Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/561773
ByKristinJ.Bender The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO The Napa Valley Wine Train issued an apology Tues- day to a book club that in- cludes mostly black women who said they were booted from a tasting tour because of their race. The company also prom- ised additional training for employees on cultural diversity and sensitivity, and offered the group free passes for 50 people for a future trip. "The Napa Valley Wine Train was 100 percent wrong in its handling of this issue," CEO Anthony "Tony" Giaccio said in a statement. "We accept full responsibility for our fail- ures and for the chain of events that led to this re- grettable treatment of our guests." The 11 members of the book club, all but one of whom is African Ameri- can, said rude employees ordered them off the train on Saturday, mid-journey, and marched them down several aisles to their em- barrassment. "We didn't do anything wrong," club member Lisa Johnson, who chronicled the episode in cellphone videos and social media, told KTVU Monday. "We still feel this is about race. We were singled out." One member of the group is 83. Johnson was not imme- diately available for com- ment Tuesday to The Asso- ciated Press. Wine train spokesman Sam Singer said employ- ees had repeatedly asked the women to either quiet down or get off the train and accept a free bus ride back to their starting point. Giaccio said he had a conversation with John- son, a leader of the Sistahs on the Reading Edge Book Club, and offered the group the free passes for a re- served car "where you can enjoy yourselves as loudly as you desire." "We were insensitive when we asked you to de- part our train by march- ing you down the aisle past all the other passen- gers," he said in his letter. "While that was the safest route for disembarking, it showed a lack of sensitiv- ity on our part." The Napa Valley Wine Train offers food and wine to passengers as they roll to Napa County wineries in updated Pullman cars. On average, Singer said, individuals or groups are asked to get off the wine train once a month for var- ious reasons. Wine train employ- ees had called police in St. Helena about the book club members, who were already off the train when officers arrived. Police spokeswoman Ma- ria Gonzalez said it was the first time in memory that the wine train had sought such assistance from the department. NAPA VALLEY JOSECARLOSFAJARDO—BAYAREANEWSGROUP Five members of the Sistahs on the Reading Edge book club, all of Antioch, from le , Katherine Neal, Georgia Lewis, Lisa Renee Johnson, Allisa Carr and Sandra Jamerson stand together at Johnson's home in Antioch on Monday. The five women were among 11African-American women who were booted off the Napa Valley Wine Train on Saturday a ernoon. Johnson holds a photograph of the group that was taken before boarding the train. Wine train issues apology to bl ac k wo me n bo ot ed f ro m tr ai n By Paul Elias The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO The mur- der suspect at the center of a national immigration de- bate admitted to shooting and killing a young San Francisco woman out for an evening stroll with her father, a homicide investiga- tor testified Tuesday. But it still remains un- clear whether Juan Fran- cisco Lopez-Sanchez pur- posely or accidentally fired the shot that fatally struck Kate Steinle in the back as she walked along the city's scenic waterfront in the early evening of July 1. The second day of a pre- liminary hearing to deter- mine if there's enough evi- dence to schedule a murder trial continues Wednesday after three police detectives testified Tuesday. Lopez-Sanchez has been deported five times and was wanted for a sixth removal from the country when he was released from San Francisco's jail. He was re- leased after local prosecu- tors dropped a two-decade old marijuana possession charge and despite federal officials requests to detain him further for deportation proceedings. Jim Steinle told police he had his arm around his daughter as they strolled along San Francisco's pop- ular Pier 14. Suddenly, he heard a loud "pop" and Kate Steinle slumped to the ground, moaning "Dad, help me, help me," homicide detective Nico Discenza tes- tified Tuesday. "He thought her cell- phone blew up," Discenza said. Jim Steinle has since traveled to Washington D.C. to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and to urge lawmakers to abol- ish local policies of ignor- ing federal immigration re- quests for cooperation with deportations. San Francisco and other cities and counties ignore requests from federal au- thorities to detain jail in- mates who are thought to be in the country illegally. San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said he was following city law when jail- ers released Lopez-Sanchez after a 20-year-old mari- juana possession charge was dropped. But leading politicians, including top Democrats such as Califor- nia Sen. Dianne Feinstein and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, said Lopez- Sanchez should have been detained. PIER SHOOTING BECK DIEFENBACH — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Father Cameron Faller, right, and Julio Escobar, of Restorative Justice Ministry, conduct a vigil for Kathryn Steinle on Pier 14in San Francisco. Investigator says suspect admitted to SF shooting By Amanda Lee Myers The Associated Press LOSANGELES Eight people across the U.S. who regis- tered to use Ashley Mad- ison are suing the cheat- ing website after hackers released personal and de- tailed information of mil- lions of users, including fi- nancial data and sexual proclivities. The lawsuits were filed between last month and Monday by Ashley Madison users in California, Texas, Missouri, Georgia, Tennes- see and Minnesota. They all seek class-action status to represent the estimated 37 million registered users of Ashley Madison. The lawsuits, which seek unspecified damages, claim negligence, breach of con- tract and privacy violations. They say Ashley Madison failed to take reasonable steps to protect the secu- rity of its users, including those who paid a special fee to have their informa- tion deleted. Last month, hackers in- filtrated Ashley Madison's website and downloaded private information. The details — including names, emails, home addresses, fi- nancial data and message history — were posted pub- licly online last week. "Needless to say, this dumping of sensitive per- sonal and financial infor- mation is bound to have catastrophic effects on the lives of the website's us- ers," according to a law- suit filed Friday on behalf of an anonymous Los An- geles man who created an account with Ashley Mad- ison in March 2012. "As a result of (Ashley Madison's) unfair, unrea- sonable and inadequate data security, its users' ex- tremely personal and em- barrassing information is now accessible to the pub- lic," according to the law- suit, filed by the Baltimore- based firm of Hammond Law. Attorney Julian Ham- mond, who says his firm has litigated class-action lawsuits against compa- nies like Google, Apple and Hulu, said the Ashley Madison breach is unprec- edented in his experience. The website's users are worried not only about identity theft but about the embarrassment of the release of intimate sexual preferences. Even register- ing for the site without hav- ing an actual affair could put marriages in jeopardy. "I haven't seen anything like it," Hammond said Tuesday. HACKED As hl ey M ad is on users in US sue cheating website EUGENE HOSHIKO — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Noel Biderman, chief executive of Avid Life Media Inc., poses during a portrait session. Avid Life Media operates AshleyMadison. com. High-gloss slick, color coffee-table magazine • Inserted in a full run of the The Daily News on Thursday, September 24 - est. 10.000+ readers! • 3,000 extra print copies printed for local distribution for a full year ... another 6-9,000 potential readers • Digital edition published on Tehama County's most visited local website for a full year, receiving 70,000+ unique Visitors monthly. • Daily News Facebook post boosted for thousands of additional impressions across the North State! Who will Tehama County consumers call When they need what you sell? You can OWN your business or professional category in this special promotional opportunity! YOUR business displayed in a f ull-page, full-col or ad, directly opp osite a f eature instructing Tehama County consumers ... SAMPLE "HOW TO" FEATURE ONE ADVERTISER ON FACING PAGE! HOW TO CHOOSE ... YourGuidetoEverything) Only ONE business will be featured per category of business or service! We have ready-to-run features for over 200 kinds of businesses! Full Page Full Color ads: $ 795 Advertising Deadline: Tuesday, September 1 Reserve your business category today! Gayla Eckels: geckels@redbluffdailynews.com (530) 737-5044 Suzy Noble: snoble@redbluffdailynews.com (530) 737-5056 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B