Top 5 weekend news stories from Sonoma County

Happy Sunday, Press Democrat readers!

We hope you’re out enjoying the sunshine as May gets underway.

For those who haven’t kept up with the news this weekend, we’ve compiled the local stories you don’t want to miss.

This weekend’s top stories include a roundup of efforts to prepare for fire season in the North Bay and a look at the budget crisis threatening the future of Sonoma State University.

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Sonoma County prosecutors reviewing man’s death while in Santa Rosa police custody:

An investigation into a 40-year-old man’s death last year following a struggle with Santa Rosa police has been forwarded to prosecutors, who will determine whether officers can be held criminally liable for his death, authorities said Thursday.

Sonoma State University’s budget woes threaten its future:

Sonoma State’s deep-seated, structural financial problems pose a far greater threat to its future than the current cloud over its president, say administrators and faculty members on the Rohnert Park campus.

Fire prevention efforts in full flight across Sonoma County and wider region:

Firefighters, officials at all levels of government, utility companies and people trying to exist in the wildland-urban interface are gearing up for what may lie ahead as wildfire season approaches.

How California’s failed recycling program has hurt local consumers:

The shuttering of almost half of California’s container redemption sites over the past decade has made it difficult for residents to cash in, leading to $635 million in unclaimed deposits sitting with the state. Sonoma County lost almost 85% of its recycling centers in the past 10 years, and some Northern California counties have none.

Local woman fights to free mentally ‘incompetent’ inmates jailed past legal deadline:

There were 33 inmates who had been declared incompetent held at the Sonoma County jail as of March 1, and all had been there longer than the 28 day deadline mandated by a relatively recent California Supreme Court decision, according to data obtained by The Press Democrat through a public records request.