The 11 women sued Napa Valley Wine Train Inc., claiming they were singled out because of race and seeking $11 million in damages. The company said in a statement that it takes allegations of discrimination very seriously and has hired a former FBI agent to investigate.

CEO Tony Giaccio apologized in August for the company kicking 11 members of the book club off the train for being disruptive.

“It was 100 percent customer service fail on our part,” he said.

RELATED: Napa Valley Wine Train CEO: Kicking Off Women Was ‘100 Percent Customer Service Fail’

He has offered to have up to 50 members of the book club and their friends come back on the train in a reserved car as his personal guests. He says his staff will also undergo additional diversity training.

The women said many of them were part of a book club that meets regularly and had gathered on the train to discuss a romance novel. Before the train left the station in Napa, a train employee asked them to quiet down because they were offending other passengers, they said.

The same employee admonished them a second time before telling them that police officers would be waiting for them when the train reached St. Helena, the suit says. They were escorted through several cars as other passengers stared and then off the train and into a dirt lot where police were waiting, according to the suit.

“That was the most humiliating experience that I have ever had in my entire life,” Lisa Johnson, 47, said with tears in her eyes, appearing with some of the other women at a news conference announcing the lawsuit. “This is 2015, and this just cannot happen again.”

The wine train issued an apology after the women were ejected, promising additional training for employees on cultural diversity and sensitivity and free passes for a future trip.

The lawsuit also claims the women were defamed by a company statement saying they had been verbally and physically abusive.

Their removal led to discussion online under the hashtag, #laughingwhileblack. The women wore black buttons with the hashtag at Thursday’s news conference.

Katherine Neal, 85, the oldest woman in the group, said she was reminded of when she was about 12 and a store clerk asked her to eat her ice cream outside while white families ate inside.

“I took this case because it’s an egregious case,” said the women’s attorney, Waukeen McCoy. “This lawsuit highlights that blacks are still being treated differently in America.”

McCoy said he engaged in settlement talks with the company, but it did not make an offer.

The Napa Valley Wine Train offers food and wine to passengers as they visit Napa County wineries in updated Pullman cars.

A spokesman for the company, Sam Singer, has said individuals or groups are asked to get off the wine train once a month on average for various reasons.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.

Nolan Buchanan, 16, has been arrested in the deaths of his father, brother and his father’s fiancee.

Three sets of remains were found in the family cabin of Adam Buchanan, his fiancee Molly and their son Gavin. They haven’t been seen since Sept. 11.

El Dorado County Sheriff’s investigators say autopsies revealed the family had been shot before the cabin was set on fire.

RELATED: Three Bodies Found Inside El Dorado County Cabin Of Missing Benicia Family

Buchanan is the president and chief operating officer of a Benicia construction company. His neighbors at the Garden Valley cabin believe he and his family were there the day the fire started.

Buchanan has another son, a 16-year-old, who has been staying with grandparents since the family disappeared.

A neighbor CBS13 spoke to saw Buchanan’s white truck returning home the night authorities say the fire started.

Police were seen searching Buchanan’s Benicia home, taking away computers and documents. Neighbors there reported seeing investigators towing away a white pickup truck.

Tests showed two of the towers on the roof of the prison’s Central Health Services Building had high concentrations of the bacterium that causes the disease, according to the federal receiver who controls inmate medical care. The report says people walking near the towers evidently inhaled contaminated mist, because no drinking water was affected.

The same report also found that nearly 90 percent of inmates at the epicenter of the state’s valley fever epidemic are refusing to be tested for exposure to that separate disease, which is caused by a soil-borne fungus.

Receiver J. Clark Kelso blamed a buildup of sludge in the cooling tower water pans, as well as a heat wave in the San Francisco Bay Area, for the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that sickened 81 inmates and sent 13 of them to outside hospitals. Twelve employees are still being tested.

The towers have since been cleaned and the 163-year-old prison north of San Francisco is back to normal.

For a time, the outbreak caused the state’s oldest prison to cancel visits, hot meals and showers, and haul in water and portable toilets for the more than 3,300 inmates and 1,200 employees.

