Obama lifts ban on Guantanamo transfers

Boy or Girl?' Gender new challenge for schools

Odd News

COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSTAIN FROM VOTE ON ABSTAINING: YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) - Three members of a Michigan city council have abstained from voting on a measure that would have prevented them from abstaining on future votes.

Jurors deadlock on Jodi Arias penalty; retrial set

Bill would prohibit ticket-buying software

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Music and sports fans would have one less obstacle in buying tickets to popular events under a bill advancing through the California Legislature. Legislation by Democratic Assemblyman Richard Pan of Sacramento would prohibit the use of robotic ticket-buying software. Supporters of AB329 say scalpers use the software to bombard online box offices and then resell tickets at higher prices. Lawmakers previously deleted a provision that would have allowed transfers of paperless event ...

Professor assigns students to make ad for his campaign

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A San Francisco State University professor considering a run for Oakland mayor is drawing scrutiny for a class assignment that asked students to create a political campaign ad and gave them the option of developing it for him. Joe Tuman said he would use the ad if it were good, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Thursday. But ethics experts said any such use of the students' work could run afoul ...

Bay Area briefs

SWALLOWS LAWSUIT MAY DELAY PETALUMA BRIDGE WORK : PETALUMA (AP) - A lawsuit accuses state and federal regulators of causing the death of dozens of migratory cliff swallows by placing nets on a Sonoma County bridge during a highway widening project.

State releases health reform plans, pricing

Pedestrian crash victum dies from injuries at hospital

A 70-year-old Manteca man struck by a westbound car at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night died of his injuries in San Joaquin General Hospital, according to police reports.

When mosquitoes attack

Tracy Crane slipped into a bikini and summer dress and joined her boyfriend Scott Johnson for a float down the Stanislaus River.

SIX PILLARS OF SUCCESS

Alaina Haena's summer break has only just begun and already she's booked solid through August.

Man thrown 40 feet after being struck by car on Center

A known Manteca transient apparently walked in front of a west bound car at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 200 block of East Center Street, midway between Lincoln and Grant Avenues.

‘Threats’ against officer’s life: Terrorist threats or free speech?

Threats against a Manteca Police officer's life on the Internet forced a former Manteca man to appear in a Stockton courtroom Wednesday morning for his continued arraignment on felony charges.

Manteca: War years yield to tranquil 1950s

Editor's note: This is the third of a six-part series taking a look back at Manteca's first 95 years as an incorporated city. Voters approved incorporation on May 28, 1918.

EU valedictorian thrives on challenges, busy schedule

Kimberly LaMar is graduating from East Union High tonight. The Lancers' Class of 2013 valedictorian has a speech to work on and a host of other things to worry about.

Turlock, Modesto dance clubs offer plenty of variety

The nightlife scene in the Central Valley is full of places to boogie. From high-energy dance clubs to low-key bars, there's something for everyone in the 209.

Harmony stays in step with dancing in Manteca, Lodi

Weekdays are long for Harmony Rebeiro. On one hand she works to bring her dance experience to students from Vernalis to Stockton after local districts slashed arts funding and dried up any opportunity for them to learn during school hours. On the other, she runs a pair of successful dance academies – Dance and Cheer Stars, with locations in Manteca and Lodi – that provides instruction for students ranging from those who have never made ...

Yosemite National Park

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (AP) - We had been traveling for hours - six by plane from Philadelphia to San Francisco, then nearly four more in a car through city, suburbs, farmland and forest - when we glimpsed our reward from a turnout in the mountain road.

THE BREATH TAKING

By JOHN PAIN Associated Press YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK - A few loose, fist-sized rocks tumbled by as we hiked down a steep mountain pass over unstable terrain, off trail deep in Yosemite's wilderness. We tightly gripped the solid rock holds on the side of Stanton Pass to steady ourselves when our feet slipped out from under us. Our guides were two of the world's most accomplished hikers, Andrew Skurka and Brian Robinson. We were far ...

All pain and no gain

By DAVID GERMAIN AP Movie Writer There's a siege mentality about Michael Bay's movies, as though viewers are the enemy holed up in a bunker and he's the guy ordering heavy-metal music around-the-clock to wear down our morale and force us to surrender. Bay's true-crime caper "Pain & Gain" lacks the visual-effects mayhem and sci-fi cacophony of his "Transformers" blockbusters, yet the movie uses all the shock and awe and noise and bluster the director ...

Plenty of dancing venues grace Stockton night life

Mr. D's Pizza & Sports Bar sits in a historic brick building near downtown that was once the engine room of one of the largest tanneries on the West Coast.

Modesto Youth Symphony Orchestra concert May 11

MODESTO - The Modesto Symphony Youth Orchestra (MSYO) presents its season finale concert on Saturday, May 11, at 3 p.m. at Gallo Center for the Arts.

Bluegrass concert at Twisted Oak

VALLECITO - Twisted Oak Winery opens the 2013 concert series with the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band under the stars at the winery in Vallecito.

5 free things to do in the Napa Valley

NAPA (AP) - Love the lush and lovely Napa Valley but hate how expensive it can be? You're not the first. In the late 19th century, writer Robert Louis Stevenson moved his honeymoon to the rustic but free setting of an abandoned mining camp when the $10-a-week going rate for Calistoga hotels proved too much for his slender purse.

Sarah Lou Fields

Sarah Lou Fields was born November 25, 1934 in Oklahoma to parents Frank and Marie Terry and went to be with the Lord on April 11, 2013.

Eleanore Catherine Martinez

Eleanore Catherine Martinez went to be with the Lord on the beautiful spring afternoon of April 11, 2013 in her Lodi home surrounded by her family and friends.

Gene Roberts

Gene Roberts' ambition in life was to be a servant of God. This came from his mother's guiding hand in raising Gene to love and respect all people as creatures of God. In 1966 he found this fulfillment enrolling in the Baha'i Faith in Manteca. Gene loved to tell people about Baha'u'llah, (His title means "The Glory of God") the Prophet Founder of the Baha'i Faith. He appreciated the Baha'i teachings about the oneness of ...

Ramona & Angela: ‘We’re still married’

They were married in April of 1984. But soon after they reached a significant milestone in their marriage, their 25th wedding anniversary, Ramon and Angela Chu's union as husband and wife came to an end.

DEADLY LESSONS

The "Every 15 Minutes" scenario depicting the consequences of drinking and driving, as it relates to high school graduations, played out once again as a stark warning in the Manteca High School athletic field before the upper class students of four area schools.

Park it in the pew & get some fuel

LATHROP – Need gas? Need God? Thanks to Lathrop Pastor Willie Anderson Jr., you'll be able to get both on Sunday at his recently expanded Image Changers Church as part of a program he hopes will offer those in the community that need a little bit of help the hand that they need. The first 100 people that show up for services Sunday at 9 a.m. will be given a $10 voucher redeemable at AM/PM ...