Behind the scenes: One year of the Vallejo Sun

TITLE: Behind the scenes: One year of the Vallejo Sun

DESCRIPTION: It’s now been a year since veteran journalists John Glidden, Scott Morris and Brian Krans launched the Vallejo Sun. The three discuss their biggest stories, from dogged city hall coverage to deaths in Project Roomkey and local law enforcement ties to extremist right-wing militias. Since the launch of the Vallejo Sun on Sept. 15, 2021, the three reporters have published approximately 300 stories, ranging from breaking news dispatches to in-depth investigations, and seven podcast episodes, each providing a detailed examination of a crucial issue in Vallejo and Solano County. The Sun exclusively covered court hearings that gave the most detailed accounting to date of the Vallejo Police Department’s badge bending scandal and investigated dysfunction in Vallejo’s Project RoomKey program, leading the city of Vallejo to finally acknowledge that six people died.

[burgers in the park ambi fade in]

Brian: Happy year anniversary. Congratulations to John. 200 stories? Where you at now?

[fade under]

On September 15th, 20-21… three veteran journalists launched a new online news publication… the Vallejo Sun… with a story about an illegally operating gun club in Fairfield connected to far-right extremist movements.

NEIGHBOR: I can hear the bullets hitting the tree next to me when he fires. Shit, shit, shit, shit, fuck!...

We also had a story about a leaked email where Vallejo’s interim police chief confirmed to a PR firm that some officers were bending each other's badges after a shooting.

ADANTE POINTER: “These officers were celebrating…”

The Vallejo Sun… so far… has primarily been veteran Vallejo government reporter John Glidden… and Scott Morris… a skilled public records reporter who has been using documents to expose wrongdoings in Vallejo for years. Oh, and there’s me… Brian Krans. I produce our podcast episodes… like this one.

Our goal is to provide people with consistent, in-depth local journalism about their communities… specifically Solano County with an intense focus on Vallejo… so they have the information they need to engage with their local government.

Some of our biggest stories in the past year have focused on Vallejo’s music scene… including how Vallejo rapper Lil Theze was killed by a retired police officer in Oakland during a robbery …

Lil Vell x Theze - Kick Door [Vallejo police]

…and how musicians are treated by police in Vallejo’s ongoing war on rap music.

Coleman: Who’s… who’s… what’s the occasion? Is that Nef the Pharaoh?

Yes, sir.

Coleman: Damn. Hey, man... no bullshit... I’ve got a lot of respect for that last track you came out with man.

We also exclusively reported on court hearings where former Vallejo police Lieutenant Kent Tribble testified that he started bending officers' badges as a Concord police officer nearly twenty years ago.

NICK FILLOY: As far as you know, were you the person who brought the tradition of badge bending to Vallejo or started in Vallejo?

TRIBBLE: Yes, sir. It was I.

And then there’s our ongoing investigation into Vallejo’s version of a statewide program to provide people experiencing homelessness with hotel rooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. We uncovered that about half a dozen people in the program died… three of whom were left in their rooms for days.

ALYSSA: I don't even know what's going on. How long was she dead? That was another thing. I didn't even know how long she'd been dead. You know was she dead all weekend?

In this episode… for our first anniversary… John, Scott and I are going to take a look back at some of our bigger stories over the past year… talk about why we think the work we do matters… and where we’re headed from here.

[Intro]

[City Hall ambi]

Brian: Okay, John, where are we?

John: Vallejo City Hall.

Brian: You spend much time here?

John: Most of my life.

John Glidden is a Vallejo native who has been reporting on Vallejo city politics since early 2015… when he joined the Vallejo Times-Herald as a beat reporter. Shortly after he was fired in 2020… John launched John Glidden dot com… which would later morph into the Vallejo Sun.

We recently stopped by city hall to talk about John’s ongoing coverage… including not just what’s going on inside city hall… but also the people who work for the city.