Legionnaires’ disease is considered a severe type of pneumonia that can bring high fever, chills and a cough. It occurs when contaminated water is inhaled in the form of steam, mist or moisture. A recent outbreak that sickened 128 people and killed 12 in New York City was similarly traced to a Bronx hotel’s rooftop air conditioning unit.

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it is working with employees at prisons statewide to make sure they carefully clean danger areas.

Separately, Kelso reported that 88 percent of 5,420 inmates housed in Avenal and Pleasant Valley state prisons recently refused to be tested for exposure to valley fever, another potentially fatal disease.

Those who were tested at the two Central Valley prisons were four times as likely to have been exposed to the soil-borne fungus as inmates at other state prisons. However, the high rate of refusals raises questions about the effectiveness of the testing, which cost taxpayers $5.4 million this year, Kelso said.

The prison system is using the tests to decide which inmates can more safely be housed at the prisons near Fresno. An early round of tests this year forced more than 2,100 inmates to be moved from the two prisons, while more than 3,000 inmates could be moved in to take their place because they are less likely to get the disease.

Liz Gransee, a spokeswoman for the receiver, said the office is sending a team to talk to inmate representatives at the two prisons to find out why so many refused, and it plans an education campaign based on the results.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.

STOCKTON (CBS13) – Authorities say the man wanted in connection to a hit-and-run crash that took the life of a teenager has turned himself in.

The scene was along Highway 4 at S. Walker Lane. According to California Highway Patrol, a blue Chevy Trailblazer hit a juvenile pedestrian just before 6:20 a.m. and took off.

The teen was killed in the crash. No details about the teen have been released.

Authorities released a description of the suspect’s car and later identified a person of interest as 30-year-old Antonio Araujo.

Coworkers of Araujo reportedly saw that he was wanted to told him to turn himself in. Early Thursday afternoon, Araujo turned himself over to Tracy police.

The State Water Resources Control Board on Thursday released the statewide conservation figures.

READ: New Statewide Water Conservation Numbers

Max Gomberg, a senior climate scientist for the board, said the results meet the 25 percent savings goal set by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Gomberg also warned that Californians can’t allow themselves to be distracted by the hype of a coming El Nino weather pattern.

He said an El Nino doesn’t guarantee a wet winter for California and urged people to keep saving water.

“We need to continue the conservation efforts,” he said. “People need to keep on doing what they’ve been doing.”

The state reported savings of 27 percent in June and 31 percent in July.

The board also is expected to release figures for August showing how each community is performing. The mandate by Brown gave each city an individual conservation target based on water use in the same month of 2013, the year before Brown declared a drought emergency.

Some of the state’s largest cities contacted independently reported meeting their mandates.

Officials in Los Angeles said the city saw savings of 17 percent in August, beating its target of 16 percent. Fresno reported a 28 percent drop, hitting its requirement. Water use in San Diego was 21 percent lower, exceeding its mandated cutback of 16 percent.

State officials said they are working with cities and water districts that have failed to meet targeted cuts.

Gomberg said climate change – signaled by warmer temperatures, a low snowpack and intense wildfires – has made water conservation an ongoing effort.

“Climate change is not something that’s happening in the future,” Gomberg said. “California is already dealing with the impacts.”

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.

The incident happened just south of Mariposa along Highway 49. According to the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy started chasing a suspect around 6 a.m. Thursday who was driving erratically down the freeway.

At some point during the chase, the suspect – identified as Merced resident Brian Ballasch – crashed his car. Ballasch then got out the car and confronted the deputy.

The confrontation escalated when Ballasch allegedly pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and shot at the deputy. The deputy returned fire, hitting the suspect, but not before he was hit in the face and torso.

Authorities say the suspect has been taken into custody and is being treated for his wound. The deputy has been taken to a hospital and his condition has not been released.

Civil rights lawyer Waukeen McCoy said the federal court lawsuit he would be filing on Thursday seeks $11 million in damages – or $1 million for each of the 11 women who were kicked off the Napa Valley Wine Train in August.

