Erin Kinda learned her first lessons about community service at home.

CAMP PENDLETON — Marine Corps officials Thursday charged eight Marines, including Capt. Lucas McConnell of Napa, in connection with the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha in November 2005 and a subsequent cover-up.

Whether the job is bringing hot lunches to the elderly and the shut-ins, barbecuing for volunteers at fundraisers or work parties, or sorting food cans for needy families at the American Canyon Food Bank, Charlie and Penny Johnson are likely to be there.

For every name, the harsh sting of the metal bell was heard.

A page one story Dec. 21 about construction overspending at two Napa Valley farmworker camps misstated, in one reference, the details of a funding transfer. Money to pay for the work was moved from the Housing Authority of the City of Napa to the Napa Valley Housing Authority.

Napa resident Joben Lombardi has been ordered to answer to a murder charge in the case of a 13-year-old runaway girl who died in a north Napa motor home fire in June 2005.

Nov. 19, 2005

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, once charges are served, the accused has the right to an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation.

CAMP PENDLETON — Marine Corps officials on Thursday charged eight Camp Pendleton Marines, including Capt. Lucas McConnell of Napa (far left in photo), in connection with the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha in November 2005 and a subsequent cover-up.

Friends of Capt. Lucas McConnell and his family expressed surprise and dismay in reaction to the news Thursday that McConnell, a Vintage High School and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was charged with dereliction of duty in relation to a bloody incident in Haditha, Iraq.

DENVER — Thousands of travelers who got stranded at Denver’s airport trying to beat the Christmas rush experienced a second frustrating day Thursday, forging through a snowbound city to hotels or opting to bed down again in the terminal.

WASHINGTON — Teens increasingly are getting high with legal drugs like painkillers and mood stimulants, and they’re turning to cough syrup as well, says a government survey released Thursday.

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Two former Iraqi commanders denied gassing Kurdish civilians in northern Iraq 20 years ago, telling Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial Thursday that they used only conventional weapons against Kurdish rebels and Iranian troops.