County officials are hoping to change state law to protect Napa County agricultural land, banking on a change in legislative strategy that might sway counties known for sprawl.

The Napa County Sheriff’s Department may continue to provide law enforcement services to American Canyon for at least five years.

For Dan Gagne, the decision to go back to school was easy. Following through was the problem.

Napa police investigators were still on the scene late Wednesday evening at the California Highway Patrol parking lot on Golden Gate Drive where an employee of that office apparently committed suicide, according to Napa Police Cmdr. Jeff Troendly.

Charles Krug winery managers Marc Mondavi and Tom Fossey were surprised Tuesday to see a crowd of more than 30 of their former vineyard workers and United Farm Workers representatives standing shoulder to shoulder in the winery’s main office.

WASHINGTON — Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.

LOS ANGELES  — The Black Eyed Peas were triple winners at the 2006 American Music Awards on Tuesday.

WARSAW, Poland — Eight coal miners were killed after a suspected gas explosion in a mine in southern Poland on Tuesday, and fears were growing as rescuers tried to reach 15 others trapped more than 3,000 feet underground.

KATMANDU, Nepal — The government and Maoist rebels signed a peace deal Tuesday to end a 10-year insurgency, marking the start of a hopeful but uncertain political era in this Himalayan nation, the world’s last Hindu monarchy.

SAN FRANCISCO — Serial rapist Cary Verse was jailed for violating the terms of his release by having a 14-year-old boy in his car and he could be returned indefinitely to a state hospital, authorities said.

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday lowered its forecast for economic growth this year and into 2008, reflecting the drag from the housing slump.

NEW YORK  — A conservative group that had called on supporters to boycott Wal-Mart’s post-Thanksgiving day sales to protest the retailer’s support of gay-rights groups withdrew its objections Tuesday, saying the company had agreed to stay away from controversial causes.

LOS ANGELES — Either you were in awe of his style or found it maddening — the intricately woven story lines, the dizzyingly large ensemble casts, the plots that sometimes seemed defiantly plotless.

ZEINA KARAM and SAM F. GHATTAS
Associated Press Writers

NEW YORK — The O.J. Simpson project is dead, but the book and the TV interview could turn up in bootleg form in this age of YouTube and eBay, when scandalous information seldom stays secret for long.

PARIS — Physicists have dreamt about it for decades: harnessing the fusion process that powers the sun to make clean, safe and limitless energy. A multinational pact signed Tuesday may bring that dream a step closer to reality.

GENEVA — An estimated 39.5 million people are now living with the AIDS virus worldwide as infection rates and deaths from the disease continue to mount, the United Nations said Tuesday.

Memorabilia: How much to keep?

Testing, testing ...