Northern California

Ron Barlow's 34-year career at the sawmill in the heart of California's Redwood Empire was a study in consistency. From behind the wheel of his yellow LeTourneau log stacker, he watched trees swaying against a bright blue summer sky. In the fall, yellow aspens provided a blast of color in the fog-shrouded forest. Spring brought light-green sprouts of grass poking out of the damp, evergreen-scented ground. Barlow's own season at the mill ended this month when the Seattle lumber company that owns the facility padlocked the gates, leaving more than 40 workers jobless.

The state Legislature finished with one piece of a multi-part water package Tuesday when the Assembly approved a bill mandating a statewide drop in per capita water use. Lawmakers were headed for another long night, with the Assembly expected to take up several other measures approved by the Senate in a midnight session Monday, including a massive water bond. "We are comfortable and confident that we will wrap up and we will have the votes," Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles)

My pal Darby and I love to go where the wild things are. In his case, that's because he qualifies as one of them. Darby is a happy-go-lucky wheaten terrier with a penchant for travel. The mere whisper of the words "Let's go" unleashes boundless enthusiasm in him. We make great traveling companions because I also get pretty hyped when I hear those words, although I try not to leap around and whine. Last month the great outdoors called, and we answered with a resounding yes and a hearty woof.

A Northern California grocery chain has recalled cantaloupes sold in its stores after detecting salmonella in the fruit during routine testing. Raley's, a chain centered in the Sacramento area but with locations as far south as Salinas and in Nevada, has voluntarily recalled 1,120 cartons of Del Monte whole cantaloupes because of possible contamination. The store said cantaloupes currently on its shelves are not affected. The chain operates grocery stores under the names Raley's, Bel Air, Nob Hill and Food Sources.

The blond girls that Phillip Garrido introduced as his daughters were pasty white, even though it was the end of summer, and seemed robotic and unusually submissive. They called Garrido "Daddy." Two UC Berkeley police employees who interviewed Garrido and his daughters this week said at a news conference Friday that they knew something was wrong because the girls obviously were not normal. Police said Garrido fathered the girls with Jaycee Dugard, whom they say he kidnapped 18 years ago when she was 11 and kept in the backyard of his home in Antioch, northeast of Berkeley.

A fire that has burned more than 87,000 acres in Santa Barbara County was started by an illegal marijuana operation, authorities said, apparently making it the first major wildfire in the state caused by drug traffickers. The county sheriff's department, which has recently eradicated other nearby marijuana plots, believes the site was run by a Mexican drug organization, but officials Sunday declined to say how investigators reached that conclusion. Narcotics agents say hidden marijuana gardens are increasingly being planted in California's mountainous regions, including its vast national forests.

As Phillip Garrido maneuvered the Ford Pinto toward the storage unit he had equipped as a hidden lair for raping women, he talked about his sexual fantasies, said Katherine Callaway, who was handcuffed and bound in the back seat. But that wasn't all. "He talked a lot about Jesus on our ride, telling me about how he was going to turn himself over to God next year because Jesus was the way," Callaway told police on a cold November morning in 1976 after Garrido raped her repeatedly over 5 1/2 hours.

Nearly two years before we learn the results of the 2010 governor's race, the identity of the likely winner is clear: Northern California. More than half of California's population may live south of the Tehachapi Mountains, but the state -- in matters of politics, governance and civic engagement -- is tilting decidedly north. Just look at the race to succeed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Like an Impressionist painting, the outlines of a massive art theft in Pebble Beach have blurred over the last week as the victims offered varying accounts of just what was stolen and how much it was worth. But the changing details brought the situation into sharp relief for law enforcement officials. "They're clearly lying to us," said Cmdr. Mike Richards of the Monterey County Sheriff's Department, raising questions about whether two men sharing a rented $4-million home in a gated community ever actually possessed the Rembrandts, the Jackson Pollock, the Van Gogh and the other works they say have gone missing.

A saloon in California's Gold Country that is said to be the oldest continuously operating bar west of the Mississippi River is in danger of closing because of the downturn in the economy, a co-owner of the establishment said Tuesday. The Holbrooke Hotel in Grass Valley, which includes the Golden Gate Saloon, is likely to close Monday unless a buyer steps forward, said managing partner Jim O'Brien. "We are losing money every day we are open," he said.