke made me take serious pause and self reflect on whether I was ensuring a healthy environment for myself." You can watch her full speech and reactions from fellow councilmembers in the recording of last night's meeting, beginning near the 3-hour, 38-minute mark. "I already miss you," Mayor Ozzy Jimenez said at the end, choking up. (Facebook & Facebook & Facebook)
3. Starting in mid-July, you'll be able to fly to Reno from the Sonoma County Airport for around $50. The nonstop service between Reno and Santa Rosa is being offered by an indie airline called "aha!" — an offshoot of ExpressJet Airlines — and will serve to "connect the urban heart of the wine country and the 'Biggest Little City in the World,'" airport officials say. And if you buy a ticket before the end of this month, you can get the "introductory, limited-time launch fare of $49 each way... for travel completed by August 15, 2022." Also now open at the airport — south of the main terminal, next to Costeaux — is a wine-tasting lounge called the Flight Deck. "Find a healthy selection of Sonoma County's finest wines, perks with their wine club membership, and enjoy a glass before or after your next flight!" the airport says. According to the North Bay Business Journal, the Flight Deck used to be located in Healdsburg, "but was closed about a year ago in favor of moving to the airport," which the parent company believes is a more "ideal fit." (FlyAha.com & Facebook & Facebook & North Bay Business Journal; paywall)
4. The local campaign to build pickleball courts in Healdsburg is picking up steam. A group of passionate residents under the name "Healdsburg Pickleball Community" have started circulating a petition urging the City Council to "approve $150,000 for funding a dedicated outdoor pickleball facility, fully open to the public, at the Healdsburg Community Center and undertake construction as soon as possible." They argue that our city's lack of dedicated pickleball courts is a social injustice — seeing as "regulation courts are at private clubs and resorts for the well-to-do" — and that the courts would be "an excellent investment in the health and social fabric of our city, especially our senior and youth communities." You can sign the petition via Google Forms. (Inbox & Facebook & Google Forms)
5. Here's the Healdsburg police log for the past week, current through yesterday. Reported incidents between April 25 and May 2 included someone who thought they spotted a "young juvenile smoking marijuana" at Piper and University streets; a dramatic fight in the Safeway parking lot between a skateboarder and the driver of a white truck with a "Brandon" sticker on the window, during which the truck driver allegedly "punched" the skater and "threw all his groceries in the roadway"; a person spotted peeing in the plaza; wood stolen from a construction site on Farm Stand Road, and some other stuff stolen from a shed at the Healdsburg School; more shoplifting from Big Johns, this time involving "sandwiches and breakfast burritos"; more graffiti reported around town, including in Giorgi Park, on Grant Street by the tracks and a "Norteno" tag on "the pole under the bridge"; a "regular" transient asked to vacate his spot outside the Raven Theater; a Healdsburg High School student seen driving his BMW "recklessly" through campus, then "counseled... about the burnout"; a rowdy guy in a "baseball hat w/ sunglasses on top" reported to police for allegedly "causing problems" at the Elephant in the Room Pub; and many more. (Healdsburg Police Department)

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Today and tomorrow in Healdsburg:

Tuesday, May 3

• Sonoma County Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Webinar (12 -1PM)
• Brown Bag Book Club at Healdsburg Library: "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov (12-1PM)
• Healdsburg Running Company Badger Park Run, Ending at Jam Jar With Carpenter Wine, Snacks & Mother's Day Shopping (6PM)
• Calvin Arsenia Live at Elephant in the Room (7-10PM)

Wednesday, May 4

• Organic Compost Giveaway at Healdsburg Community Center (8AM-12PM)
• Public Viewing at St. John's Church for Former Police Chief Kevin Burke (4-7PM)
• Interactive PG&E Webinar for Sonoma County Residents: Safe Digging (5:30-7PM)
• Star Wars Trivia Night at Coyote Sonoma (7-9PM)

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Healdsburg pic of the day:

I love to feature local pics from the community! Show me what you've been seeing around town. Please just confirm when you send your photo that you're the one who took it, and that Patch has permission to republish it. 📸

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From my notebook:

• Here's what Mike McGuire, Healdsburg son and majority leader of the state senate, thinks about this whole Roe v. Wade thing: "Today's news is horrifying," he tweeted last night. "Reproductive rights are under attack. We will not go backwards. We will not back down. California will always defend reproductive freedom." He also urged his followers to donate to Planned Parenthood, stat. (Twitter & Planned Parenthood & Press Democrat; paywall)
• The North Bay Business Journal published an interesting piece last week on where Sonoma County will get its water in the future, "if drought becomes common." The TLDR is that "the region's water managers are busy exploring near- and long-term options," and "large reservoirs like Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino aren't among them" — with a new focus on "putting water underground." (North Bay Business Journal; paywall)
• Also: Southern California residents will be pressured into doing their part to conserve water this summer, according to the NY Times. "New water conservation rules" being enforced by SoCal water officials — reportedly "among the harshest ever imposed in the Golden State" — include "forbidding millions of households from turning on their sprinklers more than once a week." (New York Times; paywall)
• Back up in Sonoma County, the free wood chipper program has returned in time for fire season. "This program is intended to help residents create defensible space around occupied homes and reduce vegetation along access routes," the county says. "Apply today!" (Facebook & PermitSonoma)
• Check out the two crazy new homes recently erected at 212 Tucker, a couple blocks from the plaza. The aim of the ultra-modern project was to "increase density but retain rural neighborhood scale," according to the architects behind the design. Looks like at least one of the homes is renting for around $20,000 a month. (ArchDaily & Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects & Zillow)
• PG&E says that on March 14, a Healdsburg resident was "digging with an excavator to remove debris and vegetation when they struck and damaged an underground gas line, causing a gas leak" — and that "the reason for the incident is that the resident did not call 811 before digging so that underground utility lines could be marked." PG&E officials are now using the mishap as a teaching moment, to educate other residents about safe digging. They'll be holding a webinar on it this afternoon and Saturday morning. (Nextdoor & Nextdoor)
• The Healdsburg plaza just came in 5th for "best public square" in a USA Today contest. The gold medal went to Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, Vermont. (VermontBiz)
• A couple Healdsburg residents are organizing an "open air dance party for the community" at Coyote Sonoma this Saturday night. "Gregg Shoenberg will be DJing this party (aka DJ Glitter Fox who is the same DJ who did the Soundstage Plaza Dance parties)," they say, "and he'll be playing all the best funk, disco, and house music." Attendees are encouraged to wear "fun and festive dance attire." (Facebook)
• There are also some pretty cool events coming up at THE 222, the new venue inside the huge Paul Mahder art gallery downtown. The lineup this month includes a poetry reading, a men's choir and a spiritual gathering called "What Moves You?" (Facebook & MailChimp)
• Healdsburg food-justice nonprofit Farm to Pantry posted some clutch instructions on how to create your own beautiful "bee waterer" for thirsty pollinators. (Facebook)
• A car ran into a pole at the Mill Street shopping center last week, right outside Speed Of Sound Music, the police log shows. The owner of nearby Top Cheer Elite Gym posted a pic of the damage on Facebook, saying: "Someone went through the first pole and hit the second pole of the building where my business is on Mill street either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. ... If you have any information on this can you please message me. "(Facebook & Healdsburg Police Department)

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Thanks for following along and staying informed. See you right back here tomorrow!

— Simone Wilson

About me: I was born and raised in Healdsburg, CA, where I was the editor of the Healdsburg High School Hound's Bark. I have since worked as a local journalist for publications in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York City and the Middle East. I'm currently a senior product manager for Patch.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Healdsburg Daily? Contact me at simone.wilson@patch.com