After a raucous debate and public hearing this week in the Dixie School District, one stunning new fact emerged quietly from the rubble of human interaction: a majority of the Dixie board of trustees now favors a name change. “I think we made some progress,” district parent Bruce Anderson, a name change supporter, said after Tuesday night’s hearing, which drew more than 300 people to Miller Creek Middle School gymnasium in north San Rafael.

Some 41 years after filmmaker George Lucas created the iconic cantina bar scene in “Star Wars,” a team of Marin seventh-graders staged their own, nonalcoholic “Stellar Hangout” — and last month won second place in the state creativity championships, “Odyssey of the Mind.”. The team of four girls and three boys from Miller Creek Middle School in San Rafael will now pack up their “Stellar Hangout” props and costumes and head to Ames, Iowa, for the world championships at the end of May.

With an ongoing lawsuit looming in the background, Ross Valley Charter and the Ross Valley School District are closer than they were, but still far apart, over next year’s space allotment for the charter inside the district’s White Hill Middle School in Fairfax. The district, in its final offer of space on April 2, said it could give the charter a total of seven regular classrooms and one additional classroom for art and music.

Mindi Levine to leave her marketing job at Uptown Theatre Napa and work for the new City Winery. Napa radio personality and marketing maven Mindi Levine has been tapped for the position of marketing manager at the new City Winery. Levine, 45, marketing manager at the Uptown Theatre Napa for the last four years, officially starts her new gig on Jan. 6.

But Bay Area Air Quality Management District officials say Napa air monitoring process is in strict compliance with U.S. EPA standards.

Vallejo couple are devastated by loss of prized instruments.

4-year-old ordinance would have allowed for the creation of a city-regulated medical marijuana dispensary.

Charles Krug, the oldest winery in the Napa Valley, is reinvigorating itself.

Charles Krug, the oldest winery in the Napa Valley, is reinvigorating itself.

Napa City Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted budgets for 2013-14 and 2014-15, but residents along Napa Creek said they objected to funds included in both years' spending plans to begin studies for a north-south connector road near their homes. "We're against the opening up of Linda Vista (Avenue) across the creek," said Joe Catania, one of about 35 residents at Tuesday's meeting.

NOTE: This story was updated on Sunday, Nov. 25, to add photos and comments from the Saturday tea service. "Afternoon Tea in the lounge of Hotel Healdsburg was charming," said Grotts, who wrote a blog post on the history of tea service. '"It's the most charming tea in Heavens burg with the wine country twist,"' patron Boris Landau said.

Bela Varga, of The Red Paprika, says he registered the site in the U.S. to help friends in Hungary who were being shut down by the government.

Healdsburg ultra luxe restaurant completely booked until it closes Oct. 28 after 7 years.

Healdsburg City Council to weigh various proposals at next meeting. Seven consultants have responded to Healdsburg's toward a sales tax or a hotel room tax increase in a future ballot measure, city staff said Monday. "The proposals range from $15,000 to $37,000," Assistant City Manager David Mickaelian told Healdsburg City Council, referring to those submitted by the Sept. 30 deadline.

WASCO – Ormand Hilderbrand says he “now knows the real meaning of ‘going for broke’” after spending five years working to launch Oregon’s first small, independently developed wind farm. “You have to have a vision and you have to stick to it,” said Hilderbrand, 59, an entrepreneur whose family has farmed dryland wheat in the Mid-Columbia region east of the town of Wasco since the 1860s.

on August 25, 2008 at 9:48 PM, updated October 05, 2009 at 2:55 PM. To venture capitalists like Mark Adams, the Columbia Gorge looks like an attractive and fertile trolling ground for startup investment, especially in the fast-moving clean-technology sector. Adams heads Hillsboro-based Intel Capital, which recently has announced backing for solar energy companies in Hillsboro and Germany and a "smart grid" energy firm in California.