The Press Democrat
Alana Minkler is an accomplished journalist with extensive experience in breaking news and investigative reporting. Currently serving as a Breaking News and Education Reporter at The Press Democrat since July 2021, Alana has previously contributed as a Breaking News Intern at The Arizona Republic and held various roles at the Arizona Daily Wildcat, including Investigative Editor. Early career experiences include positions at Enterprise Holdings as a Customer Services Agent and as a Bike Mechanic at the University of Arizona. Alana holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Arizona and is pursuing further studies in Journalism and Documentary Production at the University of California, Berkeley.
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The Press Democrat
The very first newspaper in Santa Rosa, the parent of today's Press Democrat, was begun in 1857, just three years after Santa Rosa was chosen as the seat of Sonoma County and seven years after California became a part of the United States. Called the Sonoma Democrat this newspaper was a four-page weekly. Its name reflected the politicsof the Santa Rosa and Russian River valleys, which were settled in the 1840s and '50s by farmers from Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. The founding publisher was Alpheus Russell, a merchant with some newspaper experience who came to open a general store on Third Street. John Taylor, a prosperous rancher south of the new town, encouraged Russell to establish the paper, giving him a five-dollar gold piece for the first subscription. At the end of a year, Russell sold the paper to printer E.R. Budd, who sold it again in 1860. The new owner was Thomas Thompson, a young Virginian who had edited Petaluma's Sonoma County Journal five years earlier at the age of 17.