1) We’ve got an update on those freaky rumors swirling about the possible closure of the old-school La Pizza restaurant across from McDonald’s at the south end of town. A reporter from the Press Democrat got a hold of both the restaurant’s owner, Chhouk “Lilly” Lach, and her landlords. Long story short, the landlords say they’re changing La Pizza’s yearly lease to a month-to-month thing, and she fears that means she’ll be pushed out. So nothing official yet, but she seems very spooked. From the PD story: “After owning La Pizza restaurant in Healdsburg for over a decade, Chhouk Lach says she may have to shutter the business after her long-term lease expires at the end of March. North Bay Property Advisors in Santa Rosa, which leases Lach the space at 133 Healdsburg Ave., informed her that it will be listing the Healdsburg Avenue site for lease on April 1. Lach says she has not been given the option to renew the lease and as a result, her rental status will change to month-to-month once her current lease agreement ends. ‘This is my life. I don’t have a lot of money,’ the 46-year-old Santa Rosa resident said. ‘I can’t even afford to live in Healdsburg.’ … However, according to North Bay Property Advisors, Lach’s belief that she is being pushed out is incorrect. A company official contends her fears are the result of a misunderstanding. ‘That’s false information. That’s 100% incorrect. No tenant has been given notice to vacate the property, period,’ said William M. Severi, who heads the company.” You can read the full story here, which paints the La Pizza debacle as just “the latest in a continuing spate, in recent years, of financial challenges that have threatened the livelihoods of small businesses in the increasingly tony downtown of Healdsburg.” (Source: Press Democrat; paywall)

2) Maybe you’ve heard mention, over the past few years, of a big bureaucratic haggle going on up in Mendocino County over the fate of an aging piece of waterway infrastructure called the “Potter Valley power plant.” It’s owned by PG&E right now, but they’ve been desperately trying to wash their hands of it. The whole saga is kind of hard to follow, but it’s pretty important — because whoever takes over the plant and its accompanying dams, and what they decide to do with it, will directly impact our Russian River-fed water supply here in Healdsburg and neighboring rivertowns. So here’s the latest on all that. PG&E had initially promised to make sure whoever takes over the Potter Valley plant would “allow continued water diversions from the Eel River into the Russian River,” the North Bay Business Journal reports. “However, it now has decided to proceed with license surrender for the Potter Valley plant without those provisions.” Which essentially “threatens water supply for more than 600,000 Russian River water users” — including us. (We get most of our water from the Lake Mendocino reservoir, which pulls from the Russian, which pulls from the Eel.) Here’s what PG&E’s flip-flop could mean for those of us downstream, according to the Journal: “Studies using 110 years of hydrologic data show Lake Mendocino would go dry in roughly two of every 10 years without continued diversions. In eight out of 10, the reservoir would be unable to meet all the demands on it.” Complicating things further is the fact that tearing out dams — and prioritizing fish and other wildlife — is all the rage right now, and Gov. Newsom has reportedly “pledged to support and expedite dam removal plans so they can be finalized by the end of this year.” However, before anyone starts despairing: A PG&E rep tells the Journal that the utility company “remains committed to continue working together” with all the groups involved. And, in the words of U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman from San Rafael: “I don’t think anyone is hitting the panic button just yet. We’re not going to take out dams and shut off the Russian River basin. That is never going to happen.” (Source: North Bay Business Journal; paywall)

3) On that note — here’s a quick reservoir check-in from the county’s water agency, Sonoma Water. (We have our own water agency here in Healdsburg, but we pull from pretty much the same water sources, so much of their info is relevant to us.) The agency wrote in their newsletter today: “Northern California has seen its share of rain events over the last month. These storms continue to fill our local streams, rivers and reservoirs. Because Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma now use Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO), we can hold back more water in these reservoirs. As of Monday, Feb. 12, Lake Mendocino’s water storage has reached 80,881 acre-feet, a decrease of 8,343 over the last seven days, and Lake Sonoma has reached 260,836 acre-feet, a decrease of 31,602 over the last week. Once reservoir levels are in the FIRO deviation pool, above the water supply pool, the operations control shifts to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma. Both reservoirs have now exceeded the FIRO storage curve, and the Army Corps releases water for flood protection as they manage the reservoirs. Using FIRO we can effectively manage the reservoir and reserve more water supply, while also mitigating the risk of flood.” So in short, both reservoirs are fat, happy and full — and there’s plenty more rain in the forecast. You can keep track of the reservoirs in real time on the Sonoma Water website. (Source: Sonoma Water & Sonoma Water via ConstantContact)

4) A young woman whose dead body was found on the rural outskirts of Healdsburg more than three decades ago, but was always just a Jane Doe, has finally been identified as Vallejo resident Robin Fay Hendrick. This, thanks to a Sebastopol-based nonprofit called DNA Doe Project that has reportedly helped law enforcement identify hundreds of Does in recent years. Sheriff’s investigators know she was in her late 30s when she went missing in the early ’90s — but what happened after that is somebody’s secret. Here’s some more info from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office: “On August 9, 1993, skeletal remains of a woman were found in a creek bed off Pine Flat Road near Healdsburg. Due to the extent of decomposition, Jane Doe’s identity remained a mystery. In 2022, our Coroner’s Bureau submitted Jane Doe’s DNA to the DNA Doe Project. The DNA Doe Project identified a potential relative, which led detectives to Jane Doe’s son. A California Department of Justice DNA laboratory compared Jane Doe’s DNA with the son’s DNA, identifying Jane Doe as Robin Fay Hedrick. Robin was born in 1953 and lived in Vallejo, CA. Little is known about Robin other than she was last seen alive in Vallejo in February 1992.” The sheriff is now asking anyone with “any information about Robin’s life” or her “suspicious death” to contact the department’s cold case unit at (707) 565-2727 or sheriff-coldcases@sonoma-county.org. (Source: Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office via Facebook & DNA Doe Project via Facebook)