With the National Weather Service having issued an Excessive Heat Warning through the Labor Day weekend - with temperatures possibly reaching 115 degrees in parts of Solano County, health officials here offer tips for staying healthy through the weekend.
An Excessive Heat Warning is issued when there is a prolonged period of hot temperatures where people can become seriously ill if precautions are not taken, officials said.
Solano County offers extreme heat health tipsEnrollment is now open in Solano and Napa counties for a free course that can place students on a new career path and/or save them money on their taxes every year, organizers said.
Opportunities to ask questions and enroll are also planned in Vallejo, though those interested can also enroll online, they said.
Free tax classes can help Vallejo, Napa residents launch careersHere's what will be open and closed Monday in observance of the Labor Day holiday.
. Most Solano and Napa County offices will be closed Sept. 4, in observance of the holiday, though law enforcement and public safety services will continue to be provided.
In Solano County, dispatch can be reached at 421-7090, while Napa County dispatch is at 253-4451.
Open/Closed for Labor Day in Solano. Napa countiesNAPA >> No criminal charges will be filed against the officers who shot and killed a Napa man in a drug-fueled episode in March, Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley announced Thursday.
"The Napa County District Attorney's Office has completed a full review of the officer involved shooting that took place on March 13, 2017 in the area of the South Napa Marketplace in the City and County of Napa," according to a news release.
No criminal charges in South Napa Marketplace Officer Involved ShootingFania Davis - sister of 1960's political activist Angela Davis - will be speaking at Vallejo's Touro University on Sept. 11 as part of this year's Social Justice in Public Health Lecture Series, organizers said.
Touro University California's Public Health Program's third annual Social Justice Lecture Series, features "an innovative collection of lectures and panel discussions from experts in the field of public health and social justice," they said.
Sister of iconic 60s activist part of Touro speaker seriesVallejo's California State University Maritime Academy earned high rankings among colleges nationally for contributing to the public good, and bang for the buck - and is at the top when it comes to what graduates earn - according to the Washington Monthly, school officials announced this week.
In the overall rankings which rated schools on their contribution to the public good, Cal Maritime ranked fifth among (more than 200) national baccalaureate colleges, Cal Maritime spokesman Robert King said.
Vallejo's Cal State University Maritime Academy ranks high in national studyIt's going to be all California Highway Patrol hands on deck over the Labor Day weekend to help ensure one of the busiest weekends on the road is also a safe one, CHP officials said.
All available CHP officers will be on duty during the Labor Day Maximum Enforcement Period, from 6:01 p.m. Friday, to 11:59 p.
CHP plans stepped-up patrols over Labor Day weekendNapa Solano area Kaiser Permanente officials would like to recognize local emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, who are on the front lines of keeping our community safe, so they're calling on the community to submit nominations for the 2017 annual Kaiser Permanente EMS Awards.
The deadline for submissions, which can be made online, is Friday.
Kaiser seeks nominees for first responder awardsAMERICAN CANYON >> One firefighter will be honored for recent heroic actions and the agency's newest firefighter will be officially "pinned," at a meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, at City Hall, it was announced.
The American Canyon City Council, in its role as the Fire Protection District Board of Directors, will meet to, among other things, honor Charles Mallorca for his actions on Aug.
American Canyon firefighters to be honored, pinned at Tuesday meetingThe San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority this week launched its newest 400-passenger vessel, the M.V, Cetus, into service along the Alameda/Oakland/San Francisco route.
It's the second of seven vessels to join WETA's SF Bay Ferry fleet over the next three years.
Designed by Incat Crowther and built by Vigor, formerly Kvichak Marine, the $15.
New 400-passenger ferry joins fleet in Bay AreaAMERICAN CANYON >> The American Canyon Community and Parks Foundation hosts its second fund-raising dinner, "An Evening at the Ruins," from 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sept. 9, at the privately-owned cement and basalt ruins, organizers announced.
Proceeds will benefit parks, programs, and play in the community, officials said.
