The transition follows the departure of executive director Ashley Armstrong, who moved on to help lead Goatlandia, according to a September 29 post by Kristen Hassen, who worked with the rescue alongside Jackson Galaxy on a consulting visit nearly three years ago. In the post, Hassen said the Jackson Galaxy Project is assuming leadership of the small, cage-free shelter in the heart of Napa County, with plans for 2027 to realize Galaxy’s vision of a safe place for what the project calls the undercats and a learning center for animal welfare professionals and cat advocates.

Photograph: We Care Animal Rescue (wecareanimalrescue.org)

Hassen said the move comes as her Outcomes for Pets team wraps up more than two years of work with Riverside County Animal Services, and thanked the We Care board, staff, volunteers, and supporters behind the transition.

The rescue, at 1345 Charter Oak Ave. in St. Helena, remains the same nonprofit entity, according to its announcement. Its listed phone number is (707) 963-7044.

Photograph: We Care Animal Rescue (wecareanimalrescue.org)

The numbers presented at the symposium, reported September 28, frame tourism as a vital driver of the valley’s economy. Napa Valley welcomed 3.8 million visitors in 2025, generating $2.8 billion in total economic impact and $162.5 million in local tax revenue, and supporting more than 15,000 jobs, or one in every seven jobs in Napa County, according to Tourism Economics. Lodging room revenue for 2025 was $530 million.

Photograph by Brocken Inaglory / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Lodging holds steady through August

Through the first eight months of 2026, lodging demand was up 1.4 percent against a 1.6 percent increase in room supply. Hotel occupancy held at 64.5 percent, down 0.2 percent year over year, while the average daily rate rose 2.8 percent to $425.69 and revenue per available room climbed 2.6 percent to $274.71.

Visit Napa Valley said its marketing delivered strong results in fiscal year 2025-2026, led by the launch of the new “Live a Little or a Lot” campaign, created with advertising agency The Shipyard. Ad effectiveness research found the campaign influenced nearly 450,000 trips. Across channels, campaigns generated 107 million paid advertising impressions, up 32 percent year over year; 1.3 billion earned media impressions, up 28 percent; and 55 million social impressions, up 71 percent. Group sales generated $89 million in economic impact, up 14 percent, while the Napa Valley Welcome Center delivered 128,000 partner referrals, up 40 percent, and the partner network grew to 580 partners.

First look at the prospective visitor

For the first time, the 2025 Visitor Profile Study by SMARInsights included both recent and prospective visitors. The research found that 35 percent of first-time visitors are ages 25 to 35, that 99 percent of overnight visitors report being satisfied or very satisfied with their Napa Valley experience, and that travelers are coming for a range of occasions: romantic getaways at 35 percent, adult-family vacations at 32 percent, and celebrations at 27 percent.

Photograph by Ewen Roberts / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

The year ahead

In fiscal year 2026-2027, Visit Napa Valley will continue to evolve “Live a Little or a Lot,” built on the destination’s “A Taste of the Good Life” brand promise. Advertising, public relations, content, social, and the website will work more closely together across the visitor journey, the organization said, with wine and culinary travelers remaining a core audience and expanded focus on LGBTQ+, wellness, multigenerational, and next-generation travelers. The annual plan also introduces new creative efforts to support group business and hospitality workforce recruitment.

The keynote address came from Heather Huckeba, director of research and strategic insights at Visit California, on using visitor research to inform destination content and storytelling. The symposium closed with a networking reception celebrating the tourism and hospitality partners.

Photograph by Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Dustin Alan Mingarelli was located and arrested Monday morning with assistance from the Napa County Sheriff’s Office and the Napa Police Department, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said. He was booked into Napa County Jail, where he was being held without bail pending extradition to Shasta County.

Photograph by Frank Deanrdo / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Deputies responded to Palo Cedro Park at approximately 1:56 p.m. Sunday after receiving multiple reports that an adult male had been intentionally struck by a vehicle at a high rate of speed, according to the sheriff’s office. Witnesses identified Mingarelli as the driver, and he fled the area in his vehicle before deputies arrived.

The man who was struck was identified as Carlos Zapata. He had been helping take down the Palo Cedro Rodeo Association’s premier rodeo event when the incident occurred. First responders took him to a local hospital, where he remained on Monday.

Deputies put out a be-on-the-lookout alert to neighboring agencies and secured an arrest warrant on charges of attempted murder and hit-and-run, the sheriff’s office said. The investigation remained ongoing Monday, and anyone with information is asked to contact the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.

Photograph by Fogbank / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain; original: courts.ca.gov)

This guide collects the essentials for new arrivals: where the city services are, how to get around, how the city government works in plain language, and where to go first when the boxes are unpacked.

Photograph: Prof. Rabbit / CC BY-SA 4.0

Get your bearings

Napa sits at the southern end of Napa Valley, with the wine country towns of Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena, and Calistoga stretching north along Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail. The Napa River runs through downtown, and the Oxbow District, anchored by Oxbow Public Market, sits just east of the river.

Downtown is compact and walkable: Main Street, the historic Napa Mill complex, and the 1879 Napa Valley Opera House are all within a few blocks of each other. The Napa Valley Wine Train departs from downtown for its runs to St. Helena, which makes the station area a useful landmark.

City services to set up first

The Napa County Library's Main Branch stands at 580 Coombs Street in downtown Napa, and it has served the public for more than a century. A library card is free, and the branches run events year round.

Photograph: UncleVinny / CC BY 3.0

Public transit in the county is run by VINE Transit, which operates local bus routes within the City of Napa and regional and express routes beyond it. The regional system connects to the Vallejo ferry terminal, Bay Area Rapid Transit, and Amtrak, so a commute out of the valley does not have to mean driving.

