A new cage to transport sick marine mammals was delivered Thursday to the Marine Mammal Center by a man who knows a little something about bars: San Quentin State Prison Warden Robert Ayers Jr.
Inmates at San Quentin's metal shop made the cage, which has wheels and will make it easier to move the sometimes massive marine creatures.

Ayers got a tour of the Marin Headlands center, which is undergoing a $25 million expansion project.

Anti-war activists in Marin are gearing up for an attempt to get local city councils to pass resolutions calling for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

"Once in a while, people get so frustrated with their state or federal governments that they say, 'What's wrong with those people? I want to go to my city council and see if they'll take a position and agree with me, because their voice is bigger than mine in Sacramento or Washington, D.C.,'" said San Rafael Councilman Greg Brockbank.

But no one in Marin so far has suggested going as far as the towns of Marlboro and Brattleboro in Vermont, where voters passed articles calling for the indictment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for violating the Constitution. Voters there directed police to arrest Bush and Cheney if they ever visited.

"In my book, it really shows how serious people are," said Alan Barnett of Mill Valley, a member of the Marin Peace and Justice Coalition.

"I'm glad they did it. I don't think George Bush will show up in their towns."

Not quite everything about St. Patrick's Day is about drinking.

On Monday night, a group of traditional Irish pipers and drummers was warming up in the parking lot before marching into Moylan's Brewery & Restaurant in Novato when a middle-aged woman approached them with a solemn request.

Seconds later they broke into "Amazing Grace."

"Thank you so much," she said with a smile and teary eyes when they finished.

"You have no idea how much that means to me."