NEWS
Webinar on grazing at Point Reyes
The Nature Conservancy, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Department of the Interior will host a webinar on Aug. 12 to provide an update on targeted grazing in the Point Reyes National Seashore and answer questions from the public. The announcement comes six months after the conservancy selected fourth-generation Point Reyes rancher David Evans…
Advocates for dark skies call for ordinance
West Marin can’t do much about the fog, but perhaps it can do something about its night sky. A petition launched by DarkSky West Marin is asking the Marin County Board of Supervisors to integrate dark sky-friendly lighting policies into the upcoming coastal visioning process and county codes. New lighting rules would bolster changes…
County studies traffic, parking
On a typical weekday in Point Reyes Station, parking is not hard to find. But on weekends and holidays, when tourists come to town, it’s a different story. Visitors looking for a cinnamon roll at the Bovine or stopping at the farmer’s market sometimes must circle town a time or two, all while trying to…
In Spanish class, hablando sobre de la vida
On a recent Tuesday evening, seven students gathered at the Dance Palace for their weekly Spanish class. During the two-hour session, not a word of English was spoken by their teacher, Laura Alderdice. Instead, Ms. Alderdice guided the class entirely in Spanish, embracing the full-immersion approach that helped her become fluent decades ago. Following her…
Free P.O. boxes to end for some in Inverness
Some Inverness residents have received a surprise in the mail in recent days: They must begin paying $110 a year for their post office box or install a mailbox at their house if they want to continue free delivery. For customers who have never been charged for their box, the news was most unwelcome. “F—…
Church discussion asks, When is war just?
As late-afternoon sunlight filtered through redwood-paned windows at St. Columba’s Church on a recent Wednesday, a small group of residents gathered to discuss combat. The open-invite conversation engaged six Anglican principles of just war, written on an easel pad: (1) Just cause, (2) Legitimate authority, (3) Last resort, (4) Right intention (5) Probability of success, …
Raines starts jail sentence
Bob Raines, a former superintendent of the Shoreline Unified School District, began serving a 210-day sentence in July for molesting a child at district offices. Mr. Raines, 72, was convicted of engaging in lewd conduct in 2023. He was arrested at his Petaluma home in 2021 and charged with a felony, but the Marin District…
FEATURES & OPINIONS
Another colonial war: The war on plants
Sometimes, words and phrases are repeated so often that we don’t notice when they lack real definitions. Researching the use of glyphosate and other herbicides in California forests for my Substack column last month brought one of these instances to the fore. In this case, the terms are natives, non-natives, and invasive species. If you…
Nature Notebook, August 6, 2026
Nature’s fireworks are on display with the peak of the Perseid meteor shower on Wednesday, Aug. 12, when up to 60 meteors an hour may be seen in the eastern sky beginning at around 11 p.m. The new moon that same evening will leave us with a dark enough sky for some good viewing; hopefully,…
