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• Former Galt resident rescued in Baghdad after 47 days of captivity by militants

• Lodi City Council approves $160 million budget

• Area communities compete for Delta College campus

• San Joaquin Fair welcomes both young and old

• Red Hat Society gets together at the San Joaquin Fair

• Regional Roundup

• Three new Galt police officers sworn into duty

• Materials found lacking at low-performing schools

• ACE directors envision more service, locations

• Logbook

February 8th, 2010

• Public Meetings

• Locals pick best, most memorable Super Bowl commercials

• Regional Roundup

February 6th, 2010

• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch

• Meet Larry, Curly and Moe

• Baboon business

• Regional Roundup

• Several Lodi venues let you watch the Super Bowl in style

• Lodi Library celebrates 100 years of serving the community

• Culinary craft

February 5th, 2010

• Kids, teachers help Haiti by collecting pennies for Learning Link

• Lodi, Galt students reach out to help Haiti earthquake survivors

• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam

• Hours of sweat and work go into putting on crab feeds

• Things looking up for state's real estate

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Stray bullet strikes Lodi home; police suspect gang activity may be factor

February 4th, 2010

• Managers at Geweke Toyota answer questions about recall

• Lodi City Council votes to replace play structure at Century Park

• Lodi extends ban on pot shops for another year

• Mokelumne River triathlon set for June

• Family, friends to run half-marathon in memory of Galt family

February 3rd, 2010

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Lodi-area senators Dave Cox, Lois Wolk admit to gifts; Tom Berryhill case pending

• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts

• Galt City Council avoids budget cuts — for now

• New Lodi Memorial Hospital emergency room opens to the public without a hitch

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

February 2nd, 2010

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future

• Former Lodian Erica Davis is first paraplegic woman to summit Kilimanjaro

• Jumpers across California

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

February 1st, 2010

• Find cuddly alpacas not too far from Lodi

• Public Meetings

• Patients can expect faster, better service when Lodi Memorial Hospital's new emergency room opens

• Man killed by Amtrak train in Lodi

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

• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (75)
• President Obama's first year (67)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future (60)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (49)
• Many reject the politics of 'no' (45)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
• Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (34)
• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen (31)

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Civil rights groups file Freedom of Information Act request

Civil rights groups filed a Freedom of Information Act request today seeking FBI records of the procedures and policies used during the ongoing investigation into the alleged connection of two Lodi men to the al-Qaida terrorist organization.

The FOIA request is being filed by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

"We appreciate and respect the need of the FBI to conduct investigations of possible criminal activity; however, any investigation needs to be done in a way that respects individuals' rights," Mark Schlosberg, police practices policy director of the ACLU of Northern California, said in a press release. "Heavy-handed law enforcement activities that do not respect people's rights engender distrust of the community and are ultimately counterproductive."

Hamid Hayat, 22, allegedly lied to the FBI earlier this month when he said he did not attend a terrorism camp in Pakistan last year and in 2003, prosecutors said. He was charged with two counts of lying to the FBI.

His father, Umer Hayat, 47, was charged with a single count of lying to investigators when he denied that his son had attended such camps. The FBI said the elder Hayat later admitted to flying his son to Pakistan and paying for the camp, which was run by a friend of a relative.

Both were indicted today by a federal grand jury on charges that they lied to authorities investigating links to Pakistani terrorist training camps connected to al-Qaida.

FBI agents say they're doing everything they can to treat local Muslims with respect while investigating the terrorism allegations.

FBI officials met with Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Sacramento Valley office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Saturday, where they addressed allegations of FBI intimidation.

The meeting helped clear up some issues, FBI spokeswoman Marcie Soligo said.

"I can't comment on specific allegations," she told the News-Sentinel earlier this week. "I know, as an agent, sometimes when you go to the door or call them up, the initial impression is, 'Oh my goodness, it's the FBI!' But it's just our job, we're not there to be intimidating."

CAIR officials in Sacramento say they have received numerous reports of intimidating tactics used recently by some FBI agents. Reports of inappropriate conduct by law enforcement officials include threats of arrest or deportation used to coerce cooperation, unnecessary use of force, denial of medical treatment, and constant FBI surveillance of regular mosque attendees.

"Law enforcement authorities have every right to follow up on legitimate leads in a criminal investigation, but to target an entire community and conduct a 'round up the usual suspects' approach will only serve to intimidate those whose cooperation is sought," Elkarra said in the today's press release.

The civil rights groups are seeking expedited processing of the FOIA request because of the widespread media attention on the FBI activities in Lodi and the fact that the records sought relate "to the loss of substantial due process rights."

In particular, the FOIA refers to the possible violations of individuals' rights to have access to attorneys, translators, medical attention and the right to be free from inappropriate government surveillance. Expedited processing means that the FBI would have 10 calendar days to respond to the FOIA request.

The FOIA request is being sent to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, the Sacramento Headquarters of the FBI, other local FBI offices in the Central Valley, and federal offices in Washington D.C.

The FOIA request is online at http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18498&c=282