The Modesto Bee (Sunday)
Modesto Performing Arts had unusual origin
If you’re telling the story of Modesto Performing Arts, a community institution for five decades, you’re really telling the story of Paul Tischer. Because Paul Tischer is Modesto Performing Arts. But the story didn’t start out as one might expect for...
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Sutter starts building $380M cancer care center in Modesto
leaders and Modesto-area officials gathered Thursday to signal the start of construction on a $380 million cancer care center next to Memorial Medical Center. A building was demolished at the northeast corner of Coffee Road and Spanos Court to clear...
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Woman’s stalking death turns sister into national advocate
Debbie Riddle became an anti-stalking advocate soon after her sister, Peggy Klinke, was killed in Turlock in 2003. Police said the alleged shooter, ex-boyfriend Patrick Lee Kennedy, had tormented the victim and her family in three states over about a...
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Easy ideas for kids’ birthday parties in Modesto
Planning a child’s birthday can be a stressful affair. The onslaught of questions ahead of preparation is consuming enough. Should we do it at home or go out? If we do stay home, how can we make it fun? If we go out, who hosts kids birthday parties?...
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Whether DJ or trustee, Maestas says it’s vital to know flow
Coming off his year as Modesto City Schools Board of Education president, Abel Maestas said the highlights of his term include increasing student representation on the board and playing a key role in finding a new district superinmember...
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Harry Potter-themed speakeasy requires secret spell to enter
Behind a door labeled “electrical room” in The Twisted Pig Bar and Grill lies a portal to a secret room where magic (and liquor) awaits. To mere muggles, the popular restaurant and bar may look standard, but what lies within is a chamber of secrets....
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Patterson could have a hospital once again
Patterson has taken a key step toward having a hospital for the first time since 1998. It could open as soon as 2035 as part of a 39-acre complex proposed by the Del Puerto Health Care District just west of downtown. The first phase could be ready in...
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3,200 schoolkids explore careers at Modesto Junior College
Eighth-graders from six Modesto school districts gathered at Modesto Junior College on Dec. 2 to attend an interactive Career and Technical Education Fair now in its fourth year. About 3,200 children met local career professionals and high school...
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Temporary mural at Modesto mall honors farm workers
Faire Mall has a temporary mural honoring local people who put food and drink on many tables. It depicts them harvesting tomatoes and almonds, milking a cow and gathering chicken eggs. The vinyl-on-window art will remain for at least six months on a...
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116 years in, J.S. West moves headquarters to Modesto
JS West & Companies is erecting a new headquarters at Modesto’s northwest edge, six miles from the downtown street where it began in 1909. The company is a major producer of eggs and propane in Northern California. It will continue to employ about 325...
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6 stressed food banks receive 40,000-pound load delivery
Six days into the lapse in federal food aid, a semi pulled up outside a Modesto church with about 40,000 pounds of groceries. Thursday’s delivery will help six food banks meet the increased demand resulting from the federal government shutdown, which...
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Stanislaus activists seek zero-waste economy
A new report projects that moving toward a zero-waste economy could create 531,000 jobs in California. Stanislaus County activists already had their own plan for making trash easier to reuse, recycle or compost. And its vast food and beverage...
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Local historians publish new edition of ‘StaniStory’
After releasing their local history textbook last year, the authors were hopeful it would be approved and used by most of the local school districts. Some districts did. Others, like Modesto City Schools, asked for a few updates to “StaniStory: Change...
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Neighborhood gets sidewalks, gutters years in making
Stanislaus County leaders, elected officials and community members celebrated the groundbreaking of the Parklawn Pedestrian Sidewalk Project, a massive endeavor that will get the south Modesto community up to city standards in preparation for...
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Advocates raising awareness, funds for ‘Awesome Spot’ playground
A decade has passed since Rachel Loredo began planning a playground that wheelchair users like her son could enjoy. The Awesome Spot now has a bare-bones site in Modesto but needs to raise about $5 million before it can open. An Oct. 18 event will...
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Gregori High breaks ground on aquatics center
Modesto City Schools broke ground Wednesday on construction of a long-awaited aquatics center at Gregori High School. Set to open by early 2027, the aquatics center will feature a 12-lane, 50-meter pool for competitions, with shaded seating and a...
