The body of Donna Mae Dowell, the 68-year-old nurse who worked at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View and went missing in December 2008, was just identified after being found by a hiker in an unincorporated area near Milpitas on December 4th. Her body was found still in the Honda Accord in which she disappeared, and was identified using dental records. The cause of death was likely suicide, and Ms. Dowell -- who had been reportedly depressed over the possibility of losing her home due to financial difficulties -- repeatedly told friends and family to take note of her license plate number before she went missing. Police searched the area for her car but came up short, and it took nearly a year before anyone reported seeing the car in this semi-remote area, near Calaveras and Felter Roads in Santa Clara County. more ›

Santa Clara County declared a local emergency yesterday, setting aside $500k for free clinics, which will administer the swine flu vaccine to thousands of uninsured residents when the vaccine becomes available in mid-October. more ›

Edward Riley Slate III, 41, was arrested on Monday, accused of having intimate relations with a 17-year-old student. Slate, a math and special education teacher at Wilcox High School, is alleged to have had an improper affair of the heart between January and June of this year with the underage student. "This is the second teacher-student investigation that we have been involved with in the past six months," Police Capt. Doug Moretto said. "This situation is more common than any of us would like to see." Slate has since been booked at the Santa Clara County Main Jail, slammed with "multiple charges of having sexual relations with a minor." If any other tykes out there might have had relations with Slate, they are urged to call Detective Kirk Kim at 408-730-7120. more ›

Interrupting a particularly sitrring Maury to spread the word, KTVU tells us that a roller coaster at Great America is stuck, trapping around 30+ people more than 100 feet above the ground. Yikes. Invertigo, the name of the ride, "soars 132 feet above the ground, inverts the riders and takes a 72-foot-high vertical loop." Capt. Scott Kouns said the San Jose Fire Department said, "One of the roller coasters had a malfunction and there were some people that were trapped on the roller coaster." Rescue crews are now on the scene. They're using cherry pickers to pluck trapped riders off of the ride. There have been no reports of any injuries. (Reports of soiled pants? Most likely.) more ›