Members of the Sistahs on the Reading Edge Book Club, all but one of whom is African American, have alleged they were marched down several aisles of a train and ordered off mid-trip for laughing too loudly during a birthday celebration.

The tourist attraction’s CEO has apologized for the incident and promised to provide diversity training to employees.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.

OAKDALE (CBS13) — A high-school student says been told if she shows up to school with turquoise locks, school administrators will keep her out of class.

Cayley Elswick takes geometry and history, but now she’s getting a crash course in the Oakdale School District code of conduct on hair color.

“I do my work, I’m respectful to teachers, I think in a good student and not a problem student,” she said. “The only problem being my hair of course.”

She is a shy yet strong-willed young lady who likes to color her hair.

“I feel like it’s ridiculous that I would be separated for the color of my hair,” she said.

Elswick says administrators at Oakdale High School are threatening to send her into all-day detention if she doesn’t change her dyed hair to a natural color.

The district did not immediately return my messages.

“I’m isolated from other kids and put into the room to do work that I probably should be doing in the actual classroom,” she said.

The district’s code of conduct on hair is listed online. Cayley’s mom has asked the school board to change it.

Chris Elswick says the district’s hard line on hairdos it says bring “undue attention” is missing the point.

“We’re trying so hard to build some self-esteem in our kids especially our girls these days and when you tell them they don’t look right? They should be normal? What kind of example is that setting,” she said.

Cayley circulated a petition signed by 200 students to change the district’s code of conduct rules.

“A lot of them have had to change their hair already, so they’re kind of supporting me in this,” she said.

Now her school district is ready to hand down punishment for the lone hair-color holdout at Oakdale High.

By Kelly Ryan

AUBURN (CBS13) — In Auburn, the owners of a restaurant are hoping to create a fine-dining experience in a local park, but critics say a public park is no place for a private business.

Patty Dooley has an idea for Herschel Young Park which is directly next to her new restaurant. She says the public park attracts the homeless and needs to be improved.

“I want the best for old town Auburn and there’s other people that all they want is the best for themselves,” she said.

Dooley has gone to the city, asking to cordon off a portion of Herschel Young Park for her restaurant’s outdoor dining. That has opened up a heated debate.

“This is the only public park that we have per se in old town and they wanted for their own personal dining,” said Ty Rowe, owner of a nearby business.

He is one of a number of old town businesses coming out against the proposal.

“We are businesses here in old town who use the park for pictures with Santa and for different events here in old town—don’t want a public tax-payer paid for park privatize by the city for just one singular business,” he said.

He doesn’t mind it being used as an outdoor eating space but as a public park thinks it should be used by everyone.

“They want to take two thirds of the park close it for their customers only,” he said.

The city is studying the request including the idea of getting paid for its use.

Dooley says she has a vision and it will not be deterred.

“I don’t care what the City Council says; I don’t care what they say; I don’t care what any anybody says,” she said. “I will take it to the state if I have to or nationally; I don’t care.”

AUBURN (CBS13) — A dozen community bands that have entertained people for decades may be silenced by a thief.

Someone embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from a group that oversees bands from Auburn to Antioch.

The nonprofit Sacramento Valley Symphonic Band Association is the largest group of its kind in the country with more than 600 local band members, who are now left scrambling to find funds to cover the missing money.

Musicians practiced on Wednesday for an Auburn Concert Band performance that may never happen.

“I don’t even want to think about that,” Cathyrn Shields said. “It would be a loss, for me and I’m sure everybody else that plays in this band.”

Thirteen bands just like this throughout the Sacramento region are at risk of collapsing after leaders say one of their own took off with more than $50,000 in funds that pay for insurance, music and venue fees.

Interim treasurer George Preston says they discovered the missing money in August, and believe a longtime member is to blame.

“That’s what hurts so much..this person lied to his friends, he stole from his friends,” he said.

Members are now left scrambling to pull in donations to keep their concert schedules intact.