For driving downtown, the city operates parking garages, public lots, and on-street spaces, with an interactive parking map on the city's website. If you work downtown, check the garage and lot options before settling into street parking.

How the city runs

Napa uses a council-manager form of government: an elected City Council sets policy and hires a professional city manager to run day to day operations. Council agendas and meeting information are posted through the city's online Agenda Center, and regular meetings include time for public comment.

Residents can also apply to serve on city boards and commissions, which advise the council on planning, parks, and more. Meeting agendas are posted in advance, and comments can be submitted in writing when you cannot attend in person.

Where to go first

Start downtown on foot. Walk Main Street, cross the river at First Street, and work east into the Oxbow District for the public market. That loop passes the Opera House, the Mill, and most of the restaurants that make downtown work as a neighborhood, not just a destination.

For the wine context that surrounds the city, read our companion guide to Napa Valley's 17 AVAs. The city is the valley's population center, and most of the people who make the wine live here.

Photograph: Sarah Stierch / CC BY 4.0

The Napa Valley AVA itself is defined in federal regulation, 27 CFR 9.23, which draws its boundaries across the valley floor and the surrounding mountains. Inside that boundary sit 17 smaller AVAs, each with its own federally approved name and its own set of distinguishing features: climate, soils, elevation, and topography.

Photograph: John Morgan / CC BY 2.0

Why 17

The sub-AVAs were approved one at a time over four decades. Los Carneros, Howell Mountain, and Wild Horse Valley date to the 1980s; Stags Leap District, Mt. Veeder, Atlas Peak, Spring Mountain District, Oakville, Rutherford, and St. Helena followed in the late 1980s and 1990s; Chiles Valley, Yountville, and Diamond Mountain District were added between 1999 and 2001; Oak Knoll District and Calistoga followed in the 2000s; Coombsville became the 16th in 2011; and Crystal Springs, formally established in October 2024, is the newest.

Each approval is a federal rulemaking with a public record. The Coombsville rule lays out the area's distinguishing features and the evidence behind them, and it restates the labeling standard that applies across the system: at least 85 percent of the wine's grapes must come from the named AVA for the name to appear on the label.

What the names mean

The names describe real places with real differences. Mountain AVAs like Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain District, and Diamond Mountain District sit above the fog line, with thinner soils and more direct sun. Valley-floor AVAs like Oakville, Rutherford, and St. Helena sit in the marine fog that rolls up the valley each summer morning and burns off by afternoon.

Photograph: Lynn Betts, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service / public domain

Los Carneros spans the Napa-Sonoma county line at the cool southern end of the valley, where the San Pablo Bay influence makes it one of the region's coolest growing areas.

Labeling follows the geography. A wine that names a sub-AVA located entirely in Napa County must also carry the Napa Valley name on the label; the two sub-AVAs that cross the county line, Los Carneros and Wild Horse Valley, fall outside that rule and stand on their own.

How to use them

Think of the AVAs as a map, not a ranking. The valley floor gives structure and ripeness; the mountains give intensity and lift; Carneros gives cool-climate precision. When a label names a place, it is telling you which of those the winemaker wanted you to taste.

Start with the wines of one AVA, then try its neighbor. The differences are the whole point of the system.

Photograph: Jim G / CC BY 2.0

The City Council

The City Council is the city's legislative body. Council members are elected by district, and the council hires the city manager, adopts the budget, and votes on land use, public safety, and the services that touch daily life. Council meetings follow published agendas, and regular meetings set aside time for public comment.

Photograph: Sanfranman59 / CC BY-SA 3.0

Agendas, staff reports, and meeting videos are posted through the city's online Agenda Center, so you can read the same packet the council reads before a vote. Comments can be made in person at the meeting or submitted in writing in advance.

Boards and commissions

Much of the city's detailed work happens in boards and commissions, which are staffed by residents and advise the council on planning, parks, design review, and more. Serving on one is the most direct way a resident can shape policy, and vacancies are posted by the city.

Oversight committees work the same way. Voters approved Measure G in 2024, a one-cent sales tax projected to raise $22 million a year for the general fund. The measure includes independent audits and a citizen oversight committee, and the council receives regular status updates on Measure G projects and services.

Photograph: Lawrence and Houseworth / Library of Congress, public domain

The county layer

City government is only one layer. The Napa County Board of Supervisors governs the unincorporated county and countywide services, and the county Planning Commission reviews land use outside city limits. Both post agendas online through the county's legislative portal.

Napa County runs its elections by mail, with ballot drop boxes and vote centers for those who prefer to vote in person. The county's election observation program lets residents watch ballots being processed, which is open government in its most literal form.

How to be heard

Read the agenda before the meeting. Show up for public comment, or write in when you cannot attend. Apply for a board or commission when a seat opens. Local government in Napa is small enough that a single resident, prepared and on time, can change the outcome of a vote.

Graphic: Center for Election Innovation and Research / CC BY-SA 4.0

Start on the west side of the river and let the water set the route.

Photograph: David DeVries / Historic American Engineering Record, public domain

The river and the Mill

The Napa River is the reason the town is where it is, and the riverfront promenade is the spine of the walk. The First Street Bridge, surveyed by the Historic American Engineering Record, carries First Street over the river near Soscol Avenue.

Just south of the bridge, the historic Napa Mill complex mixes shops and restaurants around a landscaped courtyard. The Mill's brick buildings are part of the historic complex, and the courtyard is the natural first stop for coffee.

