By PETER FIMRITE, San Francisco Chronicle

The "drill, baby, drill" chant may fire up supporters of Big Oil, but it does not reflect the feelings of most Western voters, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

If anything, the poll indicates voters in California, Oregon and Washington would like to yell out to those who will listen, "alternatives, sweetie, alternatives!"

BEIJING -- It is hard to see what the modernization of Beijing and the glitz and glamor of China's Olympic coming-out party are doing for the residents of the city's Suo Jia area.

Friday's Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics will mark the start of a two-week series of dreams-come-true for athletes from around the world. But only once they have gone home will another U.S. athlete, Scott Winkler, get his chance for glory in Beijing.

A powerful cadre of politicians, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and both California senators, called this week for a halt in the killing of nonnative deer at the Point Reyes National Seashore.

The park's superintendent said Thursday that officials are considering the request.

WASHINGTON -- Long-stalled legislation to bring life back to California's dried-up San Joaquin River and restore its historic salmon run has cleared a significant hurdle with approval from a Senate committee.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A giant tropical bird -- a type rarely, if ever, seen in the Bay Area -- got stuck in the vortex of a hurricane-force Pacific storm this month and took a dizzying Wizard of Oz-like ride hundreds, maybe thousands, of miles off course.

That's the theory of how it ended up in a tree in Healdsburg, Calif.