American Canyon hosts fundraiser dinner in the ruins next monthA new service that San Francisco residents have been enjoying for some four years, is now available in Vallejo, Benicia, American Canyon and elsewhere in the Solano and Napa areas, company officials announced.
Since Aug. 24, Instacart is available to deliver merchandise from local stores to homes in Contra Costa County, East Bay, North Bay and the Wine Country areas, they said.
New home delivery service now available in Vallejo, elsewhere locallyAMERICAN CANYON > > It's not surprising that the folks who entered the American Canyon Chili Cook-Off were outgoing and friendly sorts. When a chef specializes in comfort food, they tend to be cut from a certain cloth - or tablecloth, if you will.
Bill Bickham, creator of "Too Hot To Trot" chili was pumped on Saturday.
American Canyon Chili Cook-Off feels the heatTwo government agencies, a nonprofit and a logging firm signed a cooperation agreement to protect public lands and animals in California, the Mare Island-based U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Region officials announced.
The Forest Service, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Sierra Pacific Industries signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining their agreement to work together to conserve California spotted owls and other wildlife while coordinating wildfire risk reduction measures on federal, state and SPI lands in California, the announcement says.
New public/private partnership aims to protect California wildlife, reduce fire riskRep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) and Napa County Supervisor Diane Dillon will hold a Women Veterans Panel Discussion in Grant Hall at the Veterans Home of California Yountville from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 25th, his office announced.
The plan is to discuss key issue areas affecting women veterans in the district and all constituents of California's Fifth Congressional District are invited, the announcement said.
Mike Thompson to host Women Veterans Panel DiscussionThe Vallejo Police Department Traffic Division will conduct a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint on Saturday somewhere within the city limits, officials announced.
In recent years, California has seen a disturbing increase in drug-impaired driving crashes, officials said. The Vallejo Police Department supports the new effort from the Office of Traffic Safety that aims to educate drivers that "DUI doesn't just mean booze," they said.
DUI Checkpoint in Vallejo on SaturdayThe unemployment rates in the Solano and Napa County areas were up in July, the latest state figures show.
In Solano, the rate was 5.4 percent in July, up from a revised 5 percent in June, but below the year-ago estimate of 5.8 percent.
Napa County's July jobless rate was 3.9 percent, up from a revised 3.
Unemployment up in Solano, Napa counties in JulyRents in the Vallejo area, while the lowest in the Bay Area, are rising faster than in most other places, even as the number of renters increase, driving some people out of the area, a new study found.
A firm called Apartment List conducted the study to try and get a handle on the challenges renters face, spokeswoman Sydney Bennet said.
Vallejo area rents increasingAMERICAN CANYON >> For at least some American Canyon High School students, returning to school means reconnecting with old friends and making new ones, they said on the first day of school Wednesday.
"I'm excited to be back," said 15-year-old sophomore Alexis White. "I get to see friends and maybe make some new ones.
Learning and positive culture main focus as American Canyon High School students return for yearAMERICAN CANYON >> After having raised the nearly $5 million they thought they'd need to build American Canyon's new Boys & Girls Club clubhouse, this past winter's rains delayed the work and increased the price, organization officials said. Construction is moving forward, anyway, even as fundraising resumes in high gear, executive director, Mark Kuhnhausen said.
Rain delays cost American Canyon Boys & Girls Club $1 million-plus, building starts anywayNapa County officials are concerned enough about the possible appearance of Zika virus-carrying mosquitoes in the area to have someone address the American Canyon City Council at a busy Tuesday meeting.
The Napa County Mosquito Abatement District Manager Wes Maffei said officials of the 92-year-old special district are trying to spread the word about getting rid of the standing water these pests breed in to help stem their spread.
Zika virus-carrying mosquitoes heading to American Canyon?NAPA >> The Napa County Fire Department is hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday for its new Fire Station 220, in the Pope Valley area's Berryessa Estates community, county officials announced.
The event, which is open to the public and includes a barbecue and a station tour, is scheduled from 10 a.