Main Street

Head north to Main Street, where the 19th-century commercial blocks are the attraction in themselves. The Napa Valley Opera House, built in 1879, anchors the 1000 block; its facade still reads exactly as a Victorian opera house should.

Photograph: Sanfranman59 / CC BY-SA 3.0

At 948 Main Street, the corner storefront houses the Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company, which makes the building both a landmark and a refueling stop. The corner storefronts along Main are the walk's best stretch for window shopping.

Book lovers should detour to Napa Bookmine, the city's independent bookstore, which sits in the downtown mix and anchors the literary side of Main Street.

East to the Oxbow

Cross back toward the river and work east into the Oxbow District, where Oxbow Public Market gathers local food vendors under one roof. The market is the walk's natural lunch stop.

The Culinary Institute of America at Copia, at 500 1st Street in the Oxbow, anchors the district's food culture with classes and events.

History on the way

The Napa County Historical Society keeps the valley's archives and exhibits in the Goodman Building. It is worth the detour for anyone who wants the backstory to the streets they just walked.

End where you started, back at the river. Downtown Napa is small enough to see in an afternoon and layered enough to reward a second pass.

Photograph: Xavora2 / CC BY-SA 3.0

Photograph: Daderot / CC0

The city holds general municipal elections in November of even-numbered years. The council is made up of one mayor and four councilmembers elected by district.

Photograph by Ewen Roberts / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Napa moved to district-based council elections in 2020 under Municipal Code 1.10.010. The election sequence put Districts 1 and 3 on the ballot in November 2022, and the council completed its redistricting process on March 8, 2022, adopting Ordinance O2022-005, which re-adopted the district map established with the move to district elections.

Districts 1 and 3 were last on the ballot in November 2022, and this year’s vote fills the same two seats for new four-year terms, so the winners will serve through November 2030. Candidate information for the November general election is published in the Napa County Election Division’s candidate guide, which lists filing periods, key dates and ballot-order rules for the races on the ballot.

Key dates

The county’s nomination period for the November general election ran July 13 through Aug. 7, when filing fees, nomination papers and declarations of candidacy were due. Where an incumbent did not file by Aug. 7, the filing period was extended to non-incumbents through Aug. 12. The Secretary of State conducted the randomized alphabet drawing for ballot order on Aug. 12.

Photograph by Sarah Stierch / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

The write-in candidate filing period runs Sept. 7 through Oct. 20. Vote-by-mail ballots can be mailed starting Oct. 5. Oct. 19 is the 15-day close, the last day to register and receive a ballot by mail; voters who register after that date must go to the elections office or a vote center. Election Day is Nov. 3.

Voters who miss the Oct. 19 deadline still have a path to the ballot box. California’s conditional voter registration runs Oct. 20 through Election Day, allowing eligible residents to register and cast a provisional ballot at the county elections office or a vote center.

The November contest continues a busy stretch for Napa voters, who approved the one-cent Measure G sales tax in November 2024 and cast ballots in the June 2026 statewide primary earlier this year.

Napa County is a mail-ballot county. Voters can confirm their council district and find candidate information through the city clerk’s office at City Hall, 955 School Street, which can be reached at 707-257-9503, or through the county registrar of voters.

We begin with a simple proposition: this valley deserves reporting as serious as the place itself. Napa Valley is a working agricultural region, a global brand and a home to the people who live and work here. It deserves a newspaper that covers the water board with the same care it gives the harvest.

Engraving via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Our standards are not invented. They follow the tradition of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics, organized around four principles: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent. That code was first adopted in 1926 and has guided American newsrooms through every change in technology since.

In practice, those principles mean several concrete things. We verify before we publish, and we would rather be second than wrong. When we make an error, and we will, we will correct it promptly, visibly and without euphemism. Corrections are not buried; they are part of the record.

We keep news and opinion strictly separate. Our reporters report. They do not take positions on the matters they cover, and their bylines will never appear on this page. Opinion pieces are labeled as opinion, signed by their authors and argued in the open, where you can disagree with them.

Photograph by Daniel R. Blume / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

This page speaks only for the Editorial Board. It does not speak for our reporters, and nothing on it should be mistaken for news coverage.

Finally, we work for you. Send us news tips. Tell us what we missed. Hold us to these promises, loudly, when we fall short. A newspaper is a compact with its readers, and we intend to keep our end of it.

Tom Gamble, the third-generation farmer behind Gamble Estates, began picking on Aug. 12 in Yountville, about two weeks earlier than last year. His family's agricultural roots in Napa go back to 1916. He farms 175 acres across Oakville, Rutherford, Mt. Veeder and Yountville and has bottled wine under the family name since 2005.

Photograph by Brocken Inaglory / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

"It's early because we had a very warm March," Gamble said. "But then it's been pretty normal-ish ever since March, except for a cold spot in April. And that cold spot contributed to the second reason why we're early-ish, and that is because it was cold, wet, and windy, and that created shatter; that's when the flowers blow off during blooming."

The shortfalls are real. "Some people are down by half. We're not down that much. We're more in the 10 to 20% range," Gamble said. Winemaker John Gibson told the S.F. Chronicle his second pick of the season, Vermentino from the Sierra Foothills, was down 50 percent on spring weather. Chandon, which picked its first 30 tons of Chardonnay in July, expects its sparkling yields down 15 to 20 percent on smaller cluster weights and millerandage.

No panic, just adaptation

Despite the short crop, quality reports are upbeat. Gamble said he was "giddy" tasting the grapes, with sugars, acids and pH coming into balance. "It's like bringing the soup pot to a boil and then bringing it back down to a simmer," he said, "to allow all those flavors to marry without overcooking it."

