(July 23, 2015)

Dyslexia is more common and more complicated than is usually acknowledged. But there are upsides to the condition, too.

  In the classroom, says Susan Barton, founder of Bright Solutions for Dyslexia, teachers should not press students to do things that expose them to embarrassment or ridicule because of their limitations. Instead she offers a series of modest accommodations that can enable those same students to succeed.

Susan Barton will present a free seminar, “Dyslexia:  Symptoms and Solutions,”  on Thursday evening, March 27 at 6 pm at Sonoma Country Day School. Find out more about the event here.

The SAY Dream Center, a new housing and service center for homeless youth in Santa Rosa’s Bennett Valley, has been controversial in the neighborhood around the former Warrack Hospital site. But it received unanimous support from the city’s Planning Commission two months ago, and further undivided backing from the Santa Rosa City Council last night.  To find out what happens next, KRCB’s Bruce Robinson spoke with the man behind the project.

With spring in full swing, it's time for gardeners to turn their attention to planting. On today's North Bay Report we visit Flatland Flower Farm in Sebastopol, where they're growing a tomato variety that is both brand new and a well loved favorite.  Joe Schirmer of Dirty Girl Produce in Santa Cruz is developing an Early Girl-like tomato. 

"The Early Girl is a great tomato, it's the best one I've ever had," says Schirmer. "And it's not the Early Girl's fault that Monsanto bought the company that grows it out." 

In 2005 Monsanto acquired the seed company Seminis and, with it, the rights to Early Girl. Schirmer, like many in the organic and local farming community, resent the influence Monsanto and other large agri-business companies have on growers and consumers . Schirmer has developed a tomato variety he's calling Dirty Girl that is like Early Girl, but is Monsanto-free. 

Flatland will be one of the first to commercially offer the plant next week. 

In a quiet but significant breakthrough, the US Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to allow the tiny supply of federally grown Marijuana be used in a University of Arizona study to test its efficacy in treating post-traumatic stress disorder in American army veterans. The research project was OK’d by the Food and Drug Administration some time ago, but when it finally cleared the last regulatory hurdle, the decision came as something of a surprise, as we hear from the supporting non-profit that helped make it happen.