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• Seven injured in four-car crash; racing may have caused Peltier Road collision

• Breaking free of abuse: Women share their stories

• Men among the hidden victims of domestic violence

• Lawyer fighting against Lodi Supercenter receives top honor

• LUSD forced to pay developer prices for school sites

• Regional Roundup

• City of Lodi secures grants to add more natural gas buses

• California FFA center could open next year in Galt

• Supervisors fight to maintain control of Head Start

November 21st, 2009

• Logbook

• Holiday drive spreads cheer to U.S. troops

• Galt High students want board to approve open-campus policy

• Poisoning victims remain hospitalized

• Expert: Half a mushroom cap can be deadly

• Tokay grad files claim over Lodi's Grape Bowl

• Lodi Middle School holds annual Turkey Trot

• Regional Roundup

• No motive or suspect in shooting

• Sacramento cop arrested for alleged kidnapping

November 20th, 2009

• Acampo woman killed

• Salvation Army Kettle Kickoff

• Advocacy groups sue East Bay Municipal Utility District over Pardee expansion

• Regional Roundup

• Galt plans to help residents with energy-efficient projects

• Stable southeast of Lodi approved

• One year after a heart attack, Lodi's Judy Mims thanks rescuers

• National Guard troops return home in time for the holidays

• Real estate market gets on more solid ground

November 19th, 2009

• Operation: Christmas

• Logbook

• Suspect arrested after hiding in fridge

• Chase ends in crash

• Galt Joint Union High School Distric hires new superintendent

• Sales tax hike yields dividends: 5 new officers join Galt Police

• Lodi Unified School District board votes to cancel summer school for 2010

• Water surges in Mokelumne River yield more salmon

• Lodi City Council will consider redevelopment next June

• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22

• Corrections

November 18th, 2009

• Regional Roundup

• Paranormal group conducts second investigation of building

• Congress allocates money for local water projects

• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react

• Lodi man finds wife's ashes during police display of stolen property

• Galt City Council rejects study on rent stabilization

November 17th, 2009

• Paying tribute to a Lodian

• Lodi Budget and Finance Committee to look into ways to save money on employee benefits

• Regional Roundup

• Decision on summer school expected at tonight's Lodi Unified School District meeting

• Clements gets free water rescue boat

• Redevelopment to be discussed by Lodi City Council again

• Court reinstates death penalty for killer of Lodi grad

• Clarification

November 16th, 2009

• Correction

• Public Meetings

• City Council 'triple-dog dared' to ditch cars, use Lodi buses

• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi

• Lodi's First Sip event showcases area wineries' latest vintages

• Three members of Lodi-area family fall ill after eating poisonous mushrooms they reportedly found at Lodi Lake

• Regional Roundup

November 14th, 2009

• Galt school district narrows superintendent search to one

• Regional Roundup

• Despite budget cuts, some Lodi Unified School District salaries continue to rise

• Watchful neighbor in Lodi helped bust suspected burglars

• New Galt city manager juggles job, family

• Despite an increase in homeless students, school districts look to bolster enrollment, raise revenue

• A first look at 2009 vintages at Lodi's First Sip wine-tasting event

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• The country's mess is our fault (165)
• Obama is not a moderate (130)
• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react (71)
• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22 (49)
• The haves should help the have-nots (30)
• Public health care is a Christian option (29)
• Tokay in, traveling to unbeaten No. 3 Grant for football playoffs (25)
• Government-run health care is a bad idea (17)
• Young woman fatally shot at Acampo home (17)
• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi (16)

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City of Lodi secures grants to add more natural gas buses

The city of Lodi recently secured nearly $800,000 to dramatically increase its use of natural gas buses for the city's GrapeLine and Dial-A-Ride services.

The city will use the money to buy 10 natural gas-powered buses and improve the city's natural gas fueling station, Transportation Manager Tiffani Fink said. Once all the new buses have been purchased, the city's transit service will be completely powered by natural gas.

Lodi's use of natural gas buses will help fight air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley, a county air quality district representative said.

The city will receive $600,000 to purchase the vehicles, half of which will replace older ones and the other half will be new. When the city has all the vehicles, perhaps by the summer of 2007, it will have a city transit system totally powered by natural gas.

"We were very happy to receive the funding," Fink said.

The San Joaquin Council of Governments allocated the money, which is awarded through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program, a component of the Federal Transportation Improvement Program.

While the new buses won't directly save the city money, Anthony Presto, public education representative for the northern region of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, said Lodi's buses are crucial for a region that has some of the worst air pollution in the nation.

"The air district always supports moves like this because this is definitely a move in the right direction," he said.

Air quality in the San Joaquin Valley is currently ranked behind the Los Angeles area as the worst in the nation, Presto said.

If more cities switched to natural gas buses, and more people started riding those buses, it would help curb the emission of pollutants, he said.

"Now the thing to do is to get those buses full of riders. (Lodi) is providing a great example for others to follow."

With that example we hope to see more people switching from older cars or SUVs to more fuelefficient vehicles or hybrids."

Because ozone gasses flow from one region to another, Presto said what people do in Lodi affects the air quality in the rest of the Central Valley.

Even though the Lodi projects have been earmarked for funding, Fink said the federal government still needs to sign off on the new buses. The city has received approval for the compressor and will be seeking bids for the project soon.

Funding for that project amounted to $176,000. Fink said the added vehicles will create a need for more fueling capacity at the Municipal Service Center, and with two compressors the city can now shut one down for repairs but still have the other to fuel vehicles.

Natural gas costs about the same -- if not a little more expensive -- as gasoline or diesel fuel, so it offers minimal advantages in terms of cost. But it does emit far less amounts of the dangerous toxins that standard fuels do.

However, Fink said the city saves some money purchasing natural gas because it has its own fueling station and can therefore buy directly from PG&E.

Lodi should receive the funds for five buses in the upcoming fiscal year, and the other five in the next. The first buses should be purchased by next summer.

"That would be our hope," Fink said. "It can take eight months, it can take a year."

When the city has all its new vehicles for a total of 25, it can use older buses that can be used as a reserve fleet, she said.

Other projects funded this year through the San Joaquin Council of Governments include almost $15.5 million for the San Joaquin Regional Transit District for replacement hybrid diesel-electric buses and $3.5 million for the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission to purchase of a commuter rail car.

Contact reporter Andrew Adams at andrewa@lodinews.com.