Friday, May 18, 2012
There are safe ways to view Sunday's eclipse, with a do-it-yourself, "pinhole projector," but don't risk serious damage to your eyes by looking directly at the sun.
A partial solar eclipse is expected to darken the sun between 5:16 and 7:40 p.m. Sunday, but astronomers are advising you look ver-r-r-r-y carefully. How carefully? Start by turning your back to the sun. Really. "It is very important that everyone tempted by the sight of 84 percent of the sun's area being covered by the Moon take heed of the warnings you will hear for much of the coming week," said Andrew Fraknoi, chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College, and a frequent radio commentator on all things astronomical. People can watch by making do-it-yourself pinhole projectors. With one of those, they can view the eclipse by turning their back to the sun and letting the sun shine through the pinhole onto a piece of paper. From …
This week's list of fugitives and mug shots from Napa Valley Crime Stoppers, which offers cash rewards for anonymous tips leading to arrests.
From Napa Valley Crime Stoppers: Sought for felony violation of probation on possession of a controlled substance, Kendrick Stan Comstock is described as a 53-year-old white male, 5’11”, 165 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Sought for felony violation of probation on possession of a controlled substance, Thomas James Knudsen is described as a 41-year-old white male, 5’7”, 185 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. Sought for felony possession of a narcotic controlled substance and providing false information to a peace office, Krystal Lynn Mills is described as a 28-year-old white female, 5’8”, 135 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Sought for felony probation violation for possession of a narcotic controlled substance, …
Alfredo Pedroza, 56, was bicycling home to Napa from work Upvalley when he was struck and killed by a 20-year-old motorist. Drugs and alcohol are not believed to have contributed to the fatal collision.
A 56-year-old vineyard manager whose son is running for Napa City Council has been identified by the California Highway Patrol as the victim of Thursday night's fatal collision on Silverado Trail. Alfredo Pedroza of north Napa was riding his Trek bicycle south on the shoulder of Silverado Trail south of Yountville Cross Road in an unincorporated part of the county north of Napa around 6:30 p.m., CHP officials said. Cammie Mutz, 20, of Calistoga, was driving south on Silverado Trail at about 55 mph when her 2003 Ford Focus drifted onto the shoulder and struck Hernandez, according to the CHP. The Ford then continued traveling 20 feet off the west side of the road and stopped facing east on a hillside, CHP officials said. Pedroza was …
Napa's drop-in center for emancipated foster youth has finished an ambitious makeover with the help of more than 600 community volunteers. Thursday afternoon, V.O.I.C.E.S. celebrated with a party and we've got pictures.
Let's hear it for V.O.I.C.E.S.! Founded by a group of emancipated foster children facing the uncertainties of adult life, the Napa center (its name stands for Voicing Our Independent Choices for Emancipation Support) helps young Napans find their way to jobs, education and community life. More than 600 volunteers have helped the group rebuild its drop-in center on Lincoln Avenue, and Thursday night everyone celebrated at a party complete with food, music and tours of the renovated facility. We got invited because the Napa Patch editorial and advertising team took part in one of the V.O.I.C.E.S. "community builds" last year, helping to paint some of the rooms that are now in daily use by staff, volunteers and youths. At the party, we …
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V.O.I.C.E.S. Napa
780 Lincoln Ave, Napa, CA
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A former Napa teacher and coach, whose unexplained dismissal in 2007 drew a reported "storm of protest," has been placed on leave from his Contra Costa County district job for emailing racist and pornographic jokes.
An American Canyon man whose teaching job with the Napa Valley Unified School District was terminated in 2007 without public explanation has been placed on leave from his latest job in the West Contra Costa County Unified School District, according to multiple media reports. The East Bay Express reported May 2 that Matt Stewart "was caught forwarding numerous racist, misogynistic, and pornographic emails to fellow employees" in West Contra Costa County, where he was athletic director for the school district. The emails — as many as 250 of them, according to one district employee — are difficult to describe in a family publication, but reportedly included graphic images, comparisons of Barack and Michelle Obama to apes and explicit sex …
The 56-year-old bicyclist died after a Ford Focus drifted onto the shoulder of Silverado Trail near the Yountville Cross Road, according to CHP. Alcohol is not believed to have been a factor in the fatal collision. By Bay City News Service.
