North Bay Report 3

The arts community in Sonoma County has mobilized to create and share work about October’s fires. Some of that creative output is already on display.

The phrase "second responders" has been used about artists, mental health professionals and others helping our community cope with grief and loss since the North Bay fires. An exhibition at the Chroma Gallery in Santa Rosa features work by artists processing their own reactions to October's events, and using art to help heal their neighbors. J. Mateo Baker paid a visit to the gallery and has this report.

Find links to Healing by Art currently at the Chroma Gallery, and to The Fire Project of the Museums of Sonoma County at krcb.org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

Monday was already set to be a big day in the fight over DACA. But now it will be a day of protest and resistance.

Monday, March 5 was the original deadline set by President Trump for winding down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – or DACA – program. But courts have stayed President Trump’s order and the program is now in limbo. On Monday students and community members will gather at Santa Rosa Junior College to march downtown to the Federal Building in Santa Rosa – Among them will be DACA recipients who have been trying to find their way through a very uncertain period – as Steve Mencher reports.

Find links to information about Monday’s protest at krcb.org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

There are lots of reasons to visit the coast. But there’s nothing quite like the visual delight of watching whales go by.

Whale watching season has arrived, and while the peak is still at least several weeks away, this year is already on track to be one of the best. Today’s North Bay Report comes from Bodega Bay, where reporter Mateo Baker joined a group overlooking a popular whale migration path.

Parking is free at Bodega Bay Trailhead, and docents will be available most days through the end of the northbound migration season in June. Find more information at krcb.org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

There’s turmoil in the nation’s high schools right now – just yesterday Analy High School in Sebastopol was closed in mid-morning after threatening graffiti was found on its campus. The recent Florida shootings have inspired teen activists to make their voices heard about gun control and other issues.

The Sonoma County Junior Commission on Human Rights – made up of high schoolers – has released a report which identifies overt racial hostility in the county schools as a serious issue. KRCB News Director Steve Mencher spoke with two members of that commission – Lucia Garay and Tara Sullivan.

Find links to their report on discrimination and bullying in county schools at KRCB.org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

These days our household waste goes in all different directions. And some of the most re-usable material – like the green waste that can be composted - turns into something valuable.

For the past two and a half years, Sonoma County has been trucking roughly 80 tons of compostable materials to landfills in neighboring counties, at a cost of some $4 million per year. A decision on a new composting site is moving closer, as Bruce Robinson reports.

Find more local news and information, at KRCB.org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

A local woman who served in Vietnam now devotes her time to improving the lives of other women who have served in the Armed Forces.Today – the third and final part of our conversation with army nurse Kate O’Hare-Palmer. She went from denying the trauma of her Vietnam experience to becoming an activist. Now she fights for women veterans from her time and ours, as she told news director Steve Mencher.Find the first two parts of our conversation with Kate O’Hare Palmer, and learn about the experience of other local veterans, at krcb.org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

Some women veterans believed they wouldn’t experience the severe ups and downs that men felt upon their return from Vietnam. We know now that PTSD strikes regardless of gender.

Last week we heard from former Army nurse Kate O’Hare-Palmer as part of our series of interviews with local Vietnam-era veterans. We heard how she saw intense action 50 years ago in two army field hospitals. Today, she continues her conversation with KRCB news director Steve Mencher. She says that a book by another nurse who’d served in Vietnam convinced her that women, as well as men, came home transformed by their wartime experiences.

The next time we check in with Kate, we’ll hear how she got help for herself, and dedicated her life to advocating for women veterans. Find the first part of their conversation at KRCB.org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

A new food truck appearing off the Sonoma Highway offers tasty meals. The truck is also an example of a local organization supporting small business with a special kind of investment.

La Luz Center in Boyes Hot Springs offers a variety of programs to help local immigrants. They’re seeking to expand one that shows great promise, as reporter Mateo Baker learned.

La Luz Center is actively seeking more local projects in need of innovative financing, as well as increased support for the program. Find more information at krcb.org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

Remembrances and dedications connected with the fires last October continue nearly every week, even while attention turns to cleanup and rebuilding.

When the fires moved onto the Redwood Valley Rancheria on October 8th, eleven members of the Little River Band of Pomo Indians joined together to fight the flames. Reporter Sarah Reith was at the annual Northern Circle Indian Housing Authority meeting, where the men were honored.

Thanks to KZYX, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting where that story first appeared. For more on the North Bay fires and the rebuilding effort, visit us at krcb.org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

Uber, AirBnB and the other tech giants in San Francisco believe what’s good for their industry is good for the city.

Sunday night at 10, KRCB TV 22 is rebroadcasting “Company Town” a documentary about San Francisco politics by local filmmakers, Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman. When News Director Steve Mencher talked with them in October, he asked how the city’s infatuation with technology may be putting stress on the social fabric.

More at krcb.org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.