John: Within the last two years, the city's gone through a lot of turnover at almost every senior level position. You've had at least two acting, or interim city managers following the departure of Greg Nyhoff. You've had, you know, Interim Assistant City Managers, you know, water director that's been promoted to, you know, city manager, so you had an interim there. So, Human Resources, Housing, pretty much every department has had an interim over the last two years. And that really started under Greg Nyhoff, when he decided to terminate three of his top employees in April of 2020. And it kind of snowballed after that where just a lot of stability at that point. You know, so, you know, there's a, you know, there's a special adviser to the city manager that does economic development. I mean, the city has also just hired a new homelessness manager. So there's, there's a lot going on.

Brian: Well, let's go for a walk real quick, because we have Vallejo City Hall. And we have our standard photo that we run with City Hall stories and everything. They're flying the Ukraine flag out front, and there's a memorial to the fallen police officers. And this is also a place for a lot of protests when people are going to come protest, there’s a big, wide open space. I remember this is where I met you, or basically got to know you in the summer of 2020. We were working for different outlets. But we all, you know, we spend a lot of time on this pavement here covering protests and stuff like that. When it comes to a lot of the outrage that we hear from activists on a regular basis. What are some of the more common themes that we hear about?

[City hall protest ambi]

John: Well, a lot of it's mostly about police reform, police brutality, excessive force. Just a lot of questions about how you know, issues with the city and what they're doing to remedy. You know, you have badge bending with the police department. You have and there's been some about lack of homeless services, services for the homeless. But it's mostly police at this point where there's, you know, reform there's a cry for reform, more justice, I guess.

Brian: Well, that's, it's actually a good segue because we're gonna go right next to City Hall is Is this the library or a library?

John: John F. Kennedy Public Library. So this is the main branch.

Brian: And this is I mean, this is important cuz I remember you reported on people having they want to put up a fence and kick out people experiencing homelessness. We're using this as a home. This is also a proposed site for the police department, isn't it?

John: The city is looking into it actually, this month in September, they're supposed to release a new feasibility study. They originally were eyeing 400 Mare Island Way, which is, I remember then city manager Greg Nyhoff, calling this the City Hall Complex because that building is just you know, it's you can see it from City Hall. So he really wanted to develop this area's like a public safety city hall area. And once there were some concerns about using that building as a police headquarters. You know, the focus changed to you know, the John F. Kennedy Library becoming the new police headquarters. But I mean, there hasn't been, it's still in the early stages of discussion. But the curious thing is that this complex is already 50 years old. So it was built in the early 70s. So they would have to sink a lot more money into rehabbing it if they decided to do that. And it'd be interesting to see trying to add more, more age or extend the age of a 50 year old building, you know, so to be a police headquarters.

Besides a potential police headquarters… John reported about what was going on at… or should I say outside of… that branch of the public library.

John: There was the chair of the McCune collection, which is the rare books collection that has an entrance down in this plaza, you know, advocated for sending a letter to the council about the situation and saying that this was harming the collection and people's enjoyment of it. You can see the doorway over there, that's what leads to the collection or to inside the building to get to the collection. So he was very vocal, and the letter was very, you know, unapologetic about, you know, the situation and how they felt that the people living here were causing a disturbance and health issues and, you know, lack of services, stuff like that. Yeah.

Over the last year… John has written more than 200 articles for the Vallejo Sun. Scott asked John about his approach to the local city hall beat.

Scott: I mean, maybe it's talking about like the importance of regular beat reporting, you know? How is it? Like? Why is it because it because like, a lot of what you do for the Vallejo sun is just to like, be here day after day after day. And making sure that you know, when these meetings come around that there is a reporter in the room, there's a lot of little commissions a lot of little bodies that don't get a lot of coverage in Vallejo. So you know, why why do you feel like it's important that you do this kind of work that you keep covering these little meetings?

