Beginning in the late 19th century, a local train line carried tourists from Sausalito to western Sonoma County and back. Eco-tourism advocates now are hoping to see that revived in the 21st century.

The North Pacific Coast Railroad ran, in various forms, for a little more than 50 years, says Rick Coates, Executive Director of the Eco-Ring. But in its early years, before the turn of the 20th century, the main players in the company included some names that remain prominent in the region.

Although the rails themselves are long gone, there are a few remnants of the old North Pacific Coast railroad still visible, such as the trestle supports that rise up emptily out of the water in the Estero Americano, where the tracks once crossed from Marin into Sonoma County south of Valley Ford.

Amazon.com gets an unfair edge in the retail world by not charging California customers sales tax, the company’s critics contend. And there’s a move afoot in the state legislature   to change that.

Nancy SkinnerUnder California’s tax code, notes Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Alameda), online sales tax is legally required to be paid at the time of purchase, if not directly to the vendor, who passes it on to the Board of Equalization, then on to the purchaser's personal state income tax return.

Bill PetrocelliAs a book seller,  Bill Petrocelli, co-founder and vice president of Book Passage,  has been at odds with Amazon ever since the online vendor arrived on the scene. But as Amazon has expanded, he says, other conventional retailers have begun to “share his pain.”

 While the giants of the online sales world, such as Amazon, are the most visible targets of AB 178, an organization of smaller retailers has banded together as the Performance Marketing Alliance, one of several groups that is aggressively lining up to fight the measure.

The world of online dialog is sometimes characterized as a digital version of the "wild west," where just about anything goes. That's an exaggeration, says a San Francisco media attorney, but the law is struggling to keep up with behavioral developments within the worldwide web.

Attempting to update legislation that applies to online activities requires aiming at a moving target, says Simon Frankel, a partner at Covington & Burlington LLP in San Francisco. And that's just one of the issues facing those efforts.

Simon Frankel will be the featured speaker Tuesday evening, June 8 at 7 pm at Book Passage in Corte Madera. His presentation, Online News: Redefining Journalism, is part of the First Amendment Speaker's Bureau series presented by the Media Law Resource Center. He offers this preview of what it will cover.

Frankel will also discuss the emerging conflicts between individuals privacy concerns and online advertising practices, the fiscal mechanisms that are being developing to actually pay for journalism that isn't published in print.

Even if Gov. Brown prevails in his bid to extend the state's current sales tax rate as a way to close the remaining budget deficit, cuts already adopted will fall heavily on California's thousands of people with disabilities.

Disabled Californians are also confronted with reductions in their health coverage through Medi-Cal, a further diminution of the already tattered safety net upon which they rely.

Developmentally disabled adults, including clients from Becoming Independent, protested service reductions and other threateded budget cuts outside the gates of San Quentin, to call attention to the disparity in state spending for their needs and for convicted criminals.