Members describe the music they play as an outlet both for themselves and their audiences that they couldn’t stand to see end on a sour note.

“I don’t even think about the potential for any of these bands to go under,” Preston said. “I think of what we have to do to move forward, that’s what I think about. I don’t know if it’s going to happen.”

No charges have been filed as the investigation continues, but the person believed to be responsible has since resigned.

The State Water Resources Control Board on Thursday will release statewide conservation figures for August.

Max Gomberg, a senior climate scientist for the board, declined to provide specific figures ahead of the announcement but said he expects the results to meet the 25 percent savings goal set by Gov. Jerry Brown.

However, Gomberg warned that Californians can’t allow themselves to be distracted by the hype of a coming El Nino weather pattern that has raised hopes that it will break California’s four-year drought.

He said an El Nino doesn’t guarantee a wet winter for California and urged people to keep saving water.

“We need to continue the conservation efforts,” he said. “People need to keep on doing what they’ve been doing.”

The state reported savings of 27 percent in June and 31 percent in July.

The board also is expected to release figures for August showing how each community is performing. The mandate by Brown gave each city an individual conservation target based on water use in the same month of 2013, the year before Brown declared a drought emergency.

Some of the state’s largest cities contacted independently reported meeting their mandates.

Officials in Los Angeles said the city saw savings of 17 percent in August, beating its target of 16 percent. Fresno reported a 28 percent drop, hitting its requirement. Water use in San Diego was 21 percent lower, exceeding its mandated cutback of 16 percent.

State officials said they are working with cities and water districts that have failed to meet targeted cuts.

Gomberg said climate change – signaled by warmer temperatures, a low snowpack and intense wildfires – has made water conservation an ongoing effort.

“Climate change is not something that’s happening in the future,” Gomberg said. “California is already dealing with the impacts.”

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.

TURLOCK (CBS13) — A veteran proudly displaying his American flag in front of his Turlock home found someone set the flag ablaze and left the burned pieces on the ground for him to find.

For 15 years, the flagpole on Loren Vincent’s front yard always had an American flag on it. But on Monday morning, he says it was gone.

“I looked out Monday morning, got my newspaper and saw the flag wasn’t here. I thought maybe it blew away,” he said.

RELATED: American Flags Ripped Down Day Before Turlock Fourth Of July Parade

It didn’t. Instead, its remains were left on the ground as the plastic flag was burned and melted into the driveway.

“How can they do that? We served. We fought for that flag and men are dying for that flag,” he said.

Vincent says he’s curious as to why his flag was targeted when he lives inside this court, and just outside, his neighbor has two flags flying and they were untouched.

The flagpole is no ordinary lawn ornament. It’s a tribute made by Vincent and his neighbor, Air Force veteran Joe Nance.

“It represents three different families,” Nance said. “The eagle on top represents Loren’s brother-in-law, who was in the Navy in World War II. USMC represents the Marine Corps, which is Loren. And then on the back of the flag pole it says ‘Dad 313965’ that represents my dad’s serial number in World War II.”

Vincent filed a police report.

“They have the right to buy a flag and burn it,” he said. “They don’t have the right to come onto my property and take it down and burn it.”

Nance immediately bought Vincent a new one, and the flag flies again at his home.

“It’s not just a veteran, because we’re no better than anybody else, any red-blooded American would feel the same way: we would fight for that flag and die for it,” Nance said.

Turlock Police say they have no other reports of flag vandalism and there’s no indication someone was trying to send a message to Vincent.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Wednesday’s rain was good news for those responsible for moving and treating the area’s raw sewage.

It seems an unintended consequence of conserving water during the drought has created stronger odors and more maintenance for the area’s sewer lines.

Californians have been told to use less, and we’ve listened. But with less water going down the drain, it seems to be wreaking havoc on the sewer lines.

“Basically the sewage is moving slower so material is setting out, it’s not getting flushed down,” said Christopher Dobson with Sacramento County Regional Sanitation.

He says with much less water being put down into the sewer, the waste people produce isn’t moving nearly as quickly to the area’s treatment center.

