Petaluma

Amber R. Cook allegedly used counterfeit $100 bills to buy a prepaid $400 gift card about 4:15 a.m. Wednesday at a Safeway store on South McDowell Blvd, Petaluma police said.

The Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach group, formed by the board of supervisors in 2015, will pass out a questionnaire related to the David Ward investigation that will be forwarded to the sheriff. Plus, experts on community trauma and healing, will be present. 

Police in Petaluma are warning residents about a potential scam in which thieves are posing as PG&E employees and are demanding customers give them immediate payment to avoid having their utility service disconnected.

Firefighters were summoned to an old silo along the Petaluma River on Friday after kayakers reported seeing a large metal tower fall and heard someone screaming for help, Petaluma Fire Battalion Chief Chad Costa told the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.

The Petaluma man was riding northbound on the right shoulder of Ely Road, north of Corona Road, about 8:30 p.m. when he was hit by a vehicle that was also headed northbound, the CHP said. 

On Saturday, Dec. 14 the victim left their wallet on a counter at the Petaluma Market, police said. When the victim realized the wallet was missing, the victim found several fraudulent charges had been made on two of the victim's credit cards.

The lanes are part of the ongoing Marin-Sonoma "Narrows Project" which will widen 17 miles of the highway between Novato and Petaluma from four to six lanes. 

At a Petaluma gathering on Wednesday, fire evacuees reunited with the strangers who saved their animals, which ranged from livestock and fish to even pet birds.

The 7:30 a.m. crash caused severe structural damage to the garage and attached home at 99 Maria Drive, but no one inside was injured. Four adults and three or four children were in the house at the time, Petaluma Fire Capt. Jude Prokop.

Ward, who had a history of prior health problems, died shortly after being taken out of his car and placed into handcuffs. 

A Petaluma bank's alert that someone was passing a suspected bad check on Monday led to the arrests of two Los Angeles men suspected of stealing mail and cashing checks from more than 200 victims statewide.

Motorists are advised to use South McDowell Boulevard as an alternate route, and commercial vehicles traveling east on Lakeville Highway/state Highway 116 should continue driving south on Highway 101 and exit at eastbound state Highway 37 as an alternate route east toward Vallejo.