Photograph by Brocken Inaglory / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Gamble is clear-eyed about the industry's troubles. "It's hard, and some people are losing their farms, and we have to be real about that," he said. But he expects Napa to endure: "In the end, Napa will be here because even with climate change, we will continue to have an agreeable climate for growing grapes. We'll have the commitment. And there is still capital availability."

The compressed calendar has practical consequences. Gamble expects to finish most of the harvest in September, with cooler sites such as Mt. Veeder running into October. Crush trucks are already rolling earlier than usual, and mid-September restaurant reservations are tightening as winemaker calendars compress.

Start with the harvest, which arrived weeks early. Round Pond Estate opened the season on July 21 with six and a half tons of Chardonnay off its Rutherford estate, and three days later Chandon in Yountville called the earliest first pick in its 53-year history, bringing in 30 tons. The previous record was Aug. 3, 2021. Only two other vintages, 2014 and 2015, ever started in July at all.

Photograph via PikiWiki Israel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)

Then read about Legend Napa Valley, the custom-crush facility in American Canyon that told its clients in August to move their wine and equipment out. One winemaker delivered Vermentino on Aug. 18 and got the closure letter on Aug. 19. The landlord blamed insufficient contracted grape volume in a difficult wine-industry environment. That is a polite way of saying the business of making wine is brutal right now, and the small brands without their own wineries felt it first.

Then there is the water bill. Napa County's groundwater agency just set its first sustainability fees: a combined $44.44 per acre for growers, with the county trimming first-year rates about 55 percent below the earlier maximums and covering $750,000 from reserves. Nobody disputes that the aquifer needs managing. Everybody notices a new line item in a down market.

None of this is a crisis. It is something more ordinary and more important: a working valley adjusting to reality. Early harvests, winery closures and water fees are what an agricultural economy looks like when it stops pretending the good years last forever.

Photograph via PikiWiki Israel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)

The postcard version of Napa Valley will survive all of this. The question is whether the working version gets the attention it deserves. Read the fee schedules. Go to the forums. Ask who benefits and who pays. That is what a local newspaper is for, and it is why this one exists.

The jury returned its verdict on Aug. 27 after a three and a half week trial, finding Martinez guilty of two counts of felony selling fentanyl to a minor, two counts of felony possession of fentanyl for sale and two counts of felony transportation of fentanyl for sale.

Photograph by Sanfranman59 / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Flores, a Vintage High School senior, was found dead in her Napa home on May 25, 2022. Prosecutors alleged Martinez sold her fentanyl laced pills on May 10 and May 16, 2022.

When charges were filed, the district attorney’s office said it was the first time in Napa County that a person accused of supplying fentanyl had been charged with murder over a fentanyl related death.

After the verdict, the court found true the special allegation that Martinez has a prior serious felony conviction that counts as a strike under California law, according to the district attorney’s office.

Library of Congress / via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Two co-defendants pleaded no contest

Luis Fajardo Melgoza, who was also charged with murder in the case, pleaded no contest to second degree murder in 2024, according to court records. A third defendant, Erika Garcia Chavez, pleaded no contest in 2024 to charges of possession of a controlled substance for sale and conspiracy.

Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 28 in Napa County Superior Court.

First Street Napa’s March 2026 leasing sheet listed Don Perico Mexican Restaurant and Bar for a June 2026 opening in Suite 201 at 1300 First Street.

Photograph by Missvain / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

In June, the Napa Lowdown reported the restaurant was preparing to reopen at 1300 First Street, noting its website still said re-opening Summer 2026. A current restaurant listing shows Don Perico open at the new address, with reviews of the new location posted in August 2026.

The return brings one of Napa’s longest running Mexican restaurants back to the center of downtown, as First Street Napa continues to fill its storefronts.

Don Perico is not the only Mexican newcomer downtown. The Napa Lowdown also reported that Valencia Restaurante began pre-opening service on May 22, adding another option to downtown’s Mexican food map.

Photograph by EmilioMV11 / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Liangfu Zheng was taken into custody Sept. 13 at Herbal Health Massage, 2221 Jefferson St., after officers responded to a second assault report at the business.

Photograph by UncleVinny / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Police received the first report around 9:26 p.m. on Sept. 12. The victim said she had been sexually assaulted during a session earlier that day. She pushed the suspect away, and he fled the room before she dressed and left the business to file a police report.

The next day at about 3:15 p.m., officers were called back to the same business after a second woman said a male masseuse had inappropriately touched her during a massage. Responding officers and detectives from the department’s investigations unit located Zheng at the scene. Both victims identified him as the suspect, police said.

The charges

Zheng was booked into the Napa County Department of Corrections on suspicion of rape where the victim was unconscious of the nature of the act, a violation of Penal Code section 261(a)(4); sexual battery involving an unconscious person, under Penal Code section 243.4(c); and assault with intent to commit rape, under Penal Code section 220(a)(1).

Photograph by Daderot / via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

The two reports arrived less than 24 hours apart. The first came in around 9:26 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12, describing an assault earlier that day. At about 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13, officers were called back to the same address for the second report, and detectives from the department’s investigations unit found Zheng at the business and took him into custody the same day.

Both women identified Zheng as the masseuse who assaulted them, according to police. Jail records showed him held on $250,000 bail following the arrest.

The two incidents, reported over a single weekend, prompted the department’s investigations unit to take the lead after patrol officers responded to the second call. Herbal Health Massage is located at 2221 Jefferson St. in the city of Napa, an address police visited twice in two days before making the arrest.

