Chris Ricci, the entrepreneur behind the hugely successful and controversial X-Fest concerts that played in downtown Modesto from 2000 through 2016, is running for Modesto’s District 3 City Council seat. Incumbent Kristi Ah You is stepping down. Ricci says he’s well past the controversies about security and noise that pushed him first to move the X-Fest and then cancel it altogether. “We’ve got too many serious problems now,” said Ricci […]
Politics
Withrow Withdraws Howze Endorsement
Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow has withdrawn his endorsement of Ted Howze, Republican candidate for congress in California Congressional District 10 (CA-10). Howze, rocked by revelations of hateful and racist posts on his social media accounts, has denied he made the posts. But after news about an official rebuke from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Howze faced a rapidly eroding base of support. “I asked around with people I know, […]
Ted Howze (says he) Didn’t Do It
Republican candidate for congress Ted Howze says the appearance of racist and hate-filled comments over a fourteen-month period on his Facebook and Twitter accounts was due to his “middle-aged” misunderstanding of social media — nothing more than a new-tech generation gap. “Like many folks in my middle-age group, I learned the very hard lesson to never allow anyone access to social media accounts or passwords,” Howze said in a statement. […]
Congressman Harder Leads Valley Corona Relief Effort
Congressman Josh Harder arrived in Turlock “around midnight” last Thursday, not long after pushing hard in Washington DC to assure Valley farmers received their share of financial relief from hardships imposed by the effects of the Covid-19 on the economy. Some farmers have lost food contracts with schools and seen reduced orders as the result of widespread reductions in demand from restaurants. Prior to Harder’s bipartisan efforts, farmers had been […]
California Congressional District 10: A Trump Referendum
There may be five challengers for Josh Harder’s seat in congress, but judging by audience responses Wednesday night at Modesto’s State Theatre, the general election will be between Harder and Ted Howze. Howze has a couple of Republican rivals in the primary, but neither Bob Eliot nor Marla Livengood generated much excitement during a debate where the clear favorites were men who had already faced each other during the 2018 […]
Home Builders and Homelessness: Is there a relationship?
December 16, the Los Angeles Times reported that The Supreme Court of the United States rejected a request for review of a lower court decision in the case of the City of Boise Idaho Versus Martin. The court let stand a ruling that homeless citizens are entitled to sleep on public property when a city has no alternative shelter available. Logically, for the good of every community, homebuilders must partner […]
Hidalgo to Run for Modesto City Council
“The Council needs to change and start working together” Currently a field representative for state Senator Anna Caballero, Modesto resident Jennifer Hidalgo will run for a seat on the Modesto City Council, District 1, next election. Mani Grewal, the current councilmember for District 1, is running against Susan Eggman for termed-out state Senator Kathleen Galgiani’s seat. Hidalgo has broad local experience both as a job holder and volunteer. She’s been […]
Ongoing: Stanislaus County Whittles Away Wood Colony
November 2019 is the month construction begins on Phase 1 of the State Route 132 realignment, otherwise known as a two lane expressway. Sometime in the next 20 years, the plan is to upgrade the expressway to a four lane freeway connecting Freeway 99 and Interstate 580. During the 20 year multi-phase construction project, motorists will experience increasing chronic congestion due to construction, traffic signals, and too many cars using a […]
Doug Ridenour: Councilman Runs for Mayor
First term City Councilmember Doug Ridenour has announced that he is running for Mayor of Modesto in 2020, when his present term on the council expires. The city was required by a new law to delay elections for one year to make its Election Day match other elections; if he prevails in the next election, Mr. Ridenour will have served on the council five full years when he takes office […]
Josh Harder—Still Running at Warp Speed
About this time last year, insiders in California Congressional District 10 (CA-10) were predicting another win for Jeff Denham, the seemingly invincible incumbent with an eight year term of office and the overwhelming support of local farmers and business people. Denham’s win seemed so inevitable that even some of the district’s most influential Democrats were starting to show up at his fundraisers. Congressman Denham may have been leading, but his […]