Your Christmas tree has presumably fulfilled its joyful annual purpose, and it's now time to dispose of it safely and in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
Easy, right? Well, yes and no.
First off, never burn your Christmas tree in a fireplace or wood stove, experts say, because doing so can contribute to the buildup of flammable creosote.
Front and Center: The life and times of Christmas treesHere's what will be open and closed in observance of New Year:
Cities:
. City of American Canyon offices will be reopening 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3. The Senior Center will also be closed Monday, Jan. 2.
For Emergency Calls Only dial 911. For non-emergencies call American Canyon Police and Fire Department Dispatch (707) 253-4452.
Open/closed for New YearSolano County residents hoping to start 2017 as non-smokers can get help for free from the county's Department of Health and Social Services, Health Promotion and Community Wellness Bureau, which is offering free stop-smoking classes.
Solano's "Kick the Butts" smoking cessation program is a series of five classes for adults that focuses on overcoming nicotine addiction by using support systems, rewards, nutrition and stress reduction, "all in a friendly and comfortable setting," officials said.
New Year, new you -- free quit-smoking classes in Solano CountySome of the new California laws kicking in Jan. 1, include: . Minimum wage - California's minimum wage increases from $10 per hour to $10.50 for businesses with 26 or more employees. By 2020, it will rise to $15 per hour, but the law delays the increases by one year for smaller employers. . Assault weapons - California's already stringent gun laws are made tougher with voter-approved measures like one for those who own magazines holding more than 10 rounds being required to give them up starting Jan.
New 2017 state lawsThose who commute between Vallejo and San Francisco by ferry won't have to scramble for a late-night alternative with the launch of SolTrans' new Route 82 bus, officials of both the bus and ferry agencies announced.
"We don't want our Solano County citizens stranded in the City," SolTrans Executive Director Mona Babauta said.
New Route 82 bus fills late weeknight ferry ride gapSales tax in California drops .25 percent on Jan. 1, Board of Equalization officials said.
The statewide sales and use tax rate decreases one quarter of one percent, from 7.50 percent to 7.25 percent, with the new year, BOE officials said. The decrease in the statewide rate is effective for all cities and counties in California; though, in many jurisdictions, like Vallejo, the actual sales and use tax rate may still be higher than the statewide rate due to added district taxes.
State sales tax drops Jan. 1Vallejoans who may have noticed the "closed until further notice" sign on the door of the Gateway Plaza's Pasta Pomodoro restaurant might feel a little better knowing the local site is not the only one to close.
Bay Area media outlets are reporting that the San Bruno-based chain shuttered all 15 locations the day after Christmas.
Pasta Pomodoro in Vallejo, elsewhere, closed without warning2016 has been a good year for the local real estate market, an industry spokeswoman said Thursday, and a new industry report appears to bear that out.
"Year-over-year, we have had an increase in the number of homes sold as well as an increase in sales price," Solano Association of Realtors President Shelley Tappin said.
Solano home prices, sales, rise in NovemberHere's what will be open and closed in observance of New Year:
Cities:
. City of American Canyon offices will be reopening 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3. The Senior Center will also be closed Monday, Jan. 2.
For Emergency Calls Only dial 911. For non-emergencies call American Canyon Police and Fire Department Dispatch (707) 253-4452.
Open/closed for New YearVallejo police are searching yard to yard in central Vallejo for one of two people seen firing at a vehicle, Vallejo Police Department Lt. Kent Tribble said.
Reports of shots fired came in about 9:45 a.m. Thursday from the area of Starr and Wallace avenues, he said.
"People said they saw or heard shots fired," he said.
Police search for one of two people seen shooting at a vehicle in Vallejo on ThursdayVallejo's positive reputation in the Bay Area may be rising like bread dough, at least among artisan bread enthusiasts, local bread-maker Chiara Adorno said.
The Vallejo-based bread-maker and owner/operator of TenderFork Market now has a line of organic breads, including one called Vallejo Sourdough, that is gaining popularity in San Francisco and Berkeley, Adorno said.
Vallejo rising with new namesake sourdoughHere's what will be open and closed in observance of Christmas and New Year:
Cities:
. City of American Canyon offices will reopen 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3. The Senior Center will also be closed Monday, Dec. 26 and Monday, Jan. 2.
