Modesto California News

Standing in line in the grocery store? Check your smart phone.

OAKDALE - Mid Valley Foods held a groundbreaking Thursday for its new $2.8 million facility, which will let the wholesale food distributor triple its production and hire more workers.

A Sonora woman out of jail after being arrested last month on suspicion of selling drugs has been accused of being at it again, authorities said.

75 YEARS AGO: A two-day Portuguese Tourada and field day attracted 10,000 to the Shiloh Rodeo grounds to enjoy the bullfights, wrestling and milking competitions, and a steer beef barbecue.

Federal agents Thursday arrested a Salida man suspected of illegally selling guns, including assault weapons, at his east Modesto gun shop to undercover agents and others posing as Mexican citizens without identification.

Helen Leal and Olga Bentulan struggled with the new tent Thursday afternoon, but that was the only hitch in their Labor Day plans.

Modesto

A two- week countywide effort to curb drunken driving wraps up this Labor Day weekend with saturation patrols tonight in Modesto, Ceres, Turlock, Oakdale and Riverbank and a sobriety checkpoint Saturday night in Oakdale.

MERCED - Sitting in a shaded kennel, Pam Moody was surrounded by dogs.

A Sacramento man died Wednesday night after he was struck by a car while riding a bicycle on a rural road a few miles west of Turlock, the California Highway Patrol reported Thursday.

The Bee is searching for teachers to be profiled in our weekly feature "Class Acts."

Officers used surveillance video to find three boys suspected of stealing a purse from a woman at a Taco Bell two weeks ago in Ripon, police said Thursday.

Lyon County sheriff's officials on Thursday said Peggy Herlacher, a grandmother from Nevada, is believed to be the woman found buried in a Riverbank home's back yard this week.

The kitchen of an east Modesto home was damaged by fire Wednesday night after a pot of water with sugar in it was left boiling on the stove after the occupant left the house, authorities said.

MERCED - University of California at Merced Chancellor Steve Kang said Thursday that he will resign in June and return to a research and teaching position with the University of California.

Several Merced families were displaced early Tuesday morning after a fire ripped through two apartment buildings in the 1800 block of Willowbrook Drive.
(Marci Stenberg / mstenberg@mercedsun-star.com) - Merced City firefighters begin the process evaluating the cause of a fire on Meadowbrook Drive early Tuesday, August 31, 2010 morning. - -
(Marci Stenberg / mstenberg@mercedsun-star.com) - An ariel view of the remains of a 16 unit apartment complex that burned early Tuesday, August 31, 2010 morning on Willowbrook and North Highway 59. - -

Backed by several dozen anxious supporters, some on crutches or in wheelchairs, 23 passionate speakers on Tuesday railed against "Gestapo" tactics of home care fraud investigators.
(BRIAN RAMSAY/bramsay@modbee.com) - Magi Beard, Lois Hall, 79, and home-care provider Donna Beard, all of Modesto, attend a protest at Tenth Street Place. Beard has provided care for Hall for over 4 years. Home-care providers, clients, and representatives from the UDW Homecare Providers Union stage a protest at the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors meeting, in Modesto, Calif., Aug. 31, 2010. - -
(BRIAN RAMSAY/bramsay@modbee.com) - Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Faladager attends a Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors meeting. Home-care providers, clients, and representatives from the UDW Homecare Providers Union stage a protest at the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors meeting, in Modesto, Calif., Aug. 31, 2010. The protest began outside in the courtyard at Tenth Street Place and later moved inside for the meeting. Protesters claim that uniformed agents with a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) with Stanislaus County have been harassing and intimidating IHSS (In-Home Support Services) recipients including elderly, blind, and disabled citizens; and arbitrarily cutting recipient's home-care services without proper evidence or procedure. - Modesto Bee - BRIAN RAMSAY/bramsay@modbee.com

Visalia police on Tuesday released the tape of a 911 call in which a Modesto man said he had just shot a Mormon bishop in Visalia and then told the dispatcher where officers could find him.
Kenneth James Ward - -
Visalia Police detectives point to an area where a suspect was shot after lay bishop Clay Sannar of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was shot and killed Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010 in Visalia, Calif. (AP Photo/The Fresno Bee, Gary Kazanjian) - AP - Gary Kazanjian

A bill is heading to the governor's desk that would stop Riverbank, Newman and a handful of other California cities from issuing their own tickets for minor traffic violations. The practice has been a boon for drivers and cities.
(Bart Ah You / bahyou@modbee.com) - A bill is heading to the governor's desk that would stop Riverbank, Newman and a handful of other California cities from issuing their own tickets for minor traffic violations. - -

NAME: Samuel Esequel Esquibel