Top Headlines From the Past Week

One of the pieces that generated the most discussion this week is our , which would extend Rainier Avenue west of North McDowell to Petaluma Boulevard North. While a few are concerned about the up-and-down design (under Highway 101, over the river and railroad tracks), more people were concerned about the age-old question: Who’s gonna pay for it?

Who is not going to pay for it, apparently, are either the perpetrators of a “” in which one Petaluma woman lost nearly $800. Someone offered her a cashier’s check for $999 to deposit, on condition she forward $769 to Florida address to cover expenses. Her check was good; the cashier’s check wasn’t. The only mystery turned out to be who got that $769.

Another more crime also caught our readers’ attention: a 13-year old student at Kenilworth Jr. High was , an incident that brought out whether teachers and administrators have a handle on what's happening at Kenilworth. These were coupled with comments about school bullying, harassment, conflict avoidance and parental responsibility. If you are a parent of a child at Kenilworth, we'd like to hear from you.

More comments of a less civilized nature were flushed out by our stories a week ago on to endorse Norm Solomon in the 2nd Congressional district race, and Solomon's challenge to Assemblymember Jared Hoffman to. Solomon is one of four candidates in Sonoma and Marin counties running to replace Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, who is retiring at the end of this year. Sean Penn is a movie actor with an interest in environmental and anti-war causes. 

Thankfully, there was some positive response to a subject everyone can get behind: pizza. Or perhaps more precisely, “ set to pen in the space formerly occupied by Pizzicato. Everyone seems to like pizza, even the vegan-vegetarian-gluten free kind, no matter how you slice it.

Have a news tip? Send me an email at karina@patch.com or if it's an event, please go ahead and add it to our events calendar yourself (just check to make sure the event is not already listed).