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Modesto shares initial courthouse reuse details
Up to six stories of housing and a large gathering place could rise on the block to be vacated by Stanislaus Superior Court. The city of Modesto unveiled the tentative plan at a Wednesday night workshop at Greens on Tenth. The details could change as...
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Historic Chinese Camp battles back after devastating wildfire
The wind arrived first — hot, sudden and furious. Leonard Martin was sprinting across his yard, a chicken tucked under each arm, when a roar like a freight train swallowed the night. “It went from calm to a 35mile-an-hour hurricane of fire,” Martin...
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Repairs to dangerous stretch of Scenic Drive on schedule
Modesto’s project to alter what is arguably the busiest and most dangerous stretch of Scenic Drive is on budget and on schedule, City Engineer Toby Wells said. In February, the City Council approved a contract worth $13.5 million for infrastructure...
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Area parents can help kids’ self-expression, confidence
Parents with children who show an affinity for the arts and entertainment — or who simply would like to get their kids more involved — have plenty of opportunities in the Modesto region. Several companies and venues offer programs and classes that fit...
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County slowly adding housing, but prices still high
Housing construction has awakened from its long slumber in Stanislaus County, but the supply remains scant for both buyers and renters. The Modesto Bee sampled some of the current projects, with an eye out for relative bargains. Among them are small...
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Opportunity Truck serves up sandwiches and second chances
A new Stanislaus County food truck is serving up savory sandwiches with a side of optimism. Opened Aug. 6, the Opportunity Truck is the newest venture from the Turlock Gospel Mission’s Nourish Kitchen program. Open Wednesdays, Thursdays and every...
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LGBTQ resources in Modesto are expanding
LGBTQ resource center CalPride Stanislaus opened its second location Friday because of increased demand for its services. The second location, at 111 Modesto Ave., opened during a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by community leaders and the...
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There’s a secret to finding Central Valley comedy shows
A comedy show at a laundromat? While the clothes will be clean, the jokes likely won’t be. From barbershops to bookstores and even a bank, Offline Comedy isn’t kidding when it comes to bringing top stand-up acts to the region. Not only are the venues...
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Ceres Planning Commission approves 2 food truck courts
The Ceres Planning Commission approved the construction of two more food truck/ trailer courts within the city. A 10-truck court on Service Road across from the Walmart Supercenter was approved 4-0, and a 20-truck court on Whitmore Avenue near Morgan...
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Riverbank OKs 48 apartments with market-rate rents
A developer won approval for 48 market-rate apartments on Morrill Road in central Riverbank. Each of the two-bedroom units could rent for about $2,300 to $2,445, developer Annie Gurpreet Sandhu said by email Wednesday, July 16. The figures are...
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Tariffs drive up costs at specialty grocery stores
From masalas to Indian cookware, Indian Grocery and Chaat has been a staple for South Asian families, those hoping to make Indian dishes at home, or anyone looking to grab a bite at its in-store restaurant. But since President Donald Trump announced...
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Cricket finds home in Modesto with new pitch at Grogan park
Modesto’s city parks are amenities including basketball and pickleball courts, baseball/softball fields and horseshoe pits. Soon, Mary E. Grogan Community Park will add to that list something no other park in the city has: a cricket pitch. Grogan...
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Here’s why we’re Modestans and not Ralstonians
If you were the first to settle in an area, what would you call it? Would you try to establish a legacy with your family name or perhaps pick something to puzzle future historians? From Spanish origins to city founders, geographical features and even a...
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Modesto police criticized over tactics during No Kings protest
The Community Police Review Board rearranged its agenda and pointed tough questions toward the Modesto Police Department after hearing public comments at its Wednesday meeting. Attendance and the number of public speakers were unusually large for the...
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F45 Training celebrates one-year anniversary
If owning a chain of physical therapy offices and a restaurant wasn’t accomplishment enough, a Modesto entrepreneur added “gym owner” to his resume to seal the deal. Bobby Ismail, co-owner of Golden Bear Physical Therapy and Wildfire Public House,...
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Explore indoor recreation at Modesto Sports Center
residents have a new place to enjoy a variety of recreational sports indoors. Two turf soccer fields already are in use and they’re just the start of what’s coming to the Modesto Sports Center complex. The south Modesto venue will celebrate its grand...
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Modesto musician Ty Phillips debuts album ‘Highway Runner’
Longtime Modesto Bee readers may recognize the name Ty Phillips. He started at The Bee in 1987 as a sports clerk at 18 years old. He advanced to a variety of reporting positions: sports, crime, features and finally as a columnist off and on until 2008....