The reports described Zheng as booked on suspicion of the offenses; they did not say whether prosecutors had filed formal charges. The Napa Police Department said additional details were not immediately available. Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Detective Tyler Olson at tolson@cityofnapa.org.

The first forum was held Sept. 15 at 9 a.m. Both sessions take place in the Board Chambers at 1195 Third Street in Napa, and the public may participate in person or remotely, with Spanish interpretation available in person and online, according to the county's announcement.

Photograph by DavidMCEddy / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

At each forum, the Napa County Department of Corrections presents its annual report on access provided to individuals in county custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE. Community members may ask questions and offer comments to the board.

The forums are required under California's Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds Act, known as the TRUTH Act, when a local law enforcement agency has provided ICE access to an individual in its custody during the previous year.

The law's premise is straightforward: when local jails interact with federal immigration authorities, the public should be able to see what happened. The annual report is the mechanism, and the forum is where the community gets to question it. The format is deliberately open. After the Corrections presentation, the floor belongs to residents, who may ask questions and offer comments directly to the board.

Photograph by Sam Hood / via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

The county scheduled the two sessions at different times of day specifically to make it easier for community members with varying schedules to attend and participate.

Anyone who cannot attend in person can join remotely. Meeting materials and instructions for participating online are posted on the county's legislative calendar at napa.legistar.com, and Spanish interpretation is available both in the room and on the remote feed.

Residents planning to attend can review the annual report materials on Legistar before the session, so their questions can be specific. The report is the factual basis for the whole evening: what access was provided, to whom and under what circumstances. Everything else, the questions, the comments and the board's response, follows from it.

For residents who want to understand how immigration enforcement touches Napa County's own facilities, Tuesday evening is the remaining chance this year to hear the report and be heard in return.

The county scheduled two different times to fit varying schedules, and the 6 p.m. session on Sept. 29 is the last one on the calendar.

The Sept. 1 announcement directs $400,000 each to Mentis, the Napa Valley Education Foundation, Aldea and On The Move, plus $200,000 to UpValley Family Centers. Together the organizations run a coordinated network of on-campus wellness centers offering counseling, peer support, a quiet place to reset during the school day and connections to further resources.

Photograph by TrademarkedTWOrantula / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

The need is visible in the numbers. Today 55 percent of Napa County public high school students use an on-campus wellness center, according to the vintners' announcement.

De Leon's team is one part of a web of long-running partnerships. Mentis, which focuses on mental health, provides group discussions, coping tools and therapy for 2,000 middle and high school students each year, and has received $7.6 million in lifetime funding from the vintners since 1998.

The Napa Valley Education Foundation supports seven campus wellness centers that see 250 students daily, provides mental health screenings for 16,000 students annually and trains 350 school staff, with $6.2 million in lifetime vintner funding since 2019.

Photograph by Harrison Keely / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

The impact shows up in individual stories. One student, Vanessa, arrived at Napa Valley Unified as a freshman struggling academically, feeling isolated and losing her sense of belonging. Regular check-ins with a youth outreach coordinator helped her build friendships, attend class and eventually seek therapy. By her senior year, she was bringing younger students into the center herself. She told them, in the program's account, that the center had saved her when she was exactly where they are.

Aldea, which provides behavioral health services including substance-use programs and support for foster youth, has received $11 million since 1996. On The Move has received $7.2 million since 2004, and UpValley Family Centers, which coordinates wellness programs at northern valley campuses, has received $5.9 million since 2004.

The grants continue a tradition that dates to 1981, when funds raised through Auction Napa Valley began flowing to local children and families. To date the vintners' nearly 530 member wineries have given $245 million back to the Napa Valley community, according to the trade association founded in 1944.

The vintners say more announcements are coming in the weeks ahead, with additional grants aimed at supporting young people after school, at home and throughout the community.

Vice Chair Benjamin Horn presented the report at the council’s Aug. 31 meeting, noting that the document covers only the first months of tax collections, since the levy took effect on April 1, 2025.

Photograph by Sarah Stierch / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Napa voters approved Measure G on Nov. 5, 2024, raising the city sales tax by one cent, from 7.75 percent to 8.75 percent. The city estimates the tax generates about $22 million a year, until ended by voters, for services the state cannot take away: street repairs, parks, public safety and other essential services.

The oversight committee was required by the ballot measure itself, whose language mandated independent audits and citizen oversight of every dollar collected. Members were appointed in May 2025 and held their first meeting in July 2025, according to Liz Hapkirk of the city manager’s office. Jill Tekel serves as chair, with Horn as vice chair.

A foundation year

The committee spent its first year on startup tasks: adopting bylaws, building reporting structures, setting a meeting schedule and learning the city’s budgeting and financial tracking systems. Because collections began in April 2025, the inaugural report covers roughly one quarter of fiscal-year activity.

Photograph by Sarah Stierch / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Going forward, the panel’s stated responsibilities include reviewing the annual independent audit of Measure G revenues and expenditures, confirming that spending aligns with council priorities, receiving presentations on Measure G-funded projects and reviewing financial reports at the council’s request.

When the council placed the measure on the ballot, it identified priorities including repairing potholes and streets, maintaining parks and recreation and senior and youth programs, protecting water quality, supporting police with a mental health response team for nonviolent calls, upgrading fire stations with lifesaving equipment, cleaning up homeless encampments, constructing essential facilities and enhancing fire protection.

The city has published its first Measure G annual report online, inviting residents to see how early collections have been put to work on road repairs, parks and public safety, and what projects are planned next. The committee told the council it will now move from establishment work to ongoing oversight as a fuller year of revenue data becomes available.

