Disaster training offered

Saying the large homes are too big for the small lots, the Napa Planning Commission has ordered the developer of a proposed 44-home Browns Valley subdivision to go back to the drawing board.

Despite concerns about traffic congestion on South Jefferson Street, the Napa Planning Commission endorsed the construction of a 58-unit townhouse project near the new Sheveland Ranch development.

It appears George W. Bush's visit is a historical first for Napa County. Based on a preliminary review of historical records, Napa County has never received an official presidential visit until now. However, several former presidents have toured the area following their term in office.

With the Napa River as a backdrop, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, unveiled a new strategy that could result in more work on Napa's flood control project this fiscal year.

If Pat Patterson's car hadn't died Saturday, he never would have seen President George W. Bush whooping it up while he biked on a Napa County forest trail.

LYNN, Mass. -- For Lidia Veras and Elena Clarisa Sepulveda, the pace of life is achingly slow, weighed down by confusion and delay.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Several Duke University alumni questioned the school's president Saturday about suspending two lacrosse players charged with raping a stripper at a team party, with one saying his alma mater is guilty of "a tremendous rush to judgment."

STATELINE, Nev. -- A property owner has apologized for poisoning three large pines to improve his view of Lake Tahoe, but is resisting a proposed hefty fine, land-use regulators said.

NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin and Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu appeared headed toward a runoff Saturday following the first mayoral election since Hurricane Katrina, a tricky experiment of modern-day democracy that gave scattered evacuees a say in this battered city's future.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- In the stately stone hall, Yale University flutist Wang Mingzhu, solemn in a glimmering black dress, played her instrument quietly, deliberately, pitch-perfect. A half-block away, hundreds of agitated demonstrators in T-shirts and headbands banged snare drums and chanted for the demise of the Chinese Communist Party.