WILLIAMS-SONOMA HOPES TO OPEN STORE AT FIRST SITE: SONOMA (AP) — Cookware giant Williams-Sonoma wants to go home.
But the $3 billion chain is facing opposition over a new store at the original downtown Sonoma site.
Ninety-seven-year-old Chuck Williams opened his first store on Broadway in 1956. He introduced a European aesthetic that revolutionized the way Americans cook and helped brand the city as a place to enjoy the good life.
The Sonoma City Council is weighing whether to pass new regulations for chain stores, the Press Democrat reported Tuesday.
It will decide Wednesday whether to enact a moratorium on such businesses until a proposed ordinance is drafted.
Sonoma Mayor Joanne Sanders is opposed to chain-store regulations and thinks it would be a loss to bar one of the most successful businesses in the United States from returning home.
OAKLAND BOY, 14, ARRESTED IN 2 SEXUAL ASSAULTS: OAKLAND (AP) — Oakland police say a 14-year-old boy wanted in two sexual assaults has turned himself in to authorities.
The teen was taken into custody Tuesday morning at Alameda County Juvenile Hall.
Police say the boy robbed and sexually assaulted a 28-year-old woman on Jan. 6. On Thursday, the suspect allegedly rode his bike up to another 28-year-old woman and demanded her purse before assaulting her.
In both cases, the suspect appeared to have a gun.
Police took the unusual step of releasing the juvenile suspect's name during the search. Officer Johnna Watson told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/wgdcYZ) that police did so because they believed he was armed and dangerous.
The Associated Press is not naming the juvenile suspect now that he is in custody.
SEBASTOPOL GROUP SUES TO STOP CELL TOWER EXPANSION: SEBASTOPOL . (AP) — A Sebastopol group is suing the city for approving the expansion of a telecommunications tower to transmit cell phone data.
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports that EMF Safety Network seeks to block the installation of additional antennae on a radio tower behind City Hall.
In December, the City Council voted 2-2 to deny the group's appeal of the Planning Commission's approval of the project. The tie resulted in a green light for Verizon and wireless infrastructure firm Crown Castle.
The EMF Safety Network claims radio wave frequencies emitted by the new antennae will harm the environment.
The group has fought PG&E's SmartMeters, downtown Sebastopol Wi-Fi and cellphone antennae.
Mayor Guy Wilson said Monday that he stands behind his vote to approve the project and doesn't see an environmental risk.
CALIF. POLICE EXHUME WOMAN'S BODY FOUND IN 1983: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police in a Northern California town said Tuesday they exhumed the body of a woman found dead decades ago to see if there was a connection to serial killing suspect Joseph Naso.
The unidentified woman's body was recovered from a local creek in 1983. The exhumation took place in April and was followed by a new autopsy and the collection of DNA, Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke told The Associated Press.
So far there have been no results, he said.
Interest in the old case was sparked after investigators found a list describing 10 women in the Nevada home of Naso, who's charged with killing four women in the 1970s and 1990s. One of the entries on the list said "Girl near Healdsburg."
Burke said after that information came to light, his detectives found the 1983 case, which matched the time criteria for when prosecutors believe Naso was operating in the area.
"We looked at what we had and in 1983 there was a Jane Doe whose remains were found in Foss Creek in downtown Healdsburg," Burke said. "At that time they were unable to determine the cause of death due to extreme decomposition of the body."
