With its diverse landscapes, climate, agriculture and environment, Sonoma County is well known for the healthy lifestyle it boasts. Likewise, Sonoma State University is now also recognized for its remarkable health.

While the North Bay will forever remember October 2017 and the devastation that took place throughout the region, for the Kimberly family of Cotati and anyone who knew Kirk Kimberly, this October was a reminder of their own tragedy a year earlier. Oct. 17, 2016 was the last time Kirk’s family saw him alive, and two and a half weeks later, the 18-year-old’s body was found buried in a shallow grave on Sonoma State University’s campus. 

Octoberfest may be over but its still time to learn more about German culture than just the seasonal interest in beer and bratwurst.

Fire on the mountain, fire in the town, fire on the economy. For two weeks,  northern California rained ash on local land, homes and businesses forcing locals to wear respiratory masks. 

An entire group of people, the Rohingya, are facing a 21st century Southeast Asian holocaust, yet Myanmar officials refuse to acknowledge the Rohingya people and the ongoing atrocity they face. UN Secretary General António Guterres calls the conflict, “the world’s fastest developing refugee emergency and a humanitarian and human rights nightmare.” 

While the thought of furry, little puppies and kittens can bring a smile to just about anyone’s face, the horrific truth behind mass breeding has quite the opposite effect. California has announced itself the first state to ban mass breeding operations like puppy mills and kitten factories by creating a new law that demands pet shops only sell dogs, cats, and rabbits that are not a product of mass breeding. 

Living in a tiny home doesn’t mean you have to make huge sacrifices. The tiny home trend continues to grow in urban areas such as Seattle, Portland and our not so distant neighboring city, San Francisco. One of the biggest factors behind the tiny home transformation is a very basic motivator: cost.