For Emergency Calls Only dial 911. For non-emergencies call American Canyon Police and Fire Department Dispatch (707) 253-4452.
Open/closed for the holidaysIt can be harder to drum up the spirit of the holidays when you're living on the street in Vallejo or, likely, anywhere else.
A man named "James" said he's been homeless for about 2 #xbd; years, making his bed most recently under a tarp in the tulies near the Raley's shopping center.
"It doesn't make much difference" that it's nearly Christmas Eve, James, 55, said Friday.
Vallejo Together takes meals to homeless encampmentMost auto burglaries happen when valuable items are left in plain sight, and this type of crime tends to spike during the holidays.
The American Canyon Police Department offers the following tips to help protect you from becoming the victim of a vehicle burglary:
. Don't leave valuables in your car.
Auto burglary preventionHere's what will be open and closed in observance of Christmas and New Year:
Cities:
. City of American Canyon offices will be closed Friday, Dec. 23, for the Christmas Holiday, reopening 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3. The Senior Center will also be closed Friday, Dec. 23, Monday, Dec. 26 and Monday, Jan.
Open/Closed for the holidaysNorair "Nor" Jemjemian was named Senior Vice President and Area manager for Kaiser Permanente's Napa Solano area, Kaiser officials announced Thursday. He started Nov. 21.
The Napa Solano area includes medical centers in Vallejo and Vacaville and medical offices in Fairfield and Napa.
Jemjemian brings with him more than 23 years of hospital, health plan, and medical group management experience, including 21 years with Kaiser Permanente in Southern California, officials said.
Jemjemian named Napa Solano Kaiser vice presidentSWAT was called out to the Glen Cove area of Vallejo on Wednesday night when a weapons search went sideways, a Vallejo Police Department spokesman said.
"We had a search warrant for weapons in the 100 block of James River Road, and when we were in the process of heading there, the two suspects left in separate vehicles," Lt.
Vallejo police nab armed suspects in Glen Cove areaA garbage truck fire in Benicia Wednesday afternoon was more visually spectacular than dangerous, a Benicia Fire Department spokeswoman said.
At about 3 p.m., the fire truck "may have hit a tree," causing a power line to come down, setting the garbage in the truck on fire, she said.
No injuries or damage was reported.
Garbage truck fire in BeniciaChristina McPherson of Vallejo said she thought it really made no sense that there aren't boutiques for men, especially considering most of the ones she knows are at least as finicky about their wardrobe as women are. So, she opened one.
The result is Chrissy Mac's Place at 1718 Sonoma Boulevard, which opened Nov.
A boutique of another, more masculine colorSandy Betts says she's convinced she escaped the infamous Zodiac killer nearly 50 years ago, and has been obsessed with bringing him to justice ever since.
Jerry Johnson, on the other hand, has been hooked on the case since a law enforcement officer came to him in his capacity as a federal agent in the late 1960s, with a story of a Zodiac encounter.
'Zodiologists' gather at Lake Herman Road to mark grizzly anniversaryDespite appeals from one man that city officials embrace legalized recreational marijuana, the American Canyon City Council on Tuesday, extended a temporary ban on outdoor cultivation and related activities until staff has time to study all the ramifications and make a sensible recommendation.
Council members passed an urgency ordinance banning outdoor pot growing for 45 days on Nov.
AmCan extends outdoor pot-growing ban, elects 2017 vice mayorMike Schmidt of American Canyon said he likes "watching kids' eyes light up, and the oohs and aahhs."
It's one reason he goes all out decorating his front yard for the holidays every year.
Schmidt and his family were one of two winners of a raffle drawing done as part of the city's holiday yard decorating contest this year.
No losers in American Canyon holiday yard decorating contestNapa County was released from U.S. Department of Justice Voting Rights Section oversight on Dec. 16 - oversight which has been in place since May because of problems with Spanish language election materials, county officials announced.
The release occurred because Napa County is no longer covered by the salient section of the voting rights laws following publication of updated census data by the US Census Bureau on Dec.
Napa County released from DOJ election oversightAMERICAN CANYON >> Recreational marijuana use may now be legal in California, but the American Canyon City Council will consider on Tuesday extending the moratorium passed Nov. 15 on outdoor cultivation and related activities while research is done for crafting permanent regulations.