The recognition applies to the company's vineyards rather than the winery or finished wines, spanning areas such as Oakville, Rutherford and Howell Mountain. ROC fruit will flow through the portfolio, including labels such as Cardinale, Mt. Brave and Freemark Abbey.

Photograph by Brocken Inaglory / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The certification process began in 2024, but regenerative practices including cover crops and no-till management were in place earlier, and the company achieved organic certification for the vineyards in autumn 2023. It is part of a long-term plan to farm all of the company's vineyards regeneratively by 2030.

Regenerative Organic Certified builds on organic certification with additional standards for soil health and farmworker fairness. For wine drinkers, the seal will not appear on bottles: it certifies the vineyards, not the finished wines. The company says the value is in the farming itself, with Carpenter reporting that wine quality has risen even as volumes held steady.

Gergen added: "We hope their commitment inspires more growers and wine producers in Napa Valley and beyond to see regenerative organic agriculture not simply as a set of practices, but as a pathway toward a more resilient future for farming."

Photograph by Brocken Inaglory / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Winemaker Christopher Carpenter said the company's Napa estates have seen volumes hold steady while wine quality rose, countering the worry that organic farming means inferior wine or smaller crops. No-till soil management improves the soil's water retention, adds to carbon sequestration and safeguards the fungal networks that supply nutrients to the vine, he said.

The announcement lands during a bruising stretch for the industry. Oversupply, weak demand and tariff fights have forced closures and layoffs across California wine country this year. Jackson Family Wines is betting that regenerative farming delivers both environmental and business resilience: an investment in farming practices that promise to hold up when weather and demand are both volatile.

David Alejandro Gomez Sanchez was arrested Aug. 21 after detectives noticed a pattern in four recent residential burglaries in the Hagen Road area of Napa. The victims said jewelry had been stolen from their homes, but there was no evidence of forced entry.

Photograph via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the suspect climbed through unlocked doors and windows and took expensive handbags, jewelry and jewelry boxes, disturbing little else inside the homes. Gomez Sanchez is a construction professional who had worked on multiple homes in the area.

Deputies found stolen jewelry inside the suspect’s truck, and authorities say he admitted to participating in the burglaries when arrested. He was caught after a failed attempt to enter a home on Hillcrest Drive.

A wider net

After the arrest, the Sheriff’s Office received emails from additional victims that helped detectives uncover more burglary cases tied to Gomez Sanchez. Detectives recovered some of the stolen jewelry from pawn shops in the North Bay region. Officials believe the thefts could stretch back to 2024.

Photos of recovered items shared by the Sheriff’s Office showed earrings, necklaces, watches, designer handbags and jewelry boxes investigators believe were taken from area homes.

Gomez Sanchez pleaded not guilty to 12 felony charges connected to the alleged burglaries and remained held in the Napa County jail.

The case remains under investigation as detectives catalog the recovered property and work to match items with victims. The Sheriff’s Office says it will keep seeking people who may have been victimized but have not yet come forward.

Detectives ask anyone who believes they may have been victimized to email Detective Solis at marcus.solis@countyofnapa.org or Detective Winegar at christian.winegar@countyofnapa.org. The office says it believes more related cases across Napa County have not been reported to law enforcement. Authorities remind residents to lock doors and windows even when they are home, since every entry in the case came through an unlocked opening.

The testing starts at 10 a.m. at the Election Division, 1125 Third St. in Napa, according to the county's announcement. Members of the public may observe every stage of the process, from equipment checks through the final manual tally.

Chart by the CEIR Research Team / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Logic and accuracy testing is the election's public shakedown cruise. Before any ballot is counted, officials run marked test ballots through the tabulation equipment to confirm the machines read every vote exactly as marked. Watching the test is the simplest way for a resident to see, firsthand, that the counting equipment does what it is supposed to do.

Processing of vote-by-mail ballots begins Oct. 22 at 8:30 a.m., and the official count begins Oct. 24 at 9 a.m. Results from mail ballots processed before Election Day are expected to be released shortly after 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.

The observation calendar extends well past Election Day. The one percent manual tally, in which a random sample of precincts is counted by hand to verify the machine count, begins Nov. 23. The hand count serves as an independent check on the tabulators, and California law allows counties up to 30 days after the election to certify results.

Photograph by Zinneke / via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

County election officials encourage anyone curious about how ballots move from mailbox to final count to attend. Observation is open to all, and no appointment is required to watch the logic and accuracy test that opens the season.

Those first results on election night come from the mail ballots processed in the days before Nov. 3, which is why observation of the October processing sessions matters. The ballots reported shortly after 8 p.m. will have been handled in public view weeks earlier, one envelope at a time.

Taken together, the calendar runs for more than two months: from the first equipment test on Sept. 28 through the manual tally in late November and certification within 30 days of Election Day. At each step, the county's position is that the process belongs in public. Residents who take up the invitation will see the same ballots, the same machines and the same counts the officials see, in the same room.

For first-time observers, the logic and accuracy test is the best starting point. It is short, it is visual, and it answers the most basic question about any election: does the equipment count the votes correctly.

The board overseeing the Napa Valley groundwater sustainability agency approved the first-year fee schedule on Aug. 11, according to the county's announcement. The county says the approved rates came in about 55 percent below the maximum rates considered earlier in the process.

Photograph by John Morgan / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Agricultural landowners will pay a base rate of $17.53 per planted acre, plus an additional $26.91 per acre for groundwater-irrigated acreage. Domestic and other self-supplied groundwater users will pay $28.17 per parcel, and public water systems will pay $58.47 per acre-foot of water pumped.