John: Yeah, I think there's a need. These are the type of stories that I'd want to read. If I was not in journalism, so that's why I you know, and I enjoy it. I probably shouldn't say that out loud. Because then I, you know, people looking to do it forever doomed to Yeah. You know, I think it's, it's, it's the material is, is fun, it's engaging, and it's it has to be done. You know, as other local outlets have cut service, or, you know, decided not to be as active, you just, you know, you don't have you don't have the coverage that you need, you know, this is 126,000, you know, population that lives in this this town, they deserve the news and how their city governments working or not working. You know, there's issues with the city government, you know, so you gotta keep an eye on them.

Scott: …McCune committee commission, and we covered the all these like, really small little bodies and you like you told me that, you know, you, you these bodies are public, but they kind of operate in secret level just because they're kind of not very well known. Or if people don't pay attention to them. And so you said you like to remind them that you're somebody is paying attention that you that they use it, these are public meetings, right?

John: Well, yeah. Because I, you know, I've noticed that if, you know, the public stops go into them, they kind of get wild, feral, they kind of they get bold in their statements. And so, you know, showing up is, you know, that's kind of half the fun, too, because, you know, they don't know who I am. And I probably shouldn't say that. But, you know, I don't know, it's just, it's someone who lives here, and who have someone who's been a part or seen the shrinkage of a coverage. It makes me I mean, I'm obviously disappointed in to see that and I'm trying to, through the sun, and through my previous work with JohnGlidden.com, is to try to bring back information to the people. I mean, they need to be informed. And so when they don't have the information, how can they make the right choice? How can you know, our election coverage? How can they make, you know, they could probably make an honest decision, but our election coverage kind of makes it easier for them to Hey, this is who's running, this is what they're running on. And City Hall operates the same way, if you don't have anybody covered City Hall. Things happen and people don't know about it, you know, settlements happen. That's public monies that are being spent that people don't realize people dying in programs, you know, with your work and so, you know, it's just, it's, it's necessary. It's all I can say, there's nothing remarkable about it, just that it's necessary. And you know, you want people to be engaged and informed, they have to have the information. And sometimes people don't. They don't take the time to go out there and actually find the information. So if they can read a Vallejo Sun article, and be more prepared, you know, that's, that's why I'm here. That's why we're here, you know, to make sure that they're, they know what's going on because if they don't, you know, they suffer. They don't realize that they suffer but they need us. They need the news. They need the Vallejo Sun.

Brian: I thought you said you weren’t good at this.

[fade]

No one’s contributions to the Sun have been as prolific as John’s… but Scott and I do our part… including producing a podcast using exclusive audio Scott obtains via public records requests.

ROSE: Just so you're aware all officer-involved shootings get reviewed by the district attorney. I'm going to put this in the evidence

[fade under]

Our first episode used audio recordings of the internal affairs investigation following the police shooting of Willie McCoy… a 20-year-old up-and-coming rap artist who was found unresponsive behind the wheel of his silver Mercedes in a Taco Bell drive-thru… on the night of February 9th, 2019.

THOMPSON: I proceeded to where the suspect vehicle was. And that time I noticed Officer Cano and Officer Patzer were standing on the driver's side of the suspect vehicle with their weapons drawn.

ROSE: Okay.

Those tapes show the kinds of questions police ask each other following a fatal incident… mostly surface level ones that appear to be aimed at helping the officer justify the shooting.

CRAIG LONG: This may sound silly to you and I don't mean to be funny at all. But why were you concerned about the suspect possibly shooting you and your colleagues?

THOMPSON: Because I want to go home at the end of the day. And I want to make sure that my co workers go home to their families

LONG: You were concerned that the guy could cause death or serious bodily injury?

THOMPSON: Yes.

LONG: Those are the questions I have.

In McCoy’s case… six officers fired 55 times in just a few seconds… killing McCoy.

PATZER: So at that point, I began to fire my weapon towards him in order to stop the threat. I wasn't trying to injure him per se, but I needed the threat to stop… you know, no other options was going to stop that threat as immediate as it was, other than my firearm.

