Top 5 weekend news stories from Sonoma County

Happy Mother’s Day, Press Democrat readers!

If you’re out enjoying the day with family and haven’t had a chance to catch up on the news, look no further. We’ve compiled the local news you need to know.

This weekend’s top stories include an investigation into the conditions at a housing complex for the formerly homeless in Santa Rosa and a look at the struggles coho salmon are facing in North Bay watersheds.

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Once hailed as a model solution for homelessness, poor conditions threaten the mission at Santa Rosa’s Palms Inn:

At its inception six years ago, the Palms was celebrated as a pivotal step toward solving homelessness in Sonoma County.

But a two-month investigation by The Press Democrat found that despite receiving millions of dollars in public subsidies over the past six years, at least two dozen of the units became virtually unlivable. On multiple visits, reporters found apartments infested with mold and insects — issues confirmed in public inspection records. Reporters also spoke with 14 residents, some of whom fear for their safety and say thieves and drug dealers have been allowed free rein on the campus.

‘Human beings aren’t far behind’: Drought’s toll on endangered salmon hurts watershed:

It’s not just a species at stake. At risk is the very resilience of the forest and watershed that evolved around them, fed by marine nutrients brought upstream and deposited inland by adult spawners that, after reproducing, die and decompose.

Sonoma County teens promote safety code word at local bars:

A group of Sonoma County students has launched a local version of “Ask for Angela,” a program designed to give people, mostly women, a safe way to get out of situations in which they feel vulnerable — especially those around the consumption of alcohol. The idea is this: put signs up in the restrooms of bars, pubs and restaurants alerting patrons if someone is on a date that has turned alarming or they feel unsafe in other ways, they can approach the bartender and ask for “Angela.”

‘Grateful to have met him, horrified that we lost him’: Healdsburg memorializes former police chief Kevin Burke:

Mourners numbered in the hundreds by noon, when the funeral Mass concluded at St. John the Baptist’s Church and a public celebration of life began in the city’s downtown square two blocks away.

Sonoma State students condemn ‘horrifying’ draft abortion ruling:

The generation of women most in need of reproductive rights is not surprised by the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion overturning abortion rights, but they say they are committed to fight it.