The fees apply only to property inside the Napa Valley Subbasin. Properties served by municipal water in Napa, St. Helena, Calistoga and Yountville are excluded, the county said.

The $750,000 transfer from the agency's fund balance directly reduced what landowners owe in the program's first year, according to the county's summary of the vote.

Photo by Lynn Betts, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service / via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

A decade in the making

The fees fund implementation of the valley's state-approved groundwater sustainability plan. The agency was created in December 2019 under California's 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, submitted its sustainability plan in January 2022 and won state approval in January 2023, according to the county's groundwater page. The plan's target for a sustainable basin is 2042.

State law requires at-risk basins to reach sustainability within 20 years of plan approval, and the fees pay for the monitoring, modeling and management work the plan requires. Future fee years will be set through the same public process, with the board weighing actual program costs against what landowners can bear.

The geography of the fee matters as much as the rates. Only land inside the Napa Valley Subbasin pays, which means properties on city water in Napa, St. Helena, Calistoga and Yountville sit outside the program. The cost falls on the valley's groundwater pumpers: the farms, rural homes and water systems that draw directly from the basin the plan is meant to protect.

For winegrowers already navigating a difficult market, the new line item arrives at a delicate moment. Industry coverage of the fee proposal earlier this summer noted concern among growers about added costs layered onto farming budgets during a downturn.

County staff say the first-year schedule is designed to keep the program funded while the agency builds its long-term monitoring network. What growers pay in year two will depend on how the board reads both the basin's data and the industry's balance sheets.

The start broke Chandon's most recent record of August 3, set in 2021. Only two other Napa vintages, 2014 and 2015, had ever begun in July.

Photograph by Brocken Inaglory / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sparkling producers always pick earlier than still-wine makers, harvesting at lower sugar levels to protect the acidity that gives sparkling wine its lift. Even by that early schedule, a July first pick is without precedent at Chandon, whose 53 harvests had never started before August 3.

The July start put Chandon weeks ahead of the valley's broader harvest. In Yountville, Tom Gamble began picking on Aug. 12, about two weeks earlier than last year, and most Napa fruit was still on the vine when Chandon's Chardonnay came in.

The early start capped a whiplash growing season that began with an extremely warm March and an unusually wet spring. "It was really bud break and March heat that set the stage for this historically early harvest, followed by a milder, cooler April and rainy spring that lingered into June," Lhote said. The late rain brought weed and disease pressure plus some shatter in the vineyards, keeping Chandon's all-female winemaking team especially vigilant. Wind and rain during flowering hit Cabernet Sauvignon, but Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were largely spared, giving Chandon's core sparkling varieties a better fruit set.

Photograph by Kiddo27 / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Smaller crop, high hopes

On crop size, Lhote was candid. "We are seeing good quality but lower yields for sparkling than initially anticipated, down approximately 15 to 20 percent," she said. Smaller cluster weights explained the gap, with millerandage, sometimes called "hen and chicken," visible on a number of clusters.

The historic harvest arrived as Chandon was freshly recertified across its regenerative farming programs: Regenified, Napa Green, California Sustainable, Fish Friendly Farming and Bee Friendly Farming. "Overall, we have exceptional soil health and healthy vines, and it's great to see that our sustainability efforts pay off regardless of weather," Lhote said. The vineyard's flock of sheep did its part too; the winery welcomed eight baby lambs this winter from its own sheep at the Carneros ranch.

The money is a multi-year pledge, not an immediate appropriation. It is split into $2 million for design and $3 million for right-of-way and utility relocation, with payments in tranches in 2027 and 2029, according to the council’s action.

Photograph by Prof. Rabbit / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

NVTA engineering manager Grant Bailey presented the 1.3-mile plan, which carries a total delivery estimate of about $68 million, including roughly $53 million for construction. The design calls for adaptive traffic signals, transit priority for buses, dedicated Class I bike facilities, curb bulb-outs, median refuge islands and leading pedestrian intervals.

NVTA lists the project’s goals as improving corridor operations for all modes of travel, improving safety through Vision Zero approaches, cutting transit travel times, expanding multimodal options for pedestrians and cyclists, supporting growth in the city’s priority development areas and improving regional and local circulation. NVTA, Caltrans and the city hosted a public forum on the project on May 27, 2026.

The council amended its resolution to require that the project design not preclude future grade-separated pedestrian and bicycle crossings identified in the 2020 Congestion Management Corridor Plan, keeping the door open for an overpass even though none is in the current design.

Photograph by Tony Webster / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The overpass debate

During public comment, resident Cindy Biederman urged the council to preserve a designated location or right of way for a future pedestrian and bicycle overpass, citing about 45,000 vehicles a day on Highway 29. Parents, school staff and transit riders told the council that signalized crossings alone may be inadequate to protect schoolchildren and disabled residents.

City Manager Jason Holly told the council the $5 million pledge could draw on traffic impact fees, of which about $5 million is on hand, and the general fund, depending on future revenue. The council adopted the resolution with the added crossing language by roll call.

NVTA’s preferred alternative, a signalized corridor with multimodal improvements at six intersections, was selected by the NVTA board and the council in February 2026. The roundabout alternative will not move forward. NVTA puts pre-construction costs at $20 million and construction at $55 million, with design and right-of-way work scheduled for 2027 and 2028 and construction in 2029 dependent on funding.

Public engagement will continue through a 30-day circulation period for environmental review and additional public meetings during design. Caltrans will own and operate the signalized facilities after construction.