Napa County Fire Station 220 grand opening set for SaturdayThe number of jobs on Mare Island has grown to its highest level since the base's closure, with more than 100 new full-time jobs added in the first half of 2017, according to Lennar Mare Island's (LMI) July 2017 jobs survey.
There are now more than 2,500 jobs on the island, with more than 110 businesses occupying more than 3.
Job numbers on Mare Island hit all-time high, developer saysA woman was erroneously identified as a suspect in a shoplifting case on Aug. 10. The suspect who was arrested, Rochelle Frederickson, allegedly told authorities that her name was Lorraine Destefano, according to police. Destefano is not a suspect in this case and said she is a victim of identity theft.
Woman erroneously identified in shoplifting caseLocation scouts for a 10-year-old coffee house franchise said they are expanding into Northern California and Vallejo is under consideration by two potential franchisees.
Neither of the owners-to-be live in Vallejo, however, and both would prefer to open close to home, A Grind Coffee House spokeswoman Laina Sullivan said.
New coffee house franchise checking out VallejoThe Applebee's Grill & Bar restaurant in Vallejo is not among the more than 100 locations set to close for good, a company official said this week.
Last week, it was reported that DineEquity, the parent company of the Applebee's and IHOP brands, had announced it expects to close some 160 restaurants across the country.
Vallejo's Applebee's restaurant safe from reported closuresAMERICAN CANYON >> Two people were arrested in separate shoplifting incidents at Walmart on Wednesday.
Loss prevention flagged down a police officer around 8 a.m. and said that the occupant of a nearby white van had allegedly stolen items from the store.
When officers approached the van, the suspect deposited a bag of merchandise on the ground and attempted to walk away, police said.
Two arrested in American Canyon in separate shoplifting incidents at WalmartAfter decades working to educate people about HIV/AIDS and improve the lives of those suffering with it, the Solano AIDS Coalition finds itself homeless.
But its main work, says founder Mario Saucedo, continues.
Saucedo said the group's headquarters - Ancient Gardens Wellness Center and boutique - shut down Aug.
Solano AIDS Coalition searching for new digsWhen Joanne Morriss Schivley walked up Georgia Street with her mother as a girl, she would stay as close to the curb as possible, for fear that someone would reach out from one of the bars and drag her inside.
Vallejo native and longtime reporter/writer Brendan Riley's new book, "Lower Georgia Street: California's Forgotten Barbary Coast," contains recollections like this.
Vallejo native pens book on Vallejo's old 'barbary coast,' holds book signing SaturdayIssues facing the wine industry will be discussed when Senators Bill Dodd and Mike McGuire and Assembly member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry unite their respective Legislative Select Committees on Wine for a joint hearing at Napa Valley College from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Dodd's office announced.
The Senate Select Committee on California's Wine Industry and the Assembly Select Committee on Wine will hear from a panel of industry experts on sustainability, fish friendly farming practices, and farm worker housing, the announcement said.
Legislature's wine committees convene at Napa Valley CollegeChanges to the way Napa County voting works are coming, and the Election Division seeks help getting the word out.
"The 2016 California Voter Choice Act is bringing important voting changes to Napa County on June 5, 2018, including every voter receiving a ballot by mail and new drop box locations throughout the county for returning a vote by mail ballot," Registrar of Voters John Tuteur said.
Napa County voting changes coming in 2018AMERICAN CANYON >> Completing work at a busy intersection and replacing some old city vehicles are among the items scheduled for discussion at Tuesday's City Council meeting, planned for 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
The city's new in-law unit ordinance will also likely be adopted on Tuesday and the Blue Ribbon Water Resources Committee disbanded in favor of a new group.
American Canyon to consider new cars, new water committeeA new Solano Association of Realtors program designed to help bring first-time home buyers to Vallejo appears to be working, association president Linda Daraskavich said this week.
The association's First-Time Home Buyer Inspection Fee Reimbursement Program has helped 24 first-time home buyers since launching in May, she said.
Solano Realtors' fee rebate program brings new home owners to VallejoTo help fight hunger in local communities, First Bank branches in California, including Vallejo's, collected 5,081 food items and $6,421 in cash donations in July for food banks and non-profits statewide, bank officials announced.
