The state will provide another $18 million to help homeless people in Marin move from camps into housing. The announcement came just days before the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing arguments in a case that might determine how much authority local governments have to shut down camps on public property and as the county approaches a funding cliff for recently housed homeless people. The state grants include $8.67 million to maintain temporary housing and help underwrite permanent housing for about 60 Latino service and agricultural workers near Bolinas; $5.99 million to resolve the largest muni ..read more

Marin County supervisors have approved grants totaling more than $2.9 million for two new agricultural conservation easements. The money for the easements come from Measure A revenue, a quarter-cent sales tax first approved by Marin voters in 2012 and renewed in June 2022. Ten percent of the revenue generated by the tax goes toward helping to underwrite Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) easements, which guarantee the land will be used for agricultural purposes in perpetuity. The county underwrites half the cost of easements and MALT uses private donations to cover the other half. A grant of ..read more

The Museum of the American Indian at Miwok Park in Novato is reopening following a four-year pandemic-related closure. The Novato City Council approved a new joint operating agreement this month with the Marin Museum Society, the museum’s nonprofit arm, for a term of at least three years. A reopening event is planned for 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27, at Miwok Park at 2200 Novato Blvd. “It’s not just a museum, it’s a living cultural center,” said Dean Hoaglin, the museum board president. “It’s been quite a road to get to the point where we found the opportunity to sit with city membe ..read more

Police arrested a man on allegations he stole a wallet and used the owner’s credit card to shop in Novato. Around 2 p.m. Wednesday, the police were notified about a Novato restaurant owner who lost a wallet in a parking lot, Novato police Lt. Nick Frey said. The card was used for more than $100 in fraudulent credit card charges, Frey said. Investigators reviewed surveillance camera footage and identified a suspect whom they stopped in traffic on Seventh Street. Frey said officers discovered more than 2 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle and the stolen credit card, but not the victim’s wal ..read more

The Marin County Civil Grand Jury is taking some agencies to task for failing to follow its recommendations. The investigative panel’s new report — titled “What Have They Done? An Update on the Responses to the 2022-2023 Marin County Civil Grand Jury Reports” — evaluates six of the eight reports it issued that session. It identifies failures to implement key recommendations contained in three of the reports. One such report was titled “Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied — Marin District Attorney’s Office in Crisis.” In it, the grand jury blamed the prosecution office for a substantial backlog o ..read more

Marin County supervisors have postponed a decision on proposed zoning ordinance changes that would increase the development potential of numerous properties in unincorporated areas. The supervisors decided Tuesday to delay the decision until June 4 after receiving several hundred letters and emails from Marin residents urging them not to approve the changes. Most notably, the proposed modifications would eliminate a provision that properties “with sensitive habitat or within the ridge and upland greenbelt or baylands corridor, and properties that lack public water or sewer systems, shall be ca ..read more

Darin Chace was a 10th-grade student at Novato High School when he reluctantly participated in a sophomore speech contest. The competition, a 40-year tradition, was a scary prospect for the shy teenager. Chace, now 55, has since changed his perspective. “This contest opens up the doorway for people to develop lifelong skills in public speaking,” said Chace, the manager of Watts Music, a record store in Novato. “After you do it, you feel it’s not the end of the world. It starts you on the path of competition, winning and being rewarded — and overcoming a big giant fear.” The event that helped h ..read more

The Novato City Council has approved a long-awaited parks master plan to guide its project priorities. Katie Gauntlett, the parks and recreation director, called the document’s approval a milestone in city history. “Throughout the process, the community shared with us that maintaining and improving our existing parks and outdoor recreation amenities is their top priority,” Gauntlett said. “This feedback will support how we utilize our limited funding and resources to deliver community identified wants and needs.” The council unanimously approved the plan as part of the consent calendar at its ..read more

A major project to overhaul a flood-prone section of Highway 37 has received $20 million from the Biden administration. The Federal Highway Administration funding is part of a $58.9 million allocation in grants supporting six projects in California designed to strengthen roads against the worsening effects of climate change. Nearly $830 million in grant awards will be disbursed nationwide. The funding is being awarded to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the regional planning agency working on a $430 million to widen a 10-mile stretch of Highway 37 between Sears Point and Mare Island ..read more

NOVATO Release denied for pepper spray suspect A suspect accused of assaulting a person at the Islamic Center of North Marin will remain in custody for now, a judge ruled. David Jonathan Margoliash, 48, is charged with discharging pepper spray at the Novato center on March 11. A member of the center confronted the suspect when he appeared to be carrying a gun in his bag, Novato police reported. Margoliash pleaded not guilty last month to charges of unlawfully using tear gas, being a convicted felon in possession of tear gas and displaying an imitation firearm in a public place. In a hearing on ..read more