The top spot in the Napa Valley Register Hoops Challenge local standings did not change as one half of March Madness' Elite 8 was established last night. Jets retained the No. 1 position. Jets did, however, slip from No. 2 to No. 12 in the national standings.

A painting contractor recently paid a $1,000 fine for violating the city of Napa’s Stormwater Runoff Pollution Control Ordinance, according to the city. The contractor’s workers cleaned their brushes and rollers directly over a storm drain inlet in a parking lot.

California has taken a step forward in preventing seniors from getting fleeced by those who would take advantage of them.

A two-car crash on Wooden Valley Road near the Solano County line sent a Napa man to the hospital Thursday morning, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The color guard marched with precision. The audience rose to its feet. But for Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient John C. Humphrey, Thursday’s honor was a painful remembrance of the day he watched his comrade fall in Vietnam.

The motive is still a mystery as the murder trial of Napa resident Alex Taylor finished its fourth day Thursday.

A man died in an industrial accident Thursday afternoon at an Atlas Peak vineyard, according to local law enforcement officials.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, met the Napa press Thursday, a week after his visit to the Middle East and just one day after allegations surfaced that Saddam Hussein’s regime financed Thompson’s controversial 2002 trip to Iraq.

The Napa County Office of Education appears to have received property tax revenue for high school education that should have been routed to the St. Helena Unified School District, local school officials said last week.