The agreement releases the nonprofit from its debt to the city and associated obligations, while setting terms for what the landmark property can be used for going forward.

Photograph by Daderot / via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Under the deal, the city will also be reimbursed for expenses tied to its use of the property, up to $10,000 a year. The city’s usage rights run through the later of Dec. 31, 2030, or the termination of the opera house’s lease with Blue Note Napa, the jazz club and restaurant that occupies the building’s first floor.

A downtown landmark

The opera house opened on Feb. 13, 1880, with a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, and was designed in the Italianate style by the firm of Newsom and Newsom, the architects behind Eureka’s Carson Mansion. The building boasted a stained-glass skylight, brass chandeliers and a curved staircase, and in its early years it hosted vaudeville acts, musical performances and notable figures including John Philip Sousa and Jack London.

The venue closed in 1914 after earthquake damage, the decline of vaudeville and the rise of film, then served commercial purposes for more than 70 years. A community effort in the 1970s saved it from demolition and set the stage for a full restoration. The renovated opera house reopened in 2003 with two venues: the Blue Note Napa jazz club and the JaM Cellars Ballroom.

Photograph by Sanfranman59 / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The new agreement preserves a public stake in the landmark. The city keeps a standing reservation for civic events in the ballroom, with its costs capped, while the nonprofit sheds a debt that had tied it to City Hall.

The building’s first floor is occupied by Blue Note Napa, a jazz club and restaurant, and the city’s usage rights run through the later of Dec. 31, 2030, or the end of the opera house’s lease with that tenant. The agreement also sets terms for what the landmark property can be used for going forward, giving the city a continuing stake in one of downtown Napa’s most recognizable buildings.

For the nonprofit, the deal trades a $700,000 debt owed to City Hall for guaranteed public access to its ballroom, an arrangement that keeps a civic footprint in a privately held historic venue while freeing the organization to plan its future without the loan overhang.

Juan Luis Gutierrez Marfil was charged Aug. 27 with one felony count of recklessly causing a fire of a structure or forest, with a special allegation that the blaze caused more than $6 million in losses. An arraignment was set for Sept. 9.

Photograph by TJRC / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

According to charging documents, Marfil admitted to Cal Fire investigators that he disposed of hot ashes into a burn pile, which investigators say ignited the fire on Pickett Road on Aug. 21, 2025.

The fire burned for 17 days, destroying one residence and four outbuildings. Cal Fire’s investigation found the blaze started from hot ashes disposed of in a burn pile between contiguous properties owned by Jayson Woodbridge’s Hundred Acre Wines company.

Marfil was working as a contracted gardener when the fire broke out, according to a spokesperson for Hundred Acre Wines. He had been carried over as a worker from Kelly Fleming Wines, which owned the vineyard property at 2339 Pickett Road before Hundred Acre acquired it in 2024.

Image: NASA / via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

The fire that burned for 17 days

When the fire broke out, about 100 residents were evacuated and Napa County declared a local emergency. The blaze threatened wineries and vineyards across the eastern hills, including Poggi Wines, Eisele Vineyard, Venge Vineyards and Kenefick Ranch.

The fire left a mark on harvest season. Napa Valley Vintners said at the time that no damage to vineyards had been reported even as crews worked the fire lines.

A costly aftermath

The county agricultural commissioner’s office said preliminary reports showed roughly $65 million in agricultural losses from the fire, most of it to wine grapes, with some damage to beehives also reported. Three winemakers have filed suit against Woodbridge and his company, alleging smoke from the wildfire ruined their harvests.

If convicted, Marfil faces multiple years in prison. The case could shape how employer and contractor liability is treated for wildfire starts in a region still marked by the 2020 Glass Fire, which burned about 67,000 acres across Napa and Sonoma counties.

The partnership dates to 2002, when growers agreed to a self-assessment to fund dedicated housing for the workers who pick Napa Valley's grapes. That assessment has generated more than $10 million over the life of the program, according to the county's announcement.

Photograph by Tomas Castelazo / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

The funding model is unusual in local government. Instead of competing for general tax dollars, the growers tax themselves: the self-assessment flows directly into the housing program, year after year, regardless of the county's budget cycle. That dedicated revenue is a large part of why the centers have survived for more than two decades.

The National Association of Counties presents its Achievement Awards each year to recognize innovative county government programs, and Napa County's farmworker housing partnership is this year's local honoree.

The county operates three centers, in Napa, St. Helena and Calistoga, and average occupancy across the three runs 96 percent, a sign of how fully the program is used each season.

Photograph by Randy Caparoso / via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The centers have grown well beyond beds. In 2021 the program expanded its services to include health care, English as a second language classes, legal services and professional development for residents.

One of the centers, River Ranch in St. Helena, opened in 2003 on land donated by vintner Joseph Phelps and can house up to 60 workers, according to the county's September newsletter.

The county's announcement includes comments from Scott Wagner, the county's director of Housing and Community Services, on the program and its history.

The timing of the recognition is fitting. Each fall, thousands of workers move through Napa Valley for harvest, and housing is the difference between a workforce that can stay for the season and one that cannot. At 96 percent occupancy, the centers are not a pilot project or a gesture. They are infrastructure, as essential to crush as the presses and the tanks.

The services added in 2021, health care, English classes, legal services and professional development, treat the centers as communities rather than dormitories. A bed gets a worker through the season; the rest helps a person get through the year.

In an industry built on seasonal labor, the centers answer a practical question that follows every harvest: where do the workers sleep. Napa County's answer, funded by the growers themselves and now recognized nationally, is that they sleep in real housing, with services attached.