The total value of the food and cash collected was $11,502, they said.
First Bank helps fill local food bankThe California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will perform major pavement repair on State Route 37 between Skaggs Island and just west of State Route 121 in rural Solano County near the Solano-Sonoma County Line, starting Sunday, agency officials announced.
All work is weather permitting.
Overnight work planned for Highway 37 next weekVallejo's resident hero Midsi Sanchez says she has a dual mission: to help prepare children to keep from getting abducted and to help families get through the trauma and find their child if it happens.
Sanchez, who at age 8, in 2000, escaped from convicted child killer Curtis Dean Anderson after he abducted her on her way home from school - 17 years ago on Aug.
Child kidnap survivor Midsi Sanchez launches nonprofit bidIt's a race against time, and a rare and especially aggressive form of uterine cancer, that prompted Jamie Ramirez's friends and family to hold a fundraiser spaghetti feed in Benicia on Sunday - to raise the $28,000 still needed to get her specialized treatment offered only in Arizona.
A Vallejo native and longtime Fairfield resident, Ramirez, a 39-year-old massage therapist, said the stage 4 Leiomyosarcoma was discovered when she went in for the removal of what she and doctors believed were benign fibroid tumors.
Local cancer fighter holds fund-raiser dinner to get alternative treatmentA retired Navy Captain who's set his sights on getting help for the Mare Island Cemetery, has gotten the first of what he hopes will be much more national attention focused on the site.
The national CBS Radio's ConnectingVets.com ran a story this week about the Mare Island Cemetery that began with the words, "A national disgrace.
Ralph Parrott making progress in highlighting Mare Island Cemetery problemsDrivers in Vallejo and throughout California are paying about 3 cents more at the pump this month as gas stations across the U.S. continue to see a late-summer spike in prices, AAA reported Wednesday.
On Tuesday, California motorists paid an average of $2.96 ($2.94 in Vallejo) for a gallon of unleaded regular gas.
Gas prices rising in Vallejo, elsewhereMildred Gains wants to help needy children succeed in school by providing them with school supplies. It's just one way this 47-year-old New York City native, Vallejo resident and mother of two grown daughters helps to improve her adopted community.
This year, Gains, her husband Craig and their cadre of volunteers has collected and filled 40 backpacks with items like binders, composition notebooks, single-subject notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons, rulers, erasers, lunch boxes, and other items, including dictionaries.
New York transplant fills bags with needed items, gives them away throughout VallejoLynn Dykstra of Vallejo is all about connections - connecting people with each other, pets with their "people parents," politicians with their colleagues and constituents and entertainers with their audiences - all through the eye of her camera.
The Calistoga native and mother of two grown children said she's seen the world through a camera lens most of her life, even if she didn't always earn her living that way.
Vallejo woman spent decades photographing presidents, other notablesEveryone who joins the nonprofit Arbor Day Foundation with a $10 donation will receive 10 free Colorado blue spruce trees or 10 white flowering dogwood trees through the Foundation's Trees for America campaign, organization officials said.
The trees will be shipped postpaid between Oct. 15 and Dec.
Ten free trees for joining Arbor Day Foundation in AugustAn American Canyon man faces up to 90 years in prison and more than $20 million in fines for using, officials suspect, his Vacaville clothing business as a front to sell drugs to high schoolers, the Department of Justice announced Monday.
Maurice Antoine Jefferson, 42, of American Canyon, was arrested Monday and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and for possessing marijuana and cocaine for distribution within 1,000 feet of Will C.
American Canyon man arrested for using clothing store as front for drug sales in VacavilleTwo people were taken to a local trauma center after a high-speed chase with police through Mare Island late Sunday ended in a crash, Vallejo Fire Department spokesman said Monday.
Department spokesman Anthony Shair-Ali said that police had chased a newer model Nissan, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph, before it rolled over and came to rest upside down at Flagship Drive and Oklahoma Street.
Rollover crash followed chase through Mare Island on SundayVallejo and American Canyon are going wild next month, and U.S. Forest Service officials hope you join them.
