The Santa Rosa Press Democrat

By RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Another round of freezing temperatures Wednesday painted the landscape white with frost and filling area shelters, as temperatures around the North Bay sat in the low 20s. Full Story »

By RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Sebastopol police arrested two people in a drive-by shooting Tuesday afternoon at a downtown area park. Full Story »

By MIKE McCOY THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Two years of increases approved; City Council says it has no choice despite tough times Full Story »

By PAUL PAYNE THE PRESS DEMOCRAT A lawyer for a Santa Rosa man accused of stabbing his children’s mother 68 times and stashing her body in a toy box called the act “rage overkill” and not murder, acts committed by someone suffering mental illness and hallucinations, not by a calculated killer bent on torture. Full Story »

JULIE JOHNSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Santa Rosa police on Tuesday arrested four Santa Rosa residents in connection with an identify-theft operation. Full Story »

By LORI A. CARTER THE PRESS DEMOCRAT After lengthy discussions Tuesday night, Petaluma planning commissioners recommended approval of an environmental impact report for the controversial Target shopping center proposal. Full Story »

By MARTIN ESPINOZA THE PRESS DEMOCRAT A Southern California firm says it will open a psychiatric hospital in Santa Rosa within a year, a development that should end the practice of shipping patients who need long-term care to other counties. Sonoma County’s last remaining acute-care psychiatric hospital unit, operated by Memorial Hospital, closed in April 2008. Full Story »

By JULIE JOHNSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Fire all but destroyed a home on Pacific View Drive in Jenner Tuesday afternoon after a log had been placed on a wood stove. Jenner resident Gail Daley, 63, had put a wet log on top of a wood-burning stove to dry it out, said Steve Baxman, police chief for the Monte Rio Fire District. When the log began to smoke she placed it on a deck. Full Story »

By BLEYS W. ROSE THE PRESS DEMOCRAT After failing to agree on sale of the central landfill, Sonoma County supervisors now are shopping for a company to reopen and operate the shuttered dumpsite. Full Story »

BY ROBERT DIGITALE AND RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Martin Linley, the boys junior varsity soccer coach at Analy High, died Monday in a diving accident off the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. News of his death was announced Tuesday to some Analy players, and it spread through the local soccer community where he had been an ardent player, coach and fan. Full Story »

By CHRIS SMITH THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Retired Santa Rosa Fire Chief Tony Pini, a Renaissance man who challenged himself in recent years to see how many far-flung art museums he could visit before he missed his grandkids so much he had to head home, died Tuesday after an eight-month siege of cancer. He was 62. Full Story »

By JULIE JOHNSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT A woman parking a car around noon Tuesday on Fourth Street in Santa Rosa sent the head of parking meter flying through a cafe window, scattering glass and grazing two customers as they finished brunch. Full Story »

By RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Before a small plane and glider collided in Middletown midair last month, killing both pilots, neither was seen to take evasive action prior to the impact, according to a report from the NTSB. Full Story »

By BLEYS W. ROSE THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Citing unresolved concern about the Petaluma River's ability to accommodate both recreational boaters and big barges bound for Dutra Materials' proposed asphalt plant, the U.S. Coast Guard has obtained a month's delay in a public hearing scheduled today by Sonoma County supervisors. Full Story »

Everybody has a favorite traditional holiday show, but once in awhile, it's nice to see something different, and new Christmas shows don't come along every year. So "Ham for the Holidays," which opened last weekend at the 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square, offers a welcome change. Full Story »

BY CLARK MASON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Healdsburg's beloved Russian River bridge (shown) will have an equal chance of being saved, versus being torn down, after the Healdsburg City Council voted Monday to consider all options presented to them. Full Story »

BY RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT A Mendocino County Jail inmate died in custody, reported jail officials Monday. William Haley, 50, died Sunday morning after becoming unresponsive as he was taken through the booking process, Lt. John Bednar reported in a release. Full Story »

BY CLARK MASON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Healdsburg's new mayor believes 2010 could be the year citizens feel the impact of budget woes. “For the last year, I've been telling my fellow council members 2010 will be more challenging than 2009,” said Jim Wood, who was unanimously selected to serve as mayor for the coming year. He replaces outgoing mayor Eric Ziedrich. Full Story »

By RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT A two-vehicle crash on northbound Highway 101 at Todd Road snarled the morning commute while tow trucks attempted to right a pickup that ended up on its side. Full Story »

By GUY KOVNER and RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Freeze warnings were extended into this morning as record and near-record cold gripped the North Bay Area, filling beds at area shelters and bringing the season's second Spare the Air alert. Full Story »

By RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT After a sheriff’s pursuit and crash early Tuesday a young Redwood Valley man suspected of driving drunk was arrested - his third such arrest in two years, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department. Full Story »

By PAUL PAYNE THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Michael Ruiz, father of fatal crash victim Alex Ruiz (both shown), says the judge who reduced driver Dylan Morse's 12-year sentence last week 'failed all of us.' Full Story »

By LORI A. CARTER THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Supporters and opponents of a proposed Petaluma retail center anchored by Target and Friedman’s Home Improvement are expected to come out in force to Tuesday night’s planning commission meeting. Full Story »

By JULIE JOHNSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Sheriff’s deputies who shot and killed a man last year outside his Sonoma home were legally justified in using deadly force, the district attorney’s office announced Monday after a year-long review. Full Story »

By RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Police, above, arrest a man suspected of taking items from a Radio Shack store in Santa Rosa. December typically is the worst month for shoplifting, say retail experts. Full Story »