Here in Napa, we don’t always feel connected to the outside world.

My organization, Unite Here Local 2850, the hotel workers union affiliate covering Napa County, consistently advocates for good jobs and responsible growth. As representatives of the housekeepers, bellmen, cooks and dishwashers who are the backbone of the hospitality industry, we want Napa’s new hotels to provide living wages, health care and opportunities for work force training and career advancement. As an organization that advocates on a broad range of issues important to working families, we also want the new hotels to be sensitive to community concerns.

Seems there's talk a'brewing about Bloggermania II, building on the success of last month's first-ever gathering of those who comment online to Register articles.

It has been about four months since the Federal Reserve orchestrated a bailout of the Wall Street investment firm Bear Stearns. The action was unprecedented: Invoking rarely used emergency powers, the Fed put billions of taxpayer dollars at risk to stop the meltdown of a non-bank that it did not regulate. It did so in a series of harried weekend phone calls, with no specific approval from Congress. Given the risk of potentially catastrophic fallout for the global economy, the unorthodox move was probably justified. But the Bear Stearns rescue continues to raise questions: Has the government now assumed responsibility for the stability of all investment banks? And if so, by what legal authority, and on what terms?

Dear editor,

Dear editor,

As was announced in last week’s Register, I have decided - with the support and encouragement of family, friends and community members - to join the race for American Canyon city council this fall.

I wrote last time of dark chaos, of the tremendous fears that are swirling around now about so many ongoing issues. But there is also the positive, light chaos that is showing itself in bits and pieces through the fears.