2013 Local News Archive Stories

The Yuba County Sheriff's Department is asking for the public's assistance in finding a missing person who may be armed. Samuel Pharis, 21, has been missing since Thursday. On Sunday, deputies discovered his vehicle abandoned in the Feather River river bottom's area of Yuba County. Pharis may be armed, as an empty rifle case was

SAN RAFAEL – Jurors in the trial of a 79-year-old man charged with the decades-old slayings of four women – two found in Yuba County – wiped tears from their eyes on Monday, as a prosecutor showed graphic images of the victims' bodies and described how they were discovered. Marin County prosecutor Rosemary Slote showed

SAN FRANCISCO — An attorney representing inmates at two California state prisons told a federal judge on Monday that an airborne fungus occurring in the San Joaquin Valley presents the deadly threat of valley fever and that thousands should be transferred immediately. Warren George, of the Prison Law Office, said 18 inmates died in

The Yuba County Sheriff's Department is asking for the public's assistance in finding a missing person who may be armed. Samuel Pharis, 21, has been missing since Thursday. On Sunday, deputies discovered his vehicle abandoned in the Feather River river bottom area of Yuba County. Pharis may be armed, as an empty rifle case was fo

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The U.S. space agency has eight new astronauts — its first new batch in four years. Among the lucky candidates: the first female fighter pilot to become an astronaut in nearly two decades. A female helicopter pilot also is in the group. In fact, four of the eight are women, the highest percentage of fem

DALLAS — Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced Monday that it has a new CEO. The breast cancer charity named Judith A. Salerno to replace founder Nancy Brinker, whose promise to her dying sister begat a fundraising powerhouse that invested hundreds of millions of dollars in cancer research. Brinker announced last summer she would s

SAN RAFAEL — Opening statements are scheduled to begin Monday in the murder trial of Joseph Naso, accused of killing four women, including two in Yuba County. The trial is expected to last about five months in Marin County Superior Court. After a seven-week screening process involving thousands of prospects, selection of a

California Water Service will no longer collect payments for Marysville sewer bills beginning this fall because of what a company official says is confusion over the amount of the bill. Lee Seidel, district manager for the Cal Water office in Marysville, said many customers are not aware their monthly bill includes the city's charge for

SACRAMENTO — A battle is raging over a California program that grants businesses tax breaks for creating jobs but prevents the public from knowing who got them and why. At issue are enterprise zones, which were established to boost employment in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods and rural areas. California is home to 40 of these sp

A Yuba City man struck his friend in the head with a flashlight and an East Nicolaus man swung a butcher knife at a roommate during two unrelated arrests for assault with a deadly weapon, law enforcement officials said Sunday. The first man arrested, Mathew Q. Callison, 19, of Yuba City, turned himself into the Yuba County Sheriff's Depa

When Buster Martin and some of his fellow airmen received their marching orders after basic training in Georgia, the first thing they did was look for a map. With the Korean War raging in 1951, they assumed they would be heading overseas to join the fight. "Everybody came over to my bunk in the barracks to look at my map," said M

SACRAMENTO — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District has released the draft fe

The Marysville Gold Sox have been recognized by Assemblyman Dan Logue as the Small Business of the Year in the 3rd District. Gold Sox Managing Partner Tom Lininger and his wife, Karyn, were presented with the award on Monday in Sacramento. It is given annually to a business within the boundaries of the district, which includes Yuba, Sutt

Flames raced through a home south of Yuba City Saturday and nearly ruined a man's joint birthday and Father's Day celebration. No one was injured when the fire sparked around 4 p.m. outside Milo Espinoza's home at 4892 Highway 99. "It's not really my lucky day," Espinoza said. "It's kind of a bad day, I know that." Espino

City coffers are looking plentiful — or at least a lot less rocky — in Live Oak and Wheatland than the budgets to varying degrees in Yuba City, Marysville and the counties of Yuba and Sutter. Live Oak officials attribute many things to their financial stability, from taking advantage of grant money to leaving some government

Yuba City's Angel Castillo walked for many hours on Saturday, a tribute to his five friends whose lives were cut short by cancer. Angel, 11, is winning his own battle with leukemia. He's been in remission for nearly three years. "It's good," Angel said. "I like it." Angel and his mother, Carmen Zamora, were just two of ne

Dozens gathered on Saturday morning in a walnut orchard outside Meridian to raise money for the Shriner's Hospital in Sacramento. But Marysville's Brent Corona, 13, was more excited about riding in a 100-year-old car. Brent and his friends, Robby Boyce and Alex Jones, took a ride around the orchard in a 1913 Model T Ford.

Highway 99 in Sutter County from Messick to Oswald roads. One northbound lane and right shoulder will be closed through July 31. A detour is in place. Pacific, Gas and Electric Co. crews are scheduled to do long-term utility work. Highway 99 in Sutter County: Work has started on a $19.4 million project to build a full inter

100 years One of the most cowardly acts ever perpetrated in Marysville occurred when six alleged electrical strikers jumped on Victor and Arthur Peterson, employees of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in the substation of Fourth Street and cruelly beat them. Arthur suffered a broken nose and body bruises, while his brother escaped

A lifelong Live Oak woman has assumed command of the Sutter County Probation Department on an interim basis. Leticia Paras-Topete takes the reins from longtime Probation Chief Christine Odom, who retired in December, but remained on board on an interim basis. Sutter County Superior Court Judge Susan Green appointed Paras-Topete o

WILLITS – Health officials plan to keep closer watch on a Burger King restaurant in Mendocino County where a customer reported getting a cheeseburger with a 2-inch-long razor blade in it. Police officers in the town of Willits determined the one-edged razor blade resident Yolanda Orozco said she bit into on June 2 is the same kind

Yuba-Sutter peach farmers are again facing a labor crisis and fear the shortage for picking at harvest time will be worse than it was in 2012. "Last year we had a shortage during the thinning time, but not like this," said Kulwant Johl, a peach farmer who is on the California Farm Bureau Federation's labor committee. After the 20

An agency undertaking a 35-mile levee improvement project held its first resolution of necessity hearings this week for the public taking of private property within the construction zone. The Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency needs to acquire land from about 50 property owners to gain access to the levees during construction. If the land

It was meant to be a day of fun, family and barbecue along the shoreline at Collins Lake, but a near drowning of a 3-year-old girl on Sunday changed everything. Nursing student Lori Carpenter of Olivehurst was celebrating her nephew's upcoming eighth-grade graduation from Anna McKenney Intermediate School when her husband, David Cole, st

The cause of a partial building collapse late Thursday in Linda remained unclear on Friday. An investigation into the cave-in could begin Monday, said Jeremy Strang, Yuba County's chief code enforcement officer. "The owners are bringing in their own structural engineer to determine what happened," Strang said. He said the