Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series in which Register outdoors columnist George Carl and his wife Andi Carl chronicle their experience as George battles leukemia and goes through a bone marrow transplant.

The first word that comes to mind is "scary." Once, George passed out in the Kaiser Infusion Center when a nurse was taking blood.

A Napa priest lost his defamation lawsuit last week against a women accusing him of sexual abuse in Los Angeles more than 40 years ago.

As Santiago Salvador sat trapped in a strange bedroom in Tijuana, after he and his three immigrant companions had been kidnapped from the Tijuana airport, he never doubted he would somehow make it safely to Napa Valley.

For the past month, every time the sun peeked out from the lingering clouds, vineyard tenders up and down Napa Valley have hoped it would stay.

On his way back to his homeland, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic took a detour at his friend Mike Grgich's winery, Grgich Hills Cellar in Rutherford, to plant a symbol of peace Sunday afternoon. Mesic's visit to the valley was his second stop on his way home from South Korea and was a way of showing support for Roots of Peace, a non-profit organization that's been actively removing mines in Croatia since 1999.

Napa Police officers are on the lookout for the man responsible for stabbing and robbing a cab driver early Sunday morning.

BREAKING NEWS -- MONDAY NOON: Some 1,200 people are marching through downtown Napa at this hour, expressing their concerns about potential federal immigration reform.

WASHINGTON -- It wasn't easy to sign up, but now that she's enrolled in the new Medicare drug benefit, Ruth Dike says it's made a big difference in her finances.

LOS ANGELES -- Score one for the prehistoric animals.

NOME, Alaska -- Last Christmas, residents of the Yupik Eskimo village of Savoonga added a special dish to their everyday fare of whale, walrus, reindeer and berries -- fresh pizza flown in from Nome, 170 miles away.

WASHINGTON -- The White House on Sunday sought to dampen the idea of a U.S. military strike on Iran, saying the United States is conducting "normal defense and intelligence planning" as President Bush seeks a diplomatic solution to Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

DALLAS -- Tens of thousands of people banged drums, waved U.S. flags and marched in a protest Sunday urging federal lawmakers to pass immigration reform that would legalize an estimated 11 million undocumented workers.