“We do have more odor complaints both in the pipeline system, as well as out at the treatment plant,” he said.

Crews are trying to keep things moving with high-pressure hoses to push sewage on its way. Sitting sewage can produce sulfuric acid, eating away at material like concrete.

“A structure that might last 50 years, that lifetime could drop in half for example, if there is a lot of corrosion going on,” he said.

Does that mean you should let the tap run a little bit longer to help? Dobson says absolutely not.

“We understand the need to conserve water is definitely important, it’s just on us to make sure to keep the pipes clean,” he said.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — California’s LGBT military veterans are voicing their concerns at the state Capitol, with many vets saying they aren’t receiving the military benefits they were promised.

Gene Silvestri is one of many LGBT veterans either offering or looking for support from the California Department of Veterans Affairs.

“Although there’s progress, there’s still more progress that needs to be made,” he said.

Silvestri, discharged from the U.S. Army more than a decade ago as Pvt. Gloria Silvestri is now a disabled transgender veteran and LGBT advocate.

“There’s still discrimination going on within the military even though we’re post the DADT,” he said.

Don’t ask don’t tell required gay service members to hide their sexual orientation, or face possible military prosecution and dishonorable discharge. The policy was repealed under the Obama administration.

Cal Vet is using a forum at the Capitol to let LGBT veterans learn more about their restored honor and benefits.

“Now we have the capability to help them,” said Martha Villarre-Younger. “Upgrade that discharge so that they’re eligible for their benefits.”

Silvestri says even though the tolerance policy is on paper, the change needs to continue to evolve in the hearts and minds of military personnel around the globe.

“I am hopeful, but there’s always work that needs to be done. There’s always progress that needs to be made,” he said.

SACRAMENTO COUNTY (CBS13) — Two cousins recovered a stolen car less than 24 hours after the alleged crime when the suspect may have made a bad decision.

“I get there, I see the guy, and he’s like ‘This is it,’ and I’m like, ‘Ya this is it, no kidding,’ said Miguel Arteaga.

That’s the reaction you have when the guy who stole your cousin’s car tries to sell it back to you. Arteaga and his cousin work at a body shop off of Elkhorn. Rodolpho’s car was parked in the back after he had some body work done.

But on Tuesday morning, someone jumped the fence, stole the car and used it as a battering ram to get out. The ramming caused serious damage to the car and the fence.

That same day, thinking it was a long shot, Rodolpho checked Craigslist for his car and found it.

“I was like, why are you so stupid?” he said. “How is it possible you put my car on Craigslist?”

Dumb, yes, but at least the thief was honest—he mentioned the car had some minor bumper damage in the ad. That likely came from the escape.

After some texts back and forth, Miguel arranged the meetup just a few blocks away. The thief showed up with phony title in hand.

Miguel convinced the crook to let him take a test drive, which bought time to call the California Highway Patrol and get them involved. They showed up and arrested him.

“Ya, definitely, dumbest guy ever,” Miguel said.

Rodolfo’s car is in pretty bad shape, but he’s happy to have it back, and now he and his cousin may have another career option if the auto body work doesn’t pan out.

According to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, the coroner has identified the man as 26-year-old Rocklin resident Nicholas Ceane.

Someone walking to the Rocklin library made the grisly discovery Tuesday morning, Rocklin Police said. The pond is an old quarry sitting next to the library on a busy Rocklin road and is surrounded by a tall black fence.

The coroner’s office has not determined a cause of death.

Rocklin Police say Ceane had been reported missing from Auburn.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Theresa Coleman already bought travel books, excited to take a Spain trip she booked through SacTrips.com for $2,600.

“This would’ve been the biggest trip I’ve ever taken,” she said.

A travel video on the website says travelers would be led by “executive tourologist Grady O’Bryant”.

When her doctor told her she couldn’t go for medical reasons, she says organizer Grady left a voicemail promising her money back saying, “I have scheduled you for a refund on Wednesday of next week.” She says it never came.

“And I need that money. I’m not rich.”

