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Leave it to Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, to stay optimistic and productive, even as Congress wallows in gridlock and polarization.

Thompson is riding high after President Barack Obama created the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, opening up new recreational opportunities on public land that had been poorly managed by several federal agencies.

Rep. Mike Thompson announced that seemingly long-gone earthquake disaster loans are still available to local residents faced with rebuilding a sound wall rocked by the South Napa earthquake.

The deadline to apply for the low-interest U.S. Small Business Administration loans passed in December. But Thompson said the residents along Highway 29 between Sierra and Trower avenues need only note on applications that they thought the city or state would rebuild the wall.

The city of American Canyon will receive more than $2 million from the U.S. government to help it rebuild Green Island Road, federal officials announced Tuesday.

The $2.4 million grant from the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) will go toward the repaving and widening of the heavily-used corridor through the city's industrial region.

Green Island Road has been falling apart for years due to a high volume of traffic, including the frequency of big rigs traveling in and out of warehouses and manufacturing businesses.

"Social Security is strong and will provide retirement security for Americans for another 80 years."

This was U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson's message during a town hall forum at Vallejo's Florence Douglas Senior Center on Tuesday, marking the program's 80th anniversary.

The St. Helena Democrat planned a similar event in Santa Rosa later in the day, an aide said.

Cracked and battered buildings have been repaired. Homes have been cleared of shattered dishes, glasses and heirlooms. But at Monday's remembrance on the first anniversary of the Napa earthquake, perhaps the most vital symbol of recovery was a clean-cut, curly-haired teenage boy in a blue oxford shirt and a bow tie — a boy who was again standing straight.

"My name is Nicholas Dillon, and I'm grateful to be standing here on my own two feet," the 14-year-old Napan told some 400 spectators at Napa Strong 6.0/365, the ceremony marking the quake of Aug. 24, 2014.

After a long flight from Southeast Asia, soldiers wounded in Vietnam are being transported to a military hospital in San Francisco. The bus carries men in litters stacked in three-high bunks. As the vehicle approaches the hospital, it is surrounded by war protesters who begin to rock the bus back and forth.

The historic Napa post office, extensively damaged in the 2014 earthquake, will be offered for sale instead of being demolished, the U.S. Postal Service has announced.

The Art Deco building, commissioned in 1933, will be prepared for auction later this month with the stipulation that the buyer must repair the building before converting it to another use, according to a letter to the city from Rep Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.

"This is the right decision for the USPS and for Napa," Thompson said. "No one wanted to see it destroyed.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, a Vietnam combat veteran and former senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, came out this week in support of the President Obama's embattled Iran Nuclear Agreement.

"A nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable," he said. "There are only two ways to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon: Diplomacy or military force. My first choice is diplomacy."

Thompson, who represents California's 5th district, which includes most of Napa and Solano counties, said he has been following this issue closely for many years.