[fade]

The Sun has also continued to cover the scandal that some Vallejo police officers bend the tips of each other’s star-shaped badges following a shooting. Solano County Deputy Public Defender Nick Filloy compelled some current and former Vallejo police officers to testify about the practice… including retired Lieutenant Kent Tribble… who said he brought the practice over from the Concord Police Department when he transferred to Vallejo with his brother in 2003.

[court ambi]

The two days of hearings were the most comprehensive look into the tradition since it was first revealed two years ago. Scott covered the first day of hearings… and I the second… both of us writing exclusive day-of stories… and then collaborating to stitch it all together for an episode of this podcast.

FORMER VALLEJO POLICE OFFICER JOSH COLEMAN: Kent Tribble sat me down, poured me a beer and then began to tell me about how it would be nice if there was a way that you could recognize people that you work with, for being people that you can trust in moments of chaos and trust with your life. At which point he asked me for my badge and bent one of the tip tips on my badge.

[fade under]

The Vallejo Sun podcast is a continuation of one I created in the summer of 2020… not long after Vallejo police detective Jarrett Tonn killed 22-year-old Sean Monterrosa during widespread looting in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

[Scanner audio]

CAPT. LEE HORTON: Yeah, it looks like they’re armed, possibly armed.

This year… we took a look back at the Monterrosa case two years later… using audio from the internal affairs interviews with Detective Tonn… whose status with the department remains uncertain. A mandatory review hearing found that Police Chief Shawny Williams waited too long before attempting to fire Tonn last December… for violating the department’s use of force policy when he fired five times from the back of an unmarked pickup truck… hitting Monterrosa once in the back of the head.  

SCANNER: Shots fired. Suspect down.

TONN: Hey, he pointed a gun at us.

DISPATCHER: Copy. Shots fired, suspect down on Redwood.

TONN to IA: Hey, he tried to pull a gun out on you know, pointed a gun at us.  

FROM EPISODE: Despite finding out that the suspected gun was actually a hammer… Vallejo internal affairs investigator… Detective Kevin Rose let Tonn run with the idea that he found himself in immediate danger.

ROSE: Do you feel like you had any other options?

TONN: No, none whatsoever.

I also spoke with Sean’s sisters… Michelle and Ashley Monterrosa… outside the elementary school in San Francisco…

[SF ambi fade up]

…that all three siblings attended… where the library is now named after Sean.

ASHLEY: They've already renamed their library into the Sean Monterosa resource library. So that's what that's called at the school. But the principal also let us create this space when Sean first passed away, we would gather here and just have like vigils and then eventually it became the Sean Monterosa Knowledge Little Free Library.

The Monterrosa sisters… along with their parents… are waiting for the results of the criminal investigation by California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office into the fatal police shooting… the department’s 18th since 2010.

MICHELLE: But also, you know, recognize that we turned our pain into power and purpose and something and not allowing those obviously we we've we're still in pain, you know, and from those…

ASHLEY:  It looks different two years later, and

MICHELLE: …those first 48 hours you know, us look trying to find Sean, being lied to, giving the wild goose chase, the watch commander telling us to find out on TV like everyone else, and then you know, the Vallejo Police Department not even bothering calling our family, you know, just calling us to get a statement. Like, there's just so much that we had to really sit home and like, unpack, like, you know, yes, we lost our brother. Yes, we lost him the way we did, but like, just even grieving so publicly.

ASHLEY: And having to plan a funeral doing interviews with anybody who would want to hear the story. At that time, it was just a really hard time.

[fade]

The most recent episode of the Sun podcast followed Scott’s investigation into extremism in the North Bay… most notably the Three Percenter movement. He started digging into Three Percenter presence in Solano County because some members of the sheriff’s office posted Three Percenter imagery on their social media. That included now-retired Sergeant Cully Pratt… brother to actor Chris Pratt… who plays Peter Quill in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Guardians of the Galaxy: There’s another name you might know me by: Star Lord

Who?  

