With four cities down and four to go, Sonoma County officials this week enter the second half of their roadshow to convince cities to take part in the county’s planned public power agency.

The presentations are intended to tout benefits and answer questions about the effort to displace Pacific Gas and Electric Co. with an alternative that offers a higher share of energy from renewable sources.

Santa Rosa’s City Council is planning to tackle some thorny issues in the next two years, including the annexation of Roseland, requiring labor agreements on public projects and relaxing the city’s medicinal marijuana ordinance.

The state political watchdog agency Thursday fined two recently retired Santa Rosa parks and recreation department officials for accepting thousands of dollars in free golf rounds, lessons and merchandise discounts from the operator of the city-owned Bennett Valley Golf Club.

A judge on Wednesday refused to block construction of three new storage silos at a Santa Rosa asphalt plant. Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Elliot Daum denied a request by neighbors to halt construction of the 82-foot-high silos at the BoDean asphalt plant north of Railroad Square.

The mayor of Santa Rosa has called for a financial audit of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department in the wake of what he called ‘disquieting’ revelations about the department’s budget.

Two former top officials in the Santa Rosa Recreation and Parks Department face fines for failing to report thousands of dollars in free gifts from the operator of the Bennett Valley Golf Course.

Marc Richardson, director of the department until his retirement in December, and Rich Hovden, parks development manager until his retirement in February, are set to be fined next week by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission. Both men’s retirements were unexpected.

Though disappointed to see the top five stories disappear, Santa Rosa City Council members unanimously supported a scaled back version of the Museum on the Square project Tuesday.

With a budget burdened by higher fuel, insurance and pension costs, Santa Rosa is increasingly relying on volunteers to keep the city’s 66 parks tidy, a service once considered a basic government function.

Santa Rosa’s City Council begins the first of two in-depth budget sessions Tuesday to decide how to spend about 9 percent more in the coming year.

Santa Rosa developer Hugh Futrell is planning a six-story downtown apartment building for 140 low-income seniors.

The $30 million project on Fourth Street near Brookwood Avenue will include a medical center and other services for seniors on the first floor, features Futrell says are crucial for an aging population.