The man arrested Wednesday for the infamous 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey worked briefly as a substitute elementary school teacher in 2001 in Napa, where law enforcement officers interviewed him in relation to possible efforts to make inappropriate contact with others on the Internet.

Dec. 26, 1996: JonBenet Ramsey, 6, was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colo.

Mariela Hernandez has high aspirations. Pictures of a lavish home, luxury car, jewelry and a pretty scene from South Africa fill a collage that, for now, reflects what she wants to see in her future.

The Napa area of the California Highway Patrol is conducting a driving under the influence/driver's license checkpoint on Saturday. Travel volume permitting, all vehicles will be checked and drivers who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs can expect to be arrested. Motorists without a valid driver's license can expect to receive a citation./Register

The Napa City Council responded this week to fierce criticism from the civil grand jury, acknowledging slow service in the Community Development Department while accepting much of the responsibility.

The lineup for November's Napa City Council election features veteran council member Harry Martin and two candidates now on the city Planning Commission, Juliana Inman and Peter Mott.

City offers support for

The slate of local candidates vying for seats on city councils in the Napa Valley came into focus Wednesday, the deadline for filing campaign papers. Here's a look at races in cities and school boards around Napa County.

Napa City Council

Jury selection for a Napa High School math teacher accused of 16 counts of sexual abuse of a former student is set to begin next week.

A Napa man has been booked on 11 counts of child molestation of a family member.

The Planning Commission endorsed the 72-home Hussey subdivision on a 4-1 vote Thursday night, leaving Browns Valley opponents to make their case next month to the City Council.

Negotiators for both sides in the Piner's Napa Ambulance labor dispute were slated to meet Thursday into the late hours in an effort to head off the strike scheduled to begin this morning.

As the TV trucks sat outside in the parking lot of the renovated old Napa High building, Napa school officials met with 20 reporters to discuss how John Mark Karr had taught as a student teacher at Pueblo Vista Elementary School from Feb. 1, 2001 through April 4, 2001.

A story about an upcoming performance at the Napa Valley Opera House listed an incorrect number for the Box Office. The number is 226-7372.

American Canyon has a new police chief, and they didn't have to look far to find him.

A former Napa schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey -- a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her parents.

During a press conference Thursday afternoon, Napa Valley Unified School District officials provided details of the detainment of John Mark Karr, the man arrested in the 1996 death of Jon Benet Ramsey.

For three months, John Mark Karr worked as a student teacher in Napa. His employment ended on an April day in 2001 when sheriff's deputies took him from the school for questioning on suspicion of possession of child pornography.

HATCH, N.M. -- Pumps slowly drained waist-deep floodwater from parts of this southern New Mexico town Wednesday, while crews worked to reinforce a breached arroyo that caused hundreds of residents to flee their homes.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Drunken drivers beware: Police say they are starting a crackdown this month and the government is promising arrests for those who drink and drive.

AP Internet Writer

NEW YORK -- Trapped and running out of air on the smoky 83rd floor of the World Trade Center, Melissa Doi begged the 911 operator not to hang up.

BOSTON -- Two fighter jets were scrambled Wednesday to escort a London-to-Washington flight to an emergency landing in Boston after a disturbance in which passengers said a woman in a jogging suit paced up and down the aisle, peppering her incoherent mutterings with the word "Pakistan."

BOULDER, Colo. -- A former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey -- a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her parents.

WASHINGTON -- Three times this year, a lobbyist sought help from Rep. Christopher Cannon for his clients and got it. The lobbyist was the congressman's brother, Joseph Cannon.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed a broad overhaul of pension and savings rules Thursday, giving millions of people a better chance of getting the retirement benefits they have earned.

WASHINGTON -- Anti-abortion groups are urging President Bush to withdraw his nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration, angry that the agency may allow nonprescription sales of the morning-after pill.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The first American civilian charged with mistreating a detainee during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was convicted Thursday of assaulting an Afghan man who later died.

CEREDO, W.Va. -- A West Virginia airport terminal was evacuated Thursday after two bottles of liquid found in a woman's carry-on luggage twice tested positive for explosives residue, a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman said.

DETROIT -- A federal judge on Thursday struck down President Bush's warrantless surveillance program, saying it violated the rights to free speech and privacy, as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge ruled Thursday that the nation's top cigarette makers violated racketeering laws, deceiving the public for years about the health hazards of smoking, but said she couldn't order them to pay the billions of dollars the government had sought.

BOULDER, Colo. -- For a moment, it seemed the decade-old mystery surrounding the slaying of a child beauty queen had been solved. But authorities Thursday cautioned against rushing to judge the schoolteacher who made a stunning confession that he killed JonBenet Ramsey.

As investigators puzzle the life and mind of John Mark Karr, confessor to the killing of JonBenet Ramsey, they must unravel an elaborate and hazy narrative woven in part by Karr himself, much of it constructed around a clear and chilling theme -- a yearning to be close to children.

Sending an old jazzer to review a bluegrass concert could produce interesting results, but this old jazzer left the Napa Valley Opera House Tuesday evening at least partially agreeing with a statement by mandolinist David Grisman: "There's a fine line between bluegrass and jazz."

Early this month, Catholic Charities San Francisco changed its policies, to no longer directly place children with same-sex couples. Instead, it will refer interested parties to California Kids Connection and Family Builders by Adoption in Oakland, both of which give children to same-sex couples. According to Catholic teaching, gay adoption is immoral, but San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer sees no conflict between the new policy and Church teaching.

Concert at St. John

FRIDAY

SONOMA -- Scott Dixon's dating service. Danica Patrick's love line.

Dead newborn found in

LONDON -- A 12-year-old boy managed to get around stepped up security and board a jetliner at an airport outside London without a passport or a boarding pass.

WASHINGTON -- The Coast Guard caught Mexican drug lord Francisco Javier Arellano Felix deep-sea fishing off Mexico, decapitating a murderous cartel that dug smuggling tunnels under the U.S. border, officials said Wednesday.

MEXICO CITY -- One of three Mexican fishermen who claim they spent nine months adrift before being rescued off the Marshall Islands said their boat originally carried five men, but two of them died and were thrown overboard, officials said Thursday.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Detained terrorist suspects told interrogators that al-Qaida's top leaders approved a plot to blow up planes from Britain to the United States, a senior Pakistani intelligence agent said Thursday.

TYRE, Lebanon -- Hamid Asan Hasan dropped his wallet, and as he stooped to pick it up he spotted the small round object. Curious, he picked that up too. It exploded and blew off part of his hand.