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Stanislaus railroad seeks to acquire neighbor’s property
A shortline railroad has filed an eminent domain lawsuit to acquire a neighbor’s property near Oakdale, as a bitter legal dispute continues. Sierra Northern Railway brought the legal action in March seeking to condemn the 113-acre property of Robert...
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New El Concilio citizenship classes address demand
Since 1968, El Concilio has provided low-cost or no-cost support in multiple areas of the immigration process for people in the Central Valley, but its free citizenship classes started in March are new. Maria Arevalo, a citizenship instructor at El...
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Modesto High School student’s art heads to nation’s capital
A Modesto High School student’s artistic tribute to the Central Valley’s agricultural roots and her fieldworking family is heading to the nation’s capital. Senior Andrea Valencia Zepeda has been selected to represent California’s 13th Congressional...
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McHenry Museum wants to add to services, honor historian
Modesto’s McHenry Museum is looking to add space to honor a late historian whose biggest legacy may be discovering that the venue’s famed namesake actually was an impostor. But more on that impostor thing later. The city of Modesto, which owns the...
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Mobile mental health vans to serve rural Central Valley
From veterans’ halls to migrant camps, a new effort to expand mental health services to rural parts of Stanislaus and Merced counties will hit the road next month. La Familia Central Valley has received more than $714,000 in combined federal and state...
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Meet the Modesto barber bringing hope to the homeless
Just a few years ago, Paul “Sammy” Samsin was sleeping on the streets, trying to survive from one day to the next. Today, he is on the same streets, offering haircuts and hope to Modesto’s most vulnerable. “I feel like I have this calling to give...
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Explore the Central Valley at this gem of a museum
Right before my son moved away for college, we finally visited the Great Valley Museum. I’d been lax in taking him there, at the Modesto Junior College West Campus, so we made it a point to finally go that summer. It was bittersweet. Sweet because we...
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Ceres mobile home park to get power back, settlement says
For more than seven months, about 25 families at a Ceres mobile home park have been without power — and most recently, gas — relying on generators and enduring cold showers. On Tuesday, a settlement finally was reached between the residents and the...
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Dignity Village, featuring 42 tiny homes, opens in Modesto
A 42-unit complex providing interim housing for people battling homelessness and other challenges has opened in Modesto. Ceremonies were held Thursday for Dignity Village, at the corner of Ninth and E streets, and the first residents will start moving...
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Two measles cases reported in Tuolumne County this week
Tuolumne County health officials confirmed two cases of measles and warned the public about the highly contagious illness. Two suspected cases of measles were reported Tuesday in the Mother Lode county next door to Stanislaus County and testing...
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Modesto hospital’s ‘Ion Robot’ detects lung cancer early
Doctors Medical Center operates in a geographic region with elevated lung cancer rates and cancer mortality that’s well above the average in California. The Modesto hospital recently invested in a robotic, noninvasive technology for biopsies of...
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Strong messages shared at Modesto High’s Day of Respect
Decades ago in south Los Angeles, a police officer accused then-12-year-old Darius Crosby of having a real gun and dug his nail into the boy’s thumb trying to grab the toy. The incident began when Crosby’s friends dared him to go say hello to the...
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Riverbank adds more low-income homes in grant application
Riverbank leaders have boosted the number of low-income homes they hope to add via a state grant. It was 39 when the City Council gave initial approval Jan. 28 for the project at the northwest corner of Oakdale and Morrill roads. Four weeks later,...
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Law enforcement, Black community discuss use of force
A recent panel discussion in west Modesto examined law enforcement’s use of force against Black residents. The two-hour event Feb. 18, organized by the NAACP, invited community members, dignitaries and law enforcement leaders to talk openly about...
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Public can suggest fixes for complex interchange
The city of Modesto is seeking public input on how to tame the beast that is the Briggsmore Avenue interchange on Highway 99. Road planners will hold a meeting from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, in the City Council chambers at Tenth Street Place....
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Police’s real-time crime center aids public safety
All seems calm at a busy intersection until a driver turns right against the light and starts driving erratically down the road. Whipping back and forth through traffic until he turns into the Save Mart shopping center, parks, and exits the car. A...