Besides an Avenger’s brother… Scott followed the case of Ian Rogers and Jarrod Copeland… two North Bay men who were plotting to attack the California Democratic headquarters in Sacramento… because they believed the Big Lie that Donald Trump lost the White House due to widespread voter fraud.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The unfounded belief that the 2020 presidential election was rigged has become an important force in American politics, especially in Republican primaries.

[fade]

The FBI said Rogers displayed Three Percenter symbols.

[Rogers machine gun]

Records requests led Scott to learn about a gun club in Fairfield that was operated by Three Percenters… and where a Hayward police officer… who used to work in Vallejo… was arrested.

[End machine gun, laughter]

The extremism episode was the second to feature Shane Bauer… an award-winning investigative reporter who wrote an article about Vallejo police for the New Yorker… and covered a Three Percenter militia for Mother Jones.

SCOTT: So, what was your sense of Three Up as an organization? So you said, most of these guys were coming down from Colorado, including Mike Morris, 50 Cal. And so it seems like this disorganization was kind of centered in Colorado, but what was its reach at that point? Did you get any sense of that, or kind of how broad it was?

BAUER: It's hard to tell how broad it was. Because it's hard to judge from Facebook is what they would do. And what some other groups did was, somebody basically starts a page for every state and they kind of try to start groups by doing that, so they'll make a California page and say, ‘Hey, let's get a train together, who's who's up for it?’ and they basically bring these people together through the internet. It's kind of a precursor to the much more internet savvy kind of alt right type people. Militia guys generally are not big internet people, but Three UP was maybe, kind of, the cutting edge of that.

The other episode featuring Shane was one of my pet projects. That one looked at the intersection of Vallejo’s storied rap scene… and its police department.

COLEMAN: Nef, you playing on Saturday night?

Say no.

COLEMAN: I'll be there. I'll be there

He'll be front row. He automatically front.

COLEMAN: I mean I make enough money to be up there.

I bet.

So, why not?

BAUER: Strangely, after he detains all these guys, he's telling them he's actually has tickets or he's going to go see Nef the Pharaoh, himself, and he’s kind of complimenting Nef the Pharaoh. So on the one hand, he's like, you know, says he likes this guy's music. But on the other hand, the fact that this person is there, shooting a video is the reason that he detains all these people.

We looked at how police behavior impacts its local music scene… beginning with Mac Dre rapping about a certain Vallejo detective… before he’d serve time for robbery.

“They roughin' and cuffin' me, in jail they be duffin' me

Every damn day, mayne, they can't get enough of me

I could maybe understand if I was breaking the law

And I'ma dedicate this to Detective McGraw

He be steady accusing, but these cases he be losin’.

Then there’s E-40’s protege… Nef the Pharaoh… who… as Shane said… was detained by Vallejo police while filming with a crew from Vice.

Nef: The police is the biggest gang in America, my nigga. We not even out here worried about a nigga sliding through… we’re worring about the police coming through and slamming everyone on their heads into the ground until they have a goddamn seizure.

[TIRES SCREECH]

During our recent outing in Vallejo… we three Sun reporters made another stop… one I had made several months earlier… when a security guard was waiting to greet anyone who came on the property.

[Brian and security guard]

For this latest trip to the Hampton Inn… John and I went with Scott… who spearheaded the Sun’s coverage of deaths in Vallejo’s Project RoomKey.

Brian: So we're on Fairgrounds Drive, right down the hill is Six Flags. But we're out here at the Hampton Inn, Scott, if you can tell me the significance of the Hampton Inn in relation to your coverage for the Vallejo Sun?

