The Lighter Side of … California Local

Manteca’s elected leaders are continuing to secure problematic commercial parcels in a bid to find ways to spur private-sector investment. The latest is a 3.8-acre triangle-shaped parcel wedged between Atherton Drive and the 120 Bypass west of Living Spaces.

Delicato Vineyards has opened a second front in a campaign to stop development near the winery, filing paperwork with San Joaquin County Superior Court to challenge the Manteca City Council’s approval of a general plan update. The filing is in addition to an effort to force a referendum on the update.

Governor Gavin Newsom has previously said price gouging by the oil industry could be partially to blame for spiking costs. Senate Bill X1-2 targets the issue, creating a new position, director of the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight, a position recently filled by Tai Milder.

More than 100 people spoke for and against the measure during the six-hour meeting of the Rocklin Unified School Board, which voted to approve a policy requiring teachers to tell parents if their child asks to be identified as a gender other than their assigned sex at birth.

The Lodi Unified School District could place a follow-up bond measure to Measure K on next year’s ballot.

A new series from the Sacramento Bee seeks to foster discussion about how we can face climate change with urgency and equity—such as how California will move toward its goal of phasing out gas-powered lawn care equipment.

Wheat—not almonds, pumpkins or even grapes—is what attracted farmers to the Manteca region after the Gold Rush in a bid to make a living. Manteca Bulletin editor Dennis Wyatt looks back at how irrigation changed everything.

Now community workers with the Neighborhood Wellness Foundation are testing out new approaches to lower drug-related deaths in the area.

Stockton’s city manager gives his views on the reauthorization of the general-use tax measure that played a pivotal role in helping the city recover from its fiscal woes.

Eight community colleges in California are testing out a new education model, one that defines success by the skills a student learns, not the time they spend in a classroom. But changing the traditional education system isn’t easy.

A bipartisan bill would create a state ombudsperson to intervene when public records requests are denied. But an advocacy group is concerned that it will encourage state agencies to go to court.

The Legislature is approving lots of significant bills in the final days of the session. But the final call is up to the governor, and he isn’t shy about using his veto pen.

Nearly a third of K-12 students statewide were chronically absent in 2020-21, more than three times the pre-pandemic rate. Some school officials fear that pattern is becoming the new normal.

California wildfires every year emit as much carbon as almost 2 million cars, posing a threat to efforts to battle climate change.