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Stanislaus County refugee families face housing crisis
A federal stop-work order left around 20 families of newly arrived refugees in Stanislaus County without a place to stay. On Jan. 24, the State Department told support service agencies that previously approved funding for vetted refugees was...
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Festivals return to Modesto region as residents seek spring
It’s time to say farewell to the winter doldrums and get back out and about in the greater Modesto region. February and March bring just a few of the traditional community and cultural celebrations coming up in the area for 2025. They include...
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Modesto family’s restaurant to close after 54 years
“You have to (reopen) somewhere else, please,” Greg Singleton — grandson of Modesto real estate developer Lance Ellis — said to Marcella Garcia on Monday afternoon after learning her restaurant would shut down at the end of January. And that may be...
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A bigger home and a new priest for the Hindu Temple of Modesto
The Hindu Temple of Modesto has moved from Tully Road into a bigger home on College Avenue. It also has a new priest, who comes with an impressive background — including nearly a decade of solitary meditation in a mountain cave. Harish Mehra,...
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Woman faces fentanyl murder charge in Tuolumne County. Where do Stanislaus cases stand?
Tuolumne County has its first fentanyl murder case, involving a man who had a fatal overdose in October. Stacey Renee Christ, 27, is charged with supplying the powerful opioid to Richard Bennett, 39. She pleaded not guilty during her first Superior...
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Newsom doubles down on opposition to Prop. 36
Gov. Gavin Newsom doubled down Friday on his opposition to Proposition 36, the newly enacted statewide anti-crime initiative, and claimed that recent progress cracking down on retail theft can be attributed to his support for a statewide California...
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Homelessness charges spiked in Modesto before court ruling
Charges related to homelessness have dramatically increased in Modesto during the past two years. There were over 600 charges for camping or remaining in a park after hours in the fiscal year of 2024 which ended in June — an increase of 57% from the...
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DACA recipients prepare for new administration
Recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals worry about potential changes or even elimination of the program as President-elect Donald Trump assumes office for a second term. The executive order that produced DACA was enacted in...
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Immigration advocates brace for 2nd Trump term
As a second Donald Trump administration looms, immigration advocates brace for what’s to come. Gautam Jagannath, executive director of the Social Justice Collaborative, said he has felt stress since the election results. “You talk to any immigration...
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Cost soars to redo Highway 99 interchange in south Ceres
The design for a new Highway 99 interchange in south Ceres is being rethought. That plan mainly involves adding ramps to the Service Road bridge, which now crosses the freeway without a direct connection. The current Mitchell Road junction just to the...
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Modesto and Mother Lode holiday celebrations begin Nov. 29
After you give thanks for all that is good in your lives, prepare to give thanks for an abundance of local holiday celebrations. Communities across the Modesto and Mother Lode regions begin marking the yuletide season the day after...
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How to give, receive help during holiday season
It’s the time to be thankful — and to give and receive. With this time come chances to help brighten the holiday season for others. Following are some upcoming Modesto-area opportunities. This story will be updated as we learn of more, so businesses...
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Attention focused on close congressional races
Most attention remained on congressional seats in the latest vote totals in and near Stanislaus County. Most offices and ballot measures have shown clear outcomes since the first tallies were reported on Election Day. Little changed with the update...
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Stanislaus County students to assist at polling stations
On Election Day, as adults cast their votes, high school students across Stanislaus County will be at polling stations, assisting in the democratic process. At Johansen High School, 21 students from David Muncrief’s AP government class are working the...
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Social media personality Hyde launches organic teas
Social media personality Joseph Zuzula, known as Hyde, wears many hats: photographer, musician, life coach, influencer and, now, tea maker. Known as “the internet’s favorite glampire,” Modestobased Zuzula has cultivated a fan base of over 500,000...
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Deputies often use force against Blacks, stats show
Since 2016, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office deputies have used force against Black individuals at a rate of more than six times their population, according to police data. While Black people averaged 1.4% of the county population, they made up...
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Modesto pedestrian crashes increase in low-light conditions
The days are growing shorter, and daylight-saving time ends in less than a month. With the sun setting earlier comes increased concern about pedestrian crashes in low-light conditions. Just Wednesday night, a motorcycle vs. pedestrian crash left two...
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Modesto police unsure how to process crucial racial stop data
A Modesto Police Department presentation on data crucial to ending racial and identity profiling by law enforcement raised more questions than it answered. The presentation last month to the Community Police Review Board gave a general overview of...
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