A bicyclist was killed in a traffic collision Thursday while riding on Silverado Trail in unincorporated Napa County, according to the California Highway Patrol. The collision was reported at 6:35 p.m. near the corner of Silverado Trail and Yountville Cross Road, north of the city of Napa, CHP said. A 2003 Ford Focus traveling at 55 mph on Silverado Trail had drifted into the shoulder and struck a 56-year-old man from Napa riding a bicycle, CHP said. The Focus ended up 20 feet off the road on a hillside. The bicyclist was pronounced dead on the scene. The driver of the Focus, a 20-year-old woman from Calistoga, was transported to Queen of the Valley Medical Center with minor injuries. The southbound lane of Silverado Trail was blocked …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
A bicyclist and two automobiles were involved in a fatal crash Thursday evening near Pine Ridge Winery on the Silverado Trail, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The California Highway Patrol is reporting a fatal collision on the Silverado Trail in Napa County involving a bicycle and two motor vehicles. The crash took place at 6:35 p.m. near Pine Ridge Winery, according to the CHP website. According to Napa Patch reader Henri Bridges, who passed the accident site shortly after the collision: There were two vehicles and one was stuck on top of a vineyard hill. It may have flipped and landed there, it was a very odd place to have landed. Bridges also saw a covered body, he said in an email. Check back with Napa Patch for updates as they become available.
The fire broke out at about 12:30 p.m. on Fourth Avenue and burned an acre and a half including an outbuilding before it was fully contained, according to Napa County Fire. Photos by Steve Simoneau.
A wildfire at 1106 Fourth Avenue in rural Napa burned an acre and a half of vegetation and one outbuilding before firefighters conained it, according to an alert from the Napa County Fire Department. There is no further threat from the fire, which began at 12:33 p.m., according to the alert. Thanks to Steve Simoneau for the eyewitness photos. For all our latest fire coverage, please see the Fire Watch topic page at napa.patch.com/topics/Fire-Watch.
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The two-vehicle collision around 10:40 Thursday morning sent one person to the emergency room and left a power pole broken with live wires sagging, according to the Napa Valley Register.
One person was injured and a power pole was sheared off in a two-vehicle crash Thursday morning on Coffield Avenue, according to a report in the Napa Valley Register. The injured person was taken to the emergency room at Queen of the Valley Medical Center and workers from Pacific Gas & Electric were enroute to the scene of the crash, where live power lines were sagging from the broken pole, the Register reports. The crash took place around 10:40 a.m., according to the report. Do you subscribe to the Napa Patch newsletter? It brings our latest news, blogs, announcements and the day's calendar events to your in-box early each morning. If you haven't signed up yet, you can do so by clicking here.
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400 Coffield Ave, Napa, CA
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If you were marooned on a deserted island with no internet access, what music would you want to hear?
A British broadcaster first came up with the idea in 1942, and it's still on the air: Desert Island Discs, a program asking celebrity guests what music and books they would take if they were cast away on an island. The now-defunct Tower Records music-store chain adopted the idea a few decades later, making Desert Island Discs a regular feature of its in-store magazine Pulse. Instead of celebrities, the Pulse column asked its readers for their lists of must-have music, and that's what we're doing too: If you were marooned on an isolated island that had electricity but no internet access, what music and movies would you want to have with you? Let's see if we can cap our lists at 10 titles, and do it quickly — there's not much time to pack …
Jenn
11:02 pm on Friday, May 18, 2012
Darn it! If this had been posted last night instead of tonight, I'd be $1,000 richer. Michael Teeters was at my work last night. He loitered around the place for about 20 minutes before he finally left. more ›