“The Postal Service is enshrined in our Constitution. It’s what brings America together; it’s the connective fabric of America.” We caught Josh Harder without a mask yesterday, but we had to use a zoom lens. Harder has been wearing a face mask and practicing social distancing for months. Monday, he was outside and more than six feet from the nearest person when he took off his mask for a short […]
Politics
Local Leaders to Essential Workers: “You are Expendable”
It was only a few months ago that Donald Trump thought he could ride a strong economy into a second term as President of the United States. Having avoided removal from office during an impeachment that Senator Mitch McConnell nullified before it started, Trump was confident he would cruise into the November election buoyed by a booming stock market and rising employment numbers. When news came in January that a […]
A Plan for Reopening Our Schools
Before he retired in 2019, Keith Law taught philosophy at Merced College. He has many decades’ experience in education. The current debate over how to begin the fall 2020 school year is stuck in a false dilemma between two equally bad options. Parents don’t want to send children to school if they risk infection for them and their families, not to mention the risks to teachers and staff. On the […]
Back to School? You First!
The San Joaquin Valley, from Stockton on south to Bakersfield, is a hot spot for the spread of the Coronavirus, the persistent killer that has raged through the nation almost exactly the way public health experts said it would. In what has become typical local reasoning, many of the Valley’s elected leaders have decided the rising infection numbers mean we should reopen our schools. Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow has […]
Stanislaus Supervisors’ Covid Fail: Worst Ever?
The old lesson that, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” is not in the memories of the Stanislaus County Supervisors. As a result, they’ve made decisions that indirectly resulted in loss of life and illnesses that might have been prevented. On May 7, 2020, the Board of Supervisors deliberately sought to override California Governor Gavin Newsom’s recommendations for controlling the Corona pandemic by applying for a […]
Sue Zwahlen Announces for Mayor of Modesto
Sue Zwahlen, who ran a strong campaign for congress in California Congressional District 10 in 2018, has announced she will run for Mayor of Modesto. Zwahlen enters a crowded contest that includes incumbent Ted Brandvold, Rick Countryman of Big Valley Grace Church, Naramsen Goriel, Modesto City Councilmembers Doug Ridenour and Kristi Ah You, and Bert Lippert, Building Safety Coordinator for the City of Modesto. Zwahlen’s extensive experience as an Emergency […]
Hunter Sauls Declares for Modesto City Council
My name is Hunter Sauls, and I am running for Modesto City Council for District 6. I was born on April 3rd, 1997, and I have lived in Modesto all my life. I graduated from Central Catholic High School in 2015, and then joined the United States Army as a 19K M1 Armor Crewman, driving, loading, and shooting tanks with the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. I spent […]
Ted Howze will Burn You Too
Republican Candidate for Congress Ted Howze is starting to look more and more like Donald Trump, the flailing President whose every move reveals desperation and incompetence. Howze’s latest move must have sounded good at first. In a campaign ad, he juxtaposed a photo of incumbent Congressman Josh Harder and his wife Pam kneeling with masks on next to one of Nancy Pelosi, also kneeling while wearing a mask. Like Jeff […]
Ted Howze Gets the Shaft — From his Own Team
Ted Howze, candidate for California Congressional District 10, just can’t win. He has to be wondering why he’s suddenly a Republican fall guy, even after checking all the boxes in the Donald Trump playbook. Serial liar? Got it covered. Sympathy for racists? Loads. Conspiracy theories? On it. So why the blowback from the party of Trump? Why condemnation and withdrawal of support from the likes of Kevin McCarthy and David […]
Chris Ricci Runs for Modesto City Council
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 […]