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

Napa artist Gordon Huether moves a piece of his Victorian-style stained glasswork under the sunlight. A bright beam makes a festival of colors on the floor of his workshop, with patches of yellow and blue flanked by small green spots splayed out like constellations on a clear summer 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.

Voters in both Napa and Solano counties will be asked in the June 6 election to improve safety and lessen congestion on Jamieson Canyon Road.

NEW ORLEANS -- The crowds were small and the costumes wickedly satirical as Mardi Gras built toward its boozy climax Tuesday in this hurricane-buckled city that could use a few laughs.

A two-vehicle crash snarled traffic Tuesday morning and injured three people, one seriously, on Highway 121 near the Napa-Sonoma county line.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, introduced a resolution Tuesday calling for the withdrawal of American troops in Iraq.

The Napa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to affirm that Planning Commissioner David Graves, co-founder and owner of Saintsbury Winery, does not have a conflict of interest regarding Jayson Woodbridge's One True Vine Winery and can sit in judgment of Woodbridge's operation.

Margaret Lee, a dedicated and long-time member of the Napa Valley College Board of Trustees, passed away Sunday. She was 75.

The secretary of state was in Napa Tuesday. Not Condoleezza Rice, but California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson. McPherson met with the Napa County Board of Supervisors and then toured the Napa County elections office. From left, elections official Cindy Book, Napa County Clerk John Tuteur, McPherson and his wife, Mary McPherson, share a laugh. McPherson told supervisors he would hold a public hearing in Sacramento today to determine whether Napa County's Sequoia voting system would be certified for the upcoming primary. Tuteur is confident that will occur.

A Feb. 27 story about union negotiations at Charles Krug Winery misstated the name of another Napa County winery where workers are represented by the United Farm Workers of America. The winery is St. Supery, not Saintsbury.

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 -- A 20-year-old legal fight over protests outside abortion clinics ended Tuesday with the Supreme Court ruling that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used against demonstrators.

The researchers did not find the results surprising, because the military has a new mental health screening program for returning soldiers and is encouraging them to get help early to prevent serious problems later, said study co-author Dr. Charles Hoge, a colonel at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

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.

MALIBU -- A rare, $1 million Ferrari that disintegrated in a spectacular crash last week was roaring along Pacific Coast Highway at 162 mph when it hit a bump in the road, launched into the air and slammed into a power pole, authorities said.

SQUAW VALLEY -- The cause of death is still pending for a California snowboarder who died in an apparent accident at Squaw Valley USA ski resort on Friday, the Washoe County coroner said Tuesday.

Woman trapped in Napa crash

IRVINE -- Dozens of Muslim students and supporters protested Tuesday at the University of California, Irvine, against plans by organizers of a panel discussion on Islamic extremism to show cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-laden turban.

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.

Streets to close for Napa Valley Marathon