Tough new recycling regulations now make it harder for anyone wanting to properly throw away a flashlight battery, fluorescent bulb or cell phone.

After coming close to a strike, union workers at Napa Recycling and Waste Services and Napa County Recycling and Waste Services have approved a four-year contract.

If three times is a charm, then a Napa man overdid it when he entered Target on Soscol Avenue Thursday and attempted to steal a car radio, police said.

Napa High School math teacher Jorge Francisco Covarrubias will have to answer to 16 counts of sexual abuse against a former student.

Weighing in at a record 180,813 tons, Napa Valley's 2005 grape crop is the largest ever harvested.

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A state senator's proposal to name zinfandel as California's official state wine created a buzz in Napa Valley's wine community Friday, as winemakers and growers pondered the potential pros and cons of such a christening.

PITTSBURGH -- In his zeal to be associated with a cloning breakthrough, a U.S. stem-cell scientist engaged in "research misbehavior" by signing his name to a now-discredited study by a South Korean expert without properly verifying the work, a university panel said Friday.

ULYSSES, Kan. -- In recent weeks, this oil-and-gas town of 6,000 has been looking into buying water -- perhaps $190,000 worth of the stuff.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Los Angeles County jail officials separated black and Hispanic inmates, began transferring troublemakers out and brought in clergy to try to restore peace after a week of racially charged brawls they feared would continue to erupt through the weekend.

Rapist sentenced to eight years in prison after victim identified him on 'Blind Date' show

CAIRO, Egypt -- Thousands of worshippers emerging from Friday prayers demonstrated against drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in the Mideast, Asia and Africa, clashing with police in some cities despite religious leaders' attempts to keep marches peaceful.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A car bomb killed at least eight people Friday outside a Sunni mosque in Baghdad and gunmen abducted a Sunni cleric, raising sectarian tensions as the election commission gave the final go-ahead for talks to begin in earnest on a new government.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Haiti's likely next president, Rene Preval, faces a crowded and demanding agenda if he is to have a chance of resuscitating this Caribbean nation from dire poverty.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Kidnappers of American journalist Jill Carroll have threatened to kill her if their demands are not met by Feb. 26, the owner of a Kuwaiti TV station that has aired a new tape of the hostage said Friday.

ANKARA, Turkey -- A Syrian was charged Friday with masterminding suicide bombings that killed 58 people in Istanbul, and Turkish prosecutors claimed that Osama bin Laden personally ordered him to carry out terrorist attacks in this pro-Western country.