Scott: Yeah, I mean, the Hampton Inn was the place where Project Roomkey primarily took place. There were two hotels, they kind of moved back and forth when but most of the program happened at the Hampton Inn. And, you know, we were current reported on a series of deaths in that project room key program, which was supposed to help homeless people through the pandemic. And, you know, it just seemed like there was a lack of services from the reporting that we were doing that was potentially leading to these deaths. It wasn't really clear, a lot of them happened because one of the most disturbing things about it was people weren't being found for days after they died, that there was just they would be in their rooms for three, four days, it wasn't really clear. And at least one case the autopsy couldn't determine how she had died because she had been in her room for so long, and her body was too badly decomposed. So it was a really sad and difficult story to report. It was just heartbreaking.

Brian: Yeah, one of the people we actually we heard from because her family shared a voicemail of her talking about the conditions at the hotel. Not this one specifically.

Cherie: …biggest fucking dive…

Brian: Tell us tell us about Cherie Nicoletta.

Scott: Yeah, Cherie Nicoletta, you know, had been homeless in Vallejo for a while. And she had some health problems that led her to join the Project Roomkey program when it started in March 2020. And she was living in this hotel in the Hampton Inn and moved over to the Rodeway. And when all the people in the program were moved over there, and that was the place where she was really complaining about the conditions because that was a really, you know, rundown residential motel and there was mold in the walls, and just a lot of things weren't working and really not a good situation to the point where the city ended up moving them back to this hotel to the Hampton. But, you know, as a few months after that, that Cherie ended up dying. And, you know, the city was really tight lipped about this stuff. And we get some police reports and they're kind of vague about how people died. And the coroner said of death was still under investigation and couldn't give us any information was finally the family reached out to us after reading our stories, and told us about Cherie.

ALYSSA: She was outgoing. She just loved to go to concerts. And she always dressed up. She had really great taste and great style. My mom also struggled with bipolar disorder, so I imagine she was like really manic and it was just hard for all of us to deal with. And she had, I think, like three places, but each one she was evicted from for like manic behavior stuff. And then they pulled her voucher. So she was like, back on the street.

Scott: Cherie had COVID Like she was quarantined in a room. And she was and she was just left up there and she had gone to the hospital. They diagnosed her with COVID-19 She came back to quarantine and then one day, she calls up her son and she didn't even speak. She was just moaning like she was in pain as they described it.

ROBBIE: I was still hoping she was in the hospital. But I said, You know what, I was coming down the hill coming from Vacaville, you know, and I said, I'm gonna go check, just to see, you know, and that's when I heard that day is when I found her. And, uh, yeah. [Pause]

SCOTT: Her son rushed down here and tried to get in and his key they should have given him a key to the room. It was one of these key cards and it wouldn't work. He was just kept putting it in the thing. And it was it would flash red and it wasn't working. And then you know, the people there. Then they were this was on a Friday and they told him to come back on Monday. When the when the organizer, a project room key, Kevin, Sharps would be there, that the manager is the case manager. And, you know, that didn't make a lot of sense that she could have had been having a serious emergency. But, you know, despite that, he listened. And then he left and he came back on Monday. And when he finally let him into the room, he saw his mother there, and she'd already been dead for days.

ROBBIE: yeah, and then asked me if I'm ready for this. Are you ready for me open the door? Like you know, like, what do you know that I don't because I've been ready fucking all weekend. I've been trying to break in here to see if my mom was you know, so that was kind of weird, too. Luckily, I went by there. Because, you know, who knows how long she would have been stuck up there if I didn't go there that morning to you know, check on her. Who knows how long she would have been in there for.

Brian: Cherie Nicoletta was 63 years old.

Scott: And it was just this astonishingly sad story. And, you know, there really hasn't been an accounting for how this happened yet.

Only recently has the City of Vallejo publicly stated that six people died in their Project Roomkey program.

Scott: For the for longest time the city refused to give me any answer on that question. I just just the basic how many people? Did you have die in this program? And they just ignored me, they wouldn't answer the question. And then finally, you know, they come around with this. And finally, I come around and I say, Look, I've confirmed five people at this point, like, I've been poring through these records, I've been getting as much information as I can. And I have confirmed five. And they said, okay, yes, we had a total of five people die in this program. And then a couple months after that, there's a city council agenda comes out that says they're going to do an update and Project Roomkey when they go in, and they talk about it a lot of different things. And then in that context, when they say, Oh, actually, there was six. And so that's, that's what we know, to be true now is six. And, you know, it's it's but given the record keeping, we've seen it just there's still this idea, I don't know, I just still have doubts about that. It’s hard for me to take that seriously when they’ve done so little to account for this.

