American Legion Post 113 will host a blood bank Wednesday, 3 to 6 p.m., at 1240 Pearl St. in Napa. The drive is in cooperation with the Blood Centers of the Pacific. Donors must be at least 18-years-old. The Napa post sponsors a blood bank every three months./Register

Most students in Irene Martinez's Head Start classroom never want to leave. Martinez said she can recall two boys who would hang on to her leg because they didn't want to go home.

Farmworkers are at odds with Charles Krug Winery over the St. Helena winery's proposal to require physical tests of all fieldworkers.

After 12 years, Greg Schmitz is leaving as principal of Justin-Siena High School, according to officials from the private Catholic school in north Napa.

Trembling with adrenaline and gasping in excitement, Maggie Stewart, 21, was crowned Miss Napa County 2006 on Saturday night.

The former Napa Pipe site is a hot property, with developers hoping to revamp the 152 riverfront acres south of the city.

Roberto Gonzalez had his heart set on returning to Mexico. But instead, he could be having his mail delivered to state prison for the rest of his life.

Three Cub Scouts were reunited with their troop after being lost for about an hour and half at Robert Louis Stevenson park in St. Helena.

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for the Napa River at St. Helena Monday afternoon.

While celebrities such as U2's Bono and Microsoft's Bill Gates have taken on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa with charitable donations, on Thursday local women of diverse denominations will wrestle this epidemic through prayer.

DETROIT -- A suspected gunman who opened fire with a shotgun during a church service Sunday morning killed a woman and wounded two people before moving a mile away and shot ing himself, police said.

WASHINGTON -- At least tens of thousands of veterans with non-critical medical issues could suffer delayed or even denied care in coming years to enable President Bush to meet his promise of cutting the deficit in half -- if the White House is serious about its proposed budget.

WASHINGTON -- Republican governors are openly worrying that the Bush administration's latest stumbles -- from the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina to those of its own making on prescription drugs and ports security -- are taking an election-year toll on the party back home.

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday defended his record public works borrowing proposal as essential for California's future, characterizing it as an investment rather than a spending plan.

WASHINGTON -- Eleven cities, including Anaheim, Calif., have shown interest in playing host to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, twice the number of cities that applied to get the 2004 gathering.

SACRAMENTO -- Shaken by the deaths of six patrolmen since last fall, the California Highway Patrol on Monday required its field commanders to review safety procedures with their officers.

HAYWARD -- Two lawsuits trying to abolish state-funded stem cell research have "tortured interpretations of the constitution," a deputy attorney general argued Monday at the start of a trial to determine a research institute's fate.

WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will visit California to tour Sacramento's levees and assess the need for federal help, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday after meeting with the secretary.

Document: Coast Guard warned of

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Violence killed at least 29 people Sunday, including three American soldiers, and mortar fire rumbled through the heart of Baghdad after sundown despite stringent security measures imposed after an explosion of sectarian violence.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI said Monday that embryos developed for in vitro fertilization deserve the same right to life as fetuses, children and adults -- and that right extends to embryos even before they are transferred into a woman's womb.

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. -- Scientists have found what they believe are traces of the lost Indonesian civilization of Tambora, which was wiped out in 1815 by the biggest volcanic eruption in recorded history.

LONDON -- A new audit showed thieves stole the equivalent of about $92 million during last week's heist at a southeast England cash depot, police said Monday, describing the second-largest cash theft in recent history.