Harvesting biomass from one of the test "green rectangles" at the Santa Rosa Wastewater treatment facility. The plant mass is sent on to a digester to be converted to methane.At Santa Rosa's Regional sewer plant, ponds covered with fast-growing aquatic plants are being used to help clean toxics and pollutants out of the water as part of the wastewater treatment process. But there's another, very different benefit those plants can offer as well.

While showing off the FAB project at the treatment plant, Caden Hare explained that the effort to develop on site energy generation was driven in part by the needs of the facility itself.

With the recent expansion of the harvesting and digestors, Hare adds, the output from the biomass is already making a significant contribution to the plant's power consumption.

Del Tredinnick (front, center) of Santa Rosa's Public Utility Department with the FAB Project Development Team. Caden Hare is at the top right.

AmeriCorps draws college age youth from across the country to do dozens of public service projects every year. Right now, a team of those young workers are leaving their mark on a corner of the outdoor environment here in Sonoma County.

The 2012 Americorps crew at the Bishop's Ranch

Sean Swift, Executive Director of The Bishop's Ranch, is very pleased to have this third team of AmeriCorps workers deployed to his retreat and conference center, which has no shortage of tasks for them to work on.

Their first big job was the excavation and revegetating of the slope above the lengthy driveway into the facility.

Kirsten Martin shows offa portion of the finished landscape.

  The thick layer of Azola plants now covers the lake surface so thoroughly that the water is scarcely visible.

Every booklover has felt the urge to share a favorite title. Now a nationwide program is coming to support that urge—at no cost to the giver.

After the books arrivel, about a week before they are to be delivered to the recipients—Copperfields will host a reception for the givers in each of their bookstores.

The book covers seen at left are those that were distributed last year in Engl;and and Ireland. Click here to see the full list of 30 titles available for distribution in the USA on World Book Night 2012. These are special edition paperbacks provided by the publishers at no charge to either the participating bookstores or the individual givers.

The deadline to sign up for World Book Night has been extended until midnight EASTERN time on Monday, Feb. 6 That's 9 pm for us here in the Pacific time zone.

Last summer, the LA Times reported on the success of the debut event last year and the early interest in expanding it to the United States.

Community-based affordable housing projects could be an inadvertent victim of the demise of redevelopment agencies across California. And even a possible safety valve measure in the legislature will only offer a little temporary aid.

John LowryAll kinds of affordable housing projects have been supported with Redevelopment funds, including self-help or "sweat equity" construction. But without subsidies, john Lowry, Executive Director of Burbank Housing Development in Santa Rosa says the future of even those projects is bleak.

How did the demise of redevelopment agencies unfold? Lowry says it was a multi-stage process, but the final decision only came at the end of 2011.