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]]> The uproar over the on-again, off-again guidelines on when women should have mammograms is proof of the blindingly obvious: Health care reform that actually controls costs - rather than just pretending to do so - would be virtually impossible to achieve. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:29:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/opinion/911239904 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/opinion/911239908
]]> President Barack Obama’s visit to China this week inevitably invites comparisons between the world’s two leading powers. You know what they say: Britain owned the 19th century, America owned the 20th century, and, it’s all but certain that China will own the 21st century. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:22:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/opinion/911239908 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/opinion/911239910
]]> EDITOR: I have the great good fortune of being able to ride my bike to work along the Prince Memorial Greenway and the Santa Rosa Creek bike path. I would like to thank the city fathers and mothers, the folks who wrote grants, the artisans who built the beautiful stone walls and iron fences, the ArtStart students and their teachers, parents and... Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:20:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/opinion/911239910 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/entertainment/911239928
]]> For more events or to list author events in our calendar, visit “SoCo’s Hottest Events” at pressdemocrat.com. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/entertainment/911239928 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/lifestyle/911239930
]]> Wood-fired oven, Weber barbecue or backyard fryer, veteran cooks talk about their experiences with alternative ways to cook a bird Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:34:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/lifestyle/911239930 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/opinion/911239901
]]> Amid the maze of apartment buildings that comprised my childhood neighborhood, you could walk one block south of where I lived, cross the street and head about 100 feet east to spend time with one of the community’s most colorful and unusual residents - a tree. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:33:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/opinion/911239901 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/opinion/911239906
]]> A group of Islamic nations, led by Algeria and Pakistan, is lobbying to bring before the U.N. General Assembly a proposed treaty banning mockery of religion, according to the Associated Press. The pact would, in effect, be a global anti-blasphemy treaty and an obvious and alarming threat to freedom of expression. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:25:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/opinion/911239906 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/news/911241023
]]> A proposed Target store in Petaluma faces a significant hurdle tonight in a review by the planning commission. The seven-member commission, newly appointed by the slow-growth city council majority, is set to review the final environmental impact report and make recommendations to the council on the controversial proposal. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091124/news/911241023 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/sports/911239894
]]> The combo of Jimmy Raye in the booth and Alex Smith on the field will be under the microscope during the season's final month-and-a-half. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:48:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/sports/911239894 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911239912
]]> Sonoma State University’s Academic Foundation has broken its recent silence and disclosed several new facts relative to those loans made to local financier Clem Carinalli. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:16:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911239912 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239920
]]> Cloverdale's Jessamyn Sobecki-Engle isn't complaining. But the National Guard staff sergeant will admit it was a pretty mild, quiet welcome that awaited her when she returned home from a difficult and sorrowful tour in Iraq four years ago. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:19:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239920 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/articles/911239921
]]> Former Petaluma Police Chief Dennis DeWitt was remembered Monday for his great compassion, his friendly demeanor and the toll the Polly Klaas case took on him and his department. He died Saturday at his home in San Diego. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:01:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/articles/911239921 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/articles/911239924
]]> Healdsburg wants to replace its 1921 steel-truss bridge with a concrete bridge for safety and cost reasons. But the idea of replacing the old bridge has some residents reeling. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:30:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/articles/911239924 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/community/911239937
]]> A school alert was sent out after a man in a pickup pulled alongside two boys and followed them. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:02:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/community/911239937 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239946
]]> Good news this Thanksgiving: Compared to 50 years ago, some staples of the Turkey Day table have fewer calories. The bad news? It probably won't matter because most Americans will eat too much anyway. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:38:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239946 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239948
]]> It won't be just the balloons, marching bands and floats on display in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The laws of physics will also be on parade. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:32:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239948 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239972
]]> Dozens of gunmen hijacked a convoy carrying journalists, and family and supporters of a candidate for provincial governor, killing at least 21 of the travelers Monday in the southern Philippines' worst political violence in years. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:50:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239972 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239991
]]> A train passenger's video of an arrest shows heavy-duty glass shattering and showering down on a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer and an unruly passenger in an incident that injured both men. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:55:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239991 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239994
]]> Grieving miners' families demanded answers Monday from mining officials about the underground gas explosion that left at least 104 men dead in northeastern China. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:49:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911239994 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911231034
]]> SACRAMENTO -- California may be known as the cradle of computer innovation, but several state agencies can't get their computers to perform essential functions despite hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns for repair and upgrade work. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:03:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911231034 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911231002
]]> Nobody skates through life, not really. But Skippy Baxter has come pretty close. Baxter, two weeks short of 90 years old, is the grand old man at the ice-skating rink that was built by Charles Schulz. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:02:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911231002 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911231000
]]> Once asked to bolster programs, parents in Santa Rosa City Schools say they are now being asked to save them, even before a January school board vote on budget cuts. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:02:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/news/911231000 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/lifestyle/911209859
]]> Press Democrat wine writer Peg Melnik scopes out restaurant wine lists around the North Bay, looking for good value and the occasional splurge. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:30:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/lifestyle/911209859 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209927
]]> While it’s hard to justify the noise generated by these contraptions, banning leaf blowers would likely generate more ill-will, and more unintended consequences, than necessary. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:55:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209927 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209936
]]> The Sonoma State University Academic Foundation’s loans to “friends” were, at best, a case of poor judgment. As repugnant as this particular practice was, it is only a minor transgression in comparison with the mostly secretive behavior of the university’s highest administrators while attempting to feed the hungry elephant that has been in Sonoma... Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:20:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209936 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209944
]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:44:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209944 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209946
]]> Those who hoped that the arrival in power of Barack Obama and Raul Castro would bring a thaw in the continuing 50-year cold war between the United States and Cuba so far have little to cheer. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:38:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209946 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209948
]]> It’s simply not true that America is ambivalent about everything when it comes to the Obama health plan. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:32:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209948 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209950
]]> When there is no good solution to a problem, a president has three options. One is to avoid the problem. The second is to pick the least bad of the available options. The third is to mix and match among the proposed solutions and minimize the long-term damage any decision will cause. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:29:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/opinion/911209950 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/entertainment/911189875
]]> Celebrate olives, latkes and World War I-era cooking at upcoming events. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:25:00 -0500 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091123/entertainment/911189875