There was a round of applause in the room at last night's Sonoma City Council meeting after former

Sonoma Sun city hall reporter Neal Ross spoke. He addressed the Council during the public comments not on the agenda portion of the meeting. Neal had been a regular at City Council meetings until a few months ago, when a serious health issue forced him to take disability leave. Neal found out the other day he no longer has a job at the Sun to return to. Before he began working at the Sun, Neal was known to folks at city hall, as his career includes reporting for Sonoma's other community newspaper, the Sonoma Index Tribune.

Our Shared History

Many folks in the room seemed moved as they heard him thank the City Council and express his love for Sonoma. It was a particularly poignant moment for me, as I first met Neal roughly 20 years ago during the period I discuss in my inaugural blog post. I covered the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors for TV 50 News. He covered the Board for the Petaluma Argus Courier.

I didn't always agree with how Neal approached some of his stories while he was at the Sun. But it saddens me to learn there's one less job in Sonoma County for an experienced local journalist who knows our community and county well. The Sun appears to be now using only freelance reporters. Many staff have been laid-off the last couple months. The weakness with using freelancers to cover news is they don't form the relationships that reporters regularly covering beats do.