Napa County prosecutors charge a Carneros landscaping company is flouting county land-use laws by occupying land that is zoned for more agricultural uses.

The public will be asked to help pick the best of two possible designs for a new First Street bridge over the Napa River.

How tall is five stories?

Friday's page A4 story about the Napa County sheriff's election misstated the status of Sheriff Gary Simpson. Simpson is not running for re-election.

A Santa Rosa woman went to jail Thursday evening after getting into an argument and allegedly hitting her boyfriend.

Got water? Napa County does as rains throughout the week have filled the valley's reservoirs to capacity and caused them to spill over their banks. National Weather Service forecasters said Napa is likely to get more rain today, and on Friday afternoon issued a snow advisory through 4 a.m., Saturday.

So far the race to replace former American Canyon City Councilwoman Lori Luporini will be the most contested in Napa County this election season.

NEW YORK -- A group of private equity investors has submitted a bid for Knight Ridder Inc., the storied newspaper publishing company that was forced to put itself up for sale last year by its largest shareholders.

WASHINGTON -- General Motors Corp. said Friday it is recalling about 900,000 pickup trucks worldwide to fix tailgate cables that can corrode and break when loads are placed on them.

PASADENA -- A NASA spacecraft successfully slipped into orbit around Mars Friday, joining a constellation of orbiters already circling the Red Planet after a critical firing of its engines and anxious minutes of silence.

SANTA ANA -- The son of a former Orange County assistant sheriff and two accomplices were each sentenced Friday to six years in prison for the videotaped sexual assault of an unconscious teenage girl.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- California Highway Patrol officials closed a portion of Highway 17 between San Jose and Santa Cruz on Friday after up to 2 inches of snow fell, creating slippery conditions that caused as many as eight minor accidents.

LAHORE, Pakistan -- The death of a 4-year-old boy whose throat was slit by a low-flying kite string coated with glass has prompted authorities to forbid kite-flying in eastern Pakistan.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's president issued a decree Friday calling the new parliament into session March 19 for the first time since it was elected nearly three months ago, saying he feared "catastrophe" and "civil war" if politicians could not put aside their differences.