[road noise fade out]

[Giant burger fade up]

One of the important lessons I learned from the classic journalism movie All the President's Men… is that sometimes you just have to stop for a burger with your coworkers.

[Scott burger order]

We did just that… picking up some burgers and fries from Bud’s Giant Burgers on Sonoma Boulevard… and then drove to Vallejo’s iconic waterfront… to talk about where else could use a little sunlight.

John: Well, you know, we got the basics about City Hall, major police stuff.

Brian: Scott and I were the only reporters in the courtroom to publish stories regarding badge bending. What's next? I mean, I say we keep doing what we're doing.

John: The election coverage. I think that's vital. That's, you know, a resource and

Brian: Democracy is cool

John: Democracy. Pretty cool.

Scott: We're building a lot of good resources on the election right now. John has been just covering everything. We've got stories on practically every candidate that's in the race right now.

John: Yeah, that's I took my time with those three from the forum because I wanted to make sure everyone shine, everyone got a little love

Brian: I want to have more podcasts out. I really enjoy making these podcasts. I will say that my one of my favorite things I've experienced in my, you know, two plus years of reporting on Vallejo, almost three something like that. People here I want to talk. You know, there are lots of people where it's like no, like, Thank you for coming here. Thank you for being here. We're looking for someone to amplify our voices and pay attention and hold people accountable, sit in the back of the room, sit in the courtroom, be there, be present, tell people what's going on, you know, and I think our name obviously speaks for itself, you know, bringing light to places where there weren't, you know, lots of good people in Vallejo.

One thing we feel the Sun has been doing well is staying on a story… from John’s dogged coverage of City Hall… to Scott starting at a homeless encampment… to discovering half a dozen deaths in Vallejo’s Project Roomkey.

Scott: And that's the thing is like, the news doesn't stop, it goes on and on and on. They never just do one story and then it's over. You always got to keep going. Because, you know, there's always more to find out about it. You know, it's no matter. No, no story that I've ever written, has ever told the complete picture. It just can't, because you're always gonna find out more as time goes on. And new things happen. And you'd have to keep up on it. Because that's what news is.

[waterfront ambi fade under]

And obviously reporting news costs money. While we’re constantly piecing together our budget through grants and other sources… our biggest supporters are you… our readers… our listeners… whether you live in Vallejo or not.

We recently unveiled a new subscription tier… where you can pay one hundred dollars a year to be an Ally of the Vallejo Sun. That… along with our 50 dollar annual Supporter tier… gets you access to our newsletter and ad-free browsing of Vallejo Sun dot com.

But the articles, episodes and newsletter remain free for all… so we sincerely appreciate all of your support… even if that’s giving a like or share on social media.  

We’re going to continue to cover the November election… and recently launched our new arts coverage… with a preview of the Mare Island Dock of Bay Festival from Gretchen Zimmermann.

We’ll soon be working with more freelancers… so if you have a story you want to tell… or a news tip you want to share… drop us an email at editor at vallejo sun dot com.

Again… thank you all for your support. On behalf of John Glidden and Scott Morris… I’m Brian Krans… and we are the Vallejo Sun.

Thanks for listening.

[waterfront ambi fade]

[fade up]

E-40 Choices: Ever squeezed a trigger? (yup)

Ever set a nigga up? (nope)

Ever helped a brother out when he was down on his luck? (yup)

Brian: One of my favorite things about E-40 was during the Verses where he was asked like how big Vallejo is and he said 11 exits. That's just classic.

Navigation: In a quarter mile your destination will be on the right

[fade under]