Jan and Doug Bryant paid $3,245 to go to New York and Washington, DC but say Grady canceled their trip with just six days’ notice.

“This just hit us like a block,” Jan said.

“Kind of a shock, 6 days prior,” said Doug.

Vera Christensen says she’s owed a thousand bucks after Grady canceled her Mardis Gras trip. What makes her even more mad?

“He was still booking trips,” she said.

She says he told her he was having financial problems, but we found this month he was still advertising a Ganja trip in Jamaica for this fall.

Consumer Attorney Stuart Talley says a travel agent must keep money collected for trips in a separate special trust account.

“And that money is supposed to be used to pay for that trip,” Talley said.

We reached out repeatedly to Grady O’Bryant over the span of two months and decided to drop by his business address on L Street in Sacramento, which we found is a mailbox inside a shipping store. We also stopped by his house. The woman who answered the door said he wasn’t home but said she’d relay the message to call us. He never did.

“He’s shady,” Theresa said. “He’s completely shady.”

She challenged the charge with her credit card company and got a refund.

Jan, Doug and Vera have sued with court dates scheduled for later this week in small claims court.

“I just can’t believe he would do that to me,” Vera said.

In California, travel agents must register with the Attorney General’s Office and pay into a restitution fund. That fund is there to reimburse people in situations like these. Anyone who booked with this company should file a claim right away. http://oag.ca.gov/travel/consumer

Click here to read more Call Kurtis stories.

The shooting happened just after 8:30 p.m. Monday in the 3600 block of Truxel Road. Police say when they arrived at the store, they found 53-year-old Walter Michael Gibson of Rio Oso lying in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to the upper body. He later died. according to a statement from the Sacramento Police Department.

A male adult went to a San Francisco hospital requesting help with a non-life threatening gunshot wound. Sacramento Police Department detectives went to the hospital Tuesday and interviewed the man.

The investigation remains active.

Sacramento Fire Department paramedics also came to the scene and tried to keep the man alive, but were unsuccessful.

Investigators think the shooting was intentional. They hope surveillance video from nearby businesses can help them identify the suspects.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Crime Alert at (916) 443-HELP (4357) or text in a tip to 274637 (CRIMES). Enter SACTIP followed by the tip information. Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

The program pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown and adopted as part of his annual budget goes into effect Thursday and runs through March 31, 2017.

Under the plan, drivers with lesser infractions would pay either 50 or 80 percent of what they owe, depending on income. Certain drivers would also be able to apply for installment payments for outstanding tickets. Drunken-driving and reckless-riving violations are not eligible.

Civil assessment fees would be waived for some tickets. Residents who have had their licenses revoked would be able to apply to have them reinstated.

Only violations due to be paid before Jan. 1, 2013, are eligible for discounts.

Since 2006, the state has suspended 4.8 million driver’s licenses after motorists failed to pay or appear in court, the Department of Motor Vehicles said earlier this year. Of those, only about 83,000 licenses were reinstated.

When he announced the program in May, Brown called the traffic court system a “hellhole of desperation” for the poor.

The push by the Democratic governor highlighted concern among lawmakers and court administrators that California’s justice system is profiting off minorities and low-income residents.

Traffic fines have been skyrocketing in the state, and courts have grown reliant on fees as a result of budget cuts during the recession.

Twenty years ago, the fine for running a red light was $103. Today, it costs as much as $490 as the state has established add-on fees to support everything from court construction to emergency medical air transportation. The cost can jump to over $800 once a person fails to pay or misses a traffic court appearance.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Wet weather has finally returned to Northern California.

Some spotty rain showers already hit the northern San Joaquin Valley early Wednesday morning.

However, the best chance of rain will come Wednesday evening into early Thursday morning. Most of the moisture will be south of Sacramento in the Stockton, Modesto, foothills and the higher country.

Heavy rains could come overnight, with the higher elevations possibly looking at a quarter of an inch of rain.

Even if you don’t see some rain, much of Northern California will be seeing a relatively mild day in temperatures due to cloud cover.