A group representing several thousand former Sonoma County employees is suing the county to roll back a reduction in health care benefit for the retirees.

Former Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Greg Jacobs, vice president of the Sonoma County Association of Retired Employees (SCARE), contends the county has ample fiscal resources to keep paying the retirees’ promised health care benefits.

Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown says that while the board made the cuts reluctantly, albeit on a 5-0 vote, other counties have had to take even harsher actions.

Amidst budget 6contractions elsewhere, Santa Rosa Junior College has found an opportunity for growth in the city’s southwest quadrant.

SRJC’s Dean of Continuing Education, Kerry Campbell-Price, says students were quick to find the new location, and virtually all of the classes there this semester are already full.

The new location for SRJC's Southwest Center -- it's too small to be considered a satellite campus -- is well situated for students arriving from multiple directions, and enjoys a much more visible presence than the center's former site at the Santa Rosa Labor Center.

Click on the link below for a map to the center.

Southwest Santa Rosa Center
950 Wright Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95407

Matriculation Student Services Office
(707) 527-4229

The start of this new school year at Sonoma State University was marked by grim financial news and warnings that things will almost certainly get worse next year.

The faculty and staff at Sonoma State are resigned to the cutbacks that the current economic climate has necessitated, said SSU Faculty chair Susan Moulton (left)  as she opened yesterday’s University Convocation. But there is also lingering unhappiness over the perception that the pain has not been equally shared by the school’s administration.

While much attention has been focused on the faculty’s furloughs, Associated Students President Heather Hanson pointed out that they have been feeling the financial hardships across the past decade, and the most recent moves present a double impact on students, as they must pay more even as fewer classes are being offered.

In addition to the furloughs and other budget cuts, University President Armanana noted that his school has been forced to close enrollment for the spring semester next year, and cut back on admissions for the 2010-11 school year but 450 students, effectively denying access to a university education for hundreds of eligible young people.

Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown is also a national leader, as the new president of the National Association of Counties.

California's economy is frequently said to be the sixth or seventh largest in the world. That, says Valerie Brown, often leads elected officials from elsewhere in the United States to view the Golden State with somewhat mixed feelings.

 Valerie Brown (far right) was part of a March 6 meeting in which new Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (foreground, at head of table) discussed mutual cooperation between the USDA and the National Association of Counties in Washington, DC.

Other states may not share California's budget woes, at least to the same degree, but they are watching how events unfold here, including the special election on May 19. Supervisor Brown is also warily awaiting the judgment of the voters, fearing that the outcome will not be good news for Sonoma County.