Salamanders, newts and frogs were the stars this week for a group of Napa students making a foray into fieldwork.

Napa Police officers arrested Robert Lee Braman, 52, of Napa, on suspicion of burglary, being under the influence of methamphetamine, possession of a hypodermic needle and petty theft Thursday afternoon.

Investigators believe fireplace ashes discarded in a Dumpster started a blaze early Thursday morning at an Oakville winery, according to Napa County Fire Battalion Chief Eric Hoffman.

President George W. Bush on Friday signed a declaration stating that a major disaster exists in Napa and nine other California counties, earning a collective sigh of relief from Napa public officials, local flood control authorities and water-logged residents.

La Prima Pizza burglarized

A decision on the future of Lake Berryessa may be just weeks away, as Bureau of Reclamation officials prepare to pick their plan for the lake after more than a year of study and public comment.

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge on Friday set former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's trial date in the CIA leak case for January 2007, two months after the midterm congressional elections.

CENTREVILLLE, Ala. -- Five small Baptist churches were burned to the ground or otherwise damaged in a string of fires that investigators said were apparently set one after another by arsonists making their way down the highway.

LAKE BUTLER, Fla. -- A truck driver who plowed into a car at a school bus stop last week, pushing it into a school bus and killing seven children, had been awake for 34 hours, except for a short nap, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton gathered checks from Hollywood friends, John Kerry's wife and even a former Republican congressman, but records filed Friday show she returned cash from an even older ally -- Wal-Mart.

HOUSTON -- An attorney for one of three people accused in the nation's deadliest human smuggling attempt argued Friday that his client hadn't physically done anything to cause the 19 deaths, and another lawyer blamed federal immigration policies.

COMPTON -- An 11-year-old special education student was accidentally shot in the arm Friday by another youngster on a school bus, authorities said.

PALM SPRINGS -- A couple charged with sexual battery allegedly convinced more than a dozen women that $14-an-hour caretaker duties included "therapy" sex.

LOS ANGELES -- The patients were lining up at the medical clinic, just like any weekday. Up the street, a white Lincoln and a black Nissan were turning a slice of blacktop into an illegal raceway, dueling at 90 mph.

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities on Friday announced the capture of a top Mexican drug smuggler wanted in the United States for cocaine trafficking and money laundering and who was included among the 40 most-wanted fugitives in the world.

SAFAGA, Egypt -- An aging ferry sank in the choppy waters of the Red Sea on Friday with more than 1,400 people on board, mainly Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia. Most were feared lost but officials said at least 314 made it to safety.