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 […]
Politics
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 […]
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 […]