The Marin County Sheriff's Office is investigating two incidents  in which a man approached young girls as they walked along streets in  Kentfield. The most recent occurred at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when a man in  a older-model white sedan approached two girls, ages 10 and 11, who were  walking toward Kent Middle School, according to the sheriff's office.

A 31-year-old man was arrested after allegedly raping a 54-year-old developmentally disabled woman in Santa Rosa's Roseland neighborhood early Thursday morning, a police sergeant said. Socorro Reyes Zamudio was arrested hours after a 911 call was received at about 2:45 a.m. from a resident saying that her daughter had just been sexually assaulted by an acquaintance in their home, Santa Rosa police Sgt. John Snetsinger said.

Sonoma water officials are warning residents that their drinking water may have been contaminated in January with coliform bacteria. The city sent out warnings Wednesday that two of 12 water samples taken that month had violated state standards for the bacteria. Coliform bacteria are common in the environment but can be an indicator that potentially harmful bacteria are present.

Piedmont oncologist Dr. Maurice Wolin, who challenged his prosecution in connection with a sexual predator sting operation in Petaluma in August 2006, was sentenced to three years probation and two months in the Sonoma County jail Wednesday in Sonoma County Superior Court.

When a voracious pest triggered a quarantine this week across much of Napa Valley - the nation's premier grape-growing region - it threatened more than the grapes themselves. The spraying of pesticides needed to control the European grapevine moth threatens to undo decades of low-impact farming practices that have elevated the quality of wines from the region.

The crash of a Toyota Prius in New York caught the attention of federal regulators Wednesday after the driver said it accelerated on its own, then lurched down a driveway, across a road and into a stone wall. The crash heightens the attention surrounding unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles and a recall involving more than 8 million vehicles to address gas pedals that can become sticky or trapped under floor mats.

A Northern California woman accused of using her 13-year-old son as a designated driver to avoid getting another DUI has pleaded guilty to child endangerment. Heather Choulos of Mill Valley will be sentenced next month. She was arrested last fall after authorities spotted a Land Rover in the middle of a major thoroughfare and found the boy behind the wheel.

A Northern California man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his grandfather. Sean Mooney, of Chico, was convicted in July in the shooting death of 77-year-old Robert Deming. Prosecutors had argued that Mooney shot his grandfather in the back of the head to gain an early inheritance.

The owner of a closed Bodega Bay vacation rental company is being sued by Sonoma County for millions in overdue taxes and penalties. In a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Rosa, the county accuses Vacation Rentals USA owner Joann Beckman of fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion. Beckman closed the rental company in January.

A grape-eating moth in Napa County has prompted a quarantine that will regulate the shipment of fruit and some plants in the heart of the state's premier wine region. The European grapevine moth first was detected in the Oakville area as grapes were reaching their peak last September. Since then, traps set across the region have shown the moth's spread.