The state of the city's long-term water supply options is also on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting, the public portion of which starts at 6:30 p.
Brakes further applied on outdoor pot growth in American CanyonTouro University California will likely launch a Doctor of Nursing Practice program next year, which will help address health care provider shortage in Solano County, school officials announced Monday.
Touro got interim approval from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges to launch a DNP program at its School of Nursing beginning in January, making it the only program of its kind in the county, school officials said.
Touro University Vallejo approved for new programMore than a half dozen bullets hit an American Canyon house while nearly a half dozen people were inside early Monday, Police Chief Tracey Stuart said.
Just before 1 a.m., officers responded to a report of shots fired at a residence on Via Pesaro, on the south-east side of town, she said.
Nine rounds were determined to have been fired, striking the front of a home there, she said.
Shots fired into American Canyon home early MondayA Vallejo woman was arrested after allegedly fleeing the scene of a crash only to stop and block someone's driveway a few minutes later, a Vallejo Police Department spokesman said Monday.
It happened at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, when green Pontiac Grand Am allegedly hit another vehicle in the 2600 block of Springs Road and fled the scene, Lt.
Vallejo woman arrested after fleeing scene of a crashAn overnight rock slide forced the closure of State Route 121 in rural Napa County between Vichy and Wooden Valley Road, and it will remain closed until further notice, Caltrans officials announced.
Caltrans geologists will have to determine if and when the rocks above the roadway have stabilized before the area can reopen, they said.
Napa County's State Route 121 closed by rock slideUnemployment was down in Solano County in November, but up in Napa County, according to the latest state figures, released Friday.
Solano's 5.1 percent jobless rate last month was down from 5.3 percent in October and below the year-ago estimate of 5.8. Napa's unemployment rate of 4.2 percent in November was up from October's 3.
Unemployment in November fell in Solano, rose slightly in NapaLegislation by U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson designed to help small employers provide health care for their employees was signed into law this week, his office announced.
Thompson's bipartisan legislation, the Small Business Healthcare Relief Act, was signed into law#xa0;on Tuesday#xa0;by President Obama after passing the Senate last week.
Thompson HRA bill signed into lawEdgar Camacho says one need not have an artistic bone in one's body to be able to turn out an acceptable painting, and he proves it every week at the art classes held at his El Comalito Collective, art gallery and gift shop, 302 Georgia St. in Vallejo.
A Mexico native who grew up in Napa, Camacho, 30, is an HIV counselor and a self-taught, mixed media, performance artist and writer.
Art gallery, gift shop, safe space thriving in downtown VallejoThe headline, Eve Stewart says, is that by summer 2018, American Canyon should have 70 new, affordable senior housing units, and not that a newspaper article reported instead that the city was creating a homeless village of so-called "tiny houses."
A Dec. 9 article in Western Nevada County's The Union newspaper, "was stunningly inaccurate" in describing a housing development soon to break ground in American Canyon, said Stewart, spokeswoman for the developers, 40-year-old Satellite Affordable Housing Associates, or SAHA.
Tiny houses village for homeless not in the works in American Canyon, despite reportsThree men whose lives were interrupted by war will finally get their high school diplomas as part of a veterans' event in Vallejo on Saturday, organizers announced.
The American Legion Manuel L. Quezon Post 603 will honor World War II Veterans and commemorate "World Peace II" at 1 p.m. at the Vallejo Veterans Memorial Building, 420 Admiral Callaghan Lane, they said.
Honoring veterans focus of event in Vallejo on SaturdayAMERICAN CANYON >> City officials may move closer to banning outdoor pot cultivation anywhere in the city, if the Planning Commission agrees with a staff recommendation.
The commission's next meeting, set for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, includes a resolution to recommend the city council approve a Municipal Code amendment prohibiting outdoor cultivation, processing and manufacturing of recreational marijuana in all zoning districts in the city of American Canyon.
American Canyon to consider banning outdoor pot growth citywideMore Solano County homeowners may have bought their properties at exactly the wrong moment in history, which might help explain why a higher percentage of homeowners here are under water in their mortgages than elsewhere in the country, even though values here are rising faster than nearly anywhere else, a local real estate expert said Friday.
