Marin County News

A registered sex offender who lives in San Anselmo was arrested on allegations he raped a 60-year-old woman in the laundry room of a Mill Valley apartment complex.

Herman Bluestein, center, and Robert Johnson argue as San Rafael Police Captain Dave Starnes mediates in front of the reopened Planned Parenthood site in San Rafael, Calif., on Wednesday, June 19, 2013.

More than 125 people attend a Marin Board of Supervisors hearing on a creekside development ordinance in San Rafael, Calif.

Not long ago, in a recording studio not so far, far away, composer Liam Wade leaped to his feet in the control room, grinning at a perky female figure isolated in the middle of the spacious soundstage, on the other side of a wall of glass.

Whether the Marin Municipal Water District will use herbicides in the future to control the spread of French broom in the Mount Tamalpais watershed has yet to be seen, but the district has issued a response to the Marin County Civil Grand Jury's report that urged the district to do so in the name of reducing fire risk.

Marin Emergency Services volunteers teach Rita Plattner CPR during "Don't Miss a Beat" hosted by Marin Emergency Services at the Northgate Mall in San Rafael, Calif.

Marin County's effort to avert turf wars at the county fair by cracking down on the way gang members dress at the event discriminates against young people of color, the American Civil Liberties Union warned.

Health officials in Marin County are testing mosquitoes for West Nile virus after a dead bird found in San Anselmo tested positive for the disease.

* What: Tiburon filmmaker Harris Cohen screens and discusses samples of the fundraising and public relations videos he creates for nonprofit organizations.

A wind-driven brush fire that has engulfed eight buildings and spread over 25 to 30 acres on rural property northwest of Petaluma has forced authorities to order evacuations in the area.

Richard Ramirez , 53, had been on Death Row in San Quentin State Prison since 1985, when he was arrested after a killing spree that left at least 13 people dead across Southern California and in the Bay Area.

Serial murder suspect Joseph Naso delivered an hours-long personal history Monday replete with childhood photos, as he launched his defense, denied the decades-old slayings of four women and claimed he is not the "monster" prosecutors have made him out to be.

In this April 13, 2011 file photo, Joseph Naso appears in Marin County Superior Court during his arraignment on murder charges in San Rafael, Calif.

Jurors in the trial of a 79-year-old man charged with the decades-old slayings of four women in Northern California wiped tears from their eyes, as a prosecutor showed images of the victims' bodies and described how they were discovered.

The Marin County Department of Health and Human Services is still monitoring concerns about acute hepatitis A proliferation tied to consumption of frozen berries from the Costco store in Novato, but no local cases have been reported.

Opening statements were scheduled Monday morning at the trial of alleged serial killer Joseph Naso before Marin County Superior Court Judge Andrew Sweet.

Two fresh-produce distributors in Marin and Sonoma counties have come together under one centralized roof in Petaluma, serendipitously providing a home for the People's Harvest occupational training business Buckelew Programs has been trying to launch for two years.

* What: Docent Rita Dunlay speaks about the Legion of Honor exhibition "Impressionists on the Water" in a slide-illustrated lecture showing paintings by Monet, Renoir and Pissarro.

The trailer moves to stations along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Forest Knolls and Inverness on Tuesday and Wednesday, then goes to Meadow Way in San Geronimo on Thursday.

The Marin/Sonoma Mosquito and Vector Control District reported Friday a dead bird found in San Anselmo was infected with West Nile virus, the first such case in Marin and Sonoma counties so far this year.