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STOCKTON — For 64 years, through bankruptcy and booms and calm and chaos, there was one thing you could always count on at meetings of the Stockton City Council.An unassuming man, soft-spoken with white hair and wire-framed glasses, would be sitting in the last row on the left in council chambers.“He was always there,” former Mayor Ann Johnston recalled this week. “He attended every meeting I can remember. He was that constant presence, kind of a [...]

STOCKTON — For the first time in its 40-year history, the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce will hold its annual statewide convention in Stockton.The selection also is a first for the city, which has been host to big, popular events, but not a large professional development conference, said Jesús Andrade, San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer, who helped secure the convention.The annual CHCC convention will be Aug. 21-23 at [...]

STOCKTON — Several roadways around the city are slated to be resurfaced this year, but some residents are asking leaders to consider improvements in other street safety areas.The Stockton City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved two separate street resurfacing projects, one of which focused on three miles of roadway that receive federal funding.Those streets include Arch Road from B Street to the Highway 99 on-ramp; March Lane from Feather River Drive to Riverbrook [...]

Betty Stover remembers the joy of walking to her first day of school in 1949.Dressed, no doubt in a new dress, she headed out of her Bristol Avenue home and walked the few blocks to join some 560 other pupils in opening Madison Elementary School at Mission Road and Michigan Avenue.Before the school opened, children in Stover’s neighborhood attended El Dorado Elementary School.As a 6-year-old who had not attended kindergarten, Stover had no idea of the battle waged [...]

Shakira Mariam focuses her digital camera on two video games and snaps a shot.She posts the photo and a description of the games on the internet, not for Amazon or another e-commerce giant, but for Goodwill Industries of San Joaquin Valley.“It’s fun,” Mariam said. “We did really well on our goal last month.”In October, Goodwill Industries of San Joaquin Valley launched an online auction site, [...]

Sheriff’s OfficeThere were 76 bookings at the San Joaquin County Jail in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Saturday. At that time, there were 1,319 people held at the jail, which has an official capacity of 1,550. When the jail is full, some inmates may be released early.Drug arrest: Authorities arrested 24-year-old Emilia Gonzales after she passed contraband to a San Joaquin County Jail inmate during a visit on Friday. Gonzales was [...]

Fifty-seven teams from 35 San Joaquin County schools competed in the 33rd annual San Joaquin County Regional Science Olympiad on Saturday at Ronald E. McNair High School.Division A, which competed Saturday, is for third- through sixth-grade students. They participated in academic competitions following the format of board games, TV shows and athletic games. Events cover the range of scientific disciplines and include barge building, chopper challenge, orienteering, crime busters, [...]

Early in the morning on Nov. 6, 2016, Hiram David Estrada decided to walk home alone after spending the night out with his girlfriend at a Lathrop nightclub near the intersection of Louise Avenue and Interstate 5.There is no dispute that 32-year-old Estrada, who goes by David, had consumed alcohol at the nightclub. And there is very little doubt, according to court documents, that he “was causing a ruckus” as he walked home along Louise Avenue. [...]

Even if it was to be the culmination of his storied 40-plus year career, University of the Pacific band director Eric Hammer told his students that the opportunity to play in the New York Wind Festival at Carnegie Hall was not about him.He emphasized that even if he was set to retire two months after his first appearance in the country’s most famed music hall.Hammer died suddenly on Feb. 11, four days after back surgery, and if he won’t be there Wednesday [...]

Sheriff’s OfficeThere were 86 bookings at the San Joaquin County Jail in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Sunday. At that time, there were 1,348 people held at the jail, which has an official capacity of 1,550. When the jail is full, some inmates may be released early.Gunfire, threats arrest: Beant Singh, 32, was let go from an unspecified trucking company and returned Saturday, allegedly with a gun where he fired one shot into the [...]