Monday Macchiato: Mexico; Medal Fetishes; And Bendy MacGuffins
Starting a new week with some experimental home-brew coffee frothing and a little Amy Winehouse and trying to find our rhythm. The Buck Sergeant in our lives always stressed the importance of the Joint Planning Process prior to Deployment and we’re applying that thinking to our local news gathering efforts while actual generals and admirals…
The NOTAM Flotsam: Drug Drones? Alien LZ? Or Seven Days In May?
We have quite a few hangar jockeys here at News24/680, folks who know their way around an aircraft’s control column or collective. These folks are pretty well grounded (mentally) and connected, so as soon as they got word of last night’s NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) effectively grounding anything with wings or rotors within 30…
Mulling The Aftermath – Of Just A Short Time Ago
Sunday pretty clearly rocked the world – with global attention first drawn to an agonizingly prolonged assault against a Chanukah observance in Sydney, Australia before our gaze shifted to the home of a beloved actor/director in Los Angeles. Any hope we may have had about an extra hour in bed and the promise of a…
If We May – A Tip Of The Fedora To The Pentagon Press Corps
We understand it’s outside the established boundaries of the 24/680 but we wanted to take a moment to doff our fedora to our colleagues in Arlington County, VA this afternoon. Nearly to the reporter and agency, every scribbler assigned to cover the Pentagon packed up their whiffle balls and succulents and headed for the exits…
Monday Blathering: Hostage Homecoming, Ammosexual Angst, Glued Lips
Well now, stuff is happening. We have our rainwater collection system up and ready for today’s forecast gullywasher and the living roof garden topping the News24/680 Bunker is perking up and ready for the precip. Indoors, we’re spanking the Breville this morning in a carnival of do-it-ourselves coffee making and we’re circling the remnants of…
The Rising Curmudgeon: Crime Seens; Paperless Shilling; Tip’Er More
Contrary to our perceived public-facing scowl we’ve been in a pretty good mood lately. The News Thing is humming along. So is the coffee maker. Our lines of communication are open and thrumming. People seem to like us. Life is good – except for the Alabama Debt Collectors, occasional Mental Midgetry, and General Fumb Duckery…
The Descending Blue Curtain: Silencing The Public’s Right To Know
Like most stories of its type these days this one involves a congressman, a lot of money, a proposal drafted in a way that made it sound really, really good, and buy-in from city governments eager to trim costs and meet a federal obligation. When Congressman Mark DeSaulnier announced that Walnut Creek had been awarded…
OPINION PIECE BY THE LAFAYETTE CITIZEN’S TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
An Opinion Piece from the Lafayette Citizen’s Technical Advisory Committee 04/22/2025 EBMUD PLANS UNNECESSARY DEMOLITION OF HISTORIC LAFAYETTE RESERVOIR TOWER East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) is planning to demolish the historic tower that has stood above the Lafayette Reservoir for nearly 100 years, reducing the tower to a short stump protruding above the water.…
Music To March By; Rat F***er Blues; That Gun Thing…
Lots to tend to and think about these days as we wield our considerable power and clout to re-shape the landscape of the 24/680 and make our corner of California a more agreeable place in which to live. None of that will happen, of course, but we can dream. We have found that for every…
Wednesday Wander: Box Jobs; Watching The Resistance; Eggs And Insurance
Alright, let’s get into this national political situation for a moment – oh, put down your phones and molotov cocktails Angry Folk, we know better than to actually discuss what most of the country is talking about. Instead, we’ll focus our hyper-local laser light on the crossroads of the county and what’s happening in the…