Speak up about downtown parking garage

Napa County is following the Boy Scouts' motto: Be prepared.

After months of being a single-lane road officiated by stoplights, a stretch of Monticello Road a few miles north of an intersection with Wooden Valley Road is back to two lanes -- but only at night.

Three years ago, a set of new playground equipment arrived in American Canyon. But no child has yet had a chance to climb on, through or around the stuff, as the city can't find someone to install it for what it considers a reasonable price.

Residential developers will pay a chunk more to build houses in American Canyon, in an effort to spur the construction of affordable housing in the city, the American Canyon City Council voted Tuesday.

Fire ripped through a once-popular Carneros night club and bar -- and site of a movie set -- Tuesday evening. Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the blaze that destroyed the long-abandoned Dukes bar at the intersection of Highway 121 and Cuttings Wharf Road.

A fight between taxpayer advocates and proponents of an open space district in Napa County is headed to court Monday.

An 18-year-old man was shot to death in west Napa Tuesday evening in an apartment complex parking lot. Napa Police did not immediately release the name of the victim.

A 16-year-old Napa boy has been charged with murder in Tuesday's fatal shooting of Robert Ratto, 19, of Napa. Police have not released the name of the suspect -- being held in Napa County Juvenile Hall -- because he is minor.

Prison guard union backs Angelides

BOSTON -- A federal judge awarded $3.1 million Tuesday to the family of a man who was killed by fugitive mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, ruling that the federal government is liable for the man's death because his identity was leaked to Bulger by a rogue FBI agent.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that the CIA runs secret prisons overseas and said tough interrogation forced terrorist leaders to reveal plots to attack the United States and its allies.

McLEAN, Va. -- Some species of male fish in the Potomac River and its tributaries are developing female sexual traits at a frequency higher than scientists have seen before, raising concerns about pollutants in a waterway that provides drinking water for millions of people.

WASHINGTON -- A new Army manual bans torture and degrading treatment of prisoners, for the first time specifically mentioning forced nakedness, hooding and other infamous procedures used during the five-year-old fight against terrorism.

NEWRY, Maine -- State police detectives continued Wednesday to interview friends, relatives and others to determine why a soft-spoken cook allegedly slaughtered four people over a four-day period at a bed and breakfast where he was staying.

SAN DIEGO -- A television reporter was bitten and beaten as he and his cameraman, who captured the attack on video, tried to do a story on a couple they believed were involved in a real estate scam.

SPRINGVILLE -- A pilot and firefighter in a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection plane crashed in remote Tulare County foothills Wednesday, authorities said.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE -- A police affidavit has linked a former Lake Tahoe teacher, facing federal child pornography charges, to two Internet accounts that contained hundreds of sexually explicit images of children.

BERKELEY -- California is in danger of losing its educational edge in the international work force, according to a new assessment of higher education nationwide.

LOS ANGELES -- What is being hailed as the largest gathering of Hispanic leaders in decades began Wednesday with promises to re-energize a campaign to secure citizenship for over 11 million illegal immigrants.

SOMIS -- A Southern California Edison helicopter crashed on a horse ranch Wednesday, killing both people onboard, authorities said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's parliament reopened Tuesday after a summer recess and voted to extend a state of emergency for a month because of unrelenting sectarian violence, while the president predicted bloodshed will be quelled by the end of next year.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's hard-line president urged students Tuesday to push for a purge of liberal and secular university teachers, another sign of his determination to strengthen Islamic fundamentalism in the country.

MEXICO CITY -- Felipe Calderon was declared president-elect Tuesday after two months of uncertainty, but his ability to rule effectively remained in doubt with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vowing to lead a parallel leftist government from the streets.

TOKYO -- Japan's Princess Kiko gave birth to a boy early Wednesday, providing the centuries-old Chrysanthemum Throne with its first male heir in more than 40 years and defusing a looming succession crisis.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's president on Wednesday proposed a debate with President Bush at this month's U.N. General Assembly, saying it would be the perfect place for an uncensored discussion that the whole world could watch.

WASHINGTON -- Global warming gases trapped in the soil are bubbling out of the thawing permafrost in amounts far higher than previously thought and may trigger what researchers warn is a climate time bomb.