Home equity up by billions nationally, though more still under water in Solano than elsewhereKaiser Permanente medical centers in Vallejo and Vacaville were named Top Teaching Hospitals of 2016 by the Leapfrog Group, a national organization that compares hospitals' performance on U.S. standards for safety, quality and efficiency, Kaiser officials announced.
"To have both our Vacaville and Vallejo hospitals recognized as among the very best in the nation is a true honor," Kaiser Permanent's Napa Solano Area physician-in-chief Steven Stricker said.
Kaiser Vallejo, Vacaville named top teaching hospitals by national groupAnyone who didn't get their fill of Greek delicacies during Vallejo's Greek Festivals in July and October has another chance this weekend with the Greek community's annual Christmas bake sale, organizers said.
Held every year for about 40 years, the bake sale features the results of several days of intense work by some of the local Greek Orthodox Church's older women, they said.
Vallejo's Greek community's annual bake sale this weekendIn Vallejo, as in most of the rest of the world, it's pretty easy to find holiday gifts with a Christmas-like feel.
It's more rare to find holiday gifts with a Jewish flavor, but that's exactly what Vallejo's Congregation B'nai Israel is offering during Sunday's Annual Chanukah Boutique.
Every year for more than a quarter century, Vallejo's only synagogue has held this event, which raises funds for its religious school, principal Mary Schwartz said.
Holiday shopping with Jewish flair offered in Vallejo on SundayAmy and Scott Yacullo moved across the country with their children to take over ownership of Vallejo's old Grocery Outlet and so far say they couldn't be happier.
The couple took over operation of the Admiral Callaghan store some three months ago, but only recently held a grand re-opening event.
Vallejo's old Grocery Outlet has new ownersAMERICAN CANYON >> An emotional start to Tuesday's City Council meeting included a recognition of ousted City Councilwoman Joan Bennett's many years of service and the swearing in of Mariam Aboudamous - the newcomer who won her seat in the Nov. 8 general election.
There was more than one standing ovation, from in front of and behind the dais, as the election winners were congratulated, but, the main focus for the first part of the meeting was on Bennett, whose list of involvements and accomplishments are apparently legion.
Newly configured American Canyon City Council meetsGeorge Hunter spent most of Saturday night digging through garbage cans in downtown Vallejo, looking for the box containing his family history that was stolen out of his car during the Mad Hatter Parade.
The Sonoma resident said he had brought the 100-plus years of family documents, photos and mementos to surprise his son for his birthday, as the son, Max Hunter of Vallejo, is working on the family genealogy.
Local family offers reward for return of stolen historical documents, photosThe Napa County Election Division has certified the results of the Nov. 8, 2016 Presidential General Election, which are posted, along with precinct level breakdowns for all contests, on the Napa County website http://ift.tt/2hf5pEm, officials announced Tuesday.
"I am pleased that once again Napa County voters turned out in greater numbers than the statewide average of approximately 75.
Napa County final election results certifiedUntil now, being without personal transportation, getting to the Vallejo school district, the Veterans Administration and other facilities on Mare Island could be quite the challenge.
But, at least between now and the end of February, bus service is available between downtown and the island, SolTrans officials announced.
New, temporary bus service between downtown Vallejo and Mare IslandThe face of the American Canyon City Council changes Tuesday as outgoing longtime City Councilmember Joan Bennett is bid farewell, and returning councilmember Ken Leary is sworn in along with newly minted Councilmember Mariam Aboudamous.
The results of the Nov. 8 General Municipal Election will be officially accepted and a proclamation made honoring Bennett for her years of services on the American Canyon City Council and Fire Protection District Board.
Adieu to the old, in with the new, back to business at American Canyon City CouncilAmerican Canyon Councilwoman Joan Bennett lost her bid for a fifth term in the Nov. 8 election, according to final unofficial election results released by the Napa County Registrar of Voters Office.
Incumbent Kenneth Leary defeated Bennett by 102 votes, to win re-election, while attorney and business owner Mariam Aboudamous won the second open American Canyon City Council seat, starting out in first place and never losing her lead.
American Canyon 2016 election results means change on City Council