"Come explore the changing lands and waters of the Bay Area and beyond at the fourth annual Visions of the Wild, in Vallejo and American Canyon, Sept. 6-10," a Forest Service news release reads.
Visions of the Wild hits Vallejo, American Canyon in SeptemberIf you've been wondering what goes on over there at Vallejo's Touro University on Mare Island for the past 20 years, here's your chance. From 5 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 17, Touro celebrates its 20th anniversary with its first "Touro Community Day," organizers said.
Faculty, staff and students will showcase their research (inside Farragut Inn), programs, and Jewish life on campus, organizers said.
Touro opens its campus for first-ever Community Day this monthA 22-year-old Concord woman was killed in a crash on the Insterstates 680 and 780 interchange early Friday, public safety personnel said.
The crash happened at about 6 a.m. when a vehicle with a solo occupant driving north on the I-680 Benicia bridge, apparently ran into the back of a large big-rig, Benicia Fire Department Division Chief Josh Chadwick said.
Fatal crash mars Friday commute on Benicia freewayIt's a new day at Vallejo's first and oldest synagogue, at least for its youth education program, and organizers plan an Open House to show it all off, they said.
Congregation B'nai Israel's free Open House is planned for 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 20, at the Nebraska Street temple.
CBI, as it is affectionately known, is holding the event "to provide an introduction to new families and to educate residents interested in learning more about the Synagogue," organizer Amy Lerner said.
Vallejo synagogue to hold open houseFerry ridership on the San Francisco Bay Ferry, including service to and from Vallejo, hit record highs in July, Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) officials announced Thursday.
WETA was established by the California legislature to operate an integrated regional ferry service, expand ferry service on the bay, and coordinate the water transit response to regional emergencies.
Vallejo, other Bay ferry services, hit record high ridership in JulySolano County home price annual increases are still outpacing the rest of the country but the national monthly increase in June outdid the Vallejo area's, a new industry report shows.
Compared to a year ago in June, home prices in the Vallejo-Fairfield area rose 8.2 percent compared to 6.7 percent nationally, according to CoreLogic's latest report, released this week.
Local home prices still rising, though slowingImmigration status is not relevant to local law enforcement, at least not in Vallejo, Benicia and American Canyon - a fact at least one city's police chief recently felt compelled to spell out publicly.
American Canyon Police Chief Tracey Stuart said she's concerned about some talk on the issue that could impact public safety, so she wrote something in the city manager's weekly e-newsletter.
Immigrants, legal or otherwise, need not fear local police, city agencies saidA woman was killed and five children were taken to Oakland Children's Hospital with major injuries when the car they were in crashed on State Route 12 in Solano County on Tuesday, California Highway Patrol officials said.
Just after 5:30 p.m. a woman driving a 1999 Ford Taurus westbound on State Route 12, east of Nurse Slough Road, allowed her vehicle to travel onto the dirt shoulder where it overturned an unknown number of times, CHP officials said.
Fatal crash claims woman's life, badly injures five childrenPacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) officals offer five simple ways to beat the heat and lower air conditioner costs this August - typically one of the warmest months of the year
Home cooling costs accounted for the largest percentage of residential electricity usage last year, according to the U.
PG&E tips for keeping cool and cutting energy costsNot everyone who relies on programs like Vallejo's Faith Food Fridays to supplement their food budget are homeless or ne'er-do-wells - some are the struggling working poor or people whose circumstances prevent regular jobs.
That's the message a group of women connected to the The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano wanted to make clear to Rep.
Thompson tours Vallejo "life-saver" Faith Food Fridays siteCarol Pearlman and her scooter were "trapped" in the outer reaches of the sometimes loud and angry crowd gathered at Vallejo's Panama Bay coffee house at the Ferry Building on Tuesday. The medically challenged woman was among several dozen in the already noisy venue who said they couldn't hear the questions or the answers during a "Coffee with our Congressman" event with Rep.
Thompson fields some loud, some angry questions, comments, at public Vallejo gathering