BOSTON — Confessed 20-time killer John Martorano left no doubt during his testimony Monday against James “Whitey” Bulger that he was settling a score for the decision made decades ago by Bulger and another former partner, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, to become secret FBI informants for the FBI.

Samuel Primack was an 11-year-old student at Vinewood Elementary School when he picked up a flute for the first time.

“Welcome to my world,” Stephen Willner told a News-Sentinel reporter outside Willner’s woodshop on wheels.

Should Stephen Glass be allowed to practice law in California?

When you think of prominent art museums, you might imagine the Getty in Los Angeles, the array of Smithsonians in D.C. or the de Young in San Francisco. But the 2010-remodeled Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento — with its combination of Victorian and contemporary architecture — is Sacramento’s gem. It is home to the largest display of California art in the world, according to chief curator Scott Shields.

Saying that art nourishes the heart, Stockton Diocese Bishop Stephen Blaire gave his blessing to the elaborately refurbished chapel and its new altar at St. Anne's Catholic Church.

The blessing came at a special Mass on Tuesday night in the chapel before about 40 people who helped improve the chapel, which is used for small weddings, baptisms and the 5:30 p.m. weekday Masses. Attendance was by invitation only because of the quaint size of the chapel.

Growing up in Montana, Jerry Wolfe remembers hearing 1970s country music, eating peanuts and seeing the glow of red lights as he went from bar to bar while his dad ran Keno games. His newest bar on Sacramento Street is modeled after those small-town country bars.

The history lover: Tom Kohlhepp

What I’ve been reading: I picked up “Smithsonian Timelines of the Ancient World,” by Chris Scarre. 

Favorite reads: I read history books designed for junior high and high school.

Biggest sellers in your bookstore, Tom’s Used Books: “Jaycee Dugard: A Stolen Life” — It sold out in the first day.

Cheryl Jacobson-Thompson, 53, pled guilty to grand theft Wednesday afternoon in Lodi Superior Court. Jacobson-Thompson was arrested Jan. 26 for embezzling nearly $250,000 from Tokay Glass Company over a period of several years.

“She admits the embezzlement exceeds $200,000 and will be sentenced Aug. 1,” said District Attorney Stephen Taylor. “She will be held without bail at county jail in French Camp until then.”

The plea deal comes with a 3-year prison sentence, Taylor said.

DeNeille Richie Thompson, 61, entered a not guilty plea against four felony charges in Lodi Superior Court on Thursday morning. Thompson is charged with conspiracy, forgery, falsification of documents and grand theft.

The husband of a woman accused of embezzling nearly $250,000 from a local company was arrested Monday and will be charged alongside her, the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office said.

It was 1981. After growing up comfortably in the East Bay and then graduating from Hastings Law School, 26-year-old Stephen Taylor started working at the California Attorney General’s Office in Sacramento. He’d only been there a few months when he heard about a job opening in the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office in Stockton.

The bookkeeper accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from a local business pleaded not guilty today in San Joaquin County Superior Court in Lodi.

A Lodi man arrested last month for possessing explosive materials had enough to blow up the side of a building, according to testimony from a Lodi police detective Monday.

San Joaquin Deputy District Attorney Stephen Taylor hears it all the time, almost exactly the same way: They were like family. We trusted them.

And every time, that was a critical mistake.

Taylor handles embezzlements for the district attorney's office, which have been on the rise just like many other financial crimes during a recession.

A local bookkeeper accused of embezzling money from a longtime Lodi business may have stolen more than $400,000, according to statements made in court Thursday.

The local bookkeeper accused of embezzling money from a longtime Lodi business may have stolen more than $400,000, according to statements made in court Thursday.

A Lodi bookkeeper was arrested Wednesday after police say she embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from a local glass company.

Thomas Kinkade paintings show various Christmas scenes. Nativity scenes are all in place and snowmen sit all around. These are some of the items guests will see when they attend the Omega Nu holiday home tour on Sunday.

It was another beautiful Saturday morning in Lodi. As I swept off my back deck, I looked down at a nearby steppingstone. On it was a three-inch dragonfly.

The end of the decade coincides with the 10-year anniversary of this column, and what better way to mark the occasion than with an obsessive ranking of the decade's best films?

Tucked away in an old shopping center on Lower Sacramento Road is The Framer's Cottage, where Patricia Pinnell Bohnak and her husband, Stephen Bohnak, put the finishing touch on both art and memories. Since opening in 1996, The Framer's Cottage has offered custom framing at half off what retail stores charge. When it comes to wall decor, it's not just paintings that look good framed. Shadow boxes are popular. They add depth and character to a room preserving collections of photographs, newspaper clippings, military awards and even baby booties.

My husband and I went to quite a few GrapeSox baseball games and thoroughly enjoyed them.

April 12